Bite Me: A Love Story Chapter 17

17. Wide Awake in Sucker-Free Okata scraped the last few drops of blood from the container into the burned-up white girl's mouth. He'd managed to save two of the eight quart containers, but it wasn't going to be enough, he could tell, and after the fight at the butcher shop and his escape, he knew he wasn't strong enough to give her any more of his own blood. She'd need more, and he was going to have to start thinking of her as something besides the â€Å"burned-up white girl.† She was starting to resemble a real person now, more than a person-shaped cinder. A very old, very scary dead person, to be sure, but a person nonetheless. Her red hair nearly covered the pillow now, and she'd moved, if only a little, closing her mouth after the last drops of blood went in. No ash had flaked away with the movement. Okata was glad. Her exposed fangs made him a little uneasy, but now she had lips, sort of. He picked up his sketch pad from the floor, moved to the end of the futon to get a different angle, and began drawing her, as he'd been doing every hour or so since he'd returned from the butcher. He was still covered with the blood that had splashed on him during the fight, but it had long since dried and except for washing his hands so he could work, he'd forgotten it. He finished the sketch, then moved to his workbench, where he transferred a refined version of the drawing to a piece of rice paper so thin it was nearly transparent. He would replicate this drawing four more times, then each would be glued to a woodblock and carved away to make the plate for a different line or color. He looked over his shoulder at her, and felt a tremor of shame. Yes, she looked like a person now, an old, desiccated grandmother, but he shouldn't leave her like that. He took a bowl from the shelf above his little kitchen sink, filled it with warm water, and then knelt by the side of the futon and gently sponged the last patina of ash from her body, revealing the blue-white skin underneath. The skin was smooth, like polished rice paper, but pores and hair follicles were forming as he wiped the ash away. â€Å"Sorry,† he said in English. Then in Japanese he said, â€Å"I have not been mindful, my burned-up gaijin girl. I will do better.† He went to the cabinet under his workbench and removed a cedar box that looked like it might have been fashioned to hold a set of silverware. He opened the lid and removed the square of white silk, then stood and let the garment fall open to its full length. Yuriko's wedding kimono. It smelled of cedar, and perhaps of a bit of incense, but mercifully, it didn't smell of her. He laid the kimono out next to the burned-up girl, and ever so slowly, he moved it under her, gently worked her skeletal arms into the sleeves, then closed the robe and tied it loosely with the white obi. He arranged her arms at her sides so they looked comfortable, then picked up a small flake of dried blood that had fallen from his face onto her breast. She looked better now. Still wraithlike and monstrous, but better. â€Å"There you go. Yuriko would be pleased that her kimono helped cover one who had nothing.† He returned to his workbench and began the drawing for the block that would carry the yellow ink for the futon, when he heard movement behind him and wheeled around. â€Å"Well, don't you look yummy,† Jody said. TOMMY Tommy spent the early evening in the library, reading The Economist and Scientific American. He felt as if all the words were bringing him back from the animal realm to being a human being, and there were plenty of words in those magazines. He wanted his full powers of speech and human thought before he confronted Jody. He also hoped that his memory of what had happened would come back with his words, but that didn't seem to be working. He remembered a red blur of hunger in his head, being thrown through a window and landing on the street, but between that and the time when his words returned in the basement, with the Emperor, he could remember very little. It was as if those experiences-hunting, finding shelter of darkness, snaking his way through the City in a cloud of predators gone to mist-were filed in a part of his mind that locked as soon as the ability to put words to senses returned. He suspected that he may have helped Chet kill people, but if that was the case, why h ad he saved the Emperor? Fortunately, he hadn't lost the ability to turn to mist, which was how he'd obtained the outfit he was wearing now. The whole ensemble-khaki slacks, blue Oxford-cloth shirt, leather jacket, and leather boating moccasins-had been on display in a window at a men's store on Union Square, suspended by monofilament fishing line into the shape of a casual cotton ghost that was haunting other, equally stylish but substanceless marionettes around some deck chairs and artificial sand. Just after the dinner hour, when the store was at its busiest, Tommy streamed in under the door, into the outfit and became solid. With a quick crouch, he snapped all the monofilament line and walked out of the store fully dressed, bits of fishing line curling in his wake. It would, he thought, have been the smoothest, most audaciously cool thing he had ever done, if it hadn't been for the straight pins that had fastened the shirt to the slacks. But after a minor fit on the sidewalk as he yanked the pins out of his back, hips, and abdomen, while rhythmically chanting, â€Å"Ouch, ouch, ouch, ouch,† he returned to the calm and casual cotton-clad vampire aspect he'd been going for. He waited until he was at the library, in the stacks, before he pulled the piece of cardboard out of his collar and yanked off various tags and threads. Fortunately, there had been no anti-theft tags on the display outfit. Now he was ready, or as ready as he was going to get. He had to go to Jody now, hold her, tell her he loved her, kiss her, shag her until all the furniture was broken and the neighbors complained (undead predator or not, he was still nineteen and horny), then figure out what they were going to do about their future. As he walked back through the Tenderloin, dressed in his â€Å"please rob me† white boy outfit, a jittery crackhead in a hoody that had once been green, but now was so dirty it was shiny, tried to rob him with a screwdriver. â€Å"Give me your money, bitch.† â€Å"That's a screwdriver,† Tommy said. â€Å"Yeah. Give me your money or I'll stab you with it.† Tommy could hear the tweaker's heart fluttering, smell the acrid stench of rotting teeth, body odor, and urine on him, and could see an unhealthy, dark gray aura around him. His predator mind flashed the word â€Å"prey.† Tommy shrugged. â€Å"I'm wearing a leather jacket. You'll never get a screwdriver through it.† â€Å"You don't know that. I'll get a running start. Give me your money.† â€Å"I don't have any money. You're sick. You should go to the hospital.† â€Å"That's it, bitch!