Managing in Hospitality Organizations

IntroductionThe role of management in an organization, especially employee management, is crucial and determines the performance and success of the organization. It is thus essential to measure and address employee apprehension towards any change of scenario within the organization. This paper addresses employee management methods to bring about a change in their perception of a new scenarios as desirable and motivating. This involves bringing a strong shift from an intuitive stance of opposing change that stems for inertial comfort in the current setup.This paper is centered on the decision of a hotel owner to change the target clientele of the hotel from international tourists to the high-end market. The five star hotel ‘Walkerhill’ is located in the suburbs, quite far from the International airport and has this disadvantage over its competitors in terms of location. However this change would possibly be met with resistance from employees and managers, many of whom hav e worked for about 10 years. This paper puts forth approaches and methods to amiably change the perception of employees and managers at two levels – the group level and at an individual level. The objective is to convince them to adopt the changes in full trust and enthusiasm and make the new setup a successful and high-performance driven one.The next two sections discuss methods that can be employed at a group level. The first section concentrates on interpersonal behavior in the organization. It suggests how manager and employee groups can be amiably convinced about the necessity for change by acquiring their trust and involving them in the decision making process, while keeping the change in place.The second section emphasizes on the importance of a good team and processes that help in bringing about the change productively. The third section addresses coping up with organizational change at the individual level. It describes how the owner and management can communicate wi th the employees to reduce apprehensions and stress about the impending change and make them comfortable.The fourth and last section describes the role motivation plays in bringing about a positive change and high performance within an organization. Organizational changes if implemented as a drive to seek higher goals that require increased challenges, positive change in atmosphere and a renewed recognition of individual performance and achievement, can transform the common apprehension into an openly received change.Group level Interpersonal Behavior in the Workplace To convince the management, the owner must be able to communicate his ideas, logic and perceptions clearly. The owner might face some difficulty in bringing this change, since the managers have been around for long, and probably know their trade well as much as hold a strong affinity for their experience in the setup. However, there is an amicable possibility for this change.One of the things that the owner can do is g ain the trust of his managers. However, it cannot be a calculus-based approach to trust or an identification-based approach – it has to be brought through organizational citizenship behavior. Specifically, the owner has to make sure that each member of the management is treated fairly. For instance, with this issue he must give each and every one a chance to voice out his/her opinion regarding upgrading the hotel and explain why he or she is against it. This will let them know that even though the owner’s ideas may be in conflict with those of the management, the owner still values their knowledge and respects their position as managers.Once they all get their chance to share their thoughts, the owner should then explain his side, but without apparently competing with his managers about the better plan, as this will only create friction, in the form of substantive conflict and it will be even more difficult to convince the management to upgrade the hotel. Instead, the party should negotiate or bargain, and try to find a common ground. Since everyone has had his/her side heard under this approach, they can address the questions surrounding the issue of why upgrading to a 5-star hotel might be a bad idea, and what can be done to turn this around, to compensate for or resolve it.Lastly, the owner should try to control his emotions when explaining his side. No matter how harsh or how blunt the management may be, regarding his decisions as â€Å"unnecessary†, the owner must remain emotionally stable. The same goes for the management—if one of them suddenly starts raising his voice, he should be calmed down before proceeding with the meeting. They should also be reminded of their positions—they are managers, not owners—and should respect the owner’s authority over them. The owner himself should not push his weight around.Group Processes and Work Teams At Walkerhill, we value good teamwork, since good teams are more pr oductive.   To accomplish this, most productive teams must be assembled to maximize the value of their productivity.A highly productive team must be assembled that offers maximum productivity. There are no absolute set of rules to follow in assembling a good team, since every situation is different and no two minds think alike.   However, through case studies we will show guidelines in building a good team.A way to build a good team here is to incorporate healthy acceptance of changes required for a new setup that caters to a different clientele, that is, the shift from serving tourists to a high-end market.   We must incorporate this attitude into the leaders of the hotel, which means this kind of training must start with the managers.   We believe change of attitude is infectious, so changing a negative minded manager into one with a positive mindset towards the hotel’s changes isn’t just adding a positive mind but eliminating one negative mind and adding a p ositive mind.An example we would like to use is to convince the managers that instead of changing our clientele from tourists to the high-end market, we are adding or broadening our market to increase/diversify our target market.   This approach may also assure the employees that we are not abandoning our tourist market.   A positive manager is far more impactful than a positive employee.However, the manager of the team can’t influence the team much if the managers and the employees are not close.   The levels of bonds between the team members are called group cohesiveness.   To strengthen the level of group cohesiveness, we like to use two determinants of cohesiveness: group size and history of success.   We like to minimize the size of each team so the teams can work to their full potential.We can’t put a specific number of individuals per team because the need of minimum number of individuals is different for each department.   Of course, we would not be hesitant to add more individuals to a team if needed.   By minimizing the number of members needed to perform at a high grade, we can cut the labor cost and limit the level of social loafing because smaller groups eliminate social loafing.We also believe that competitiveness is good to have within the organization.   To promote this, we would have a chart indicating which teams had the best performance compared to ones in similar departments.   In addition, the winners would be rewarded for their hard work.   The reward system would reward monthly/annually and individuals/teams.   A 360 degrees approach would be applied to the feedback collection system in order to incorporate feedback at all levels within the organization to help it run more efficiently.Coping with Organizational Life: Stress and Careers In the hotel’s situation, we can raise the issue about the stress in terms of individual level. Usually, people do not like change. Some people feel scared when t hey face some change in their life. In the hotel’s case, the managers and employees were being asked for a big change by the owner of the hotel. As is the common psychology, the managers and employees did not like the change. They wanted to keep the same conditions in the hotel’s operation.In this situation, we can suppose that the managers and employees would have got some psychological pressures such as fear, uncertainty, overload, and heavy responsibility from the sudden request. We can also suppose that they would have suffered from a lot of stress by the pressures. We recognize that the owner should deal with the issue about the managers and employees’ psychological pressures and stress. In short, the owner should consider how he can relieve the managers and employees from the psychological pressures and stress, so for them to accept the new change without any resistance.As a key solution of the situation, we can think of the owner’s effective commun ications skills. The effective communications skills should include the following key points: a reasonable basis for the change, a positive and successful prospect from the change, and vast benefits for managers and employees.As the reasonable basis for the change, the owner can suggest a few examples such as decrease of the foreign tourists, or increase of the demand of the domestic high –end market. In the respect of the positive and successful prospect from the change, the owner can also represent several examples such as upgraded brand image of the hotel, more effectiveness in hotel’s operation, and increase of the profits.   