Time and Life Essay Example for Free

Time and Life Essay According to a popular saying,schooldays are the happiest days of your life. Is there any truth in this? Answers to this question are bound to vary greatly from person to person. A person’s answer will depend on how happy the person’s schooldays actually were and on how happy the rest of his or her life has been since. To give a really true answer to this question you have to be fairly close to the end of your life. Hopefully,by this time you will have lived a long time. If this is the case,then you will have a long period of time to look back on. Will no other period of your life have made you happier than your schooldays? This seems rather unlikely. There are certain momentous times in a person’s life which are usually accompained by a great feeling of happiness,even of ecstasy. One of these is being in love. Another is a person’s wedding day. Yet another, and many parents would put this at the top of their happiness list, is the birth of a couple’s child. These are milestones in human life and they bring happinessto the majority of people who experience them. However, apart from these emotional milestones, there is a wide variation in what makes people happy. To a large extent what brings happiness to a person depends on what they are interested in. For example, athletes might well regard their period of supreme happiness as the time they won a major track or field event, especially an Olympic event. Footballers might regard the peak of their happiness as the time they played for a top-ranking team and scored a crucial goal in an important game. Ambitious businesspeople might be at the hightest point of their happiness when they bring off a particulary successful and shrewd business deal. If there are all these opportunities, and many more, for achieving happiness in life, how has the idea arise that schooldays are the happiest days of our life? It is at least partly because people’s memories, particularly older people’s memories, tend to be imperfect when they look back on the past. Not only that. Especially where childhood is concerned, older people tend to look back at past through rose-coloured spectacles. For example, they might remember the weather during the summer holidays as being much better than it is now. That has nothing whatsoever to do with modern climate change. It has to do with looking back on the past with affection and nostalagia-and a lack of realism. A few people’s schooldays might genuinely have been the happiest days of their lives. On the other hand, some people’s schooldays might have been an absolute nightmare with stern schoolteachers administering harsh punishments and fellow students teasing and bullying them, not to mention the often unbearable pressure of exams. For most people,neither of these extremes fits the bill. Their schooldays are the usual mixture of happiness and unhappiness,like the rest of their lives. Schooldays are not the happiest days of their lives.

Expansion Strategy of Honda

Expansion Strategy of Honda 1.0 Introduction Honda was started by Soichiro Honda in the 40s after receiving his first contract with Toyota in manufacturing piston ring. Since in school, Soichiro Honda started developing piston ring in order to get a contract with Toyota. His determination had bring Honda into todays success, Fail for so many times, Soichiro Honda never give up and continue his dream and successfully get the contract with Toyota. Honda Motor Company produces not only cars as known generally but also produces track, motorbike, watercraft and those gasoline engines. Instead, Honda is the world largest engine manufacturer (Ronnie, 2009) Started in Japan, Honda expand into many other country using different kind of entry mode includes Foreign Direct investment, exporting, alliances and joint ventures. At first, around 1970s Honda enter into USA market by exporting the N600 which say to be the fastest at that time. In 1976, Honda continues expanding in USA by building car plant is Accord plant in Marysville. Today, Honda has total of three plant in Ohio where the other two is located at Alabama and South Carolina. (Ronnie, 2009) Honda is a successful automobile which is manufacturers lawnmowers, power equipment, motorcycles, and generators. Therefore, Honda has opened its doors to the franchising market. After Honda was franchising it market, Honda was continuous successful in automobile industry. With an establishing brand name of Honda, the franchisees can get the recognition from the customers. They can easily to the franchisees to start doing their business. The Honda franchisees are required to pay Honda franchise at least $250,000. As a return, Honda franchisees are able to list everything you need and want from the franchise deal before you sign the agreement. In addition, Honda franchise also has taken good care to the franchisees. They have provides 2 week training course for new franchise owners. This can able the new franchisees to learn how to operate the businesses. Besides that, Honda Franchise also has give the ongoing support for the franchise through internet and online support, regular visits, newsletters and meetings and so on. The Honda Franchisees can apply their owns concept to the business, but they need to discuss with the Honda franchise first before apply it. In 2010, Harley-Davidson and American Honda Motor Company were announced to be merger as one which is known as Honda-Davidson Motor Company. The merger happened when the American Honda Motor Company was completed purchase of 51% of Harley-Davidson stock. With the merger, Honda-Davidson Motor Company was promised to provide the most comprehensive line of Motorcycles to the customers. The combination of both companies will continue to providing the world with the highest quality motorcycles. Besides that, the new company also exploring the opportunities to provide additional models that combines the best of both former companies. Honda -Nowadays, Davidson Motor Company is the only major U.S.- based motorcycle manufacturer, produces heavyweight motorcycles and a complete line of motorcycles parts, accessories and general merchandise in united state. 2.0 Current Expansion Strategy Expansion strategy may here be referred to market entry strategy which is commonly used by companies to venture and expand their businesses to other country. Before penetrating to other countries market, companies must make sure that they have sufficient financial resources and the nature of the products or services must fit into culture group of that particular country. Having ranked for 3rd largest Japanese automobiles, Honda is able to expand it businesses across Asian countries such as Thailand, Taiwan, China, India and Indonesia.