Parental Involvement Week 2 Paper

Parental Involvement Parental Involvement Joi I. Booty Grand Canyon University SPE-522 Module 2 May 9, 2012 Introduction This essay will strive to discuss the effects of the No Child Left Behind Act on special education reform, specifically the relationship between parents and teachers. We will discuss parental involvement in the education of their children in schools and ways to increase participation in a school setting.Lastly, we will discuss what schools can do to involve more parents in the educational process, rights and responsibilities as a parent of a special needs child and a parent’s candid opinion of how they would build a reliable alliance with their teacher and school. My interview is with a mother of a freshman at Southwood High School in Shreveport, La. This was a telephone interview and the mother was very forthcoming in answering all the questions. On the first question â€Å"How has NCLB (general education and special education reform) affected the relation ship between parents and teachers?The parent replied: I believe it has made it better for my child. I have three school age children that have gone through the Caddo Parish School System and with my older child I did not get all the updates and information that I have now with my youngest child. (K. Davis, personal communication, May 7, 2012). The second question â€Å"Have you been actively involved in your child’s education throughout your child’s school life? In what ways? The parent replied: Yes I have. I am firm believer in being active in my children school work and after school activities.I am a member of the PTA, a parent monitor, teacher helper; and I also bring extra school supplies at the beginning and during the school year. (K. Davis, personal communication, May 7, 2012). The third question â€Å"What can schools do to involve more parents in the educational process†? The parent replied: Schools should make participation mandatory and not an option . Parents should have so many volunteer hours that they must complete every semester or every month. I volunteer twice a month in my child’s class, one block, and twice a month, that’s only three hours a month.Parents have to volunteer at these private schools or else their child cannot attend, it should be the same in a public school. The second thing I think would be good is to allow parents to teach a class, just for 30 minutes or so. If the parents knew all what teachers have to do in a class, then they would be better able to help the kids at home. (K. Davis, personal communication, May 7, 2012). The fourth question â€Å"Do you know your rights as a parent with a special needs child†? The parent replied: â€Å"Yes, I am very well aware of my children rights when it comes to special education.I stay informed and read a lot on the internet and the hand outs my I. E. P. holder gives me at her meetings. † (K. Davis, personal communication, May 7, 2012). The fifth question was â€Å"How would you as a parent build a reliable alliance with your teacher/school†? You should have a reliable alliance and communicate with your child. You should listen to them when they come to you with things, and not make them feel like they are lying to you all the time. Sure kids bend the truth, but that’s just the point, it’s got to be some truth in what they say to you. Listen to your I. E. P. holder; he is your personal advocate for your child.I call him and leave a message for him all the time, and he calls me back usually the same day, even if it’s after school is out. You as a parent must call teachers, I. E. P. holders, go to meetings, and move your schedule around so you can be there. These meetings are important and it tells your child you mean business. Work with all the staff that works with your child. Communication is the key. (K. Davis, personal communication, May 7, 2012). According to Farenga and Ness (2005) , â€Å"the most important component to successful family involvement in the provision of services to children with special needs is information. Information is what K. Davis; the mother that this author interviewed talked about. She said communication is key between parents and the school, the teacher, special education support staff and especially your own child. She also agreed with Farenga and Ness (2005), when they noted, â€Å"All children must show adequate yearly progress. † In summary, partnering with families is an important part of the reauthorization of Public Law 101-476,otherwise known as (IDEA), Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and a part of the latest revision of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001.This act mandates more accountability in terms of academic results and more flexibility on how local school board and districts divide their federal dollars. Plus it gives parents from lower income families’ ways to send their children to better schools and have more input on their educational outcomes. These mandates help to level the playing field for all special education students and help them achieve a quality education. ConclusionThis essay discussed the effects of the â€Å"No Child Left Behind Act† on special education reform, specifically the relationship between parents and teachers. We discussed parental involvement in the education of their children in schools and ways to increase participation in a school setting. Lastly, we discussed what schools can do to involve more parents in the educational process, rights and responsibilities as a parent of a special needs child and a parent’s candid opinion of how they would build a reliable alliance with their teacher and school.References Farenga, J. and Ness, D. (2005). Families of Children with Special Needs, Encyclopedia of Education and Human Development. Vol. 3. Armonk, NY; M. E. Sharpe, 2005. 891-893. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 3 May 2012 Farenga, J. and Ness, D. (2005). Families of Children with Special Needs, Encyclopedia of Education and Human Development. Vol. 3. Armonk, NY; M. E. Sharpe, 2005. 891-893. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 3 May 2012

