Chinua Achebes Things Fall Apart - How Things Fall Apart :: Things Fall Apart essays

How Things Fall Apart      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   There was a man who dreamed as a child of being well known and respected throughout his village and neighboring villages. This man, Okonko, worked hard at his goal, and he achieved it. Okonko, a man with great strength and personality, had achieved his goal to become rich and famous, a privilege that was unseen before in his family. Although Okonko reached his goal at an early age, his life began to Fall Apart when tragic episodes took place.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   One can see that Okonko's life first began to fall apart when Ikemefuna, a captive who stayed at Okonko's home, was killed. Okonko had thought of Ikemefuna as one of his own sons. He was deeply saddened when he was killed. One can see the effects on Okonko from that event. First Okonko was unable to sleep for the following three days. He also kept on getting drunk, and that was a sign that he was depressed. This incident also had a long-term effect on Okonko. From then on his family would look at him as if it were his fault that Ikemefuna is dead. This episode can be seen as an event where Okonko looses some faith from his family. This corresponds to Okonko loosing faith in his father.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Another important occurrence where one can see that Okonko's life falls apart was when he was thrown out of the clan for a few years. From this episode one can see that Okonko's hopes dreams have begun to fall apart. His hopes of being a rich and popular individual had drifted away with this upsetting incident. Okonko had no longer had his farm or animals. Also Okonko lost faith with most of his friends. This goes to show that Okonko lost faith with his friends, like his father lost faith with his.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Another episode that showed the downfall in Okonko's life was when Nwoye, his oldest and favorite son, converted to the white mans religion, Christianity. To Okonko this was very upsetting because Nwoye was his eldest son, and Okonko had the greatest expectations for him. When news came to him that Nwoye was among the white men, one could have foreseen that only no good was coming to Okonko after that.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   By glancing at Okonko's life, one could see that the title Things Fall

PR Research Final Project Essay

CHAPTER 1 Introduction There is a widespread belief in the professional world that in today’s society the future of any one company depends critically on how it is viewed by key stakeholders such as shareholders and investors, customers and consumers, employees, and members of the community in which the company resides. Public activism, globalization and recent accounting scandals have further strengthened this belief; and have also brought the importance of strategic communications management into closer orbit. Not surprisingly, therefore, both the academic and professional worlds have been suggesting frameworks and models that prescribe steps towards the ‘strategic’ use of communications including such ideas as ‘integrated marketing communications’ (Kitchen and Schultz, 1999), ‘corporate identity management’ (Van Riel and Balmer, 1997), ‘reputation management’ (Fombrun, 1996), ‘stakeholder communications’ (Christensen and Cheney, 1994) and ‘excellent public relations’ (Grunig and Grunig, 1998). Much of this work has been prescriptive in suggesting frameworks for managing communications and for managing firm-stakeholder interactions, as opposed to a more grounded and detailed understanding of the practices of branding and communications professionals and how these may make a difference in the management of firm-stakeholder relationships. Such an understanding is, we suggest, particularly important given the rift between the importance placed by CEO’s and senior executives upon strategic corporate communications, that is, linking communications activities with the overall corporate strategy and objectives of the firm, and their views that there is a huge under-performance in the communications profession in the US, the UK and continental Europe because of a lack of qualified personnel and a limited understanding of what communication practices actually make a difference (Argenti et al. , 2005; Murray and White, 2004; Van der Jagt, 2005). Against this background, I conducted primary research into practices (responsibilities, roles and activities) of communications professionals in four corporations (Siemens, Nokia, Shell and Philips) that have had consistently strong and glowing reputations over the past years, despite market setbacks and negative coverage in the media. The overall aim here was to elicit and conceptualize in more detail the activities and issues that define CC as a public relation function in practice. This extended conceptualization is based upon a view of CC as a ‘practice’, which focuses upon how practitioners engage in the doing the ‘real work’ (Cook and Brown, 1999, p. 387) – a view that, I hope, will stimulate conceptual debate and empirical research and offer a more informed basis for practitioners to make sense of their professional realities and act upon it. CHAPTER 2 REVIEW OF LITERATURE AND CRITIQUE According to writers Ewen (1996) and Cutlip (1995) the professional discipline of public relations (PR) – communication activities undertaken by an organization to inform, persuade or otherwise relate to individuals and groups in its outside environment – developed itself, expanding in its scope and activities, because of public skepticism, political reform, turmoil and activism throughout the 20th century. In PR’s early days as a discipline, at the height of the Industrial Revolution, power was largely concentrated with big businesses, although the balance has since then shifted towards powerful groups in society including governments, trade unions, investors and stockholders (Broom et al. , 1991). In response to the increased saliency and power of such groups, new areas of expertise such as investor relations, public affairs, issues management and employee communications were added to the existing specialties of media relations and publicity, and PR gradually developed into a full-fledged ‘managerial discipline’ in the early 1970s (Olasky, 1987). The ‘managerial discipline’ of PR has since then, as writers Van Riel (1995) and Cornelissen (2004) have documented, evolved into the ‘managerial function’ of CC. The fundamental contrast being that under CC communications activities and specialties (eg media relations, government relations, employee communications, community relations, advertising, investor relations, corporate design and issues management) have been increasingly taken together and consolidated into one or a few units or departments and, importantly, these activities are increasingly given shape and coordinated from the strategi c interests of the organization as a whole. Van Riel (1995: 26) for example suggests in this regard that CC as a managerial function is ‘an instrument of management by means of which all consciously used forms of internal and external communication are harmonized as effectively and efficiently as possible’, with the overall objective of creating ‘a favorable basis for relationships with groups upon which the company is dependent’. The evolution of PR into CC and its recognition as a managerial function is furthermore documented in the relatively high position of communications managers and departments (e.g. ‘Corporate communications’, ‘Public Affairs’ or ‘Corporate affairs’) within organizations’ hierarchical structures (Cornelissen, 2004), the rise of a new ‘style’ more business savvy ‘corporate communications’ manager (Freeman, 1984; Harris and Bryant, 1986; Marion, 1998), and the widespread adoption of the CC vocabulary of ‘stakeholders’, ‘identity’ and ‘reputation’ (Argenti, 1996; Van Riel, 1997). For example, a recent survey of Fortune 500 companies found that rather than using PR terminology around publics (ie people who mobilize themselves against an organization on the basis of some common issue or concern to them), managing ‘reputations’ with stakeholders is nowadays considered the lead philosophy among communication departments (Hutton et al. , 2001). In reviewing these literatures that have dealt with the function and process of communications between firms and groups in their respective environments, we observed two key points about the current conceptualization of CC and its embodiment as a managerial function in firms around the globe. First, theories and theoretical frameworks in these literatures implicate the importance of communications in firm-stakeholder interactions – and in that sense are coming together (cf Schultz et al. , 2000: 3) – but only focus on the process of communicating between a firm and stakeholders in its environment. These theories have been particularly focused on stakeholder effects and outcomes (e.g. images, reputations, relationships) established, but have paid very little attention to the managerial activities, professional issues and organizational contexts that characterize CC as a managerial function (cf Vercic and Grunig, 2000). Some work to this effect has emerged in recent years (Cornelissen, 2004; Scholes and Clutterbuck, 1998, 1997), but is still a long way off from fully conceptualizing and describing CC as a management function and practice – at least in comparison with other management functions and practices as for instance strategy (Whittington, 2003) and accounting (Hopwood and Miller, 1994). Second, there has been little actual empirical research into CC as a management function, despite the recognized importance of the function and a proliferating stream of literatures that directly or indirectly refer to it. Thus, there is a gap between theoretical deliberations on the relevance and importance of CC, and descriptive accounts of its actual use and embodiment in practice. We argue that a practice-based conceptualization of CC accounts for these limitations and provides not only a framework for extended theorizing and empirical research but also a means for practitioners to attain a fuller and richer understanding of this critical management