Woolf and Mcewan: How the Modern Became Postmodern

Ian McEwan’s Atonement draws inspiration from and alludes to a vast number of 20th century modernist authors and works, both stylistically and thematically. For a novel to be considered a successful culmination to the reading of a large body of works, however, it must not be content with merely echoing the themes, styles, and forms of the past. Rather, it must extend them, add to them creatively, and attempt to pull them into contemporary readership.While his thematic and stylistic allusions to 20th century greats such as Virginia Woolf show his intellectual knowledge of and debt to 20th century modernist writing, it is McEwan’s ability to transform these stylistic and thematic elements and mold them into a postmodern classic that makes Atonement a more than adequate culmination to the readings of a 20th century British Literature course. Stylistically, McEwan draws most heavily from the works of Virginia Woolf for the opening portion of Atonement.The slow pace of the o pening, allowing for the painstakingly detailed description of nearly every scene, in addition to the examination of the psychological motives of multiple main characters, closely mirrors the style of Virginia Woolf, which she incorporates into the majority of her works. To quote a characteristically slow paced, though psychologically enriched, passage from the opening of Woolf’s Between the Acts, â€Å"Mrs. Manresa bubbled up, enjoying her own capacity to surmount, without turning a hair, this minor social crisis—this laying on of two more plates.For had she not complete faith in flesh and blood? and aren’t we all flesh and blood? and how silly to make bones of trifles when we’re all flesh and blood under the skin† (Woolf 39). The passage, to one unfamiliar with the stylistically innovative style of Woolf, seems to meander under the weight of an overly descriptive narrative and, more prominently, under the psychological musings of a character that , until a few pages previous, was nonexistent to the reader. The majority of Between the Acts contains passages of a similar style, of which this is only one randomly chosen example.As is true of many of the passages that can be found in any Woolfian novel, advancing the storyline is secondary to fleshing out the motives, thoughts, and feelings of the characters. With the plot safely set behind in-depth psychological examination in rank of importance, Woolf is free to experiment with a stream-of-consciousness style narrative in which psychological elements of the story feature more prominently than physical elements. In addition to the stream-of-consciousness for which she is well known, there are other characteristics common to much of Woolf’s work.For example, she has the tendency to describe a scene, more often than not, a natural scene, in painstaking detail, reluctant to add action that would too quickly further the narrative. Another passage from Between the Acts provid es and adequate example of this, reading, â€Å"Here came the sun—an illimitable rapture of joy, embracing every flower, every leaf. Then in compassion it withdrew, covering its face, as if it forebore to look on human suffering. There was a fecklessness, a lack of symmetry and order in the clouds as they thinned and thicked.Was it their law, or no law they obeyed? † (Woolf 23). This description of nature essentially is of no consequence to the narrative yet the full passage describing the weather proceeds for almost a full page. The flowing, exceptionally detailed descriptions coinciding with an apparently lacking story line and an in-depth psychological view that the reader is privy to as a result of the stream-of-consciousness style, are all aspects of Woolfian literature that McEwan attempts to draw from and mold to his own postmodernist designs.While McEwan draws inspiration from Woolf in a way that would be just as simple for an author of less talent to do, his a ims are far deeper reaching than an author who simply wishes to garner a comparison to Virginia Woolf. McEwan does borrow quite clearly from the stylings of Woolf, even commenting it upon it himself, writing, â€Å"we wondered if it owed a little too much to the techniques of Mrs. Woolf† (McEwan 294). Rather than be content with merely keeping her modernist conventions intact, however, he completely alters their meaning within the context of his own novel.In the opening portions of Atonement, for example, McEwan, in quite a similar way as Woolf, attempts to gain entry to the psychological depths of his characters. With