Bob chuck close

Bob is a piece of artwork created by chuck close in 1970 in the united states. A synthetic polymer white and black painting on canvas. Let is one of the one of series of eight large black and white portraits that Close painted between 1967 and 1970. THe subject if this painting is Robert Israel one of the CLose's friend, a new York based opera designer Chuck Close uses a girding technique . THe effect of this technique Is that the artwork almost looks exactly as the original. He took a photo of Robert and then grid the Image to then copy on the canvas. He uses black planting applied with an allures to lulled up dark tones.The airbrushing helped to blend two or more colors on the planting In a seamless way. IT makes softly define edge colors I will be using the formal analytical frame work to analyze the artwork â€Å"Bob† by Chuck Close created In 1970. I will be analyzing the artwork using the elements and principles of design, looking at the techniques he has used to create the artwork, exploring what type of style he has used and any metaphors and symbols he may have used in his artwork. The elements and principles have been applied to this artwork by using elements ND principles like tone, emphasis, contrast, form, texture and focal point.Close uses tone to create a dark shade in his artwork, this helps make the artwork seem more realistic. Contrast is a large part of this artwork; it shows the realism in the artwork by having the black on white in different parts of the artwork. The texture of the artwork seems smooth; we can easily see the smoothness of the skin because of the tone and emphasis of the lines in the artwork. The focal point of the image is around his eyes and glasses. The technique that Close uses is a girding technique. The wayClose goes about with his technique is that he will find a photo that he has taken and then will grid the image and then transfer that over to another piece of paper or whatever he chooses to work on. The effe ct of this technique is that the artwork almost looks exactly the same as the original photo. The artist was trying to portray a general image of himself. The processes the artist has used to create the artwork are using a camera to capture the image he wants to draw and then grinding the image to blow it up and draw it. The Influence of Close's work is to make photo realistic artworks.The artwork Is realistic. What the artist has done with his technique Is that he has taken photography to the next step by actually drawing the Image In an exact copy of what he had with the image. The artist hasn't used any symbols or metaphors In this Image, the only symbol that I could figure that would be classed as a symbol would be the fact that the artwork Is photo realistic. In the artwork â€Å"Bob† by Chuck Close, we see a range of elements and principles of art, such as tone, emphasis and texture. Due to his grinding technique, It has allowed him to make his artwork to seem realistic .HIS style of photo realism allows him to use the elements and principles to create this type of artwork. Bob chuck close By karakas Chuck Close uses a girding technique . THe effect of this technique is that the artwork image to then copy on the canvas. He uses black painting applied with an airbus to build up dark tones. The airbrushing helped to blend two or more colors on the painting in a seamless way. IT makes softly define edge colors I will be using the formal analytical frame work to analyze the artwork â€Å"Bob† by Chuck Close created in The influence of Close's work is to make photo realistic artworks.

Biology 3.3 Dna Structure

3. 3 & 7. 1 DNA Structure Worksheet 1. Draw and label the structure of a simplified single nucleotide, including sugar, phosphate and base. 2. Complete the table below to show the pairings of the bases in DNA: Purine| Pyrimidine| Adenine| Thymine| Guanine| Cytosine| 3. Where would one find the base uracil? RNA, it replaces thymine 4. In the space below, draw a single strand of three nucleotides, naming the bonds between them and showing the correct relative position of these bonds. The sequence of these bases makes up the genetic code. The red linesrepresent covalent bonds.They are read in groups of three called triplets. These triplets arethen used to send instructions in the cell: to switch genes on and off. 5. Define the term double helix. The term double helix is two strands of DNA that twist around each other. Anti-Parallel 6. In the space below, draw a section of DNA, showing two anti-parallel strands of three nucleotides. Label the bonds which hold the bases together as well a s the correct complementary base pairs. Also include the 3’ and 5’ linkages (and ends), and the distinction between purines and pyramidines. . Explain the relevance of the following in the double-helix structure of DNA: a. Complementary base pairing Complementary base pairing is when G only bonds with C and T only bonds with A and these are found on each strand of the double helix b. Hydrogen bonds Hydrogen bonds between the bases hold together the strands of DNA c. Relative positioning of the sugar-phosphate backbone and the bases The relative positioning of the sugar-phosphate backbone are on the outside and the bases are on the inside of the double helix 8.In the space below, draw the structure of a simplified nucleosome, including the H1 linker and histone proteins. 9. Nucleosomes allow the DNA to be supercoiled. a. What is the approximate length of the DNA strand in one chromosome? The length is (length of 1 bp) (number of bp per cell) which is 2 meters. b. During which phase of the cell cycle is DNA most likely to be supercoiled? Prophase c. Outline how nucleosomes help regulate transcription. 10. Distinguish between unique or single-copy genes and highly repetitive sequences: Single-copy genes| Highly-repetitive sequences| . 5% of genome makes polypeptides. Each codon (mRNA) (3 bases) codes for one amino acid. 3% codes for ‘on/off' gene switches. Within each eukaryotic genes there are:Exons (coding regions)Introns (non-coding regions which are edited out)  Ã‚  Every gene has a ‘switch', for example a skin cell will turn off unnecessary genes so it does not perform the wrong activity (e. g. producing blood)  | Makes up about 5% – 45% of the genome. Once called junk DNAAlso known as satellite DNA, each repeated sequence can be 5-300 base pairsHRSs are used in genetic fingerprinting.This is because they accumulate mutations rapidly| Not all of the base sequences in DNA are translated. Highly repetitive base sequences ar e not translated. They consist of sequences of between 5 and 300 bases that may be repeated up to 10 000 times. They constitute 5-45% of eukaryotic DNA. Single-copy genes or unique genes are translated and constitute a surprisingly small proportion of eukaryotic DNA. 11. Distinguish between introns and exons in eukaryotic genes. Exons (coding regions) Introns (non-coding regions which are edited out)

Australian Migration Law and Practice

Sukhon Chaiprasit is a legal immigrant to Australia. She holds a valid visa that is due to expire within a period of one month and twenty days. However, as a result of new unforeseen developments, it is likely that she shall be required to extend her stay in Australia for a further period of six (6) months for reasons to be disclosed herein below. The submissions below are made to the Minister for Immigration and Border Protection on behalf of Sukhon Chaiprasit seeking a waiver of condition 8503 that was imposed on her Visitor Visa (Tourist Stream) Subclass 600 so as to allow her to apply for a Class UB Medical Treatment visa, subclass 602. The relevant facts to the application for waiver are as articulated below: The Applicant (Sukhon Chaiprasit) is a citizen of Thailand. She arrived in Australia two months ago on a visitor visa (tourist stream) Class FA, Subclass 600. This class of visa has conditions 8101, 8201, 8501 and 8503 imposed on it. Seven days ago, Sukhon Chaiprasit was attacked by an assailant and suffered a concussion. Upon treatment, her doctors prepared a report strongly r mending that she should not travel for a further six (6) months period. Further, she is required to visit the hospital every two (2) days for check-up- the medical expenses in this respect are covered by the Crimes pensation Tribunal. In addition, Sukhon’s assailant has been apprehended and consequently, she is required as a key witness in the case against the assailant. However, her visa was issued two months and twenty days ago with a permitted stay period of three months from the date of Sukhon’s arrival. Therefore, having been in Australia for two months, the remaining stay period is one month. This period is clearly insufficient considering the fact that she will be required to stay for six months and it is untold what period the case against her assailant is likely to take. In light of the above circumstances, these submissions are made on Sukhon’s behalf to have condition 8503 (which imposes a â€Å"No Further Stay† ultimatum) waived to allow her to apply for a Class UB Medical Treatment visa, subclass 602.   Having briefly stated the facts above, the issue at hand is whether the circumstances arising above are sufficient to allow the waiver of the No Further Stay condition. The applicant acknowledges that she freely and knowingly[1] conceded to the imposition of condition 8503 whose effect is to bar her from applying for any other visa except under exceptional circumstances. The law makes clear provision for the waiver of the no further stay conditions. The purpose of the submissions herein shall be to demonstrate that Sukhon’s circumstances indeed entitle her to the waiver within the parameters allowed by the law. Reference is made to the Migration Regulations of 1994 which provide for the conditions to be fulfilled before condition 8503 is waived.[2] These conditions are: That subsequently after grant of the visa, pelling and passionate circumstances have arisen; It must be demonstrated that the above circumstances are present before Sukhon can be granted the waiver sought for. At this point, it is necessary to appreciate the fact that though Sukhon has expressed   interest in the male nurse, any intentions to establish a relationship with him will not be of any equilibrium to the Minister’s decision making process because that factor will not be considered as a circumstance â€Å"beyond the applicant’s control.† It is hereby submitted that there exists strong conviction that Sukhon’s circumstances have satisfied the prerequisite conditions for the grant of a waiver of condition 8503 as analyzed below: As Sukhon narrated and as supported by the attached medical report, Sukhon was recently attacked by an assailant who left here with a concussion. Further, upon treatment, it has b e apparent that Sukhon is not medically fit to travel for a further period of six (6) months. In addition, Sukhon has been called as a witness in the case against her assailant. With her stay period expiring in a month’s time, Sukhon will inevitably be required to stay longer than initially contemplated. Taking into account her medical condition, and the fact that she is undergoing treatment, it will not be in her best interest to leave the state merely because her visa validity period would have e to an end. This is therefore a pelling and also a passionate circumstance that will necessitate the waiver of the limiting condition and allow her to apply for the Class UB Medical Treatment visa, subclass 602. The act of being attacked while returning from a dinner in Melbourne’s CBD was totally beyond Sukhon’s control, if at all. It would be a fallacy to even contemplate that she would have knowingly exposed herself to the attack which caused her a concussion. Therefore, she was merely a victim of violence which any visitor to Australia should not be subjected to; and should not be made to suffer consequences thereof. It is submitted that as a result of the attack, there has arisen a major change in Sukhon circumstances that necessitate the intended further stay in Australia. As the doctors’ report indicates, Sukhon is not medically fit to travel for at least a period of six months and she is required to visit the doctors every two days for medical check-up. Further, she is required to appear in court as a witness to the case against her assailant. Therefore, it is argued that these are clear major changes in Sukhon’s circumstances which necessitate her further stay for the medically r mended period of six months.   From the submissions herein above, it has been explained how Sukhon arrived in Australia under a visitor visa (tourist stream) with, inter alia, condition 8503. It is further illustrated how she was attacked by an assailant; an attack which, according to the doctors, has rendered her to be medically not fit to travel for at least the next six months. In addition, she has been required to be a witness in the case against her assailant, though it has not been stated when the case is likely to begin. It has been argued in the preceding paragraphs that the circumstances Sukhon is in do satisfy the conditions for waiver of condition 8503 because they are pelling, passionate, beyond the control of Sukhon and they have changed Sukhon’s circumstances substantially.   It is humbly submitted that the Minister ought to take into consideration the best interest of the applicant whose medical condition may expose her health to further deterioration. Further, for the interest of justice, Sukhon deserves a chance to see to it that her assailant faces the law. Denying her this opportunity will be tantamount to an injustice on her. In light of the above-stated circumstances, these submissions are made on behalf of Sukhon for the Minister to waive condition 8503 to allow her to apply for a Class UB Medical Treatment visa, subclass 602. This question interrogates why the further visa application was invalid and whether Sukhon is subject to section 48 of the Migration Act, 1958. Condition 8503 limits the circumstances under which one can extend his/her stay in Australia beyond the allowed period of time.[3] An applicant seeking to extend their stay must first make a formal application to the Department of Immigration and Border Protection vide Form 1447[4] or by writing seeking a waiver of the condition, provided that the conditions for waiver as per Regulation 2.05(4) of the Migration Regulations of 1994 are met.[5] Therefore, by failing to make the application for the waiver and subject to the application being accepted, Sukhon’s application for another visa was invalid because condition 8503 was still operational in her visa.   Summarily, section 48 applies to non-citizens in the migration zone who, inter alia, do not hold a substantive visa, their visa application has been refused (other than an application for a bridging visa) or cancelled and have been removed from Australia and subsequently returns under Section 42(2A)(d) or (e).[6] A substantive visa as defined under the Act means a visa that is not a bridging visa, a criminal justice visa or an enforcement visa.[7] The current visitor visa held by Sukhon, which is still valid, is a substantive visa within the meaning of the Act. Without examining the other provisions of the Act, the fact that Sukhon’s visa is a substantive visa in itself means that section 48 is inapplicable to her because of the use of the conjunctive â€Å"and† in subsection 1 which makes it mandatory for all the conditions stated therein to be existent before the section can apply. Further, subsection 2 does not also apply Sukhon has not been removed from the migration zone.   Migration agents are governed by a Code of Conduct as set out in the Migration Act 1958 under.[8] Further, Regulation 8 Schedule 2 of the Migration Agents Regulations (1998) provides substantively the provisions that agents are required to observe during the discharge of the matters for which they have been licensed.[9] For Sukhon’s case, the potential breaches the former agent would have mitted, in the absence of actual facts, can only be speculated by taking into consideration the existing circumstances. For instance, paragraph 2.3, as read with paragraph 2.5, requires an agent to act with professionalism and reflect sound knowledge of the provisions of the Act.[10] Therefore, the agent ought to have known that Sukhon’s visitor visa had condition 8503 imposed on it and should have advised her that her application for any other visa would not be acceptable unless she successfully applied for a waiver of the condition first. Paragraph 2.6 of the regulations expects an agent to access the client’s request and to be candid/frank about the prospects of success of the client’s application for visa.[11] Again, the agent must have failed to observe this regulation and proceeded to lead Sukhon on to make the application that turned out to be unsuccessful. Under paragraph 2.9, an agent is required to refrain from making statements in support of an application that are misleading.[12] Being a qualified agent, it can only be assumed that the agent was fully aware of condition 8503 on Sukhon’s visa. Therefore, by trying to make another application for a visitor’s visa, it can only be presumed that the agent knowingly made the application for the visa knowing the same to be inaccurate. For these breaches, the client (Sukhon) has a right to make a plaint to the Migration Agents Registration Authority. Therefore, the agent failed to have due regard to the fact that Sukhon depended on the agent’s knowledge and experience as provided under paragraph 2.4.[13]   Anon, (2016). [Online] Available at: https://www.border.gov.au/Forms/Documents/1447.pdf [Accessed 18 Jul. 2016]. Australian Visa News. (2013). â€Å"No Further Stay† conditions on Australian visas: can they be removed (â€Å"waived†)? [Online] Available at: https://australianvisanews /2013/02/16/no-further-stay-conditions-on-australian-visas-can-they-be-removed-waived/ [Accessed 19 Jul. 2016]. Mara.gov.au. (2016). Code of conduct - Office of the Migration Agents Registration Authority. [Online] Available at: https://www.mara.gov.au/b ing-an-agent/professional-standards-and-obligations/code-of-conduct/ [Accessed 18 Jul. 2016]. Migration Agents Regulations (1998) (cth) Ogawa, M., 2009. Hypothetical: potential problems of a student visa. Bond L. Rev., 21, p.i. Vrachnas, J., Bagaric, M., Dimopoulos, P. and Pathinayake, A., 2011. Migration and refugee law: Principles and practice in Australia. Cambridge University Press. Zhao, L. and Kondoh, K., 2007. Temporary and permanent immigration under unionization. Review of Development Economics, 11(2), pp.346-358.

