Religious Traditions and History Essay Example for Free

Religious Traditions and History Essay Polytheism, the belief in many gods, is perhaps the oldest known religion. The best known example is the Greek/Roman mythology, which included Zeus, Apollo, and Aphrodite, among others. One trait that is true of most Polytheistic sects is that there is a god that is above all others. â€Å"All African religions are monolithic in the sense that there is a single High God, who is said to be the creator of the world, and of mankind, and a central source of order and of whoever sense is to be found. † Another example would be Zeus. Most ancient societies believed in gods that were in charge of specific areas, such as rain, fertility, and a god of nature. These types of societies cooperate with nature. This doesn’t mean that all Polytheistic societies revered the natural world. The Romans exploited the natural resources of their surroundings. One common thread in most of these societies is that, compared to other religions, Polytheism is much more tolerant with the individual. Hinduism and Polytheism Hinduism is a religion founded in India around 1000 B.C. The religions practice a form of Polytheism. This religion doesn’t believe in one form of a god. They believe in the authority of the Vedas and Brahmans. These fundamental beliefs differentiate Hinduism from monotheistic, believing in one god, and most of the world’s major religions. There are many different gods in the Hindu religion. The most common are Ganesha, Shiva, Hanuman, Durga, and Lakshmi. What developed was a caste or class system called ‘varnas’. The different castes were assigned a task that was fitting for their class. â€Å"The expansion of towns brought about an increase in the number of artisans who were organized in guilds (shreni).† This system was good for commercial activities. The main goals of Hinduism are life-affirming goals of Dharma (virtue), Artha (success) and Kama (pleasure), while the life-negating goal is that of moksha (release). All except moksha can be done in any part of a person’s life. Confucianism and Buddhism People think that Confucianism and Buddhism are one and the same. Confucianism, which originated in China, teaches honesty, kindness, respect the earth, and good moral character. Confucius had a distain about gods and spirits and preferred to try to understand man. â€Å"Confucius (the Master) is more correctly Kong Qiu or Kong Fuzi (551-479 B.C.). He was the founder of a way of life, philosophy, or religion named Confucianism after a Latinized form of the founders name.† Buddhism, which started at about the same time as Confucianism, was started by Siddhartha Gautama, the Buddha. Buddha, which means â€Å"the enlightened one†, which was the name he received from his followers. Buddhism is different from Confucianism in that it didn’t teach about the family or rituals of this world, rather it taught enlightenment which leads to nirvana. There are eight awarenesses of enlightenments. â€Å"Freedom From Desire, Satisfaction, Serenity, Meticulous Effort, Correct Remembrance, Samadhi, Wisdom, and avoiding idle talk.† The Chinese during this time asked the Buddhist monks, why do you not marry? Their answer was â€Å"Wives, children, and property are the luxuries of the world, but simple living and inaction are the wonders of the Way.† The Buddhist’s wanted was to live a simple life and reach enlightenment and thus nirvana. Christianity Christianity is a salvation religion. Christians and Buddhists turned to the idea of salvation around the same time. Salvation means escape your earthly bonds. If you don’t follow a righteous path, meaning free of sin, then you are destined to be cast into the pit of darkness, otherwise known as hell. The new testament of the bible is what guides these true believers. The Catholics say, for instance, that if you sin and repent by going to confession your sins will be forgiven. This is the only way to ensure that the soul is clean. The idea of all Christian orthodoxy is that they follow the teachings of Christ, which has many different interpretations. Thus it follows that when you die you will go to heaven. Some believe that the Earth is 6000 years old and believe that the bible is literally god’s word. They refuse to believe in science, saying that it’s flawed in some way. Others believe that the Earth is indeed older than 6000 years. These Christians believe that the bible is a parable, teaching them how to live everyday life as a Christian. Modern orthodoxy believes that Christian’s are observers of nature, rather than one with the Earth. Religion, Science and Nature Religion has a profound imprint on our natural surroundings. In general, the Eastern and most Polytheistic religions are more reverential toward nature. The Western religions tend to abuse nature. The invention of the plow is a prime example. The West thinks of it as a means to increase the food supply and disregards the environmental impact. The East and the Polytheist refer to it as â€Å"Mother Earth† and treat her much more delicately. The contrast between the two couldn’t be more stark. The East will try to balance their needs with nature. The West uses nature and sometimes destroys parts of it. The idea that we are separate from nature is a Western ideal. The East, in general, believes that we are one with nature and must take care of it. Science in the West was not in tune with medieval orthodoxy. It was interested in facts. The Eastern philosophy used science with a spiritual twist. Fang Yizhi observed of western science, â€Å"use a variety of techniques for swift computations, but they are still out of touch with general principles.† They used the mind and not the natural world. Summary There are many different religions that teach many different methods of how to live your life while on this world. Most worship one god, monotheistic, others worship many gods. Polytheists, which literally mean many gods, roots are seen in Greek/Roman mythology. Buddhism believes that there is no god, just a path to enlightenment. Once they’ve reached enlightenment, they’ve achieved nirvana. Confucianism and Buddhism are from China, but have very different belief systems. â€Å"Confucianism is perhaps best understood as an all-encompassing humanism that neither denies nor slights Heaven.