Strategic Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4500 words

Strategic Management - Essay Example 2014). Management with consideration of communication will provide feedback in surveys, giving ideas in the organization. Sharing of information in an organization also ensures that the objectives of the organization are met, as communication will lead to coordination of activities. Strategic management involves innovation in activities that an organization carries out. Management strategies may involve development of a new product or rendering a new service. Innovation will involve putting groups together to work in development of major initiatives and giving out resources to ensure that the innovative objectives are met. Strategic management should involve trying out something that is new even with the risks that are involved. Management of projects is also a critical element through which management should be able to identify projects that ensures success in achieving all strategies. The other aspect of project management is development of priorities of all the elements to ensure that there is success in achieving objectives of management (Gerry et al. 2014). Project management will also ensure that employees understand strategies of the organization. Organization structure is an essential factor in strategic management. Organization cultures are the attitudes that are held by an organization and behavior that employees in the organization portray. Organization cultures are always unique and diverse due to personality. Managers are to understand the culture to ensure that planning that is put in place is in line with culture of the organization (Gerry et al. 2014). Cultures that are considered are those on belief in change by employees and values that employees hold. Strategic management in an organization requires consideration of these aspects. Engagement of employees at all levels, communication to employees, innovation in an organization, creation of

The Way of Ford Motor Company Essay Example for Free

The Way of Ford Motor Company Essay * Introduction * Although to be the only one remaining member which have escaped bankruptcy of the Big Three among the automobile industry by June 2009, Ford suffers $14.7 million loss of revenue and elimination of stockholders’ equity due to the record-breaking fall in demand for 2008,US. However, to understand Ford’s position today requires understanding the American automotive industry. * General Industry analysis * From 1900-2008, US motor vehicle production has a rapid increase to9, 000,000 from 1900 to 1967, after not, there is a graduate decrease to 3,000,000 until 2008. At the mean time, the median age of passenger car in US was Spiral upwards. Combine the two phenomenon, we can get that the automobile industry market is quite saturated and the demand fell down. Regard to the automobile manufacturing technology, despite less differentiation between manufacturers due to the converge of technologies and design, the technological progress was incremental and lead to the various segmentations in each country. Follow the two situations, there are 3 big issues were emerged. One was the deep demand of auto cars result in excess capacity. Another one issues was the high cost among the technological development. Last one issue was the lacking differentiation. However, it also offers automakers new product segmentations and market. For an insightful analysis, we need to look at more information in details. * Porter’s Five Forces First of all, we can get a comprehensive industry environment analysis through the Porter’s Five Forces. In terms of the threat of new entrants of the automobile industry, it requires high capital costs for potential entrants, as the manufacturers are all carry out the mass-production-scale. However, when a new entrant face with the current competitors’ scale economies, smaller manufacturers could not survive since they cannot afford the massive product development cost, which was in excess of $6 billion. And it is easy to own the cost disadvantages independent of scale. Then, the product differentiation of automobile industry is not high as other industry. The automobile industry was a global network of collaborative arrangements. As the team-based approach became models for all major  manufacturers, there is no big difference in the function, model and design. They can only gain their differentiation by the firm’s service and effective advertising. Also, There is no switching cost in the automobile industry because no cost would be incurred when customer switch to a new supplier. However, the large capital requirement is demanding, as the automobile industry needs huge amount of capital to invest in its mass-production line. Furthermore, automakers have benefited from prodigious amounts of direct funds or indirect aids from the government around the world to keep car plants open and assembly line running after the global sales collapsed, and the industry has never operated on the pure free-market principles. It proved that the government always intervened in the automobile industry that suggests the government control entry into this industry. Then, the supplier group of the industry is powerful. In order to achieve lower costs and increased flexibility, the automobile manufacturing trend has been towards outsourcing. All of the manufacturers now have long-term relationships with their suppliers. Especially for the leading component suppliers that have the increasing responsibility for technological development, it gains a strong bargaining power. Because their goods as transmissions, braking systems, etc. are critical to buyers’ market success. Besides, it poses a credible threat to integrate forward into the automobile industry due to some suppliers like Bosch and Denso are as big as some larger automobile companies. What’s more, since a few large companies dominated the suppliers and is more concentrated than automobile industry, it is easy to get the conclusion that these suppliers are fatal and important threat to the automobile industry. Next, the bargaining power of the buyer is increasing. Although the auto buyers won’t purchase a large portion of cars in a given time since the auto is not cheap, the sales of the purchased product do not account for a significant portion of the seller’s