SWOT analysis of IKEA Free Essays

Introduction The following essay is a critical analysis of two of Gareth Morgan’s metaphors in relation to a real organization that, over the course of the organization existence and expansion, has in some way applied these two metaphors for attaining success and sustainability. The metaphors that will be discussed for this study are the image of an organization as an organism, and an organization as a culture. The organization studied in relation to these metaphors is IKEA, the home furniture retailer. We will write a custom essay sample on SWOT analysis of IKEA or any similar topic only for you Order Now Relevant examples within the organization evolutionary process will be given where necessary to illustrate the significance of the metaphors in question. It is, however, vital to learn the organization background to delve any further. IKEA prides itself to be the most successful and largest furniture retailer in the world, and boasts provision of everything and anything for a home, having products suited for people of all ages, and all this at low prices. The company promises excellent value for money spent with all of their products designed with an emphasis on natural colours to bring a light and airy atmosphere within a home. This concept is based purely on IKEA’s Swedish origins, where people pride themselves in living in harmony with nature with simple home designs which offer maximum efficiency in all weathers (http://www.iamaceo.com/marketing/ikea-brand-success-strategy/). IKEA’s vision, â€Å"to create a better everyday life for the many people† is reportedly largely aimed at the global middleclass which is also evident from their business idea, â€Å"to offer a wide range of well designed, functional home furnishing products at prices so low that as many people as possible will be able to afford them† (http://www.ikea.com/ms/en_GB/about_ikea/press_room/student_info.html). To achieve this global mission, IKEA is well known for having a rapid internationalisation process from its Swedish origins and its rapid expansion into countries with cultures very different from its original Swedish national culture (Hollensen, 2007). With 265 stores worldwide, where 235 are owned by the IKEA group while the remaining 30 by franchisees outside the group; the extent of IKEA’s expansion is obvious (IKEA, 2007). Although owned by franchisees in some countries, the IKEA concept and trademark are solely owned by Inter IKEA Systems B.V in Netherlands. This means Inter IKEA Systems B.V is the franchiser for all IKEA stores within or outside of the IKEA group, ensuring uniformity of corporate values right from the centre (IKEA, 2007). Having looked into the organisation’s background, it is now important to study Morgan’s metaphors, which can then be applied to the organisation. Firstly, Morgan suggests that organisation theorists, after decades of comparing organisations as mechanistic entities, have moved to the biological sciences for more apt comparisons, where individuals, groups, organisations, populations or species of organisations, and their social ecology are paralleled with molecules, cells, complex organisms, species and ecology (Morgan, 2006, pg 34). The idea derived from drawing such comparisons is that certain species of organisation are adapted to certain external conditions just as certain species of organisms are to certain environments (Morgan, 2006, pg 33). Such metaphoric views have changed the classical mechanistic focus on efficiency, and structure to the basic element of survival with more emphasis on the organisation-environment relationship (Morgan, 2006; 1998). This can be f urther complimented with modern environmental analysis methods like SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) and PEST (political, economical, sociological and technological) analyses, that have been developed solely for comparing an organisation’s internal abilities to the external factors that may or are affecting its survival and performance in that environment (Johnson et al, 2008; Kotler, 2003). Within the metaphor of an organisation as a living organism, Morgan introduces certain characteristics like the open systems approach, adaptability to the environment (contingency theories), different species of organisation etc (2006; 1998), but this essay will mainly look into the organisation as an open system, and its adaptability to the external environment. The open system approach is based on the theory that organic systems at the cell level, as complex organisms, and as part of a population of organisms, exist in constant interaction with their environment, and this interaction is vital for the very survival and sustainability of the organism. A similar approach can be applied to an organisation, where individuals, groups, and the complex organisation are in constant interaction with their market environment for survival (Morgan, 2006; 1998; Dowling et al, 2008; Johnson et al, 2008). In support of the open systems approach Morgan discusses the law of requisite variety according to which, the internal regulatory/functioning mechanisms of a system must be at least as diverse as its environment in order to deal with the variety and challenge posed by the environment (Morgan, 2006; 1998; Watson, 2002). This brings us to the challenge of adapting internal characteristics to the external environment, also called ‘contingency theories by Morgan (2006), where he argues that all organisational systems are open systems in relation to the environments they operate in, and careful management is needed to â€Å"satisfy and balance internal needs and to adapt to environmental circumstances† (Morgan, 2006, pg 42). This approach assumes that the environment dictates the changes within the organisation, and that managers employing different approaches to management, must continuously strive to bring about a strategic fit between internal and external factors (Morgan, 2006; Johnson et al, 2008). This is especially applicable to multinational organisations that have to constantly adapt themselves to local conditions, whilst still working towards the original corporate objectives. Dowling et al (2008) summarise this by saying, â€Å"†¦the International Organisation will be called on to operate across a wide variety of competitive environments and yet somehow balance these diverse social, political and economic contexts with the requirements of the original home context.† (Pg 25) IKEA has been one of those international organisations that have had to constantly adapt to the different environments where it operates. The company had initially employed an ethnocentric approach of management where only Swedes were recruited for management positions so as to ensure the original ‘Swedishness’ of the organisation. But this approach eventually met with criticism and a temporary setback in IKEA’s overseas operations, where the organisation was faced with the task of revising its overseas recruitment policies in order to meet the demands of local cultures and employment laws (Kling and Goteman, 2003; Kochan et al, 2002). According to Bjork (1998), every time IKEA was faced with a struggle due to internationalisation, new cultural management policies would be implemented, the latest being Diversity Management. IKEA has had to rapidly transform itself from an ethnocentric corporation to an organisation that embraces people of all backgrounds, and has in many communiques expressed the importance of having a culturally diverse workforce in order to obtain competitive advantage on the global scene. This is evident from the organisation’s recruitment websites in various countries, where emphasis is given for potential employees to ‘be themselves’, but at the same time adhere to shared corporate values such as ‘simplicity’, ‘cost-consciousness’, ‘hard work’ etc, but almost all of the websites show a picture of a man and woman of Scandinavian origin (see case, also Bjork, 1998). This has created a paradox within the IKEA Group’s core values, where there is still a strong emphasis on the company’s Scandinavian background. This is found more on the websites of stores directly owned by the IKEA Group, whereas the stores owned b y outside franchisees