Ocean Manufacturing Inc

Identify two facts from the case that you found particularly interesting (this can be anything- it doesn't have to be directly accounting-related! ). The first situation that I found interesting is that Most of the ratios of Ocean Manufacturing are lower than the industry. So as auditors should figure out the reason behind this. The second situation is that the auditor turnover high. In twelve years they had three auditors.It is a major problem as why ocean manufacturing hanged it auditors rapidly at such short period of time. As an auditor I should look into the matter more closely. 2. If applicable, what Professional Standards were violated in this case? Cite either CASE standards or Rules of Professional Conduct. You may want to research the standards in your text, Handbook, or online. N/A 3. Assume you are working as an auditor in public accounting. Name one lesson tattoo could learn from this case. Ocean Manufacturing executives are very aggressive.If they are taken as a client I would be careful. They tried to manipulate their yearned accruals to meet requirement of Creditors. As they are planning to offer PIP they might want to do it again. As an auditor I learnt that I should take account of past behaviors and future intension when I am auditing a client. 4. As we all know, hindsight is 20/20. For cases where the client committed fraud, are there any â€Å"red flags† the auditor overlooked that might have allowed them to uncover the fraud sooner?

Mel Gibson vs. Kenneth Branaugh as Hamlet Essay

The recent â€Å"box office rebirth† of England’s favorite bard has left Hollywood with much to do about interpreting Shakespeare’s classic dramas. The characters of Ophelia, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, the gravedigger, and of course Hamlet himself take new life, as the greatest actors of our time assume these timeless roles. Produced in 1990, Mel Gibson’s â€Å"Hamlet† is a more straightforward, highly edited version of the original text in comparison to Kenneth Brannagh’s lavish rendition of the same tale. At only 135 minutes, Gibson’s â€Å"Hamlet† might be considered â€Å"Shakespeare Light,† the cinematic equivalent of Cliff’s Notes. However, although Brannagh should be commended for sticking to the text, be forewarned about this â€Å"Hamlet†-by including every line of the original play, this movie clocks in at exactly 242 minutes. The setting chosen for Brannagh’s and Gibson’s â€Å"Elsinore Castle† are as different as day and night, quite literally. And these bright and dark castle settings symbolically reinforce the specific â€Å"mood† or themes each director emphasizes. For instance, the lugubrious Gibson feels perfectly at home in his dark and dank mansion, an ideal place for a grieving soul to maintain its ruefull descent. Conversely, the introspective Brannagh is continuously catching glimpses of himself and others (and into their true souls) in the mirror-lined ballrooms of his glistening castle. Since Hamlet is, in its essence, truly a ghost story (so apropos for Halloween week!), each director has handled these â€Å"special effects† quite differently. Gibson gives a more stage-like handling of the ghost of  Hamlet’s father, using only lighting to cast an eerie glow or flickering shadows on its actors. Brannagh, on the other hand, seeks to use every filmmaker’s device possible, including the light blue glowing eyes of Hamlet’s father and the â€Å"dry ice forest,† (both of which stretched the limits of viewers’ imagination). One special effect that worked very effectively was the use of â€Å"flashbacks† in a character’s memory, specifically in scenes which show Hamlet and Ophelia’s romantic (yet clandestine) relationship developing. The greatest aspect of watching the Gibson and Brannagh films together is noticing the subtle differences between each actor’s expression of the same character. Both versions address, or evade, some of the most controversial issues in interpreting this play: Hamlet’s possible madness, his seemingly Oedipal relationship with his mother, and Ophelia’s suicidal demise. Mel Gibson portrays a brooding, sullen-browed young Hamlet–moody, miserable yet clever and cunning, and always lurking in the dark corners of this ever-somber castle. By contrast, Brannagh commands the screen with a Hamlet more brash and emboldened than Gibson’s, a determined young man whose bright and opulent surroundings reflect a very intellectual, socially and politically astute strategist (not to mention pretentious snob!). Both tiptoe the line between sanity and madness, without ever fully crossing over into a psychological abyss. With Glenn Close playing Gertrude, Hamlet’s mother, Gibson intensifies the Oedipal overtones between the queen mother and her son. Beautiful, elegant, and intensely emotional, Gertrude exudes an exuberant yet refined sensuality throughout the early scenes of the film. Does she linger a little too long on the lips of Hamlet, or is this merely a joyous display of affection for her only son? The famous, and perhaps infamous, bedroom scene eventually shows the glamorous duo of Close and Gibson struggling against one another, and the final fencing scene also emphasizes this pair, their constant awareness of the other’s situation. By casting the ethereal Close alongside the handsome Hamlet, Gibson focuses  on the mother-son relationship versus the Ophelia-Hamlet romance, as Helena Bonham-Carter presents an overly passive, almost prepubescent and one-dimensional performance of Ophelia. Too young, too much manipulated by her father, Ophelia in her insanity scene merely shows a weak young woman overcome by her own pitiful plight. Because her relationship with Hamlet is never developed in Gibson’s â€Å"Hamlet,† Ophelia’s suicide is a merely an action that furthers the plot of Hamlet’s fate–it is not given consideration as the fate of Ophelia herself, a complex, passionate, and â€Å"three-dimensional† character in the play. Brannagh’s casting of â€Å"Shakespeare’s women† gives an entirely different interpretation. To begin with, Julie Christie (as Gertrude) is downright homely in comparison to Glenn Close (check out the differences between the early â€Å"consoling scene† of each film in which Gertrude tells Hamlet that death is â€Å"common†). Thus, Christie is perfect for Brannagh’s interpretation–Hamlet seeks to avenge his father’s death not because of his Oedipal attraction to his mother (which would be too emotional and adolescent for this prince), but rather for some higher sense of truth and justice (perfect for the philosophical Brannagh). Christie is not the amiable, all-loving (or sensual) mother that we saw Close to be, and thus Gertrude’s â€Å"motivation† to marry the brother of her dead husband seems more about politics and power than pure passion. Her role in the movie and the sympathy she evokes in the viewers diminis hes greatly as we view her (and her second husband) with suspicion and even aversion. Yet Kate Winslet (also starring in â€Å"Sense and Sensibility,† â€Å"Heavenly Creatures†), cast as Ophelia, is simply breathtaking. Her presence on the screen commands the full attention of viewers, and Brannagh uses her charisma to create perhaps the most fully developed representation of Ophelia to be brought to any film. She is shown as a strong-willed, intelligent and independent young woman who is passionately in love (and lust!) with her eccentric prince. If you have seen and heard her grief expressed in â€Å"Heavenly Creatures,† then you will know that her â€Å"insanity scene† is the most harrowing display of a heart’s devastation that you might ever see. Her ethereal voice, her song of sadness, will be hard for viewers to forget. With a cast of characters including Billy Crystal, Charlton Heston, Robin Williams and Jack Lemmon, Kenneth Brannagh’s â€Å"Hamlet† is a sure-hit among devoted â€Å"Shakespeare-philes.† Yet, the dynamic performances of the characters in Gibson’s â€Å"Hamlet† guarantee that both movies are even better appreciated when viewed, and compared, together. One of the greatest aspects about Shakespeare’s plays is the never-ending interpretations and expressions that can be made–not only by film makers with their elaborate scenery and all-star casts, but also by each of us as viewers and, hopefully, as readers too.