annual revenue as well. Nevertheless, the customer cou ld switch to another automaker at litter or even no cost since automobiles are little differentiated, then the buyers pose a credible threat if they were to integrate backward into the sellers’ industry. In addition, the threat of the substitutes also is a vital factor of the industry analysis. As the passenger car substitutes, the public transportation like airplane, train and bus perform the same function. The technological change would offer opportunities for new entrants into the  industry. For the environmental concerns, it may also result in a decline in private transportation in favor of public transportation, or short-term rental car rather than car ownership. In general, these substitutes present a strong threat to the industry especially when the customers face few switching cost as I mentioned before. Moreover, the competitive rivalry is intense in the automobile industry. Firstly, there are equally balanced competitors within the industry. It can be found from company sales of these automakers, the annual average sales are nearly the same among several major big automakers as Ford, GM, Honda and Daimler. Industry with only a few firms of equivalent size and power tend to have strong rivalries. In another hand, as the high fixed cost and high storage cost of automobiles account for a large part of the total costs, the automakers will spread the costs across a large volume of output. However, excess capacity is created when firms try to maximize their productive capacity. And the excess capacity has become the greatest structural problem of the industry. To cut down the price is the most effective way to reduce inventories. At the mean time, this method often intensifies competition. Besides, lacking differentiation and low switching cost of the automobile industry are easy for competitors to attract buyers through pricing and service offerings. Finally, the high exit barriers intensify the automobile industry competition as well. With the recession and unprecedented fall in demand, automakers remain in the industry because they face the high exit barriers. Specialized assets, fixed cost of exit, strategic interrelationships, emotional barriers, government and social restrictions are make up the high exit barriers. To sum, the competitive rivalry is highly intense in the automobile industry. After the discussion about the Porter’s five forces, we have a comprehensive understanding that how is the American automobile industry environment. However, for a more accurate strategic competitiveness, we need to have a further analysis through the international markets and rivalries. * Industry analysis -Internationalization With the increasing competition in the industry, the intensified quest for cost reduction and the excess capacity among automobile manufacturers had make contributions to the internationalization. In another side, accessing growing market, exploiting scale economies in purchasing, technology, and new product development also mainly brought up the internationalization. In the market share part, the table shows that there is an apparent decrease in the automobile market share of local firms from 1988 to 2006.As the Big Three which held close to 85% of the US market in 1970, all of their US market share declined by an average of 6% in 2006. On the contrary, the reductive market share contributed to the increasing market share of Toyota and Honda in US. Not only the US market had an internationalization outcome as the above condition, but also many developed countries did. It illustrates that all the leading automobile manufacturers were competing in most of the countries of the world instead of dominated in focused national market as before, and the market dominance of local automobile firms was undermined. In addition, the global distribution of production shifts a lot due to the rise of new market and the needs of low production cost. As shown in the table4.7 and 4.8, the used biggest three automobile production countries and regions (US, Western Europe, and Japan) in 1980 have been taken place by Japan, China, and Germany in 2008. The world leading motor-vehicle producers-Korea, Brazil and India, also result in a rapidly growing domestic markets and low production cost that benefit a lot from the low compensation for workers. Therefore, we can draw a conclusion that there is a big cost advantages and huge potential market for the big automobile manufacturers due to the internationalization. Since there are a lot of leading producers with cheap labor cost and high productivity outside US, then it provide resources and factors of production in the world outside US, and it provide automobile industry a way to worldwide outsourcing, which is beneficial to the reasonable allocation of capital and products in the global flow. Besides, internationalization in the automobile industry is helpful for design and technology in the global expansion, promote the economic development of the underdeveloped areas, in turn, it stimulate the sales of automobile. Nonetheless, the fierce competition is a concern in the international market. On account of the collaborations with the industry’s development and no barriers to enter other countries, fewer differentiation and free-limit expansion lead to intensive rivalry. * Industry attractiveness Through the industry analysis among five forces in American market and  international market, it is obvious to find the automobile industry is attractive in international market instead of in American market. Although there is a little threat of new entrants, strong bargaining power of supplier, increasing bargaining power of buyers, big threats of substitute products and intense competitive rivalry still make the domestic industry not attractive. In the international market, it is attractive as the potential market expansion and worldwide outsourcing. But with the intensive rivalry and low differentiation in the internationalization, it is necessary to be well prepared on the risk and responses. * Fit between core competencies and opportunities Ford was the first one to combine mass consumption with mass production, and Ford use this concept to guide the enterprise entrepreneur. What is the Ford’s core competency then? To start, it’s brand recognition in global scale. Ford does