† They believe that they are one with nature. Christians recognize only one god. They are labeled as a salvation religion. They hope to be able to break the bonds of this Earth by living a relatively good life with the reward being heaven. If you don’t accept Jesus into your life, you are destined to eternity in hell. It’s safe to say that the world’s religions have varied belief systems. Some believe in the after-life, while others believe that feel that we are Earth bound only. Most of the world believes in a single god. Polytheism and Hinduism say that there are many gods. They differ from Eastern religions in that they see themselves as observers rather than one with the Earth. The East and West see nature differently. While the West observe nature, the East embraces the idea of being part of nature. This is a very fundamental philosophy that can’t be overstated. The bottom line is that there are almost as many belief systems as there are people on Earth. It includes, but not only, monetary considerations, faith, and devotion. The only ones that know what’s going on, assuming there is an after-life, are the dead and buried. Citations The West and the World, A History of Civilization, From the Ancient World to 1700, Kevin Reilly, 95 2 The West and the World, A History of Civilization, From the Ancient World to 1700, Kevin Reilly, 334 3 The West and the World, A History of Civilization, From the Ancient World to 1700, Kevin Reilly, 146 4 http://ancienthistory.about.com/od/china/f/022808Confucius.htm 5 http://buddhism.about.com/od/basicbuddhistteachings/tp/awarenesses.htm 6 The West and the World, A History of Civilization, From the Ancient World to 1700, Kevin Reilly, 103 7 Kevin Reilly, The West World: A History Of Civilization from the Ancient World to 1700, Page 349 8 http://www.religionfacts.com/a-z-religion-index/confucianism.htm

Oldtown Expansion Strategies

Oldtown Expansion Strategies The OldTown Groups (OldTown) was established in 1999 by Executive Directors, Mr. Goh Ching Mun and Mr. Tan Say Yap, who formulated OldTown own blend of 3-in-1 instant white coffee. (OldTown, 2012) OldTown commenced their business as a classic coffee shop of 3 in 1 instants white coffee in Ipoh, Malaysia under Old Town White Coffee brand name since 2005. At the following years, OldTown is divided into two segments of food services which are fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) and food and beverage (FB). At the end of year 2011, Old Town has 196 cafà © outlets in different countries such as Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and China. These 196 cafà © outlets are comprised of 79 fully owned cafà © outlets, 18 partially owned cafà © outlets, 96 franchised outlets and 3 licensed outlets. Besides, Old Town has manufactured the beverage products and exported to worldwide countries such as Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, USA, and Canada. (OldTown Annual Report, 2011) According to OldTown (2012 ), the latest updated information showed that OldTown has expanded to 205 cafà © outlets. The goal of OldTown is to let everyone enjoy every slip of authentic Malaysian Ipoh White Coffee, anytime, anywhere. (OldTown, 2012) Therefore, OldTown will continue to launch the high quality products to customers for collective vision of creating to be Asia Pacifics Leading White Coffee producer in providing high quality product to customers globally. (OldTown, 2012) The mission of OldTown is to promote their Unique Malaysian Taste- the authentic Ipoh White Coffee and continue White Coffee Legacy through continuous improvement and innovation that exceeds customer expectations. (OldTown, 2012) On the other hand, according to the OldTown (2012), the core values consist of consistency, continuity and growth, originality and creativity, respect diversities and traditions, as well as ethics and integrity. Besides, they adopt integrated business strategies and focus on five key components. The first component is to build up strong brand equity and keep customer loyalty by strengthening a nd promoting OLDTOWN brand name. Second component is to continue in expansion of cafà © network through franchise programmed locally and internationally and rely on establishment of their fully owned outlets. Third component is to strengthen the position as an operator of a major cafà © chain. Fourth component is to continue in development of a new and innovative product. Last component is to establish high standards of the quality products and services consistently to exceed the benchmark standard of quality and customers expectations. (OldTown Annual Report, 2011) 2.0 Current expansion strategy OldTown adopts different expansion strategies such as franchise, licensed, partially-owned and fully-owned strategies in different countries which include Malaysia, Singapore, China and Indonesia. (OldTown Annual Report, 2011). OldTown more focus in adopting franchise strategies since this strategy brings more successes to expand cafà © network either locally and internationally in spite of fully relying on the establishment of fully-owned outlets. (OldTown Annual Report, 2011) OldTown is implementing export of the products to other countries. Exporting allows OldTown to gain competitive advantages which are increasing the products sales performance, market shares as well as profitability (Piercy, Kaleka and Katsikeas, 1998). OldTown exports the beverages products also can expose the brand name and attract more customers from different regions. On top of that, exporting also allows OldTown to expand the customers base in global market. (Kaleka, 2011). On the other hand, exporting requires high transport fees. The cost of shipping may be a serious issue for OldTown. Shipping costs can make exporting uneconomical especially when the products are export in high volume. Furthermore, OldTown is depending on the fluctuation of transportation costs. The transport or shipping fees keep on increasing nowadays in exporting goods due to economic downturn, inflation and financial crisis. Ultimately, OldTown should be more concerns about this issue since this could be a drawback for export sales. According to Combss study (2004), in franchising strategy, an agreement is held by two independent parties whereby franchisor grants the right to franchisee to run the business in return of annual loyalty in monetary form (as cited in Miles, Aaron, Jeremy, Kelly and Di Wu, 2011). In other words, franchising is a legal regulation activity and requires compliance with federal and state franchise laws. According to the Buckless study (2011), franchising allows the franchisors to gain opportunity to entry the new markets by attracting the potential franchisees. OldTown chooses master franchise as its form of franchising is due