The Blue Sword CHAPTER TEN

Harry had trouble falling asleep that night; she listened to the gentle sound the water made walking down the three stone steps, and often she stretched out her hand to touch the hilt of the blue sword that lay beside her, carefully laid upon a small carpet of blue and green and gold that she had found in a corner of a hall on her way back to her mosaic palace after the feast. She had appropriated it, rolled it up, tucked it under her arm, and glared at the woman of the household who was conducting her. The woman dropped her eyes, but did not seem unduly disturbed. Who would grudge a damalur-sol a little rug? Harimad-sol thought airily. But each time she touched the blue sword it was as if a shock ran through her, and she listened to the quiet night, hearing the echoes of sounds that had rung themselves to silence hundreds of years ago. Her restlessness made Narknon grumble at her, although the cat did not offer to leave the bed and sleep elsewhere. At last Harry tucked her hands firmly beneath her chin and fell asleep, and in her sleep she saw Aerin-sol again, and Aerin smiled at her. â€Å"Gonturan will do well for you, I think, child, as she did well for me. You can feel it in the way she hangs in your hand, can you not?† Harry, in her dream, nodded. â€Å"Gonturan is far older than I am, you know; she was given me with the weight of her own years and legend already upon her. I never knew all she might lead her bearer into – and as it was, I learned more than enough. â€Å"Gonturan has her own sense of honor, child. But she is not human, and you must not trust her as human; remember it. She is a true friend, but a friend with thoughts of her own, and the thoughts of others are dangerous.† Aerin paused, and the dream began to fade; her face was pale, and half imagined, like a cloud on a summer's dawn, with her hair the sunrise. â€Å"What luck I had, may it go with you.† Harry woke up, and found the sword gleaming blue in a light that seemed to come from the blue mosaic walls, from the blue stone in the hilt, even from the silver water of the stream. Several days passed, while some of the Riders went forth on errands; but the newest Rider did not. She spent long hours in the mosaic palace, staring at the air, which hung, or so it seemed to her, like tapestry around her; and in that tapestry was woven all of history – her own, her Homeland's, as well as Damar's. Sometimes she saw a little bright shimmer like someone tossing back a fire-red mane of hair; and sometimes she saw the glint of a blue jewel – but that was no doubt only some chance reflection from the glossy walls around her. But most of all, she slept. Mathin had been right about the sorgunal. For several days she was content to sleep, and waken to do nothing in particular, and sleep again. Narknon enjoyed it as much as she did. â€Å"I'm sure Mathin did not put any of that stuff in the porridge,† Harry said to the cat; â€Å"there's no excuse for you.† On the fourth morning Mathin came to her, and found her pacing from fountain to fountain and from wall to wall. â€Å"This is not a cage to enclose you, Hari,† he said. She turned, startled, for she had been deep in her thoughts and had not heard his approach. She smiled. â€Å"I have not felt caged. I have †¦ slept a great deal, as you warned me. It is only today I have begun to †¦ think again.† Mathin smiled in return. â€Å"Is it so ill, this thinking?† â€Å"Why am I a Rider?† she replied. â€Å"There is no reason for Corlath to make an Outlander girl, even the laprun minta, a Rider. Riders are his best. Why?† Mathin's smile twisted. â€Å"I told you, long ago – long ago, more than a week since. It is a good thing for us to have a damalur-sol. It is a good thing for us to have something to look to, for hope. Perhaps you do yourself too little honor.† Harry snorted. â€Å"Has a laprun ever been made a Rider before?† Mathin took a long time to answer. â€Å"No. You are the first to bear that burden.† â€Å"And an Outlander at that.† â€Å"You Outlanders are human, for all of that – as the Northerners are not. It is not impossible that some Outlander might have †¦ a Gift, kelar, like ours, as you do – for you do. There is something in you we recognize, and we know it is there, for Lady Aerin has chosen you herself. Corlath makes you a Rider to †¦ to take advantage of whatever it is you carry in your Outlander blood that has made you Damarian, even against your will.† Harry slowly shook her head. â€Å"Not against my will. At least not any more. But I do not understand.† â€Å"No; nor do I. Nor even does Corlath. He – † Mathin stopped. Harry looked sharply at him. â€Å"Corlath what?† The faint smile drifted across Mathin's face again. â€Å"Corlath did not steal you of his own free will. His kelar demanded it.† Harry grinned. â€Å"Yes; I had guessed, and once he told me – something of the sort. I saw dismay on his face often enough, those early days.† Mathin's face was expressionless when she raised her eyes again to his. â€Å"You have not seen dismay there for a long day since.† â€Å"No,† she agreed, and her eyes went involuntarily to the mosaic walls around her. Mathin said, â€Å"You are a token, a charm, to us, Daughter of the Riders and Rider and Damalur-sol.† â€Å"A mascot, you mean,† Harry said, but without bitterness; and still she looked at the mosaic walls. She asked timidly, not certain of her own motives, â€Å"Does Corlath have no family? I see here, in the castle, the people of the household, and the – us – Riders, but no one else. Is it only that they are cloistered – or that I am?† Mathin shook his head. â€Å"You see all there is to see. In Aerin's day the king's family filled this place; some had to live in the City, or chose to, for privacy. But kings in the latter days †¦ Corlath's father married late, and Corlath is his queen's only surviving child, for she was a frail lady. Corlath himself has not married.† Mathin smiled bleakly. â€Å"Kings should marry young and get heirs early, that their people may have one thing less to worry about. There has been no one in generations whose kelar is as strong as Corlath's; it is why the scattered folk along our borders and in the secret hearts of our Hills, who have acknowledged no Damarian king for many years, rally now to Corlath. Even where he does not go himself his messengers are alight with it.† After Mathin left her, Harry thought of taking another nap, but decided against it. Instead she rode out on Sungold, Narknon deigning to accompany them. She found at the back of the stone castle and beyond the stone stables a practice ground, stepped into the sides of the Hill, for those wishing to practice horsemanship and war. It was deserted, as though the menace of the Northerners was too near to permit of practice. But she jogged slowly around the empty field, Sungold stepping up or down as they came to each edge, and decided to practice anyway: she who was laprun victor, who had never held a sword till a few weeks ago, who was suddenly a Rider: she felt, a little wildly, that she needed all the practice she could get. She was wearing Gonturan, a little self-consciously, but she had felt somehow that it would be impolite to leave her behind. She unsheathed her and wondered if the ancient sword had ever been used to hack at straw figures and charge at dangling wooden tiles. She galloped Tsornin over poles laid on the ground, piles of stone and wooden logs, and up and down turfed banks, and over ditches. She felt a little silly; but Tsornin made it plain that he enjoyed it all, whatever it was and however humble, and Gonturan always struck true. Harry took Tsornin back to his stable and put him away with her own hands, studiously ignoring the brown-clad groom who hovered near her. Hers was the first human face she had seen since she rode out. The stables were on the same scale as the castle: large and grand, the loose-boxes the size of small fields. There were over a hundred stalls – Harry lost count when she tried to multiply them out in her head – in the barn Sungold was quartered in, and two other barns as big stood on either side of it. Sungold's stable was nearly full; sleek curious noses were thrust out at them as they left and returned. Harry saw no other men or women of the horse; they must reappear at some point, she thought, to tend the horses. Unless Hill horses can be trained to take care of themselves – it wouldn't surprise me. The silence was uncanny. Tsornin's hoofs had echoed around the practice field; and when she thanked the brown woman and said no, she needed nothing, her voice sounded strange in her ears. Over the next few days she rode out again and again, and spent some hours slaying straw men with the Dragon-Killer's sword, and then some hours riding out from the stone ring of the castle, and into the stone City, down the smooth roads. She saw mostly women and young children, but even of them there were rarely more than a few. The women watched her timidly, and smiled eagerly if she smiled at them first; and the children wanted to pet Sungold, which he was good enough to permit, and Narknon, who usually eluded them; and sometimes they brought her flowers. But the City was as empty as the castle was; there were people, but far fewer than its walls might hold. Some of this, she knew, was because the army was massing elsewhere – on the laprun fields, before the City; messengers came and went swiftly, and the gathering of forces hung heavily in the air. But most of it was because, as the king's family had dwindled, so had the king's people; there were few Damarians left. She thought again of the mounting strangenesses of her recent life; and she wished, if she was to be given to Damar, as apparently she was, that she would be given no more long pauses of inaction in which to brood about it all. One of the young women who had assisted her at her bath brought her food, in the blue front room with the fountain, or outside in the sunshine where the other fountain played; and she managed to convince her and the other women sent to wait upon her that, at least as long as there were no more banquets requiring special preparations, she might bathe herself. For three more days she slept and watched the shimmering of the air and rode Tsornin and played with Narknon. There was a friendship between the horse and the hunting-cat now, and they would chase one another around the obstacles of the practice field, Narknon's tail lashing and Sungold with his ears back in mock fury. Once the big cat had hidden behind one of the grassy banks, where Harry and Sungold could not see her; and as they rode by she leaped out at them, sailing clean over Sungold and Harry on his back. Harry ducked and Sungold swerved; and Narknon circled and came back to them with her ears back and her whiskers trembli ng in what was obviously a cat laugh. And Harry polished Gonturan and tried not to brood, and looked often at the small white scar in the palm of her hand. But with all her inevitable musings she found that a certain peace had come to her and made its way into her heart. It was not like anything she had known before, and it was only on that third day that she found a name for it: fate. Yet she wished that the business of war were not so all-consuming, that she might have someone to talk to. On the fourth day when the woman came with her afternoon meal, Corlath came with her; and evidently he was expected, although not by Harry, for there were two goblets and two plates on the tray, and far more food than she could eat alone. She was sitting on the flagstones beside the fountain in the sunshine, watching the prisms that the falling drops threw into the air; and Narknon was washing Harry's face with her razored tongue, and Harry was trying not to mind. She was trying not to mind with such concentration that she did not realize till she looked up, still dazzled by tiny intricate colors, that he was there; and she remained sitting, blinking up at him, as the woman set down her tray and retired. â€Å"May I eat with you?† he said, and Harry thought that he seemed ill at ease. â€Å"Of course,† she said. â€Å"I would – er – be honored.† She pushed Narknon's head away and started to scramble to her feet, but Corlath dropped silently down beside her, so she settled back again, grateful that her bones decided not to creak. He gave her a plate and took his own; and then sat staring into the fountain much as she had done, and she wondered, watching him, if he felt any of the queer peacefulness that crept into her with the same looking; and if he would call it by the name she had discovered. â€Å"Eight days,† she said, and his eyes drew back from the water spray and met hers. â€Å"Eight days,† she repeated. â€Å"You said less than a fortnight.† â€Å"Yes,† he replied. â€Å"We are counting the hours now.† He made a swift sweeping motion with his right hand, and Harry said suddenly: â€Å"Show me your hand.† Corlath looked puzzled for a moment, but then he held his right hand out, palm up. There was one short straight pale mark across it, obviously new; and many small white scars; she didn't have to count them to know there would be eighteen of them, the still-fresh – and longest – cut a nineteenth. She studied the hand a moment, cupping it in her own, not thinking that she was poring over a king's hand; then she looked at her own right palm. One tiny straight line looked back at her. He closed his hand and rested it on his knee. â€Å"They don't fade,† Harry said. â€Å"The old ones don't disappear.† â€Å"No,† said Corlath. â€Å"It is the yellow salve, before we make the cut; it is made of an herb called korim – forever.† She studied her own palm again for a moment. The scar cut through the lines a fortune-teller would call her life line and her heart line; and she wondered what Damarian fortune-tellers might see in her hand. She looked up at Corlath, who absently put a piece of bread in his mouth and began to chew; he was staring into the fountain again. He swallowed and said: â€Å"There is a story of one of my grandfather's Riders: the Northern border was restless then – but only restless, and this man had gone North to see what he might learn. But they caught him, and recognized him as from Damar; but he knew they would find him a little before they did, and he slashed his hand that they might not find the mark and hold him for ransom – or torture; for the Northerners, if they wish, can torture with a fine prying magic that no mind can resist.† Harry thought: If the Northerners know about the Riders' mark, they must be a bit slow not to wonder about a spy caught with a cut-up hand. Corlath continued after a moment: â€Å"He had traveled dressed as a merchant, so when he knew they would find him he freed his horse and sent it home, and took off his boots, and began to climb the near-perpendicular face of one of the Hills that is the boundary between our land and theirs. When they found him he was half mad with sunstroke and his hands and feet were as tattered as autumn leaves. They decided they had not caught a prize at all, and after they had beaten him a bit, they let him go. He finished climbing the mountain with his hands and feet, because he remembered that much of what he was doing; and just over the summit, just inside the border of Damar, his horse was waiting for him, and she took him home. He recovered from the sunstroke, but he never held a sword again.† Harry swallowed a lump of bread that didn't want to go down, and there was silence for a bit. â€Å"What happened to the mare?† she said at last. â€Å"Your Tsornin's dam is a daughter of his mare's line,† Corlath said, but it was as if he were tracing some thought of his own. â€Å"The mare lived till she was almost thirty, and dropped a foal every year till the last. Many of our best riding-horses are descended from her.† Corlath looked at her, coming back from wherever he had been. â€Å"That mare's line is called Nalan – faithful. You can see it in Tsornin's pedigree.† Harry asked lightly: â€Å"And is there a name for the line of the kings of Damar?† Corlath said, â€Å"My father's name, and his father's, and mine, is Gulkonoth: stone.