are more receptive to their local environments. IKEA in Dubai, UAE, for example, is franchised by Al Futtaim Group, which acts as the main recruiting agency for the company. Since its opening in 1991, the Dubai franchise has been a major success story in terms of recruitment and organisational performance, which led to its expansion into neighbouring Abu Dhabi. (http://www.ikeadubai.com/content/careers.asp http://www.afuturewithus.com/careers/al-futtaim/home.aspx). The above, if studied in context with Hofstede’s cultural dimensions, would suggest that IKEA was more or less forced to employ external organisations, like in the case of Dubai, for its local recruitment procedures, as Middle Eastern cultures pose stronger environments due to rigidity in peoples’ cultural and traditional preferences, requiring the organisation to recruit local personnel to manage local workforce and operations (Hofstede, 1997; Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner, 1998). This may not be largely applicable in western operations, as again according to Hofstede, western cultures are weaker and more flexible to adapt, creating flexible environments in which to operate, thus not requiring external agencies for local operations, and IKEA may even get away with having its Scandinavian focused marketing efforts in such environments (1997; Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner, 1998), and moreover, ‘brand’ culture is more prevalent in the west than in the Middl e East (Kotler et al, 2006). It can thus be asserted that in the case of the Middle East, the environment dictates the changes within the organisation in accordance to Morgan’s adaptability theory (2006), whilst in the west; the organisation may have more of an influence on the external environment due to the power of the brand upon consumers’ psych, which is in contradiction with Morgan’s theory of the environment being the dominant party. The above clearly shows IKEA’s existence in accordance with Morgan’s organism metaphor due to the organisation’s focus to change its internal capabilities to match with the external environmental factors. The company seems on the right track by employing external agencies with more local knowledge to manage local operations exhibiting need for change, and to tap into local talent, which may also prove less expensive when compared to its Scandinavian counterparts (Keeley, 2003), especially where the environment seems the dominant force. The organisation as a culture metaphor is slightly intertwined with the above concept of the organism, where the organism metaphor refers to a series of internal changes within the organisation to fit with external changes, the culture metaphor refers to a change in the very behaviour of the organisation through a change in its corporate culture (Morgan, 2006). Corporate or organisational culture, as defined by Schein (2004) is, â€Å"A pattern of shared assumptions a group learned as it solved its problems of external adaptation and internal integration that has worked well enough to be considered valid and, therefore, to be taught to new members as the correct way you think, perceive, and feel in relation to those problems† (Pg 17) In other words, the methods the organisation uses to bring about the internal changes to align with the environment are expressed in the form of culture. Schein (2004) puts the definition in simpler words by saying, â€Å"it’s the way we do things around here†. But since organisations are made up of groups and individuals, where each individual brings in their own personality and characteristics to a group, based on their own cultural mental programming (Hofstede, 1997) in the society, the organisational culture then becomes a culmination of different cultures and perspectives brought in by the external society. This brings us to the assumption that organisational culture is largely affected by societal and national cultures (hofstede, 1997; Morgan, 2006). In light of the above discussion on the changes IKEA was forced to bring about for its international operations, it may now be significant to learn about the company’s corporate culture. IKEA’s corporate culture is based on the concept of shared values, some of which, as the organisation proclaims, are togetherness, cost-consciousness, respect, and simplicity. These values project a very democratic form of leadership where considerable freedom is given to employees to contribute to the company’s success. IKEA claims to treat all employees, no matter what rank they carry, as partners in the business. The company also boasts no restrictions upon employees in using their own initiatives and offers full support to meet each individual’s needs, ambitions and capabilities. But perhaps the most important proclamation is that â€Å"you can take IKEA out of Smaland but you can’t take Smaland out of IKEA†. Smaland being the village in Sweden where the founder Ingvar Kamprad was born and raised, and also the place to which IKEA attributes its qualities like humility, simplicity and hard work. (http://www.ikea.com/ms/en_US/jobs/join_us/ikea_values/index.html) This clearly indicates IKEA’s attachment to its roots in spite of its internationalisation. This also suggests that the core-culture of IKEA, especially where individual branches are directly owned by the IKEA group, is quite rigid and is aimed at promoting its Swedish culture to the rest of the world rather than incorporating the different local cultures that it operates in, but where the branches are owned by franchises in places or countries with strong national cultures, IKEA has had to change its internal culture to align with the national culture(s). Hence the organisation can be seen as a culture due to the fact that, like in the case of IKEA, it has a set of values and beliefs and methods of doing things that are shared and expressed, and taught to new comers as the right way to go, where these values and beliefs and expressions are largely influenced by the individuals and their own perceptions, which are then shared by a group, and are extended to the whole organisation (Morgan, 2006; Schein, 2004; Mullins, 2003; Robbins, 2001). This is especially evident in the case of IKEA, where the dominant cultural element initially has been the Scandinavian focus, as the organisational structure was largely made of Scandinavian personnel and the culture was passed on to new recruits. But due to the company’s aim of expanding worldwide, they have had no choice but to change this internal cultural focus to incorporate other cultures to make up a core organisational culture based on Scandinavian principles rather than personnel, but a culture that embraces differences in local operations, hence creating flexibility. After studying the two metaphors, the writer is inclined to the assumption that both these metaphors deal with the same element of changing the internal to align with the external. It may be plausible to think that a distinction between the two may not even be necessary, because, if an organisation changes its internal operations, at some level, it is ultimately engaging in changing some aspect of its behaviour, which suggests change in culture. So the main critique for Morgan may be that he has introduced too many divisions of metaphors when they are all intertwined in some respects with each other. References: DuPraw, M., Axner, M. (1993). Working on Common Cross-Cultural Communication Challenges. Alexandria, VA: Public Broadcasting System Hammer, M.R., Hart, W. And Rogan, R. (1998) ‘Can You Go Home AgainAn Analysis of the Repatriation of Corporate Managers and Spouses’, Management International Review, 38(1): 67-79 Hendry, C. (1994) Human Resource Strategies for International Growth. Routledge: London Hickson, D., McMillan, C., Azumi, K. And Horvath, D. (1979). ‘Grounds for Comparative Organisation Theory: Quicksands or Hardcore?’ in Lammers, C. And Hickson, D. (eds) Organisations Alike and Unlike, Routledge and Kegan Paul Hofstede, G. (1997). Cultures and Organisations: Software of the Mind. McGraw Hill, London Hollensen, S. 2007. IKEA: Expanding through franchising to the South American market– Case Study III.1, Global Marketing – A decision-oriented approach, 4 ed. Essex, England: Financial Times Press IKEA. 2007. Facts Figures, IKEA Group 2007: Corporate PR, IKEA Services AB Johnson, G. Scholes, K. Whittington, R. (2008). Exploring Corporate Strategy. 