A Balanced Score Card

The most important thing to having a successful business is to have the most up to date information. If you have all the information at your fingertips it can help you to make the best possible decisions. What kind of information is available and how do we sort through it and use this information? In the hospitality industry the amount of information received everyday is overwhelming, and it isn’t possible for staff to be able to sort through it and organize it properly. In the hospitality industry the information technologies are the tools that the staff uses to sort and manage the information and the balanced score card is just one such tool. The Balanced Score Card is a very useful tool for managers because it organizes information from different departments to create a picture of the hotels operations and the success of those operations. The Balanced Score Card is a tool that is used by business professionals, the information that this found on this card is useful to the managers for a variety of reasons. However the primary use is to monitor the organizations progress towards it vision and its mission. The information is like a snapshot of the health of the business. This tool allows manager to identify areas that need improvement, ones that are doing well and what might be future opportunities. (Nyheim &McFadden, 2007) In the balanced score card the data that is used is collected by many different departments. One of the main types of information found on the balanced score card is financial information. Some other information that can also be found on the card includes such things as information on employees, the turnover rate, and also promotions. There is also equipment functionality and learning and growth of the company that is found on the card. One last thing that is present on the card is customer information and it may include such things as customer satisfaction; 3 returning customers, and the overall experiences and suggestions made by the customers. With all the information collected from many departments in the hotel this is used to create the finished product which is known as a balanced score card. There is a vast amount of information that is collected by departments using a PMS or RMS that deals with customers such departments includes housekeeping, front desk and the food and beverage department. There are some other departments that collect data such as accounting, marketing, and sales. All the information that is collected from these departments is used to create the balanced score card, and this information is used to show strengths and weakness within the hotel. The different departments can then focus on their area of information that pertains to them; this allows emphasis to be focused where it is needed to make the changes necessary to get the departments where they need to be with goals, missions and visions for the future of the hotel. One important thing that the balanced score card can do is determine room rates for different times of the year and different days of the week. These initial rates of a room are computed by using wage cost per room, annual operating profit per room, and the cost of maintenance on each room, then by comparing the score card from prior years management can tell where occupancy is higher or lower and be able to adjust for that with the room rates. If the hotel has a slow time then marketing and sales can create special packages or rates to get people to fill the rooms. It is better to rent the room at a lower rate than to fill the room instead of leaving rates the same and the room stay empty, because if it’s empty there is no profit. Within the hotel industry the food and beverage department uses a form of RMS, it contains three components to compile data for their department, a point of sales system, inventory and 4 menu management, and also reservation and table management. The information is then taken and is used to create the balanced score card along with information from other departments. There are many ways the food and everage department can use this information, such as staffing needs, and also the efficiency of the current staff. It can also help to access the relationship between the food and beverage department and its vendors and then changes can be made if necessary. Managers can use the information to make sure that the department is meeting their budget and its goals for the hotel. There is also customer experiences that are collected on the balanced score card, and this information can help managers improve to better fit the needs of customers. The information on the card can also show the managers the busy time of year and the slow time which helps in ordering inventory, when specials need to be ran and when the department may need to hire more staff. The balanced score card information is very helpful for managers to be able to know when to hire for different departments. Because of the hotels off seasons in spring and fall, the hotel may need less employees for one department and still need the same amount in another department so by looking at the balanced score card it is easier to determine. It can be used by managers for staffing, such as extra weekend staff during the busy season, or a holiday weekend and this information is all found on the balanced score card. There are some other examples of information that can be found such as to much staff in one department, unnecessary overtime, if a full time employee is receiving hours due to the off season, and even if a staff can be promoted or moved to a different department. The success of any hotel is dependent on its staff and the information provided by the balanced score card is valuable in learning this information. 5 When management looks at the balanced score card they have many choices they should consider. Some of these choices might include profit and employee satisfaction within the company. It is very important as far as profit because a company needs profits to stay open, and as far as employees it is important because to do a job to the best of their ability it helps to have happy employees. The profit is one of the information that is shown on the balanced score card, accounting can look at this and know if marketing and sales need to make adjustment in rates of rooms, or other areas. One way to increase profits through marketing would be making changes to rooms, what kind of amenities are offered and doing promotions or discounts to help bring the profits up. The satisfaction of employees and their environment the input of employees are also included in the balanced score card. This will help management to adjust the environment to help with the employees so they are happy and more willing to perform well on their job and that is an important key in customer service. The Balanced Score Card is a very important tool for the use of management to make changes and improve areas or departments when needed. The information or data that is found on a balanced score card has so many valuable uses for all departments of the hotel and is so important in all areas from staffing to making up profits. It is by far one of the most useful tools in the hospitality industry today. References Technology Strategies- Nyheim,P.D.,F.M.,& Connolly,D.J. (2007) http://www.prenhall.com/nyheim Technology Strategies for the Hospitality Industry http://www.hospitalityguild.com/books.technology_strategies_for_the_h.htm A Balanced Score Card The most important thing to having a successful business is to have the most up to date information. If you have all the information at your fingertips it can help you to make the best possible decisions. What kind of information is available and how do we sort through it and use this information? In the hospitality industry the amount of information received everyday is overwhelming, and it isn’t possible for staff to be able to sort through it and organize it properly. In the hospitality industry the information technologies are the tools that the staff uses to sort and manage the information and the balanced score card is just one such tool. The Balanced Score Card is a very useful tool for managers because it organizes information from different departments to create a picture of the hotels operations and the success of those operations. The Balanced Score Card is a tool that is used by business professionals, the information that this found on this card is useful to the managers for a variety of reasons. However the primary use is to monitor the organizations progress towards it vision and its mission. The information is like a snapshot of the health of the business. This tool allows manager to identify areas that need improvement, ones that are doing well and what might be future opportunities. (Nyheim &McFadden, 2007) In the balanced score card the data that is used is collected by many different departments. One of the main types of information found on the balanced score card is financial information. Some other information that can also be found on the card includes such things as information on employees, the turnover rate, and also promotions. There is also equipment functionality and learning and growth of the company that is found on the card. One last thing that is present on the card is customer information and it may include such things as customer satisfaction; 3 returning customers, and the overall experiences and suggestions made by the customers. With all the information collected from many departments in the hotel this is used to create the finished product which is known as a balanced score card. There is a vast amount of information that is collected by departments using a PMS or RMS that deals with customers such departments includes housekeeping, front desk and the food and beverage department. There are some other departments that collect data such as accounting, marketing, and sales. All the information that is collected from these departments is used to create the balanced score card, and this information is used to show strengths and weakness within the hotel. The different departments can then focus on their area of information that pertains to them; this allows emphasis to be focused where it is needed to make the changes necessary to get the departments where they need to be with goals, missions and visions for the future of the hotel. One important thing that the balanced score card can do is determine room rates for different times of the year and different days of the week. These initial rates of a room are computed by using wage cost per room, annual operating profit per room, and the cost of maintenance on each room, then by comparing the score card from prior years management can tell where occupancy is higher or lower and be able to adjust for that with the room rates. If the hotel has a slow time then marketing and sales can create special packages or rates to get people to fill the rooms. It is better to rent the room at a lower rate than to fill the room instead of leaving rates the same and the room stay empty, because if it’s empty there is no profit. Within the hotel industry the food and beverage department uses a form of RMS, it contains three components to compile data for their department, a point of sales system, inventory and 4 menu management, and also reservation and table management. The information is then taken and is used to create the balanced score card along with information from other departments. There are many ways the food and everage department can use this information, such as staffing needs, and also the efficiency of the current staff. It can also help to access the relationship between the food and beverage department and its vendors and then changes can be made if necessary. Managers can use the information to make sure that the department is meeting their budget and its goals for the hotel. There is also customer experiences that are collected on the balanced score card, and this information can help managers improve to better fit the needs of customers. The information on the card can also show the managers the busy time of year and the slow time which helps in ordering inventory, when specials need to be ran and when the department may need to hire more staff. The balanced score card information is very helpful for managers to be able to know when to hire for different departments. Because of the hotels off seasons in spring and fall, the hotel may need less employees for one department and still need the same amount in another department so by looking at the balanced score card it is easier to determine. It can be used by managers for staffing, such as extra weekend staff during the busy season, or a holiday weekend and this information is all found on the balanced score card. There are some other examples of information that can be found such as to much staff in one department, unnecessary overtime, if a full time employee is receiving hours due to the off season, and even if a staff can be promoted or moved to a different department. The success of any hotel is dependent on its staff and the information provided by the balanced score card is valuable in learning this information. 5 When management looks at the balanced score card they have many choices they should consider. Some of these choices might include profit and employee satisfaction within the company. It is very important as far as profit because a company needs profits to stay open, and as far as employees it is important because to do a job to the best of their ability it helps to have happy employees. The profit is one of the information that is shown on the balanced score card, accounting can look at this and know if marketing and sales need to make adjustment in rates of rooms, or other areas. One way to increase profits through marketing would be making changes to rooms, what kind of amenities are offered and doing promotions or discounts to help bring the profits up. The satisfaction of employees and their environment the input of employees are also included in the balanced score card. This will help management to adjust the environment to help with the employees so they are happy and more willing to perform well on their job and that is an important key in customer service. The Balanced Score Card is a very important tool for the use of management to make changes and improve areas or departments when needed. The information or data that is found on a balanced score card has so many valuable uses for all departments of the hotel and is so important in all areas from staffing to making up profits. It is by far one of the most useful tools in the hospitality industry today. References Technology Strategies- Nyheim,P.D.,F.M.,& Connolly,D.J. (2007) http://www.prenhall.com/nyheim Technology Strategies for the Hospitality Industry http://www.hospitalityguild.com/books.technology_strategies_for_the_h.htm

