Eulogy for Western Culture Essays - Literature, Poetry, Eliot Family

Eulogy for Western Culture Essays - Literature, Poetry, Eliot Family Eulogy for Western Culture World War I brought about the most profound and impactful paradigm shift in Western culture since the Enlightenment, and Western culture still feels the ripples of its impact a century later. World War I was the deadliest war of its time in terms of both the number of casualties and the destruction of European cities and countryside. If the fatalities from the Spanish Flu, wh ich spread so widely as a direct result of the war, are included, WWI is the deadliest war the world has ever seen. Yet, o ut of this staggering loss came some hope. World War I accelerated the process of globalization that began in the 18 th Century , and this triggered an economic boom . However, t his new globalization , along with political mishaps at Versailles , set up the world for the Great Depression, World War II, and the Cold War. World War I sent the West into a new and chaotic world. Some found it exciting, while others found it horrifying. Ma ny lauded the e conomic and cultural boom of this post-war world; however , others mourned the straying from old traditions and values and felt that this cultural shift was a simple decline in morals. T.S. Eliot doubtlessly held the second opinion . In his 1922 poem The Waste L and , Eliot laments the decline of Western culture and intelligence and assigns the blame to people straying from tradition and religion to instead busy themselves with immoral activities, especially sex. However, Eliot also advises that there is hope for change if people will rectify their values. This essay will examine how Eliot uses The Waste Land to express both his disappointment and advice for Westerners after World War I by dissecting the symbolism infused in the poem . The Waste L and reflects the destruction and desolation of post-war Europe, both physically and culturally. In the poem, the waste land is physically desolate. Before one even begins reading, the title itself conjures an image of a broken land much like Europe's post-war landscape marred by trenches, bombs, and death. A lthough the physical devastation of Europe was staggering, the physical state waste land primarily serves as a metaphor for the state of Western culture : an intellectual and moral waste land. The primary features of the waste land are its dryness and pollution , and these represent the intellectual and moral decay of the West. The pollution of the waste land represents the disrespect that people were showing for their culture . T he land is filthy, and the nouveau-riche litter their houses with gaudy decor. The setting for part of the poem is London, and "brown fog," or smog from industrial waste, covers the city (70). Smog is a particularly apt symbol because it is completely encompassing. It hangs over a n entire city, or an entire cu lture. Wherever one looks, there is smog; wherever Eliot looks, there are magazines, dime novels, and movies. Similarly, light does not penetra te smog that is so thick that it appears to be brown. Refined culture and entertainment -like literature, plays, and symphoniescannot penetrate the smog' of pop culture. The famous Thames River that runs through London is also in a sorry state. It is so extraordinary for the Thames to be clean that it must be pointed out that "no empty bottles, sandwich papers, / [s]ilk handkerchiefs, cardboard boxes, [or ] cigarette ends" run float in it (175-176). Nevertheless, rats infest its bank s . Bodies of water are integral parts to civilization. Just as the Nile is synonymous with Egypt, the Thames is a symbol of London. If the Thames is polluted, London is polluted. Further, while yes, London is polluted with industrial emissions and litter, the grime primarily serves as a symbol for the pop culture that is polluting Western culture . This pollution is not necessarily ugly. The mansion in "A Game of Chess" is quite beautiful . A "candelabra," "jewels," "ivory," "marble," and "satin" decorate the interior ( 78-86) . However, the decor is ostentatious. It shows that the mansion's owners, the new wealth' of the West, do not have good taste.

Eleanor, Queen of Castile (1162 - 1214)