have a model in most categories. It provides a large global scale to Ford. A more strategic core competency of Ford is its global supply chain network. Its strategic alliances and supplier base is possibly one of the most favorable in the world. In addition, Ford has many opportunities. Firstly, Restructuring plan that to downsizing was launched long before GM and Chrysler, moving the manufacturing to low-cost location, worldwide outsourcing as well. These actions improve the performance, meet the location economy and cut down the cost of Ford. Secondly, Ford has a long history in production innovation. Thus, new products are very likely to be continued in the future. Thirdly, Ford’s business is locked up in the European and North American markets, however it possess a significant share in emerging markets such as South American, which should provide enormous growth of the future as the middle class to grow and earn the money to spend on automobiles. Finally, One major sector that is full with opportunity is the electric automobile market, as the world looks for an eco-friendly alternative that operates like the original car. When we compared Ford’s opportunities with core competencies, they fit with each other. The constant production innovation that leads to continued new product and the significant share in emerging markets provide the opportunities for Ford’s brand recognition in global scale. Furthermore, the location economy and worldwide outsourcing give Ford the chance to strengthen its global supply  chain network. In sum, Ford gains a very strong competitive advantage in automobile industry. * Business-level strategy In terms of the business-level strategy, Ford had an ambiguous business-level strategy that neither successful differentiation nor cost-leadership based on the case. On one hand, because of the high technological development cost, large excess capacity and huge capital cost, it cannot and did not maintain a cost leadership strategy. On the other hand, with the internationalization, resources and technologies sharing, collaborations among competitors, Ford do not have a strong differentiation strategy. Type of cooperation The cost of new product development has been the major driver if mergers and acquisition in the industry. And sharing cost also encouraged increased collaboration and joint venture. For Ford, its corporation includes joint venture, joint research, licensing, partnership, and acquisition. With these different corporation methods that to share costs, resources and risks, Ford shows a strong alliance to its supplier and partner. And Ford also obtains a significant reduction in product development time and cost. To some extent, the strong connection with other automakers and suppliers also accelerate the speed to reach the market and the potential consumer. * How to approach market * At present, the biggest change of automobile society is the transition from emerging market to mature market. And the most significant feature is the industry has entered the era of micro growth. Micro growth poses a big pressure to the whole industry, but it also promotes favorable industry healthy and sustainable growth. Thus, with such advantaged external opportunity and internal strength, Ford needs to approach new market to earn the market share and worldwide competitiveness. Exporting, licensing, strategic alliances, acquisition and WOS are the entry modes alternatives, but how to choose one from these? * Since Ford already has a strong partnership with other automakers, Ford has a foundation to gain other alliances. Besides, as Ford does not have much profit margin and the initial investment of automobile industry is huge, the Exporting, WOS and  Acquisition are not acceptable due to the high cost. In terms of the licensing, although it has a low cost and risk, the low return and little control are not appealing. Thus, Ford should go on with the strategic alliances to cut the entry cost and risk, and to achieve the industry integration. * 5-year plan To conclude all the analysis above, Ford’s strategies for the later 5 years’ development need to be changed. Firstly, a real business-level strategy is imperative. Adopting a clear differentiation strategy and supporting value-chain activities should improve Ford’s position. Besides, to Continue cost cutting beyond those already specified in the plan and focus on reduction of manufacturing costs to achieve Ford’s cost parity. Additionally, cut in cost to achieve parity with foreign rivals. Invest in unique advertising and create uniquely designed vehicles with shared platforms and technologies to promote differentiation strategy. * The second part of Ford’s plan is to refocus on the consumer through repositioning of its brand and product mix to be more consistent with customer preferences. Currently, Ford lacks product differentiation between these brands sold by the North American division. Ford should emphasize development and production of several car models that presently enjoy strong reputations. Thus, their continued success will enhance the company image as a whole, again supporting a strong differentiation strategy. The final key piece of Ford’s restructuring plan is the constant introduction of innovative products and new development methods. It can bring up new customers. Based on the improved differentiation and efficiencies of scale, the market sales and market share will go up. Together with all these recommendations, Ford should be able to return to a competitive position in the marketplace and stabilize with improve its market share and financial position. *

Cost Benefit Analysis Economics Essay