China Development Industrial Bank

China Development Industrial Bank Integrated Case Risk and Return Assume that you recently graduated with a major in finance. You just landed a job as a financial planner with China Development Industrial bank (CDIB), a large financial services corporation. Your first assignment is to invest $100,000 for a client. Because the funds to be invested in a business at the end of 1 year, you have been instructed to plan a 1-year holding period. Further, your boss has restricted you to the investment alternatives in the following table, shown ith their probabilities and associated outcomes.RETURNS ON ALTERNATIVE INVESTMENTS ESTIMATED RATE OF RETURN State Of the Economy Probability T-bills High Tech Collections U. S. Rubber Market Portfolio 2-stock-portfolio Recession 0. 1 5. 5% -27. 0% 27% 6% -17% 0% Below Average 0. 2 5. 5% -7% 13% -14% -3% Average 0. 4 5. 5% 15% 0 3% 10% 7. 50% Above Average 0. 2 5. 5% 30% -11% 41% 25% Boom 0. 1 5. 5% 45% -21% 26% 38% 12% r(hat) – expected return 1 . 00% 9. 80% 10. 50% ? (std deviation) 0. 0% 13. 20% 18. 80% 15. 20% 3. 40% CV 13. 20% 1. 90% 1. 4% 0. 50% beta -0. 87% 88. 00%CDIB’s economic forecasting staff has developed probability estimates for the state of the economy; and its security analysts have developed a sophisticated computer program, which as used to estimate the rate of return on each alternative under each state of the economy. High Tech Inc. is an electronics firm, collection Inc. collects past due debts, and U. S. Rubber manufactures tires and various other rubber and plastic products. a. (1)Why is the T-bill’s return independent of the state of the economy? Do T-bills promise a completely risk-free return? Explain. The estimated rate of return on T-bill which is 5. 5% does not depend on

Economic Growth and Economic Development Original Essay

In contemporary times, certain economic registers are used frequently. Arguably two of these most used terms in economics, ‘economic growth’ and ‘economic development’ are terms that just about everyone is at least remotely familiar with, even if they have not studied economics at all. Sometimes it seems everyone knows what economic growth and economic development is. Politicians use these terms all the time, and so do teachers, managers and even preachers. Often, people’s use of these terms may not be quite accurate, but one has to admit that most of the time they are never too far from the mark. Insights into the aforementioned terms ‘economic growth’ and ‘economic development’ are given as follows†¦ Economic Growth Economic Growth is an increase in a country’s real level of national output which can be caused by an increase in the quality of resources by education etc, increase in the quantity of resources & improvements in technology. Economic Growth can also be described as an increase in a country’s productive capacity, as measured by comparing gross national product (GNP) in a year with the GNP in the previous year. In other words, Economic Growth is an increase in the real level of output as measured by the annual percentage in real GDP (Gross Domestic Product). Increase in the capital stock, advances in technology, and improvement in the quality and level of literacy are considered to be the principal causes of economic growth. In recent years, the idea of sustainable development has brought in additional factors such as environmentally sound processes that must be taken into account in growing an economy. Measurement of Economic Growth Economists usually measure economic growth in terms of gross domestic product (GDP) or related indicators, such as gross national product (GNP) or gross national income (GNI) which is derived from the GDP calculation. GDP is calculated from a country’s national accounts which report annual data on incomes, expenditure and investment for each sector of the economy. Using these data it is possible to estimate the total income earned in the country in any given year (GDP) or the total income earned by a country’s citizens (GNP or GNI). GNP is derived by adjusting GDP to include repatriated income that was earned abroad, and exclude expatriated income that was earned domestically by foreigners. In countries where inflows and outflows of this sort are significant, GNP may be a more appropriate indicator of a nation’s income than GDP. There are three different ways of measuring GDP †¢the income approach †¢the output approach †¢the expenditure approach The income approach, as the name suggests measures people’s incomes, the output approach measures the value of the goods and services used to generate these incomes, and the expenditure approach measures the expenditure on goods and services. In theory, each of these approaches should lead to the same result, so if the output of the economy increases, incomes and expenditures should increase by the same amount. How to boost Economic Growth in a country In order for a country to experience economic growth, certain things have to be done. In my own opinion, I believe that; As more people are employed, the amount of capital increases, education levels increase, the quality of capital changes, or the technology increases, the productive capacity of the economy increases. Therefore, the economy can increase its output giving consumers more disposable income, promoting an increase in consumption spending, and providing resources for business to use for further investment and government to use to provide public goods and services. Increased labor force participation increases output. Expanded, improved education creates more productive workers. Business and government spending on research and development enhance our abilities to produce and allow each worker to become more productive, increasing incomes for all. Finally, to achieve a higher level of GDP in the future, consumers need to limit consumption spending and increase savings today, permitting businesses to invest more in capital goods. If resources are invested into building an economy now, future generations will enjoy a higher level of economic growth; our businesses will produce more goods and consumers can purchase more goods. Expansion of output at rates faster than our population growth is what gives us the opportunity to enjoy higher standards of living. Economic development Economic development is a normative concept meaning that the definition is variable however; the definition given by Michael Todaro is ‘’an increase in living standards, improvement in self-esteem needs and freedom from oppression as well as a greater choice.’’ Economic development can be defined as the advancement of a nation or society according to several economic factors. Economic development generally includes such trends as technological innovation, improvements in the standard of living and life expectancy, and increases in the amount of invested assets per capita At the core of the definition is the point that economic development is not just about dollars and cents but is about community well-being and creating communities that people want to live in. It is a constant challenge for small communities to hold onto their young people. There must be jobs and facilities that the next generation expects as a standard. Providing infrastructure on one hand and building social capital on the other will lead to community sustainability and resilience which eventually boils down to ‘’economic development’’ In a few words one can say that the scope of economic development includes the process and policies by which a nation improves the economic, political, and social well-being of its people. Measurement of Economic Development There are several criteria or principles to measure the economic development. Let us make a detailed study of these measurements for better understanding. 1. National Income: Some economists have taken increase in the real national income as the indicator of economic development because per-capita income depends upon the national income. National Income is related with the final goods and services produced in a country. According to this method the state of continuous increase in national income can be taken as economic development. This is majorly applicable to the poor and middle class countries. Short-run increase in national income cannot be taken as economic development. Likewise increase in the national income as a result of increase in price of goods and services cannot be defined as economic development. 2. Per Capita Income: Increase in per-capita income has been pointed out by some economists as a basis for measuring economic development; According to the classification given by the United Nations Organization in 1989, countries having per capita income less than 580 US dollars fall in the class of poor countries, countries having per capita income between 580 US dollars and 6,000 US dollars are in the middle class, and countries having per capita income more than 6,000 US dollars are in the class of rich countries. According to World Development Report 2009, per capita income of Nepal is 340 US dollars. Such indicator makes the comparative study of different countries easy. On the basis of per capita income the economic growth rate of any country can be found out. The increase in per capita income of any country shows the increase in economic growth rate of the country The UNO experts in their report on ‘Measures of Economic Development of Underdeveloped Countries’ have also accepted this measurement of development. 3. Economic Welfare Index: Economists like Colin Clark Kindleberger, D. Bright Singh, and Hersick etc. have suggested economic welfare as the measure of economic development. The term economic welfare can be understood in two ways: (a) When there is equal distribution of national income among all the sections of the society. It raises economic welfare. (b) When the purchasing power of money goes up, even then there is an increase in the level of economic welfare. The purchasing power of money can go up when with the increase in national income there is also increase in the prices of goods. That means economic welfare can increase if price stability is ensured. Thus economic welfare can boost with equal distribution of income and price stability. Higher the level of economic welfare, higher will be the extent of economic development and vice-versa. 4. Measurement through Occupational Pattern: The distribution of working population in different occupations is also regarded as criteria for the measurement of economic development. According to Colin Clark there is deep relation between the occupational structure and economic development. He has divided the occupational structure in three sectors (a) Primary Sector: It includes agriculture, fisheries, forestry, mining etc. (b) Secondary Sector: It consists of manufacturing, trade, construction etc. (c) Tertiary Sector: It includes services, banking, transport, etc. In underdeveloped countries, majority of the working population is engaged in primary sector. On the contrary, in developed countries the majority of the working population works in tertiary sector. When a country makes economic progress, its working population begins to shift from primary sector to secondary and tertiary sectors. 5. Human Development Index (HDI): The modern economists were not satisfied with GNP, per capita or national income as the principal measures of economic progress. According to them, the issue is not only how much growth but what kind of growth and as a result, they formulated the Human Development Index (HDI). This indicator was for the first time developed by United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in the year 1990.There were a number of measures which were included in this index, However, to keep the HDI simple and manageable, the following main variables were included in it (a) Life expectancy was chosen as a measure of long life (b) Literacy as an index of knowledge and (c) Real GDP per person which represents Income for decent living. 6. Physical quality of life index (PQLI): This is non-income indicator of economic development because this uses physical quality of life as the indicator. This method of measuring economic development is based on the following three things. They are:– (a) Life expectancy (b) Infant mortality (c) Literacy. Countries having low life expectancy, low literacy rate and high infant mortality will have low index. If in any country PQLI is increasing then it indicates the increase in the physical quality of the life of people. Increase in per-capita income does not necessarily indicate the increase in the facilities like healthy food, health, situation, education, etc. Therefore PQLI method is taken to be better indicator than per-capita income method. In addition to these various indicators the following facts are also taken as the indicators of economic development. (a) Equality improvement.(b) Poverty alleviation(c) Quality of life (d) Capital formation(e) Fulfillment of basic needs.(f) Population growth rare (g) Increase in employment opportunities (h) Decrease in dependence on agriculture (i) Increase in entrepreneurship (j) Utilization of natural resources (k) Increase in export of finished goods. (l) Trade diversification (m) Extension of infrastructures DIFFERENCES BETWEEN ECONOMIC GROWTH AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT In general words, economic development refers to the problems of underdeveloped countries and economic growth to those of developed countries. The raising of income levels is generally called economic growth in rich countries and in poor ones it is called economic development. But this view does not specify the underlying forces which raise the income levels in the two types of economies. The problems of underdeveloped countries are concerned with the development of unused resources, even though their uses are well known, while those of advanced countries are related to growth, most of their resources being already known and developed to a considerable extent. In fact, the terms â€Å"development and growth† have nothing to do with the type of economy. The distinction between the two relates to the nature and causes of change. These two terms may also be explained as the development is a discontinues and spontaneous change in the stationary state which forever alters and displaces the equilibrium state previously existing; while growth is a gradual and steady change in the long run which comes about by a gradual increase in the rate of savings and population. This view has been widely accepted and elaborated by the majority of economists. Economic Growth does not take into account the depletion of natural resources which might lead to pollution, congestion & disease. Development however is concerned with sustainability which means meeting the needs of the present without compromising future needs. These environmental effects are becoming more of a problem for Governments now that the pressure has increased on them due to Global warming. According to another school of thought, â€Å"economic growth means more output, while economic development employs both more output and changes in the technical and institutional arrangements by which it is produced and distributed. Growth may well involve not only more output derived from greater amounts of inputs but also greater efficiency, either, and increase in output per unit of input. Development goes beyond this two employ changes in the composition of output and in the allocation of inputs by sectors†. According to some classical economists the growth is an expansion of the system in one or more dimensions without a change in its structure, and development is an innovative process leading the structural transformation of social system. Thus economic growth is related to a quantitative sustained increase in the country’s per capita output or income accompanied by expansion in its labor force, consumption, capital, and volume of trade. On the other hand, economic development is a wider term. It is related to qualitative change in economic wants, goods, incentives, and institutions. It describes the underlying determinants of growth such as technological and structural change. Development embraces both growth and decline. An economy can grow but it may not develop because poverty, unemployment and inequalities may continue to persist due to the absence of technological and structural changes. But it is difficult to imagine development without economic growth in the absence of an increase in output per capita, particularly when population is growing rapidly. Despite these apparent differences, some economists use these terms as synonyms.