(How To Enter China, 2000) Knowing the importance of international trade, different entry mode strategies have been adopted by Honda in respond to different countries. In Malaysia, Honda has a joint venture company named Boon Siew Honda Sdn Bhd which formed 50/50 between Honda Motor Co. Ltd and Oriental Holdings Bhd. (Boon Siew Honda profile,2012) The joint venture agreement was formed in 2008 which means that Honda has expanded its businesses in Malaysia through joint venture. Aside of Boon Siew Honda Sdn Bhd which solely trades on motorcycles, Honda has expanded its automotive business through joint venture strategy. Currently, Honda Malaysia Sdn Bhd is a joint venture company formed by DRB-HICOM Bhd, Honda Motor Co. Ltd and Oriental Holdings Bhd. ( Honda Malaysia profile,2012) The main reason Honda to use joint venture strategy to expand its businesses in Malaysia is to diversify the business risks. Having said that, using joint venture strategy as an expansion strategy can reduce the risk of by forming coalition with other companies in host country. Besides that, Honda has also expanded its realm using foreign direct investment in Taiwan. A plant was built by Honda in Taiwan in 1961 prior to produce cars and has made Taiwan to become major producers of motorcycle for Honda. (How To Enter China, 2000) This allows the company to export most of the motorcycles to other countries such as China, Europe and Middle East. The main reason Honda to build its manufacturing plant in Taiwan is to reduce exports of motorcycles from Japan. Foreign direct investment has also benefited Honda in a sense that the company can have better control over the plant in Taiwan at the same time achieved economies of scale. In Thailand, Honda practiced foreign direct investment which has formed Asia Honda Motor Co. Ltd in 1964. (How To Enter China, 2000) The plant set up in Ayutthaya, Thailand aimed to produce motorcycles and export to Asian countries. In addition, Thailands plant has more production capacity which has contributed to major exports across Asia. Particularly in Thailand, Honda has obtained a market share more than 60%. This is because the Honda brand recognition in host country is high and this has led to local support for Honda. In China, the entry strategy proposed by Honda is somewhat unfamiliar to other countries. Honda has used equity joint venture strategy which has formed 2 joint venture companies named GuangZhou Honda Automobile Co. Ltd and Dongfeng Honda Engine Co. Ltd respectively. (How To Enter China, 2000) In the meantime, Honda has 50% of stake in each of these joint venture companies which has allowed Honda to have partial control over these two companies. In recent years, sales of Honda cars in China were terribly declined by 5 % compared to the time the company first entered China. The declining sale was caused by the high demand of low-cost cars produced in China. Another reason was due to the existing rivalries in China which consists of several big players such as Toyota, Nissan and Mercedes. Generally speaking, Honda is adopting low-risk expansion strategies in the first place to evaluate market respond of a particular country. After building up the brand recognition, the company will decide whether to expand further in that particular country. This can be seen when Honda formed a joint venture company in Malaysia to market its motorcycles to Malaysian. After assessing the profitability of the products, Honda started to sell luxury cars such as Honda City and Honda Civic. This could have helped Honda to reduce the risk of losing everything proposing a joint venture strategy in the first place. Foreign direct investment is used by Honda in Taiwan and Vietnam to increase the production of motorcycles and motorcars to increase exports. At the same time, increased production will help Honda to fulfill the demands of other importing countries. 3.0 Future Expansion Strategy As mention in the previous part of the assignment we can see Honda with extraordinary expansion strategy has allowed the company group to triumph in the highly competitive world market especially against domestic competitor. These expansion strategy though practical and effective are in some way lack of aggressive to compete with other automobile MNC (multinational corporation). Since Honda is originated from Japan we decided to compare Honda with its domestic competitor such as Nissan and Toyota. For decades Honda has been compete with Nissan and Toyota domestically and abroad, however till this day Honda still maintain the position of Number 3 right after Toyota the first and Nissan, second. This comparison allowing us to realize that the successfulness of Honda is still in behind this two multinational automobile giant. As such below we will provide some entry modes strategies for future expansion for Honda based on some global market that we have analyses. 3.1 South Korea: An overview Take Korea into consideration. Honda has already exporting cars to Korea for a decade and however the sales there are always below the profit margin until Honda are no longer expecting high returns on Korea market. In actual fact, not only Honda are doing unwell in S.Korea most Japanese MNC had a hard time penetrating S.Korea market due to war history between Korea and Japan to be the main reason why Korean are less relying on Japanese products. However based on our knowledge Korea is a very potential market, and Honda should use joint venture in Korea to triumph where other Japanese competitor failed. Why South Korea? There are some facts that indulge all investors in the world to invest in South Korea market. South Korea is the worlds largest democracy among the strongest emerging markets in all business field. Furthermore, it has liberalized economy with 300 million in the middle class bracket, with well matured financial and securities market and time-tested judicial systems. Apart from that, Seoul capital of South Korea is growing with enormous speed to compete with world most successful city including New York and London, financially. With the sound potential of the market, let us look at the action of the government of South Korea, firstly it is a WTO member committed to providing opportunity to the global market. The Korean Government is constantly undertaking reforms in every sector with Infrastructure Sector receiving Governments fullest attention, the S.Korea government also permits foreign investment virtually in every sector of the economy. Majority foreign equity, even up to 100 per cent in some sectors, is encouraged and special investment incentives are provided. In short South Korea is a potential Market that Honda should not overlook due to the points below, Large pool of educated land expertise of manpower in South Korea. Disposable income is continuously increasing with the economy growing at more than 8.5% p.a. Cities booming with world class integrated infrastructure. South Korea has potential to attract more than US $ 100 billion over next five