History of the Baking in the Philippines Essay

I got to admit, if given the chance to choose between rice, pasta or bread, I would definitely go for pasta any day. This is also the reason why I tend to be extra picky with the type of breads that I eat. I love freshly baked pan de sal paired with a spoonful of peanut butter and a cup of hot cocoa. Soft and fluffy ciabatta bread has been my favorite when I’m making myself a sandwich. As for the type of breads that I avoid, these are ones with raisins, dates or the fruity type. I really do not know why but I always end up plucking each tiny fruit out before biting into the bread. One day, I received a box of freshly baked goodies from Bread Story Philippines. It was after visiting their Facebook page that I found out that the brand actually originates fromMalaysia. We had some of their specialty breads for lunch. Among the four breads on the plate, I liked the Flossy Signature which had buttery pork floss on top. The Flossy Hottie, on the other hand, was topped with spicy chicken floss and was pretty good too. We also liked the pizza flavored bread called Hi Amigo (Php. 46) which tasted like a Hawaiian, our favorite pizza flavor. The fourth type of bread was the one that I least enjoyed as it had creamy custard inside and was a tad too sweet for me. Nonetheless, I liked that the breads were very soft making each bite such a delight. Papa also liked the Pandan bread and commented that it was very soft and fragrant. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to try this anymore as my family happily consumed the entire half loaf for breakfast one day. Bread Story also has cakes available for all occasions. How I wish that Bread Story would soon open more branches nearer to home. For now, I have to travel all the way to the south to be able to try more of their bread offerings. Bread Story is located at the Basement Level of SM Southmall, Las Pinas City.

Race in Down These Mean Streets

Qing Xu HCOM 345 Prof. Nava 5/2/12 Race in Down These Mean Streets â€Å"Este es un mundo brillante, estas son mis calles, mi barrio de noche, con sus miles de luces, cientos de millones de colores mezclados con los ruidos, un sonido vibrante de carros, maldiciones, murmullos de alegria y de llantos, formando un gran concierto musical (Thomas, Down These Mean Streets, 1998, p. 3)†, is how Piri Thomas describes his birthplace, East Harlem. The diversity of cultures, the vibrant street life, the passion and conflicts of everyday life and media portrayal in movies such as West Side Story make East Harlem an exciting and mysterious place.But hidden under the dirty faces of the children is the struggle in the search for acceptance and belong, as painfully narrated by Thomas in Down These Mean Streets. In this essay I will analyze how racial identity is constructed through his story and the relationship between racism and social problems such as gangs and crime in a place like East Harlem. Piri Thomas’ parents moved to New York from Puerto Rico during the 1920s before he was born in 1928.Piri reflects upon a hard childhood of growing up in a lower class family at the time of the Great Depression, through the cold winters of New York City, a place whose people Piri’s mother described as having snow in their hearts. But the most difficult thing of all was the racial prejudice that he had to endure because of his black skin and the confusion of his own racial identity caused by his family’s denial of their Afro-Latino heritage. One day, Piri confronted his younger brother Jose, pointing out the hypocrisy of his family’s claim to Whiteness: Jose’s face got whiter and his voice angrier at my attempt to take away his white status.He screamed out strong: â€Å"I aint’t no nigger! You can be if you want to be†¦. But—I—am—white! And you can go to hell! † â€Å"And James is blanco, too? † I asked quietly. â€Å"You’re damn right. † â€Å"And Poppa? † †¦ â€Å"Poppa’s the same as you,† he said, avoiding my eyes, â€Å"Indian. † â€Å"What kind of Indian,† I said bitterly. â€Å"Caribe? Or maybe Borinquen? Say, Jose, didn’t you know the Negro made the scene in Puerto Rico way back? And when the Spanish spics ran outta Indian coolies, they brought them big blacks from you know where. Poppa’s got moyeto blood. I got it. Sis got it. James got it. And, mah deah brudder, you-all got it†¦.It’s a played-out lie about me-us-being white (Thomas, Down These Mean Streets, 1998, p. 145). Piri had always felt that he was being treated differently in the family because of his skin color. He wanted to find a racial identity with which he could feel a sense of belonging. Hoping to find out whether his skin color, his face, his hair made him a black in America even though he’s a Puerto Rican, he joi ned the merchant marines and traveled to the South. He came to accept that he was black after experiencing racism everywhere: on the ship, in restaurants, even in prostitution (Thomas, Down These Mean Streets, 1998, pp. 20-87). Piri’s world came crashing down when his mother died while his father was having an affair with a white woman, whose whiteness fed his father’s insecurity about his own blackness, according to Piri. Piri’s rejection toward whites came to a boiling point and he left home, joined gangs where his companions were black and took drugs. Eventually he went to prison for shooting a policeman. â€Å"Jesus, I thought, I finally shot me some Mr. Charlies. I shot ‘em in my mind often enough (Thomas, Down These Mean Streets, 1998, p. 259),† he wrote.It was the years in prison that gave him time to really reflect and think about who he was and his own worth. In the end of the book he came out of prison back into the neighborhood that he mi ssed so much. He fought hard to resist drugs and violence. Eventually he became a famed writer and a lecturer, and worked to steer troubled kids away from gangs and crimes. Puerto Ricans have historically been discriminated by U. S. institutions. As Angel Oquendo explains in â€Å"Re-imagining the Latino/a Race†, Puerto Ricans arrived in the U. S. as a result of U. S. mperial invasion and colonization of the island. They became one of the most impoverished groups and were â€Å"systematically perceived and treated as a conquered people (Oquendo, 1998, p. 70)† Puerto Ricans could sometimes pass as whites, like Piri’s family did. However, Piri was treated badly by the school, public transportation, workplace and the government. In an interview conducted by Ilan Stavans, he recalled that in the classroom the â€Å"teacher came roaring upon me and said ‘listen, stop talking in that language [Spanish],’ and I said ‘well, I am speaking my motherâ⠂¬â„¢s language.My mother’s from Puerto Rico, I was born in this country,’ and she says ‘well you stop talking that, you have to learn English, you are in America now. ’ (Thomas, Race and Mercy: A Conversation with Piri Thomas, 1996, p. 345)† He also recalled going to the South with his friend Billy on a bus. The driver ordered all colored people to go sit in the back. When Piri tried to tell the driver that he was Puerto Rican, the driver said, â€Å"I don’t care what kind of nigger you are† and reached his hand into his side pocket.To avoid the risk of being killed, he quietly went to the back of the bus (Thomas, Race and Mercy: A Conversation with Piri Thomas, 1996, p. 351). In a chapter of his book titled â€Å"How to Be a Negro without Really Trying,† Piri recalls another occasion where he and his fair skinned friend Louie went to a job interview for a sales position. The company hired Louie instead of him. â€Å"I didnâ₠¬â„¢t feel so much angry as I did sick, like throwing-up sick,† Piri’s hatred started growing and he started to think of himself as black. â€Å"Later, when I told this story to my buddy, a colored cat, he said, ‘Hell, Piri†¦ a Negro faces that all the time. ‘I know that,’ I said, ‘but I wasn’t a Negro then. I was still only a Puerto Rican. ’ (Thomas, Down These Mean Streets, 1998, p. 108)† When Piri and his mother applied for Home Relief, he hated the condescending and suspicious attitude of the government officials. The fact that Piri was perceived as black even though he was a Latino and that he was the only that received all the prejudice out of all his siblings, shows that U. S. society perceives all races in Black-White terms. According to Oquendo, this racial dualism is due to the prominent history of slavery and discrimination of people of African ancestry.He explains that the division of white Puerto Ricans and black Puerto Ricans is non-existent in Puerto Rico. Modern Puerto Rican society emphasizes its African heritage (Oquendo, 1998, p. 63). Berta E. Hernandez-Truyol explains that all Puerto Ricans share the same identity: â€Å"I grew up in Puerto Rico†¦ We were big and small, brown-eyed and blue-eyed, blondes and brunettes, but one significant factor we shared was that we were all de Borinquen. Sure, we were diverse peoples, but we were all united—we were all boricua (Hernandez-Truyol, 1998, p. 381). Because of the different social context in the U. S. , Piri were perceived differently from his siblings, which dramatically altered the course of his life. Perhaps the process of Piri becoming black can be best explained by Ian F. Haney Lopez’s theory on the social construction of race. He argues that an individual’s racial identity is constructed by interplay of chance, context, and choice. By chance he means the morphology and ancestry of a person which are not chosen by the person, i. e. skin color. Piri’s morphology is the foundation of his search of racial identity.When his family moved to Long Island, the white children at his school taunted him for trying to pass as Puerto Rican because he couldn’t pass as white. By context, Lopez means â€Å"the social setting in which races are recognized, constructed, and contested (Lopez, 1998, pp. 9-11). † Piri has ancestral ties to three continents: Europe, Africa, and America. Therefore to conclude that Piri is Black is unreasonable. However, in the social context of America, skin color is mostly directed associated with race. President Obama, Tiger Woods are both widely perceived to be Blacks, even though only a portion of their blood is Black.Same thing happened to Piri. Lopez further explains that morphology and ancestry are constant, but context is inconstant and unstable and shifts in time and space. Nevertheless, context gives interpretation to morphology and ance stry, such as a person’s dark skin makes him/her Black. In Puerto Rico, Piri’s family was neither Black nor White; they suffered no prejudice based on their skin colors. But the social structure of race in New York in the 1930s is based on the racial dualism, which forced Piri and his family to define them as either Black or White.As a result, Piri believed that he and his family were black biologically. However, he was not black because of his features but because of the interpretation of these features by the racial ideology of his society. Moreover, social ideology of race changes from place to place, as evident in his travel from â€Å"Spanish Harlem, where he was Puerto Rican, to Long Island, where he was accused of trying to pass, to the South, where he was Black (Lopez, 1998, p. 12). † Finally, the last component of racial construction is choice, which means whether a person accepts the meanings of his morphology and ancestry given by the context.Piriâ₠¬â„¢s father not only shared the same social context with Piri, he also shared the same skin color and features. However, he chose to be white, like his son Jose. Lopez explains that choices about racial identity are heavily influenced by racial prejudice and hatred, as revealed in Jose’s claim to be White: â€Å"I ain’t black, damn you! Look at my hair. It’s almost blond. My eyes are blue, my nose is straight. My motherfuckin’ lips are not like a baboon’s ass. My skin is white. White, goddamit! White (Lopez, 1998, p. 14)! † The social problems that Puerto Ricans face include poverty, gangs and crimes.The â€Å"presumed solutions† to these social problems would be welfare programs, education, more law enforcement patrolling the Barrio, etc. However, new problems will arise with each of these solutions. If we provide more welfare to the Puerto Ricans, it would further drain the national budget, which is already tight in the current eco nomic situation. It would also anger many nativists who are opposed to immigration, especially whites with lower economic status, because they might fear that the Puerto Ricans are taking their resources.There are already many voices accusing the Latino immigrants of coming to their country and sucking up all their welfare. Education definitely helps prepare a more skilled work force, which means more income for the Puerto Rican households. However, with the current budget cuts, increased financial aid to Puerto Rican students will likely be met with opposition from the rest of the population. The DREAM act which allows alien students to obtain financial aid in college has already been met with opposition arguing that the aliens would take away educational funds that could be awarded to native students.Granting more aid to Puerto Rican students will probably be met with the same opposition. However, education does serve as an important tool to pull a community out of poverty. Gangs not only create violence and crime in a community, but their culture is harmful to the vital institutions of society such as the family, the church, the school, and the government. In â€Å"Beating the Barrio: Piri Thomas and Down These Mean Streets†, James B. Lane states that â€Å"The social disorganization of the ghetto bred cynicism, hatred of authority, confused identity, inability to defer pleasure, and violent impulsiveness (Lane, 1972, p. 17). † Piri, tormented by racial prejudice and confused identity, leaved his family to be on the streets because he found a stronger sense of belonging there. So do countless number of kids in the present. To Piri religion seemed an obligation. He hated school and resented government. Although gangs like the ones Piri was in are harmful to the society, villanizing them will only make matters worse. MS-13, the biggest gang in the world, started with a couple persons but grew so much partly because police cracked down on them an d sent them back to El Salvador; many of them were born and raised in the U. S. which made them more organized and bigger. That policy only aimed to remedy the problem but failed to address the root of the problem: how the kids joined the gang. We need to recognize that criminals weren’t born criminals. Many gang members are victims of racism and oppression. Racism plants a seed of hatred in each of its victim, as in Piri’s case: â€Å"A big hate of everything white grew inside of me. I was scared of the whole fucking world (Robinson). † This hatred eventually led him to shoot a white cop. It is also no surprise that he had no interest in school and government, where he encountered racism.Gangs also provide protection for the oppressed, give them strength to fight back the authority that oppresses them, and give them a sense of belonging. In order for there to be no gangs, racism must be eliminated. In order for racism to be eliminated, everyone, kids and adults , need to be educated about racism in contemporary society, because racism starts in the mind. Schools need to make it mandatory for students to learn how racism starts, the social structures that breed racism in our society and all the ways that racism affect different ethnic groups today.Piri Thomas had a good idea of what needed to be taught to children: Children become what they are taught or not taught. For thousands of years we have heard propaganda about white supremacy and â€Å"might makes right. † Because if you conquer people by might, strip away their education, their beliefs, their culture, and their land, then in two or three generations their children will be in the dark ages again. We had very bright minds when we first went into their schools, because children are not born stupid.The world has no right to judge intelligence by the color of one’s skin†¦ this is the struggle that we have had to wage, to allow all the colors to express their humanity through literature and the other arts to learn from each other, as a people, for we are not only geographic locations, colors, sexes, or preferences. We are earthlings who share a common bond—our humanity (Thomas, Race and Mercy: A Conversation with Piri Thomas, 1996, p. 352). It’s because of the lack of awareness and ignorance that racism is still so prevalent today.There needs to be more representatives for under-represented groups such as Puerto Ricans in the political arena who could voice their needs. Puerto Ricans should be given voting rights in the general elections, since they are citizens of the United States. Puerto Ricans can also empower themselves through strengthening their identity as a whole. Oquendo suggests that â€Å"just as African Americans seek to base their self-understanding on their resurrection from slavery, Latino/as should trace their identity back to their resurrection from imperialist conquest (Oquendo, 1998, p. 70). Indeed, Puerto Rica ns and other Latino groups have proven to be resilient peoples with a great deal of stamina to live in their harsh environments while keeping their dignity. Oquendo also suggests that Latino/as should use Spanish as a source of support for Latino/a identity, since Spanish is their shared heritage. I agree with Oquendo. Language is the central part of a cultural heritage, if they all speak the language that their mother and grandmother speak, they can be closer to their roots and thus secure a sense of belonging. It is important for Puerto Ricans in the U. S. o know their homeland and its culture in order to have a stronger identity. Piri said in the interview that he was not recognized in Puerto Rico because he didn’t write in Spanish, and â€Å"the only reason why I knew of Puerto Rico is because I sat in the corner and listened to the grown-ups speaking about places like Fajardo, Bayamon†¦ I finally went to Puerto Rico when I got out of prison at the age of thirty-two . My God, as that wall of green humidity enveloped me, it was like I was entering into my mother’s arms (Thomas, Race and Mercy: A Conversation with Piri Thomas, 1996, p. 347). Through speaking Spanish, different Latino groups can relate to each other, which can be a source of support. He suggests that Spanish be brought to adult schools, unions, church organization, prisons and rehabilitation programs, so that the adult population can learn, too (Oquendo, 1998, pp. 70-71). It’s also vital that children living in the Barrio know their own value and realize their potential. In the video Every Child is born a Poet: Life and Work of Piri Thomas, it shows Piri working with teenagers in a juvenile hall inspiring them to express themselves and find their values through poetry.It also shows testimonials from local youths telling stories of how Down These Mean Streets had helped them find their identities and connect with their neighborhood (Robinson). There should be social w ork agencies and after-school programs geared towards teenagers helping kids find passion in learning and keep them away from the streets. Piri Thomas’ memoir is not only a testament to the harsh life of immigrants growing up in the United States and the dangers of racism; its wisdom teaches us all of the importance of identity and heritage.Its lessons will benefit generations to come. Works Cited Hernandez-Truyol, B. E. (1998). Bringing International Human Rights Home. In R. Delgado, & J. Stefancic, The Latino/a Condition (p. 381). New York and London: New York University Press. Lane, J. B. (1972). Beating the Barrio: Piri Thomas and â€Å"Down These Mean Streets†. The English Journal. Lopez, I. F. (1998). Chance, Context, and Choice in the Social Construction of Race. In R. Delgado, & J. Stefancic, The Latino/a Condition (pp. -11). New York and London: New York University Press. Oquendo. (1998). Re-imaginning the Latino/a Race. In R. Delgado, & J. Stefancic, The Lati no/a Condition (p. 70). New York and London: New York University Press. Robinson, J. (Director). (n. d. ). Every Child is Born a Poet: Life and Work of Piri Thomas [Motion Picture]. Thomas, P. (1996, Autumn). Race and Mercy: A Conversation with Piri Thomas. (I. Stavans, Interviewer) Thomas, P. (1998). Down These Mean Streets. New York: Vintage Books.