Innvations under Globalization in Latin America Research Paper

Innvations under Globalization in Latin America - Research Paper Example Business endeavor in the connection of neoliberal change is vividly outlined on account of Latin America inside the setting of the "Washington Consensus." The Washington Consensus was created throughout the last some piece of the 1980s. The thought behind it was to arrange strategy creators in the creating scene, and especially to help powerless Latin American economies recuperate from the obligation emergency. So dependent upon this, the defenders of globalization think of it as a positive sensation in all regards and the adversaries think of it as the dangerous component of local and national societies because of beating the free enterprise and the increment in financial and political sizes. Due to this, the outcomes of globalization on distinctive parts of human life and diverse matters lead to the disintegration of understandings. The point of this part is to inspect the connection between globalization and improvement. So first the idea of globalization and its source are audite d and after that for better examination of this connection, the impact of globalization on diverse parts of development might be dissected. The creators accept that globalization lessens development emulating the diminishment of assortment in diverse parts of the social order including monetary, social, political and social sizes and slant to coordination and union which has a negative impact on enhancement. The term "globalization" has not an agreeable importance and distinctive definitions are given to it affected by ideological foundations of analysts. Some think about globalization the same as correspondence unrest, different has thought of it as a manifestation of post innovation and some different has viewed it as another type of states without outskirt. The hopeful perspective to this sensation has thought of it as an element for development, peace and companionship and the vicinity of countries, likewise richness of endowments and the negative perspective equivalents it to e mergency neediness and the vanishing of powerless groups and unequal rivalry.

Volunteering Service Personal Statement Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Volunteering Service - Personal Statement Example While volunteering in the ER, Dr. Do and Dr. Anders taught me how to perform physical exams, order necessary labs/x-rays, analyze results, diagnose patients, and prescribe necessary medication. They showed me how to handle different types of patients, from drug users and mentally ill to trauma and cardiac arrest cases. I also did some shadowing in the neonate intensive care unit where I witnessed c-sections as well as natural births. Here, I learned how to read neonate vitals and labs. My experience in ER enabled me to analyze results and evaluate the need for further testing and ordering it besides advising the increase or cessation of medication. In my current assignment in blood bank I work with a wide range of patients. With neonates, my duties vary from preparing syringes of blood, platelet, and plasma to testing cord blood for detecting hemolytic disease in newborns. I also do blood sample typing and cross matching with adults to ensure transfusion compatibility for surgery, obstetrical, oncology, sickle, and trauma cases. Besides, I have learned how to inspect package tissues and bones for preparing the patients for surgeries. During trauma cases, I remain in constant interaction with nurses and physicians to test and bring necessary blood products timely to the emergency room. I received an honors award from LSU-HSC

Case study - company's strategy Research Proposal

Case study - company's strategy - Research Proposal Example The industry information that Mercury is using is far too old to be of any use to the company. A market report cites increasing consumer confidence as the global economy continued to emerge from the post-9/11 recession (A $500 million opportunity in womans better apparel, 2004). Today, financial markets throughout the world are going through convulsions as virtually everyone wonders what the future will bring, whether it will be a corrective recession or full depression. Ellen Blake of Denbleyker Financial notes in her analysis of the company that "Q4 earnings dropped slightly below expectations during 4Q due to a variety of small economic and execution surprises. Management appears to have a good handle on these issues now, and we believe that the stock is a good value at these prices" as Denbleyker Financial raised its assessment of Mercury stock to "Buy" in January 2008. Mercury does not present a threat to Nike and Adidas since it only comprise 9 percent of the global market; thus, it will not be watched by bigger competitors so it is free to chart its own course. However, it has not yet achieved a double-digit share of the global market among adults. The shift should focus on the "tween" market – those who have parents buy shoes for them now, and who later will buy their own. This market segment when taken cared of can be a solid base of customers in the long-term. 1. Continue with current marketing efforts to adult markets and maintain current market share, however, due to recession, marketing tactics should be made. Preserving current market share also will preserve the upward trend in total sales. The third alternative is the choice which is continuing current adult focus but also increasing attention to â€Å"tween â€Å"and teen markets. This is supported by a large study indicating that outside of school hours, each week "people between the ages of 13 and 24 spend 16.7 hours online †¦ 13.6 hours watching

Description of the Market and Market Metrics Essay

Description of the Market and Market Metrics - Essay Example The SMEs chosen for the product are located in good numbers and they may require this product to have better communication with their partners and clients. The government organizations have been chosen, to convince the authorities who will recommend or approve the products usage. This will help in promoting the product among government and the related organizations. Large corporate organizations in the Rift Valley Region need to reduce their running costs and one of the ways they can do so is by having a reliable and cost effective means of doing their regular essential forms of business communication. Capturing this market will increase the product value and make it more sellable. The fourth market chosen is the education sector. It has been chosen as a target market as one of the ways to help the government achieve its goals on education for all (EFA) by taking e-learning to their homes. SMEs have been chosen as one of the targeted markets because the Rift Valley Region of Kenya is the largest and one of the most economically vibrant provinces. It has a good number of Small and Medium Enterprises running businesses in this area. The government of Kenya has good intentions in advancing it’s style of working. It intends to adapt to more technological methods that will enhance the speed, quality and reliability of work between its various offices. Thus the Kenyan government could extend a warm welcome to this new Telecon software which is capable of revolutionizing the working system of the government authorities. The large corporate organizations present in the Rift valley region are situated sparsely and they need new technologies to improve their performance. The are corporate with good financial background, they intend to increase their profit with the aid of new communication methods like Telecon. In the

Environmental Studies Class Journal Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Environmental Studies Class Journal - Case Study Example It would be helpful if we could shut down some of the less efficient plants, even if we can't close all of them. Natural gas is one of the state's largest source of energy and only 10% of the state's energy comes from renewables, mostly geothermals followed by biomass, wind, and solar. Economic analyses are decision-making tools for energy projects and techniques to choose among a number of different options. They do not include the benefit to the environment, the benefit to society, or whether you're being a good neighbor. Objectives for this unit are to understand that these analyses can range from simple to complex, be able to review and understand assumptions, be familiar with the limits, and be able to run through example calculations. Types of economic analyses include rough order of magnitude estimates for budget purposes (ROM), Simple payback, and Internal rate of return (IRR). These are used both on new building projects and retrofits. Investment decision types involved in a nalyses include to accept or reject a single project or system operation, to select an optimal efficiency level for a building system, select an optimal system type from competing alternatives, select an optimal combination of interdependent systems, and/or rank competing projects to allocate a limited budget. Assumptions are everything. They define the project and state the objectives, they establish first cost, cost of energy, cost of labor and materials, cost of maintenance, cost of money, tax credits, and inflation. You need to know where they came from, which ones are solid as compared to guesses, and how to adjust when solid numbers are available. To get an idea of how to do this, we looked at the simple payback analysis. The equation is simple payback (in years) = cost divided by savings where the cost is the cost of the project in dollars and the savings are annual energy savings in dollars. In comparing options, you subtract the cost of one benefit over the other. For cost, you should list the assumptions and the sources you used to reach that number, then use the cost difference between the different options. Do the same thing for savings, convert all units to dollars per year. We looked at a refrigerator analysis as an example in which the simple payback was about one and a half years. Then we looked at the example of a water heater which included more complex variables. These two examples really helped demonstrate the important role played by the assumptions that effects the overall solution. The example with the compact fluorescent bulbs showed how to use the spreadsheet program to help us work out the details and allows us to change the variables when we need to, for example if an assumption has changed. After the break, we looked at an online tool that would do these analyses which showed why it's important for us to be able to check these figures for ourselves and then moved on to talk about energy action plans. The second half of class looked at an energy action plan. This was accomplished by looking at the specific example of Stanford University. He talked about the importance of knowing the location, getting management interested, getting the users involved, the maintenance people involved, and performing the energy audit from a variety of perspectives. Things that were important in this section were involving maintenance, the design team, the issue of capital improvement, non-stop measurement,