to franchising is the most popular mode of entry into distant and cultural dissimilar market in Asia. Franchise model also provides scale to the company. OldTown currently owns 85 franchised cafà © outlets and one licensed cafe outlet in Malaysia. Revenues from these franchised outlets are earned through the initial franchise fees (RM 80k), the sales of Old towns produces, the royalties (5% of revenues) and the AP fees (3% of revenues). (Oldtown Berhad, 2011). OldTown is required to work with well-experiencing franchise lawyer to successfully establish the franchisee strategy. In order to reduce the business risks, OldTown internationalizes the business by expanding the cafà © outlets to the close countries (Aliouche and Schlentrich, 2011). Previously, OldTown is expanded from Malaysia to Singapore which is physically close to the home country. Singapore has the similar cultures with Malaysia. Cultural factors might increase the risk to the developing corporation in foreign market in accordance to Broutherss study (2002) (as cited in Aliouche and Schlentrich, 2011). The franchisors normally prefer to expand the businesses that have geographical and cultural similarities to the host country (Aliouche and Schlentrich, 2011). According to Aliouche and Schlentrich (2011), the corporation will then move gradually to the distant ones after successfully internationalize to the close country, as OldTown has. OldTown has successfully standing in Singapore with the good reputation of the products and services. After that, OldTown targeted the China and the Indonesi a market. OldTown White Coffee is definitely successful in locals where it earns Industry Excellence Award in Malaysia which organized by Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) as at 24th March 2011. Besides that, at the same year and date, OldTown also received Product Excellent Award organized by MITI, Putra Brand Award 2011 and 2012 (people choice special mention) in 2011 and 2012, and so forth (Old Town Annual repor, 2011). All these recent evidences had showed that OldTown is quite successful in locally. Based on the evidence from the study (William and James, 2009), franchising and fully-owned strategies could help in reducing costs of finding and monitoring the outlet manager. In the words of Bradach (1997), the fully-owned strategy aids in standardization; franchising gives a strong motive to locals managers (franchisee) and they are motivated to keep on improving the cafà © outlets to make it as profitable as possible (as cited in William and James, 2009). In other words, OldTown does not need to oversee the franchisee closely in protecting the franchisors image and reputation. In short, franchising allowed OldTown (franchisor) to expand and minimize the monitoring cost (William James, 2009). Besides, franchising strategy also helps to expand number of OldTown customer with faster pace (Edwards, 2011). OldTown grants the right to franchisee to operate in different countries. Therefore, by expanding the cafà © outlet in other geographical areas, this also helps OldTown to raise the customer awareness. In addition, OldTown always emphasize on brand equity. Hence, OldTown is promoting the brand name OLDTOWN through the expansion strategies. These strategies might help OldTown to gain the customers loyalty and successfully build up the brand equity, not only in Malaysia but also in other countries for instance, Singapore. Aside from these, franchising also helps OldTown to enhance competitiveness in food and beverage industry (Holmes, 2003; Joseph, 2011). Franchising spreads the risk through other people investment in different locations. Franchisee normally is the one who responsible for the loan, debt and so on, and hence, OldTown basically can minimize risk in expanding the businesses. OldTown has better expansion networks for the cafà © outlets since 2005, from a small, humble coffee cafà © to 196 cafà © outlets chain. Thus, OldTown generally could obtain the advantage of loyalties and raise the brand recognition through the ease of this type expansion strategy (Chris, 2011). By the same token, there might have a few of risks that could be faced by OldTown in adopting the franchising. The main disadvantage for OldTown in using franchise strategy is that it can be considered quite costly for the potential franchisee. Once it is implemented, franchises fee charge and ongoing royalties would cut the profits of franchisees (Sim, 2008). Besides the initial fee for agreement, original franchise fees, annual royalties, as well as a percentage of franchises business revenue, franchisees also required to pay the extra monthly fees for the franchisor (Adrian, 2010). As part of the continuing franchise agreement, on-going fees are needed to pay to the franchisor for the support, training and development which are provided by the franchisor. In the long term, it will become a restriction to the amount of profit for the franchisee. Besides, the franchisor also may charge additional fees for services provided to the franchisee, such as the cost of advertising (Ward, 20 12). Besides that, franchising also will cause the lose control right problem when the new franchisees become part of the franchise system. Sometimes, the franchisees are forced to make their own decisions in the uncertainty situation, and they might need to change the policies without make the earlier notification to the franchisor. In fact, franchisor only owns limited power to control the franchise branch and how the business runs. Furthermore, the established rules and the part of the franchise agreement, for instance, the ways of the business operation are already set up by the franchisor, it is rarely for a new franchisee to operate the business outside of these borders (Adrian, 2010). Hence, the franchisee will likely to follow the majority practices of OldTown to run the business. As a result, franchising limits the creativity of the franchisee (Sim, 2008). By adopting franchising, the issue of communications gap may arise between the OldTown and franchisee. Franchisees must follow the correct directions in order to maintain the brands image, the high level of service and so forth. If the franchisor and franchisee did not communicate well, franchisee may have misunderstanding and run the business without the proper direction. Moreover, if the franchisee unable to run the business with good quality or proper funding, it could curtail success and it will create a very unfavourable business environment as wel l. The actions and decisions