† Harry looked at his right hand resting quietly on his knee. He paused and added as if inconsequentially, â€Å"There are other names for the king. One of them is Tudorsond. Scarred hand.† â€Å"Does the korim scar the foreheads of the household, and the faces of the hunt and the horse as well?† And Corlath said, â€Å"Yes.† There was a silence again, and Harry wondered how many other questions she might be able to gain answers for. She said, â€Å"Once in the mountains before the trials, Mathin said to me that he could teach me three ways of starting a fire, but that you knew a fourth. He would not tell me what the fourth was.† Corlath laughed. â€Å"I will show you one day, if you wish. Not today. Today it would give you a headache.† Harry shook her head angrily, her feeling of contentment gone. â€Å"I am tired of having things only half explained. Either I am damalur-sol, when it is convenient, or I am to be quiet and sit in a corner and behave till it is time to bring me out and show me to the troops again. Did you choose Mathin to teach me because he is close-mouthed?† Corlath looked a little abashed, and Harry guiltily remembered how much Mathin had told her, although – she defended herself – it was not enough. Never enough. But she could not help remembering his answer when she had asked him why he had been chosen for her training. â€Å"I chose Mathin because I thought he would teach you best; there are none better than he, and he is patient and tireless.† And kind, thought Harry, but she would not interrupt when she might learn something. â€Å"We of the Hills – I suppose we are all, as you say, close-mouthed; but do you think you have learned so little of us?† And Corlath looked at her – wistfully. â€Å"No,† she said, ashamed of herself. There was a pause, and she said, â€Å"Could you perhaps, please, tell me why Mathin would not tell me any of the legends about the Lady Aerin? They are a part of your lives that all of you share – and it is her sword you have given me – and the legends, why, there are a few sung even at the spring Fairs in the west, where Outlanders can hear them.† Corlath tapped his fingers, one-two-three, one-two-three, on the brim of the fountain. â€Å"Aerin is a part of your destiny, Harimad-sol. It is considered unlucky to †¦ meddle with destiny. Mathin would feel that he was doing you a disservice, speaking much of Aerin to you, and I – I find, now, that I feel the same.† Tap-tap-tap. â€Å"If you had grown up †¦ here, you would have heard them. But you did not. And if you had, perhaps you would not now be what you are. â€Å"I am sorry.† He turned and looked at her. â€Å"If – after we have met the Northerners, and the gods have decided between us, if you and I are left alive, I will tell you all the stories I know of Aerin Dragon-Killer.† He tried to smile. â€Å"I even can sing a few.† â€Å"Thank you.† Corlath's smile became more successful. â€Å"There are a very great many of them – you may not wish to hear them all.† â€Å"I do wish to hear them all,† said Harry firmly. Corlath took his hand away from the stone brim and began to shred a chunk of bread into fragments on his plate. â€Å"As for the first question,† he said, â€Å"watch.† He blinked a few times, closed his eyes, and a shudder ran through him; then he opened his eyes again and gave a hot yellow glare to the little heap of bread crumbs, which burst into flame, crackled wildly for a few minutes, and subsided into black ash. â€Å"Oh,† said Harry. Corlath looked up; his eyes were brown. They stared at one another. Harry found herself saying hastily, in a voice that was a little too high-pitched, â€Å"What is this place – here – ?† and she jerked her eyes away, and waved to the mosaic walls. â€Å"I have seen nothing else like it anywhere in the City.† Corlath shook his head. â€Å"Nor will you.† He got slowly to his feet, and looked around, and cupped his scarred hand under the fountain, and drank from it. â€Å"My father built it for my mother just after he married her. She was fond of the color blue – and I think he wanted to tell her that he did not mind that she would never carry the Blue Sword, the greatest treasure of his family, the woman's sword.† He looked down at her inscrutably, but his eyes did not focus on her. Then he turned and left her, going through the door into the castle. Two days later the army rode away from the City. Corlath and his Riders rode together down the highway from the castle to the gates of the City, with men and women of the household and the hunt and horse, and pack horses behind them; and the people of the City lined the streets and silently watched them go, although many raised their hands to their foreheads and flicked the fingers as they rode by. Harry had not seen so many before; some were refugees from northern Damarian villages, and farmers from the green lands before the Bledfi Gap. And they rode down to the plain where the army Harry had not seen, for she had not left the City since she rode into it, lay before them; and behind her she heard a sound no Damarian had heard in generations: the City's stone gates closing, heavily, mournfully. Tsornin was restless. Now, with the ranks upon ranks of the Hill army drawn up upon it, the plain looked like some other place than the plain where Harry and Tsornin had fought with blunt staves and sword points. Tsornin was too well bred to do more than fidget slightly in place; but his shoulder, when she ran her hand down it, was warmer than the morning air deserved. The muscles under the golden skin were hard; she felt that if she rapped her knuckles against his shoulder ridge it would ring like iron. She stood, a little awkwardly, in the group of Riders, only a little way into the plain from the end of the City highway. They were on a little rise of land, so they looked out and down over the rest of the company, and Harry felt unnecessarily conspicuous. â€Å"Why couldn't you be liver chestnut or something?† she whispered to Tsornin, who bowed his golden head. A new helm fitted closely down over her bound-up hair, and there were new boots on her legs, with tops that rolled up and lashed into place for battle; and she felt Gonturan hanging expectantly at her knee. Ten days were not enough to accustom herself to being a Rider, however hard she had driven herself and Tsornin round the lonely practice fields with their stiff wooden silhouettes of enemy swordsmen; and while the Riders themselves – particularly one or two: Mathin, and the merry (for a Rider) young Innath – closed ranks around her and accepted her as one of them, she could not believe that they did not themselves wonder, a little, about her presence among them. Sungold blew impatiently and began to dig a hole with one front foot. She booted his elbow with her toe and he stopped, but after a moment he lowered his head and blew again, harder, and she could feel him shifting his weight, considering if she might let him dig just a small hole. She looked around: the other horses were showing signs of stress as well. Mathin stood next to her; Windrider, although rock still, unlike the younger Tsornin, wore a dark sheen of sweat down her flank. Corlath's Fireheart was standing on his hind legs again; the king could bring him down as he chose, but Harry rather thought the horse was expressing the mood of both of them. Narknon, so far as Harry could see, was the only one of their company who remained undisturbed. She sat in front of Sungold, just beyond the reach of pawing forefeet, and washed her chest and combed her whiskers. They marched west. They crossed the low but steep ridge of mountains between the City and the desert plain that stretched far away, up to the back door of the Outlander Residency in Istan. They retraced Harry and Mathin's route, going in single endless file through the narrow paths; and they came to the desert edge at the end of the second day. Beyond the ridge they turned north. All the spies – those still living, for the North had caught a few – that Corlath had sent out in the last several years had come back in the last few months, in a rush, all with the same word: the waiting was over, the Northerners were moving. The last man of them had returned not six days before; it had taken him so long because they knew about him, and he had dodged and fled and scrambled to get away from their creeping tracking magic. His tale was that their army was only days behind him, and that it was many thousands strong. He had delayed and delayed to take a fairer tally of the total; and yet, he said, even as the army marched south, hundreds and more hundreds appeared as if out of the air to march with it. Out of the air, Harry thought, and wondered if the phrase was more than just a manner of speaking. She had been included in the council of Riders that heard the man's tale; and the candlelight seemed to cast more shadows when he was through. Yet there was no thing to be done; the army that would stand for Damar was already gathered; the plans to face the Northerners were already laid. Of the Northerners' dread captain no spy was sure; no Damarian dared get that close, for the uncanny way he was said to smell foreign blood. There were hundreds of mounted men and women now following Corlath's word; and as they rode with the eastern Hills at their right hand, they looked a great many. A few hundreds more would join as the southern army made its way to the wide plain before the Gap. But that was all. Innath, riding at her elbow, said conversationally, â€Å"Less than half of the Northern army will be mounted; and not many of them will be riding horses; and very few of their horses will match the poorest of ours. One can double our tally at least, just for our horses; for they are Damarians and will fight for Damar as fiercely as we human beings, for all that we are the only ones who talk about it.† â€Å"Yes,† said Harry, her voice only a little muffled. Noontimes they stopped briefly, loosening girths to let the horses breathe, and eating bread and dry meat and water. At night they camped behind ridges of shale and scrub, and lit fires enough to boil the terrible dry meat to a slightly more edible consistency, and rolled up in their blankets to sleep where they sat. A few of the hunting-cats and a dozen dogs were with them; but they could not spare the time at present to use them. Narknon continued at Harry's heels and, as she had done once before, began hunting on her own, and brought back some of her grisly victories to lay at Harry's pillow. As the days passed and Mathin's stew pot became generally known as the only one reliably containing fresh meat, it grew very popular. The nights were clear and quiet, and the weather-casters among them promised no sudden windstorms; the edges of the Damarian Hills were known for their unpredictable weather, where mountain storms bottled up by the steep slopes might suddenly find their way to the flatter lands where they could rage and riot as they chose. Corlath was not trying to strike at once for the center of the northern mountains and the Bledfi Gap. After the Hill army crossed the narrow range behind which the City lay, they worked their way around the curve of the mountains, trotting through the sandy sour grass and broken rock at their feet. At first this made them ride almost due north, then in an increasing arc to the west; and the sun moved across the sky before them. Often in the mornings when the mist was still lying around them, trailing from the mountains' shoulders into their camp, a little group of riders, or even a solitary figure on horseback, would loom up at them from nowhere; but Corlath always seemed to be expecting them, and they always knew what to say to the guards that they might pass; and in this way the army a little swelled its ranks. Occasionally Harry heard a woman's voice among the strangers, and this made her glad; and often she'd rub a finger over the blue gem in the hilt of Gonturan and think of the sword no man could carry. Mathin said to her once: â€Å"We did not think to see so many women – few have fought with us within any man's memory, although in Aerin's day it was different. But I think many fathers are letting their daughters join us who had not thought to till they heard of Harimad-sol, and that Gonturan went to war again.† Many of these women she met; particularly after Mathin had spoken to her, for then she began to feel a little uneasily responsible for them. Senay she saw several times – and saw too that she was wearing a sewn-together sash as if she were proud of it. Harimad-sol asked the names of the women when she had a chance, and they answered gravely; and they often gave her the back-of-hand-to-forehead gesture of respect, and none ever asked her her name, even when she was not carrying Gonturan and ought to look – she thought – like any other disheveled soldier. Most of those who came thus late to join Corlath's army did not carry a sword, and wore no sash; these were men and women who had spent their lives in their own villages, on their own farms and in their own shops, and had never attended laprun trials, nor felt the lack that they had not. One evening they rode into a hollow where nearly a hundred strangers, all mounted, and with several pack horses and hunting-beasts besides, waited for them; and Corlath rode forward with a great hearty cry of welcome, a sound nearer happiness than any Harry had heard from him since they began their march north. A rider at the head of the group rode to meet him, and they seized each other by the shoulders while their horses bumped uneasily together and rolled their eyes at each other. A third man then detached himself from the new group and joined Corlath and his friend. â€Å"Murfoth and his son, Terim,† said Mathin in Harry's ear. â€Å"Murfoth was one of the old king's friends, though he's not much more than ten years older than our king. He might have been a Rider, had he wished, but he chose instead to stay at home and look after his lands; and a good job he's made of it too. Some of our best horses now come from him, and grain to feed many more.† â€Å"We Riders,† said Innath from her other side, â€Å"as you may have noticed, tend to be fourth sons or otherwise penniless – or incurable wanderers like Mathin here – but Murfoth now, when he comes to ride with his king, can bring eighty men with him.† Innath's voice, for all its careless pride, sounded almost wistful. Harry found herself remembering her father's words to her – it seemed decades ago: â€Å"You haven't a penny, you know.† Terim was Harry's age, and when he and his father came to sit at the king's fireside he came to her and sank down beside her, folding up his long legs as all the Hillmen did. She looked at Terim and he looked at her; his look was eager and a little, to her embarrassment, reverent. â€Å"I was First at my laprun trials three years ago,† he said; â€Å"but when I took my turn against Corlath my sash was on the ground before I had a good grip on my sword.† He thumped the hilt of his sword, which jangled as it bit into the ground. â€Å"My father gave me Teksun here anyway, he said no one ever got a grip on a sword against Corlath. You did, though.† His eyes shone in the firelight. Harry ran a meditative finger over the careful seam in her sash, which she had put in under Mathin's promised tutelage. â€Å"I didn't know it was he – I never thought. And he allowed me to cross swords with him; and when I realized how much of it was allowing, I got †¦ mad.† She paused. â€Å"I was surprised too.† She frowned, remembering the awful headache she'd had for most of that day, and then the more awful sick lurch that seemed to start behind her eyes, where the headache was, and quiver all the way through her body, when she saw the face behind the scarf she had just removed. No one had called her baga for the cut at the corner of Corlath's mouth, though. She met the boy's eyes somewhat ruefully and said, â€Å"It wasn't as pleasant an experience as you might think.† Terim gave a little snort of laughter and said, â€Å"Yes, I believe you,† and Harry looked across to where Corlath sat with Terim's father and found him watching her. She wondered if he had heard what she had just said.