function. The Organization of Communication Work The way in which communication practitioners and functional areas are organized is important as it not only determines to a large extent whether the communications function is enabled to provide strategic input into decision-making at the corporate level, but also whether the communication activities that are carried out at various places within the organization are streamlined and coordinated. In other words, the way in which communications is organized carries important strategic and political dimensions and is also crucial for the effective support and integration of communication activities. Ever since the 1970s, academic and practitioner writings have emphasized that firms should consolidate rather than fragment their communications by bringing practitioners and functional areas together into central organizational departments, with the purpose of pooling and enhancing communication expertise and increasing the organizational autonomy and visibility of communications within the organization (e.g. Cook, 1973; Dozier and Grunig, 1992; Grunig and Grunig, 1998; Schultz et al. , 1993; Van Riel, 1995). Siemens, for example, has consolidated all of its communications staff and their responsibilities into a ‘corporate brand and design’ department responsible for the strategic development and policing of the Siemens umbrella brand values, brand design and brand portfolio management, a ‘corporate communications’ department which includes advertising, internal communications and media relations, and a central ‘corporate messages’ unit encompassing both senior communications professionals responsible for developing and guarding the overall corporate story of Siemens and copy writers for speeches of senior managers. Such consolidation is according to a number of research surveys (eg Cornelissen and Thorpe, 2001) now commonplace, with the exception of a few large corporations like General Motors which rather than bringing functional areas together into a few central communications departments have devolved them as stand-alone units (eg a governmental affairs unit) or subordinated to other functions such as human resources or finance. Generally, then, there app-ears to be a greater consolidation of communications into a few departments, yet still in separate ‘corporate communications’ and ‘marketing’ or ‘corporate branding’ departments. Within large firms, such as multidivisional firms and multinational corporations like Siemens, Nokia, Philips and Shell, the relationship between the corporate center or group headquarters and the various business-units is usually a major strategic issue. One key structural consideration here, is as Argenti (1998: 5) suggests, to have ‘all communications focused by centralizing the activity under one senior officer at a corporation’s headquarters or to decentralize activities and allow individual business units to decide how best to handle communications’. Most large multinationals like Siemens, Shell, Nokia and Philips have a combination of centralized ‘global’ departments at the corporate center and decentralized ‘local’ departments, teams and professionals in business-units around the world. Within both Philips and Siemens, the ‘corporate branding’ and ‘corporate communications’ departments have defined a brand charter and a number of work processes to assist professionals within the business with their specific communication programs. The obvious reasoning behind these examples is that although bringing communications specialists together vertically into one or a few departments may lead to enhanced efficiency, to the ability to develop specialized, distinctive capabilities, and to ease of management through the centralization and consolidation of communication activities, it may not lead to coordination between communication-related departments and with other functional areas (eg human resources) outside those departments, and it risks ‘turf wars’, functional myopia, and over specialization. A horizontal structure overlaying the vertical structure, therefore, is often seen as necessary for coordinating disparate communications tasks and activities, which also recognizes that communications with key stakeholders might emerge from various places within the organization and that the process of developing and executing communication programs is therefore essentially cross-functional or cross-disciplinary (Heath, 1994). Horizontal structure can take various forms including multidisciplinary task or project teams, formal lines of communication, standardized work processes (Philips), council meetings (Shell, Siemens), communication guidelines (Siemens, Philips) a corporative vision and communications strategy (Nokia) or the use of ‘czars’ (senior practitioners working as integrators between departments). Large organizations in both the private and public sectors generally need at least some of these horizontal structures. Particularly in multidivisional firms operating across geographical borders, horizontal structures do not appear to be a luxury but an absolute necessity. In recent years there has been a lot of discussion around the departmental arrangement of communications and the reporting relationship of the central corporate affairs department (see Cornelissen, 2004). Ultimately, the stakes of this discussion are about the professional status of corporate communications (vis-à  -vis other established functions as human resources and finance) and its strategic involvement in decision-making at the highest corporate level. Claims that have been made to this effect include the arguments that different communications disciplines should be consolidated in a single department, and that the head of this department should report directly to the CEO or the senior management team (or be a member of this team) to bolster and secure the functional expertise as well as the strategic involvement of corporate communications in decision-making. Broom and Dozier (1986) and Grunig and Grunig (1998) characterized this involvement in organizational decision-making as perhaps most important to the communications practitioner than any other measure of professional growth. The guiding idea in this regard is that a direct reporting relationship to the CEO may be seen as an indication that there is indeed a broad, growing recognition among corporate executives and corporate boards that the ability to succeed will depend upon the firm’s ability to effectively communicate with its stakeholders; and that therefore the communications function is recognized as an absolute, integral part of the top management function. White and Mazur (1995) have added that such a direct reporting relationship is also important as it leads to excellent communications management as senior management is counseled on issues, and stakeholder and identity considerations may more easily get factored into the process of organizational decision-making. The results from a number of studies indicate that in the large majority of cases, there is indeed such a direct reporting relationship from the staff communications department to the CEO and/or executive team (e.g. Argenti and Forman, 2000; Cornelissen and Thorpe, 2001; Grunig and Grunig, 1998; Grunig et al. , 2002; Van Ruler and De Lange, 2003). In most large firms, such a direct reporting relationships consist of counseling and advising the CEO and senior executive team on stakeholder and reputation issues, rather than having a direct involvement (through a seat on the executive team) in corporate decision-making. In a recent study in the UK, Moss et al. (2000) found that within the sample of companies studied communications directors report directly to the CEO or chairperson of the senior management team, but were not formal members of the senior management team responsible for determining corporate strategy and strategic decision-making. In other words, all of the directors in the study indicated that ‘they were often consulted on important issues likely to affect their organizations, [but] their involvement in key operational decision-making was often limited to advising on how best to present policies to the outside world or to internal stakeholders’ (Moss et al. , 2000: 299). Similarly, within companies such as Shell, Siemens and Nokia, the senior vice-president in the area of CC sits on the second-tier management team (one level below the senior executive team), and in that capacity advises and counsels the CEO and senior executive team regarding corporate decision-making. Political and Cultural Issues This is not to say, of course, that the communications director should not have a seat on the executive board and should remain in this advisory capacity, but the UK study did show the current impediments to such a move. On the one hand, there is still a considerable lack of understanding and a lack of commitment to communications among senior managers. On the other hand, many senior communication practitioners often do not meet the needs of senior managers to provide communications advice and an input into corporate strategy in ways that contribute to the accomplishment of organizational objectives and that affect the bottom line. In other words, strategic corporate communications stands or falls with highly qualified input from the communication practitioner at the decision-making table; and only then will there be such a receptive environment for that contribution. The practitioner therefore needs to produce strategically focused recommendations for strategic corporate action; bringing to the attention of top managers a broad understanding of the strategic management process and of those issues that may affect and impact upon a company’s reputation (Cornelissen, 2004; Cropp and Pincus, 2001). Otherwise, communications will be seen as a largely tactical or ‘functionary’ activity; in which practitioners are considered ‘communications technicians’. Grunig et al. (2002) have argued that for many firms, the strategic potential of CC in its boundary-spanning role appears to go largely unrealized. This is the case, Grunig et al. (2002) argue, as senior management equally tends to treat communications largely as a tactical function, concerned primarily with the technical gathering of information and with carrying out publicity and promotion campaigns to external audiences. Contribution