8th Edition. England: Pearson Education Ltd Keeley, T.D. (2003). International Human Resource Management in Japanese Firms. Palgrave, London Kerr, C., Dunlop, J.T., Harbison, F. And Myers, C.A. (1973). Industrialism and Industrial Man. Penguin, USA Kling, K., Goteman, I. 2003. IKEA CEO Anders Dahlvig on international growth and IKEA’s unique corporate culture and brand identity. The Academy of Management Executive, 17(1): 31-37 Kochan, T., Bezrukova, K., Ely, R., Jackson, S., Joshi, A., Jehn, K., Leonard, J., Levine, D., Thomas, D. 2002. The Effect of Diversity on Business Performance:: Diversity Research Network Kotler, P. (2003). Marketing Insights. John Wiley Sons, Inc: New Jersey Kotler, P., Pfoertsch, W. (2006). B2B Brand Management. Springer-Berlin: Germany Larkey, L.J. (1996). â€Å"Toward a theory of communicative interactions in culturally diverse workgroups†, Academy of Management Review, 21:463-91 Milliman, J., Von Glinow, M. And Nathan, B. (1991) ‘Organisational Life Cycles and Strategic International Human Resource Management in Multinational Companies: Implications for Congruence Theory’, Academy of Management Review, 16: 318-39 Morgan, G. (2006). Images of Organisation. Sage: London Morgan, G. (1998) Images of Organisation. Sage Publications, London Mullins, L.J. (2003). Management and Organisational Behaviour. Pitman Publishing, London Neuliep, J.W. (2008). Intercultural Communication: a contextual approach. Sage Publications, USA Robbins. S.P. (2001) Organisational Behaviour. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson/Prentice Hall, Pearson Education International Rollinson, D. (2005). Organisational Behaviour and Analysis. 3rd edition. Pearson, England Schein, E.H. (2004). Organisational Culture and Leadership. 3rd edition. John-Wiley, San Francisco Schuler, R.S., Budhwar, P.S. and Florkowski, G.W. (2002) ‘International Human Resource Management: Review and Critique’, International Journal of Management Reviews, 4(1): 41-70 Scullion, H. (2001) ‘International Human Resource Management’, Human Resource Management. International Thompson: London Scullion, H. And Linehan, M. (2005). International Human Resource Management. Palgrave-Macmillan, New York Torbiorn, I. (1997) ‘Staffing for International Operations’, Human Resource Management Journal, 7(3): 42-51 Trompenaars, F., and Hampden-Turner, C. (1998) Riding the Waves of Culture: Understanding Diversity in Global Business. 2nd edn. McGraw-Hill: New York Watson, C.V. (2002). Multiculturalism. Open University Press, Philadelphia Online Resources: Iamaceo (2011) â€Å"IKEA brand success strategy† http://www.iamaceo.com/marketing/ikea-brand-success-strategy/ Assessed on the 23rd of February 2011 IKEA (2011) â€Å"Student Information† http://www.ikea.com/ms/en_GB/about_ikea/press_room/student_info.html Assessed on the 24th of February 2011 IKEA Dubai (2011) â€Å"Jobs at IKEA† http://www.ikeadubai.com/content/careers.asp Assessed on the 25th of February 2011 A future with us (2011) â€Å"Jobs at IKEA† http://www.afuturewithus.com/careers/al-futtaim/home.aspx Assessed on the 25th of February 2011 IKEA (2011) â€Å"Join us† http://www.ikea.com/ms/en_US/jobs/join_us/ikea_values/index.html Assessed on the 26th of February 2011 How to cite SWOT analysis of IKEA, Essay examples

Sovereignty and Treaties free essay sample

Sovereignty and Treaties Before going into the exploration of the article and how it pertains to sovereignty and treaties, lets define those two terms. Sovereignty can be described as a state having complete control over its boundaries. According to our book, (pg 40) sovereignty includes such essentials as self-determination, non-intervention, and equality. Sovereignty also pertains to a state’s right to equality, existence, external independence, self-defense, and territorial supremacy. Pg 181). A treaty is an agreement made by two or more countries to follow a pact or a certain set of rules, or anything to what those countries agree to in that particular treaty, I think in a way a treaty made between two or more countries helps to guard and protect the countries sovereignty, by establishing some agreements to help with factors such as equality, existence, self-defense and territorial supremacy. These definitions lead us into seeing how Japan broke its obligation to provide information to the IAEA, under the Convention on Early Notification of a Nuclear Accident, which was an agreement that was formed after the whole situation in Chernobyl. We will write a custom essay sample on Sovereignty and Treaties or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Japan’s noncompliance is causing a lot of issues and problems, leading us to see how not following the agreements made the sovereignty of the state is affected, meaning that when one country doesn’t comply with the agreements made the sovereignty of the state is at stake. International Atomic Agency is supposed to be controlling the nuclear disaster in Japan, but because Japan is not very cooperative in providing information to this Agency, the Agency cannot do a very good job in controlling the whole situation. There is clearly a miscommunication problem here. In order to prevent disasters such as the one that happened in Chernobyl in 1986 where many people suffered and died it is crucial to stay on top of the situation and what exactly is happening, but since the Agency cannot receive the complete prognosis and information from Japan, it cannot asses the whole situation that is happening in the country right now. Due to this communication problem, analyzing and assessing how big the problem in Japan is a very difficult task for the Atomic Energy Agency, ince Japan is not holding up to it’s end of agreement. Because Japan is not honoring the agreement the sovereignty is suffering, treaties in a way help to make pacts that help in establishing countries boundaries, helping with many aspects of sovereignty, and according to this article Japan is not honoring the agreement, which is causing problems on many levels, it doesn’t just affect the agency, it affects the whole country, and it’s sovereignty. If the problems are not reported correctly and on a timely basis, it will be much more difficult to control or fix them. The issues in Japan are very serious, a potential environmental disaster, an earthquake and tsunami that damaged nuclear reactors can destroy the country eventually if no measures will be taken, and it is crucial to remember that before any measures can be taken, the correct information needs to be received, Japan needs to improve its communication for it’s own countries good. The sovereignty of the country is at stake here. International Atomic Energy Agency feels an obligation to protect Japan, but it cannot do so if the information that the Agency needs is not supplied on a timely basis, or is not supplied at all. The Agency first and foremost worries about the safety of the country and it’s people in a situation like this. When the agency is not able to receive that information it cannot do what it is meant to do, it cannot protect the country and the sovereignty of the country gets affected also, the country suffers and a catastrophe is most likely to happen, just like the one in Chernobyl in 1986, if something like this were to happen in Japan it would take years to restore the country back to it’s original form, to regain it’s sovereignty and it’s strength, so it is really important to remember that anything and everything a country does or doesn’t do affects it’s sovereignty in one way or the other. Treaties are agreements that are made to better the countries and it’s relationships with one another, and if those treaties are not followed by a country, in this particular instance Japan, it says a lot about that country, and how it handles itself in critical situations like this, once an agreement is made it should be taken seriously and looked at with responsibility and Japan should step up and hold its end of agreement to report to the Agency on a timely basis what exactly is happening in the country at the moment.

