The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 3 Words: 898 Downloads: 5 Date added: 2019/05/13 Category Literature Essay Level High school Tags: Grapes of Wrath Essay Did you like this example? Chapter 6 Carry on, Wayward Tortoise At the disheveled Joad’s house, Tom Joad and Jim Casy meet a familiar face, Muley Graves, who informs the two that Tom’s family was tractored off the land and they’re at Uncle John’s shack. The three decide to set up camp at the house, cook up some rabbits that Muley caught, and head to Uncle John’s in the morning. A car’s headlights illuminate the road which set the men into action as they dive into the fields of cotton, avoiding the accusation of them being trespassers. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck" essay for you Create order â€Å" ‘Hell, I forgot the turtle. I ain’t gonna pack it all over hell.’ He unwrapped the land turtle and pushed it under the house. But in a moment it was out, headed southwest as it had been from the first. The cat leaped at it and struck at its straining head and slashed at its moving feet. The old, hard, humorous head was pulled in, and the thick tail slapped in under the shell, and when the cat grew tired of waiting for it and walked off, the turtle headed on southwest again.† (Steinbeck 44) The symbolism of the tortoise constantly carrying on southwest through any condition is similar to the path of the Joad family throughout the course of the book. Tom is analytical, has his priorities in check, and states, â€Å"Think we better eat her now,†(Steinbeck 52) during a very deep conversation with Muley and Casy. With Tom recently leaving prison, the solo wolf mentality seems to have stuck. Tom plays the driving force in this chapter. He keeps the other characters moving and ignores the possible obstacles in others’ ways. The clashing symbols of Muley Graves attached to his hometown and the tortoise constantly moving southwest reflect the minds of the Joad family, attached to home, yet forced to move on. Chapter 13 Out With the Old, in With the New The Joad family pulls over at the nearest service station to quench their thirst and refuel. Without the family’s dog on their minds, he is run over and left behind. The car continues on 66 until dusk sets in and the family sets up camp next to the Wilsons, who allow the sickly Grampa to rest in their tent, the tent being his final destination due to a stroke. The Wilsons assistance with Grampa’s body secure their bond, influencing the Joads and Wilsons becoming one. â€Å"Ma said, ‘You won’t be no burden. Each’ll help each, an’ well all get to california. Sairy Wilson he’ped lay Grampa out,’ and she stopped. The relationship was plain.†(Steinbeck 148) The Wilsons being welcomed into family establishes the theme of social unity. The families stick together to get through sickness, death, and the hardships of the journey to California. Tom seems to have issues controlling his temper, considering the fact that he murdered a man. â€Å"Well, you ain’t never gonna know. Casy tries to tell ya an’ you jest ast the same thing over. I seen fellas like you before. You aint askin’ nothin’; youre jus’ singin’ a kinda song. ‘What we comin’ to?’ You don’ wanta know. Country’s movin’ aroun’, goin’ places. Theys folks dyin’ all aroun’. Maybe youll die pretty soon, but you wont know nothin’. I seen too many fellas like you. You dont want to know nothin’. Just sing yourself to sleep with the song- ‘What we comin’ to?’ †(Steinbeck 128) This represents his irritability towards a certain type of people and his methodical approach to problems and questions. Tom plays the cold voice of reason in this chapter. The dog suddenly dying symbolizes the unforeseen death of Grampa and Granma. Chapter 26 Old Habits, Die Hard Due to the lack of work, the Joads leave the government camp in Weedpatch early in the morning and meet a man who tells them of a job picking peaches. After a days’ work picking peaches, Tom is attracted to the yelling outside the gate where he reunites with Casy who soon dies from a pick handle. Tom, being the irritable character he is, grabs the pick handle from the killer, and beats him, most likely killing him, forcing the Joad family to move camps yet again. â€Å"‘Well, they was nice fellas, ya see. What made ‘em bad was they needed stuff. An’ I begin to see, then. Its need that makes all the trouble†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢Ã¢â‚¬ (Steinbeck 382) This passage is heavily based around sacrifice, such as Casy sacrificing himself for Tom. This furthers the character development between Tom and Casy. However it required Casy’s death for Tom to accept his teaching. Tom’s extremely defensive nature has caused problems yet again. He’s asked if he killed the man and Tom responds, â€Å" ‘I-don’t know. I was nuts. Tried to.’ † (Steinbeck 390) There is a recurring theme of Tom doing â€Å"what he has to do,† but he seems to have only escalated situations far past what is necessary. Tom plays the role of an avenger and is mainly a problem in this chapter. Casy’s last words, â€Å"You fellas don’ know what you’re doin’,† reference one of the seven statements of Christ on the cross, â€Å"Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing†. Casy, as a previous religious figure, symbolizes Christ sacrificing himself for our sins by sacrificing himself for Tom.

Liberalism And Human Rights Essay - 1549 Words

within the confinements of liberalism and with respect to traditional human rights, however, the central governments have managed to bypass the creed of liberalism and human rights. 2) Redrawing the boundaries, or reducing the powers, of internal political subunits controlled by the national minority; decisions on the boundaries and powers of internal political subunits. Some liberal democratic states engaged in redrawing boundaries which are within the confinement of liberalism and the liberal state, but encroaches the rights of national minorities. The central states draw boundaries to disempower national minorities. For instance, a minority s territory are divided into several units to make cohesive political action impossible. For example, the division of France into 83 ‘departments’ after the Revolution, which intentionally subdivided the historical regions of the Basques, Bretons, and other linguistic minorities; or the division of Catalonia region in Spain. 3) L anguage policies; decisions on official languages. In many liberal democratic states, the majority language is adopted as official or de facto official language where it is used in government, bureaucracy, courts, schools, and business. While there are exceptions to this – many liberal democratic states allow for multilingualism – yet the policies related to language should be more robustly clarified within the human rights creed of democratic liberalism. Because the human rights creed adopted by severalShow MoreRelatedThe Issue Of Human Rights1256 Words   |  6 Pagespaper I will focus on the subject of human rights. The recognition of human rights is widely seen as abstract, yet human rights affect daily lives worldwide. 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In your answer, be sure to focus on the principles of classical and modern liberalism, as well as key 20th-century intellectual developments in each tradition. The definitional conceptualization of the five premises of political economy underscores the differences classical and modern liberalism. These premises include human nature, society, government, morality, authorityRead MoreLiberalism And Its Impact On International Relations Essay1427 Words   |  6 PagesAbstract Liberalism is more of a dominant philosophy in modern world more concentrating to European and American political system. Liberalism have many variations and many proposal for state. In this essay I will try to discourse different views towards liberalism is viewed. This essay views liberalism in more surficial manner but will try to touch the essential values and norms regarding liberalism. Liberalism is based on human experience and habit absorbed from society. So in same manner in thisRead MoreClassical Liberalism : Through The Ages1210 Words   |  5 PagesClassical Liberalism – Through The Ages In order to evaluate both concepts of liberalism, we should take in to consideration their historical contexts. Because every political philosophy is the product of a certain time and circumstance and therefore has its limitation(s). Classical Liberalism, which is also known as traditional liberalism, laissez-faire liberalism, or simply liberalism all over the world is a doctrine that stresses the importance of human rationality, individual property rights, natural

Dissent Versus Disagreement free essay sample

Throughout history, there is a pattern of revolutions and protests that characterize humanity’s need for independence and representation. At the basis of the majority of these insurgencies, there is a primal disagreement over a controversy or an issue of human rights and reason. Due to the critical debate and philosophical questions sparked from the disagreement, the opposing sides respectively consider the argument of the other and a settlement of one sort or the other is reached. On the contrary, if dissension instead of disagreement occurs, then one side is obligated to feel like a polarized minority against a prejudiced majority. Dissension is the cancer of society whilst disagreement is the lifeblood as illustrated by the integral denominations of Christianity, Suzanne Collins’ controversial novel the Hunger Games, and the conflicting American two-party system we have today; proving that freedom is what humanity ultimately strives for. Admittedly, disagreement can lead to destruction and chaos. It can lead to unexpected consequences that are not beneficial to either majority. The situation could potentially worsen due to disagreement. However, without that disagreement, nothing would have changed. Dissension would not make any one side content or better the situation as it would be a minority protesting to a majority that would not listen. Disagreement at least would be a gateway to change, to a freedom that did not previously exist. If there existed merely dissension, almost no change would occur seeing as the majority could simply ignore any protests or rebellions from the dissenters. Firstly, the integral denominations of Christianity that have developed out of history owe their origins to historical debates and councils where two conflicting sides fought for the freedom to express their religious beliefs without persecution. Within the church, there are Baptists and Protestants and Presbyterians and Lutherans: only a few of many. Some would also say that Catholicism could be categorized under Christianity. Nonetheless, with all of these various denominations come different beliefs about the detailed aspects of religion whilst out of all of them emerges the same basic doctrine. Different denominations represent freedom of expression and of religion that comes from disagreement between people, especially in the history of Christianity. On the contrary, if, in the original Roman Catholic Church there had been merely dissension and no disagreement, we would not have the religious freedom to express our beliefs that we take advantage of today. Disagreement in the church led to theological debates between famous religious figures such as Luther and Erasmus or Augustine and Pelagius, who were all seen as equal scholars and therefore their opinions were heard and considered and a thoughtful settlement was made. It led to the development of the Protestant church that began with Luther posting his 95 Theses. Initially, Luther was a minority protesting a majority and therefore could be categorized as a dissenter. If this status did not change, his 95 Theses would not be notable today. However, Luther did gain a following that disagreed with the church’s practice selling of indulgences and so, because of the disagreement between the existing church and Luther’s followers that were both now considered majorities, the Lutherans split off and formed the Lutheran church which still exists today and that would lead to the formation of numerous other denominations within Christianity. In addition, in 2008, Suzanne Collins’ controversial novel the Hunger Games was released to the world with its empowering protagonist, sixteen-year-old heroine Katniss Everdeen, trailblazing the way for the thirteen Districts of Panem to rebel against the totalitarian Capitol to gain their freedom. The crucial rationale behind the Districts’ rebellion is to protect future generations from the cruelty of the Capitol and to overthrow a rotten regime run by the twisted President Snow. In this situation, the rebels disagree with the practice that the Capitol uses to keep the Districts in check: the Hunger Games, an annual event where a young boy and girl are supposedly randomly selected from each District to fight to the death in a man made arena, last one alive wins, the ultimate survivor. From their disagreement comes the urge to come together in unity in order to protest the barbaric practices of the Capitol, which ends in a successful victory for the Districts because of their alliances with each other. Before the union of the Districts of Panem, there was a previous uprising by the thirteenth District in an attempt to break free of the Capitol’s rule, but because it was only one District against the large and powerful Capitol, the rebellion was unsuccessful and the thirteenth District was destroyed. This is an example of what dissension brought about in the world of Panem. This first uprising was ineffective because it was a minority standing against a majority, enabling for the majority to all too easily stomp over the minority. The main reason why the second rebellion was more successful than the first was because all of the Districts pulled their efforts together as one and therefore became a force for the Capitol to reckon with. Most importantly, the recent presidential election of 2012 involved two conflicting political parties who disagreed on who should be the next president of the United States; this disagreement between two majorities allowed for American citizens to freely express their own personal opinions on each presidential candidate. It is this disagreement between two majorities that allows for the United States and its people to thrive through the power of democracy. No matter which of these two political alignments one chooses, one still feels as if they have a voice because they have joined a majority. Due to both parties being majorities, debates like the recent presidential one are able to occur along with other debates like ones over marriage rights, immigration reform laws, and judicial court system workings. With disagreement, it is less likely for a quick and rash decision to be made, as it is easier for the whole picture to be viewed and considered. If one of these opposing political parties were to overshadow the other, then the whole system would disintegrate. Instead of debates due to disagreement, there would be dissension that could possibly lead to protests and the slow collapse of the society of today. Without these two majorities that represent American citizens, democracy would fall apart due to the dissension. Not only would half of America not be properly represented, but debate would cease to happen, and flaws in ideals would not be as readily pointed out since there wouldn’t be another majority analyzing them. Disagreement is the key in keeping the balance, and without it dissension would destroy our society as we know it and our freedom to express our opinions would exist no more. In conclusion, the disagreement between two existing sides leads to numerous forms of freedom whilst dissension would bring about the end to any hopes of freedom along with the destruction of the society or area it occurs in. Especially in America, the people thrive on disagreement, starting from the Revolutionary War and progressing onwards into the democratic society that has been established today. It is through our disagreements that we find the power to oppose a corrupt rule, to form a system that allows us to freely express beliefs, and to discover faults within our own ideals that would not otherwise be revealed to us. America is the embodiment of the freedom humanity ultimately strives for: in expression, in beliefs, in rights, and in laws, and it is all due to disagreement that America can truly be a land of the free.

