Two public companies are to be analyzed and compared Essay

Two public companies are to be analyzed and compared - Essay Example The Company has also ventured into the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom. It focuses on collections of classic sportswear, sweaters, accessories and shoes,casual wear, dresses, coats, consisting almost of its own branded merchandise(Ross,P 723) in misses, petites, woman's and woman's petite sizes. Its kids section called Talbots Kids concentrates on the assortment of clothing and accessories for infants, toddlers, boys and girls. The adult division, Talbots Mens, caters to needs for men's sportswear and dress furnishings. Additionally, Talbots' customers can also make their purchases online at www.talbots.com. In terms of expansion, the Company acquired has purchased the J. Jill Group, Inc. in May 2006(Irwin, P. 52). As of the first month of 2006, the Company already has 1,083 stores in forty seven states, Canada, the District of Columbia, and the United Kingdom. ... ng three Talbots Woman stores in Canada), 12 Talbots Mens stores, two Talbots Collection stores, and 23 Talbots Outlet stores (including one Outlet store in Canada). The Company distributes 48 million catalogs in one year alone. Talbots Petites, Woman and Kids stores generally measure 2,600, 3,100 and 3,500 gross square feet, respectively. Talbots Accessories and Shoes stores generally measure 1,800 gross square feet. Talbots stores is devoted to selling space (including fitting rooms), with the balance allocated to stockroom and other non-selling space. In some market locations, the Company has created its superstores by placing 2 or more other Talbots' concepts near a Misses store(Meigs, P 376). As of first month of January 2006, there are 127 superstores functioning. Also, Talbots' flagship stores are Misses stores, which are operated to generate awareness of its merchandise in metropolitan locations, including Boston, New York City, Philadelphia, Chicago, San Francisco, London and Toronto. Furthermore, the Company maximizes Talbots Outlet stores that are separate from its retail stores in order to provide for controlled and effective clearance of store and catalog merchandise remaining from each sale event. During 2005, the direct marketing segment represented approximately 15% of total Company sales, with the Internet channel comprising 42% of direct marketing sales. Stein Mart Inc. Stein Mart is engage in the business of chain retailing. The company is offering the fashion merchandise, service and presentation of a better department or specialty store(Bernstein, P 236). Its business is spread out from California to New York concentrating its focused assortment of merchandise featuring moderate to designer brand-name apparel for women and men, as well as

BBA-Strategic Analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

BBA-Strategic Analysis - Essay Example BBA-Strategic Analysis According to Geurden, some banks are good at customer management or even in creating customer access points. The banks plan to focus on the customer service area and outsource the other banking functions like creation, running and operating technologies that implement new financial products. Most banks now days outsource of their technical jobs to data centers. Even bank of America is outsourcing its many parts in the banking infrastructure and this includes the automatic teller machines. Large banks such as the world well known Citibank go even further by putting into place a full range of financial services within each one stop shop bank location to service their clients’ banking needs (Rubin & McNeil, 1977). The banks are in much need of flexible information technology infrastructure to integrate and hasten the accurate reporting of banking services applications with the banks’ bank – end systems. Another trend that banks are happily engaged in is that the banks are convincing companies to outsource the financial services jobs to them. A big bank, Nordea of Scandinavia, even gives companies access to automated payment processing with Microsoft’s Biztalk accelerator for accounting services. Many big banks were originally smaller banks that consolidated and merged to form a big bank. The advantage of mergers and consolidations are that the formerly competitive banks can now share a common database of customers and to blaze the other combining partners’ uncharted territory t generate more sales and interest income.