Feminist Perspective Essay

Feminist Perspective in â€Å"The Awakening† In The Awakening, Chopin describes how the perfect man or woman should look according to society. The Awakening was published in 1899 which â€Å"aroused a storm of controversy for its then unprecedented treatment of female independence and sexuality, and for its unromantic portrayal of marriage. † (Chopin, 1899, Note) Women were expected to be obedient housewives and a doting mother to their children. The statement; â€Å"If it was not a women’s place to look after children, who’s on earth was it? (Chopin, 1899, chap 3) denotes what the woman’s responsibilities are in a marriage. Chopin uses the characters: Edna, Leonce, Madame Ratignolle and Robert Lebrun to show how marriage, independence, equal rights and freedom are portrayed in the novel, The Awakening. Leonce Pontellier was a forty year old, slender, medium built man with straight brown hair parted to one side. When Chopin describes, â€Å"since it seemed to be the law of society that hair must be parted and brushed† (Chopin, 1899, chap 4) it shows how society expects a man’s appearance to be. Leonce was away on business often and would send a box full of fruits, bon bons, and delicious syrups in abundance. Mr. Pontellier was often away from home on business trips. To make up for the time spent away from home he would send these luscious treats. The women were envious of how much Mr. Pontellier cared for Edna. Chopin best describes how other women see Mr. and Mrs. Pontellier’s relationship when she states; â€Å"selecting with dainty and discriminating fingers and a little greedily, all declared that Mr. Pontellier was the best husband in the world† (Chopin, 1899, chap 3) while sharing the tasty treats sent. Mr. Pontellier was a very materialistic man and even when he looked at his wife after being in the sun states â€Å"you are burnt beyond recognition, he added, looking at his wife as one looks at a valuable piece of property which has suffered some damage. † (Chopin, 1899, chap 1) shows how men view their wife in that era. Men liked their woman to be flawless and devoted to their family. In today’s society that would be considered a â€Å"trophy wife†. Leonce is great at providing for his family, but disregards his wife’s feelings. One example of how Mr. Pontellier is inconsiderate of his wife’s feelings is when she asked him if he would be coming home for dinner and his response was; â€Å"he halted a moment and shrugged his shoulders. / He did not know; perhaps he would return for the early dinner and perhaps he would not. † (Chopin, 1899, chap 1) However, when Edna â€Å"abandoned her Tuesdays at home, and did not return the visits of those who called upon her. † (Chopin, 1899, chap 14) and begins painting, he views her as mentally unbalanced, which he seeks advice from a doctor. â€Å"Mr. Pontellier had been rather courteous husband so long as he met certain tactic submissiveness in his wife. † (Chopin, 1899, chap 14) In other words as long as Edna does what is expected of society he would be happy. In the late 1800’s the man’s job was to provide for the family and the woman’s job was to care for the house and children. Mr. Pontellier was your typical man of that era. Edna Pontellier was a young woman of twenty eight, who’s â€Å"eyes were quick and bright; they were yellowish brown, about the color of her hair. / She was rather handsome than beautiful. (Chopin, 1899, chap 2) In the story, The Awakening Chopin describes Edna as â€Å"an American woman with a small infusion of French† (Chopin, 1899, chap 2), however it was â€Å"lost in dilution. † (Chopin, 1899, chap 2) Edna was in an unhappy marriage with Leonce and throughout the story begins to find her inner self at the Grand Isle. Chopin uses different symbols thro ughout the story to help us understand Edna’s state of mind. Edna did not fit in with the rest of the Creole women. Chopin describes Edna as â€Å"not a mother-woman† (Chopin, 1899, chap 4) indicating that she is not a dedicated mother like the other Creole women. Mrs. Pontellier, though she had married a creole, was not thoroughly home in society of the Creoles. † (Chopin, 1899, chap 4) The Creole women were known for; â€Å"fluttering about with extended, protecting wings when any harm, real or imaginary, threatened their precious brood. † (Chopin, 1899, chap 4) Edna has a quadroon nurse, whom looks after the children who â€Å"was looked upon as a huge encumbrance† (Chopin, 1899, chap 4) leaving one to believe that because of the time period that the quadroon nurse is black. In this era women were dedicated to their children and husband, however Edna defies the norms of society when she doesn’t obey these rules. Edna is fascinated by the beauty and mothering portrayed by Madame Ratignolle and forms a bond with her in the summer at Grand Isle. â€Å"Madame Ratignolle was very fond of Mrs. Pontellier and often she took her sewing and went over to sit with her in the afternoons. † (Chopin, 1899, chap 4) â€Å"Mrs. Pontellier liked to sit and gaze at her fair companion as she might look upon a faultless Madonna. (Chopin, 1899, chap 5) Madame Ratignolle was the perfect Creole woman and Edna looked to her for guidance. Madame Ratignolle is an example of an acceptable woman in this time period. However Edna realizes she is not like the other Creole women and searches within herself for independence. As a woman in the late 1800’s early 1900’s life had many challenges, especially for those who seek independence. It was unlikely for a woman to neither voice her opinions if she were unhappy in a marriage nor choose who to marry. In The Awakening, Edna’s father pushed her into marriage with Leonce. She describes her marriage as â€Å"purely an accident† (Chopin, 1899, chap 7) and with â€Å"the violent opposition of her father and her sister Margaret to her marriage with a Catholic, and we need seek no further for the motives which led her to accept Monsier Pontellier for her husband. † (Chopin, 1899, chap 7) In this era women had very little equal rights and were unable to stand their grounds on their beliefs in fear of rejection from society. In the summer at Grand Isle Edna begins to develop a negative attitude towards marriage. During the summer at Grand Isle, Edna learns how to swim, which begins her â€Å"awakening†. Edna views the sea as calming and way to escape from reality. Even when Edna isn’t at the beach she thinks about the sounds of the waves to comfort her. As Edna looks at the sea she thinks about the â€Å"motionless sails against the blue sky, made a delicious picture I just wanted to sit and look at. / The hot wind beating in my face made me think – without any connection that I can trace — of a summer day in Kentucky, of a meadow that seemed as big as the ocean to the very little girl walking through the grass, which was higher than her waist. (Chopin, 1899, chap 7) The sea reminds Edna of being a little girl without having to carry the heavy load of society. She felt freedom through the waves as they hit the shore. After Edna goes for her first swim, she is overjoyed and yells: â€Å"Think of the time I have lost splashing like a baby! † (Chopin, 1899, chap 5) This was the beginning of the end for her. This night is the first night that Edna stands up to her husband when he asks her to come in for the night while she was resting on the hammock. Edna replies; â€Å"No; I’m going to stay out here. † (Chopin, 1899, chap 6) Mr. Pontellier wasn’t used to Edna not doing what is asked. Edna hears Leonce moving about the room; every sound indicating impatience and irritation. † (Chopin, 1899, chap 6), which signifies Leonce is frustrated that Edna wasn’t submissive as usual. Edna had spent some time with her father which stirred up the feelings as to why she didn’t want to attend her sister’s wedding. Following the advice given to Mr. Pontellier by the Dr. Mandelet’s declined to intervene in her decision. As her father left Mr. Pontellier was not far behind and began talking to her father about Edna’s behavior. Edna’s father told him â€Å"You are too lenient, too lenient by far, Leonce† (Chopin, 1899 chap 29) â€Å"Authority, coercion are what is needed. / Put your foot down good and hard; the only way to manage a wife. / Take my word for it. † (Chopin, 1899, chap 29)This statement shows how men view women with little respect and freedom. It had to of taken a lot for Edna to stand up to her father and tell him no, when he was such an authority to her in life. Edna’s newfound freedom has found her venturing out and doing things she enjoys. She goes to a horse race with Mrs. Highcamp at Arobin’s drag. This is where she meets a man named Alcee Arobin. She begins to spend a lot of time with sharing her interest of horse racing. Through their constant visits Alcee begins experiencing feelings for Edna. Alcee kisses her hand as he leaves her house in the evening. After he is gone she looks â€Å"mechanically at the back of her hand which he had kissed so warmly. † (Chopin, 1899, chap 25) As Edna looked at her hand â€Å"she felt somewhat like a woman who in the moment of passion is betrayed into an act of infedility, and realizes the significance of the act without being wholly awaken from its glamour. (Chopin, 1899, chap 25) When Edna is thinking this she is not referring to her husband, but of Robert whom she fell in love with at the Grand Isle. During this time period divorce wasn’t a choice. Edna continues to fall into the arms of Alcee as they spend time together. Chopin describes the relationship developing into more than just a friendship; however Edna love and s exual desires for Robert are being portrayed with Alcee. Affairs were a forbidden and inexcusable act in the eyes of society. After this night Edna cried which â€Å"was only a phase of the multitudinous emotions which assailed her. / There was with her an overwhelming feeling of irresponsibility. † (Chopin, 1899, chap 28) This signifies that she is feeling remorseful for her doings; however her feelings for Robert are still strong. She then makes a big step and moves out into the pigeon house around the corner. Edna moves out of her home to the pigeon house and begins to support herself through her paintings. This was absurb of a woman moving out of her home away from her husband. When Mr. Pontellier learned of his wife’s intention to abandoned her home and take her residence elsewhere, he immediately wrote a letter of unqualified disapproval and remonstrance. † (Chopin, 1899, chap32) He was worried about â€Å"what people would say. † (Chopin, 1899, chap 32), so he put their house under construction to hide the fact that Edna moved out. For the time being Leonce remains away on business while Edna is living in the pigeon house. â€Å"No longer was she content to â€Å"feed upon opinion† when her own soul had invited her. (Chopin, 1899, chap32) Edna feels independent and full of life. During this time Robert returns from Mexico and Edna reveals her love to him, â€Å"I love you†, she whispered, â€Å"only you; no one but you. / It was you that awoke me last summer out of a life-long stupid dream. † (Chopin, 1899, chap 37) She defies the rules of society by loving one other than her husband, whom she was supposed to love and adore forever. However after revealing her love to Robert she leaves the house to attend to her friend who has become ill and asks him to wait for her to return. When Edna returned home there was a note left from Robert stating; â€Å"I love you. Good-by – because I love you. † (Chopin, 1899, chap 33) Robert did what was the right thing to do in society by leaving because they both would have been shunned for their affair. After reading the letter it appeared as though Edna went into shock. Chopin describes her as she â€Å"grew faint when she read the words. † (Chopin, 1899, chap 33) The next day she decides to go for a little swim and as she was walking she said to herself over and over again, â€Å"To—day it is Arobin; to—morrow it will be someone else. (Chopin, 1899, chap 34) and was also thinking about words shared with Adele Ratignolle, â€Å"she would give up the unessential, but she would not sacrifice herself for her children. † (Chopin, 1899, chap 34) She wasn’t going to sacrifice her life any longer for anybody. Edna interprets the sea as being, â€Å"seductive, never ceasing, whis pering, clamoring, murmuring, inviting the soul to wander in abysses of solitude. † (Chopin, 1899, chap 34) As she continues to walk along the beach doesn’t find anything living except for a â€Å"bird with a broken wing was beating the air above, reeling, fluttering, circling disabled down, down to the water. (Chopin, 1899, chap 34) The bird symbolizes Edna, broken. She strips away her clothing and walks into the cold ocean naked like a new-born creature, never looking back. In conclusion, it is clear throughout the novel society portrays how men and women should look. The men with their perfect hair and the women doing as they should when directed by their husband are the perfect people in that era. However Edna goes against all the rules of society when she begins going against all of her husband’s wishes and gains confidence along with independence. Society was not ready to face the strength of a woman yet. Therefore, Edna felt very alone in the world with nowhere to turn. She took her life in the very place she discovered her soul because it was the only place she truly felt alive and free. Reference Chopin, K. , (2005), The Awakening, (1899), published by Hayes Barton Press, a division of Vital Source Technologies, Inc. , Retrieved from digital library, September 16, 2011 http://digitalbookshelf. southuniversity. edu/#/books/L-999-70979/pages/17443484