Strategic Choise Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Strategic Choise - Essay Example Porter's Generic Strategies model (Porter, 1985) illustrated that competitive scope is to be either, focused on the whole market, or a narrow segment of the available market. In addition, the model emphasised that only two effective marketing strategies existed: lowest product costs or high-perceived value by the customer (differentiation) (Macmillan & Tampoe, 2000). The model depicts three generic strategies: 1) cost leadership; 2) differentiation; and 3) focus on a target market. The least attractive strategy is one that takes the middle ground between two options. For example, British Airways (BA) uses a differentiation strategy (Johnson & Scholes, 1999). "The "BA Way" business strategy actively engages with employees, shareholders, customers and the community (Johnson & Scholes, 1999). During 2004-2005 BA experienced an increase of 3.3% in revenue. In contrast, Adria Airlines' Customer Relationship Management strategy focuses on quality and the personal touch, according to Porter 's model would be focusing on a target market (Adria Airways, 2004). In contrast to Porter's model Adria experienced an increase in production and administrative costs of 12% during 2003-2004 (Adria Airways, 2004). Both airlines are concerned with only a narrow segment of the airline market, yet neither benefited substantially from their strategic choice. Bowman's Strategy Clock model (Macmillan & Tampoe, 2000) is comparable to Porter's model in that he also categorised competitive strategy into cost leadership or degree of differentiation (Johnson & Scholes, 1999, Macmillan & Tampoe, 2000). However, Bowman's model extended Porter's by incorporating a "hybrid" strategy that represented an optimal balance between perceived customer value and price. This provides an organisation with three broad strategies that exist on a continuum: 1) low cost and low value as perceived by the customer (i.e., generic brands); 2) "good value" products that find balance between price and value; and 3) high cost and high perceived value items (i.e., luxury goods) (Macmillan & Tampoe, 2000). Bowman's model is much more reflective of the 21st century marketing environment, in that many organisations specialise in providing products and services that blend low cost and high differentiation (Macmillan & Tampoe, 2000). For example, British Airways could be co nsidered to be using the hybrid strategy of Bowman's, as its business strategy seeks to lower costs yet differentiate itself by way of increasing its engagement with stakeholders (British Airways, 2005). According to Porter's model, this would be a weak strategy as it combines two generic strategies (i.e., cost leadership and differentiation). Adria Airlines Customer Relationship Management strategy (Adria Airways, 2004), could be considered to be in Bowman's category of focused differentiation, due to its provision of seasonal charter services, and personal high quality services. So that the higher price of their product also has perceived added value for a select target market. This category reflects Porter's generic category of differentiated focus for a narrow competitive strat

Should same sex marriage be legal Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Should same sex marriage be legal - Essay Example The sensitivity of the topic entirely depends upon the psychology of an individual. In this regard, it has been depicted that there are various thoughts being determined against the notion ‘Should same sex marriage be legal’ (Baird & Rosenbaum, 2004; Heimbach, n.d.). Severe debate is on-going in the recent time regarding the legalizing the same sex marriage. Many scholars have proposed their valuable views regarding the issue. Many arguments have been put regarding legalizing same sex marriage but the issue does not seem to reach at rationale conclusion. Correspondingly, this paper intends to an argument against ‘should same sex marriage be legal’. In many of the countries, amendments have been framed with regard to the legalisation with a motive to support and provide benefit to the homosexual couples. In this regard, it has been further discussed that this policy or regulation is getting preference on the basis of the equality rights. Recent scenario depicts about the proclamation associated with the rising demands of the people associated with the homosexual marriages. The movement pertaining to the same sex marriage in recent scenario has turned out to be psychological matters rather than civil rights Thus, arguments for legalizing same sex marriage has been drawn in the light of changing marriage trend and legal standpoint. Marriage predominately rest on the pillar of love and affection. It is usually revealing care for each other. In other words, the notion of marriage does not rely on the realm of government and social bodies or religious ideologies. It can be argued that homosexual marriage do not harm anybody. Besides, it has been observed that there are many heterosexual couples those are without child. In this aspect, it can be further discussed that homosexual couples is likely to adopt children, which is will