Woodrow Wilson Revolution, War and peace Essay Example

Woodrow Wilson: Revolution, War and peace Essay After reading Arthur S. Links â€Å"Woodrow Wilson: Revolution, War and peace† and N. Gordon Levin, Jr’s â€Å"Woodrow Wilson and World Politics: America’s Response to War and Revolution† I felt that historians have begun to forget, or at least try, the problems this president had during his time of office.   But one must remember that Thomas Woodrow Wilson is the only chief executive who has given scholarly attention to the presidency before undertaking the duties of that office and his close attention to developments in American politics gave rise to his idealism of spreading democratic capitalism to every corner of the world.   In Levin’s book he paid closer attention to the period of 1917 to 1919 when Wilson led Congress, his administration and the entire American people in one of the speediest and most successful mobilizations for war in history.   The author discusses how Wilson’s ideology, like Link, in persuaded the public, stil l badly divided over the wisdom of participation.   Wilson established the Committee on Public Information to undertake a nationwide program to convince Americans that they were fighting for justice, peace, democracy and their own security in the world.   But in Link’s book the focus was more on events after WWI and in my opinion gave a better understanding of Wilson’s idealism than Levin.   Wilson set an example of leadership, both of public opinion and of Congress that challenges every incumbent of the White House.   His reconstruction of the American political economy still survives in all its important features and that was Wilson’s conviction that the state and federal governments should work actively to protect the weak and disadvantaged remains the main theme of Democratic politics. With Link’s book the author had the opportunity to reappraise of his earlier judgments.   He invites the reader to decide whether â€Å"Woodrow Wilson: Revolution, War, and Peace† represents a more mature understanding of Wilson the diplomatist than what most historians have written in the past, including Link.   One cannot forget what has been written in the past on this president, but certainly one should take the past accounts and blend it with more recent accounts and be able to come up with a clearer picture of Wilson.   The book frequently corrects earlier judgments that historians and Link had and has very tight arguments supporting his writings.   Most of the book has been thoroughly recast and almost invariably the changes have made for greater coherence and incisiveness.   Still, in the process of seeking to distill a lifetime’s study of Wilson into a brief volume, Link has sometimes avoided his critics rather than meeting them head on. We will write a custom essay sample on Woodrow Wilson: Revolution, War and peace specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Woodrow Wilson: Revolution, War and peace specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Woodrow Wilson: Revolution, War and peace specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer Overall this book is far more positive than most written on Wilson including other books Link has written on Wilson’s performance as a foreign policy maker.   The respective first chapters are particularly revealing.   In 1957, Wilson is shown coming to the White House scarcely prepared to come to grips with the challenges of foreign affairs.   In 1979, Link writes that he â€Å"came to the presidency with better training for conduct of foreign affairs than any Chief Executive since John Quincy Adams†.   Earlier there is a substantial section on those assumptions and convictions which impaired Wilson’s conduct of foreign relations; now that section is an almost parenthetical interjection in a catalogue of Wilson’s skills and virtues.   Where originally Wilson’s â€Å"extreme individualism† in conducting foreign affairs is attributable in part to his â€Å"urge to dominate† and â€Å"egotism†, now these forces are disco unted.   Readers will differ in their reactions to these changes.   I found that while finding the present assessment somewhat too much the case for the defense, admires the long and meticulous study of Wilson that has led Link to quality some of his earlier generalizations. The critique of Wilsonian diplomacy in recent times of colonialism was termed by Levin as â€Å"atavistic imperialism†.   Link does acknowledge in his opening chapter the contribution of Levin and of Carl Parrini in delineating Wilson’s contribution to economic expansionism as a hallmark of modern American diplomacy.   But that brief comment is curiously missing from the rest of Link’s analysis.   Link’s book, whose title suggests that Wilson’s attitude toward â€Å"revolution† will be explored, there is little to indicate that Wilson’s support of revolutionary change was less than unbounded, especially when such change seemed to threaten either American standards of constitutionalism or American economic hegemony.   And in a discussion of the â€Å"liberal peace program† little is said of the economic underpinnings of such a program.   All this is by no means to suggest that an economic interpretation of Wilsonianism does justice to Wilson’s leadership, merely that Link who generally labors so hard to show Wilson’s complexity does less well when lining the ideological makeup of Wilson and the nation he led.   I did like the direct responses by Link to the controversial interpretation of Wilsonian diplomacy by Edward Parsons and the critique of Wilson’s notion of â€Å"collective security† by Roland Stromberg and others. In Levin’s book he argues that Wilson’s foreign policy was marked by a major effort to avoid the dangers to America from both the European nationalism of the Right and Lennin’s revolutionary radicalism of the Left.   American nationalism isn’t without implications abroad.   Levin’s work masks the relativity of American history as an ideology into a universal; it is easy to assume that it can be instantly relevant to all societies.   The kind of absolutist evaluation of European experience, which we have seen at work in the American response to nineteenth-century revolutions, can be reflected in an aggressive outlook on the world plane.   I suppose Wilson, with his fond hope that Europe could be immediately democratized and Americanized after the First World War, will always stand as the classic symbol of this view.   Levin writes of the historic coincidence of Wilson and Lenin.   For if Wilson dreamt of the American projection in terms o f Europe and the peace treaty, the messianism he represented gradually became, as the Bolshevik Revolution expanded, one of the main American responses to it. In its most modern form this messianism, Levin discusses, not only projects the nationalist absolutism but some of the very historic illusions that I have been discussing.   Nothing proves more vividly the way in which nationalism fails to solve the analytic problem than its capacity to nourish the distortions of our history, which arises from a forgetfulness of its origin.   The author often implies that Americans are the traditionally true revolutionaries of the world.   Giving the reader the idea that revolution is precisely what America has been given to export.   There is a sense in which American bourgeois culture has been permanently revolutionary.   We are capable of destroying landscapes and reconstructing them, of tearing down buildings and creating new ones, on a scale vaster than any to be found in the world.   And in fact this very drive has nourished the immensity of our industrial achievement.   But while in an odd sense it is revolutionary, the author di scusses, that this orientation flows itself from the emancipations that the initial migration engendered, from the escape from the traditional European order.   It is when the middle class is unrestrained by even a memory of feudalism, when it Puritan intensities are given utterly free reign; that we get the American initiative. Levin and Link both discuss how Woodrow Wilson believed that American foreign policy should aim to spread democratic capitalism around the globe.   As well as his belief that democratic capitalists countries would go into eschew war, uplift their populations accept American leadership and open their markets to American trade and investment.   With the outcome being a peaceful capitalist world order regulated by morality and international law, where American firms could sell their surpluses and make productive investments.   But the main threats to this vision are reactionary imperialism on the right and communist revolution on the left.   â€Å"Woodrow Wilson and World Politics† shows how Wilson’s worldview played out in Germany, Russia and the Far East in the aftermath of World War I.   It is based on solid archival work and is alive to the nuances and ambiguities of real world foreign policy.   The book is mainly a treatment of Wilsonian ideology and its a pplication in specific cases.   It is not a detailed reconstruction of Woodrow Wilson’s entire foreign policy. Levin discusses Wilson’s wide ranging program to create a liberal democratic world order under American leadership.   As the author demonstrates, many other factors, apart from the difference in the worldviews of Wilson were responsible for the transformation.   The humanization of U.S. capitalism in the course of the reforms of â€Å"the progressive era† supplemented the growing economic and military potential of the United States with factors of mild power, thereby lending new attractiveness to the American model and enhancing the belief in its moral and functional superiority over competitors in the Old World and in the universality of its underlying principals.   