Theoretical Writing Assignment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Theoretical Writing Assignment - Essay Example Cultivation theory According to Gerbner (1969), television determines how a person looks at society. Television is broadly accessible to all people. Moreover, as Gerbner (1969) says, television is becoming very powerful because it is seen as a part of modern living and personal lifestyle. Unlike other types of media, television is one media of mass communication that is accessible to people right from childhood (Bryant & Zillmann, 2002). In this case, the television becomes the main way that people have acquired information, both general information and cultural reality. In this regard, as people grow old, television becomes a major part of determining how they view things. Reality is based on the general information that people gather while growing up. Because of this, it can be said that a person’s reality is based on the information they have gathered over time, whether in a formal or an informal way. A child in Africa who has no television may have a completely different v iew of reality from one in the United States. In the developed world, television has become the centre of cultural learning. Cultural artefacts are learnt through television. Television is a perfection of the society. Because most of the programs in television are fiction acted out by a well directed model, it creates the perfect world for individuals. The role of television in the modern developed world can be best understood by looking at the way culture was passed on before mass media. Cultural festivals were important in every society as a way to hand down important cultures. In this case, the cultural festivals and other cultural norms passed down from the older generation acted as a way to create a reality for the society. It is important to note that even in early days before the arrival of modern mass media most of the cultural reality was created with the intention to achieve something. Modern television may be geared towards cultivating a reality that will promote consumer ism to the benefit of the corporate world (Gerbner, et al., 1986). In the past, these perceived realities were created as a way to preserve the society and make people easy to govern. Looking at television, one can identify that television is just a modern extension of the tradition ways of passing on reality to the society. Before television, society created reality by telling specific stories which were told to children since they were young and this created a reality for them. There has not been much change about this due to a number of reasons. First, a look at television shows that deletions is used to tell (factious) stories which are bent towards changing the way an individual thinks about reality (Paisley & Stone). This is why over fifty percent of American believes that there are aliens who have visited this plant with UFOs despite there being no scientific evidence of such events. Violent TV shows There has been a greater debate ion how violent television shows affects an individual, especially young adults. This debate is very important because it has very serious implications. Most people still believe that the various grass incidences of mass shootings in public schools and other public places by young adults has been caused by violent video games. So the question that every person should be answering is whether these people who have

Mary Shelley vs. Frankenstein Essay Example for Free

Mary Shelley vs. Frankenstein Essay In the novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, the author relates her life to the events that happened in the book. Certain events in her life led her to write the horror story that eerie, rainy night at Lord Byrons mansion in London. Mary Shelley experienced many tragedies and losses. Writing a novel like Frankenstein was her way of mourning and dealing with her grief. Her environment also had an effect on her for it inspired her to write the way she did, why she did, and why she wrote it in the first place. Mary Shelley had a desire, a wish, a craving for something she hasnt experienced and probably never will motherhood. Writing Frankenstein made her feel the power of creation and that she can take care of others. She spreads the lesson that if we dont take care of something that needs that attention, it can lead to things we dont like. From the beginning, it was a failure. When Mary Shelley was born, her mother, Mary Wollestonecraft the well-known woman who wrote A Vindication of the Rights of Woman died during labor. Mary Shelley never really had a mother figure around. Her father, William Godwin, on the other hand, was always busy with business and writings that all she would do is sit around whenever her father had meetings with his fellow writers. Mary Shelley grew up in the dawn of the British Industrial Age. Britain was one of the first nations to industrialize. It was a time for the advance in technology and new things. This era could have had an effect on Mary Shelley by influencing her to use electricity and water to create the monster that Frankenstein created. It wasnt only technology that was affected during the Industrial Revolution. Social patterns started changing too. The population boomed and new social classes appeared. There were gaps between levels of society and the upper class usually looked down on everyone else. Reading Wollenstonecrafts Maria and The Rights of Woman, Godwins Memoirs of her mother or his Political Justice, undoubtedly provided intellectual justification for Mary Shelleys defiance of social values. 1 Mary Shelley was surrounded by workers for reforms, philosophers, a changing social climate, and even the feminist movements that her own mother started, and this caused her to write the social gaps between characters in her novel, Frankenstein. Women werent allowed to write before either. Her mother and other feminists who worked to be as equal as the men in society had influenced her and made her try to show the world that she, too, like any other men, can write a good novel. Mary Shelley ran away with a married man, Percy B. Shelley, to France when she was only 19 years old. Percy B. Shelley was one of her fathers friends and doing this caused her father to refuse to communicate with her for the next two and a half years. She traveled all around Europe, seeing many people and things. Percy B. Shelley impregnated her, and there was times that he left her all alone since had business to do. Mary Shelley wrote many journals. She was excited to have a baby. In February of 1815, she finally gave birth to her first child, Clara. She was two months premature and soon died early the following month. Later on after that, Mary Shelley kept attempting to have children but they kept dying. She longed to be a mother but all her attempts failed. She became depressed because of this. One summer night in 1816, Mary Shelley and many other philosophers and writers came to Lord Byrons house in London. They couldnt go outside because of the heavy rain so Lord Byron decided to have a contest on who can write the best horror story. Later that night, Mary Shelley had a dream. She wrote in her journal, I saw the pale student of unhallowed arts kneeling beside the thing he had put together. I saw the hideous phantasm of a man stretched out, then, on the working of some powerful engine, show signs of life His success would terrify the artist; he would rush away hope that this thing would subside into dead matter he opens his eyes; behold the horrid thing stands at his bedside, opening his curtains 2 This of course, is the main concept of her novel which she called, Frankenstein. There are many events in Frankenstein that are related to Mary Shelleys own life. For example, she named the first child to die in the novel William. Mary Shelley had a son who died from malaria when he was only three years old. His name was also William. Coincidence? Maybe. But there were more of these relations. During inclement weather on a family vacation, Frankenstein happens upon the writings of Cornelius Agrippa, and is immediately fired with the longing to penetrate the secrets of life and death. Similarly it was during a wet, ungenial summer in Switzerland that Mary, Shelley, Byron and several others picked up a volume of ghost stories and decided to write [ ]3 It took Victor Frankenstein a while and first researched about how to create a life. He gathered many materials and received information from many of his professors. His mother was dying and he couldnt accept the fact that one day life just passes someone by. He wanted to create life and this was what Mary Shelley desired also. She had suffered many losses and tragedies; first and foremost she lost her mother, then all those babies she lost. She wanted to create life also play God. Mary Shelley had radical views and strict outlooks on society. She saw that leaving a person alone just because they were different was wrong. Mary Shelley was a caring person and she wanted to show love to all. When she eloped with Percy B. Shelley, she was misunderstood and became an outcast for she was seen as one of those. She understood how the monster in her novel felt and she could relate a lot to it. The monster in the novel says that all he wanted was some love and he would have been better. It seemed as if Mary Shelley spoke through the monster in the novel. Frankenstein, in other words, can be read as the story of the experience of writing Frankenstein. What is at stake in Marys introduction as well as in the novel is the description of a primal sense of creation. 4 Writing Frankenstein was more like writing an autobiography of Mary Shelleys life. She put so many evens in her life into the novel that it could have been her own life story, except that she made it more interesting and more horrific. She expressed her grief and pain through the words of the novel. Citations Page 1. Poovey, Mary. My Hideous Progeny: The Lady and the Monster. Page 81 2. http://www. kimwoodbirdge. com/maryshel/summer. shtml 3. Johnson, Barbara. My Monster / My Self. Page 62 4. Johnson, Barbara. My Monster / My Self. Page 63Â   Show preview only The above preview is unformatted text This student written piece of work is one of many that can be found in our GCSE Mary Shelley section.

Use of the Mock-epic Style in The Rape of the Lock Essay -- Rape Of Th

Use of the Mock-epic Style in The Rape of the Lock "The triumph of the Baron's rape is in exactly the same high language as it would be if he were Hector." In The Rape of the Lock, Pope uses the mock-epic style to satirise the seriousness with which a trivial misdemeanour (the theft of a few strands of hair) and the ways of gender polarised society can be blown beyond all sense of proportion. Thus the male mentality, through the Baron, is portrayed as lacking depth or personality beyond that required to achieve its ends; men objectify and devise "strategems" (4,120) to conquer their female obsessions; they are "victor[s]" (4,162) who self-importantly congratulate themselves as meriting "wreaths of triumph" (4,161) when they have seized what they desire. The Baron claims that the "glorious prize" is his in perpetuity, whilst many conditions which will never be fulfilled ("while fish in streams, or birds delight in air" 4,163) remain unfulfilled. In this satirising of the epic mould such trivial occurrences are substituted in place of truly fantastic possibilities (mighty cities falling, for instance) for the purpose of putting the lock's severing into a more realistic perspective — this is made even more explicit in the following canto (4,8 "[no-one ever] felt such rage, resentment, and despair / as thou, sad virgin! for thy ravished hair" — meaning that perh aps Belinda over-reacts, in Pope's opinion, just ever-so slightly.) He also then reinforces his satire with a broadening of humour, and a stab in the direction of then-popular culture: specifically, "Atalantis" (4,165) was no great enduring writing but a cheap, scandalous work of fiction, "notorious for its thinly concealed allusions to contemporary scandals", pe... ...rder of life.") Obviously the ultimate aim of the poem is to mitigate the severity of the liberty taken in the theft of the lock (as seen in the minds of those involved in the familial dispute.) Mock epic assists Pope in achieving this without being seen to trivialise the assaulted feelings of the victim — the high language and drama of his work accords to the act of the lock's severing a grossly inflated significance, which retains enough of its epic origins not to be viewed as derisive sarcasm. As a satirist Pope is therefore presenting for the appraisal of his readership the notion that the loss of the lock does not deserve the intensity of ill-feeling which has resulted from it. BIBLIOGRAPHY: The Norton Anthology of English Literature 6th Edition, Volume 1, 1993 A Choice Of Pope's Verse, edited by Peter Porter, Faber & Faber, 1971

Ronald Regan :: essays research papers

Reagan, Ronald Wilson (1911- ), 40th president of the United States (1981-1989) Ronald Reagan was born in Tampico, Illinois. In a family of 3 boys he was the youngest. His father was a traveling shoe salesman. Reagan's mother taught Reagan how to read at an early age, which heavily influenced him positively. Most of Reagan's childhood was spent in Dixon, Illinois. Reagan attended and graduated from Eureka College a small religious school around Peoria, Illinois. He majored in economics, and he was president of the student body, a player on the football team, and captain of the swimming team. He also looked toward acting, but when Reagan graduated the only available related to show business was a local radio sportscaster. In 1936 Reagan became a sportscaster for station WHO in Des Moines, Iowa. 1937 Reagan went to Hollywood and began to work as an actor he starred in more then 50 films like Knute Rockne-All American, king’s Row, and Bedtime for Bonzo. He married actress Jane Wyman and they had two children. After eight years of marriage they got divorced and Reagan remarried Nancy Davis. They had two children. Reagan's first political activities were associated with his responsibilities as a union leader. As union president, Reagan tried to remove suspected Communists from the movie industry. When the U.S. House Committee on Un-American Activities began an investigation in 1947 on the influence of Communists in the film industry, Reagan took a strong anti-Communist stand testifying before the committee. As governor or California, Reagan became one of several widely known conservative politicians who wanted to slow down government involvement in the economy and society. In 1968 Reagan’s first term as governor, he decided to run for presidency. He lost to Nixon. After completing his term as governor, Reagan decided to run for president again. This time he challenged Gerald Ford for the 1976 presidency.