† The crackhead thrust the screwdriver at Tommy's stomach. Tommy stepped aside. The tweaker's movements seemed almost comically slow. As the screwdriver went by, Tommy decided it might be best if he took it, and he snatched it away. The robber lost his balance and tumbled forward into the street and lay there. With the flick of his wrist, Tommy threw the screwdriver onto the roof of a four-story building across the street. Two guys who had been standing in an alley a few feet away, thinking about taking the robbery over from the crackhead, or at least robbing him if he was successful, decided they would rather go see what was happening on the next block. Tommy was a half a block away when he heard the uneven, limping footsteps of the crackhead coming up behind him. He turned and the crackhead stopped. â€Å"Give me your money,† said the tweaker. â€Å"Stop robbing me,† said Tommy. â€Å"You don't have a weapon and I don't have any money. It's totally not working for you.† â€Å"Okay, give me a dollar,† said the crackhead. â€Å"Still don't have any money,† Tommy said, turning his pants pockets inside out. A note from inspector 18 fluttered to the sidewalk. He heard movement above-claws on stone-and cringed. â€Å"Uh-oh.† â€Å"Fifty cents,† said the crackhead. He put his hand in the pouch pocket of his hoody and pointed his finger like it was a gun. â€Å"I'll shoot.† â€Å"You have got to be the worst armed robber ever.† The crackhead paused for a second and pulled his gun-posed hand out of his pocket. â€Å"I have my G.E.D.† Tommy shook his head. He thought he'd left the cats behind, but the felines either still had some connection to him, or there were so many of them now that there was nowhere in the City you could go where they wouldn't be hunting. He didn't relish trying to explain the whole phenomenon to Jody. â€Å"What's your name?† he said to the crackhead. â€Å"I'm not telling you. You could turn me in.† â€Å"Okay,† Tommy said. â€Å"I'll call you Bob. Bob, have you ever seen a cat do that?† Tommy pointed up. The crackhead looked up the side of the building to see a dozen cats coming down the bricks, face-down, toward him. â€Å"No. Okay, I'm not robbing you anymore,† said the tweaker, his attention taken by the clutter of vampire cats descending on him. â€Å"Have a nice evening.† â€Å"Sorry,† said Tommy, meaning it. He turned and jogged up the street to put some distance between himself and the screaming, which only lasted a few seconds. He looked back to see the crackhead gone. Well, not really gone, but reduced to a pile of gray powder amidst his empty clothing. â€Å"It's how he would have wanted to go,† Tommy said to himself. He would have thought the cats would go for the two in the alley, but now they were taking the people right out on the open street. He was going to have to get Jody and talk her into leaving the City, like they should have in the first place. He jogged the twelve blocks to the loft, careful not to run so fast that he might be noticed. He tried to look like a guy who was just late getting home to his girlfriend, which, in a way, he was. He waited outside the door for a moment before pushing the buzzer. What was he going to say? What if she didn't want to see him? He didn't have any experience to draw on. She'd been the first girl he'd had sex with while sober. She was the first girl he'd ever lived with. She was the first to take a shower with him, to drink his blood, to turn him into a vampire, and to throw him broken and naked through a second-story window. She was his first love, really. What if she sent him away? He listened, looked at the plywood still over the windows, sniffed the air. He could hear people inside, at least two, but they weren't talking. There were machines running, lights buzzing, the smell of blood and rat whiz wafting under the door. It really would have felt better if there were romance in the air, but, well, okay. He ran his fingers through his hair, snatched away the last strands of fishing line trailing from his clothes like errant crystal pubes, and pushed the button. FOO Foo had just placed the vials of Abby's blood in the centrifuge when the buzzer on the intercom went off. He flipped the switch, then looked over at Abby, lying on the bed. She looked so peaceful, undead and drugged and not talking. Almost happy, despite having a tail. But the police wouldn't understand. He ran into the living room and shook Jared out of the game-induced trance he had entered on his game console. Foo could hear the death-metal sound track coming from Jared's headphones, tinny screeching and tiny chainsaw rhythms, like angry chipmunks humping a kazoo inside a sealed mayonnaise jar. â€Å"Whaaa?† said Jared, yanking out his earbuds. â€Å"Someone's at the door,† whispered Foo. â€Å"Hide Abby.† â€Å"Hide her? Where? The closet is full of medical crap.† â€Å"Between the mattress and the box springs. She's skinny. You can mash her in there.† â€Å"How will she breathe?† â€Å"She doesn't need to breathe.† â€Å"Sweet.† Jared went for the bedroom, Foo for the intercom. â€Å"Who is it?† he said, keying the button. He really should have installed a camera. They were easy to wire and he got a discount at Stereo World. Stupid. â€Å"Let me in, Steve. It's Tommy.† Foo thought for a second he might pee a little. He hadn't finished building the high-intensity UV laser, and Abby hadn't worn her sun jacket. He was defenseless. â€Å"I can see why you might be mad,† said Foo, â€Å"but it was Abby's idea. I wanted to turn you back to human, like you wanted.† Oh fuck, oh fuck, oh fuck. Tommy was going to kill him. It would be humiliating. The guy didn't even have an undergrad degree. He was going to be murdered by an undead Anglo liberal-arts tard who quoted poetry. The buzzer went off again. Foo jumped and keyed the intercom. â€Å"I didn't want to do it. I told her it was cruel to put you guys in there.† â€Å"I'm not mad, Steve. I need to see Jody.† â€Å"She's not here.† â€Å"I don't believe you. Let me in.† â€Å"I can't, I have things to do. Scientific things that you wouldn't understand. You have to go away.† Okay, now he was a tard. â€Å"I can come in, Steve, under the door or through the cracks around the windows, but when I go back to solid, I'll be naked. Nobody wants that.† â€Å"You don't know how to do that.† â€Å"I learned.† â€Å"Oh, that's cool,† said Foo. Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit. Could he get the door shut and duct taped before Tommy could ooze in. The great room was already taped up to contain the rat fog. â€Å"Buzz me in, Foo. I have to see Jody and I have to feed. You still have some of those blood pouches, right?† â€Å"Nope. Sorry, we're all out. And Jody's not here. And we've installed sunlamps all over the loft, Tommy. You'd be toast.† He did have some blood bags. In fact, he still had some of the ones with the sedative in it that he'd used to knock Abby out. â€Å"Steve, please, I'm hungry and hurt and I've been living in a basement with a bunch of vampire cats and if I turn to mist my new outfit is going to get stolen while I'm up there snapping your neck with my junk hanging out.† Foo was trying to think of a better bluff when a dark sleeve shot by him and he heard the door lock buzz downstairs. He looked up at Jared. â€Å"What the fuck have you done?