The Cost of Conflict Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

The Cost of Conflict - Essay Example There was a recent business article which featured two former Boeing employees. During the time, Michael Sears was the CFO and Darleen Druyun was the corporate vice president. Darleen decided to retire earlier from the Air force as a Number 2 acquisition executive. The beginning of the events that transpired was sparked by Darleen requesting Sears for jobs for two of family members. Darleen allocated a contract to Boeing out of the appreciation for the company for offering her and her two family members. This was seen as not only unprofessional and breach of codes of conduct but also a violation of established legislation. From the viewpoints of the participants the cost of this conflict could be seen both in terms of economy and development of the organization. It should be noted that the contracts were awarded not on the basis of merit but as a result of paying back for a favor done. This could have detrimental economic impacts to the company. This conflict had the potential of bringing down the company since the employees were not picked on the basis of their qualifications for the jobs they were expected to perform. The implication of this is that the employees could not be trusted to discharge their duties with the professionalism and dedication deserved. This conflict was resolved in court. Since it was a matter of breach not only to the professional codes of conduct but a matter of contravention to the contract law, the matter was brought before the court. Since both the participants were guilty, Darleen was sentenced to nine month’s imprisonment because of awarding the contract not out of qualification but gratitude because she and her two family members were given jobs by the company. Similarly, Sears was sentenced to four months in prison the reason being that he handled the employment in an improper way. He improperly and unprofessionally

The Violence of The Queen of Spades Essay -- The Queen of Spades

The Violence of Plath’s Daddy  Ã‚   "Daddy" is probably Plath’s most famous poem. The critic George Steiner has said that, "It is a poem by which future generations will seek to know us." He has also called it, "the Guernica of modern poetry." The violence of its imagery and tone, the references to concentration camps, torture and fascism certainly evoke Picasso’s most celebrated painting. Plath claimed that in this poem she was adopting the persona of a girl with an Electra complex whose father had been a fascist, but while the poem is not completely autobiographical, it contains several obvious references to her own life. For example, here she refers to the picture of her father: "You stand at the blackboard, daddy, In the picture I have of you" This is a direct image of the actual photograph the Plaths possessed of Otto in front of his blackboard at the University. Similarly, the "man in black with a Meinkampf look" and the "vampire" who "drank my blood" for "seven years" is a reference to her perception of Hughes to whom she had been married for seven years when t...