Health Care in the USA Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Health Care in the USA - Essay Example Authorities to transmit overt health messages, such as those for AIDS prevention, immunization, or family planning, may use the electronic media. Perhaps more significant are advertisements (for insecticide, beer, soft drinks, automobiles, powdered milk, cosmetics, and other items of commerce) and programmatic content depicting supposedly admirable people and their lives and activities. Emulation of such models may have rapid and profound health consequences, both good and bad. Moreover, decades ago, the medium is often the message, and the mere presence of the radio or television receiver may lead to significant changes in personal or group behavior, independent of the nature or content of the broadcast messages. Most commentators ascribe the great decline in mortality in countries like US that were developing during the 18th and 19th centuries to improved nutrition, water supply, excreta disposal, and housing; legislation to control employment of women and children; and public health services in the broad sense. There seems to be a common misconception in the world that Health Care Services in US have monolithic socialized medicine systems under which a person need only appear on a hospital doorstep to be showered with free services. Perhaps equally widespread is the idea, promoted by television pictures of starving hordes, "such is not the case in the United States, where not all Americans are covered by health insurance" (Shi, L. & Singh, D., 2004, p. 2). Neither of these extreme images is accurate. While often useful, comparative studies have their limitations. On a superficial level, comparative health services research can uncover statistics on the numbers of facilities, physicians, hospital beds, and so on; on money and other resources put into the system; and on the number of patient visits or immunizations given over a certain period of time. It can also illustrate certain structural relationships within systems, such as the organization of divisions of a health department or the regionalization of hospitals, health centers, clinics, and dispensaries. Pages of tables and charts can be prepared in such studies, but skill and care are needed to draw correct conclusions from these data. There are two basic problems: (1) what the data show and (2) what they do not show. "Health care is a continuously evolving process impossible to describe adequately in an instantaneous snapshot, any more than a single frame can exemplify a long and complex motion picture" (Frick, K., Jensen, P.L., Quinlan, M. and Wilthagen, T, 2000, p. 86). The fact that a system for health care exists does not necessarily mean that it functions according to design or that it is used, or used appropriately, by the people whom it is intended to serve. The official health care system is not necessarily the health care system, because it has several parallel systems. Persons may by necessity (= lack of access) or by intent (= distrust) circumvent the official system. Indeed, in some parts of the US only a minority of the population may make use of official health services, preferring to consult pharmacists, healers, or others whose services are not recorded on government charts and tables. Whereas the elements of a system, and the resources put into it, can be counted and described, t he output or product of the system, in terms of improved health, is impossible to measure and may even defy estimation. Attitudes, motivations, and policies cannot be indicated on an organizational

Questions detailed below in criteria Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Questions detailed below in criteria - Essay Example In light of this a project to get ladies to swim would be beneficial when taking into consideration safety concerns in relating to flooding and the ability to swim to safety in the event that such an event occurs. Getting ladies to learn to swim means that their children and partners who are not able to swim will become interested in learning as well. The question therefore is - How will the project coordinator reach them in order to get them interested? Instead of preparing flyers and dropping them in mail boxes in Tower Hamlets, which can be very costly, the internet and social media is an effective way of reaching and communicating with people. Websites like Facebook, You Tube, Yahoo! and Google are some of the sites that are most visited and which could be tapped into. This project will not be successful without getting the ladies of Tower Hamlets involved. Therefore, the advertisements will focus on the unique features of Tower Hamlet which have already been noted that makes it so important for all especially the ladies to learn to swim. In addition to being a great form of exercise, it can be done regardless of the weather. Furthermore, swimming is a great way to reduce the risk of obesity. In order to make the project work the  £10,000 needs to be carefully budgeted. This amount is relatively small and so it is important to utilize resources within Tower Hamlet in order to remain within the means of the budget. The preparation of a financial budget is therefore critical to the success of the project. Preparing a budget is not always easy. However, it is important to understand that the total expenditure budgeted needs to be within the budget which is  £10,000. The amount budgeted for each expense would depend on the going costs of providing these services and so steps should be taken to ascertain these. Some of the things to be considered (assuming that the infrastructure is already in place) include: The possibility exists that the focus on ladies

Accounting and society--litarature review Essay - 2

Accounting and society--litarature review - Essay Example In this case, the two environmental approaches that accounting practices can be conducted include the free market and the pro-regulatory approaches. These approaches have been interchangeably used for the interests of the society (Buckley & Weston 2006, p.16). In the recent past, the adoption of the free market was considered ideal but until the world economic crisis experienced in 2008, several issues have been aroused which necessitate the adoption of regulation approaches. However, the consideration of the ideal environmental approach necessitates the analysis of their effects in the economy. The free-market approach to accounting information entails the treatment of the information as normal goods and services, which are impacted by the forces of demand and supply. For this reason, the preparation and utilization of the accounting information would yield optimal output. For any business entity, they will offer financial information that would address the needs of the economic demand (Flegm 2004, p.56). In addition, business entities would be required to provide the expected financial information without the imposition of any regulation. For instance, when companies would be required to offer the shares in order to be listed, they would be necessitated to offer the required financial information to attract investors. On the other hand, the implementation of the pro-regulatory approach involves the incorporation of regulation that would necessitate all business entities, especially companies so as to offer their accounting information freely to the public. In this regard, the accounting information is considered to be a public need, and for that reason, companies have to set some finances for the preparation and presentation of the accounting information. After the accounting information have been produced, it is essential to realize that they become free and everyone can access them. Through this practice, there is a conception that

Evaluate to what extent we are witnessing a decollectivisation of Essay

Evaluate to what extent we are witnessing a decollectivisation of British Employee Relations - Essay Example the exercise of a person’s desires and goals and so he will tend to value self reliance and independence and at that time resist a lot of the interference from outside exerted upon the interests of a person whether by the family, society or other institution or group. Individualization focuses on the individual making him its focus and therefore begins with the basic premise that a human person is holds primary importance in the liberation struggle. It has at times been applied to mean the quality of being an individual. Individualism is therefore associated with bohemian and artistic interests and lifestyles in which there is experimentation and self creation as opposed to popular mass opinions, tradition and behaviors as with humanist ethics and philosophical positions (Brown & Marsden 2010, pp. 2) Human resource management (HRM) involves planning, managing recruitment, implementing, training, career and initiatives of development in an organization. Human Resource Management aims at maximizing an organization’s productivity through the optimization of employee effectiveness while at the same time improving the life of employees at work and treating the employees with dignity as resources that are valuable. Human Resource Management incorporates efforts aimed at the promotion of personal development, the satisfaction of employees and compliance with laws related to employees. As a result it brings gain to both the company and the employee. The employer benefits from better work performance while the employee gets satisfaction at the work place among other things.The Human Resource Management shift is important to the management of a business. When the shift happened in business dynamics companies realized that the knowledge that people have and the people themselves pro vide the single source for competitive advantage that is sustainable (Brown & Marsden 2010, pp. 3). The reason for this is that other resources that are related to technology, materials,

The Use and Impact of the Internet and Social Media Essay

The Use and Impact of the Internet and Social Media - Essay Example The introduction and growth of social media have had adverse effects on the quality of friendship made. Currently, people are in a rush to make friends without clear knowledge and understanding of what these people are, their backgrounds and what common interests you share. Others prefer interacting with their friends via smartphones and computers rather than creating friendship time where people can interact with each other and build on friendship ties. On the other hand, I disagree with some of Deresiewicz 's opinions and thoughts. Social media platform has taken dissemination of information to another level. In my opinion, people using online platforms can share what they want others to see. Most of the social media platforms have a privacy column where one can choose what other people can see about them. Apart from that, social sites such as Facebook and Twitter have helped bridge strong ties between their users. Information can be easily passed from one person to another via twe ets and Facebook updates hence as much as Deresiewicz describes them as a liability to quality friendship, it is important to look at the positives as a whole.From his view, Deresiewicz has a solid argument with candid illustrations but it is important to look at the positive attributes the online platform has created so far.In her article "The Things People Say: Rumors in an Age of Unreason", Elizabeth Kolbert describes how the use of the World Wide Web has influenced peoples way of analyzing critical issues affecting them in the society.