† â€Å"Hi,† Tommy said in Foo's ear. â€Å"He sounded so sad,† Jared said. THE OLD ONES At sundown the three awoke inside a titanium vault under the main cabin and checked the monitors that were wired like a nervous system to every extremity of the black ship. â€Å"Clear,† said the male. He was tall and blond and he'd been lean in life, so he remained so, would remain so, forever. He wore a black silk kimono. The two females cranked open the hatch and climbed out into what appeared to be a walk-in refrigerator. The male closed the hatch, pushed a button concealed behind a shelf, and a stainless-steel panel slid across the hatch. They walked out of the fridge, into the empty galley. â€Å"I hate this,† said the African female. She had been Ethiopian in life, descended from royalty, with a high forehead and wide eyes that slanted like a cat's. â€Å"It was to this face that Solomon lost his heart,† Elijah had told her, holding her face in his hands as she died. And so he called her Makeda, after the legendary Queen of Sheba. She didn't remember her real name, for she had worn it for only eighteen years, and she had been Makeda for seven centuries. â€Å"It's different,† said the other female, a dark-haired beauty who had been born on the island of Corsica a hundred years before Napoleon. Her name had been Isabella. Elijah had always called her Belladonna. She answered to Bella. â€Å"It's not that different,† said Makeda, leading the way up a flight of steps to the cockpit. â€Å"It seems like we just did this. We just did this-when?† â€Å"A hundred and fifty years ago. Macao,† said the male. His name was Rolf, and he was the middle child, the peace-maker, turned by Elijah in the time of Martin Luther. â€Å"See what I mean,† said Makeda. â€Å"All we do is sail around cleaning up his messes. If he does this again I'm going to have the boy drag him out onto the deck during the day and video it while he burns. I'll watch it every night on the big screen in the dining room and laugh. Ha!† Although the oldest, Makeda was the brat. â€Å"And what if we die with the sire?† asked Rolf. â€Å"What if you wake up in the vault on fire?† He palmed a black glass console and a panel whooshed open in the bulkhead. The cockpit, big enough to host a party for thirty, was lined in curving mahogany, stainless steel, and black glass. The stern half was open to the night sky. But for the ship's wheel, it looked like an enormous Art Deco casket designed for space travel. â€Å"I've died before,† said Makeda. â€Å"It's not that bad.† â€Å"You don't remember,† said Bella. â€Å"Maybe not. But I don't like this. I hate cats. Shouldn't we have people for this?† â€Å"We had people,† said Rolf. â€Å"You ate them.† â€Å"Fine,† said Makeda. â€Å"Give me my suit.† Rolf touched the glass console again and a bulkhead opened to reveal a cabinet filled with tactical gear. Makeda pulled three black bodysuits from the cabinet and handed one each to Rolf and Bella. Then she slid out of her red silk gown and stretched, naked, her arms wide like Winged Victory, her head back, fangs pointed at the skylight. â€Å"Speaking of people,† said Bella. â€Å"Where's the boy? I'm hungry.† â€Å"He was feeding Elijah when we awoke,† said Rolf. â€Å"He'll be along.† Elijah was kept below in a vault similar to their own, except the prime vampire's vault was airtight, locked from the outside, and was fitted with an airlock system so the boy could feed him. â€Å"Irie, me undead dreadies,† said the pseudo-Hawaiian as he came up the steps, barefoot and shirtless, carrying a tray of crystal balloon goblets. â€Å"Cap'n Kona bringin' ya the jammin' grinds, yeah?† The vampires each spoke a dozen languages but none of them had the slightest idea what the fuck Kona was talking about. When he saw Makeda stretching, the blond Rastafarian stopped and nearly dumped the goblets off the tray. â€Å"Oh, Jah's sweet love sistah, dat smoky biscuit givin' me da rippin' stiffy like dis fellah need to poke squid with that silver sistah on de Rolls-Royce, don't you know?† Makeda fell out of her â€Å"Nike† posture and looked at Rolf. â€Å"Huh?† â€Å"I think he said he would enjoy violating you like a hood ornament,† said Rolf, taking a snifter from the tray and swirling dark liquid under his nose. â€Å"Tuna?† â€Å"Just caught, bruddah,† said Kona, having trouble now balancing the tray while trying to hunch to conceal the erection tenting his baggies. Bella took her snifter from the tray and grinned as she turned to look out the windscreen at the City. The Transamerica Pyramid was lit up in front of them, Coit Tower just to the right, jutting from Telegraph Hill like a great concrete phallus. Makeda took a slinky step toward Kona, â€Å"Should I let him rub oil on me, Rolf? Do I look ashy?† â€Å"Just don't eat him,† Rolf said. He sat in one of the captain's chairs, loosened the belt of his black kimono, and began working the Kevlar bodysuit over his feet. â€Å"Quaint,† said Makeda. She took another step toward Kona, held her bodysuit before her, then dropped it. In an instant she had gone to mist and streamed into the suit, which filled as if a girl-shaped emergency raft had been deployed inside. She snatched the last goblet out of the air as Kona flinched and dumped the tray. â€Å"Will you oil me up later, Kona?† Makeda said, standing over the surfer now as he cowered. â€Å"Nah need, matey, you shinin' plenny fine. But dat other ting bein' a rascal fo' sure.† He held his hand to his chest and ventured a glance up at her. â€Å"Please.† â€Å"It's your turn,† said Bella with a smile, her lips rouged with tuna blood. â€Å"Oh, all right,† said Makeda. â€Å"But use a glass.† Kona reached into the pocket of his baggies and came out with a shot glass, which he held with both hands before his head like a Buddhist monk receiving alms. She pushed her thumb against one of her fangs, then let the blood drip into Kona's shot glass. Ten drops in, she pulled her thumb away and licked it. â€Å"That's all you get.† â€Å"Oh, mahalo, sistah. Jah's love on ya.† He drained the blood then licked the shot glass clean, as Makeda watched and sipped her tuna blood. After a full minute, with the ersatz Hawaiian still lapping away at the glass, his breath heaving like he was hoisting the anchor by hand, she took the shot glass and held it away from him. â€Å"You're done.† â€Å"Bug eater,† Bella said, disgusted. Now she was in her own bodysuit and had drained her goblet of blood. â€Å"Oh, I think he's cute,† said Makeda. â€Å"I may let him oil me up yet.† She ruffled Kona's dreadlocks. He was staring blankly into space, his mouth open, drooling. â€Å"Just don't eat him,† Rolf said. â€Å"Stop saying that. I won't eat him,† said Makeda. â€Å"He's a licensed captain. We need him.† â€Å"All right. I'm not going to eat him.† Bella walked over, yanked a dreadlock from Kona's head, and used it to tie back her own, waist-length black hair. The surfer didn't flinch. â€Å"Bug eater,† she repeated. Rolf was back at the cabinet, snapping together various bits of weaponry. â€Å"We should go. Grab a hood, gloves to go with the sunglasses. Elijah said they had some sort of sunlight weapons.† â€Å"This is different,† said Bella, gathering all the high-tech kit from the weapons cabinet, as well as a long overcoat to cover it all. â€Å"We didn't have all this in Macao.† â€Å"As long as you're not bored, darling,† said Rolf. â€Å"I hate cats,† said Makeda as she pulled on her gloves.