Five Force Model For Woodland

Nike Brief HistoryNike has one mission statement: To carry out the legacy of innovative thinking left by the founding members by developing products that enable athletes of all abilities to maximize their potential while beating competition and creating value for shareholders. Nikes headquarters are located in Beaverton, Oregon in Portland and the company operates in more than 160 countries all over the world with more than 30,000 employees across all six continents (Nike 2011). Nike TodayNike today is the largest manufacturer of athletic footwear, clothing and equipment globally by sales with 2011 revenues of more than US $23billion ahead of closest rivals Adidas, Puma, K-Swiss and Under Armour which it competes with in the sportswear market. Nike has been steadily increasing its market share of the sportswear market from an initial 3.7% in 2006 to 4.6% in 2011, even though this declined in 2009. Many analysts expect this market share to reach about 6.3% by 2017. The company also ex pects to make big gains from the London 2012 Olympics for its footwear division (MSN money 2012) Figure 1: Nike Apparel Market ShareFigure 2: Nike Footwear Market ShareHowever even though Nike is expected to attain big gains from the London 2012 Olympics, its competitors are not sitting still and letting Nike take any such gains. Adidas, which is one of main rivals of Nike, has invested more than  £100million in the Olympics to not only boost its profile, but also close the market share gap with Nike. Adidas has already posted better sales and profit results in 2012 compared to Nike. In fact, Adidas, also the second largest apparel manufacturer in the world after Nike, has been outperforming Nike since 2006 (Torry 2012). Below, we will do an industry analysis using Porters 5 Forces of Competition Framework to help us understand the various variables influencing competition and profitability for Nike within the sectors in which it is competing.Porter’s Five Forces of Competi tion Framework According to Grant (2005), there are many features of an industry in which a company competes that determines the level of competition it will face and the profits it will get. The most famous classification was done by Michael Porter, known as Porters Five Forces framework which can help a company determine its potential profits by looking at five sources of competitive pressure. The five sources of competition are 1) competition from entrants 2) competition from substitutes 3) competition from established rivals 4) bargaining power of suppliers and 5) bargaining power of buyers. Threat of entry/Barriers to entryThe threat of entry is highest in the apparel market due to the relatively lower costs of manufacturing apparel compared to the footwear market where the biggest threat posed is basically from current rivals already established in the market e.g Adidas and Puma, who although behind in market share, are currently implementing strategies that are helping them c lose the gap on Nike. Adidas has especially been gaining ground on Nike boosted by its strong presence in sponsoring the European soccer tournament where it sponsored eventual winners Spain (Torry 2012). According to Marketing Weekly News (2012), Adidas is also planning on moving into the more fashion-aligned market of teenagers which could see it improve global market share.NEO, a fast fashion adidas sub-brand aimed at teenagers is Adidas’ attempts to enter new apparel segments that will even pit it against the likes of H&M and Zara in an effort to gain market share and squeeze more profits out of mature industries. Another threat of entry is posed by Under Armour Inc. an established company in the athletic sportswear in the USA which in 2009 decided to enter the U.S athletic footwear market creating competition in a market which had been dominated by a few players like Nike and Adidas.Recently the US sports brand has started entering markets which have been traditionally fo ught over by Nike and Adidas. For example, Under Armour is using its sponsorship of Tottenham Hotspur in an â€Å"aggressive† digital marketing drive which it views as part of a wider strategy to steal market share from Nike and Adidas in the apparel category in Europe. This is the firms first foray into professional football, which have been areas where Nike and Adidas traditionally dominated and performed well in but are now  having to brace for new competition from Under Armour (Sebastian 2012).Threat of substitutesSubstitutes in the footwear category can include any other types of shoes that consumers can choose to serve similar purposes. Substitutes here therefore include the likes of sandals, which can act as substitutes, even though they may not fulfill exact same purpose. It is difficult to think of other substitutes that can fulfill the same purpose as athletic shoes from the footwear