Wilsonism vs. Malkov traces an organic link between the reforms of the new freedom and Wilson’s foreign policy project, which for the first time ever linked U. S. security directly to the establishment of a new world order under the United States.   Wilson maintained that it would be an order that would rely on consensus rather than a balance of forces.   Just as domestic reformism, the new world order was to become a constructive alternative to the discredited and reactionary old order and revolutionary transformations in the spirit of left-radical utopias, on the other.   Although Wilson’s global project largely remained on paper, Levin discusses, the very idea of a linkage of U.S. interests with the democratic transformation of the world formed the basis of the liberal internationalist paradigm as the most important component of the entire foreign policy tradition of the United States. As America’s next step toward a democratic empire the author discusses the period of the world economic crisis, the New Deal, World War II and the first postwar years.   The author points out that during these truly epoch making decades the country went through several qualitative states and the chaos and the decay of the Great Depression, a dramatic experiment to restructure American capitalism in a radical way, the mobilization of the nation’s forces in a coalition war against fascism, a drastic thrust to new worldwide might and the establishment of the foundations of the postwar world.   Levin presents an interesting re-interpretation of Wilson’s foreign relations.   Without much thought about the consequences of his actions, Levin argues, Wilson early on adopted policies clearly favorable to the Allies in World War II.   Once on this course, the president grew ever more committed to it as he came to equate American prestige and the la of humanity with confronting Germany’s submarine campaign in the Atlantic.   Levin criticizes this posture, asserting it was bound to undermine Wilson’s own goals of staying out of the war, mediating a peace without victory, and building a new international order based on the League of Nations. Link asserts that Wilson’s goals would have been better served by a policy that combined strict neutrality with measures of preparedness.   This approach might have gained the respect of the belligerents and contributed to a deadlock in conflict with two developments conducive to the aim of ending the war with American mediation.   But the author gave a thoughtful and detailed analysis of the concept of neutrality in the neutrality in the international system, a technical but vital topic missing from most books on Wilson’s wartime diplomacy.   For all of the positive qualities of Levin’s book, however some aspects of his interpretations are problematic.   The author downplays Wilson’s fears of German power by emphasizing that any concerns the president had on this score were far outweighed by his desire to avoid American entry into the war.   In my view, this argument tends to obscure Wilson’s conviction that a German victory would threate n American national security, a conviction that shaped not only his neutrality policy but also his approach to peace terms.   Levin also devotes too little attention to Wilson’s preparedness policy.   Even though one of his claims is that Wilson should have embarked upon a defense build up soon after the war started rather than waiting.   Readers are thus left with little sense of how Wilson related his military policy to his diplomacy. In both books the authors agreed that the United States was ill prepared for war, a condition for which Wilson carried a heavy share of responsibility, but once in war he displayed outstanding qualities of leadership.   Woodrow Wilson was qualified in the highest degree for a career in public affairs by his personal and mental qualities and especially by his sense of responsibility to the public welfare.   To those who worked with him and under him, he displayed a magnetic personality.   He was genial, humorous and considerate and had broad cultural interests.   From his subordinates he had admiration and affection, but in dealing with men whom he did not like or trust he could not capitalize upon his personal assets. The depth of idealistic fervor gave force to his political leadership, which was further strengthened by his outstanding oratorical capacity, but the intensity of that fervor crippled his ability for effective compromise.   He was impatient of partisan opposition, and there was much of the intolerant Calvinist in his refusal to deviate from the path that he believed himself appointed by providence to tread.   His illusion that the nobility of ideals would suffice to obliterate the stubborn facts of political life took his international policy down the road to bankruptcy.   Though a great leader, he laced the political intuition and deftness that strengthened his contribution to the peace conference and brought his country into the League of Nations. Woodrow Wilson Revolution, War and peace Essay Example Woodrow Wilson: Revolution, War and peace Paper After reading Arthur S. Links â€Å"Woodrow Wilson: Revolution, War and peace† and N. Gordon Levin, Jr’s â€Å"Woodrow Wilson and World Politics: America’s Response to War and Revolution† I felt that historians have begun to forget, or at least try, the problems this president had during his time of office.   But one must remember that Thomas Woodrow Wilson is the only chief executive who has given scholarly attention to the presidency before undertaking the duties of that office and his close attention to developments in American politics gave rise to his idealism of spreading democratic capitalism to every corner of the world.   In Levin’s book he paid closer attention to the period of 1917 to 1919 when Wilson led Congress, his administration and the entire American people in one of the speediest and most successful mobilizations for war in history.   The author discusses how Wilson’s ideology, like Link, in persuaded the public, stil l badly divided over the wisdom of participation.   Wilson established the Committee on Public Information to undertake a nationwide program to convince Americans that they were fighting for justice, peace, democracy and their own security in the world.   But in Link’s book the focus was more on events after WWI and in my opinion gave a better understanding of Wilson’s idealism than Levin.   Wilson set an example of leadership, both of public opinion and of Congress that challenges every incumbent of the White House.   His reconstruction of the American political economy still survives in all its important features and that was Wilson’s conviction that the state and federal governments should work actively to protect the weak and disadvantaged remains the main theme of Democratic politics. With Link’s book the author had the opportunity to reappraise of his earlier judgments.   He invites the reader to decide whether â€Å"Woodrow Wilson: Revolution, War, and Peace† represents a more mature understanding of Wilson the diplomatist than what most historians have written in the past, including Link.   One cannot forget what has been written in the past on this president, but certainly one should take the past accounts and blend it with more recent accounts and be able to come up with a clearer picture of Wilson.   The book frequently corrects earlier judgments that historians and Link had and has very tight arguments supporting his writings.   Most of the book has been thoroughly recast and almost invariably the changes have made for greater coherence and incisiveness.   Still, in the process of seeking to distill a lifetime’s study of Wilson into a brief volume, Link has sometimes avoided his critics rather than meeting them head on. We will write a custom essay sample on Woodrow Wilson: Revolution, War and peace specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Woodrow Wilson: Revolution, War and peace specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Woodrow Wilson: Revolution, War and peace specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer Overall this book is far more positive than most written on Wilson including other books Link has written on Wilson’s performance as a foreign policy maker.   The respective first chapters are particularly revealing.   In 1957, Wilson is shown coming to the White House scarcely prepared to come to grips with the challenges of foreign affairs.   In 1979, Link writes that he â€Å"came to the presidency with better training for conduct of foreign affairs than any Chief Executive since John Quincy Adams†.   Earlier there is a substantial section on those assumptions and convictions which impaired Wilson’s conduct of foreign relations; now that section is an almost parenthetical interjection in a catalogue of Wilson’s skills and virtues.   Where originally Wilson’s â€Å"extreme individualism† in conducting foreign affairs is attributable in part to his â€Å"urge to dominate† and â€Å"egotism†, now these forces are disco unted.   Readers will differ in their reactions to these changes.   I found that while finding the present assessment somewhat too much the case for the defense, admires the long and meticulous study of Wilson that has led Link to quality some of his earlier generalizations. The critique of Wilsonian diplomacy in recent times of colonialism was termed by Levin as â€Å"atavistic imperialism†.   Link does acknowledge in his opening chapter the contribution of Levin and of Carl Parrini in delineating Wilson’s contribution to economic expansionism as a hallmark of modern American diplomacy.   But that brief comment is curiously missing from the rest of Link’s analysis.   Link’s book, whose title suggests that Wilson’s attitude toward â€Å"revolution† will be explored, there is little to indicate that Wilson’s support of revolutionary change was less than unbounded, especially when such change seemed to threaten either American standards of constitutionalism or American economic hegemony.   