In the respect of the benefit for managers and employees, the owner can suggest a few promises such as more improved work environment, higher valued position for the managers and employees, and wage raise.Through those effective communications skills, the owner would indicate the positive aspects for the change, and, through those positive a spects, he would gradually relieve the psychological pressures and stress existing within the managers and employees. As the result, we can expect that the mangers and employees would accept the change without any resistance.Motivating People to Work Towards a Change One consequential factor in making the employees of an organization accept a change and increase performance in the new scenario is motivation. Once the managers are open to the change, the next step is to cascade the motivation, benefits and ownership of the change down to the employees. This can be done at various levels through a combination of different approaches.The first step towards motivating employees to perform at a maximum level of creativity and be a valuable asset to an organization is to ensure that their basic needs are being met. The change should be perceived as enhancing the facilities that meet their lower and rudimentary needs, like good salary for personal needs, an environment that is physically a nd psychologically safe to work in and is conductive to social affiliation and professional bonding. Once an employee finds that these things are in place, and a change will only enhance these factors, maximized performance, desire for success and recognition of accomplishments come naturally.Another step that motivates people is the urge to fill the gap between differences of outcomes and efforts in a job and turn relationships into equitable ones where ratios of outcome/input are similar between their colleagues and co-workers. This factor can be employed to increase motivation at two levels. One is by showing that the change put the employees at par in benefits with employees of other luxury hotels, who may be enjoying more remuneration for the similar responsibilities. The second approach is to introduce transparency in the organization so that employees are aware of roles that are fulfilled responsibly and achieve a good outcome/input ratio, thus stimulating them to model it.Th e hotel should have a very transparent scenario for rewarding and growth that makes the employees aware that a good performance is visible and appreciated at the top-most organizational level. The employees feel motivated to increase effort to enhance performance and are confident of being recognized and rewarded. This also recursively adds to the atmosphere of the organization and keeps people happy, which in turn also enhances motivation and appreciation of a conductive setup.One important approach to making employees work towards a new scenario is setting new goals and making them recognize the challenges of a higher goal level. Combined with a reassurance in the possibility of attaining the feasible yet possibly difficult end, goal setting enhances performance strongly by inducing a desire to reach a goal and feel competent while realizing self-efficacy. Difficult tasks and high goal commitment together maximize performance as opposed to low commitment. To achieve this specific, high performance goals need to be defined. Goals should be difficult yet feasible. This should be combined with feedback, which facilitates in gauging goal attainment. And lastly, this should be allowed time as it takes some time to reach and sustain performance at the new level.A new scenario brings about new job responsibilities. Jobs should be designed as to increase the motivation and performance of the employees. Each role should be designed as to appear inherently appealing. Jobs can include more number of tasks at the same level of responsibility and skills (horizontal loading) or with higher levels of skills and responsibilities (vertical loading). The new role should make people feel that they are doing meaningful and valuable work.Meaningfulness of a work is impacted by skills variety, degree to which a task requires responsibility from beginning to end (task identity) and task significance , as to the impact it has on others. Responsibility for outcome of work is determi ned by autonomy the employees have in determining their own task plan, schedule, etc. Knowledge of the actual result of activities is driven by feedback. This gives the employees a measure of their growth and development. All these together result in employee motivation, performance and satisfaction.ConclusionAn organization operates successfully as a function of the employees’ motivation, committed performance, sense of ownership, growth and satisfaction. While any organization constantly changes and evolves during its life, a sharp change almost always accompanies with employee insecurity and apprehension. Thus it requires foresight, planned and calculated effort to assuage the employee mindset and make it welcome the changed scenario as positive. This requires employing various methods at group and individual levels to make the benefits of change apparent.It is important to involve the employee as a part owner of the change and be a proactive participant in the action plan for the change. This also helps the top decision-makers and owners see details that may have been overlooked in planning the strategy to meet change.The organizational modifications can be brought about successfully through adopting productive processes and forming productive teams. Good teams come with a good degree group cohesiveness and healthy competition.Changes come with employee stress and insecurity, which need to be specifically addressed by the top-level management. An organization needs to show the employee it cares, and the key to this is effective communication. Measures need to be taken to overcome individual stress.Lastly, a positive atmosphere is a predecessor of good performance. The rudimentary needs like comfort and security of employees should be enhanced so that they can concentrate on achieving success and maximizing their level of creativity. Awareness of the organizational roles and at par rival-organization roles gives employees impetus to fill the gap in t he ratio of outcome versus input. A positive variation inspires positive traversal.An organization that is transparent and rewarding inspires employees to expect reward for personal effort and makes them go that extra mile. Well defined, challenging yet achievable goals ensure high employee commitment. In addition job roles defined to increase the skills levels used, ownership of a task life and marked by impactful tasks augment the meaningfulness of the work. Autonomy in choosing the action plan for task enhances sense of responsibility. Additionally, feedback enhances measure of goal attainment thus resulting in an employee’s professional growth. All of this together contribute to the performance, satisfaction and motivation of the employees and result in low absenteeism and turnover.

Black House Chapter Three

3 OUT TYLER'S WINDOW we go, away from Libertyville, flying southwest on a diagonal, not lingering now but really flapping those old wings, flying with a purpose. We're headed toward the heliograph flash of early-morning sun on the Father of Waters, also toward the world's largest six-pack. Between it and County Road Oo (we can call it Nail-house Row if we want; we're practically honorary citizens of French Landing now) is a radio tower, the warning beacon on top now invisible in the bright sunshine of this newborn July day. We smell grass and trees and warming earth, and as we draw closer to the tower, we also smell the yeasty, fecund aroma of beer. Next to the radio tower, in the industrial park on the east side of Peninsula Drive, is a little cinder-block building with a parking lot just big enough for half a dozen cars and the Coulee patrol van, an aging Ford Econoline painted candy-apple pink. As the day winds down and afternoon wears into evening, the cylindrical shadows of the six-pack will fall first over the sign on the balding lawn facing the drive, then the building, then the parking lot. KDCU-AM, this sign reads, YOUR TALK VOICE IN COULEE COUNTRY. Spray-painted across it, in a pink that almost matches the patrol van, is a fervent declaration: TROY LUVS MARYANN! YES! Later on, Howie Soule, the U-Crew engineer, will clean this off (probably during the Rush Limbaugh show, which is satellite fed and totally automated), but for now it stays, telling us all we need to know about small-town luv in middle America. Looks like we found something nice after all. Coming out of the station's side door as we arrive is a slender man dressed in pleated khaki Dockers, a tieless white shirt of Egyptian cotton buttoned all the way to the