Hedonism Essay Research Paper HedonismWebster free essay sample

Hedonism Essay, Research Paper Hedonism Webster # 8217 ; s dictionary defines hedonism as # 8220 ; the ethical philosophy that pleasance, diversely conceived of in footings of felicity of the person or of society, is the chief good and the proper purpose of action # 8221 ; or # 8220 ; the theory that a individual ever acts is such a manner as to seek pleasance and avoid pain. # 8221 ; With this definition in head, and with farther scrutiny of John Stuart Mill # 8217 ; s theory on hedonism, I am traveling to reason that hedonism is non an sole or distinguishable manner of believing. In fact, I think that with the exclusion of perchance a few people, most people are really hedonistically inclined. # 8220 ; Hedonistic utilitarians place felicity with tiping pleasance and avoiding hurting, significance that the more an single enjoys pleasance and avoids hurting, the happier that person is # 8221 ; ( phil.tamu.edu ) . Now, is this truly a new and profound idea? If you avoid hurting, you will take a happier life? With a few exclusions, I don # 8217 ; t cognize many people who see hurting as enjoyment. Most people I know have made it a point to enjoy themselves in so me fasion or McDonald 2 another, and that doesn # 8217 ; t include the enjoyment of hurting. # 8220 ; Mill # 8217 ; s overall topic is the right of the indivieual to believe and move for himeself of herself. For Mill this does non intend the right to believe and move as you please ( Castell 360 ) . Eventhough Mill encouraged independent idea and actions, he did non warrant running about and making whatever you liked. Harmonizing to the Hedonic Society, what they call Enlightened Hedonism ( # 8221 ; a realistic and humanistic lifestance advocation the ration cultivation of pleasance and felicity for all # 8221 ; ) can be stated in six rules: 1. Knowledge is gained through a reasoned survey of all available grounds. 2. In the absence of conclusive grounds for a supernatural, moralss and morality must be based on our life in the natural universe. 3. Pleasure and hurting are our natural agencies for finding what is good or harmful to life. 4. Those actions are best which lead to the greatest pleasance and felicity, or the least hurting and agony, in the long term for all concerned. McDonald 3 5. Our lives are made most happy and fulfilling by cultivating the higher pleasances of rational development, aesthetic grasp and creativeness, and societal bonds of friendly relationship, household and romantic love. 6. Happiness is best attained in an ambiance of freedom, tolerance, passive resistance and diverseness. The Hedonic society besides states that the moralss of enlightened hedonism is a positive, dynamic and life- confirming alternate to traditional spiritual and political tenet. In today # 8217 ; s footings, when you hear person speak of hedonism, your head automatically goes to tie ining sex, orgasms, and all other types of physical pleasance with the term hedonism. The of import thing to maintain in head, nevertheless is that hedonism does non merely include physical pleasance. It is possible to endeavor to accomplish felicity and exhilaration, and at the same clip avoid unhappiness and anxiousness. This is besides a hedonic manner of idea. Hedonism is non the chase strictly physical. It is possible to be intellectually hedonic every bit good. And, Hedonism is non based entirely on the person. It is to be the greatest sum of good possible for the greatest sum of people. McDonald 4 So merely because you want to something, and carry through your O riginal desire/want/need, doesn’t mean that it is right to make it. You have to take into history what would profit others every bit good. # 8220 ; By each of us traveling instantly for that which we most want, which would give us the most pleasance, is for the greatest possible good to be accomplished # 8230 ; ( Stanford ) . # 8221 ; Mill says that the ideal manner to be is a small spot of both physically and intellectually hedonic. He introduces the Competent Judge Test ( CJT ) to conflict common expostulations he faces against hedonic utilitarianism. The expostulation stems from the philosophical contention between bodily ( feeding, imbibing, and sex, but besides things like exercising ) and rational ( art, literature, doctrine, and scientific discipline ) pleasances, and the comparative value of each of those pleasances ( phil.tamu ) . # 8220 ; Since hedonic useful define felicity in footings of pleasance and the absence of hurting, they are unfastened to the expostulation that their position give human existences # 8217 ; lives no higher intent than that of any animate being. Mill calls this # 8216 ; the philosophy of swine objection. # 8217 ; # 8230 ; Mill grounds that if what gives a human being pleasance ( and/or hurting ) is radically different than what gives it to an animate being, so what counts as homo felicity will be radically different # 8221 ; ( phil.tamu ) . Intellectual pleasances are superior to the physical pleasances, and Mill says that McDonald 5 his CJT proves it. # 8220 ; Of tow pleasances, if there be one to which all of about all who have experience of both give a distinct penchant, irrespective or any feeling of moral duty to prefer it, that is the more desirable pleasance # 8221 ; ( phil.tamu ) . Mill has four different constituents that are a portion of the testing of qualitative high quality ; 1 ) Who the competent Judgess are ; 2 ) What sort of bulk of them must give ; 3 ) What sort of penchant to one sort of pleasance over another for it to be judged the higher choice pleasance ; and 4 ) What this qualitative difference implies about the comparative value of pleasance of the two sorts. He besides presents the Four Steps of CJT ; 1 ) Identify the competent Judgess ; 2 ) See if any of them prefer Ten over Y ; 3 ) Ask if the penchant for X over Y is shared by certain features ; 4 ) If # 3 is true, so we are justified in reasoning that X is someway superior ( phil.tamu ) . Mill says that if you substitute rational pleasances for # 8220 ; X # 8221 ; and bodily pleasances for # 8220 ; Y, # 8221 ; so # 8220 ; X # 8221 ; is # 8220 ; qualitatively superior # 8221 ; to # 8220 ; Y. # 8221 ; However, like I stated above, each individual in their ain facet has some hedonism in them someplace. I would reason that in order to hold a comparatively balanced life, you would include both physical McDonald 6 and rational facets of your life. Whether or non you would be labeled a # 8220 ; Hedonist # 8221 ; would stay to be seen. If you incorporate the greater demands of others into your single immediate demands, so technically, yes, that would be Hedonism. But, I would venture to state that you would be labeled # 8220 ; a nice person. # 8221 ; Castell, Alburey, et al. , Introduction to Moern Doctrine: Analyzing the Human Condition. ( New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 2001 ) . # 8220 ; Hedonism. # 8221 ; Stanford University ( online ) www.stanford.edu/~quixote/philosophies.htm # hedonism* . ( 12/03/2001 ) . # 8220 ; John Stuart Mill. # 8221 ; unknown ( on-line ) *www-/ phil.tamu.edu/~gary/intro/lecture.mill_1.html. ( 12/03/2001 ) . # 8220 ; What is Enlightened Hedonism? # 8221 ; Hedonic Society ( online ) *www.hedonicsociety.org/custom/html* . ( 12/03/2001 ) .

