Humans and machines Essay

The interesting feature about discussing the interactions of humans and machines is the inadequacy of language describing these interactions or the ambiguity of the connections between humans and machines. What is really at the center of the debate is how society should view the place of machines or non-human elements within human society. In addition, the application of the technological use of non-human elements in the modern machinery of war exposes the problem of how humans have changed the practice of warfare starting in WWI and how it made war evolve from a â€Å"human† experience to an â€Å"inhuman† experience instead of a â€Å"non-human† experience. The scope of this paper is to analyze the relationships of humans and machines in general as well as in the context of war. Discussion What does it mean to be human? What does it mean to be non-human? According to Casper, the human identity is not a natural state of â€Å"being†, rather it is a constructed identity in relation to the context that society gives it. (Casper, 1994) In fact, the recognition of human social identity and the positions or functions attached to it are based on our interpretation of where these elements should be placed, for example, in order to understand or define something, we place it in ‘mental boxes’ that simplify our recognition of identity and function within society. However, Casper argues that we cannot fully justify why we assign human identities to non-human elements or vice-versa. (Casper, 1994) In order to illustrate the lack of consistency as to what we call human or non-human, she uses the example of the fetus that is considered alive for surgery, â€Å"a potential human† with human qualities but also a non-human agent for medical research using fetal tissue (p. 843). Casper mentions The Actor Network Agency (ANT) movement who finds that we should do away with natural/technical and social/cultural labels, which confuses our notions of what is human and what is not. However, this â€Å"analytical symmetry† treatment forgets to explain how we interpret the identities of agents and assign labels. Understanding how and why we label humans and non-humans may help diffuse the confusion over agent identities that bother sociologists and society so much since they cannot seem to make sense of it, for example, some people talk to their car like it was a person but a car is not a person but why do some people have the need to anthropomorphize their car whereas they would call their dog â€Å"it†? Some people would insist that animals are living beings therefore that they deserve to be referred to as he or she. (Casper, 1994) Another example in our technological society is the factory worker who gets laid off and replaced by a robot. The worker knows that he or she is better than a robot. Yet, the robot does his or her job consistently, faster, and without breaks. So, is the worker a sophisticated robot or is the robot a sophisticated worker? Bruno Latour would agree on that ambiguity because of our inadequate handling of situations in which non-human entities are mixed with human agents, especially from the perspective of sociologists. (Latour, 1988) Latour deals with this debate skillfully using an illustration to make his points: the door in a wall, opening and closing thanks to hinges (non-human element) and a human door keeper who has been assigned to close the door each time it is opened. He argues that ‘the hinge always does its work’, precise and consistent while at some time, the human doorkeeper may falter. So, the door keeper could be replaced by a non-human element the ‘door keeper number 2’ to prevent the faltering. The fact that we call the non-human element the door keeper even though it is not human, shows that we do not have ascribed what Latour calls â€Å"a coherent vocabulary† to distinguish humans from non-humans. Thus, his conclusion (p. 310) is that the reason why we have not done that is because â€Å"the delegation of competences and our social interactions imply the participation of non-humans. † The confusion is that non-humans exist within a context of figurative/non-figurative speech, not a human/non-human context. In essence, that is why we anthropomorphize our car. (Latour, 1988) Consequently, it seems that our lives are intimately intertwined with the use of technology, machines, and other tools, including robots as well as computers that all are non-human agents indispensable to our way of life. In fact, one particular illustration of such a reasonable conclusion can be found with computer hackers who, for the most part, are not considered part of ‘normal functioning society. ’ Sherry Turckle investigated MIT A. I. lab students who also are considered hackers. The main recurring idea among these students (almost exclusively male) is the fear of social interactions with other people due to a lack of trust or understanding of social interactions. Hackers are known to be loners and self-admittedly feel in control of their computer and its actions. In fact, on p. 212, this one student states: â€Å"computers have become an extension of my mind. † (Turckle, ) Their self-esteem, their existence become defined only through their medium, resulting in a gradual elimination of life experiences that paralyze them, adding to their needs to mask their personal fears of the world that exists beyond their machine. (p. 208) In contrast, there are people who even today cannot use a computer because they are afraid of revealing to others their lack of computer knowledge that has become essential in our modern society. Some may get help to improve their computer skills whereas others become so angry with the machine, taking their anger, originating from their own lack of confidence in learning new things, onto this ‘stupid’ machine; some may even become technophobic. Unfortunately for our society, science and technology have been used for warfare. Historically, wars always needed improvement in their methods of killing. As a consequence, the development of technology became a part of warfare while its propaganda glorified science and technology as the agents of victory. (Virillio, 1988) (Delanda, ) This became especially true as scientific knowledge evolved in physics, engineering, and chemistry. When WWI broke out in 1914, the weapons available then were the first of their kinds, the most inhuman of their kinds, killing many soldiers remotely: either gassing soldiers with the deadly gas phosgene or using machine guns or canons with an extended range to kill as many enemy soldiers as possible. (Visvanathan, ) In WWII, planes, tanks, and ships became more and more sophisticated with technological advances like radar and sonar. The advent of using nuclear weapons on Hiroshima and Nagasaki horrified the scientists who naively believed that their work would be used to deter, not to destroy. (Kaempffert, 1941) â€Å"Fat Man† and â€Å"Little Boy† were dropped on these two Japanese cities; ironically, these two deadly bombs were named as if they were human themselves. To the Japanese, the nuclear catastrophe and its aftermath on the population promoted the creation of the character â€Å"Godzilla†, a pre-historic mutant monster. With the Cold War, more weapons gradually became stealth weapons instead of ‘front’ weapons. Nowadays, machines have turned into non-human extensions of their makers or rather their military masters, for example, long-range surveying equipment on satellites allowing spying activities on neighboring nations. Yet, is it appropriate to say ‘non-human’ when modern weapons like continental missiles can kill so horribly and from the comfort of a military base on the other side of the world? The military is relying on technology more than ever by using computers, artificial intelligence research, simulation modules that mimic a battlefield or even war video games whose graphics have been rendered so life-like that video gamers who are soldiers may not know reality from fiction, killing enemy soldiers without any care, as if they were video game characters, non-human or human? In conclusion, the relationship between human and non-human agents is complex but not impossible to characterize if the realization is made that non-human agents are part of our environment and society. In fact, they occupy a greater place today than 10 years ago (computer technology, for example). The key to their seamless integration in our society is the figure/non-figurative reference style proposed by Latour as it is already used unconsciously by many of us. References Casper, M. (1994).Reframing and grounding non-human agency: what makes a fetus an agent? The American Behavioral Scientist, 37(6): 839-856. Delanda, Latour, B. (1988). Mixing humans and non-humans together: the sociology of a door-closer. Social Problems, 35(3): 298-310. Kaempffert, W. (1941). War and Technology. The American Journal of Sociology, 46(4): 431-444. Turckle, S. (n. d. ) The new computer cultures: the mechanization of the mind. Book? , publisher, year? Virillio, P. (1988). War and Cinema. Visvanathan.

Examine Freud’s View of Religious Belief. Essay

Sigmund Freud was born in 1856; he lived most of his life in Vienna. His family were Jewish so was brought in a religious faith. Freud fled the Nazi’s in London then died the following year on the 23rd of September 1939. He was an atheist. He saw himself as â€Å"The Godless Jew†. He rejected both America and Religion. Freud had a Neurotic and obsessional character. Freud’s view on religious belief was a form of neurotic illness. Freud believed that religious activities bear a striking resemblance to the activities of a neurotic person. Neurotic conditions such as OCD repeat actions which. Primal Horde Theory, Freud’s principle contribution was the idea of the murder of the primitive horde â€Å"one day, the brothers who have been driven out, came together killed and devoured their father and so made an end to the patriarchal horde. The leader was killed out of jealously, as he was taking all the women. In guilt for the murder of their father figure they put up a Totem, symbol or animal which is believed that their spirit is inside in place of their father figure. Guilt was eventually paid of by praying or sacrificing to them Totem. Over millions of years the Totem becomes God, guilt then passed. The Totem is seen as sacred and must be protected. After a year the animal believed to be the Totem could be killed then eaten. The Oedipus complex, Freud believed that everyone suffered a dramatic trauma which was the Oedipus complex. This is when a boy at the age of six would have sexual desires for his mother and wants to kill his father, in jealousy. The suckling child was used to having its mother’s attention, where the libido is transferred

The Impact of Globalization on Economic Injustices towards Women Essay

The Impact of Globalization on Economic Injustices towards Women - Essay Example This research will begin with the statement that Lisa Lowe believes that the Utopia and dystopian narrative of gender and sexuality address how women of color provide an ideology of liberal formation which advocates for equal rights between male and female sex. She thinks that utopia has played an important role in campaigning for women's rights in the present and during the cold war. She argues that utopia, though contradicting to dystopia, was responsible for the mass movement of women's rights which saw to the intervention of the liberal state in the United States and protected the rights of minority and women who came from different races. She echoes that despite the difficulty that was experienced by women at the time, they emerged and took over roles which were male dominated and thus defined the element of freedom, capitalism, and globality. Moreover, she argues that Utopia was responsible for the scientific revolution that unleashed innovative power for both men and women ali ke. New communication approaches came up as a result and aggregation of opinions made it possible for women to be heard in the society. Her contributions in the field are immense as she contributed towards significant and transformative of Asian American studies, therefore, enabling the current and future generation to understand the past histories and critique the past issues that affected women and are still being practiced currently. Glenn was valuable in opposing theories and ideologies that encouraged the discrimination of women and greatly contributed towards the intersection analysis of power and sexuality to free women from men bondage. Her ideologies were against liberal feminism and global feminism, but she advocated for a society where women’s could be men’s equal. She was among the scholars who took the three move off in scripting women in the book of rhetoric. She also highlighted the different issues which were affecting women and criticized the issues, t herefore, creating awareness in the field of gender studies. She drew feminist scholars from other disciplines and composed in several of her works of how women were men’s equal thus changing the contemporary society’s view of women. She highlights the different discriminative acts that were being perpetrated against women like the battle against birth control, the contraception coverage debate and the intensifying attacks on choices made by women. Her struggles contributed towards the change of women's status in the society over the years as the issues were taken into consideration and the status of women changed. Saskia Sassen argued that globalization played a major role in contributing to the sovereignty of countries. She states that women are affected by the sovereignty which is being unbounded by different economic practices within a country. She notes that women are still secluded from major economic practices and this affects how they are being treated and look ed upon by men who are their equals in the society. She develops a feminist analytics of globalization and states that for development to be achieved in all sectors, the economic conditions of men and women should be considered alike and business should be shunned away from the process. Moreover, she campaigned using the feminist analytics that taking women’s perspective into consideration allows for strategic instantiations of tendering that promotes development in all major economic areas within the society. According to Mendoza, there are many dimensions of transnational and women of color feminist theoretical perspective contributing to the new the new gender analyses of a globalizing economy and economic injustices as mentioned by women scholars. Feminist geography is among the factors affecting gender and feminist perspectives of women.