Questions Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Questions - Assignment Example This seemed like a very difficult proposition for my high school and college years. Within the online environment, I could use the strategy of setting small tasks for myself that need to be completed within the allocated time. I can also put deadlines so that my tasks get accomplished in a quick and easy way. I have known a friend who is never able to manage time no matter how hard he tries. The differences that I have noticed in him have included the fact that he is always rushing for things and he usually asserts his own self in a much less manner about things as I do. The result is that he usually ends up being late on most of the occasions. The biggest time management challenge that I face at the moment is of managing deadlines. These deadlines create problems for me since all of them are usually one after the other and thus my mind is always in a loop to solve the anomalies which exist. The strategy that I can make the best use of is taking one deadline at a time and working to full effect towards the completion of the task at hand. This will make me go with the flow and not to rush up things (Sternglass 1997). An active learner is a person who is proactively consistent with his learning endeavors. A passive learner, on the other hand, tries to learn where there is a dire need to study and get acquainted with the different study regimes. I am an active learner since I remain abreast with the changing times. 6-Describe how you usually feel when you take a test-your emotions (positive and negative) and level of confidence. If you usually experience negative emotions when you take a test, describe how youd like to feel instead. Be as specific as you can. I usually feel very good when I test my emotions. I usually experience positive emotions whenever I take a test since I am always ready and willing to take a test. Since I want to achieve the best possible grades, I am always geared to give in my very best and this

Policy Recommendation for Bill Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Policy Recommendation for Bill - Term Paper Example As legislative assistant for Representative Jackson, I have put forth my argument ‘against’ the bill. For several years, men have been the target of drug-related acts and a plethora of them have had to face the sentence, for violating rules and for exceeding limitations. However, in the 1980s, the media-generated endemic of ‘crack babies’ has added fuel to the issue of pregnant women taking to drugs, especially cocaine and the eventual health-related problems of the child, leading to poverty and under-growth of the child. The pre-natal growth of the child has led to such a belief and this has bee fuelled by misrepresentation of information by the media and other quarters. It is indeed true that consumption of drugs by pregnant women can be harmful to the fetus, and can led to pre-natal health problems. â€Å"An article in the medical journal Lancet in 1989 found that scientific studies that concluded that exposure to cocaine prenatally had adverse effects on the fetus had a significantly higher chance of being published than more careful research finding no adverse effects.† Studies reveal that it is not only drugs that can lead to causing harm to the fetus, but also alcohol and tobacco. In fact, alcohol can lead to permanent retardation of the fetus and could be far more devastating that drugs like cocaine and marijuana. The fetal tobacco syndrome is one such case, which has led to a high number fo miscarriages and morbidity. The New York Times reported, that â€Å"the problems in many cases were traced not to drug exposure but to some other traumatic event, death in the

Qatar Olympic Committee Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Qatar Olympic Committee - Essay Example QOC provides opportunities for members of the community to participate in sport and sport-related activities within and outside Qatar. QOC was funded on 14 March 1979. In 1980, QOC joined the International Olympic Committee, and in 1981, joined the Olympic Council of Asia. In 1982, QOC joined the Arab Sports Games Federation. Since its inception, QOC has been led by five presidents, the current being H.H. Sheikh Tamin Bin Hamad Al-Thani since December 2000 (Olympic.qa, 2014). The General Assembly is the supreme governing body of the QOC. The company has its headquarters in West Bay Doha, Qatar. Currently, QOC is organizing the hosting of the World Boxing Championships in 2015, Handball World Cup for men in 2015, Real World Cycling Championships in 2016, Qatar World Cycling Championships in 2016 and the FIFA World Cup in 2022 (Olympic.qa, 2014). QOC has sixteen departments, which include: Secretary General, legal affairs office, secretary general’s office, assistant secretary general, finance, Sports Affairs, Operation & Maintenance, Engineering Projects, Procurement & Stores, Planning & Development, Human Resources, and Public relations & Marketing among others (Olympic.qa, 2014). Currently, QOC employs close to five thousand employees, and it is considered one of the largest government agencies in Qatar and the entire region. QOC’s vision is â€Å"to become a leading nation in bringing the world together through sustainable sport development† (Olympic.qa, 2014). The company’s mission is to place sport and physical recreation activity all over Qatar so as to enhance the harmonious development of men and women in the true Olympic spirit (Olympic.qa, 2014). In order to accomplish the mission and vision statements, QOC has developed a list of objectives and activities. First, it aims to spread the principles of Olympics throughout the country based on the framework of sport activities. Secondly, QOC helps in the training of sport administrators through

Managing Diversity Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words - 1

Managing Diversity - Essay Example (2008) Managing Diversity; the business case; London; CIPD] In this age of globalization, there is much controversy on the coming together of all kinds of people for a common purpose. Diversity is slowly becoming a common feature in schools, workplaces and communities. Due to this development, a lot of issues crop up such as acceptance of different races and cultures, sexual preferences, educational qualifications and changes in practices previously viewed as established norms. In the workplace, it takes various strategies to facilitate people from various backgrounds to work together towards the same goals. Motivation of people must be one strong quality of a great manager. The concept of diversity has been broadened to include all â€Å"individuals who bring unique perspectives or outlooks to the organization† (Schakelford, 2004, p.53). That means, it not only includes the traditional categories of race and gender, but also people with disabilities, various sexual orientations, and other non-traditional categories considered having â€Å"diversity of thought† or those from different disciplines, college degrees, socio-economic backgrounds, etc. It was Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. who inspired the concept of diversity when he advocated that people should be judged by their character, not by the color of their skin. This propelled lawmakers to come up with laws that provide equal opportunity to all (Mor Barak, 2000). These laws have been designed protect anyone from being discriminated against by reason of sex, marital status, ethnic or national origin, color, race, nationality, age, disability, religion, and differing terms of employment, including pay for jobs of equal value. â€Å"Equal opportunity† is a means by which a person receives equal access in society. â€Å"Equal opportunities approach† is premised on the principle that all people can avail of

Interpersonal Relationship with Boss Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Interpersonal Relationship with Boss - Assignment Example This research tells that the biggest current pressure that Dr. Khalifa was going through is in responding to regulatory compliance issues within his campuses that are below the required student-employment rates. He also suggested that he is under pressure in reducing expenses religion wide. Outside his working condition, he told me that he is passionate about cycling and reading. Dr. Khalifa said that he enjoyed reading but could not cycle due to health problems. He has expertise in the medical sector as a medical doctor and had practiced it in the Middle East. He concurred to this and added that he is also an expert in computer repair and global finance activities. With a lot of care in delivering the lack of expertise to Dr. Khalifa, I suggested that he lacked people skills which he gladly accepted and said that he needed to work on his approach with people. Growth which entails quality and integrity was the vision for the organization according to my assessment. In spite of this, he added it was the same vision region-wide. My assessment revealed that He would be very angered if his subordinates did not follow his specific rules. He added that his disappointment would be felt if someone lied to him. Dr. Khalifa expects me to handle small issues that arose on my own. On the contrary, when major problems occur, he expects me to be as thorough and transparent in explaining to him the problem matter as well as involving him in the solution aspect of it. This should be documented to his satisfaction. In matters of compromise, he said he has zero tolerance for dishonesty and lack of integrity. He added that he will not tolerate being blindsided. He said that he has always had the fear of being segregated in important communication. A great day at work was one that was productive in driving results. Although my assessment was not ruled out, he added that he preferred that every day ends with a learning opportunity to better at what we do. I however disagreed with h is responses as his actions/ behavior differed with his answer.

Critically evaluate the above statement, explaining the various legal Essay - 1

Critically evaluate the above statement, explaining the various legal implications and legislative concerns of e-commerce which deserve a greater attention from business regulators and law legislators - Essay Example Increased individual autonomy for shoppers poses questions on the legal validity of contracts. The convenience of buying goods or services from any part of the world affects the enforceability of transactions especially when disputes arise. Likewise, increased liberty may expose consumers to infringement of rights to privacy. It is critical for legal stakeholders to familiarise themselves with these legal concerns in order to guard against loss of business due to these issues. One of the primary challenges in handling ecommerce transactions is the lack of physical signatures. E-commerce transactions take place without paper or other physical representations of transactions. In traditional business settings, handwritten signatures authenticate contracts by providing a unique form of identification for the signee (Chaudhury and Jean-Pierre, 2002). They also assist in showing the association between the person and the document being signed. Traditional signatures are highly useful in proving that the signee was actually involved in the transaction. E commerce also has its own form of authentication called the electronic signature. Sometimes it is in the form of a secret code, a pin number, a typed name or a scanned image of one’s handwritten signature (Frieden and Sean Patrick, 2006). Digital signatures may also be used; these ones come in the form of encrypted messages that only respond to a specific key when being decrypted. The latter form is highly secure in comparison to other electronic signatures. Regardless of the type of signatures chosen, certain legal implications still exist. Stakeholders are yet to decide on the circumstances in which electronic signatures ought to be trusted. Furthermore, it is still unclear whether these signatures hold the same weight as traditional ones. Some signatures seem to hold greater authenticity than others. Business persons are still