Eleanor, Queen of Castile (1162 - 1214) Eleanor Plantagenet, born in 1162,   was the wife of Alfonso VIII of Castile, daughter of Henry II of England and  Eleanor of Aquitaine, sister of kings and a queen; mother of several queens and a king. This Eleanor was the first of a long line of Eleanors of Castile. She was also known as  Eleanor Plantagenet, Eleanor of England, Eleanor of Castile, Leonora of Castile, and Leonor of Castile. She died on October 31st, 1214.   Early Life Eleanor was named for her mother, Eleanor of Aquitaine. As a daughter of Henry II of England, her marriage was arranged for political purposes. She was paired with King Alfonso VIII of Castile, betrothed in 1170 and married sometime before September 17, 1177, when she was fourteen. Her full siblings were William IX, Count of Poitiers; Henry the Young King; Matilda, Duchess of Saxony; Richard I of England; Geoffrey II, Duke of Brittany;  Joan of England, Queen of Sicily; and John of England. Her older half-siblings were  Marie of France  and  Alix of France Eleanor as Queen Eleanor was granted control in her marriage treaty of lands and towns so that her own power was nearly as much as her husbands. The marriage of Eleanor and Alfonso produced a number of children. Several sons who were, in turn, expected heirs of their father died in childhood. Their youngest child, Henry or Enrique, survived to succeed his father. Alfonso claimed Gascony as part of Eleanors dowry, invading the duchy in his wifes name in 1205, and abandoning the claim in 1208.    Eleanor wielded considerable power in her new position.   Ã‚  She was also a patron of many religious sites and institutions,  including Santa Maria la Real at Las Huelgas where many in her family became nuns.   She sponsored troubadours to court.  She helped arrange the marriage of their daughter  Berenguela  (or Berengaria) to Leons king. Another daughter, Urraca, was married to the future king of Portugal, Alfonso II; a third daughter, Blanche or Blanca, was married to the future King Louis VIII of France; a fourth daughter, Leonor, married the king of Aragon (though their marriage was later dissolved by the church). Other daughters included Mafalda who married her sister Berenguelas stepson and Constanza who became an  Abbess. Her husband appointed her as ruler with their son upon his death, and also appointed her executor of his estate.   Death Although Eleanor thus became the regent for her son Enrique on her husbands death, in 1214 when Enrique was only ten, Eleanors grief was so great that her daughter Berenguela had to handle the burial of Alfonso. Eleanor died on October 31st, 1214, less than a month after Alfonsos death, leaving Berenguela as her brothers regent. Enrique died at age 13, killed by a falling roof tile. Eleanor was the mother of eleven children, but only six survived her: Berenguela  (1180 - 1246) - she married Conrad II of Swabia but the marriage contract was annulled. She married Alfonso IX of Leon, but that marriage was dissolved on grounds of consanguinity.   She became regent for her brother Enrique (Henry) I, and became Queen of Castile in her own right when he died in 1217. She abdicated right after that, and her son Ferdinand III of Castile brought together Castile and Leon.Sancho (1181 - 1181) - briefly heir to Castile, died at three monthsSancha (1182 - 1185)Enrique (1184 - 1184?) - heir during his very short life - there is some doubt that this child existed.Urraca - Urraca of Castile, Queen of Portugal (1187 - 1220), married to Afonso II of Portugal.Blanca -  Blanche of Castile, Queen of France (1188 - 1252), married the future Louis VIII of France, crowned Queen in 1223. She served as regent of France after Louis died and before their son was of age.Fernando (1189 - 1211). Died of a fever, heir to the throne at that time.Mafalda (11 91 - 1211). Betrothed to Ferdinand of Leon, stepson of her sister Berenguela. Constanza (1195 or 1202 - 1243), became a nun at Santa Maria la Real at Las Huelgas.Leonor - Eleanor of Castile (1200 or 1202 - 1244): married James I of Aragon but separated 8 years later, with consanguinity as the grounds.Enrique I of Castile (1204 - 1217). He became king in 1214 when his father died; he was only 10. He died three years later, struck by a tile that fell from a roof.

Big Data Executive Briefs Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3250 words

Big Data Executive Briefs - Assignment Example However, it can be said that the lifeline of business organizations all over the world is to cater to demand of the consumers and customers, and hence the customers become the life line of the organizations and businesses. With the increase in competition in the market place, the companies are finding it tough to gain competitive advantage over their rivals, who are targeting the same group of consumers with similar product offerings. The application of Big Data technology helps the companies in a major way in the process of accumulating and analyzing large amounts of data in real time scenario by building various kinds of predictive models that helps the companies to understand the trends and patterns of the multiple variables that might affect the prospects of the business. Talking about this particular company, it has been assumed that the company has mainly product based offerings in its portfolio. Highlighting in these lines, it can be said that because of the company’s g lobal presences in more than 18 countries around the world, which comprises of markets like Asia Pacific, the western and Latin American markets. Hence it can be easily mentioned that the company’s products are often exposed to consumers all around the globe, however, under a different brand and product portfolio. The product portfolio mostly comprises of fast moving consumer goods which are non perishable in the short term. However, it is of utmost importance to mention the fact that the product portfolio for various countries are variable in terms of market to market and region to region, as the product needs to be marketed in order to cater to the needs of the customers of that particular market. So, the application and extent to which the big data can be applied in this product based global company is tremendously wide. In more specific terms, the big data if applied in the process of mining information from the company’s social media marketing forums will result i n the gaining of significant needs and wants of the consumers, which are highly different in nature in regards to the location and region of the market. The implementation of the big data will also benefit the company in the process of increasing automation in the process of supply chain and thereby increasing the efficiency of product deliveries and potentially removing the option of stock outs of fast moving and high selling consumer demanded products. The implementation of the big data will also provide significant improvement in the reduction of lead time and thereby raising the productivity range and scales. On a note of conclusion, it can be said that the company will gain a lot of advantages if they are successful in the implementation of Big Data. Executive Briefing TO: Senior Company Executive FROM: Manager DATE: 11/21/12 SUBJECT: Need for Implementing Big Data in the Business Context The 21st century is the era of globalization. The pace of change of today’s society is so fast that what is new today, becomes old tomorrow and obsolete and redundant the day after. Masses of most of the developing and well established economies around the world are turning towards the virtual world. The tremendous surge