of franchisees are very important because these will definite affect the OldTowns reputation, image, profession, as well as customer preference. The franchisee would rely on the brand of the business to bring a bunch of customers but OldTown is the one who need to undertake the risk. If the franchisee harms the OldTown image by serving the poor quality foods and services to the customers, it will knock on the effect of the own business. Ultimately, this could potentially damage the sales and overall profits (Adrian, 2010). According to the OldTown Annual Report (2011), the OldTown products such as beverages are more focused on the market segment which comprising professionals, managers, businessman in the age group between 30 to 50 years old. Most of the people concern with healthy conscious nowadays, Old Town also introduced healthier choices of beverage products into the marketplace, such as 2 in 1 No Sugar Added and 3 in 1 with Natural Cane Sugar coffee products. However, due to different countries have different needs, OldTown cannot oversee and control all the businesses includes the franchise outlets. Last but not least, franchise outlets need to invest in various promotion tools such as advertising, promotional and marketing campaigns to increase the OldTowns brand image as well as to enhance its brand equity value in the marketplace. These promoting activities will need a huge amount of money in order to attract the customer and retain the old customers. 3.0 Future Expansion Strategy There are some recommendations for OldTowns future expansion strategies. OldTown can continue the current strategies (franchising and exporting) and the new recommend strategies (joint venture and strategic alliances). 3.1 Franchising OldTown is using the franchising as the entry mode strategy to achieve the rapid and low-cost market expansion, either in locally or internationally. Franchising allows OldTown to get the inflow of franchise fees to expand its markets. All of the premises, equipment and all other working capital that are needed to establish a franchise unit are invested by the franchisee. Besides, OldTown also able to receive the royalty fees from the franchisees. (OldTown, 2012) OldTown is relieved of many of the costs and risks through this entry mode. OldTown can achieve global presence quickly and reduce the risk and cost of doing business via franchising, as McDonalds has. Thus, this strategy should be continued by OldTown since it had good achievements with this entry mode. (OldTown, 2012) Furthermore, OldTown would establish as master franchisee in other markets. Master franchising depend the quality of the local partner to success in another nation. Thus, OldTown should find the right local partner and sell the master franchising rights. For instance, McDonalds, KFC and others are established a master franchisee in particular country or region. (Daszkowski, 2012) Master franchisee of OldTown will oversee the management and reduce the quality control challenge in other new markets. Other than that, master franchisee also can monitor the performance of the franchisees. In fact, there are many laws and regulations implied on franchising. Different nations have different requirements in this mode of entry. The franchisor shall satisfy the 2+1 requirement in order to develop a franchise in China. The requirement means the franchisor need to own two outlets of the franchise business for more than one year. (Philip, 2010). Franchising is a new business concept in Kazakhstan and is not leveraged to its full extent. It is an opportunity for the OldTown to franchising the brand to this country. The Kazakhstani entrepreneurs find it easier to work with Russian franchisors instead of other countries franchisors. This is due to both Kazakhstan and Russian share the same language and similar tastes, ultimately reduce the localization costs in setting new franchise. (Parshina, 2009) This would be a threat for OldTown to expand its franchise into Kazakhstan. OldTown should able to justify the benefits, risks and costs before enter the particular nation. 3.2 Exporting OldTown is pursuing the exporting as the one of the mode of entry to expand to other countries. OldTown is success to expand its brand through this strategy and OldTown is encouraged to continue this mode of entry. OldTown commenced the first export of OLDTOWN brand of 3-in-1 instant coffee mix to Singapore in 2001. The following years, OldTown success to expand the export markets to over 13 countries. (OldTown, 2012) Exporting allows OldTown to increase sales and profits by fully utilize the use of existing capacities. Besides, exporting also allows OldTown to gain new knowledge and experience about the foreign countries technologies, marketing techniques and foreign competitors. (Tekle, 2007) In Malaysia, OldTown distributed the coffee mix through major hypermarkets and supermarkets (OldTown, 2012). OldTown may consider using this type distribution channel in other countries. However, OldTown needs to handle all the logistic of the transaction and spend extra costs to export the products since the transport costs are high. (Delaney, 2012) Besides the transport costs, OldTown also need to pay attention on the costs from high tariff barriers which set by the particular nation. (Hill, 2011) Additionally, OldTown obtained the HALAL certification from the Islamic Religious Department of Perak for the Groups beverages in 2002. The beverages of OldTown are complied with the Islamic Law. (OldTown, 2012) This certificate also provides extra opportunity for OldTown to export the coffee mix to Islamic countries. 