of Work and Activities The contribution and consumption of work and activities carried out by communication practitioners takes place at three levels within large firms: the corporate, market (or business-unit), and operational levels. Strategies and activities at the corporate level are concerned with the overall purpose (mission and vision) and scope of the firm to meet its various stakeholder expectations and needs. Strategies and activities at the market level are concerned with determining how the firm will compete successfully in particular markets. Strategies and activities at the operational level concern the way in which CC manages its own resources, processes and people to help deliver corporate and market-level strategic goals. Central to the question of what type of contribution CC makes and whether this is located at the corporate, business-unit or strictly operational level, is the definition and enactment of the function as either strategic or tactical. As a strategic function, there is likely to be strategic involvement of communications practitioners in managerial decision-making at the corporate and business-unit levels. Such a strategic view of communications, which in part has already been realized within the business world but in part is also still aspirational (Cornelissen, 2004), means that communications strategy is not just seen as a set of goals and tactics at the operational level – at the level of the CC function – but that its scope and involvement in fact stretches to corporate and business-unit-wide decisions and activities. At the corporate level, where strategy and activities are concerned with the corporate mission and vision as well as corporate positioning, communication practitioners can aid managers in developing strategies for interaction with the environment. In this sense, communication practitioners are directly involved or support strategic decision-making through their ‘environmental scanning’ activities which may assist corporate strategy-makers in analyzing the organization’s position and identifying emerging issues which may have significant implications for the firm and for future strategy development. Communication practitioners can at this corporate level also bring identity questions and a stakeholder perspective into the strategic management process, representing the likely reaction of stakeholders to alternative strategy options, and thereby giving senior management a more balanced consideration to the attractiveness and feasibility of the strategic options open to them. This happened in each of the four firms (Shell, Nokia, Philips, Siemens) in our case studies. In addition, communications practitioners in these four companies also implemented the corporate strategy by helping to communicate the firm’s strategic intentions to both internal and external stakeholders, which may help avoid misunderstandings that might otherwise get in the way of the smooth implementation of the firm’s strategy.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   METHODOLOGY This research uses a case study approach to assess to asses the improved internal corporate communications in four firms.   Gerald R. Adams and Jay D. Schvaneveldt (1997) define the case study approach as â€Å"an in-depth study of one or a limited number of cases in which each case is treated as a whole†. The authors further added, â€Å"The case study approach is particularly helpful when deeper understanding is needed and when there is little concern about generalizing to a large population† (Adams & Schvaneveldt, 1997). These case studies were conducted with four European corporations with strong reputations with their stakeholders and the marketplace: Nokia, Shell, Phillips and Siemens. These four corporations were selected chiefly for two reasons. Firstly, each of these four corporations is a multi-divisional firm operating under the same corporate umbrella. As such, they are typical of other large firms with a corporate communications (CC) presence – as opposed to small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), where communications responsibilities and activities may not have evolved into one or more full-fl edged functional areas, let alone into a managerial function (cf Kotler and Mindak, 1978 ). Secondly, each of the four corporations has an excellent reputation in the eyes of their stakeholders and the general public according to ToMAC (Top of Mind Awareness of Corporate Brands) scores and reputation rankings published in recent years. The inclusion of these corporations therefore allows us to examine not only the range and kind of activities carried out within CC, but also to what extent these make a difference (given the strong reputations enjoyed by these four corporations). An analytical case-study approach was chosen as most appropriate for our theory-building purposes (Yin, 2003). It allowed us to examine CC holistically and address each of the ‘practice’ dimensions mentioned above. Interviews were conducted with up to four senior managers of each organization, for example, president of corporate communication and marketing communication, communication managers within divisions, and if possible, a board member who is responsible for (corporate) brand communication. Here, a topic guide was used with topics that are relevant in the context of the practice of CC. However, the guide left enough room for the respondent to communicate his or her particular views on in what way activities and dimensions (structure, political and cultural issues, professionals) are linked and it prevented us from pre-structuring the concept of ‘ practice ’ in any way. The topic guide consisted of the following themes: communication organization (How are communications activities and the staff responsible for them departmentalized and structured within the corporation? What organizational processes and facilities exist to support communications? What is the professional ethos and culture of communications staff and of people in other departments of the corporation?), communications work (What is the general view of people within the corporation (ie the CEO and senior managers, marketing staff, communications staff, and others) of communications and its role and contribution to the corporation? How is decision-making concerning communications strategy organized? What does the process of communications strategy formation look like, in both corporate and market-led communications? What general activities does your job involve?) and communications professionals (What is the general profile of communications practitioners working in the corporation? How are communications staff recruited and selected? What training and development initiatives and trajectories exist for communications staff?). We analyzed the data by looking for common themes across the interviewees and four corporations and by identifying links between the dimensions of CC practice. MAIN ARGUMENT The practice of CC was conceptualized   by circumscribing in very broad terms four dimensions: (1) the roles, skills and activities of practitioners, (2) the organization of these practitioners and their work, (3) political and cultural issues that contextualize and mediate these activities, and (4) the communication and consumption of the process and products of activities performed. Throughout discussion, and in the course of the primary research with Shell, Phillips, Siemens and Nokia, I identified two central processes in the practice of CC that cut across these four dimensions, and appear to be central to the field. The first process labeled as strategic positioning describes the ongoing efforts of communication practitioners to position themselves as credible communications managers to senior executives within the executive team and in other functions by developing staff, by finding appropriate mechanisms for coordinating work, by developing value-added activities and by communicating the contribution of CC. Underlying this process is perhaps the realization that communication practitioners need to enact managerial roles through management activities like environmental scanning, counseling and strategic planning that demonstrably add value to the corporation, and that they need to vie for an organizational arrangement that gives them a central, recognizable place in the firm from where to counsel and support senior management as well as managers in other functional areas. To illustrate, within Siemens the emphasis on corporate branding and the development of a corporate brand architecture was presented as central to the corporate strategy of the firm: We have to influence decisions about what businesses do we invest in and brand as Siemens and what businesses we do not want to be in †¦ We have a clear business strategy ‘ go for profit and growth ’ , which sounds really general but behind this is an intensive and very detailed program, the Siemens management system, which our branding architecture and systems tie into. The overall corporate target is to attain worldwide leadership in each of the businesses that we are active in. Business success is the most important thing and that is driving the brand values and the brand strategy’ (Director of Brand Architecture). There is a constant concern with the strategic positioning of corporate branding and corporate communications, not just to increase and communicate the current performance but also to secure a receptive environment at the senior management table. The head of corporate communication worldwide is a close advisor of our CEO. In fact, the incoming CEO, Kleinfeld, has a doctorate on the topic of corporate identity, and has a deep understanding of branding and communications’ (Vice President Corporate Brand and Design). A second process that we identified involves what we term cultural accommodation which describes how CC, its practitioners, its organization and the general way in which it is practiced is embedded in the cultural context of the firm. Effectively, the choices made by Philips, Nokia, Shell and Siemens regarding staffing, training and development, structuring and the model of communication strategy development are all highly varied, yet linked to the core of their business, history and culture. Such variety and cultural adaptation may point to what Gratton and Ghoshal (2005) call signature practices; practices and