Point by Point comparison of Eva and Elizabeth Essay

Point by Point comparison of Eva and Elizabeth - Essay Example All these similarities and differences will be discussed in more details. Eva is a thirteen year old (13 years) European girl who has a polish origin. She is currently residing in the United States of America but as an immigrant because she was not born in the United States of America. Elizabeth on the other hand is younger than Eva by three years (she therefore is 10 years old) and was born in the United States of America which automatically makes her a US citizen. Even though she was born in the United States of America, she is an Asian. Unlike Eva who is proud of her Polish heritage and values it and its family from that country, Elizabeth hates and even rejects her Asian background. This hatred is even transferred to school where she has to attend a Chinese school which she totally hates and confesses to being happy when she does not have to go to school. She does not want any form of association with China and considers herself as all American. This is in contrast to Eva whose pride for her background makes her appreciative of her heritage and cultur e. Both Eva and Elizabeth are first born children in their families and have other siblings behind them. The siblings in both Eva’s and Elizabeth’s life are stubborn and give their parents especially their mothers a very hard time. It is as a result of this, the fact that they are the eldest and probably the fact that they are foreigners that makes both of the girls so protective over their mothers. They are educated and love their families and thus help them communicate with the world outside. Cultural identity is the personality or characteristics that an individual has about a particular culture which is similar with others of the same culture but contrasts with that of other individuals from a different culture. In this case, Eva who is from a Polish culture has a different culture from Elizabeth who has a Chinese background culture and hence different cultural identity. The two girls under

Personal Nursing Philosophy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Personal Nursing Philosophy - Essay Example As I registered nurse, I have formulated a nursing philosophy that will guide me in my role. First, I have recognized that nursing is a profession that has its own set of rewards. To achieve this rewards I should act in a professional way, this entails a commitment to achieve excellence in patient care and ensuring that I upheld patient’s rights. I should also be ready to learn and accept corrections so that I can utilize the available resources to improve the patient’s health. As a nurse, I am committed in ensuring that the patient’s environment is conducive and will to lead to easy recovery. My philosophy also involves understanding the meta paradigm concepts of the nursing profession. These are areas of concern to the profession and these calls for proper understanding of the following concepts. First, what does nursing entail? What is my personal understanding of health? How do I maintain a good environment? And lastly how do I treat patients? As a nurse, I a m determined to integrate the required practice components in my role. Nursing also involves scientific and philosophical approach in caring for individuals who seek medical care. Nursing also involves disease prevention and management.... It is vital for patients to be consulted on various issues affecting them. Such issues include patient participation in their care, maintaining of dignity and self worth. I also believe that I have the authority to make independent decisions concerning patients care so long as it is with my scope of expertise (Daniels, 2006). This will enable me use creativity as well as knowledge to ensure that patients receive good health care. Understanding the anatomy and physiology of the human body is vital (Polifroni & Welch, 2007). Thirdly, there are two types of environments, the physical environment where health care is provided, and the internal environment, which refers to patient’s mental awareness (Fitzpatrick & Kazer, 2012). Both physical environment and mental awareness considerations are necessary for thorough patient assessment and treatment.   My philosophy as a nurse is that i should create a conducible environment to help in ensuring the patients quick recovery. I should show the patient that I care and entails connecting with the patient and forming a professional relationship. This helps in understanding the patient hence enabling me to choose things that can positively affect the patient quick recovery (Barker, 2009). As a nurse, I should be concerned about the client’s ability to handle the illness and the effect of diagnose on the client’s family (Fitzpatrick& Kazer, 2012). This will enable me to advice the patient and the immediate family on how to manage the situation. This gives the patient a good state of mind and this accelerates the patient’s recovery. Understanding the patient’s religious and cultural beliefs and their attitudes

Holiday Decision Making Processes Tourism Essay