industry since this an industry that has something very specific to offer to a ta rgeted market. This means that it is not meant to appeal to the general population and everybody.Thus consumers who are looking for shoes to run in will not look for boots as substitutes simply because boots are cheaper substitutes. This is due to the specialization of running shoes that makes substitutes hard to come by. But while athletic footwear has little substitutes, sportswear apparel can have substitutes that include normal everyday clothing which can be used for athletic purposes if necessary. For example, some consumers may choose to wear tight fitting t shirts to exercise in instead of using Nikes sportswear, making normal clothing from high street brands substitutes. Rivalry between firms (Industry structure)Adidas: Although Adidas is currently not able to outcompete Nike in terms of sales and market share, it has been outperforming Nike and gaining market share since 2006 while Nike has been losing market share since 1998 when it still had more than 47 percent of the ma rket, which has been cut back to 32 percent (MSN money 2011). Adidas is also still the second biggest competitor to Nike competing for market share and has plans in the pipeline that it is trying to implement in order to grow.One of them is heavy sponsorship of football tournaments all over the globe since football has the highest fan support with more than 2billion people who follow it, with Basketball behind it with 1.2 billion followers. One such plan has been paying off when Spain, the team it sponsored at the 2012 Euro championships, won the tournament in style (Torry 2012). Puma: Puma is another rival to Nike that has been having a bad time with financial figures not going according to expectation. Although the firm has been sponsoring some very famous names (it sponsored  the Italian football team who reached the final of Euro 2012), while Usain Bolt wore the firm’s kit when he competed in the 100m at the London 2012 Olympic Games, Puma has served up a profit warning . It said that net earnings for the first quarter of 2012 were expected to be 13 percent below the 115m Euros reported during the same period last year.Puma is also expect to take a EURO 100m restructuring charge showing that the firm is doing not as well as expected so Nike has little worry from this rival. According to the Financial Times (2012), the main problem with Puma does not lie on the sporting field but in the stands. Puma's recovery over the past decade was driven mainly by its popularity with fashion-conscious youngsters. So it is not helping Puma that many youth are unemployed in the Eurozone. Puma generates more than 45 per cent of sales from Europe, the Middle East and Africa, so the fall in spending power has been hurting it badly, as does rising competition in the sports lifestyle market. The company is also hurt by its dependence on shoes, which account for about half of sales. Under Armour: As stated previously, Under Armour has been the one company that has gaine d the most from any slip ups from both Nike, Adidas and Puma as it has been going strong for the last few years.Power of SuppliersThe footwear market is one of those industry categories where the demand is always there. Retailers have to buy whatever the big brands like Nike make whether they like it or not therefore this also means that suppliers like Nike and Adidas have a lot of power compared to other industries. One of the biggest factors that contribute to this is the fact shoes such as Nikes are made very cheaply but sold at very expensive prices making them very desirable for retailers, which gives suppliers like Nike power. It is one of reasons why Nike has always been famous for sweatshop prices (Forbes 2012)Power of BuyersHighly Competitive market due to market saturation and slowdown in the sales industry worldwide, buyers more intellectual, have specific wants and needs and know where to get discounts and deals. As seen with the problems in the Eurozone experiencing hig h rates of unemployment as seen with the problems with Puma, many consumers have more discretion to choose what to buy and  what not to buy as the world economies suffer.ConclusionNow that we have looked at Nike and the competitive pressures it faces in the industry as it tries to make profits and stay competitive, it is upto the company to find ways around some of these pressures, fully analysing what is driving the industry in general. Michael Porter did offer some suggestions to companies trying to sustain a competitive advantage with three strategies which were focus, cost leadership or differentiation (Grant 2005). So depending on which strategy Nike chooses, it could choose to innovate better shoes by investing in R&D, focus on marketing or simply reduce prices to become the lost cost leader in its industry like Walmart.