processes that embody a company ’ s character and are therefore somewhat unique and idiosyncratic, rather than general and universal for the entire industry. Signature practices are linked with the core values of the organization and evolve from a company-specific history and are embedded in its culture and core values. Within Philips, as mentioned, corporate communications is seen as a part of an Organization-wide technocratic engineering culture where every function and the work processes involved are documented and standardized, so that these can be constantly monitored, updated and optimized. Work processes (e.g. media inquiries) within corporate communications have equally been documented and standardized in flow-charts and worksheets (following ISO quality specifications). This kind of signature process may not work in other companies in the consumer electronics industry (or indeed other industries) as it is tied to Philips ’ core cultural values and company history. Within Nokia, in contrast, the corporate vision of ‘connecting people’ together with the fact that members of the company have a strong bond between them ( ‘ having embarked on the technological journey together ’ ) has led to an ‘ informal ’ , ‘ innovative ’ and ‘ can-do ’ culture of knowledge sharing and of coordinating work processes. There are little formalized work patterns or lines of communication between communication professionals within Nokia; they rather liaise frequently and informally with one another. CONCLUSIONS The preceding section is the conclusion on the ‘practice’ perspective on CC and conceptualized the important dimensions of this perspective.   These are (1) the roles, skills and activities of practitioners, (2) the organization of these practitioners and their work, (3) political and cultural issues that contextualize and mediate these activities, and (4) the communication and consumption of the process and products of activities performed. Together, these dimensions (see Table 1) provide a framework for considering the practice of CC in its entirety and in a much more comprehensive manner than previous work has done. Table 1 : Summary of the practice conceptualization of corporate communications Dimension   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Themes Roles and activities of   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   — Manager vs technician practitioners   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   — Generalist vs specialist — Professional development, status and   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   contribution Organization of   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   — Departmental arrangement communication work   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   — Reporting relationship and/or seat on executive   Ã‚     Ã‚  team — Centralization vs decentralization Political and cultural issues Status of communication practitioners and their   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   work — Added value of communication activities — Cultural accommodation Contribution of work and activities   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   — Strategic or tactical contribution Input into corporate strategy and decision-   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   making Interface between communication and other Functional areas (e.g. Finance, Human Resources, etc)   I also articulated two processes (strategic positioning and cultural accommodation) that appear to be central to the practice of CC. In all, the practice-based conceptualization of CC makes the following contributions. First, it has started to open up the ‘black box’ of the organization in which CC activities take place. CC is conceptualized as an organizational phenomenon rather than a macro strategy problem detached from the internal dynamics of the organization. Internal politics, structure and cultural issues are introduced into the field of managing CC, not as inevitable failings or difficulties within firms, but as significant for communications strategy outcomes, perhaps even as attributes to be exploited positively for the status and contribution of CC. Second, the ‘practice’ conceptualization of CC has started to ‘humanize’ the field (cf Pettigrew et al., 2002: 12). Unlike much prior work that has focused on the strategic outcomes of CC activities (e.g. strong reputations and relationships with stakeholders), a ‘practice’ perspective populates the field of CC with human beings. In effect, all forces and activities are seen to emerge from human action – from the actions and contributions of communications practitioners, as well as the reactions by senior managers and managers in other functional areas (human resources, finance, etc.) of the firm. Third, and related to the previous points, the view of CC as ‘practice’ has started to explore the agency of communications practitioners to bring about changes in corporate strategy and in the interaction between the firm and its environment, amidst general professional as well as situational constraints (Whittington, 1988 ). Practitioners can be captured in wider professional belief systems about their roles and work – that is, the aforementioned distinction between ‘manager’ and ‘technician’ roles (Pieczka and L’ Etang, 2000) – that effect and constrain their possibilities for action. Similarly, the political and structural aspects of the work situation in their firms – that is, whether there is a receptive environment among senior managers for an input from CC, and whether communications practitioners are located in departments with access (through a reporting relationship or seat on the management team) to senior management at the corporate level of the firm – effects the micro activities and agency of communication practitioners. Fourth, a practice perspective and our case studies suggest that there are clear interrelations between the roles and backgrounds of practitioners, their activities, the political and cultural situation surrounding their work, the way in which they are organized, and their input and contribution to the firm at the corporate and market levels of the firm. As such, it connects macro phenomena with micro explanations. It does not deny the importance of research that has raised the awareness of key macro issues and challenges; the challenge of achieving and sustaining strong corporate reputations with stakeholders, of identifying and building on unique organizational assets or the ‘ corporate identity ’ of the firm, of managing international communications for multinational firms. Instead, it extends such macro level accounts with descriptions and explanations of the practices and activities that underpin and constitute such phenomena. In addition, as our case studies demonstrated, the practice of CC consists of interrelated dimensions, and as such we extend prior perspectives that have narrowly focused on either dimension or only on the strategic outcomes of CC activities. Any change in strategic outcomes (i.e. stronger corporate reputations with stakeholders) is not simply a case of a creative campaign or of improving one dimension (e.g. reputation measurement to demonstrate accountability) but ultimately depends on a whole range of factors, including the professional roles and competencies of practitioners and the way in which they are organized. Table 2 summarizes the main differences between a ‘practice’ perspective on CC and the more traditional perspectives on CC that have primarily focused on macro strategic outcomes. Table 2: A practice perspective versus traditional perspectives on corporate communications Traditional perspectives on CC   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   A practice perspective on CC Primary focus   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Macro: strategic outcomes   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Micro: practitioners, processes and   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   (reputations and reputation   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  structures within the organization measurement) Explanations of  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Deductive: infer best practices from  Ã‚     Ã‚   Inductive: grounded in the actual Performance  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   reputation scores across firms  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚   activities of professionals and how   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚   these add value and make a   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   contribution to a firm Key strategic  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   ‘Alignment’ between the reputation     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Strategic positioning and cultural processes  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  and the identity or positioning  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   accommodation within the firm   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   communicated A fifth contribution concerns its practical implications. A practice perspective on CC extends macro level explanations of CC as outcomes of what goes on in organizations to the activities that constitute them. This perspective is concerned with the same strategic issues of importance to senior managers and communication practitioners (i.e. how to build and maintain strong corporate reputations with stakeholders of the firm?), but in terms of the organizational activities and practices, which are their fabric. As such, it provides a more comprehensive and detailed picture of how communications is and indeed can be managed. The relationships between the practice dimensions (i.e. the backgrounds of practitioners, their activities, the political and cultural situation surrounding their work, the way in which they are organized, and their input and contribution to the firm at the corporate and market levels of the firm) in particular provide managers and communication practitioners with concrete factors or attributes that can be understood and, if needed, challenged or manipulated. To communications practitioners, the profound implication is not only a greater understanding of their work but also suggestions and prescriptions for how their work can be changed