Holiday Decision Making Processes Tourism Essay The following essay attempts to critically analyze the traditional problem solving approach to consumer decision making process with support of the study that the case study has discussed. The writing is done over nine steps. It begins with the introduction phase that discusses the importance of consumer behavior and the importance of decision making and in particular the importance of traditional consumer decision making in consumer behavior. The following subsection defines the detailed stages involved in traditional consumer decision making. Following this, is a comparative study done between traditional consumer decision making and holiday decision making based on the stages of traditional consumer decision making model. This is further, followed by a conclusion that summarizes the outcome of the study altogether. Consumer behavior is the study of the mental and emotional processes and observable behavior of consumers during searching, consumption and post purchase of a product or service. Assessing consumer behavior and understanding the same is vital and essential for the success of any marketing strategy. Consumer decision making process is the sequential stages of processes that a consumer goes through when opting to purchase a product or a service. Any consumer is assumed to go through five staged decision making process before attempting to make any purchase. This is referred to as the Traditional Decision making process. It is very necessary for the marketer to understand the decision making process that the consumer goes through in order to successfully market the product. III.TRADITIONAL DECISION MAKING PROCESS The five important stages of the traditional consumer decision making process are: Need Recognition, Information Search, Evaluation of Alternatives, Purchase and Post-Purchase evaluation. Need Recognition Problem Awareness: Need recognition is when a consumer has identified a particular need or a problem that has been unmet and has to be immediately met. Two different styles of need/problem recognition styles exist within consumers. The categories of consumers are those who opt a product as the present product that they are using fails to function efficiently. These consumers are referred to as actual state type consumers. The second type of consumers are the desired state types, who need a product just because to desire to have one. So the desire becomes the trigger in their decision process. Altogether, a consumer at this stage can be referred to as an aroused consumer who is vulnerable to any stimulus of the marketers appeal. Information Search Information search is the search is the next subsequent stage wherein, the consumer has already identified a product that will cater to his/her need. There are two types of searches , the internal search and the external search. The internal search is when the consumer recollects his/her past experiences and makes that the base for his/her current decision making. An external search is when the consumer consults external environment factors for making his/her choice decision. This is because the consumer lacks sufficient experience. In many purchase decisions, a consumer conducts an internal search in combination with an external search as well. Normally, the consumers tend to involve themselves in extensive information search in products that involve high risk and are more costly than in case of products that involve low risk and are inexpensive. The search conducted before buying a shoes would differ from the search conducted before buying a car. Evaluation Of Alternatives In this corresponding stage, the consumer has identified a number of particular product/service that will satisfy his/her need. It is here that the consumer makes the decision between the available potential alternatives on the basis of brands and number of preferred criteria against which these products are assessed. The set of brands that comes in the consideration list of the consumer is called evoked set. Inept set is the set of brands that the product does not consider because it is looked upon by the consumer as unacceptable. Inert set is that set of brands that the consumer is indifferent towards because the consumer, does not consider the product to be having any particular advantages. Purchase This is the stage wherein the consumer actually purchases a particular product after identifying need, conducting search and evaluating possible alternatives. Consumers are normally identified to be making three types of purchases which are namely trial purchases, repeated purchases and long term commitment purchases. The trial purchase refers to the instance wherein a consumer tries to evaluate a product or brand by using it for the first time. Repeated purchase is a case of established brand loyalty wherein consumers repeat product purchases. Long term commitment is when consumers associate themselves in opting to purchase a particular brand of a product and over again in time. Post purchase Evaluation This is the stage wherein the consumer has bought and used a particular product, the consumers reflection on whether the product was satisfying or disappointing. In cases where the consumers needs are met or exceeded the consumer can be referred to as satisfied. If that does not happen, the consumer begins to experience cognitive dissonance which is an internal conflict that the consumer experiences because of having conflicting ideas. (Schiffman G.L, Kanuk L.L, Hansen.H , 2008) IV.IDENTIFYING THE NEED FOR A HOLIDAY DECISION MAKING When the holiday decision making plan of 27 Belgian households were analyzed, it was found that Holiday decision making model did not have any fixed sequential stages, unlike the traditional decision making model. It was observed that in the Holiday decision making model, the administrative factors played a vital role in deciding choice and time of holiday decision making. Apart from this, it was found that unlike in the traditional decision making model, while planning for a holiday, there was no sequential evolution of holiday plans. The typical factors that influence the need and the decision of holiday decision making process was found to be situational factors, levels of involvement, day dreaming nostalgia, anticipation. This is completely different from the Traditional Decision making process which has very well structured and sequentialized. The need for a particular product/service is identified, following which the information search and evaluation of alternatives is done. This further leads