Graduation Speech - Original Writing - 1802 Words

Nine years ago, I never could have imagined I’d be writing this essay. I was a senior in high school, and, like the rest of my classmates, I was apprehensive about the future. Unlike my classmates, I felt like I had missed the proverbial â€Å"you need to get your life together† message. I watched my classmates apply to colleges, their majors already decided and their future careers mapped out. While I was an above average student, I felt I lacked the decisiveness my classmates seemed to have. I did not feel passionate about a career or even a field of study. I felt defective. This was compounded by the financial strain I knew attending college would have on my family. It seemed wasteful to try to â€Å"find my passion† at school while squandering†¦show more content†¦Military training in a school environment was unlike anything I had encountered in high school. I was thrown into a curriculum filled with different aspects of military intelligence, from i dentifying ships in foreign navies to learning how to build and present an intelligence brief. I enjoyed learning how historical events shape present day policy and how new information fit into foreign policy and current events. I graduated as one of the top students in my class. In September 2009, I checked into my first command, eager to learn and ready to work. Unfortunately, my command was a shore command, meaning the command did not deploy people. Fortunately, my department arranged for my temporary attachment to a command that did deploy, a maritime security squadron whose mission was to protect US and Coalition warships as they transited in and out of port in Jebel Ali, United Arab Emirates. I was deployed from April to November of 2010, living in Dubai and working at Jebel Ali. During that seven months, This deployment was the steepest learning curve I had experienced in my life to that point. I learned about waterborne tactics, Iran’s Naval power, and extremist groups operating in the Arabian Gulf. This was especially relevant when an al-Qaeda aligned group, Abdullah Azzam Brigades, attacked an oil tanker transiting the Strait of Hormuz. Our unit was responsible for making initial reports on the damaged tanker when it limped into port.

Iwt1 Task1 Essay - 769 Words

COMPAIRING ARTISTIC PERIODS RENAISSANCE ART AND MANNERISM ART WESTERN GOVERNORS UNIVERSITY IWT1 TASK1 COMPARING ARTISTIC PERIODS The Renaissance period was from roughly the 14th century to the 17th century of the common era (CE) beginning in Italy later spreading throughout Europe. The word Renaissance comes from the original Italian word Rinascimento or rinascere which means to be reborn according to Harper (2012). The influence of the Renaissance movement can be observed in art, music, science, religion, politics, philosophy, literature, as well as other areas of intellectual inquiry. The Renaissance brought about a way of thinking focused on the bettering the person and having a well rounded and educated person in all†¦show more content†¦Another characteristic of this period is the lack of distinct or realistic perspective in renderings. Michelangelo was one of the first artist who pioneered the Mannerism at the Laurentian Library in Florence Italy according to Britannica (2012). One such painting that employed the Mannerism characteristics such as eroticism and obscure imagery is the Madonna with the Long Neck painted by Girolamo Francesco Maria Mazzola, also known as Parmigianino (Artble, 2012). In 1520 the humanistic model of the classical Renaissance such as the serenity, beauty, and order began to break down as a negative world view began to emerge due to machinations and war s of Spain, France, and the Holy Roman Empire. (Ozarks, 2012) Both paintings represent the Madonna (the Virgin Mary) with the baby Jesus on her lap. In the previous painting, the arch vault and throne on which the mother is seated is stylized very realistically along with the saints surrounding them are all in proportion to themselves and to each other. In the later painting the pose of the Madonna is elongated and exaggerated, the baby in the later painting is quite large and the angels in the picture are crammed to one side with a prophet on the opposite which is very small not coming up to the Madonnas knee. Mannerist artists inShow MoreRelatedVisual Art During The Middle Ages And The Renaissance1013 Words   |  5 PagesIWT1 TASK1 Visual Art in The Middle Ages and The Renaissance The Middle Ages spanned from 400 to 1400 A.D. During this period, often referred to as the Medieval Period, began after the fall of the Roman Empire. After Rome fell Europeans found that they no longer had a single state or government and they turned to the Catholic Church which soon became the most powerful institution of the era. Throughout the Medieval Period Kings, Queens and other leaders relied on their alliances with the church for

Examine the techniques Iago employs to achieve his aims in the play Othello Free Essays