About horror movies Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

About horror movies - Essay Example The kind of character they portray in these movies is mostly driven by their ambitions in life. Unlike men who become comfortable with their statuses quickly, women are doing whatever they can to either maintain their facial looks or get the basic human wants (Wada-Marciano 12). A lady like Mrs. Li, for example, goes adopts a behavior of eating dumplings prepared from fetus for the sake of her looks and rejuvenating his husbands love Dumplings (Chan,2004). Greed also contributes to their characters in these horror movies because some of the females are conducting merciless killings just for food. In Onibaba film, we see two women killing soldiers, taking their armor and trading them for delicious meals. Such an action portrays greed because one has to sacrifice life of another for a single meal. Onibaba(Shindo,1964). Ambition and greed are portrayed more horrifying in female than in men. Let us start with Dumplings observations. The film shows the work of the experienced cinematographer Christopher. He applies moving camera shots best seen when Mrs. Li and Mei visits a mansion under construction. The two converse about politics as the camera moves with their talk and moves. The second instance of a moving camera is when Mei seduces Mr. Li inquiring whether the dumplings work Dumplings (Chan,2004). Mrs. Li is rich, so she does not have to pursue material things but she is after her fading beauty. In pursuing her husband’s love lost to a masseuse, Mrs. Li seeks advice from the local Chef Mei, who gives her dumplings to make her younger and beautiful. It works and Mr. Li starts loving his wife again even without an idea of what is happening Dumplings (Chan,2004). Mrs. Li receives compliments from friends for her youth and beauty, but somebody recognizes a fish like smell on her face. Mr. Li asks to be taken to Mei and after taking the fetus dumplings, he falls in love with Mei without

Understand How to Improve Own Performance Essay Example for Free

Understand How to Improve Own Performance Essay 1.1Explain the purpose and benefits of continuously improving performance at work It is important that I continuously improve my performance so that I can grow along with the company and complete my work to the required standard. By continually improving myself I can keep myself challenged and stop myself getting bored of the job, which will always keep me interested. Also improving myself can benefit the company, learning new skills can allow me to take on harder more skilled tasks. This will help take the work load from my other colleagues. This will help the office to run more efficiently. 1.2Explain the purpose and benefits of encouraging and accepting feedback from others Feedback has many benefits when improving my skills within the office. Positive feedback can help boost moral within the office and help the employees feel appreciated. This helps to keep work standards high, and maintains a good environment within the office. Negative feedback isn’t always a bad thing; it can help to outline areas where my managers or colleagues feel I need improvement. I can then discuss with them how I could improve this in the future. This can help the overall running of the office and continually improve our work. 1.3Explain how learning and development can improve own work, benefit organisations, and identify career options Learning and development can help improve my own work greatly, by learning new aspects of the business I can help out my colleagues with jobs that I previously couldn’t carry out. This will lessen the work load that is carried out by my colleagues, which will benefit my organisation as the work can be completed a lot quicker as there are more people capable of doing it. By carrying out this NVQ I can improve my own career options. Previously I had no formal qualifications relating to the job that I carry out. However this can help to further my career for myself and for the business, as I can now apply for internal jobs that previously I was not qualified for. 1.4Describe possible career progression routes  Currently I am part of Wincanton’s agency team, Prime Time. The next stage in my career that I hope to achieve is to be employed in full time employment. If I achieve this then there are many other jobs within the company that I could progress to. If I was to stay within the admin office I could try to become a supervisor or team leader, or there are many other areas that I could apply for, like the stocks department or the finance department. However some of these jobs may not be available to me without further qualifications. I hope to carry out more of these at a later stage in my career; these could include further NVQ’s or even higher qualifications from the Open University. 1.5Describe possible development opportunities Within our business we print of POD’s for customers, this requires a lot of paper to be used. The capability of technology is improving every day; in the future the POD’s may be accessible via computers. If this was to happen I would need to develop my skills towards maintaining this and carrying out the day to day running. Another option could be to improve on my computer skills. Administration is highly dependable on technology as we use computers for all of the tasks that we carry out. In the future the technology may greatly improve this could mean that my current knowledge of the computer systems become irrelevant. A development for myself could be that I take some courses in ICT to improve my skills and knowledge of how a computer works.