The environment of Knight Scholarship Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

The environment of Knight - Scholarship Essay Example The use of vivid language candidly and comprehensively illuminates the essay by helping the reader form a mental image of the environment that Knight lives in thus making the narration more fascinating and introspective. It makes the story iridescent and enthralling.Knight endeavors to augment his essay by overly using specific examples from her experiences to irradiate the depressing obliviousness and signs desecration that subsists in the contemporary American society. She uses the instances where police rightly accepted $200 fines for hunters who had ostensibly violated laws and when two rabbit hunters walked into Knight’s land and claimed that they have hunted the grounds for years without being caught or probed.I effusively concur with Knight’s assertion that signs are not effective in controlling offenders particularly hunters. There are many conspicuous signs that have been placed to guard and guide conduct but are perfectly disregarded as though they never exist ed. It is common to find signs such as â€Å"NO PARKING† but people haphazardly park in front of or under the sign. People’s intention to harm others and the predominant insidiousness is prodigious and placing signs has proven futile.

Employee Development Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Employee Development - Research Paper Example Employee development leads to employee motivation and job satisfaction. A growth-oriented workplace culture works on improving small occurrences so that overall growth is guaranteed. Growth relates to each and every employee at the workplace. The development in the quality of existing employees’ skills and the quantity of skilled workers leads to overall organizational growth. The most precious asset that a company may cherish is its employees, and it needs to be seriously concerned with all issues that may dissatisfy, frustrate or depress them. Without happy employees, no strategy is going to work, and no progress will be seen in the long run. Also, employee development programs result in job retention which is necessary to save organizational finances. Opening new opportunities for employees, so that they can develop expertise, makes them stay happy with their jobs. This can be done through training and learning sessions, along with providing such avenues to employees where they can practice new ideas. In this paper, we shall discuss what research suggests about the benefits of employee development, both for the employee and the employer. Discussion Gallie et al. (2010) describe in their research how teamwork can be used as a strategy to enhance employees’ skills and, ultimately, organizational success. They have explained the benefits of teamwork in task discretion, skill development, organizational commitment, discretionary effort, and employee welfare. Talking about employee development, they state that teamwork creates such an environment in which employees can learn new skills and competencies. This is because the employer distributes tasks on multi-functional basis, requiring different people with different skill sets. This system of work organization requires employees to work on a collaborative platform on which they share their ideas, and get motivated by each other’s talents and capabilities. This makes them bring the best out o f their skills to accomplish the tasks assigned to them. Constructive criticism, feedback, and further appreciation motivates them, leading to successful employee development. The researchers found that employees, who were the participants of their research, stated that their jobs required them to learn and help other employees learn new things, when they worked in semi-autonomous or self-managed teams. Ellinger et al. (2008) prove our thesis statement in their research, by stating that employee development strategies, such as training, coaching and empowerment, lead to successful employee development that is beneficial to both the employees and the employers. They conducted their research on 123 logistic service provider firms using multi-survey design methodology, and found that firms which employed employee development programs performed better than those which did not value employee development. They emphasized that service-related training is the most important thing that impro ves employees’ skills. Training, which occurs after orientation, is a process in which employers intend to enhance employees’ performance through teaching them new skills and competencies, with the use of which, they can enhance their performance in their job areas. Training modifies the thinking of employees, and is a never-ending process. It makes employees efficient and

Marketing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 41

Marketing - Essay Example The author performed content analysis of the number of websites operated by leading fashion retailers along with three large supermarkets in UK. The author, while selecting the sample, focused only on choosing retail stores along with super store chains however there was no appropriate method was adapted. This article offers an insight through content analysis as to how the online branding is done by the retailers. This study was conducted by observational research methods through content analysis. Observational research methods are particularly suitable in situations where behaviors are observed. By performing cohort analysis, researcher therefore has attempted to offer a deeper insight into the similar traits and characteristics of the group of retailers in UK. However, this study is only limited to content analysis and as such does not offer any other insight obtained through other means of research like obtaining primary data through interviews or through circulating questionnaire to gain the responses of the managers. This research is limited due to the fact that it only takes into UK fashion retailers however, it fails to take into account how these retailers and their branding strategies actually affect their marketability. I.e. study does not provide any indication of how online branding strategies are helping firms to achieve their strategic goals. Observational studies however, often time consuming and selection of the sample can be difficult to obtain. Since such methods are time consuming, therefore changes that take place over the period of time due to changes in the consumer preferences may not be measured appropriately. Since observational research methods often involve certain ethical issues therefore the overall reliability may not be entirely to the complete satisfaction of the researcher. It is also imperative that the researcher may not be able to obtain entirely correct

Operations management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words - 5

Operations management - Essay Example The intended audience of the article are risk management authority in companies and organizations. The text is approved by the Institute of Publishers in Germany. The article defined the term risk management that might help organizations to identify some of the potential risk that are likely to face a company. The text is related to the risk concepts and themes based on the ways in which risk can interfere the functionality and operations of a business. Additionally, the major strength of the article is that the research question on risk management overview is well defined. One limitation of the article is that it does not address proper ways of managing risk. The article asserts that the objective of the risk management is reducing various risks that are related to the pre-selected domain to those that are acceptable. Additionally, it may entail various threats that are caused by technology, environment, politics, humans, and organizations. Additionally, the paper explains that the risks are not easy to avoid and is present in each situation of human. The risks are present in daily operations, private, and public sector companies. Therefore, irrespective of the risk context, risk management is generally universal in either technical or stakeholder causes. The author of this article is a lecturer of university of Chicago. The intended audience of the article are risk management oversight committee in parastatals and other government offices. The New York publishers approve the text. The article defined the term risk management that might help organizations to identify some of the potential risk that are likely to face a company. The text is related to the risk concepts and themes based on the ways in which risk can interfere the functionality and operations of a business. Additionally, the major strength of the article is that the research

Litreview for easy topci--business Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Litreview for easy topci--business - Essay Example Her major areas of research under this branch of study, revolved around estimating the costs of foodborne illnesses; assessing the legal initiatives for firms to produce safer food; as well as analyzing and studying international trade and food safety issues (USDA, 2011a). Dr. Fred Gale, is a senior economist, with extensive experience in the field of U.S. farm structure, rural economy as well as manufacturing employment issues. He has conducted extensive research in the field of market analysis of Chinese agricultural practices as well as international trade. His current field of work include analysis of Chinese food consumption patterns; exploring the agricultural finance trends in China etc among others (USDA, 2011b). Critical review of their work The article discusses the safety risks associated with food imports from China in the U.S. The authors have tried to explore various critical issues such as the potential safety hazards of food imports from the region in the U.S.; the ty pe of food imported from the region; and the causes behind FDA's rejection of food items imported from China. They have also critically assessed the Chinese food production system, and suggested measures to improve food safety in China.

Avon's Market Campaigns Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Avon's Market Campaigns - Essay Example The strategy of going global was based on a primary fact that there will be more chances of profitability if you could access more customers. The basic reason of exporting is to increase the profitability of business either to explore new markets or to get rid of local heavy competition. Avon had both. The selling model developed by Avon that is in accordance with the nature of their products is not much suitable for the women in the United States. As a large number of women are engaged in full-time jobs, it will be difficult to access them through direct selling model.Avon has a specific sales model that is line with its business model and the nature of products it is selling. However, in order to make the business profitable, it is necessary to understand the socioeconomic and demographic trends of the country. In the United States, the availability of women is a major issue. Avon needs a part-time sales force to implement its sales model effectively with a low labor cost. The unav ailability of women affects the volume of sales because there will be fewer candidates willing to take the part-time sales representative job and also there will be fewer women to meet those representatives to buy the products. Going global is a risky decision as the economic recession can affect the profitability of a global company more than a local company. Some portion of operating cost of global operations is fixed in nature and can not be avoided like legal formalities of each country. Global recession also affects the purchasing power.