3.3 Joint ventures OldTown can use joint ventures to enter a foreign market other than using franchising market entry mode in expanding the business. Joint venture is the establishment of a firm that is jointly owned by two or more otherwise independent firms (Johnson, 2000). OldTown can joint venture with Chatime in Australia in penetrating their first new market in Western country. Chatime had operated in Australia since 2009 and now has over 30 stores Australia-wide (CHATIME Autralia, 2011). Moreover, Chatime are growing fast in term of opening one new store each month on average (CHATIME Autralia, 2011). Based on Chatimes record in successful penetration to foreign market, OldTown can penetrate to Australia by joint venture with Chatime. Joint ventures will help OldTown in getting local partners knowledge regards the host country competitive condition, language, cultures, political systems, and business systems. If OldTown expands their business without further exploring to the particular country history, competitive condition, political systems, business systems and cultures, OldTown will face lots of barrier to entry to the new market. This will also cause OldTown to have a wrong timing of entry or loss the opportunity chance in penetrating to the particular foreign market. (Hill Hernandez-Requejo, 2011) In addition, joint venture is good to be practiced by OldTown due to the costs and risks of opening a foreign market are shared. It can help OldTown in reducing the necessary costs such as initial capital requirement, transportation costs, advertising costs, operational costs, and extra cost charge by the certain local government for set up a new business in country. Therefore, by having a partner in reducing the costs, OldTown will face lesser risks for setting up the business in new market at foreign country. (Hill Hernandez-Requejo, 2011) Other than that, joint venture also allows OldTown to learn about a new market environment. If OldTown can success to become an insider in the country, it may help OldTown to increase the level of commitment and exposure in future. This will help OldTown to improve the image and reputation. Besides, OldTown also can penetrate to other foreign market in future with easier way and reduce lots of entry barriers. (Keegen Green, 2011) From this point of view, by joint venture with Chatime, it will help OldTown in building up their brand name. Although joint venture may cause the company do not have the tight control over subsidiaries that it might need to realize the experience curve or location economies. But, due to OldTowns management team is led by professionals and founders who have more than 20 years experience in the particular industry, it is believed that OldTown management team is more than capable and passionate to anchor OldTown towards more successes in the future. (Kenanga Research, 2012) 3.4 Strategic alliances The changes in political, economic, social cultural and technological environments make strategic alliances have the relative importance for a company to choose as an entry mode to foreign countries (Keegen Green, 2011). China businesses are stable and growing (OSK Research, 2012). OldTown intends to replicate the popularity of its coffee brand from Hong Kong to China with promoting the OldTown brand (OSK Research, 2012). OldTown found that the FB business in China is well carrying by having average spend per customer of 40-50% higher than the businesses in Malaysia (OSK Research, 2012). Other than that, demands of OldTown FMCG products remain tough. In addition, with the new added menu such as soup, OldTown found that China prospects seem capable at this point in time for penetration (OSK Research, 2012). OldTown believe that its business in China have to expand more rapidly than its competitors to ensure its company foundation can be strongly build (OSK Research, 2012). OldTown is setting up a new food processing centre as part of its expansion in penetrating Chinese food and beverage market in China (Ho, 2012). OldTown can use strategic alliances as their entry mode in penetrating to China, forming a strategic alliance with Secret Recipe in China. Secret Recipe had successfully established its brand name in China by virtue of its fine quality cakes, fusion food and distinctive service (Secret Recipe, 2012). This strategic alliance also allow OldTown in gaining extra knowledge from Secret Recipe regards the culture, political, and economic system in China without carry out a costly detailed research in China (Keegen Green, 2011). There are several advantages of using strategic alliance as the entry mode for OldTown in penetrating to foreign country. The advantages are sharing benefits of alliance as well as control performance of assigned tasks, long-term strategies is formed between two companies, and retain national and ideological identities when competing in markets not covered by alliance. (Hill Hernandez-Requejo, 2011) 4.0 Conclusion There must be reason when local coffee shop like OldTown able to success in highly competitive market. OldTown do not bond itself in its current expansion strategy, like franchise, fully-owned outlets and export the products. Meanwhile, depending on 1 expansion strategy is less flexible and too risky. OldTown current strategies had lots of advantages as well as drawbacks. Firstly, Franchising is a popular mode of entry to local and the foreign market. OldTown master franchise because of high revenues get from initial franchise fees, royalties, sales and AP fees. Next, export the products could gain competitive advantages by exposing their brand name and attract more customers from different regions by raising customer awareness, expand the customers base in global market. While, both franchising and fully-owned strategies, has advantage OldTown in reducing costs, attract for recruitment and attract potential franchisee. In the other side, Franchising also bring drawbacks like franchisee has limited freedom and creativity was limited by franchisor. There may be communications gap between franchisor and franchisees in decisions making and it could ruined the name of franchisors. Normally, company will be choosing to expand to close countries first because of the similarity in terms of geographically and culturally. OldTown needs to have product creativity to fulfill different country needs, and customer in different segments. It is good to continue the franchising and exporting strategy for OldTown since both strategies bring lots of positive outcomes, gains and profits. Both strategies had relieved many of the costs and risks, both strategies should be continued by OldTown since it had good achievements with this entry mode. Between Joint Venture and Strategic alliances is the potential of OldTown to expand to foreign countries, Joint venture could reduce the barrier to entry, reducing the necessary costs such as extra cost charge by the certain local government, in the mean time, increase the level of exposure of OldTown in that particular country. Strategic alliances enable OldTown to have long term strategy business in other country. Business nowadays is not only need to focus on customer and service, OldTown needs to follow the latest business trend and be flexible in showing high adaptability to changes. Besides, OldTown has seen the importance of contributions to the community, environment and its investors, as well as the business ethical for its well name or reputations.