the exception of a few broad passages required to move the story forward through dialogue or action, the majority of the opening is devoted to the internal monologues of the characters and an examination of their needs, desires, and feelings. This is clearly defined in the earliest pages as the ovel provides passages such as, â€Å"She wanted to leave, she wan ted to lie alone, facedown on her bed and savor the vile piquancy of the moment, and go back down the lines of branching consequence to the point before the destruction began† (McEwan 14). This passage, one of many in a similar style throughout Atonement, attempts, in a stream-of-consciousness in the classic Woolfian sense, to examine the inner psyche of the character rather than force any sort physical, tangible action to occur. In this way, the story’s narrative may seem slow paced while the characters’ motives become more well known to the reader.This borrowing stylistically from Woolf is not necessarily important or groundbreaking, and is certainly no deciding factor in whether this novel should be viewed as a classic in coming decades. There have been many authors who have devoted the entirety of their works to the stream-of-consciousness fiction that Woolf helped to pioneer. As mentioned above, what makes McEwan an author deserving of longevity in his works is that the allusions are not merely presented, but are completely altered from their original meaning by the context of Atonement.He takes deeply alluded to modernist conventions and makes them Briony’s primary source of inspiration, seen most clearly when she ponders the new school of authors and realizes, â€Å"She no longer really believed in characters. They were quaint devices that belonged to the nineteenth century†¦Plots too were like rusted machinery whose wheels would no longer turn†¦It was thought, perception, and sensations that interested he, the conscious mind and how to represent its onward roll† (McEwan 265).There is a certain depth and complexity in the fact that McEwan represents these modernist conventions not as his own, but as those of a thirteen year old girl, the central character of his metanarrative. What McEwan does next with these modernist principles of writing is attempt to show that they too are vestiges of the past, doomed to f all in the face of a more ethical and moral fiction. Just as Briony rejects the realism of the authors of the nineteenth century, McEwan is rejecting the modernism of the 20th century in favor of a postmodernism.One of Briony’s internal monologues to which the reader is privy, begins, â€Å"The interminable pages about light and stone and water, a narrative split between three points of view, the hovering stillness of nothing much seeming to happen—none of this could conceal her cowardice† (McEwan 302). These characteristics, all of which have been shown to influence Woolfian literature, have all failed Briony’s attempt to hide what she knows she has done.The monologue continues in a similar vein with, â€Å"Did she really think she could hide behind some borrowed notions of modern writing, and drown her guilt in a stream—three streams! —of consciousness? †(McEwan 302). Her guilt and the moral and ethical implications of what she has done cannot be fixed through some outdated ideas of modernist fiction, which has no ethical consequences. There are allusions from dozens of modernists authors sprinkled throughout the length of Atonement. Unfortunately, the scope of this paper can give only one of the most prominent.In a similar fashion as with the Woolf example, however, McEwan nearly always thoughtfully engages the text to which he is alluding, but is not content to merely allow these allusions to sit idly in the novel with no sense of purpose. Rather, each of his numerous allusions has some greater purpose in Atonement as McEwan artfully transforms them into something that fits the overall scope of what he attempts to accomplish. Still, the question remains whether or not this book is an adequate culmination of all the readings in a 20th century British literature course.The fact that Atonement not only draws from modernist writers, many of whom are the focus of the aforementioned course, but attempts to extend them creatively and transform them from the 20th century modern to the 21st century postmodern makes Atonement an excellent novel and a fine culmination of a semester of 20th century British literature. Works Cited McEwan, Ian. Atonement. New York: Anchor Books, 2001. Woolf, Virginia. Between the Acts. New York: Harcourt, 2001.