Pizza Hut Project Pakistan

AcknowledgementFirst of all we thanks to ALLAH ALMIGHTY, most beneficent and most merciful who made us able to complete our given project successfully. In short words, to express our modest gratitude to our loveable ‘PARENTS’, who at each and every moment prays for our success. We are also deeply thankful to ma’am ummara yousaf who guide us in a best way to every aspect. And support us every time. Thank you all, without you this could have not being possible.Executive summaryThe main purpose of this project is to study the Principals of managements and the implements of the rules and other things that we studied in course principals of Management on Telecommunication Company â€Å"Telenor†. For this purpose, we visited the Telenor Customer service and sales center located in Gujranwala and we asked many questions and concepts regarding to management of Telenor. We gathered information about Telecommunication Company, PTA rules and regulations for Telenor, c ollecting competitor’s knowledge and put all these information in our project report.Moreover, we discuss Business Analysis of Telenor which includes Telenor’s market share, PEST analysis, SWOT analysis and Porter’s five competitive forces, market growth rate, BCG Matrix and other things related to business analysis.We add all that things in this project that provide ease to readers and our instructor’s very high information about our project and also about Telenor. In the end we hope that this project will result high informative for all of us.1.1 Objectives of study :We visit the Pizza hut for collecting information about the organization, and for this we made Questionnaire. The main objectives are:Part1: Industry Introduction1.2 Industry Introduction:Fast food is the term given to food that can be prepared and served very quickly. While any meal with low preparation time can be considered to be fast food, typically the term refers to food sold in a res taurant or store with preheated or precooked ingredients, and served to the customer in a packaged form for take-out/take-away1.3 Company history :The world-renowned Pizza chain, globally known as Pizza Hut was initiated in the year 1958 by brothers Dan and Frank Carney. Pizza Hut is an American restaurant chain and international franchise. It menu items including a wide range of Starters, Soups & Salads, Pastas, Sandwiches, Desserts and Beverages.1.4 Company history in Pakistan :Pizza Hut initiated its operations in Pakistan with its first restaurant way back in 1993.Over 43 outlets spread all across Pakistan The critically acclaimed topping, Chicken Tikka, which has swept the world since its creation, was introduced for the first time in Pakistan. Our Customers prefer us because of our innovative products and concepts, and the consistently high level of services.Part2: company Introduction:2.1 Company Introduction:Pizza Hut is an American restaurant chain and international franchi se that offers different styles of pizza along with side dishes including salad, pasta, Buffalo wings, breadsticks, and garlic bread. Corporately known as Pizza Hut, Inc., it is a subsidiary of Yum! Brands, Inc., the world's largest restaurant company. As of 2012, there were more than 6,000 Pizza Hut restaurants in the United States, and more than 5,139 store locations in 94 other countries and territories around the world.Competitors Introduction:2.2 Domino's PizzaDomino's Pizza is an American restaurant chain and international franchise pizza delivery corporation headquartered at the Domino Farms Office Park campus in Ann Arbor Township, Michigan, United States, near Ann Arbor, Michigan. Founded in 1960, Domino's is the second-largest pizza chain in the United States (after Pizza Hut) and the largest worldwide, with more than 10,000 corporate and franchised stores in 70 countries. Domino’s Pizza was sold to Bain Capital in 1998 and went public in 2004.2.3 Papa John's PizzaP apa John's Pizza is the third largest take-out and delivery pizza restaurant chain in the United States (behind Pizza Hut and Domino's Pizza), with headquarters in Jeffersontown, Kentucky, near Louisville Its slogan is â€Å"Better Ingredients. Better Pizza. Papa John's.† Internationally, there are over 4,000 Papa John's establishments, including over 2,600 in the U.S. and the remainder spread among 32 other countries. In September 2012, Papa John's Pizza opened its 4,000th Restaurant, in New Hyde Park, NY. The company celebrated the event by giving away 4,000 free pizzas to customers throughout New York City2.4 Products and services introduction:1. Chicken Tikka A specially developed recipe for Pakistan topped with chicken tikka and onions chicken tikka is widely used pizza hut in Pakistan because of its taste and have large market share.2. Chicken Fajita An authentic taste of Mexico, marinated chicken, onions and green peppers with special herbs and spices. After chicken ti kka fajita is favorite pizza in Pakistan because of its spicy taste is mostly famous in teenagers.3. Afghani Tikka A new addition – topped with Afghani Tikka chunks and onion on a special creamy pizza sauce.4. Shawarma Pizza An innovative treat- sure to become a house favorite! This pizza boasts of loads of Lebanese style meat, onions, olives, tomatoes, jalapenos and mozzarella cheese. Specially garnished with a shawarma sauce, this one’s sure to excite!5. Super SupremeEnjoy a delightful blend of beef pepperoni, smoked chicken, cabanossi, beef, onions, green peppers, olives & mushrooms with double the amount of topping.6. Salad Bar A scrumptious variety of garden fresh vegetables that will tempt you to create your very own favorite salad topped with our classic dressings.7. BBQ Chicken Spin Rolls BBQ Chicken chunks rolled in light tortilla bread, suffered with red and green onions, mozzarella & parmesan cheese and a bit of butter. Served with BBQ sausce; its bound to l eave a lasting impression!8. Pizza Hut Platter 2 Our flaming wings, a portion of spicy wedges and four pieces of our BBQ chicken spin rolls, rolled in light tortilla bread, sprinkled with parmesan and mozzarella cheese. Served with a dip sauce.9. Soft drinks2.5 Desserts:Strawberry Cheesecake A scrumptious strawberry flavored cheesecake, generously topped with strawberries and thick strawberry sauce; garnished with sauce and whipped cream. A sweet way to end the day!Ice Cream Two scoops of ice cream (strawberry, chocolate or vanilla) topped with your choice of chocolate or strawberry sauce, with wafers.2.6 Mission and value statement:Mission: We take pride in making a perfect pizza and providing courteous and helpful service on time, all the time. Every customer says, â€Å"I'll be back!† Vision: Pizza Hut's vision is to be the world's best quick service restaurant experience. Being the best means providing outstanding quality, service, cleanliness and value, so that they make every customer in every restaurant smile.2.7 Complete value system of an organization1. Core Values-describe the attitude and character of the organization- found in â€Å"code of conduct†.2. Protected values- Protected through rules standards and certifications, in the areas of health, environment and safety.3. Created values-that shareholders expect in return for their contribution to the firm- found in stakeholder’s theory, Business ethics4. Shared Value- Establishes a link between business strategies (Competitiveness of the company) and corporate social responsibility.2. 8 Core Values:Make it Easy We're practical. We don't complicate things. Everything we produce should be easy to understand and use. Because we never forget we're trying to make customers' lives easier. Keep promises Everything we set out to do should work, or if it doesn't, we're here to help. We're about delivery, not over promising, actions not wordsBe inspiring We are creative. We strive to bri ng energy to the things we do. Everything we produce should look good, modern and fresh. We are passionate about our business and customers.Be Respectful We acknowledge and respect local cultures. We do not impose one formula worldwide. We want to be a part of local communities wherever we operate. We believe loyalty has to be earned.Business Analysis of Pizza Hut Goals of the organizationThey want to have the most loved and trusted branded restaurants and delivery units, a great franchise network, great food, great service assets and provide great value for their customers. Their passion starts with their people, as it is their people that make the difference. They want to be loved and trusted, not only by their customers, but by their employees as well.PEST Analysis Political environment- Economic Environment Social Environment Technological EnvironmentI. POLITICAL ENVIRONMENT:Political issues include regulatory frame work operating in judicial system which may affect the business in different ways. There are not many political factors in Gujranwala affecting Pizza Hut as is lack of competition. Factors such as laws on business employment, pollution and taxation apply on the organization which it has to follow regarding the rules.II. ECNOMIC FACTORS:If the county’s economy is better so the GDP of the country will be good, this is a green signal for the business as the per capital income of the people will be increased and they will spend more money. In our survey we came to know that most of the people in the beginning of the months spend more and they visit pizza hut very often. When the inflation rate increases the cost of raw material also increases and this leads towards high prices of the products and vice versa.III.SOCIAL FACTORS:Pizza hut is a multinational and it is basically originated from America so the organization is overwhelmed by western culture. There are social forms of society which consist of Upper class, middle class, middle upper class, lower class and lower class. Every country has cultural norms, values, beliefs and religion which can affect the organization.IV. TECHNOLOGICAL FACTORS:Now a day’s technology is improving so as baking and heating ovens will be of new and efficient technology and will provide efficient service. Due to new technology there are new ways of marketing like internet; telemarketing and the organization can advertise their products with much more faster pace. Computer based customer data that is MIS (managing information system) helps in collecting customer data, daily transactions, future forecasting and decision making. New vehicles will make their service more efficient.SWOT Analysis Perform SWOT analysis of the organization Strengths Weaknesses Opportunities ThreatsI. Strengths:Pizza Hut is the market leader in providing different products of pizzas as there are no competitors in this sector. There good image makes the organization more strong. Pizza Hut is providing good taste, quality products with qualified staff, good atmosphere and hygienic environment. They are specialized in pizzas. Motivation level of staff is very high which make the organization more prosperous. They are ISO (International Standard Organization) certified. They have enough resources for operating different activities of the organization. They are providing free home delivery service. They have created monopoly in this sector. Another big Strength and even a Competitive Advantage is the fact that they have a full service restaurant as well as delivery services. It is the biggest chain of restaurant that provide dine in facility in Pakistan. Most of Pizza Hut’s competitors do not have restaurants. Because of the restaurant, Pizza Hut can market too many different segments that other pizza chains cannot. For example, Pizza Hut can market to families much easier than Domino's.II. Weaknesses:However, the fact that Pizza Hut does have a restaurant to run is also a weakness . Pizza Hut has higher overhead costs, due to the restaurant that other competitors don't have to deal with. Another result of higher overhead costs is higher prices Pizza Hut must charge. Obviously, Pizza Hut is not the low cost producer. They rely on their quality. Their godown is in Karachi, the distribution is made from Karachi so it is time consuming and costly.III. Opportunities:The Company can come up with innovative Pizzas, new flavors and recipes with different types of crusts and sizes etc. The company can open its restaurants in different part of the countries that have potential customers. The company can even introduce new, healthy and fresh food items related to pizza for example they can introduce fresh pizzas. The people are these days more concerned about their health and pizza hut can meet this need by introducing fresh and healthy pizzas.IV. Threats:The competition in the Pizza industry is increasing, as customers now prefer and look for availability and affordabi lity. The rising prices of special ingredients like cheese, used in pizzas. The company faces serious threats from other international restaurant chains like Dominos pizza etc. McDonalds even tried to introduce pizza in its product portfolio called McPizza. Besides these competitors the local restaurants that provide pizzas offer food item at more affordable prices as well as know the taste of the local people better. Many of its competitors are trying to capture the market share of the Pizza hut by introducing similar kind of pizzas and food itemsPorter’s 5 ModelPorter’s 5 ForcesCompany Status Comments Threats of New entrants Well aware of new competitors. They are not afraid of it. Pizza hut has latest technology and their name is well developed so lot of investment is required to enter the market and compete them.Bargaining powers of suppliers Pizza hut supplies its products from its own forms. So the bargaining power of suppliers is not related to their business Th reat of substitute products Pizza huts prices are low than its competitors. So threat of substitute products is very low in pizza hut. Intensity of Rivalry among existing competitors Pizza hut has very less competitors in Pakistan. They provide best dine in at low cost. Pizza hut has only two competitors and has only established their prices are good so they have not much rivalry so far in Pakistan.BCG MatrixStarsChicken Fajita Chicken TikkaQuestion MarkChicken Lover Cash cowsCheese stuffers DogsGarlic BreadStars: We place Pizza Hut’s product Chicken Fajita and Chicken Tikka in Stars Because these products are popular in customers and they also have High Market Share and High Market GrowthCash Cows: We place Cheese stuffers in Cash Cows because our product is well established and has High Market Share and Low Market Growth. These products are likely to be popular with customers, which makes it easier for you to exploit new opportunities.Question Marks: Product Chicken Lover i n category Question Mark, because it has Low Market Share and High Market Growth. Chicken Lover aren't generating much revenue right now, because we don't have a large Market share.Dogs: We place Garlic bread of Pizza Hut in Category dogs because it has low Market share in a low-growth market. This product often don't make much Profit, but Pizza Hut don't need much investment either.Life Cycle Stages of the Business Units 2- Study life cycle stages of the Business Units of the company Where you place your Company’s different business units? Position your company’s different products in ADL matrixGAP AnalysisStated Observed status in company They set higher cleanliness standards. Their cleanliness level is not good They say their prices are low. The prices of drinks are very high. They say they have best hygienic kitchen. But their kitchen is not very hygienic. We choose best locations. Their some restaurants are not in good locations. We have big and wide dine in. Thei r dining is congested.