Reply2 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Reply2 - Essay Example For example, Adolescents Training and Learning to Avoid Steroids (ATLAS) has received numerous awards for delaying the age of drinking and reducing alcohol abuse, as well as reducing the number of substance-related consequences and experiences (Goldberg et al., 2000). In essence, ATLAS provides adolescents with healthy sports nutrition, which provide a strength-building alternative to illegal drugs, alcohol, and other harmful substances. I would like to add that community health nurses integrate community knowledge and involvement concerning a population on three levels: clinical understanding of the illness experience of individual patients, personal understanding, and the families in the population (Hebda & Czar, 2013). The community health nurses communicate the illness and health experiences of individuals and families in vulnerable populations, and educate members of the target community to express their health issues. Most importantly, the nurses pass down their knowledge from health studies to individuals and vulnerable groups through advocacy, programs, and other interventions. Sex education, birth control, conflict resolution, and anger management programs are very important. In most schools, they fall under the peer counselor’s office. Perhaps high schools and education bodies should consult community health nurses while developing their guidance and counselling models. According to Border & Drury (1992), school counselling interventions considerably influence student’s personal and educational development. The idea of consulting CDC. American Association and the Florida government is brilliant. This will ensure that the programs and interventions are synced with statewide efforts to prevent substance abuse, violence, and pregnancy in high school students. Goldberg, L. et al. (2000). The adolescents training and learning to avoid steroids program: Preventing use and promoting health behaviors. Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent

Napoleon The Third Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Napoleon The Third - Term Paper Example Any dissenting and uprisings were thoroughly repressed and intimidation tactics were employed in electoral processes. The second Empire was established in November, 1852 with Louis Napoleon becoming Emperor Napoleon III. For the next years, Napoleon III used dictatorial leadership style and encouraged both railway construction and establishment of the first French Investment bank. Napoleon provided better housing and free medical care for workers in order to reduce the tensions among the working class. Napoleon also reconstructed Paris by ensuring new water supply, sewage systems and circular plazas (Spielvogel 666). Napoleon III is considered to have personal power since he asserted that â€Å"nothing could trouble the clear vision of his judgment or the strength of his resolution†. Napoleon foreign policy contributed to the unification of Italy and Germany. Napoleon participated in the Crimean War between 1854 and 1856 and is idea was to free the French from the early ideolo gy that France should not participate in peace arbitration across Europe that had been implemented in 1814 to 1815. Napoleon III undertook an aggressive foreign policy in all major wars and confrontations across the globe. His pursuit for French supremacy in Europe led to success in Crimean war in the 1850s and the ultimate unification of Italy and Germany (Spielvogel 666). In Italy, Napoleon III wanted to prevent Spain and Austria from extending the authority to papal Rome and intervened militarily in order to restore the authority of pope in Rome. The revolutions of 1848 led to nationalism ideas across the Italian Peninsula as Lombardy tried to rise against the influence of Austria dominance in the region. The kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia Prime minister Count Camillo di Cavour secured a diplomatic alliance with Napoleon III in 1859 before the onset of Franco-Austrian War. The Austrian Army was considered a common enemy and was defeated by Piedmont and French forces at Solferino an d Magenta thus surrendering Lombardy. In early 1860, Italian states voted to join the kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia while Nice and Savoy was relinquished to France. By 1862, the Kingdom of Italy was proclaimed with only Venetia and Rome outside the kingdom. Napoleon III was interested in protecting the Papal States and Rome from any Italian occupation, but Prussia declared the Franco-Prussian War (1879-1871). Italians took advantage of the ongoing Franco-Prussian war and invaded the Papal States and Rome and annexed them to the Kingdom of Italy. Finally, the Italian capital became Rome thus symbolizing the final unification of Italy (Spielvogel 668). The outcomes of Prussian war surprised Napoleon, but Napoleon III tried to tighten his ties with anti-Prussian South German states but Germans had become economically advanced and nationalistic. The German revolutionaries of 1848 advocated for national militia and trial by jury. Bismarck advocated for real-politik and allied with Austria in fighting Danes in 1862 in order to protect Holstein which was a member of German Confederation. After the Austro-Prussian War in 1866, Prussia annexed some German states while allowing some Austrian states to maintain a considerable level of independence. In 1867, Bismarck a union of the Northern German states under pretext of Prussia and several German states in the north joined the German Confederat

Has NAFTA proven beneficial to the American economy Explain Essay

Has NAFTA proven beneficial to the American economy Explain - Essay Example United States also made certain alteration in their international trade strategies. As because of NAFTA, Mexico’s export increased to a significant amount and Canada became huge market for America. It has been claimed that NAFTA has been a success for all the member countries, but reality is little different. It is true that there are certain significant economic improvements that have taken place due to NAFTA, but that is one side of the coin as also there are certain major disadvantages of NAFTA which include job losses, problems regarding environment, declining standards of safety and health etc. NAFTA’s major objective was to remove the trade barriers and increase free trade between its member countries. NAFTA, although, has improved the export growth of its member countries, but at the same time it has resulted into many critical economic as well as environmental problems for its member countries. Among various disadvantages of NAFTA, most important one is the loss of jobs in United States. Manufacturers in United States, because of NAFTA, got the freedom of outsourcing or moving jobs to Mexico. Mexican labors are available at a cost which is much lower than that of American labor. As a result of this manufacturers shifted their production unit to Mexico, and rules in NAFTA allowed them to do so legally. This resulted huge job losses in manufacturing industry in US. Manufacturers, who continued their operation in US, reduced the salary of US workers. Almost 879,280 jobs were lost in US during the time period of 1994 to 2002. There was actually significant increase in job creation from 1994 to 2000. But from 2001 unemployment started to increase and by October, 2003 almost 2.4 millions people lost their job. Apart from manufacturing industry, other industries which moved to Mexico include textiles, electrical appliances, computer etc. States which were badly affected include T exas, California, Michigan and New York. Apart form these job

Long Term Financing of Companies Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Long Term Financing of Companies - Essay Example Financing is necessary for a company to continue its business or improve the business. Mainly financing is necessary for the operations, continuing the day to day activities or expansion of a company. Financing may be of short term or long term. Short term financing is necessary for meeting the need of working capital when long term financing is necessary for a company mainly for expansion of its. If the firm wants to expand its business area then they have to plan for a long term period, because the expansion of a company is not a matter of some days. Then the company needs the long term financing. Usually a company obtains various sources for getting long term financing as there are various sources available in the market for long term financing. The cost of capital is different for the different sources. A company when obtain for different sources of financing then they found for the most suitable sources for financing from the available bunch. This paper is an attempt for analyzi ng the various sources of long term financing and find the type of long term financing is obtain by different sectors. Long Term Financing Sources and its Advantages and Disadvantages Long term sources of financing are needed for a company for getting the needed finance for generally over a year. Long term financing is necessary for expansion of the business.... But the opportunity cost of the source is much as the factor of paying the dividends to the shareholders is there. The retained earnings are also fluctuating as it depend on the company’s profit after tax, so a company can’t depend only on this source for long term financing. All types of companies use this source of financing. Depreciation Charges: The depreciation charges of a company is charged on the assets, but there is no cash outflow for the company but depreciation charge is calculated for the calculation of a company’s profit. As the depreciation save the tax charge on income so the tax savings can be invested again by the company for generating return (Shim and Siegel, 1999, p.198). The cost of capital of the source depreciation charged is minimal which is an advantage for the company but the amount generated for reinvestment is not so much, it is even less than the retained earnings generally. Al types of companies use this internal source of financing . Equity Shares: The equity shares issued by a company in the stock exchange are a large source of investing. The companies issue shares through an underwriter to the market. The investors who invest in the company are thereby become the owner of the company (Hamer and Hamer, 2008, p.4). The company management can generate finance by issuing the stock as an Initial Public Offering (IPO) and Follow on Private Offering (FPO). The advantages to going public and generating the capital from the market is that the cost of capital is not much for using the sources (Draho, 2004, p.3). The companies have to pay dividend to the shareholders of the company when the shares are ordinary or in the form of preference shares. The companies have to provide dividends