Selection and organization of content Essay Example for Free

Selection and organization of content Essay Blooms Taxonomy of Educational Objectives One of the most widely used ways of organizing levels of expertise is according to Blooms Taxonomy of Educational Objectives. (Bloom et al., 1994; Gronlund, 1991; Krathwohl et al., 1956.) Blooms Taxonomy (Tables 1-3) uses a multi-tiered scale to express the level of expertise required to achieve each measurable student outcome. Organizing measurable student outcomes in this way will allow us to select appropriate classroom assessment techniques for the course. There are three taxonomies. Which of the three to use for a given measurable student outcome depends upon the original goal to which the measurable student outcome is connected. There are knowledge-based goals, skills-based goals, and affective goals (affective: values, attitudes, and interests); accordingly, there is a taxonomy for each. Within each taxonomy, levels of expertise are listed in order of increasing complexity. Measurable student outcomes that require the higher levels of expertise will require more sophisticated classroom assessment techniques. The course goal in Figure 2student understands proper dental hygieneis an example of a knowledge-based goal. It is  knowledge-based because it requires that the student learn certain facts and concepts. An example of a skills-based goal for this course might be student flosses teeth properly. This is a skills-based goal because it requires that the student learn how to do something. Finally, an affective goal for this course might be student cares about proper oral hygiene. This is an affective goal because it requires that the students values, attitudes, or interests be affected by the course. LEVEL OF EXPERTISEDESCRIPTION OF LEVELEXAMPLE OF MEASURABLE STUDENT OUTCOME Table 1: Blooms Taxonomy of Educational Objectives for Knowledge-Based Goals 1. KnowledgeRecall, or recognition of terms, ideas, procedure, theories, etc.When is the first day of Spring? 2. ComprehensionTranslate, interpret, extrapolate, but not see full implications or transfer to other situations, closer to literal translation.What does the summer solstice represent? 3. ApplicationApply abstractions, general principles, or methods to specific concrete situations.What would Earths seasons be like if its orbit was perfectly circular? 4. AnalysisSeparation of a complex idea into its constituent parts and an understanding of organization and relationship between the parts. Includes realizing the distinction between hypothesis and fact as well as between relevant and extraneous variables.Why are seasons reversed in the southern hemisphere? 5. SynthesisCreative, mental construction of ideas and concepts from multiple sources to form complex ideas into a new, integrated, and meaningful pattern subject to given constraints.If the longest day of the year is in June, why is the northern hemisphere hottest in August? 6. EvaluationTo make a judgment of ideas or methods using external evidence or self-selected criteria substantiated by observations or informed rationalizations.What would be the important variables for predicting seasons on a newly discovered planet? LEVEL OF EXPERTISEDESCRIPTION OF LEVELEXAMPLE OF MEASURABLE STUDENT OUTCOME Table 2: Blooms Taxonomy of Educational Objectives for Skills-Based Goals PerceptionUses sensory cues to guide actionsSome of the colored samples you see will need dilution before you take their spectra. Using only observation, how will you decide which solutions might need to be diluted? SetDemonstrates a readiness to take action to perform the task or  objective Describe how you would go about taking the absorbance spectra of a sample of pigments? Guided ResponseKnows steps required to complete the task or objectiveDetermine the density of a group of sample metals with regular and irregular shapes. MechanismPerforms task or objective in a somewhat confident, proficient, and habitual mannerUsing the procedure described below, determine the quantity of copper in your unknown ore. Report its mean value and standard deviation. Complex Overt ResponsePerforms task or objective in a confident, proficient, and habitual mannerUse titration to determine the Ka for an unknown weak acid. AdaptationPerforms task or objective as above, but can also modify actions to account for new or problematic situations You are performing titrations on a series of unknown acids and find a variety of problems with the resulting curves, e.g., only 3.0 ml of base is required for one acid while 75.0 ml is required in another. What can you do to get valid data for all the unknown acids? Organization Creates new tasks or objectives incorporating learned onesRecall your plating and etching experiences with an aluminum substrate. Choose a different metal substrate and design a process to plate, mask, and etch so that a pattern of 4 different metals is created. LEVEL OF EXPERTISEDESCRIPTION OF LEVELEXAMPLE OF MEASURABLE STUDENT OUTCOME Table 3: Blooms Taxonomy of Educational Objectives for Affective Goals ReceivingDemonstrates a willingness to participate in the activityWhen Im in class I am attentive to the instructor, take notes, etc. I do not read the newspaper instead. RespondingShows interest in the objects, phenomena, or activity by seeking it out or pursuing it for pleasureI complete my homework and participate in class discussions. ValuingInternalizes an appreciation for (values) the objectives, phenomena, or activityI seek out information in popular media related to my class. OrganizationBegins to compare different values, and resolves conflicts between them to form an internally consistent system of valuesSome of the ideas Ive learned in my class differ from my previous beliefs. How do I resolve this? Characterization by a Value or Value ComplexAdopts a long-term value system that is pervasive, consistent, and predictableIve decided to take my family on a vacation to visit some of the places I learned abo ut in my  class. To determine the level of expertise required for each measurable student outcome, first decide which of these three broad categories (knowledge-based, skills-based, and affective) the corresponding course goal belongs to. Then, using the appropriate Blooms Taxonomy, look over the descriptions of the various levels of expertise. Determine which description most closely matches that measurable student outcome. As can be seen from the examples given in the three Tables, there are different ways of representing measurable student outcomes, e.g., as statements about students (Figure 2), as questions to be asked of students (Tables 1 and 2), or as statements from the students perspective (Table 3). You may find additional ways of representing measurable student outcomes; those listed in Figure 2 and in Tables 1-3 are just examples. Blooms Taxonomy is a convenient way to describe the degree to which we want our students to understand and use concepts, to demonstrate particular skills, and t o have their values, attitudes, and interests affected. It is critical that we determine the levels of student expertise that we are expecting our students to achieve because this will determine which classroom assessment techniques are most appropriate for the course. Though the most common form of classroom assessment used in introductory college coursesmultiple choice testsmight be quite adequate for assessing knowledge and comprehension (levels 1 and 2, Table 1), this type of assessment often falls short when we want to assess our students knowledge at the higher levels of synthesis and evaluation (levels 5 and 6).4 Multiple-choice tests also rarely provide information about achievement of skills-based goals. Similarly, traditional course evaluations, a technique commonly used for affective assessment, do not generally provide useful information about changes in student values, attitudes, and interests. Thus, commonly used assessment techniques, while perhaps providing a means for assigning grades, often do not provide us (or our students) with useful feedback for determining whether students are attaining our course goals. Usually, this is due to a combination of not having formalized goals to begin with, not having translated those goals into outcomes that are measurable, and not using assessment techniques capable of measuring expected student outcomes given the levels of expertise required to achieve them. Using the CIA model of course development, we can ensure that our curriculum, instructional methods, and classroom assessment  techniques are properly aligned with course goals. Note that Blooms Taxonomy need not be applied exclusively after course goals have been defined. Indeed, Blooms Taxonomy and the words associated with its different categories can help in the goals-defining process itself. Thus, Blooms Taxonomy can be used in an iterative fashion to first state and then refine course goals. Blooms Taxonomy can finally be used to identify which classroom assessment techniques are most appropriate for measuring these goals. Attachment: Blooms Taxonomy of Educational Objectives [PDF, 67 KB] Website: Field-tested Learning Assessment Guide (FLAG): Assessment Primer.