Cold War Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Cold War - Research Paper Example Beginning in 1947 and lasting until 1991, the Cold War can be defined as the sustained state of military, as well as political, tensions that existed between western hemisphere countries and their NATO allies and the Eastern hemisphere that was dominated by countries in the Warsaw Pact dominated by the USSR1. Following the success of the wartime alliance formed temporarily against Hitler’s Nazi Germany, the only two superpowers in global affairs were the United States and the Soviet Union. However, these two countries had profound differences in their political and economic ideologies, and this led to the beginning of the Cold War. The Second World War had a profound effect on global politics, with the early efforts of leaders in the US and the USSR attempting to shape the international system that was emerging after the war. In my opinion, the beginning of the Cold War can be traced from encouragement made by the Europeans, especially the British. Their encouragement of the U nited States to make their policy tougher towards the USSR was vital in the beginning. From my reading of the article, The Origins of Post War America, I believe that former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill reinforced this policy during his iron curtain speech2. As Americans, we decided to pursue this policy because it would advance our interests, which resulted in the French, British, and other Western European countries joining us in the sphere of influence. Free elections in these European countries worked towards ratifying the support of Western Europe governments for us. However, the CIA, through its support for anti-communist intellectual organizations and labor unions, did manipulate the outcomes somewhat. From being egged on by the Europeans, we as a country took over the resistance to the communist Eastern Bloc to head it and influence the European powers3. For those European countries that immediately were not up to standard such as Turkey, Greece, and Spain, we us ed economic leverage. As a country, we projected an image of minimal constraint, economic robustness, and civility that highly contrasted with that of imperial USSR, and so began the Cold War in earnest. Following the devastation that was meted on Europe and large parts of the Soviet Union by the war, our country’s promise of democracy reverberated across the world. The United States emerged from the war as the only major country that had escaped massive damage. While we faced a period of reconversion, our European allies faced a period of reconstruction4. The war had completely overturned the old order and two countries arose from the rubble, the US and USSR. Together, we were eager to seize the opportunity to extend our influence, and we clashed over policies of occupation in Korea, Austria, Japan, Italy, and Germany. This led to a new bi-polar structure, which ensured that the decisions we made determined the manner in which other countries made their decisions. However, t he bi-polar nature of the world was more of an asymmetry than a balance, as we held predominant power that enabled us to build up even more5. Our economy was also much stronger than all the rest and our power as a country arose because all other nations were weakened. The atomic bomb, which effectively ended the Second World War, ensured that the nuclear race continued to destabilize the world during the Cold War as we and the USSR looked for, ways to deal with it as atomic development programs spurred on. The bomb throughout the Cold War period was uncontrolled, copied, and envied, making it a major obstacle to getting peace in the postwar international system6. The issue of how to control to use, spread and development of the atom bomb dogged the entire period. Our government was worried that our monopoly would end with an increase of nuclear proliferation. These fears were further intensified with the successful trial of an atom bomb by the USSR in 1949. The weapon turned to be a way for various countries to pry concessions or deter

The Economies Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

The Economies - Essay Example Through the 20th century, Sweden progressed into a contemporary welfare condition. This was made feasible by a positive economic and political progress within the Nordic countries. Ever since the late 19th century, the Nordic lands urbanized from agrarian societies towards a completely industrialized societies. Matching with economic improvement, self-governing institutions and parliamentarism were initiated. Due to the idleness in WWI, Sweden grasped the advantage of the boost in foreign demands which was caused by the warfare. As a result of its documentation-high tax degrees and a remarkably huge public sect, Sweden has been broadly considered as the embodiment of the postwar wellbeing state. During the launch of the 1980's they loaned additional money, and then they imported excessively than they exported. Advanced education is being offered at no cost. This was sustained by the Conservative/Liberal Government which came in command during 1976. Every one of public childcare is co-educational. The jobless were presented with significant positions by the State. On the whole, the Swedish welfare situation remains exceptionally openhanded. Sweden had been more righteous rather than other countries similar to Germany and US as a result of an export boosting depreciation on the Krona during 1931. Sweden has coordinated its economic procedures with those of the EU, which it coupled at the beginning of 1995. Few Swedish economists have declared that Sweden's welfare condition has had grave unfavorable outcome on the country's economic development. This then had become the reason for profoundly increased taxes. We have learned that in Sweden the government has increased the fraction of salaries provided for income tax to sustain the universality of social services, where in due course, this did not really do well towards the citizens, but merely impedes them, and demonstrates them that they do not ever actually have to confront the responsibilities that go together with adulthood. For just about sixty years the Swedish economy has been gazed at and respected for its lofty level of comfort. Four out of ten employees were engaged by the administration, personnel who were being absent for work were excessive, low down productivity was then being encountered inside the export businesses, vacations along with other allowance settlement were very expensive, economic drop was sinking the base tax where the social agenda are required to pay for also the government shortage was escalating. As a result, citizens, who prefer to sit at home all day, even if they are completely capable of having a fine job, takes in similar benefits as those who are working outside their house. They had a scheme identified as cradle-to-grave welfare scheme, and it guarantees employment to almost every citizen. Ultimately, when the administration tried to lessen, the government expenditure Swedes was not capable to cope with their new offered sovereignty, and naturally, towering unemployment turned out to be one of numerous problems that this country has. Brazil happens to be the biggest country in population as well as in its size of South America. This country is a federative republic along with a government very

Business Law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 4

Business Law - Essay Example informs the seller the particular objective or need for which the goods are being requisitioned , so as to show that the buyer places trust and faith on seller’s skill or judgment, and the goods are of a description which it is in the course of the seller’s business to supply (whether he is the manufacturer or not), there is an implied condition that the supplied product will serve this purpose...† (Modification of Act for Certain Contract: Implied Terms About Quality of Terms. 1979). It could be said that the clients had relied on the skill and expertise of the vendor company, Ace Computer Ltd., but unfortunately fourteen of the twenty computers supplied turned out to be defective. In such a situation, it is possible that by applying the Warranty clause that is in force, Ace Computers would need to replace the defective computers with good ones. It needs to be argued that under such circumstances, the question of taking back the defective computers and repaying the amount does not arise, since the contractual obligation between Ace Computers Ltd. and the clients, Stevens, Wiley and Company, does not consider refund of the purchase price. The contract does not enjoin that costs of defective goods would be refunded, but it is possibly that replacements of four defective computers could be made, and also the models supplied to Damien, could be replaced. It could be argued in this case, that the contractual obligations under the agreement signed between the parties are binding, and there being no clause that specifically provides for refund of purchase price, it may be not be enforceable under law. However, when considering arguments from point of view of the clients, their main allegations would be in terms of the fact that they are not in the regular business of buying computers, but Ace Computers are in the business of providing computer business solutions for years. They have placed the order on the basis of assurances provided by Gerald, the director,

Physics of Formula One Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4500 words - 1

Physics of Formula One - Essay Example Enzo Ferrari the legend behind the name Ferrari had a passion for car racing which motivated him to come out with the brand name which is today a household name in the field of F1 races. It was in 1945 that the work started on designing and building the very first Ferrari, a project which was being prepared around 12-cylinder2 – a first in the history which went on to provide a direction to the car in general and car racing in particular. Ferrari was the first car to use 1.5 litre unit in a V12 configuration. Since then the company has not looked back. Ferrari, the car was the brain child of its founder Enzo Ferrari. The journey begins with the foundation of Scuderia, sort of a club, on 16th November 1929, exclusively for participating in motor-racing competitions. Enzo Ferrari an integral part of Alpha Romeo for many decades, parted ways in 1929. When Ferrari left the club, he was not allowed to have his name on any of the cars or clubs for the next four years. But his resolve and patience saw him through in his ventures and he started with an 8-cylinder, 1500 cc sports spider, named as 815. It was only in 1946 that the name Ferrari comes into being for cars. The company has not looked back since then. Thereafter came its association with Michael Schumacher in 1996, which further helped in establishing the brand equity called ‘Ferrari’. The F1 racing is now an integral part of Ferrari. In fact F1 racing has now become a big industry in itself. Such developments have started driving other car manufacturers as well int o the race and serious manufacturers like BMW have also started experimenting with the sporty driving. Though it may sound boring to people watching the racing on the tracks, its television clippings have started commanding huge premium. This potential was foreseen by Mr. Ecclestone of ‘Formula One Administration’, who produces the electronic feed being watched by over 40 billion viewers (The

Basel III Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Basel III - Essay Example When the housing bubble collapsed before the financial crisis, the asset-backed securities loss value and many banking firms faced insolvency and required federal bailouts. This paper will review the Basel Accords and the economic impact on banks because of the Basel Accords. Basel I and II background Basel I, which centered mainly on credit risk, came into existence in 1988 and became legally enforceable in the G10 nations in 1992 (Barron, J 2011). The goals of Basel I was to mandate that banks preserve enough capital to absorb losses without creating universal difficulties. Basel I was criticized for being inadequate in its assessment of assets to risk categories because assets with different risk composition would be categorized into the same risk groups. The Basel III established the amount of reserves required by banks to avert losses and cushion the financial industry against possible future financial catastrophes. Basel II was created in June 2004 after concerns arose with Bas el I because of the regulatory arbitrage. Basel II was seen as a more risk-sensitive standard that applied bank’s own approximates of risk in deciding minimum capital demands. Basel II placed measures on the amount and usage of a bank’s capital to cover the risks they experienced. One of the fundamental modifications suggested by Basel II is the heightened sensitivity of a bank’s capital obligations to the risk of its assets: the quantity of capital that a bank has to capture is to be directly associated to the riskiness of its underlying assets (Drumond, I 2009). Because Basel II connected the riskiness of banking institution lending with the funds it held, basically making higher risk transactions have elevated reserve requirements than lower risk ones (Barron, J 2011). A chief concern of the Basel II imitative was the practice of securitization. Banks grouped risky loans into asset-backed securities and sold the securities to investors. This practice allowed the banks to move the risky assets off their balance sheets. This process allowed financial institutions to decrease their capital obligations, take on increasing risks and augment their leverage ('FOCUS: The Business Impact of Basel III' 2010).