Cost Benefit Analysis Economics Essay Introduction Cost Benefit Analysis (CBA) is a technique which seeks to bring greater objectivity into the decision making. It is a well known evaluation technique that is extensively engaged by both public and private organisations to support the decision making process. It can be useful to almost any kind of decision in any kind of field. It is helpful to identify all the relevant benefits and costs of a particular scheme and to quantify them in monetary terms. The practice arrived in the United Kingdom in 1960s for use in the transportation sector. CBA techniques were extended to cover a wide range of applications, such as water resource management, motorways, nationalized industries, airport locations, forestry, recreational facilities and a wide range of urban investment projects (Paul, 2000). Private sector, direct monetary costs and benefits determines the profitability and increases the output and investment. All costs and benefits in public sector, affected by an investment must be evaluated in some other way. Welfare economics helps to resolve such issues as how to assess costs and benefits of a non-monetary environment how to assess the community benefits when no charge made for public facility and how to fiddle with the market failure. Cost Benefit Analysis CBA rests on the recognition of a potential Pareto development. The basis for this is the proposition that, a decision is justified if those who benefit from it could compensate by those who lose by it. Compensation needs not really occur. What is essential is that the expenses of a policy to those who suffer the costs are exceeded by the value that beneficiaries place on it. This may still remain on an adequate basis for judgment because CBA attempts to ascertain whether the resources are being used efficiently. It will often be the case that the occurrence of costs and benefits, i.e. who bears them, will moreover be very important. CBA may provide a framework designed to identify accurately where the costs and benefits fall, so that a political judgement may be completed as to their satisfactoriness. CBA is a widely used technique which evaluates public spending and aims to avoid inappropriate distribution of public resources. In theory, it helps public decision-makers to invest only in the projects that create more profitability from the viewpoint of the community. To function perfectly, the CBA procedure needs to be engaged prior to the decision is made, so that the potential of the range of project proposals can be compared and evaluated. It aims to evaluate the set of direct and indirect effects of a project, its financial and non- financial effects on the set of economic agents concerned with the investment. These effects are then synthesized, after monetary evaluation, to assure a socio-economic balance which establishes the return on the investment, with this return being estimated on the basis of specific indicators (Auzannet, 1997). According to Boardman et al. (2006) the major steps in CBA are as follows; Specify the set of alternative projects Decide whose benefits and cost count Catalogue the impacts and select measurement indicators Predict the impacts quantitatively over the life of the project Monetize (attach dollar values to) all impacts Discount benefits and costs to obtain present values Perform sensitivity analysis Make a recommendation History and Uses of CBA At present, CBA is being used in both government and international organization. While certain concepts of the technique oriented from Europe in 1840s, the use of CBA in environmental economics is relatively a new incidence which is becoming recognized after regulations were set by the US government. And this made the use of CBA compulsory in the 1930s (E.J. Mishan and Euston, 2007). It was used to generate a solution toward the problems of water provision. After World War II, there was pressure towards the efficiency in government and the search was on for ways to make sure that the public funds were efficiently utilised in major public investments. This resulted in the beginnings of the fusion of the new welfare economics, which was essentially a Cost-Benefit Analysis and practical decision-making. This particular process arrived in the United Kingdom in 1960s in support of the transportation sector. It was applied to the construction of M1 motorway and the Victoria line on the und erground (Economic Labour Market Review, December 2008). In recent years, it is recognised as the major appraisal technique for public investments and public policy. Principles of CBA There are eight basic principles under this CBA ((S.L. Kirama, 2010). These are; There must be a common unit of measurement CBA valuations should represent consumers or producers valuations as revealed by their actual behaviour. Benefits are usually measured by market choices Some measurements of benefits require the valuation of human life The analysis of project should involve a with or without comparison CBA involves particular study area Double counting of benefits or costs must be avoided Decision criteria projects Emergence of CBA CBA allows different projects to be ranked according to highest expected net gains in social wellbeing. This gives important limitations of government spending. The main stages in CBA approaches are (Geoff Riley, 2006), Calculation of social costs and benefits. This includes direct costs, indirect costs and the benefits Sensitivity analysis of event occurring Discounting the future value of benefits Comparing the costs and benefits Comparing the net rate of benefits The Application of CBA In the private sector, financial CBA is used to justify equipment and technology investment, measure life cycle costs, meet regulations cost-effectively and quantify hidden costs and intangible benefits. It is also useful to demonstrate how outsourcing and leasing can result in cost savings and how quality improvements can affect returns. Social CBA is being used to evaluate the social merit of projects or policies. In practice CBA vary between countries and sectors within countries. The main differences include the types of impacts that are being included as costs and benefits within the assessment procedure. This is an extent to which the impacts are expressed in monetary terms and difference in discount rate between countries. The public CBA may also vary from private CBA (S.L. Kirama, 2010). CBA is likely to have its main usage within the public sector where (J. Harve and E. Jowsey, 2004); Price signals are insufficient to guide investment decisions Spill-over benefits and costs are important owing to the magnitude of the schemes The wellbeing of unborn generations has to be allowed Key Concepts in CBA There are some key concepts in CBA. There are; present value, discount rates, opportunity costs, cost and benefits, discounting, net present value, shadow prices, etc. (J. Harve and E. Jowsey, 2004). Government Decision- making Government may take the form of regulation such as building regulation to reduce