Gender in Translation Essay

Abstract Metaphors are taken to be the most fundamental form of figurative language, carrying the assumption that terms literally connected with one object can be transferred to another object. A writer/speaker uses metaphor more often than not with the intentions of introducing a new object/concept, offering a more precise meaning, or simply presenting a more poetic effect to his text/speech. The main focus of this study is image metaphors of color in the Shahnameh of Ferdowsi. The study set out to determine how this particular figure of speech is rendered by reviewing two English translations of the work. The framework of the study was Newmark’s (1988a) seven suggested procedures for translating metaphors. In addition to determining which of these procedures have been applied in the two translations, the study also aimed at discovering whether any new procedures might have been applied. The study also attempted to find out whether any exclusive patterns were observed in each translator’s rendering of the discussed items. The study concluded that out of the seven procedures proposed by Newmark for translating metaphors, Warner & Warner applied five procedures and Davis applied all seven of the procedures in the translation of image metaphors of color. No new procedure was observed in their translations. The translators’ choices of procedures for translating these specific items showed that Warner & Warner had a tendency towards the first procedure which resulted in a literal translation of the particular metaphor, whereas Davis had a tendency towards the other six  procedures which all led to explicitation, simplification and the production of a reader-oriented text. Key terms: the Shahnameh, figurative language, metaphor, image metaphor of color, translation procedure 1. Introduction Translation, as Catford (1965) defines it, is â€Å"an act of transference, in which a text from the source language is replaced by its equivalent in the target language† (p. 20). Newmark’s (1988b, p. 5) more modern version of the term is â€Å"often, though not by any means always, rendering the meaning of a text into another language in the way that the author intended the text. † Even the mere thought of inferring from these two definitions that the task of a translator and the whole translation process is a simple one seems a naivete on the part of the inexperienced. Any given source text intended for translation, regardless of its text-type, is required to undergo a close reading in order to understand what it is about, and then an analysis from the point of view of the translator. The analysis stage consists of determining the intention of the text – which, according to Newmark (1988a), represents the SL writer’s attitude to the subject matter – and also the style in which it is written. Being attentive to the selected lexicon, the syntax, figures of speech, neologisms, punctuations, names, and many more is a vital role the translator plays in the process of translation. In the case of poetry, apart from all the above features there is a surplus of sound effects such as rhyme, meter, assonance, alliteration, stress, onomatopoeia. The most common goal among translators is, and always should be, to create the same effect on the target reader as the original writer had intended for his readers. In Nida’s own words, â€Å"the relationship between receptor and message should be substantially the same as that which existed between the original receptors and the message† (Nida, 1964a, p. 159). Understanding and analyzing figurative language in a text, as mentioned above, is one of the difficult processes in translation. One of these figures of speech is metaphor which is considered by linguists as the most basic where one object is used to describe another object and both objects are essentially disparate entities, but common in one or more attributes. In the following section, the theoretical preliminaries of the study will be presented, which includes an overview of metaphor, concerning its definition, classifications, identification, and also translation procedures introduced by Newmark (1988a) on the translation of metaphors in general. The image metaphor of color in particular will also be discussed along with several exemplifications. Thereafter, a selection of the collected data will be presented, analyzed and discussed. The last section will include the conclusion of the study. 2. Theoretical Preliminaries 2. 1. Definition of Metaphor Metaphor, as stated in the Merriam Webster online dictionary, is etymologically from Greek, from metapherein, meaning ‘to transfer’ and from meta- + pherein, meaning ‘to bear’. It is defined by the same source as â€Å"a figure of speech, in which a word or phrase literally denoting one kind of object or idea is used in place of another to suggest a likeness or analogy between them. † One of Shakespeare’s most famous and oft-quoted lines, ‘All the world’s a stage’, is an example of a metaphor, where he indicates that ‘the world’ and ‘stage’ are analogous. According to Richards (1936), a metaphor consists of two parts, tenor andvehicle, also introduced as object and image by Newmark (1988a), respectively. The tenor is the term to which attributes are ascribed and the vehicle is the term from which attributes are borrowed. The properties of the vehicle which apply to the tenor in a given metaphor are namedgrounds of a metaphor, also known as the sense of a metaphor. Therefore, in the example given above, ‘world’ is the tenor or object, and ‘stage’ is the vehicle or image. The ground of this metaphor is more apparent when the next two lines are added: All the world’s a stage And all the men and women are merely players, They have their exits and their entrances This metaphor is extended through adding another pair of tenor and vehicle, i. e. ‘men and women’ is the second tenor and ‘players’ is the second vehicle. Therefore, as the actors on stage have an entrance and also an exit, the inhabitants of the world do as well, their entrance to this world being ‘birth’ and their exit being ‘death’. 2. 2. Classifications of Metaphors Metaphors have been categorized in different ways by different linguists. Black (1962a, p. 25) asserts that â€Å"the only entrenched classification is grounded in the trite opposition between ‘dead’ and ‘live’ metaphors. † He adds that â€Å"this is no more helpful than, say, treating a corpse as a special case of a person: A so- called dead metaphor is not a metaphor at all, but merely an expression that no longer has a pregnant metaphorical use†. However, he does present a classification for metaphors, but not before declaring that â€Å"if the ‘actuality’ of a metaphor †¦ is important enough to be marked, one might consider replacing the dead and alive contrast by a set of finer discriminations†; hence, the following classification (ibid, p. 25): 1. extinct metaphors: expressions whose etymologies, genuine or fancied, suggest a metaphor beyond resuscitation (a muscle as a little mouse, musculus) 2. dormant metaphors: those expressions where the original, now usually unnoticed, metaphor can be usefully restored (obligation as involving some kind of bondage) 3.  active metaphors: those expressions, that are, and are perceived to be, actively metaphoric He continues further to discriminate between two types of active metaphor: an emphatic metaphor whose â€Å"producer will allow no variation upon or substitute for the words used†, and a resonant metaphor, which supports â€Å"a high degree of implicative elaboration† (ibid, p. 26). On this account, he calls a metaphor of marked emphasis and resonance a strong metaphor, and in contrast, a metaphor of relatively low emphasis or resonance a weak metaphor. Lakoff (1977) made a revolutionary contribution to the study of metaphors when he suggested a new theory of metaphor which basically stated that metaphors are â€Å"fundamentally conceptual, not linguistic, in nature† (Lakoff, in Ortony, 1993, p. 244), which resulted in the advent of the conceptual or cognitive theory of metaphor. In his proposal of the theory, he does not provide us with any specific classification for metaphors, but rather, he only refers to them in his writings as he explains and elaborates on the theory. He states that conceptual metaphors â€Å"map one conceptual domain onto another† (ibid, p.  229). On the other hand, the novel metaphors of a language are, except for image metaphors, â€Å"extensions of this large conventional system† (ibid, p. 240). Therefore, it can be implied that he believes most metaphors to be ‘conceptual metaphors’ and some others to be ‘novel metaphors’ under which ‘image metaphors’ are subcategorized. However, more than twenty years after Black’s declaration of his standpoint on the categorization of metaphors, Newmark (1988b) was still a faithful believer in the dead/live metaphor classification, as he distinguishes six types of metaphors, beginning with dead metaphors: 1.dead metaphor: this type of metaphor â€Å"frequently relates to universal terms of space and time, the main part of the body, general ecological features and the main human activities† (ibid, p. 106). Dead metaphors have lost their figurative value through overuse and their images are hardly evident. Some examples of a dead metaphor include ‘at the bottom of the hill’, ‘face of the mountains’, and ‘crown of glory’. 2. cliche metaphor: this type of metaphor is known to have outlived its usefulness, and is â€Å"used as a substitute for clear thought, often emotively, but without corresponding to the facts of the matter† (ibid, p.107). Some examples include ‘a jewel in the crown’, ‘to make one’s mark’, and ‘backwater’. 3. stock or standard metaphor: this type of metaphor is defined by Newmark (1988b, p. 108) as â€Å"an established metaphor, which in an informal context is an efficient and concise method of covering a physical and/or mental situation both referentially and pragmatically. † He also states that stock metaphors, in contrast to dead metaphors, are â€Å"not deadened by overuse† (ibid). Examples of this type also mentioned by Newmark are: ‘to oil the wheels’, ‘he’s in a giving humour’, and ‘he’s on the eve of getting married’. 4. adapted metaphor: this type of metaphor is actually a stock metaphor that has been adapted into a new context by its speaker or writer, for example, the stock metaphor ‘carrying coals to Newcastle’ can be turned into an adapted metaphor by saying ‘ almost carrying coals to Newcastle’. 5. recent metaphor: this type of metaphor is produced through coining and is spread in the SL rapidly. Examples of this kind are ‘spastic’, meaning stupid, and ‘skint’, meaning without money. 6.original metaphor: this type of metaphor is â€Å"created or quoted by the SL writer†, and in the broadest sense, â€Å"contains the core of an important writer’s message, his personality, his comment on life† (ibid, p. 112). 2. 3. Identifying Metaphors The recognition of a metaphor in a certain text or speech may be rather easy for native speakers, but when it comes to a non-native, the challenge begins. The supposition that an expression is a metaphor when it yields a false or absurd meaning when interpreted literally is not reliable â€Å"because not all metaphors have false literal interpretations† (Way, 1991, p.14). This unreliability is proven by Way when she exemplifies through the following lyrics of a song: ‘A rock feels no pain, and an island never cries’. This statement is a metaphor, but it is also â€Å"literally true; rocks do not feel pain, and islands are not the kind of things that can cry† (ibid). But how do we identify it as a metaphor, even when the literal meaning seems true? Way (1991, p. 14) explains: â€Å"Perhaps because, while not actually false, talking about rocks feeling pain and islands crying is certainly a peculiar combination; maybe we can identify metaphors by their odd juxtaposition of ideas. † A more classical way of identifying metaphors, which again is not reliable, is the form ‘x is a y’. Although many metaphors do take this form, many more do not. As Way exemplifies through Shakespeare’s ‘Let slip the dogs of war’, she states that although this is clearly a metaphor, but â€Å"it does not fit the form of ‘x is a y’, for we are not comparing dogs to war, but rather to armies, something which is never explicitly mentioned in the phrase† (ibid, p. 15). She goes on to explain that even the syntactic structure of a metaphor can not be proof of its essence, as it has no consistent syntactic form. She provides an example by Saskice, where it is shown how one â€Å"metaphor can be rephrased as a statement, a question or an exclamation† (ibid): The moonlight sleeps sweetly upon the bank. Does the moonlight sleep sweetly upon the bank? How sweet the moonlight sleeps upon the bank! She also mentions that a metaphor’s focus can be of any part of speech. In the following examples by Saskice provided by Way (1991, p. 15), it is stated that â€Å"the focus is first a verb, then a noun, and finally a participle†: The smoke danced from the chimney. The trees bowed in the dance of the seasons. Dancing waters surrounded the canoe. According to all the above, there is no reliable method for identifying a metaphor. The more we strive to analyze a metaphor, the more we understand that its creation and comprehension are challenging tasks, specifically for the non-native speaker. 2. 4. Translating Metaphors Newmark (1988b) proposes the following seven strategies for translating metaphors; the examples included for each strategy are provided by Tajalli (2005, p. 107): 1. Reproducing the same image in the TL. Play with someone’s feelings > 2. Replacing the image in the SL with a standard TL image which does not clash with the TL culture I got it off my chest > 3. Translation of metaphor by simile, retaining the image The coast was only a long green line > 4. Translation of metaphor (or simile) by simile plus sense, or occasionally metaphor plus sense He is an owl > 5. Conversion of metaphor to sense To keep the pot boiling > 6. Deletion. If the metaphor is redundant or serves no practical purpose, there is a case for its deletion, together with its sense component 7. Translation of metaphor by the same metaphor combined with sense. The addition of a gloss or an explanation by the translator is to ensure that the metaphor will be understood The tongue is fire > . 2. 5. Image Metaphors of Color As mentioned earlier, image metaphor is a subcategory of Lakoff’s ‘novel metaphor’. He distinguishes between conceptual metaphor and image metaphor due to their distinct mapping processes. The conceptual metaphor maps one conceptual domain onto another, often with many concepts in the source domain mapped onto many corresponding concepts in the target domain, whereas the image metaphor maps only one image onto one other image; thus, Lakoff (1977) calls them ‘one-shot metaphors’. The following poem, interpreted by Louis Watchman (as cited in Ortony, 1993, p. 231), contains several image mappings: My horse with a hoof like a striped agate, with his fetlock like a fine eagle plume: my horse whose legs are like quick lightning whose body is an eagle-plumed arrow: my horse whose tail is like a trailing black cloud. He continues by explaining that â€Å"Metaphoric image mappings work in the same way as all other metaphoric mappings: by mapping the structure of one domain onto the structure of another. But here, the domains are conventional mental images† (ibid, p. 229). Therefore, image metaphors map one attribute of the source domain onto the target domain. Image mapping may involve physical part-whole relationships, as in the following example extracted from The Descriptions of King Lent, translated by J.M. Cohen (ibid, p. 230): His toes were like the keyboard of a spinet. Lakoff explains that â€Å"The words do not tell us that an individual toe corresponds to an individual key on the keyboard. The words are prompts for us to perform a conceptual mapping between conventional mental images† (ibid). Image mapping may also involve a dynamic image, as in the following lines by Shakespeare (as cited in Hawkes, 1972, p. 46), where the movement of the curtains is mapped onto the movement of the eye: The fringed curtains of thine eye advance,  And say what thou sees yond. Other attributes, such as colors, may also be mapped, which are the main focus of the present study. The following lines by Shakespeare (ibid, p. 47) map the whiteness of the lily and also ivory onto the girl: Full gently now she takes him by the hand, A lily prison’d in a gaol of snow, Or ivory in an alabaster band: So white a friend engirts so white a foe. There are many examples of image metaphors of color in the Shahnameh, where the attribute of color has been mapped onto the target domain. The following translation of a couplet in the Shahnameh, produced by Warner & Warner, contains four image metaphors (of which two are similes), but only in two of them is the attribute of color intended to be mapped; the whiteness of camphor is mapped onto the character’s hair, and the redness of a rose onto his cheeks: His stature cypress-like, his face a sun, His hair like camphor and his rose-red cheeks (Warner and Warner, 1925, vol. 1, p. 191) Also in the following example from the Shahnameh, Davis has compared blood to the redness of wine in this metaphor, even including the sense. But here, the metaphor has been applied simply as a device for making the text more poetic, as Way (1991, p. 33) discussed about the substitution theory of metaphor. He saw Sohrab in the midst of the Persian ranks, the ground beneath his feet awash with wine-red blood. (Davis, p. 205) 2. 