ENTERPRICE RESOURCE PLANNING Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

ENTERPRICE RESOURCE PLANNING - Research Paper Example The intention of this study is an information requirements determination as core and very major as one of the major interactive activities in system development. Organizations now compete in the global marketplace with the use of technology and communications. No matter what industry type or what the size of the company is, the right choice of tools will help the company in organizing expenses, analyzing sales, responding to customers, manufacturers, suppliers and partners. The risk of a schedule flaw in system management is of great importance. Scheduling is the process of arranging the events of the project in given time ranges. Risk of this occurring can be high only when the developer concentrates on a particular process more than the others. This could result to non-completion, poor product due to hurried process, and ignoring of some crucial procedures in the product’s scope. The probability of this happening is a 2, kind of a low rating, given the involvement of a super visor that will help the developer keep up to the schedule. Resource allocation is one of the trickiest ventures in any given project. The major resources that could be required in the student projects is travelling to and fro the respectable institutions, and maybe paying up for some services such as SMS servers and hosting services. The risk for this is 4, quite a high probability given the financial situation that students stand. The developer might later realize that the specifications given or found are not exactly comprehensive. Refiguring or restructuring the design to match new specifications is quite tricky. The probability for this happening is 5, given the probability of requirement inflation, usually another risk. This is the worst risk that could be expected in any project, as it would combine each of the other risks as aforementioned. This could only thus be possible if the other risks have a high probability of happening. The probability could thus be the average of e ach of the other risks. This would result with the inadequacy of the Software Requirement Specifications document, usually done after the requirements of a given system have been analyzed. The developer might later realize that the design or rather system requires additional requirements for better functionality. This automatically alters the design and thus schedule. The probability fo

Present a brief autobiography of your experiences as a bicultural Essay

Present a brief autobiography of your experiences as a bicultural subject - Essay Example The decision to emigrate from my country of birth to the USA was not made lightly, yet I believe that it was a wise choice to make, for my husband, myself, and, our daughter. Moving to the USA has meant that our lives have changed quite markedly in the last four years. The USA is a country that seemed to us to be a land of opportunity, and the place that I needed to go to fulfil my aims and ambitions in life. For life loses its meaning if you do not attempt to achieve your ambitions and follow your dreams. My husband and I hoped that being bicultural subjects would help us all to be better people. I had an idea of the diverse culture of the USA from media reports besides the books about the country I read as a university student in Korea. To be honest the culture and the language of the USA has fascinated me from an early age. The significant presence of American brands such as Coca-Cola and Starbucks as well as American films and music means that American culture and the English language have spread across the globe. Korean people spends much time to learn English nowadays. They think that speaking English will make success stories of their lives. Sometime my friend who lives in Korea called me that I envy your daughter because she speaks and learns English at a child care center. My daughter conversely learnt Korean as a second language, and the influence of English is always surrounding her. My cultural identity, linguistic, and national background is actually Korean, as South Korea is the place where I was born and lived until deciding to leave my home to complete my education and develop a career as well. In South Korea the Korean culture and language is dominant, although there are American and Japanese influences. My husband has the linguistic, cultural, and national background as me, and we did not want our daughter to miss out on her heritage. I first began to learn

Loyalty Program of the Apple Inc Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Loyalty Program of the Apple Inc - Essay Example The company that is the subject of this research is Apple Inc., an American-based company operating in various countries, headquartered in the state if California. The company specializes in the designing, developing and sale of electronics including software, personal computers, and cell phones. In addition, the company offers other services and products including Smartphones, tablets, web browsers to name but a few. As of the year 2014, Apple offered permanent jobs to over 72,000 people, and its profit for same year stood at a whopping $182 billion. Some of the competitors Apple faces include Samsung, Nokia, and Microsoft among others, all of whom offer either part of the similar services or the same as Apple. When it comes to the company’s loyalty program, Apple Inc. has been noted to have a strict one where a majority of the customers hardly qualify for it. According to Meyer-Waarden, Apple’s customers are expected to spend a considerable amount of money for them to qualify for the company’s loyalty program. Sadly, many of them do not hit the target thus keep missing the goodies the company offers. Even though the company has recently announced an adjustment to its loyalty program requirements, it is still hard for many consumers to reach the target. For instance, Apple recently announced that any school intending to have its classrooms filled with the Mac computers would indeed enjoy a discount. Such institutions will enjoy a discount of 6% to 8% when the purchases are made from the company. From the above findings, it is clear that Apple’s loyalty program is wanting, and requires improvement since there are other competitors who could capitalize on this weakness. While Apple has continued to offer still competition to other players in the industry, its loyalty program requires measures to make sure customers are retained.