the consumer towards making a purchase and then post purchase evaluation. Unlike in the Holiday decision model the factors that influence the decision making process of a consumer in traditional consumer decision making is the need that is triggered due to the failure of a product that they are using or the desire to have a new product. Decision for choosing a product is done here. V.SEARCHING FOR AN IDEAL HOLIDAY DESTINATION . The information search in traditional consumer decision making is well structured, which is at times internal or external or a combination of both based on the value /risk of a product. The information search phase in the holiday decision model was found to be unstructured unlike the traditional decision making model .In holiday decision making, information collection was identified to be an ongoing process that still continues even after the holiday has been booked. Information is gathered during and after the holiday experience owing to cognitive dissonance, prolonged involvement/hedonic consumption. Moreover, the information search in holiday decision making is found to be more internal or memory based, than external or stimulus based. However, all the information collected were not always used. The holiday decision makers were also found to be low information searchers. Information accumulated naturally in a non purposive way and they become really important in the last days before a booking is made. There is a shift observed from internal to external source of information and from general to more specific information altogether. Hence in holiday decision making , information search information collection is not a direct predictor of actual choices but helps in strongly pointing out the preferences of a consumer. Whereas, in traditional consumer decision making the information search is mainly internal oriented (like past experience) for products with low risk and products that are less expensive, external (like person reference) for products those involve high risk and are expensive. The higher the past experience, the lesser the external search would be done. Information is considered very important and the information gathered becomes the driving force in the decision making of a consumer. The kind of shift from general to specific information hunt is not quite significant in traditional consumer decision making. In traditional consumer decision making, the search begins as internal and then proceeds to external and then a combination of both. It is also observed that unlike holiday decision making, traditional consumer decision making consumers are keen information searchers and conducts a thorough research before deciding on a particular product. And finally, in traditional consumer deci sion making, information collection strong points the preferences of consumer, and also is a vital predictor of the actual decision that the consumer tends to take. VI.EVALUATION OF ALTERNATIVE HOLIDAY DECISIONS When it came to the evaluation of alternatives in case of holiday decision making, the study conducted brought to light that holiday decision making was an ongoing circular process that began with the making of a decision. Ideally, as one holiday ended, the holidays decision makers involved themselves in making the next plan. It was also observed that the decision makers involved themselves in making a number of plans at the same time. So does the evaluation of alternatives. As they constantly keep gaining information they tend to keep switching their preference for alternatives. And each of the plans that the holiday maker made comprised of different time horizons, different formulas and different types of decision making processes. Another instance in the case , highlighted the fact that holiday decision making was mostly found to be adaptable and opportunistic. In these cases holiday decision makers , though had willingness to go to a particular place for a holiday , they were found to be going only when the opportunity struck. Hence, adaptability and opportunity were found to be the two major criterias on which a holiday decision maker was found to evaluating and deciding on the option of a holiday destination. Moreover, these strategies were found to be aligned with situation and to the type of decision making unit in which they were involved. So while evaluating the alternative, the alternative that is more favorable to adapt and to which there was a prevailing opportunity was given more importance than a on e which wasnt favorable and for which there w as no opportunity. Altogether, it was found that while evaluating alternatives and decision making, adaptability and the decision making unit to which a holiday decision maker belonged influenced to situations and decision making unit to which they belong. When it came to evaluation, preferences were more given to experience based techniques than pre-planned ones. Many holiday makers didnt use any well defined strategies while making their decisions. Needs and desires were directly connected to choice solutions because they are evoked at the same time. Finally, they prefer simple decision rules even if they are not accurate. Alongside, holiday makers decision strategies were characterized by factors like limited amount of processing, selective processing, qualitative reasoning, attribute based non compensatory rules and a lack for the evaluation of each alternative. In comparison to this, in the traditional consumer decision making model the consumer evaluates products based on brands and critetrias. Unlike in holiday decision making, in traditional consumer decision making consumers follow a method wherein initially, a evoked set is generated based on the list of brands from which they plan to make their selection following which criterias will be used to evaluate each brand separately. Based on the ranking