Representation Of Morocco In Western Cinema

Representation Of Morocco In Western Cinema Morocco, its people and culture, has tickled the fancy of westerners long times ago, even before the colonial era. With the western industrial revolution under the advocacy of the imperial inclination, different generations of western writers and film makers have depicted Morocco according to the colonialist requirements and desires of the moment. The Anglo-American literary and mediatic productions as a scion and legatee to the ideology of European colonies in general, turned their gazing gawk on another Arab space of North Africa, mainly Morocco. The original outset of the Anglo-American interest in Morocco can be traced through the successive genres of travel narratives, novels, essays, etc. which took Morocco as their subject of writing and setting of shooting films. Going back to some historical reviews of the literature written about the representation of Morocco in the Anglo-American cinema and literature, we find that political, economic, and religious motivations are various pretexts that legitimize the western representation of Moroccan people together with their different cultural aspects. In Belated Travelers, Ali Bahdad has shown that westerners from the early travelers to modern tourism have defined the other including Moroccan people as savages, child like, sexually thrilling, etc. From the early British literature led by Daniel Defoes Robinson Crusoe(novel film) to the American writers led by Paul Bowles The Sheltering Sky(novel film), Morocco has been presented in the western imaginary as a land of jinns, dervishes, harems, all darkly promiscuous, sly and inscrutable. The film in its turn as an extension of narratives has sustained the same discourse of novelists. Most films shot in Morocco present the Moroccan space -desert and kasbah- as a dangerous setting. Through such representations, film makers seem to seek an identity through military, economic and sexual adventures, in which the Moroccan other is continuously cast as inferior and the dark element of the night. Babel, The Sheltering Sky, Legionnaireà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦remain major films where film makers insist on the alienating forces of the Moroccan cultural threats, in which the pure nobility of the white character must defy. It is rarely that we see some fair characteristics displayed by actors, showing the real image of Moroccans. The favourable setting favoured by film makers is most of the times dirty and shabby districts. The film makers always try to find places even far and may cost them more money just to find a place that can cast Morocco as inferior and uncivilized lacking the basi c requirements of life. Traditional and orientalist writings about Morocco are indistinguishable texts and images affixed and engrafted onto the modish mode of films. From the early talkie, Morocco (1930), the classic Casablanca (1942), road comedies Road to Morocco till Five Fingers (2006), Morocco becomes a confining other space and a penal complex for the recalcitrant Anglo-American heroes. The Muslim and Arab gears of prevalently fixed stereotypes are applied likewise to portray Moroccans and supply the requisite background rapscallions, dickhead and wilful, etc. Such representations persevere to inhabit the imaginations and thoughts of the western audience largely and hardly to be changed. Edward Said has clearly identified the function of Arabs in western cinema: In the films and television the Arab is associated either with lechery or blood thirsty dishonestly. He appears as an oversexed degenerate capable (à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦) of cleverly devious intrigues, but essentially sadistic, treacherous, low. Slave trader, camel driver, money changer, colourful scoundrel: these are some traditional Arab roles in the cinema. (Orientalism, 286-87) Unfortunately, Morocco is geographically situated within two antagonist streams of the west as an Arab and African, uncivilized parts of the world. All types of stereotypes given to Arabs, Muslims and indigenous black Africans are also used identically to describe Moroccans. Throughout history of the Anglo-American cinema, Moroccan characters (Arab Africans) have served as the quintessential other in foreign cinema. Moroccans have been consistently represented as inferior to the west orally, intellectually, culturally and politically. In the post 9/11 world and London bombardment, where some Moroccans were found guilty and involved in terrorist acts, Moroccans are perceived as antagonistic to western values and a threat to the western stability. In Babel, the film maker clearly shots this belief to show that all Moroccans are against the American presence in Morocco including tourists who are bulleted by a small Moroccan child in the mountains. CNN reports and considers this event a terrorist attack. In this conjunction, Woll and Miller argue that the Arab image has stalked the silver screen as a metaphor for anti-western values. The movie Arabs, and the television Arabs, have appeared as lustful, criminal, and exotic villains or foils to western heroes and heroines (Ethnic and Racial Images in American Film and Television, 79). Across the films under study, Anglo-American cinematic productions seem highly obsessed by stereotypical images of Moroccans. Arabs and Africans in general and Moroccans in particular are cinematically constructed to possess a wide array of loathsome characteristics: they may be backward, wild, cruel, blood thirty, crude, sex-crazed, stupid, dishonest conniving or menacing. Year after year and decade after decade, hundreds of films have flooded the market with a large number of unfavourable Arab and African depictions. In his book, Reel bad Arabs: How Hollywood Vilifies a People, Jack Shaheen has studied more than one thousand films with major Arab themes and settings, about 40 of which are about Morocco. In his latest book, just after 9/11, Guilty: Hollywoods Verdict on Arabs after 9/11, Shaheen has studied again more than one hundred films about Arabs picturing them as responsible for what is happening now around the world. Within these bundles of stereotypes, one can wonder about the reasons behind all these biased descriptions. As a response to such questions, many scholars like Churchill agree that it seems necessary to alter realities to assume the maintenance of empire (Fantasies of the Master Race, 38). Churchill goes on saying that mere conquest is never the course of empire in the achievement of mission can only be attained through the productive utilization of captured ground (34). Within the same line of thought, Pieterse writes that the legacy of several hundred years of western expansion and hegemony, manifested in racism and exotism, continues to be recycled in western cultures (White on Black: Images of Africa and Blacks in Western Popular Culture, 9). Coming to mediatic representations, we find that Brzezinki in Out of Control: Global Turmoil on the Eve of the 21st Century, Naylor in Cultural Diversity in the United States, and Shohat and Stam in Unthinking Eurocentrism all agree that Hol lywood cinema promotes Eurocentric representations in order to further an economic and political propaganda. In the present time, which is characterized by terrorism, we see that the movie discourse of the First and the Second World Wars repeats itself and continues to endorse and legitimize the imperial vision of the white mans burden. Buschbaum asserts that as early as the First World War, many western governments recognized the propaganda potential of film (Left Political Filmmaking in the West: The Interwar Years, 26), in the Second World War, in Rosss words, the movie industry and its key personal exempted from military service (Cinema and Class Conflict, 82). Many scholars like Martin, Hoberman and Shaheen claim that the best movies of the 1930s promoted colonialism, neo-colonialism and imperialism. These films include Marta Hari, Shangai Express, Tarzan the Ape Man, Flying Down to Rio, etc. During the 1950s, this imperialistic agenda was furthered in films such as those starr ing Ronald Reagan- Hong Kong, Tropic Zone, Prisoner of War- all uphold the idea of the United States domination of the third world countries and were often made with the government assistance. Passage to india: british cinema Although these biased representations within the commercial films have moderated somehow over years, we can say that the visual image of the other Arab and Moroccan in particular is still very poor. Jack Shaheen in his interesting documentary Reel Bad Arabs: How Hollywood Vilifies a People (YouToub Video), explores that the 20th century witnessed a large number of films degrading and distorting the image of Arabs including Moroccans. Anglo-American film industry is now theorizing and supporting wars through different scenes that the audience seems to take for granted. Due to this grave impact that such films have on the targeted viewers, Hoberman finds it very necessary to assign these Eurocentric films a new genre called war-nography (Vulgar Modernism, 227). Many films unabashedly affirm traditional Anglo-American values and institutions and negate everything anti-western. Among these movies, we can mention Kingdom of Heaven, Black Hawk Down, True Lies, The Mummy, Raiders of the Los t Ark, The Stone Merchant, to name but a few. In my thesis, I will study and attempt to prove that the films made about Morocco: Babel, Casablanca, Hideous Kinky, Five Fingers, The Road to Morocco, A Night in Casablanca, Legionnaire, The Man Who Knew too Much, The Sheltering Sky, Our Man in Marrakesh, Man of Violence, Unveiled, and some others fit within the aforementioned category as well. In Hideous Kinky, despite some short instances where fairness manifests itself, Moroccans are targeted for stereotypical representations within British films. As Varsey succinctly states: the British influence in general, and its impact in the area of colonial relations in particular, had far reaching implications for Hollywoods depiction of ethnic difference (Foreign Parts: Hollywoods Global Distribution and the Representation of Ethnicity, 699). She concludes that Hollywoods representations of ethnic and national difference and the movies modulation of these stereotypes were informed not by the personal psychologies of individual production, but by the economic imperatives of global distribution. Shome in Race and Popular Cinema: the Rhetorical Strategies of Whiteness in the city of Joy, and Young in Fear of the dark: Race, Gender, and Sexuality in the Cinema have all concluded that racial representations within cinema exemplify how the discursive productions of whiteness is often complicit in the practices of neo-colonialism. Religious representations are equally as stereotypical as other cultural portrayals within films. According to Newcombe, film images of people associated with religion typically represent widely shared level(s) of popular cultural expressions of religious attitudes that are safe neutral, and often used because of their immediate visual qualities (Religion on Television, 33). These religious representations also serve to support neo-colonialism since they frequently ritualize the values, beliefs, in Schultzes words, and even the sensibilities of a people (Television Drama as Sacred Text, 5). Moroccan religion or Islam in general has been the victim of representations that pre-date the movies dual purposes of religious loathe and economic exploitation. In this conjunction, Rose elaborates: There are Muslims who are of different origins, while most, like the majority of Palestinians, are Arabs, the followers of Muhammed are found in parts of the world. There is the dominant religion in such non-Arab states as Bosnia, Turkey, Iran, Pakistan, Malaysia, and Indonesia. (They and We: Racial and Ethnic Relations in the United States, 58) However, in the films under study, the Moroccan Muslims are often depicted as dark Arabs and nomadic heathens because black becomes the colour of the devil and demons. While watching the movies, the majority of Moroccans remain cinematically either part of the movie backdrop or totally invisible. In addition to this stereotypical account, another representative feature that portrays Moroccans in the Anglo-American cinema is that they are doubly misrepresented as Arabs and Africans. Hoberman concurs that the misrepresentation of the Other in general has achieved a state that had surely blistered the paint and the chrome of the American dream machine. Why should anyone want the facts? Shared fantasies are what hold a people together (Vulgar Modernism, 328). Within this religious representation, Moroccans could not escape the Hollywood machine through its films about Morocco, mainly The Five Fingers, which depicted Morocco as a place of terrorist groups and savage terrorists. What makes this religious representation very perilous is the audience who take things presented through the motion picture for granted may be throughout their lives. In a study conducted by Schaefer, the American sociologist, about school children who watched D.W. Griffiths Birth of a Nation, he found that watching the movie made them more favourably inclined towards blacks for five months when children were retested (Racial and Ethnic Groups, 80). So if school children could not forget the image of blacks presented in The Birth of a Nation, how adults of world audience could overlook the Moroccan image in Babel, Five Fingers, Casablanca, etc., especially if we consider that most people take images as truth based. The audience gameness to believe whatever images th ey see in the movies is clearly explained by Contreras in Practical Consideration for Living and Working in Contexts of Diversity: Most individuals are quite capable of forming opinions without adequate prior-knowledge, thus forming a prejudgement either for or against a group, idea, or person. For example, after learning about the bombing of the federal building in Oklahoma, how many people immediately thought the explosion had been the work of Arab terrorists? (Cited in Naylors Cultural Diversity in the United States, 330) Similarly to what happened during the evens of Oklahoma, moviemakers have tried to instil the idea of Arab terrorism in the minds of the audience either through special effects or real military victories. Balio, Barder, Bordwell and Thompson, Shohat and Stam and Hoberman all concur that the movies have influenced virtually every human activity, from politics and warfare to sexual behaviour and dreaming. It is true that after the events of 9/11 for example, the movies have turned Americans as Hoberman notes into Bob Hoskins in Toontown, real people wandering around delirious mental landscape of special effects, feel good fantasies, and militaristic spectacles (Vulgar Modernism, 334). Method This thesis is a cultural studies-based inquiry into the politics of Moroccan representation in the Anglo-American movies and the role they play in deepening the abhorrence and misperception of Moroccan cultural aspects by the west. This thesis will also re-articulate a way of understanding the links between the representations of Moroccans in the Anglo-American films and the unleashing of violence and insolence towards Moroccans and Arabs in general. The primary research questions guiding my research are: In what ways have Moroccans and Moroccan land been represented in the Anglo-American movies? Is it possible to describe a new specifically Anglo-American form of Orientalism that is distinct from old European forms? How is the identity of Moroccans articulated in opposition to an Anglo-American identity? To investigate these questions, the thesis relies on a range of data sources: primary and secondary analysis of films, scholarly books and articles, reviews of films, etc. that can help to contribute to a better understanding of how cultural domination can work upon the minds and practices of filmmakers to act around the Moroccan character in a large sample of movies. To decode the movies messages, I find myself in a situation where every component in the film must be analysed critically as Martin says in his book, Hollywoods Movie Commandments the critic must consider both the way in which the action is portrayed and the effect on the audience (91). Plot, character, theme, point of view, and setting are all typical areas upon which analysis should concentrate. Because of the films peculiar visual qualities, each of these areas takes on additional dimensions. Character, for example, is not only written into the screenplay, but also interpreted and portrayed by the actor. Even more im portantly, many of these traditional elements of narration are staged through mise-en-scene. When the action is being filmed, the shot, speed of motion, tonality, sound and special effects become also important interpretive factors within a film since cultural representations within a film can be depicted or influenced through these elements. In this research, I will shell out more concentration to issues raised in the different films and to what they say about Moroccan society and its values. The research relies on cultural studies and the postcolonial theory as its main theoretical and methodological approaches to interpret and analyse the selected films. I will make use of the literary critique of the elements of narration together with the ways in which these elements are portrayed visually. I will use the elements of narration as a guide to discuss the cultural representations across the scenes. Through the postcolonial theory, I aim at re-examining the Moroccan reality with the process of redefining Moroccan identity presented in the Anglo-American cinema. Thus the Moroccan voice will be raised with the promise of giving optimism to the silenced Moroccans in the films. Three native Moroccan movies will be employed in this research as a postcolonial means to describe people, things and values that live or relate to the geographical locations of the Moroccan society. These films are: M. Abdderrahman Tazis Badis, Farida Belyazids A Door to the Sky (Une Port sure le Ciel) and Laila El Marrakshis Maroock. Through Moroccan third cinema, Moroccan filmmakers led by Abderrahman Tazi define themselves and participate in the discursive processes that rule their destiny. It is true that A. Tazi remains the leader of the third cinema in Morocco which is manifested in his films Badis, Looking for my Wifes Husband, Lalla Hobby, etc. in these films, he tries to avoid shooting scenes that seem a kind of fetish for the west (cited in Beyond Casablanca, 66). A. Tazis wakefulness of the subjective representations of western movies is developed during his work with Anglo-American filmmakers who came to make films in Morocco. In his interview with the American anthropol ogist, Kivin Dwyer, A. Tazi recounts one of the bad experiences that demeans his pride as a Moroccan working with a Hollywood film maker John Derick while filming Bolero (1984). John Derick says to A. Tazi while facing a problem in one of the shots: what the hell am I doing here in this country? Why didnt I go to Israel, where people are more civilized, where people are less like-savages (Beyond Casablanca, 44). It is hoped that the postcolonial approach which allows for and respects different narrative voices will provide an apt method for looking at the different histories and values reflected in selected Anglophone movies. It is also my hope that the postcolonial method will enhance an understanding of different approaches used by various filmmakers as they attempt to disengage the Moroccan identity from the imperial syndrome. Rationale for the corpus The studies of the history, criticism and analysis of these films about Moroccan people and culture are significant in many ways. These films are sampled across the British and American film productions. The selection of the films is based on certain criteria. Since Im dealing with the representation of Moroccan identity in the Anglo-American cinema, I tried to choose only films that have been shot in Morocco and taking Moroccan culture as the main theme. The films are also selected according to the messages they transmit to the audience about the Moroccan religion, politics, culture, space, geography, women, traditions, etc. in Babel, for example, we see the filmmakers representing Morocco in unfair way; we see very old women in black smoking, even young children attacking American tourist- an action which seems to present that all Moroccans young or old hate the American people. In the same movie, we notice again the same old story of sexuality reiterated in the acts of presenting the Moroccan characters sexually thirsty even to their brothers and sisters. In the Sheltering Sky and Hideous Kinky, again, we see stealthy figures appear and disappear without intimating whence they come, nor where they go. These figures seem wearing turbans as big domes standing in shadows waiting to mug a western passer-by. In this film, we also see presentations of the Moroccan Kasbah as a labyrinth where western people are doomed to death. In Five Fingers, Islam, main religion in Morocco is associated with terrorism and denunciation of western spectrum. Legionnaire is the film where Moroccan space is divided into two: a dangerous desert from which no western visitor can escape, and whore streets for sexual pleasure for soldiers. All the films selected for this study are those that narrate Moroccan experience from an imperial eye. This presentation of course affects the Moroccan individual and society. The films continuous impact on identity and culture leads us to study some indigenous films productions shot by Moroccan film makers. The Moroccan films would serve a counter discourse to question and rectify the ideological representations imposed by outside cinematic productions.