Porsche strategy through the recent years Essay

Porsche had been successful and profitable for many years, but hit a bump in the early 1990s. Its production became inefficient and wasteful this was fuelled by the fact the U.S. economy was in a recession. The company was actually about to become bankrupt and there were talks of a possible takeover (Stredwick, 2005, pp.67-78). The auto manufacturer was saved by the then newly appointed CEO Wendelin Wiedeking. He made sure that Porsche focused on creating new strengths in lean manufacturing and synchronized engineering. This was after Porsche had been operating for many years as a craftwork company that mainly allowed the engineers to operate on their own and not with the whole production line. This made the engineers relax on making good Porsche car designs and selling better designs to outsiders that later hurt the company. Part of the decision that led to the company making major profits again was to extend Porsche product line which was mainly the sports car production it had foc used on for such a long time (Henderson & Reavis, 2012, pp.56-65). Some of these other products included the Cayenne which is an SUV, it entered the market that was competing with other brands in the SUV market this include Audi, BMW, Mercedes, Land Rover and Volkswagen. This was a risk to be closely associated with Volkswagen which is a brand that produced cars for mass production. Some considered it a sell out and a total dilution of the high standards of the Porsche cars. This car as predicted was not a first time hit but Porsche worked on its designs for three years to produce a better reliable version that was finally a hit. In 2005 it also announced that it would create another car out of its sports car area. This was a luxury sedan named Panamera after a Mexican-long distance car race (Viknesh, 2012, pp.2-6). Porsche strategy through the recent years             One of the best strategies that Porsche has stuck through the thick and thin is the company’s outside engineering business PEG, which has always focused on selling designs based on the strength of Porsche engineering. Porsche acquired more shares in Volkswagen raising its shares from 31% to 50% in beginning of 2009. This was an official acquisition of the company since they were the majority shareholders. Porsche has been known to carry out hedging as part of its business. In 2008 in it made six times as much in the stock market as it did through selling cars. Its acquisition of Volkswagen was based on its hedging activities. For a period of time market speculators were wondering why Volkswagen shares remained high despite the fact that the company was not performing very well financially. This led to the reveal of the decision of Porsche owning more than 74% of Volkswagen shares. This led to a stock market squeeze that made Volkswagen the most valuable com pany in the world for a brief period of time with stock increasing to values over 1,000 Euros (Henderson & Reavis, 2012, pp.5-8). The CEO Wiedeking had a lot to do with the decisions that Porsche has been taking. He has made the company profitable by taking risks and making the hard decisions that led to the creation of new methods and ideas at Porsche. Engineering and design are also part of the major competitive strategies of Porsche. This is one strategy that has seen the company earn billions from it. It includes a team 2,300 engineers in its engineering Research and development. It shares it with outside companies by designing models with the intrinsic core of all its designs being Porsche’s strength. This customer engineering development company is known as the Porsche Engineering Group. It is known as Porsche’s secret ace that enabled it to employ more engineers than if it worked alone. Companies trust it to create models for them since its small size would not allow it to use the technology availed from the models created (Viknesh, 2012, pp.2-8). These strategies of Porsche seemed to pay off but however secret takeover of Volkswagen led to the split of the Porsche family some opposing while some supporting. Porsche’s hedging and manipulation of the stock market while trying to take over Volkswagen has brought Wendelin Wiedeking and Holger Harter the two former chief and chief financial officer of Porsche under investigation for information based market manipulation. The hedge funds and other business that made major losses during that time are seeking compensation. The failed takeover of Volkswagen was an error on Porsche part. It did so despite the fact that it had SE debts. This failed attempt led to the former Mr Wiedeking leaving the company. This news has negatively impacted the company with its share price dropping by 2percent to 56.93 Euros. Due to the debt and the litigations charges that may be brought against Porsche it has been forced to sell the 50.1 shares acquired in 2008 at an underestimated amount of 4. 