neck, and maroon braces (they are as slim as he is, those braces, and far too cool to be called suspenders; suspenders are vulgar things worn by such creatures as Chipper Maxton and Sonny Heartfield, down at the funeral home). This silver-haired fellow is also wearing a very sharp straw fedora, antique but beautifully kept. The maroon hatband matches his braces. Aviator-style sunglasses cover his eyes. He takes a position on the grass to the left of the door, beneath a battered speaker that is amping KDCU's current broadcast: the local news. This will be followed by the Chicago farm report, which gives him ten minutes before he has to settle in behind the mike again. We watch in growing puzzlement as he produces a pack of American Spirit cigarettes from his shirt pocket and fires one up with a gold lighter. Surely this elegant fellow in the braces, Dockers, and Bass Weejuns cannot be George Rathbun. In our minds we have already built up a picture of George, and it is one of a fellow very different from this. In our mind's eye we see a guy with a huge belly hanging over the white belt of his checked pants (all those ballpark bratwursts), a brick-red complexion (all those ballpark beers, not to mention all that bellowing at the dastardly umps), and a squat, broad neck (perfect for housing those asbestos vocal cords). The George Rathbun of our imagination and all of Coulee Country's, it almost goes without saying is a pop-eyed, broad-assed, wild-haired, leather-lunged, Rolaids-popping, Chevy-driving, Republican-voting heart attack waiting to happen, a churning urn of sports trivia, mad enthusiasms, crazy prejudices, and high cholesterol. This fellow is not that fellow. This fellow moves like a dancer. This fellow is iced tea on a hot day, cool as the king of spades. But say, that's the joke of it, isn't it? Uh-huh. The joke of the fat dee-jay with the skinny voice, only turned inside out. In a very real sense, George Rathbun does not exist at all. He is a hobby in action, a fiction in the flesh, and only one of the slim man's multiple personalities. The people at KDCU know his real name and think they're in on the joke (the punch line of course being George's trademark line, the even-a-blind-man thing), but they don't know the half of it. Nor is this a metaphorical statement. They know exactly one-third of it, because the man in the Dockers and the straw fedora is actually four people. In any case, George Rathbun has been the saving of KDCU, the last surviving AM station in a predatory FM market. For five mornings a week, week in and week out, he has been a drive-time bonanza. The U-Crew (as they call themselves) love him just about to death. Above him, the loudspeaker cackles on: † still no leads, according to Chief Dale Gilbertson, who has called Herald reporter Wendell Green ? ®an out-of-town fearmonger who is more interested in selling papers than in how we do things in French Landing.' â€Å"Meanwhile, in Arden, a house fire has taken the lives of an elderly farmer and his wife. Horst P. Lepplemier and his wife, Gertrude, both eighty-two . . .† â€Å"Horst P. Lepplemier,† says the slim man, drawing on his cigarette with what appears to be great enjoyment. â€Å"Try saying that one ten times fast, you moke.† Behind him and to his right, the door opens again, and although the smoker is still standing directly beneath the speaker, he hears the door perfectly well. The eyes behind the aviator shades have been dead his whole life, but his hearing is exquisite. The newcomer is pasty-faced and comes blinking into the morning sun like a baby mole that has just been turned out of its burrow by the blade of a passing plow. His head has been shaved except for the Mo-hawk strip up the center of his skull and the pigtail that starts just above the nape of his neck and hangs to his shoulder blades. The Mohawk has been dyed bright red; the ‘tail is electric blue. Dangling from one ear-lobe is a lightning-bolt earring that looks suspiciously like the Nazi S.S. insignia. He is wearing a torn black T-shirt with a logo that reads SNIVELLING SHITS '97: THE WE GET HARD FOR JESUS TOUR. In one hand this colorful fellow has a CD jewel box. â€Å"Hello, Morris,† says the slim man in the fedora, still without turning. Morris pulls in a little gasp, and in his surprise looks like the nice Jewish boy that he actually is. Morris Rosen is the U-Crew's summer intern from the Oshkosh branch of UW. â€Å"Man, I love that unpaid grunt labor!† station manager Tom Wiggins has been heard to say, usually while rubbing his hands together fiendishly. Never has a checkbook been guarded so righteously as the Wigger guards the KDCU check-book. He is like Smaug the Dragon reclining on his heaps of gold (not? that there are heaps of anything in the ‘DCU accounts; it bears repeating to say that, as an AM talker, the station is lucky just to be alive). Morris's look of surprise it might be fair to call it uneasy surprise dissolves into a smile. â€Å"Wow, Mr. Leyden! Good grab! What a pair of ears!† Then he frowns. Even if Mr. Leyden who's standing directly beneath the outside honker, can't forget that heard someone come out, how in God's name did he know which someone it was? â€Å"How'd you know it was me?† he asks. â€Å"Only two people around here smell like marijuana in the morning,† Henry Leyden says. â€Å"One of them follows his morning smoke with Scope; the other that's you, Morris just lets her rip.† â€Å"Wow,† Morris says respectfully. â€Å"That is totally bitchrod.† â€Å"I am totally bitchrod,† Henry agrees. He speaks softly and thoughtfully. â€Å"It's a tough job, but somebody has to do it. In regard to your morning rendezvous with the undeniably tasty Thai stick, may I offer an Appalachian aphorism?† â€Å"Go, dude.† This is Morris's first real discussion with Henry Leyden, who is every bit the head Morris has been told to expect. Every bit and more. It is no longer so hard to believe that he could have another identity . . . a secret identity, like Bruce Wayne. But still . . . this is just so pimp. â€Å"What we do in our childhood forms as a habit,† Henry says in the same soft, totally un?CGeorge Rathbun voice. â€Å"That is my advice to you, Morris.† â€Å"Yeah, totally,† Morris says. He has no clue what Mr. Leyden is talking about. But he slowly, shyly, extends the CD jewel box in his hand. For a moment, when Henry makes no move to take it, Morris feels crushed, all at once seven years old again and trying to wow his always-too-busy father with a picture he has spent all afternoon drawing in his room. Then he thinks, He's blind, dickweed. He may be able to smell pot on your breath and he may have ears like a bat, but how's he supposed to know you're holding out a fucking CD? Hesitantly, a bit frightened by his own temerity, Morris takes Henry's wrist. He feels the man start a little, but then Leyden allows his hand to be guided to the slender box. â€Å"Ah, a CD,† Henry says. â€Å"And what is it, pray tell?† â€Å"You gotta play the seventh track tonight on your show,† Morris says. â€Å"Please.† For the first time, Henry looks alarmed. He takes a drag on his cigarette, then drops it (without even looking of course, ha ha) into the sand-filled plastic bucket by the door. â€Å"What show could you possibly mean?† he asks. Instead of answering directly, Morris makes a rapid little smacking noise with his lips, the sound of a small but voracious carnivore eating something tasty. And, to make things worse, he follows it with the Wisconsin Rat's trademark line, as well known to the folks in Morris's age group as George Rathbun's hoarse â€Å"Even a blind man† cry is known to their elders: â€Å"Chew it up, eat it up, wash it down, it aaallll comes out the same place!† He doesn't do it very well, but there's no question who he's doing: the one and only Wisconsin Rat, whose evening drive-time program on KWLA-FM is famous in Coulee Country (except the word we probably want is â€Å"infamous†). KWLA is the tiny college FM station in La Riviere, hardly more than a smudge on the wallpaper of Wisconsin radio, but the Rat's audience is huge. And if anyone found out that the comfortable Brew Crew?Crooting, Republican-voting, AM-broadcasting George Rathbun was also the Rat who had once narrated a gleeful on-air evacuation of his bowels onto a Backstreet Boys CD there could be trouble. Quite serious, possibly, resounding well beyond the tight-knit little radio community. â€Å"What in God's name would ever make you think that I'm the Wisconsin Rat, Morris?† Henry asks. â€Å"I barely know who you're talking about. Who put such a weird idea in your head?