Comparing The Yellow Wallpaper with Hop Frog Essay Example for Free

Comparing The Yellow Wallpaper with Hop Frog Essay The Yellow Wallpaper and Hop Frog were both written at a time of social turbulence and revolution. Poe wrote Hop Frog twelve years prior to the American civil war, so it is fitting that many of the ideas in the story carry a strong anti-slavery message. Similarly, The Yellow Wallpaper was written in 1892 just before the climax of equal-rights for women. Gillmans The Yellow Wallpaper is one of the early feminist texts in which her writing criticises the position that women were oppressed into and the ignorance of society as a whole. Both Gillman and Poe attack fiercely these ideas that were both upheld and willingly accepted by the majority of society. These two settings immediately portray the two central characters, a woman and a slave, as two of an unheard minority, who were subjected to an unjust, patriarchal world. One of the main similarities between Hop Frog and The Yellow Wallpaper is the atmosphere of each of the stories. Both are horror stories are very dark, and have a horror genre, however Hop Frog is also similar to a fairy tale in that it is quite unbelievable, and where Hop Frogs surroundings are fantasy, the narrators surroundings are quite real. Despite their differences, both of the storys surroundings and atmosphere are symbolic of the way the central character is feeling or being treated. For example, gluttony and corruption of the king and his ministers surround Hop Frog and Poes darkly vivid descriptions of these reflect the mood of Hop-Frog. The oily ministers and a corpulent king sound simply grotesque and fill the reader with a sort of stomach churning unease and tension at the treatment of Hop Frog. The corruptness and gluttony is hugely significant as it shows us the danger and easiness of becoming influenced and eventually corrupted by greed and alcohol. The narrator of The Yellow Wallpaper has instead a room. It is describes as having barred widows and a nailed down bed, which give the impression of a prison rather than a place to become well again in. In fact the room actually does become a prison for the narrator, becoming more and more horrible as the story progresses. By the repetitive use of the word, joke in the first paragraph Poe emphasises the discomfort of Hop Frog as well as achieving a hugely tense atmosphere. This makes the reader, who realises that this seemingly jovial and harmless behaviour of the king and his courtiers is in fact, a lot more damaging and sinister, feel the tension and discomfort that Hop Frog endures. Like Hop Frog, The Yellow Wallpaper also has a tense atmosphere achieved by the speeded up pace of the story and the very short sentences, which flit from one idea to another. These short sentences show the alertness of the narrators mind as well as her increasing madness as she is left with no stimulation other than her own thoughts. As the story progresses the narrators madness grows and consequently her surroundings become more and more an extension of her own nightmarish imagination, eventually becoming as fantastical as Hop Frogs. Throughout the story, the wallpaper in the room is a metaphor for the narrators illness and as her insanity grows, the wallpaper becomes more and more hideous. At the beginning of the story, it is described as horrible wallpaper. Her initial rejection of the wallpaper, shown when the narrator says; I dont like our room and asks John Let us go downstairs, is indicative of her want to get better and her rejection of insanity. The wallpaper is described as having a sickly sulphur tint, representing her illness, and appears to grow, fungus and toadstools suggests that her illness is growing, whilst Budding and sprouting suggest the continuity of this growth. Despite the fact that the images of the wallpaper worsen as time goes on, the narrator quickly becomes obsessed by it, spending hours studying it. The narrator describes how It dwells on my mind so. Eventually, the narrator becomes so mad, that it is as if she is schizophrenic. She begins to see herself in the wallpaper as a woman, stooping down and creeping behind the pattern. As time progresses, the faint woman becomes clearer and stronger as the narrator becomes weaker. This shows her sane self, losing the battle to her insane self. Despite the awful surroundings, outside of her barred windows lies the garden. In contrast to the wallpaper, the garden represents the narrators hope of freedom. The garden is described as delicious and where everything in the wallpaper is bad and infectious, everything in the garden is good and healing. However the narrator is locked away with her illness and is unable to reach the garden, which holds the key to her freedom, How I wish he [John] would let me go she tells us. This creates dramatic irony, as everyone knows what the narrator needs, including the narrator herself, except the narrat ors own husband John. Just as the wallpaper and the narrators madness increase as the story progresses, the behavior of the king towards Hop Frog worsens. This is shown by Poes descriptions of the king, starting as our king, turning into a tyrant and becoming finally a monster. By describing the king in this way, the reader is not only made to feel sympathy for Hop Frog by portraying him as a powerless victim of this cruel abuse, but also make us forgive his final act of revenge, which is in fact utterly terrible. The King and his ministers are abusive and exploitative towards Hop Frog and Trippetta. Poe illustrates this particularly by the reference to alcohol, The king takes advantage of Hop Frogs intolerance to wine it excited the poor cripple almost to madness and sadistically he took pleasure in forcing the cripple to drink. Poe describes how Hop Frog was forced to be merry as it was the poor dwarfs birthday and he is made to obey the command to drink to absent friends, which forced tears to his eyes. This is incredibly ironic, as Hop Frog is not with his friend because he is a slave in the court of the king. In the yellow wallpaper, the narrators monster is her own husband, John, a physician. He ignorantly suffocates his wife, leaving her with no option but to escape into her own madness. He threatens her with Weir Mitchell who was renowned for treating women with this temporary nervousness. The narrator describes how he is like john and my brother, only more so, showing her wish not to be sent to him. John also keeps the narrator away from human contact, starving her of any stimulation or interaction. Despite his obvious love for her he treats her like a possession, this is shown when he fails to regard her as a human being by addressing her as she as if she isnt even there. This also symbolises the fact that he has slowly removed her identity. John regards his wife with little more intelligence than a child, shown by his constantly patronising tone. He calls her little goose and little girl as well as remarking bless her as if she is little older than five. John also shows himself to be really rather selfish when he implores her get well for me. Despite everything, we have to believe that John really does love his wife and wants to help her. But it is through John that Gillman makes a very poignant observation of the way in which society treats women, pointing out the real danger of ignorance. The Narrator in The Yellow wallpaper is portrayed as an extremely bright creative woman, despite the way John regards her. She expresses her thoughts and releases some of the energy that she is so full of through writing. However John forbids that she should write, the narrator tells us I am absolutely forbidden to work. The narrator herself tells us herself that excitement and change would do me good. Instead of excitement and change the narrator is confined to her bed and made to sleep most of the day I lie down ever so much now, John thinks its good for me. However, it is not good for her and the narrator describes how I dont sleep much at night, showing the disturbance of her mind. This results in the narrator having an enormous amount of pent up energy which, when combined with her inability to express herself creates enormous tension in the story. As the narrator searches frantically for an outlet for her imagination she inevitably becomes mad seeking the much-needed stimulation within the wallpaper. The narrators inability to express herself can be compared with Hop Frogs loss of control to the king when he is forced to drink. Hop Frog is described as being driven to madness by the wine, and madness Poe reminds us is no comfortable feeling. In both stories the position of women is severely criticized. In Hop Frog, Trippettas position as both a slave and a woman is exploited. Her grace and exquisite beauty is described as being universally admired. Poe describes how she was admired and petted suggesting the shocking abuse she is subject to. Poe describes how the king threw the entire contents of the goblet in her face, suggesting the complete humiliation that she suffered. In The Yellow Wallpaper, we are introduced to Jennie who is the sister of John. She is described as a perfect and enthusiastic housekeeper. Typically of a nineteenth century Lady, Jennie is subservient accepting her position willingly and gratefully. Gillman describes how she hopes for no better profession. Jennie represents the women of society who have grown to accept and are either to weak or to scared to rebel against a life that is no better than that of a slaves. The narrators position as a woman is very similar to Hop Frogs. She is treated as a possession by her husband John and is seen to have no real opinions or views. She describes how the heads that she sees are strangle[d] by the wallpaper, turns them up side down and turns their eyes white. This is very much inactive of the way both she and the other women of society feel suffocated and oppressed by their position. Both stories are written in first person narrative, which makes them a lot more personal. Hop Frog is told by an anonymous Narrator, an onlooker, whilst The Yellow Wallpaper is written like a diary with the narrator, a woman suffering from post-natal depression being the central character. Semi-Autobiographical, the story is loosely based on Perkins own experiences. The narrator in The Yellow Wallpaper remains nameless meaning that the narrator could be any woman in society. It is also a metaphor for the identity that has been lost through her illness and the ignorance of her husband, John. Both the characters are the victims of ignorance. The Yellow Wallpaper shows the ignorance of society about post-natal depression and the fact that no one is prepared to accept what the narrator is suffering from. Her case is not serious we are told. The result of this ignorance is that the narrators condition is not cured but instead made worse. She is taken for a rest cure and deprived of interaction with people and stimulation. Her creativity is crushed when she is forbidden to write. This inability to express herself, had dire consequences; instead of recovering she instead she begins to descend further and further into her own madness. The wallpaper in her room, which gradually becomes more and more disturbing as her madness increases, shows this. This can be compared to Hop Frog who because of his difference in appearance is treated appallingly. The central characters of each story are portrayed as prisoners the narrator in The Yellow Wallpaper is portrayed as a prisoner, trapped by her social position; as a woman, by her mental illness and by her own husband. Through her story, Gillman attacks an extremely patriarchal society. She criticises the lack of respect for women and shows her anger towards the inability of women to escape from the position they are oppressed to. The room in which the narrator is put in, in order to rest and recover from her illness is very much symbolic of her imprisonment. It is described as having barred windows and the bedstead as iron, heavy and nailed to the ground representing her being tied down. The fact that the room was a nursery first, is very ironic; Firstly because she has no contact with her own baby and secondly because she has literally been reduced to the position of a child. Similarly, Hop Frog and his fiend Trippetta are salves, whom Poe tells us, were forcibly carried off from their barbarous region and sent, as presents to the king. This is reminiscent of the situation of many black slaves who were taken from Africa to the west at this time, in order to further the endeavours of rich, greedy men at as low a cost a possible. The reality of what faced them ahead was a harsh, cruel life of constant work with no freedom or rights as a human being. However, it is surely wrong that one person should have freedom whilst another is an enslaved possession because they are different. This injustice is shown in the story by the Kings inability to accept Hop Frog as a person, in appearance he is different and so is treated as an object, a possession. Poe describes him as a monkey and a squirrel and suggest that Hop Frog is begging for food crumbs from the royal table. The result this is that Hop Frog is shown to be like a begging animal which serves to ease the K ings conscience at mocking Hop Frog, if he is not a person then he does not have feelings. Both Hop Frog and Trippetta are dwarfed and Hop Frog is a cripple and Walks with an interjectional gait, which comes across as quite funny when it is further described as somewhere between a leap and a wriggle. Despite this Hop Frogs value was trebled in the eyes of the king and the king, who live only for joking exploits Hop Frogs physical disabilities. It is therefor ironic that Hop Frog becomes the court fool which is a metaphor for the fact that he is laughed at by the King. The idea of Hop Frog being mocked for the way he walks is shocking and through this Poe shows the unease of society at the treatment of the slaves. The Kings immoral behaviour mirrors that of the slave traders in America and Europe. Hop Frogs physical disability can be compared to the narrators madness. The endings of each story are hugely significant and it is perhaps through the ending that we see the characters in their true light. Throughout The Yellow Wallpaper the narrator has drifted in and out of her sane mind, she tells us once I always lock the door before I creep. Up until this point the narrator has not accepted that it is herself who is creeping, instead putting it down to the woman. But by the end, she is telling us how she is creeping round and round and round the room. Both a rope and an axe are mentioned, and John faints when he sees the destruction of the room and of his wife. It is quite possible that either of them are dead, however Gillman leaves the ending ambiguous. As well as amplifying the uncertainty of the woman, this could also be down to the fact that Gillman, despite her feminist views, was still a woman in the nineteenth century. She did she want to demonize her character by making her murder her husband no could she afford to openly state that the husband was literally overpowered by his wife. Gillman would not want to upset her feminist audience either, who would be outraged if the narrator killed herself due to the fact that she is such a powerful symbol of a woman wanting to rebel against her oppression. For her to commit suicide would dishearten a lot of these women as it would look as if suicide was the only way out. It seems as if this ending was right for the character who despite becoming insane, is finally happy and tells us with utter satisfaction I got out. Whatever the reason for this ending, there is no doubt that despite the fact that this ending is truly horrific it also comes with a degree of relief. For with the narrators madness comes freedom, and more importantly, the woman finds her identity. Ironically this is not her former self, who is finally named as Jane, but another person; her ins anity. Whilst The Yellow Wallpaper remains ambiguous, the ending of Hop frog is completely literal. Because eof the fact that Poe is a man, he can afford to take more liberties that perhaps Gillman was unable to take. He can openly humiliate and torture the king and the court, who represent the corrupt monarchy; an important part of society, and appear to get away with this. Hop Frog is portrayed as demonic and evil. He achieves his freedom by brutally killing the King and his ministers. Under the guise of the stupid fool he tricks the king and his ministers into thinking that they are dressing up and covers them in tar and flax. The fact that Poe uses tar and Flax is of great significance as it is symbolic of humiliation and punishment throughout history. Hop Frog then chained them together to become the eight chained orangutans. Hop frog shows himself to be very intelligent when, at the dwarfs suggestion, the keys had been deposited with him, in contrast with the stupidity of the King. Po e describes how the they are humiliated when the chains cause them to fall and stumble, The King and his Ministers have gone form mocking Hop Frog to being mocked themselves Hop Frog then suspends them from the ceiling at the ball and burns them alive. The fact that throughout the story Hop Frog never had the presence that the evil King had means that we would not immediately suspect Hop frog. When the grating noise was first introduced, the reader did not think that it could be Hop Frog. However at the end when Hop Frog is perched on the rope with the burning king and ministers below him the grating noise came form the fang like teeth of the dwarf, who ground and gnashed them as he foamed at the mouth. This is an insane a picture as that of the narrator. Hop frog rising up against the king is a complete reversal of roles, the oppressed has become the oppressor. However how is it possible that Poe can get away with this ending without his central character looking like the vengeful murder that he has become? It is perhaps because all-thorough the story, the treatment of Hop Frog as well as his situation has been described as Horrendous, horrific and brutal, evoking incredible sympathy in the reader. As if this isnt reason enough, Poe threw in the added ploy of alcohol, which appears to demonize Hop Frog. Therefor when Hop Frog commits this terrible act, he is immediately forgiven whilst we all revel in the torture that the king and his ministers now incur. In the eyes of the reader justice has been done. Perhaps through his ending, Poe is forecasting what is to come, when the black slaves will rise up against their own white oppressors. It is therefor interesting that n order to truly punish and humiliate them, Hop Frog turns them first black. Like Gillman, Poe does not want to demonize the female character, leaving the question of Trippettas involvement up to the reader to answer.

