Mattel Toy Company Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Mattel Toy Company - Essay Example In August 2007, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission asked the consumers to stop buying 967,000 pieces of a certain toy manufactured by Fisher Price which is a subsidiary of Mattel Company (U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, 2008). These toys were recalled because the lead in paints used in toys was180 times more than the quantity allowed by law (ODonnell, 2007). This quantity of this toxic was clearly excessive and could cause a great deal of harm to the children who used it (U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, 2008). Besides this, a few of Products produced by Mattel Company were also said to contain small magnets which were very dangerous for the young children who played with those toys because of the harm to swallowing them. How did Mattel Toy Company respond to this situation? Any company that wants to stay in the market, be it a giant and a leading company like Mattel Toy Company would assure the society that the company is concerned about them. The first step that it took was to check their products immediately and consider itself accountable. It acknowledged that the lead in their paints was 0.11 percent while only 0.06 percent was allowed (ODonnell, 2007). Mattel Toy Company also recognized its responsibility and immediately identified and recalled about 1.5 Million products that were dangerous. According to one source, the company gave the consumers the benefit to return the products that were announced to contain excessive amount of lead in the paint (U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, 2008). Besides this, it also recalled all its toys that were said to contain small magnets. This was the result of deaths and surgeries of young children because of ingesting these small parts. The toys that were recalled because of magnets amounted to 18 Million (Mattel, 2007). All the recall information was posted on the internet and all the consumers were made aware

Challenges and Choices of HR Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words - 1

Challenges and Choices of HR - Essay Example Following this, the report will entail a discussion of the importance of Job design in an organization and the main challenges that are faced by the human resources managers in this regard. Job Design plays a very important role in every job. This mainly deals with making work arrangements to ensure that the job dissatisfaction is reduced to the maximum extent. The main aim of a job design is to reduce the dissatisfaction due to repetitive and mechanistic tasks. Organizations use this to raise productivity levels among the employees. This is mainly achieved by offering nonmonetary rewards like better and higher levels of satisfaction that employees can achieve (Pearson, 2008). Other techniques like enlargement, job enrichment, job rotation and job simplification also form a part of the job design process. Having understood the main aims of job design, let us now focus on the objective of job design. It is clear that there are a number of design options that are available for any job. Thus it is important to understand what the main objectives are for any job design. Firstly, quality plays a very important role and is one of the most important aspects to be considered while designing a job. Quality refers to the ability of the staff to produce high-quality products and services and this can be affected majorly by the job design. This also includes avoiding of errors in short-term and also includes the designing of jobs which help encourage staff to improve the job and processes and also make lesser errors. Secondly, speed also plays an essential role in job design. The speed of response is the dominant objective of job design. It is essential that jobs consider this aspect as well. For instance, in jobs like emergency services, speed plays a very important role.  

Knowledge management structures in NATO versus the United Nations Essay

Knowledge management structures in NATO versus the United Nations - Essay Example n and knowledge far better then it was previously possible, knowledge management in organizations has also the added dimension of interaction, knowledge sharing, communication and analysis. A lot of organizational knowledge is contained in the heads of personnel within the organizations. Because humans have a finite life – span and ambitions about better opportunities, all organizations have structures which not only create new knowledge but also transfer existing knowledge to those in need of it. The nature of the knowledge which is important to an organization is dependant on the task or mission which the organization is expected to perform and different organizations may have different requirements associated with the speed, reliability, volume of information or knowledge which has to be communicated for organizational use. The knowledge management structures which are put into place within organizations are shaped by the organizational requirements for knowledge management , which are different for various organizations. In this essay, an attempt has been made to compare the knowledge management structures within NATO with those which exist in the United Nations. NATO, which is a military alliance, has a requirement to manage large amounts of information which can quickly become obsolete and convert this information into knowledge for reliable and secure communications for the use of designated personnel. The pace at the United Nations is more leisurely. Hence, the knowledge management structures at these two organizations are slightly different. The term knowledge management refers to the management of intellectual capital which has bee described as: â€Å"Intellectual capital is intellectual material – knowledge, information, intellectual property, experience – that can be put to use to create wealth. It is the collective brainpower†. The term knowledge is subjective to the organizational and social context in which it is being thought of. Knowledge