Elasticity And The Law Of Supply And Demand Essay

Elasticity And The Law Of Supply And Demand - Essay Example The USDA established prices control whenever prices rise to unreasonable levels due to a smaller supply of goods. The rules of supply and demand apply to both eggs and beef products. The United States is one of the biggest exporters of meat in the world. The elasticity of beef is of affected by the income of the person because beef can be eliminated during dinner for other food products or a pizza night with the family. The vegetarian population would be an anomaly in a statistical study of for testing how much meet a person consumes on a daily basis due to their personal belief that beef consumption is not good for the body. Most Americans love to go out and eat a good steakhouse. If the favorite restaurant of a person gives them a 10% coupon for their next purchase the chances of that person coming back are higher than normal. If the price of Coca-Cola double it would create panic in the consumer markets. Customer would begin to boycott Coca-Cola because their soft drink has become a necessity to provide fluids to entire global population of 6.96 billion people. The sales of the company would go down a lot and the company would not be able to generate breakeven sales due to its high overhead and fixed which are common among industry leaders in any market. A 30% decrease would affect the sales of Coca-Cola but not at the same level because the relationship is not linear. The Coca-Coca sales might go down a few percentage points, but by lowering prices the company can minimize the damage. The primary reason Coca-Cola sales are not going to diminish by a factor equal to the loss in income is because sodas are a basic food necessity product. The brand value of Coca-Cola is very strong and is going to continue to become a social icon as the company is spending over $2 billion yearly to advertise its products an d improve its corporate image and brand value. DQ3 Five determinants of demand are: income, consumer preferences, number of buyers, substitutes & complement products, and future expectations. The income variable is very important. Companies should expand to countries that have a high gross domestic product per capita such as develop economies whose population is above $9000 per capita. The customer preferences are another factor. For instance sell meat in India is a hard proposition to accept for the local population since the cow is considered a sacred animal. A large number of buyers is good in a concentrated areas because the company can be more effective at implementing mass media company’s at a lower cost due to the its great locations. Substitute products are product that can interchange the consumption of another good. For example soft drinks can be substituted by water which is worth a fraction per 10 ounces that a Coca Cola can. 4. I agree with your definition of ela sticity of demand. When I go shopping for clothing I am persuaded to purchase clothes that are on special at retail stores. The same behavior affects most of my buying decisions. You mentioned that certain products or services have a demand that is more sensitive which is true. The income of the population also affects a lot whether the customers suffer from consumerism. The majority of U.S. citizens suffer from this syndrome due to high gross domest

SCADA Worm Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

SCADA Worm - Essay Example n facilities ranging from power plants to petroleum refineries, SCADA Worms can rapidly affect large scale industrial computer networks and IT operations. Moreover, SCADA Worms are highly sophisticated and capable of braking through different firewalls. These computer viruses infect Windows based operating systems and server environments, which are one of the most commonly used IT infrastructure equipment in USA. Next, SCADA Worms generally attack the Siemens based IT applications, which are again highly common in most of the US industrial automation and information environments. (Cherry and Langner, 2010; Kline and Krachenfels, 2010) According to most IT experts (e.g. Kim and Solomon, 2010) information security involves seven major domains. These are user domain, workstation domain, LAN domain, LAN-to-WAN domain, remote access domain, WAN domain, and system/application domain. General arrangement of these domains is shown in Figure – 1: Presently, industrial control systems are physically guarded at the workstation domain. User authentication systems and password policies are implemented at user domain. Anti-virus and Firewall software are used at the interface between the workstation domain (e.g. client side computers) and the remote access, LAN, or LAN-to-WAN domains (e.g. server side routers). But reports from Iran, India, and Indonesia show that these arrangements are essential but not enough to stop SCADA Worm (Kline and Krachenfels, 2010). Scientists like Coppolino et al (2012) suggest that Markov model based intrusion detection systems deployed at the system/application domain can be a useful deterrent against the SCADA Worm. The detection system at the industrial control engine must be both undetectable and modifiable. On the other hand, security providers like GarretCom put forward the idea of assimilating security tools from â€Å"a lot of disciplines working together to create industrial environments in a world that is increasingly connected† (Kline

Interactive Multimedia Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Interactive Multimedia - Assignment Example The most distinct feature of multimedia interaction is that it is mutual and both the machine and the user take an equal active role (Morley and Parker 7). Interactive multimedia can be used in multiple ways in the education sector and has benefits for the students or learners and teachers. The main benefit of it is the ability to individualize education (Lucas 77). The multimedia technologies that augment the existing curriculum allow immediate enhancement and encourage development in the sector (Cartwright 295). This can help resolve problems in the educational sector by providing activities that match with the learning style employed by the students. They have the ability to improve the learning outcomes of students as they increase their potential. The advancements in interactive media provide students with the opportunity to gain and share information with their peers and work on collaborative projects and increases motivation among the young people (Mishra and Sharma 311). These experiences are considered to be rich, social and have more meaning than the traditional word to word lessons. Interactive multimedia is used for entertainment in many ways such as video games as explained by Morgan Stanley and Co (2010). Recent studies show that video games are most popular form of entertainment. It is the only segment of the United States consumer media with a significant increase in spending compared to other forms of media including; newspapers, books and broadcast TV (Mayer 99). 3D human tracking methods have been introduced in computer vision and applied in motion analysis, interactive computer graphics and surveillance. This is because such a system runs on inexpensive hardware, is fast and emphasizes on real time interactivity. Object segmentation processing is determined by color and the dimension of the object is computed. The motion corresponding on the 2D trajectories is