† â€Å"An informed source,† Morris says craftily. He won't give Howie Soule up, not even if they pull out his fingernails with red-hot tongs. Besides, Howie only found out by accident: went into the station crapper one day after Henry left and discovered that Henry's wallet had fallen out of his back pocket while he was sitting on the throne. You'd have thought a fellow whose other senses were so obviously tightwired would have sensed the absence, but probably Henry's mind had been on other things he was obviously a heavy dude who undoubtedly spent his days getting through some heavy thoughts. In any case, there was a KWLA I.D. card in Henry's wallet (which Howie had thumbed through â€Å"in the spirit of friendly curiosity,† as he put it), and on the line marked NAME, someone had stamped a little inkpad drawing of a rat. Case closed, game over, zip up your fly. â€Å"I have never in my life so much as stepped through the door of KWLA,† Henry says, and this is the absolute truth. He makes the Wisconsin Rat tapes (among others) in his studio at home, then sends them in to the station from the downtown Mail Boxes Etc., where he rents under the name of Joe Strummer. The card with the rat stamped on it was more in the nature of an invitation from the KWLA staff than anything else, one he's never taken up . . . but he kept the card. â€Å"Have you become anyone else's informed source, Morris?† â€Å"Huh?† â€Å"Have you told anyone that you think I'm the Wisconsin Rat?† â€Å"No! Course not!† Which, as we all know, is what people always say. Luckily for Henry, in this case it happens to be true. So far, at least, but the day is still young. â€Å"And you won't, will you? Because rumors have a way of taking root. Just like certain bad habits.† Henry mimes puffing, pulling in smoke. â€Å"I know how to keep my mouth shut,† Morris declares, with perhaps misplaced pride. â€Å"I hope so. Because if you bruited this about, I'd have to kill you.† Bruited, Morris thinks. Oh man, this guy is complete. â€Å"Kill me, yeah,† Morris says, laughing. â€Å"And eat you,† Henry says. He is not laughing; not even smiling. â€Å"Yeah, right.† Morris laughs again, but this time the laugh sounds strangely forced to his own ears. â€Å"Like you're Hannibal Lecture.† â€Å"No, like I'm the Fisherman,† Henry says. He slowly turns his aviator sunglasses toward Morris. The sun reflects off them, for a moment turning them into rufous eyes of fire. Morris takes a step back without even realizing that he has done so. â€Å"Albert Fish liked to start with the ass, did you know that?† â€Å"N â€Å" â€Å"Yes indeed. He claimed that a good piece of young ass was as sweet as a veal cutlet. His exact words. Written in a letter to the mother of one of his victims.† â€Å"Far out,† Morris says. His voice sounds faint to his own ears, the voice of a plump little pig denying entrance to the big bad wolf. â€Å"But I'm not exactly, like, worried that you're the Fisherman.† â€Å"No? Why not?† â€Å"Man, you're blind, for one thing!† Henry says nothing, only stares at the now vastly uneasy Morris with his fiery glass eyes. And Morris thinks: But is he blind? He gets around pretty good for a blind guy . . . and the way he tabbed me as soon as I came out here, how weird was that? â€Å"I'll keep quiet,† he says. â€Å"Honest to God.† â€Å"That's all I want,† Henry says mildly. â€Å"Now that we've got that straight, what exactly have you brought me?† He holds up the CD but not as if he's looking at it, Morris observes with vast relief. â€Å"It's, um, this Racine group. Dirtysperm? And they've got this cover of ? ®Where Did Our Love Go'? The old Supremes thing? Only they do it at like a hundred and fifty beats a minute? It's fuckin' hilarious. I mean, it destroys the whole pop thing, man, blitzes it!† â€Å"Dirtysperm,† Henry says. â€Å"Didn't they used to be Jane Wyatt's Clit?† Morris looks at Henry with awe that could easily become love. â€Å"Dirtysperm's lead guitarist, like, formed JWC, man. Then him and the bass guy had this political falling-out, something about Dean Kissinger and Henry Acheson, and Ucky Ducky he's the guitarist went off to form Dirtysperm.† † ? ®Where Did Our Love Go'?† Henry muses, then hands the CD back. And, as if he sees the way Morris's face falls: â€Å"I can't be seen with something like that use your head. Stick it in my locker.† Morris's gloom disappears and he breaks into a sunny smile. â€Å"Yeah, okay! You got it, Mr. Leyden!† â€Å"And don't let anyone see you doing it. Especially not Howie Soule. Howie's a bit of a snoop. You'd do well not to emulate him.† â€Å"No way, baby!† Still smiling, delighted at how all this has gone, Morris reaches for the door handle. â€Å"And Morris?† â€Å"Yeah?† â€Å"Since you know my secret, perhaps you'd better call me Henry.† â€Å"Henry! Yeah!† Is this the best morning of the summer for Morris Rosen? You better believe it. â€Å"And something else.† â€Å"Yeah? Henry?† Morris dares imagine a day when they will progress to Hank and Morrie. â€Å"Keep your mouth shut about the Rat.† â€Å"I already told you â€Å" â€Å"Yes, and I believe you. But temptation comes creeping, Morris; temptation comes creeping like a thief in the night, or like a killer in search of prey. If you give in to temptation, I'll know. I'll smell it on your skin like bad cologne. Do you believe me?† â€Å"Uh . . . yeah.† And he does. Later, when he has time to kick back and reflect, Morris will think what a ridiculous idea that is, but yes, at the time, he believes it. Believes him. It's like being hypnotized. â€Å"Very good. Now off you go. I want Ace Hardware, Zaglat Chevy, and Mr. Tastee Ribs all cued up for the first seg.† â€Å"Gotcha.† â€Å"Also, last night's game â€Å" â€Å"Wickman striking out the side in the eighth? That was pimp. Totally, like, un-Brewers.† â€Å"No, I think we want the Mark Loretta home run in the fifth. Loretta doesn't hit many, and the fans like him. I can't think why. Even a blind man can see he has no range, especially from deep in the hole. Go on, son. Put the CD in my locker, and if I see the Rat, I'll give it to him. I'm sure he'll give it a spin.† â€Å"The track â€Å" â€Å"Seven, seven, rhymes with heaven. I won't forget and neither will he. Go on, now.† Morris gives him a final grateful look and goes back inside. Henry Leyden, alias George Rathbun, alias the Wisconsin Rat, also alias Henry Shake (we'll get to that one, but not now; the hour draweth late), lights another cigarette and drags deep. He won't have time to finish it; the farm report is already in full flight (hog bellies up, wheat futures down, and the corn as high as an elephant's eye), but he needs a couple of drags just now to steady himself. A long, long day stretches out ahead of him, ending with the Strawberry Fest Hop at Maxton Elder Care, that house of antiquarian horrors. God save him from the clutches of William â€Å"Chipper† Maxton, he has often thought. Given a choice between ending his days at MEC and burning his face off with a blowtorch, he would reach for the blowtorch every time. Later, if he's not totally exhausted, perhaps his friend from up the road will come over and they can begin the long-promised reading of Bleak House. That would be a trea t. How long, he wonders, can Morris Rosen hold on to his momentous secret? Well, Henry supposes he will find that out. He likes the Rat too much to give him up unless he absolutely has to; that much is an undeniable fact. â€Å"Dean Kissinger,† he murmurs. â€Å"Henry Acheson. Ucky Ducky. God save us.† He takes another drag on his cigarette, then drops it into the bucket of sand. It is time to go back inside, time to replay last night's Mark Loretta home run, time to start taking more calls from the Coulee Country's dedicated sports fans. And time for us to be off. Seven o'clock has rung from the Lutheran church steeple. In French Landing, things are getting into high gear. No one lies abed long in this part of the world, and we must speed along to the end of our tour. Things are going to start happening soon, and they may happen fast. Still, we have done well, and we have only one more stop to make before arriving at our final destination. We rise on the warm summer updrafts and hover for a moment by the KDCU tower (we are close enough to hear the tik-tik-tik of the beacon and the low, rather sinister hum of electricity), looking north and taking our bearings. Eight miles upriver is the town of Great Bluff, named for the limestone outcropping that rises there. The outcropping is reputed to be haunted, because in 1888 a chief of the Fox Indian tribe (Far Eyes was his name) assembled all his warriors, shamans, squaws, and children and told them to leap to their deaths, thereby escaping some hideous fate he had glimpsed in his dreams. Far Eyes's followers, like Jim Jones's, did as they were bidden. We won't go that far upriver, however; we have enough ghosts to deal with right here in French Landing. Let us instead fly over Nailhouse Row once more (the Harleys are gone; Beezer St. Pierre has led the Thunder Five off to their day's work at the brewery), over Queen Street and Maxton Elder Care (Burny's down there, still looking out his window ugh), to Bluff Street. This is almost the countryside again. Even now, in the twenty-first century, the towns in Coulee Country give up quickly to the woods and the fields. Herman Street is a left turn from Bluff Street, in an area that is not quite town and not quite city. Here, in a sturdy brick house sitting at the end of a half-mile meadow as yet undiscovered by the developers (even here there are a few developers, unknowing agents of slippage), lives Dale Gilbertson with his wife, Sarah, and his six-year-old son, David. We can't stay long, but let us at least drift in through the kitchen window