46 billion Euros. This has ended the seven year takeover with many people thinking Porsche would win out in the end. Volkswagen although held out as it did not cut corners like Porsche was trying to do when it was trying to takeover Volkswagen (BBC News, 2012, N.P). Despite this Porsche is still making high returns on investment. Even under the Volkswagen umbrella Porsche is still able to make a lot of money. It will continue doing well provided it does not give up its brand in manufacturing its products. Under Volkswagen it will be able to specialize in making many more cars rather than the sports car it is well known for, this will make sure it continues returning high returns on investments. The litigation costs though are going to be a huge burden to the group it hence has learnt its lesson the hard way by being acquired by another company. It therefore is a lesson to all other companies not to manipulate the market for selfish goals that are driven by the directors only (BBC News, 2012, N.P). Porsche’s steps in forming and implementing Company strategy             The theoretical frame work behind the strategy of Porsche consulting lies in three steps. One is the corporate strategy whereby the company lays a common goal and vision. This are made specific to the customer, finance, employee and market segments of the business. From the corporate strategy the product strategy, core strategy as well as cross-departmental strategy are based on the general corporate strategy. Corporate strategy can include brand strategy and product strategy (Murlis, 2004, pp.4-12). Examples of brand strategy include brand values and an example product strategy includes modular strategy. Core strategies form step two of creating the company’s strategic position. This entails every department doing its part in to ensure that the company’s strategic objectives in customer, finance, employee and market dimensions are met (Roehm & Brady, 2007, pp.6-8). The suitable objectives in core strategies are thus divided into the following sectio ns, sales strategies, production, procurement, development as well as key figures (Fleisher & Bensoussam, 2003, pp.2-8). The third step in forming the company’s strategy includes setting up measures. This are defined for each segments of the corporate strategy, they lead to accomplishment of strategic objectives. These measures set the basis of accomplishing the strategic objectives of Porsche (Porsche Consulting Magazine, 2013, pp.2-4). For the company to have a good strategy the three steps must be followed to the letter. According to Eberhard Weiblen, President and CEO of Porsche consulting the strategy has to be developed first over a short period of time by a small project team. Further the strategy has to be clear and simple and create an emotional experience in the staff for it to be successful. Porsche has used this strategy and has yielded great results of continued profitability as well as enhancement of an exclusive brand (Cavusgil, et al., 2009, pp.44-56). Due to the steps mentioned above the company has been able to develop a strategy to work on till the year 2018 that defines concrete goals and fields of activity. This dimensions defined include market, employees, finance and customer dimensions. The main strategy is achieving the title of being the most successful manufacturer of sports cars in the world (David, 2007, pp.50-54). The consultants of Porsche consulting are being retained to accompany the development and achievement of Porsche strategy 2018. The main reasons why their company strategy procedures work so well is because they put it to test for a short period of time of six months and see the outcomes (Doole & Lowe, 2004). They also involve their employees as part of the testing face hence leading to the success of the set up procedures later on. Communication of the strategy in place also plays a huge role. This is achieved by companywide-management conferences which are attended by managers at department level (Porsche Consulting Magazine, 2013, pp.2-4). Reward Management at Porsche             Rewarding management deals with strategies and processes as well as policies being set in place to ensure the employees’ efforts are recognized. Rewarding managers depending on financial performance of the company is based on how well the company is performing financially (McDonald, 2006, pp.78-82). These include figures such as return on investments, profits achieved in the year and other financial estimates used to measure financial performance (Cavusgil, et al., 2009, pp.34-38). However this system of rewarding is not balanced hence Porsche need to change it into a more balanced form of reward system. For the reward system to be viable and to motivate employees it has to factor in other performances that have boosted the company (Calsson, 2004, pp.5-12). These include sales performance and engineering rates of the company as well. Financial performance although important is but one aspect of the whole company’s general health. The other factors th at are recognized also lead to high financial