Stakeholder Environmentalist Essay Example

Stakeholder Environmentalist Essay 2.2 Stakeholder – Environmentalist 2.2.1 Introduction Environment refers to the surroundings in which living beings live or operate. The environment is thus affected by the operations and activities performed by human beings, directly or indirectly. These activities can be beneficial and/or harmful to the environment. Thus, in order to protect the environment from the activities that can negatively affect it, a special individual or a group that plays a role in protecting the environment is referred to as Environmentalist. We will write a custom essay sample on Stakeholder Environmentalist specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Stakeholder Environmentalist specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Stakeholder Environmentalist specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer The role of environmentalist is highly significant when it comes to the matter of construction of a tourism spot close to a marine body as it has a variety of effects on almost all elements of the environment. The Seaside Mall Construction will have direct and indirect repercussions on the environment of Dubai, which makes it a prime concern for the environmentalist bodies such as Emirates Wildlife Society (EWS) and Emirates Environmental Group (EEG). 2.1.2 Impact and Evidence The construction industry will continue to impact the physical environment as long as the industry demands natural resources, and this will assume huge environmental significance with the rapid growth in population and the attendant implications for natural resources (Ebohon and Rwelamila, 2001; Ofori et al., 1999). The construction of a seaside mall can be considered as one of the most debatable scenario. It will be an economical success as it will be a project that will contribute to the economical growth of the nation. But there will be several other consequences of such a project on the environment, which will be a prime concern for the environmentalists and the government as a whole. The seaside construction will lead to negative outcomes like Water Pollution and will cause damage to marine life. There are a large number of sources of water pollution on such construction sites, including diesel and other fossil fuels, paints, and toxic chemicals. Even minor chemical spills can seep into the ground and may enter water bodies through which they can toxify the water and harm aquatic life. More importantly, the construction requirements will require drilling, which is a major contributor to Noise Pollution. This noise pollution will not only affect the residents, but will also affect the marine habitats. Other than the mentioned negative effects, construction can also be considered as a major cause of Air Pollution. Almost all major construction projects result in emitting carbon dioxide, methane and other harmful chemical substances that harm the air and contribute to global climate change. Other effects include operations of heavy machinery during the construction, which also lead to carbon dioxide emissions. Not only during construction, but also after the construction of such a mall, there will be various ways in which it would harm the environment. Sewerage waste, food waste, chemical waste can be dumped into the water bodies during regular running of the mall, thus affecting the water body and harming the marine life. Keeping in mind the â€Å"seaside construction project†, Emma Johnston comments that developments are also taking place in oceans and water bodies creating various problems such as destroying the coral reefs that nourish fisheries and protect the coastline from the harsher impact of the waves, and destabilizing many precious coastal ecosystems such as salt flats and mangroves in the context of Palm Jumeirah. This project will also possess a threat to the ecological chain and will create an imbalance in the ecosystem. This point can be connected to the noise pollution factor. Construction near a coastal location can lead to adverse effects of noise pollution on marine habitants. According to Peng, Zhao, and Liu (2015), â€Å"noise pollution will not only pose a great threat to individual marine organisms but also may affect the composition, and subsequently the health and service functions of the ecosystem. For instance, some studies have shown that anthropogenic noise caused a reduction in the catch rate of some commercial marine species indicating a decrease in the service function of the ecosystem for providing fishery products.† More importantly, building on, or near the sea can also cause natural damages. There are a few reports that highlight that Dubai’s Palm Jumeirah Island is actually sinking, though the government denied such claims. It poses a great threat to the reclaimed land situated in disaster-prone areas. The continuous shaking due to a calamity like earthquake can lead to a process called liquefaction, where the solid land sediments can liquefy. The earthquake in San Francisco of 1906 is a great instance of such a disaster caused by the same reason. 2.1.3 Discussion/Findings After conducting various studies and research, the claim that construction affects the environment negatively is true. There are numerous direct ways in which such a project can affect the environment and degrades it. According to Ivano Iannelli, CEO of the Dubai Carbon, â€Å"Dubai doesnt suffer from air pollution like some of the other metropolises do.† But projects such as construction of a seaside mall can directly contribute to polluting the environment. The government of UAE as a whole would not prefer to hamper the environment in any way. Thus, they will have to keep in mind the effects of such a construction on the environment and the residents. The claims of pollution and also the evidence of the process of liquefaction in San Francisco resulting in an earthquake will make the government consider the effect of such a project on the environment. 2.1.4 Conclusion and Recommendations As conclusion, it is clearly evident that the role of an environmentalist is significant. Based on the research and survey conducted, the construction project causes a huge environmental issue. It affects almost all elements of the environments such as water, air, land, soil and also the living creatures that constitute the surroundings where the construction is taking place. Therefore the municipality should take an action keeping in mind these consequences of such a project. Recommendations:- The Ministry of Environment and Water (MEW) has published a number of regulations that have to be adhered in the UAE. These laws address the following areas:- Environmental impact assessments Protection of the marine environment Pollution from land sources Soil protection Protection of air from pollution Handling hazardous substances and wastes Also the municipalities and town planning departments also regulate certain areas including:- Waste management Building regulation Pollution control Water treatment The municipality must make sure that the project authorities adhere to the mentioned regulations and must impose appropriate fines if the project harms the environment in any way.

countercultures of the 60s essays

countercultures of the 60s essays In the turmoil of the 60s, America was at war with Vietnam. But more evident was the movement among the young people taking part in the protests and displays. Many people were against this was, especially the youth, an unfair was the was seeing many of our youth being killed and drafted in America. The mass exhibitions world wide against the Vietnam war saw millions of young people become united. Counterculture: Groups or movements existing within an modern society and in any country which find themselves in opposition to governing and accepted mainstream ideas, values and the approved and sanctioned forms of self expression. They were against mainstream political thinking, emotions, and styles. In the 60s, the first of the baby boomers became teenagers. Since they grew up during the cold war, many of these young people felt as if they were living on the edge of destruction. With the threat of nuclear war , everything was blamed on the elders of this generation for creating the world which they must live in. This was called the generation gap. The difference in attitudes between people of The hippies, a name given to them by Micheal Fallon, sought after a new lifestyle, even more, a lifestyle that was against the war. They believed in communities rather than normal traditional family environments. A common practice was sharing living quarters, without regard to sex or martial status with the availability of the birth control pill. Many coffeehouses had a pad- a room with a few mattresses on the floor and sleeping bags where anyone who wished could crash for a night or two. Small groups began retreating to the country, where they formed communes, communities that shared Bob Dylan, Like a Rolling Stone, 1 ...

War Propaganda Produced by Democracies and Totalitarian Regimes Essay

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Successful Implementation of Electronic Health Information Technology Research Paper

Successful Implementation of Electronic Health Information Technology - Research Paper Example In case of these, the system is destroyed, replaced, and a new life cycle begins (McGonigle and Mastrian 201-202). There are various risks involved in the purchasing and implementing of the HIT system. An organization therefore, needs to follow particular steps to avoid the risks. According to McGonigle and Mastrian, a waterfall model is necessary in guiding the steps involved in purchasing and implementing of a new HIT system (205). This model mainly includes feasibility, analysis, design, implementation, testing, and maintenance. In New York’s Bezalel Rehabilitation and Nursing Center, before the purchase of a HIT system, the management, in collaboration with the concerned staff ensure that the previous system is analysed, including its effectiveness and failures. This way, it becomes easy to identify the needs of the organization, as well as the capacity, and type of the specific system to be purchased. This is because a new system is capable of either solving problems or creating new problems in an organization. Therefore, the main step is to identify, and analyse the workflow of the previous system, and its strengths and weaknesses, which need improvement. This ensures the purchase of the right technology that will serve the needs of the organization (McGonigle and Mastrian 206). Implementing of the new technology in this company involves the selection of programming codes, which best suit the new technology. This includes the right language of programming for the new technology, and other programming codes, based on the requirements of the new acquisition. Testing involves the programming units of the system, its integration level, data capacity, and testing of the whole system. Of great importance is the volume of data the system can accommodate. Beta testing by a team of employees ensures that the system works according to commands in its task execution. Finally, the staff is briefly trained on

Explain the integers Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Explain the integers - Essay Example All authors believe that teachers should use a variety of representations and even some relatively unconventional tools. Following is the explanation of various approaches towards teaching mathematics in schools. Mental mathematics, linking cubes, drawings, mental images, concrete materials, equations, base-ten blocks, computer programs can all be used with the goal of students to find the representations they personally can manipulate (physically and or mentally) with most ease and meaning. By choosing the representation that represents how they personally think, students can attach meaning to the situation and it becomes more accessible. Parents should also learn their childrens learning style even if it differs from their own. Parents are also encouraged to "pretend" they enjoy mathematics and can do them "as well and anybody" (Dedyna, 2002, Press). For Thompson, one of the simplest ways of teaching vocabulary is to explain the concepts first, and then attach the term to it. This strategy can be used in conjunction with etymologies (word origins) because when students know these roots, they can make connections between common English words with which they are familiar and mathematics terms. After the space race focus, researchers world wide have in the last twenty years taught us a lot about childrens understanding of numeracy and how they come to develop these ideas. Young-Love ridge (2002) drew attention to the fact that many of the understandings children had on entering school were not well matched to the curriculum and what they were taught. Baroody et al (2005) mentions the work of ten different researchers or research groups who assisted the understanding of childrens mathematical thinking in the last twenty years. Young-Love ridge (2005) acknowledged that teachers in Australia and United States that were given a framework, were better able facilitate their students learning. She valued the work of Fuson and Renick in the United