The Jew Store Essay Example for Free

The Jew Store Essay The Jew Store is a story written by a lady whose family moved to America from Russia in the early 1900s. The first moved to New York and then found their way down to the South. They finally ended up in Nashville as their first permanent residence. They would not last there very long though, as they ended up taking a chance moving to the northwest part of Tennessee in a city called Concordia. The family was of the Jewish decent. They first moved to New York because it was so heavily concentrated with Jews. At this time and period in America, I think Jews were looked down on heavily; maybe not as much as the African Americans, but definitely in that way. They were treated this way because they were not ‘Protestants’ or Gentiles. Especially when they moved down south, everyone knew that the new family coming through would be called the Jewish or the Jew family; it’s just how it was. The Bronson’s came to Nashville mainly to pursue their father’s dreams of becoming a businessman or store owner. But after arriving in Nashville, the Bronson’s were facing the realization that they would never have an opportunity to own a store in Nashville. And I would like to point out, in order to run these stores; the whole family must be involved. So, Mr. Bronson took a risk he had to take if he wanted to reach his dreams, and the family set out for Concordia, Tennessee. The first thing Mr. Bronson did when he got to Concordia was change his name to an American one. He changed his name to Avram(? ) to Aaron. He thought this would be a good idea because it would make him more acceptable within the community. Aaron was led a little bit into the adrift in my opinion. I think when he left Nashville, he thought he had an automatic store that was going to be given to him, but yet when he got there, he didn’t even have a place to call his own. When they first arrived in town, they had to stay at Miss Brookie’s house, and she was nice enough to let them stay free of pay. Miss Brookie might have been one of the only early people to step up and help out the Bronsons. Miss Brookie also had connections within the town. Her uncle, Tom Dillon, was a wealthy man who rented out stores or something of that nature. This was Mr. Bronson’s first contact within the city that could help him acquire a place for a store. Dillon wasn’t necessarily the most welcoming to Mr. Bronson. He knew that coming in, Bronson could give him problems and take customers away from him, so in the beginning; Mr. Bronson was already fighting an uphill battle. The Bronson’s finally came up with enough to buy a house of their own after staying with Miss Brookie for a while. When they made this move, the neighbors were very welcoming. They would participate in activities together such as gardening and painting. As partial as the community was to the Bronson’s when they first came into town, as time went along they became more accepted. People in the community were allowed to associate with them without being looked down upon. With that being said, there was still a bridge and gap between the Bronson’s and the community. People knew they were Jewish and were not Protestants, so this created a gap between them, especially on Sunday’s. Miriam, Stella’s(the author) older sister, always complained about how boring Sunday’s were. The Bronson’s were pretty much on their own on these days because the rest of the community spent their time at the church. When the Bronson’s first came into town, they knew they would have to compete with other stores for customers. With that being said, they decided to target an audience they knew would side with them. At this time, blacks and Jews were oft looked down upon, so Mr. Bronson thought that if he could attract the African American demographic that his business could thrive. So, this was definitely a way to separate themselves from the Protestants of this time. Many of the religious people only associated with blacks if they had one as a maid or something. The Bronson’s did not homeschool their kids or anything of that nature, so this exposed them to the Protestants in Concordia. I think it was important for them to send their kids to school in public, because this is where they got some of their customers. Their kids’ friends’ parents ended up coming to their store. Even though at first the Bronson’s faced an uphill battle at the beginning, by the time they were about to leave Concordia, they were well accepted throughout the community. Mr. Bronson helped out this community more than it could have ever imagined. Before they left, Mr. Bronson was the lead guy in heading up the fundraiser to help keep the local shoe factory open. He agreed to match anybody’s money offer penny for penny. And just a reminder, this was a guy who was looked down upon after he moved into this city. I think this helped started bridging the gap between Jews and Protestants. This family was a nice family that worked that just wanted to succeed. And they were willing to do a lot of things to do that. I am going to go out on a limb and say that if a Protestant family had entered a community with these types of circumstances they might never have prevailed. So, by giving this generous gift of money to the town, I think the Protestants realized that maybe these people were ‘Jewish,’ but that they just wanted well for everyone. An incident involving Miriam occurred around the time she was five years old. She might have been in the school systems, but I know she was with people of her age. They were at a Presbyterian church and the leader asked her where she went to church. She ended up trying to pronounce Presbyterian properly, but the point is she had no idea what they were asking. I think this community was very insecure about this Jewish family coming to their town. They did not know how to react to them. I don’t know if they thought they may or may not try to come in and convert them, but I do know one lady from the town said â€Å"Once a Jew, always a Jew. † To me this means they(the community) were trying to set an example that no matter what they did, they would not fully be a member of the community since they weren’t Protestants. The Bronson’s put up a good fight, but I still think people looked down on them just because they were Jewish. There was also another time when Myriam or Stella went to church with one of her friends. It was to a Methodist institution to witness the baptism of a newborn baby. I do not think Mrs. Bronson was aware that Stella was going to an actual church service. She told Stella to only go to Sunday school. This was sort of confusing to me, because I figured Mrs. Bronson would be all out one way or the other. But by letting one of her daughters go to church, it could have exposed her. The final straw for Mrs. Bronson in Concordia was Myriam about marrying a Gentile. One of the first friends they met when they moved to Concordia was T, who also had a brother. But as Myriam was becoming more and more serious with T, Mrs. Bronson started sweating more and more. She did not want her daughter to marry a non-Jew. With the threat of this rising, she immediately recommended the Bronson’s move back to New York so Myriam would not be able to marry a non-Jew. And that they did, the Bronson’s packed up and left. Their time in Tennessee was well made and they made a lot of progressions, but in the end their religion made them move back. The fear of one of Mrs. Bronson’s daughters marrying out of religion was too much for her. So, this was the biggest step they took to separate themselves from Protestantism. I think the Bronson’s had it the toughest of all out of the three books I read. In the other two books, Muslims in America and The Madonna of 115th Street, these people came over together as a mass and usually lived in communities together. These were tight knit communities that bonded together and wanted to see one another succeed. The Bronson’s on the other hand, went into a new community by themselves and came out a pretty successful and well respected family. They had nobody to lean with the exception of very few people such as Miss Brookie. The Muslims and Catholics on the other hand had a whole community to fall back on. They also faced adversity of a whole city, but I would take that route any day of the week. Also, what I have perceived from reading these three books. Americans like doing it their way. They don’t like having other people come in and do things contradictory to them. Americans like surrounding themselves with people who agree with them and like them. That is their comfort zone, and I think at a time like now in America, tensions are higher than ever because of all the surrounding circumstances that go against what we believe in.

Impact Of External Influences on Consumer-Decision Making

Impact Of External Influences on Consumer-Decision Making Consumer behaviour is a steady ambiguity and even though there has been some achievements in planning consumers behaviours, sometimes we just dont know how things going on and how some factors drives one consumer may not drive another. Sometimes Organisations took corrective measures for consumers motivations and sometimes they do not. Which have a real impact on the financial success of the organisation . The target of this report is to answer the following critical factors: 1. Impact of the external variables which are used by marketers during the various stages of the consumer decision-making process . 2. Evaluation of a specific consumer behavioural theory or model for the understanding of the consumers and the implementation of the marketing strategy for the organisation. Consumers are faced with the need to make decisions about products and services all the time. Some of them are very important and entail great effort, while others are made more or less automatically. Perspectives on decision-making range from a focus on habits, age, income, personality, level of education and tasks. Task 1 Impact Of External Influences At Various Stages Of The Consumer-Decision Making Used By Marketers Introduction In this era of rivalry, indulgent the consumer is very important for marketers. Consumer desires and preferences are constantly varying, given the changes in factors like their demographics and lifestyles. These changes can bring great business opportunities for attentive marketers and threats for marketers who fail to become accustomed. Consumers obtain, devour, consume and dispose off the products and services created by organizations. They went through a number of cognitive and behavioural processes whilst making their purchases and spending on decisions. This information is also vital to make a variety of business decisions associated with product development, packaging, pricing, distribution, promotions, communication, etc. According to Solomon, et al., (2010) consumer decision making is a central part of consumer behaviour. Typically the buyer decision process takes place in five stages. These stages are essential for a consumer in making purchases on a conscious or a subconscious level. Consumer Behaviour helps to comprehend the external variables like reference groups, family, social class, and, culture, and their influence on consumer decision-making process. Consumers are faced with many external influences, including an individuals culture, subculture, household structure, and groups that he associates with. Marketers and business owners call these external influences because the source of the influence comes from outside the person rather than from inside. Need/Problem Recognition: According to Solomon. M, Problem recognition occurs whenever the consumers sees a significant differences between the current situations and some desired or ideal state. During this stage marketers have to create need by using the different external variables. Example: Marketers are using advertisement as in Kelloggs advertisement marketers focusing on the girls by showing an female athlete to be slim and smart. So marketers using external variables of sub-culture (gender) and opinion leader for developing a need by solving their problem of getting smart. Information Search According to Solomon. M, it is the process by which consumer surveys their environment for suitable data to make a realistic decisions. Different information sources available by using internal and external search. But according to marketers point of view, external variables such as family friends opinion leaders, reference group and culture etc Example: Pharmaceutical organizations like GSK uses consultants or top level medical professionals (opinion leaders, reference group) for their products by arranging seminars, meetings and TV shows to give information about their products in particular disease the rest of their followers agreed . Because opinion leaders or reference group have adopted them after the completing all information search. Evaluation Of Alternatives According to Solomon. M, it is the stage in which a choice must be made by the available alternatives. The product alternatives a person considered comprise their evoked set. Members usually share some features of evoked set. Marketers always like their products in evoked set of consumers.According to surveys consumers often include a small number of product in their evoked set. Example: Coca cola is using Santa Clause as brand ambassador in UK. In Christmas days, marketing of coke revolves around the Santa Clause because of their cultural influence as an alternative against the different competitors especially Pepsi. Consumers evaluate the product when they go for alternatives but after the strong marketing influence for their evoked set as well they go for Coke as the main drink. Product Choice/Purchase According to Solomon. M, after the evaluation of alternatives, decision rules guiding choice can range from very simple and quick strategy to complicated processes requiring much attention and cognitive processing. Marketers play a role in educating consumers about which criteria should be used and for this purpose they use external variables for consumer decision making. Example: Marketers use friends and family members and reference group as external variables for their promotions. Like mobile phone companies i.e. Three in UK use this tool as their marketing policy and offer their loyal customers different opportunities by referring new consumers and give them discounts as well. Post-Purchase Behaviour According to Solomon. M, post-purchase behaviour involves all the consumers activities and the experiences that follow the purchase. Satisfaction is important after purchase because, usually it cost more to attract new consumer than to retain an existing. Marketers can use external variables to improve the consumers post purchase decisions to maintain their loyalty. Companies use guarantee, return policy and after sales services for the customer satisfaction. For example in UK different online and high street retail companies have all the customer satisfaction programmes to maintain their customer loyal to them in all circumstances. Like Tesco, Asda, Amazone, etc. Conclusion In the above report, I discussed all the five stages of consumer decision making in the light of external variables for marketing perspective. As consumer behaviour is affected by different external variables like culture, sub-culture, friends and family, reference group, demographics, opinion leaders and economical environment. Marketers develop different strategies to influence consumers and try to evoke them for their decision making to buy a specific products or services. Task 2 In Nokia PLC, How Maslows hierarchy of need can aid in understanding consumers actions and its practical implemention of marketing strategy in Nokia. Introdution Nokia is the top selling brand in the mobile phone market of the world. In this report I am going to explain the Maslows heirarchy of needs for the understanding of consumers actions and the marketing strategies for the future of the company. Maslows Hierarchy Of Need According to Solmon, M, Maslow formulated a hierarchy of biogenic and psycogenic needs, in which certain levels of motives are specified. Following are 5 steps of Maslows hierarchy of need and according to Maslow, 1 level must be attained before the next level. Physiological : According to Maslow, main aim of the individuals is to fulfill the basic needs food, water,shelter and warmth. After getting their basic needs individuals go for the next stage.Therefore physiological needs are must to obtain other above stages of need. Implementation Of Physiological Needs In Marketing Strategy Of Nokia PLC In the era of fastest growing smart phone market, Nokia is becoming the brand leader due to their range of mobiles. As nokia is the company offering the variety of mobiles for their consumrs which fulfill the basic needs of the consumers in a affordable price as the marketing strategy,which keep Nokia worlds largest selling mobile company.In this competitive environment and busy life mobile is the basic need for an individual so Nokia fullfill these basic needs by ranging their price for a common man to elite class as their marketing and promotional strategy. Security Needs Security is the next step according to Maslow, all consumers are basically worried about the after effects of any product or service which related to security,stability and freedom.If an individual have the basic physiological needs then they achieve this as well. Implementation Of Security Needs In Marketing Strategy Of Nokia PLC As Nokia is the well known company in the world of smart phones so consumer have the faith on them about the security of their basic needs and the stability of the product .In case of any probelm with the mobile Nokia provides full warranty fo their produts,free accessories and free repairs as their marketing strategy through which consumer get secured and proud to be Nokia customer. Social/Belonging Needs According to Maslow the next level of hierarchy are social needs, means friends and family,loveones and the communication between all individuals is a social need. According to Maslow this need will be only achieveable when the first two needs, physical and security are full filled. Implementation Of Social Need In Marketing Strategy Of Nokia PLC Nokia mobiles are very well recognized socially and fulfill all the social needs of the consumers thatswhy they very popular as users friendly in mobile market.Now a days where the social networking on internet made the world very small. Nokia mobiles offered all the features of the current scenario of smart phones by their marketing strategies to promote its product according to consumers demand. Self-Esteem Needs In Maslows hierarcy of needs, self-esteem followed by the physiological ,safety and belonging needs which means any individual feel his recognition, satisfation and achievement. For this consumers needs somewhat unique kind of products or services which feel them differnt in the society. Implementation Of Self-Esteem In Nokia PLC As Nokia is the largest phone company in the world and provide a large variety of mobiles. So according to Maslow for these kind of people Nokia introduce elite class mobiles in the consumers market,which are used as status symbol as their marketing strategy policy of place in this segment. Self-actualization According to Maslow, self actualisation is the last and the top level of hierarcy of needs.To full fill this criteria individual have their own set of principals to judge the product or service in the market.This last need is only achieveable if all other needs of the consumers are being full filled. Implementation Of Self-Actualization In Nokia PLC Nokia plc is using opinion leaders in their advertisements like Bruce Lee, Shakirra etc.so that people feel proud to have Nokia smart phones by using in the society to full fill their self actualization need. Nokia brands have a lot of variety of elite class smart phones with lot of applications free of cost for their loyal customer as their marketing strategy. For their promotional strategies they hire top celebrities in their advertisement to attract the consumers market to make them buy their products. Conclusion In the above report ,I discussed and explain the marketing implementations of the Maslows hierarchy of need, its all five stages accordinglly.How Nokia plc is using these needs to fullfill the consumer demands through applying the marketing strategies. In this Nokia plc is using all the 4Ps of marketing mix to creat the needs of the consumers and help the consumers in their decision making process. By using Maslows hierarchy of need theory, Nokia plc is able to saisfy their consumers demands and needs according to the market and attract more and more customers in the smart phone market of the world.