or improved. More specifically, if practitioners aspire a developmental shift from a ‘tactical’ or ‘craft ’orientation to communications, characterized by technician role enactment and communications service departments or units carrying out low-level communication mechanics, to a strategic management function, they know that they need to enact managerial roles through management activities like environmental scanning, counseling and strategic planning that demonstrably add value to the corporation, and that they need to vie for an organizational arrangement that gives them a central, recognizable place in the firm from where to counsel and support senior management as well as managers in other functional areas. The two processes of ‘ strategic positioning ’ and ‘ cultural accommodation ’ that we observed in our four case studies may also be taken to hand by practitioners to bring about changes in their firms in such a way that these changes are in line with their firms ’ culture and improve the performance and standing of CC. Recommendations for Research In sum, the practice conceptualization of CC suggests a need to put the micro into macro in order to both uncover plausible linkages to performance (with stakeholder groups) and to offer tangible guides to managerial action. Some important insights, albeit preliminary and illustrative, on micro issues in CC are offered through our four case studies. However, beyond these preliminary case studies, we make two main recommendations in line with this research agenda. First, we recommend further small sample in-depth studies of CC within firms, to develop the contextual and holistic understanding of the practice dimensions of CC that is essential to unpacking the complex driving forces of the management of CC and its strategic outcomes with stakeholders of the firm. In-depth studies, particularly at this early stage of theoretical development on CC, are a necessary feature of furthering the conceptualization and understanding of CC as an area of practice. Second, we recommend process research as a methodology for capturing and explaining how the practice of CC evolves within fi rms. Process research is concerned with understanding how things evolve over time and why they evolve in this way (see Langley, 1999; Van de Ven and Huber, 1990), and process data therefore consist largely of stories about what happened and who did what when – that is, events, activities, and choices ordered over time. In his classic work on organization theory, Mohr (1982) makes a distinction between what he calls ‘variance theory’ and   Ã¢â‚¬Ëœprocess theory’. Whereas variance theories provide explanations for phenomena in terms of relationships among dependent and independent variables (eg more of X and more of Y produce more of Z ), process theories provide explanations in terms of the sequence of events leading to an outcome (eg do A and then B to get C). Temporal ordering and probabilistic interaction between entities are important here (Mohr, 1982). Within the context of CC, the emphasis is with process research on understanding patterns in events (eg the link between activities and tools of communication practitioners and changes in stakeholder reputations), either as a narrative pattern or analytical sequence of events. Such process research then consists of longitudinal case studies or event-history methods, often with the researcher immersing him / herself in the firm and collecting fine-grained qualitative data through interviews, (participative) observations and analyses of company reports and documents. The thick empirical descriptions produced by process research may then in time, we suggest, be systematically compared across cases and extended with survey-based research of general issues and themes within the practice of CC. BIBLIOGRAPHY Argenti, P. A. (1996) ‘Corporate communication as a discipline: Toward a definition’, Management Communications Quarterly, 10, 73 – 97. Argenti, P. A. (1998) Corporate Communication, (2nd edition) McGraw-Hill, Boston. Argenti, P. A., Howell, R. A. and Beck, K. A. (2005) ‘The strategic communication imperative’, MIT Sloan Management Review, Spring , 46(3) , 83 – 89 . . Broom, G. M., Lauzen, M. M. and Tucker, K. (1991) ‘Public Relations and marketing: Dividing the conceptual domain and operational turf’, Public Relations Review, 17, 219 – 225. Christensen, L. T. and Cheney, G. (1994) ‘Articulating identity in an organizational age’, in S.A. Deetz (ed.) Communication Yearbook , Vol. 17, Sage, Thousand Oaks , 17 , pp. 222 – 235. Clarkson, B. E. (1995) ‘A stakeholder framework for analyzing and evaluating corporate social performance’, Academy of Management Review, 20, 92 – 117 . Cook, S. N. and Brown, J. S. (1999) ‘Bridging epistemologies: The generative dance between organizational knowledge and organizational knowing’, Organization Science, 10, 382 – 400. Cornelissen, J. (2004) Corporate Communications: Theory and Practice, Sage, London. Cornelissen, J. P. and Thorpe, R. (2001) ‘The organization of external communication disciplines in UK companies: A conceptual and empirical analysis of dimensions and determinants’, Journal of Business Communication, 38, 413 – 438. Cropp, F. and Pincus, J. (2001) ‘The mystery of public relations: Unraveling its past, unmasking its future’, in Robert L. Heath (ed.) Handbook of Public Relations, Sage Publications: Thousand Oaks CA, pp. 189 – 204. Cutlip, S. (1995) Public Relations History: From the Seventeenth to the Twentieth Century, Erlbaum, Hillsdale, NJ . Dolphin, R. R. (1999) The Fundamentals of Corporate Communications, Butterworth- Heinemann, Oxford. Dowling, J. and Pfeffer, J. (1975) ‘Organizational legitimacy: Social values and organizational behavior’, Pacifi c Sociological Review, 18, 122 – 136. Dozier, D. M. and Broom, G. M. (1995) ‘Evolution of the manager role in public relations practice’ , Journal of Public Relations Research, 7, 3 – 26. Dozier, D. M. and Grunig, L. A. (1992) ‘The organization of the public relations function ’ , in J.E. Grunig (ed.) Excellence in Public Relations and Communication Management, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Hillsdale, New Jersey, pp. 395 – 417. Ewen, S. (1996) PR! A Social History of Spin, Basic Books, New York. Fleisher, C. S. and Burton, B. (1995) ‘Taking stock of corporate benchmarking practices: Panacea or Pandora’s box’, Public Relations Review, 2, 1 – 19. Gronstedt, A. (1996a) ‘Integrating marketing communication and public relations: A stakeholder relations model’, in: E. Thorson and J. Moore (eds.) Integrated Communication: Synergy of Persuasive Voices, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Mahwah, NJ, pp. 287 – 304. Harris, T. E. and Bryant, J. (1986) ‘The corporate communication manager’, Journal of Business Communication, 23, 19 – 29. Hatch, M. J. and Schultz, M. (2000) ‘Scaling the tower of Babel: Relational differences between identity, image and culture in organizations ’ , in M. Schultz, M.J. Hatch and M.H. Larsen (eds.) The Expressive Organization , Oxford University Press, Oxford. Heath, R. L. (1994) Management of Corporate Communication: From Interpersonal Contacts to External Affairs, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Hillsdale, New Jersey . Hutton, J. G., Goodman, M. B., Alexander, J. B. and Genest, C. M. (2001) ‘ Reputation management: The new face of corporate public relations? ’ Public Relations Review, 27(3), 247 – 261. Kitchen, P. J. and Schultz, D. E. (1999) ‘A multi-country comparison of the drive for IMC ’, Journal of Advertising Research, 39, 21 – 38. Kotler, P. and Mindak, W. (1978) ‘Marketing and public relations, should they be partners or rivals? ’ Journal of Marketing, 42, 13 – 20. Langley, A. (1999) ‘Strategies for theorizing from process data’, Academy of Management Review, 24, 691 – 710. Lauer, L. D. (1995) ‘Will we need a whole new breed of professional? ’ Communication World, August 1995. Mohr, L. B. (1982) Explaining Organizational Behavior, Jossey-Bass Publishers, San Fransisco. Moss, D., Warnaby, G. and Newman , A . J. (2000) ‘Public relations practitioner role enactment at the senior management level within UK companies’, Journal of Public Relations Research, 12, 277 – 307. Murray, K. and White, J. (2004) ‘CEO Views on reputation management: a report on the value of public relations, as perceived by organizational leaders, UK survey of CEO views of reputation management website: www.insightmkt.com/ceo_ pr_briefing. Olasky, M. N. (1987) Corporate Public Relations: A New Historical Perspective, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Hillsdale, New Jersey. Pettigrew, A. M, Thomas, H. and Whittington, R. (2002) ‘Strategic management: The strengths and limitations of a field’, in A.M. Pettigrew, H. Thomas and R. Whittington (eds.) The Handbook of Strategy and Management , Sage, London , pp. 3 – 30 . Pieczka, M. and L’ Etang, J. (2000) ‘Public relations and the question of professionalism’, in Robert L. Heath (ed.) Handbook of Public Relations , Sage Publications, Thousand Oaks, CA , pp. 223 – 235 . Pincus, J. D., Refiteld, B., and Ohl, C.M. (1994) Public Relations Education in MBA Programs: Challenges and Opportunities, California State University Post, J. E. and Griffin, J. J. (1997) ‘Corporate reputation and external affairs’, Corporate Reputation Review, 1, 165 – 171. Scholes, E. and Clutterbuck, D. (1998) ‘Communication with stakeholders: An integrated Approach’, Long Range Planning, 31, 227 – 238. Schultz, M., Hatch, M . J . and Larsen, M . H. (eds.) (2000) The Expressive Organization, University Press, Oxford . Van de Ven, A. and Huber, G. (1990) ‘Longitudinal field research methods for studying processes of organizational change’, Organization Science, 1, 213 – 219. Van der Jagt, R. (2005) ‘Executives on reputation, Dutch survey of CEO views of reputation management Boer and Croon consulting.    Van Ruler, B. and De Lange, R. (2003) ‘Barriers to communication management in the executive suite’, Public Relations Review, 29, 145 – 158. White, J. and Dozier, D. M. (1992) ‘Public relations and management decision-making’, in J.E. Grunig (ed.) Excellence in Public Relations and Communication Management , Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Hillsdale. White, J. and Mazur, L. (1995) Strategic Communications Management: Making Public Relations Work, Addison- Wesley, Wokingham, UK.   