In traditional Shakespearean tragedies the protagonist is destroyed through their own fatal flaw. The play Othello is different because there is a villain which is unusual for a Shakespearean tragedy. In the play Macbeth, the tragic events occur because of Macbeths own fatal flaw of ambition. We will write a custom essay sample on Examine the techniques Iago employs to achieve his aims in the play Othello or any similar topic only for you Order Now However in the play Othello; Iago, one of the main characters manipulates Othello’s fatal flaw of jealously which leads to the tragic ending of the play. He says how he is using Othello by â€Å"following him I follow but myself†; he is pretending to be loyal to Othello but is really doing it for his own benefit. Iago plans revenge on Othello when he gives Cassio the job of lieutenant instead of to him; he describes himself as â€Å"worth no worse a place† and is showing that he thinks highly of himself. Even after he manages to get Cassio dismissed and replaces him as lieutenant, he still continues to carry out his plan of destruction. This reveals that the reason of Iagos plans are merely just for fun. Iago deceives everyone even Roderigo who supports him, not knowing everything about Iago’s plans, he even questions why he â€Å"ever made a fool my purse† which shows he is only using Roderigo for his own benefit. No-one in the play seems to know what Iago is really like. He manipulates everyone in the play to gain their trust although he only uses them. Cassio praises Iago by saying that he had sung â€Å"an excellent song†, this is because he doesn’t know that it was actually because of Iago that he was dismissed from the job of lieutenant. Iago is seen as a manipulative and evil character, he betrays Othello by telling Brabantio that Desdemona is married to Othello; â€Å"you’re robbed†¦ an old black ram is tupping your white ewe†, he uses crude, sexual imagery to make their marriage seem worse than it is to make Brabantio angry because his daughter got married without his consent. He constantly makes racist comments about Othello; by referring to him as â€Å"thick-lips† and tries to make him seem like a bad character, because in Shakespearean times it was seen as wrong for a white woman to marry a black man. Iago tries to convince himself that Othello has had an affair with is wife; â€Å"I hate the Moor, And it is thought abroad that ‘twixt my sheets He’s done my office. † Iago is jealous even though he is not completely sure that Othello has had an affair with his wife. He treats Emilia badly he tells her to â€Å"be not acknown on’t† he makes her do what he wants and tell her to pretend she does not know anything about Desdemona’s handkerchief. He also makes general bad comments about women; â€Å"she give you so much of her lips as of her tongue† he is saying that Emilia talks too much, something which she shouldn’t do. Iago has a general dislike for women and stabs Emilia when she realises what he has done he also causes Othello to hit Desdemona in public and makes him call her a â€Å"whore† to her face. To make Othello jealous he makes out that Desdemona is having an affair but he only hints, â€Å"Lie – † this makes Othello jump to conclusions and finish off the sentences himself; â€Å"Lie with her? Lie on her? † Iago does not try to correct him â€Å"With her, on her, what you will† he just agrees with what Othello is saying. Sometimes when talking to Othello he says something and immediately takes it back to get Othello curious. Othello gave Desdemona a handkerchief which had been passed through his family, Iago tells Emilia to steal it for him and plants it in Cassio’s bedchamber. He tries to wind up Othello by discretely reminding Othello that Desdemona did not have the handkerchief anymore: â€Å"But if I give my wife a handkerchief†, he is tormenting him with the thought that Desdemona is not acting truly loyal to Othello, like Emilia would to Iago. Shakespeare uses asides and soliloquies throughout the play as a dramatic technique. While talking to Othello, Iago says â€Å"O, you are well turned now! But I’ll set down the pegs that make this music, As honest as I am† it reminds us of Iago’s evil nature, and shows how he is planning Othello’s destruction. Soliloquies are similar to asides in what they do in the play. They remind us of what Iago is planning and also show us what he thinks about what he has achieved so far. How to cite Examine the techniques Iago employs to achieve his aims in the play Othello, Papers

Woolworths Strategic Management Multinational Companies

Question: Discuss about the Woolworths Strategic Management for Multinational Companies. Answer: Introduction Investing in foreign countries is one of the most successful strategies utilized by multinational companies in the expansion of their market and growth. It helps a company to enjoy a large pool of skilled and talented workforce from the host country. Also, the company may benefit from low-cost operations and availability of raw materials at a cheaper cost. Many factors influence the entity to invest or move some of its business operations offshore. These factors may be internal or external (Sirmon et al. 2011, p. 1392). Internal environment includes factors such as business structure, organizational culture, the level of technology used in production, employees as well as products and services of the business organization. On the flipside, the external environment involves political, legal, demographic factors that affect business operations. As such, this paper will provide a detailed strategic management analysis of Woolworths Limited and how it has influenced its decision to move its business operations offshore. Woolworth Business strategies Woolworths Limited Company is a major Australian business organization with a great