Herman Miller Inc Essay Example for Free

Herman Miller Inc Essay From the headquarters of Herman Miller Inc. , Curt Pullen talks amid the unmistakable pounding sounds and commotion associated with a construction work site about his companys plan to rebound from the recession. Pullen, the firms executive vice president and president of North America, says the workers are installing new lower-height Herman Miller workstations designed to accommodate a growing trend in offices toward more open, collaborative environments. The new product, called Canvas, is part of the companys market-shift strategy after the demand for office furniture fell hard during the economic downturn. The plan also involves diversifying into the health care and academic furniture markets and more emphasis on emerging economies. The plan appears to be paying off. For the first time in nearly four years the company reported two consecutive quarters of double-digit percentage sales growth after releasing its second-quarter earnings statement on Dec 15th. Orders in the second quarter rose 34% to $462 million. CEO Brian Walker noted the companys expanded market reach as a contributing factor to growth. Significant increases occurred in international markets where sales rose 33%. In 2010 the company acquired UK-based ergonomic workstation manufacturer Colebrook Bosson Saunders and purchased assets from Australian furniture maker Living Edge Group. In 2008, the company announced a partnership with Chinas Posh Office Systems Ltd. to expand in the Asia-Pacific region. The company attributed a year-end surge to gains in its international, health care, learning and retail vertical markets. The expanding health care industry has become one of the companys key growth targets. One of the more recent expansions into the health care field came on Jan. 31 when Herman Miller completed its acquisition of health care furniture manufacturer Nemschoff Chairs LLC based in Sheboygan, Wis. Herman Miller designed the Canvas workstation at a lower height than traditional workstations to facilitate a workplace trend toward more collaborative environments. The design also allows more light into work areas and saves space, the company says. Including sinks and headwalls, to be reconfigured to meet patient needs. 2. Business Strategy: Broad Differentiation Strategies This strategy pursues the buyer’s needs and preference to make them satisfied with the product. And to be different from other rivals, the product must have unique product attributes that a wide range of buyers find appealing and worth paying for. The strategy achieves its aim when an attractively large numbers of buyers find the customer buyer value proposition. Herman miller is pursuing this strategy as we refer to the case study that their products are based on the design which is designed according to the people who use the furniture. Like the president of Herman Miller said: ‘people are important not the furniture. Furniture should be useful’. Besides, this company emphasizes on product design and environmental friendly, these are two basic things that they have been practicing for many decades. Furthermore, they also invest more in research and development for product innovation. Take an example of office design product, Herman Miller’s Insight and Exploration team observed various workplaces to analyze how people collaborate and the ways in which their interactions vary over the course of a day, and throughout the life of a project by differentiating the subtleties of how, when, where, and why people connect independent of content or industry. Senior Researcher Shilpi Kumar notes that, â€Å"outlining these collaborative work behaviors will empower designers and decision makers with a greater understanding for how people really work, and will enable more informed choices in regards to office spaces. Herman Miller takes advantage of the growing desire for green products to create a better world and increase ergonomic furniture, because the consumers are willing to pay a premium for such quality and social responsible product. Since the designer of Herman Miller emphasized quality, excellence, and the continual improvement of their products, obviously one of their product which is designed by Charles and Ray Eames since its launch in 1950 had developed from plastic chair to wood chair in 2000. She also confirmed that this wood chair is 100 times recyclable since Herman Miller is concerned about environmental friendly, and Eames Molded Wood Side Chair earns Gold award at NeoCon 2013 in the Guest Seating category. 3. Functional strategy: Research and Development (RD) This category focuses on strategy that is concerned with the actions in managing particular functions within a business especially in RD. In terms of Herman Miller RD, they invested in research and development (RD) financially. Although there was downturn in financial, Herman Miller still invested tens of millions of dollars in RD. The investment in RD was code named Purple. A result of investment in RD was an outgrowth of project Purple. The goal of this project was to spread beyond the boundaries of normal business. Herman miller created a special team called the accessories team in which the team-identified a potential growth area. This team is made to recruit people with different disciplines needed to support that goal. In addition, this team focuses on contributing ideas to the success of the team from all resources and also to develop a particular product as it goes through that piece of work. This project is in line with functional strategy of RD in which a company’s product development represents the plan for keeping the company’s product in accordance with what buyers are looking for (Thompson et al, 2014). In the case of Herman Miller Inc, they began with research in every real design solution in which the exploitation and insights of the best research leads to human-centered design and problem solving. Herman Miller Inc is doing many things for RD in the case of education, sustainability, performance, healthcare, manufacturing, architectures design and ergonomics. Herman Miller Inc has its major RD activities and projects, i. e. its way to support and develop a company’s product. According to Herman Miller’s financial statement for fiscal years 2006-2011, there was a decline in design and research in 2009 due to the ongoing economic downturn. Figure 1. 1: Spending on Design and research So far, they have done some research projects regarding education such as; student’s research work behaviors behind innovation spaces. In the fall 2012, there was a project Herman Miller funded as a way of investing in the next generation of workers by giving students the chance to apply what hey learn in a real-world setting. Herman Miller wanted them to look at the business objective of the company. Besides Herman Miller providing the funds, the employees of the company also participated in the project. After the field research, the goal of this project was that the students shared what they had learned from going to the company for a workshop. The company also wanted to discover more about places that encourage creativity and the places of creative people. Besides Herman Miller providing the funds, the employee of the company also participated in the project. In regarding with the research in technology, the research starts by understanding which technological trends are creating new behaviors in the workplace. So from that, they can produce new design solution. Over the last three years, a group of designers, engineers, and researchers, the Insight Herman Miller and Exploration Team (I E) has focused on emerging technologies and how they alter social behavior in the workplace. Herman Miller’s goal is to identify the technology trends that are relevant to the office and also understanding new behaviors that allow the designers, architects and manufacturers to bring new workplace design. For healthcare, Herman Miller Healthcare saw the opportunity to study and analyze by doing the research from the discussion of Bluewater health in which prior to design development and also the satisfaction and safety of patients and staff members. Herman Miller Healthcare is sponsoring a research project that will explore how changes in the built environment have affected staff in three important areas: Ambulatory Care, Intensive Care Unit and Emergency Department. 3 4. Functional Strategies: Marketing Marketing is one of the strategies used under functional strategy. First and foremost, Herman Miller products were sold internationally through wholly owned subsidiaries in countries including Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Australia, Singapore, China, India, and the Netherlands. Hence, they use the international strategy to compete its products in each country. In other words, they use the foreign subsidiary strategies because it seemed that they prefer to have a direct control over all aspects of operating in a foreign country that is the reason why they established wholly owned subsidiaries. As a result, this strategy was successful as their brand was recognized by customers and increased customer base spreading over 100 countries. Moreover, they used green marketing strategy to sell their products. This is because they mainly focus on environmental friendly such as Mirra chair, one of their products which was made of 45 percent recycled materials, and 96 percent of its material were recyclable. Therefore, the chairs used 100 percent renewable energy. Due to this strategy used, Mirra chair was recorded as one of the Top 10 Green Products by Architectural Record and Environmental Building News. Hence, this can indicate the success of using this strategy. In addition, Herman Miller engaged in cooperating advertising with strategic partners. As the example of Hilton Garden Inns which they equipped the Mirra chair in some room and on the desk in the room, was a card that explain how to adjust the chair while also providing the advertisement of Herman Miller’s website, how to purchase the products. Likewise, this is one of the advertising used to promote their products by using the strategic partner. As a result, they can reduce the advertising cost and gain more brand awareness. . Operating Strategy: Lean Production Initially, at Spring Lake, Herman Miller had invested in a giant robot assembly that welded supports inside file cabinet housings, including a tractor-trailer-length automated welding line with 1,000 sensors to drive labor completely out of the process. Unfortunately, big customers like Hewlett-Packard and ATT were pulling their orders of 100 instead of 500 and some wanted file cabinets in two weeks instead of six with much higher quality. The Spring Lake plant could not deliver, and certainly not for the lower prices customers demanded. 995, they adapted Toyota’s leading-edge formula for plant-floor management into an approach they called the Herman Miller Performance System (Boozco. , 2010, para 20). Based on the above quote, it depicted that Herman Miller’s decision to employ Herman Miller Performance System (HMPS); lean production, was to maintain efficiencies and cost savings by minimizing the amount of inventory on hand through a just-in-time process. To ensure a fluid flow on the order – driven production, Herman Miller collaborated with reliable and strategic suppliers. HMPS created competitive advantage through large assembly – manufacturing based. For example, direct materials and components purchased as needed to meet the demand and some suppliers delivered parts to Herman Miller production facilities five or six times per day. This resulted in a standard lead time of 10 to 20 days for majority of the products and low inventories on hand. Interestingly, HMPS managed to increase the variable costs rather than fixed costs while retaining proprietary control over manufacturing process. It was reported that â€Å"the plant managers across Herman Miller have learned that the best-run plants rely on people, not machines. Only people can solve problems to make assembly lines go faster, run cheaper, and deliver higher quality† (Boozco. , 2010, para 25). Therefore, it can be concluded that labor intensive approach tend to outperform machine intensive approach especially when the products demand further customization with limited time and the majority of industry products are built to each customers unique order. Question 2: Culture at HMI: healthy and largely supportive of good strategy execution. Herman Miller had codified its long-practiced organizational values, intended as a basic for uniting all employees, building relationship, and contributing to society. Herman Miller started in 1905 with the Star Furniture Company and created the Herman Miller furniture company with his son in law named Dirk Jan De Pree. From the beginning, De Pree committed himself to treating all workers as individuals with specials talents and potential. This was part of Herman Miller’s corporate culture which continued to generate respect for all employees and take advantage of the diversity of skills possessed by all. This is one of the functional strategies in corporate culture in Herman Miller Inc in which included the company’s approach to people management, procedures and operating practices that provide the guidelines for the behavior of the company. The impact of this culture became one of the competitive advantages that make strong management and employee satisfaction in the company. The business principles and ethical standard of Herman Miller are the management practices as the key of company’s culture. Herman Miller was one of the furniture company named to Fast Company’s â€Å"Most Innovative Companies† in both 2008 and 2010. Herman Miller had pursued a path of reinvention and renewal. Herman Miller has many ways to develop their products and its culture is also unique. Through the growing of the company, Herman Miller maintains the relationship with the employees. Herman Miller’s commitment to innovation included sharing ideas and opinions from the employees. On January 1979, Herman Miller established new organization structures that included all employees were to be