years. Potential for creation of near 1 Million direct and indirect jobs each year. As for now that the certainty of South Korea was an expansion market. A suitable partner must be recognized in Korea to allow the joint venture to be successful. Our group varies in suggesting a partner but agreed that Asia motor is among the best to Joint Venture with Honda to create a Asia-Honda venture. We select Asia motor for a numerous reasons, first its engineering capability, Asia motor founded in 1965 is one of South Korea most highly reputable automobile industry focusing in medium and big sizes vehicle is the best partner for both Asia Motor and Honda to penetrate into a new market. Beside that, relevance and salience of Asia Motor brand is also one of the core reasons in selecting Asia Motor, furthermore its company distribution network as of since 1965 have been matured and controlling large traffic in sense of party needed in a successful network. Lastly the company also announces with well function internally such as low turnover rate. These points allowing us to believe that Asia-Honda ventures is going to turn out fine. As such we recommended Joint ventures in South Korea due to its potential and Honda future development. 3.2 Exporting Exporting is not a new term for Honda. In fact Honda had been an expert in exporting worldwide where any place u name it, as long as there is demand, shipment of Honda cars can directly send to your dealer or home in no time. Using exporting as main expansion strategy for Honda is a success for many decades, however they have always overlook what their competitors are doing. Toyota are using this expansion strategy as well an if Honda is an expert in exporting cars, Toyota is a grandmaster. When we suggest export as Honda future expansion strategy we realizes the fact that Honda are doing it now, good, but not good enough. In this case we suggest that Honda uses this expansion strategy, exporting in a whole new market penetration rather than the traditional car/motor vehicle market. We suggest aircraft market penetration worldwide. If we look at Honda current research on car, we will discover that Honda had a very success researched on hybrid and fuel efficient engine currently focusing on cars and motor vehicle, In fact, Honda GX NGV is termed as the cleanest car on earth as far as centralized agitation engines are concerned, apply that to an aircraft and we have a whole new level of airplane. Competition in the aircraft industries are High, dominated mostly by Boeing and follow up by airbus it will never be easy as it suggest in the report, but chances are there to expand worldwide in a whole new categories of market. Suggesting in exporting in aircraft is not bold for Honda there has been a history for Honda in aircraft development since the 80s. According to the data we acquired on the internet and book research, Honda had been study small sized business jets in the since 1980s, using engines from other manufacturers. TheÂÂ  Honda MH02ÂÂ  was fabricated and assembled at Mississippi State Universitys Raspet Flight Research Laboratory in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The MH02 was a prototype using composites with an organic matrix. Since that a prototype of Honda Jet had been on the development. The Honda Jet made its maiden flight in December 2003. It debuted to the public at theÂÂ  EAA Air Venture air showÂÂ  inÂÂ  Oshkosh, Wisconsin, in July 2005. On July 25, 2006, Honda returned to Oshkosh to announce it would commercialize the Honda Jet. Honda established theÂÂ  Honda Aircraft CompanyÂÂ  to seek both type and production certification of the Honda Jet. Production is to take place in the United States. The company estimated the sales would be around 70 to 100 per annum. The certification of aircraft (FAA)ÂÂ  is expected to follow around August 2011. Delivery of the first plane is planned for the third quarter of 2012. In recent event, the Viking pioneers had been using Honda aircraft engine as their Viking aircraft engine and it had been a huge success and it is considerable that a Viking aircraft engine is the only modern and reasonably priced aircraft engine available today. Honda has reach a stagnant growth in cars and automobile manufacture worldwide. If Honda start exporting aircraft as their new expansion strategy it might became one of the competitor for Boeing and triumph in a whole new market level. 3.3 Strategic Alliance Honda should apply strategy alliance as its future expansion strategy to enter the new market. Through strategy alliance, all the automobile company can work together to achieve same goal by using the least resources as they share the resources, information, capabilities and risks to achieve it. One of the successful examples by using strategy alliance is Yahoo and Sina. They teamed up together to offer auction service in China. This partnership will leverage both companies respective users bases as Sina has 83million registered users while Yahoos expertise and technology to support the auction platform. Therefore, Honda need apply strategy alliance with others automobile company such as Nissan, Toyota, Mercedes-Benz and others. Through this, Honda and others automobile company can share their technique knowledge to resolving the specific problem or avoiding the basic mistake, develop a better function of car, design of car which better than before. For examples, Honda recalling over 172,000 vehicles because of door latch issue during July, 2012. Furthermore, Honda also can use the strategy alliance to institute of technology campus or college, so that Honda might not face lack of labor force problem in future. Honda can recruit the potential student as their technician after they graduate directly. It might not let the potential technician employ by others automobile company if Honda has the opportunities to do so such as having contract to the potential students by providing scholarship to them. Besides, institute of technology campus or college can provide the specific program which require by Honda to train the student so that student is more familiar to Honda company job scope after they graduate. One of the examples is HP is partnership with UoPeople (university of the people), which provides UoPeople students the opportunity to apply for internship to work with the HP Catalyst Initiative. 4.0 Conclusion Globalization is a compulsory for every company in order to be able to stay competitive in the market. Those without it can be easily kicked out from the market. Every bank in the world is somehow connected even though they are from different company. Two different companies with different culture can merger in order to gain win-win profit. This is why globalization is important. Honda is also the same. In order to improve the Research and Development for cars in China, Honda has joint venture with GS Yuasa Formalize Li-Ion. Successful expansion had make the success of Honda today. Every country has its own culture and government rules. Different approaches might be useful to one and not to the other. hence, it is important to research on the specific country before using different expansion strategies into the country.To conclude, sometimes different cultures, different norms and different rules and regulation might result in conflict. However, foreign market is much more beneficial to invest in compare to the local market. Is tougher, and more challenger but more profitable.