Strong Women of Shakespeares Othello :: GCSE English Literature Coursework

Strong Women of Othello  Ã‚   William Shakespeare often described the women in his plays as being strong, confident individuals, much different from the stereotypical roles of the time period in which he lived. In Much Ado about Nothing, the main character____(look up) ---{describe role}. Similarly, in Macbeth, {discuss role of Lady Macbeth} The women of Othello also displayed characteristics of strong, modern women. .... From the beginning of the play, we see that Desdemona is a courageous and decisive woman who pursues Othello, falling in love with his intrigued stories of adventure, seeing "Othello's visage in his mind, and to his honors and valiant parts..." refusing the attempts of other suitors such as Roderigo. We become aware of Desdemona's determination when she marries Othello, despite accusations from Iago that she is under a spell and is deceiving her father. When her fiancà © is accused of bewitching her, she immediately defends her love for him. "And so much Duty as my mother showed to you, preferring you before her father, so much that I may profess due to the Moor my lord". Like many of Shakespeare's other female characters, Desdemona does not embody the stereotypical role of sixteenth century women. When Shakespeare wrote Othello, women had few rights and little power in society. They had virtually no say in arranging their own marriages, and were expected to marry a suitor chosen by their father. Desdemona, however, despite proposals from various suitors and public discouragement, continues her pursuit of Othello, and marries him. Although she is "†¦bound [to her father] for life and education†¦" , she affirms her belief that she belongs with Othello, and has such great love for him, so much that "a heave interim shall support his absence" . Soon after their elopement, envious Iago convinces Othello that Desdemona has been unfaithful to him. Othello becomes enraged cursing Desdemona as a whore. When Othello questions her, we again see her strong sense of devotion, pleading for his trust rather than vehemently defending herself. "I hope my noble lord esteems me honest†¦ Alas, what ignorant sin have I committed?" However, her faith in Othello is so strong that it undermines her "modern", prideful characteristics. Consequently, Desdemona is really not as strong and educated as originally perceived, for she continues to attempt to maintain Othello's trust, despite his incredibly harsh accusations. Although her arguments remain strong, the weakness in her character emerges, for she cannot see the monster that her husband is becoming, and failing to realize that he trusts Iago, a man who is extremely competitive with him, over his very wife's word.