fire hazards, taxes or subsides or providing goods and services. The main difficulty in many public-sectors is that the goods are provided free of charge or below the market price. So they are forced to focus on short-term special effects of the financial system and the long-standing sustainability of the public finances. Government decisions depend on subjective political considerations. For example, obtaining a social mix council housing may be providing an expensive residential area. However, public investments have serious defects. The one-man, one-vote principle does not weight votes according to the intensity of welfare gain or lost. Therefore, majority of the decision allow two voters marginally in favour of a scheme to outvote one who strongly opposes it in spite of the fact that the sum of their benefits is less than the costs impose on the single opponent. Political decisions are important one-sided. Economic efficiency in resource allocation requires that objective criteria should be used as far as it is feasible. The extension of government involvement in the economy has increased the weight and complexity of decisions which needs to be made at government level. Many argument says that decentralisation of decision-making is desirable. Application to Construction Industry Government is basically responsible for roads, bridges, airports, parks, amenity land, new urban areas and housing. CBA is normally being favoured by many transportation economists. It assesses the entire benefits and costs associated with highway project, including both capital and user costs. In this case, project requires less cost but provides more benefits right through the analysis period which are chosen first. CBA estimates the costs in monetary terms. Traditionally, a benefit-cost ratio, net present value or internal rate of return is being used. Recent research suggests that the net present value (NPV) may provide the best project selection measure if the transportation program is under financial constraints (Reed and Rutherford, 1997). The Use of Cost-Benefit Analysis in Transportation Sector Transportation policy and scheduling decisions often engage tradeoffs between conflicting objectives. Most highway cost allocation and investment evaluation studies are primarily concerned with direct market costs, such as road construction and maintenance, travel time, vehicle operating costs and crash damages. These vary depending on vehicle type and roadway conditions. They assume that the total amount of vehicle travel does not change, so were unconcerned with vehicle ownership and parking costs. Other types of studies incorporate environmental impacts, primarily air pollution, but sometimes it also includes noise and water pollution, and various other categories of land usage impact. Some studies have only considered external costs avoiding the internal ones. CBA is extensively used within the transportation segment. CBA of transportation investment projects tend to neglect long-term environmental consequences and needs among the community group with a low ability to pay. It has been emerged as one of the most used tools in deciding the viability of proposed infrastructure projects. The predictions regarding the impact of such projects are often problematic uncertain. The transport modelling tools are used in order to estimate positive as well as the negative impacts. Case Study Heathrow Terminal 5 In this case, the British Airport Authority (BAA) planning to build terminal 5 the cost is approximately around  £4 billion. Planning application was submitted in February 1993 (Heathrow T5, October 2005). They were considering the following benefits, such as Economic growth: Demand for air travel in south-east England is forecasted to be doubled in the next 20 years, making the expansion seems to be essential within the Air travel industry. This in turn might create thousands of jobs and businesses depending on the Heathrow airport expansion in order to provide sufficient supply capacity to meet the growing demand. An increase in the capacity of Heathrow will make maximum usage of airports existing infrastructure and land. The economy and trade: if it does not meet demand, UK will lose its airlines and foreign investments within the other European regions. The benefits of a world-beating industry would be reduced. Therefore, many sectors of our aviation industry will have a comparative advantage and might add huge sums to our balance of payments. Jobs: This project will create job opportunities which are estimated to be around 16,500. And it may also create 6,000 construction jobs during the building phase. This will have multiplier effects on the local / regional and national economy. Transport: The terminal will be the centre of a world-class transport exchange, with new Tube and rail links. Car traffic would rise only slightly. The social costs of increased traffic congestion have been exaggerated by the environmentalists. Environment: The site which has been allocated for terminal 5 is currently a disused sludge works. And any displace wildlife and plant life will be carefully relocated. The noise climate around Heathrow Airport has been improving for many years, even despite the fact that the number of aircraft movements has increased considerably partly due to the phasing out of older, nosier aircraft. Noise and night flight: BAA promises no increase in overall noise levels or in night flights. The number of flights will be increased by 8%. (Source: http://tutor2u.net/economics/revision-notes/a2-micro-cost-benefit-analysis.html) Objections are being raised against this project but those were not enough to refuse the planning permission. Conclusion CBA provides a rational technique for the evaluation of projects where market information is either non-existent or deficient. But it should not make false claims for objectivity by dealing in precise sums. However it is helpful for decision-making purposes, it is not an alternative for it. Further, CBA is potentially a useful aid towards planning decisions and it does not avoid the need to make value judgements in the evaluation of intangible arising from different projects. The overall conclusions are to be drawn from the assessment of costs and benefits. However, such value judgements are made clear in the evaluation decision making process.