Dynamic Characters In A Tale Of Two Cities :: essays research papers

Dynamic Characters in A Tale of Two Cities   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  . Charles Dickens is an influential writer in his time. Charles Dickens is born on February 7, 1812 in England. Many of the books he writes are classics. One of the his classics is A Tale of Two Cities. A Tale of Two Cities is about a group of people who get stuck in France at the time of the revolution and only a very dear friend saves them from living lives of sadness. In A Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens uses dynamic characters that change drastically from the beginning to the end of he book. One example of a dynamic character is Sydney Carton. He is one of the â€Å"idlest and most unpromising of men† (83). Dickens also describes Carton as â€Å"a problem or carelessness and recklessness† (200). Carton is unpromising and reckless because the other characters in the book see him as a man who drinks too much and can’t take care of himself. While sitting in Mr. Lorry’s office with John Barsad and Jerry Cruncher â€Å"Sydney Carton fill[s] another glass with brandy, pour[s] it slowly upon the hearth, and watche[s] it as it drop[s]† (296). Sydney Carton spills the brandy to signify that he won’t be a drunken man any more. Carton also changes in the aspect that he feels love towards Lucie. After Darnay’s first trial in England Carton treats Darnay to dinner at a local tavern. During their conversation Darnay’s love, Lucie, is mentioned. Carton feels no love towards Lucie at that time. He says, â€Å"I am a disappointed d rudge, sir. I care for no man on earth, and no man on earth cares for me† (82). Soon after Sydney Carton finds himself falling in love with Lucie Manette. Carton says, â€Å"[F]or you and any dear to you I would do anything . . . . I would embrace any sacrifice for you and those dear to you . . . . think now and then that there is a man who would give his life to keep a life you love beside you!† (147 – 148). Sydney Carton obviously changes his opinion on loving and caring. Sydney Carton is an example of a main character that is dynamic in A Tale of Two Cities. Dr. Manette is a second example of a dynamic character in A Tale of Two Cities. When Lucie, Mr. Lorry, and Monsieur Defarge meet Dr.

A Critique Of d-day June 6,1944: The Climatic Battle Of Wwii :: essays research papers fc

The book D-Day June 6, 1944: The Climactic Battle of World War II was written by Stephen E. Ambrose, and published by Simon & Schuester in New York. This book begins with a prologue that is followed by 32 chapters, a glossary, endnotes, a bibliography, an appendix, and an index. The first ten chapters give the events that lead up to D-Day, it discusses a variety of topics ranging from, general topics like the attackers and the defenders, to topics like what kind of weather conditions would be necessary for the invasion. Chapters 11 through 14 discuss the air invasion that occurred shortly after midnight, and the air and naval bombardment of the beaches prior to the infantry landing on the Normandy shore. Chapters 15 through 25 cover the landings on the beaches and the struggles of the American forces to get up the bluffs and inland. Chapter 26 titled "The World Holds Its Breath", is exactly what it says, it gives a view of the home front during the invasion. Chapters 27 through 31 talk about other allied landings on the beaches. Chapter 32 ends the book by giving a summary of the accomplishments of D-Day, and giving the general feelings toward the success of the invasion after the first day of fighting. This book was written to provide everyone with an up close and personal view of WWII.The first two chapters on the book are titled " The Attackers" and "The Defenders". In these two chapters the author talks about the warring nations. The Germans who originally used blitzkrieg style warfare to remove the allied powers from Europe, by 1944 had dug in, and was now a complete opposite of what they once were. This would have probably worked just fine had the Nazis not conquered more territory than they could defend. Hitler knew that an invasion was immanent and that if he could send the allies back into the channel with great loses it would take months to organize another attempt, and hopefully by then Roosevelt and Churchill, would be gone. The allies had to penetrate Hitler’s Atlantic Wall. This stacked the deck in Hitler’s favor, because the Allies would have to cross the English Channel an make an amphibious assault on the German fortifications. Prior to WWII there had only been two times that an attack such as this was successful One was led by Julius Ceaser, and the other was led by William the Conqueror.