Integration of WLANS, PAN, LAN and GSM in Hmanets

Integration of WLANS, PAN, LAN and GSM in Hmanets INTERWORKING ISSUES IN INTEGRATION OF WLANS, PAN, LAN AND GSM IN HMANETS KEY TO SYMBOLS OR ABBREVIATIONS AP Access Points AMASS Architecture for Mobile Ad-hoc Systems and Services AODV Ad Hoc on Demand Distance Vector Routing BS Base Station BNEP Bluetooth Network Encapsulation Protocol CDMA Code-Division Multiple Access CGSR Cluster-head Gateway Switch Routing CSMA/CA Carrier Sense Multiple Access with Collision Avoidance CTS Clear to Send DBTMA Dual Tone Multiple Access DSDV Destination Sequenced Distance Vector Routing DSR Dynamic Source Routing GEO-TORA Geographical Temporally Ordered Routing Algorithm GPRS General Packet Radio Service GPS Global Positioning System GRDL Grid Resource Description Language GSM Global System for Mobile Communication HF High Frequency HMANET Heterogeneous Mobile Ad Hoc Network HOLSR Hierarchical Optimized Link State Routing IP Internet Protocol LBR Location Based Routing LLC Logical Link Control MAC Medium Access Control MACA Multi Hop Collision Avoidance MACAW Medium Access Protocol for Wireless LAN MAN Metropolitan Area Network MANET Mobile Ad Hoc Network MPR Multipoint Relays NAT Network Address Translation NFS Network File System OLSR Optimized Link State Routing OSI Open Systems Interconnection PDA Personal Digital Assistant QoS Quality of Service RREP Route Reply RREQ Route Request RERR Route Error SCTP Stream Control Transmission Protocol SDR Software-Defined Radio TBRPF Topology Broadcast Based on Reverse Path Forwarding TC Topology Control TCP Transmission Control Protocol TDMA Time Division Multiple Access TORA Temporally Ordered Routing Algorithm VHF Very High Frequency WAN Wide Area Network WLAN Wireless Local Area Networks WPAN Wireless Personal Area Network WSDL Web Services Description Language WSN Wireless Sensor Network ZRP Zone Routing Protocol Chapter 1 1 INTRODUCTION Recent developments in wireless communications have taken possible applications from simple voice services in early cellular networks to newer integrated data applications. IEEE 802.11 family i.e. Wireless Local Area Networks (WLANs) have become popular for allowing low cost data transmissions [1]. The most common and approachable places, such as airports, hotels, shopping places, university campuses and homes have been provided with WLAN Access Points (AP) which provide hotspot connectivity . The future advances in modern radios like Software-Defined Radio (SDR) and cognitive radio technologies will surely facilitate the need of multi-mode, multi-interface and multi-band communication devices. This heterogeneous networking paradigm will certainly enable a user to enjoy better service quality, ease of use and mobility, while keeping in view the application needs and types of available access networks e.g. cellular network, WLAN, wireless personal area network (WPAN) etc. 1.1 Mobile Ad hoc Networks The Mobile Ad hoc Network (MANET) is a network formed by mobile wireless hosts without (necessarily) using a pre-existing infrastructure and the routes between these hosts may potentially contain multiple communication hops [2]. The autonomous nature of participating mobile nodes enables MANETs to have dynamic and frequently changing network topology. The nodes are self-organizing and behave as routers. The ease and speed of deployment and decreased dependence on infrastructure have made ad hoc networks popular within very short span of time. MANET variations include Personal area networking (e.g. cell phone, laptop, ear phone), Military environments (e.g. soldiers, tanks, aircraft), Civilian environments (e.g. cab network, meeting rooms, sports stadiums), and foremost Emergency operations (e.g. search-and-rescue, policing and fire fighting). MANETs rapid deployment, ease of use and subsequent properties make them a hot choice for many important applications. 1.1.1 Resource Sharing One of the intended aspects of MANETs is that it will facilitate the sharing of resources. These include both technical and information resources. Technical resources like bandwidth, Quality of Service (QoS), computational power, storage capacity and information resources include any kind of data from databases. Resource sharing among mobile devices require the devices to agree on communication protocols without the existence of any dedicated servers. 1.1.2 Coordination System Mechanisms that enable the sharing of resources between different mobile devices, i.e. different coordination system is necessary for sharing dissimilar resources. Examples of such mechanisms are Samba, Network File System (NFS) for sharing disk space and the distributed dot net client for sharing processor cycles. 1.1.3 Trust Establishment Before nodes start sharing any resource, they demand a certain amount of trust between them or systems with which they share resources. The level of trust depends on the kind of information or resources that is to be shared. For instance, sharing processor cycles require less trust than the sharing of personal information. Similarly, sharing of profit-making or highly sensitive information can require another level of trust establishment. There are systems currently in operation that can provide a certain amount of trust like the public key infrastructure that makes use of certificates. 1.1.4 Node Discovery Before any node starts communicating with other node, that node must be discovered. When a node enters the network, it has to be capable of communicating to the other nodes about its capabilities e.g. it is a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) and it has a camera, Global Positioning System (GPS) capabilities and Global System for Mobile Communication (GSM) capabilities etc. When a node is detected, other users can send a query to the new device to find out what it has to offer. Commercial service providers can advertise the resources they have to offer through Internet Protocol (IP) multicasts. There is a myriad of standards that include resource description protocols like Standards Grid Resource Description Language (GRDL), the Web Services Description Language (WSDL) for telling all offer devices a way to describe and publish their specific resources and needs. There are also various different systems currently available that can gather these resource descriptions and structure them for other devices to use. 1.1.5 Resource description For any device to be able to use any resource, a way to identify and describe the resource has to be agreed upon by all available devices. If, for instance, storage capacity is to be shared, it first has to be clear what the capacity of each device is, and, what the storage need is. Although there are techniques to describe certain resources but not one technique that is able to provide this service for all resources. The available techniques combined, however, cover most of what is needed. 1.2 MANET Classifications Mobile Ad hoc Networks are usually categorized as Homogeneous MANETs and Heterogeneous MANETs. 1.2.1 Homogeneous MANETs When MANETs operate in fully Symmetric Environment whereby all nodes posses identical capabilities in terms of battery, processing powers, responsibilities and hardware and software capabilities, thus having no diversity, the network is Homogenous MANET. 1.2.2 Heterogeneous MANETs In certain environments, mobile nodes may have asymmetric capabilities in terms of transmission ranges, Medium Access Control (MAC), battery life, processing powers, speed of movement and software variations etc. Mobility rate may also differ in ad hoc networks due to varying traffic characteristics, transmission ranges, reliability requirements and communication needs. Similarly, addressing and traffic flows like host-based addressing, content-based addressing or capability-based addressing patterns may be defined in certain scenarios; for example, people sitting at an airport lounge, metro taxi cabs, sportsmen playing and military movements etc Homogenous MANETs do not allow for the heterogeneity in the network, which is seriously required in many scenarios, for instance, in a military battlefield network, where soldiers usually carry light portable wireless devices and more powerful equipment like High Frequency (HF) or Very High Frequency (VHF) is installed on vehicles. So, heterogeneous mobile nodes may co-exist in a single ad hoc network making it a Heterogeneous MANET. 1.3 Criterion for Heterogeneous MANETs The integration of different communication networks like cellular networks, WLANs, and MANETs is not straightforward due to various communication scenarios, different interface capabilities and dynamic mobility patterns of mobile nodes. This exhibits many possible application scenarios where devices may unexpectedly interact, create and receive random data streams (video and music etc), or request different network services. The drawback is that each network type typically uses its own protocol stack especially in the case of medium access. In fact, frequency allocation becomes more complicated since different wireless technologies like IEEE 802.11 a and IEEE 802.15.4 may possibly operate in the same frequency band, which makes coexistence mechanisms increasingly important. A heterogeneous MANET paradigm needs to be capable of providing subsequent characteristics. 1.3.1 Transparency The network should be capable of providing seamless end-to-end communication among mobile nodes i.e. the MANET user must not be informed about the route followed or network interfaces traversed by a communication session [3]. 1.3.2 Mobility Integration among dissimilar communication networks must facilitate mobile nodes via some mobility management framework that can manage flow of information through different medium access techniques [4]. 1.3.3 Addressing Most of the IP based networks consider each communication interface as an independent network device running under its own protocol stack [5]. However, this mechanism makes it difficult to remember destinations by IP addresses. So, there must be some mechanism similar to domain name service to recognize mobile nodes with more logical and easy to remember names. 1.3.4 Configuration Various configuration options like network ID, willingness for cooperative communications, desired mobility level and intended services shall be provided to mobile users for their convenience [6]. 1.3.5 End to End security Integration between various networks and data transfer over multiple wireless hops can even expose data to malicious nodes. Security mechanisms must take care of end-to-end data security as well as route security [7]. 1.3.6 Transmission Power and interference of Nodes MANET routing protocols must take care of issues arising due to various communication ranges like communication gray zones [4] and issues arising because of various communication technologies like Bluetooth and WLAN working in same frequency band [1]. 1.3.7 Utilization of Resources In heterogeneous networking paradigm, there may arise situations where some or most of the mobile nodes are installed with different kind of resources. For example, there may be some nodes installed with location monitoring devices like GPS. Now it is the responsibility of routing protocol to benefit from such capabilities in order to facilitate location aided routing and similar services [8]. 1.4 Problem Statement Current research efforts in mobile ad hoc networks are mainly converging towards inclusion of dissimilar communication technologies like IEEE 802.11 [9] and IEEE 802.15.4 [10] to a single mobile ad hoc network. Integrations of different networks like Wide Area Networks WANs (1G, 2G, 2.5G, 3G) and Metropolitan Area Networks MANs (IEEE 802.16) wherein users can access the system through a fixed base station (BS) or AP connected to a wired infrastructure in single hop fashion are also extending towards multihop communication environment using the new and revolutionary paradigm of a mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs), in which nodes constituting MANET serve as routers. Comprehensive research efforts have been done to address the issues related to infrastructure-less multihop communications among nodes installed with dissimilar communication capabilities [3, 11, 12, 13]. However, an investigation needs to be made in order to analyze and address the issues arising from such integrations. Such problems relate to both end users convenience (For example, remembering each destination with its IP address is a cumbersome job specially when every destination may carry multiple IP addresses and any communication interface may optionally be connected or disconnected) as well as networks performance; for example, routing to the best possible interface when there are multiple interfaces installed at destination. Likewise, optimized neighborhood sensing and position based routing can help to improve heterogeneous ad hoc networks performance and scalability. 1.5 Objectives The objective of this thesis is to study the integration of different technologies like WPAN, WLAN and GSM having different capabilities and protocol stacks to mobile ad hoc networks. Performance improvement issues relating to network configuration, human understandable naming mechanism and sophisticated location aided routing mechanisms will also be discussed and evaluated on an actual ad hoc network testbed. 1.6 Thesis Organization Chapter 2 describes the different design and technological challenges arising from integration of multiple communication interfaces. Chapter 3 includes an overview of famous heterogeneous routing protocols architectures, interworking issues encountered, the limitation and solution suggested. Chapter 4 specifically discusses the adopted solution. Chapter 5 presents the details about solution implementation, protocol evaluation testbed, proposed test cases for evaluation of the proposed mechanisms and results obtained, whereas; chapter 6 concludes the research work. Chapter 2 2 LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Introduction The literature available on heterogeneous MANETs has suggested different combination of access technologies but no comprehensive solution comprising of maximum access technologies has been suggested yet. Some of the suggested techniques will be discussed in succeeding paragraphs. 2.2 Service Architecture for Heterogeneous IP Networks It was presented by Joe C. Chan and Doan B. [14]. This proposal is presented to resolve two main issues i.e. universal connectivity and MANET location management in heterogeneous networks. The new architecture suggested for Mobile Ad-hoc Systems and Services (AMASS) introduces a new abstraction layer called Mobile P2P overlay in order to cater for the problems such as transparency, dynamic routing, unique addressing, association, and application independence. Mobile users can associate local resources from neighboring devices, build wireless on-demand systems which is independent of location, hardware devices, networking technology and infrastructure availability. Five key design considerations considered were Mobile Peer-to-Peer Overlay, Internet Interworking, Intelligent Overlay Routing, Infrastructure-free Positioning and Application Layer Mobility. Three enhanced mobility models offered in this approach are Personal Mobility (using different IP devices while keeping the same addr ess), Session Mobility (keeping the same session while changing IP devices) and Service Mobility (keeping personal services while moving between networks). The architecture is built on a peer-to-peer communication model to integrate MANETs seamlessly into heterogeneous IP networks. Mobile Peer-to-Peer System(P2P) is a distributed Middleware addresses the demand of direct communication needs by creating spontaneous community. Whenever the Mobile P2P system has global connectivity, it works with its peer system and other applications systems by generic P2P signaling. It consists of Ad-hoc Network layer and Mobile P2P Overlay. The former layer includes wireless hardware and MANET routing software offering homogeneous connectivity among nodes with same wireless interfaces. These nodes act as a router forwarding traffic toward its destination. The later layer includes the following core services: (i) Membership Services offers single sign-on, naming, profile and identity features; (ii) Discovery Services for peer/resource discovery and caching; (iii) Communication Services for Internet interworking, intelligent routing, session control, pres ence and service delivery; (iv) Location Services for infrastructure-free positioning, and user mobility management functions; (v) Adaptation Services for application and network services adaptation. Members of the Mobile P2P system should first sign-in a â€Å"common group† with their exclusive name and password. Some stationary nodes may also join to offer its resources such as Internet connection, printer, video conferencing. Whenever these client devices are within range of each other, they would work together as a team leading to a wireless adhoc service community where local resources could be shared by individual at its will. These members will then be available by intimating their capabilities and location information to the central location server. Information regarding physical location is also essential to offer spatial locality relationships and enable mobile content customization. The results which were achieved through this process can be summarized as first, it maximizes the synergies of MANETs and P2P for building wireless on-demand systems and services. MANETs provide dynamic physical connectivity while P2P offers dynamic associations of entities (users, devices, and services) for direct resources sharing. Second, its Mobile P2P overlay unites mobility, user-centric connectivity, and services for universal communications. This allow dynamic service adaptations pertinent to user location, application requirements, and network environments. Third, it presents a flexible network structure stimulating fixed and wireless networks convergence. The result is an â€Å"Integrated Mobile Internet† which makes our future environment lot better. 2.3 Transparent Heterogeneous Mobile Ad hoc Networks The idea was suggested by Patrick Stuedi and Gustavo Alonso[3]. The paper discussed that performance issues in a personal area network (PAN) or wireless sensor network (WSN) may have less priority than an office network. In contrast, battery life and low cost is vital to PANs and WSN while most probably it is not an issue in an office network. Consider a scenario where in a certain university campus the students carry variety of personal devices like mobile phones, PDA or laptops equipped with different communication technologies tailored to their capabilities. The mobile phones or PDA will be using Bluetooth whereas laptops have 802.11 as well as a Bluetooth interface built in technology. Ubiquitously combining all these devices into one mobile ad hoc network could invite new applications and services such as location based services or VoIP. So there may be an occasion where a personal device of one particular PAN might communicate with a personal device of another PAN in a multi-ho p fashion with the underlying MAC scheme changing per hop. In this scenario two issues needs to be solved i.e. broadcast emulation and handover. Broadcast emulation is not directly supported in Bluetooth (nor on nodes comprising both Bluetooth and 802.11). Handover is an issue because, in the case of heterogeneous MANETs, a handover might include a change in how the medium is accessed. A handover can be caused by node mobility, a change in user preferences (where due to energy constraints the user chooses to use Bluetooth instead of 802.11), or performance reasons. [15] Any device or node supporting multi interface though having different protocol stack will be specific to the interface at lower level. This characteristic will deteriorate the ability of a device to switch from one network to the other. The objective of such network is to provide an end-to-end communication abstraction that hides heterogeneity. The different possible design differs from each other with regard to application transparency, performance and mobility. There is another issue of handover which includes route changes as well as MAC switching. In principle, there are three possible scenarios 2.3.1 Horizontal Handover The horizontal handover between the participating nodes take place when the route changes and underlying MAC technology remains the same. 2.3.2 Vertical Handover The route does not change but the given neighbor is now reached through a new physical interface. 2.3.3 Diagonal Handover The diagonal handover takes when the MAC technology and route between the participating nodes change simultaneously. To address all these issues an IP based heterogeneous mobile ad hoc test bed using Bluetooth and IEEE 802.11 that implements a virtual interface approach as the end-to-end abstraction is presented. 2.4 Stream Control Transmission Protocol Another approach presented by R. Stewart, Q. Xie, and K. Morneault is [16] Stream Control Transmission Protocol, a transport protocol defined by the IETF providing similar services to TCP. It ensures reliable, in-sequence delivery of messages. While TCP is byte-oriented, SCTP deals with framed messages. A major involvement of SCTP is its multi-homing support. One (or both) endpoints of a connection can consist of more than one IP addresses, enabling transparent fail-over between hosts or network cards. Each interface could be separately cond and maintained (AODV-UU [17] e.g., supports multiple interfaces). This solution seems to be quite valuable in terms of performance since SCTP optimizes the transmission over multiple links. In fact, if one particular node can be reached through several interfaces, SCTP switches transmission from one interface to another after a predefined number of missing acknowledgements. Unfortunately, the solution lacks transparency. Applications running traditional unix sockets would have to be changed to use SCTP sockets instead. Another problem arises with the connection oriented nature of Bluetooth. In Bluetooth, interfaces appear and disappear dynamically depending on whether the connection to the specific node is currently up or down. Therefore, this is something that both the ad hoc routing protocol as well as SCTP would have to cope with. 2.5 Global connectivity for IPv6 Mobile Ad Hoc Networks R. Wakikawa, J. T. Malinen, C. E. Perkins, A. Nilsson, and A. J. Tuominen, in 2003 through IETF Internet Draft, 2003 presented Global connectivity for IPv6 Mobile Ad Hoc Networks, suggested one of the solutions for connecting heterogeneous MANETs. Before this work, the issue was solved by the traditional Internet model. But by adopting the approach presented by them the non structured MANETs were made to operate in structured environment, and inevitably limit the extent of flexibility and freedom that an evolving Mobile Internet can offer. Current mobile positioning and network mobility solutions are mainly infrastructure-driven which is contradictory to infrastructure-less MANETs. Without a flexible and user-centric network structure, existing solutions are generally insufficient to handle the dynamic and on-demand requirements of MANETs. 2.6 Conclusion Heterogeneous MANET service architectures and routing protocols have been talked about and it is established that lots of enhancements need to be introduced to the heterogeneous ad hoc networks. First of all, different issues like IP addresses to hostname mapping and seamless communication need to be addressed. Secondly, ad hoc networks must seamlessly utilize all underlying interfaces. Finally, research efforts need to converge towards real-world network deployment as very few MANET service architectures have been evaluated on actual network testbeds. Chapter 3 3 INTEGRATION CHALLENGES 3.1 Introduction The invention of mobile devices like laptops, personal digital assistant (PDA), smart phones and other handheld gadgets having dissimilar communication interfaces smooth the progress of data transmissions without any predetermined infrastructure and centralized administration. [18]. Such data transmissions can only be made on top of infrastructure-less networks composed of fully autonomous mobile nodes. But, these infrastructure-less networks do possess many complexities like dynamic and ever changing topology, heterogeneity in nodes, energy constraints, bandwidth constraints, limited security and scalability. However, there user-friendliness and rapid deployment make them an imperative part of 4th Generation (4G) architecture allowing the mobile users to communicate anytime, anywhere and with the help of any device. 3.2 Technological Challenges The specialized nature of MANETs enforces many challenges for protocol design by incorporating changes in all layers of protocol stack [2]. For instance, all the changes in link characteristics must be dealt with physical layer. MAC Layer should ensure fair channel access and avoidance of packet collision. Calculation of best possible routes among mobile autonomous nodes must be done by the network layer. Transport layer must modify its flow control mechanism to tolerate Packet loss and transmission delays arising because of wireless channel. The continuous making or breaking of connection due to nodes mobility be handled by application layer. These issues at each layer need to be handled effectively in order to smooth the transition from traditional network to advanced MANETs. 3.2.1 The Physical Layer In heterogeneous MANETs there can be a node which may be able to access multiple networks simultaneously. If a node on one hand, is connected to a cellular network, and on the other hand it exists within the coverage area of an 802.11b AP, the network or the node should be able to switch between them. Moreover, in heterogeneous environment, different wireless technologies may operate in the same frequency band and it is significant that they coexist without degrading each others performance. Therefore, techniques to reduce interference between nodes are important. For example, a node communicating with other nodes via multihop path may have lesser interference than a node communicating directly with AP. This is due to the attachment of increased number of nodes to the AP. Another way of reducing interference is Power control techniques applied in code-division multiple access (CDMA)-based cellular networks and MANET [15]. The research issues range from designing considerations to power control techniques include efficient design of nodes that can efficiently switch between different technologies and ensure higher data rates, development of Interference attenuation techniques between various wireless access technologies, modulation techniques and coding schemes that improve the performance of a given technology and frequency planning schemes for increasing the utilization of frequency spectrum 3.2.2 Link Layer The data link layer can be divided into Logical Link Control (LLC) and Medium Access Control (MAC) layers. When a node needs to communicate to another node having cellular interface, it uses a centralized MAC access like Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) or CDMA with a data rate upto 2.4 Mb/s. On the other hand, when a node communicates in 802.11 environments, it uses distributed random access scheme like Carrier Sense Multiple Access with Collision Avoidance (CSMA/CA) upto a data rate of 11 Mb/s. So, this difference of data rate is going to be one of the interworking considerations. Due to dissimilar access technologies at intermediate hops, the performance of ad hoc networks deteriorates. The problems such as hidden and exposed terminals also limit the capacity of MANETs. The need of evolving mechanisms such as power control and power aware MAC protocols is mandatory to improve the performance of ad hoc networks. In a heterogeneous network, the cross-layer design may play a significant role in providing useful information to upper layers. Another important issue to be considered at the link/MAC level is Security. Although, end-to-end security is the responsibility in the application layer, some wireless access technologies provide a certain level of security at the lower layers. Although the link and MAC layers in a multi-interface node can operate autonomously, but their operations have to be optimized to provide definite service to the upper layers. Some of the open issues include design of efficient link and MAC layer protocols to support QoS in Heterogonous MANET, channel administration schemes that consider different categories of traffic, and allow call blocking and handoff failure probabilities and security at Link / MAC layer. 3.2.3 Network Layer The network layer needs to integrate all underlying communication interfaces; therefore, it is the most challenging task. The presence of nodes with multiple communication interfaces allow to have different physical and MAC layer technologies which need to be taken into account while dealing with an integrated routing process. But, the problem of MANETs such as frequent route changes due to mobility, higher communication overhead to learn and uphold valid routes, higher end-to-end delay and limited end-to-end capacity due to problems at the lower layers are main contributing factors in designing of routing process [19]. In order to reduce network control traffic, improve throughput and increase the range, the idea of integrating MANETs with infrastructure networks is evolved. Hence, mechanism to find gateways and correctly con IP addresses is required by such nodes in a MANET. The network layer has to find the best route between any source and destination pair. To define the best route, including number of hops, delay, throughput, signal strength, and so on several metrics can be used. Moreover, the network layer has to handle horizontal handoffs between the same technology and vertical handoffs between different technologies in a seamless manner. Several routing protocols have been presented for heterogeneous MANETs but the design of integrated and intelligent routing protocols is largely open for research with issues like development of routing capability in a heterogeneous environment that supports all communication possibilities between nodes forming MANET, scalability in multihop routing withou t significantly escalating the overhead and study of the impact of additional routing constraints (like co-channel interference, load balance, bandwidth), and requirements (services, speed, packet delay) needed by nodes and networks. 3.2.4 Transport Layer In connection oriented transport session, as in case of Transmission Control Protocol (TCP), packet loss is assumed to occur due to congestion in the network. This assumptions leads to the performance degradation of TCP and factors such as channel errors, jitter and handoffs are overlooked. Moreover, in heterogeneous environments, the transport protocol has to handle the high delays involved in vertical hands off (while switching from one interface to another), server migration, and bandwidth aggregation [16]. Sometimes, a node changes its IP address when it needs