given the opportunity to discuss new plan in small group settings. In addition, Herman Miller also established a plan in which all employees became shareholders. Herman Miller Inc. also focuses on more efficient and environmentally friendly by taking a major initiative in 1981. It is in line with a better world value which is pursuing sustainability and environmental policy. They established environmental quality action team whose goal was to coordinate environmental programs worldwide that involves many employees. A Herman Miller’s culture is grounded in and resides to certain core value and some sets for ethical behavior. Herman Miller had long practiced organizational values that were still used in 2012. The values are as basis for uniting all employees, building relationship, adapt the implied attitude, behaviors and work practices. The company adopted inclusiveness which means they include all the expressions of human talent and potential that society offers. As mentioned before, Herman Miller corporate culture continued to create respect to all employees and looking for and utilizing the skills possessed by anyone. The second value is design in which it is important to Herman Miller Inc. in order to make innovative products. It is the way for them for looking at the world and how it can work. The results of this value are Herman Miller established many innovative products and designs. In 1971 and 1984, they introduced products based on ergonomics principles such as the Ergon chair and Equa chair. For another groundbreaking design, it introduced the Aeron chair which was almost added to New York Museum of Modern Art’s permanent design collection in 1990. Other important values are based on Herman Miller’s best performance that focuses on enriching the lives of employees, customers and create value for the shareholders. The result of this value has made Herman Miller share the gains and pains with the employees especially about the compensation. All employees received a base pay and they also participated in a profit sharing program where they received stock in accordance to the company’s financial performance. The company also offered to the employees the employee stock purchase plan (ESPP), retirement income plan, offered annual bonus to all employees based on company’s performance, and in regard to profit sharing both the employees and executives have same calculation of bonus potential. High performance culture In Herman Miller Inc. there is a strong sense of involvement on the part of company personnel and emphasis on individual initiative and creativity. Two of the greatest strengths lie behind our heritage of research-driven design. Respecting and encouraging risks, exploring new ideas and freedom of speech. Owners actively committed to the life of the community called Herman Miller, pride in doing things right, sharing in its success and risks. The strengths and payoff really comes in when engaging in people’s own problems, solutions and behavior. Performance is required at the highest level possible. Herman Miller enriches employees’ lives, delight its customers, and create value for its shareholders. Herman Miller includes all the express human talent and potential, everyone should have a chance to realize his or her potential regardless of color, gender, age, sexual orientation. It believes that skill; different educational background could bring the company uniqueness. Adaptive Culture Herman Miller always keep innovating its products to serve their customers better. Herman Miller’s corporate culture, which continued to generate respect for all employees, had fueled the quest to tap the diversity of gifts and skill held by all. The company designs products according to what people want the most, and it is a way of looking at the world and how it works or does not. To design a solution, rather than simply devising one, required research, thought sometime starting over, listening and humility. Manager and employees support each other in dealing with working environment. Herman Miller designed the Canvas workstation, at a lower height than traditional workstations to facilitate a workplace trend toward more collaborative environments. The design also allows more light into work areas and saves space, the company says. Additionally, the company also keeps changing its production designs from time to time according to the needs of the people and follow ergonomic system. Herman Miller hired much expertise to design its furniture, and it is costly to spend on R;D but company the company was willing to take risks on new innovation. Financial performance Year 2008 2009 2010 2011 Revenue ($ millions) $ 2,012. 1 $1,630. 0 $1,318. 8 $1,649. 2 R;D to Sales Ratio R;D/Sale 51. 2 / 2,012. 1 = 2. 5 % 45. 7 / 1,630. 0 = 2. 8 % 40. 5 / 1,318. 8 = 3. 1 % 45. 8 / 1,649. 2 = 2. 8 % Table 2. : HMI’s Revenues and R;D to Sales ratio from 2008 to 2011 Figure 2. 1: Research and development (R;D) to Sales ratio from 2008 to 2011 The above graph shows the trend of R;D sales ratio which increases from year 2008 until 2010. However, it decreased slightly in 2011 due to low R;D investment because of recession. However, it is not clear whether measuring the R;D ratio is a good metric to represent its efficiency towards a company. This is because it takes into consideration the R;D expenses rather than R;D investment thus it is easy to manipulate the number by lowering the R;D expenditure. Even, in the balance sheet of Herman Miller, the R;D investment is not disclosed under assets. If R;D is capitalized as asset, then it depicts the efficiency of R;D towards business revenues. In brief, due to that constraint, we assume that at least the R;D sales ratio increases and contributes positively towards Herman Miller’s business structure as Herman Miller invests heavily in R;D to create the furniture. Figure 2. 2: HMI’s Revenues from 2008 to 2011 The above graph illustrates that the trend of sales revenue decreases from year 2008 until 2010. However, it started to increase in year 2011. Thus, in brief, Herman Miller is improving in their sales through investment in Research and Development and produces competitive design. Question 3: HMI’s Financial situation: prior years and its competitors 1. HMI’s financial situation In order to measure the financial performance of Herman Miller Inc, we have used different ratios, such as liquidity, profitability, leverage and activity ratios. Besides, we also compare the financial performance of HMI in relation to its competitors – HNI and Steelcase Inc from 2008 until 2012 based on the above mention ratios. For our case, we have used the current ratio to measure the extent to which the three companies (HMI, HNI and Steelcase) can meet their short term obligations as shown in the figure below. Figure 3. 1: HMI’s current ratio versus its competitors’ ratio The figure above shows the current ratios for the three manufacturers’ of office furniture and equipment for five consecutive years. In the case of Herman Miller Inc. , their current ratio showed some slight increase of about 1 percent from 2008 to 2009. However, a drop of about 21 percent was xperienced in 2010 but they were still able to maintain a current ratio of greater than 1. In the year 2011 and 2012, there had been a tremendous increase in their current ratio to 1. 76 and 1. 81 respectively. This current ratio of greater than 1 provides additional cushion against unforeseeable contingencies that may arise in the short term. In the case of HNI, their current ratio showed a moderate increase of about 7 percen t from 2008 to 2009. However, for the subsequent years, HNI experienced a decrease in their current ratio of approximately 10 percent from 2010 all the way to 2012. Nonetheless, they were able to maintain a current ratio of at least 1 to ensure that the value of their current assets covers at least the amount of their short term obligations. As for Steelcase, their current ratio showed a moderate increase of about 8 percent from 2008 to 2010. On the other hand, the company experienced a decrease of roughly 8 percent in the year 2011 but they were still able to maintain a current ratio of greater than 1. However, Steelcase managed to have an increase in their current ratio from 1. 37 in 2011 to 1. 52 in 2012. Overall, Herman Miller Inc. as shown a significant increasing trend in their current ratio as compared to the other two companies. This may suggest improved liquidity of the company or a more conservative approach to working capital management. ii. Profitability ratios: Profitability ratios measure management’s overall effectiveness as shown by the returns generated on sales and investment. There are a number of ratios under profitability but for our case, we have used the Return on Assets (ROA) to measure the after-tax profits per dollar of assets and Gross Profit Margin which measures the total margin available to cover operating expenses and yield a profit. These two ratios have been used to evaluate the three companies (HMI, HNI and Steelcase). Figure 3. 2. 1: HMI’s return on asset ratio versus its competitors’ ratio The figure above shows the Return on Assets for the three manufacturers’ of office furniture and equipment for five consecutive years. In the case of Herman Miller Inc. , there has been a decreasing trend of ROA in the year 2008 to 2010 from 19 percent to 4 percent respectively. This shows that the profitability of the company is deteriorating. Nevertheless, rom the year 2010 to the year 2012, the company has shown some slight increasing trend of ROA from 4 percent to 9 percent respectively. This indicates that the company’s profitability is quite improving over the years. When it comes to HNI, it has also shown a high decreasing trend of ROA in the year 2008 to 2011 from 5 percent to -0. 6 percent respectively. This shows that the profitability of the company is extremely deteriorating. However , in the year 2012, there was an increase of about 4 percent as compared to the previous year. The company was able to move from -0. 6 percent to 3. 8 percent. This signifies that the company’s profitability is slightly improving. Lastly for Steelcase, there has also been a high decreasing trend of ROA from the year 2008 to 2010 with about 6 percent and -0. 8 percent respectively. This shows that the profitability of the company is extremely deteriorating. However, there was a slight increasing trend of ROA in 2011 and 2012 of 1. 02 percent and 3. 33 percent respectively. This means that the company’s profitability is somewhat improving. Overall, Herman Miller Inc. has shown a considerable increasing trend in their ROA over the years as compared to the other two companies. This may imply effective use of assets and creation of high margins by the company as well as gauging how well the company uses its financing from borrowing and bonds. Figure 3. 2. 2: HMI’s gross profit ratio versus its competitors’ ratio The figure above shows the Gross Profit Margin for the three manufacturers’ of office furniture and equipment for five consecutive years. In the case of Herman Miller Inc. , there has been a slight decrease of the Gross Profit Margin in the year 2008 to 2009 from 34. 72 percent to 32. 37 percent respectively. However, from the year 2010 to the year 2012, the company has shown some slight increase in their Gross Profit Margin from 32. 49 percent to 34. 26 percent respectively. This indicates that the company can make a reasonable profit. For HNI, there has been an increasing trend of the Gross Profit Margin from the year 2008 to 2011 with about 33. 66 percent and 34. 6 percent respectively. However, in the year 2012, there was a slight decrease of about 1. 3 percent as compared to the previous year. The company’s Gross Profit Margin moved from 34. 86 percent to 34. 39 percent. This also signifies that the company can make a reasonable profit. Lastly for Steelcase, it has shown a slight decreasing trend of Gross Profit Margin from the year 2008 to 2010 with 32. 12 percent and 28. 35 percent respectively. However, there was a slight increasing trend of Gross Profit Margin in the subsequent years amounting to 29. 5 percent in 2012. This means that the company can still make a reasonable profit. Overall, HNI has shown a steady increasing trend in their Gross Profit Margin over the years as compared to the other two companies. This may indicate how efficiently the company is using its materials and labor in the production process and gives an indication of the pricing, cost structure, and production efficiency of the company. iii. Leverage ratios This ratio is used to determine the companies’ financing methods, or the ability to meet the obligations. There are many ratios to calculate leverage but the important factors include debt, interest expenses, equity and assets. In this section, we will examine two ratios which are debt to assets and debt to equity ratios. Figure 3. 3. 1: HMI’s debt to asset ratio versus its competitors’ ratio The debt to asset ratio gives us a quick measure of the amount of debt that the company has on its balance sheets compared to its assets. In general, the debt to asset ratio for Herman Miller fluctuated over the years as compared to its competitors – HNI and Steel case. In 2008, the debt to equity ratio for Herman Miller was above 80 percent and rose approximately to 100 percent in 2009, whereas this ratio was just about 61 percent and 57 percent for HNI and Steel case respectively in 2008; and about 58 percent in 2009 for both competitors. This indicated that almost 100 percent of Herman Miller’s assets were financed by debt or creditors which implied that the Company has high level of leverage and risk, while its competitors had roughly 50 percent of their assets financed by the owners. However, Herman Miller’s ratio significantly dropped in 2010 to about 40 percent which was below its competitors who almost maintained their position over the years. In 2012, 70 percent of Herman Miller’s assets were financed by debt. In general, although the company debt to assets ratio is still high in relation to its competitors, the financial performance of the company is improving after the financial crisis. However, the Company needs to further reduce the amount of debt resulting to the reduction of risk; this is because it may affect the company’s survival in the long-run. Figure 3. 