P.E.S.T Analysis on Tesco - 3963 Words

TITLE: INFORMATION SYSTEMS REPORT EXECUTIVE SUMMARY J P Morgan Chase is the second largest financial holding company in the United States with over $1.2 trillion in assets and $ 106 billion in stockholder s equity. With operations in more than 50 countries and many other banking subsidiaries, the firm has a staff of over 160,000. In 2002 the management made a strategic decision to outsource a significant portion of their Information Technology infrastructure to IBM to gain a better position in various markets. This decision however did not workout as expected, the firm faced a decrease in productivity due to fall in employee moral caused by the shift and management faced difficulties in carrying out their day to day duties.†¦show more content†¦These rules of competition are embedded in five competitive forces which are entry of new competition, the threat of substitute products, the bargaining power of buyers, the bargaining power of suppliers, and the rivalry among existing competitors. If we look at Diagram 2 we can see a simple view of the Five Forces Model. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Five_forces Threat of new entrant As new firms enter to a market, they have the potential to extract the profit unless the demand grows faster than new entrants to a market, average profitability will decline. The threat of entry or entry barriers is to discourage other companies from entering a market as new competitors by establishing a level of service or value to the customer that will be expensive or difficult for the new entrant to replicate. IS/IT often require large investment in complex software. JP Morgan Chase invests millions of dollars into IS. In comparison with other banks, JP Morgan Chase would spend more than twice as much on technology per employee, approximately $28,000 compares to $13,000. Because of this it has become more difficult for new firms to enter the market as they will have to meet high standards and spend a great deal on IS in order to gain competitiveness. . Threat of Substitutes This represents the buyer propensity to surrogate one firm s product for another product. The strength of competitionShow MoreRelatedUk Retail Industry1442 Words   |  6 PagesSupermarkets. There has been a fight for supremacy between the likes of J. Sainsbury, Tesco, Marks and Spencer, Asda, and further south, Waitrose. Around ten years ago, Sainsbury s used to have the top spot but their loyal shoppers started turning their heads towards Tesco and better value for money later on in the nineties. I will analyse the United Kingdom s grocery industry, involving a P.E.S.T. analysis, which is a way of evaluating different parts of a business. (Political, Economical,Read MoreFutsal Business Plan9711 Words   |  39 Pagesthe manager (the owner) and seven other employees and staff. The operation is held 7 days a week, from 10am to 3am. The perfect spot to run our sports centre is located opposite Tesco and besides McDonalds. The reason why this place is a hot spot is because, it has high traffic flow and also adjacent to Giant Mall, Tesco and 9 Avenue where these are high end areas and approximately 30,000 visitors per day. Thus, by choosing the right location, it will not only help to gradually build brand name andRead MoreMarks and Spencer Strategic Develpoment History5913 Words   |  24 Pagesstrategy by using same traditional business formula without restructuring organization design and culture as result management focus just confined to day to day operation rather than lon g planning. The environment analysis P.E.S.T., Porter (1985) five competitive forces, Stakeholder analysis supports that the MS should remain continue to quality focus â€Å"Differentiation† strategy but it should be based customer focus to satisfy customer needs and wants. The strategy should be supported by value chainRead MoreMarketing Strategy of Bionade Essay12314 Words   |  50 Pagesmarket are supermarkets/ hypermarkets. The sales with organic food products in the German supermarkets increased 2005 up to 10%. There is a trend on concentration in the wholesale and retail level at time. Metro in Germany, Carrefour in France and Tesco in the UK are the main players on retail level. High listing prices as well as smaller portfolios make it difficult for organisations without big financial resources to be presented in their shops (appendix chapter 2.1.2.2). Bionade could get over

Reducing the Impact of Natural Disasters - 868 Words

Natural Disasters are unfortunate events that can occur at any moment, anywhere in the world and have a huge effect on the landscape and the society being hit. Natural Disasters can occur due to the many natural causes such as earthquakes, hurricanes, tsunamis, floods, cyclones, landslides or due to some man-made causes such as forest fires or the use of nuclear weapons. Civil Engineering structures such as buildings, bridges, roads, dams, reservoirs, levees and other structures are severely damaged by natural disasters, natural disasters can be costly both in terms of human lives and financially. Although prevention of natural disasters is impossible, reducing the impact natural disasters have on structures can negate the overall effect it has on the everyday human life. Natural Disasters are a great way of identifying mistakes made in the development of civil engineering structures and an essential way to learn and prepare for future natural disasters. If the lessons learned from n atural disasters are utilized, the catastrophic effects of such events can be reduced in the future. The majority of damage done during natural disasters is form the improper planning of cities, improper structural design, lack of site investigations, poor quality control at construction sites, and lack of coordination between the various agencies involved in a project. Civil Engineering design codes and safety standards have evolved over the years to incorporate lessons learned from past naturalShow MoreRelatedHow Are Natural Disasters Socially Constructed? Essay1333 Words   |  6 PagesWith reference to various examples, discuss how ‘natural’ disasters are socially constructed. While natural disasters such as floods, drought and hurricanes are commonly thought to occur due to environmental forces such as weather, climate and tectonic movements; a deeper investigation into the ‘disaster’ displays other contributing forces. Human factors have a large, if not equal, contribution to the occurrance and outcome of such disasters (Pelling, 2001). As Pelling (2001) argues, there isRead MoreThe Prevention Of Natural Disasters1742 Words   |  7 Pages â€Å"The prevention of natural disasters and reducing their impact is a one of the twenty issues considered the most important and urgent global issues in the 21 century. This issue increases and causes great suffer to the level that the global procedures to reduce disasters must to be done†¦ the repetition of the disasters has forced it to be a responsibility of international community† J.F. Richard (2002) High Noon: Twenty Global Issues, Twenty Years to Solve Them. People’s well-being is influencedRead MoreThe Importance Of Artificial Disasters1206 Words   |  5 PagesNatural and artificial disasters have always posed a threat to the development of countries across the world. In that regard, different governments have already established strategies that can be implemented to deal effectively with the disasters, which occur. It has been observed that the developing countries are slightly behind than the developed ones regarding dealing effectively with the disasters that occur abruptly. When a disaster occurs, the priority is to reduce the vulnerability of peopleRead MoreThe Climate Disaster Is Inevitable Or Not?896 Words   |  4 PagesThe climate disaster is the social construction that world population have been embedded this idea through one generation to another generation in society. Actually, it seems like the long-lasting issue for not only regional level but also global level. Several studies might have demonstrated the causes and significant impacts of climate crisis. It is still popular argument in society, whether the climate disaster is currently inevitable or not. If it already occurred, what are the main factors?Read MoreThe Importance Of Hazards931 Words   |  4 Pagessources such as natural (e.g. hydrological, climatological, oceanic, meteorological and geological) and man-made (e.g. political and technological). When both the intensity and frequency of hazardous events are on the rise, the capacity of developing countries to reduce their vulnerability to catastrophic events and point of confinement their financial presentation is turning into a priority. When disaster strike, nations with limited economic resilience not only suffered from the impacts on the humanRead MoreThe Importance of The United Nations Strategy for Disaster Reduction593 Words   |  3 PagesDisaster risk reduction is a systematic approach in recognizing and reducing the risks of disasters. According to the UNISDR or the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction, â€Å"The conceptual framework of elements considered with the possibilities to minimize vulnerabilities and disaster risks throughout the society, to avoid or to limit the adverse impacts of hazards, within the broad context of sustainable development.† The capital of the Kingdom of Bahrain, Manama is where theRead MoreDisaster Recovery Process660 Words   |  3 PagesIntroduction Natural disasters, as well as other traumatic events, can turn the world upside down hence shattering a person sense of security. An aftermath of an earthquake necessitate taking steps with an aim of restoring safety and wellbeing to make a make a tremendous difference. In a school setting, natural disasters such as an earthquake have a profound influence students, teachers, and their families. This s because the experience leads to widespread property destruction and monetary lossRead MoreMozambique Is A Poor Country Essay1599 Words   |  7 PagesMozambique has a ‘high level of food insecurity, like many other countries in Africa, putting individuals, families and communities at risk. Some major factors in Mozambique that affect its food security are poor agriculture, the occurrence of natural disasters, and the presence of diseases particularly HIV and AIDS. Along with many other minor contributors such as food prices, urban migration, and pollution of surface and coastal waters. Background Mozambique is one of the world s poorest countriesRead MoreWhat is a Disaster?888 Words   |  3 PagesThe word disaster derives its literal meaning from the French word â€Å"Desastre†, a combination of two words ‘des’ meaning bad and ‘aster’ meaning star, thus the term refers to ‘Bad or Evil star . However, it has also been defined as â€Å"any disruption of normal social and economic activity due to natural or other causes that results in widespread or severe damage, injury and/or loss of life or property† . Disasters are also defined as â€Å"a crisis situation causing wide spread damage which far exceed ourRead MoreMonitoring Our Home Planet1407 Words   |  6 Pagespaper is being submitted in details the effect that natural disaster has on the planet Earth. Analyzing the impact of potential natural disasters on: geography, resources, politics, economics, and disaster preparedness and how to monitor the future natural disasters. Monitoring Our Home Planet Natural Disaster has a major impact on the inhabitants that live on the planet Earth. A natural disaster is a major adverse event resulting from natural processes of the Earth; examples include floods