Hamlet :: essays research papers

Hamlet's agonized worrying over his state of existence begins before his first encounter with the ghost. He reports first to his mother that "These but the trappings and suits of woe" (I,ii) do not begin to illumine his inner heartbreak over the death of his father. But it is soon revealed in his first soliloquy that he despairs more over the hasty remarriage of Gertrude than the death of King Hamlet. "...a beast, that wants discourse of reason, / Would have mourn'd longer." (I,ii) Gertrude's apparent disregard of his honorable late father causes his suicidal dejection.When he hears from the ghost of his father's murder, he does indeed vow revenge. However, that revenge never seems to materialize, he thinks and worries but commits no action to fulfill his vow. For some reason, he plays the fool and delays his revenge. Significantly, he presents the play with the scenes altered to mirror the circumstances of Claudius' crime so Hamlet can watch his reactions with his own eyes. "For I mine eyes will rivet to his face, / And after we will both our judgments join / In censure of his seeming." (III,ii) Hamlet's revenge, when it finally occurs, is the result of considerable provocation. Claudius has been exposed by Laertes as a conspiring murderer of Prince Hamlet. Claudius has caused Hamlet to be the death of several people, notably Ophelia and Gertrude. In the end Hamlet kills Claudius, and the ghost is revenged.But truly, whose revenge has taken place? The connection among all of Hamlet's actions is merely himself. He certainly mourns his father, but mainly he feels sorry for himself because he lost his mother and his crown the day his father died. It is possible that he misses Gertrude and Denmark more than his father the king. Also, Hamlet cannot accept the ghost's word for Claudius' guilt, he arranges a situation where he can watch Claudius condemn himself. Again, this is a reaction from his self-centered motives-he requires the feeling of hatred that is only achieved when he is the victim of a crime. Although the play shows him a first-hand picture of Claudius' guilt, it is still not enough provocation for murder. In Hamlet's case, "self-centered" is not a fault but a way of feeling emotions. He is evidently unable to feel the necessary passion when they are related secondhand, he must have the immediate relation to his own psyche.