What Is A Learning Journal Psychology Essay

What Is A Learning Journal Psychology Essay A learning journal is a way of capturing and recording your thoughts, impressions, concerns, questions and reflections. This provides an informal yet focused place to express whatever comes to mind. Its purpose is to enhance further insights on how you learn experiences through the process of writing and thinking about how you learn. Your learning journal is personal and will reflect your experiences, preferences and personality. Why am I completing a learning journal as part of my study of social psychology? The learning journal will help enhance further understanding about social psychology and how we can adapt these personal experiences individually, as social psychology mainly focuses on dealing with social interactions this can help us understand how we can socially connect with ourselves and others through interacting insights and experiences that are reflected in our learning journals. This can influence our perceptions and interpretations of how each of us understands social psychology and how we can observe it which also indicates implications it may have had on your level of understanding and to help identify your strengths, weaknesses and preferred preference of the unit. What do I hope to learn from this assignment? From this assignment i hope to learn skills and abilities that will give me a thorough and deeper knowledge as to how i can express and reflect on my own ideas and to help me understand how they build on what i already know using it in my own independent research. Through the development of this learning journal I also hope that this will not only broaden and reflect my personal views and ideas of the content but to further extend my knowledge of the assignment. This will enable me to gain experience and to help me understand and accomplish intellectual processes, goals and tasks that are required in order to reflect upon. Self and Identity Which aspect of the topic has interested me most? Why? The aspect of this topic that caught my interest would be development of the social self I have found this topic aspect very interesting as it explains and reflects on how people see and identify ones social self. To me this broadens my insights as to how and why each individual is looked upon socially because of their self concept, self esteem, self knowledge and social self. This also demonstrates how each individual is looked upon and how their roles can vary from others which help show the social world that surrounds us and how each one of us can develop and become part of the social world. This not only relates to me but to any individual according to the development of the social self. What are the main ideas, concepts and evidence related to this aspect? The main ideas that cover multiple concepts on how the social world is developing includes the roles we play, the social identities we form, the comparisons we make with each other, our successes and failures, how other people judge us and the surrounding culture. In relation to the development of the social self a concept that related towards this aspect include the looking glass self which is a social psychological concept which was created by Charles Horton Cooley in 1902. This concept states that a person self grows out of societys interpersonal interactions and the perceptions of others. This mainly refers to people shaping their self-concepts based on their understanding of how others perceive them. One evidential way this can be perceived is through social comparisons (Festinger, 1954) which help us evaluate ourselves compared to others. What short quote from the text or reading illustrates an important point related to this aspect? An important point that signifies this aspect is found in the text book states that The self- concept has become a major social-psychological focus because it helps organize our thinking and guide our social behaviour. (PP.68) In stating this tells us that according to our self image we can base this on the way we live in a social world which can have an influence on the way we think and how we portray ourselves and other individuals we can also say that social experiences also play a part in developing ones social self. How is the aspect relevant to my social world? This aspect is relevant to my social world because it demonstrates how our social image and social perceptions can shape who we are and how we are viewed upon. The self can be analysed through multiple stages for the development of the social self, the social self concept Who am I? comes from ones self, social knowledge can explain how an individual predicts themselves. Self esteem self sense of how much their worth and social self which shows how roles as a student, family member and friend which can be used for a group identity. Prejudice and discrimination Which aspect of the topic has interested me the most? Why? An aspect of the topic Racial Prejudice has interested me the most because it shows how people can have a negative evaluation towards certain individuals or groups based on attitudes with certain biological characteristics. I find this of great awareness because racial prejudice affects people and populations all over the world and is linked with discrimination which also exists in today. What are the main ideas, concepts and evidence related to this aspect? The main ideas that come with racial prejudice can somewhat come out of ignorance for disliking others. As racial prejudice has common similarities with stereotyping, discrimination and hatred we know that prejudice is an attitude which is a distinct combination of feelings, inclinations to act, and beliefs. Further Concepts and evidence relating to this aspect include racial prejudice has been found between several self-report measures of religiousness and racial prejudice; however, no experiment has examined the direct effect of religion on racial attitudes. An experiment that was conducted by Jane Elliott (Born 1933) who was an anti-racism activist illustrated how biological characteristics through the experiment Blue eyes, brown eyes which was conducted to identify how biological features play a role in racial prejudice. What short quote from the text or reading illustrates an important point related to this