Global Impact Essay Example for Free

Global Impact Essay One of the main attractions of Daylesford, Melbourne is its picturesque, Victorian feel, a legacy of its first settlers. Giving the region a European feel, tourists flock to the area to take in its atmosphere, especially when spas antique and crafts shops and natural therapy centers started to populate the area. A regional park as well as natural springs abounding the area is also an added bonus. Suffice to say, tourism is a main industry for Daylesford, Melbourne. Given this perspective, it is a fair assumption that the region only had to tap these existing resources without much capital, and voila, a thriving tourism industry. Others might argue that there are costs involved in running this kind of industry, but we are under the assumption that whoever coined the place as tourist destinations did not have to capitalize on molding nature according to their preference; it was already there in the first place. There is a need to look into the different aspects of tourism, particularly Daylesford, Melbourne to determine how tourism impacts its citizen’s way of life and standard of living, and see whether tourism is worth the cost on the environment as per benefit. Natural Advantages and Disadvantages Tourism is a two-edged sword. A well-known tourist destination such as Daylesford, Melbourne will benefit from the increase of tourist visiting the area through increase in employment relative to increase in infrastructure development. Other forms of employment will also be available, given that tourism caters to various needs of different people. Locals will experience easier access to livelihood opportunities, thus increasing their average standard of living. Yet, this increase in employment will attract people from other places, not for the sights being promoted by the place but because of employment opportunities. This could result, in an increase in the local population, not necessarily bad if it’s in moderation, but anything more, will congest the naturally quant villages. Not to mention that population increase also increases pollution as well as environmental damages. Employment Generated There are a number of job opportunities that opens when tourism is a big business. In this case, spas and natural therapy centers, means a big boom for the medical industry. People who comes into the area, expects good medical services as well as amenities. Vacation houses and bed and breakfasts also benefits from the influx of tourist visiting the area, providing more jobs for the locals, as well as employing the services of the food industry in area. According to a study conducted by Deloitte Touche, International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) and Overseas Development Institute (ODI): Limited evidence suggests that domestic/regional tourism and independent travel can create proportionately more local economic opportunities than international packaged tourism†¦Within the tourism industry, the informal sector is often where the poor and women can maximize benefits. (p. 10-11) To expound on this conclusions, the study also mentioned that part of tourism advantages, as a product, it is consumed at the point of production, where other opportunities for enterprising souls are created. It is a labor intensive industry, where there is great opportunity for women in the workforce. Needing very little capital, as its main stock is nature-based; it is a diverse industry that can build upon a wide resource base, where participation of the informal sector is also widely accepted. Changes at the local level to accommodate visitor needs In the case of Daylesford, Melbourne, tourism is indeed an important factor in its economy as well as the rest of Victoria region. In a 2006 brief of the Liberal Party Plans and Policy for the Victoria General Election, tourism was identified as one of the major areas where there will be massive development should they win. Accordingly, Daylesford, Melbourne was identified as one of the areas that need to be focused on. Mentioned in the brief, was that a special attention will be given to recognize the special needs and individuality of rural economies such as Daylesford. (p. 7) According to an article from Media Release last September 27, 2007, the government of Victoria was releasing a considerable amount of money to produce to market tourism in Daylesford. As an offshoot of the tourism industry, the government would like to focus on promoting the area as a destination for gourmet food and wine. It certainly has the appeal and the atmosphere for it. Environmental issues including pollution, traffic and crowding Despite the mentioned beneficial effects of the tourism industry, there are drawbacks. Pollution for instance and it also takes its toll on nature if not managed properly. As mentioned before, the need for employment will draw people to a thriving industry, increasing population, thus, pollution. Offshoot industries can also cause much damage to the environment, where this also leads to pollution. As it is, the environment’s greatest enemy is people itself. People cause traffic, and their bad habits leads to more pollution. Also, the constant wear and tear on the environment, because it is a necessity to cater to tourist’s needs, leaves much to be desired. Many changes will have to occur. Sometimes these changes, causes the decline of what was once beautiful and awe-inspiring. Indeed, tourism is a two-edged sword. Both sides have their considerable argument. Although, there is a way for these arguments to meet half-way, by saying that sustainable development; even in tourism is important. There is a pressing need to preserve and maintain the environment, as well as create new opportunities for the economy to prosper. Sustainability is even more needed in this industry because, on all sides of the economy, the environment is where all industry anchors and depends. REFERENCES: Travelmate. Daylesford Victoria. Retrieved October 23, 2008 from http://www. travelmate. com. au/Places/Places. asp? TownName=Daylesford_\_VIC UK Department for International Development. Bennett, O. , Roe, D. , Ashley C. (1999). Sustainable Tourism andPoverty Elimination Study. Retrieved October 23, 2008 from http://www. propoortourism. org. uk/dfid_report. pdf Victoria Online. Daylesford and Macedonian Ranges Tourism Funding Boost. Retrieved October 23, 2008 from http://www. legislation. vic. gov. au/domino/Web_Notes/newmedia. nsf Victoria Liberal. The Liberal Party’s Policy and Plans for Victoria for the 2006 State Election Building on Success: A Plan for Victoria’s Tourism Industry. Retrieved October 23, 2008 from http://www. vic. liberal. org. au/documents/Tourism_Policy. pdf. pdf