performance. High sales will generate more revenue hence boosting the financial performance of the company. Others like engineering levels and prowess of the company will reward engineers who make exceptional advancement in their engineering designs and models. If these models are exceptional they will increase revenue of the company as well as it will be able to sell these designs for a high amount (Murlis, 2004, pp.56-67). These rewards will motivate the employees, to want to excel in the many purposes in the organization, If the rewards are spread overall other measures and not financial performance only. It will lead to employees being driven to excel in all areas and not financial only. These rewards can be extrinsic as well as intrinsic rewards. Extrinsic rewards refer to promotions, gifts, bonuses and salary raise (Calsson, 2004, pp.3-8). While intrinsic rewards refer to those aimed at ensuring employee satisfaction this include, monogrammed names or plaque, trust, recognition, relationship, feedback and empowerment. Intrinsic rewards are aimed at making employees feel better within the department while extrinsic rewards are based on the performance and activities of the employee to a certain outcome. Porsche recognizes all these and carries out both extrinsic and intrinsic rewarding. The company also tries to find a balance between rewarding an employee extrinsic and intrinsic (Henderson & Reavis , 2012, pp.5-13). The rewards should be given according to an employee’s personality. Tickets to watch a basketball game has to be given to a person who is a fun and not a stay at home mum who doesn’t like basketball. Porsche also rewards not only individuals but also teams and departments (Alkhafaji, 2003, pp.22-26). The evidence shows that the type of financial rewarding mechanism of Porsche based on financial performance seems to work for the engineering activities since they are still leading in the providing of vehicle designs. However it will have better results if the other reasons for reward other than financial performance are set in place. The engineering department will work extra hard to achieve the reward. The company should consider incorporating motivational theories in rewarding its management (Brooks, 2009, pp.2-6). The two directors were Wiediking and Holger were purely driven by financial performance that led them to neglect other aspects that make a company successful such honesty and full disclosure. This requires Porsche to change its policy of only rewarding managers on financial performance basis alone. The motivation theories include process and content theories. Content theories therefore require the company to name and research on aspects that make employees to perform efficiently. The company needs to do this so as to know what motivates the employees other than financial performance. The reward system under content theories is more extrinsic they include bonuses. While process theories mainly focus on intrinsic rewards which include self-actualization, respect and recognition. Which boost employee’s confidence and improve job satisfaction of the employees (Stredwick, 2005, pp.4-9). References Alkhafaji, A. F. 2003. Strategic Management, Formulation, Implementation, and Control in a Dynamic Environment (21, Illustrated Ed.). London: Routledge BBC News. 2012. Volkswagen agrees to buy rets of Porsche for $5.6bn, Brooks, I. 2009. Organisational Behaviour (4th ed.). Essex England: Pearson Education Limited. pp. 81–89. Calsson S. A. 2004. Strategic Knowledge Managing in the Context of Networks, Chapter 32. In: Handbook on Knowledge Management Volume I, (Ed) Holsapple Clycle W Cavusgil, S. T., Ghauri, P. N., and Agarwal, M. R. 2009. Doing Business in Emerging markets: Entry and Negotiation Strategies. New York: Cengage. David F. R. 2007. Strategic management: Concepts and cases, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, Inc. pp. 102-134 Doole, I., and Lowe, R. 2004. International marketing strategy – analysis, development and Implementation, 4th ed. London: Thomson Learning. Fleisher CS. and Bensoussam B. E. 2003. Strategic and Competitive Analysis: Methods and Techniques for Analysing Business Competition, New Jersey: Pearson Education Inc. Henderson. R and Reavis. C. 2009. What’s driving Porsche? MIT Sloan Management, McDonald, M. 2006. Strategic Marketing Planning: Theory and Practice. Cranfield University School of Management, The Marketing Review Murlis, M. & Armstrong H. 2004. Reward management: a handbook of remuneration strategy and practice (5th ed. ed.). London [u.a.]: Kogan Page Porsche Consulting. 2013. The Magazine Roehm, M., & Brady, M. 2007. Consumer responses to performance failures by high-equity brands. Journal of Consumer Research, 34(4), 537-545. Stredwick, J. 2005. Introduction to Human Resource Management (1st ed.). Oxford, United Kingdom: Elsevier Butterworth-Heinemann Viknesh. 2012. Volkswagen completes Porshe takeover, Retrieved 12/12/2013, from: http://www.csmonitor.com/ Source document