Delegation Essay -- essays research papers

What is Delegation? Delegation is, the assignment of authority and responsibility to a subordinate at a lower level. (https://ecampus.phoenix.edu/secure/resource/resource.asp) Basically what this definition means is if you are a Manager in your company, Delegation is the process in which you assign important task to other employees. In doing this process as a manager you must 1) Identify the task that is to be accomplished, 2) Choose the right employee to complete the assignment, 3) give complete and concise directions, 4) The next step is to monitor the progress of the assignment, check back with your employees to see how things are going and to make sure deadlines are being kept. 5) Provide feedback in order for your employees to complete the task. Effective Delegation Managing people effectively is one of the major challenges facing organizations today. Effective managers should be able to clearly define his/her role within an organization. Managers need to make appropriate decisions, delegate tasks, empower people, manage conflict well and LISTEN. Managers need to identify specific skills for being effective within the organization. In this paper I will cover what skills are necessary for effective delegation as a manager and how a manger can effectively delegate tasks. Delegation will always be one of the most important management skills - and one of the easiest to get wrong. Good delegation saves you time, develops you people, grooms a successor, and motivates. Too ...

1776 Reading Review

Katie Cohen Ms. Kenny AP US History, Period 5 15 August 2012 Summer Reading Assignment David McCullough’s 1776 is an insightful and honest account of America’s first war; the Revolutionary war. In the book, David McCullough describes events and skirmishes that led up to the independence of the United States of America and the events that followed it. The book primarily focuses on the military aspects of the revolutionary war. The variety of firsthand account, quotes, and perspectives of both the Americans and the British make 1776 an extremely well crafted story made up of firsthand facts.To some 1776 may not be enjoyable or engaging, however, it is very precise and descriptive. David McCullough does an exceptional job of explaining the Independence of America in a way that does not bore the audience like most historical biographies do. Although it is clear from the beginning that David McCullough intentionally portrays America as the hero of the book, he allows the rea der to identify with the British and even the king of Britain at the time as well. Honest and unbiased accounts are given towards both the Americans as well as the British.Many candid and liberal accounts of the British and the Americans as put forward throughout the book. With much detail, David McCullough illustrates King George’s reaction to the rebellious American colonists as they begin to organize for freedom in the first chapter. He does not shed light on George Washington as a superior and more competent general than Howe. Both American and British forces are described in times of brilliance, luck, disappointment and shame. Not only is David McCullough unbiased, but he gives many in depth descriptions of his characters.The reader is able to become familiar with the characteristics, physical appearances, and biases of a majority of the characters. Joseph Reed is described as â€Å"a young man with a long jaw and a somewhat quizzical look in his eyes (44),† and J ames Grant, â€Å"a grossly fat, highly opinionated scot (71). † The descriptions of characters range from the British generals, to the American traitors. They make the book understandable and complex. Overall, 1776 is an enjoyable read, however, it could have focused more on he Declaration of Independence and the effects the war had on Great Britain. McCullough delivers the history as a story, while maintaining the attention of his audience. The usage of imagery is tremendous with few exceptions; all of the events were illustrated vividly. Quotes of the people who participated in the war are probably the most intriguing aspects of this book. I, personally, would recommend this book because it is intriguing and an easy way to learn essential information about the country in which we live in effectively.

In the World of My Own Editing the Snatches of Peoples Lives

In the World of My Own Editing the Snatches of Peoples Lives The place where life is brighter than anywhere else, cinema proves that sometimes life without drama becomes incomplete. Like no other art, it can convey the most important ideas in the most unobtrusive way, helping the screenwriter to communicate the most essential ideas in a two-hour movie.Advertising We will write a custom assessment sample on In the World of My Own: Editing the Snatches of People’s Lives specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Rain Man by Barry Levinson is one of such pictures. Despite the difficulties concerning the fusion of a complicated plot with no less complicated process of shooting the film, the crew managed to create a film that incorporates the intriguing plot and the impeccable editing. Taking a closer look at the picture, one can see clearly that the movie creates a continuity that is interrupted only at specific moments to make the scene ever more intense and gripping. Split in several parts, the movi e still represents a whole that cannot be broken. Another aspect to consider is the rythmics of the movie. A long shot, then a shorter one, to be interrupted by a continuous episode through which the narrator conveys the peculiarities of each character. If considering each piece a cadence of sounds, the entire movie could be compared to a musical piece by Teleman or Vivaldi. Surprisingly, the film does not offer a variety of transitional effects. The one that the editors resorted most often to is the jump cut. However, such maneuver does not seem a drawback of the movie – on the contrary, it adds a certain tint of incompleteness and abruptness of the film. As a life switches its tunes from mellow ones into harsher and rougher melodies, the movie marks the end of each phase of the characters’ growth with these abrupt endings. Moreover, these transitions seem completely unnoticeable despite their sharpness. Perhaps, the flow of the plot does remind of the way life goes, which helps the spectator get ready for another turn of the plot. With help of these tiny transitions, each spectator can feel the enchanting rhythm of the movie – the rhythm of Rain Man. There is one more thing that deserves being discussed here. Considering the masterful match cuts in Rain Man, one can realize that without this trick, the movie would have lost half of its charm. Although there are only a few that create the specific atmosphere in the movie and switch the spectator’s attention to the necessary details, these several cuts produce intense effect.Advertising Looking for assessment on art and design? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More One of these is the episode when Raymond watches the matches falling on the floor. Since he is autistic, his eyes are rarely fixed on certain object, and this specific eye-line match cut emphasizes the importance of the moment, showing separately Raymond casting his sight right on the floor, and then the floor with the matches scattered on it. Filled with intense strain, this episode reveals certain peculiarities of Rain Man’s character. Another piece of the movie in which match cuts play the crucial part is the episode when Ray copies the pattern on the floor into a sheet of paper. Revealing the incredible abilities of Rain Man, the editor utilizes the method of graphic match cut. At the very beginning of the scene, the spectator can see Ray scribbling something on a snatch of paper. In several seconds, the paper fallen on the floor is the size of a painting, with the precise copy of the carpet pattern. The last, but not the least comes the match-on-action cut that also conveys peculiar ideas concerning the movie characters and their adventures. The shot in which Ray and his brother walk down the hall is interchanged with the picture of a highway, cars moving up and down it. This is one of those subtle hints on what a life actually is – a journey to the future, where the driver and the passenger hardly know each other. With help of each of these amazing shots, the editor provided spectators with a spectrum of unforgettable feelings. Watching the movie, one can notice that the laws of editing – at least, the Hollywood variant of this art – are somehow violated. Since it only adds the specific fleur of authenticity and genuineness to the film, there is no doubt that these rules have been neglected on purpose to create even greater impression. One of such is the scene of Charlie Babbit and his girlfriend, Susanna, quarreling. Although logically, the entire scene was supposed to be a master shot, it was often split, the camera swaying from one person to another, often capturing certain objects and leaving the characters out of its focus. Unlike the rest of the shots, this one does not create the impression of the movie integrity, which is extremely important. With help of this approach, the e ditor has managed to depict the scene when the worlds of the lead characters collapse – Susanne loses her faith in Charlie, whereas Charlie realizes that he is losing the last person he can rely on. Without this support, he will feel deprived of his own self, which is evident from the scene. With help of the numerous editing tricks and approaches, the creators of the movie managed to convey the very essence of the picture without exposing it to the whole wide world. Only watching the movie from the very beginning to the very end, one can feel the specific air of loneliness that the film is shot through.Advertising We will write a custom assessment sample on In the World of My Own: Editing the Snatches of People’s Lives specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More There is no doubt that without these elements, the key issue of the film would have remained a mystery to the public. The sparkle of understanding and even sadness in Rain Man’s eyes is the perfect touch to a perfectly touching story of friendship and devotion.

Learning About Obesity Professor Ramos Blog

Learning About Obesity I vividly remember roaming the aisles of Costco with my mom when I was about eight or nine years old. I grabbed pizza rolls from the freezer and asked my mom if we could get them and she said sternly, â€Å"Honey I am not getting you those, they are so unhealthy. Do you see that overweight lady over there? Do you want to look like her when you’re older? I didn’t think so. Put them back†. I threw a fit because I didn’t seem to care at all that pizza rolls were unhealthy, they just tasted good. Realizing now, my mom was just trying to start healthy habits for me at a young age and I am happy that she did. I no longer have to worry about obesity and the diseases and struggles that may come along with it. Obesity is growing into more of a problem today than people realize. Unhealthy lifestyles are becoming so prevalent, and they are growing harder and harder to break. Obesity is a disease that is caused by unhealthy lifestyles or genetics and can be prevented and treated in various ways. According to Stanford Health Care, there are many ways that obesity can be prevented, and the primary way is by starting with the prevention in infants. For example, breastfeeding infants for a longer period of time can make them less likely to become obese when they grow old (Obesity Prevention par. 4). As the time of breastfeeding increases, the percentage of likeliness to become overweight as an adult marginally decreases. This is interesting because as a society, breastfeeding seems to be something that parents would like to stop sooner rather than later. Obesity seen in adolescents occurs primarily due to thoughtless eating habits and lack of exercise. These habits could have been passed down from their parents, who could also be providing them with unhealthy food. Genetics can also be a factor of obesity within the youth. More thought and effort would be needed by adolescents who are born with these genes to become a healthier weight than someone without the genetics that can g enerate obesity. The prevention of obesity within adults can be aided by putting more attention to improving eating habits and expanding physical ability in their everyday lives. There are many different factors that play a part in helping prevent obesity throughout a lifetime. â€Å"Obesity is a treatable disease that is a worldwide health concern associated with having an excess amount of body fat. It is caused by genetic and environmental factors and can be difficult to control through dieting alone. Obesity is diagnosed by a healthcare provider and is classified as having a body mass index (BMI) of 30 or greater† (What is Obesity? par. 8). Obesity is an epidemic and rates have gone up quite a lot in adults, even the extremes of obesity rates have gone up a little over 7 percent. According to â€Å"What is Obesity?