for a moment. It's open, after all, and there is room for us to perch right here on the counter, between the Silex and the toaster. Sitting at the kitchen table, reading the newspaper and shoveling Special K into his mouth without tasting it (he has forgotten both the sugar and the sliced banana in his distress at seeing yet another Wendell Green byline on the front page of the Herald), is Chief Gilbertson himself. This morning he is without doubt the unhappiest man in French Landing. We will meet his only competition for that booby prize soon, but for the moment, let us stick with Dale. The Fisherman, he thinks mournfully, his reflections on this subject very similar to those of Bobby Dulac and Tom Lund. Why didn't you name him something a little more turn-of-the-century, you troublesome scribbling fuck? Something a little bit local? Dahmerboy, maybe, that'd be good. Ah, but Dale knows why. The similarities between Albert Fish, who did his work in New York, and their boy here in French Landing are just too good too tasty to be ignored. Fish strangled his victims, as both Amy St. Pierre and Johnny Irkenham were apparently strangled; Fish dined on his victims, as both the girl and the boy were apparently dined upon; both Fish and the current fellow showed an especial liking for the . . . well, for the posterior regions of the anatomy. Dale looks at his cereal, then drops his spoon into the mush and pushes the bowl away with the side of his hand. And the letters. Can't forget the letters. Dale glances down at his briefcase, crouched at the side of his chair like a faithful dog. The file is in there, and it draws him like a rotted, achy tooth draws the tongue. Maybe he can keep his hands off it, at least while he's here at home, where he plays toss with his son and makes love to his wife, but keeping his mind off it . . . that's a whole ‘nother thing, as they also say in these parts. Albert Fish wrote a long and horribly explicit letter to the mother of Grace Budd, the victim who finally earned the old cannibal a trip to the electric chair. (â€Å"What a thrill electrocution will be!† Fish reputedly told his jailers. â€Å"The only one I haven't tried!†) The current doer has written similar letters, one addressed to Helen Irkenham, the other to Amy's father, the awful (but genuinely grief-stricken, in Dale's estimation) Armand â€Å"Beezer† St. Pierre. It would be good if Dale could believe these letters were written by some troublemaker not otherwise connected to the murders, but both contain information that has been withheld from the press, information that presumably only the killer could know. Dale at last gives in to temptation (how well Henry Leyden would understand) and hauls up his briefcase. He opens it and puts a thick file where his cereal bowl lately rested. He returns the briefcase to its place by his chair, then opens the file (it is marked ST. PIERRE/IRKENHAM rather than FISHERMAN). He leafs past heartbreaking school photos of two smiling, gap-toothed children, past state medical examiner reports too horrible to read and crime-scene photos too horrible to look at (ah, but he must look at them, again and again he must look at them the blood-slicked chains, the flies, the open eyes). There are also various transcripts, the longest being the interview with Spencer Hovdahl, who found the Irkenham boy and who was, very briefly, considered a suspect. Next come Xerox copies of three letters. One had been sent to George and Helen Irkenham (addressed to Helen alone, if it made any difference). One went to Armand â€Å"Beezer† St. Pierre (addressed just that way, too, nickname and all). The third had been sent to the mother of Grace Budd, of New York City, following the murder of her daughter in the late spring of 1928. Dale lays the three of them out, side by side. Grace sat in my lap and kissed me. I made up my mind to eat her. So Fish had written to Mrs. Budd. Amy sat in my lap and hugged me. I made up my mind to eat her. So had Beezer St. Pierre's correspondent written, and was it any wonder the man had threatened to burn the French Landing police station to the ground? Dale doesn't like the son of a bitch, but has to admit he might feel the same way in Beezer's shoes. I went upstairs and stripped all my clothes off. I knew if I did not I would get her blood on them. Fish, to Mrs. Budd. I went around back of the hen-house and stripped all my cloes off. New if I did not I would get his blood on them. Anonymous, to Helen Irkenham. And here was a question: How could a mother receive a letter like that and retain her sanity? Was that possible? Dale thought not. Helen answered questions coherently, had even offered him tea the last time he was out there, but she had a glassy, poleaxed look in her eye that suggested she was running entirely on instruments. Three letters, two new, one almost seventy-five years old. And yet all three are so similar. The St. Pierre letter and the Irkenham letter had been hand-printed by someone who was left-handed, according to the state experts. The paper was plain white Hammermill mimeo, available in every Office Depot and Staples in America. The pen used had probably been a Bic now, there was a lead. Fish to Mrs. Budd, back in '28: I did not fuck her tho I could of had I wished. She died a virgin. Anonymous to Beezer St. Pierre: I did NOT fuck her tho I could of had I wished. She died a VIRGIN. Anonymous to Helen Irkenham: This may comfort you I did NOT fuck him tho I could of had I wished. He died a VIRGIN. Dale's out of his depth here and knows it, but he hopes he isn't a complete fool. This doer, although he did not sign his letters with the old cannibal's name, clearly wanted the connection to be made. He had done everything but leave a few dead trout at the dumping sites. Sighing bitterly, Dale puts the letters back into the file, the file back into the briefcase. â€Å"Dale? Honey?† Sarah's sleepy voice, from the head of the stairs. Dale gives the guilty jump of a man who has almost been caught doing something nasty and latches his briefcase. â€Å"I'm in the kitchen,† he calls back. No need to worry about waking Davey; he sleeps like the dead until at least seven-thirty every morning. â€Å"Going in late?† â€Å"Uh-huh.† He often goes in late, then makes up for it by working until seven or eight or even nine in the evening. Wendell Green hasn't made a big deal of that . . . at least not so far, but give him time. Talk about your cannibals! â€Å"Give the flowers a drink before you go, would you? It's been so dry.† â€Å"You bet.† Watering Sarah's flowers is a chore Dale likes. He gets some of his best thinking done with the garden hose in his hand. A pause from upstairs . . . but he hasn't heard her slippers shuffling back toward the bedroom. He waits. And at last: â€Å"You okay, hon?† â€Å"Fine,† he calls back, pumping what he hopes will be the right degree of heartiness into his voice. â€Å"Because you were still tossing around when I dropped off.† â€Å"No, I'm fine.† â€Å"Do you know what Davey asked me last night while I was washing his hair?† Dale rolls his eyes. He hates these long-distance conversations. Sarah seems to love them. He gets up and pours himself another cup of coffee. â€Å"No, what?† â€Å"He asked, ? ®Is Daddy going to lose his job?' â€Å" † Dale pauses with the cup halfway to his lips. â€Å"What did you say?† â€Å"I said no. Of course.† â€Å"Then you said the right thing.† He waits, but there is no more. Having injected him with one more dram of poisonous worry David's fragile psyche, as well as what a certain party might do to the boy, should David be so unlucky as to run afoul of him Sarah shuffles back to their room and, presumably, to the shower beyond. Dale goes back to the table, sips his coffee, then puts his hand to his forehead and closes his eyes. In this moment we can see precisely how frightened and miserable he is. Dale is just forty-two and a man of abstemious habits, but in the cruel morning light coming through the window by which we entered, he looks, for the moment, anyway, a sickly sixty. He is concerned about his job, knows that if the fellow who killed Amy and Johnny keeps it up, he will almost certainly be turned out of office the following year. He is also concerned about Davey . . . although Davey isn't his chief concern, for, like Fred Marshall, he cannot actually conceive that the Fisherman could take his and Sarah's own child. No, it is the other children of French Landing he is more worried about, possibly the children of Centralia and Arden as well. His worst fear is that he is simply not good enough to catch the son of a bitch. That he will kill a third, a fourth, perhaps an eleventh and twelfth. God knows he has requested help. And gotten it . . . sort of. There are two State Police detectives assigned to the case, and the FBI guy from Madison keeps checking in (on an informal basis, though; the FBI is not officially part of the investigation). Even his outside help has a surreal quality for Dale, one that has been partially caused by an odd coincidence of their names. The FBI guy is Agent John P. Redding. The state detectives are Perry Brown and Jeffrey Black. So he has Brown, Black, and Redding on his team. The Color Posse, Sarah calls them. All three making it clear that they are strictly working support, at least for the time being. Making it clear that Dale Gilbertson is the man standing on ground zero. Christ, but I wish Jack would sign on to help me with this, Dale thinks. I'd deputize him in a second, just like in one of those corny old Western movies. Yes indeed. In a second. When Jack had first come to French Landing, almost four years ago, Dale hadn't known what to make of the man his officers immediately dubbed Hollywood. By the time the two of them had nailed Thornberg Kinderling yes, inoffensive little Thornberg Kinderling, hard to believe but absolutely true he knew exactly what to make of him. The guy was the finest natural detective Dale had ever met in his life. The only natural detective, that's what you mean. Yes, all right. The only one. And although they had shared the collar (at the L.A. newcomer's absolute insistence), it had been Jack's detective work that had turned the trick. He was almost like one of those story-book detectives . . . Hercule Poirot, Ellery Queen, one of those. Except that Jack didn't exactly deduct, nor did he go around tapping his temple and talking about his â€Å"little gray cells.