Quest for Meaning in Hostile and Oppressive Worlds Essay Example for Free

Quest for Meaning in Hostile and Oppressive Worlds Essay Dystopian literature often presents the individual’s quest for meaning in hostile and oppressive worlds.’ To what extent do the writers present their protagonists as successful in this quest in ‘1984’ by George Orwell, ‘The Ballad of Reading Gaol’ by Oscar Wilde and ‘Woman at Point Zero’ by Nawal El Saadawi? The assertion that all three writers present their protagonist as having a quest for meaning in a dystopian world cannot be disputed. However, the extent to which these writers present their protagonist as successful in this quest varies greatly. Dystopian literature is merely an extension of the negative attributes of the society and context in which it is written. George Orwell’s dystopian world is a nightmarish conception of a Britain that has adopted the very worst traits of totalitarian regimes such as Nazi Germany and Socialist Russia; regimes which were at their height of power when the novel was written. Robert Evans defines dystopian literature as‘†¦a warning to the reader that something must and, by implication, can be done in the present to avoid the future,’ This didactic reading of ‘1984’ suggests that Orwell’s dystopian novel is a warning to the British public against excessive government intervention in their everyday lives. Dystopian literature thus warns the reader of the potential future of their society if they fail to protect their current freedom. El Saadawi’s ‘Woman at point Zero’ and Wilde’s ‘The Ballad of Reading Gaol’ are slightly different from ‘1984’ in this respect as their dystopian worlds are based on real-life experiences. However, they remain didactic in nature by condemning existing oppression. El Saadawi’s semi-fictionalised account of a woman on death row is an artistic interpretation of reality for women in modern-day Egypt. The world remains dystopian in nature due to the oppression of women by men. Likewise, Wilde’s poetic portrayal of Reading Gaol is based on his personal experiences of imprisonment in this dystopian environment. The oppressive nature of the gaol is depicted by the dual-protagonist of the persona and the condemned guardsman. The extent to which the protagonists are successful in their quest for meaning is dependent on their ability to maintain freedom of thought and resist the oppressive nature such dystopian societies. All three writers present religion as an integral part of their protagonist’s quest for meaning in dystopian worlds. Wilde’s structure suggests that the persona undergoes a religious conversion as the ballad progresses and so successfully finds meaning through religion. However, Wilde also highlights the hypocrisy of the Church of England through the actions of the chaplain. Wilde’s persona therefore finds meaning through the underlying teachings of Christianity through Catholicism. Similarly, El Saadawi presents her protagonist Firdaus as a witness to the religious hypocrisy of men in her Islamic society. Unlike Wilde’s persona however, El Saadawi’s protagonist is not able to look past this hypocrisy and find meaning in the underlying messages of the Islamic faith. Like El Saadawi, Orwell presents his protagonist Winston as unsuccessful in his quest to find meaning through the pseudo-religion of Big Brother. However, Orwell’s protagonist does successfully find meaning through his memories of Christianity before the revolution. In the first half of the ballad, Wilde refers to himself and the other prisoners as ‘The Devil’s Own Brigade’; he believes that they are all condemned to hell simply for being criminals. Wilde uses hellish imagery to suggest that the prison itself is hell on earth. ‘I walked, with other souls in pain,/ Within another ring,’ These two lines are a reference to the hell presented in Dante’s Inferno, a hell with nine separate rings located at the centre of the earth, each ring a punishment for worsening sins. Similarly, Wilde locates his hell on earth through the prison itself. However, Wilde later rejects Dante’s gradation of sins by completely identifying himself with the guardsman. ‘A prison wall was round us both, / Two outcast men we were:’ The prison wall has become the single ring of hell which a ll sinners will go to. Dante’s influence on Wilde is also clear from the structure of the ballad as in both poems, ‘there is a dramatic movement toward intensity of horror’. Dante’s inferno builds up to the horror of the inner most circle of hell where the devil is to be found whilst Wilde’s ballad climaxes in the guardsman’s execution. It is clear however, that towards the end of the ballad, the persona has experienced a religious conversion to Catholicism. He now believes that through repentance, God will forgive the guardsman for his sins. Wilde utilises the colours red and white to symbolise sin and forgiveness respectively, ‘Out of his mouth a red, red rose! Out of his heart a white!’ These two lines present the persona’s belief that if the guardsman has confessed his sins to God before death, then he will be forgiven. Wilde’s use of plant imagery suggests that through forgiveness, there can now be new life in heaven. The persona’s conversion is clearly inspired by Wilde’s own time spent in Reading Gaol, where he was imprisoned after being found guilty of having a homosexual relationship with Lord Alfred Douglas. Wilde converted to Catholicism after leaving prison and unsuccessfully attempted to join a monastic order. Andrew McCracken suggests that converting to Catholicism continued Wilde’s life of eccentricity because, ‘Roman Catholicism was to poetic souls a sort of aesthetic temptation, while to many proper Englishmen the Roman Church was still the whore of Babylon, the Anti-Christ.’ However, McCracken also suggests that this was not Wilde’s main motivation in converting to Catholicism because ‘†¦his time in prison brought Wilde †¦ face to face with the Catholic themes of sin and suffering. Now they were purged of any tinge of romanticism – they were facts of daily life.’ This idea that Wilde is attracted more by the themes of the Catholic faith than by the hierarchical structure of either the Catholic Church or the Church of England, is supported in the ballad by the way in which Wilde highlights the religious hypocrisy of the prison chaplain through the persona’s first person narration. Indeed, it may be the experience of an Anglican chaplain in Reading Gaol that led him towards Catholicism. ‘The Chaplain would not kneel to pray By his dishonoured grave: Nor mark it with that blessed Cross That Christ for sinners gave,’ Wilde’s scriptural imagery of the ‘blessed Cross’ highlights how the chaplain fails to practice the fundamental beliefs of the Christian tradition. The chaplain refuses to pray for the executed guardsman even though Jesus died specifically for sinners, so that they might repent and have eternal life. Thus in this sestet Wilde condemns the chaplain’s hypocrisy. The protagonist of the ballad successfully finds meaning in his dystopian world through the underlying themes of the Catholic faith but does not find meaning in the religious authority of the Church of England, personified by the prison chaplain. Similarly, El Saadawi’s protagonist Firdaus recognises the hypocrisy of those who practice the Islamic faith in her society but is unsuccessful in her quest to find meaning through religion because of this hypocrisy. Firdaus recognises religious hypocrisy among men of all social groups in Egyptian society. She first sees it as a child in the actions of her peasant father who knew ‘how to beat his wife and make her bite the dust each night.’ in spite of his discussions with other men that ‘†¦defaming the honour of a woman was a sin †¦ and beating another human being was a sin’ It is clear therefore that her father breaks the commandments of the ‘imam’ and beats his wife even though he knows it is a sinful action. Likewise, her uncle, a middle-class man, also beats his wife. The religious hypocrisy in Egyptian society is so deeply engrained, that even her uncle’s wife accepts being beaten and does not see it as conflicting with the Islamic faith, ‘She replied that it was precisely men well versed in their religion who beat their wives. The precepts of religion permitted such punishment.’ The use of the word ‘punishment’ suggests that women in this society feel that it is justified that they are beaten and that domestic violence cannot be criticised as simply abuse and random cruelty. Finally, Firdaus recognises religious hypocrisy amongst the male leaders of Egyptian society who use Islam as a way of persuading their people that they are respectable and morally sound. Looking at a newspaper picture of such a ruler at Friday morning prayers Firdaus states that, ‘I could see he was trying to deceive Allah in the same way as he deceived the people.’ Firdaus’ rejection of religion mirrors Saadawi’s own views of religion and holy books; that they have little to do with morality. ‘The Old Testament, the New Testament or the Qur’an, are, for her, political books. They speak about war, invasion of other people’s countries, of inheritance, of money, this, as a focus, for Nawal, has little to do with justice, morality, or spirituality.’ A didactic reading of the novel may be that El Saadawi exposes her criticisms of religion and the double standards of men when it comes to the Islamic faith. It is this deeply engrained religious hypocrisy practiced throughout her dystopian world that contributes to the futile nature of Firdaus’ search to find meaning in the Islamic religion of her society. Likewise, Orwell’s protagonist Winston is unsuccessful in finding meaning through the pseudo-religion of Big Brother. The idea of Big Brother being a pseudo-religion is supported by Karl Marx’s view that religion is ‘the opium of the people’ . This sociological reading suggests that, like a drug, the comforting figure of Big Brother oppresses the people by distracting them from their dismal reality. What’s more, the omniscient third-person narration used by Orwell throughout reflects the God-like status of Big Brother as an all-knowing and all-powerful force. Orwell’s protagonist does not find meaning in this pseudo-religion however because Winston views Big Brother as the personification of an oppressive regime, rather than as a comforter. This is demonstrated in the 2-minutes hate because ‘Winston’s hatred was not turned against Goldstein at all, but †¦ against Big Brother, the Party and the Thought Police;’ Having said this, Orwell presents his protagonist as successful in finding meaning through his memories of religion before the Ingsoc revolution. Mr Charrington’s rhyme about old London churches fascinates Orwell’s protagonist because ‘†¦when you said it to yourself you had the illusion of actually hearing bells, the bells of a lost London that still existed somewhere or other, disguised and forgotten.’ One reading of Orwell’s protagonist’s obsession is that the rhyme brings back vague memories of church bells, and thus of Christianity and a more loving and empathetic set of beliefs than that of Big Brother. Another way in which the writers present their protagonists as successful in their quest for meaning in dystopian worlds is through the freedom that comes with death. Death is a form of freedom in a dystopian world because the protagonist is released from the oppression of their environment, society or political regime. The guardsman in Oscar Wilde’s ‘The Ballad of Reading Gaol’ successfully finds meaning and freedom in death. ‘His soul was resolute, and held No hiding-place for fear; He often said that he was glad The hangman’s hands were near.’ The guardsman has accepted death and does not fear it. The protagonist is glad that death is coming because it means an escape from the monotony of day-to-day prison life and from the relentless surveillance of the warders. Wilde’s use of the word ‘resolute’ to describe the guardsman’s soul suggests that the guardsman has repented his sins and therefore his soul will be saved when he dies. Wilde thus juxtaposes the dystopian and hell-like world that the murderer is leaving with the utopia of heaven where the man will go to once he has died. This eschatological reading gives added gravitas to the ultimate freedom that the guardsman will experience in death. In his letter to Lord Alfred Douglas, De Profundis, Wilde describes how on earth he has ‘found †¦ not merely the beauty of Heaven, but the horror of Hell, also’ , supporting the idea that the condemned man, through death, is escaping a hell-like existence in prison. Similarly, El Saadawi’s protagonist Firdaus also successfully finds meaning through the freedom of death. Like the guardsman, Firdaus is sentenced to death for the crime of murder. However, she is not repentant for this crime but is proud of her actions. The act of killing her pimp, Marzouk, is her final victory over the oppression she has felt her entire life by different men in her society. She realises that she has always been afraid of her oppressor and that, ‘The movement of my hand upwards and then downwards destroyed my fear.’ Thus Firdaus is proud of her punishment as an outward sign of her inner victory over her dystopian world. She embraces death like a martyr for the cause of enslaved and oppressed women. ‘This journey to an unknown destination, to a place unknown to all those who live on this earth, be they king or prince, or ruler, fills me with pride.’ Like Wilde’s condemned man, El Saadawi presents the idea that through death her protagonist will enter a utopian world or ‘an unknown destination’ where she is no longer oppressed by the society of the dystopian world she lived in. In contrast to these two protagonists, Orwell presents his protagonist Winston as unsuccessful in finding freedom through death. As a result of the brainwashing process he undergoes in the Ministry of Love, Winston truly loves Big Brother and the Party. Unlike Firdaus, Winston does not die as a martyr for his cause. Instead, he is completely converted before he is killed. His betrayal of Julia is a dismissal of his greatest rebellion against the Party: loving another person. He knowingly puts himself before Julia and wishes that she should endure his torture in his place because ‘†¦he had suddenly understood that in the whole world there was just one person to whom he could transfer his punishment – one body that he could thrust between himself and the rats.’ This psychological shift means that when Winston is killed by the Party, he truly loves Big Brother, the personification of a political regime ‘not interested in the good of others †¦ interested solely in power.’ Through the nature of his death, Orwell shows that Winston has lost this moral struggle and that the party have succeeded in oppressing him mentally, as well as physically. Typical of Orwell’s literary style, Winston paradoxically believes ‘He had won the victory over himself. He loved Big Brother.’ Winston does not, therefore, die free. In truth, Winston’s reintegration into the Ingsoc regime and ‘the annihilation of Winston’s difference is the restoration of the pure positivity of Big Brother.’ This Marxist reading stresses how the power of a totalitarian state rests on the destruction of any individuals who might rise up against it. The structure of ‘1984’ finishes with Winston’s proclama tion of love for Big Brother and thus highlights the cruel infallibility of the Ingsoc regime. All three writers present love and relationships with others as crucial to their protagonist’s search for meaning. In Wilde’s ballad, the sense of comradeship amongst prisoners that Wilde conveys, suggests that the persona of the ballad finds meaning in the shared nature of the prisoners’ dystopia. ‘We tore the tarry ropes to shreads With blunt and bleeding nails; We rubbed the doors, and scrubbed the floors, And cleaned the shining rails.’ The repetition of the pronoun ‘we’ emphasises the collective nature of the hard labour the men carry out, and how the persona of the ballad feels part of a team of men, going through the same painful and monotonous tasks together. The regular six-line stanza used throughout the ballad with alternate lines of iambic tetrameter and iambic trimeter reflects the relentless monotony of the painful physical labour of prison life. This relentless monotony is reinforced by the regular ABCBDB rhyming scheme throughout. The idea of comradeship through collective monotony is built upon further when the persona empathises completely with the condemned man and enters his ring of hell, showing that they are both sinners, ‘A prison wall was round us both,/ Two outcast men we were:’ Later in the ballad, the night before the guardsman’s execution, all the prisoners pray for the condemned man’s soul as the warders, ‘†¦wondered why men knelt to pray/ W ho never prayed before.’ This action shows a sense of solidarity between the men as well as a Christian conscience; they truly believe that the condemned man is capable of salvation. As Carol Rumens comments, ‘the central charge of the Ballad is sympathy, sympathy with the condemned man and his fellow inmates.’ , it is this sympathy that allows Wilde to ‘evoke collective feelings.’ This emotive reading suggests that as well as giving the persona’s life meaning, feelings of comradeship and sympathy for fellow prisoners were a significant catalyst for Wilde’s consequent zeal for penal reform. The ballad itself was published to highlight the injustice of the British penal system and conveys this didactic message throughout. Similarly, Orwell’s protagonist Winston successfully finds meaning through his relationships with others. Winston’s loving and sexual relationship with Julia is the complete antithesis of what the Party stands for because amongst women, ‘Chastity was as deeply ingrained in them as Party loyalty.’ The Party’s enforcement of chastity from a young age has a military function as ‘†¦sexual privation induced hysteria, which was desirable because it could be transformed into war-fever and leader-worship.’ Winston’s relationship with Julia starts simply because Winston wishes to rebel against the oppressive regime, he describes their first sexual encounter as ‘ a battle, the climax a victory. It was a blow struck against the Party. It was a political act.’ However, Winston soon falls in love with Julia and finds a deeper meaning for living in his dystopian world. The fact that ‘She gave the tips of his fingers a quick squeeze that seemed to invite not desire but affection.’ suggests that their relationship has become more than just sexual desire for one another. The isolation of the individual within the Ingsoc regime removes the opportunity or inclination for such loving relationships. This isolation is shown through Winston’s account of ‘Katherine’s white body, frozen for ever by the hypnotic power of the Party.’ The use of the word ‘frozen’ suggests that the Party members are emotionally deadened by the chastity conventions they conform to under Ingsoc. Winston rebels from this emotional death when he successfully falls in love with Julia. Looking at Orwell’s wartime diaries, it is clear he feared that the atrocities which civilians witnessed during the Blitz, and the newspapers’ reports of RAF attacks on Germany, would cause the British public to loose the ability to feel emotion. In July 1942, Orwell wrote, ‘I remember saying to someone during the blitz, when the R.A.F. were hitting back as best they could, In a years time youll see the headlines in the Daily Express: Successful Raid on Berlin Orphanage. Babies Set on Fire. It hasnt come to that yet, but that is the direction we are going in. This historical reading of the dystopian novel suggests that Orwell has extended his contemporary fear to create a society of emotionless party members. Orwell’s protagonist notices how society has lost the ability to feel emotion because of his memories of relationships before the Ingsoc revolution. Orwell thus presents the past as a time when people had the freedom to feel emotion for one another and his protagonist Winston as successful in finding meaning through his memories of love before Ingsoc. Orwell suggests that the Ingsoc regime has removed the ability of individuals to feel unconditional love as the concept of ‘tragedy’, ‘belonged to the ancient time †¦ when the members of a family stood by one another without needing to know the reason.’ This is supported by the fact that Winston perceives the death of his own mother many years previously as, ‘†¦tragic and sorrowful in a way that was no longer possible.’ The emotional death and inability of party members to love unconditionally is brought about by the enforcement of chastity and isolation of the individual, both of which break down the family unit in Oceania. In contrast, El Saadawi’s protagonist Firdaus is unsuccessful in finding meaning through her relationships. Her confused and disjointed memories of her parents suggest that they were not a loving and supportive influence. When describing her childhood in a first person narrative, Firdaus questions, ‘Who was I? Who was my father?’