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A major concern of environmentalists is the impact and wellbeing of Alaska’s environment. The picture in Source E, gives the impression that we are destroying the last pristine place on Earth for no profit, nor for the good of the people. It makes the idea of drilling in ANWR seem ridiculous and even damaging to the country. However, the comic is misleading. As Doc Hastings, a US Congressman, says in Source A,† The North Slope of ANWR, a tiny section of the 19 million acre refuge, was specifically set aside by President Jimmy Carter and congress for potential energy production. . . We can harness the potential of ANWR by using less than 3% of its acreage.† Their ability to access billions of oil while only using a small percentage of land proves that the â€Å"last pristine place on earth† will remain natural and rural. It has to remain that way; the vast majority of ANWR is permanently off to any exploration. Another major issue that hits hard with a lot of people is the impact the oil fields will have on the wildlife. Native animals such as the caribou, bring up large opposition due to ...

Green Lantern and Mythology Essay

Green lantern is a long running comic book series. The early years the story of a prophecy that had been handed to Abin sur, an alien, who eventually dies from fear of this prophecy and his ring is given to a human the first human from earth to possess a power ring. This prophecy comes to be in the series called blackest night. It is a tale of evil trying to take over the universe. Black Hand is main Black lantern when a person is killed there body basically becomes a zombie possessing a black power ring. The green lantern corp is the original police forces of the universe there were created by a group of immortals that could be seen as gods possibly. The rings give normal beings great powers to create anything they can image with a solid light it is powered by their will power and lack of fear. But they are not the only heroes (lanterns) in the universe that is needed to stop this growing evil force. There is group for each of the colors of the spectrum. Each is powered by a different emotion. Red is rage, orange is greed, and green is will, blue is hope, indigo is mostly compassion, and finally violet is love. To destroy a Black lantern takes more than one colored power. So they have to learn to work together and give over their own personal differences. This shows how many cultures have to work together. But in a way it shows that you can’t allow only one emotion to rule over you because it will lead possibly your doom, because in the story to face the evil lantern alone is definite doom and you will be consumed by the evil and become that which you had been fighting against. It also shows that sometimes you just can’t do something’s alone that you need to rely on others to succeed. No matter how strong or smart you are that it can take more than one person to do the job right. I see it as a way of showing children that no matter how different we are, whether we are from different worlds or different countries no matter how different we look we can work together. Kids now days are very interested in comics or the movies based on comics so these stories are becoming the new myths of our time. These people are the heroes our children look to for role models nowadays. In the movie Green Lantern it shows the determination to show that no matter what others think of you if you have the strenght and determination you can prove that you can be a hero or anything you set your mind to.

Understand Partnership Working in Services for Children and Young People L 2

Working in partnership with others is very important for children and young people; it will help them to have consistent routines, which is very essential it provides them with a sense of security and structure to their day. All adults who work with children and young people have a duty to get on very well with each other to demonstrate a positive attitude at work setting and to develop good professional relationships and also be a good role model to the children and young people they are caring for, this will help determine the type of care the child needs; temperament, likes, dislikes, health, interest and behaviour. Successful relationships between colleagues will allow them to pull together to create a warm, friendly welcoming atmosphere and maintain a safe environment for the children and young people and also to build a plan fix for individual this will help to avoid any unnecessary conflicts or misunderstanding between them. Parents/carers must always be involved in their children’s daily learning development and willing to work with the child care workers as part of the team, so good relationship and good communication skills between the two parties will have a huge effect on the child’s development, and it will make it easier for both to approach one another for any feedback and concerns for the child which is important to have this information and be aware of any sudden change in the child to act fast, to resolve any problems he/she may have, after all parents/carers and practioners are all aiming at the same goal, that is the health and well being of the children and young people and to make sure that they have the opportunities to get the most out of life. Feedbacks between the two happens either face to face when the parents/carers drop off their children or at the pick up time, but sometimes through informal meetings to discuss their child’s progress and needs, and suggest ways in which parents/carers can stimulate their child’s learning and development at home. The importance of these meetings is to have a clear picture and full understanding of the child in addition to organize activities that will encourage the child’s physical, emotional, intellectual, and social growth. It is the practioners duty to help children explore individual interests, build self-esteem, develop talents and independence and learn how to get along with others. In some cases unfortunately are not straight forward, where outside professional agencies may get involved in the child’s life where there may be issues like for xample, speech difficulties, in this case the child will be referred to speech therapy where he/she be seen by a specialist who will provide sessions on one to one basis, to help the child to improve their speech. For children who are affected by behaviour or emotional difficulties, psychologist will be involved in their learning development. Social services may be involved too if there are any concerns or sign of child abuse, it is their duty to investigate any alleged incident and to assess the risk to the child and their need for protection. Social workers will often work closely with the child and the family to provide them with supports, but if the child is highly at risk of abuse, then the police will be contacted and involved too. Other outside agencies who may be involved are physio, they provide exercises to help children who having problems with their muscular or breathing problems. SENCO is responsible for supporting