3. 2: HMI’s debt to equity ratio versus its competitors’ ratio A debt-to-equity ratio measures the amount of debt a company uses to fund its business for every dollar of equity it has. In other words, it is a measure of a companys ability to repay its obligations. Generally companies with less debt equity ratio are less risky than the companies with high ratios. As we can see from the graphs, Herman Miller Inc. has the highest ratio over the year in relation to the other companies. For instance, its ratio fluctuated significantly over the years which were at 32. 7 and 94. 91 in 2008 and 2009 respectively. This might be due to the effect of the financial crisis, which caused the company to increase its debt financing heavily. Also, this indicates that the company had substantial high amount of debt as compared to equity which can endanger the long term survival of the firm since the company may not be able to generate enough cash to satisfy its debt obligations . Meanwhile, debt to equity ratio for HNI and Steel case was roughly lower than 2, which was acceptable for large public companies. For Herman Miller, however, this ratio sharply dropped over the next years to just about 8. 62 in 2010 and 2. 37 in 2012. In contrast, its competitors still can maintain their ratio below two over the next years. In order to improve this ratio, Herman Miller had sold its common stock and tried to lower the mount debt financing, this can be seen by the amount of long-term debt decreasing. This implies that the company’s financial performance has been improving after the financial crisis. In terms of leverage, overall, it can be said that the performance of the company has been improving over the years and regaining its position in the furniture market after the economic downturn. Although it may not do well as compared to its competitors in terms of financing the debt and equity, there is a sign of improvement and effort in positioning its self in the market industry in U. S. iv. Activity Ratios Figure 3. 4. 1: HMI’s Inventory turnover ratio versus its competitors’ ratio The inventory turnover is commonly used to measure the operational efficiency in managing its assets. Based on the figure 4. 1 illustrated above, in 2009, Herman Miller Inc. has the highest ratio compared to other years. This high ratio could indicate two conditions, such as; whether the company has strong sales during the year or it has an ineffective buying activity. However, it is perceived that the company did have strong sales proven from the lowest level of inventory and high sales revenue which are seen in the annual report during the year. While in 2010, Herman Miller Inc. ’s turnover ratio drops significantly compared to the other years. Its cost of sales for the year has the lowest and showed a decrement of 24% from previous year which simultaneously contribute to low ratio as well as indicating the lack of effectiveness particularly in turning its inventory into sales. One of the reasons is that it could be due to the recession which highly affected the company, and hence making them to reduce the cost of sales. However, Herman Miller Inc is getting better in turning its inventory into sales proven from the increment of its ratio by year. Additionally, compared to competitors, the position of the ratio shown for Herman Miller Inc. is located somewhat in the middle. Steelcase is somewhat faster in turning their inventory into sales compared to others. In contrast, HNI has the lowest rate. This proves that Steelcase is more effective in managing its operational assets. Figure 3. 4. 2: HMI’s Average collection period versus its competitors’ ratio Average collection period is the number of days it takes a company to collect its account receivables. As illustrated from the figure 4. 2 above, Herman Miller is getting better in obtaining its receivables shown by the average days taken which was from 58 days in 2008 and 34 days in 2012. This demonstrates that Herman miller Inc. onstantly improve its credit policy effectiveness confirmed by a dramatic slump by years. Comparing to other competitors, originally HNI was the most effective company in managing its credit term policy, as the company only took 38 days in collecting its account receivables compared to Steelcase or Herman Miller. However, the company ended up to be the highest rate at 2012 showing that it is not effective in evaluating company’s credit policy. As a result, when a company possesses a lower average collection period, it is seen as optimal as it indicates that the company does not take very long to turn its receivables into cash. . HMI’s current strategies: an issues of need to change its strategies during poor economic conditions The current Herman Miller strategy which focuses on growth strategy, through innovative products and related diversification made the company to survive the Great Depression early in its history, multiple recessions in 20th century and in early 21st century the company recovered from the dot-com bust and was able to continue expanding overseas. The furniture industry is an economically volatile industry. The office furniture segment of the industry was hit hard by the recession. Industry sales decreased 26. 5 percent during the 2009 economic downturn. However, because of the innovative and diversification, Herman Miller was able to outperform its competitors in terms of sales and profitability, during that time Herman Mill’s sales dropped by 19% which is relatively low in comparison with its competitors HNI Corporation and Steelcase which had dropped by 33 percent and 28% respectively. The furniture industry is at its maturity stage, thus Innovation is crucial to the company’s survival. If Herman Miller continues to successfully innovate, it will enable them to compete in the market strongly. The industry had been negatively impacted telecommunication which had reduced the need office furniture. Yet, more employees were spending more hours in front of the computer screens than ever before. Because of Herman Miller’s effective innovation, they were able to respond to the need of ergonomically correct office furniture that had helped to decrease fatigue and injuries like carpal tunnel syndrome. In summary, the company does not need to radically alter its main strategy which focuses more on innovation and diversification as it’s the reason they were not dramatically hit by recessions and competitions among the rivals. 3. Recommendation: i. Reduced current benefit and incentive schemes There are several incentives that had been eliminated by Herman Miller’s management due to the economic downturn in 2009. The suspend of 401(k) contribution plans (saving contribution plan), cut-off 15 percent of current workforce and 10 percent reduction in salary for remaining workforce had been implemented during the crisis. However the pay cuts was discontinued because of Herman Miller’s quick turnaround. The company was stable starting the year 2011, but the selling, general, and administrative were the highest contribution of the operating expenses. Specifically, â€Å"†¦$3. million and $16. 6 million of additional operating expenses during fiscal 2011 due to the reinstatement of all of our employee benefits and employee incentive expenses† (Herman Miller’s Annual Report, 2011). The company believed that the large benefit and incentives had created motivated and skilful employees which are the key of its competitive advantage. Even though the company has increased in sales as compared to the year 2010, it is important to cut the costs by eliminating some of the less important incentives schemes and benefits such as $100 rebate on a bike purchase, concierge services and one-site services to name a few. Previously, the company had eliminated the 401(k) contribution plan so that they could stop providing some percentage on the employees’ contribution. It is crucial since it could allow the company to save a significant amount of money in the long run (Richardson, 2009). It can be done by communicating the problems and issues which need to be addressed to the staff before they get out of hand. Address the problems proportionately and regular communication could make the staff be aware on their role to support the company throughout the economy downturn. By having it, the staff might accept the decision positively and provide effort to help the company to fully recover after the recession (‘Recession Business Cost Cutting†, 2013). ii. Reduction in company’s cost of sales According to Herman Miller’s Annual Report (2011), the increase in cost of sales for the year 2011 was due to the increase in sales volume that was driven primarily by cost leverage on higher production, which was partially offset by deeper discounting, higher employee benefit and incentive costs, and higher costs of key direct materials, most notably steel and steel components. Besides that, the cost of direct material increased as compared to previous years which there was increase in the cost of commodities and the increase in discounting, which has the effect of reducing net sales The costs of certain manufacturing materials used in producing finished products are sensitive to the volatility of commodity market price. The cost of direct labor and overhead were increased due to increase in product volume while the cost of freight expenses had increased during the year because of increase in product volume as well as increase in fuel costs in 2011. First recommendation to cut the cost of sales in terms of direct material is substituting lower cost material where possible to replace the expensive one and each angle should be considered for better decision. For example, the substitution of carbon steel to replace expensive stainless steel could reduce the cost but the corrosion protection might not last longer. This method should be applied if only the benefit from the substitution is higher than the cost of reduction in quality (Lewis, n. d. ). Second recommendation is by eliminating unnecessary product features to reduce cost. The company should produce a product that really suits customers’ preferences in buying their products. For example, the company should identify whether customers are purchasing its products because of their unique looks, lower price or high quality. If customers buy the products because of their lower price, unique features may not be needed (Lewis, n. d. ). Third recommendation which is the most effective one is by hedging the price of the steel through futures contract. According to Herman Miller’s Annual Report (2011): The company believes market prices for commodities in the near term may move higher and acknowledges that over time increases on its key direct materials and assembly components are likely. Consequently, it views the prospect of such increases as an outlook risk to the business† (p. 34). By locking the price in the contract, it could eliminate any risk of price volatility (â€Å"Hedging in Practice†, 2013). For example, if there is a huge possibility that the price of steel will increase in a certain period of time. Due to that, the company will engage in future contract and lock-in the price for a specific period in the future. Regardless of increase in steel price, the company is eligible to buy the commodity at a lower lock-in price as stated in the agreed future contract. Conclusion Herman Miller Inc. has implemented different strategies in order to improve its performance and expand its self in furniture market, such as diversified strategy, broad differentiation strategy, green marketing, product development and innovation. In addition, besides focusing on those strategies to achieve the business goals, the company also concerns about how it communicates and treat its employees. â€Å"All workers as individuals ith special talents and potential† can be considered as one of the healthy culture at Herman Miller since 1927 and the Company continued to generate respect for all employees and fueled the quest to tap diversity of gifts and skills held by all. According to one of the verse in chapter 42 of the Qur’an: â€Å"Those who hearken to their Lord, and establish regular Prayer; who (cond uct) their affairs by mutual Consultation; who spend out of what We bestow on them for Sustenance† (Quran 42:38) The verse above explains the importance of mutual consent in making a decision. Islam encourages Muslims to decide their affairs by consulting with those who will be affected by the decision. Thus, in the case of Herman Miller, it empowers its employees and nurture participative decision making so that the employees feel as part of the company. Surviving in matured furniture industry and the economic volatility such as recession, demand full cooperation from the whole organization. It is not easy to integrate the diverse nature of employees with different backgrounds and behaviors to achieve goal congruence. Thus, Herman Miller’s healthy culture leads to its employee’s readiness to accept any relevant decision by Herman Miller such as cutting their salaries as the employees work with Herman Miller and not just work for it. Furthermore, in term of design value, the designer team of Herman Miller always emphasized on quality, excellence, and the continual improvement of their products. â€Å"At Herman Miller the products we made decade ago are still sold after today, and products we make today we will do for a decade to come. † All in all, Herman Miller should pursue its current strategies and continue to expand those strategies such as product innovation, diversification and so on. We believe that these strategies have made and will make Herman Miller one of an outstanding and award winning Company. They will continue to provide the Company with the ability to renew and reinvent itself in the furniture market and outperform its rivals in the future. From the explanation above, it gives us a broad view of how the company’s long-term strategy and objective affects all their business: from product design to decision-making process to the culture of the Company.