And in a discussion of the â€Å"liberal peace program† little is said of the economic underpinnings of such a program.   All this is by no means to suggest that an economic interpretation of Wilsonianism does justice to Wilson’s leadership, merely that Link who generally labors so hard to show Wilson’s complexity does less well when lining the ideological makeup of Wilson and the nation he led.   I did like the direct responses by Link to the controversial interpretation of Wilsonian diplomacy by Edward Parsons and the critique of Wilson’s notion of â€Å"collective security† by Roland Stromberg and others. In Levin’s book he argues that Wilson’s foreign policy was marked by a major effort to avoid the dangers to America from both the European nationalism of the Right and Lennin’s revolutionary radicalism of the Left.   American nationalism isn’t without implications abroad.   Levin’s work masks the relativity of American history as an ideology into a universal; it is easy to assume that it can be instantly relevant to all societies.   The kind of absolutist evaluation of European experience, which we have seen at work in the American response to nineteenth-century revolutions, can be reflected in an aggressive outlook on the world plane.   I suppose Wilson, with his fond hope that Europe could be immediately democratized and Americanized after the First World War, will always stand as the classic symbol of this view.   Levin writes of the historic coincidence of Wilson and Lenin.   For if Wilson dreamt of the American projection in terms o f Europe and the peace treaty, the messianism he represented gradually became, as the Bolshevik Revolution expanded, one of the main American responses to it. In its most modern form this messianism, Levin discusses, not only projects the nationalist absolutism but some of the very historic illusions that I have been discussing.   Nothing proves more vividly the way in which nationalism fails to solve the analytic problem than its capacity to nourish the distortions of our history, which arises from a forgetfulness of its origin.   The author often implies that Americans are the traditionally true revolutionaries of the world.   Giving the reader the idea that revolution is precisely what America has been given to export.   There is a sense in which American bourgeois culture has been permanently revolutionary.   We are capable of destroying landscapes and reconstructing them, of tearing down buildings and creating new ones, on a scale vaster than any to be found in the world.   And in fact this very drive has nourished the immensity of our industrial achievement.   But while in an odd sense it is revolutionary, the author di scusses, that this orientation flows itself from the emancipations that the initial migration engendered, from the escape from the traditional European order.   It is when the middle class is unrestrained by even a memory of feudalism, when it Puritan intensities are given utterly free reign; that we get the American initiative. Levin and Link both discuss how Woodrow Wilson believed that American foreign policy should aim to spread democratic capitalism around the globe.   As well as his belief that democratic capitalists countries would go into eschew war, uplift their populations accept American leadership and open their markets to American trade and investment.   With the outcome being a peaceful capitalist world order regulated by morality and international law, where American firms could sell their surpluses and make productive investments.   But the main threats to this vision are reactionary imperialism on the right and communist revolution on the left.   â€Å"Woodrow Wilson and World Politics† shows how Wilson’s worldview played out in Germany, Russia and the Far East in the aftermath of World War I.   It is based on solid archival work and is alive to the nuances and ambiguities of real world foreign policy.   The book is mainly a treatment of Wilsonian ideology and its a pplication in specific cases.   It is not a detailed reconstruction of Woodrow Wilson’s entire foreign policy. Levin discusses Wilson’s wide ranging program to create a liberal democratic world order under American leadership.   As the author demonstrates, many other factors, apart from the difference in the worldviews of Wilson were responsible for the transformation.   The humanization of U.S. capitalism in the course of the reforms of â€Å"the progressive era† supplemented the growing economic and military potential of the United States with factors of mild power, thereby lending new attractiveness to the American model and enhancing the belief in its moral and functional superiority over competitors in the Old World and in the universality of its underlying principals.   Wilsonism vs. Malkov traces an organic link between the reforms of the new freedom and Wilson’s foreign policy project, which for the first time ever linked U. S. security directly to the establishment of a new world order under the United States.   Wilson maintained that it would be an order that would rely on consensus rather than a balance of forces.   Just as domestic reformism, the new world order was to become a constructive alternative to the discredited and reactionary old order and revolutionary transformations in the spirit of left-radical utopias, on the other.   Although Wilson’s global project largely remained on paper, Levin discusses, the very idea of a linkage of U.S. interests with the democratic transformation of the world formed the basis of the liberal internationalist paradigm as the most important component of the entire foreign policy tradition of the United States. As America’s next step toward a democratic empire the author discusses the period of the world economic crisis, the New Deal, World War II and the first postwar years.   The author points out that during these truly epoch making decades the country went through several qualitative states and the chaos and the decay of the Great Depression, a dramatic experiment to restructure American capitalism in a radical way, the mobilization of the nation’s forces in a coalition war against fascism, a drastic thrust to new worldwide might and the establishment of the foundations of the postwar world.   Levin presents an interesting re-interpretation of Wilson’s foreign relations.   Without much thought about the consequences of his actions, Levin argues, Wilson early on adopted policies clearly favorable to the Allies in World War II.   Once on this course, the president grew ever more committed to it as he came to equate American prestige and the la of humanity with confronting Germany’s submarine campaign in the Atlantic.   Levin criticizes this posture, asserting it was bound to undermine Wilson’s own goals of staying out of the war, mediating a peace without victory, and building a new international order based on the League of Nations. Link asserts that Wilson’s goals would have been better served by a policy that combined strict neutrality with measures of preparedness.   This approach might have gained the respect of the belligerents and contributed to a deadlock in conflict with two developments conducive to the aim of ending the war with American mediation.   But the author gave a thoughtful and detailed analysis of the concept of neutrality in the neutrality in the international system, a technical but vital topic missing from most books on Wilson’s wartime diplomacy.   For all of the positive qualities of Levin’s book, however some aspects of his interpretations are problematic.   The author downplays Wilson’s fears of German power by emphasizing that any concerns the president had on this score were far outweighed by his desire to avoid American entry into the war.   In my view, this argument tends to obscure Wilson’s conviction that a German victory would threate n American national security, a conviction that shaped not only his neutrality policy but also his approach to peace terms.   Levin also devotes too little attention to Wilson’s preparedness policy.   Even though one of his claims is that Wilson should have embarked upon a defense build up soon after the war started rather than waiting.   Readers are thus left with little sense of how Wilson related his military policy to his diplomacy. In both books the authors agreed that the United States was ill prepared for war, a condition for which Wilson carried a heavy share of responsibility, but once in war he displayed outstanding qualities of leadership.   Woodrow Wilson was qualified in the highest degree for a career in public affairs by his personal and mental qualities and especially by his sense of responsibility to the public welfare.   To those who worked with him and under him, he displayed a magnetic personality.   He was genial, humorous and considerate and had broad cultural interests.   From his subordinates he had admiration and affection, but in dealing with men whom he did not like or trust he could not capitalize upon his personal assets. The depth of idealistic fervor gave force to his political leadership, which was further strengthened by his outstanding oratorical capacity, but the intensity of that fervor crippled his ability for effective compromise.   He was impatient of partisan opposition, and there was much of the intolerant Calvinist in his refusal to deviate from the path that he believed himself appointed by providence to tread.   His illusion that the nobility of ideals would suffice to obliterate the stubborn facts of political life took his international policy down the road to bankruptcy.   Though a great leader, he laced the political intuition and deftness that strengthened his contribution to the peace conference and brought his country into the League of Nations.