The Apology - Plato of Socrates Essay Example for Free

The Apology Plato of Socrates Essay The Apology is written by Plato of Socrates trial, at 70 years of age Socrates was accused of impiety and corrupting the youth of Athens. Plato’s account consists of three speeches that were given by Socrates during this trial. Socrates speaks before the men of Athens, his jury, in 399 BCE and confesses he has forgotten who he was, he then recollects who he is, and finally he proclaims who Socrates is. The trial began with the prosecutors presenting their case against the accused before the Athenian jury. In this trial Meletus argued that Socrates was guilty of corrupting the youth of Athens and committing acts of impiety. It is possible that Anytus spoke as well. The charges arose because Socrates created doubts on the beliefs and values of the Athenians this may have caused anger and confusion among the Athenians and created a strong resentment against Socrates. After Meletus finished presenting his case against Socrates, the defense had the opportunity to answer to the charges. The Apology starts with the defense speech by Socrates. He observed that he really had two sets of accusers (old and new) and that he was more afraid of the old accusers so he approached that problem first. He answered to the charges of the old accusers by relating a story about the oracle of Delphi. Socrates explains his true activity is misunderstood he only asked the oracle who was the most wise and she said â€Å"no man was wiser† than Socrates. He set out to dispute the oracle’s claim and realized after researching this claim that indeed he was the wisest because he was aware of his own ignorance and spheres of value are aware they are ignorant of their ignorance. He then focused on Meletus charge of corrupting the youth and impiety, he explained his important mission to Athens by comparing himself to a gadfly. He ended his defense by discussing his integrity, his followers, and his family. Subsequently, Socrates is convicted by a slim margin and gives a second speech. The accusers asked for a certain penalty, typically death by hemlock, if the accused is convicted. Socrates argues for a more lenient penalty. Socrates second speech is an argument for a different penalty rather than death, but Socrates argues that he is doing a great service to the state of Athens, so that the suitable penalty would be to pay him an allowance for the rest of his life to support him in his censure of individual citizens of Athens. This facetious retort does not go well with the senate and they sentence him to death. In his final speech Socrates tells the Athenians that they will be shamed in the future for their action and explains why he doesnt fear death. He goes on to explain that he does not hold a grudge against his accusers and he does not fear death because if he goes to a better place he will be at eternal peace and without worries and if he migrates to the other place he will be able to continue his practice of Socratic dialogue. Either way he will get what he wants. In summary, it appears that Socrates held the Athenian jury in contempt with implying facetious antidotes but may have considered his own fate before the trial began understanding at his age he may have already accepted death as a final outcome. He admits to no grudges held but proclaims that others will replace him and gives encouragement to those who voted to acquit him. His own acceptance of his fate is calm and logical and asks for help for his sons when he is gone. By his own admission he is the wisest because he knows he is Socrates.

A new car, a new choice

A new car, a new choice A New Car, a New Choice For most teenagers, only one thing is on their mind when they turn 16: being able to drive. I remember ever since I received my learners permit, I couldnt wait to drive on my own. I looked forward to driving as fast as I wanted and blasting music with the windows rolled down; I of course couldnt do this with one of my parents in the passengers seat. When I turned 16, I not only obtained my drivers license, but I was also lucky enough to receive a new car. Now I know what youre thinking, and I assure you that I am not just a spoiled rich kid who gets everything handed to him from his parents. My family only owned two cars at the time and being the oldest of four children, I would only be one of the many future drivers; owning only two cars just wasnt enough. One of the fun parts about acquiring the new car was that I had some input in the selection process. My parents narrowed the choices down to a Toyota 4Runner and a Jeep Grand Cherokee and allowed me to help them with the final dec ision. After comparing and contrasting both vehicles, we decided to go with the Toyota 4Runner. Despite the Jeep Grand Cherokee having better performance and many similarities with the 4Runner, my parents and I chose the 4Runner because of its safety, price, and our loyalty to Toyota. The first thing I did when I was comparing the two cars was look at the performance of each vehicle. The Jeep Grand Cherokee has 210 horsepower which is extremely high for an SUV, especially compared to the 4Runners measly 157 horsepower. I really liked the fact that the Grand Cherokee has a lot of power and was able to go pretty fast. The Grand Cherokee packs quite a wallop compared to the 4Runner with respect to torque, which is the force that lets you accelerate quickly. Torque equals pickup, and the Grand Cherokee will have picked up and left by the time the 4Runner finally gets moving. Horsepower and torque was not high on my parents priority list though, they actually thought the Grand Cherokee had too much power. They also explained that bigger engines use more gasoline than smaller ones, meaning that the 4Runner gets better gas mileage. I looked up the statistics to see if they were right and sure enough I found out the 4Runner has an 18/23 city to highway miles per gallon wh ile the Grand Cherokee only has a 16/21 city to highway miles per gallon. Another important aspect of the performance is the handling of the vehicle. With their comparable turning radii, the Grand Cherokee and the 4Runner handle about the same. The Grand Cherokee may edge out the 4Runner in power, but the 4Runner has the advantage with gas mileage, a factor that my parents really care about since they pay for gas. Despite my preference with the Grand Cherokee in the performance category, my parents had the final decision and gave the advantage to the 4Runner. Another category my parents and I looked at when deciding between the two cars was safety. After looking up safety statistics, we found out that the 4Runner has one of the highest safety-crash ratings for an SUV. The Grand Cherokee on the other hand, received average ratings. My parents claimed that safety was one of their top priorities especially since I was just beginning to drive. They told me that according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, more than 7,000 people aged 15 to 20 are involved in fatal crashes a year. My parents did their research and wanted to make sure I was as safe as possible out on the road. The Grand Cherokee is a reliable vehicle and received decent safety reviews, but with the 4Runner, they could feel more comfortable knowing I was in a safer vehicle. When referring to size, neither the 4Runner nor the Grand Cherokee has a marked advantage as far as seating capacity. While the front cabin in the Grand Cherokee offers a bit more head room than the 4Runner, there honestly isnt much of a difference. The Grand Cherokee provides more head and leg room to passengers than the 4Runner does, but the difference wasnt big enough to affect our decision. Both cars have the same seating capacity, being able to seat 5 passengers. The 4Runner though is likely a better choice than the Grand Cherokee when it comes to transporting cargo but the Grand Cherokee out tows the 4Runner by a massive margin. My parents and I didnt take these factors into consideration because I wouldnt be using the car to transport cargo or tow objects, so we didnt really look into size or utility that much due to the similarities. The last categories my parents and I looked at were the price and the manufacturer. The introductory price for the 4Runner is $27,500, while the price for the Grand Cherokee is $30,710, making the 4Runner $3,210 cheaper. On top of the 4Runner being cheaper, the Grand Cherokee requires more trips to the pump, meaning more money would be spent on gas with the Grand Cherokee. The prices state that they also do not include destination charges. After doing more research, we found out that the destination charge is a standard charge for transporting the vehicle from its point of origin to the dealer. It costs almost the same to get the Grand Cherokee to the dealership as the 4Runner so we didnt take that much into consideration. What we did take into heavy consideration though was the manufacturer. My family has always bought Toyota vehicles. We currently own a Toyota Sequoia and a Toyota Camry and even before those two cars, both my parents had always owned a Toyota vehicle. My parents cl aim that they like the reliability and they are very reluctant to change so until one of the cars break down or cause them trouble, we will probably continue to buy from Toyota. Seeing how the 4Runner is manufactures by Toyota, it pretty much sealed the deal. After considering both vehicles and all their pros and cons, my parents and I agreed on the 4Runner. Despite the performance of the 4Runner not being up to par with the Grand Cherokee, the rest of the factors made me favor the 4Runner and to this day Im glad we went with the 4Runner. My parents loved every aspect of the 4Runner and believe it was a perfect fit for me and the rest of my siblings down the road. It still drives great and I love all the features of the vehicle. I dont know how different it would be if we had decided on the Grand Cherokee, but comparing and contrasting the two vehicles really helped us pick the car that best suited our family. With the combination of good gas mileage, safety, price, and the Toyota brand name the 4Runner seemed like a perfect fit.

Much Ado About Nothing :: essays research papers

An Analysis of Much Ado About Nothing Written between 1598 and 1600 at the peak of Shakespeare's skill in writing comedic work, Much Ado About Nothing is one of Shakespeare's wittiest works. In this comedy, Shakespeare's drama satirizes love and human courtliness between two couples who take very different paths to reach the same goal: making the connection between inward and outward beauty. Much Ado About Nothing shows different ways of how people are attracted to one another, and how their realization and definitions of "love" relate to their perceptions of inward and outward beauty. The play is set in Messina, Italy, a small province facing the Straits of Messina, in northeastern Sicily, at the estate of the governor of Messina, Leonato. Don Pedro, Prince of Arragon, Don John, his brother, Borachio his servant, Bene*censored*, a young lord, and Claudio his best friend are all returning from war, and have been invited to stay with Leonato for a month. Shakespeare's antago nist Don John, bears much resemblance to Don John of Austria, the illegitimate son of Charles V, half-brother to the King of Aragon who defeated the Turks at Lepanto and returned to Messina after his victory in October of 1571 (Richmond 51). Don John of Austria had many of the qualities that Shakespeare's Don John did, he was not on good terms with his brother, and although he tried with much effort to gain status, he was frequently humiliated in attempts to bring himself fame. Shakespeare was known to draw parallels between his characters and actual historical figures, in an attempt to produce a sort abstract history of the times (Richmond 49). Upon returning from war, Claudio saw a young woman named Hero that he had seen before going to fight, and felt a strong attraction to her. Claudio expressed to Bene*censored* his attraction to Hero, Leonato's daughter, and Bene*censored*, with a mouth as loose as oiled hinge immediately told Don Pedro of the attraction. Don Pedro, being much closer to Leonato than any of the other veterans were, told the governor Leonato about Claudio, who in turn informed his daughter Hero of him, all with the lightning speed of gossip. Claudio's attraction to Hero is described by Shakespeare with skill as he puts emphasis on the Claudio-Hero relationship that is forming but at the same time keeps it in the background. Claudio is clearly attracted to Hero's outer beauty and knows nothing of her inner beauty, but after conversing with his friend Bene*censored* and then Don Pedro he decides he will marry Hero.