Country Analysis – Myanmar

Myanmar is a resource-rich country and also known as the Asian rice bowl suffers from pervasive government controls, inefficient economic policies, corruption, and rural poverty. The economy suffers from serious macroeconomic imbalances including unpredictable inflation, fiscal deficits, multiple official exchange rates that overvalue the Burmese kyat, and unreliable statistics. In trade activity, Myanmar’s main imports are fabric petroleum products and crude oil, fertilizers, plastics, machinery, transport equipment food products and also construction materials. The major exports of Myanmar are natural gas, wood products, pulses and beans, fish, rice, clothing and jade and gems. On July 2012, the population in Myanmar is said to be 54,584650 people. Several considerations were made in counting and estimating the population including the effects of excess mortality due to AIDS. This can result in lower life expectancy, higher infant mortality, higher death rates, lower population growth rates, and changes in the distribution of population by age and sex than would otherwise be expected. Most people live in the 40,000-odd villages of the country, while the majority of the urban population resides in the capital city of Rangoon. Among the population engaged in agriculture, 37 percent of the people do not have any land or livestock. Poverty and misery have increased in the past 3 decades. It is estimated in the CIA World Factbook that in1997 23 percent of the Burmese population had incomes that placed them below the poverty line. PRICE STABILITY Inflation is the general increase in the level of price. Each and every country’s government has their own targets for the inflation rate in order to achieve price stability. It is impossible for a certain country to achieve zero level of inflation so an average of 2%-3% inflation is already good enough. The main indicator of price stability is the Consumer Price Index (CPI) which measures the degree of change in price as a whole. Figure 1. 0 The Percentage of Inflation in Myanmar Figure 1. 0 shows the graph of the inflation rate of Myanmar from 2007 to 2011. The year before 2007 shows a very high level of inflation in Myanmar which is around 35%. During that time, Myanmar’s economy is at the peak level. The export of Myanmar at that time was at the highest. The increase in the exports of rice and agricultural product caused demand pull inflation. This is because export is one of the components of the aggregate demand (AD). The high export rate causes the income of the local citizen becomes higher. A high income results in the increase in consumption. The increase in export and consumption which both are the component of AD causes demand pull inflation. To get a clearer view, refer to the graph below. In the contemporary, both of this component is also injection in the economy and causes the injection to become more than leakage. This creates a multiplier effect thus expands Myanmar’s economy. Figure 1. 1 Demand-pull Inflation In the year 2007, the basic commodity prices rose from 30 to 60 percent. At this particular time, the workers demand for more wages. The cost of production will increase thus shifting the short run aggregate supply (SRAS) to the left. This causes cost push inflation to the economy of Myanmar. But instead showing the increase in inflation level, the graph shows a slight inclination in the inflation rate. This is because the government implemented a contractionary policy to Myanmar’s economy. To the worst, the Cyclone Nargis hit Myanmar and this causes a negative growth of inflation to happen at a very high rate. Due to the disaster that happened, the government spending had to be focused on the welfare of the estimated 2. 4 million homeless victims. The money that should be invested on other things had been used for the recovery from the disaster. Meanwhile, Myanmar kept on exporting the rice in order to gain more profit without considering the number of seed that is reduced due to the destruction caused by the cyclone. This causes the production of rice and other agricultural product to be reduced in a great amount due to the disaster that happened. Besides, the length of production factor also will result on a huge shortage of food supply. This unknowingly converts Myanmar from a net rice exporter to importer. The higher amount of import than the export and added with the decrease in investment, also the government spending causes a shift in the AD to the left and results a decrease in the rate of inflation at a dramatic rate. Figure 1. 2 The year 2009-2011shows an increasing trend of inflation in Myanmar. This is when Myanmar enters the recovery phase of its economy. Probably during this phase Myanmar had already recovered from the cyclone and starts to increase their economic activity. More people will get employed and the consumption will increase. At the same time the government also spends a lot to bring back the economy of their country. This will shift the AD to the right thus increasing back the inflation rate. Figure 1. 3 FULL EMPLOYMENT Full employment means that every person in the labor force gets employed. It has become a significant objective for a country because it is closely related to the efficiency in resource allocation and also in achieving non-accelerating inflationary rate of unemployment (NAIRU). Both efficiency in resource allocation and the NAIRU are important to achieve a stable economy. Figure 2. 0 The Unemployment Rate in Myanmar The unemployment rate of Myanmar peaked at the year 2008. This is probably because the Nargis cyclone that hit Myanmar during that year causes death and destruction. The destruction also includes the farms and fields where most of Myanmar citizen works. This is called seasonal unemployment. Furthermore, during the financial crisis, the lack of import demand from other country causes many shutting down of shops and factories such as clothing factories, gemstone polishing and carving workshops, rubber factories and also the magazine and the publishing house. As a result, during that period of time, crimes such as theft and prostitution rate were seemed starting to rise. From 2008-2011, the rate of unemployment shows a decreasing trend. This is probably because of the agricultural sector that already recovered after the disaster that happened had opened a lot of job opportunities. In addition, an economic reform also had been made and training programs also were conducted such as the market opening policy. This increases the availability for the people in the labor force to get employed. The long run aggregate supply (LRAS) curve will shift to the right due to the changes in the government policy and also the education and training that have been made. Figure2. 1 Shift of Long-run Aggregate Supply In Myanmar, the participation of woman in the work force is still low and does not show any significant change in the labor participation which is majority participated by males. This is due to the trend in Myanmar where only male works while the female stays at home. ECONOMIC GROWTH Reviewing back to the economic problem, wants are unlimited but resources are scares. The objective of the economy is to solve this problem. So, economic growth is very important in order to satisfy more wants. Of course, there are several special consideration placed on the economic growth. One of them is the limitation of usage of resources for the future generation to use. Figure 3. 