Beowulf and Grendel - 3405 Words

Beowulf is a classical epic poem which describes Beowulf’s heroic deeds and his acts towards bringing justice and peace to the Scandinavian society by eradicating Grendel. The original manuscript (700-1000A.D.) and the modern film (2005) reveals significant differences between the characters’ traits and descriptions, an important quotation, descriptions of places, motives, a character’s presence and events that have taken place. Thus, this modern adaptation, Beowulf and Grendel, of an ancient text, Beowulf, is significantly flawed as any modern adaptation of an ancient text will be. In the film, specific characters are portrayed differently as they are in the poem. A significant example of this is from the character, Grendel. The†¦show more content†¦For example, in the film, Hrothgar awakes in the morning and sees his soldiers slaughtered after a night of Grendel’s killings. He runs up to one of them and kneels beside them and begins to weep and screams that he should be buried here with them because he cannot do anything to stop Grendel. Here, Hrothgar is confused and does not know what to do to stop this â€Å"troll†. Even with the arrival of Beowulf and his heroic stories and confidence to defeat Grendel, Hrothgar is still pictured as a depressed and weak character. An example in the film that Hrothgar is still confused and depressed even after the arrival of Beowulf is when Hrothgar and Beowulf argue on the upper floor of the mead-hall after two unsuccessful nights of trying to defeat Grendel. Hrothgar is agitated and impatient to the fact that Beowulf has still not eliminated Grendel . This argument is an example that Hrothgar is still very worried and depressed even with the arrival of a great hero, Beowulf. These examples show that King Hrothgar in the film, is a character that has fell into a permanent depression and lacks courage, confidence, and leadership qualities. These qualities greatly contrast with th e qualities of Hrothgar in the poem which symbolizes him as a great leader even through times of hardship. Beowulf is written in the form of Old English and the film is recorded in a modern perspective and many of the poem’s words and quotations are not utilized to its full extent and context. AShow MoreRelatedGrendel And Beowulf1838 Words   |  8 Pagespeople in Beowulf are the reason for the heinous acts committed by monsters. Both human and monster alike greet each other with violence, making one no better than the other, leading to the belief that the portrayal of the monsters is unfair in order to glorify and justify the violence of humankind. Introduction: The introduction will establish my stance on who I believe the real monsters are in Beowulf and reference the characters I wish to defend (Grendel, his mother and the dragon). GRENDEL – ParagraphsRead MoreComparing Beowulf And Grendel And Beowulf1702 Words   |  7 Pagestranslated, Beowulf has represented one of the finest examples of heroic poetry. As a tale reflecting the noble deeds of a hero, it uniquely expresses the cultural values of the Anglo-Saxons from whom it originated since heroes often do reflect the best of what their culture deems worthwhile. However, modern adaptations of this work express a different set of cultural values; values unique to modern society. When comparing the translated poem, Beowulf, to the 2005 motion picture, Beowulf and GrendelRead MoreBeowulf and Grendel Essay1654 Words   |  7 PagesBeowulf and Grendel Beowulf and Grendel are actually the same stories in the fact that they are based on the same epic Beowulf. Beowulf, that is told of here is translated by Kevin Crossley-Holland, and there are many different translations which makes Beowulf the epic so interchangeable. Although Beowulf and Grendel seem very similar they do have many differences as well. Reading the two stories back to back gives you the impression of how many differences there are. For exampleRead MoreGrendel And Beowulf Comparison1192 Words   |  5 Pagesbest people I know and someone I strive to be more like. Is my Daddy like the hero Beowulf or the monster Grendel? The answer can be found by comparing my Daddy, Beowulf, and Grendel on their character, actions, and the impact they have on others. A persons character says a lot about them, in a way it is what defines them. Your character is what you are known for. Beowulf, a fictional hero in the epic poem, â€Å"Beowulf† is perceived to be a very noble, honorable, good man. No, man would not do justiceRead MoreGrendel and Beowulf Heroism1584 Words   |  7 Pagesinterpretation of such an act, based on the tale Beowulf, would not be so understanding of what was intended, but rather of the outcome. If one perished and failed in an attempt of such a heroic act words like weakness might arise. It is here that the clash of what a hero is occurs between the Anglo-Saxton tale Beowulf and John Gardners Grendel. Beowulf in Beowulf is a hero for he defeats evil and restores order to and for the common people. Unferth in Grendel however is unsuccessful in his campaign againstRead MoreGrendel and Beowulf Essay616 Words   |  3 Pages On John Gardners, Grendel the main character Grendel is very confused of the life he is living. He is in search of his purpose in life, what he doesn’t realize at the beginning is his purpose is to be the villain. The humans in the novel are terrified of Grendel because to them he is a beast. As a natural reaction for us humans when in fear we tend to eliminate what causes us fear. In many occasions humans try to kill Grendel because he is viewed as evil, until Beowulf accomplishes men’s goalRead MoreThe Epic Of Beowulf And Grendel1363 Words   |  6 PagesWhen one first encounters the epic poem Beowulf, they are usually taken aback by the differences between the text of the Anglo Saxons at that time and our present culture. This tale of a heroic warrior, Beowulf, defeating his opponent, Grendel, is certainly different from current works of fiction. Differences in diction, context, and characters allow readers to see how different other cultures were, and whether or not these differences carry over into other cultures. It is no secret that things haveRead MoreThe Epic Of Beowulf And Grendel1363 Words   |  6 PagesWhen one first encounters the epic poem Beowulf, they are usually taken aback by the differences between the text of the Anglo Saxons at that time and our present culture. This tale of a heroic warrior, Beowulf, defeating his opponent, Grendel, is certainly different from current works of fiction. Differences in diction, context, and characters allow readers to see how different other cultures were, and whether or not these differences carry over into other cultures. It is no secret that things haveRead MoreCharacter Of Grendel And Beowulf999 Words   |  4 PagesMost readers find it hard to understand and sympathize with the antagonist of a story. When most think of Grendel, they picture evil and mayhem. However, this is because of the one sided portrayal provided by the novel Beowulf. By having another piece of writing that id entifies the other side to the character that was not addressed, it allows the reader to see a different point of view and connect with the overall story even more; this is especially important in significant parts of the story. BothRead MoreBeowulf And Grendel Analysis729 Words   |  3 PagesIn the books Beowulf and Grendel they discuss the meaning of our world, the power of good and evil. Prince of the welders was portrayed as the hero because this spine chilling â€Å"immortal† monster was to be slain at the hands of this warrior. The reason that â€Å"the slayer† wanted to defeat Grendel was so he could keep the riches and try to fill that void that fuels the greed within him. The creation of Grendel was a sound decision due to the aspect that it shows the ulterior motives of the story. The