. Her uncle is ultimately a poor guardian as he allows her to marry a much older man and refuses to send her to university because he does not believe that she should learn alongside men. ‘A respected Sheikh and man of religion like myself sending his niece off to mix in the company of men?!’ Firdaus’ life continues in a pattern where every man she becomes close to mistreats her and so she is unsuccessful in finding meaning through love. The repetitive nature of Firdaus’ misfortune in the novel reflects the Arabic oral tradition. Her hatred of men stems from her financial dependence upon them, which enslaves her. Before killing Marzouk she describes how she ‘hated him as only a woman can hate a man, as only a slave can hate his master.’ This hatred of men reaches a climax when she tears up the money given to her by the Arab prince as a rejection of this dependence. ‘It was as though I was destroying all the money I had ever held †¦ and at the same time destroying all the men I had ever known †¦ my uncle, my husband, my father, Marzouk and Bayoumi, Di’aa, Ibrahim,’ This rejection supports the idea that El Saadawi ‘†¦sheds new light on the power of women in resistance – against poverty, racism, fundamentalism, and inequality of all kinds.’ This feminist reading suggests that El Saadawi’s rejection of male financial support advocates the strength and equality of women. To conclude, Orwell and El Saadawi appear to have created protagonists that are completely juxtaposed in their success at finding meaning in dystopian worlds. Winston successfully finds meaning throughout his life and is able to resist the oppression of the Ingsoc regime psychologically through his loving relationship with Julia and memories of relationships and religion before the revolution. However, he is unable to maintain freedom of thought in death and ends his life devoted to Big Brother. Contrastingly, El Saadawi’s protagonist Firdaus fails to find any positive meaning in life due to the treatment she endures from men and the religious hypocrisy practiced by many in her society. El Saadawi does, however, present Firdaus as finding meaning in her death; the punishment is an acknowledgement of her triumph over male domination. Wilde’s dual-protagonist is the most successful at finding meaning in a dystopian world, as the persona of the ballad successfully finds meaning in life through comradeship and Catholic values, whilst the condemned guardsman successfully finds meaning through his acceptance of death and belief in a utopian world in heaven.

A Dolls House Essay -- A Dolls House Essays

A Doll House Essay Ibsen said that his mission in life was to â€Å"Inspire individuals to freedom and independence† which was shown throughout the play A Doll House. Since he wrote modern theatre, the characters were real and audiences could relate to them. He particularly questioned the role of men and women during his time. Ibsen used A Doll House to motivate women so they would seek more power and freedom in their relationships. Audiences could then look up to characters such as Nora and Mrs Linde whom were independent, some what ahead of their times. Ibsen’s purpose was to not only to enlighten women of their unfair status but also to make the men understand women are much smarter than what they think. His goal was to change these attitudes of all humans so equality could be reached. By 1878-79, when A Doll House was written, women’s rights had become a burning issue. People such as John Stuart Mill who wrote The Subjection of Women (1869) were one of the first to raise these issues and could be seen as an early feminist. They raised question as to whether the female role was fair. Before then, women were very submissive and had little opportunities. They were unable to have a job and were expected to do household duties and take care of the children. Men were the dominant ones but the women knew no different. For the few who could see this inequality, they were seen as ‘unfeminine’ as they were thinking for themselves, which is something only a man would do. Ibsen would be on their sides and tried to express that it was all right, through his characters. Nora plays upon her innocence and helplessness at the beginning to achieve things, being the typical stereotype of women in this time. â€Å"Oh, please,... ... stand up for themselves. They were unlike the stereotype in which women were made into and took responsibility for their actions. The play would make people think and discuss these roles of men and women and even question the values of society. Ibsen hoped he would make women realise they deserve a choice as to whether they want to marry and to be equal with men. Bibliography Mills, John Stuart 1860, The Subjection of Women, Prometheus Books, New York â€Å"Ibsen- woman’s rights† 2005 http://www.unesco.org/webworld/mdm/2001/fr/ibsen/form.html, 24/04/05 â€Å"A Doll House- Ibsen† 2005 http://www.novelguide.com/ADoll'sHouse/themeanalysis.html 24/04/05 â€Å"Woman’s right and roles† 2005 http://www.unesco.no/kommunikasjon/hukommelse/ibsen.html. 24/04/05 â€Å"Woman’s Liberation, Ibsen† 2005 http://www.international-relations.com/cm3-2/Feminismweb. html 24/04/05

Red Bull Essay