Opium Trade Between British India China History Essay

Opium Trade Between British India China History Essay Opium use dates back to the seventh century. It was grown in Asia and used for its medicinal properties to cure diarrhoea and relieve dysentery and cholera pains. China was introduced to this drug by the Arabs in the ninth century. (Feige, 2008) Its medicinal properties were clearly known in the thirteenth century. Its consumption started changing from medicinal to recreational purposes during the seventeenth century. It became a threat when people started smoking it as a mix of tobacco and opium. This is when the first policy banning the smoking of opium was passed by the Chinese emperor. During the same period in India, the Mughal dynasty was extensively growing opium poppy and doing profitable trade with China and East Asia. This trade was a large source of revenue for the Mughal dynasty. As the downfall of the Mughal Empire started in 1658, the British through the East India Company took over the major cultivation and production of opium. Economics of trade The British formally started illegal trade with China in 1673. A form of triangular trade started between British, China and India where in commodities such as silver, tea and opium were bartered between the countries. This trade strategy was a smart scheme by the British to gain personal benefits. During this trade, India was merely an instrument for the British to produce the opium that they intended to sell to china in return for tea and silver which was exported to Britain. China played a major role in this trade as it was the sole producer and consumer of tea and opium involved in the trade. The East India Company occupied the Indian states of Bihar and Bengal and expanded trade through the port of Calcutta. (Zhong,2010, 86-105) Even though opium smoking was banned except use for medical reasons with licence in 1729 by the Chinese government, illegal smuggling continued. Despite these efforts opium use was increasing significantly and gradually spread from the coasts to the centre of the country. The Chinese officials had become corrupt and excepted bribes from the traders. The British took advantage of this situation and occupied the port of Canton and Macao. After this sudden increase in the use of opium, in 1796, the port of Canton was banned for trade. But this did not last for long as the British did not withdraw. The British started selling opium at the port of Calcutta to local merchants from China who illegally traded the opium into China. During 1830-1839, the entire southern coast of China was under the British monopoly. The Chinese emperor kept reiterating the policies regarding import of opium, smoking and illegal trade throughout the period from 1821 to 1838. During the later periods, death pena lties were also imposed on the illegal drug traders. (Wakeman, 1978) In Britain during this time, the parliament decided to control the trade with China directly through the Crown and not through the East India Company. Representatives from the crown went to convince the Chinese emperor to open trade at Canton and make opium trade legal. The emperor denied this and further in 1839, released a 39- article statute. This stipulated at banning opium at the ports and arresting the consumers to get to the illegal traders. It was a stricter edict that aimed at punishment of the smokers and the traders both locally or internationally. This plan failed as all the informers and officials were associated with the trade and werent ready to surrender. After many failed attempts to control the trade, the Emperor decided to send Lin Zu-xe to control the trade in the ports of canton. Lin Zu-xe took extreme steps to stop the illegal trade by burning the British opium and trying to destroy the British ships. This led to the First Opium War which lasted from 1839 to 1842. This war resulted in the defeat of Lins army and the signing of the Treaty of Nanjing. This treaty was a successful attempt by the British to take advantage of Chinas weakness and demean them further. The treaty opened various ports to the British, Chinese monopolies were removed and ultimately China was completely opened to the west. (Wakeman,1978) By 1853, the exports from china surpassed the imports by the British. The British had to look for strategies to balance out the trade in the triangular trade. They took tea, spices, silk and silver from the Chinese and in return increased the amount of opium imported. The British stressed on promoting the use of opium to increase its demand. Slowly the relations between the Chinese government and the British became extremely coarse and this led to the Second Opium War (1856-1857). The successors of the Chinese emperor also opposed this illegal trade and fought the British but in vain. The joint army of British and French fought this war and defeated the Chinese. The Chinese, humiliated again, had to sign the Treaty of Teintsin. This treaty opened some more ports to the west and also asked china to pay the victory allies silver for their victory. The Chinese protested and denied this payment. The British and French forces marched into Peking and attacked the palace. The Chinese were d efeated and signed the Treaty of Peking which finally legalized opium. (Sheng, 2007) Worst affected victim- China The Chinese government was incapable of protecting its country from this social menace and from the influence of the west which ultimately led to legalizing a dangerous drug. The fundamental forces that led to this include Chinas own weaknesses that worsened during this time and to the major influence from the British. Firstly, China as a country was devastated during the 18th century. The Chinese emperors were against foreign trade from the beginning and were true supporters of Chinese culture. They opposed any kind of trade and barter of goods with the so call western barbarians. (Sheng, 2007) But they were unsuccessful in imposing strict state policies against opium. Even though many serious edicts were issued, the illegal trade continued till it became legal in 1860. Every time the Chinese government retaliated to this kind of illegal trade, the British fought the opium wars and retained its trade monopoly by forcing the Chinese government to open its ports. Also the trade was depleting China of all its resources of silver and spices. The incapacitated Chinese government was economically and financially not able to support itself and the finances of the war that they had to legalize opium to collect taxes that would help pay for the war losses. Also, the country had to deal with floods and comm unal unrest during the same period. There was a vast difference between the rich and the poor in China during this time. The population on the coasts of china was getting richer due to the illegal trade as they sold the goods for trade at extremely high prices. On the other hand, labour class was extremely poor. They were morally and financially very weak to support themselves. They were the major proportion of population that resorted to opium use and became addicts. This addiction increased as opium was very cheap and easily available in the markets. This was when opium was used merely to forget the reality and not for any medical reasons. Even though there were various policies against opium, none of them actually worked because along with the locals, the government and military officials were also corrupt and part of this illegal trade. (Sheng,2007) Secondly, the black-market trade by the British was a driving factor for the spread of this drug. Tea had become a serious commodity for the English and they wanted to increase the imports of Chinese tea. The British captured the port of Calcutta that made it easy to exchange goods between China and India. Initially, the British took tea from china in return for opium. Later their demands were silk and spices in exchange of more opium. The British bribed and bullied china to continue and strengthen their new illicit enterprise. Whenever they sensed resistance from china they fought them to sign one sided treaties. Their major motive was to increase their revenue. The British had already occupies India and wanted complete trade monopoly with China. If they could accomplish that then they would dominate East Asia. One key ethical issue of this trade was that the British had ignored the fact that this dangerous drug was being banned in their own country even when they were illicitly trading it into China to make as much money was they could from this trade. Their visible intention was to exploit this trade in a way to gain maximum profits from it regardless of its affects on the other nation. All the opium from India was being dumped into China. Therefore, opium was a commodity for the Chinese but later it became a forced commodity which was being forced by the British. Therefore, China was facing a severe opium problem which had to be addressed internationally. It was the responsibility of the countries that had deposited tonnes of opium into China and degraded the countrys economy and culture, to amend the mistakes made over the years. The issue deserved an international response through world-wide laws on production and consumption of opiates. International conventions were finally set and laws were formulated in a global context to finally control the narcotic drugs.