6. Formal and Dynamic Equivalence Nida (1964) divides equivalence in two different types in his article entitled ‘Principles of Correspondence’, i. e. formal and dynamic equivalence. He depicts formal equivalence as a focus on the message, in both its formal aspects and its content. Thus, in a translation from â€Å"poetry to poetry, sentence to sentence, and concept to concept† (Nida, in Venuti 2000, p. 129), the concern is formal equivalence. In this type of equivalence, the message produced in the TT should match the different elements of the ST as closely as possible. Nida further explains that a gloss translationtypifies formal equivalence. In this type of translation, he states, â€Å"the translator attempts to reproduce as literally and meaningfully as possible the form and content of the original† (ibid). In order to be comprehensible, such a translation â€Å"would require numerous footnotes† (ibid). This structural equivalence seems to be rather identical to Larson’smodified literal translation, where the translation is basically literal, but with modifications to the order and grammar of the ST, so as to produce â€Å"acceptable sentence structure in the receptor language† (Larson, 1984, p. 16). To a great extent, it also resembles Newmark’s semantic translation, which he states, â€Å"attempts to render, as closely as the semantic and syntactic structures of the second language allow, the exact contextual meaning of the original† (Newmark, 1988a, p.39). Dynamic equivalence, on the other hand, maintains that â€Å"the relationship between receptor and message should be substantially the same as that which existed between the original receptors and the message† (Nida, in Venuti 2000, p. 129). In a translation of dynamic equivalence, the target readership is not necessarily required to understand the SL culture in order to understand the message. Most importantly, this type of equivalence â€Å"aims at complete naturalness of expression† (ibid) , and is also based on the principle of equivalent effect, which maintains that the translator should produce the same effect on his own readers as the SL author produced on the original readers. Similar to Nida’s dynamic equivalence is the traditional idiomatic translationdiscussed in Larson (1984). â€Å"The translator’s goal should be to reproduce in the receptor language a text which communicates the same message as the SL, but using the natural grammatical and lexical choices of the receptor language† (ibid, p. 17). Also rather similar to this type of equivalence is Newmark’s communicative translation, which he claims, â€Å"attempts to produce on its readers an effect as close as possible to that obtained on the readers of the original† (Newmark, 1988a, p. 39). According to the above-mentioned, after comparing Warner & Warner’s (1925) and Davis’ (2007) English translations of the Shahnameh with the original, it was concluded that the first translation is a semantic translation, while the second one is a communicative translation. Warner & Warner have translated poetry into poetry and also strived at preserving the archaic tone of the original. Furthermore, they have indicated in their Introduction to the translation that many explanatory notes have been added; hence leading to a semantic translation. Davis, on the other hand, has converted poetry into prose, with occasional lines of verse in some episodes. He also explains in his Introduction to the translation that he has intended this translation for the general reader and not for scholars; thus his version is a communicative translation. 3. Empirical Data 3. 1. Data Collection and Analysis Thirty-three examples of image metaphors of color identified in theShahnameh were located in two English translations, i. e. Warner & Warner (1925) and Davis (2007). It is worth noting that over forty-five metaphorical expressions of color were identified in the entire Shahnameh, but as Davis’ translation is not a complete translation, rather an abridged version, only thirty-three were applicable to this study. The first step in this procedure was to identify all terms/objects in theShahnameh that presented color imagery. This information was found in a list provided by Rastegar Fasaei (1990). Seventy-nine items were listed, but only thirty-three were applicable in this study, because the list was obviously not intended for metaphors of color, but rather a list indicatingterms that denote a color. Many of these terms were basic color terms, e. g. , which could not produce any potential metaphorical expression implying a color. They were mostly used in adjectival phrases describing a particular object or event. Therefore, all color terms were ruled out, as well as other terms which indicated some kind of ‘brightness’ or ‘shiny effect’, e. g. the expression , in which the metaphor implies that the sword is very shiny. Unfortunately, approximately eighteen of the items in this list were of this kind, representing brightness of an object, colors of the air, and colors of the earth, of which the latter two seemed ambiguous and impracticable for this study. As mentioned earlier, the translation by Davis is not a complete translation of the wholeShahnameh, as many episodes have been omitted. Therefore, several of the items in the list have occurred only in the sections not translated by Davis; hence, deleting them from the list was inevitable. Many of the terms in the list, unfortunately again, were observed only in the form of similes, and not metaphors; therefore, they could not be applied either. After settling on these thirty-three items, they were sought in aShahnameh software, in order to locate the couplets which contained these terms. The next step was to review each couplet to see which one had an image metaphor of color created with that specific term. For some terms, the frequency of occurrence was very high, e. g. approximately 400 couplets, which caused some difficulties in terms of being highly time-consuming. A minimum of one couplet carrying an image metaphor of color was chosen for each of the thirty-three instances via the Shahnamehsoftware. These examples were then initially located in the translation by Davis, as his is an abridged translation. Regarding this, he states in the Introduction to his book: â€Å"Given the poem’s immense length, some passages have inevitably been omitted, and others are presented in summary form† (Davis, 2007, xxxiv). After determining which of the examples were included in Davis’ translation, one couplet was eventually chosen for each instance, and then the corresponding expression was located in Warner & Warner’s translation. So far, there were thirty-three Persian examples of image metaphors of color, along with their corresponding expressions in the two English translations. These were the steps taken in the data collection stage. The next step was to analyze the collected data, which included determining the translation procedures involved in each of the two translations. The framework applied was Newmark’s (1988b) seven procedures introduced for translating metaphors. The goal here was not just determining which translator applied which procedure(s) and the frequency of each procedure, but also finding out whether any new procedures were applied other than Newmark’s. The study also aimed atdiscovering any possible translation patterns exclusive to each translator. The following three examples were selected as representatives of the collected data in this study. (?. – ?) The night was like jet dipped in pitch, there lent No planet luster to the firmament (Warner & Warner, vol. 3, p. 287) A night as black as coal bedaubed with pitch, A night of ebony, a night on which Mars, Mercury, and Saturn would not rise. (Davis, p. 306) In this ST context, the poet has depicted the scene as though the night has actually covered its face with pitch. Both translators have reproduced the same image in their TTs, thus likening the night to a black stone ( ) that has washed its exterior with pitch. (?. – ) Raised such a dust! But swift as dust they sped Till day’s cheeks turned to lapis-lazuli. (Warner & Warner, vol. 7, p. 67) They rode quickly until the day turned purple with dusk. (Davis, p. 642) The definition provided for is ‘a dark blue stone’; its translation by Emami is ‘lapis-lazuli, azure’. Britannica’s online dictionary definition forlapis-lazuli is ‘a semiprecious stone valued for its deep blue color’. Therefore, the first translator has again reproduced the same image through the same metaphor. The second translator, however, has converted the metaphor to its sense, i. e. the color it represents. ? ? (?. – ) This he said, And heaved a sigh. The colour of his cheek Turned from pomegranate-bloom to fenugreek (Warner & Warner, vol. 6, p. 25) Having said this he heaved a sigh from the depths of his being, and the rosy pomegranate petal turned as pale as fenugreek. (Davis, p. 455) The mental image of this ST metaphor is mapped onto the king’s face, describing the change of color in his complexion. The first translator has interestingly enough converted the metaphor to its sense, which seems rather a rare procedure for a semantic translation. The second translator, however, has reproduced the same image in TT2. 3. 2. Discussion Thirty-three cases of image metaphors of color were identified in theShahnameh and then located in two English translations, i. e. Warner & Warner (1925) and Davis (2007). Afterwards, the procedures applied by each translator in rendering these thirty-three items were identified. The framework chosen was that of Newmark’s (1988a). The analysis of the data showed that Warner and Warner applied five of Newmark’s suggested procedures in translating the specified image metaphors of color. They also presented two cases of wrong translation. In the following table, the procedures applied by Warner & Warner in translating the thirty-three image metaphors of color identified in this study and their frequency of occurrence, along with the corresponding percentages are shown. Table 4. 1. Frequency and percentage of procedures applied by Warner & Warner Procedure| Frequency| Percentage| Reproducing the same image in the TL| 23| 69. 69| Replacing the image in the SL with a standard TL image| 3| 9. 09| Translation of metaphor by simile, retaining the image| 1| 3. 03| Translation of metaphor by simile plus sense| 0| 0|. Conversion of metaphor to sense| 3| 9. 09| Deletion| 0| 0| Translation of metaphor by the same metaphor plus sense| 1| 3. 03| Wrong translation| 2| 6. 06| Total| 33| 100| As evident in this table, Warner & Warner have neither translated any metaphors by simile plus sense, nor deleted any metaphor. The most frequently applied procedure in their translations was the reproduction of the same image in the TL. The translation of the Shahnameh produced by Warner & Warner is a semantic translation, which clearly proves the reason as to why their most frequently applied procedure is the one mentioned above. â€Å"A semantic translation attempts to recreate the precise flavor and tone of the original: the words are ‘sacred’, not because they are more important than the content, but because form and content are one† (Newmark, 1988a, p. 47). The analysis of the data also shows that Davis has applied all seven procedures introduced by Newmark in translating these items. There was no evidence of any wrong translation. The following table presents the frequency of each procedure which was applied and also their percentages. Table 4. 2. Frequency and percentage of procedures applied by Davis Procedure| Frequency| Percentage|. Reproducing the same image in the TL| 12| 36. 36| Replacing the image in the SL with a standard TL image| 3| 9. 09| Translation of metaphor by simile, retaining the image| 3| 9. 09| Translation of metaphor by simile plus sense| 2| 6. 06| Conversion of metaphor to sense| 6| 18. 18| Deletion| 2| 6. 06| Translation of metaphor by the same metaphor plus sense| 5| 15. 15| Total| 33| 100| As indicated in the table, the most frequently used procedure by Davis is also the reproduction of the same image in the TL. He has opted for deletion of the image metaphor of color in two cases. In one of the two cases, his deletion seems to serve the purpose of a more easy-going, reader-friendly text (where the metaphoric elements seem complex or far-fetched to the target audience), whereas in the other case, his deletion seems somehow arbitrary or unjustifiable. The following table compares the two translations in terms of the percentage of procedures applied. P1 through P7 are the seven translation procedures involved in this study, also indicated in the previous table, and WT stands for wrong translation. Table 4. 3. Percentage of the procedures applied by both translators | P1| P2| P3| P4| P5| P6| P7| WT| Total %| W. & W. | 69. 69| 9. 09| 3. 03| 0| 9. 09| 0| 3. 03| 6. 06| 100| Davis| 36. 36| 9. 09| 9. 09| 6. 06| 18. 18| 6. 06| 15. 15| 0| 100| 4. Conclusion Thirty-three cases of image metaphors of color were extracted from theShahnameh and relocated in two English translations, i. e. Warner & Warner (1925) and Davis (2007). The main objective of the study was to determine which translation procedures introduced by Newmark (1988a) for translating metaphors in general were applied by the two above mentioned translators. According to the collected and analyzed data, Warner & Warner applied five of Newmark’s suggested procedures. The two procedures they did not apply at all were deletion and translation of metaphor by simile plus sense. The figures indicated that approximately 70% of the thirty-three cases had undergone Newmark’s first procedure, i. e. reproducing the same image in the TL, which was also considered the most frequently used procedure by Warner & Warner. This is a verification that their translation is indeed a semantic translation, as the objective in this type of translation is to recreate the ST, both its form and its content. This occurs to a great extent through literal/word-for-word translation, which is rather similar to the above- mentioned procedure. Davis, on the other hand, applied all seven of Newmark’s procedures in his translation of image metaphors of color. The most frequently used procedure was again, a reproduction of the same image in the TL (36%). The second aim was to determine whether any new procedures for translating image metaphors of color other than those proposed by Newmark for translating metaphors resulted from this study.