† He . . . â€Å"He listens,† Dale mutters, and gets up. He heads for the back door, then returns for his briefcase. He'll put it in the back seat of his cruiser before he waters the flower beds. He doesn't want those awful pictures in his house any longer than strictly necessary. He listens. Like the way he'd listened to Janna Massengale, the bartender at the Taproom. Dale had had no idea why Jack was spending so much time with the little chippy; it had even crossed his mind that Mr. Los Angeles Linen Slacks was trying to hustle her into bed so he could go back home and tell all his friends on Rodeo Drive that he'd gotten himself a little piece of the cheese up there in Wisconsin, where the air was rare and the legs were long and strong. But that hadn't been it at all. He had been listening, and finally she had told him what he needed to hear. Yeah, shurr, people get funny ticks when they're drinking, Janna had said. There's this one guy who starts doing this after a couple of belts. She had pinched her nostrils together with the tips of her fingers . . . only with her hand turned around so the palm pointed out. Jack, still smiling easily, still sipping a club soda: Always with the palm out? Like this? And mimicked the gesture. Janna, smiling, half in love: That's it, doll you're a quick study. Jack: Sometimes, I guess. What's this fella's name, darlin'? Janna: Kinderling. Thornberg Kinderling. She giggled. Only, after a drink or two once he's started up with that pinchy thing he wants everyone to call him Thorny. Jack, still with his own smile: And does he drink Bombay gin, darlin'? One ice cube, little trace of bitters? Janna's smile starting to fade, now looking at him as if he might be some kind of wizard: How'd you know that? But how he knew it didn't matter, because that was really the whole package, done up in a neat bow. Case closed, game over, zip up your fly. Eventually, Jack had flown back to Los Angeles with Thornberg Kinderling in custody Thornberg Kinderling, just an inoffensive, bespectacled farm-insurance salesman from Centralia, wouldn't say boo to a goose, wouldn't say shit if he had a mouthful, wouldn't dare ask your mamma for a drink of water on a hot day, but he had killed two prostitutes in the City of Angels. No strangulation for Thorny; he had done his work with a Buck knife, which Dale himself had eventually traced to Lapham Sporting Goods, the nasty little trading post a door down from the Sand Bar, Centralia's grungiest drinking establishment. By then DNA testing had nailed Kinderling's ass to the barn door, but Jack had been glad to have the provenance of the murder weapon anyway. He had called Dale personally to thank him, and Dale, who'd never been west of Denver in his life, had been almost absurdly touched by the courtesy. Jack had said several times during the course of the investigation that you could never have enough evidence when the doer was a genuine bad guy, and Thorny Kinderling had turned out to be about as bad as you could want. He'd gone the insanity route, of course, and Dale who had privately hoped he might be called upon to testify was delighted when the jury rejected the plea and sentenced him to consecutive life terms. And what made all that happen? What had been the first cause? Why, a man listening. That was all. Listening to a lady bartender who was used to having her breasts stared at while her words most commonly went in one ear of the man doing the staring and out the other. And who had Hollywood Jack listened to before he had listened to Janna Massengale? Some Sunset Strip hooker, it seemed . . . or more likely a whole bunch of them. (What would you call that, anyway? Dale wonders absently as he goes out to the garage to get his trusty hose. A shimmy of streetwalkers? A strut of hookers?) None of them could have picked Thornberg Kinderling out of a lineup, because the Thornberg who visited L.A. surely hadn't looked much like the Thornberg who traveled around to the farm-supply companies in the Coulee and over in Minnesota. L.A. Thorny had worn a wig, contacts instead of specs, and a little false mustache. â€Å"The most brilliant thing was the skin darkener,† Jack had said. â€Å"Just a little, just enough to make him look like a native.† â€Å"Dramatics all four years at French Landing High School,† Dale had replied grimly. â€Å"I looked it up. The little bastard played Don Juan his junior year, do you believe it?† A lot of sly little changes (too many for a jury to swallow an insanity plea, it seemed), but Thorny had forgotten that one revelatory little signature, that trick of pinching his nostrils together with the palm of his hand turned outward. Some prostitute had remembered it, though, and when she mentioned it only in passing, Dale has no doubt, just as Janna Massengale did Jack heard it. Because he listened. Called to thank me for tracing the knife, and again to tell me how the jury came back, Dale thinks, but that second time he wanted something, too. And I knew what it was. Even before he opened his mouth I knew. Because, while he is no genius detective like his friend from the Golden State, Dale had not missed the younger man's unexpected, immediate response to the landscape of western Wisconsin. Jack had fallen in love with the Coulee Country, and Dale would have wagered a good sum that it had been love at first look. It had been impossible to mistake the expression on his face as they drove from French Landing to Cen-tralia, from Centralia to Arden, from Arden to Miller: wonder, pleasure, almost a kind of rapture. To Dale, Jack had looked like a man who has come to a place he has never been before only to discover he is back home. â€Å"Man, I can't get over this,† he'd said once to Dale. The two of them had been riding in Dale's old Caprice cruiser, the one that just wouldn't stay aligned (and sometimes the horn stuck, which could be embarrassing). â€Å"Do you realize how lucky you are to live here, Dale? It must be one of the most beautiful places in the world.† Dale, who had lived in the Coulee his entire life, had not disagreed. Toward the end of their final conversation concerning Thornberg Kinderling, Jack had reminded Dale of how he'd once asked (not quite kidding, not quite serious, either) for Dale to let him know if a nice little place ever came on the market in Dale's part of the world, something out of town. And Dale had known at once from Jack's tone the almost anxious drop in his voice that the kidding was over. â€Å"So you owe me,† Dale murmurs, shouldering the hose. â€Å"You owe me, you bastard.