Gregors Obsession with Money Exposed in Franz Kafkas Metamorphosis Es

Gregor's Obsession with Money Exposed in Franz Kafka's Metamorphosis In his story The Metamorphosis, Franz Kafka gives us the story of Gregor Samsa, a young man who wakes up one morning to find himself transformed into an insect-like creature. Gregor, however, remains strangely indifferent to his plight, in a manner that seems inhuman to most readers. This is not due to a lack of omniscience on the narrator's part that causes the indifference to go unmentioned, and neither is it due to inobservance on the part of Gregor to the point of not noticing that he has been changed into an insect. Rather, Gregor does not pay much attention to his new form as an insect because his life as a human lacked many ordinary human characteristics. In other words, Gregor was mentally not human even before his change in physical form. Just after his metamorphosis, Gregor makes an important observation on his job as a traveling salesman: "Oh God," he thought, "what a grueling job I've picked! Day in, day out - on the road. The upset of doing business is much worse than the actual business in the home office, and, besides, I've got the torture of traveling, worrying about changing trains, eating miserable food at all hours, constantly seeing new faces, no relationships that last or get more intimate. To the devil with it all!" (4) Most "normal" people would claim that meaningful relationships constitute the core of the human experience. But Gregor's concerns seem much more mundane. He begins with complaining about the quotidian problems of his job and only in the end reaches that which is really important - and then he immediately goes on to continue thinking about his job. He is obsessed with work, "a tool of the boss, without brains... ...c. But we could also interpret this sentence in the opposite light, to assert that Gregor is an animal by dint of his ability to feel. This is supported by Gregor's ruminations on his plan to send Grete to the Conservatory: "...and it was his secret plan that she who, unlike him, loved music and could play the violin movingly..." (27, italics added). Thus, Gregor as a human being could not derive pleasure from music, indicating that he lived in a deprived, insect-like emotional state. As we have seen, Gregor's mental life was extremely limited even before his physical metamorphosis. Perhaps Kafka intended this story as a means of pointing out that many people in an increasingly capitalist society, like Gregor, become more and more obsessed with money and thus live a mechanical life, like an insect. Thus, they sequester themselves from the pleasures of the soul. Gregor's Obsession with Money Exposed in Franz Kafka's Metamorphosis Es Gregor's Obsession with Money Exposed in Franz Kafka's Metamorphosis In his story The Metamorphosis, Franz Kafka gives us the story of Gregor Samsa, a young man who wakes up one morning to find himself transformed into an insect-like creature. Gregor, however, remains strangely indifferent to his plight, in a manner that seems inhuman to most readers. This is not due to a lack of omniscience on the narrator's part that causes the indifference to go unmentioned, and neither is it due to inobservance on the part of Gregor to the point of not noticing that he has been changed into an insect. Rather, Gregor does not pay much attention to his new form as an insect because his life as a human lacked many ordinary human characteristics. In other words, Gregor was mentally not human even before his change in physical form. Just after his metamorphosis, Gregor makes an important observation on his job as a traveling salesman: "Oh God," he thought, "what a grueling job I've picked! Day in, day out - on the road. The upset of doing business is much worse than the actual business in the home office, and, besides, I've got the torture of traveling, worrying about changing trains, eating miserable food at all hours, constantly seeing new faces, no relationships that last or get more intimate. To the devil with it all!" (4) Most "normal" people would claim that meaningful relationships constitute the core of the human experience. But Gregor's concerns seem much more mundane. He begins with complaining about the quotidian problems of his job and only in the end reaches that which is really important - and then he immediately goes on to continue thinking about his job. He is obsessed with work, "a tool of the boss, without brains... ...c. But we could also interpret this sentence in the opposite light, to assert that Gregor is an animal by dint of his ability to feel. This is supported by Gregor's ruminations on his plan to send Grete to the Conservatory: "...and it was his secret plan that she who, unlike him, loved music and could play the violin movingly..." (27, italics added). Thus, Gregor as a human being could not derive pleasure from music, indicating that he lived in a deprived, insect-like emotional state. As we have seen, Gregor's mental life was extremely limited even before his physical metamorphosis. Perhaps Kafka intended this story as a means of pointing out that many people in an increasingly capitalist society, like Gregor, become more and more obsessed with money and thus live a mechanical life, like an insect. Thus, they sequester themselves from the pleasures of the soul.

Electoral Systems :: essays research papers fc

From my limited studies of comparative government I have come to the conclusion that a plurality type of electoral process where winner takes all is a superior compared to proportional representation for several key reasons. Proportional representation is based on having an election based on census instead of consensus. In other words, ask the masses which party they feel will do the best job on a ticket where there may be several political parties running which intern will select its own leader from a list based on an individual's faithfulness to the party. The pros of proportional representation includes increase voter turnout based on the premise that every vote counts for a particular party, so you may not get all of the representation as in the plurality, but you may get some representation, so it gives more choices to the voter. Proportional representation would increase the amount of women in office because they make up 50 percent of the population, and this form of election would decrease the amount of negative campaigning, because the competition shift from all or nothing to all or something (http://www.britannica.com/bcom/eb/article/6/0,5716,63126+1+61565,00.html). An example of this would be if a politician gets 51% of the vote, this would garner 100% of the representation. There is no reason for a political party with less then 45% of the vote to make an effort as a party. Why spend the money?   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Plurality on the other hand is a vote of consensus rather then census in other words, the party with the most votes will be elected. It's easy to understand by voters, allows quick decisions and it is less costly to run. The only significant drawbacks include low voter turnout and the party that has the less amount of voters usually gets removed, so the winner takes all. The drawback to this is there may not be significant representation among the masses, but at least there is a constraint in the number of parties (http://www.ask.com/main/metaanswer.asp?metaEngine=directhit&origin.html). Plurality is ideal for us Americans who are accustomed to a simple yuppie lifestyle with the most complicated decision in our daily existence is what will eat for dinner.

Globalization in the 21st Century Essay

Globalization has become one of the principal symbols of economic, cultural and political life in the 21st century. Although there is no precise definition of globalization, due to the complexity of the term and the varying attitudes towards it, put simply it is the process by which nationality is becoming all the time more irrelevant. International organizations such as Coca Cola, Disney, McDonald’s, Sony, Shell Oil and IBM, symbolize such a process. In layman’s terms, globalization is basically the means by which people around the globe are now more connected to each other than ever before. Information and money flow more swiftly and goods and services produced in one part of the globe are progressively more obtainable worldwide. International travel is also more frequent and international communication is routine. However globalization as we know it today is vastly different from its humble beginnings. The following essay will look at the effect global institutions h ave on a national level and whether they challenge or defend the interests of the nation. Richard Peet’s reading deals with the beginning of globalization, brought on by a struggle for dominance and control of the world’s resources, through the use of coercion. Globalization was heralded by Columbus’s discovery of America in 1492. European capitalists then required labour to develop their new found continent. This came in the form of slavery, â€Å"black slavery had an economic rather than merely a racial basis – it was used because it was cheaper.†(Peet, R. pg.120) This lead to the demise of Africa’s potential for development as millions of slaves were taken from their homeland. This left a void of labour in Africa, therefore inhibiting their ability to develop their own nation. This is still prevalent in today’s society as sweatshops in underdeveloped countries with deplorable conditions are used as labour for many of the world’s global institutions such as Nike and Polo Ralph Lauren (see attached table 9.3, Klein, N. pg.528) Wallerstein reading addresses the rise of socialism and communism as an antidote to the capitalist value of progress at any cost. He ponders whether or not â€Å"historical capitalism represents progress or regression.† (Wallerstein, I. pg.100) He believes â€Å"historical capitalism has developed an ideological framework of oppressive humiliation†¦which today we call sexism  and racism.† (Wallerstein, I. pg.102) Globalization has led to a very small group having a monopoly over world trade. In Australia the richest 10 percent of its population â€Å"own 85% of all shares, 72% of rental investment properties and 60% of business assets.† (Kelly. S, 2001) However, contrasting views do exist in relation to globalization, so it’s important to assess both the positive and negative impact. Globalization has allowed for the creation of a new world politics, in which countries are not isolated units anymore. Globally the world has become united in dealing with issues such as pollution and environmental standards. Recent developments in information and communication technology allow individuals from different regions to communicate speedily across huge distances and access information rapidly. Democracy is spreading rapidly which is leading to the development of a common culture. Between 1975 and 1995 the number of democracies in the world increased from 36 to 75 states, which coincided with the globalization boom, and has lead to much closer links between nations. For less developed countries, globalization offers access to foreign capital, global export markets, and advanced technology, allowing faster growth which in turn promotes poverty reduction, democratization, and higher labour and environmental standards. (www.freetrade.org/issues/globalization.html) In contrast opponents to globalization believe it increases inequality between nations. Such inequality is caused due to the rapid expansion of trade and economic developments without reference to human rights and labour standards. Globalization inhibits governments from subjecting worldwide economic forces to regulation and control. The uneven distribution of wealth associated with rapid globalization may be widening the gap between certain countries and regions. In order for a nation to prosper in today’s economy, they must possess the core foundation of competitiveness. Such competitiveness leads to the exploitation of poorer nations, further contributing to the uneven distribution of wealth. Global organizations increase their profit margins at the expense of the sweatshop worker whose human and civil rights are being violated. Illegal activities such as  terrorism and drug trafficking have been allowed to flourish due to the free movement of goods and persons, the hallm ark of globalization. In conclusion globalization bodes both good and ill for mankind however nevertheless appears to be here to stay, whether we like or not. The challenge that lies ahead is not to try and reverse it, but to harness the positive potential whilst minimising the adverse effects. Unless this opportunity is seized, nations and global institutions will continue to struggle for domination and power. Those nations and institutions unable to compete and adapt in their current global economic climate will continue to be used by those that can. It is now up to mankind to decide wether or not the power will be cleverly used or not. Bibliography Kelly, S. (2001) Australians’ wealth and retirement, http://pandora.nla.gov.au/pan/10635/20011112/www.onlineopinion.com.au/2001/Jul01/Kelly.htm, accessed 05/05/03 Klein, N. (2000) No Logo, Table 9.3. Sweatshop Profiles, London: Flamingo Peet, R. (1991) Global Capitalism: Theories of societal development, London: Routledge, pp. 114-124 Wallerstein, I. (1983) Historical Capitalism, London: Verso, pp. 97-110) http://www.freetrade.org/issues/globalization.html, The Benefits of Globalization, accessed 04/05/03

Flannery O’Connor’s “A Good Man is Hard to Find”