Short Story Poetry (Analysis) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Short Story Poetry (Analysis) - Essay Example The American and Jig sip beer and whiskey called  Anà ­s del Toro, which Jig associates with  liquorice, while they wait for the Madrid train. Their chat is dull at first, but swiftly floats to the topic of a procedure which the American is trying to persuade Jig to endure. Although it is never made clear in the manuscript, it is made clear that Jig is pregnant and that the process in question is abortion. After posturing urgings to which the American is mainly indifferent to, Jig next consents to the procedure, while saying: "I dont care about me." Nonetheless, he then replies, "Youve got to realize that I dont want you to do it if you dont want to." He carries on, "Im perfectly willing to go through with it if it means anything to you." She tries to dump the topic, but the American continues as if still uncertain of Jigs intents and psychological state. She asserts, "Would you please please ... please stop talking?" He is soundless for a while, and replicates, "But I dont want you to," and enhances his part of the conversation, "I dont care anything about it." She interrupts, "I’ll scream." The barmaid approaches through the beaded drapes with two glasses of beer and puts them down on the moist  glass pads. She states, "The train comes in five minutes." Jig was preoccupied, but then smiles radiantly at the woman. He leaves the table and lugs their bags to the opposite stand, but still no view of the train in the expanse. He paces back through the station, and everyone else is also waiting rationally for the train. Stopping at the bar, he gulps down another Anis, alone, before returning to Jig. He then questions her, "Do you feel better?" She again smiles at him, "I feel fine. Theres nothing wrong with me. I feel fine." The story concludes. The author of the story begins it and later on dialogues of the main characters take over. Persona of the speaker

Impact of Celebrity Endorsement on Consumers Dissertation

Impact of Celebrity Endorsement on Consumers - Dissertation Example The advent of globalization and liberalization in the world markets has brought increased competition at the local level as well. Now, there are products and services that are available anywhere in the world and the customers are given a wide array of choice to choose from. There are a variety of products, substitutes, prices and overall value packages that are now made available to the customer due to the rapid development of information and communication technologies as well as logistics management. The changes in the technological and the global business environment have brought additional pressures on the organization to remain viable and competitive in the market. Organizations now have to invest in new product development strategies, look out for ways of reducing costs and expanding distribution channels and reaching out to the largest number of customers using their limited budgets. Consumer awareness, consumer acceptance and retention and consumer feedback have become an impo rtant guiding factor for the organizations to develop products and markets (Perrault et al, 2000). Researchers have increasingly found that the customers are greatly influenced by the fact that they can easily attain more information about the product or service, that they are able to recall the product or the brand and that their friends or family are already using the product. This means that the more the brand awareness, the greater the chance that the products will be bought by the customers and also recommended to others by them.

Statement of Purpose Essay Example for Free

Statement of Purpose Essay My country, India, is on the threshold of hectic development in infrastructure like roads, bridges, highways, expressways etc. India is in a tearing hurry to make up the lost time and catch up with the developed world and achieving better standard of living. Civil engineering will play a major role in changing the face of Indian Panorama. When we go for modern bridges, high rise buildings or ultra-modern condominiums; structural engineering will form the center stage of engineering development. Being the son of an engineer who is running a construction company in Mumbai for past 25 years, the exposure to civil engineering was available to me from my childhood. This field fascinated me, when I used to join my father during vacations on his projects. Thus, as far as future career was concerned, I had already decided that I should carry on the business established by my father. Only aim was that I would like to reach much greater heights in scope, expanse and technology. During my schooling and college days, where I had high academic profile, I was focused on opting for civil engineering and when I got an admission for undergraduate studies in a premier Institute like S. P. College of Engineering, which is reckoned next to IIT’s in stature and standing, I was extremely happy and decided to make the best of the opportunities offered. I found structural engineering subject very interesting as it forms the heart of any structure, be it building, bridge or highway. In my final year project, I got an opportunity to study the construction of the tallest buildings being built by a premier construction company of Mumbai. These 60 storey high rises will be the tallest in Mumbai. I was exposed to modern construction methods and management and the use of modern equipments. I could see the use of concrete batching plant (which is seldom used in India) and tower cranes on this site. For the first time, I learnt how quality control of materials is carried out to ensure safe and efficient construction, or the steps taken to improve ground stability like rock bolting and guniting etc. This project gave me an insight in how much development has taken place in civil engineering. It has firmed up my resolve to do graduate studies in structural engineering, get in-depth knowledge and exposure in the field and later, develop family construction business further. Your University with its excellent facilities, highly qualified faculty and worldclass infrastructure is the right place for pursuing graduate studies in structural engineering and if given a chance, I shall make the best out of it.

Transforming organization, transforming countries Essay Example for Free

Transforming organization, transforming countries Essay The beauty of organizational transformation reflecting in the belonging countries is embedded in the leadership perspective to the emerging challenge at hand. This has to do with meeting the set-out goals of the company. The goals are clearly mapped out in the mission statement. The mission statement of an organization is a step –in and step-out tones on how to carry out an unequivocal vision of such an industry. In a changing world of ours with constant development of information technology and communication at the twinkle of an eye, it is paramount to establish here that constant ‘change’ is ‘part and par sue’ and a continuous process employed by the administration of the executive officers in charge. An organization needs a research section to constantly discover in due time, evaluate the seemingly problem at hand and the problem prospect towards evolving a systematic approach to effectively combat the problem with competitive solutions. The absence of such section presents the system to premature failure, strangulation and sudden collapse amidst overwhelming competitive market layout. But why do people resist this change? Firstly, of important is the leadership ability of the chief executive officer in charge of an organization to communicate in clear tone of the imperative need(s) for a proposed change.   An important change is not usually a sudden one. Therefore the process of change towards productive results is in all, the concern of the entire goal driven employees. Employees are left in suspicion of pending job insecurity when sidelined from the activities resulting in the change. A sector of industries who fails to achieve its sole aim of establishment within a stipulated time is a laboratory earmarked to experiment new method for possible productive running (the change). An employee in such stratum who perhaps, would perform better in newly evolving shape of the future of that sector or possibly in another sector within the same organization will do everything possible to resist a planned change with uncertainty of his/her fate afterward. Thirdly, for an employee whose employment in the organization is not grounded on merit, his spirit-willingness conformity to the written words of vision and mission statement of the industries is slack. Nevertheless, meeting the time-limit for each goal and agenda of the organization per time become a big task. On perceiving a proposed change in view, such an employee become convicted by conscience and consider himself a target for elimination while the leadership sees the need for such change in another perspective. In the absence of other alternative, he will try to oppose such change by all means. To relief employee’s anxiety over intending change Employee anxiety towards change is an obstacle to the success of the plan for the evolving new industry. To work out a yielding change, dealing with the anxiety of the employees should be part of the change process. Adequate information on why the change is necessary at such time relieves anxiety, some of such reasons could be proffering the way forward to perhaps, the gross net loss in company’s quarterly report, significant reduction in shareholders’ earnings per share, the urgent need to meet government new policy (and stipulated deadline) with the industry still having a sharp edge among competitive industries, the change in the political landscape indigenous to the company, the company’s readiness to compete on global horizon, seasonal shifts in market forces of demand and supply, among others. In engineering the change, the visionary leadership need not fidget on the outcome of employee’s retrenchment if need be. Such job relief must be done in under standing or/and the protection of such an individual’s right. Towards A learning organization Peter Senges (The Fifth Discipline, n.d) concisely defines learning organization to be corporate activities in an organization that maintain a continuous habit of development per time. A dynamic organization needs to meet the innumerable challenges of thriving in a tasking world of new discoveries. Besides the employees experience as a product from adaptation to the required skills and the economy surroundings in the industry, it is instinctive for man to naturally challenge history, instructions, precepts and possibly look for an easy way to getting still the same result or a better one of compliance in a dynamical economic demand. As part of the learning process, an organization needs to constantly meet the expectation of each individual component of a working team. Incorporation of ‘a learning organization’ scheme is necessary for an organization to evolve its own identity. Such will make it stands irrespective of employees’ inflow and outflow. Towards A successful team In the present century, ranking highest among necessities for a successful organization is a vibrant and cordial working team (American National Representative Survey, 2003). The term teamwork is a cross-breeding of productive efforts towards synergized results. Each member of a team is a living component of such system that produces the common goal. The evolution of a team is oriented in the required result. This informs the creation and kind of such team. In the turmoil of rapid generation of new customers’ demands, individualistic method is insufficient to quench the hunger for urgency and accuracy. A team needs evolve to do the job (Jackson Ruderman, 1996). Types of Team The categories of team instituted is based on three headings; the working area, the task mission, and the time requirement, and leadership structure. Functional Team: here, each integral member is from the same unit Cross-functional Team Team members assemble from various work units to evaluate and resolve common challenges. Mission Team Mission-accomplished Team – The members here prefer and implement solution to developing issues. Developmental Team This team develops new systems and products Duration Team Ad hoc The team is established for pending issues and stand dissolve thereafter the issues are resolved. Permanent Standing team is a permanent part of the work unit or the organization. Decision making of a chief executive amidst competing values Teams are meant to execute clearly mapped out tasks. The chief executive decides the pending task to be performed, assigns the type of team needed and provides the task in the organizational perspective in terms of goal and objectives. The chief executive officer collates various decision resolved by the team and make ultimate decision. It is important that the decisions are first suggested to another round of objective deliberations, the subjective points are discarded for the objective ones. True test of objectivity is measured by the relative strength of a decision over a reasonable long duration after suggestion. How CEO`s behavior is related to his tenure in office Cumulative success and failure of a CEO is a determinant to the length of his tenure duration. More importantly is his reaction to moment of failure. On the other hand, total shareholders returns over given period of years is tested for different CEOs. The CEO behavior to meeting the target of an organization is evident in the profit and consumer satisfaction yields. For different CEOs, their   behaviors is am reflection of industries differences, company’s oriented grooming before appointment or outside orientation in a similar discipline. References Carly Fiorina, Japanese chamber of commerce and industry New York, New York, November 28, 2000 Transforming Companies, Transforming Countries â€Å"Leadership in Organizations† by G. Yukl Chapters 10-13, The annual Booz Allen Hamilton study, Booz Allen Hamilton Inc, 2003. Web site- http://business2-cnet.com.com/CEOs-on-the-firing-line/2030-1069_3-1021971.html OPM, Workforce Performance Newsletter, April 1998 Phil Garrahan and Paul Stewart â€Å"The Nissan Enigma† Chapter 4 published by Mansell in London 1992).