† Of course he has asked Jack to lend an unofficial hand with the Fisherman investigation, but Jack has refused . . . almost with a kind of fear. I'm retired, he'd said brusquely. If you don't know what that word means, Dale, we can look it up in the dictionary together. But it's ridiculous, isn't it? Of course it is. How can a man not yet thirty-five be retired? Especially one who is so infernally good at the job? â€Å"You owe me, baby,† he says again, now walking along the side of the house toward the bib faucet. The sky above is cloudless; the well-watered lawn is green; there is nary a sign of slippage, not out here on Herman Street. Yet perhaps there is, and perhaps we feel it. A kind of discordant hum, like the sound of all those lethal volts coursing through the steel struts of the KDCU tower. But we have stayed here too long. We must take wing again and proceed to our final destination of this early morning. We don't know everything yet, but we know three important things: first, that French Landing is a town in terrible distress; second, that a few people ( Judy Marshall, for one; Charles Burnside, for another) understand on some deep level that the town's ills go far beyond the depredations of a single sick pedophile-murderer; third, that we have met no one capable of consciously recognizing the force the slippage that has now come to bear on this quiet town hard by Tom and Huck's river. Each person we've met is, in his own way, as blind as Henry Leyden. This is as true of the folks we haven't so far encountered Beezer St. Pierre, Wendell Green, the Color Posse as it is of those we have. Our hearts groan for a hero. And while we may not find one (this is the twenty-first century, after all, the days not of d'Artagnan and Jack Aubrey but of George W. Bush and Dirtysperm), we can perhaps find a man who was a hero once upon a time. Let us therefore search out an old friend, one we last glimpsed a thousand and more miles east of here, on the shore of the steady Atlantic. Years have passed and they have in some ways lessened the boy who was; he has forgotten much and has spent a good part of his adult life maintaining that state of amnesia. But he is French Landing's only hope, so let us take wing and fly almost due east, back over the woods and fields and gentle hills. Mostly, we see miles of unbroken farmland: regimental cornfields, luxuriant hay fields, fat yellow swaths of alfalfa. Dusty, narrow drives lead to white farmhouses and their arrays of tall barns, granaries, cylindrical cement-block silos, and long metal equipment sheds. Men in denim jackets are moving along the well-worn paths between the houses and the barns. We can already smell the sunlight. Its odor, richly compacted of butter, yeast, earth, growth, and decay, will intensify as the sun ascends and the light grows stronger. Below us, Highway 93 intersects Highway 35 at the center of tiny Centralia. The empty parking lot behind the Sand Bar awaits the noisy arrival of the Thunder Five, who customarily spend their Saturday afternoons, evenings, and nights in the enjoyment of the Sand Bar's pool tables, hamburgers, and pitchers of that ambrosia to the creation of which they have devoted their eccentric lives, Kingsland Brewing Company's finest product and a beer that can hold up its creamy head among anything made in a specialty microbrewery or a Belgian monastery, Kingsland Ale. If Beezer St. Pierre, Mouse, and company say it is the greatest beer in the world, why should we doubt them? Not only do they know much more about beer than we do, they called upon every bit of the knowledge, skill, expertise, and seat-of-the-pants inspiration at their disposal to make Kingsland Ale a benchmark of the brewer's art. In fact, they moved to French Landing because the brewery, which they had selected after careful del iberation, was willing to work with them. To invoke Kingsland Ale is to wish for a good-sized mouthful of the stuff, but we put temptation behind us; 7:30 A.M. is far too early for drinking anything but fruit juice, coffee, and milk (except for the likes of Wanda Kinderling, and Wanda thinks of beer, even Kingsland Ale, as a dietary supplement to Aristocrat vodka); and we are in search of our old friend and the closest we can come to a hero, whom we last saw as a boy on the shore of the Atlantic Ocean. We are not about to waste time; we are on the move, right here and now. The miles fly past beneath us, and along Highway 93 the fields narrow as the hills rise up on both sides. For all our haste, we must take this in, we must see where we are.

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Samsung - Research Paper Example Diversification of the company’s products has enabled it to become a global leader in the electronics industry. The company produces display devices, television sets, digital cameras and mobile phones. However, the company has ventured in the tablets market and has already become a major player in this division. Global Marketing Strategy A robust marketing has enabled Samsung electronics to stay ahead of its competition. The current business environment for electronics dictates that companies become customer-centric. This is whereby companies have to put customer needs first as they develop products or services. This has called for customization of products to the end user specifications or needs. However, the use of customization as a global marketing mix strategy comes into conflict with standardization. In Global marketing, a company needs to try to balance between these two strategies of marketing mix so as to remain relevant and stay ahead of competition (Armstrong and Ko tler 35). Globalization has for years been a disputed phenomenon in various ways including in definition, magnitude and effects. Thus a company should come up with most appropriate measure to handle it. A. Marketing Mix a) Product i. Standardization vs. Customization Standardization as a global marketing mix strategy implies an organizational design that is centralized. A company that adopts this strategy trades its products in one form. Benefits of adoption of this strategy include low operational costs and thus better economies of scale and uniformity of products. However, standardization has drawbacks of lack of competitive edge on products and is heavily reliant on economies of scale for profit margins. Customization on the other hand is a marketing mix strategy that implies an organizational design that is decentralized (Birnik and Bowman 70). This strategy is customer centered and considers needs of customers as per their location and needs. A company that adopts this strategy in its marketing mix benefits in an increase in its revenues since their products will have more appeal to customers. Disadvantages of this strategy include lack of benefit on economies of scale by a company and lack of uniformity in the global image of a company. Samsung Electronics has been successful in maintaining a trade-off between customization and standardization strategies with the help of the internet. According to Hadjinicola and Kumar there should be a combination of these strategies because it maximizes performance of an organization (62). The company has established divisions depending with regions and continents where they are able to customize their products to needs of locals while at the same time availing some non-localized products in these markets. The company has also placed applications for the devices they sell on the internet with and option of individual customization. Using these ways the company has been able to cater for traveling customers and well as local residents in a market. A level of cooperation between the subsidiary products and the parent product optimizes the performance of company products in the market. ii. Cultural Factors Culture of people in a region plays a very key role in determination of a company’s strategic approach in international markets. This is a very vital consideration especially in product advertising and

Hyperconsumerism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 5500 words

Hyperconsumerism - Essay Example The basic theory of consumption in economics stresses that human beings consumes a commodity because it provides some utility or satisfaction to the consumer. For example, the hunger of a man is satisfied by the food he eats; the man who is shivering in the cold gains utility from a blanket; someone who feels thirsty satisfies that thirst by drinking water. Utility theory argues that, as more a commodity is consumed, less extra satisfaction is derived from consuming one additional unit of that commodity. Therefore, when the desire for one commodity is fulfilled, one feels the desire to have some other commodities. For example, economists say that the basic three needs are food, clothing, and shelter. Once these requirements are fulfilled, the next important areas are health and education. If these further needs are fulfilled, then the person will wish to expand his set of consumed goods, moving further beyond necessities towards luxuries. From these basic patterns, the behavior called consumerism emerges.. The present era is often termed the age of the consumerist society. All over the globe, we find the expansion of consumer goods industries ranging from fast-marketed consumer foods to durable consumer goods, and from daily household commodities to luxurious items.. In many countries there is a rapid expansion of consumer markets. ... The companies use different devices to make people interested. Hence, all over the world we can find an accelerating trend of consumerism, which is often termed hyper-consumerism. This trend results in the unquenchable desire to have more and more goods for one's own use or pleasure. In this paper, we are not much concerned about the definition of hyper-consumerism, nor are we interested in discussing the emergence of consumerism in general. The main theme discussed here is the answer to the question: 'Does hyper-consumerism increases the happiness of consumers, or it is a factor which increases unhappiness'. The history of consumerism has been described effectively by Sassatelli (2007) in his book Consumer Culture: History Theory and Politics. The book is a good synchronization of history and sociology. It is a historical review of how consumerism emerged from mercantilism to modern capitalism through the path of the neoclassical economic theories. The nature and growth of consumer culture are well explained in this book. The role of the neoclassical school of economics, the essence of which is the free operation of markets to promote a well-functioning market-oriented system, is explained. This book provides the history of the consumer-oriented culture all over the world. The roles of economic theories and social and economic institutions are well addressed. The focus is on the combination of historic, institutional, political, social, and economic factors which transformed mercantilism into modern capitalism. The existing cultures of societies have also played a crucial role in promoting the modern type of consumerist society. Moreover, the role of political factors which underlie the emergence of modern materialism is evident from the