Free Essays on Effects Of Music On The Mind

Effects Of Music On The Mind Are people typically geniuses? Statistically, people probably are not. In fact, most people probably aren't even intellectually gifted at all. Most people are likely to be pretty much average, maybe a little bit above average, or a little below, but very average none the less. It is universally understood that people strive to learn to become wiser and more informed about the world around them. The more people learn, the more powerful they can become. It is the speed at which people learn that separates the geniuses from the average people and from the learning disabled. Geniuses don't run into problems while learning, because they learn very fast. It is everyone else that could really use help. One solid way to increase the speed at which people learn is with music. People learn through music and their minds grow faster because of it. Some music, when implemented properly, can have positive effects on learning and attitude. Music is a powerful thing, and when we understand its significance, it can bring dramatic changes both positive and negative into our lives. The earliest stages of learning for young children are the most important. The fundamentals of learning are instilled into a child at a very young age. How much importance is placed on these fundamentals can have dramatic affects on the future of the child's learning. Music, when applied in a constructive way, can have positive effects on a child's ability to learning and can help them in many ways. One way that music can make learning easier for a young child is by implementing music lessons into a child's normal activities. A small study was done two years back involving ten three-year-olds who were tested on their ability to put together a puzzle and the speed at which they could do it ("Learning Keys" 24). After the initial test was taken, five of the children were given singing lessons for 30 minutes a day and the other five were given piano le... Free Essays on Effects Of Music On The Mind Free Essays on Effects Of Music On The Mind Effects Of Music On The Mind Are people typically geniuses? Statistically, people probably are not. In fact, most people probably aren't even intellectually gifted at all. Most people are likely to be pretty much average, maybe a little bit above average, or a little below, but very average none the less. It is universally understood that people strive to learn to become wiser and more informed about the world around them. The more people learn, the more powerful they can become. It is the speed at which people learn that separates the geniuses from the average people and from the learning disabled. Geniuses don't run into problems while learning, because they learn very fast. It is everyone else that could really use help. One solid way to increase the speed at which people learn is with music. People learn through music and their minds grow faster because of it. Some music, when implemented properly, can have positive effects on learning and attitude. Music is a powerful thing, and when we understand its significance, it can bring dramatic changes both positive and negative into our lives. The earliest stages of learning for young children are the most important. The fundamentals of learning are instilled into a child at a very young age. How much importance is placed on these fundamentals can have dramatic affects on the future of the child's learning. Music, when applied in a constructive way, can have positive effects on a child's ability to learning and can help them in many ways. One way that music can make learning easier for a young child is by implementing music lessons into a child's normal activities. A small study was done two years back involving ten three-year-olds who were tested on their ability to put together a puzzle and the speed at which they could do it ("Learning Keys" 24). After the initial test was taken, five of the children were given singing lessons for 30 minutes a day and the other five were given piano le...

Ask a Literary Publicist Vol.1 Press Releases and Tragedy

Ask a Literary Publicist Vol.1 Press Releases and Tragedy Ask an Award-Winning Literary Publicist #1: Press Releases and Tragedy Sandra Goroff is a veteran award-winning literary publicist with Reedsy. Over her illustrious  30-year (and counting) career, she has worked in-house at Houghton Mifflin and represented authors the likes of Clive Cussler, Maurice Sendak, Chris Van Allsburg, Hollywood legend Kirk Douglas, and former president Jimmy Carter.In this, her first guest post, Sandy will answer questions submitted by authors, shining some light on how to best approach publicity as an author.'Pressing' concernsR. Read asks, â€Å"Can self-published authors hope to submit press releases to news outlets?†The answer is an absolute and resounding YES! Self-published authors can always submit press releases to news outlets - in fact, they should.Anyone can submit a release about their book (self-published or otherwise) to various print and broadcast media. The key is to make it worth the time and effort by creating an effective release and making sure it gets to the right contacts. 'Ask an award-winning literary publicist' - @ReedsyHQ's new column answers your publicity Qs Research your contacts firstFirst of all, you will need the names and email addresses of newspaper reporters, editors, and television bookers and producers. The old-fashioned way to find these (which still works) is to ever-so-politely call the assignment desk and simply ask. No explanations needed. You don’t even need to introduce yourself or say why you are calling unless asked. In fact, the less you say the better.Is there anything you’d like to ask Sandy about book publicity? Drop your question at this link and it might feature in our next column.