They say that God’s way are inscrutable, and this saying characterizes the concept of Flannery O’Connor’s story A Good Man is Hard to Find . The theme of living an empty life and the possibility of revelation for everybody is the main idea of the author. Through telling a simple, sometimes even comical story about common people, their stereotypes and narrow-mindedness she discloses the lack of spirituality in human life. This makes up the theme, which the author intended to raise. Speaking about the setting, it is important to mention that it by genre it can be referred to the so-called road story, which presupposes travel from one place to another – on the special level. But there is always a hidden message behind, which constitutes the figurative level of the narration. We know perfectly that a road is a popular metaphor of life and naturally a person who is moving along this road undergoes a kind of mental and spiritual change. The same is true about Flannery O’Connor’s piece of writing. The journey is from Georgia to Florida with a background of beautiful scenery: â€Å"Stone Mountain; the blue granite that in some places came up to both sides of the highway; the brilliant red clay banks slightly streaked with purple; and the various crops that made rows of green lace-work on the ground. The trees were full of silver-white sunlight and the meanest of them sparkled†.   A family of the Grandmother, her son Bailey with his wife and children make a trip by car a picturesque nature, paying no attention at it at all. The only person who is interested is the elderly lady but for some specific reasons – nostalgia about â€Å"the things as they used to be† and because travel can be educational for kids. Is it the road to heaven or to hell? I will try to answer this question further on. The plot, which forms the external texture of the story seems to be a case of fatal misfortune. The family goes travelling, get into a road accident in a remote area and are caught by a band of serial killer the Misfit who kills the whole family. Therefore, the external movement is from life to death. Internally, however, the direction is the opposite one, from death to life. This implication is embodied first of all in the character of the Grandmother, who has no name in the story. This fact of namelessness proves her to be a typical product of the contemporary society, deprived of any significant individuality. She is selfish, manipulative and full of herself as we meet her first. She is devoted to the past believing that â€Å"People are certainly not nice like they used to be†, the phrase which is not only her life credo but also reflects her attitude to herself. She considers herself to be good and right and does not notice that her values are false. Meeting with the Misfit, feeling herself at the brink of death causes dramatic change within the old woman. There is an irony in the fat that revelation to her is brought in such an unconventional way – through a religious talk with serial killer. But at the same time this is done by the author deliberately to signify some higher wisdom. The Misfit is a peculiar character, his name symbolizing all people’s loneliness and loss and emptiness. They don’t belong to the world God created for them, they mis-fit. And the problem is not like the Grandmother considered that people are not as nice as they used to be. The world we live in is our own reflection. As a matter of fact, the killer and the decent elderly woman who dresses up neatly because she wants to look like a lady in case of being killed in an accident, are not so far away from each other as they might seem to be. They were both brought up in the atmosphere devoid of spirituality and both of them have no God in their soul. The difference is that the Misfit recognizes the fact but the Grandmother doesn’t. She hides herself behind the conventional stereotypes of religion, which lies in habitual going to the church, praying on a regular basis, stealing nothing from the respectable citizens and so on. In a tough situation she first tries to appeal to the religious feelings of the killer but she fails because she is herself being superficial in her faith. That’s why when she tries to pray to Jesus, asking for help, her words come out differently: â€Å"Finally she found herself saying, â€Å"Jesus. Jesus,† meaning, Jesus will help you, but the way she was saying it, it sounded as if she might be cursing†. At this point she realizes that her faith was fake and at this very moment a new opportunity is given to her. Surprisingly, it is the Misfit who opened her eyes and her soul. He himself recognizes he doesn’t believe in God, the only thing which is definite is death. That’s why he thinks that Jesus broke balance when he raised the death. There would have been nothing certain left in the world, even death, if it were true. The misfit expresses an idea, which is very important: without spirituality one might as well â€Å"enjoy the few minutes you got left the best way you can — by killing somebody or burning down his house or doing some other meanness to him.† He means that if you are not willing to accept God’s love, the sin remains the same whether you are doing it small crimes or in big ones. The lives of the Misfit and the Grandmother were equally empty because they rejected salvation, which is possible through love. These seconds are so vitally important and enlightening for the woman that her soul gets completely transformed. She is suddenly filled with that divine love. Looking at the criminal who has killed her family and is going to kill herself, she exclaims: â€Å"†Why, you're one of my babies!† She realizes that her son and her grandchildren are so empty because she didn’t give them the love she had to, that’s why she realizes that the Misfit is her child in this sense. At the end, when the Misfit kills the old lady, he makes an interesting conclusion, which reveals the idea of the whole story: â€Å"She would of been a good woman,† The Misfit said, â€Å"if it had been somebody there to shoot her every minute of her life.† The sentence raises an important issue: is it necessary for a person to be on the brink of life and death to realize what was wrong in his or her life? Do the true values reveal themselves from delusions only when you are about to die? Aren’t we too much involved in day-by-day repetition of events to stop and see the truth? Probably we are just too afraid to be nobody, to feel the emptiness? These important questions arise after reading the story. So, is it the road to heaven or to hell? Who knows. Many people believe that a person who has no moral laws inside is free in what he does and feels no remorse about he deeds. At the example of the Misfit we see that the truth is more complex than that. Probably he doesn’t feel remorse, as he has no faith and no God to lean on but the problem is he feels nothing at all. His crimes were intended to be a kind of rebellion against God whom he never had in his life but it is a bitter rebellion. At the end of the story we find out that he feels no fun and no pride challenging God. â€Å"There is no real pleasure in life,† he says.