The number of international tourists arrival to Malaysia

The number of international tourists arrival to Malaysia Economic of Malaysia is growing rapidly in this few years; Malaysia has a lot of natural resources, such as tin, palm oil and rubber. Therefore, the natural resources can be the largest sources of income in Malaysia; it can help Gross Domestic Product (GDP) increasing and earning foreign exchange and tourism is the second largest sources income of foreign exchange. Tourism plays an important role for Malaysia. Tourism industry effects positively on the economy besides it can increase in foreign exchange earnings, would help promote new investments in the country, and it can increased the employment opportunities. In 1999, Malaysia tourism board has come out one campaign called Malaysia Truly Asia, it success to bringing in over 7.9 million of tourists into Malaysia and receipts around RM 12.3 billion revenue and the revenue and tourist arrival number are keep increasing year by year. According to Tourism Malaysia official website, their objective is to promote Malaysia as an outstanding tourist destination. They aim to showcase Malaysias unique wonders, attractions and cultures, develop domestic tourism and enhance Malaysias share of the market for meetings, incentives, conventions and exhibitions (MICE). Their ultimate goal is to increase the number of foreign tourists to Malaysia, extend the average length of their stay and increase Malaysias tourism revenue. (Tourism Malaysia Official Website, 2010) Malaysia government was also allocated amount of fund to tourism industry besides providing sufficient basic infrastructure. In 2006, tourism Malaysia received 30% more funding for advertising and other promotions in preparation for Visit Malaysia Year in 2007. The Malaysian government will spend RM1.8 billion under the Ninth Malaysian Plan (2006-2010), on upgrading tourist destinations and infrastructure, as well as on marketing promotions in major source markets. (Government Malaysia, 2006) Tourism can bring in a lot of foreign exchange and creating many job opportunity, therefore it play an important roles in Malaysia economy. Tourism must work with state government, regional and local community planning and the economic development. Economic impacts are also important in marketing and management decisions. According to 2005 data from World Tourism Organization (WTO), Malaysia places 14th in the ranking of counties either by international tourism arrivals. International tourism arrivals in Malaysia increased from 7.9 million in 1999 to 23.6 million in 2009, representing an average annual growth about 15.7 million and the growth of tourist receipts has been even more spectacular, rising from RM 12.3 billion in 1999 to RM 53.4 billion in 2009 with an annual growth about RM 41.1 billion (Malaysia Tourism Statistics, 2010). In 2010, Malaysias tourism is expected to generate RM 98 billion of economic activity. The industrys direct and indirect effect of travel and tourism in Malaysia in 2010 was expected to account for 37 billion of GDP (equivalent to 5.1% of total GDP) and 597,000 jobs (5.3% of total employment). However, since the tourism touches all the sectors of the economy, it bring a real impact is even greater. The travel and tourism sector generated RM 98 billion in economy GDP (equivalent to 13.4 of total GDP), export revenue, services and merchandise representing RM 89 billion (equivalent to 12.7% of total exports), economy employment representing 1,331,000 jobs (11.9% of total employment) and it making tourism in Malaysia is the second largest contributor of foreign exchange earnings to the country after the manufacturing sector. (WTTC, 2010) Problem Statements The problem is economy will bring many positive and negative impacts to tourism in Malaysia. When year 1997 and 2007, global economic crisis were happening, it affects all the industry, tourism also affected by it. During the crisis, everyone will faced financial problem therefore there are less people willing to travel, so that it will affect the tourist arrival in Malaysia. Due to financial crisis, in 1998 tourist arrival in Malaysia only has 5.8 million. The tourism industry will affected by the economic problem, once the economic conditions was bad, many tourism industry like hotel, travel agency and restaurant, they will cut cost for example, cut down manpower, some of the hotel and travel agencys private bus or car driver, tour leader and staff for cost saving, therefore in that financial crisis years many people losing their job. After the financial crisis in 1997, tourism Malaysia trying to increase the tourist arrival and receipts, therefore, in 1999 the financial condition in Asia are growing slowly, Malaysia tourism board come out one campaign Malaysia Truly Asia, is promote Malaysia to the world and attract more foreign tourists and encourage local people travel within Malaysia, promote inbound tourism and domestic tourism. In 2001, September 11terroism attacks issue was happen in America, there are less Europe tourists come to Asia country travel and do investment, on that period Malaysia economic will affect by that reason. Terrorism picks tourism as their target because tourism is one of the main resources from income and it has generated relationship which leads to political, social and economical issues. Nowadays, because of this financial crisis tourism has dropped with many foreign tourists are cutting their spending, and for business tourism, in order to cost cutting policies and have to reduced corporate travels to overseas to having their meeting, they using internet video conferencing and telephone conferences. Those small travel agencies company have feel to the decline in reservation and bookings, they need to cut down their manpower, if they havent to do so, the company will bankrupt or facing many debts they owing. Same with the hotels with low occupancies, they will ask their staff to work for lesser hours and will reduce their wages. Tourism plays an important role in Malaysias economic. The effects of global economic crisis reaches many countries that are cant imagine. Only when the global economy gains strength and gets the financial more stable it will have a better future for tourism industry in Malaysia. Research Objectives 1. To understand the positive and negative impacts of economic towards tourism in Malaysia. 2. Analyze how economic affect the tourism industry. 3. Understanding the tourist behaviour in spending during the travelling period. 4. To evaluate the economic impacts of changes in tourism demand. 5. To understand the development of economic on tourism in Malaysia. 6. Analyze how important that the economic for tourism industry. 7. To evaluate the economic impacts of changes in tourism supply. 1.4 Research Questions 1. What is economic impact? 2. What are the positive and negative impacts of economic to tourism? 3. What are the effects of the economic to tourism? 4. How much earnings of foreign exchange towards tourism? 5. Who get the benefits of the tourism? 1.5 Theoretical and Conceptual Framework 1.5.1 Theoretical Framework In this research will discuss about the economic impacts on tourism in Malaysia. Due to tourism is second largest sources income of foreign exchange, therefore economic can bring a lot of impacts to tourism industry. In addition, the tourism also will bring many impact to the economic, this both of the sectors must be related. Economic in Malaysia is relying on the natural resources and many investors come from other country, tourism can attract more investors to Malaysia. Besides that, tourism can increase the foreign exchange earnings, taxes revenue and create many job opportunities; it can help to decrease Malaysias unemployment rate. . Economic impacts have divided into positive and negative impacts to the tourism industry and local community. Positive impacts help the development of some rural area and local community, increasing the job opportunity and can change the living standard. Tourism industry involved to two types of sectors, which is direct tourism industry like hotel and restaurant the result can directly affect of the sectors and indirect tourism industry like manufacturing and supplier. Both of the sectors are important for tourism and economic, it can affect to the all parties in economic. Under Ninth Malaysia Plan, tourism industry has allocated around RM 1 billion to upgrade and create more facilities and infrastructure and for promoting funds, it really can helps the development of tourism industry. 1.5.2 Conceptual Framework Economic in Malaysia Tourism in Malaysia Direct Effects Economic Impact of Tourism Indirect Effects 1.6 Significance of the Study We need to know how important that economic for tourism industry. Tourism is one of the major industries in the world. In year 2010, the tourism economy contributes US$ 5,834.5 billion to global GDP, is around 9.3% of the total of global GDP. This is expected to growth to US $ 11,270 billion, is around 9.7% for the total of global GDP by 2020. The directly and indirectly industry supports over 235 million jobs in 2010 in global and the total is forecast to increase to just over 303 million in 2020. The global tourism investment is estimated at US$1,255.5 billion in 2010 and should reach US$2,722.3 billion by 2020. (WTTC, 2010) This all figure it means that the tourism is very important for economic, it helps the global economic gain strength in financial crisis and makes it more stable. International tourism can become a major foreign exchange earner for many low income countries like Cambodia, Indonesia, India and Africa. Many countries are trying to develop tourism sector and increase the number of incoming visitors because international tourism brings a lot of foreign exchange to the host country. In Malaysia, tourism was important to economic, it creates around 1,331,000 jobs in 2010, and it helps Malaysias job opportunities increasing and the tourism investment brings around RM 19.9 billion revenue in 2010, it should reach RM 49.8 billion in 2020. The economic impacts of tourism usually focus on the related tourism sectors that change in sales, income and employment. Besides that, this study is make us to know and understand that economic can influence many tourism industry, it affect the income of foreign exchange, gross domestic profit (GDP), and the job opportunities within the country. There are some primary tourism sectors like lodging, dining restaurant, transportations, and retail shops are affected directly by economic. 1.7 Scope and Limitation This study is about the impacts of economic that bring to tourism. This research focus more on how economic affects the tourism and will discuss the positive and negative impacts. This study will cover the spending behaviour of international tourist in Malaysia, tourism demand in Malaysia, and many aspects of the economic impacts of tourism in Malaysia and will related with many tourism sectors. In order to complete this study, all the information will be found in internet, newspapers, magazine and journals. Although, the information about the economy of tourism in Malaysia is very limited, the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) which is the forum of the business leaders in the travel and tourism industry through by this internet website can get a lot of information about the economic impact of tourism in Malaysia. CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Development of economic on tourism in Malaysia Before Malaysia independence in 1957, Malaysias economy is more focus in tin, rubber, and palm oil and petroleum products. On that period, tourism industry havent fully affects on Malaysia economy, but after independence, the Malaysia government has attention on develop of tourism industry, therefore on 1972 Malaysia government established Tourist Development Corporation of Malaysia (TDC), to the tourism developing programme. However, Malaysia government focus more on tourism industry on 1980s, because of the decrease in oil and world economic crisis. Tourism industry not only affects positively on economy also affect the increase foreign exchange earnings, taxes revenues and job opportunities on 1980s. Consequently, the government was established one more department called The Ministry of Culture, Arts and Tourism on 1987 and TDC has merged to this department become to the Ministry of Tourism in 2004. In order to encourage and improve private and local investment in tourism industry government was launched two types of funds to help the investors on 2001, which is Tourism Infrastructure Fund with allocation of RM 700 million and Special Fund for Tourism Infrastructure with allocation of RM 400 million. Nevertheless, in 2005 the government increase the Tourism Infrastructure funds to RM 1.2 billion. (Government Malaysia, 2006) In 1980, international tourist of arrivals in Malaysia only 2.3million and the receipts revenue were RM 7 billion but its increase year by year. In 1999, Malaysia Tourism board has launched one campaign call Malaysia Truly Asia; it is a program that promotes Malaysia to worldwide tourist. Due to this campaign, Malaysia receipts 7.9 million of international tourist arrivals in Malaysia and receipts around RM 12.3 billion revenue. Moreover, during year 2001 until 2005 there have many terrorism attacks issue and natural disaster occur, it affect the growth of tourism industry and economy in Malaysia, especially on year 2003 and year 2004 there have terrorism and SARS issue in that two years the economic and tourism industry in Malaysia was decline, therefore Tourism Malaysia was launched Visit Malaysia Year on 2007, its success to increase the international tourists arrivals numbers to 20.9 million and receipts around RM 46.1 billion revenue.( Tourism Malaysia Statistics, 2010). Figure 1, it shows that during year 2000 to 2009 international tourists arrivals to Malaysia and receipts, it increase year by year. In order to develop tourism in Malaysia, Tourism Malaysia was launched one campaign that can stimulate the economic in Malaysia. The campaign is called Malaysia My Second Home Programme (MM2H), which is promoted by the government of Malaysia, this programme is encourage and allow the foreigners come to Malaysia to invest and stay in Malaysia for long time. This programme bring a lot of foreign exchange and investors to Malaysia, it can helps the economy and increase the job opportunities in Malaysia. Besides that, Ministry of Tourism Malaysia work with many sectors to launch many programmes to helps the economy and tourism such as student tourism programme which attract more overseas student come to Malaysia having education once they come to Malaysia to study, there can earn more foreign exchange; this programme is collaboration with Minister of Education. Under the Ninth Malaysia Plan (2006-2010), because of the revenue of foreign exchange are keep growing and for maintain it government Malaysia will develop Malaysia as a main international tourist destination while will enhancing domestic tourism during 2006 to 2010. Besides that, under the Ninth Malaysia Plan one of the main programmes is the government will allocate RM 1 billion of an expenditure of improving access and facilities for tourist arrivals, upgrade and maintaining the public and tourist infrastructure and on some marketing campaigns in major source markets. On the other hand, government Malaysia started to develop Malaysia as a regional centre for health tourism, it can attract more and difference of investment and visitor come and Malaysia for travel and invest.