aspect? Racial prejudice illustrates important points that relate towards the topic In the context of the world, every race is a minority. The individual in society (PP.182). This is an important point which clarifies how each individual is categorised in certain groups based on their biological characteristics and how they are viewed based on that fact which connects with racial prejudice and how individuals shape our understanding of racial prejudice to not only use certain attitudes towards biological differences but to categorise and judge that is based on the racial prejudice perspectives of the world. Multiple statements can help shape up how racial prejudice is present Im a Cablinasian. Tiger Woods, (1997) describing his caucasion, black, Indian and asain ancestry is a good example. How is the aspect relevant to my social world? As social reality is distinct from biological realities racial prejudice is relevant to my social world because it exists within todays society and is put into different groups within the sociological world. This is relevant in terms of judging and classifying based on race and, or gender which complies with racism and discrimination that also take place within the social world we live in today because of this racial justice is a problem and puts negative insights on minority groups based on biological characteristics. Due to this aspect becoming relevant to the social world racial prejudice affects many people in the social world based on each individuals attitudes towards certain individuals that shape the social world we live in today. Conformity and obedience Which aspect of the topic has interested me most? Why? One of the interesting aspects i have found in this topic is Milgrams obedience experiment. By Stanley Milgram (1963). I find this aspect of the topic interesting because his experiment demonstrates conformity and obedience to determine how far people were willing to go in order to obey the commands of an authority figure and how this experiment illustrated social influence. What are the main ideas, concepts and evidence related to this aspect? Main ideas that relate to this are evidently contrary to Milgrams conclusion that people blindly obey authorities to the point of committing evil deeds because we are so susceptible to environmental conditions. Because of this social psychology has become one of the most famous and controversial experiments. There are concepts behind conforming as it can be defined as adjusting ones behaviour and or thinking to match those of other people or group standard, the base line as to why people confirm is because it is suggested that everyone does it. It is evident to say that when the first subject of the Milgram experiment, Emily, quit the moment she was told the protocol. This isnt really my thing, she said with a nervous laugh when our second subject, Julie, got to 75 volts and heard Tyler groan, she protested: I dont think I want to keep doing this. Jeremy insisted: You really have no other choice. I need you to continue until the end of the test. In saying so this demonstrates how social influence can affect individuals thoughts, perceptions and behaviors in order to confine with obedience. What short quote from the text or reading illustrates an important point related to this aspect? Milgrams (1965, 1974) experiments tested what happens when the demands of authority clash with the demands of conscience. This illustrates an important point in relation to this aspect because according to Milgram human moral nature includes a tendency to be empathetic, kind and good according to our relationships and group members, this also shows inclination towards being chauvinistic, cruel and evil to others. According to the shock experiments reveal not blind obedience but conflicting moral tendencies that lie deep within based on this social influence plays a role in Milgrams experiment in order for people to show signs of obedience and conformity. How is this aspect relevant to my social world? This aspect is relevant to my social world because in society today we are conforming and being obedient under certain instances for example schools require conformity such as wearing school uniform is an example of compliance conformity which is like norms that we must order and obey. An example of being obedient in todays society would be joining the army you must follow and obey instructions in order to qualify the required norms they have set for you. These are all things that happen in the social world we live in because of this the social world and the larger world we are part of is when an individual fully understands the events that are happening around them. This involves the part of life that affects them and their surroundings and in this case conformity and obedience are clearly recognised in todays social world this is the result of social influence. Conclusions What value has this journal been for my learning of social psychology? This journal has valued in teaching me about social psychology and how it deals with social interactions. This has also helped me understand and explain how the thought, feeling and behavior of individuals are influenced by the actual, imagined or implied presence of other people because of this i now have a higher level of knowledge about social psychology. The journal has also observed social psychology as to how it looks at ranges of social topics that have been explained and how people can interact and understand how social psychology is being used. What are the strengths and weaknesses of my journal? For me figuring out my weaknesses is just as important  as figuring out my strengths because I believe that our strengths come from our weaknesses and our weaknesses come from our strengths. I think that a strength that is present in my journal is that it is structured briefly yet descriptive at the same time which makes it reflect upon my understanding of tasks and at the same time has the required information in order to properly state and explain my information. My learning journal is slightly focused more on the topic and should evaluate my points into further detail but aside from that I believe my journal has a good and brief layout in order for anyone to reflect upon. Did I get out of this assignment what I hoped for? Yes i believe that i have acquired some more knowledge towards the desired skills and abilities that I hoped for when writing my journal. This has given me deeper insights to each aspect of the topics. I have expressed and reflected my own personal ideas, this has also helped me build up on what was required for the completion of this learning journal. As I mentioned earlier in my introduction the learning journal has helped enhance my understanding about social psychology and has demonstrated how social psychology can be adapted in the society we live in and how it works around us.