Resistance Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Resistance - Essay Example Here, the connection between gender and violence can be established if gender relations is understood as a discourse â€Å"signifying relationships of power† (Jacobs, Jacobson and Marchbank, 2000, p.3). In both cases of violence and gender disparity, thus an exercise of power is involved. On the contrary, resistance is â€Å"a reflection of the potential for subversion and contestation† within the premises â€Å"of established order† (Jacobs, Jacobson and Marchbank, 2000, p.3). This is to suggest that resistance is more concerned with opposing the undemocratic exercise of power, which is often part of the establishment, rather than the simple or violent exercise of power. War has been the greatest exercise of power in human history. As the ethics of war has changed from protecting civilians to deliberately targeting them, the most vulnerable groups, which have lost their â€Å"personal security† are women, children and the ethnic minorities (Jacobs, Jacobs on and Marchbank, 2000, p.5). There is a continuation of this situation in non-war conditions as well in the form of domestic violence, as far as women are concerned. On the other hand, it has also been argued, â€Å"women have been central in democratizing processes† (Jacobs, Jacobson and Marchbank, 2000, p.9).

Business Management System Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Business Management System - Essay Example That's why special attention must be paid to hardware vendors, because even the most qualities software occurs to be low productive when it runs on outmoded facilities. Quick and wide range telecommunications should be used to hasten data exchange between parts of the BMS, such as optical fiber, satellite communications, 3G networks for mobile user of the system, etc. Usage of the most current technologies raises quality of service and reduces modernization costs in future. System reliability and survivorship are also very important issues. There are a lot of technologies developed for ascending of IT system reliability: backup servers and channels, RAID massive, caching and compression of data, etc. (Jones, 1986) It is important to choose competent software vendor or developers company for creating the software part of BMS. On selection of software provider it is necessary to gather information, on what sort of software it is specialized in, how many completed projects it has and if the customers are satisfied with the product of the company. (Brooks, 1995) It is also impossible not to admit importance of human factor during use of information system (Maslow, 1999). BMS must have comfortable and easy-to-understand user interface, so as novices in company could quickly to know about the system. Only simultaneous taking into consideration of all these factors allows creating really usable and productive information system, which will satisfy DVLA's requirements for the licensing information system. Possible benefits from the BMS for the organization: Elimination of Costly, Inflexible Legacy Systems Improved Work Processes Increase in Access to Data for Business Decision Making Upgrade of Information Technology Infrastructure Increased Control of Work Processes by Staff Reduced Paper Documents Greater Accuracy of Information with Detailed Content Improved Cost Control Increase in Customer Response Time Improved Monitoring and Quicker Resolution of Queries Quick Response to Business Operations and Market Conditions Improved Competitive Advantage Improved Supply-Demand Link with Locations and Branches World Wide Unified Customer Database Improved International Operations Improved Information Access and Management Throughout the Organization Information Entered Once into System Provides Functionality to Interact with other Modules The critical success factors of the BMS are: Clear forming of goals Effective and creative work of management Competent recourse management Keeping project time and recourses frames Understanding of consequences of the system implementation Involving staff in implementation process Also paying more attention to communications with the stakeholders is important for implementation of the Business Management System. The success of a project can be highly influenced by the support or otherwise of key stakeholders. A more iterative process, with more effective-working relationships between stakeholders allows compromise to be based on a more objective understanding by everyone. This process requires that managers and staff have both application and

Domestic domestic violence Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Domestic domestic violence - Essay Example The description and nature of domestic violence bears dissimilarity across countries. The laws and constitutional priorities of a region influence the characterization of domestic violence. Violence is a societal issue of distress. This means that it may be construed differently in unrelated areas. The forms of domestic violence vary by definition. It may range from emotional exploitation to physical resentment. In addition, there exists sexual cruelty or even financial misappropriation. All these forms of mistreatments are encompassed in domestic violence. The effects of domestic violence often trickle down to all household members (Stover). Its undesirable effects not only include terrorization and psychological cessation, but it also results in grievance and grave harm to general well-being. Depression and sexual dysfunction also follow in dangerous cases. In contrast, domestic violence may have some positive effects. In some societies, it is an approach of raising children in an upright manner. For instance, in some families, discipline involves corporal punishment or caning of children. It all hangs on the region, and the supposed meaning of domestic