retail interest in Australia. It is rated as the second-largest business enterprise in Australia based on revenue generation. The company specializes in the provision of groceries, home supplies, liquor, petroleum products, insurance services, real estate investments, electronics as well as seasonal goods. The company runs a chain of supermarkets and food stores in Australia. To manage the retail stores effectively, the company pushes its goods and services to the consumers. However, the business enterprise is trying to get a competitive advantage in the market by cutting the operational costs and selling a variety of products in different volumes. The key source of its products is fresh produce from suppliers. As such, the Woolworths management has put in place mechanisms of empowering suppliers and established inventory management (Hitt, Ireland Hoskisson 2012, p. 1). To ensure that the business ha s a constant supply to all its supermarkets and chain stores, which are spread throughout the country, Woolworths have developed strategically positioned distribution centers that facilitate easier and efficient delivery of products to the stores. The company has contracted logistic companies that transport its products to various stores. The current business strategy of Woolworth is based on product differentiation. This strategy helps the company to focus on diversification of its products and also venturing into different markets. It has made the company to concentrate on developing highly differentiated marking program and product line so as to become the leading company in this competitive industry. By using the Fresh Food People as its vision statement, the firm has been successful with its outstanding product differentiation technique. Through orienting the business operations around the fundamental value of food products being fresh, Woolworths has attracted a significantly large percentage of consumers in the market and thus, getting the lions share of the market (Collins, Roper Lawrence 2010, p. 479, p. 18). Woolworths operations in New Zealand Apart from Australia, which is the parent country, the company has also moved its business operation in New Zealand. Most of the Woolworths stores in New Zealand are rebranded and operate under the business name referred to as Countdown. However, the operations of these stores in Australia fall under Woolworths management. The company made this major decision of investing abroad as a mechanism of enjoying the benefits of foreign direct investment, which allows it to explore offshore markets by utilizing the resources and infrastructure of the host country. Foreign direct investment has various benefits to both the investors as well as the host country (Sornarajah 2010). The host country benefits from direct investment through taxation and job creation. Being the second largest chain company in New Zeeland, Woolworth has created employment opportunities for citizens and residents of New Zealand. There are more than 100 full-service supermarkets of Woolworths Company in Australia opera ting under the brand name Countdown (Sornarajah 2010). Also, 20 supermarkets operating in Hamilton, Auckland as well as Tuiaranga under the Foodtown brand name were rebranded to Countdown in 2012, and they form part of Woolworths stores established in New Zealand. The stores provide employment opportunities such as shop attendants, suppliers, distributors and managerial positions to the citizens of the host country. Also, the taxation policies of New Zealand require these countries to file their tax returns each year and as such, the government of the host country gets revenue from these stores through taxation. On the other hand, Woolworth companies have gained many benefits from its direct investment in New Zealand. The large population of this country serves as a market for the companys fresh products, and other non-food products. The business enterprise has increased its market share by investing in this country. Besides, Woolworth has benefitted from the vast agricultural resources of New Zealand (Kumar, Jones, Venkatesan Leone 2011, p. 21). The fresh vegetable products and meat from farmers serve as sources of products for Woolworths Company. The enterprise depends on the agricultural supply from farmers for its chain stores in New Zealand and Australia. The favorable climate of New Zeeland has helped the company to have a continuous supply of fresh products for its store in both New Zealand and Australia. Moreover, the company enjoys a large pool of workforce from the host country. New Zealand has highly qualified, skilled and talented young professionals who serve in managerial positions for various Woolworths supermarkets in both Australia and New Zealand (Collins, Roper Lawrence 2010). The company can also get non-skilled or semi-skilled labor force at a low cost and hence, reducing its operational costs. Internal issues Internal factors played a crucial role in influencing the Woolworths Company to opt for foreign direct investment in New Zealand. One of such internal factors is the business structure of the Woolworth. The companys structure is based on chain stores that operate as franchise. As such, venturing into offshore tends to be cost effective. The entire supply chain of Woolworth is aligned to its business structure. Also, the companys business structure is based on the efficient consumer response