Marxist Cultural Theory Essay -- Film Review, Adorno on Cinema

This chapter examines two forms of practice that communicate messages from a group or an individual to the public, cultural production and political public speaking in the light of Marxist cultural theories. The review of writings about the practice of art by mid-20th century Marxist thinkers makes one thing clear - aesthetic utterances by artists and cultural figures fulfil a role in the political and social discourse and the importance of this role within the context of class struggle must not be ignored. The role of aesthetics as viewed by Marxist theorists such as Adorno and Horkheimer is to educate and inspire the public to live a life more worthy of living. (Adorno, 2006, p. 39) This chapter argues that cultural practitioners have a responsibility to encourage the public to confront their social and political conflicts. Two methods of assuming this responsibility are discussed. First is the claim that a political message in an artwork is to be communicated without attempting to create an emotional anchor for the public to identify with. This method, primarily expounded by Brecht, sees the political message as the most important aspect of the work; thus it is crucial that the public receives it and does not get distracted. The second approach, as envisaged by Lukà ¡cs, supports a representation of reality which allows an audience to relate to and identify with the political messages. The emotional connection is presented in this concept as essential to the successful transmission of an idea, as human beings relate more easily to topics they can connect to emotionally. These two methods are discussed in the chapter in relation to the conveyance of political messages through aesthetics, not strictly in the art world, but also ... ... also art which is popular and pleasurable, not just art which has a politically 'correct' line. Indeed to be politically correct, art must be pleasurable and accessible.' (Lovell, 1980, p. 77) Brecht saw art as a verb. He saw a social revolution as inevitable and believed art should be more than affirming to the current state of affairs. The artist's role is to bring social change through pushing the public into a critical thought process, and that is achieved by producing daring, experimental and confrontational work, not only in the subject matter but in the form as well. Brecht viewed the existing form of art practice as supporting the social status quo rather than revolution. He developed his model of the Epic Theatre following his analysis of the bourgeois theatre and singling out the elements in this form that were not serving revolutionary enough messages.

Aristotle on Paideia of Principles :: Philosophy Philosophical Essays

Aristotle on Paideia of Principles ABSTRACT: Aristotle maintains that paideia enables one to judge the method used by a given speaker without judging the conclusions drawn as well (I.1 De Partibus Animalium). He contends that this "paideia of principles" requires three things: seeing that principles are not derived from one another; seeing that there is nothing before them within reason; and, seeing that they are the source of much knowledge. In order to grasp these principles, one must respectively learn to recognize what distinguishes the subject matters studied in different disciplines, see first principles as coming from experience and acquire the habit of seeking them in one’s experience and, finally, see first principles as being the source of conclusions. While the second and third points might at first seem to pertain to "nous" and science, respectively, rather than to paideia, the case can be made that paideia involves more of a firm grasp of principles than "nous" and a less perfect way of relating co nclusion to principles than science. Aristotle speaks explicitly of paideia of method, the most noteworthy passage being Bk. 1, c. 1 of The Parts of Animals. He also explicitly identifies certain thinkers as lacking paideia this sort of paideia. Paideia of method allows a person to judge the way a speaker is proceeding without for so much being able to judge his conclusions (639a15). What is less obvious is that Aristotle holds that there is paideia of principles. However, there is one passage which makes this fairly clear (NE 1098b5, cited below). In addition, careful examination of passages where Aristotle calls attention to judgments or misjudgments pertaining to paideia reveals that there is not one but many reasons for calling a method either good or bad, some of which reasons have to do with principles. This can be seen by contrasting the following two cases: Aristotle is critical of ethicists who insist on proceeding solely by demonstration because such rigor is inappropriate to ethical matters (NE 1094b20-28). However, the reason he criticizes Pythagoras for explaining moral virtue in terms of mathematical principles,(1) is that Pythagoras is starting from principles which are inadequate to explaining this matter. Of the two mistakes, that as to the starting point is plainly more serious. Every error as to starting point entails error as to one's subseque nt proceeding, but not vice versa. A principle is always a principle of something, and every method or orderly proceeding has a principle or starting point.