Language Techniques in Hamlet by William Shakespeare Essay

Language Techniques in Hamlet by William Shakespeare Shakespeare used a variety of language techniques throughout Hamlet, which contribute to the themes in the play. They also help to add more meaning and understanding for the audience. Soliloquies, word play, symbols and other figurative language are some of these important techniques that enhance Hamlet. The way Shakespeare switches from bank verse to prose with each character shows his mastery of the language. Imagery of poison, decay and disease are used by Shakespeare to represent the themes of illness, corruption and rottenness. The language is varied and†¦show more content†¦Ã¢â‚¬Å"Ere yet the salt of most unrighteous tears/†¦ She married. O! most wicked speed, to post/ With such dexterity to incestuous sheets.†( Act I.ii.154-57) Through his soliloquies, audience soon realise Hamlet is loosing all of his will to live. The soliloquies include many metaphors that bring together many of the themes in Hamlet. One of these themes includes Hamlet’s hesitation of his actions and his decision of whether he should give up on life. He metaphorically compares the problems of his life to â€Å"The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune† and â€Å"sea of troubles†( Act III.i.58-9). This use of metaphor shows how Shakespeare used language to express themes. Along with suicide, come the themes of revenge and Hamlet’s obsession with death and the afterlife. Hamlet metaphorically compares death to sleep and to an undiscovered country, wondering â€Å"For in that sleep of death what dreams may come.† (Act III.i.66). He is afraid to commit suicide, as he doesn’t know what awaits him. Another theme is Hamlet’s depression of which makes Hamlet believe that life is just full of suffering. He uses the metaphor â€Å"Yea, from the table of my memory/ I’ll wipe away all trivial, fond records..†( Act II.v.105-6) showing how he wants to erase his memory because everyone has betrayed him. This contributes to Hamlet’s depression. â€Å"Lay not that flattering unction to your soul/†¦ItShow MoreRelatedWilliam Shakespeare s Othello And The English Language1649 Words   |  7 Pagesactor and dramatist, William Shakespeare is one of the most influential and greatest writers up to this day in poetry and the English language. Known, for his many acclaimed works such as his famous plays, â€Å"Othello,† â€Å"King Lear,† and â€Å"Romeo and Juliet† etc. More than four hundred years have passed and William Shakespeare’s work still alive as if it was during the early ages of Shakespeare work. Shakespeare influenced ranges from literature, theater, films and even the English language. Especially, nowRead MoreAnalysis Of The Structure Hamlet 1233 Words   |  5 PagesStability, Sanity, and Structur e (Analysis of the structure in Shakespeare’s Hamlet) Structure is in our lives all around us; we see it in work lives, our home lives, in our owe bodies, and even more so in the curriculum that kids are learning at school. Structure, in all aspects, is constructed according to a plan. It gives a sense of assembly and backbone to whatever we are looking at. We see structure is in the information students are attaining at school, especially in the literary sense. ManyRead MoreReflection Paper1011 Words   |  5 PagesIn the play Hamlet by William Shakespeare, Ophelia says, â€Å"We know what we are, but know not what we may be.† This quote confused me for the longest time. At a young age, I was always immersed in reading throughout my life but I also limited myself to what I read. Books that I fancied to read were related to mythologies. It was not until high school that I decided to broaden my horizon when it came to reading books. During my junior year, at Bahrain High School, I was looking for a class to finishRead More Hamle t Essay examples607 Words   |  3 PagesHamlet Hamlet Critique Hamlet, a play by William Shakespeare, was written in approximately the middle to late 1590s, while Shakespeares work was flourishing, and his company was putting up the Globe Theater. Shakespeare was a profound writer, and Hamlet is considered to be his most prolific writing, and is a favorite among the readers. It is a tragic tale of conspiracy, death, disease, and a young mans struggle to avenge his fathers murder. I would like to set apart Hamlet from theRead More Early Modern English Exemplified in Shakespeares Hamlet, Act V Scene 11427 Words   |  6 PagesEarly Modern English Exemplified in Shakespeares Hamlet, Act V Scene 1 The period of Early Modern English occurred from approximately Fifteen Hundred to some time between Sixteen Fifty and Sixteen Seventy. While this period was characterized mostly by the translation of texts from other languages into English, the language saw its first prominent writer in William Shakespeare contribute works of literary significance to the world. Hamlet Prince of Denmark, in its abbreviated, performed versionRead More Insanity in Hamlet1565 Words   |  7 PagesHamlet: A look Inside the Insanity Many people have seen Hamlet as a play about uncertainty and about Hamlets failure to act appropriately. It is very interesting to consider that the play shows many uncertainties that lives are built upon, or how many unknown quantities are taken for granted when people act or when they evaluate one anothers actions. Hamlet is an especially intriguing production, both on the set and on the screen because of its uniqueness to be different from what most peopleRead MoreEssay about The Tragedy of William Shakespeares Hamlet568 Words   |  3 PagesThe Tragedy of William Shakespeares Hamlet It seems that in this merciless mourning, I have opened a tomb. And though my sight be of seeing, it is not as it once was. For what I see is not with thine own eyes. It is as death appears to those awake. A coldness, an emptiness, that I cannot forsake. Hope Saphos DeVenuto A melody in literature is a language that Shakespeare uses freely in Hamlet with infinite variety. The imagery relates to us to create to the senses a realization ofRead MoreSpeech on Hamlet869 Words   |  4 Pagesthe composer’s perspectives and language of the play. †¢ William Shakespeare’s Hamlet is an example of how ideas are raised over time, as the literature itself remains the same. †¢ The unraveling plot of Hamlet depicts morality and philosophy as themes that are illustrated through dramatic and romanticized techniques. †¢ Shakespeare’s literary ideas have continued over time prominently, and new ideas have been raised through audiences’ perspectives, with Hamlet as a figure of this. Read MoreHSC English Advanced Course Module B: Critical Study of Texts1532 Words   |  6 Pages6 Prescribed Text: Shakespearean Drama SHAKESPEARE, William, Hamlet, New Cambridge Shakespeare, Cambridge University Press, 2003; or Cambridge School Shakespeare, 2006) Duration: 8 weeks Syllabus Outcome: H1: A student explains and evaluates the effects of different contexts of responders and composers on texts. H2A: A student recognises different ways in which particular texts are valued. H4: A student explains and analyses the ways in which language forms and features, and structures of textsRead MoreAct 1 as an Effective Opening to Hamlet by William Shakespeare987 Words   |  4 PagesOpening to Hamlet by William Shakespeare The play Hamlet is a dramatic love story written by William Shakespeare. It is set in the late sixteenth century. Most scenes take place in the grounds of the Danish castle at Elsinore. The play has many characters, and the main ones are members of the royal family or were close to them. It is a very long, complicated story that twists into a tragic end. The main characters are Hamlet, Gertrude, Claudius, King Hamlet, Polonious

Poetry Argumentative Essay Example For Students

Poetry Argumentative Essay Based on the picture surrounding this poem, which Is a mirror, I predict this poem will be about external beauty and the concept of beauty only being skin deep. Based on the title of this poem, I predict this poem will be about similar peoples stories and how they handle their situations in similar manners. The type of poem I think ITIL be is an observational and descriptive poem. I predict this because I think the author is going to use a lot of descriptive sentences about the characters because of the mirror being the picture with this poem. The closing lines of the poem are also ironic in their sarcastic tauter. The duty of the boys is to clean chimney which was a very dangerous Job on many levels. Children frequently died of suffocation inside the chimneys and were exposed to soot that contained carcinogenic elements (Schuster 21). By performing their duty as chimney sweeps, the boys had many reason to fear harm. The irony of duty in the last line of the poem can also be expanded to the failure of those that owed a duty to the child. The boys father failed to provide and care for him after the death of his mother and sold him to the chimney sweepers (Blake 520). One can also lean from the poem that the chimney sweep masters do not perform their duty to care for their wards and treat children poorly forcing them to sleep in soot and work long hours (Blake 520). The speaker is introduced to the reader as a very young child sold into servitude by his father after the death of his mother (Blake 520). The speaker of the poem is never named but speaks with the voice of youth and innocence. While the speakers actual spoken words in the poem are generally positive and optimistic, they stand in stark contrast to the underlying voice of condemnation of child labor offered by Blake himself that come through the words of he poem. The use of the childs voice as narrator by Blake gives the poem as an overall tone