†, having a BMI in the range of 25-29.9 is the beginning of a health concern (What is Obesity? par. 3). At this point, this is deemed as being overweight and changes should be made in one’s lifestyle such as dieting, physical activity, and producing better eating habits. Obesity is reached when a person’s BMI reaches an amount of 30.0-39.9. When one is considered obese, it is then classified as a disease and may als o lead to other problems in a person’s health. After the general obesity level when a certain BMI is reached, a more critical level can be reached, termed severe obesity. Severe obesity is someone who passes 100 pounds or over within their respective healthy body weight. A person with a BMI over 40 has an even higher chance of health difficulties in their lives and should seek help from a professional healthcare provider. There are many simple and complex causes of obesity in this day and age, but one of these factors include psychological stress. This stress could come from everyday life, along with different problems and concerns that people may encounter. Dealing with these issues can make a person successful on dealing with obesity in other ways (What is Obesity? par. 9). In some studies, sleep deprivation has shown correlation between the amount of sleep people get and how the lack of sleep has affected a person and their weight. Moreover, there is a higher chance of being overweight if one sleeps less than people who sleep a lot (Why People Become Overweight.) The media could be seen as a potential effect on a person’s thoughts and inner conscience. Ads by companies can persuade someone to partake in eating more unhealthy. These ads are being shown everywhere causing unhealthy food to be perceived as the best option by the most famous food chains on the planet, on advertisements, such as television and billboards. A more complex factor on obesity influence is the metabolic factor which is when â€Å"levels of ghrelin, a peptide hormone known to regulate appetite, and other peptides in the stomach, play a role in triggering hunger and giving you a feeling of fullness after eating.†(Obesity Causes.) There are ways that a person’s metabolism can be regulated and fixed to fit the specific person and their lifestyle but people need to just push to take that extra step. After remembering the story about my childhood and how the simplest things like wanting to eat some pizza rolls could affect me, it made it easier to be self aware about the things that should go into my stomach. Also making the physical activities that occur easier to take part in because of the knowledge that has been gained throughout a majority of my life, including being aware of what BMI is and what and how it affects the human body across everyone’s lives and the step on how to change at least one of the things that could help in bettering life and creating a body that is ideal to work towards. Annotated Bibliography Harvard Health Publishing. â€Å"Why People Become Overweight.† Harvard Health, Harvard Medical School, June 2009, health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/why-people-become-overweight. This article talks about why people become overweight and what the factors are. There are also mentionings about the environmental causes of obesity within people. I am approaching it because I want to explain why people become obese and what factors are involved in the process of being obese. This article has a disclaimer on their reliability and comes from an â€Å".edu† Harvard Medical School source. â€Å"Obesity Causes.† Stanford Health Care (SHC) Stanford Medical Center, stanfordhealthcare.org/medical-conditions/healthy-living/obesity/prevention.html. This article will explain how to prevent obesity in many different ways. Along with explaining how obesity will be prevented, it will discuss in detail how to prevent it within certain age groups. I am talking about this article because it goes along with my theme of informing the reader on helpful actions that could be taken if needed. This information comes from Stanford’s Health Care program. â€Å"Obesity Prevention.† Stanford Health Care (SHC) Stanford Medical Center, stanfordhealthcare.org/medical-conditions/healthy-living/obesity/prevention.html. This article will explain how to prevent obesity in many different ways. Along with explaining how obesity will be prevented, it will discuss in detail how to prevent it within certain age groups. I am talking about this article because it goes along with my theme of informing the reader on helpful actions that could be taken if needed. This information comes from Stanford’s Health Care program. â€Å"What Is Obesity?† Obesity Action Coalition, obesityaction.org/get-educated/understanding-your-weight-and-health/what-is-obesity/. This article covers what obesity is, and what it means in society. Covers what the causes of obesity can be and what obesity is not. I’m approaching this article because I want to inform what obesity is and how obesity is affecting people’s lives every day. There are many different links that are affiliated with this website with other reliable sources that could have a connection to this article. Birch, L L, and A K Ventura. â€Å"Preventing Childhood Obesity: What Works?† Nature News, Nature Publishing Group, 13 Apr. 2009, nature.com/articles/ijo200922. This article is going to cover the specifics of childhood obesity. Starting with talking about when the rates of being overweight starts to go up a noticeable amount in North America regarding children. I am approaching this article to be able to inform the reader about where obesity starts and could be prevented easier, as children. This source is on Google Scholar so this is a scholarly source making it reliable.