of criterias, the final product choice is made. Evaluation of alternatives is not an ongoing process and it is done only when a particular product is recognized to be catering to a particular need/problem identified. Hence traditional consumer decision making is not in any manner not adaptable nor opportunistic rather its completely need/desire oriented. Also pre planned decisions were the one that was given more importance when it came to evaluation. Strategies are clearly made based on ranking of features of a particular product of a brand . In traditional consumer decision making, evaluation of alternatives is characterized by the knowledge of the brand, information gathered and the preference of criterias evaluated for each brand/product of the evoked set. VII.PURCHASE OF A HOLIDAY PLAN AND ITS POST PURCHASE EVALUATION: When analyzing the purchase stage of the holiday decision making, it was found that the final decision making was made by consumers in the last minutes. This was mainly done to reduce the risk involved, expectancy, availability, loyalty and personality. It is also found from the case that the purchase of the holiday decision making, is done instantaneously depending on momentary moods and emotions. Emotional factors in fact were identified to be a major factor based on which the holiday choices were made. The purchase is also done instantly as the holiday decision makers are consumers whose choices are made suddenly for sudden pleasure. This highlights the fact that affective choice mode is more relevant than traditional information processing mode in Holiday decision making model that in itself is a highly experiential product. Most of the holiday decision makers tend to be optimistic and idealistic in the starting but they become realistic only over time and final purchase is made only the last moment. The reason for this trend of shift was identified to be the objective intervention or subjective perception of contextual factors. However contextual factors like occupation, family, situation are first considered before contextual inhibitors like time, money and budget. The feeling of cognitive dissonance can be thoroughly noticed in case of holiday decision making. Because of this experience of cognitive dissonance that is a post purchase concern it was seen that the informants involved themselves in gathering information during and after the holiday experience altogether. The informants in many cases were found to be experiencing cognitive dissonance which continuously strived to reduce. In the traditional decision making model, model of feel-learn-do is observed to be important whereas the feel-learn-do and feel-do-learn sequence appear more important in the holiday decision making. Contrary to the holiday decision making, in traditional consumer decision making the consumer plans sequentially before making the purchase. They discover a need, conduct information search, evaluates the alternatives and decides to purchase a chosen product. Unlike in holiday decision making, in traditional consumer decision making the consumers are observed to be optimistic, idealistic and realistic right from the need recognition stage till this stage of purchase. Also, in case of traditional consumer decision making, the post purchase cognitive dissonance experienced by a consumer was found to be directly proportional to the risk or value involved with the product. VIII.CONCLUSION Based on the comparative study made it can be evidently summarized that holiday decision making processes evidently varies from the traditional consumer decision making. Right from the beginning stage of need recognition till the stage of post-purchase evaluation stage the disparities are evident and noticeable. holiday decision making is highly based on opportunities, adaptability and emotions to a very large extent. Unlike traditional consumer decision making holiday decision making is found out to be combination of many processes. Hence altogether holiday decision making, is identified to be a rational process and holiday decision making processes and considered to be quite important as they are vital in achieving higher order goals. IX.REFERENCESBIBLIOGRAPHY 1. Peter Robinson. (2008). Holiday decision making: the family perspective. Available: http://www.insights.org.uk/articleitem.aspx?title=Holiday+Decision+Making:+The+Family+Perspective. Last accessed 25th Jan 2. Michael Richarme. (2004). Consumer Decision Making Models, Strategies and Theories. Available: http://www.decisionanalyst.com/publ_art/decisionmaking.dai. Last accessed 23rd Jan 2010. 3. Lars Perner PhD . (1999). Consumer Behaviour: Psychology Of Marketing. Available: http://www.consumerpsychologist.com/. Last accessed 26th Jan 2011 4. Hawkins, Delbert, Best, Roger, Coney, Kenneth (March 2003). Consumer Behaviour: Building Marketing Strategy. London: McGraw-Hill/Irwin .71-99. 5. Leon G.Schiffman, Leslie Lazar Kanuk, Havard Hansen (2008). Consumer Behaviour. England: Pearson Education Limited. 75-91. 6. Encyclopaedia of business 2nd edition. (2011). Consumer Behaviour. Available: http://www.referenceforbusiness.com/management/Comp-De/Consumer-Behavior.html. Last accessed 26th Jan 2011. 7. Kevin moore, clive smallman, jude Wilson, David simmons . (2010). Yield-Relevant Tourist Decision Making. Available: http://www.lincoln.ac.nz/PageFiles/6830/6197_YieldRelevantIn_s20222.pdf. Last accessed 26th Jan 2011 8. Murthi, B.P.S., and Kannan Srinivasan (1999). Consumers Extent of Evaluation in Brand Choice.. London: Journal of Business. 23-77. 9. Solomon, Michael R (2003). Consumer Behaviour. 6th ed. New York: Prentice Hall . 43-88. 10. Mantel, Susan Powell, and Frank R. Kardes (1999). The Role of Direction of Comparison, Attribute-Based Processing, and Attitude-Based Processing in Consumer Preference.. New York: Journal of Consumer Research. 30-54.