Local Area Networking Technology Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3750 words

Local Area Networking Technology - Assignment Example From the discussion it is clear that  in the primary school being analysed in this case, there is the need to keep the communications of pupils distinct from that of the staff members. To do this, it is important to analyse the traffic flow of the LAN in the primary school. The general definition of network analysis is the calculation of the amount of data sent or received over a network within a given period of time. The significance of analysing the traffic flow is to determine the bandwidth usage on the LAN network while conducting objective data analysis with the aim of performance tuning, volumetric planning and updating the hardware in use. The traffic flow analysis is performed using analysis software. All the data sent over a given network forms a fraction of data traffic regardless of the source and the purpose it performsThis paper stresses that  traffic analysis tools will be highly essential in projecting the trend of data flow over LAN network in order to determine t he content accessible to the school pupils and what should not be accessed. The best way of initiating this distinction is to employ an IP address that is fully visible to the primary school management. In this regard, each student or teacher accessing the website for the first time will collect the IP address of the server as well as the service port number.  The Solar winds Orion 8.2 can be effective and suitable in this project since it monitors the rate of traffic flow, recording and presenting the results through charts.  

Assigned topic Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Assigned topic - Research Paper Example In Socrates discussion with Thrasymachus that followed, he first cleared that it was compulsory for people to abide by rulers and just like other people were prone to make mistakes in formulation of these laws. So the times when rules have made a mistake and people are claiming it as justice than it won’t be interest of stronger. In that case when people claim justice abiding by the rule of state or the ruler it won’t be for the interest of stronger but would actually cause injury to those in power. This might be unintentional but clearly states that Thrasymachus claim of justice only being interest of stronger is not always abided by. This is what they agreed upon at the end of discussion. Book 2 According to Glaucon, what do people praise instead of justice? Why? The best way to living by Glaucon is when men have done and suffered injustice and they come to a mutual ground which would be called as lawful and just in the society. Ring of Gyges is explained by Glaucon a nd is termed as a mythical magical artifact. This has this divine and strange power that makes its owner invisible. He says that every man believes in his heart that doing injustice would give more benefits that acting by laws of justice. If someone gets the ring of Gyges and doesn’t use it as mean of injustice he would be termed foolish by others. This is the reason people praise injustice because they believe that it will give them more benefits. Paper 2 Politics is a broad term which includes Strategy, economics, and rhetoric and since it includes all of the other sciences, it is called the master of art. It involves people who in a certain way control lives of people as they make legislations which make things happen and tell people as what they ought to do or what they should stop doing. This is what brings man to a good end. A young man is full of action and passion and his interest are mostly on the basis of action rather than knowledge. Moreover, his experience in lif e would be in general rather than specific to this political science and he would be good with life in general terms but not specifically with political science. Happiness can’t be identified with honor since that would end of man’s political life. For a man, honor is basically assurance of his goodness and men with practical wisdom are the ones who seek honor. Virtue however is related with inactivity according to Aristotle and no one would call such a person as happy and hence honor is not related to happiness. Happiness according to him comes with all noble acts and it is impossible to do Noble acts without proper equipment and therefore it is important to have external goods to create happiness. Virtues are intellectual as well as moral. Intellectual wisdom includes philosophic wisdom, understanding and practical wisdom would be included in intellectual wisdom whereas liberality and temperance are said to be part of moral virtue. Moral Virtue is a mean between two vices and lies between excess and defect and also a mean between passion and action. This would simply mean choosing the in between pathway. Paper 3 Prodigality and meanness are two words that Aristotle explained on the basis of wealth. Meanness according to him is the excessive desire and lust for wealth than there should be in a normal person. However, Prodigality is a complex termed described by him. These are those men who spend money on self-indulgence and they are basically

Using PESTLE framework, analyse the impact of external business and Essay

Using PESTLE framework, analyse the impact of external business and economic environment of your focal organisation that affect its strategic decisions and performance - Essay Example The factors analyzed using PESTLE model includes political, economic, social, technological, and legal and environment (Henry 2008, P.51). Political factors in this case include government policies, conflicts, and wars, pressure groups, trading policies, grand, findings and initiatives and government term and change. Economic factors include general taxation, situation of home economy and trends, market and trade cycles, international economies and trends, factors affecting industries, monetary issues, exchange, and interest rates among others. Social factors analyzed include demographics, lifestyle trends, media views, consumer’ patterns of buying, Company, brand and technology image, lifestyle trends, consumer attitudes and preferences, and religious/ethnic factors. Others include major events and influences, publicity and advertising and changes in laws that impact on social factors. Technological factors include technological advancement, maturity of technology, laws governing technology, and consumer purchasing mechanism among others. Legal factors on the other hand include current and future legislations, European/foreign legislations and regulatory processes and bodies. Finally, environmental factors include corporate social responsibility expectations and awareness, environmental legislations, consumer buying patterns, public awareness on issues affecting the environment and political issues pertaining to the environment (Allen 2010, P.54). Wars and conflicts are some of the elements of the political factors that affect an organization’s strategic decisions and performance. Wars and conflicts usually come because of political instability and lack of democracy in a country. The UK is one of the most stable countries politically, which has witnessed minimal incidences of wars and political unrest for more than 3 decades. This trend is expected remain constant in the future following the measures