Synthesis

The idea of gender wage discrimination being widely practiced in the United States today is a difficult concept for many to swallow. With the Equal Pay Act of 1963 and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the realization of the existence of the gender wage gap surprises many Americans. These authors bring to the forefront the idea that there is more to the gender wage gap then just companies discriminating against women and minorities. They sight many sources with defined data including Burres and Zucca who looked at database information from 1992 through 1997 and confirmed that just over 3% of women held a position in the top 5 spots in most companies. Furthermore, the pay for executives showed women’s salaries were considerably lower than those of their male counterparts (Kennedy, Nagata, Mushenski, &Johnson, 2008, p. 13-14). This fact alone directly affects the productivity of the workplace, causing resentment and discontent with female employees. Add to the issue those women with disabilities and the percentages of discrimination raise a staggering fifty percent. The authors also showed evidence of wage discrimination against African Americans, adding to the argument that female African Americans are fighting an even tougher battle then white women (Kennedy et al. , 2009, p. 14). The authors provide arguments as to why these wage differences still exist, sighting Hartmann, Gault, Lovell, Sinzdak, & Caiazza (2003) who claim the most prevalent reason is fewer hours worked. Women have other responsibilities with family and home that pull them away from work, which in turn gives them less experience and training, justifying a lower salary. Even in the last 40+ years women have been working their way into male dominated positions, yet their wage is still 23. 5% lower than their male co-worker (Kennedy et al. , 2008, p. 15). Another argument is that of social and professional networking playing a part in the wage differences. Most evidence leans toward the concept that networking is beneficial in securing higher paying positions. It also showed that white men were more apt to promote other white men than women or other minorities. Yet, women with powerful social or professional connections were also able to secure higher paying positions. Other minorities seemed to have lower socioeconomic status and thus had difficulty in obtaining higher paying positions (Kennedy et al. , 2008, p. 15-16). The authors also touch on the idea that women are less apt to boast about their accomplishments, or pat themselves on the back, effectively letting their superiors know about positive situations, or client successes. Women also tend not to negotiate salaries therefore leaving money at the negotiating table and keeping their salaries lower. There is also mention of the correlation between emotions and pay reviews, being that women respond to positive feedback with more satisfaction then that of monetary compensation, thus failing to acquire the much deserved pay increase. These facts may address a small percentage of the wage gap, but in no way explain away the entire 23. 5% difference (Kennedy et al. , 2008, p. 8). If fighting the battle of wage discrimination isn’t enough, then take a look at how the laws are written. Both the Equal Pay Act of 1963 and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 put the burden of cost and the difficulty of proof on the employee, making the chance of winning almost impossible. The government needs to provide assistance to those facing this unjust, and assist at all levels, state and federal to enforce and prosecute those crossing the line (Kennedy et al. , 2 008 p. 14). Equal pay to all could bring harmony and cooperation to the workplace, which could encourage higher production and increased revenue, proving that elimination of gender wage discrimination is a healthy change for the economy (Kennedy et al. , 2008 p. 14). All of these arguments play into the idea that if the gender wage gap was completely eliminated the economy and the government would benefit. Education, experience, networking and negotiating all play a part in the difference in pay, but as pointed out in this article, those arguments do not justify the 23. % variance. Equal pay also promotes women to a higher pay scale and removes many single parents from government assistance, in turn saving to government money. Higher pay and abolishment of gender wage discrimination means more taxes, more discretionary funds available for spending, decreased resentment in the workplace and positive teamwork, which could result in higher productivity equating to a stronger economy.