Objectives in Corporate Finance Essay

If you don’t know where you are going, it does not matter how you get there† Aswath Damodaran Stern School of Business Aswath Damodaran 2 First Principles Invest in projects that yield a return greater than the minimum acceptable hurdle rate. †¢ The hurdle rate should be higher for riskier projects and reflect the financing mix used – owners’ funds (equity) or borrowed money (debt) †¢ Returns on projects should be measured based on cash flows generated and the timing of these cash flows; they should also consider both positive and negative side effects of these projects. Choose a financing mix that minimizes the hurdle rate and matches the assets being financed. If there are not enough investments that earn the hurdle rate, return the cash to the owners of the firm (if public, these would be stockholders). †¢ The form of returns – dividends and stock buybacks – will depend upon the stockholders’ characteristics. Objective: Maximize the Value of the Firm Aswath Damodaran 3 The Classical Viewpoint Van Horne: â€Å"In this book, we assume that the objective of the firm is to maximize its value to its stockholders† Brealey & Myers: â€Å"Success is usually judged by value: Shareholders are made better off by any decision which increases the value of their stake in the firm†¦ The secret of success in financial management is to increase value. The most important theme is that the objective of the firm is to maximize the wealth of its stockholders. Brigham and Gapenski: Throughout this book we operate on the assumption that the management’s primary goal is stockholder wealth maximization which translates into maximizing the price of the common stock. Aswath Damodaran 4 The Objective in Decision Making In traditional corporate finance, the objective in decision making is to maximize the value of the firm. A narrower objective is to maximize stockholder wealth. When the stock is traded and markets are viewed to be efficient, the objective is to maximize the stock price. All other goals of the firm are intermediate ones leading to firm value maximization, or operate as constraints on firm value maximization. Aswath Damodaran 5 The Criticism of Firm Value Maximization Maximizing stock price is not incompatible with meeting employee needs/objectives. In particular: †¢ – Employees are often stockholders in many firms †¢ – Firms that maximize stock price generally are firms that have treated employees well. Maximizing stock price does not mean that customers are not critical to success. In most businesses, keeping customers happy is the route to stock price maximization. Maximizing stock price does not imply that a company has to be a social outlaw. Aswath Damodaran 6 Why traditional corporate financial theory focuses on maximizing stockholder wealth. Stock price is easily observable and constantly updated (unlike other measures of performance, which may not be as easily observable, and certainly not updated as frequently). If investors are rational (are they? ), stock prices reflect the wisdom of decisions, short term and long term, instantaneously.

Communist victory in the Second Indochina War Essay

When assessing the importance of the Viet Cong (VC) in the Communist victory, one cannot look past the unity, discipline and effective organisation in the vanguard of the VC forces. The Viet Cong were made up of volunteer servicemen who traveled to South Vietnam as Autumn Cadres – ready to exploit the coming political harvest. The central purpose of the Viet Cong campaigns was to polarise the population, to divide it irrevocably from the GVN, and to mobilise it for service and sacrifice in support of the Revolution. The importance of the Viet Cong lies in their contribution to the Indochina conflict, and can be assessed through a social, political and military context. The role of the VC in a sociopolitical context is of a significant importance in the Communist victory in the Second Indochina War. The VC forces were most numerous in rural South Vietnam, especially in Strategic Hamlet-run villages. Once the VC established a strong presence in an area, they attempted to seal off the local population both physically and psychologically from any further contact with the Government of South Vietnam (GVN). They were particularly intent on denying the government all intelligence on Communist troop movements, bivouac sites, supply cachà ©s, and information relating to those who serve in their local military and political infrastructures. To inhibit intelligence penetration and collection in Communist-controlled or contested areas, the VC not only systematically identified and neutralized anyone suspected of being a GVN spy or informant, but they also imposed and enforced very stringent regulations governing travel within the villages and hamlets and proscribing all unauthorized contact with GVN persons. The indoctrination performed by the VC didnt limit the villagers hatred to just to GVN intelligence personnel; indeed, all repressive activity was cloaked in highly emotional propaganda designed to arouse the people to a deep hatred of, a desire for revenge and to heighten their concept of revenge against the military and civilian officials serving the government. For example, in guidelines for a propaganda campaign in the Ben Tre Province for the period October 1968 to March 1969, the VC directed cadres to â€Å"make the people feel a profound hatred of the enemy’s savage crimes and incite  them to avenge their compatriots and kinfolk by enthusiastically and actively taking part in combat activities to heroically annihilate the enemy and achieve great merits.