Advertising Practices in the US and the UK Essay

In spite of the many cultural similarities between the United States and the United Kingdom, there are significant differences between American and British television advertising. Advertising content in the two countries is substantially different today, even though early British television adverts had a tendency to be made in the American style, and supported by American research methodologies, when television advertising was introduced into British culture in 1955 (Lannon, 1986). Although several differences in the two countries’ television advertising practices have been identified in previous research, this study focuses on one in particular: difference in ad content. This research sets out to discuss said differences in ad content and explores the motivations for these differences. This discussion will examine specific media groups in two different societies and discuss their differences, contributing to developing an understanding of different kinds of media practices. Comparing advertising practices in the United States and United Kingdom is relevant for several reasons: because both countries are highly developed industrial consumer societies, consequently, the same categories of consumer products would be expected to appear in both countries; the British system of regulating TV advertising has been regarded superior to the American approach (Buell, 1977); the deep-seated and widespread belief in the United Kingdom that British culture and American culture are both individually based on different assumptions that are reflected in their respective advertising practices (Weinberger & Spotts, 1989a). Advertising Defined â€Å"Advertising – apart from its more or less hidden purposes – is a form of communication between a sender and a receiver of a message† (Borrelli, 2010). Advertising is deemed as the business of â€Å"bringing into notice; spec. by paid announcement in a printed journal, by prominent display of placards, etc† (Online Oxford English Dictionary), an activity to â€Å"the action of calling something to the attention of the public especially by paid announcements† (Merriam Webster Online). It does not matter whether the advertised item is a product, a service or a better version of ourselves (Myers, 1994). According to Sherry (1987), â€Å"advertising is a system of symbols synthesized from the entire range of culturally determined ways of knowing that is accessible through ritual and oriented toward both secular and sacred dimensions of transcendental experience in hyperindustrial society†(pp. 443-444). McLuhan (1970) refers to it as the cave art of the twentieth century. As art, Williams (1980) perceives advertising as the official art of modern capitalist society, Feasley (1984) as fitting the definition of art by its enrichment and intensification of life, as well as a reflection of our lives, and Borghini, Visconti, Anderson & Sherry (2010) as matching the tendency of art to embody universal fantasies, feelings, and thoughts advertising expresses the rational and emotional experiences and moods of consumers. In his analysis of advertising, Schudson (1984) describes advertising as capitalist realism, which he defines as a set of aesthetic practices promoting and celebrating a certain political economy. Schudson’s (1984) description comes from his understanding of socialist realism, which presents a standard version of reality that is simplified, collective, optimistic, progressive, and socially integrative. Capitalist realism celebrates the choice of the consumer in defense of materialism and individualism by representing consumer satisfaction as an idealized form. â€Å"‘Advertising is capitalism’s way of saying â€Å"I love you† to itself’—(and, as we all know, love means never having to say you’re sorry) (Weinberger & Spotts, 1989a, pp. 44). † Accordingly, Csikszentmihalyi & Rochberg-Halton (1981) say that advertising promotes forms of materialism that are instrumental as well as terminal. Advertising works at the level of semiology to provide goods with meaning, and at the level of semiotics to bring together domestic and political economies into a culture whose dominant force is consumption. By teaching the meaning of and use of goods, advertising helps create understanding; it helps make the categories of culture stable and visible (Douglas & Isherwood, 1979). Semiology is the study of signs and symbols from a general point of view, and through its different meanings, semiotics, by defining a framework, analyzes the signs within this framework and through differentiation with other elements, allows one to make a selection and be more precise in the understanding of the meaning (Depaux, 2011). Semiology and semiotics are especially useful in examining the communication of messages (Ashwin, 1984). Symbols create a culture’s worldview and philosophy. A cultural system acts as both a model of and a model for reality. Advertising can then be seen to shape and reflect reality. Thus, advertising can be viewed as a cultural system, and individual advertisements as a performance exhibiting the larger system (Sherry, 1987). Although research on this topic is underdeveloped (Borghini et al. , 2010), McCracken (1988) says that advertising messages have a cultural meaning in everyday life. Additionally, Elliot (1997) and Willis (1990) discuss advertising as a cultural product consumed symbolically by consumers independently of the products being advertised. So, as British and American cultures are both based on different assumptions (Carey, 1975; Lannon, 1986), and as advertising can be viewed as a cultural system, the two respective cultures (American and British) are mirrored in their respective advertising. Effects of Culture How does television advertising content in the United States and the United Kingdom reflect cultural differences? Consumers in different countries have different ways of deciding which brands to purchase (Zaichkowsky & Sood, 1989), and they have different attitudes about advertising (Durvasala, S. Andrews, J. C. , Lyonski, S. , & Netemeyer, R. G. , 1993). These different ways of doing and thinking about things is called culture; it is the complex of values, ideas, attitudes, and other meaningful symbols that allow persons to communicate, interpret, and evaluate as members of a society (Engel, Blackwell & Miniard, 1995). Every culture is a complex web of social relations, religious beliefs, languages and consumption attitudes and habits. All of which impact how advertising is delivered and received by society members (Tse, Belk & Zhou, 1989). Abd. Rahim and Osman (2005) conducted a study that examined how commercials in Malaysia were impacted by globalization. As a part of their research, they made use of ten consumer culture constructs that were developed by Harris and Morgan (1987) and later adapted by Engel, Blackwell and Miniard (1990) to rationalize how advertising is effective in creating our culture. According to Abd. Rahim and Osman (2005) these constructs are â€Å"projected† (p. 36) into advertisements. The constructs are: 1) sense of self and space, 2) communication and language, 3) dress and appearance, 4) food and feeling habits, 5) time and time consciousness, 6) relationships, 7) value and norms, 8) beliefs and attitudes, 9) mental processes and learning and 10) work habits and practices. Alden, Steenkamp and Batra (1999) support the existence and use of these constructs with their culture positioning theory that implies that, as a rule there are three brand positioning strategies used in advertising strategies, specifically the Local, Foreign and Global Consumer Culture Positioning (LCCP, FCCP, and GCCP). Those behaviors are categorized in the form of identification in advertisements to whether they are local, foreign or global in terms of brand positioning† (Abd. Rahim & Osman, 2005, p. 36). The ten culture constructs paired with the culture positioning theory further sustain the advertising as a cultural system concept and shed light on the cultural reasons behind the differences in advertising content across geographical boundaries. Abd. Rahim and Osman (2005) suggest that the most profound effect of advertising upon consumers is in creating a culture that values the pursuit of certain lifestyles. David Slayden (1999) offers a complementary view to Abd. Rahim and Osman’s (2005) assessment of advertising effects: advertising identifies the important myths, symbols, and stories of culture and associates them with a product or service. Initially, British advertising often mirrored American ad experience. During this time, commercials were highly â€Å"unsuited to British tastes† (Nevett, 1992, p. 65). Commercials were being branded as intrusive. British television in the 50s was drastically different from American television; it had only one channel (BBC1) and saturation was low, only 16 percent coverage of private homes (Moskowitz, 1953). The introduction of commercial television into British life was a public corporation with a charter from the government, Independent Television Authority (ITV) (Burdett, 1955). ITV was proposed with the intention to set new standards of technical excellence, â€Å"bring â€Å"new verve into political discussions, improve the pace, and revive personality† (Burdett, 1955, p. 184). The BBC channel was inadequate, to say the least. As a service without a rival, it has tended to coast along†¦when it comes to drama and popular entertainment, one misses the technical proficiency and the pace and brightness of American TV productions†¦the accidents that happen on BBC television are startling to an American viewer. No one seems dismayed here if transmission breaks down and the screen goes black for five minutes. No one seems surprised if a program runs over for fifteen or twenty minutes; and if you see a news anchor talking, but there’s no voice—well that happens too. From time to time, the stagehands will wander out in front of the camera. Its all very casual†¦announcers are supposed to be as devoid of personality as conceivably possible. (Burdett, 1955, pp. 183-184) Also during this time, opinion leaders were opposed to the commercialization of British television: â€Å"The TV monster†¦would bring in its wake a host of undesirable things—the debasement of taste, the corruption of youth, the breakdown of law, and a huckster’s riot of vulgarity† (Burdett, 1955, p. 180). Lord Reith compared commercial television to smallpox, the Black Death, and the Bubonic Plague; when approved by Parliament in 1955, it did so against fierce opposition in the House of Lords (Nevett, 1992). British advertising then underwent a evolution during the 60s and 70s in an effort to infuse ‘Britishness’ (Dickason, 2000, p. 162) into their advertising practices, and additionally to revoke Americanization of British television. In an effort to sell a product and entertain a viewer at the same time, the advertiser â€Å"accepted that he was an unwanted visitor in peoples homes; if they were to let him in at all, or to let him return regularly, then he had better behave politely, quietly, and entertainingly† (Garrett, 1986). British advertising began to employ understated humor and a soft-sell approach, and had begun to make frequent use of features inherent in British culture, such as the persistence of class separation and affection for eccentricity (Nevett, 1992). Soft sell focuses predominantly on the entertainment factor of commercials and is considered noninvasive. As opposed to British advertising, American advertising techniques implore a hard-sell approach. This hard sell approach focuses on disseminating information and pressuring the consumer to buy.