Benefits of Having an Online Presence for Your Business Essay Example

Benefits of Having an Online Presence for Your Business Essay Example Benefits of Having an Online Presence for Your Business Paper Benefits of Having an Online Presence for Your Business Paper The different benefits a business may receive all varies with different aspects, such as the size of the business and what kind of business is being run. For example, a small organisation may want to buy it stock from the internet which will drastically reduce the amount they have to pay and the amount of space for the storage of these supplies. However, a business that is already online such as Apple would like to increase their number of customers, sales and profit. Market Presence A lot of public and voluntary sector organisations use the internet to widen their profile and to get more people to be aware of the services they provide. This is a very popular way of promoting their organisation. The benefits of trading using online means are very simple. Global Presence The presence is on a global scale as the webpage used for the company can be visited or viewed by anyone in the world, from any country. This will productively increase the amount of customers, potential sales and promotion for the business. Small companys benefit from this the most. 24 Hour Visibility Unlike shops, websites are on all the time, non-stop 24 hours a day seen days a week so it can be visited at any time which is very helpful, plus this is really good on a global basis as different countries have different time zones. Equality of Presence Regardless of Size of Business A customer who visits online services doesnt judge the company whether its small, medium or large but instead judges on the quality of service, the attraction of the site and on how easy the website is to use. So on paper, a small business can be a strong competitor for medium and large businesses and can even attract more customers. Rapidity of response to customer interest You can respond to a customer quicker when having an online webpage, but it is not been used effectively by some organisations. Websites can provide new, quick and easy ways to contact their customers. An important part of this feature is quick replies. Statistics show that online customers expect very fast responses to their messages and orders. This is good customer service. If the company does not respond or takes too long to reply this can make it very unpopular and lose it potential customers and sales. To insure this does not happen companies can hire staff for this specific task or it can use an automated system. Opportunities to analyse Online Competitors It is much more simple and fast to spy or see how and what your competitors are doing online then actually going to the store to compare your business to theirs. Long before a business has gone online it should check out the online webpages of all of its main competing businesses. So you can see the layout of their webpage, the size of it and what it has in it. This is to ensure your webpage is to a similar level or even better. Also take in mind your competitors can also spy on your company once you are online. The task at hand is to get your webpage at the top of its game and to keep it there. Marketing Benefits This is the advantages receives for knowing more about its customers, contacting them more rapidly and more simply and offering every aspect to their customers needs. Collecting market research information from online enquiries There are a lot of ways were companies can retrieve users information from its website: Using log files and cookies: Both of these methods collect data using the usage of the site by the users, this can provide the business with very important marketing information. Users can block cookies so there not accepted but many sites refuse to work without cookies. However, all sites produce log files. These are files made by the web server that hosts the website. They give information like how many people have visited the site and how long they visited the site for. Website activity software: This produces more information from the log files. It can also tell you which search engine are the best at attracting customers for your business. They can find out using website activity software, which is the favourite of the pages and which one is least liked. Registration and order forms: Many sites ask users to register or make an account; this is so they can access users information. They also offer users an extra thing if they agree to receive regular emails from the site for example a special offer on an item. This offers the site owners with valiable information about the user that they can use. Access to new markets When taking your business online no matter the size of your business, you will be able to grow to reach a wider range of potential customers. Remote locations The internet has become a new way of buying with out the need to exit your home. This means customers can purchese wanted items from the comfort of there house, no matter how far the shopping centre is, this provides those who live in locations which are almost blocked out such as, the islands around the United Kingdom have a much larger selection of goods and services to be provided to them. Customers with travel difficulties People who live in urban areas, have cost problems, mothers with young babies and even the elderly find it very easy to order online as they have difficulties traveling around to get what they need or want. So buying online is their favourite choice especially when the weather is not particulary good which many times is the case. Poor Transport links In many areas, especially small rural areas, the bus services are hardly available or they are really bad and train services are almost unseen or used. While in special moments using such services should be worth getting most amounts of time quick and easy online purcheses are much more painless and time consuming. Customers with disabilities and can not travel at all will find shopping online a very important invention as this makes it unbelivably easy for them. Access from a wide range of devices Modern day technology has made it easy to shop from anywhere on the go. Smart devices such as internet phones or PDAs or Pocket PCs have provided customers an even simpler and quicker way to shop from absloutly any where and any time. Level of response The speed of a companys response and how many customers they can respond to at one given time have factors which affect it such as; Sales features This can either mean home delivery, delivery to a different adress then the buyers or the option to pick when you as a customer want the item to be delivered. Access from a wide range of devices This would mean making the site with different servers to support multiple devices not only PCs. This would mean making it smaller and easier to use in handheld devices such as mobile phones and ipads or other advanced technology. Access out of business hours Help pages which are previously written to answer the most asked questions, or a blogging page where customers can answer each others questions and help each other, would mean that customers can get 24 hour assistance daily without the need of a member of the staff team being in attendance. Access from around the world Business who plan to sell globaly or plan to provide services on a global scale can do so in a quick and easy way online and customers can access the information they need from anywhere in the world. Rapid response to orders and enquires Email services and the usage of customers needing to register means the responce can be far more quick. Websites that sell such as ebay, not only use email providers to message you they also have there own messaging service which would mean far more quicker response and the chance of the customer spotting it a lot more higher. Online order tracking Postages can be tracked and followed on a real life time map which follows the journey of the delivery of the customers order. This is done by attaching a tracking device or chip to the postage. Customers can follow this progress on either partner websites or the website having there own application which shows them this information. Financial advantages Improved cash flow through fewer bad debts Less thefts and tricks can be used if it is online. As the customer has to provide the debit or credit card details before purchase and the money is taking off accordingly to the delivery of the item in the b2c transactions you will not have to worry about not being paid or being tricked as much. Freedom of low-cost location Having a complete online business will mean you can have your delivery head quarters or base in cheap locations. For example, HMV and Tesco have theres in Jersey which has lower tax then the one in the UK which means they save money. Lower overheads The amount of staff needed are much more less in an online business, so less pay checks will mean more money for the company. Online companies use call centres to help customers even these can be automatic and previously recorded. This can greatly save a business in cost. Rapid payment To be able to purchase items online you need to make payments quickly, one click payments. This will mean a business can govern there money and control there cash flow with more ease and it will disable the need to loan money. No expensive cash handling The seller doesnt have real cash to deal with instead the money is transferred from the buyers account to the sellers bank account. This will protect seller against fraud or theft and make it easier to sort your money out plus the cost of storing the cash out is removed. Ease of entry Making your entrance into a new and a wider scaled market is far easier online. The internet has provided small business with huge posibilities to grow like the big organisations and it offers them the chance to compete with them and maybe get further and more larger then them.