The Characters of Emily Brontes Wuthering Heights :: Wuthering Heights Essays

The Characters of Wuthering Heights At first glance, Wuthering Height shows us conflict between a landlord, Heathcliff, and Mr. Lockwood. Heathcliff, one of the novel's main characters, is portrayed as an uncompromising, sadistic bully, and produces a desire in Lockwood's character to find out more about his past. Bronte uses Lockwood's character to pull in her main narrator, Nelly Dean. Nelly was a first-hand witness to Heathcliff's story and so proceeds to relate the history, as she remembers it, to Lockwood. It appears very soon, after the start of the story, that Nelly Dean is the protagonist. She appears more than happy to stir the conflict, which goes a long way in keeping the story interesting and moving right along. Wuthering Heights is set in the "remote moors of Yorkshire" (680), on that "bleak hill-top" where "the earth was hard with a black frost" (686). Almost all the characters in this story have a very frosty, antagonistic side to them and Nelly introduces us to Catherine and Hindley, when they were children, on the eve of Heathcliff's entry into the family. Nelly appears to make this story-telling as straightforward as possible, but her feelings for Heathcliff are not disguisable.When she made the step from playmate to the children's nursemaid during the measles episode, her feelings toward Hindley and Catherine hardened and she softened so much toward Heathcliff that "Hindley lost his last ally." Heathcliff "was the quietest child that ever nurse watched over. The difference between him and the others forced me to be less partial. Cathy and her brother harassed me terribly, he was a uncomplaining as a lamb..." (702). Nelly developed alternate feelings for Catherine: "she put us all past our patience fifty times and oftener in a day." "She was much too fond of Heathcliff." "In play she liked, exceedingly to act the little mistress...but I would not bear slapping and ordering; and so I let her know" (704). The class distinction, after the measles, became a clear, hard line: Nelly, on the servant side with Joseph, and Catherine and Hindley on the side of the owners of servants. This further hastened Nelly's spiteful feelings toward Catherine when Mr. Earnshaw died. Hindley came home with a new bride, and Nelly was physically installed in the servants' quarters and Heathcliff was installed with the animals in the stables. In her story up to now Nelly has portrayed herself as a concerned member of the family that has finally been relegated to where she knew she would end up anyway, a servant.

Competitive Advantage theory Essay

The last decades there is a brand new term going around in the world of business. Its name is Competitive Advantage. As various extremely important executives claim this factor can be the missing key, which will lead eventually a company to success. Allow me to give a first description of what I have understood, so far, of the competitive advantage term. According to what I have read and heard in lectures of the course Business Economics, I consider the C. A. to be the difference a company has from the rest of the market, which will help her to obtain not only higher profits but also longevity. As Michael Porter in his 1985 text says that, it is about the distinct and ideally sustainable edge over the competitors. The competitive advantage is said to be based on monopoly profits and on/or the Ricardian Rents and is used to generate another important factor, the added value. The writer – expert in finance John Kay implies that the C. A. presents no stability and it is always relative for each one of the companies in all the markets of the world. It is also something measurable enough in order the executives to extract useful conclusions and plan the company strategies. The relevant benchmark is the marginal firm in the industry. The company with the least potentials and the smallest market power is used as the baseline against which the competitive advantage of all other firms can be set. Methods of building a Competitive Advantage A general but for most people questionable claim would be that all the existing firms in a market are able to create a competitive advantage. That on theoretical basis is correct. Significant economists have worked for ears in a row towards this goal and have elaborated strategies and methods a firm can use in order to obtain the competitive advantage. The Resource Based View of the Firm The Resource Based View of the Firm has its origins in four different significant experts of finance: Edith Penrose (1959), Birger Wernerfelt (1984), Jay Barney (1991) and last but the most important writer Margaret Peteraf (1993). M. Peteraf put together the existent elements of the work of the previous three writers and produced the well-known > in her article reprinted in Foss. The main idea of the above-mentioned methods is that all of them give considerable importance on the resources, those that a company already possesses or the ones it procures from the outside environment. These resources must exhibit a special characteristic in order that C. A. to be produced. That is the so-called Resource Heterogeneity, meaning that they need to be rare so as not the competitors to use them and valuable in order to increase the firms efficiency and effectiveness. For example rarity could a minor of diamonds have and valuable could software program of a computer company be. The Recourse Heterogeneity can be obtained through either Product Differentiation or Cost Advantages. As far the product is concerned when a company differ one of its products it instantly creates a heterogeneous resource and approaches the C. A. (as per Peteraf 1993). Then it can offer those products in the whole market or in some market segments. The