Freud’s Theory of Psychosexual Development Essay Example for Free

Freud’s Theory of Psychosexual Development Essay Sigmund Freud, born in 1856 was an Austrian neurologist who would later go on to found the discipline of psychoanalysis. He is best known for his theories of the unconscious mind and repression and his concept of the dynamic unconscious suggesting that it is our unconscious mind that determines how we as individuals behave, Freud also believed that the unconscious mind established sexual drives as the dominant motivation of human life. He considered the unconscious mind as being the source of mental energy which determined behaviour, basing his findings on the results of his use of hypnosis where he found that he was able to produce and remove symptoms of hysteria. There have been numerous approaches in the field of psychology that have put forward the belief that behaviour is directed by an individual’s goals but the idea behind a goal-directed unconscious is an original Freudian concept. The main underlying belief of this theory is that any individuals’ behaviour is the direct result of the influences that prior experiences have had on them where these influences have an even greater effect if they are from our childhood. Freud believed that our early experiences formed the solid foundations on which we would build the structure of our life and that the adult personality is indeed formed in childhood according to the situations, treatment and feelings experienced as a child. Freud defined the human psyche as comprising of three parts, the unconscious or sub-conscious containing material that we are unable to bring into our conscious awareness and therefore unknowable. The preconscious which consists of information that is not at the present moment in our conscious awareness but is stored in our memory and can if need be easily recalled to the conscious level; and the conscious part of our mind which is where all current and new incoming content is processed. Within these parts operate the Id, the Ego and the Super Ego that work together to create complex human behaviours. The Id is the only part of our personality that is present from birth and is entirely unconscious, seeking instant gratification and fulfilling instinctive human needs. The Id is governed by the pleasure principle desiring the fulfilment of all desires, needs and wants. If these are not immediately satisfied this results in a state of anxiety or tension. The Id serves of great importance early on in life, a child will cry as a  result of their Id if they are hungry or in discomfort and ensures that their needs are met. Later on in life it is not always realistic or indeed possible to immediately satisfy such needs, it would be morally and socially unacceptable for us to just help ourselves to other peoples things in order to satisfy our own needs and wants and so later in childhood our Ego comes in to play. The Ego is responsible for dealing with reality and acts to ensure that the impulses of the Id are satisfied in a way that is acceptable to the real world and functions in the conscious, preconscious and unconscious parts of our mind. The reality principle weighs up the pros and cons of an action before deciding whether or not to act upon the impulse. Often the impulses of the Id can be satisfied but through delayed gratification with the Ego allowing the behaviour at an appropriate time and place. The Ego is a part of the Id th at has been somewhat modified and rounded by external factors in the environment in which we live. Freud originally used the word Ego to mean a sense of self but later revised it to represent a set of psychic functions such as judgement, control, intellectual functioning and memory. Finally we develop our Super Ego. The Super Ego is the part of our personality that holds our morals and ideals that we have acquired from our parents and environment and acts as a voice for right and wrong. As with the Ego it is present in the conscious, preconscious and unconscious parts of our mind. The Super Ego consists of two parts, the Ego ideal which sets out the rules and standards for good behaviour. Conformity to behaviours that are approved of by our parents and people in positions of authority give us feelings of pride and accomplishment. The second part of the Ego is the Conscience which holds information on all the things that are viewed as being bad by our parents and the society in which we live. Behaviours that are forbidden or at the very least frowned upon and fill us with feelings of guilt and remorse. The perfection principle of the Super Ego strives to suppress any unacceptable desires of the Id and to make our Ego act upon idealistic rather than realistic standards. One of Freuds better known theories and also one of the most controversial is that of psycho-sexual development. He proposed that an instinctual libido is present in all of us from birth and develops in five stages. First is the oral stage which occurs from birth up until around the age of eighteen months. The main focus here being the  gratification and pleasures the infant receives through feeding. Children in this stage place objects into their mouths in order to orally explore their environment. At this young age the child is entirely dependent on their carers and thus develops a sense of trust and comfort in relation to those carers. This stage is dominated by the Id as at this point the Ego and Superego have not yet fully developed and all actions are based on the â€Å"Pleasure Principle†. The key experience for a child in the oral stage of development is weaning, allowing the child to become less dependent on their caretakers. Freud said that too much or too little gratification may lead to an oral fixation, which Freud claimed could result in them developing a passive, immature, manipulative personality. This fixation could present in an adult as issues with eating, smoking, nail biting and aggression. The second stage of psycho-sexual development is the anal stage taking place between around 18 months to three years old. Freud believed at this stage that the primary focus of the libido was on controlling bladder and bowel movements. Toilet training is the key experience here which brings into conflict the Id that demands immediate gratification and the Ego that demands delayed gratification. The resulting outcome of this conflict is heavily influenced by the parenting style that a child receives during toilet training. The ideal resolution of this conflict is a gradual adjustment whereby the child adjusts to moderate parental demands, learning the values of physical cleanliness and self control. Freud suggested that if parents over-emphasized toilet training or punished accidents then the child may develop what we term as an anally retentive personality, with the potential to become obsessively concerned with neatness and order. On the other hand if the parents were too lenient then the child may develop an anally expulsive and destructive personality whereby they are self-indulgent, messy and wasteful. Faeces and money are often linked in psychodynamic literature and according to Freudian theory; attitudes to money can reveal what the individual experienced during toilet training. The third stage of psycho-sexual development is the phallic stage taking place between the ages of three and six. During this time a child begins to gain awareness of its body and also the bodies of their parents and other  children, in particular genitalia. They begin to explore their genitals and learn the physical differences between male and female. During this stage boys experience what Freud termed as the Oedipus complex whereby the child wishes to remove his father in order to gain full attention of his mother’s affections. This urge to eliminate the father is controlled by what he termed as castration anxiety and so instead the child learns to imitate the father. Girls experience what Carl Jung in 1913 termed as the Electra complex where instead she wishes to remove the mother in order to gain full possession of her father. Freud however rejected this term as being psycho-analytically inaccurate believing that the reasoning behind the Oedipus complex applied only to male children and that it was wrong to share this analogy between the two sexes. He did however believe that girls experienced what he termed as penis envy and that initially the child experiences a lot of anger towards their mother for not sharing the same appendage as their father but in time they learn to identify with their mother in order to possess their father. Freud was very much influenced by the death of his father in 1896. In the three years following the death of his father, Freud became preoccupied with self-analysis where he realised that he had repressed feelings of anger and resentment against his father. He believed that as a small boy he had been in love with his mother and was jealous of his father. Freud based his theory of early sexual development on personal theory instead of exploring further using empirical methods. The fourth stage of psycho-sexual development is the latency stage taking place from around the age of six up until puberty. During this stage the child enters into a sexually dormant period, consolidating the habits of the previous three stages. The Ego and Superego take precedence over the Id due to the childs defence mechanisms repressing its instinctual drives during the phallic stage. Now that gratification is delayed, the child is driven to derive pleasure from external activities such as friendships, education and hobbies. Any neuroses established during this fourth stage of psycho-sexual development may be due to the unresolved issues of the Oedipus complex or the Egos failure to focus on socially acceptable activities. The fifth and final stage of psycho-sexual development is the genital stage  that spans from puberty throughout the remainder of adult life. As with the phallic stage the genital stage is focussed upon genitalia but in this instance the sexuality is consensual and more often involving another adult in the form of a relationship rather than being solitary and infantile. This is due to the establishment of the Ego which shifts attention away from primary-drive gratification to secondary process thinking and to satisfy desire in a more symbolic and intellectual way through loving relationships, friendships and family. The genital stage is the time when a person is able to resolve any psycho-sexual childhood conflicts that they may have and allows psychological detachment and independence from their parents. In previous stages focus was placed solely on individual needs, now the welfare of others comes strongly into play and if all stages have been completed successfully then Freud believed that the individual should be a well-balanced and fully functioning person. Unfortunately it isnt all that simple and the Id, the Ego and the Super Ego continuously come into conflict with one another. The Ego has to work to control the demands of the Id whilst at the same time having regard for the restrictions placed upon it by the Super Ego. At times these desires and constraints cause conflict that our Ego is unable to deal with resulting in anxiety and stress. Freud identified three types of anxiety, firstly neurotic anxiety which occurs through fear that we will lose control of the Ids urges and the resulting punishment for inappropriate behaviour. Secondly reality anxiety which is a fear of external events often culminating in phobias, we are able to reduce such anxiety by avoiding the threatening object or situation. Thirdly is moral anxiety from a fear of violating our own moral principles and values that have been set down by our Super Ego. Neurosis also figured heavily in Freuds psycho-analytical theory. He proposed that neurosis occurs when the Ego is unable to deal with desires that produce feelings of guilt and a sense of wrong. Through repression these thoughts manifest themselves through symptoms that have no physical dysfunction. The mental illness acts as a replacement for the guilt ridden desires of the Id allowing the Ego to avoid the conflict between itself and the Id. Such symptoms however are worse than the conflict they set out to hide, not only stopping the individual from being accepting of their repressed desires but  also causing them to become socially incapable of enjoying a happy and healthy life. He also believed that neurosis can be triggered by a traumatic childhood event that the individual is unable to handle. Often such experiences give rise to feelings of guilt that we seek to repress through use of various displacement mechanisms. Sometimes these repressed memories make their way back into our conscious minds in a different form producing a great amount of anxiety in turn triggering psychological disorders that seek to block out the real cause. Psychoanalytical therapy has proved productive in being able to help a client uncover unconscious defence mechanisms and help them find better ways of dealing with their anxiety or removing it all together. Psycho-analysis opened up a new view regarding the treatment of mental illness, suggesting that psychological distress could be reduced through talking about their problems with a therapist. The work of Freud was responsible for bringing about a greater understanding of behaviour that was unusual and differences were no longer automatically equated as unacceptable, with understanding comes greater tolerance. He radically changed the view of sexuality making it an acceptable topic of conversation and a natural part of a healthy, happy life. The approach is also credited with highlighting the importance of childhood and our unconscious mind. Despite the influential effect of his theories Freud is open to numerous criticisms. Many psychologists have adopted his ideas but there has been a great deal of modernisation on his original views. Carl Jung who was a pupil of Freuds even disagreed with certain aspects of his theories; in particular Freud’s reliance on sex as the answer to many problems. Jung went on to develop his own theories known as Analytical Psychology. Erich Fromm rejected Freuds view that the drives of the human being are solely biological, believing instead that it was down to our freedom of choice and ability to choose our own destiny. He believed any conflict arose as a result of the fear or uncertainty which that freedom entailed. Feminists are particularly critical of the work of Freud due to the sexist nature of many of his ideas. Neo-Freudian Karen Horney proposed that instead of penis envy girls in fact developed power envy and that in their inability to bear  children men develop womb and vagina envy. Scientifically the validity of Freuds theory of psycho-sexual development is brought in to question due to his perceived personal fixation on human sexuality and the phallic stage of development proved controversial for being based upon clinical observations of the Oedipus complex. Many were critical of the fact that a lot of Freuds ideas were based on case studies or clinical observations rather than empirical, scientific research. Contemporary criticism questions the universality of Freuds theory of personality and psycho-sexual development. Anthropologist Bronislaw Malinowski studied the matriarchal society of the Trobriand where young boys are punished by their maternal uncles not their fathers and thus suggested that in this case power is the source of Oedipal conflict not sexual jealousy. Contemporary research has also confirmed that although personality traits corresponding to the oral, anal, phallic, latent and genital stages are observable they are not necessarily fixed stages of childhood or indeed adult personality traits that were derived from childhood. While there is no denying that Freud is of great historical significance and he developed many ground breaking theories and ideas some of which still hold relevance today although many over time have been discredited. It must then be said that Freud’s theory of psychosexual development may in some cases offer us a limited understanding of a client’s issue it would not be ethical practice to rely entirely on this theory when working with a client. Due to its lack of credibility in many areas, Freud’s theory cannot be implemented as a full explanation or means with which to begin the process of understanding and healing. Bibliography Frankland, A. and Sanders, P. 1995. Next steps in counselling. Manchester: PCCS Books. pp.70-76 Hough, M. 2006. Counselling Skills and Theory. 2nd ed. London: Hodder Arnold, pp. 59-86. Malinowski, B. 1927. Sex and repression in savage society. [e-book] London: Routledge and Kegan Paul. http://openlibrary.org/books/OL17967917M/Sex_and_repression_in_savage_society [Accessed: 1st July 2013]. Cherry, K. n.d.. Freuds Stages of Psychosexual Development. [online] Available at: http://psychology.about.com/od/theoriesofpersonality/ss/psychosexualdev.htm [Accessed: 19 Jun 2013]. Copperwiki.org. 1950. Human Centred Psychotherapy CopperWiki. [online] Available at: http://www.copperwiki.org/index.php?title=Human_Centred_Psychotherapy [Accessed: 01 Jul 2013] En.wikipedia.org. 2013. Psychosexual development Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. [online] Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychosexual_development [Accessed: 01 Jul 2013]. http://highered.mcgraw-hill.com/sites/dl/free/0072969806/286620/fei69806_ch02