New Place, Shakespeares Home in Stratford-upon-Avon

New Place, Shakespeares Home in Stratford-upon-Avon ​When Shakespeare retired from London around 1610, he spent the last few years of his life in New Place, one of Stratford-upon-Avon’s largest houses, which he purchased in 1597. Unlike Shakespeare’s birthplace on Henley Street, New Place was pulled down in the 18th century. Today, Shakespeare fans can still visit the site of the house which has now been turned into an Elizabethan garden. Nash’s House, the building next door, still remains and serves as a museum dedicated to Tudor life and New Place. Both sites are cared for by the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust.​ New Place New Place, once described as a â€Å"pretty house of brick and timber,† was built towards the end of the 15th century and bought by Shakespeare in 1597 although he did not live there until his retirement from London in 1610. On display in the adjoining museum is a sketch of New Place by George Vertue showing the main house (where Shakespeare lived) enclosed by a courtyard. These street-facing buildings would have been the servant’s quarters. Francis Gastrell New Place was demolished and rebuilt in 1702 by the new owner. The house was rebuilt in brick and stone but it only survived another 57 years. In 1759, the new owner, Reverend Francis Gastrell, quarreled with the town authorities over taxation and Gastrell had the house permanently demolished in 1759. New Place was never again rebuilt and only the foundations of the house remain. Shakespeare’s Mulberry Tree Gastrell also caused controversy when he removed Shakespeare’s mulberry tree. It is said that Shakespeare planted a mulberry tree in the gardens of New Place, which posthumously attracted visitors. Gastrell complained that it made the house damp and he had it chopped for firewood or perhaps Gastrell wanted to deter the visitors! Thomas Sharpe, an enterprising local clockmaker and carpenter, bought most of the wood and carved Shakespeare mementos from it. The museum in Nash’s House displays some of the artifacts said to be made from Shakespeare’s mulberry tree.

Market Article Analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Market Article Analysis - Essay Example The growth of mobile marketing upon which the Sorofman is stressing upon in his article can be substantiated by the following facts; There are 5x many cell phones in the world than PCs (Conner, 2013) 91% of adults keep their smart-phones within arm’s reach (Conner, 2013) By the end of 2013, there will be more mobile connected devices than there are people on earth (Brenner, 2013) The above mentioned facts authenticate the notion that mobile marketing has the tendency to emerge as the most powerful communication tool; with significant reach. It can be credited with innovative ways to connect with consumers and in giving a sales boost. A research conducted by Forrester Research in January 2013, depicts the increasing number of mobile commerce sales via smart-phones in American market (Siwicki,  2013). The author has further explained certain ‘ground rules’ to carry out an effective mobile marketing plan. He explains that bombarding smart-phone users with marketing content, by using location-based marketing, as soon as they enter a particular vicinity might be interpreted as ‘creepy’ and might be just simply ignored. ... Not to mention, that it might also dilute a brand’s image. This requires an integrated and holistic approach towards the marketing plan. Neil Richardson suggests that by adopting mobile marketing the marcomm activity would more effective, if the business’s website is accessible through a mobile phone. Because the consumers would not have to wait to log into their PCs or they would not have to take out specific time to go through a business website (Richardson, 2010) The businesses have to properly segment their potential market and identify the target audience, who should be specifically targeted. The nature of the content has to be carved out keeping in mind a particular set of target audience. Such a strategy has to be embedded in the overall communication plan of a brand. If the brands rely too heavily on discharging messages across fragmented media without adopting a properly devised strategy, then it might result have adverse affects such as; Wastage of time, costs , labor Misinterpretation of message Reaching wrong audience Reaching the right audience but failure to convey the message in the right way (Lieb, 2012) Sorofman has rightly said in his article that a combination of tools should be used rather than being â€Å"mono-focused†. This argument can be further supported by what Rachael Pashqua suggests in his book named ‘Mobile Marketing: An Hour a Day’ to integrate SMS in the overall marketing strategy of the firm (Pashqua & Elkin, 2013). This does not imply that the traditional mediums should be entirely ignored. The idea is to find a strategic fit between the traditional medium and the new mobile tools. The fundamentals of both the mediums should be well understood and its effects on customer response

Analyse the structure of the UK supermarket sector Assignment

Analyse the structure of the UK supermarket sector - Assignment Example According to the UK Retail Food Sector Market Brief, supermarkets made up for about 6400 stores with an estimated value of 98 billion pounds in 2008 (Sainsburys And Waitrose UK Supermarkets Porters 5 Forces Competitive Advantage, 2009). The UK grocery market has increased to 133.3 billion pound in 2007, which accounts for a 4 percent increase from that of 2006 (Nicholson, 2008, p. 3-4). The major supermarkets that occupy the bulk of the market share (almost 75 percent) are Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda (owned by American retailer Wal-Mart) and Morrison’s. These are commonly known as the â€Å"Big Four†. The other retail chains include Marks and Spencer (UK’s biggest clothing marketer), Waitrose, Somerfield, Budgens, Netto Iceland, Aldi, and Lidl. Tesco is the largest non-food market chain in the UK which includes outlets like Extra, Homeplus, Metro and others. Each of these retailers focuses on some particular market section. Tesco for instance, marks the middle market offering economy as well as expensive products. Compared to Tesco, Sainsbury’s targets a little up-market while, Asda, a Wal-Mart chain and Morrison’s focus a little down-market. Even Somerfield operate at the sam e level as Asda and the others namely, Budgens, Iceland, Aldi, Netto and Lidl are all price-focused retailers. Waitrose, a John Lewis Partnership, is however the most up-market retailer among all. Discount retailing has become a growing division of the grocery retailing in UK and Tesco ad Asda contest a strong competition in this field. Among them, the top position is occupied by Tesco, with a market share of 31.4 percent which is quite ahead of the other retail chains. Second to Tesco is Asda with a market share of 17.1 percent followed by Sainsbury’s occupying the third position. It covers 15.7 percent of the total market. Morrison’s rank last among the four with a market share of 11.2 percent (Nicholson, 2008, p. 6-7). The market structure exhibited by the