Abraham Lincolns Second Inaugural Address

Abraham Lincolns Second Inaugural Address Abraham Lincoln and His â€Å"Second Inaugural Address† Delivered March 4, 1864 Though delivered almost 150 years ago, Abraham Lincoln’s (1809-1865) second inaugural address continues today to be an exemplary model of leadership, demonstrating its abilities in political unification, cues to nation-building, goals of social progression, and most importantly, its expression of the importance of national reconciliation. Given at a time when a young American country was still reeling from the Civil War, Lincoln’s address not only reaffirmed the Union’s justification for fighting against Confederate secession and insurgency, but also extended a hand to the formerly rebellious states that found themselves structurally and economically debilitated by the end of the war. A work of oratory mastery, Lincoln’s content was not nearly as important as the address’ literary devices such as assonance, alliteration, and diction. Then-president Lincoln’s style and delivery prove that today’s politicians and leadership stand much to gain from the model presented at Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address. The beginning of Lincoln’s final term saw a distressed nation left economically and structurally ravaged. Costing the lives of more Americans than any war in its short history, the Civil War was the product of a social, economic, and political rift between the Northern Union and the insurgent Southern Confederacy of secessionist states. Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address therefore had to satisfy several requisites. The speech had to take special care to give praise where due to the Northern Union army and its loyal population without alienating the defeated South, still reeling from the economic blow dealt to its agrarian majority by the abolition of slavery. In order to maintain this delicate balance, â€Å"Lincoln began the shift in content and tone that would give† the second inaugural address â€Å"its singular meaning,† inclusive to both North and South (White 61). In his Lincoln’s Greatest Speech: The Second Inaugural, Ronald C. White makes no te of Lincoln’s â€Å"masterful understanding and use of both imagery and distinctive phrase,† tools that America’s sixteenth president would use as part of an â€Å"overarching strategy† emphasizing â€Å"common actions and emotions† (White 61). George Rable stressed the importance of non-political language in Lincoln’s address in his The Confederate Republic: A Revolution against Politics, as the Southern population was infamously apolitical in its views and practices. Lincoln’s diction therefore had to be deliberately neutral in diction and content so as not to highlight the existing tension between North and South, the major differences manifested in the stereotypes of the prototypical agrarian Southerner and politicized, industrial Northerner. Lincoln was less â€Å"intellectual and studied in tone† in delivering his second inaugural address, focusing more on religious allusions and spiritual reference (White 22). A key feature of the address, Lincoln’s use of religious overtones was neutral in its acceptance in both the North and South. Though taking great care to give the North credit for â€Å"accepting the war rather than let it perish† (Lincoln, lines 17-18) Lincoln did his best not to alienate the South but also took great care not to indemnify the insurgents in the face of his loyal Union constituency. To avoid a potentially catastrophic venture, Lincoln used Christianity and references to Protestant texts shar ed by both national contingents. With such radically different constituents, religion was the only common ground, resulting in a final address that notorious author and black activist Frederick Douglass found more akin to a â€Å"sermon than a speech† (White ii). Lincoln’s religious allusions served to emphasize national unity in similarity, as seen in lines 29-30 in his reference to Northern and Southern populations â€Å"both [reading] the same Bible and [praying] to the same God.† Furthermore, Lincoln alluded to religion as a mechanism to displace blame on either party for the violence that transpired following the Confederate secession from the Union. In lines 29-32, Lincoln urges the two halves of the nation to â€Å"judge not† its counterpart lest they in turn â€Å"be judged†. Placing the final victory in an intangible God’s proverbial hands, the politically masterful president did not place the moral imperative in the hands of either North or South, instead referencing the â€Å"Almighty’s [purposes]† in line 30 which in turn were assumed in the Judeo-Christian tradition incomprehensible by man. The heavily religious theme of the address kept abreast of the apocalyptic undertones of the war. In such a fractious time in American politics, both sides endorsed the distribution of their own versions of the Bible. White links the use of religion as a propaganda tool to encourage both reluctant Northern and Southern populations of their justifications for war: â€Å"With the beginning of hostilities, Bibles were produced almost as quickly as bullets. The American Bible Society made the decision to supply Bibles to all soldiers. At the Bible House, headquarters of the ABS in New York City, sixteen power presses printed and bound the books. The increase in the publication of Bibles was astonishing. In the first year of the Civil War, the American Bible Society printed 370,000 more Bibles than in the previous year† (White 102). Lincoln’s somewhat exploitative use of religious allegory was therefore not a novel concept; the hastened production of Bibles reflects both the Union and the Confederacy’s employment of religious justification to override whatever national allegiances would erstwhile prevent war. Lincoln’s address counteracted this stratagem employed by both North and South, neither negating nor supporting either side’s contentions that divine providence remained with their respective side. Richard Striner detailed the importance of the religious factor in Lincoln’s speech through a private letter Lincoln wrote to a contemporary, wherein Lincoln made special note to mention that â€Å"men are not flattered by being shown that there has been a difference of purpose between the Almighty and them†; â€Å"to deny it, however, in this case, is to deny that there is a God governing the world† (Striner 251). The letter continued, stating that the concept of man’s helplessness under divine will â€Å"is a truth which [Lincoln] thought needed to be told† (Striner 251). Glen Thurow’s Abraham Lincoln and Political Religion portrays Lincoln as a shrewd politician who understood the power of religious allegory in political speech. Thurow accentuates Lincoln’s foresight in his recollection that â€Å"Lincoln’s law partner, William H. Herndon, [claimed] after [Lincoln’s] death that the president was not a believer in Christianity; [and] some even testified he was an atheist† (Thurow 12). From this vantage, a different Lincoln is brought to the forefront, his re-election address taking on an entirely new significance. For all his political foresight and social innovation, Lincoln did not challenge the heavily religious tones of Washington. Selective of what views he would reveal to the American public, Lincoln was hence an innovator in every sense of the word, an abolitionist leader of a nation whose agrarian half depended on the institution of bondage for its sustenance. Moreover, Lincoln was also an atheist president o f a religious people, one of the primary reasons his two most impacting speeches—the Second Inaugural Address and the Gettysburg Address—were so religious in their hyperbole. More than maintaining the faà §ade of Lincoln’s religious piety, religious speech bolstered what White refers to as the â€Å"homespun† factor (White 15). As a man of humble beginnings, Lincoln’s appeal as a self-made man sharply contrasted that of the social elite who elected him into power. The apolitical South, despite its misgivings about Lincoln’s intentions for the future of America, recognized Lincoln as more than a member of the political bourgeois. Though they perceived his immense support from the Northern elite, the Southern contingent of the country also observed his detractors decrying his â€Å"homespun† style of speech and persona as something that gained him the enmity of his Northern opposition. A considerable amount of confusion stemmed from Li ncoln’s religious ambiguities; though he never belonged to an established church, Lincoln frequently attended services with his wife, Mary. Thurow observes that â€Å"much of the confusion surrounding Lincoln’s religion stems from the fact that commentators have tried to see whether he belonged to the religion of the churches, neglecting the possibility that his speeches were political, not religious, or were religious because they were political† (Thurow 14). It was not Lincoln’s lack of professed faith that made him a leader, but rather his understanding of the unifying effect of religion and his â€Å"carefully thought-out understanding of political religion in America† (Thurow 14). Just as the Confederacy would make use of Christianity’s most sacred texts to justify everything from slavery to secession, so would Lincoln take advantage of religious overtones to unify America and promote national reconciliation and reconstruction. A brilliant orator, Lincoln’s choice of diction played a significant role in the delivery and conveyance of Lincoln’s message of national reconciliation and unity. Taking care not to use divisive terms such as â€Å"we† or â€Å"they† to refer to Northern and Southern constituents (respectively), Lincoln used strategic terms repeatedly to emphasize unity no matter the events of the war. In describing the course of the Civil War, Lincoln describes the other side not as an intangible â€Å"it† but with a genuine sense of moral equivalency and respect. There are frequent references to the nation’s civil war as a tragedy for the collective nation. For example, the war is described as â€Å"the progress of our arms† (line 8). In describing what the war meant to the people of the United States, Lincoln uses the phrases â€Å"all† repetitively in line 12 (â€Å"all dreaded it, all sought to avert it†), the phrase â€Å"both† (line 16) and the term â€Å"each† (line 25) as well. Though