Apollo 13 Essays -- American History

Apollo 13 Apollo 13 launched on April 11, 1970 from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The crewmembers aboard the ship were James A. Lovell Jr., John L. Swigert Jr., and Fred W. Haise, Jr. Before the launch, there had been a few problems. Thomas K. Mattingly was supposed to fly on the Apollo 13 but he was exposed to the measles. He didn’t have the antibodies to fight the disease, causing him to not be able to go into space. Swigert took his place. Right before the launch, one of the technicians saw that the helium tank had a higher pressure than expected. Nothing was done to fix this. During liftoff, the second-stage engine shut down, causing the other engines to run longer than planned. Apollo 13 was off to a rocky start. During the flight, the second oxygen tank exploded. The oxygen tank contained liquid required for fuel and oxygen. Liquid oxygen has to be handled very carefully. The astronauts need to constantly stir the oxygen to prevent it from separating. The wires in the device needed to stir the oxygen were damaged, causing a big fire when electricity was passed through them. The explosion caused the number one oxygen to be critically damaged. This was bad because it left the ship with little power. Clueless about the real reason for the explosion, the crew thought a meteoroid had hit them. There was a large amount of damage caused by the explosions. Lovell looked out of the window, thirteen minutes after the explosion. He noticed that the ship was venting some gas out into space. Oxygen gas was leaking out of the spacecraft. Reacting on impulse, the astronauts closed the hatched between the Command Module and Lunar Module. Slowly, the crew and ground controllers began to realize that Apollo 1 3 was losing oxygen. Ap... ... to be separated from the ship. The Command Module had to be powered up again after being shut down for a long time. Mission Control had to write new documents for this new action. Normally, documents are written in three months before being performed. Mission Control, obviously, did not have that amount of time, causing them to have to write new documents in three days. Next, the crew got in the command module and let the lunar module go. The hard part was over. The ship landed safely in the South Pacific Ocean. The crew was rescued and brought onto the USS Iwo Jima. All three astronauts were returned to Earth unharmed. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_13 http://www.lpi.usra.edu/lunar/missions/apollo/apollo_13/overview/ http://science.ksc.nasa.gov/history/apollo/apollo-13/apollo-13.html http://www.nasm.si.edu/collections/imagery/apollo/AS13/a13sum.htm