(Government Malaysia, 2006) According to Tourism Minister Datuk Seri Ng Yan Yan saying that Tourism Malaysia is target to attract around 2.4 million of international tourist arrival to Malaysia in year 2010, and more focus in Middle East, China and India because these country they are more sufficient visibility and will promote and encourage them join the MM2H programme and invest in Malaysia. 2.2 Changes of Tourism Demand and Tourism Supply Nowadays, tourist behaviours are keeping changing therefore the tourism demand and tourism supply also need to change. Changes of the tourism supply may take to two forms; one is a quantity change which is the number of the new facilities, attraction and shopping complex or the expansions and contraction in capacity. Once the tourists increase, the demand also will increase therefore the quantity form must keep changing to satisfy and fulfil tourists demand like create more new facilities and infrastructure like airports and tourist attractions. Another form is quality changes, which is respect to the environment and the local infrastructure and public services that support to the tourism or the local tourism products and services. The environment and economic are keep changing and getting better, so that tourists demand and their aspects are getting higher, such as the quality of accommodation, food and beverage of the restaurant and satisfaction of the service. In spite of, fulfil tourists satisfaction all the infrastructure and services must be more standard. However, the changes of tourist demand is the tourists arrivals population changes, changes in the competitive position or marketing of the region and the changing of the consumers tastes and preferences, their shopping activity and the method of spending. The income will effect to the tourist expenditure, during the financial crisis period no matter is international tourist or domestic tourist their income are affected by the financial crisis therefore when they went to travel or shopping they wont spend too much and some of them are less to go travel and shopping. Other than that, the changes of demand also include the competitive, it also will affect the tourists arrival for Malaysia and it will directly affect the economic. Every year, many countries will launch out their own tourism year to attract international tourist to visit to their country and promote their country. Therefore, it will affect the number of tourists arrival. For understand more about the international tourist demand. The volume and the evolution of tourist flows are investigated by using the number of international tourist arrivals for the year of 2005 -2009. Figure 2, it show that the international tourist arrivals to the Malaysia during 2005-2009. In year 2005, there have 16.4 million of tourist arrivals to Malaysia, and year 2009 there have 23.6 million of tourist arrival to Malaysia it increase around 7.2 million. In that period, the number of arrivals are growing slowing due to there have many natural disaster occur and financial crisis. In year 2009, Malaysia receipts a lot of Asias tourist, therefore the tourist demand was changing. There are many Europe tourist is flow out to other country, so that in 2009 Europe tourist has decrease. In Table 1, it show that the importance of the Asia markets according to 2009 data on numbers of tourists arrivals. The major tourism market for Malaysia is focus on Asia Pacific; especially Singapore represents more than 50% of tourist arrivals, second is Indonesia represent around 12% of total Asias tourist arrivals. 2.3 Economic impacts of Tourism in Malaysia When discussing the economic impacts of tourism, will touch on how the economic affect the tourism and how the tourism industry influence the economic. In year 1997 to 2000, the global economic downturn, it serious to affect the tourism industry in Malaysia, in year 2000 the international tourist arrivals only get 10.2 million and receipt 17.8 billion of revenue. On that financial crisis period, many tourism industry were facing financial problem it is because the economy of that period is unstable, there are less people are going travel all around the world. The hotel and the travel agencies will facing cant get their room occupancy and less booking and reservations problem, so they need to cut down their manpower, and they offer their workers to work less hours and paying low salary or hire labour that from other country because their salary and wages is cheaper than local labour, therefore many local people losing their jobs. Due to economy downturn, there are less tourist come to Malaysia to travel, the foreign exchange earnings and tax revenue and job opportunities are decline and decrease. Once the local peoples income is affected, they will reduce to expend their money, it will influence many industries. According to Archer (1989) states that economic impact analysis is an economic approach used to measure inter alia the amount of income, government revenue, employment and imports generated in an economy by the direct and secondary effects of the tourist expenditure. Direct effects is the tourist paying and spending their money directly flow through the economy or the tourism sectors, for example, the tourist spent RM 1500 for lodging and this amount of money will directly affect the sales in the hotel sector, and the hotel will using this money to pay for labour wages and salary and paying various government taxes and charges. Secondary effect is the sales, and job resulting from the activity generated other companies or industry of the economic system because of the demand of the tourism industry. For example, the hotel need to buys cutlery and cooking material from supplier to deliver the services to their customers. The cutlery and cooking material supplier also need to buys raw materials and machinery from other industries, therefore the sales of the supplier and other industries, income and job opportunities is related and come from direct effect. On the other hand, tourism industry can contribute many foreign exchange, gross domestic product (GDP), government taxes revenue and job opportunities to Malaysia. Every year, Malaysia received many tourists that come from other country, once the tourist come to Malaysia to travel it will bring a lot of foreign exchange, increase Malaysias gross domestic product (GDP) and increase government taxes revenue. 2.4 Positive and negative impacts Once discuss about impact of certain issue, there have positive and negative impacts will be discussed. The positive and negative impacts are must related to the local community, because local community playing an important role in tourism and economic. Without local community, the tourism and economic cant get their target. Positive impacts: (1) Increasing the gross domestic product (GDP), increase foreign exchange earnings and increase government revenue like taxes collection Tourism can bring many foreign exchanges to Malaysia, and it also increases the gross domestic product within Malaysia. Once the foreign tourist come to Malaysia travel they will spend and they will pay the government taxes and charge while they staying in hotel or they went to shopping, it can increase the taxes and charges revenue of Malaysia. (2) Contribute and increase job opportunities Tourism can contribute a lot of job opportunities, once the economy growth the tourism sectors such as hotel, restaurant, theme park, travel agencies and etc, they will hire more workers to fulfil their requirements. Tourism is a more seasonal industry, because there have peak season and shoulder season in a year. When peak season, many tourism sectors will hire more workers or wants their workers work overtime and they will increase their wages and salaries. (3) Increase local community income and improving the living standard In some rural area and some place that is create as tourist attraction, therefore it will attract many tourist go to visit and travel. Tourism brings a lot of tourist to that place it helps the economy on that area more thriving and prosperous because once many tourists go there, the local community have a chance to earn money and satisfy the tourist demand. Once the local communitys income increase, their living standard also will improve. (4) Improves and increase investments, development and infrastructure Tourism not only can bring a lot of foreign exchange, it also can bring a lot of investment to Malaysia. There are many international hotel come to invest in Malaysia, they will invest to local hotel or open new hotel. It will attract more investors to come Malaysia to invest other industry, and it can increase Malaysias international investment. When there many tourist and investors come and visit Malaysia, they will using and evaluate the facilities and infrastructure, it will effect Malaysias goodwill. Therefore, government will develop and upgrade some of the facilities and infrastructure, it not only benefit to the tourist, and local community also will get the benefit of it. Negative impacts: (1) Inflation Tourism developments often generate inflationary effects on local economies relating to land, property and goods. The prices of goods, services, land and housing will increase because of the tourism. If all the prices of the goods and services are increasing but the local communitys income didnt increase, therefore their living standard will be affected. (2) Increases potential for imported labour Because of the tourism is a seasonal industry, there have peak season and low season in a year. Therefore, when in low season or on financial crisis many tourism sectors will hire labour that come from third country because their wages and salaries are cheap and lower than the local people. Nowadays, many restaurant, theme park and hotel are hiring many imported labour, so that it will affect local communitys job opportunities. (3) Leakage Leakage is means repatriation of profits generated from foreign capital investment or capital flight. A leakage will occurs is when the money will flow out to the economy of a region because a local consumer has purchased a product from an outside supplier. For example, if a theme park needs to buy a playing machine like roller coaster but it couldnt found in Malaysia, therefore they need to buy it from other country. Due to that kind of reason, there are many money will flow out to the country. Another reason is Tourism Malaysia need to promote Malaysia to all around the world, therefore they need to do promotion in overseas, and government will spend a lot of money to advertise in overseas, so that the money will goes to other country. CHAPTER THREE: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 3.1 General Methodology This study will use quantitative analyse technique. Quantitative technique is suitable for researcher or hotelier to monitor customer satisfaction and estimate the growth of international tourist arrival, economic analysis, tourist demand and receipts on the local economy. (Shane Hall, 2010) For measure customers satisfaction of services or tourist demand will using satisfaction surveys to complete it. Other than satisfaction survey, also survey of tourist profile, which is to measure the tourist profile such as country of origin, length of stay and details of expenditure and etc. Those survey will printed on questionnaire form, will asking the tourist to rate the satisfaction of the services, their experience, the quality of accommodations or food and will ask the tourist come for which country, how much they willing to spend during the trip and income. 3.2 Research Design In this research will analyze the number of international tourists arrival to Malaysia, how it affects to economic. The dependant variables is the tourism demand, in this tourism demand is include the number of tourist arrivals, tourist expenditure and number of tourist nights. To measure the volume of the tourism is to use the number of tourist arrivals in Malaysia from other country. The number of tourist arrivals can clearly to show the demand for tourism. In this study, all the international tourists arrivals statistics is published by Ministry of Tourism Malaysia. Moreover, the independent variables are the tourist income, changes of employment and number of investment etc. 3.3 Sources of Data In this research all the data is using secondary data, which is the data is from Ministry of Tourism Malaysia. 3.3.1 Secondary Data All methods of data collection can supply quantitative data (numbers, statistics or financial) or qualitative data (usually words or text). Quantitative data may often be presented in tabular or graphical form. Secondary data is data that has already been collected by someone else for a different purpose to yours. For example, this could mean using: data collected by a hotel on its customers through its guest history system data supplied by a marketing organisation annual company reports government statistics. Surveysgo interview government, tourism board to get the data primary is something tat u will do for get ur own date secondary is date tat get from perious researcher 3.4 Sampling Technique 3.4.1 Respondents 3.5 Statistical Treatment of Data Measure customer satisfaction by using satisfaction surveys. A high level of customer satisfaction is an important outcome measure for hospitality-related businesses, such as hotels, restaurants, and resorts. Satisfaction surveys can be printed on a postcard-sized form with questions asking customers to rate their satisfaction with various aspects of their visit, such as quality of accommodations, food and service. The surveys can ask customers to rate their experience with a Likert scale of responses (e.g., excellent, good, fair, poor). These responses can be numerically coded in a spreadsheet and analyzed with frequency distributions and descriptive statistics. Estimate the impact of the hospitality and tourism industry by using input-output analysis. This matrix-based method of economic analysis shows how parts of a system are affected by changes in one part of a system. The hospitality industry consists of different sectors, including hotels, restaurants, resorts, convention facilities, airlines, and other sectors. Each of these sectors can be thought of as inputs that combine to produce a local or regional economic impact. Use longitudinal methods of analysis, such as time-series regression techniques, to analyze the hospitality industry over time. Managers of hospitality and tourism-related businesses are likely to encounter longitudinal data, such as sales figures over multiple years, average daily hotel rates compared to other hotels, restaurant and hotel sales figures over a number of years, or hotel occupancy rates. Regression, which analyzes the impact of one of more independent variables over an outcome (dependent variable) of interest, such as sales or occupancy rates, provides a useful technique of analysis.