Drescriptive Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Drescriptive - Essay Example After what seemed like a decade, the fateful morning arrived. I was awake before the sun rustling through my suitcase making certain mom packed the basics, my multi-colored swimsuit. As the sunlight softly pierced through my window the rustling became increasingly louder. I knew my brother had the same scheme in mind as I heard plates loudly clanging together in the kitchen. He was unloading the dishwasher, without being told to. It was a combination of nervous tension needing be released and a not so subtle way of waking the parents from their much deserved sleep. After several hours, actually a few minutes, they made their way out of their bedroom and towards the aroma coming from the coffee maker which had been set to brew as scheduled the night before. The car was already packed, my thumb bruised and throbbing from being in too big a hurry. Following a quick breakfast the journey began. The miles seemed especially long but a nap on the way helped somewhat. Finally we arrived. As dad slowed to park he loudly advised us to wait until he fully stopped. As we opened the door the experience was not what I had been expecting. It was almost overwhelming. The wind was so strong I need both hands to manage the door. As my feet touched the warm, and getting increasing warmer sand, the wind blew a constant stream of the hot sand in my face. The sun baked my face and the ocean waves were loud, alarmingly so. I wondered if we came on an unusually blustery day or if this was normal. Dad was shouting directions while standing just a few feet away but I did not hear a word. Had he not gestured toward a covered bench I would have had no clue what he meant. Hauling the umbrella, towels, cooler, ect., from the car to that bench was an ordeal while dancing across the sand against the wind. When we got settled I reached down to feel the light brown sand. Again, it was nothing like I expected. Instead of a

Waste Management Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Waste Management - Case Study Example Commercial areas include shops, offices, markets and open areas within the vicinity of the district that the municipality serves. The construction and demolition debris, as well as hazardous wastes, are usually not categorized under municipal solid waste (MSW), but under special circumstances they may be added to the MSW category. Municipal solid waste can be divided into four major categories that are Residential, Commercial and Institutional, Open areas and Treatment plant sites. Residential waste includes wastes generated from households that primarily comprise food wastes. The commercial and industrial wastes which are generated by offices, markets, hotels, restaurants, schools and medical facilities mainly consist of rubbish and food wastes. Open areas include parks, streets and beaches etc. Lastly, treatment plant sites includes sewage, drainage and water treatment processes. MSW is usually referred to as solid waste that the authorities of the city take responsibility of manag ing and disposing in one way or the other. In our case, the 30 gallon garbage on the sidewalk contains office trash and human waste deposits to be qualified as municipal solid waste, so, the contents of the receptacle are definitely solid waste. 3. ... 2) Waste containers should not be filled with water or any other liquid. 3) The authorities need to make sure that only solid waste is put in these containers. 4) Another important handling consideration is to make sure that wastes from different sources are not mixed as it can cause chemical reactions which, therefore, makes recycling and disposal difficult. 5) The vehicles used for the transportation and collection of waste should be covered to avoid exposure to public and scattering of waste. 6) Later on the waste should be categorized into two categories: recyclable and non-recyclable material. Since the waste primarily consists of office trash, it must have considerable amount of paper, bottles and newspaper etc. Waste is recyclable, if it is sent to be processed, while non-recyclable waste should be disposed of either through an incineration or a landfill. 4. How do you respond to the customer and what do you do next?   I will calm him down by silently listening to him for a while and showing him that his problems matter to me. After a while, I will politely accept our fault and personally apologize to him. Moreover, I will assure him that his compliant has been filed and registered by the respective authorities and that we will take care of the receptacle immediately. After finishing the call, I will check for any waste collection team nearby that area; if any team is available, I will order them to take care of the specific receptacle; otherwise I will dispatch an available waste collection team immediately to take care of the receptacle before its condition gets worse. CASE 2 1. Is it permissible to disturb the clay cap without a permit?   The appropriate District office must be consulted before any construction activity is conducted over an

Public Health Care Problems Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Public Health Care Problems - Assignment Example The local and national health care providers are not responding adequately to those with mental disorders. This cannot however be blamed on them because the number of the health care providers with knowledge on how to handle such people is limited compared with the number of people with the mental disorders. They are therefore unable to cater fully for them. In some third world countries for example, the limited number of health care providers necessitates teaching of the family members the basics of catering for such people without necessarily having to keep them in health care facilities. The local health care communities cannot be held responsible for mandating specific care treatment for the affected population because they are aware of the needs of the locals and the abilities the local people have towards taking care and managing the mental diseases. They try to deal with the local patients suffering the mental illnesses according to the resources available locally without having to burden the people trying to seek resource nationally or outsource in other places which is not only costly but requires spending a lot of time. They have also spent a lot of time with the locals and hence are aware of the needs of the patients and can cater to them adequately (Compton & Kotwicki, 2007). Alcohol is a drug that is abused by the young population between the ages of 18yrs and 30yrs old. The young population use alcohol as a way to appear cool among their peers during the teenage stage of growth. As they continue to age, people use alcohol as a social drink and with time they use it as a way to forget the troubles or stressors in their environment. Older people from 35 years abuse prescription and over the counter drugs which they use to cure the pain in their failing bodies. They use the drugs to also relax their kinds as well as to induce sleep (McKenzie,

Training Memo Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Training Memo - Essay Example assets and labor are more mobile inside a state than across states. On the other hand, in the latter, the product or service is sold or exported overseas markets. The concept of intellectual property has a significant impact on international trade. Companies spend millions of dollars for establishing brand names or trademarks to mark the specific quality for their products or services, and to obtain benefits over their competitors through the international business. Licensing Agreements and Intellectual Property Rights: Intellectual property can be described as an invention that one derives by mental power, especially a thought, creation, trade secret, procedure, data, method, patent, or brand name and other innovative creations. A licensing agreement is a contractual right that confers on a person the privilege to assist in the management, administration and guarding of intellectual property (IP). Intellectual property right is the exclusive right over the possessions of the creatio n by the creator. There is always a necessity to value the IP in various circumstances like for the period of negotiating the license arrangements so as to establish royalty rates, damage rates and financial statements.