The Works of Ai Wei Wei Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

The Works of Ai Wei Wei - Essay Example I believe that he is trying to tell that we can create beauty out of everyday ordinary things and that they could represent a bigger and grander idea. According to Wei Wei, our respective culture is the context and â€Å"lens† by which we see and interpret the world. Thus, we assign a value to images and symbols differently. One may be important to other culture while it may be without meaning to other cultures. We can cite the example of Wei Wei’s sunflower seeds as an example. For the outsider, one may see it as a literal sunflower seed that at the beginning of the video, some of Wei Wei’s audience even tasted it to check if it is real. To the Chinese however, especially those who lived during the revolution and the time of Chairman Mao Zedong, the sunflower seeds meant something else. It is not just seeds of a sunflower but represented the number of people that supported the revolution. The seeds were so many because the ordinary people of China that supported the Chairman were also so many. As an artist, Ai Wei Wei viewed his role as someone who challenges his audience to ask new questions. He wants to create as an artist, the basic structure which can be open to possibilities. His artworks have political connotations also and Wei Wei would like his audience to engage them with his artworks as a medium to instigate curiosity that would foster understanding and hope to make it a happier place just like the seed makers in Wei Wei’s artwork who were happy to do create the porcelain sunflower seeds because it gives them livelihood and meaning. Ai Wei Wei’s artworks are not just for an aesthetic purpose that conveys beauty where its audience can appreciate the joy in the magnificence of their artwork. If one would examine closely, Wei Wei’s artwork has political significance and invites the audience to ask questions.  

Case Study on Liability for Supply Defective Product Coursework

Case Study on Liability for Supply Defective Product - Coursework Example Paul Price has the right to demand for the repairing of the Actifrys or ask for a replacement or demand for a credit note. If any customer has incurred any pecuniary losses due to usage of such faulty products, the retailer has the every responsibility to make good the loss sustained by Paul Price. Under Limitation Act 1980, a customer has up to six years to initiate legal proceedings against the retailer for the supply of defective product.(Bhatia, 2008:458). APPLICATION The Sale of Goods Act (Amended) will be applicable to all transactions where products are transferred for a consideration or price. Contracts of sale may be either implied or expressed with stipulations concerning any contract, or refer to mere consumer contracts. Nonetheless, once it has been decided that the Sale of Goods Act is applicable to a transaction, there are some stipulations implied in the sale by the Act. A seller cannot avoid these stipulations. For each sale of products, the Sale of Goods Act 1979 sti pulates that wherever there is a sale of products by depiction, there exists an implied stipulation simultaneously that the products offered will have to be identical to their description. Thus, the seller must offer the consumer what has been advertised. S.13 of the Sale of Goods Act 1979 (amended) is applicable to all sales, whether by business or individuals. Anyone who offers a product to another will be covered. S.13 is applicable to all products with no concern over purchasing scenario. S.13 is a significant section as it offers the right to a consumer either to obtain a refund or to reject a product. The consumer has the right either to accept or reject a product and is not at the mercy of a seller. S.30 of the Act offers protection to a consumer where the products are not corresponding to the description, and also offers a relief to the buyer if the quantity or description of the products differs from what has been advertised or requested. S.14 of the Act stipulates that pro duct sold should be of merchantable quality. If a consumer purchased the product after 2003, he has every right to request either to repair or replace the defective products within 6 months of receiving the products. (Bryan, 2009:16). Even if the shop where the purchase was made had included an exclusion clause limiting liability, still the shop cannot escape from the liability to Paul Price. Exclusion clause cannot offer any protection to the seller even when exclusion clause tries to shun accountability to consumers. The sellers usually will incorporate the exclusion clause into the contract by trying to have a blanket avoidance of any accountability to the buyers for any detriment, loss, injury or damage and even in case of death. In the majority of cases, courts have declined to implement such clauses if they are not brought to the attention of the buyer at the time of signing the contract or if the exclusion clause imposes unduly exorbitant or onerous penalties. Further, as the exclusion clauses are so damaging to the rights of the consumers, courts will always have narrow interpretation, and this is known as â€Å"contra proferentemâ€Å" rule under English Law. (Jones & Benson, 2011:298). In â€Å"Curtis v Chemical Cleaning Co [1951] 1 KB 805†