Business Email Salutations to a Group [Updated 2018]

Business Email Salutations to a Group [Updated 2018] I wrote about correct salutations for business letters and business email, prompting a few clients to ask about which salutations work well for a business email to a group. Small Group Salutations If the group is small enough – five or less – the very best salutation is to use recipients’ names. This also indicates the message is relevant for all of them. Dear Carmen, Anita, Sean, James, and Roland: Note: using Dear [title, last name] or [first name] followed by a colon is the preferred salutation for all business salutations in email for formal communication when communicating outside your company on first contact. If your subject is a more personal business issue, such as group congratulations, condolences or thanks, use Dear [title, last name] or [first name] followed by a comma. If you know your recipients very well, you are all in the same company, the subject is light, and your company culture informal, you can also use Hello or Hi [first name], followed by a comma. When in doubt about formality, opt for Dear [title, last name] or [first name] and a colon. Group Salutations to a Team If all your recipients belong to the same group, use the group name: Dear Sales Team: Dear Profile Committee: AcknowledgementGroup Salutations Sometimes, endearing or encouraging group salutations work well, but use discretion with this approach: Dear Marketing Mavens: (To a marketing group, in a message announcing a new contract, which compliments their ability and skills that earned the contract.) Dear Road Warriors: (To a sales group that had been traveling non-stop for the past month, with a message announcing the sales results. This salutation works because it sincerely acknowledges their hard work.) Dear Sales Dudes: (Be judicious using personalized group salutations. A sales rep shared this salutation with me recently, which his sales manager uses for all group messages to the sales team. He told me he â€Å"cringes† every time he sees this, which proves the importance of a good salutation. We really can lose a reader at hello.) Group Salutations for Positions If your recipients are in various positions or groups: Dear Colleagues: Dear Coworkers: Ladies: (if all the recipients are women) Gentlemen: (if all the recipients are men) Neutral, Classic Group Salutations Always Work â€Å"Greetings† as a group salutation is neutral, succinct and not too casual, so always a good choice: Greetings: Greetings All: Summer Greetings: (Suitable for a seasonal group announcement message.) For more informal business writing, these salutations are warm and engaging: Hello, everyone: Hi Team, Dear Friends:

Macro economics Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Macro economics - Research Paper Example China’s main industries consist of mining iron, coal, aluminum and other metals, armament manufacturing, machine building, petroleum, textiles, automobiles, aircraft, communications and telecommunications, food processing and all sorts of consumer product manufacturing to name just a few. 1.2. Exchange rate. The official currency of the PRC is called Renmimbi which means â€Å"people’s money. It has an ISO 4217 code and symbol of ?. The Renmimbi has been traditionally pegged to the U.S. Dollar. The devaluation of the currency in 1980s to stimulate Chinese exports caused the currency decline from 1.50 in 1980 to 8.62 Yuan to a dollar in 1994. CIA reported following status of YUAN: In July 2005, China revalued its currency by 2.1% against the US dollar and moved to an exchange system that references a basket of currencies From 2005 to late 2008, cumulative appreciation of the renmimbi against US dollar was more than 20% China’s exchange rate remained pegged to the dollar from onset of global crisis In June 2010, Beijing allowed resumption of a gradual appreciation of renmimbi Source: CIA World Factbook Fig. 2. USDCNY Exchange rate Fig. 2 shows the Chinese Yuan Exchange Rate Chart (USDCNY) presenting the depreciation by 4.33 percent during the last 12 months. Source: Trading Economics.com Renminbi yuan (RMB) per US dollar - 6.7852 (2010) 6.8314 (2009) 6.9385 (2008) 7.61 (2007) 7.97 (2006) 1.3 Inflation rate. Report of Inflation in China as of March 2011 is 5.4 percent, a rise from previous 4.90. Record shows that from 1994 to 2010, the average inflation rate in China was 4.25 percent that went up to its highest rate of 27.70 percent in October of 1994 and a... This paper is one of the best examples of comparison of the recent performances of economies of China and India. The World Bank considers China and India as emerging markets ,whose economic growth has been accompanied by even more rapid growth in their trade that will affect their relations with other trading partners. Based on the GDP performances of China and India, it is clear that these countries have taken their lead in the economy and could rightly belong to be called an emerging economy. Its big population has been an asset instead of a destabilizing factor in the economy. China still has to resolve issues concerning its devaluation policy that many countries are against. China has experienced rapid expansion of economy after it changed from a centrally planned system to the open market structure. In 2010 China became the world’s biggest exporter, and on the basis stood as the second-largest economy in the world after the US. In China, a country in transition from a closed system to an open market system, government policies stabilizes its economy through monetary reforms. In India, a lot of infrastructure support for technological development is observed to become the leader in IT services. Services and industry have improved in India, but agriculture has been left behind in terms of share in GDP. While the economies of both countries are improving, its internal effect to domestic consumption has problems. Unemployment rate is still high and poverty level must be addressed by the government.

Drunk Drivers Should Have Their License Revoked Essay

Drunk Drivers Should Have Their License Revoked - Essay Example Most of the drivers who cause accidents because of driving under the influence of alcohol do not get the punishments that they deserve. In most cases, they have their licenses suspended for a few weeks and have to pay a fin. In some cases, they do not even get their licenses suspended. This means that they are legally allowed to go out and drive again. This increases the chance that they will repeat the drunken driving offense. It is interesting to note that most of those who cause accidents while driving drunk have previously committed the offense. The only way to ensure that people who have been found to be driving under the influence do not repeat the offense is revoke their licenses permanently. The permanent revocation of the license is punishments that will make people avoid committing the offense, as they do not want to lose their licenses. Driving while under the influence of alcohol is a choice that the driver makes, and it is a choice that puts him and other people at the risk of injury or of death. As such, it is necessary to harsh penalties to be imposed on those found to be guilty of the offense. The harsh consequences of the action should not have to wait until a person has committed the offense repeatedly. A penalty as strict as the revocation of a license is enough to make people avoid committing the offense. It therefore acts as a deterrent measure (Ross and Gonzales 380). ... The permanent revocation of the license is punishments that will make people avoid committing the offense, as they do not want to lose their licenses. Driving while under the influence of alcohol is a choice that the driver makes, and it is a choice that puts him and other people at the risk of injury or of death. As such, it is necessary to harsh penalties to be imposed on those found to be guilty of the offense. The harsh consequences of the action should not have to wait until a person has committed the offense repeatedly. A penalty as strict as the revocation of a license is enough to make people avoid committing the offense. It therefore acts as a deterrent measure (Ross and Gonzales 380). Another reason as to why people found to be driving while having alcohol levels that exceed the legal limits should have their licenses revoked is that suspension of licenses has not been found to work. The temporary suspension of licenses does not achieve the intended purpose as most drivers find it too lenient and are therefore likely to repeat the offense. The permanent revocation of the license is a stricter penalty and will deter people from drunk driving. If one is allowed to have their license after driving under the influence of alcohol, it is likely that they will cause an accident that may lead to the loss of life. Some people argue that permanent revocation of a license will not work as people may still drive even without the license. It is also argued that despite the strict penalties for drunken driving people still drink and drive. This assertion is however incorrect as it has been seen that penalties for drunken driving are

Assighment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Assighment - Essay Example It is through this book that various aspects of the hedge fund scheme are being addressed, and how investors should go about resolving the imbalance created by hedge fund managers. It is true that there is a lot of money to be made from hedge funds, because the success of most hedge funds proves that opportunities are present (Lack 42). In an aggressive, fast-changing business environment, individuals are always coming up with ways in which they can benefit from each other. However, the vulnerability of some individuals, especially with regards to finances, is being capitalized on by individuals who are willing to make quick cash from susceptible folks. It is in light of this that the author sought to address some of the aspects that surround hedge funds. The author describes how to tackle the menace that arises from investment managers, and how to become stronger when opportunities are likely to occur once an individual chooses to invest (Lack 46). Summary of the book According to S imon Lack, investors need to be cautious of the risk hedge funds pose on their unsuspecting nature. It is true that hedge funds can be a lucrative source of capital, but the manner in which people are losing their money is not worth ignoring. First and foremost, the charges required to invest in a hedge fund, according to the author, tend to always be ridiculous. It is the author’s belief that half the money invested by investors could make more returns had they put invested in treasury bills (Lack 51). All these assumptions point or lead to one conclusion that; hedge funds are in business for their own interest, and not those of their investors. This bold statement makes one wonder of all that is currently happening to the invested money that happens to find its way into hedge funds. This is also described in the book when the author insinuates that investors lose almost 25% of their invested money to the hedge fund industry. The superior rate of returns, often hyped by hedg e funds, is usually a ploy to have people invest in something that may not necessarily wield high returns (Lack 53). The author believes that even the traditional methods of investment have better luck in having better/higher returns as compared to the glorified schemes of hedge funds. The numbers, as the book suggests, do not add up or are not consistent with what is actually happening in these organizations. It is this claim that leads to the casting of doubt on the whole hedge fund charade. The controversial manner in which the author divulges information about the hedge fund industry brings to light some of the common mistakes people make, and why it is vital to be open-minded when it comes to deals that are too good to be true. Strengths and weaknesses of the book The manner in which the author divulges this information is done in a simple, much easy to understand language. Simple examples have been used to describe scenarios in which individuals are often in, and how they are susceptible to manipulation once the promises of exceptional returns are introduced. No financial or mathematical complexities have been used, so it is easy for even the not so avid reader to comprehend. Moreover, the anecdotes that the author knits into the book form a basis for a relaxed atmosphere where the

Sustainable Supply Chain Management Assignment Discussion Essay

Sustainable Supply Chain Management Assignment Discussion - Essay Example Furthermore, there have been increasing concerns over the long-term effects of these processed foods such as diabetes and obesity and a myriad of other dangerous health conditions. According to research by Oxform, none of the top 10 big multinationals has registered a positive overall rating in their public health policies or commitments especially as pertains to their supply chain. This is probably why in recently millions of packaged food products containing horsemeat instead of beef were distributed in America and Europe; that a firm with such a wide scope could make a great error in their supply chain is evidence that they were not taking their corporate social responsibility very seriously. The aim of this paper is to discusscorporate social responsibilities concerning global supply chains and the development of shared values within the corporates. The Oxform report, â€Å"Title Behind the Brands† goes on to place the multination to task for their extreme secrecy in opera tions, which makes it difficult for sustain and verify their claims of social corporate responsibility (Cofino, 2013). According to this report, despite the fact that 80% of the global populace is perennially hungry; enormous tracts of land are used in the production of unhealthy foods and snacks which in no way address the problem. There is a direct connection, according to oxform, between the global poverty endemic and the food and beverage industry, this is because the sourcing strategy for the fast food industry. Poor nations have supplied the multinationals; most of which are located in the West with products such as tomatoes, soy, coffee, tea, corn and so on; the final products of their exports are fast foods retailed in the west and are of little use in dealing with the hunger issues. In this nations there are a myriad issues ranging from child labour, unfair wages and poor working conditions, as a result firms sourcing their supply from these countries often be highly critic ized for profiting from the problems therein (Schlegelmilch and Obersede 2007, p.14). The report is highly critical of the corporates actions since in their attempt to assist the farmers who produce these raw materials, they focus on superficial aspects such as training farmers on matters, such as irrigation. However, they fail to address the underlying problem of poverty and in a way of their help, they are actually just enhancing their supply base as opposed to actually, assisting people solve the underlying problems(Agbonifo, 2011). In case they were willing, the corporates can ensure workers earn decent pay, asses and eliminate the root cause of hunger and poverty from the areas where they get their supplies. Nevertheless, majority choose to do nothing significant in those respects and do not feel obligated since they lack proper polices for guiding their supply chain operations. The study involved some of the leading food producers in the world such as coca cola, Unilever assoc iated British foods and nestle; these firms were judged based on their standards in several areas such as transparency and their consideration for the rights of workers and food safety. Sadly, very few were able to give a substantiated account of how they deal with suppliers and how they ensure that ethical practices are maintained throughout the supply chain. Associated British foods were ranked last with 19%; its transparency was the lowest, among other things it was discovered that much of the sugar

Factoring Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Factoring - Essay Example Even though, it was not highly developed in the early centuries, major improvements have taken place in the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries. The factoring of Greatest common factors was developed in a mounting manner, with the leaders embracing it. Factoring was a royal sport which, Kings sponsored inform of contests, and the ones who emerged best in Europe went from court to court to display their skills. Techniques of trinomial factoring were secrets that were closely guarded, and topics of betrayals and intrigues. According to Mano, (pg 16) it was also developed because it helps in proving theorems in the modern number theorem such as unique factorization. It also made the computation of GCD of big numbers more efficient since it does not require more steps in division than five times the digits number (base 10) of the lesser integer. Trinomial factoring is generally aimed at improving complex integral operations and making them simpler. In medical fields, Fractional trinomials have been suggested in studies involving epidemics to investigate functional forms of continuous predictor variables. In clinics, it has been more desirable categorize patients into various prognosis groups. E.g. children, youths and adults, or diagnosis groups .E.g. ulcer, tumor and cancer. Medical distributional measures like lower, middle and upper quartile is usually done in classified age groups (e.g. 15-20, 21-25†¦). It makes hospital operations involving numbers easier than when done in other ways. Man, Carlos. "The History of Polynomial Factoring | eHow.com." eHow | Articles & More - Discover the expert in you. | eHow.com. N.p., n.d. Web. Nov. 2012.