differentiation can be on the quality and the market segments can be large, small or of special interest. The market selection must be done with extra care and attention. The firm is in position to choose either to offer its products following the Broad Coverage Strategies e. g. unisex cosmetics and obtain Economies of Scale or produce for a specific market e. g. anti – ageing serum for the athletes of running. At this point, it needs to be mentioned that the consumer preferences and the competitor products must be taken into seriously account. As far as the Cost Advantage is regarding a firm can benefit by the lower costs. That means that the quality must be lower in order the cost of the firm to stay on low levels or to benefit by the superior technology. Besanko in his work implies that a firm can benefit from both Cost and Benefit Advantages if and only if increased demand and output can be translated into economies of scale. Strategies of sustaining a competitive advantage The real difficulty, according the opinion of the experts of finance is not only creating an advantage over your competitors but also maintaining your economic outcome through time. The enormous effort in order to have that precious gap between your company and your rivals keep exist. There is a variety of threats in the long term like the easy entry of the companies that have depicted a chance for making profit, the perfect information the competitors can posses and the most important the access to the companies resources which means that profits are in danger. A good number of these threats are common to all markets no matter the size, the special interest or the type, even in monopoly or oligopoly, according the economist-writer Besanko, and greater becomes the more competitive the specific market gets. At this point, the well- known Resource Based View of the Firm and the Product Differentiation Strategies come to the rescue of the company’s competitive advantage. As it is clearly written in a good number of economic texts, firms can earn excess profits if and only if they have superior resources protected by some form of isolating mechanism like a kind of a patent. These resources in question must exhibit some characteristics such as to be valuable in order to increase the firms efficiency and effectiveness and rare so as not to be acquired by the competitors. In addition to the previous, they have to be imperfectly imitable plus not substitutable by resources easy to be found and imitable. The serious problem is that this type of resources is hard to find and use in the production process. The alternative strategy a company can follow in order to maintain its competitive advantage is the product itself. More specific, the constant change of an existing product in the market, called product innovation. In some firms, the rate of this attempt is highly rapid. As the economist Schumpeter argues, that is because the isolating mechanisms cannot be permanent as the new technologies arise and the tastes change or the government policy evolves. A logical consequence could be that the life of the product becomes shorter and the competitors obtain to imitate an outmoded product at the end. The continuous product innovation can be a solution but not in a permanent way for it can be relatively costly and inefficient. More, the firm must process to the Creative Destruction, in other words to destroy the existing resources of the advantage so that the rivals not to benefit by them. Margaret Peteraf , one more time, in her 1993 article argues that the solution to the above problem is included in The Four Basic Building Blocks to creating and sustaining competitive advantage. According to her text, there are four corner stones, which lead a firm to sustain its competitive advantage. In the first place is the already mentioned and quite analyzed Heterogeneity of the resources, secondly comes the term imperfect mobility, meaning that the resources that create value cannot be bought on the open market and if they do so not to function perfectly. Some examples can be the firm’s reputation, a highly experienced scientist, a special machine with a number of peripherals est. In the third and forth place there are the limits to competition. The economist Rumelt describe the limits as the forces which limit extends to the point an advantage can either be duplicated or neutralized. There are two types of isolating mechanisms, the early mover advantages and the impediments to imitation. The first one with its tools like the learning curve e. g. the scientific knowledge in the firm, the reputation and buyer uncertainty e. g. he willing to buy a very expensive wristwatch or a design outfit, the switching costs e. g. not to use the petroleum moving cars anymore and switch to the solar power ones and the network effects e. g. the hair – dryer device. The second one includes the barriers a company puts between its product and the rest of the group such as legal restrictions e. g. copyrights on the product or on the resource or on the distribution channel. The Relationship between the Competitive Advantage and the Banking – Finance sector. For the most part, the firms in the globe seek to find and maintain their competitive advantage in almost any cost. Among them are naturally the firms of the banking and finance sector. There is a plain but important difference between the firms that produce products and those producing services. The second group needs to put much more effort as regards the resources. On the one hand these firms offer a great variety of product services to their customers, from different loans and a great number of credit cards to services all over the world. On the other hand they try to benefit from the low cost prices and to use the knowledge they posses to their best.