Hartalega Holdings Berhad Strategic Management

1. Introduction Hartalega Holdings Berhad is a gloves manufacturer and began their business with the vision of produce gloves that protect life (Hartalega, 2013). Hartalega has experienced tremendous growth in the market and there are many issues and problems that faced by them. The first issue that faced by Hartalega is fluctuation of US dollar (CIMB Research Report, 2011). USA is a key market for glove industry and has contributing part of the market share of Malaysian industries. Fluctuation on US dollar has affected the margins of the company.Besides, the economic conditions have influence the glove industry will continue to be unstable due to rises in material and production costs. Moreover, high latex price also is one of the issue that faced by Hartalega (CIMB Research Report, 2011). Latex prices continue to be volatile would bring an effect to its margin. Supply of latex may be reduced due to the weather conditions. During the dry season in Thailand and Malaysia, it would dec rease the production of latex. Thus, price of latex during dry season will be slightly higher compare to other season.Furthermore, Hartalega faced the issue about labor. The recent governments policies about foreign labor have cause a great concern for the gloves industry. The gloves industry has voiced out their concerns towards this issue because hired labor would have an impact on the manufacturers’ costs. Besides, more and more glove manufacturers are using automation and it will decrease the reliance on manpower. Next, pollution is one of the most important issues that faced by Hartalega as their company’s reputation has affected by the negative news or rumours.Hartalega was received complaints from the Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Dept and a few residents of Taman Suria and claim that they are causing air and water pollution. Hartalega deny all the accusation and declare that they are operating legally according to the Malaysian environment regu latory standard (â€Å"Hartalega: Aggrieved At Accusations†, 2010). This might affect the reputation and the creditworthiness of Hartalega and might cause the market share decrease in this particular time frame. 2. Remote EnvironmentRemote environment is the factors that affect a form of decision making abilities, but are beyond its control. Political, economic, social, technological and ecological factor are the factors that include in the remote environment. The first factor is political factor. Hartalega has exports almost all of their products mainly to the developed countries such as USA, Brazil, Japan, Germany, Europe, Malaysia and others. Hartalega also has expanded its business successfully to China and India. Gloves sales have increase but a little drop in the selling prices. Major output of the company is made up by nitrile gloves.The total costs of the gloves increases due to the high output and increase in labor costs. Besides, the recent governments policies abou t foreign labor have cause a great concern for the industry. Hartalega have to adjust the wage structure of their workers due to the minimum wage ruling that effective from January 2013 that regulate by the government. Stringent government regulatory also is the threat for Hartalega. There are many government regulations and policies need to be follow by the company such as minimum wage legislation, guidelines on buffer zones and more.If companies fail to follow or break the rule that enforce by government, it may bring them into trouble, such as they might receive penalty from the government. Next is economic factor. Fluctuation of US dollar, raw materials prices increase and fuel costs rising has bring an impact towards the gloves industry with challenging economic conditions (Hartalega, 2013). Fluctuation on US dollar has affected the margins of the company. The nitrile gloves have experienced declining its margins due to high raw materials price and face competition with their c ompetitors.Furthermore, demand for nitrile gloves have not affected by economic crisis and slowdown because it is a recession proof products and an essential thing in the healthcare sector. Hartalega expects the demand for nitrile gloves will maintain positive growth in the future and continue export to the other countries such as Europe, China and India. In economic factor, Hartalega might face the threat of high latex price. Latex prices change irregularly would create a threat to its margin. Supply of latex may be reduced due to the weather conditions as well as measures to support rubber prices by Thailand and Malaysia.The dry season in Thailand and Malaysia would decrease the production of latex. Thus, price of latex during dry season will be slightly higher compare to other season. In the social factor, the annual report of Hartalega has show that Hartalega has enjoy the 100% market share in Victoria, Australia because all public hospitals in this state only used Hartalegaâ₠¬â„¢s gloves. Global hospital supplies market also is one of the opportunities for Hartalega. People wearing gloves in the hospital help to prevent spread of germs and help to protect both medical staff and patients from infection.Hence, it also shows that Hartalega has a big opportunity to growth in this area. Hartalega can offer top quality and great selection of gloves to the hospitals or other industry, so that more and more people from all around the world can choose and use Hartalega’s gloves. Opportunity that can be found in this factor is industry recognition. Industry recognition defines as the degree of public awareness for the brand or products. Hartalega has put many efforts in innovation, quality, R&D and good manufacturing.Thus, Hartalega has the opportunity to gain more recognition from all around the world as the company continually expands its business to more nations. Furthermore, technological factor is also one of the factors that affect a decision making abilities of the company. Advancements in technology enables Hartalega placed them with a competitive advantage in the glove industry. High efficiency production lines, automated product handling system, glove removal system, process simulator and biomass heat energy plant are the technologies that used by Hartalega (Hartalega, 2013).High efficiency production lines is the latest high speed production lines in the industry which able to produce 40,000 pieces of gloves per hour. Automated product handling system used to remove defect during transit, packing and storage. RFID tags are tagged in every pallet, so that can monitoring the product movements and make sure the products are on time delivery to the customers. Besides, glove removal system used to decrease the reliance towards the manual workforce. This system also able to remove nitrile and latex gloves quickly from the hand moulds.Process Simulator enable the company test their imagination in a timely manner and ensure quick delivery of a new product to their customers. The opportunity that found in this factor is advancement of technology. Technology advancement enables the company produce more pieces of gloves in a shorter time and better quality. Besides, automated product handling system that used by Hartalega also enable the company can easily track the location of the products and ensures provides an on time delivery to their customers. Last is ecological factor.Hartalega has set up a â€Å"next generation integrated glove manufacturing complex† (NGC) that contains high technology production lines and mainly involved in the production of rubber gloves (Hartalega, 2013). The project location is landscaped to be green and eco-friendly environment. Moreover, Hartalega has used biomass energy plants to avoid emission of Greenhouse Gases (Hartalega, 2013). Biomass energy plant is the only environmental friendly energy plant in the industry where it burn on the plantation waste to generate heat f or the production process.Hartalega also used effluent water treatment plants to ensure the waste that the company discharge is no harm to the environment. Biomass heat energy plant allowed Hartalega to conduct their business in a more effective way. Negative complaint about pollution could a threat for Hartalega. In year 2010, Hartalega has received complaints from Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Dept and some residents of Taman Suria and claim that they are violate the environmental regulations that set by government. Hartalega deny all the accusation and declare that they are operating legally according to the regulations stated.Although Hartalega has state that they have independent inspectors and consultants who regularly test water and air emissions to ensure it is always full compliance with the requirements of government, but this also might happen again if they did not provide sufficient information and training that relates to the green environment to their employees. This also might affect the reputation and the creditworthiness of Hartalega and might caused the market share decrease in this particular time frame. 3. Industry Environment Industry environment is the concept to the foreground for the strategic thought and business planning.This includes Porter 5 Forces that explain the competitiveness of the particular company in the relevant industry. The strategic business manager can use this model or strategy to get a better understanding of the industry context in which the firm involves so that an effective strategy to compete with rival can be developed. There are 5 forces or factors to create the competitiveness of the company which is the threat of new entrants, threat of substitutes, bargaining power of suppliers, bargaining power of buyers and intensity of rivalry.Threat of the new entrants is the seriousness of the barriers occurred or presented by the existing competitors to the new entrants to enter the relevant industry o r market. A high threat of entry means that the new comers are likely to be attracted to the profits of the industry and can enter the market with ease. New entrants enter the market can threaten or decrease the profit gained by the existing competitors which mean high threat of entry will result the industry become more competitive. The glove industry has high threat of entrants as only RM1 million to RM1. millions is needed to start a line (CIMB Research Report, 2007). Cheap labor, low level of technology skills needed and natural gas access as well as the procurement price for latex due to bulk purchase making the barrier of entry high for the new entrants. However, although it is cheap to enter the industry, new comers may not be competitive as they have to differentiate themselves from other existing competitors and need to compete in terms of volume to enjoy the economies of scale. Moreover, threat of substitutes is the availability of product a consumer can purchase instead o f the industry’s product.The availability of close substitute products can make an industry more competitive and decrease the profitability of the particular market. The threat of substitutes for rubber glove industry is relatively low as the industry is dominated by the main 6 players, namely Top Glove, Supermax, Kossan Rubber, Hartalega, Latexx Partners and Adventa. Top Glove is the traditional industry leader but recent research showed that Hartalega has had taking on Top Glove in term of the success on the development of R&D (Research and Design) of Hartalega.The other reason for the low threat of substitutes is low rubber glove cost and making no incentives for the research house to find other alternatives. The bargaining power of suppliers explains the pressure the suppliers can exert on business by raising prices or reducing the quality of purchased goods and services. Powerful suppliers can squeeze the profitability out of an industry to recover cost increases in its own prices. (Pearce, 2012). The main raw material for rubber glove industry is latex.The steady easing in the price of latex since April 2011 and currently stable price appeared to be favorable to the glove manufacturers. Top Glove has ventured upstream into rubber plantations to secure a stable latex supply. Meanwhile, Kossan Rubber is concerning on the niche market that might get better margin, Supermax is putting effort on downstream distribution network and Hartalega is creating more values on its innovation technological of the production lines. So, the bargaining power of suppliers might be low as the results of effort that the glove manufacturers have putted.Furthermore, the bargaining power of buyers refers to the pressure the buyers can exert on business by force down the price, demand higher quality or more services and play competitors off against each other in term of the expense of industry profits. Strong buyers can pressure sellers to lower the prices for the products , improve products’ quality or offer better services. As mentioned just now, the substitutes for the rubber glove is low as the industry is dominated by the main six players. So, the bargaining power of buyer is tentatively low as well.It is because there is not much alternatives the buyers can choose to purchase. The buyers for glove industry are mainly as doctors or laboratory users. Lastly, intensity of rivalry explains to the extent to which firms within an industry put pressure on other competitors and limit their profit potential. High intensity of rivalry means competitors aggressively other competitors’ target and aggressively pricing products. The industry leader for rubber glove industry is always Top Glove where Hartalega is the world’s largest synthetic glove manufacturer.There is a high intensity of rivalry in the rubber glove industry. For instance, on the topic of labor costs with respect to the monthly minimum wages to be RM 900 in Peninsular Mal aysia and RM800 in Sabah and Sarawak, OSK Research Sdn Bhd. analyst Jerry Lee noted that Top Glove Corporation Bhd. might be the most impacted and Hartalega Holdings Bhd. is the least affected due to its innovation in automating its production lines. On this issue, Top Glove might be affected due to the ineffectiveness of handling the labor issue.It may affect its image of industry leader. As a conclusion, the threats of new entrants is high, threat of substitutes is low, bargaining power for both suppliers and buyers are low and there is high intensity of rivalry. So, the rubber glove manufacturing industry is attractive and still can earn good profit the 5 forces can be managed well by the relevant firms in the industry. 4. Operating Environment The operating environment describes the conditions, entities, events, and factors that surrounding the organization that will affect the choices and activities.A firm needs to depend on the operating environment because it will affect the organization in acquiring the needed resources or in term of profitability. The factors are the firm’s competitive position, the composition of its customers, its reputation among suppliers and creditors and its ability to attract qualified employees (Pearce, 2012). A firm’s competitive position explains the position of the particular firm in the relevant industry. It can be the leader industry or just a follower in the industry.By accessing the competitive position of the firm, the organization able to more accurately forecast both its short and long term growth and its profit potential. Hartalega is the world’s largest synthetic glove manufacturer where Top Glove is the industry leader in rubber glove industry. Although Hartalega is not the industry leader but it acquires sufficient resources and technology in generating more high quality gloves with its new automated production lines and glove removal system. And they are expert and have improved in R&D devel opment.The high efficiency production lines enable Hartalega to produce 40,000 pieces of gloves per hour per line, the highest among the industry where the glove removal system is capable of removing not only latex but also nitrile gloves up to a speed of 30,000 pieces of gloves per hour. These technologies make Hartalega to become the world’s largest synthetic glove manufacturer. Customer profile is the firm analyzes and identifies what type of the customers that the company served, what kind of customers they have and etc.The traditional approach of this factor is to segment the customers in term of geographic, demographic, psychographic and buyer behavior information (Pearce, 2012). This can allows the company to know the needs of each segment with ease and then satisfy their needs. The products that Hartalega offer are examination, surgical, laboratory, Clean Room Packed Class 100, Food Grade and so on. They also provide synthetic gloves to latex sensitive users from prot eins that may cause allergic reaction.Basically, the customers that Hartalega served are generally on the international market where Hartalega export their products to overseas to gain high profit. Medline, the largest manufacturer and distributor of healthcare supplies and services in US, is one for the two major customers of Hartalega. The next factor is the firm’s reputation among their suppliers. Firm regularly relies on its suppliers for financial support, services, resources and equipment. It is clearly seen that suppliers play an important role in determining an organization’s success or not.Hartalega has a strong reputation as the highest quality and lowest cost producer of nitrile gloves has enabled the firm to boost their sales every year. The financial support and resources that can be acquired from their suppliers are significant to the organization itself. Although the raw materials for produce the glove have increased which is latex, but Hartalega still c an manage to handle the situation by adjusting the price for the gloves. And the buyers can accept the adjustment in price that Hartalega made.That means the increase of price in raw material by the suppliers still can be acceptable by Hartalega and their buyers. Moreover, the reputation of the company does affect the reliability for their creditors. If the reputation of the organization is low, then the creditworthiness of the firm might be affected. That mean if the company is currently influence by negative rumors or news, probably the firm’s market share will be affected. Hartalega was affected by negative news which state that Hartalega was causing water and air pollution near Taman Suria, Batang Berjuntai in 2010.However, Hartalega has successful dismissed allegations of pollution where The Department of Environment (DOE) has claimed that Hartalega is complied with the Malaysian environment regulatory standard. This might affect the reputation and the creditworthiness o f Hartalega and might caused the market share decrease in this particular time frame. Other than that, Hartalega Chairman, Kuan Kam Hon claimed that Hartalega recorded revenue of RM931. 