Interpersonal relationship Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Interpersonal relationship - Essay Example It wasn’t hard for me to listen actively with interest in what the other person was saying as I was quickly involved in the other person’s issue, but I found it difficult to restrain my mind to listen to just what they were saying instead of trying to jump out with twenty questions. Another one of the more difficult skills for me to implement was paying attention to the nonverbal cues such as body language and ‘reading between the lines’. I got caught up in the narrative of the moment and then thought more about what was communicated later. At a later time I was able to understand many of the nonverbal physical and emotional cues, meaning I must have taken note of them at some level during the conversation, but I was not sufficiently aware of them enough to take advantage of the opportunities for greater communication when it mattered. For example, when the other person expressed that not everyone was doing their fair share of the work and was looking direc tly at me, I failed to recognize the hint and assumed she was speaking generally. Later reflection of other people’s schedules forced me to realize the other person might have had a point. The conversation I had with a focus on developing my nonverbal listening skills was different from typical conversations I’ve had in that I really focused on trying to listen to what the other person was saying instead of assuming I knew what the issue was going to be. In attempting to listen, I began to realize that the questions that I was suppressing for the moment were all geared around this assumption that I was already familiar with the problem. This effort to constrain my tongue was difficult for me because I tend to interrupt in order to clarify a point or to understand a specific element better, but it was noticed by the other person. The other person, able to finish out the main points of the issue before I began

Managing and Controlling Ethics Programs Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Managing and Controlling Ethics Programs - Essay Example An effective ethics program creates a competitive advantage, enhances performance, increases profits, and ensures the attainment of the business goals. Ethically, the ethics program reduces misconduct, improves decision-making, and improves ethical awareness. Most specifically, an effective business ethics program should be formal to engage the operations, marketing, human resource, and all the other units of a business. However, it is clear that to design and implement an effective ethics program, a lot of management and control is necessary. Indeed, since businesses have different scope and have different goals, any business adopts ethic programs that are reasonable and effective to specific businesses. As such, it is the manadate of the management to ensure the design and implementation of an effective ethics program. In managing and controlling an effective business ethics program, the organization must have the relevant resources. Most specifically, the organization must have qu alified and ethical leaders and managers. This will guarantee quality, professionalism, and effective design, management, implementation, and control of all ethical practices in the organization. The organization must also have a business environment that fosters ethical behaviour in the organization. The management has the mandate to ensure that the business environment is ethical friendly and they should not compromise ethical culture in an organization. Additionally, the mangers should establish an organizational culture.

Build a Fire with Nature Essay Example for Free

Build a Fire with Nature Essay The story is told in an omniscient point of view about a man’s journey through the Yukon wilderness all alone, with only a Husky as a companion. While the man’s thoughts are occupied with many characters such as the old timer in Sulphur Creek and the boys that he is to meet in the other camp, it is evident in the story that there are only two characters: the unnamed protagonist and the dog. Given this, the conflict that is observed in the story is one that of internal conflict: a man’s struggle to overcome everyday natural circumstances that turn to be his plight and his downfall because of his overconfidence in the possibility of conquering nature. The story is a commentary on how humans are always in conflict with nature, and it is up to them to align themselves with the workings of nature or not. In case of the latter, they will suffer the consequences because of the notion that nature can never be conquered nor defied without doing ill or even death to whoever takes the endeavor. As already established, the conflict represented in the story is between man and his struggle with nature. It is interesting to note that the character of the dog is significant in the story. As a matter of fact, it serves as the embodiment of what nature is and what it can do. When the man remembers the advice of the old timer in Sulphur Creek and realizes for the first time that he made a mistake, it is not a big deal to the dog. The dog is portrayed as an expert of the winter and the trail. This wisdom of the dog is suggested in the words of the author: â€Å"The animal is depressed by the tremendous cold. It knew that it was no time for traveling. Its instinct told it a truer tale than was told to the man by the man’s judgment† (London 422). Even with this, the man feels superior over the dog and does not realize that the dog is more knowledgeable than him when it comes to surviving the winter. Furthermore, it even crosses his mind to kill the dog for his own survival, but it is not feasible. When he calls the dog to realize his evil plans, â€Å"its suspicious nature sensed danger—it knew not what danger, but somewhere, somehow, in its brain arose an apprehension of the man† (London 432). This idea of him wanting to kill the dog suggests control and defiance of nature. It is observed that in the end, the dog is able to find its way safe to the next camp which suggests that nature knows better than man. â€Å"And still later it crept close to the man and caught the scent of death. This made the animal bristle and back away. Then it turned and trotted up the trail in the direction of the camp it knew, where were the other food-providers and fire-providers† (London 435). The unnamed protagonist succumbs to death after two failures of building fire to warm himself. This is a result of his stubbornness of traveling all alone after being warned by an old timer that it is not safe to hike when the temperature is fifty degrees below zero. His first struggle of building a fire to warm his wet legs and foot-gear is undone when â€Å"one bough capsized its load of snow† to the fire (London 429). This incident is again an indication that man has nothing to do with the workings of nature. The fire that he builds for his own protection and comfort is extinguished right away by just a load of snow from the same tree where he took the twigs and branches to feed the fire. â€Å"Each time he had pulled a twig he had communicated a slight agitation to the tree—an imperceptible agitation, so far as he was concerned, but an agitation is sufficient to bring about the disaster† (London 429). This event suggests that the very essence of nature in providing for every human need is also negated in its ability to extinguish what is excessive and what is not wholly deserved. When he realized that he has already failed many times in keeping himself warm and has made a mistake to travel by himself when he should not, he decides to end his struggle. The moment he decides to fight no more and accept his fate is the moment where he achieves the epiphany that the old man was right and that nature is impossible to be owned or conquered. No matter how he struggles to survive nature’s pangs of cold, â€Å"He was losing in his battle with the frost. It was creeping into his body from all sides† (London 434). In conclusion, the death of the protagonist is neither caused by his inability to build fire nor his lack of knowledge of the fire and the winter. It is caused by his defiance of nature’s forces. First, he refuses to take heed of the old timer’s precautions. Second, he believes too much of himself that he can survive the winter by himself. As a matter of fact, he disregards the dog all throughout the story except when he plans to kill it. Third, instead of availing the only help he can get—the dog—he plans to kill it, and in this way, he commits a crime against nature. As a consequence, he fails to kill it for his fingers are numbed with the cold, and he is unable to at least throttle the animal. The dog displays knowledge and wisdom in surviving the trail and the winter; however, the man has not realized this. If only he knew, they could have been safe in the next camp in no time. Finally, it was too late when he decides to conform to nature. It was the last and final stage that ultimately leads to his death. When he gave up the idea of fighting nature back, he realizes one important thing: that there is no way he can conquer nature. He realizes that the only way to live and survive alongside nature is to build fire with it, not against it. Work Cited London, Jack. â€Å"To Build a Fire. † Great American Short Stories: From Hawthorne to Hemingway. Eds. Corinne Demas. San Francisco: Spark Educational Publishing, 2004. 420-435.