Effects of Counterfeit Goods on Customer Preferences

Effects of Counterfeit Goods on Customer Preferences The purpose of this research is to observe the Customer preferences of Pakistani people towards the counterfeit products in regards of fashion accessories and their purchase behavior and how does it affect the original brands. The people of Pakistan are considered to have distinctively different views towards the international brands as all of them want to use those brands but cannot afford it. Therefore they shift towards the counterfeit product of those brands. The main purpose is to see which factors play important role in shaping the customer preference, how it effect their purchase behavior and find out which factor helps the original brand in combating against counterfeit product. This research would help to understand the collaboration among counterfeit products and their respective original brand. Background: People of Pakistan are becoming more and more aware of brands due to the globalization. People are exposed to many brands and that is leading towards a trend that everyone wants to use a branded product and if they cannot afford it they switch towards the counterfeit products of that brand. Fashion industry has boomed over the years which means many different brands are introduce into the market. Pakistani youth is following fashion and brands are there to guide them. Our country has a huge power distance in the economy which means that not all of us can afford to get branded products to fulfill our need to follow fashion, therefore due to this sole reason counterfeit industry is increasing day by day. Pakistan is ranked as 44th country in total losses in net income due to counterfeit products. Total of $358 million losses in net income is recorded due to counterfeiting which shows that counterfeit industry has grown in past few years. This indicate that the purchasing behavior of the customers has shifted towards the counterfeit products rather than the original brand, but to which extend that cannot be determined. (Havoc scope, 2012) Pakistani fashion industry is rapidly grown industry with all of its commercial and cultural aspects. Interestingly, like other industries in Pakistan, Pakistan fashion industry has never seen the fall in its history. The popularity, success and liking of this huge enterprise are because of the urge of men and women to look stylish and up to dated. So it has been widely accepted, appreciated confessing the positive role of Pakistani fashion industry in raising awareness about the latest fashion among people of all classes. Certainly, Pakistan fashion industry is touching its height, striving to get more and more appreciation on international level, but on the other hand, it has to focus more on the marketing tactics (besides improving more and more) to occupy international market. (Fashion47pk, 2012) The growing menace of counterfeit products has become a serious problem for buyers and producers of fast moving consumer goods, so the countrys law enforcement agencies must acquire the ability to investigate this white-collar crime, says an expert. According to an international report about 65% of the goods being sold in the country are fake, which are harming the consumers, producers and the economy, said by a leading Intellectual Property Lawyer, who was appointed by World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) to draft rules for intellectual property laws of Pakistan. (APP, 2012) Basically this research is a tentative study of Pakistani customer preference towards counterfeit products, their purchasing behavior and how does it affect the original brand, thus helping us to understand the relationship between the counterfeit products and the original brand. Chapter 1 Introduction: The purpose of this research is to understand the consumer preference criteria of the counterfeit products of the original brand. Pakistans fashion industry is growing and everyone is getting aware about the brands and the need is driven to accessorize in the daily life. Due to the social media and social networking the peer pressure is increasing and the youngster would do anything to fit in. Economic conditions of Pakistan are fluctuating due to which everyone cannot afford to buy branded accessories so they switch to counterfeit. Price is the major factor in the usage of counterfeit but the question rises that which factors contribute in developing the customer preference, customer purchasing behavior and how does they affect the original brand. Our research would be the combination of different research methods. In correlational research method we would conduct a systematic investigation of the impact of counterfeit products on the preference of customer, their purchasing behavior therefore its effect the original brand and the survey tool will be used. Experimental research method would be used to conduct the quasi experiment and double blind testing as there result would provide a conclusive result of the interdependence of the variable include in the research. In general our research would be the mixture of both qualitative and quantitative research therefore we will use the method of triangulation thus giving us a broad spectrum for finding their absolute results. In triangulation approach we will use both the technique that is the data and methodological approach because by using different methods, data sources we can counterbalance bias characteristic in a specific data source. Now coming towards the industry in which our research would be conducted and that is Fashion industry. Fashion industry is very vast; it includes cloth, make up, shoes, accessories, furniture and body piercing. Fashion industry started booming in Pakistan and the big advantage it gained was that it had the glimpse of various civilizations in it. The remarkable change in the Fashion Industry of Pakistan started with the beginning of 21st century, when the young designers tried to give a new direction to fashion in Pakistan. Our research would focus on the accessories segment of the fashion industry. Due to globalization every country is bombarded with international brands and the level of competition has gone up. Now Pakistani designers are known in international markets and many international shows feel proud to invite them, this not only improves the content of their runway, but also projects the soft image of the country as a talented young generation. In Pakistan both the domestic and international brands of this segment has created a buzz; which in result created a wave in the youth of our country. Everyone is accessorizing to fit in and using these different brands helps them to acquire a status co which would otherwise take time without these brands. Therefore our research would help us in determining the factor that drives the customer preference, the factors that control their purchasing behavior and would identify their roles which would be a set of guidelines for the original brands that will not only provides them information to combat with counterfeit but also how to avoid the process on the whole. Scope: Our research would be steered in accessories segment of fashion industry because in this segment counterfeiting is most common in our country. Our population would be the twin cities (Islamabad, Rawalpindi) because in both cities major markets the counterfeit products and original brands are coexisting. This research would be beneficial to major brands whose market share is being damaged by these counterfeit products. Objective: Our research revolves around the effect of counterfeit products on specific attributes and their impact on original brand so our objective would be: General objectives: Find out the factors that affect the perception of a brand or counterfeit products. Find out reasons for a customer purchasing behavior towards a brand or counterfeit products. Notice external factors that may take role in the relationship among counterfeit products and their respected brands. Specific objectives: Conduct a double blind test Conduct a quasi-experiment (per and post design) Arrange a focus group Research model: The model that is going to be used in this research would be a blend of elements that are affecting the major attributes. The structure of the model would start form the counterfeit products factors or aspect that are going to influence the customer. Customer main perspective that would be looked upon is their preference and their buying behavior then their effect onto the original brand. The main model would be like; This model can further be break down into smaller model explaining the processes and proving the assumed hypothesis. Definition of terms: The main terminologies used in this research can be defined as: Counterfeit Product They are the fake replicas of the original brand; it includes any product containing an unauthorized representation of a trade mark or logo. Counterfeit product tricks the customer in making them believe that they are purchasing a legitimate product as it has similarities with the original brand and they are not easily differentiated. They are created to take advantage of the established worth of the original brand and grab their market share. In general it is the practice of manufacturing goods, often of inferior quality, and selling them under a brand name without the brand owners authorization. Customer Preference It can be define as the likeness or the choice of selecting product over the other product. If a customer generally likes a product, it can stay around for years and sell millions of copies. However, if customer do not likes the product, it could disappear very quickly. Customer preference is no doubt dependent upon culture, education, and individual tastes and among a plethora of other factors. It permits the customer to rank products according to the levels of utility they give the consumer. Customer Purchasing Behavior It can be assumed as the decision process by which customer search, select, purchase, use, and dispose of goods and services, in satisfaction of their needs and wants. This behavior is driven by the cultural, social, personal and psychological factors. Since every person in the world is different, it is impossible to have simple rules that explain how purchasing decisions are made. So put it simply it comprise of how people buy, what they buy, when they buy and why they buy it. Research Question: This research would emphasis on these simple questions that are: Do counterfeit products create such a habitual buying behavior that consumers dont revert back to original brands even if they are offering better features? Determine what factors play important role in shaping customer preference with respect to counterfeit products? Determine which factors play important roles in influencing customer purchasing behavior with respect to counterfeit products? What are the factors shifting customer preference towards counterfeit goods? Effects of counterfeit product on customers who are used to buy original brands? What factors will improve the image of original brand and help in combating against counterfeit product used by different companies? Hypothesis: H0: Counterfeit products dont effect the customers who buys original brand H1: Counterfeit products does effect the costumers who buys original brand H0: Customers who are appearance conscious do not have a positive relationship with intensity to buy counterfeit product H1: Customers who are appearance conscious do have a positive relationship with intensity to buy counterfeit product H0: Counterfeit products appearance do not effect customers preference towards the original brand H1: Counterfeit products appearance do effect customers preference towards the original brand H0: The use of counterfeit product do not shift the customers preference of original brand H1: The use of counterfeit product do shift the customers preference of original brand H0: Materialism towards counterfeit product has positive influence on customer purchasing behavior H1: Materialism towards counterfeit product has negative influence on customer purchasing behavior

The Greek Economy :: essays research papers fc

The Greek Economy Agriculture The Greek economy depends a lot on agriculture. One quarter of the Greek workforce is engaged in farming, and agriculture constitutes about 15% of the domestic production. Not much attention has been drawn on the agricultural sector of the economy. The farms are pretty small, the division of inheriting land has reduced the average size to 3,4 hectares (8 acres) and it is really difficult to use mechanised equipment efficiently. Yields are also low due to the dryness and erosion of the soil. Let's take a look at the yearly output of some major crops: tobacco 142000, wheat 2.6 million, tomatoes 1.9 million, oranges 780000, corn 2.1 million, sugar beet 1.9 million, grapes 1.6 million, olives 1.5 million, potatoes 850000 and cotton 222000. Livestock included some 10.8 million sheep, 3.5 million goats, 800000 head of cattle, 31 million poultry and 1.2 million pigs. Forestry and Fishing The Greek government owns the two-thirds of the forestland and has materialised her plans i.e. to replace the trees that were destroyed during World War II. About 2.9 million cu m of timber were annually cut in the late 80's and approximately the 75% of the harvest was hardwood. Fish exports are limited because of the widespread consumption of fish products within Greece. However in recent years thousands of tons of fish are exported each year, due to the ever increasing development of fish farms in the country. In the late 80's the annual catch totalled 135000 tons, from which 80% was consumed within Greece. Sponges are the main marine product exported. Mining Mining is of little importance to the Greek economy. We should mention though the annual output of minerals in tons: bauxite 2.3 million, iron ore 1.3 million and magnesite 884400. Also, about 279200 cu m of marble were quarried. Petroleum, salt, chromium, silver, zinc were also produced. Manufacturing Approximately one fifth of the Greek workforce is engaged in manufacturing, which contributes 18% of the annual gross production. The manufactured products include: food, beverages, tobacco, textiles, clothing, chemicals, cement and wine. Athens is the manufacturing center of Greece. Currency and Banking The national currency of Greece is drachma. The central banking institution is the Bank of Greece. The biggest banks of Greece are the National Bank of Greece, with 470 domestic branches and the Agricultural Bank of Greece with 420 branches. Foreign Trade Generally Greece spends each year much more on imports than it receives from exports. This "imbalance" is offset to a certain extent by tourist revenues and by remittances from Greeks living abroad. In the 80's the imports totalled 3 trillion drachmas and exports earned 1.5 trillion drachmas.