children with special education needs to reduce the underachievement gap and enable all children to reach their full potential. Children who are facing problems with visual or hearing impairment are referred to sensory impairment team who will offer the best advice to the parents/carers on how to help the child and also how to use equipment effectively. The effective partnership working together is to share information about the child, their interests, routines and working to resolve issues such behaviour, sleep routine etc†¦ That is why it is vital to have good working partnership with parents/carers or guardians, they seem to know their child better than anybody else when it comes to the child’s interests, needs and strengths. Many parents/carers are very supportive and have a very good knowledge on how to help their child, especially where the child has medical or physical disability. When there is poor or lack of communication between the two parties, lot of unnecessary conflicts and misunderstanding will appear causing barriers to partnership which may have a strong effects on the child’s learning development. Sometimes there are various reasons for barriers to partnership working; one of them could be simply language barrier, culture, attitude and social economical background. There are also many reasons can cause barriers between practioners and the child, it can be anything that prevents the child from participating fully because he/she was not given a chance to try certain activities, which make him feel excluded from the group. Some adults have a belief that disabled children are incapable, or to be pitied or feared. Barriers can be environmental too where the premises are inaccessible due to steps or poor lighting or other difficulties that occur within the environment such as the use of complex language; or it could be a lack of discriminatory policies or procedures. In order to promote inclusion, practioners must be aware of features that may cause a barrier to participation. Good communication between partners is central to working with children and young people and parents/carers; it helps build trusts and understanding the perspective of others. It also encourages them to seek advice and uses services; it is key to establishing and maintaining relationships. It is important for practioners to use clear language to communicate with all children, young people, and parents/carers and all partners including people who find communication difficult to overcome any conflicts and misunderstandings, it is best to summarise situations in the appropriate way for the individual, taking account factors such as background, age and personality. Having a clear communication between partners will make it easier to collect and gain information on the children and understand their needs which will help providing the right activities for individual and maintain a safe learning environment for the children and young people whom they are working with, and again it becomes much easier to communicate about issues and resolve problems that inevitably arise. Listening is the heart of clear communication, when people feel listened to and have their feelings accepted, they feel relief and move on to problem solving but when they do not feel understood or they feel judged or are interrupted, their annoyance or upset increases. Policies vary depending on type of work and the business, but there are quite a few policies that every work place should have like A Code of Conduct sets standards of ethical conduct and work place behaviour. Policies in workplace is a statement of principle and practice dealing with ongoing management and administration of the organisation, they act as a guiding frame of reference for how the organisation deals with everything from its day-to day operational problems or how to respond to requirements to comply with legislation, regulation and codes of practice. Policies explain how to perform tasks and duties, it is a procedure specifying who in the organisation is responsible for particular tasks and activities, or how they should be carry out their duties, these should be reasonable and clearly understood. Confidentiality is one of the things that is included in child care policy, it is very vital to be kept private unless otherwise. This confidential information is private and personal; it includes: *Address *Contact number *Birth date *Emergency contact information *Records of any medical history including immunisations *Contact information of the next kin *Details of the child’s GP & dentist *Nutritional restrictions *progress reports that has been gathered by observation *Referrals details *slips/forms of any injury occurring at the program *family changes All these information must be treated confidential in all child care programs and must not be shared outside the programs between friends and families of practioners; it is against the confidentiality policy and can have serious consequences. It can upset lot of people. Trust may be lost causing damage to working relationships and also leads to disciplinary action by superior, not to mention the bad affect on the care worker’s professional reputation. Sensitive information should made available to practitioners only on a need-to-know basis. That means that different practitioners in the same setting will not necessarily have access to the same information. Therefore should not discuss confidential matters with colleagues unless it is appropriate and can be done privately. Sometimes confidential information needs to be discussed with parents/carers, this should be done privately as well. All this confidential information must be stored securely and handed with care. Never leave sensitive paperwork or files where people who do not need to know will have access to them. If a setting stores records on computer, they must be registered on the Data Protection Register. There are rules about what information can be recorded and how information should be kept. Referrals take place for different reasons such as having concerns about the safety, welfare and/ or well being of children etc†¦ Referrals of children in need should whenever possible, be accompanied by a statement of consent from the child or young person and parents/carers. Children and young people who are suffering significant harm will have social services involved in their cases, or maybe even the police depending how serious the harm is. Some children who having difficulty in communication will be referred to speech therapy, who will arrange one to one sessions once a week with parents/carers permission, the child will be assessed by specialist to help them recognize the cause of speech delay or problem, and what kind of methods and activities will be useful for individual to be able to respond to the treatment he/she be receiving. Other children may have different issues like behaviour, or emotional difficulties, in this case they will be seen by psychologist and again same procedure will be needed. Physio will deal with children and young people who have muscular or emotional problems. Physio will use exercise for this matters.