Morrisons Bluest Eye Essay: Self-Definition -- Toni Morrison The Blue

In Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye, published in 1970, the struggle begins in childhood. Two young black girls -- Claudia and Pecola -- illuminate the combined power of externally imposed gender and racial definitions where the black female must not only deal with the black male's female but must contend with the white male's and the white female's black female, a double gender and racial bind. All the male definitions that applied to the white male's female apply, in intensified form, to the black male's, white male's and white female's black female. In addition, where the white male and female are represented as beautiful, the black female is the inverse -- ugly. Self-definition is crucial, not only to being, but to creating. As Gilbert and Gubar so astutely note in The Madwoman in the Attic, "For all literary artists, of course, self-definition necessarily precedes self-assertion: the creative 'I AM' cannot be uttered if the 'I' knows not what it is" (17). One way of describing this work of self-definition is as "learn[ing] to understand what around and about us and what within us must live, and what must die" (Estes, 33). But female definition has not been this sorting out process of self-definition. Instead, it has been a static male definition "by default" or "by intent." If the female is to create herself, she must begin with a process of self-definition whose first step is, of necessity, a negation of the hitherto established male definition of "female." Virginia Woolf calls this "killing The Angel in the House" (PFW 286). Before she can say "yes" by creating a positive form she must first say "no" to the false positive form created by a patriarchal society. Before she can reclaim herself from the negative space of t... ...s vital and true. Â   List of Works Cited Dickinson, Emily. The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson. Ed. Thomas H. Johnson. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1960. Estes, Clarissa Pinkola. Women Who Run With the Wolves. New York: Ballantine Books, 1992. Gilbert, Sandra M. and Gubar, Susan. The Madwoman in the Attic. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1984. Morrison, Toni. The Bluest Eye. New York: Penguin Books, 1994. ---, Playing in the Dark. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1992. Portales, Marco. "Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye: Shirley Temple and Cholly." The Centennial Review Fall (1986): 496-506. Rubenstein, Roberta. Boundaries of the Self. Chicago: University of Illinois, 1987. Woolf, Virginia. "Professions for Women." Collected Essays. Vol.2. London: The Hogarth Press, 1966. 284-289. Â  