Language is a loaded weapon Essay

Language is that knowledge held by native speakers which, combined with the use of expressive faculties, enables them to communicate in spoken and written forms. Language is creative it can create ambience i. e. harmony, strife and war depending on how we use it, and the intentions of the user. Man is a complex being – each individual made so by unique & common experiences, which colour not only our reception/perception and interpretation of data but also influence our delivery. The way people deliver a message can alter the way we think, our understanding, perception, or approach. Language can be used honestly or dishonestly. To convey truth or to pervert truth, to persuade, to convince, to control, to unite, disunite, to make something clear or to mystify. Language is the tool we use to communicate. Its not just words it includes N. V. C (Non Verbal Communication, signals that we give out in the way we stand and move our body). Some interpretation of language is done at a subconscious level, instinctively. When interpreting the encoder’s message we consider his/her motivation. What are they trying to achieve? i. e. The way in which someone is listening or watching can indicate to you whether or not they are interested, disliking or are bored with what you are saying. You notice this on a subconscious almost subliminal level. If you are the encoder you adjust the way in which you speak so as the receiver decodes your message properly and doesn’t misunderstand what you have said. For example if you shout at someone they may get the impression you are angry with them, however you may have raised your voice to ensure they can hear you. To decode successfully many other aspects have to be considered about the encoder’s background, culture, belief system etc, over and above their motivation. Tone, pitch, volume, intonation, speed, hesitation, accent, emotion, even hormones, all affect both delivery and reception. Hence language is not a neutral tool; it is inadvertently biased in thousands of ways. All mankind is guilty of this fault. A clear example of this is propaganda, mass media, political persuasion, even the way history is written. For example in The Mirror after the September 11th incident, they produced a front page with the heading â€Å"My son the hijacker†. The way this title is worded makes you sympathise with the Mother, and shows us that the hijackers where not just people that had nothing to live for and no family, but people that had families. The subheading to this title was â€Å"I did not bring up my son to hate†¦ he was a good, kind, young man not an evil killer. † This brings reality to the fact that you think you know who and what type of person your son/daughter is, but then a tragic thing like this happens and you find out that perhaps you don’t really know who and what your child is really like. Another example that language is a loaded weapon is in The Sun’s October 4th paper, on page 11 there was a heading â€Å"Scouts leader ‘let boy, 10, die on mountain. † Your first reactions and emotions to this title are anger, hatred and spite towards the scout leader for letting a 10-year old boy die on a mountain. You then read on, to find out that the leader left the boy unsupervised at the rear of the group as they descended Mount Snowdon. This headline favours the boy, where as if the paper were writing in the favour of the leader you would perhaps have a heading more along the lines of â€Å"A young boy strayed on the descent of mount Snowdon, slipped and fell 500ft to his death. † This is an excellent example to show that â€Å"Language is a loaded weapon† this shows us that by simply changing the way in which this title is worded, creates a whole different perspective to the article. It can persuade you to feel sorry for the family of the boy and hatred towards the scout leader or to show consideration to the leader that the boy may have strayed from the path himself, slipped and fallen. Therefore language can be used to manipulate what you feel and in some ways is used to control you. Newspapers tell you what they think you should know not what you would like to know. An example of this was in the Daily Mirror 13th January 1996 page 7. A heading and its article entitled â€Å"Gulp! † took up nearly the whole of the page compared with a little box in the left hand corner which had the heading â€Å"Girls-raped by gang of 14. † When a few years later a similar thing happens to a boy this gets front-page news with the title of â€Å"A gay gang rapes boy, 19† from The Sun. The way these articles have been positioned and the amount they have had written on them manipulates what the mass media wants us to know. The way the second article is written shows us that the media try to control what we think. The heading itself creates a lot of emotions even though his age is given as nineteen, the word ‘boy’ is what immediately grabs your attention and causes your imagination to see a small child rather than a young man. Therefore taking in to consideration all these examples you find that language is not only a loaded weapon but is also â€Å"one thousand ways biased. † It can be used to manipulate what we think and what we think we know. We are told what to think and not asked to think about what we are told.