as the key driving force of its operations. Therefore, the companys structure has helped Woolworth to get a competitive advantage by opening more chain stores and supermarkets in New Zealand. Another internal factor that has influenced the company to invest in offshore is the market. The firm offers diversified products to its consumers. Fresh products such as groceries have high demand in New Zealand. Also, the electronic industry of this country is characterized with low competition. Since the company provides high-quality electronics, it offers stiff offers competition to other companies offering the similar products in the host country and thus, expanding its market share (Hitt, Ireland Hoskisson 2012). The company has heavily invested in market research such helps it to understand the trends in tastes and preferences of customers in the Australian market and thereby, developing products that suits the demands of its customers in the offshore markets. Moreover, the management strategy of the Woolworths has played a significant role in its foreign direct investment strategy. The company has a management team of qualified, talent and ambitious staffs. The management offers the company with most efficient strategies and business plans that have helped it to expand its operations abroad. The management utilizes transformative leadership style which provides the opportunity for the management to develop a class of future leaders. Also, the presence of effective management has helped the company to reduce its cost of production by ensuring that the Workers are very productive and make optimum utilization of available resources with the objective of maximizing profits as pointed out by Kum ar (2014, p. 244). Labor is another factor that has motivated the company to take part in foreign investment in New Zeeland. In the modern business environment, which is characterized by technological changes and stiff competition in the market, the company requires having employee with diverse skills and exceptional talents (Reuter et al. 2010, p. 46). Employees play a crucial role in the success of any business organization. The presence of creative and innovative workers helps the company to discover various new ways of business operations and new products that give it a competitive advantage in the market (McWilliams Siegel 2010). Also, hardworking and skilled workers are more productive and deliver quality and great output which contributes to the success of the business. The access of skilled and competitive workers at a low cost in New Zealand has helped Woolworth company to reduce its operation costs in the host country. A comparison of the economy of Australia and that of New Zealand shows th at Australian economy majorly depends on minerals while that of New Zealand is based on agriculture. Therefore, the company can access to cheaper fresh agricultural products from host country than in the parent country due to the favorable climatic conditions in New Zealand. The availability of low-cost products and labor in New Zealand helps the company to maximum profit as a result of low operation costs (Kumar 2014, p. 249). External issues External factors have also contributed foreign investment move in New Zealand by this company. Such factors involve social, political, economic and demographic factors which make up the external environment in which Woolworths Company operates. Under political viewpoint, New Zealand is peaceful and politically stable country and thus, it has attracted the many multinational companies including Woolworths. The stability of this nation provides a favorable working environment for this company. Keller (2010) notes that the company is likely to encounter low level of risks that arises of unstable governments Also, the New Zealand government provides favorable business regulatory policies that are favorable for investors. The bureaucracies involved in the registration of foreign business enterprise are very few. Besides, the taxation policies for foreign investors are very flexible and favorable thus attracting more multinational companies in New Zealand (Hill, Jones Schilling 2014). The economic environment includes factors such as inflation, market structure and level of completion. New Zeeland has a stable current which is not adversely affected by the global economic crisis. As such, Woolworths is not likely to incur heavy losses which arise from high levels of inflation. Since Woolworths has diversified products, it is less likely to face stiff competition in the foreign market. Provision of a variety of high-quality products in the market has given the Woolworths Company a competitive advantage and thus becoming one of the leading companies in New Zealand. The demographic structure of New Zeeland plays a crucial role to the expansion of Woolworths Company in New Zealand market Sirmon et al. 2011). The country is characterized by a high population that consists of high, middle and low-class income earners. The large New Zealand population offers a ready market for the variety of products offered by this company. Besides, Woolworths Company offers that are de signed to suit both high-end and low-end segments of the market and thus, all citizens in this country can afford to purchase and consumer Woolworths products irrespective of their economic status (Freeman 2010). Effects of Offshore Activities on Stakeholders The key