A football match Essay Example for Free

A football match Essay After analyzing my performance in a football match I was able to notify and identify my strengths in a game and how these had a positive effect on my performance. I have good awareness and I am also capable of running up and down the right wing to make and receive passes. Also allowing me to make successful crosses into my opponents area. I have good all over body strength and can use it to stop a defender from tackling me. I can dribble the ball in different directions and keep control of it then I am able to look up and make a successive pass to a team mate in the goal area and have an increased opportunity of scoring goals to win the match. I always dribble the ball with two feet allowing me to move inwards or outwards so I can confuse my opponents the I put my self into a passing or shooting position very quickly. I also try to use my voice as much as possible and try to communicate with my other team mates and tell them to either pass or shoot the ball. When I am in danger I am able to pass to a near by team mate or clear the ball from my teams half into my opponents half which can be difficult at certain times. I am also able to header the ball or volley the ball into my opponents goal when one of my team mates crosses the ball into my opponents goal area. I have a lot of speed and strength which can be useful in matches and is an appropriate fitness level at certain ages. I may have a lot of strengths but I do also have a lot of weaknesses in attacking and defending. When a through ball pass is made past a defender for me to run to I am sometimes not quick enough to get to it or I do not react quick enough to receive the ball. As a result the ball either goes of the pitch or my opponents team defender gets to the ball before me which can reduce my teams chances of scoring goals to win the match. In certain goal scoring opportunities I have the eagerness to move and make a hard shot but my shot accuracy is very of target and sometimes goes of the pitch or the goal keeper saves it. I am sometimes not in a ready position to receive the ball and seem to make poor contact with the ball when it has been passed or crossed to me. As a right midfielder I need to take advantage of these opportunities and score for my team to win. Into the end of the first half of the game I seem to show weakness in my stamina and seem to be out of breath quite quick. My body feels very exhausted when I finish running up and down the wing and I am unable to move around the wing area quick as I use to move before. When we lose the ball or possession I sometimes walk back on defence instead of running back to try and tackle the attacker with the ball or help my defenders get the ball back. When my team are taking a corner kick I seem not to be moving around the area so I can get the opportunity to jump up and header the ball into my opponents goal. I have a low shot power in my left foot and hardly use my left foot in matches which could be a big help in certain situations

Compaq Proposal: Pros and Cons

Compaq Proposal: Pros and Cons (1) Do you support Fiorinas proposal to acquire Compaq? What are the pros and cons? Will you the merger with Compaq bring HP closer to Dell, or IBM? Assuming that the merged new HP can overcome some issues, we would support Fiorinas proposal to acquire Compaq because the following benefits would outweigh the negatives. Pros The merger would create a full-service technology company capable of doing everything from selling PCs and printer to setting up complex networks in entire categories. PCs: The merger would improve the economics and innovation of their PC business to compete with industry leader Dell. Server and Storage: As a result of the acquisition, their combined server and storage product lines would give new HP a significant boost due to fully covered product categories and technologies to compete with IBM. IT service: The combined firm would have 65,000 IT architects operating in 160 countries. The new HP would be leading position in both mission-critical service and multivendor support. Financial Benefit: The merged firm could eliminate redundant product groups and cost in marketing, advertising, and shipping. According to the plan, the merger would generate $2.5bn in annual cost savings by mid-2004. Cons HPs business portfolio will be worse due to increasing exposure to an unprofitable PC business. here are many overlapping units that have no complementary benefit. HPs management has no experience with huge merger. The merged balance sheet would be worse than that of a stand-alone HP. The acquisition would make a firm with total revenue only slightly less than that of IBM. The merged firm would become a stronger competitor for IBM in the server market, and Dell in the PCs business. In conclusion, the new HP would be in a position to compete with IBM and Dell across its entire product line. (2) Why was the board so divided on this issue? What grade would you give HPs board in the way they handle this complicated strategic issue? The main reason that the board was so divided on this issue is the conflicts in the interests between the management and shareholders of HP. For the management team, as mentioned in question 1, CEO Fiorina was hired to execute an e- service strategy which could help HP to meld the independent businesses into a powerful and profitable whole. But the performance of the business turned out to be frustrating. The sales growth kept declining and the share price trailed substantially especially in year 2001 when the states met with big recession and 911 attack. The management team must take some actions to turn the situation around. In this case, merger with Compaq became crucial for HP to reverse the tide. But on the other hand, the shareholders of HP led by Walter Hewlett, the director, oppose to this acquisition. They considered the merger would destroy shareholders benefits. From the date the proposed merger was announced, Hewlett-Packard stockholders have lost $7.0 billion relative to an index of comparable companies.[1] Also, the dramatic reduction in the earnings forecast for Compaq since the announcement means that HP stockholders are getting too little of the merged company relative to HPs contribution to earnings. Furthermore, when compared to a stand-alone HP, the combined firm represents a lower credit rating with greater equity risk and a higher cost of capital. In this case, considering the big conflicts between the board members on this merger, we would grade C to HPs board in the way they handled this complicated strategic issue. (3) Why did Walter Hewlett vote for the deal in the board room, and vote against it as an inventor? Walter Hewlett had not choice and had to do like this. As an investor, he believed that the merger would destroy the share holder value. He believed that 1) the merger would dilute HP shareholders interest in the profitable printing and imaging business and increase their exposure to an unprofitable PC business and therefore the HP business portfolio would be worse; 2) the integration risk was rather substantial; 3) There would be negative and 4) There wont be a significant improve of the company position. He personally opposes this transaction and had voiced his opinion for many times. Despite Walters opposition, the CEO insisted to pursue the deal. Actually, if Walter vote against in the board room, the agreement could not be signed without renegotiation, which might result in HPs having to pay a higher price. Since the merger would be approved even without his vote and he felt that it was his duty to negotiate the lowest possible price. He was forced to vote for the deal in the board room. That is why Walter Hewlett voted for the deal in the board room, and voted against it as an investor (4) What is your assessment of the role played by third parties consultants, investment bankers, analysts, and institutional investors in this deal? The third parties played significant roles in this deal by either advising for or against it. There are the following third parties: Consultants (McKinsey and Accenture) who evaluated strategy and operations due diligence of H-P and Compaq, respectively. Without positive findings from these consultants, the merger process might not have happened. Investment banks (Goldman Sachs and Salomon) who advised merger for H-P and Compaq, respectively. The investment banks provided financial aspects such as exchange ratios. With the financial analyses, both boards were able to approve the merger. Other investment advisors were hired (Laurence Hoagland, FFL, Booz-Allen) to independently evaluated merger for Hewlett Foundations, the Trust, Packard Foundation. The findings from these advisors were used to fight against the mergers. Institution investors in the end played critical roles in determination of the merger. Strongly opposed the merger, Hewlett lined up several important institution investors (the Trust, Foundations, Packard families etc) to fight the merger. By going public to announce his opposition and the analyses from investment banks, he had significantly impacted the investors. Although the merger was approved by 51.4% of votes, the marginal approval votes showed the deeply divided institution investors on the merger. A key third party was ISS without favorable evaluation from ISS, the merger would be highly likely to fail. Analysts opinions also affected investors. Again, analysts were divided on the merger, with some analysts were in favor of the deal, others were not. (5) In Exhibit 6, Goldman Sachs performed a contribution analysis and listed some implied exchange ratios. What are the pros and cons of this approach in determining the exchange ratio in a stock-for-stock deal? What about the historical exchange ratio analysis in Exhibit 7? The approach followed is a standard industry practice where the following are excluded: gains/losses from synergies acquisition accounting such as reconciling GAAP, IFRS standards financing adjustments such as tax or debt servicing benefits Hence, the contribution analysis provides a useful side-by-side comparison of each companys contribution to various line items on the combined business income statement. Also, it helps in obtaining a range of exchange ratios that ultimately help in finalising the appropriate exchange ratio during the actual merger deal offered to the stockholders. However, since the approach doesnt factor the premium paid to the stockholders of the acquired company and misses the expenses accrued due to merger process, there is a danger of mis-valuation. Appropriate adjustments need to be done in the final value to reflect the same. Moreover, forecasted revenues post-merger are subject to the realisation of the assumptions in the valuation model used. Exhibit 7 shows that the historical implied exchange ratio is closest to 0.6325 when 3-month high data is considered. The table also shows that a premium is being paid in the range of 10-18% over and above the fair price as indicated by the implied exchange ratios. (6) Large technology mergers had a history of failure. What are the common risks in large technology deal? Common risks: Frequent changes of the industry The technology industry is highly competitive and marked by frequent product introductions, continuous improvement in product performance characteristics, and fierce competition. The companies should quickly tailor their product and service offerings to satisfy the new taste of customers, so that to operate profitably. However, merger deals often take a very long time to prepare until being finally completed. It would result in inappropriate strategy to beat the target when deals are done. Changes in business portfolio According to the article, most botched tech mergers involved companies trying to buy their way into new business they knew little about. Marketplace is changing, with the increasingly changes in divergent products demand. The large tech mergers would possibly fail to maintain the profitable strength and establish as good brand image as before in new acquired areas. Also, too much time and cost are spent on acquisition would inevitably delay the research for new emerged product, which leaves chances for rivals to compete for customers. Cultural conflicts Differences in culture between two large tech mergers are also responsible for the failure. After the acquisition, each of the two firms may prefer the old way of working style and operating strategies. This would lead to the conflicts and negative effect in implementing plans and actions. Intellectual loss Intellectuals are the biggest assets in technology companies. Product research and innovations are heavily relied on the personnel. High turnover rate of employee, which is resulted from the unsatisfied working environment and unfair payroll, would also be the risk for merger failure. Bibliography Professor Cong Wang (2010), FIN6170A Mergers Acquisitions, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, MBA course material The New York Times, Hewlett-Packard in Deal to Buy Compaq for $25 Billion in Stock (http://www.nytimes.com/2001/09/04/business/hewlett-packard-in-deal-to-buy-compaq-for-25-billion-in-stock.html?pagewanted=1), September 2001 CNET news, HP to buy Compaq for $25 billion (http://news.cnet.com/2100-1001-272519.html), September 2001 E-Commerce Times, Analysts Applaud HP-Compaq Merger (http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/18917.html), August 2002 Channel Web, Walter Hewlett: The Consequences of the HP-Compaq Merger (http://www.crn.com/it-channel/18827986;jsessionid=0JJA0XBMKGC13QE1GHRSKH4ATMY32JVN), March 2002