0 Myanmar GDP by-year Chart Overall, the economic growth of Myanmar on 2007-2011 shows an increasing trend. The year 2007-2008 shows the drop in economic growth and afterwards, the years after that show recovery. The world economy crisis that happened in the year 2008 really gave a huge impact on Myanmar economy because Myanmar is highly dependent on trading activities. The GDP of Myanmar that decreases to 1. 2% was not only caused by the economic crisis but also because of the Nargis cyclone that hit Myanmar in middle 2008. The â€Å"Lehman shock† that happened which causes a huge bankruptcy at Japan which is one of the main importer from Myanmar in the same year really affected the GDP of Myanmar. This results a decrease in economic growth of Myanmar due to the decreased size of natural resources caused by the Nargis cyclone, the uncontrolled inflation rate which is also relatively high in 2008 and also the political condition that was not so stable at that particular time. However, Myanmar shows an increased economic growth trend the year afterwards which is from 1. 2% to 5. 6%. This is because the export in Myanmar increases during these years. Due to some political tension, Korea increased their import share towards Myanmar and it became the third largest importer after Japan and Germany. As a result the combined export share for Korea and Japan reached 51. 5% and this trend seems to have become stronger in 2010. For the next year, it kept on growing on a steady rate due to no serious problem occurred. EXTERNAL BALANCE An economy that practices import and export is known as the open economic system. This means there are money going out and also coming in into a certain country. External balance means a balance between money inflow and outflow resulting from a country’s transactions with the rest of the world. It is a record of a country’s transaction in goods, services and assets with the rest of the world. There are three components of external balance which are the current account deficit as a percentage of GDP, net foreign debt as a percentage of GDP and the exchange rate. It is one of the macroeconomic objectives and its target is to achieve enough inflow from foreign country to buy imports and also being able to meet its financial obligation to other country. Current account deficit as a percentage of GDP. The current account measures the inflows and outflows of a country. It is divided to two categories which are the current flows and also the capital flows. The current flow consist of the export and the receipts of income payment as the inflow and the import and the income paid to overseas as the outflow. For the capital flows, the inflow is the foreign investment and the borrowing. The outflows are loan repayment and investment made overseas. Figure 4. 0 Current Account Balance in Myanmar The figure above shows the current account balance of Myanmar as a percentage of GDP. Over the years, it shows a decreasing trend from 2007-2011. However in 2009, it shows a sharp increase until 2010 and it falls back. It is certainly not highly affected by the export and import because referring to the graph below (graph 4. 1 and 4. 2) there is not much difference in the export and imports around these five years. The low value of the current account balance is due to Myanmar’s spending to meet its debt from other country. Graph 4. 3 shows the amount of Myanmar’s debt with other foreign country. Figure 4. 1 Exports of Myanmar Figure 4. 2 Imports of Myanmar Figure 4. 3 External Debt of Myanmar Exchange rate The value of a certain currency indicates how well a certain country is able to manage the financial inflow and outflow. A stable exchange rate indicates that the economy of a country is healthy and promotes investor to see that the country’s production is a worthwhile investment. The factors affecting the currency are highly related to the supply and demand for the currency. Figure 4. 4 The Graph of Supply and Demand for Currency In Myanmar, of course fluctuations of the Burmese Kyat (BK) happen from time to time. The exchange rate for BK is the price or value of one BK expressed in terms of foreign currency. The figure below shows the fluctuating BK throughout the five years period. Figure 4. 5 Myanmar Official Exchange Rate per US($) Over the five years the exchange rate of Myanmar shows a decreasing trend. A great depreciate if BK in the year 2007-2008 is due to the high inflation rate. The increase of the commodity prices decreases Myanmar’s export. Being a country that is very dependent on trading business, the decrease in the demand for Myanmar’s currency causes the AD shifts at a great amount to the left thus depreciating the currency. The depreciating of the currency will probably cause the current account deficit (CAD) of Myanmar to worsen. On the contemporary, the unemployment gap will also become bigger indicating the increasing in the unemployment rate. Figure 4. 5 In the year 2008-2009, Myanmar’s currency shows appreciation. This is due to the rate of inflation in Myanmar that is relatively low at the particular time. The low inflation means the price of local product is cheaper. The cheaper local product will make the local product price to be internationally competitive thus increases the export. The increase in demand for Myanmar’s currency will shift the AD to the right thus appreciate Myanmar’s exchange rate. People will also starting to get employed as the unemployment gap has become smaller. The CAD will expected to improve. Prospect Based on all analysis done, I estimated that Myanmar economic growth would continue growing if the government is very aware and carefully observing the fluctuating rate of inflation. The government must know the right time to implement whether a cotractionary or expansionary policy at the right time. For the full employment, it is the responsibility of the government to distribute and if necessary provide training for the population in order to achieve the full employment target. New rules and regulation and also policy must be implemented so that hard core unemployment, frictional unemployment, hidden unemployment and all other types of unemployment could be reduced. The economic growth of Myanmar is now in quite good position. However, it is unpredictable for something unwanted to happen such as global recession, increase in commodity price and natural disaster. So, economist and the government must take a serious consideration on planning a preparation for the economy to face unwanted situations to happen. For the exchange rate, it is better for Myanmar to maintain the value of Burmese kyat than trying to appreciate or depreciate it due to certain circumstances such as a cold diplomatic relationship with other countries and the unstable political condition inside the country itself. If any action is taken it is worried that a riot or the hampering of foreign investment from other country would happen. However, Myanmar should broaden their vision and observing how other country’s economy works. This is in order for Myanmar to improve its economy and foster a harmonious relationship with other countries abroad. If this could be achieved and be done, it is not impossible for Myanmar to leap up to the first rank in the world for the most high income country but with a low rate of inflation. Conclusion To wrap up, it is quite hard to say whether Myanmar have achieved or not achieved even any of the macroeconomics objectives. Although the economic growth and price stability keeps on fluctuating due to unwanted and also uncontrollable events, Myanmar still manage to overcome the problem or crisis even though still consumes a huge amount of time.