Language, Paralanguage and Non-Verbal Communication

Language, Paralanguage and Non-Verbal Communication The Importance of Language, Paralanguage and Non-Verbal Communication in Various forms of Communication – A Practical Study Toby Williamson Access to Psychology Abstract This study examines the role of non-verbal communication, language and paralanguage in conveying information. To this end, the study examines how people use these three forms of communication in the context of sharing ideas, expressing joy and happiness as well as persuasion. The study involves a field work that studied dialogues between 10 pairs of persons. The findings identify that people generally utilize a combination of the three forms of communication, namely non-verbal communication, language and paralanguage in conversations where they need to express their emotions. This includes sharing joy as well as persuasion. However, in cases where persons must express facts and ideas in a factual form, communication can be done through the use of language only and in this case, non-verbal communication and paralanguage might not be very essential in conveying meaning and ideas. Introduction Non-verbal communication (NVC) involves direct communication not exclusively relying on written or spoken words (Berry, 2010; Rimondini, 2012). Non-Verbal Communication (NVC) is a situation where the expression of the inner emotions of people are presented through the use of bodily descriptions and trends that shows the way people feel at a give point in time (Littlejohn Foss, 2010; Wood, 2009). Paralanguage on the other hand involves non-verbal voice qualities, voice modifiers and independent utterances that are produced by various parts of the body to convey various understandable messages (Poyatos, 2012; Wilson, 2011). Therefore, paralanguage involves the modification of voices as a means of presenting various forms of messages to other people. Language is the use of words in a given dialect to transmit information and present data and information to different people in order to convey meaning(Phifer, 2007). Language refers to conventional dialog and speech that is carried out to present information from one person to another in mutually intelligible dialect(Perkins, 2010). These three different approaches to communication are used by communicators to complement each other in order to provide meaningful communication(Zimmerman Uecke, 2012). This is because communication involves the presentation of various ideas and concepts in order to convey meaning. Hence, there is the need for these different approaches to be put together in order to gain the best forms of meaning. Aim The aim of this research is to examine how these different elements and aspects of communication work together to attain good and proper results in communication. In order to attain this end, the following objectives will be reviewed: 1. A critical analysis of the different approaches to communication and how they work together; 2. An identification of circumstances where one might be used solely without the use of other forms of communication; 3. An evaluation of the options and processes that might come together to define good communication Hypotheses A hypothesis is a tentative statement that is made by a researcher at the beginning of the research and it is tested for its truthfulness and falsity throughout the research(Kothari, 2009). This research hypothesizes that the best means and the best form of communication occurs when you combine the three elements of communication: NVC, paralanguage and language. The alternative hypothesis is that each of the three elements of communication is best used alone in most circumstances. Methodology In the study, there is the need to examine and review the way people use the three components of communication: Non-verbal communication Paralanguage Language In order to do this study, a practical fieldwork is employed to analyze and review how people mix these three tools of communication in sharing ideas and information. First of all, there is the need to identify how these three elements of communication work in relation to: 1. Sharing Ideas 2. Expressing Joy/Happiness 3. Suggesting a better view In order to study this, a fieldwork is conducted and a collection of data, analysis of data and drawing conclusion is conducted. Data is collected through the conducting of a dialogue amongst ten pairs of people. In each of the situations, the participants are asked to present information under one of the three themes and from there the importance and significance of the three elements of communication are identified and discussed. Secondly, the dialogues are documented in the form of classification of the various headings and the various pointers in the NVC. The details of the documentation for the collection of information for this study are presented in Appendix 1 below. The findings are to be classified according to the number of times and the respondents chose an option. These options are summed up and they are analyzed and reviewed in order to lay the foundation for critical reviews and analysis. In the analysis the frequency of occurrence or choice of each option is discussed and this adds up in order to provide an overall view of whether a given element of communication is viewed as important or not. This is all critiqued and analyzed in order to draw conclusions on whether the hypothesis is valid or not. Results The field work was conducted over a three-day period. Twenty participants were involved in the process and they were asked to have a dialogue with each other in order to test the three approaches to communication and information sharing. Each of the respondents were monitored by the facilitator to pose as s/he was communicating with another person. And in the process, they went through all the three forms of communication and exchange of information. Afterwards they were asked to identify whether they considered each of the three approaches to communication as important, quite important or very important in each case. The findings were tallied and they were put together to justify and discuss each of the three approaches. This includes the compilation of each of the responses. They are presented in the treatment of results section below. The table below shows how the different respondents presented their views on how communication can be conducted with the different tools and the different elements of communication. This is graded and presented on the scale of very important (A), quite important (B) and not important (C). Treatment of Results The different elements and different aspects of communication are presented in this study and the way this information is presented by the various respondents in the research. These respondents indicated the relative strength and the relative importance of the different approaches to language sharing and information sharing and this shows some degree of variation from the various classifications and the different methods of sharing information and ideas. Sharing Ideas In sharing ideas, it is identified that most people saw non-verbal communication to be unimportant. This showed that over three quarters showed that you could share ideas without having to resort to non-verbal communication. The vast majority of respondents indicated that ideas could be shared without the use of paralanguage and the changing of tones amongst other things. However, it was decided unanimously that the use of language is vital and important in sharing ideas and there could practically be no sharing of ideas if language was absent. Expression of Joy or Happiness Although the vast majority of respondents indicated that sharing expressing joy can be done without the use of non-verbal communication, most of the respondents indicated that laughter is a universal sign of expressing joy and language and the way you speak in such a situation is one in which your happiness reflects in your actions and the tone used by speakers. Hence, although most participants in the experiment wrote that language is the most important tool for expressing joy, happiness and emotions, most respondents conceded that the three elements, non-verbal communication and paralanguage and language all work together to convey emotions and express joy and happiness because that is the natural component and the natural attitude that people express these feelings. However, in the collection of the data, the vast majority of respondents identified that communication in expressing emotions was almost done with language. This is apparent in the fact that about 65% of the respondents stated that non-verbal communication is not important in expressing joy and happiness and 55% of the respondents identified that paralanguage was not important. However, 70% stated that language is important in expressing happiness and joy and another 15% found it to be somewhat important (say 85% of the respondents at this point). This shows that language is still important and vital in helping respondents to express their joy and Suggesting a Better View This section was quite complicated. This is because the respondents were split in discussing whether non-verbal communication was important or not. They showed that almost 50% of the respondents said that non-verbal communication was not important. However, 35% said it is quite important and 20% said it was very important. Although over 50% state that paralanguage is not important in suggesting a better view, 70% stated that language is very important in suggesting a better or improved view. Discussions From the study, it is identified that the respondents showed that language is important and vital in almost all the scenarios and situations at hand. This is because language is the main measure or means through which communication and the exchange of information is done in most situations and contexts. In sharing ideas, it seems to be pervasive that the use of language is universal and pervasive. This is because language is vital and important in sharing such views and in getting people to understand a person’s thoughts and ideas. In this context, the use of non-verbal communication and paralanguage tools are not very important because the individual sharing the ideas is able to express everything in succinct terms and the listener can deduce the idea through language without much modification or additions. However, in expressing joy and happiness, most respondents indicated that language is vital. However, language is not the only means through which these emotions can be expressed. This is because expressing joy and happiness come with a high degree of emotions that can be expressed through bodily actions (non-verbal communication) and intonation (paralanguage) as a means of making the emotions and sentiments more felt by the listener. Hence, it is conclusive that non-verbal communication and paralanguage are important in expressing emotions and feelings in circumstances where a person needs to do so. Finally, suggesting a better view on a matter is a matter that is persuasive in nature. And it is identified that most respondents identify that language is important. However, they concede that some degree of non-verbal communication as well as paralanguage. This shows that in persuasive discussions, there is the need for some degree of communication tools to be employed other than the use of language. Conclusion The research indicates that communication involves a degree of utilization of different approaches and methods of sharing information. This means that in most forms of communication, language, non-verbal communication and paralanguage are used together in order to express views and ideas. The fieldwork does not justify the null hypothesis per se. This is because in some forms of communication, it is identified that language can be used without much reliance on non-verbal communication and paralanguage. This particularly happens in factual contexts where there is the need for people to communicate ideas. However, in other forms of communication like the expression of happiness and persuasion, the hypothesis is honored and justified because they all work well in order to provide a reasonable communication of the sentiments of the speaker to the listener. The alternative hypothesis states that each of the three elements of communication can best be utilized independently. This only stands in the case of factual communication or the sharing of ideas where language is an important and vital method of communication and can stand alone. However, the alternative hypothesis is refuted when it comes to persuasion and the expression fo joy and happiness. Bibliography Berry, D. (2010). Health Communication: Theory and Practice. London: McGrawHill. Kothari, C. R. (2009). Research Methodology. Delhi: New Age Publishing. Littlejohn, S. W., Foss, K. A. (2010). Theories of Human Communication . Mason, OH: Cengage. Perkins, P. S. (2010). The Art and Science of Communication. London: Wiley. Phifer, E. (2007). Boosting the Minds Eye: Visualizing for Social and Emotional Intelligence. New York: Universal Publishing. Poyatos, F. (2012). Textual Translation and Live Translation. New York: John Benjamins Publishing. Rimondini, M. (2012). Communication in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. London: Springer. Wilson, E. O. (2011). Sociobiology: The New Synthesis. Boston, MA: Yale University Press. Wood, J. (2009). Interpersonal Communication: Everyday Encounters. Mason, OH: Cengage. Zimmerman, C., Uecke, R. A. (2012). Asserting Yourself At Work. New York: AMACOM. Appendix 1 Dear Respondent, As part of the study on the importance of non-verbal communication, paralanguage and language in communication, this research will seek to involve you in an experiment. In this experiment, you will need a communication partner and you will have to conduct a two-way dialogue. The first should be about sharing ideas, the second should be about expressing joy or happiness and the third will involve suggesting a better view in a debate. The findings must be classified under headings A, B or C and this must be mutually agreed. The end is to examine the importance o these three elements of communication in sharing information. A – Very Important B – Quite Important C – Not Important