Why Did North America Win the Civil War?

Why Did North America Win the Civil War? Reasons for the North’s victory in the American Civil War are manifold, and it is unwise for the historian to attribute total decisiveness to any one reason. Abraham Lincoln’s inspirational leadership; greater industrial wealth and manpower; superior military strategy; the possession of a powerful Navy; the introduction of black soldiers into their ranks; the decision of European nations not to recognize the Confederate’s secession: all of these reasons and many others are argued to have been decisive for the North’s victory. The wise historian seeks to view the effect of these reasons in combination rather than as separate influences. To take one instance, the North’s naval blockade of Confederate ports was crucial for suffocating the export power and economy of the South, but this tactic was greatly strengthened by the decision of Britain not to break to blockade. Or to take another example: from the outset the North had far greater manpower than the South, but this advantage was consolidated by the incorporation of black slaves into that pool of manpower and by conscription policies that drew upon this manpower more effectively than those of the South. This essay then measures these various reasons in toto, asking how each affected the other and how ultimately they combined to prove decisive. * * * * * Historians on all sides agree that President Lincoln’s leadership during the American Civil War was a dominant reason for the Union’s ultimate victory. Lincoln’s political acumen and diplomatic skill, his knowledge of military strategy, his judgment on all fronts, and above all his moral authority and vigor made him indispensable to the Union’s cause. What is more, there was something unique in Lincoln’s dedication to the Union. In a certain sense he was the Union or at least a powerful symbol for it. Lincoln’s famous phrase ‘My paramount objective is to save the Union’[1] could be a motif that resonated throughout the North, and his unique commitment to the office of the President, to the Constitution and to the principle of democracy were of inestimable benefit to the continued conviction and morale of the North’s troops and civilians and to their various successes. None of Lincoln’s wartime acts was more consequential than when he issued the Emancipation Proclamation of January 1863. By declaring the freedom of all the slaves of the Confederacy, Lincoln transformed the American Civil War from what was originally a contest to maintain the Union into a struggle for freedom and democracy. This united the North in a moral purpose and gave solidity and resilience to the Union. Whilst Lincoln’s military decisions were often shrewd and decisive, it was his courageous legislative and constitutional decisions that contributed most to the North’s victory. Lincoln had campaigned for his presidency with the promise of pursuing democracy and legitimate government; yet the circumstances of the war forced him to threaten these beloved principles for the duration of the war. Lincoln put into abeyance habeas corpus, called-up the militia, manipulated the press, made declarations of martial law where it could not strictly be justified milita rily, allocated finance before congressional approval, suppressed draft riots with soldiers, and issued many other measures like these. Lincoln’s made extraordinary use of these executive powers and yet was not seduced by them. Thus he had a perhaps unique resistance to the temptations of personal power and this shone out to his soldiers and citizens who viewed him as a noble commander for whom they would willingly fight and die. By this strong and vigorous leadership President Lincoln stood for many people as an emblem of the Union itself. Lincoln also had a genius to peer beyond the implications of the Civil War for the Union alone. He detected in the conflict as few men could the larger future issue of democracy in the civilized world. Lincoln understood that the Union represented to many Europeans and others a symbol of democratic expectation and promise: the defeat of the Union in America would threaten the growth of democracy elsewhere in the world. He wrote: ‘T his is essentially a people’s contest †¦ to demonstrate to the world that those who can fairly carry out an election can suppress a rebellion; and ballots are the rightful successors to bullets’[2] and this conviction sustained his leadership through many crises. It is of course a conviction whose widest implications were known only to Lincoln himself. The effect of Lincoln’s leadership upon the war was strengthened by the quality of his generals and their superior military strategy. Pre-eminent amongst his generals was one man: Ulysses S. Grant. The outcome of the contest between General Grant and General Robert E. Lee was decisive for the North’s final victory. At the outset of the war Grant captured Fort Henry and Fort Donelson, won the battle of Battle of Shiloh and saved the surrounded Union forces at Chattanooga. These early victories led President Abraham Lincoln to appoint General Grant as lieutenant general or commander-in-chief of all Union forces – a rank specially created by Congress or him. General Grant’s military strategy was characterized by the distribution of his troops over wide areas and their coordinated attack upon several Confederate positions simultaneously. This theme emerged most strongly in Grant’s famous Overland Campaign against General Lee’s forces which commen ced in May 1864. Grant’s cleverly diverse strategies were difficult for the Confederate forces to predict: Grant his attacks between direct assaults, prolonged sieges and rapid counter-attacks. Grant’s military style was described as ‘that of a bull dog’ because he forever pressed forward, refusing to submit until the enemy had been defeated or surrendered. This tactic led to the slaughter of tens of thousands of General Grant’s men and to him being called ‘the butcher’; historians agree however that General Grant’s use of these tactics – and President Lincoln’s indulgence of them – were essential for breaking down the Confederate forces and for finally overcoming them. Moreover, General Grant was perhaps the first general in American history to glimpse the concept of ‘total warfare’ whereby it was necessary to destroy an enemy’s economic foundations – factories, farmlands, industri es etc., as well as to defeat them in battle. The strategies employed by General Grant in the Overland Campaign finally proved decisive when he fought to a draw at the Battle of the Wilderness and the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House, before finally forcing General Lee’s surrender at the Appomattox Court House April 9, 1865. * * * * The superior natural resources and manpower of the North meant from the outset that they were likely – if there was no foreign intervention – to win the war rapidly and with relatively light casualties. In 1860 the twenty-two states that would later continue in the Union had a total population of 22 million; the eleven states of the Confederacy had a population of 9 million (4 million of whom were slaves). In simple military terms this meant that the North had a far larger reservoir of manpower from which to draw either volunteer or conscript soldiers. Moreover, the North boosted its numbers by assimilating large numbers of black slaves who escaped from the southern states. The North had the further advantage of a superior railway system which allowed them to swiftly transfer troops from one battlefield to another. Moreover, the South made serious errors in its policies of conscription. At the beginning of the war the Confederate made the decision to rely upon volunteer soldiers for its armies. One historian wrote of the consequences of this decision that ‘Conscription would have been less odious if it had been made the excusive policy of raising armies at the outset †¦ It might have been regarded as a scientific way of allocating the man power of the country and distributing fairly the burdens of war’ (Moore, 1963). When the South belatedly turned to conscription men felt bitter and acrimonious about the policy; yet had it been issued at the outset it might have been received more favorably. The North was fortunate in its policy of conscription. They too had the eloquent appeals of President Lincoln with which to recruit new soldiers. In February 1861 Lincoln declared If all do not join now to save the good old ship of the Union this voyage nobody will have a chance to pilot her on another voyage.[3] This was an ominous warning that boosted recruitment significantly. Anticipating a rapid victory the North conscripted its soldier s for a three-month period only; whereas the South demanded one year’s service. Neither three-months nor one year were of course adequate to meet the needs of either army, but whereas southern fighters became disillusioned with the length of their conscription, the Union’s soldiers often gladly signed to fight again after their initial short period of conscription. This had a tremendous effect upon morale. In July 1861 after the first Bull Run the Union’s forces had suffered heavy defeats and the Union’s soldiers feared that their lives and properties would be threatened if they chose not to re-enlist. This necessity supplied President Lincoln with 500,000 extra troops at the vital moment. The South however convinced by the Bull Run that it was assured victory delayed for the whole summer and autumn the introduction of a policy of re-enlistment; thus when conscription was implemented through force in November Confederate soldiers were thoroughly demoraliz ed by being called to fight again. The Confederate Provisional Congress introduced the inept and foolish ‘bounty and furlough act’ in Dec. 11 1861 which gave generous but confusing freedoms to soldiers who chose to re-enlist. This incompetent decision disrupted the organization of the Confederate armies at a dangerous moment and weakened them considerably. The Confederate however weakened its potential manpower base by prohibiting the incorporation of its 4 million black slaves into its ranks for most of the war. The North was also highly industrialized in comparison to the South, and this allowed the North to produce munitions and military equipment that should have sustained and proved decisive against the largely agricultural economy of the South. To many historians it seems remarkable that the American Civil War lasted four years given the economic and manpower supremacy of the North. The Confederate however had the vital advantage that it needed only to protect its territory to assure victory (it could declare independence if the North remitted); the North however needed to attack. This attack consumed far greater resources that those needed for the defence of the southern states, and this is the principal reason why the conflict was so protracted. Eventually the superior supplies, industry and manpower of the North proved decisive. * * * * * ‘I never saw such fighting as was done by the Negro regiment †¦ The question that the negroes will fight is settled; besides they make much better soldiers in every respect than any other troops I have ever had under my command’ (Union General Blunt)[4] A principal reason for North’s victory in the American Civil War was their early realization that by incorporating black soldiers into their forces they would gain a vital manpower advantage over the South. In contrast, the Confederate’s slothful and belated realization of the need to enlist black soldiers was a strong contribution to their defeat. Historians estimate that as many as 180,000 black soldiers, in 163 units, were assimilated into the Union ranks during the American Civil War (McPherson, 1982) – and numerous others joined the Union Navy. This number represents as much as 10% of the Union’s total armed forces. The participation and influence of black forces in the war was enabled on July17, 1862, when Congress initiated two Acts permitting the enrollment of black soldiers in the armed forces; though official enlistment began in September of that year after the issue of the Emancipation Proclamation. The Union forces swiftly comprehended the importance of this decision and began to enlist black soldiers and sailors in large numbers. This enlistment was hindered however by the Union’s (and Confederate’s) prejudiced assumption that blacks would not be courageous and valiant soldiers. As General Blunt’s words tell, this assumption was quickly overturned amongst Union generals when black regiments were involved in a series of victorious battles against Confederate forces. The 1st Kansas Colored Volunteers were a powerful example of the influence that black soldiers could have upon the outcome of the war: contributing greatly to the success of the Battle of Island Mound, the Battle of Port Hudson, the battle of Honey Springs and many others. Perhaps the most significant single contribution of black soldiers to the war was when on July 17, 1863, they led the assault of the 54th Massachusetts against Fort Wagner. The desire of black soldiers to enlist in the Union forces was enhanced when Confederate forces committed atrocities against black such as the one at Fort Pillow. Events such as these, coupled with the existing idea amongst black slaves that the Union was fighting partly for their emancipation, led far greater numbers of black soldiers to join the Union than the Confederate. In sharp comparison, the Confederate army reacted viscously to the idea that black soldiers could play a decisive role in the outcome of the war. Although sixty to ninety-three thousand (Glathaar, 1996) blacks were involved in the Confederate in some form or another, the overwhelming majority of these were in non-fighting positions – musicians, cooks, cleaners and so on. Only at the end of the war did the Confederate wake up to the huge pool of manpower that they had thus far ignored. Indeed, for most of the war the participation of black soldiers in Confederation forces was legally prohibited. President Jefferson Davis made a serious and costly error when in 1864 he refused the suggestion of General Patrick Cleburne that the Confederate employ black troops in its forces in return for their freedom if they survived the war. Only in January 1865 after a further recommendation by General Lee to the Confederate Congress to permit the enlistment of black soldiers was a document si gned (Order 14) allowing this to happen. The lateness of this decision meant that that war was almost over before considerable black enlistment by Confederate forces could begin. Consequently, this failure of the Confederate was one of the most serious of the entire war and expedited their defeat. * * * * * The Union’s victory in the Civil War was much aided by the failure of European nations to give diplomatic recognition to the cause of the Confederacy. European recognition of the independence of the Confederacy would have enabled the southern states to call upon European nations to intervene in the civil war to uphold the Confederation’s right to independence. It was vital therefore for the North that this did not happen; fighting European forces as well as the Confederation armies would have seriously injured their chances of success. The decision of European nations to recognize the Confederacy has been attributed to several factors. Firstly, the North’s own diplomats proved highly successful in presenting their case to the European powers. This diplomacy was often forceful; W. H. Steward, Secretary of State, for instance instructed C. F. Adams, Minister to England, to warn the British to avoid ‘fraternizing with our domestic enemy’ lest they risked an Anglo-American war. A key diplomatic strategy of the North was then to present the South as rebels who had no legitimate rights to independence. Historians argue further that widespread sympathy amongst Europeans for black slaves meant that they were further disinclined to interfere in the civil war (Roberts, 1987). Unseen and unpredicted factors too such as crises in Denmark and Poland distracted the attention of Europe away from the American conflict. The continued failure of the Confederate forces to win consecutive battles meant that they co uld not convince European nations that the south could maintain its independence if granted – and European nations were never likely to militarily or economically back an unsuccessful war. The failure of the Confederate states to win European diplomatic recognition had much to do with the failures of their own diplomatic strategies. At the outset of the war the South predicted that since Britain depended heavily upon exports of southern cotton to sustain their own economy, that when the Union’s navy blockaded the export of this cotton Britain would be forced to intervene in the war. This intervention would ensure victory for the South and supply them with international recognition for their independence. Despite these predictions however Britain failed to enter the conflict and instead declared its neutrality in light of the blockade, as later did all other European nations. Britain had extended to the Confederation ‘belligerent status’ whereby it could draw international loans and trade internationally, but this fell far short of the military intervention and declaration of independence that the South had expected (Crook, 1975). What is more, Brita in had by its decision not to interfere militarily effectively condoned the blockade of the southern states by the North. Thus the effects of the British and European decision not to intervene were twofold for the Confederation. In practical terms, the South now had to confront the North alone and on an immensely more difficult single front. Psychologically, the morale and legitimacy of the secession had been bruised and damaged, and international approval effectively granted to the North. * * * * * This essay must end with the point with which it began: no single reason was totally decisive for the North’s victory in the American Civil War. That said, President Lincoln’s unique leadership and the superior industrial resources and manpower of the North were finally the most dominant reasons. In the aftermath of the first Bull Run in 1861 the Union’s forces were disillusioned and there was a danger that they would disintegrate because they had failed to seize the fast and easy victory that many had predicted they would. It required a man of President Lincoln’s personality, stamina, skill and vision to solidify the Union forces and to foster their perseverance through the long war which he knew was ahead. Lincoln himself was this unifying force: he was an emblem for the Presidency for the Constitution and for democracy. The supremacy of the North’s resources and manpower had been checked at the outset of the war by the need to attack the Confeder ate strongholds whereby the North consumed resources far faster than the South; yet despite this initial failure to make the advantage tell, these resources did finally overwhelm the Confederate defenders. Serious political and tactical errors by the Confederate during the Civil War meant that any slim chance of victory they had at the outset was washed away soon after the conflict began. The prohibition of black slaves from serving in Confederate forces and the delayed and ineffective introduction of conscription cost the South its opportunity to compensate for the North’s superior man power. Likewise, the political assumption that Britain and other European powers would move to break the Union naval blockade and so proclaim the legitimate independence of the South backfired disastrously. Once these errors had been committed and the North’s advantages handled effectively by Lincoln victory was assured. BIBLIOGRAPHY Belz, H. (1998). Abraham Lincoln, Constitutionalism and Equal Rights During the Civil War Era.  Fordham University Press, New York. Crook, D. P. (1975). Diplomacy During the American Civil War. Wiley, London. Curt, J. McLaughlin, M. (1977). Battles of the American Civil War. Sampson Low,  Maidenhead. Fuller, J.F.C. (1941). Conscription entry in Encyclopedia Britannica, Vol.6, p.282-6. London. Fuller, J. F. C. (1956). Decisive Battles of the Western World and Their Influence Upon History/From the American Civil War to the End of the Second World War. Cassel Co, London. Gallagher, G, W. (1997). The Confederate War. Harvard University Press, Massachusetts. Gienapp, W. E. (2003). Abraham Lincoln and Civil War America. Oxford University Press,  Oxford. Glatthaar, J. T. (1996). The Civil War’s Black Soldiers. Eastern National Park and Monument  Association, Conshohocken. Hattaway, H. (1983). How the North Won: A Military History of the Civil War. Urbana, Illinois. McPherson, J. (1998). Drawn with the Sword: Reflections on the American Civil War. Oxford  University Press, Oxford. McPherson, J. (1982). The Negro’s Civil War: How Negroes Felt and Acted During the War for   the Union. Urbana, University of Illinois Press. McPherson, J. (1984). Lincoln and the Strategy of Unconditional Surrender. Gettysburg  College, Gettysburg.   Moore, A, B. (1963) Conscription and the Conflict in the Confederacy. University of South  Carolina Press. Roberts, J, M. (1987) The Penguin History of the World. Harmondsworth, Penguin. Tripp, C.A. (2005) The Intimate World of Abraham Lincoln. Free Press, London. Tulloch, H. (1999). The Debate on the American Civil War Era. Manchester University Press,  Manchester. Westwood, H, C. (1992). Black Troops, White Commanders, and Freedom During the Civil War;   (With a Forward by John Y. Simon). Southern Illinois University Press, Carbondale. Footnotes [1] The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln, Vol. 5. Letter to Horace Greely, p388. [2] Words spoken by President Lincoln after the surrender at Fort Sumter April 14th, 1861. [3] The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln edited by Roy P. Basler, Volume IV, Speech at Cleveland, Ohio  (February 15, 1861), p. 216. [4] General Blunt after the defeat of General Douglas Cooper at Honey Springs July 17th, 1863.