1 million, representing a significant 27% jump from RM734. million in the previous financial year while profit after tax increased to RM201. 4 million compared with RM190. 3 million for the last fiscal year. That means the company are currently gaining profit and they are able to implement a dividend policy which pay out minimum of 45% of the Group’s annual net profit as dividends to their shareholers. These few conditions showed that Hartalega are doing well in their business and able to earn profit in the industry. Lastly, the ability of the firm to attract capable employees is one of the components for the operating environment.The management for the human capital within the organization is vital for the organization to develop competitive advantage so that the organization can compete with their competitors. The organization needs to determine whether their workers or staffs are capable, skillful and experience or not. The more effective the management of human capital, the more easier the firm to achieve success in the industry. Hartalega has implemented a competitive remuneration package to their employees in order to recruit and retain performance centric individuals.They adopted several training programmes to encourage professional development and develop leadership skills among their employees such as Supervisor Development Programme and Group Leader Apprentice Programme. This programme is to invite talented students to learn the necessary skills and knowledge in manufacturing rubber gloves. The qualified students are able to become permanent workers for Hartalega. 5. Internal Analysis Value chain analysis is to understand how a business creates customer value by examining the contributions of different activities within the business to that value (Pearce II, J. A. , & Robinson, R. B. , Jr. , 2013). The value chain includes the primary activities and support activities. Primary activities involve inbound logistics, operations, outbound logistics, marketing and sales, and service. Support activities involve general administration, human resource management, research, technology, and systems development, and procurement. First is inbound logistics. Hartalega adopted the global supply chain management for their company with the raw materials, components, and parts from all over the world. Latex plays an important in the Hartalega Company.Research analyst said the latex price rise soon. This situation will affect the Hartalega’s profit decrease. In the operations, Hartalega has high efficiency production lines. Hartalega from a beginning of a one line operation grow into a sizeable company of 43 production lines. They produce over 8 billion gloves annually. Hartalega is the highest speed production line in the industry. They can produce 40,000 pieces of gloves per hour per line. They never decrease the quality of gloves even though they produce the gloves at such high speed.Their programmable logic controls measured and acquired every critical parameter. It is communicated to the Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition system and later fed to the Data Management System for trending and other analytical auditing. Third is outbound logistics. Customer can buy the product through the internet. Customers can order their products, make request and register to receive materials on some pages. Customers need to fill in their name, address email address and phone number only and submit to the Hartalega, and then Hartalega will deliver the product which is already order by customer to the ustomer. If the customer orders a gift online and they want Hartalega sent it directly to the recipient, customer need to submit the recipient’s address. In the marketing and sales, Hartalega is the largest producer of premium qual ity nitrile gloves in the world. They have good reputation as produce the nitrile gloves at the highest quality and lowest cost. It helped the Hartalega Company increase their sales during the year under review. Nowadays, many companies do their business in China and India. Hartalega also do their business in China and India.It is because these countries have high population figures. Demand from existing customers grows and Hartalega also try to attract new customers. Next is service. Hartalega receive some complaint about ammonia gas and chemical waste pollution. The Department of Environment (DOE) already checks the Hartalega’s factory and cleared glove manufacturer Hartalega Holdings of allegation pollution. Selangor DOE director Che Asmah Ibrahim said that Hartalega Holdings has compliance with the rule and regulation and they no need close the factory. General administration or management is one of the supportive activities.Profit margin of Hartalega has decrease compare d with the previous financial year. Although their profit margin decreases, they also maintain the highest margins in the sector globally. Although margins narrowed slightly, it is because of this foresight that we still achieved an absolute increase in our bottom line on year on year basis. Second supportive activity is procurement. Procurement is a part of inbound logistics or purchasing activities. Hartalega adopted the global supply chain management for their company with the raw materials, components, and parts from all over the world.Global supply chain management help the company compete all over the world and give company a competitive advantage. Company also can lower the supply chain cost if adopt the global supply chain management. Next is human resource management. Hartalega has implemented a competitive remuneration package to their employees in order to recruit and retain performance centric individuals. They also become the number one company for talent, they not only in the glove manufacturing sector but in the manufacturing sector large.Hartalega has provided several training programmes to encourage professional development and develop leadership skills among their employees such as Supervisor Development Programme and Group Leader Apprentice Programme. This programme is to invite talented students to learn the necessary skills and knowledge in manufacturing rubber gloves. The qualified students are able to become permanent workers for Hartalega. Last is research and development. Hartalega Company is focused on research and development (R&D). They highly focused on research and development because they want to ensure continuous product innovation.Research and development helps the Hartalega increase the barrier to entry. It is because the characteristics of synthetic nitrile, which needs careful R&D to ensure similar consistency to natural rubber gloves in terms of softness and elasticity. Besides that, R&D also helps the Hartalega successfull y reduced raw material usage per unit and do not decrease the product quality. They also have raised the bar with their various inventions and have far surpassed the industry due to their engineering capabilities in their manufacturing processes.Therefore, Hartalega highly focused on research and development because R&D helps Hartalega to benefit from maintaining the product quality at lower unit production costs, increases the barrier to entry, and the ability to reduce prices without affecting margins. Value chain analysis can helps Hartalega found the strength and weaknesses. First strength from Hartalega is company adopt the global supply chain management and it help the company lower the supply chain cost and give company a competitive advantage. Second is high efficiency production line.Third is customer can buy the product through the internet. Fourth is good reputation at the highest quality and lowest cost and it helping the Hartalega increase their sales. Next is Hartalega has provided several training programmes to encourage professional development and develop leadership skills among their employees. It helps Hartalega attract new employee and help their existing employee become more talented. Superior success in R&D activities leading to product innovative is strength from Hartalega. On the other hand, Hartalega also have some weaknesses.First is Hartalega receiving some complaint about ammonia gas and chemical waste pollution. Although Department of Environment said that Hartalega Holdings has compliance with the rule and regulation and they no need close the factory but it also influence the reputation of Hartalega. Another weakness is profit margin of Hartalega has decrease compared with the previous financial year. 6. Strategy Formulation TOWS Martix | Strengths 1. Global supply chain management 2. High efficiency production line 3.Online purchasing 4. Good reputation 5. Training programmes 6. Strongly R&D| Weaknesses 1. Receive compliant infl uence reputation 2. Profit margin decrease | Opportunities 1. Industry recognition 2. Global hospital suppliers and industrial laboratory 3. Synthetic glove | a) Strengths- Opportunities (SO) 1. Market development (S3, S4, O2) 2. Product development (S6, O2)| b) Weaknesses-Opportunities (WO) 1. Concentrated growth (W2, O2, O3)| Threats 1.High latex price 2. Government regulatory 3. High intensity of rivalry | c) Strengths – Threats (ST) 1. Innovation (S6,T3)| d) Weaknesses- Threats (WT) 1. Vertical Integration (W2, T1, T3)| a) Strengths-Opportunities Strategy (SO) SO strategy is using the firm’s internal strengths to take advantage of external opportunities. It is the most favourable situation which allows the firm to faces several environment opportunities and has numerous strengths that encourage pursuit of those opportunities (Pearce & Robinson, 2013). 1.Market development (S3, S4, O2) Hartalega have a good reputation as produce the nitrile at the highest quality an d lowest cost in the world and online purchasing. The main buyers for Hartalega are doctors or laboratory users. Therefore, Hartalega can use their main buyers as one of their company strengths to take advantage to global hospital supplies and industrial laboratory market. Hartalega able to offer the highest quality, lowest cost and at the same time they can provide variety types of gloves to hospitals and industrial laboratory.Besides that, customers around the world also can easily and convenience to make an order directly for the company website, this is because Hartalega had prepared the online purchasing method for their customer and business partners. These will make more and more hospitals and industrial laboratory around the world recognize and use Hartalega’s gloves. On the other hand, this method can help Hartalega to increase their sales and profit as well. 2. Product development (S6, O2) Hartalega is expert on their research and development (R&D).Therefore, Hartal ega can use this strength to develop more different types of gloves to attract more customers from global hospital supplier and industrial laboratory market. In addition, due to them expert in R&D, they not only focus the needs of the hospital and industrial laboratory, but also can try to satisfy the need for other different customer in order to help Hartalega to increase their market share also. So, they can come out different types of qualities of the product to fulfil different groups of the customers’ need. ) Weaknesses-Opportunity Strategy (WO) WO strategy is to improve company internal weaknesses by taking advantage of external opportunities. A firm faces an impressive market opportunity but is constrained by weak internal resources (Pearce & Robinson. 2013) 1. Concentrated growth (W2, O2, O3) Hartalega can increase their production of synthetic gloves and expand more into global hospital supplier and industrial laboratory market. This is because the costs of raw mater ial to produce synthetic glove is cheaper than latex (Hartalega, 2012).Therefore, Hartalega can major expansion of synthetic gloves to global hospital supplier and industrial laboratory market will help them substantial cost savings to counter price competition and overcome the profit margin (Hartalega, 2012). So, Hartalega can avoid the high rises of latex price. By avoiding fluctuation of latex price, their profit earned will be more stable and able to increase the profit too. c) Strengths-Threats Strategy (ST) ST strategy is using the firm’s strengths to avoid or reduce the impact of external threats.A firm that has identified several key strengths faces an unfavorable environment (Pearce & Robinson, 2013). 1. Innovation (S6, T3) As mention on above, R&D is the strength for Hartalega. Therefore, Hartalega can use this strength to create the barrier to entry. R&D can help Hartalega successfully to reduce raw material usage per unit and maintain the product quality and incre ase the barrier to entry. So, Hartalega can offer the cheaper price to their customer compare with their competitors such as Top Glove.Hartalega also keep on focusing on their R&D in order to develop more different types of innovation product and try to beat down their competitors and become the leader in the rubber glove industry. d) Weaknesses-Threats Strategy (WT) WT strategy is a defensive tactics aimed at reducing internal weakness and avoid external threats. This is the least favorable situation, with the firm facing major environment threats from a weak resource position (Pearce & Robinson, 2013). 1. Vertical Integration (W2, T1, T3) Nowadays, the price for one of the raw material to produce glove which is latex is keep on rising.This situation was affected Hartalega’s profit to decrease. Therefore, Hartalega can benchmark other companies’ product and make a comparison on how other competitors performs their product activity effectively. This is useful to Hartal ega to improve the management control. The objective of benchmarking is to identify the best practices in performing an activity and learn how to down the costs of the raw material, less defects, or other outcomes related to excellence achieved (Pearce & Robinson, 2013). Hartalega can apply backward vertical integration to control their raw material price.For example, Hartalega can follow its competitor which is Top gloves has ventured upstream into the rubber plantation to secure a stable latex supply. 7. Recommendation A competitive advantage is an advantage over competitors gained by offering consumers greater value, either by means of lower prices or by providing greater benefits and service that justifies higher prices. (Riley, 2012) Differentiation is one of the most practical ways in which Hartalega can gain advantage over other competitors in the rubber gloves industry.Differentiation can be achieved by Hartalega through high quality, efficient low cost manufacturing of glov es. Hartalega is recommend to continuously enhance their flexibility and efficiency in their production process scheduling, saving more time, employees efforts and the company’s money. Besides that, Hartalega needs to ensure all operations from the top to bottom must run efficiently by adopting programmable logic controller able to the monitoring of the operation automatically and promote continuous production that help in increase production and minimize cost.Hartalega should focus on customers’ satisfaction because it had placed a lot of emphasis in R&D to produce a wide and diversified range of high quality and value-added glove products in order to fulfil the expectation of their customers. The company also collaborates closely with related government agencies and Ministries to keep itself abreast of the latest development in rubber research technology. Hartalega also can uses state-of-art technology and efficient automatic glove manufacturing machine to obtain the highest yield and to remain as one of the most cost-effective and highest quality producer in the industry.With all these advantages and strategies, Hartalega is able to compete and stand out in the industry. For the Goods and Service Design, Hartalega can print instructions and methods of wearing gloves on the packaging. Besides, Hartalega can focus on detailed product design such as creating innovative glove with functions and amenity features for all type range of gloves use in surgical and clinical practice and operation.In addition, Hartalega products packaging must provide with its product outlook and description that meet the preferences of their customer across different countries and cultures. Concerning fluctuation price on raw material, Hartalega needs to find multiple sources of raw materials to avoid high fluctuation of cost on raw materials. Therefore, Hartalega is recommended to invest more and expand their own rubber plantation acreage, this would reduce their depen dence on raw rubber from other suppliers.Hartalega has to maintain and enhance its products and operation quality endlessly, therefore, Hartalega always needs to audit their operation and the product quality control to ensure low / no defects in their production based on the Six Sigma and Total Quality Management procedure. On the other hand, Hartalega needs to review foreign countries’ Acceptable Quality Level to improve in their company’s quality management system (Bheda, 2010) Perhaps, Hartalega needs to adopt total quality management or R&D on high quality latex to ensure producing high quality products that meet their customer expectation.In conclusion, each key analysis and discussion on Hartalega manufacturing operation will help in understanding and makes improvement from each operation processes based on the studies of latest operation management system. With this, Hartalega will be able to maintain or strengthen each of its manufacture’s operation and its products positioning in the world market.