Epic of Beowulf - Christian Morals in Beowulf :: Epic Beowulf christbeo

Christian Morals in Beowulf Beowulf is an epic tale that has been changed over time to try and express a christian moral. While this transformation over time has added a new variable to the plot, it is still impossible to try and erase the original pagan plot completely. It has become evident that the original epic was pagan and had no mention of the biblical references or the christian morality that it contains now. However, it is also evident that the original story dealt with the concept of a higher being or beings. The overriding christian view has many facets and deals with them all as a new way of proposing christianity into the theme of the story. The reason that Grendel becomes outraged is that the bard in the mead hall is singing a song that has to do with creation. This shows Grendel's apparent disregard for God and he proceeds to go to the hall and capture men and eat them while they are asleep. As we progress into the story, we learn that Grendel carries the curse of Cain with him. "He bore the curse of the seed of Cain/ Whereby God punished the grievous guilt of Abel's murder." Cain was the son of Adam and Eve and was the one who murdered Abel, his brother, out of a jealous rage for God's favor to Abel. This shows us that Grendel had more than just a dislike for the men, the song was showing Grendel that his ancestor was looked upon as the bad person and was therefore the underlying concept for Grendel's rage. This was the constant reminder to Grendel of his evil past and thus his reasoning for his actions. We learn to see Grendel as a less than human being, but in actuality, he is a monster who has a degree of humanity in him and that is the reason that he is so hard for Beowulf to kill. He has the human emotion of pride which ultimately is the cause of his downfall. While this seems to be a major part of the story line, it can be removed and the story will only lose the background of Grendel's evil side. This could have been where the real story of Grendel originally was. As with many of the classic medieval stories there is a sense of a higher being and fate is a major factor in Beowulf.

Taoism in Chinese Culture Essay examples -- Taoism Chinese Culture Tao

Taoism in Chinese Culture Taoism, known as â€Å"The Way,† can be categorized as both a Chinese philosophy and a religion. Taoists believe in accepting and yielding to the ways of life, complementing nature and being by internalizing their goals rather than worshipping a god externally. Taoism, in its metaphysical and philosophical nature, is much like Confucianism, but the ideal interests of the two religions are contrasting. Confucianism was formulated during a time of war and relies heavily upon a moral and political system that fashioned society and the Chinese empire, while Taoism correlates to a time of peace and honors spiritual and metaphysical preoccupation (Taoism 2). The supposed author of the Tao Te Ching, Lao Tzu, is said to be the father of Taoism. It is estimated that Lao Tzu, spelled many other ways including Lao-tsu, Lao Tse, and Lao Tzi, was born under the name of Li Erh in Honan, China, around 604 B.C.E. Myth says that Lao Tzu was born fully developed with a long, white beard and hair the color of snow. He was somewhat of a recluse and withdrew from society to avoid governmental law and rule. He retreated to the Western frontier after the fall of the Zhou dynasty to continue his personal study of metaphysics and philosophy (Taoism 2). The collaborations of his studies and observations are said to be the basis of the Tao Te Ching, although some scholars argue that Lao Tzu’s existence cannot be proved and that the scholar Chuang-tzu played at least a partial role in the authorship. However the Tao Te Ching came to be, it is prized for being the foundation of Taoist belief and should hold merit as a universal guide, not as an aut hor’s accomplishment (De Bary, Chan, and Watson 49). There are t... ...e and space and is therefore attainable to each individual who is ready to be released from the bonds of the physical. The Tao is perfection, a place where yin and yang come together and all that lives in diversity finds unity. Works Cited De Bary, Wm. Theodore, Wing-Tsit Chan, and Burton Watson, eds. Sources of Chinese Tradition. NewYork: Columbia UP, 1960. Feibleman, James K. Understanding Oriental Philosophy: A Popular Account for the Western World. New York: Horizon, 1976. Robinson, B.A, â€Å"Taoism.† Religious Tolerance.org. 28 August 2000. 15 September 2000 . Smullyan, Raymond M. The Tao is Silent. New York: Harper & Row, 1977. â€Å"Taoism.† Encyclopedia Britannica Online. 1999-2000 ed. 19 September 2000 .

A Visit to the Animal Kingdom in Florida Essay

English Reflective Essay Florida is portrayed as a fantasy land where Mickey Mouse greets you around every corner and where Cinderella actually lives, where days go by without a single drop of rain and the sky is consistently perfectly blue. However this was the farthest thing from my mind as I sat in an immense carbon-emmiting monster whose air conditioning has spluttered and died and while the heavens poured the air was so thick and mucky that flies were sticking to the windshield as we drove, only to be washed away by the drowning rain. As this was happening, my dad who was yet to figure out his left from his right had the near-miracle task of finding our hotel. Which was almost impossible because visibility was limited to about a yard and that requires great concentration, which was hard to find after the fiasco at the airport†¦. Day 2 To my great excitement, â€Å"Animal Kingdom† was our first theme park, rather disappointing though what was hyped up to be a splendour of animal based excitement turned out to be a zoo with the odd thrill. However my memory of the first day was largely marred by Dad; with his new and shiny American muscle car; forgot that when all four doors were shut the lock system was activated. All hell broke lose! With my mum muttering and rambling nonchalantly and quietly with the odd distinguishable, â€Å"God.. men† and my dad, the man of the household and the â€Å"decisive† being, who was spouting all sorts of obscenities and was spanking the car,lightly so no damage was done but gave the impression that somehow it was the cars fault, it was up to me (seeming the only level headed member of the family) to aqcuire the basic survival needs such as food and water. With out park tickets being used for the day there was no way of buying fresh water. Giving up on the task of survival and surrending to the fate of the great over-powering Florida sunshine that was gobbling up every ounce of liquid, I went to a little ledge at the very far side of the car park and with ironic timing the edge of my eye caught sight of a little pool. And just like an oasis in the middle of the Sahara desert the temptation to drink from this minor miracle was extreme. As I squatted and stared while heavily drooling with my mouth arid there was a conflict of conscience apparent in my head. The good side was reciting the well known fact that one of the locals had stated, â€Å"In every pool of water in Florida there is an alligator. † The other â€Å"evil† side accompanied by my sailva and most major organs, was willing to tempt fate yet my good conscience claimed noble victory and I was left to dessicate. And looking back on it, it was probably a wise decision, however the journey back to the apartment was like a front row seat between Mohammed Ali and Mike Tyson.

Literature Poem Analysis Essay

From the way the speaker laments about his brother, we can clearly tell how the both of them have totally contrasting attitudes towards life. Moreover, as flying paper planes were one pastime that both brothers used to share in their childhood, the speaker talks about their paper planes metaphorically, letting us in on the way they each view the world. Being the older brother, the speaker was a doom and gloom pessimist who viewed the world in dismal light. He was constantly harping on how â€Å"there was always homework and a thousand other things† that he could not devote his time to other more meaningful areas, such as spending quality time with his younger brother. He was also too caught up in the fast pace of work, that he forgot to take time and enjoy himself, or to carry himself with some humour and gaiety. As we see from the poem, he remembered his brother for â€Å"dancing to your bubbling laughter’s pace†, something which was not embodied in the speaker himself. The speaker was also rather obdurate on the ways of the world. Living a very mundane routine throughout his lifetime, he has developed rigid ideals and lives in accordance to them. For instance, his pragmatic nature has shaped him into being diligent and discipline, challenging each obstacle that came in his way. However, this monotonous task has made him spiritless, for his thinks his life as unexciting. This can be seen from the degradory ways he describes earth as â€Å"dull† and homework as â€Å"earthbound†.