What markets does Red Bull attempt to reach? How do marketing mix elements and target markets combine to form the firm’s marketing strategy? The marketing mix for Red Bull consists of the following: Product: Energy drink Price: $1. 99 (premium) Distribution: Across clubs and similar outlets, mass merchandisers Marketing Communication: Word-of-mouth to television advertising Red Bull attempts to reach extremists, sports enthusiasts, 18 to 24 year olds, women, as well as health conscious consumers, and recently age groups of 30 and above. Marketing mix elements and target markets combine to form Red Bull’s initial marketing strategy which reaches out to extremists, those who are into the adrenaline rushing sports and activities. Since Red Bull is an energy drink, this approach worked well. With the premium price and through word-of-mouth, Red Bull was able to maintain 70 percent of the market. However, as competition began to rise, Red Bull needed to market beyond the extreme market and toward age groups above 24 year olds. Still, competition continues to increase, and now Red Bull is expanding their target market to less extreme sports enthusiasts such as golfers, women, and health conscious consumers. By marketing toward golfers and women, Red Bull shows that anyone can enjoy their product and not just male extremists. Because consumers are becoming more health conscious, Red Bull produced their sugar-free version for those who want to watch their carbohydrates. Overall, as competition continues to increase, Red Bull’s marketing strategy has involved target market expansion as well as some product development and new advertising techniques. . What growth strategies seem to offer the most likely opportunities for the future? The growth strategies that seem to offer the most likely opportunities for Red Bull’s future are their expansion into less extreme sports and the female population. Because Red Bull is an energy drink, most consumers think that its primary purpose is to boost the ener gy of those who are hammering it out on the field, court, or wherever the action may be. However, Red Bull can be used as a simple pick me up when you’re feeling tired or just worn out. This can occur mostly in the work environment. By carrying a can of Red Bull, you can boost your energy level when it seems you’re not going to make it through the shift. Similarly, Red Bull’s initial target was not towards women. Currently, Red Bull is working on expanding their product to women who, just like men, can enjoy the boost Red Bull gives you. With the expansion of their target market, along with new advertising techniques, Red Bull can better promote their product and keep up with the competition instead of falling behind as they have been. 3. What ethical issues are faced by the company? The two predominant ethical issues that are faced by Red Bull are their choice for a target market and the uses for their drink. The specific target market in question is the 18 to 24 year olds. Red Bull has marketed to this particular group because it is comprised largely of college students. Red Bull can be used to give these college students an energy boost when they need to spend all night studying or just to have fun. The problem, however, is that the energy drink is full of caffeine and other ingredients which may prove harmful to those who consume too much at one time. Marketers of Red Bull realize that college students have a need for the extra boost of energy so they have pinpointed them for consumption of their energy drink. Critics believe large amounts of consumption may have harmful effects and this has raised many issues concerning the drink. The other issue is the use of Red Bull in alcoholic drinks. Concerns have risen regarding the mixture of alcohol and Red Bull because of the dangers associated with it. Alcohol by itself already causes numerous problems. If the energy drink full of caffeine is added to alcohol, the harm could become great. This in itself worries critics of Red Bull. Not only does the drink by itself cause concerns, but mixing alcohol with it raises even more issues. 4. As Red Bull expands to other countries, what international marketing issues must be considered? With their international expansion, Red Bull’s marketers must take into account the selection of an entry strategy and deciding on a strategic orientation. Red Bull must choose between three options for an entry strategy: exporting, direct investment, or joint ventures. For strategic orientation, Red Bull has the choice of a standardized marketing strategy or a customized marketing strategy. By choosing a standardized marketing strategy, Red Bull would develop and implement the same product, price, distribution, and promotion in all international markets. On the other hand, with a customized strategy, Red Bull would develop and implement a different targeting mix for each target market country. Like with any expansion situation, Red Bull needs to study the markets within the international countries. Just because their marketing techniques work in the United States, doesn’t mean they’ll work the same internationally. Every country is different. Every market segment is different. For instance, demand and product usage differs from market segment to market segment. Red Bull must also take into account government regulations and laws as they differ from country to country. Not only that, but Red Bull has to realize differences in consumer behavior patterns as well as competition. As Red Bull plans to expand international, there are many aspects they must take into account before doing so. If Red Bull wants to be successful, they must spend a tremendous amount of time researching all the international markets in order to become more aware of each segments needs and desires.