Nike Company Background

About Nike Inc.Nike, Inc. /ˈnaÉ ªkiË / is an American multinational corporation that is engaged in the design, development and worldwide marketing and selling of footwear, apparel, equipment, accessories and services. The company is headquartered near Beaverton, Oregon, in the Portland metropolitan area, and is one of only two Fortune 500 companies headquartered in Oregon. It is one of the world's largest suppliers ofathletic shoes and apparel and a major manufacturer of sports equipment, with revenue in excess of US$24.1 billion in its fiscal year 2012 (ending May 31, 2012). As of 2012, it employed more than 44,000 people worldwide.The brand alone is valued at $10.7 billion, making it the most valuable brand among sports businesses. The company was founded on January 25, 1964 as Blue Ribbon Sports by Bill Bowerman and Phil Knight, and officially became Nike, Inc. on May 30, 1978. The company takes its name from Nike (Greek ÃŽ ÃŽ ¯ÃŽ ºÃŽ ·, pronounced [nÇ Ã‹ kÉ›Ë ]), t he Greek goddess of victory. Nike markets its products under its own brand, as well as Nike Golf, Nike Pro, Nike+, Air Jordan, Nike Skateboarding, and subsidiaries including Hurley International and Converse.Nike also owned Bauer Hockey (later renamed Nike Bauer) between 1995 and 2008, and previously owned Cole Haan and Umbro. In addition to manufacturing sportswear and equipment, the company operates retail stores under the Niketown name. Nike sponsors many high-profile athletes and sports teams around the world, with the highly recognized trademarks of â€Å"Just Do It† and the Swoosh logo. (source : Wikipedia.org)Origins and HistoryNike, originally known as Blue Ribbon Sports (BRS), was founded by University of Oregon track athlete Philip Knight and his coach Bill Bowerman in January 1964. The company initially operated as a distributor for Japanese shoe maker Onitsuka Tiger (now ASICS), making most sales at track meets out of Knight's automobile. According to Otis Davis, a student athlete whom Bowerman coached at the University of Oregon, who later went on to win two gold medals at the 1960 Summer Olympics, Bowerman made the first pair of Nike shoes for him, contradicting a claim that they were made for Phil Knight. Says Davis, â€Å"I told Tom Brokaw that I was the first. I don't care  what all the billionaires say.Bill Bowerman made the first pair of shoes for me. People don't believe me. In fact, I didn't like the way they felt on my feet. There was no support and they were too tight. But I saw Bowerman make them from the waffle iron, and they were mine.† In 1964, in its first year in business, BRS sold 1,300 pairs of Japanese running shoes grossing $8,000. By 1965 the fledgling company had acquired a full-time employee and sales had reached $20,000. In 1966, BRS opened its first retail store, located at 3107 Pico Boulevard in Santa Monica, California next to a beauty salon, so its employees no longer needed to sell inventory from the ba ck of their cars.In 1967, due to rapidly increasing sales, BRS expanded retail and distribution operations on the East Coast, in Wellesley, Massachusetts. By 1971, the relationship between BRS and Onitsuka Tiger was nearing an end. BRS prepared to launch its own line of footwear, which would bear the Swoosh newly designed by Carolyn Davidson. The Swoosh was first used by Nike on June 18, 1971, and was registered with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on January 22, 1974. In 1976, the company hired John Brown and Partners, based in Seattle, as its first advertising agency.The following year, the agency created the first â€Å"brand ad† for Nike, called â€Å"There is no finish line,† in which no Nike product was shown. By 1980, Nike had attained a 50% market share in the U.S. athletic shoe market, and the company went public in December of that year. Together, Nike and Wieden+Kennedy have created many print and television advertisements, and Wieden+Kennedy remains Ni ke's primary ad agency. It was agency co-founder Dan Wieden who coined the now-famous slogan â€Å"Just Do It† for a 1988 Nike ad campaign, which was chosen by Advertising Age as one of the top five ad slogans of the 20th century and enshrined in the Smithsonian Institution.Walt Stack was featured in Nike's first â€Å"Just Do It† advertisement, which debuted on July 1, 1988.Wieden credits the inspiration for the slogan to â€Å"Let’s do it,† the last words spoken by Gary Gilmore before he was executed. Throughout the 1980s, Nike expanded its product line to encompass many sports and regions throughout the world In 1990, Nike moved into its eight-building World Headquarters campus in Beaverton, Oregon. (source : Wikipedia.org)AcquisitionsNike has acquired several apparel and footwear companies over the course of  its history, some of which have since been sold. Its first acquisition was the upscale footwear company Cole Haan in 1988, followed by the pur chase of Bauer Hockey in 1994. In 2002, Nike bought surf apparel company Hurley International from founder Bob Hurley In 2003, Nike paid US$309 million to acquire Converse, makers of the Chuck Taylor All-Stars line of sneakers.The company acquired Starter in 2004 and Umbro, known as the manufacturers of the England national football team's kit, in 2008. In order to refocus on its core business lines, Nike began divesting of some of its subsidiaries in the 2000s. It sold Starter in 2007 and Bauer Hockey in 2008. The company sold Umbro in 2012, and Cole Haan in 2013 as of 2013, Nike owns two key subsidiaries: Converse Inc. and Hurley International. (source : Wikipedia.org)ProductsNike produces a wide range of sports equipment. Their first products were track running shoes. They currently also make shoes, jerseys, shorts, baselayers, etc. for a wide range of sports, including track and field, baseball, ice hockey, tennis, association football (soccer),lacrosse, basketball, and cricket. Nike Air Max is a line of shoes first released by Nike, Inc. in 1987. The most recent additions to their line are the Nike 6.0, Nike NYX, and Nike SB shoes, designed for skateboarding. Nike has recently introduced cricket shoes called Air Zoom Yorker, designed to be 30% lighter than their competitors'.In 2008, Nike introduced the Air Jordan XX3, a high-performance basketball shoe designed with the environment in mind. Nike sells an assortment of products, including shoes and apparel for sports activities like association football, basketball, running,combat sports, tennis, American football, athletics, golf, and cross training for men, women, and children. Nike also sells shoes for outdoor activities such as tennis, golf, skateboarding, association football, baseball, American football, cycling, volleyball, wrestling, cheerleading, aquatic activities, auto racing, and other athletic and recreational uses. Nike is well known and popular in youth culture, chav culture and hip hop cul ture for their supplying of urban fashion clothing. Nike recently teamed up with Apple Inc. to produce the Nike+ product that monitors a runner's performance via a radio device in the shoe that links to the iPod nano.While the product  generates useful statistics, it has been criticized by researchers who were able to identify users' RFID devices from 60 feet (18 m) away using small, concealable intelligence motesin a wireless sensor network. In 2004, Nike launched the SPARQ Training Program/Division. Some of Nike's newest shoes contain Flywire and Lunarlite Foam to reduce weight. On July 15, 2009, the Nike+ Sports Band was released in stores. The product records distance run and calories expended, keeps time, and also gives runners new programs online they could try running. The 2010 Nike Pro Combat jersey collection were worn by teams from the following universities: Miami, Alabama, Boise State University, Florida, Ohio State, Oregon State University, Texas Christian University, Virginia Tech, West Virginia, and Pittsburgh. Teams will wear these jerseys in key matchups as well as any time the athletic department deems it necessary. (source : Wikipedia.org)Location & ManufacturingNike has contracted with more than 700 shops around the world and has offices located in 45 countries outside the United States. Most of the factories are located in Asia, including Indonesia, China, Taiwan, India, Thailand, Vietnam, Pakistan, Philippines, and Malaysia. Nike is hesitant to disclose information about the contract companies it works with. However, due to harsh criticism from some organizations like CorpWatch, Nike has disclosed information about its contract factories in its Corporate Governance Report.