Operation Overlord Essay -- History Attack Overlord Germany Essays

Operation Overlord Operation Overlord was the code name used for the Allied attack on German-occupied Northern France in the summer of 1944. The organization responsible for planning this task was SHAEF, the Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force, and the officer in command of Overlord was Major General Dwight D. Eisenhower. Command of ground forces was given to General Bernard Montgomery, while naval forces would be commanded by Admiral Bertram Ramsay. Air forces were under the control of Air Chief Marshal Trafford Leigh-Mallary, and supply and logistics the task of Lt. General John Lee. Operation Bolero The extensive buildup of troops and supplies required to support Overlord began in April of 1942. Known as Operation Bolero, this effort eventually saw the movement of over 1.5 million military personnel to England, as well as the materials required to house, clothe and feed them. The total number of soldiers participating in all aspects of the invasion numbered 2.8 million. Operation Bodyguard The overall effort to deceive the Germans was known as Operation Bodyguard, and consisted of ten smaller operations including Operation Fortitude North, Operation Fortitude South, Operation Graffham and Operation Royal Flush. Operation Fortitude was specifically designed to provide deception for Operation Overlord. Among the many tools used by Fortitude were double agents, fake radio traffic and inflatable vehicles and craft designed to convince the Germans that the buildup of forces were intended to strike at Norway and/or the Pas-de-Calais region of France. Operation Neptune The seaborne aspects of Operation Overlord were known as Operation Neptune, and involved the embarkation of the troops, their transport across the English Channel, and their landings at Normandy. The Neptune forces were also responsible for providing covering gunfire during the landings and for continued supply operations following the landings. Air Superiority By early June of 1944 the Allies had achieved air superiority over the skies of France, and had reduced the Luftwaffe to an almost token force. The Allied control of the air would play a key role in limiting the Germans ability to maneuver their forces once the Overlord landings began. With complete control of the skies, Allied planes could easily identify and destroy German forces moving during daylight. .. ...s were more difficult to locate and disable. Although the fighting at Juno Beach was more intense than that at Gold or Sword, the Canadians managed to exit the beach only a half an hour after landing. Sword Beach The British troops at Sword Beach encountered relatively little initial resistance from the Germans, but were later tasked with repelling a counterattack by the German 21st Panzer Division. Although the 3rd Infantry Division did manage to link up with the 6th Airborne forces, most of their initial objectives, including the capture of Caen, were not met. Aftermath In spite of the myriad of problems encountered by the various landing forces, especially those at Omaha Beach, the Allied forces had established positions inland by the end of June 6th. The Germans, still suspecting that the Normandy landings were a diversion from expected landings in the Pas-de-Calais, failed to launch any significant counterattacks. With beachheads established, air superiority over northern France, and relatively little organized resistance from the Germans, the Allied forces began setting up the necessary supply lines that would be needed for their push into France and on to Germany. Operation Overlord Essay -- History Attack Overlord Germany Essays Operation Overlord Operation Overlord was the code name used for the Allied attack on German-occupied Northern France in the summer of 1944. The organization responsible for planning this task was SHAEF, the Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force, and the officer in command of Overlord was Major General Dwight D. Eisenhower. Command of ground forces was given to General Bernard Montgomery, while naval forces would be commanded by Admiral Bertram Ramsay. Air forces were under the control of Air Chief Marshal Trafford Leigh-Mallary, and supply and logistics the task of Lt. General John Lee. Operation Bolero The extensive buildup of troops and supplies required to support Overlord began in April of 1942. Known as Operation Bolero, this effort eventually saw the movement of over 1.5 million military personnel to England, as well as the materials required to house, clothe and feed them. The total number of soldiers participating in all aspects of the invasion numbered 2.8 million. Operation Bodyguard The overall effort to deceive the Germans was known as Operation Bodyguard, and consisted of ten smaller operations including Operation Fortitude North, Operation Fortitude South, Operation Graffham and Operation Royal Flush. Operation Fortitude was specifically designed to provide deception for Operation Overlord. Among the many tools used by Fortitude were double agents, fake radio traffic and inflatable vehicles and craft designed to convince the Germans that the buildup of forces were intended to strike at Norway and/or the Pas-de-Calais region of France. Operation Neptune The seaborne aspects of Operation Overlord were known as Operation Neptune, and involved the embarkation of the troops, their transport across the English Channel, and their landings at Normandy. The Neptune forces were also responsible for providing covering gunfire during the landings and for continued supply operations following the landings. Air Superiority By early June of 1944 the Allies had achieved air superiority over the skies of France, and had reduced the Luftwaffe to an almost token force. The Allied control of the air would play a key role in limiting the Germans ability to maneuver their forces once the Overlord landings began. With complete control of the skies, Allied planes could easily identify and destroy German forces moving during daylight. .. ...s were more difficult to locate and disable. Although the fighting at Juno Beach was more intense than that at Gold or Sword, the Canadians managed to exit the beach only a half an hour after landing. Sword Beach The British troops at Sword Beach encountered relatively little initial resistance from the Germans, but were later tasked with repelling a counterattack by the German 21st Panzer Division. Although the 3rd Infantry Division did manage to link up with the 6th Airborne forces, most of their initial objectives, including the capture of Caen, were not met. Aftermath In spite of the myriad of problems encountered by the various landing forces, especially those at Omaha Beach, the Allied forces had established positions inland by the end of June 6th. The Germans, still suspecting that the Normandy landings were a diversion from expected landings in the Pas-de-Calais, failed to launch any significant counterattacks. With beachheads established, air superiority over northern France, and relatively little organized resistance from the Germans, the Allied forces began setting up the necessary supply lines that would be needed for their push into France and on to Germany.

Love and Hate in Shakespeares Romeo and Juliet Essay examples -- Shake

Analyze the Portrayal of Love and Hate in ‘Romeo and Juliet’ The emotions of love and hate are at the forefront of the theme in this play by William Shakespeare. The Oxford Standard English Dictionary defines ‘love’ as ‘to have strong feelings of affection for another adult and be romantically and sexually attracted to them, or to feel great affection for a friend or person in your family’ and defines ‘hate’ as ‘a feeling of dislike so strong that it demands action dislike intensely, to feel antipathy or aversion towards someone or something’. However, words cannot portray such wide and powerful emotions. Love and hate include elements of life, passion, long-term bonding and dislike, disgust and loathing respectively. It is because Shakespeare incorporates each of these elements into the play that Romeo and Juliet is the ultimate story of love and hate. The feud that exists between the two houses is demonstrated to the audience in the very first scene and this sets the tone for the rest of the play. As you know, the first impressions of the characters are extremely important so the quarrels and the duel prepare the audience for what is to come. We also learn that the feud isn’t just between the heads of the two household, but ‘The quarrel is between our masters and us their men’ (I.i.17). Only the disgust and contempt that each house shows for the other on this level can be regarded as true hate. The deep feelings of hate that are demonstrated here show that the characters are serious in what they say, and this helps to add a serious note to their joking and mocking of each other, which in turn adds credibility to their proposed actions. The first impression of Tybalt is one of evil as he enters during a fight which associa... ...rs a resemblance to the works on which it is based, it is also quite similar in plot, theme, and dramatic ending to the story of Pyramus and Thisbe. Shakespeare was well aware of this similarity, he includes a reference to Thisbe in Romeo and Juliet and one can look at the play-within-a-play in A Midsummer Night’s Dream as a distortion of the story that Shakespeare tells in Romeo and Juliet. Shakespeare wrote Romeo and Juliet in full knowledge that the story he was telling was old, clichà ©d, and an easy target for parody. In writing Romeo and Juliet Shakespeare unreservedly set himself the task of telling a love story despite the considerable forces he knew were stacked against its success. Through the incomparable intensity of his language Shakespeare succeeded in this effort, writing a play that is universally accepted in Western culture as the ultimate love story. Love and Hate in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet Essay examples -- Shake Analyze the Portrayal of Love and Hate in ‘Romeo and Juliet’ The emotions of love and hate are at the forefront of the theme in this play by William Shakespeare. The Oxford Standard English Dictionary defines ‘love’ as ‘to have strong feelings of affection for another adult and be romantically and sexually attracted to them, or to feel great affection for a friend or person in your family’ and defines ‘hate’ as ‘a feeling of dislike so strong that it demands action dislike intensely, to feel antipathy or aversion towards someone or something’. However, words cannot portray such wide and powerful emotions. Love and hate include elements of life, passion, long-term bonding and dislike, disgust and loathing respectively. It is because Shakespeare incorporates each of these elements into the play that Romeo and Juliet is the ultimate story of love and hate. The feud that exists between the two houses is demonstrated to the audience in the very first scene and this sets the tone for the rest of the play. As you know, the first impressions of the characters are extremely important so the quarrels and the duel prepare the audience for what is to come. We also learn that the feud isn’t just between the heads of the two household, but ‘The quarrel is between our masters and us their men’ (I.i.17). Only the disgust and contempt that each house shows for the other on this level can be regarded as true hate. The deep feelings of hate that are demonstrated here show that the characters are serious in what they say, and this helps to add a serious note to their joking and mocking of each other, which in turn adds credibility to their proposed actions. The first impression of Tybalt is one of evil as he enters during a fight which associa... ...rs a resemblance to the works on which it is based, it is also quite similar in plot, theme, and dramatic ending to the story of Pyramus and Thisbe. Shakespeare was well aware of this similarity, he includes a reference to Thisbe in Romeo and Juliet and one can look at the play-within-a-play in A Midsummer Night’s Dream as a distortion of the story that Shakespeare tells in Romeo and Juliet. Shakespeare wrote Romeo and Juliet in full knowledge that the story he was telling was old, clichà ©d, and an easy target for parody. In writing Romeo and Juliet Shakespeare unreservedly set himself the task of telling a love story despite the considerable forces he knew were stacked against its success. Through the incomparable intensity of his language Shakespeare succeeded in this effort, writing a play that is universally accepted in Western culture as the ultimate love story.