stakeholders of Woolworths Company include employees, shareholders, and suppliers. The employees of Woolworths Company enjoy benefits that result from the companys offshore activities. The company is experiencing a significant expansion which will guarantee job security for its employees. The likelihood of the company sacking some workers is very low since it requires a large workforce as it expands its operations. Also, the workers are likely to get salary increment as the company expands. Any company pays its employees depending on its revenue returns. Therefore, Woolworths Company will continue to offer a good pay to its employees as long as it continues to make good profits. Similarly, shareholders of this company will be one of the beneficiaries of offshore activities. High-profit returns from the companys activities will result in high dividend rates among the shareholders (Swayne Duncan, Ginter 2012). Also, their shares will gain value due to the companys high revenue (Frank Freeman 2014). On the other hand, customers both in the parent country and the offshore country will benefit from by purchasing products at relatively low cost. Foreign invest will help the company to expand and thus benefiting from the economies of scale. Therefore, it will sell its products at a lower price than its competitors in the market. Similarly, the suppliers in both the parent and host countries are likely to benefit from the companys business strategic as a result of increased demand for products. The suppliers will sell more units of their products to the company and thereby increase their income. In a nutshell, offshore activities will economic benefits to all stakeholders of Woolworths Limited Company (Reuter et al. 2010, p. 51). The future of job opportunities in Australia Since Australia is the parent country of Woolworths, the company will still continue to create more job opportunities in this country despite expanding its operations in abroad countries. The headquarters of the company which is based in Vista, New South Wales, will still attract more employment opportunities at various job levels (Cederberg, Henriksson, Ledgard 2011, p. 421). The expansion of the company means that the company will expand its management team by recruiting more managers. Also, the home brands of Woolworths Company such as Big W, Maters Home Improvement, and ALH Groups are popularly in the Australian market and therefore, the company will have to recruit more workers who will continue to provide quality its customers in all states of Australia. Conclusion Woolworths Limited Company is an Australian business firm whose operations are based on diversified products. It offers products ranging from fresh foods, electronics, liquor, insurance services, and real estate investment to petroleum products. The companys strategy of product diversification has given it a competitive advantage to become the largest company in both Australia and New Zealand. The companys decision of moving some of its operations in Australian has played a crucial role to its success and thus, benefiting all its stakeholders. References Cederberg, C, Henriksson, M, Ledgard, S, 2011, How does co-product handling affect the carbon footprint of milk? Case study of milk production in New Zealand and Sweden, The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment, 16(5), pp.420-430. Collins, E, Roper, J Lawrence, S, 2010, Sustainability practices: trends in New Zealand businesses. Business Strategy and the Environment, 19(8), pp.479 Frank, R, Freeman, R, 2014, Distributional consequences of direct foreign investment. Academic Press. Freeman, R, 2010, Strategic management: A stakeholder approach. Cambridge University Press. Hill, C, Jones, G, Schilling, M, 2014, Strategic management: theory: an integrated approach. Cengage Learning. Hitt, M, Ireland, R, Hoskisson, R, 2012, Strategic management cases: competitiveness and globalization. Cengage Learning. Keller, W, 2010, International trade, foreign direct investment, and technology spillovers. Handbook of the Economics of Innovation, 2, pp.793-829. Klapper, L, and Love, I, 2010, The impact of business environment reforms on new firm registration. World Bank policy research working paper, (5493). Kumar, N, 2014, Internationalization of Indian enterprises: patterns, strategies, ownership advantages, and implications. Asian Economic Policy Review, 3(2), pp.242-261. Kumar, V, Jones, E, Venkatesan, R, Leone, R, 2011, Is market orientation a source of sustainable competitive advantage or simply the cost of competing?. Journal of marketing, 75(1), pp.16-30. McWilliams, A, Siegel, D, 2010, Creating and capturing value: Strategic corporate social responsibility, resource-based theory, and sustainable competitive advantage. Journal of Management, p.0149206310385696. Reuter, C, Foerstl, K, Hartmann, E, and Blome, C, 2010, Sustainable global supplier management: the role of dynamic capabilities in achieving competitive advantage. Journal of Supply Chain Management, 46(2), pp.45-63. Sirmon, D, Hitt, M, Ireland, R, and Gilbert, B, 2011, Resource orchestration to create competitive advantage breadth, depth, and life cycle effects. Journal of Management, 37(5), pp.1390-1412. Sornarajah, M, 2010, The international law on foreign investment. Cambridge University Press. Swayne, L, Duncan, W, Ginter, P, 2012, Strategic management of health care organizations. John Wiley Sons.