General Motors Acting Strategically

General Motors Acting Strategically History and Growth of GM General Motors was founded at the beginning of the twentieth century and initially they were the manufacturer of Buick- a motorcar with an internal combustion of engine and horse-driven vehicles. They gradually developed more auto cars and in 1916, Alfred P. Sloan who led the company to an unprecedented growth over the years owned it. GM grew up into a huge global corporation despite all the tribulations it went through.Advertising We will write a custom report sample on General Motors: Acting Strategically specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More As GM is a gigantic conglomerate, it has several branches. GM has four organs for administration and reporting while GM North America (GMNA) had the largest sales. The GM maintained an overall percentage of 26 % to 28 % of all industries in this region. However, its profits fell in 2005, which was due to lesser quantity of products and an unfavorable product mix and it was t he result of plant closures, changes in product liability and other major impacts on net income. In Europe, GM (GME) faced continuous losses amounting to US$ 1.0 bn by 2004 due to continued negative price pressures and unfavorable exchange rates. GM in Asia Pacific (GMAP) had good sales, here with a very good position in China. India and Thailand also yielded good earnings. GMAP showed very high net margin with about 10% in 2003 2004. GM in Latin America, Africa, and the Mid-east (GMLAAM) was unpredictable with losses in 2002 2003, mounting to profits in 2004. The net margin was higher in 2002, which fell to 0.4 % in 2003, which increased to 0.9% in 2004. The GMAC was the financial subsidiary of GM, initially introduced to finance GM operations. This section had continuous profits and gradually it grew up into a global financial company, offering mortgages and insurances. The total revenues from the financing insurance operations showed a gradual increase, which was 31000 million in 2004 and a net income of 2800 million in both 2003 2004 but however, there were also some losses in some other sectors. The shares of GM and other American companies declined from 1990 to 2004, whereas shares of foreign companies rose and these led to restructuring. There was high competition and GM faced new challenges. Strengths and Weaknesses of GM The internal strengths of GM are market share, sales volume, performance of subsidiaries, labor force, financial strength, restructuring process and long experience, brand awareness in the US market, application of technology, and many other features. On the other hand, the external threats are Reduction of market share in the US market from 1990 to 2004, provision of North American Free Tread Agreement, operating expenses, excessive investment, and model of the cars, political factors, strategic decision, and stock performance.Advertising Looking for report on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your fi rst paper with 15% OFF Learn More Strengths: Market Share: According to the annual report 2010 of GM, it has business operation in more than 157 countries and still has a significant share in global market. In addition, its current market position in North America zone is outstanding in terms of market share and volume of sales; Sales Volume: Wall Street Journal forecasted that General Motor is in the highest position considering the number of car sales because it has been sold 232,538 cars in the fiscal year 2010/11 while Ford Motor Company sold only 189,284 cars and Toyota Motor Sales USA Inc. sold 159,540 cars in this zone (WSJ, 2011). However, the following figure demonstrates the position of car manufactures in terms of car sales Figure 1: Position of GM in the US market Source: WSJ (2011) Performance of Subsidiaries: It has many regional subsidiaries like GM Daewoo Auto Technology, Shanghai General Motors, SAIC-GM-Wuling Automobile Co and many others subs idiaries those performance help to increase profit in consolidated financial statements. Labor force: GM has more than 209,000 efficient employees to operate the business in adverse economic condition and save the company from such position. However, most of the employees are higher educated in particular subject and their own field and they have innovative new idea to offer better services for the customers; Internal control: the management team follow local rules and regulations where it operates and it has own controlling system. However, it follows listing rules and other provisions of Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 to control the business and avoid mismanagement and internal conflicts; Financial strength: GM Corporation is one of main player in the automobile industry, which has financial capabilities to compete with other car manufactures in national and international market by implementing its new business strategies in the present market place. According to the annual report 201 0 of GM, its present key financial variables are Key variables 2010 ($ million) 2009 ($ million) 2008 ($ million) 2007 ($ million) 2006 ($ million) Total Sales Revenue 135592 57474 148979 179984 204467 Net income (loss) 6503 (3786) 109003 (31051) (38136) Total Assets 138898 136295 91039 148846 185995 Total GM Company equity (d) 37159 21957 (85076) (35152 ) (4,076 ) Diluted earnings (loss) per share: $ 2.89 $(3.58) $(53.47) $(76.16) $(4.39) Table 1: Financial information of GM Source: self generated from of GM (2010, p.47) Restructuring process: This company was become bankrupt due to the adverse impact of global financial crisis but it was successfully restructured by taking direct help from the government; Experience: As the company established in 1908, it has long experience to operate global market with strong brand image. Weaknesses: Besides strong points, GM has many weak issues like Advertising We will write a custom report sample on General Moto rs: Acting Strategically specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Decrease Market Share in the US market: From 1990 to 2004, GM lost a significant percentage of the US market share, such as, its market share fell about 35.5% to 27.3% while Toyota and Hondas market share climbed by 18.3% to 26.2% in this zone; Figure 2: US Market share of Automobiles Source: General Motors (2010, p.7) NAFTA: the competitors of international market particularly Toyota and Nissan have easily entered in the North American zone by taking facilities of NAFTA[1] and captured large market share; Operating expenses: the total costs and expenses of GM are increasing each year, for instance, this expanses were $130508 million in 2010, $62402 in 2009 and $170209 million in 2008, which shows gradual increase of this costs; Excessive Investment: The main requirement of huge investment, fixed costs, excessive cost for training and development of staff and capitalization are el igible to put greater pressure on any car manufacturer regarding GM. Those variables also create severe problems of over capacity by recession and lower sales revenue or under capacity for upturn; Model of the cars: Most of the car manufacturing companies change the model of the car frequently, but GM is not concentrate on this issue more seriously. Political factors: GM’s net selling market in the USA has been adversely affected since 1990 due to fluctuate economical and political situations. For this circumstance, the company is shifting its selling vision towards rising automotive car market of China, which offers lower profit margin than general projection. Strategic decision: Toyota, Honda and Nissan have taken measures to save the company from unusual events, for instance, these companies have introduced environmental friendly sport utility vehicles (SUVs) to increase profit margin; Stock Performance: the performance of GM in Stock market is not satisfactory as this sha re price is decreasing day-by-day especially its share price decreased dramatically in April 2011 and the subsequent figure shows the position of GM in Stock market. Figure 3: Basic chart of GM Source: Yahoo Finance (2011) The External Environment of GM Hitt, Ireland, Hoskisson (2001) stated that the external environment of the company is depend on political, economical, social, and technological factors; therefore, this report will consider PEST analysis of GM-Advertising Looking for report on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Political factors: General Motors (2010, p.29) reported that political unsteadiness in the Middle East and African countries could weaken the demand of cars and it must effect on the integrate market share of GM and annual financial performance. On the other hand, foreign direct investment policy in China, taxation policy of local and foreign countries, hostile attitude of the government of Nigeria and Venezuela, Israel- Palestine clash, and Iranian political environment influence the company both positively and negatively to operate the business. Economic factors: According to the report of Reuters (2011), GM experienced economic hardship due to the influence of bankruptcy in the fiscal year 2008 and 2009, but it enjoyed exceptional success in the year 2010, for instance, net income of GM was $6503 million, though the share price is decreasing at this moment (Reuters, 2011). However, Conklin (2005) projected $4.0 billion operating lose in 2005 due to high maintenance costs such as healthcare costs were $5.60 billion, which extremely higher than competitors’ expenses. However, Reuters (2011), forecasted that government provided fund from bailout bill to help the company to recover from recessionary impact, and the company started to gain its confidence and its share price would be in stable position in next three years. Figure 4: Basic Chart of General Motors for 2009 to 2013 Source: Online Journal Reuters (2011) Socio- cultural factors: GM provides effort to build up efficiency level of the employees in order to offer quality products and services to the customers. As employees are the key assets of the company, GM provide high remuneration to them as they are responsible for research and design, increase quality of the products and improve sales rate; so, GM increases annual pension and healthcare funds for the staff as more than 679000 families depend on this funds (Ivey Management Services, 2005). Technological factors: The research team of GM i s working hard to reduce petroleum consumption by introducing hybrid and electric technologies as Toyota and Honda have already captured a significant market share by developing environmental friendly products. At the same time, technological factors play vital role to introduce the vehicles with alternative fuels, and reduce oil and water consumption or launch next- generation hybrid power technology for gaining efficiency and ensure safety issues. Porter’s five forces model analysis of GM In order to discuss the competitive environment of GM, this report will focus on Porter’s five forces model – Figure 5:  Ã‚  Porter’s five forces model of competition for GM Source- Self generated form analysis Threats from new entrants: According to the annual report of GM Corporation, the automobile companies had suffered intense competition in the local and international market for financial downturns, unstable fuel prices, and reduction of the employment rate . In addition, it is important to have strong financial condition with advance technological supports in order to enter this industry as new player. As a result, it is hard for the new companies to occupy the market share of General Motors but there is huge risk of competitive stress from newer domestic automakers of China and India because these new manufacturers are popular to the middle class target groups. At the same time, large automobiles like Toyota, Honda or other companies’ subsidiaries can captured the market of GM as its market share in the US market is decreasing; Bargaining power of suppliers: As per the annual report 2010 of General Motors, the main suppliers are raw materials suppliers, which supply steel, aluminum, oil, rubber, motor engine, resins, color, simple parts, engine, glass, copper, lead, systems, components, and other body parts of cars etc. Nevertheless, the bargaining power of these suppliers differs from nation to nation and the availability of the suppliers of particular products, such as, General Motors always clear the payment second month of the delivery due to avoid any misunderstanding in the supply chain management system. Bargaining power of buyers: Prior to the global financial meltdown, buyers were comparatively less influential factors to the automobiles industry because most of the customers of GM had concerned on quality rather than price of the products though the fact of this statement differed from one market place to another place. However, the bargaining power of buyers is now high because of the current pressure of global financial downturn, as the customers of new cars now like to purchase cars at lower price. In addition, this power of buyers helped the competitors of GM to increase their sales profit as most of the competitors offer lower price of the cars; Threats of substitute products: Besides competition with direct competitors, General Motors also suffered hard competition from some other substit ute transportation system. As the demand of public transports like bus, railways system, and trams have provided huge facilities, the people take the advantage of public transport system in this economic condition; Rivalry among existing firms: This Company has to compete with numerous direct and indirect auto manufacturers at both home and abroad, for instance, the key competitors of this company are Honda, Ford motors, Chrysler, Nissan, Mitsubishi, Land Rover, Toyota, BMW, etc. However, the rivalry among existing firms is extremely high as all companies change their strategies to expand its market share; therefore, market share in the US car and truck market of GM fell about 22.1% to 18.8% from 2008 to 2010 only for the intense competition. However, the following figure compares the position of GM with other direct competitors – Figure 6: Direct Competitor Comparison Source: Yahoo Finance (2011) The external threats and opportunities of GM Opportunities: Growth: This com pany has capability to perform strongly in existing market and enter new market with exclusive offer particularly EU market is potential for the company; Joint venture: Joint venture with local companies or large multinational companies can bring success for the company Hybrid cars: GM has scope to develop its hybrid technology, new vehicle styles and models for the target customers; International strategy: It should try to apply international strategy to enter highly populated regions enlisting India, China, and Russia to generate long- run return. Threats: Recessionary Impact: It had been acted as the most vulnerable and dangerous factor of the General Motor company in terms of falling its certified dealership concerning 475 outlets among which 401 were linked with GMNA. In addition, it also generated stiff credit industry, disorder in the mortgage sector and fluctuated fuel rate for diminishing customer loyalty; Competition: Intense competition among the market players is one of the key threats for the company while competitors rapidly occupied large market share. Legal Litigation: Recently, legal litigation costs had increased as the company is responsible for environmental issues, employees and customer safety concerns, product quality, customers’ safety and other government policies; Fuel price: The volatility of fuel price decrease the demand of GM cars as the customer would like to purchase cars those require consumption rate of fuel is very low. However, the marketer of GM has already addressed this issue and this company is going to launch 19 FlexFuel vehicles in FY2011 with intent to capture 40 percent its total sales revenue; Compensation: Executive compensation committee has established considering the provisions of the ARRA[2] 2009 to maintain the remuneration system; however, it has many high-compensated employees, which become threat for the company at moment of financial crisis. Strategy of GM At around 2005, GM had been experiencin g high losses. GM was also compelled to provide payment for retired employees and pensions. In addition, there was intense competition. Therefore, GM would have to take steps in order to overcome these difficulties. The earlier principles were best products, consumer focus, and unity, accept stretch targets and working rapidly. GM would now have to change its working strategies. Among the US companies, which were the competitors of GM were The Big Three companies, Ford, Daimler-Chrysler and GM, which copied each others decisions involving models and prices which threatened continued profitability. On the other hand, foreign companies introduced newer models of cheaper improved products and they employed younger people paid less salary to them. The US companies strived to retain seniority distinctions, which hindered the innovation of new technologies. Many first time buyers preferred used cars but the older products of US Companies had poor performance, which created a bad impressi on in their minds. Consumers sometimes say that due to poor quality the US companies offered lesser prices. Repeated price and interest concessions led to customers waiting for the next sale. Moreover, such programs served to decrease prices of used and new vehicles and consumers preferred cars that might have constant resale value. Thus, the US companies closed some of their plants. The US companies decreased prices from suppliers and enhanced the prices to the dealers, which led to reduced profits. The complexity and size of the huge companies like GM delayed changes in technological and corporate cultures. Thus, the goals of GM were to increase shares by acting strategically. It would also have to introduce strategies to impress its customers. Thus, the company planned to undertake different corporate strategies. GM’S Saturn Strategy This project was that GM initiated a new branch in a new area with new employees. The Saturn vehicle was made especially different by providi ng it a plastic dent-free body. The sellers had fixed listed prices, for creating confidence to the customers of the company. This produced high consumer satisfaction but the profits could not meet its expectations. The Saturn Strategy required distinctive features and new employees. This was expensive so GM decided to make Saturn just another simple brand, with engineering and marketing being shifted to GM’s centralized operations. GM’s Strategy of Alliances GM created alliances in several countries for expanding their business. They had an equity position with the Swedish manufacturer Saab, and also created joint venture with the Russian company for building SUVs for Russia. They had an alliance with Suzuki of Japan for producing engines for Suzuki vehicles. They also had remarkable alliance with