Lincoln does ascribe some separating characteristics to North and South, he does not specifically assign b lame, instead ascribing relatively ambiguous terms. Halfway through the address, Lincoln has established the terms of the war and begins to reconcile using the word â€Å"neither† (line 24) to address both the North and the South; in using the negative â€Å"neither,† the president further reconciled the two parties by removing them both from the realm of culpability. Exonerating both entities, the president continues in the address by portraying opposing struggles in relatively positive terms. For instance, in line 28 the president describes each side’s fighting as the means in which both parties sought â€Å"an easier triumph†, giving all involved moral equivalency to one another. The venerated master politician closes the address with the completed theme of national reconciliation with the quotes â€Å"malice toward none† and â€Å"charity for all† (line 47). The strategic repetition of certain alliteration and assonance serves to emphasize the president’s points. For example, the issue of slavery is evoked as one of great importance by the repeated ‘p’ sound of â€Å"peculiar and powerful† (line 20). National reconciliation is reflected by the use of the ‘f’ sound of line 41, as the president communicates his perception of the American citizen as â€Å"fondly† hoping and â€Å"fervently† praying for a positive future. Such optimism was a necessity, as it was of the utmost importance that unity and reconciliation for a bright future were touted foremost on the political agenda. Despite the mass havoc, destruction, and loss of human life throughout the rebellious Confederate states, Lincoln’s address was crafted with an uncharacteristic optimism for the time. White notes that â€Å"after four years as a war president, Lincoln could look ahead to four years as a peace presidentâ €  (White 22). The Civil War was not the only issue addressed, however. North and South were only one party at odds with each other. The fledgling Republican party Lincoln so aptly represented was highly criticized for its disputed reconstruction plan. Moreover, political rifts still remained between Northern Democrats who remained loyal to the Union and the predominantly Southern Democrats who seceded. Thus, the â€Å"election of 1864 would be one of the most decisive in American history—and potentially the most catastrophic† (Striner 217). Lincoln’s political strategies were remarkable, most notably his ability to entertain the political goals of many without compromising his base of support. Alexander McClure’s compilation of letters revealed how politicians with opposing political agendas including â€Å"antagonistic elements to [Lincoln’s] own support† approached the president, who made it a point to â€Å"maintain close and often apparently confidential relations with each without offence to the other† (McClure 85). Lincoln’s proclivity towards national reconciliation stemmed from an â€Å"abiding faith in the people, in their intelligence and their patriotism†; the president â€Å"estimated political results by ascertaining, as far as possible, the popular bearing of every vital question that was likely to arise, and he formed his conclusions by his keen intuitive perception as to how the people would be likely to deal with the issues† (McClure 87). Lincoln was the ideal candidate to handle the fractious political environment of post-bellum America. There were few â€Å"political movements of national importance during Lincoln’s administration in which he did not actively, although often hiddenly, participate† (McClure 85). Crossing political party lines, Lincoln successively galvanized Congress across partisan issues. The Civil War marginalized not only Southerners, but also Northern Democrats who were among the minority of said party to support the Union against the insurgency. The second inaugural address could not alienate the already marginalized white Northern Democrats, as the actions of their Southern secessionist brethren made the Democratic Party something of a political pariah in the Union’s eye .In the years leading to Lincoln’s re-election, Democrats in the Union â€Å"never gave speeches, framed resolutions,† or took any stance of progressive thought for fear of eschewing Southern Democratic support. The issue of slavery, for example, was pivotal in Democratic thought and political action. Though touted by the president as â€Å"two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil† and inherently frowned upon by â€Å"God† and morality, slavery was a divisive issue among Northern Democrats to say the least (line 43). Though pockets of the North such as New England were adamantly abolitionist, there was no significant shortage of support for the institution of slavery on the grounds of racial superiority. For every â€Å"popular expression of the [black man] as human, there â€Å"was a [derisive] counterpart† that dehumanized the so-called â€Å"Negro† cause (McClure 88). Consequently, Lincoln faced problems among the Northern elite, who â€Å"by using popular [racist] language and symbols† managed to â€Å"link popular sentiments to party agenda† (McClure 89). Perhaps one of the most pivotal and important issues of the Lincoln administration, slavery and its abolition may very well have served as the archetype of social and political change for the American nation. Proponents of slavery were as such supportive of the institution for more than social or perceived moral imperative; in addition to being burdened by the incapacitation of agrarian and some industrial facilities at the end of the Civil War, the American economy would be burdened by the throwing of â€Å"4 million former slaves onto the world with virtually nothing: no land, no savings, little or no schooling, no experience of politics, the legal system, or the free economy† (Golay 208). Despite the president’s push for abolition and moral recompense with the equivocation of â€Å"every drop of blood drawn with the lash† to â€Å"another drawn by the sword† (lines 44-45), there was a rift in opinion over how best to deal with the economic windfall of s upporting four million newly impoverished freed slaves. The president encountered significant opposition from both parties in supporting the freed slave; Lincoln had established a bureau expected â€Å"to protect the freed people, distribute emergency relief to the destitute, build an equitable free labor system, and establish a system of basic education throughout the South† (Golay 208). The funding for the said bureau would naturally come from Reconstruction efforts, but few members of White America—North or South—would give equal priority to freed black slaves as they would confederate states. Lincoln faced the spectre of two types of nationalism: the nationalism defined by the then-predominantly Republican Union and the nationalism defined by what was a predominantly Democratic Confederacy. Jean Baker wrote in Affairs of Party: The Political Culture of Democrats in the Mid-Nineteenth Century that: â€Å"In the years before the Civil War one way to express nationalism was to be a Democrat. Some Americans still suspected political parties of subversion, but by mid-century the Democracy had emerged as an institution through which citizens could celebrate devotion to their country and at the same time favour particular programs, leaders, and ideals. No longer was partisanship considered antirepublican. On the contrary, its nature tended to evoke sentiment for the Union and thus forced Southern separatists like John Calhoun and William Yancey to attempt a replacement. In the North, however, the Democracy continued to inspire unity† (Baker 318). Once dominant in the public eye, the Democrats were faced with a new challenge and a new bane to overcome in the regaining of the Union’s trust. While the issue of partisan affiliation was not a topic nearly as frequented then as it is today, a considerable Democratic identity was established with the disaffected South; it was not for some time that the Democratic Party championed the Northern caucus. By comparison, Republicans in the mid-nineteenth century were equally as suspect to national dissolution, as the prevailing theme of the reigning Democratic party was â€Å"inescapably nationalistic,† focusing on â€Å"the preservation of union, liberty, and constitution† (Baker 318). Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address became an insightful indicator of the requisite political, social, and economic changes that were necessary in the reconstruction of post-bellum America. Galvanizing the country’s opposing social and political factions, Lincoln’s address was a masterful piece of oration that testified to both his earnest nature and shrewd understanding of not just politics, but the political climate of America and its fragile stasis. Its diction, alliteration, and religious allegories worked together in a patchwork of executive prestidigitation; Lincoln’s delivery was almost a political sleight of hand in its theme and scope. Though he would be assassinated in a matter of a few months following the delivery of the speech, Lincoln achieved political normalcy in the aftermath of America’s most debilitating war, garnering the collective enmity of an entire half of a nation and the admiration of the remainder. To his opponents, Lincoln was a democratically-elected aspiring autocrat as evidenced by John Wilkes Booth’s infamous quote â€Å"sic semper tyrannus.† To his grateful and loyal supporters, however, Lincoln managed the unthinkable: the abolition of slavery and the retention of American unity. BIBLIOGRAPHY Baker, Jean H. Affairs of Party: The Political Culture of Northern Democrats in theMid-Nineteenth Century. Bronx: Fordham U P, 1998. Golay, Michael. A Ruined Land: The End of the Civil War. New York: John Wiley Sons, 1999. McClure, Alexander K. Abraham Lincoln and Men of War-Times: SomePersonalRecollections of War and Politics During the Lincoln Administration. Lincoln: U of Nebraska P, 1997. Striner, Richard. Father Abraham: Lincoln’s Relentless Struggle to End Slavery.Oxford: Oxford U P, 2006. Thurow, Glen E. American Political Religion. Albany: State U of Albany P, 1976. White, Ronald C. Lincoln’s Greatest Speech: The Second Inaugural. New York:Simon Schuster Press, 2002. Rable, George C. The Confederate Republic: A Revolution Against Politics