Sustainable Supply Chain Management Assignment Discussion Essay

Sustainable Supply Chain Management Assignment Discussion - Essay Example Furthermore, there have been increasing concerns over the long-term effects of these processed foods such as diabetes and obesity and a myriad of other dangerous health conditions. According to research by Oxform, none of the top 10 big multinationals has registered a positive overall rating in their public health policies or commitments especially as pertains to their supply chain. This is probably why in recently millions of packaged food products containing horsemeat instead of beef were distributed in America and Europe; that a firm with such a wide scope could make a great error in their supply chain is evidence that they were not taking their corporate social responsibility very seriously. The aim of this paper is to discusscorporate social responsibilities concerning global supply chains and the development of shared values within the corporates. The Oxform report, â€Å"Title Behind the Brands† goes on to place the multination to task for their extreme secrecy in opera tions, which makes it difficult for sustain and verify their claims of social corporate responsibility (Cofino, 2013). According to this report, despite the fact that 80% of the global populace is perennially hungry; enormous tracts of land are used in the production of unhealthy foods and snacks which in no way address the problem. There is a direct connection, according to oxform, between the global poverty endemic and the food and beverage industry, this is because the sourcing strategy for the fast food industry. Poor nations have supplied the multinationals; most of which are located in the West with products such as tomatoes, soy, coffee, tea, corn and so on; the final products of their exports are fast foods retailed in the west and are of little use in dealing with the hunger issues. In this nations there are a myriad issues ranging from child labour, unfair wages and poor working conditions, as a result firms sourcing their supply from these countries often be highly critic ized for profiting from the problems therein (Schlegelmilch and Obersede 2007, p.14). The report is highly critical of the corporates actions since in their attempt to assist the farmers who produce these raw materials, they focus on superficial aspects such as training farmers on matters, such as irrigation. However, they fail to address the underlying problem of poverty and in a way of their help, they are actually just enhancing their supply base as opposed to actually, assisting people solve the underlying problems(Agbonifo, 2011). In case they were willing, the corporates can ensure workers earn decent pay, asses and eliminate the root cause of hunger and poverty from the areas where they get their supplies. Nevertheless, majority choose to do nothing significant in those respects and do not feel obligated since they lack proper polices for guiding their supply chain operations. The study involved some of the leading food producers in the world such as coca cola, Unilever assoc iated British foods and nestle; these firms were judged based on their standards in several areas such as transparency and their consideration for the rights of workers and food safety. Sadly, very few were able to give a substantiated account of how they deal with suppliers and how they ensure that ethical practices are maintained throughout the supply chain. Associated British foods were ranked last with 19%; its transparency was the lowest, among other things it was discovered that much of the sugar

Quantitative Techniques for Business Project Essay

Quantitative Techniques for Business Project - Essay Example This assignment studies behavior of stock prices at daily interval for the period from July 20, 1988 to July 20, 2009. Figure 1, 2 and 3 illustrate the dynamic character of stock prices respectively of companies Microsoft, Intel, and H&P. The graphical views tell us that these three stocks exhibited exponential growth from the beginning until the middle of 2000. All three stocks later dropped in prices by 30%-% 40% in about 24 moths. They never achieved the previous peak. Microsoft maintained stable prices for the rest of the period while Intel and Hewlett & Packard went through bumpy roads. The dynamic character of Apple stock was different from that of previously mentioned stocks. Figure 4 shows the asymptotic behavior of Apple stock prices from the beginning of the observation period until the middle of 1999. In the latter period, Apple stock price exhibited exponential growth until was hit by the global financial crisis of 2008. Apple’s sudden growth after the mid-1999 can be associated with the release of new products and services. The exponential growth of Microsoft, Intel and H&P stock prices from 1988 until 2000 should be contributed to the development of digital technology of that time. Thus, we can conclude that the innovation and new products influence the rise in stock prices. At the same time, irrespective of innovation, the overall market condition also causes influence on the stock prices. Figure 5 depicts S&P 500 index values from September 26, 2008 to November 21, 2008. In 41 days, the index dropped by 34%. This incident is named as the Global Financial Crisis of 2008. It caused a drop in prices of Microsoft, Apple, Intel and H&P stocks respectively by 27.69%, 35.61%, 31.13%, and 27.55%. This assignment is using time-series data of stock prices. Let Pt be the price of an asset at a time index t and P t-1 at a time t-1. We assume

ABC Co. Marketing Strategy Case Essay Example for Free

ABC Co. Marketing Strategy Case Essay ABC Manufacturing Company is a manufacturer of fine furniture designed to resemble the furniture used in various historical periods. The companys furniture is sold by approximately fifty dealers throughout the United States and in several foreign countries. Dealers are carefully selected by ABC to be sure they maintain the high quality imagine that ABC has established in its 100-year history of making fine furniture. Most dealers sell only ABCs furniture, but a few also sell noncompeting lines of similar quality. Dealers who sell only ABCs furniture are franchised to do business under ABCs trade name and would appear to the public to be branch stores rather than independent business. ABCs factory is a three-story building of heavy timber (mill) construction located in a New England town of 2,500 population. The first floor is used for warehousing and office space, and the two upper floors house the production facilities. The building is 75 years old and has been occupied by ABC since its construction. The local fire department is above average for towns of this size, but its water supply system does not have adequate reserve capacity to maintain pressure for fighting a major fire over a period of several hours. See more:Â  First Poem for You Essay Adjacent to the factory building is a large frame structure used by ABC to store seasoned lumber for its furniture. Lumber is first air dried in the yard adjoining the shed, with the exact drying period depending on the kind of wood involved. The air-dried wood is then kiln dried in ABCs own kiln, after which it is stored in the frame storage building until needed. ABCs power plant is located in a brick building about 50 feet from the main plant. It furnishes heat and steam for all operations. Water for the stream boilers is drawn from a large river adjacent to the power plant. Electricity is purchased from a public utility. Due to the length of the seasoning period, ABC usually has on the premises a supply of lumber adequate for four months of operations. Much of the lumber is purchased within a 200-mile radius of the factory, but substantial amounts are purchased from more distant sections of the United States or from foreign countries. For example, mahogany lumber, which is used in almost half of ABCs products, is imported by ABC from Latin American and Africa. Most of the lumber arrives at ABCs yard by railroad and is shipped FOB point of origin. The imported lumber is shipped by water to the nearest port, approximately 100 miles from ABCs factory, and then by train to the factory. Some locally produced lumber is delivered to ABC by truck, FOB ABCs yard. Workers in ABCs factory use some small power tools, such as saws, planers, lathes, and similar equipment. However, the production process is primarily manual. Highly skilled craftsmen build the companys products, using many of the same techniques that were used two centuries ago. Furniture finishing is done by hand, and most of the stains, varnishes and other finishing materials are compounded by ABCs employees according to the companys proprietary formulas. ABCs labour force is very stable because each craftsman undergoes a lengthy apprenticeship in the plant and because ABC pays wages that are relatively high by the standards of the community. Management considers the high wages to be necessary because of the time and expense required to hire and train a replacement for a craftsman who leaves the firm. Some finished furniture is shipped by railroad, but most of it is shipped by contract carrier trucks. The contract with the trucker does not include any provision relative to liability for damage to goods in transit. Export shipments are transported by truck to the nearest port and by water to the country of destination. All shipments are made FOB purchasers warehouse. All sales, including export sales, are made on open account and only to ABCs established dealers. Export accounts usually are denominated in and payable in the currency of the importers country. Accounts receivable, on the average, are equal to about one-eighth of annual sales. Accounts receivable records are kept on ABCs computer in the office section of the first floor of the factory building. The computer is also used for inventory and production control, payroll management, and other accounting functions. The computer equipment is owned by ABC. The office is cut off from the warehouse section of the first floor by a wood partition. The office and computer room are air conditioned, but the remainder of the building is not. Duplicate computer tapes, updated weekly, are stored in a well-protected vault in another part of the city. A monthly fee is paid for the tape storage. ABC owns several small trucks that are used to move lumber about its own premises and for local pickup and delivery. The trucks are kept in the lumber storage shed when they are not in use. Several lift trucks are used for moving lumber and other heavy items in and around the factory and lumber storage area. A freight elevator moves materials, finished furniture, lift trucks, and other equipment between floors in the factory. Automatic grillwork gates have been installed to prevent workers from falling into the elevator shaft. There is no passenger elevator. Workers use either the freight elevator or the open stairwells when moving between floors. Steel fire escapes have been installed on the exterior of the building to facilitate evacuation of the upper floors in case of fire or other catastrophe. ABC Manufacturing Company is wholly owned by its president, Mr. Carpenter, who is the grandson of the companys founder. Mr. Carpenter is considered wealthy by local standards. However, his fortune consists almost entirely of the stock of ABC Manufacturing Company, and he is dependent on his salary and company dividends for his livelihood. Nearly all of ABCs operating profit has been paid in dividends in recent years. Consequently, the company has only a modest cushion of liquid assets in excess of its operating needs. Profits have been consistent, but they have been relatively low because of the inefficiency of the present factory facilities. Although the dollar amount of ABCs sales has increased steadily because of price increases, the physical volume of sales has remained almost constant over the past several years. The lack of growth has resulted primarily from two factors. First, the present plant cannot accommodate greater production because of space limitations, and there is no available land adjacent to the plant to permit expansion. Second, the long training period required for new employees prevents rapid expansion of production. Mr. Carpenter has considered building a new factory at another location in the same town. However, such a move is not financially feasible unless the present plant can be sold, and no prospective purchasers have been found. A move to any location outside its present hometown would not be practical because of the companys dependence on its well-trained craftsman. The sales manager estimates that both the dealer network and sales could be increased by 30% over the next 5 years if production facilities could be provided. The cost to rebuild the present factory building in its present form would be $2.5 million. However, Mr. Carpenter has indicated that he would not build a new mill-type building to replace the current structure because of the high cost of the thick brick walls and heavy timber interior construction. A new, one-story, noncombustible masonry and steel building of comparable floor area would cost approximately $2 million to build and would be more efficient for ABCs purpose. The actual cash value of the present factory building is estimated to be $1.5 million, and ABC has insured it for that amount against fire and the extended coverage perils. The lumber storage shed, power plant, table and lumber kiln are also insured for their actual cash values. The following table shows the actual cash value and replacement cost for each of the structures. Table 1: ABC Company Building Values ___________________________________________________________________________________ BuildingActual Cash ValueReplacement Cost Factory$1,500,000$2,500,000 Lumber shed 150,000 200,000 Power plant 230,000 300,000 Kiln 270,000 320,000 ___________________________________________________________________________________ ABCs annual premium for fire and extended coverage insurance is $136,000, including the coverage for contends of the buildings and for lumber stored in the yard. There have been no fire or extended coverage losses during the past five years and only minor losses prior to that time. The companys estimated annual workers compensation premium is $165,000. Loss experience has been fairly consistent from year to year. Based on past experience, with adjustments for inflation and current benefit levels, normal losses of $104,000 can be expected. The most frequent claims have been small and have resulted from such minor injuries as splinters in hands, several minor dermatitis cases, and sawdust or metal particles in eyes. The more serious injuries have included back strains and loss of fingers in power saws and other power tools. ABC now has 15 percent debit under workers compensation experience rating plan. (That is, they are paying a rate 15% greater than manual rates). Questions 1. Identify the following loss exposures faced by ABC Manufacturing Company: 1) Direct property loss exposures 2) Indirect property loss exposures 3) Liability exposures 2. Your suggestions in risk management for ABC Company Case 2: Bite-O-Burger Company (Risk Management and Insurance) Description of Operations The Bite-O-Burger Company is a publicly held corporation. It owns and operates 843 fast-food restaurants located in eleven states in the United States. The restaurants feature a limited menu consisting of hamburgers, French fried potatoes, fried chicken, chili, related food items, and nonalcoholic beverages. The restaurants vary in size, but each is located in a free-standing building and surrounded by customer parking areas. All of the buildings were built to Bite-O-Burgers plans and specifications and share enough architectural characteristics to make them easily recognized as units of the chain. All have forced air heat and are air conditioned. At current prices, the average replacement cost of the restaurants is estimated at $125,000 per unit for the building and $100,000 for the equipment. Because of differences in size, the replacement cost, including building and equipment, ranges from $175,000 for the smallest restaurants to $300,000 for the largest. The average actual cash value is $205,000 for building and equipment combined. The restaurants vary in age from a few days to approximately 20 years. All of them are owned by Bite-O-Burger, but the newer ones are subject to substantial mortgages. The home office of the company is located in leased space in a building in the business district of a midwestern city. Bite-O-Burger occupies the upper three floors of the thirty-story building. The companys data processing centre is located on the top floor. All of the computer equipment is leased from the manufacturer. Bite-O-Burger also occupies a leased warehouse near the home office. It is used for storage and distribution of supplies (paper cups, wrapping materials, etc.) and nonperishable food items. Perishable food items are purchased from local suppliers near the restaurants in which they will be used, and they are delivered directly to the restaurants by the suppliers. There is no refrigeration equipment at the warehouse, but each restaurant has a large, walk-in refrigerator. Items from the company warehouse are distributed to the individual restaurants by a fleet of 30 owned tractor-trailer units. The same units also transport goods from the suppliers to the central warehouse when truck-load quantities are purchased. Smaller lots are shipped by common carrier FOB point of shipment. The values of the contents at the warehouse and home office are $15,750,000 and $3,200,000, respectively. Values at both locations are relatively constant throughout the year. Bite-O-Burger advertises extensively in newspapers in the cities in which it has several restaurants. Many of its advertisements feature endorsements of its products by prominent athletes and theatre personalities. Some advertisements feature pictures of local people and their favourable comments on the companys food and service. The company also sponsors softball and bowling teams in some cities as a part of its public relations program. Bite-O-Burgers profit and loss statement and an abbreviated balance sheet for last year are shown in Tables 2-1 and 2-2. The companys operating results for last year were typical of past years, but sales and assets have been growing at a rate of approximately 20% per year. Bite-O-Burgers fire and extended coverage losses for the five years are shown in Table 2-3. The quotations shown in Table 2-4 have been obtained for fire and extended coverage protectionblanket on buildings and contents on an actual cash value basis. Bite-O-Burger is well aware of the fire exposures associated with restaurants. Extensive fire control equipment has been installed in the kitchens of all units, and especially in the range hoods and in the cooking areas.