U.S Is On Its Way :: essays research papers

The Asian financial crisis serves as a timely reminder of a fact too often overlooked: Merchant banking is the leading edge of shareholder activism. Indeed, one of the chief traits shared by hard-hit Pacific Rim economies is a decided lack of such activism. As a result, their companies are less prepared than they might be for global competition. To one degree or another, much the same holds true in other markets abroad. U.S. companies, in contrast, have seen their competitive ability markedly strengthened by shareholder activism. And much credit goes to merchant banking--that is, private investors managing their own capital. True investor activism as practiced by such financial buyers has created a new model for American enterprise. That model is based on highly leveraged capital structures, on compensation and equity ownership that align the interests of managers with owners, and on effective corporate governance mechanisms to monitor and control the use of free cash flow. All have the objective of maximizing value. Contrary to popular perception, the strategies of merchant banks involve not just financial engineering, but also growth, which would not be achievable without risk capital. In the buyout world, we have seen a fundamental shift from the 1980s mantra of "unlocking value"--capitalizing on arbitrage opportunities and market inefficiencies. Today, the emphasis is on creating value by molding strategic direction, giving incentives to and empowering managers, and rationalizing operations. Increasingly, merchant banks are the key agents of change. In the 1980s, parts of the manufacturing and retailing sectors were entirely reconfigured by leveraged-buyout activity. In the 1990s, financial buyers have changed the landscape of such industries as media, broadcasting, business services, printing and publishing, and food and health services. America's technological reemergence, captured in part by the Silicon Valley phenomenon, has been fueled by venture capital. And for more mature industries, LBOs have triggered corporate renewal. Countless academic studies and real-world examples have highlighted the perils of the corporate governance status quo sans LBO: the central conflict between owners and managers over the control and use of corporate resources, the unenlightened use of free cash flow, and the scrutiny of and pressure on quarter-to-quarter earnings growth versus long-term growth and value creation. By severely constraining and imposing restrictions on the use of free cash flow, LBOs force only positive net present value capital decisions. Studies have shown that operating cash flow increased on average by about 40 percent in a one-to-four-year time frame following the transaction.

Pain and Acupuncture in Eastern and Western Medicine Essay -- Acupunct

Pain and Acupuncture in Eastern and Western Medicine Acupuncture is an ancient medicinal art that has been practiced for thousands of years. Acupuncture today is mainly seen by Western medicine as a "new alternative" medicine (2). This basically means that while Western medicine acknowledges the value and positive medical research supporting acupuncture in many realms of medicine, for the most part it is not a practice that has been incorporated into 'modern' medical practices. One of the most consistently supported uses of acupuncture therapy is in pain treatment (14). Western medicine has often come up short when it comes to treatment of chronic pain. The dichotomy that is often suggested is that Western medicine is better at emergency situations and stabilizing patients in crisis, while Eastern medicine has more success with more long-term chronic issues such as pain (2). This difference mainly stems from the philosophy of both methods of practicing medicine. Eastern medicine, for the most part, is more interested in treating the wh ole person and finding the organic root of the problem instead of just treating the symptoms. While chronic pain is reaching epidemic proportions in Western society, few people are employing the benefits this type of medicine can bring. How does pain effect the nervous system? How does acupuncture help to alleviate this symptom? Is it possible to explain the effects of acupuncture through the language of Western medicine? Acupuncture Theory Acupuncture, very basically, is the insertion of very fine needles, sometimes in conjunction with electrical stimulus, on the body's surface, in order to influence physiological functioning of the body (1). At the basis of acupuncture, is the theory th... ...nism of Acupuncture http://www.acupuncture.com/Acup/Mech.htm 7)Neuronal Possibilities , Neuronal Diagram http://dubinserver.colorado.edu/prj/kcr/p07.html 8)Beyond Endorphins , Endorphins in Pain Mediation http://www.chiro.org/places/ABSTRACTS/Beyond_endorphins.shtml 9)Mechanism of Acupuncture: Beyond Neurohumoral Theory http://users.med.auth.gr/~karanik/english/articles/mechan.html 10)Dr. L. Soh , Beyond Endorphins in Acupuncture Analgesia http://www.ozacupuncture.com/drlsohs.htm 11)Pain Perception http://www.mhhe.com/biosci/ap/saladin/nervous/reading10.mhtml 12)Chronic Pain Solutions The Scientific Basis Of Acupuncture http://www.chronicpainsolutions.com/acupuncture.htm 13)Molecular Insights into the Problem of Pain http://www.painstudy.ru/pe3/molecular.htm 14)What We Know About Pain http://www.nidr.nih.gov/slavkin/pain.htm