Emily Dickinson and Her Poetry Essays -- Dickinson Poet Poetry Essays

Emily Dickinson was ahead of her time in the way she wrote her poems. The poems she wrote had much more intelligence and background that the common person could comprehend and understand. People of all ages and critics loved her writings and their meanings, but disliked her original, bold style. Many critics restyled her poetry to their liking and are often so popular are put in books alongside Dickinson’s original poetry (Tate 1). She mainly wrote on nature. She also wrote about domestic activity, industry and warfare, economy and law. â€Å"Her scenes sometime create natural or social scenes but are more likely to create psychological landscapes, generalized scenes, or allegorical scenes.† She uses real places and actions to convey a certain idea or emotion in her poem. She blends allegory and symbolism, which is the reason for the complication in her poems because allegory and symbolism contradict each other (Diehl 18, 19). Dickinson did not name most of her poems. She named twenty-four of her poems, of which twenty-one of the poems were sent to friends. She set off other people’s poetry titles with quotation marks, but only capitalized the first word in her titles. Many critics believe she did not title most of her poetry because she was not planning on publishing her work. As Socrates said, â€Å"the knowledge of things is not devised from names†¦ no man would like to put himself or the education of his mind in the power of names†(Watts 130). Dickinson said that the speaker in all...

Oral or written argument Essay

Given that the ideas can not be truly and completely explained by words, one have to recognize that every oral or written argument ever told or explained is inherently subjective. Therefore, every fact described by a human is an opinion, and every opinion is somehow a fact. Thusly, every word should be considered from two points of view: from the point of view of fact and from the point of view of opinion. This relates to the testimony before the court as well. Every judge should realize, that even the most honest person can interpret the facts wrongfully or simply mistake. Moreover, even the judge himself is not free from subjectivity, although the level of objectivity is one of the key factors determining his or her professionalism. Therefore, upon examination of the testimony, a judge has to consider it as one fact and witnesses’ probable level of subjectivity as another fact. At that it would be useful to classify the questions put before a witness during examination into two groups. Some of the questions are questions of fact (what’s happened? ), other questions are questions of opinion (do you think that? ). For sure, the second kind of questions includes a greater extent of subjectivity, although the first kind can not be recognized completely objective as well. In order to find out the truth, all the testimonies have to be reviewed in combination. Neither of the testimonies can be absolutely true and accurate. Only consideration of the testimonies and other proofs in the case would allow a judge to create a more or less straight story of the case. Question 2 As a judge, I have to answer several questions in order to determine whether a person with multiple personality disorder should witness or not. Firstly, I have to find out whether a person can witness at all. In order to do that I would call the experts to examine that persons’s mental condition and his or her state at the moment. In case the experts recognize, that the person is principally able to provide a valid testimony, I would further doubt his or her possible words and ask myself a second question: how critical the person’s testimony is for the case and how can it influence my view of the case. My decision can not be bases solely on the testimony of mentally infringed individual, yet his or her testimony may be usefull for clarification of some circumstances. I would rather rely on such witness to determine the facts, than in case I needed his or her opinion. In case I came to a conclusion, that I still need this witness, I would properly examine him or her in the presence of the experts who would observe the individual’s behavior during examination and inform me of possible deviations. Having completed the examination, I would consider how much do the words of the witness conform with other testimonies and proofs in the case. In case I would find no logical controversions, I would consider the words of such witness as a valid testimony. Yet I would keep in mind, that this testimony is provided by a doubdtful witness and critically evaluate this testimony. Works Cited: http://www. boogieonline. com/seeking/know/meaning. html