Fiat, Daewoo and SAIC. GM’s Fiat Strategy GM had alliance with Fiat hoping to increase sales in Europe. Fiat hoped to increase sales of its luxury cars in the US. GM and Fiat reduced costs by sharing engines and platforms. They exchanged technologies. They also exchanged shares in each others companies. However, this alliance was disastrous. Fiat had decreasing sales and lesser profits. GM and Fiat worked individually and some Fiat shareholders argued GM was obliged to purchase the remaining 80% of Fiat. Finally, GM made an out-of-court settlement of $2 billion. GM’s China Strategy GM had a 50 per cent share with a Chinese auto manufacturer, SAIC. They had numerous competitors with about 200 carmakers, retaining a 40 percent market share. In addition, the government had interventionist policies, such as the foreign ownership of assembly factories should be limited to 50 per cent. However, intellectual property was not protected resulting in models being copied and hence, threatening a decrease in prices. Moreover, GM faced risks that the joint venture might be dissolved or that the SAIC and others may turn into their global competitors; t herefore, there were many challenges. GM’s Daewoo Strategy GM made an alliance for buying Daewoo assets forming GMDAT. This led GM to gain access to the market in Korea and also to provide low-cost cars for GM dealers worldwide. Initially, GM had a 33 per cent market share, which fell to 9.5 percent in 2004 and the situation was becoming tougher. GM’S â€Å"Non-Market† Strategies Governments made policies, which influenced automakers strategies. In some places, such as Canada, government provided free health care for the people thus decreasing the production costs and influencing plant location decisions. For years, governments considered the automotive industry as a job creator, involving assembly operations and also dealers and suppliers. Therefore, the government provided significant financial assistance by which new plants or R D facilities could be introduced. Hence, each automaker started requesting for financial assistance. GM’s Healthcare and Pen sion Strategies GM had numerous employees and thousands of families relied on it for pension funds. In 2005, the cost of healthcare amounted to $5.6 billion and GM was considering to reducing these huge healthcare obligations. In 2005, GM thought to reduce benefits for retired UAW workers, but the UAW argued that this would be a breach of their contract. The union’s view was that before the union members chose to agree to reduce rises in their salaries expecting higher pension and health promises; thus, GM was legally and morally bound to the customer. GM’S Environmental Strategy: The governments were attempting to reduce gasoline consumption and emissions by increasing mileage for which they introduced regulations. Under the new regulations, sales were easier for Honda and Toyota than GM, which was compelled to sell smaller trucks at lower profit margins. Automakers were thinking to alter the engines for enhancing gasoline mileage by using batteries or other electrica l sources. GM introduced models, which relied on lead acid batteries and which it required charging. GM was also working for developing a six-cylinder diesel engine. Toyota and BMW was also working on new types of engines. GM and other automakers also considered fuel cells for producing electricity. In fact, some countries signed the Kyoto Protocol, for decreasing carbon dioxide emissions while the US and some countries did not sign. However, GM voluntarily took measures to reduce carbon dioxide emissions monitoring its energy use and carbon dioxide emission launched a website. Business Level Strategy of GM The GM’s market share in the US fell from 35.5 per cent to 27.3 per cent. The global share of GM was 15 per cent in 2002, which was approximately 14.5 per cent in the following yrs. Thus, the consolidated net income rose by about 1 million from 2002 to 2004. The net margin from continuing operations was above 1 per cent throughout the 3 yrs. An analysis of the financial da ta of global automakers would reveal the global position of GM. GM had the highest number of sales worldwide in 2004, but this does not mean an entire profit since the operating profit margin was -0.2% and the return on equity was -4.4%. This indicates that the company is going through losses. On the other hand, Nissan and BMW had a high profit margin of about 9%, which means that the company is having high profits. Nissan had a return on equity of 20% also indicates the high profitability of the company. The Stock Change of GM was -38.6% whereas that of Nissan was about 228%. Hence, in comparison it appears that the position of GM is poor in the market. In 2005, the CEO of GM intended to introduce new objectives. Following this, GM offered substantial discounts to attract consumers and lessen inventories. The CEO declared that the number of employees would be reduced to 25000., the CEO introduced a new strategy which included a) spending more on new vehicles, b)explaining the funct ions of each of GM’s eight brands; c) focusing more on lowering costs and improving quality; d) searching for ways to lessen the enormous healthcare costs. GM planned to reduce healthcare costs in US. Nevertheless, this was not such a pressing matter for Canada due to differences in publicly funded healthcare systems. The CEO decided to be in charge of the GMNA. He made internal changes within the company by assigning the former chairman of the NA division and GMNA President to global product development and manufacturing and labor. The intention was to reinforce GM’s global focus. The CEO also expressed a new strategy related to pricing, marketing and models of vehicles and said that if each product could be produced with more special features for attracting consumers it would be better. For positioning the models uniquely so that customers can easily understand GM brought new strategies. Among the eight brands, Chevrolet and Cadillac would remain in the market and so me models might be eliminated for lessening duplication. GM thought to use sticker prices, which would be much close to the original prices paid by customers to allow customers to compare prices of GM’S products with products of other companies. GM also started new advertisements focusing the theme â€Å"Only GM† emphasizing safety features and in-vehicle communications service and electronic stability control and some other features. The major problem faced by the company: According to the case of Conklin (2005), the major problems faced by the company are- Competition from Japanese automobiles: The foreign automakers particularly Japanese carmakers offer lower price for their new model quality cars those are concentrate on the environment friendly with low fuel consumption to the customer. Besides trucks and small car markets, these companies also penetrated the market of luxury vehicles with latest technology and these companies develop global networks to sales thei r products. However, GM is in number one position in terms of car sales but it is facing serious problem to sustain as a market leader in automotive industry from last three decades. Competitors’ products: the competitors especially Toyota and Honda are manufacturing quality products and building strong brand image, which becomes one of most significant problems for GM. Internal controlling system: the present management team is in under pressure due to the provision of previous rules as these rules create impeding to apply new technology and bring organizational change at the time of crisis. Resale value: According to the report of Ivey Management Services, the government, rental service providers and many companies offer second hand cars at lower price; therefore, many potential customers purchase second hand cars instead of first hand cars of GM. Customers’ respond: Most of the customers of GM stated that the value of this brand is higher than any other foreign comp any’s car and the quality also lower in terms of the price of the GM brand. Therefore, the customers would like to purchase competitors model as they get new car at lower price with similar or better features, which influence the market to reduce integrate sales of the company. Restructuring process: In 2004, Wagoner in annual report of the company stated that GM should restructure its strategies in order to gain competitive advantages in future and it was a difficult task for the top management, as they had to take many decision going beyond existing culture of the company. For instance, it had twenty-seven different purchasing organizations but it is now performing as a single organization for global operation The â€Å"Push† industry effect: Push strategy indicates that â€Å"pushing† the production through distribution channels to final consumers where the manufacturer directs all the marketing actions toward channel members for reminding them to carry out t he production and to endorse those to final customers; however, GM followed these strategy and automatically reduced the market share. The possible solutions/ alternatives for solving the problem: Explanation of Scale: Each criterion was evaluated and given a score between 1 and 5, with 1 being very unfavorable and 5 being highly favorable Alternative 1: Develop new product line Annual report of GM stated that this company has focused on creating a strong business by introducing innovative products with excellent features; consequently, GM has already launched few models those can run by using alternative fuels consumption system (such as bio-diesel and ethanol blends) with other eco-friendly technologies (GM, 2010, p.12). The purpose of this strategy is to increase the market share in the US market as the foreign companies penetrated the US market with these product lines; for example, Toyota became the market leader in the Hybrid and Plug-In Electric Vehicles while Honda is the ma jor competitor of Toyota. However, GM has already changed its objective related with the cost effective fuels issues and it has introduced 19 Flexmation considering these facts and added new features to operate with bio-fuels including E85 ethanol by the fiscal year 2012. At the same time, GM (13) reported that new model hybrid electric vehicles would play vital role to change customer behaviour and increase sales revenue from the US and European car market; therefore, it would like to introduce Hydrogen Fuel Cell Technology, OnStar and Other Technologies in their new products. Decision Criteria for Strategic Alternatives Evaluation Criteria Evaluation Criteria Strategy 1 Builds brand awareness GM is already market leader in the US market in terms of car sales, but Toyota leads the hybrid car market; so, strategy 1 would need to implement to build brand awareness within short time in this sector 4 Aligns with vision This strategy complied with the vision of the company 4 Exploits core competency It has addressed areas that can add value for GM automobile and further develop the world class experience 3 Competition As the car market is too competitive, this strategy would create new dimension to compete with competitors 4 Differentiates and helps to create unique experience The customers have experienced of the eco friendly models. Therefore, it will not help the company to create unique experience 3 Creating loyal customer base As Toyota and Honda offer similar products at lower price, then it would be difficult to create loyal customer base 3 Financial risk Implementation of this strategy may create problem due to lack customer demand, which will increase financial challenges 3 Short and long term Growth rate It would be possible to expand market and sustain for long time in some business zone 3 Think customer first It is not meet the criteria of think customer first 3 Degree of Flexibility It would be possible to develop market share in the US and other European countries 4 Total / 50 34 Alternative 2: Restructuring Pricing Strategy The marketer of GM should research on the market trends, external business environment, the effect of global financial crisis, demand, market competition and buyer behavior in order to restructuring its pricing strategy. However, GM has long experience to operate business in national and international market as a major player but it lost its glorious market position due to higher competition and price war from Japanese companies. As a result, restructuring pricing strategy is one of the most essential criteria to sustain in competitive market while all competitors setting price considering customers’ purchasing power. Decision Criteria for Strategic Alternatives Evaluation Criteria Evaluation Criteria Strategy 2 Builds brand awareness Japanese car manufacturing companies developed their brand image by using this strategy 4 Aligns with vision In 2009, GM’ s sales have been lowered by 30% than 2008 and the company decided to fire 3800 personnel in order to overcome the recessionary impact. In this circumstances, the position of the company can be improved by following this pricing strategy 4 Exploits core competency GM would need a longer period of time to regain its glorious position in terms of more vehicle sales if it not consider this strategy 4 Competition As Japanese competitors ask lower price to capture the market, GM should hit the market by restructuring their pricing policy 5 Differentiates and helps to create unique experience Most of the case value creation depends on geographic factors include target region or country and population density 3 Creating loyal customer base Due to ongoing instability of oil prices over 2008, a lower demand situation has been created for some of the GM’s higher margin cars involving full- size sport utility vehicles. Therefore, restructuring pricing strategy is the only one so lution to create large customer base; 5 Financial risk 4 Short and log term Growth rate In 2009, the overall conditions threatening the company to the extent that it would not sustain for long without a bailout from the US government. Consequently, alternative 4 must help the company to operate in near future with highest market share 4 Think customer first This strategy meet the criteria of Think customer first 4 Degree of Flexibility Cost Leadership is the effective strategy for future sustainability 5 Total / 50 42 Alternative 3: Joint Venture and Acquisition strategy The company can achieved competitive advantages by joint venturing with large automobiles to share their resource and capabilities to expand the business in outside of the US market. Decision Criteria for Strategic Alternatives Evaluation Criteria Evaluation Criteria Strategy 3 Builds brand awareness In some case, this would effective strategy to increases Brand recognition 4 Aligns with visi on It is more likely to result in a successful outcomes as it creates a customer centric culture, making their accessibility and needs to most important thing 4 Exploits core competency It has identified areas that can add value for the company 4 Competition Reduce completion between two contacting parties 5 Differentiates and helps to create unique experience Differentiate the mountain to suit target group needs, each mountain in unique within itself ensuring that the experience is unique and entwined in the mountains culture 3 Creating loyal customer base Increased infrastructure and services increases capacity for more customers, ensuring the experience to create loyal customer base 4 Financial risk In case of joint venture, it has minimal start up costs, and few overhead. However, in case of acquisition, it requires a large financial investment both with the initial purchase and the development of infrastructure expenses 3 Short and log term Growth rate It offers lar ge potential growth in the long-term in some place 3 Think customer first This strategy has designed with think the company first 2 Degree of Flexibility It limits its adaptability 3 Total / 50 39 Alternative 4: Combination of Alternative Strategy 1 and Strategy 2 Decision Criteria for Strategic Alternatives Evaluation Criteria Evaluation Criteria Strategy 4 Builds brand awareness It would be the best solution to create brand image in global market 5 Aligns with vision This strategy is complies the vision, as the vision of the company is to be the world’s best vehicles by building large market share, revenue, earnings and by developing the quality of the vehicles 5 Exploits core competency GM has already experienced success for outstanding offerings where new pricing strategy would increase its profits 4 Competition Strategy 4 would be the best solution to compete with Toyota, Honda and other foreign competitors 5 Differentiates and helps to create un ique experience The behavior of the customer would be changed due to the new strategy 5 Creating loyal customer base It would be possible for the company to build loyal customer base like competitors 5 Financial risk There is almost no financial risk to implement this strategy 5 Short and long term Growth rate Short and long-term growth of the company would be depending on the customer behavior and strong customer base. However, it can assume that this strategy will expand in near future rapidly 5 Think customer first This strategy first think customer 5 Degree of Flexibility It would be possible to focus on other countries 5 Total / 50 49 Recommendation This report recommended that Alternative strategy 4 is the best solution considering the evaluation criteria of decision-making process and this strategy would help the company to create brand image in global market including developing countries. Alternative strategy 4 only considers the new product development with exceptional features, but the company would never be able to capture large market share if the customers purchase the low price products of competitors. As a result, combination of pricing strategy with development of product line would be the most successful strategy to regain its market position in the US market and establish the company as market leader in global market. Reference List Conklin, D. C. (2005) General Motors: Acting Strategically. Ontario: Richard Ivey School of Business. General Motors (2010) Annual Report 2010 of General Motors Company). [Online] Available from: http://investor.gm.com/pdfs/10-K.pdf Reuters (2011) General Motors Co (GM.N). [Online] Available from: reuters.com/finance/stocks/overview?symbol=GM.N WSJ. (2011) Sales and Share of Total Market by Manufacturer. [Online] Available from: http://online.wsj.com/mdc/public/page/2_3022-autosales.html Yahoo Finance (2011) Direct Competitor Comparison of General Motors Company (GM). [Online] Available from: h ttp://finance.yahoo.com/q/co?s=GM+Competitors Yahoo Finance (2011) General Motors Company (GM). [Online] Available from: http://finance.yahoo.com/echarts?s=GM+Interactive#chart10:symbol=gm;range=2y;indicator=volume;charttype=line;crosshair=on;ohlcvalues=0;logscale=on;source=undefined Footnotes North American Free Tread Agreement The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009