Macro Environment External Forces that Affect Bakery Industry Essay

Executive summary Paris Baguette is a French inspired Korean bakery, which started in 1945, and it started off as a small bakery. Paris Baguette is now a highly competitive bakery that has 32 stores worldwide and 4 stores in Singapore. This report is to advice Paris Baguette on matters that are associated with effective marketing for its product, place, promotion and price. This report will talk about things like, what Marco-environment that will affect the bakery  industry as well as what microenvironment that will affect our organization. This report will also be explain what product positioning and perceptual mapping is and with the aid of perceptual mapping it will illustrate the product positioning of Paris Baguette against their competitors. The recommendation for the report is to advertise Paris Baguette on television or the newspaper to increase brand awareness. In addition, to open more branches in Singapore, as four stores is nothing compared to their competitors like Bread Talk. Background Paris Baguette has started in 1945, called as ‘Sang-mi-dang’ in Woongjin, Korea. They had moved Sang-mi-dang to Seoul in 1948. The president of the company, Chang Sung Hur had changed the name of the company as ‘Sam Lip General Food Company in 1968 and entered the franchise market as a general food company. In 1997, they have decided to have product brand called ‘Shany Cake’ hence, the Sam lip and Shany cake shown great impact in the bread industry. In order to strengthen their business, they realized they need bakery brand so they established Paris Croissant in 1986 and they called it as ‘Paris Baguette’, which is a luxury French bakery brand. They have made first store at Gwanghwamun(Korea), one of the place that a lot of people in Korea. They had good success, kept expanding the stores, and had 100 stores in Korea in 1992. They did 1st place in bakery industry in 1997, and they maintained the 1st place all the way. In 2004, they decided to expand the stores overseas and opened first store in Shanghai. As a result, they have around 3,200 stores in Korea alone. Macro Environment external forces that affect bakery industry 2.1Demographic environment The term ‘demography’ refers to the study of human population on the basis of gender, age, race, income level, density, education, family size, occupation, etc. According to the data reports that released by Singapore government, the population of female residents is nearly equal to males. The main target customers of bakery industry are consider as females because they are most likely to have a sweet tooth. It means that there is still some room for improvement to attract potential customers, such as males.  Besides, an aging population and declining birth rate also has impact on bakery industry. The range in age from 5 to 35 is considered as main target customers in bakery industry. With the increase of elderly and decrease of children, consumers of bakery industry will be gradually decrease. In order to attract more potential customers, bakery companies may launch new products that suitable for males and elders, such as salty bread with meat or soft bread, which can be easily chew. 2.2Political Environment As a country, which has been crown the most business-friendly economy all over the world for the previous 7 years, no one will doubt that Singapore government encourage the development of company. Policy support helps with company operation, such as decrease the business income tax- it will increase the profit of company. Singapore government increase the wages tax in order to help poor people, thus, more customers will be able to afford bread. In addition, policies of childbirth encouragement and immigration also help to increase the numbers of consumers. Children are attract by lovely look and sweet taste of desserts, Europeans and Americans prefer bread instead of rice, and they should be regulars of bakeries. However, these policies also benefit other companies in bakery industry, and it will result in increasing of competitions. In order to hold the market share, the company may reduce the price of bread or launch more variety of bread. 2.3Economic Environment Economic factors are consists of inflations, taxation, interest rate, currency exchanges rate, depression, etc. Those factors will influence the purchasing power and spending patterns of customers. If the interest rate increased, people would like to save their money in bank instead of spending them. That will result in decrease of buying power, thus, the profit of company will reduced also. Inflation also causes decrease of buying power. Inflation puts a lot of pressure on people, and they will decrease daily expenses, it may influence the bakery industry. Micro Environment forces that affect Paris Baguette 2.4Competitors In Singapore, Break Talk considered as a competitor of Paris Baguette because both of these two brands are consists of bakery and cafà ©. In comparison, Bread Talk is more famous and familiar than Paris Baguette because it is the local brand and it is plenty of branches. There are only four outlets of Paris Baguette, but more than 25 branches of Bread Talk in Singapore. The advantages of Paris Baguette are ‘delicacy’ and variety of products. Delicate appearances of decorate and products attract many customers. The advantages of Bread Talk are it’s lower price and promotions. To compare these two brands, Paris Baguette is more suitable for yuppies, but Bread Talk is suitable for ordinary family. 2.5Customers The customers positioning of Paris Baguette: children, couples and 15 to 35-year-old females. Products of Paris Baguette are more expensive than other general bakery brands, thus, consumers of Paris Baguette should be well pay. Customers prefer cafà © of Paris Baguette, so they frequented braches in the afternoon, especially during the weekends. Macro environment forces that affect Paris Baguette Two of the Macro environment, which have affect Paris Baguette are the Economic environment and social-cultural environment. The economic environment affected the Paris Baguette franchises, which the production costs increased due to the price of the oil and the grain increased. All the franchises have to pay more in order to purchase the ingredients. Besides, Paris Baguette in the American and China markets have faced some uncertain economic failure. This has cause quite a big impact to Paris Baguette. â€Å"A weak currency is the sign of a weak economy, and a weak economy leads to a weak nation.† (Perot, N.D). In addition, the social-cultural environment, which affect Paris Baguette have to know the different cultural food taste of the chosen country, which mean they have to find out what type of products can increase the interest and Paris Baguette have to cooperate with it by creating the product the people like. Besides, for the aging people and woman will give more attention to their own health and they prefer more on organic food. In order to aim a bigger market, Paris Baguette has to produce more organic and healthy products due to the healthy diet flow. Product Positioning. Product positioning is one of marketing techniques that promote products in the best way to target audiences. The most important thing is to buy the product. It is quite similar with market segmentation as the product positioning is made of creating the message and involves the symbol and manipulation, which conclude display and packaging. In Paris baguette, they used 5methods for the product positioning. They are ‘threat of new entrants (too much capital is not required for joining the bakery franchise market)’, ‘bargaining power of suppliers (the raw material is important for them in bakery industry and the materials like rice and flour)’, ‘threat of substitute products (many other substitute products are exist such as flour based food, instant food, etc. For example, Starbucks is one of cafà © that makes high profit with substitute products)’, ‘bargaining power of customers (They don’t have difficulty to switch purchasing outlets because of standardized bakery products)’ and ‘competitive rivalry within an industry (there is intense competition in the market among other brands because of saturation. There does not have many firms within industry but big brands like Tour les Jour exist. There also have high exit barriers and hard to differentiate the strategic for each firm.)’. Perceptual mapping From the picture above, we can see that Paris Baguettes (PB) and Baker & Cook (B&C) has the high price and high quality compared to Sunshine Bakery (SB). It is because PB and B&C uses very good quality and high cost for the ingredients compared to SB. B&C is selling products slightly higher than PB is because of the company’s regulation. Paris Baguette use the product positioning strategy, which is ‘positioning by price/quality’. This is because they want to make sure their customer satisfy with their products and can consume their product is in high quality in other words mean the taste of the bread, the freshness and the crispiness of the bread. However, in order to produce a high quality product, they have to use high quality raw materials to produce their products such as the flour, butter, grain and other, which mean their products are in high quality and the price is slightly higher. â€Å"The quality of a leader is reflected in the standards they set for themselves.† (Kroc, 1984) Marketing research The primary marketing research technique that I would recommend Paris Baguette to use for collecting information related to customer satisfaction is the survey method. The survey method is by far the most popular of all the research method. Survey method is a list of questions that ask individuals about their preferences, attitudes towards our product and buying behaviours. We would need to create the questionnaire that will record the data. Example of the survey question will be: What is the first thing that comes into your mind when you think of Paris baguette? Do you enjoy our selection of bread? Which one of our product do you like best? How can we improve on our product? Are our prices reasonable? Are our staffs friendly? Is our branch location convenient for you? What new product would you like to try? What is your age group? Others- These questions will help Paris Baguette improve on their product and find out what their customers thinks about the organization and what new products they would like to see from Paris baguette. One finding that I have found from the marketing research is that our shops location is inconvenient for people that are rushing. In addition, we open only at 10a.m, which is after the morning peak hour. Paris Baguette can make our stores more convenient for the working class by putting them near the MRT stations and opening our stores before the morning peak hour. By opening our stores during peak hour we can attract people who have not ate their breakfast as they are rushing for work, and by putting our stores near an MRT. It would make it much more convenient for people to come to our stores to buy our product especially those who are rushing. Marketing Mix Strategies of Paris Baguette Marketing mix consists on the 4Ps, which are product, price, promotion and place. We are going to analyse the marketing mix the Paris Baguette bakery. In first place, we can see that the Paris Baguette is a bakery with a high variety of products. The Paris Baguette supplies fresh bakery products in over 3000 locations worldwide. Their products are different for each country depending on the culture and the people of each country. They do not have the same products In United States and In Singapore, for example. This is because people from different countries have different preferences of taste. However, there are some common products in all their branches. For example, the most common products are the types of bread, the pastries and pie, the cakes, desserts and sandwiches and beverages. They also sell other type of products like cups of tea. Talking about the price, the price in the Paris Baguette is equal to the quality of the product and the cost of purchase. The Paris Baguette keeps affordable prices in order to be accessible for more people to attract more customers. Of course they have to analyse the competitors prices and offers before adjust the final price of their products. Also determining the demand of each product and the estimating costs. If a product has a high demand, the cost would increase. For example, a piece of cake would cost around $3.95. Talking about the promotion, the Paris Baguette is a bakery with lots of promotions. They use two different ways of promotion to attract people. The first way is to do advertisements about their products with nice pictures and an apparently family friendly place. The second way is doing sales promotion. For example, buy one dessert and get the second one free, or doing breakfast offers like a cup of coffee and a sandwich for $3.50. They use this two ways for promotion. Finally, the place. The Paris Baguette focuses always in getting branches in the centre of the cities. They are not interested in getting branches in small towns or places with not too much people. This is because they want a high average of people per day and this can achieved just in the centre of the cities and specific places. For example, in Singapore they have a big branch in Orchard, which is the main road in Singapore. Marketing Mix In my opinion, there are a few points that Paris Baguette could implement in  the future. This can be focus on the promotion events. In my opinion, the Paris Baguette could implement quite a lot their customers by doing some cake and bread events. Paris Baguette can attract more customers, while promoting their products. This could be done by doing some events each year rent a place in a shopping mall and set up a stage in a large crowd places . Meanwhile, while promoting their products, Paris Baguette can give out their new products with free of charge . This would be an improvement for their fame. This because as long as it is free, when people try their bakery products and it taste good, people will buy the products. These events will attract people from everywhere, which mean Paris Baguette will have more customers buying their products and it will increase their profit. â€Å"Profit in business comes from repeat customers, customers that boast about your project or service, and that bring friends with them.† (Edwards, 1993) Recommendation In Singapore, Bread Talk’s fame surpasses Paris Baguette. Thus, Paris Baguette may advertise on TV or newspaper in order to increases brand awareness. Besides, they also need to expand more branches all around Singapore in every single shopping malls to increase competitive. This is because are only four branches of Paris Baguette, which is far less than numbers of branches of Bread Talk and other bakery companies. Conclusion ‘Sang mi dang’ was a small bakery which began in 1945. After some improvement, Paris Baguette have been start up and their business expand with a rapid speed. Paris Baguette is a mature domestic franchise bakery with a high percentage of share terms and their shops have already franchised to worldwide. Paris Baguette have maintained their high position for a period. This is because they have did their Micro and Macro environmental factors, which will affect their business, and they try to overcome it. Besides, Paris Baguette also did investigation of its competitors, in order to know more about its competitors. After the investigation have done, they try to compare it to their own companies by using a perceptual mapping concept, which can help them to know their own range with its competitors. Moreover, to know how to gain more customers, Paris baguette choose a survey method by asking the random passers and to  know more about, which bakery products do they prefer or like. In addition, Paris baguette known as a bakery which more on product and price, which mean they sell high quality products. Therefore, they will choose a high quality of raw ingredients to produce their products and set up a higher price but reasonable. Nevertheless, Paris Baguette also choose more crowded area to set up their shop to let more people notice their shop and buy their products. Besides, in order to attract customer, Paris Baguette also did some promotions for theirs products such as the special of the day for the products. References Barney, J.B (1995). â€Å"Looking inside for competitive advantage,† Academy of Management Executive, 9(4), 49-61 Cafehopping. (2012-2014). Paris Baguette. Available: http://cafehopping.sg/review-post/paris-baguette-cafe-singapore/. Last accessed 3rd April 2014. Demographics of Singapore. [ONLINE] Available from: [Accessed 20 March 2014] Henry, A (2008), Understanding Strategic Management (1st ed.), Oxford : OUP. Jaeseok Jeong, et. al. (2013). Sucess Factor of Paris Baguette’s Bakery Frachise Business : Industry Competition and Core Competence Analysis. ASIA MARKETING JOURNAL. 15 (2), p1-27. James Manktelow. (1996-2014). The Marketing Mix and 4 Ps. Available: http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newSTR_94.htm. Last accessed 3rd April 2014. Political Environment. [ONLINE] Available from: [Accessed 27 March 2014] Ray Kroc. (1902-1984). Ray Kroc quotes. Available: last accessed 1st April 2014. Ross Peros, (N.D).Quotes. Available: Last accessed 1st April 2014. S. Jaychandran (2006). Marketing Management: text and cases. New Delhi: Anurag Jain. Singapore is most business-friendly for 7th year straight By Malminderjit Singh The Business Times | Fri, Oct 26, 2012 [ONLINE] Available from: [Accessed 21 March 2014] W. Edwards. (1900-1993). W. Edwards Deming quotes. Available: http://thinkexist.com/quotation/profit_in_business_comes_from_repeat_customers/226671.html. Last accessed 3rd April 2014. What is a macro environment? [ONLINE] Available from: [Accessed 20 March 2014]