Parental Involvement on Student Achievement Research Proposal

Parental Involvement on Student Achievement - Research Proposal Example The participation of parents can be formal or informal and constant or irregular. However, the most important thing is how effectively parents are participating in various educative programs/activities at home, school and in society to help children develop skill such as social, emotional and academic skills. Henderson & Berla remark that "when schools work together with families to support learning, children tend to succeed not just in school, but throughout life" (Gianzero, 1999 p.2). This overall development of students is evidenced by many studies across the world. At this juncture, the present study aims to explore the development of students in all respects by virtue of their parents' support. The study is intended to understand whether parent involvement in education can enhance the student achievement-socially, emotionally and academically. It also tries to throw lights on the effective ways of parental involvement that are high chances of student success in life. The study d oes not classify the students in respect of ethnicity, race, family and financial background. All types of students and parents are included in the survey to contribute their opinions and perspectives that, the researcher thinks, is necessary to come out with unbiased and generalized conclusions. The study focus on three aspects to empirically conclude that students' overall development is possible with parents' involvement in their education. These aspects are social achievement, emotional achievement, and academic achievement. The Research Problem As stated in the last paragraph, researchers all over the world are of the opinion that parental involvement does make positive results to students. But, little is studied and talked about the overall development of students as a result of the participation of their parents in their studies and other activities at school and home. Therefore, the present study is relevant in this context to examine whether the parental involvement can contribute to the overall development of students or not. The study put emphasis on three important variables, the validation of which is the ultimate objective of the study. Social Achievement The ability to socialize and communication skill is considered to be one of the key factors of success in life. Human beings are to interact with the fellow beings not only to communicate with them but also to understand and empathize with them in times of their troubles. Social interaction should be developed and encouraged by parents as well as teachers to equip students to keep away from the social evils and keep them ahead in the efforts to solve social problems. Emotional Achievement Now-a-days the success or otherwise of anyone is assessed on the basis of his/her Emotional Quotient (EQ) rather than Intelligent Quotient (IQ). It is also possible in schools and colleges to apply this parameter as the criterion for evaluation of student

Multinational Corporation Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Multinational Corporation - Assignment Example The tourism sector in projected to increase by 5% annually in the next five years, despite the existing economic and political uphills. It is therefore evident that the tourism sector is likely to be a major revenue generating business for Guam is the economy and political conditions find an appropriate and long lasting solution. In reinventing itself, Guam has acquired Applebee’s, a restaurant intended to satisfy the food tastes for the Japanese, Chamorro and Filipino. The restaurant is expected to one of Guams latest to be located in Hawaii. However, the bad news is that, the restaurant is likely to lose out on already established restaurants serving the same array of dishes and a favorite for many tourists. Ruby is among the well established Guam’s direct competitor. Applebee’s will have to shift its main focus from tourism and concentrate on building a loyal local customer base. The kind of meals offered in the franchise should focus on offering meals with less than 550 calories, which happens to be the new trend. Another factor is the location of the franchise, most seem to be directly located closer to their competitors. Guam will have to consider placing their restaurants at strategic locations in order to continue attracting customers in the future after they are