Advantages Of Outsourcing To Multiple Providers Information Technology Essay

Advantages Of Outsourcing To Multiple Providers Information Technology Essay Globalisation involves higher competition resulting in companies looking for gaining competitive advantages over others. The globalisation vs. localisation discussion is linked to the question of outsourcing vs. insourcing (appendix A.1). Outsourcing consists of nearshore outsourcing and offshore outsourcing. The latter will be applied in this paper. For some companies, outsourcing may be a possibility to achieve competitive advantages. For other companies insourcing could be the better solution. Furthermore, companies, when coming to the decision to outsource, have to face the paradox whether to outsource to a single service provider or to multiple. Firstly, outsourcing and insourcing are presented generally in order to facilitate important information about outsourcing to a single supplier. Then outsourcing to multiple suppliers is explained with advantages, disadvantages as well as governance and finally IT outsourcing is demonstrated. This is shown in a practical example, a case study: Shell Outsourcing Deal 2008. Shell outsourced its IT to three service providers. This example merges outsourcing to multiple suppliers with IT outsourcing and reveals the theoretically explained aspects in practice and why Shell decided to outsource its IT to multiple suppliers. Outsourcing generally describes the transfer of goods and services, which were performed with own means by the company, to a third party (Online Lehrbuch S. 2). The service provider , generally one, takes over the complete responsibility for the outsourced field. Offshore outsourcing is linked to the transfer of companys activities to wholly owned subsidiaries or service providers to other countries from the customers location (Oshri et al., 2009, p.15). These countries have enormous and easily accessible resources which offer competitive advantages to the outsourcing company (Offshore Outsourcing, 2011). Are the companys activities transferred to a neighboring country, this is called nearshoring. Benefits of nearshoring are e.g. the connection in regard to the geographical, temporal, cultural, linguistic, economic, political, and historical (Oshri et al., 2009, p.46) situation. Outsourcing to a single provider offers companies several advantages in a globalising world to obtain the increasing competition. Advantages of outsourcing Disadvantages of outsourcing Cost advantages as special knowledge saves time, costs for personnel and investments are broken up on several companies and fixed capital can be utilised elsewhere as well as the the liquidity of the company can be increased In reality costs often rise when outsourcing potentials are not used sufficiently or specific outsourcing costs were not considered in the planning, fixed costs are insufficiently reduced, costs for the service provider can be higher than own costs as many companies miscalculate own costs Higher strategic flexibility in regard to market changes Performance risks as knowledge and know-how wander off Investments undertaken by supplier Additional entrepreneurial load as higher security is necessary Access to external know-how Possible resistance in the workforce Increase of possibilities for innovation due to collaboration Dependence on the service provider and excessive demands Smaller companies can adapt to current standards and achieve requirements Suffering of quality due to weak communication, shortage in resource or capacity and capability of service provider Discharge for companies in areas, which do not belong to their core competencies Langauge and culture barrier risk to communication Fig.1: Advantages and disadvantages of outsourcing (Expertscolumn, 2009; OnlineLehrbuch, 2011). By managing and minimising the above mentioned risks due diligence plays an important role (Reed, 2011). Moreover, it is important to understand the risks companies face when outsourcing as those can also enhance due to the geographical distance between the company and the service provider. To avoid the emergence of any of the mentioned risks the partners should keep a risk register which distinguishes and lists all possible risks connected to the outsourced service. This should be then maintained over the whole period of operations. 2.1.2 Insourcing in general Insourcing describes the reintegration of processes, belonging to the core competencies of a company, which possibly have been outsourced before (Gabler Wirtschaftslexikon, 2011). Advantages of insourcing Disadvantages of insourcing Transparency and comparability of costs for particular goods and services Higher costs due to initial costs, labour costs and costs for materials Decrease of dependence on suppliers Training period for employees Increase in scope for actions Foundation of a new department (potentially) Integration of goods and services in the company processes Creation and determination of tools for controlling the work flow Encouragement of internal competencies Arising of synergy effects Consistency in the data Fig.2: Advantages and disadvantages of insourcing (Active Sourcing AG, 2011; Leads Stà ¼rmer, 2011) 2.2 Outsourcing to multiple suppliers Today, many companies outsource not only to one service provider but to multiple as this offers them even more competitive advantages (Siemens, 2011). The main point for the success of outsourcing is to outsource the correct task to the correct supplier using the correct contracts and a powerful governance process. Various business conditions favour using multiple suppliers than just one. Firstly, business complexity: Companies have different levels of business complexity. Generally, industries which change slower have easier manageable environments, constant processes and accountable needs. For these companies long-term outsourcing to one service provider offers great options. However, many companies do not have the environment mentioned above. For these organisations long-term outsourcing to a single service provider is risky as they have varying support needs and dynamic operations and generally no single service provider can offer the technical and geographical expertise to fulfill their needs. For these companies, which show a higher level of business complexity, outsourcing to multiple suppliers might be a more effective approach considering that they have the internal abilities and governance structures to manage this approach. The independence of separate business units in a company can vary in regard to budgets and decisions about service providers and support. Separate business units often work out individual business applications. The higher the level of independence of business units, the greater the challenge of creating controlled and managed support. Therefore many companies, having a high level of independence, prefer outsourcing to multiple suppliers as their business units have the liberty to choose individually according their needs. Nevertheless, the central departments can keep control. 2.2.1 Advantages of outsourcing to multiple providers Outsourcing to multiple providers exists in various kinds (Siemens, 2011). Diverse suppliers can be chosen to support e.g. diverse business units or business lines. Companies can also choose suppliers by reason of their expertise or geographic location and coverage. Fig. 3: Overview of outsourcing to multiple providers (Practical Law Company, 2007) Advantages of outsourcing to multiple suppliers Disadvantages of outsourcing to multiple suppliers Better levels of control and management Management of several suppliers Flexibility to decide on providers which meet particular needs (e.g. shorter durations for companies rethinking and reorganising promptly) Ensurement of a good level of cooperation amongst suppliers responsiibility is doubled (organisation and suppliers) Improvement of service delivery Interdependencies can complicate and obstruct activites Stimulation of competition between the suppliers, e.g. dependence Service providers working in alike sectors may be careful regarding sharing information when cooperating Reduction of risks generated when outsourcing to a single provider Fig.4: Advantages and disadvantages of outsourcing to multiple suppliers (Siemens, 2011) These aspects show that single service providers are generally not able to solve all outsourcing and service needs. The skills necessary to support distributed infrastructure are most likely distinctive to those supporting particular business applications. 2.2.2 Governance of outsourcing to multiple service providers Being successful in any outsourcing involvement is based on various points (Oshri, et al., 2009, p.112). Setting up an outsourcing governance in the company can enhance a possible success. Therewith companies introduce a higher complexity of the outsourcing relationships, an internal team, best practices and instruments to assure an advantageous management. Most companies use a three-tier structure when designing the governance (Oshri, et al., 2009, p.113). This includes executive-to-executive relationships concentrated on relationship management and on joined goals. An outsourcing management operates between executives, business units as well as outsourcing project teams. The operational management is concerned with day-to-day issues. Important is that companies do not reduce the management concentrating on the actions. To achieve the benefits, outsourcing offers, governance plays an important role. 2.3 IT outsourcing Reasons to introduce outsourcing in the area of IT vary from one company to another (Dibbern et al., 2004). However, a few reasons explain the decision to outsource in general: The managers interest in reducing costs or outsourcing as a possibility to establish a new department, when the former failed. Some companies, which main competence is not IT outsource its IT department to assign time-consuming issues to other companies. This can be especially advantageous for companies whose actions can change significantly from one period to another. 