of sadness at as the boy losses his childhood and its accompanying innocence. The poem also contains a dream sequence filled with imagery and iron The dream, had by another chimney sweeper Tom Dare is relayed and then told b the speaker. In the dream, the boy sees many chimney sweepers locked up in coffin of black (Blake 520). This is an allusion to both the coffin like confines of the chimneys, often only nine inches wide (Schuster 21), that the children are forced t sweep and to the actual coffins many child chimney sweepers end up in. The angel that frees the boys from their coffins is both a literal and figurative angel. Figuratively, the angels to the boys would be the charity workers and child labor law reform seekers that would rescue them from their state of servitude. Literally, the angel is there to greet the dead boys in the afterlife and welcome them to Heaven where they are finally free to be children. The dream shows also encompasses iron in the Joy and happiness that the young children experience being able to finally bathe. Although the angel promises Tom that if he behaves well he would have Go or his father, and never want JOY (Blake 520) there is a certain sadness in the angel promise as chimney sweeper comes to the realization that death is the only thing that will bring true freedom. Analysis of Poetic Justice EssayThe speakers loss of innocence is complete with this realization. Blake uses irony throughout the poem in several ways to present the plight of child chimney sweepers. The use of irony to contrast the harsh realities of life for child laborers and the voice of childhood innocence is powerful and moving. The poem is not Just a poem about a young chimney sweeper but a public address ND condemnation of the practice of forced servitude that exploits children in such deadly way. Reference List Blake, William. The Chimney Sweeper Literature An Introductions to Fiction, Poetry, Drama and Writing. X. J. Kennedy and Dana Tioga Deed. New York: Pearson, 2013. 520. Print. Schuster, Sheila. An Analysis of Childhood and Child Labor in Charles Dickens Works: David Copperfield and Oliver Twist. Hamburg: Anchor Academic publishing, 2014. 21, 22. Web. Poetry Essay Outline The Chimney Sweeper by William Blake Introduction Thesis statement Through the voice of innocence in The Chimney Sweeper, William Blake uses irony to shine a light on the treatment and horrid conditions of child chimney sweepers. Irony weep! Weep! Weep! Weep! Instead of sweep Irony of duty (parents failed in their duty to take care of their children and now the children must do their duty by working as chimney sweepers. Reader can also glean that the children are not well taken care of by their owners/employers. Not fear harm chimney sweeping was dangerous work for children and posed health hazards (Find source to support this). Speaker Speaker in the poem is a young, innocent, orphan child sold the chimney sweepers F lakes voice comes through to tell the reader that he condemns the treatment of child chimney sweepers and their certain early death. Loss of childhood innocence, not being allowed to be child and taken care of. Forced into servitude. Tone conveys certain sadness for the childrens situation and Flakes compassion for them. Dream Tom Dare, another innocent child chimney sweeper has a dream Boys are in coffins opened by the Angel Boys are clean, in a fresh green beautiful field Boys are free to laugh and play. Speakers realization that the boys will only be really free in death, most likely an early death. Conclusion.

Sex Slavery in India

Introduction India is an Asian country with an emerging economy and a population slightly hovering over one billion people. Despite posting impressive economic growth figures, a large section of the population still lives under the poverty line. Additionally, the country has high incidences of social ills mainly brought by its unique demographic trends and sometimes failure or laxity of law enforcement.Advertising We will write a custom research paper sample on Sex Slavery in India specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More One of the social ills affecting the Indian society is human trafficking especially for sex slavery. Sex trafficking which involves coerced recruitment, transportation transfer and receipt of men people for sexual exploitation propagates sexual slavery1. Sexual slavery can be defined as situations where unwilling people (both men and women) are forced to sexual exploitation for low or no pay at all. Sexual slavery arises when some people have the right of ownership over others and induce repeated sexual abuse, rape and forced performance of sexual acts on other people. Various organizations including the international Organization for Immigration and UNICEF estimate the number of individuals involved in sexual slavery to range between 400,000 to 1.75 million2. Sex Slavery in India Asia has been identified as one of the trouble spots as far as human trafficking is concerned. The US State Department considers India a source, transit point and destination of sex trafficking victims in Asia and the world. The Supreme Court of India famously declared in the year 2010 that the country was becoming a hub for child trafficking and prostitution and urged urgent measures to curb the vice. The government of India through the Ministry of Women and Child Development estimated in 2007 that the country had about 3 million sex workers with approximately 35% of them aged below 18 years3. According to authorities an d international organizations such as the UN, human trafficking for sexual exploitation in India is mainly internal with the country low income and lower cast communities providing the major source of victims.Advertising Looking for research paper on gender studies? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More In the country, there is major trafficking ring of women and young girls trafficked within the country mainly for sexual exploitation. Most of these sex slaves work in the tourism industry in the country with major town and cities acting as the hub of sex tourism. Surprisingly, authorities and nongovernmental organizations concur that sex slavery in India does take place within the confines of religious pilgrimage in centers such as Tirupati and Puri4. There is an intricate connection between the prostitution cartels operating in the country especially, Nepal and Thailand. While a good number of girls are kidnapped and forced to pros titution, a large number from north eastern India are normally duped with promises of regular and high paying jobs in larger cities only to end up in forced commercial sex work5. Additionally, some of the men and women especially in Tamil Nadu are trafficked out of India through fraudulent employment bureaus that mainly send them to Middle East where they end up as sex slaves. The presence of Maoist rebels in neighboring Nepal exacerbates the problem as the group operates a well established cartel that operates brothels in India to source funds for their operations. According to NGO sources, as many as 200 thousand girls have been trafficked from Nepal to India’s red light district with the rate being 5000 girls annually whose ages range ages between 10-12 years6. Indian Authorities’ approach to Sex Slavery The Indian government acknowledges the existence of human trafficking in the country and forced sexual exploitation as a rampant problem. Many government officials also admit that compliance by to the government to the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking have been below par. According to the US State Department, government response to sex trafficking in India has not demonstrated sufficient progress and there are concerns with law enforcement, protection and prevention efforts that have been put in place.Advertising We will write a custom research paper sample on Sex Slavery in India specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Notably, the government admits that there have been few convictions of the real people behind human sex trafficking and most of the raids on brothels and other trafficking hot spots are mainly masterminded by concerned nongovernmental organizations. Additionally, there are fewer shelters for rescued sex slave victims and those that have been set up are of poor quality. Some officials acknowledge that corruption is a major hindrance in the fight against sex slave ry in the country. It is an open secret that some officials are complicit to the prostitution cartels as they receive payouts to allow their illegal operations. On the other hand however, there has been some progress in the fight against sex slavery in India especially through the Immoral Trafficking Prevention Act (ITPA) with a string of raids, arrest and convictions masterminds of sex slaves. It is important to note that most of these raids are however initiated by NGO and assisted by police. There is consensus that sex slavery is rampant in the country and perceived laxity by authorities is exacerbating the situation. It is therefore necessary that the government puts in place comprehensive measures to curb the vice which infringes on basic human rights and mainly disadvantages women and children. Bibliography Kara, Siddharth. Sex Trafficking: Inside the Business of Modern Slavery. New Delhi: McMillan Publishers, 2010. Kirkham, George, and Territo, Leornard. International Sex Tra fficking of Women Children: Understanding the Global Epidemic. London: Sage Publications, 2009. Kunjakkan, KA. Feminism and Indian realities. New Delhi: Thomson Learning, 2002.Advertising Looking for research paper on gender studies? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Manian, Sabita, and McCabe, Kimberly. Sex trafficking: a global perspective. New York: Cengage Learning, 2010. Footnotes 1 Siddharth Kara, Sex Trafficking: Inside the Business of Modern Slavery, New Delhi: McMillan Publishers, 2010, pp. 90-104. 2 Sabita Manian and Kimberly McCabe, Sex trafficking: a global perspective, New York: Cengage Learning, 2010, P. 99. 3 Sabita Manian and Kimberly McCabe, Sex trafficking: a global perspective, New York: Cengage Learning, 2010, P. 99. 4 KA Kunjakkan, Feminism and Indian realities, New Delhi: Thomson Learning, 2002, P. 53. 5 Sabita Manian and Kimberly McCabe, Sex trafficking: a global perspective, New York: Cengage Learning, 2010, P. 101. 6 George Kirkham and Leornard Territo, International Sex Trafficking of Women Children: Understanding the Global Epidemic. London: Sage Publiocations, 2009, p. 264. This research paper on Sex Slavery in India was written and submitted by user Damari Herman to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.