Hard Skills Vs. Soft Skills Essay

Introduction One million dollar question, which project and human resource management have asked for several years while doing recruitment, is whether do recruit individual endowed with hard skills or soft skills. This leads to asking the quest that between the two is the most important for an organization. Hard skills can be defined as technical know how or specific abilities that relate to the core business that an organization does to networking, machine operations among others. Soft skills, on the other hand, are subjective and undefined (Peggy, 2007).   It mostly deals with issues like communication, problem-solving, and conflict resolution among others. However, everybody agrees that both skills are necessary for the success of an organization, which between the two is most crucial? The crucial character of a manager is the ability to be flexible, a manager who can understand organization process, tools and techniques being utilized within the organization. Managers should be able to adapt to all types of organization and project process and have technical know-how on running team operation. This characteristic emphasizes on the soft skills and portrays technical skills as added advantage (Peggy, 2007) Managers spent most of their time almost 90% communicating, solving problems, negotiating planning among others. These are mostly soft skills that are being put to use. One can, therefore, argue that although both skills are essential, soft skills are being required in a higher percentage to help in coordinating hard skills for an organization success. Peggy (2007) states that whenever one wants to stay competitive and ahead of the game, one need to keep his or her hard skills sharp. However, for one to succeed faster, he needs to keep his soft skills updated. Therefore, in conclusion, soft skills always precede hard skills for an average person and training institution should ensure more soft skills in their employees. Motivation is one of the key elements for the performance of organization employees, as individuals who are highly motivated performs more than individuals who are not highly motivated. The motivation factors come from soft skills which when combined with hard skills then individuals can be in a position to achieve or reach self actualization. All employers needs employees who could deliver assignments in time and factor of time management plays very important aspect of project success. It also brings the idea of planning within organization which is an aspect of soft skills. Therefore we can conclude that even if one possess greater aspect of hard skills, without elements of soft skills the project can not be successful and always hard skills plays second place to soft skills. Good leadership calls for effective communication and without effective communication, project cannot pick off and starts operating smoothly, most researchers have argued that one with soft skills can assembly individuals with technical know-how and operates organization smoothly while individuals with only technical know-how could not manage an organization. This supports the arguments that human beings in terms of labour are the most valuable asset of an organization and if well managed then the organization will realize success. Hence soft skills are superior to hard skills. Reference Peggy K. (2007) THE HARD TRUTH ABOUT SOFT SKILLS: WORKPLACE LESSONS SMART PEOPLE WISH THEY’D LEARNED SOONER by.   Klaus & Associates, Inc.

Berkshire Hathaway

Berkshire Hathaway IssuesWarren Buffet invoked the substance-over-form concept to justify accounting for the GEICO and General Foods transactions as dividends distributions rather than sales of stock. Do you agree with Buffet that the substance of each of the proportionate redemptions was a dividend and not a sale of stock?In deciding how to account for an unusual or unique transaction for financial reporting purposes, should one consider the tax treatment applied to the transaction?Did Peat Marwick have a right to change its position on the proper accounting treatment for the stock redemptions? What factor or factors may have been responsible for Peat Marwick's decision to change its position regarding these transactions?FactsIn 1983, GEICO announced plans to purchase several million shares of its outstanding common stock for $60 per share. Among GEICO's largest stockholders was Berkshire Hathaway, Inc., an investment company. Executives of the two companies decided that Berkshire would tender approxi mately 350,000 if its GEICO shares in the stock buyback plan, which would allow Berkshire to treat the transaction as a proportionate redemption.English: Berkshire Cotton Manufacturing Company, A...In a proportionate redemption, the percentage equity interest of on company in a second company is maintained at the level that existed immediately before the transaction. For federal taxation purposes, the proceeds received by the investor company in a proportionate redemption are taxed as dividends by applying the effective intercorporate dividend tax rate. In 1983, that tax rate was approximately 6.9 percent.Berkshire also chose to treat the proceeds from the redemption of the GEICO stock as dividend income in its 1983 financial statements. Berkshire's audit firm, Marwick, Mitchell Company, approved that accounting treatment. In 1984, another company in which Berkshire had a significant equity interest, General Foods, announced a stock buyback plan. Again, Berkshire structured the sal e of stock to General Foods...