2.3.1 IT outsourcing lifecycle Fig.5: IT outsourcing lifecycle (Oshri et al., 2009). The IT outsourcing lifecycle, established in 2005, consists of four phases: architect, engage, operate and regenerate (Oshri et al., 2009, p.94). These phases are subdivided in 9 blocks. Each phase and the attached blocks design the way for the next phase. This means that the success of each block depends on the previous ones. The architect phase incorporates four blocks and builds the basis for outsourcing ventures (Oshri et al., 2009, p.96). The first block is named investigation and aims to replace ideological beliefs with goals. Therefore the company gathers information. The second block target is set out to identify in which areas outsourcing would be advantageous. For that reason goals are matched to an appropriate outsourcing model. Moreover, criteria for possible service providers and the scope of outsourcing are determined. Strategy is geared towards the planning to ensure effective decision making for the rest of the lifecycle (Oshri, et al., p.97). Thats why a decision about the rollout approach takes place .The last block in this phase design concludes the architect phase with a definition of the planned configuration. The engage phase consists of two blocks. Firstly select, here the best vendor for the company is supposed to be found. In this block the content of the outsourced work is planned, the most appropriate evaluation team is identified along with the evaluating criteria and interactive evaluation techniques (Oshri et al, 2009. p.98). Negotiate aims to conclude a good contract. Therefore an appropriate negotiation strategy is set and a negotiation team is put together. The operate phase includes two blocks, transition and manage. In the transition block the aim is to ensure an effective and smooth hand over of the IT services to the provider. Therefore, plans are finalised, the impact on the staff and the staff transfer is managed as well as knowledge retention and transfer as well as governance structures are set up (Oshri et al., 2009, p.99). Manage is set out to manage the outsourcing relationship properly. Key activities are investing in the relationship and continuous examination of the relationship. The last phase, regenerate phase, consists of the block refresh and aims to support the client on deciding whether to reappoint in further contracts with the service provider. Outcomes and future requirements are assessed. In the last phase the outsourcing starts again, depending on the decision whether to re-tender, re-negotiate or back-source (Oshri et al., 2009, p.100). 2.3.2 Critique The IT lifecycle offers companies an accurate plan for their outsourcing concerns. It is a relatively new model, which on the one hand ensures up-to-dateness, but on the other hand does not offer a long-term view. However, I would critique that all blocks are arranged consecutively, meaning if something goes wrong in one block that might involve issues in following blocks. Also, I think, problems may arise in defining in which phase and block the outsourcing operations are at a particular moment or if the operations are ready to move to the next phase or block. There is no set duration as this varies from one company to another. Additionally, I would like to mention, that the IT outsourcing lifecycle is a model, which means that certain aspects are left out. Every company should examine this and consider additional aspects. I would suggest that companies, considering to use the IT outsourcing lifecycle walk-through the lifecycle before going on. This could e.g. take place in the arch itect phase, then the persons responsible would be aware of the complete lifecycle. Nevertheless, I evaluate outsourcing as more successful when it is proceeded as a lifecycle than in a one-off transaction. 3 Shell Outsourcing Deal 2008 3.1 Background In 2008 the mineral oil group Shell signed a five-year outsourcing contract with three suppliers responsible for the IT infrastructure (see appendix A.2 for a company description). These were T-Systems, EDS and ATT (Computerwoche, 2008) (see appendix A.3 for more background information). Shell kept strategic control and some specialist services. This is called Outtasking/Managed Services (Appendix A.4 for information on IT outsourcing models) (TPI, 2009). This was one of the largest and most complex business transformations. 3.2 Reasons for Shell to outsource to multiple service providers As times get more and more turbulent and companies face a highly competitive environment Shell decided to outsource to multiple service providers as they believe that competition leads to a successful future and wanted to carry on developing its strategy More Upstream, Profitable Downstream (TPI, 2009). That means to expand companys hydrocarbon reserves as well as production along with the ensurement of manufaction, marketing and distribution in a cost-effective and efficient manner. Additionally, Shell aims for innovation, which they believe the three service provider can offer when collaborating well to develop new goods for them and therefore also for Shell (Rosenthal, 2009). According to Rosenthal (2009) Shell wanted to reduce the risk in case one service provider is not able to perform. Lastly, an important reason for Shell to outsource its IT to multiple suppliers is the ability of working with foreign markets. Here, T-Systems, a German company, can ensure a working relationshi p with countries, which do not favour American workmen. Shells general aim was to encourage higher efficiency and performance, however no detailed aims were announced. Originally, Rosenthal (2009) explains, Shell made the decision to outsource IT as the company missed a commercial accuracy and operational discipline. The IT department could not meet the companys overall requirement. When making the outsourcing decision Shell had in mind to focus on strategic issues, the skill to respond quickly and being agile as well as sustainable, meaning the ability to serve in 20 countries (TPI, 2009). Moreover, Shell wanted to: Pay attention to companys needs and IT opportunities Expand the value from suppliers involved in the IT infrastructure Be more flexibel in service capacity to manage peaks as well as troughs Manage expanding costs of maintaining existing IT infrastructue and developing new Shell decided to outsource the greatest part of its IT infrastructure as the company itself had difficulties managing this (Rosenthal, 2009). When facing the paradox of outsourcing to a single supplier or to multiple suppliers, Shell aimed for outsourcing to multiple suppliers as this approach offered the company competitive advantages in regard to being able to serve in 20 countries, to keep better control as the company kept the strategic control as well as the belief that competition leads to success. 3.3 The IT lifecycle at Shell Architect phase: Investigate: Shell gathered insights and rephrased ideological beliefs into goals (TPI, 2009): Seperate responsibilities for business needs and strategic control Expand service reliability as well as performance Assure access top talents and innovation Decrease costs and turn fixed into variable costs. Target: Shell decided to outsource most of its IT, but to hold strategic control and few specialist services. Strategise: Shell determined to outsource not only to one service providers but to multiple. Design: Shell considered the following when designing the programme: Agree on the mission statement and business targets Create and spread the plan Establish a high-performance team Organise governance Develop diversity in the team Prioritise change and communication management Engage phase: Select: Shell selected appropriate suppliers for their outsourcing programme. Negotiate: With these suppliers Shell negotiated contracts and could conclude efficient contracts with EDS, ATT and T-Systems. The service providers signed a so-called Operating Level Agreement to guarantee a high level of collaboration. Operate phase: Transition: Shell handed over the IT infrastructure in a sensible manner (Rosenthal, 2009). All in all, 3,500 IT employees were transfered from Shell. This gave employees the better career possibilities and knowledge transfer opportunities. A detailed investigation of six months gave the service providers the possibility to develop the necessary solutions for the implementation. Manage: As Shell still keeps the strategic control, the company helds good relationships to their suppliers and monitors them regularly. Regenerate phase: Refresh: As the contracts are laid out for five years no information about the regenerate phase are available yet. 3.4 Governance Shell delegated governance and therefore several roles emerged, e.g. a Shell executive commitee, an executive tender board or commercial deal teams (TPI, 2009). The most important one is the programme management office to develop and maintain the implementation plan as well as to monitor and report the progress and deliverables. 3.5 Early benefits Shells IT infrastructure costs dropped by double digits (Rosenthal, 2009) and the service increased clearly and became more reliable. Rosenthal (2009) views that outsourcing made Shell more efficient and the team concentrates on up-to-date IT solutions to meet Shells needs. Rosenthal (2009) mentions that the three solutions providers convey projects and run systems better than Shell did formerly. 3.6 Problems In the beginning the approach with three suppliers was not working out well (Rosenthal, 2009). They firstly had to get to know each other and to learn working together effectively. Today however, the collaboration between the companies occurs in a flawless mannner. Generally, it has to be mentioned; according to Rosenthal (2009) that the service providers underestimated Shells complexity as Shell is a globally acting company and their approach was more regional. Eventhough early benefits of the outsourcing deal could be identified problems arose. T-Systems, one of the suppliers, had many problems when handling the IT of Shell (Inside-IT, 2010). This was due to the insufficient experience with deals of this size. Moreover, T-Systems also has not achieved the savings it was supposed to manage (Louven and Hofer, 2010). Louven and Hofer (2010) explain this with T-Systems being an affiliate of the German telecommunication company Telekom and therefore stuck in their complex structures. 3.7 Critique on Shells approach Due to the extensive research I found out that Shell did not perform the lT lifecycle in a preferable manner, as Shell did not extensively prepare for the lifecycle and also did not name additional aspects. This could have led to the above explained problems, eventhough these were more on service providers side. However, Shell managed the transition phase extremely well and set up an extensive governance structure. Also, only 3 of the planned 5 years passed, therefore no final evaluation can occur. 4 Overall conclusion Various advantages and disadvantages of outsourcing and its opposite insourcing were recognised. Nowadays more companies choose outsourcing to multiple suppliers instead of its paradox, outsourcing to a single supplier, when deciding to outsource. Therefore outsourcing to multiple suppliers was presented with advantages and disadvantages as well as the necessary governance, The explained IT lifecycle made the connection to the case study: Shell Outsourcing Deal 2008. A background offered important information about the companies Shell, EDS, ATT and T-Systems in regard to the outsourcing deal. Several reasons were explained why Shell outsourced its IT in 2008 and why the company decided to use a multiple suppliers approach. Moreover, the IT lifecycle in connection to this particular outsourcing deal was analysed and the governance was pointed out. 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