† The indoctrination performed by the VC allowed them to gain mass support from the villagers, taking it away from the controversial GVN. This support allowed the VC to form networks across the province, which, m ilitarily, facilitated the late offensives by the North Vietnamese Army (NVA) during the final stages of the war. The role of the VC in a military context is of a significant importance in the Communist victory in the Second Indochina War. The Communist Field Commander for China during the Second Indochina War, Lin Piao, stated that, In order to win a peoples war, it is imperative to build the broadest possible united front and formulate a series of policies which will ensure the fullest mobilisation of the basic masses as well as the unity of all the forces that can be unified Although the VC were a persistent and ingenious force, further assessment identifies that a war of attrition was not going to win them the war. General for The NVA, General Vo Nguyen Giap, stated that, the way to win the war is by small defeats, one after the other until the coup de grace.Viet Cong strategy differed from other communist nations in that military activity prepared the way for a political showdown, rather than political activity preparing the way for a military showdown. Having defined the goal of the struggle in the South as a political rather than a military victory, the Viet VC at first sought to make credible the inability of the Saigon government to administer. In response to a growing American presence, they increased their military activity in order to exploit contradictions in the American position. The VC revolutionaries took full advantage of the contradictions and tailored their military activities to exploit these perceived weaknesses by making the war so long, bloody and expensive that American opinion would turn against it. These activities intended to damage psychologically the U.S. commitment to the war, thus generating a negative cost-benefit analysis among American political leaders and thereby producing a victory more like that obtained by the Viet Minh in 1954. The essence of the VC strategy was not to defeat the U.S. and allied forces militarily but to convince the Americans through the use of violence,  both persuasively and at selected points, that their position is hopeless. This stratagem was evident in the Tet Offensive of 1968. The initial goal of Tet was to destroy the morale of the United States and GVN by proving that the communist threat did not only exist in the countryside, but in urban areas also. The VC forces attacked the US embassy in Saigon, surprising the Americans and forcing them into a conventional war. This proved costly for the Viet Cong as there were serious casualties and loss of manpower one third (38,000) of the VC fighting force were either killed or wounded. Due to the loss of numbers, the North Vietnamese had to infiltrate the ranks of the Viet Cong. Moreover, the VC lost local knowledge of the South Vietnamese terrain, which inhibited the abilities of the new forces from the North. Paradoxically, although the U.S. saw Tet as a military victory, the American home front did not. Television effectively brought the brutality of the war into the comfort of the living room. Vietnam was lost in the living rooms of America not on the battlefields of Vietnam (Marshall McLuhan). Following the Tet Offensive, support for President Johnson dropped to 26 percent, resulting in his withdrawal from the Presidential race. Nixon was elected on a promise to end Americas involvement in Vietnam. Politically, the Tet Offensive is considered a Communist victory. Although they lost, the military contribution of the VC during Tet effectively led to the U.S. withdrawal in 1973, allowing the NVA to initiate the North Vietnamese Offensive in 1975, causing South Vietnam to surrender unconditionally. The role of the VC in a political context is of a considerable importance in the Communist victory in the Second Indochina War. Being influenced by mainly China and Russia, members of the VC learned the power of propaganda and in doing so became skilled at manipulating people by symbols, and in general they acquired a view of the world in which politics is the driving and dominant force. Historian Ithiel de Sola Pool states, the elements of the Viet Cong that will remain effective the longest after the main forces have been increasingly battered in combat will be those cadres who have built a political base in their own villages, including of course military cadres who will try to slip back into the main force. Further research shows  that it is these cadres that are the political force in the populated areas and who can be partially won over in any politically stable settlement. They are the most politically significant and the most responsive to citizens needs and problems. Without giving and receiving political support from the South Vietnamese population, North Vietnam was not going to win the war. As stated before, the goal of the struggle in the South was a political rather than a military victory and this became the primary doctrine for the Communists throughout the war. The numerous guerilla incidents throughout the war had no purpose but to serve the Communist political movement. The destruction inflicted upon Vietnam by the U.S. gave the VC a political advantage in that they won the support of the South Vietnamese peasantry. The political struggle movement allowed the South Vietnamese people to contribute to the war, emphasizing that the politics within the VC are highly significant when assessing the Communist victory in the Second Indochina War. The complex facets of the Viet Cong forces prove that they were essentially important in the Communist victory in the Second Indochina War. The Viet Cong effectively established their role in the revolution, providing support to the North as well as fighting in foreign territory. In contrast to such heterogeneous and disorganised elements of the GVN, the Viet Cong had at its disposal a government which dated back to 1945, a reservoir of manpower which had been unified by years of war and Communist Party discipline, and a network of agents which it had established during the war years in the cities and villages of the south. It is for these reasons that the Viet Cong were important in the Communist victory in the Second Indochina War. Bibliography Primary SourcesChalmers, J. The Third Generation of Guerilla Warfare, Asian Survey, Vol. 8, No. 6. (Jun., 1968), pp. 435-447. de Sola Pool, I. Political Alternatives to the Viet Cong. Asian Survey, Vol. 7, No. 8, Vietnam: A Symposium. (Aug., 1967), pp. 555-566. Doc. Log No. 11-1020-68 (Confidential), dated January 15, 1969, quoted in Le, Thanh Nam (1996). Control and Polarization of the Populace, 25th Aviation Battalion (online). Available at http://25thaviation.org/history/id926.htm (Accessed 21 July, 2006)Lin Piao, Long Live the Peoples War (Peking: Foreign Languages Press, 1965), pp. 44, quoted in Chalmers, J. The Third Generation of Guerilla Warfare, Asian Survey, Vol. 8, No. 6. (Jun., 1968), pp. 435-447.