Lion Nathans Strategy and Position

Lion Nathans Strategy and Position SWOT ANALYSIS: SWOT analysis of Lion Nathan Brewing reflects its competitive advantage over other brewery companies. This SWOT analysis gives a picture about individual strengths of Lion Nathan, the weaknesses of the company, any opportunities presented for future, and threats from other brewing companies. All of these elements are of specific importance in assessing a companys core competencies and developing a plan for future achievements. STRENGTH: In the year 1999, Lion Nathan was considered to be one of the international brewery companies with its area of operations covering three main geographic locations around the world, namely, New Zealand, China, and Australia and now being mostly New Zealand and Australia. Being its area of operation restricted in the earlier days, this enabled Lion Nathan to attract a huge group of people and so gave the company a chance to experiment new products. Lion Nathan now has an excellent broad base portfolio and it offers a wide range of alcoholic beverages. Its massive portfolio is able to satisfy all the demands of its customers. It has captured a large proportion of market segment in Australia and New Zealand. It is mainly engaged in the production and marketing of alcoholic beverages of wine, beer, and spirits in New Zealand and Australia, although its products are sold globally. Lion Nathan takes it pride in being a part of Australias and New Zealands most favored brands like like XXXX, Speights, Tooheys, Steinlager, Hahn, Lion Red, Wither Hills, James Boags, Bacardi and St Hallett. It is mainly known for selling premium beers in these areas. Lion Nathans main area of focus has always remained innovation and finding out new opportunities in order to achieve growth. Its innovation has led to increasing consumption among the mass. Lion Nathans new product XXXX Summer Bright Lager is a low-carb drink which is undoubtedly the lowest-carb beer in the Queensland market. Its new innovation has helped the company to top the market in Australia and with the overwhelming response, they attracted more and more group of customers across the country and its national distribution is above their expectations which is outselling Corona its competitor. It also relaunched Italian beer and snatched away the customers of Coca-Cola Amatils Peroni brand. It was a like a kick off to the its competitors. Lion Nathan also launched a new product Steinlager Pure which is a smooth flavoured l ager which consisted all natural ingredients of New Zealand and was completely preservative free which was a highly compelling export proposition which is now New Zealands biggest selling classic lager. Even Lion Nathan is certain to become the second largest wine distributor after it took over the brands of Pernod-Ricard. It will sell 12 major brands of Pernod-Ricard. WEAKNESS: Lions operations are limited only to Australia and New Zealand and so its economy is far below expectations as compared to its competitors. OPPORTUNITIES: The Asian beer market is said to be very strong. It is predicted that China will occupy one quarter of the beer consumption worldwide. There is a reduction in import tax on foreign made alcohol in China. Consumers in China focus mainly on premium-style beers and so this is an opportunity for Lion Nathan. China is experiencing a steady growth rise. Also, the Asian beer consumption is expected to grow 5% between 2009 and 2015. THREATS: The global beer market has declined to a growth of 0.5% due to the regional differences. Also vehement competition in the beer market can take away significant proportion of Lions market share. PEST ANALYSIS: POLITICAL FACTORS: The Australian Government has figured out the alcohol abuse as one of the major problem among youngsters in the Australian society. It has therefore imposed an excise charge on beer. This charge is imposed according to the alcohol content in the beer. Also, customs duty applies to all imported products. This duty is also levied according to alcohol content. For beer with alcohol content less than 1.15% the charge is 5%. Industry sources have now made an assumption that the governments strict charges on beer is likely to cause the price of beer to go high as there is 10% GST levied on the service component. The same thing was repeated in New Zealand. The excise charges on beer were revised in New Zealand due to which the price of beer went up. Lion Nathan experienced a price rise of 4% due to this revised taxation policy. ECONOMIC FACTORS: According to the Australian Drug Foundation, the alcohol manufacturers will no longer be able to advertise or sponsor sport within the next 10 years. Also, the alcohol industry has continued to act in bad faith by avoiding its own rules in areas such advertising to children through sports sponsorship, promoting responsible drinking, etc. This is likely to harm the economic background of the company. Advertising wine and spirits on social networking sites will be restricted. SOCIO-CULTURAL FACTORS: Beer consumes in Australia tend to follow a myth that low-carb beer helps in weight management. About 74% of the Australian population seems to believe this which builds up a strong social background of Lion Nathan. The 2011 Rugby Match in New Zealand provides a huge flock of tourist before and during the match with cheers to Lion Nathan TECHNOLOGICAL FACTORS: Lion Nathan has been always a follower of technology and innovation. It believes in meeting its consumers demands. It has found the new QR code technology which helps its consumers in selecting the right wine for the right occasion. Each QR code is linked with a specific wine, and each scan will pull up a mobile-friendly site replete with information on each wine. Scanners can watch videos about the wine in question, get video tours of wineries, discover food pairings, read up on harvest and tasting notes and check out reviews. ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS: the companys demand for beer is affected by the climatic conditions. The cool winter led to a decreased demand for beer while the summer boosted the consumption of beer. LEGAL FACTORS: In the year 2009, Lion Nathan did file any legal action for anti-competitive behavior or anti-trust or trade practices. Lion Nathan has had never experienced any sort of non-compliance with health and safety measures and regulations. The company has always complied with the laws. CORE RESOURCES AND ITS COMPETENCIES: Competitive advantage is the strength of Lion Nathan. The beer brand broad portfolio is the core resource of the company. This portfolio gives the company a chance to outweigh other brewery companies. Also, it is Lion Nathans most valuable asset which reflects its performance. Lion Nathan has always remained committed to its brand. It spends most of its revenue by investing in the brand equity of its already existing core brand. It always tries to divert its customers to focus on its core brands as a national focus and encourages them to buy premium products. In Australia, Lion Nathan holds around 75% of group assets and 80% of operating profits. Lion Nathans beer market share is experiencing stability of more than 44% including its most recently acquired Boags brands. In New Zealand, Lion Nathan is countrys leading brewer and now considered the second largest wine distributor with its market share of more than 50%. The strategic focus of manageme nt is to maximimise the performance of Lion Nathans existing core business which involves increasing the returns from Australias and New Zealands beer business and also maximizing the value in fine wine business. Lion Nathan also aims at grabbing opportunities in spirits and ready to drink spirits markets and international wine export markets. Lion Nathan is considered to be a policy leader in areas related to alcohol taxation, liquor licensing, and responsible consumption. It regularly contributes and participates in government and community discussion on all alcohol related issues. Lion Nathan is also an active participant in tax and investment issues that impact the broader trans-Tasman business community. COMPANIES CURRENT STRATEGY AND ITS IMPLICATIONS: Lion Nathan entered the soft drink, restaurant and sales promotion businesses but sold all this because it aimed to concentrate on promoting its beer business. Today, Lion Nathans strategy is to concentrate on the alcohol business, aiming to become a comprehensive alcohol beverage company. Geographically, it concentrates on Australia and New Zealand. Although LN started out in the soft drinks with the Pepsi brand, it sold off that segment in 1998 because it did not contribute to profits to a degree that can be reflected in the EBITDA margin. The company also tried restaurant business, seeking synergy effect with beer-similar to Anheuser-Busch, which bought a bread company. However, Lion Nathan withdrew from this business as well when it did not contribute sufficient profit to the company. These examples suggest that diversification for Lion Nathan has always been undertaken to generate short-term profitability to make shareholders happ y; in the end, however, the company always return to its original beer business which generates the highest earnings. Recently, Lion Nathan made one interesting decision concerning the companys international operation. In spite of the recent craze in the business world to penetrate and prosper in the Chinese market, Lion Nathan actually exited from that market in 2005. Since exiting the Chinese market, Lion Nathan concentrated its resources on the Oceanic market. Growth Strategy: Lion Nathan strongly believes in sustainable long-term growth strategy in order to achieve top-line growth and bottom-line results. Its operational skills are the core competences that it has which can provide the foundation for a growth strategy. Lion Nathan has strong competencies in distribution, innovation, premium brands It successfully manages the growth strategy with its growth skills, especially its skill of new product development. One-Stop Shop Strategy: Lion Nathan offers a variety of services to its customers. Its main idea is to provide convenient and efficient service and also to create the opportunity for the company to sell more products to clients and customers Social Media Strategy: Lion Nathan has also adopted Media strategy to promote its long-neck bottles of Toohey Extra Dry (TED). These TED bottles were tucked in boring non-descript brown bags. Lion Nathan launched a program named TED696 and created designer bags with the help of street artists and designers. These design opportunities were given to public who took over the ownership of the new brand with their innovative designs. Even MTV was involved in it to celebrate the winning design. The media strategy of Lion Nathan worked so well that the sales of longneck TED bottles reached 500,000 sales just in the first 8 weeks of competition. Complete Brand Strategy: Lion Nathans success is mainly dependents on its wide range of brands. Its people help in generating huge amounts of profit and boast a portfolio of Australians and New Zealanders favourite brands. Lion Nathan invests mainly in brands and upgrade their breweries. Lion Nathan has invested 8 to 10% of their revenue income in innovation which goes hand-in-hand with their brand strategy. Culture Strategy: Lion Nathans culture strategy focuses its main attention on creating a sense of purpose, vision and values, developing a leadership capability to model the desired behaviors, and reinforcing those behaviors through appropriate processes and systems. Lion Nas values-based model consists of 10 core behaviors, which are hardwired into all HR processes, including remuneration, performance, and talent management. Lion Nathan believes in promoting a healthy drinking culture. Lion Nathan as a whole works in order to change the unhealthy drinking behaviour and has supported campaigns to prevent alcohol misuse and minimise the potential harm associated with it. Its investment strategy has the aim of facilitating wellbeing of people and identify the major areas of alcohol abuse. RECOMMENDATIONS: Strengthen the companys brand name among mass marketers through intense price competition: Recently, mass merchandisers like the chain big supermarkets such as Coles and Woolworth, have emerged following integration of the retail industry. Each state in Australia has its own popular brands, and there are strong regional preferences. Lion Nathan that are popular in each area, such as Tooheys in New South Wales and XXXX for Queensland, but in each case their popularity in other states is not as high. It is important to extend recognition of these brands nationally because a national brand will stimulate sales to the big national chain retailers. Strengthen the premium beer category: LN does not have a strong presence in the premium beer category, despite the companys high market value. It is important to promote premium brands such as Hahn Premium and James Squire, and internationally known Becks. Lion Nathan began brewing Kirin Ichiban, brewed only by the first wort in the brewhouse process at the Malt Shovel Brewery in May 2003 in response to surging growth in the premium category. This is one brand to be nurtured in the Australian premium beer category. Extend to other alcohol beverages: Price controls on beer, including price increases by the two-company monopoly, seem to be wavering. Recent diversification in market indicate a shift from beer to either wine for older people or RTD for the younger generation. In particular, the price difference between premium beers and RTDs is getting closer. Also, the population increase, largely due to Asian immigrants who typically do not drink much alcohol compared with Australians, has not increased beer consumption. To cope with this situation, LN must seek additional business in other kinds of alcoholic beverages, as a substitute for the beer business. Slightly more than 8% of Lion Nathans revenue in 2006 was derived from the wine business since the company entered that segment in 2000. A new threat to the duopoly: SAB Miller, one of the biggest players in the world, is planning to enter the Australian beer market in cooperation with Coca-Cola affiliate, Coca-Cola Amatil. When this occurs, it will take advantage of Coca-Colas huge channel, which is reportedly 3 times larger than that of beer. This means it is highly likely that SAB Miller will gain market parity in a short period of time. It is necessary for both Fosters and Lion Nathan to establish strategies that will build high entry barriers immediately. Lion Nathans future strategies are translated to the bundle of competencies. Lion Nathan should build sustainability in the beer business first, and then become a comprehensive alcohol beverage company by extending into the wine and RTD segments so that diverse customer preferences are met. This strategy is supported by 3 factors. (1) an expectation that major floating shareholders want Lion Nathan to hold its beer business as a cash; (2) Australias duopolistic beer market share, although it is becoming less stable; (3) the simple distribution system.