Understanding Vocabulary Words in Context

Understanding Vocabulary Words in Context Reading comprehension is one of the most difficult things to master on a standardized test. The test-makers evaluate skills like finding the main idea, making  inferences, determining  the authors purpose, and understanding vocabulary words, some of which you may have never been introduced to you before. The good news? You can understand vocabulary words based on the context of the passage - the words, clauses, and phrases around the unknown vocabulary word. You don’t have to memorize all the vocabulary words in the dictionary! Vocabulary Words in Context Example You might not understand the word, acerbity, by itself, but this sentence, â€Å"The acerbity of the lemon caused the little girl to spit out the bite she had just taken† helps you understand that the general meaning of acerbity must be â€Å"bitter or sour†. The context clues lemon and spitting out the bite, which provide more information in the sentence, help you understand what the vocabulary word means. Vocabulary Words In Context on a Test A question on a standardized test may look something like this: After the first day on the job, the bank’s new manager realized he would be busier than he had been led to believe. Not only was he assisting the bank tellers with their work, but his new boss had decided to inundate him with other tasks like creating security systems, managing the bank’s deposits and refunds, securing loans, and maintaining the daily operations. The new manager was exhausted as he locked the bank up for the night. The word â€Å"inundate† from the passage is closest in meaning to: overloadprovideassaultunderwhelm Hint: A way to figure out if your choice is correct is by putting the answer choice in the sentence in place of the vocabulary word. Which one fits the intended meaning the best? Youre right. Its overload. The first choice is the best pick, although assault is a close second. The only way that one would work is if the tone of the passage had been more negative. Understanding Vocabulary Words in Context Exercise Try to determine the meanings of the following italicized vocabulary words, based on the context clues in the sentences.Skill level: Easy Pablo always showed animosity toward his teachers by throwing spitballs and mouthing off, but his sister Mary was kind and sweet.The little girl was showing signs of ocular problems - she squinted to read the blackboard and complained of headaches after working on the computer for too long.The crowd rewarded the singer with plaudits, or extreme praise, by clapping and cheering during a standing ovation.Elena’s repudiation of Jerry’s bad table manners was obvious to everyone at dinner as she dropped her napkin and left the table.From the far past to the present day, the moon has been thought to cause lunacy. Some studies have shown that this momentary insanity does have some association to the moons phases.The old man’s hair was sparse rather than thick and full like it was when he was young.Janie was as devout as the Pope himself.My sister Kimmy shows a great abhorrence for crowds, whereas my little brother Michael loves to be the center of attention.When you adm onish someone, you point out his or her errors; an example would be scolding a child for misbehaving. The sorcerer’s minions, or devoted followers, were willing to perform any sorcery he could conjure.Ninety-seven pairs is a superfluous number of shoes.The spy was hung at the gallows of his homeland for his perfidious deeds.â€Å"Busy as a bee† and â€Å"quiet as a mouse† are hackneyed phrases – they’re used all the time.Amelia was as pretentious as a princess when she arrived at the party. She tossed her coat to the hostess and grabbed a drink out of a nearby guest’s hand.We always listen to my great-aunt because she is venerable, but we ignore my niece’s advice because she’s only six. Understanding Vocabulary Words in Context Answers hatred; extreme dislikerelated to the eyeextreme praise (the definition was right in the sentence)denial; refutation; negationinsanity; madness; psychosisthin; spare; light; meagerpious; religious; sincerehatred; loathing; disgustreprove; caution; reprimandcrony; underling; followerextra; surplus; redundantdisloyal; treacherous; deceitfultrite; clichà ©d; worn outshowy; pompous; exaggeratedrespected; esteemed; revered