External Factor Are Affecting the Ecosystems Essay

The word ecosystem refers to the combined physical and biological components of an environment; these organisms form complex sets of relationships and function as a unit as they interact with their physical environment. Ecosystems are constantly changing naturally, and they’ve got a specific and stable climax, equilibrium. Living as well as non-living factors may have an impact in an ecosystem such as the impact of humans in ecosystems by hunting, fishing, agriculture etc. r climate change may affect an ecosystem and dare it to adapt to the conditions. Will human’s activity affect the equilibrium of the arctic wolves ecosystem? Equilibrium refers to balance, so†¦ will human’s activities affect the balance of the physical and biological components of the tundra? Human activities, which affect the arctic wolf’s ecosystem, the tundra, are pollution, chemical contamination and overdevelopment. All of them are harmful to the ecosystem. Pollution affects in directly the tundra, habitat of the Arctic wolf. Pollution leads to Global Warming and this affect the global temperature, as a result ice melts and the tundra is affected because its an ecosystem nearly made up on ice, so eventually the ecosystem would be endangered and also the species that are contained in the ecosystem. Lately, thousands of â€Å"green† organizations have been generated to promote the green habits and to try to reduce pollution worldwide, reducing also the vulnerability of the tundra biome. Their projects consist in reducing wastes of any kind of energy source and saving any resource we get. This will involve social aspects also in the way that our society must take part and have an impact into world pollution, which will finally affect the tundra ecosystem; it has lately become popular to be ecofriendly. This ecologic movement has also affected the fashion industry which lately looks for looks with more pure materials, not much synthetic ones, also they’ve preferred clothing with pure cotton, even not only the materials of clothing are involved but the message in the clothing’s have taken a very special impact in the society. Hunting, affects directly and indirectly to the ecosystem of the Arctic wolf, it affects the interaction of living organisms by hunting the animals. The overhunting of species such as the musk ox and caribou in Alaska and North America were even near of extinction. This would create unsustainability on the ecosystem because there would not be equilibrium in the food chain and all the animals that have any relationship with the specie would me affected by don’t having a predator or a prey. Hunting in the tundra has had a very negative effect because important species suck as the musk ox have nearly got to extinction. By 1950, herds in North America were reduced by ninety percent, so this made the American population realize what was really going on in their country. They were loosing biodiversity and so laws were created to protect animals. This had an economic impact, because musk ox’s (prey of the arctic wolf) leather was part of the market so it has also a social impact, not only from for hunters but for the fashion industry which had a relation with musk ox’s fur and leather. Chemical contamination also affects the Arctic Wolf’s ecosystem. Lately, Petroleum and Coal or Natural Gas, Iron, Lead or Zinc mines and mineral exploration and exploitation and extraction are increasing worldwide especially in the Arctic. The development affects the Caribou, which are one of the main species present in the Arctic wolf habitat. Overdevelopment indicates to the building of roads and buildings in the tundra, this lead to more circulation. Fragile tundra areas of plants are taken out for the creation of these roads. Without plants to give nutrients to the soil, earth will stop being rich and will abolish the community of flora in the tundra. After discussing all the direct and indirect human impact in the environment, hunting, chemical contamination and overdevelopment are certainly harmful for the ecosystem. These activities attempt to the balance of the ecosystem by attempting against the living organisms that live in the tundra, ecosystem of the arctic wolf and by attempting against the non-living factors in the ecosystem such as climate. Even tough there are solutions for these activities to reduce or to stop, they are not completely efficient. In my opinion after all my investigation, apart from the pollution affecting indirectly to the tundra, the other activities are not a major concern for the arctic wolf’s ecosystem. As seen, human activities impact in the arctic wolf’s ecosystem is not positive (although they don’t damage much the tundra) toward the ecosystem. My final conclusion will be that external factors are definitely against the equilibrium of the arctic wolf’s ecosystem.