The Magic LinkedIn® Formula

The Magic LinkedIn ® Formula My e-book, How to Write a KILLER LinkedIn ® Profile, enumerates 18 â€Å"Mistakes to Avoid† as well as 7 â€Å"Bonus Tips.† That’s a total of 25 items that I think are important for every LinkedIn ® user to understand and implement (actually more than 25, since many of the chapters have subpoints as well). Nevertheless, on Wednesday I will be giving a presentation at American Family Insurance’s DreamBank on â€Å"Top Five LinkedIn ® Mistakes.† Not 25, but 5. It’s not easy to choose the top five, but I managed to do it. Not only that, but I even narrowed it down to three general categories. I call this my â€Å"Magic LinkedIn ® Formula† and even if you’re unable to attend my presentation live on Wednesday, you can benefit from the formula. Success on LinkedIn ® comes down to what I have dubbed the â€Å"3 Ls† (not to be confused with the class of students in their third year of law school): Locatability Likeability ALiveness 1. Locatability If no one finds you on LinkedIn ®, there’s not much point in having a profile. Unless you are in a rare situation where you prefer not to appear in LinkedIn ® searches, easy locatability means you will get in front of the people searching for someone like you. For job seekers and business owners, being found by a target audience is one big key to success. Increasing your locatability entails two main actions: 1) putting the right keywords in the right places, and 2) growing your network aggressively and appropriately to at least 500 connections. A combination of well-placed keywords and a robust network is a winning LinkedIn ® strategy. 2. Likeability Just because someone finds you on LinkedIn ® doesn’t mean that person will contact you. If your profile is sloppy, incomplete, unfocused, or off target, you will probably be skipped over for someone with a better presentation. If, however, people like what they see, they will be more likely to request a connection or conversation. Likeability means sounding like a human being and not a robot; listing accomplishments without bragging; having an attractive photo and format; and putting your personality onto the page. The more you distinguish yourself as unique, the more you will encourage valuable interaction. 3. ALiveness I like to say that having a LinkedIn ® profile is like having a gym membership. You only get value from it if you do the work! Sitting on your butt will not get you 6-pack abs †¦ or a new client or job through LinkedIn ®. Aliveness on LinkedIn ® includes but is not limited to updating your profile, participating in groups, sharing valuable information, engaging in discussions, and taking relationships off line to the phone or even a coffee shop! That’s my Magic LinkedIn ® Formula: Locatability, Likeability and ALiveness! Are you using it? If you already are doing everything listed above, great- you are a power LinkedIn ® user. In that case, I recommend that you dive more deeply into How to Write a KILLER LinkedIn ® Profile for the fine points that will bring your LinkedIn ® success up even another level. I’ll have time for QA at my DreamBank presentation on Wednesday, and you get to participate too. What burning questions can I answer about my Magic LinkedIn ® Formula and your LinkedIn ® profile challenges?

E-Business Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

E-Business - Essay Example store associates were equipped with extensive product training to assist customers on how to do things themselves while clinics were also conducted (Our history, n.d.). It expanded later to Canada, Mexico, China, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and the territory of Guam with unprecedented speed (Our history, n.d.) that total more than 2,200 retail outlets (Corporate, n.d.). It was listed in NASDAQ in 1981, New York Stock Exchange three years after (Our history, n.d.), and also traded at Dow Jones and Standard & Poor’s index (Corporate, n.d.). Its inventory of home improvement needs and materials consisted of around 40,000 and can order 250,000 products for customers (Stores, 2006). E-commerce encompasses the â€Å"buying, selling, transferring, or exchanging products, services, and/or information† through the computer and the internet (Turban et al., 2005, as cited in E-business, n.d. p. 3). E-business, a broader term that includes e-commerce, means purchase and sale of goods and services as well as â€Å"servicing customers, collaborating with business partners, conducting e-learning, and processing electronic transactions† (Turban et al., 2005, as cited in E-business, n.d. p. 3). E-commerce transactions are commonly conducted through the internet but may also be done over private interconnection (e.g. value-added networks, local area networks, wide area networks) (Turban et al., 2005, as cited in E-business, n.d. p. 3). The benefits of e-commerce include: a) online search allows consumers comparison for cheaper products, b) selection of more vendors and products, c) 24 hours-7 days a week shopping from any location, d) quick access to necessary detailed data, e) allows users to avail of custom-made products at lower prices, f) enables persons to make a living or earn a degree at home, g) allows electronic auctions that provides advantage to both vendors and buyers, and h) interact and communicate with other consumers for exchange of experiences and views