HPV Pros and Cons Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

HPV Pros and Cons - Essay Example Persistent high-risk HPV can cause problems cervical cancer. While pap tests can be used to test women for this disease, men have no HPV tests available. While there is no treatment for HPV itself, the health problems caused by it: genital warts, cervical cell changes and cancer of the vulva, cervix or anus can be cured. The controversy with this virus occurred when a vaccine was available for it in 2006 (Immunization Action Coalition). One of the most vital aspects of this vaccine is its inability to serve the very people it has been created for. Cases of HPV occur in women belonging to a low social status (Elsevier 2009). These women are unable to access a quality or any kind of screening tests. If these women are unable to access proper tests, the probability of them getting these new vaccinations is even lower. The idea of this vaccine is to provide an equal and balanced health system for every individual but it will be unable to do so if the majority of them women who are infected with the disease unable to afford it. There is an alternative view that this medicine will help young girls from being affected by a virus that is responsible for causing 7000 cases of cervical cancer (Gardner 2007). Thus, while the procedure might cost $360 for the three required shots; the benefits it reaps will have far-reaching and helpful effects. Gardner also claims that if private insurers cover the cost of the drug it can be made more readily available to the drug. In other words, profit-making organizations are asked to forget their personal motives and contribute to the general good. To provide proof of these moves to lower the cost of the drug, groups involved in the immunization process are asking the states to adopt this vaccination and provide it to the same low social classes who are greatly afflicted by this disease and unable to seek any kind of relief. However, there is a lingering doubt in the minds of many that this drug will not prove to be as

The Benefits, Pitfalls, and Challenges of Special Needs Students Essay

The Benefits, Pitfalls, and Challenges of Special Needs Students Accessing the General Curriculum - Essay Example It is common knowledge that the society in general is more concerned with academic competence of normal students. But one factor that cannot be ignored by society is that there is a group of young people (male or female) who might need a certain amount of special attendance so that the teaching profession can attain a special status that stands apart from formal teaching procedures. This paper attempts to review such a stand which takes into consideration legal, moral, and social aspects with regard to children challenged with any form of disability and attempts to bind or conform a general curriculum which such children could be exposed to. The practical implementation of the needs of special needs students: The 1997 amendments to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) made it clear that each student’s Individualized Education Program (IEP) should clearly describe how the learner’s â€Å"disability affects the child’s involvement with and progre ss in the general curriculum† and what â€Å"services, program modifications, and supports necessary for the child to be involved in and progress in the general curriculum† (Wehmeyer, Agran & Lattin, 2001, p. 327). These guidelines have prompted educators to reconsider how the educational programs of special needs students are designed and carried out. ... efforts should be undertaken to ensure that no misapplication or overemphasis of any component of standards-based reform must occur in the teaching learning process. The authors argue that special needs students are just like others and these learners achieve challenging standards only when there is higher expectation is demanded from them. However, there is also the danger of setting high standards and narrowing the curriculum to core content areas resulting in higher dropout rate among such special needs learners who already have difficulty and subsequent previous experiences of failure. The rationale to offer special needs students access to the general curriculum seeks â€Å"to ensure that all students have access to a challenging curriculum, to ensure that all students are held to high expectations, and to ensure that students with disabilities are not left out of the accountability system being established for schools† (Wehmeyer, Agran & Lattin, 2001, p. 330). It can be noticed that parental and teacher expectations are low for students with special needs. Therefore, it is essential that special needs children are offered such educational programs that challenge them and that everyone, including the teachers and parents, holds high expectations for their achievement. The question whether special education curriculum or the general curriculum is best suitable for special needs learners is worth analyzing. It is true that a general curriculum makes neither distinction nor marginalization among the learners. While general curriculum offers equal educational opportunities for everyone, its competency to offer Individualized Education Programs for the special needs children is quite debatable. Therefore, it is imperative that the general curriculum is â€Å"adapted,

How Does Sheriff Present Disturbed Characters in.Doc Essay Example for Free

How Does Sheriff Present Disturbed Characters in.Doc Essay Out of the characters I find that the most disturbed people after Stanhope is Hibbert and Trotter. The reasons why I think this are explained in the following paragraphs. The first character that I see as being most disturbed after Stanhope is Trotter. Trotter is an officer in Captain Stanhope’s company and seems to be the most optimistic person in the play. He seems to constantly be upbeat compared to the other officers in the company. He tells Stanhope to ‘cheer up’ during a war and never seems looks on the dull side of life in the reader’s perspective. Sherriff suggests that he is disturbed as many soldiers go mad because of the war whilst he seems to be very happy and optimistic. Another reason why it may seem he’s disturbed is the fact that he doesn’t have to drink to take his mind of the war. During WW1 all soldiers were given 2 ounces of rum daily to help get over the war. It shows that drinking during the war was very common. Sherriff must have added in this detail based on his experiences of WW1. In act 3 scene 2 both Stanhope and Hibbert have drunk ‘whisky on top of champagne’ to the point that they have become drunk. Trotter doesn’t seem to be a heavy drinker and seems to be surprised that Stanhope is drinking whisky after drinking champagne. In this case they drink to get over the war and to think about girls and legs but Trotter seems to be able to talk about this without much drink. This may suggest that he has no feelings about the war so he doesn’t need to drink which implies that he is disturbed. Another reason why I think that Trotter may be disturbed ,which links to the last line above, is the idea that Trotter has little feelings or emotions that are visible. Although he does say in act 3 scene 2 that he does have emotions when he’s questioned by Stanhope, it could be seen that he is lying. We know that Stanhope, Trotter and Osborne seem to get along with each other showing that they have known each other for a while meaning that they must know a bit about each other’s character. In act 2 scene 1 we see Stanhope and Osborne discussing Trotter’s lack of imagination. It shows that he doesn’t seem to have feelings. Sherriff could be suggesting that this is what happens to people during the war. They lose their feelings and imagination. Another character that I see as being disturbed is Hibbert. Throughout the play Hibbert continuously goes on about having neuralgia. Neuralgia was a common illness that affected many soldiers which was an intense pain along the course of a nerve especially in the face. He tries to use this as an excuse to leave the war before the big attack by the Germans. It could be seen that he is being cowardly as he is trying to escape the war which could count as deserting the army. We can tell that he is also homesick when he states that ‘I shall die of this pain if I can’t’ leave. It shows his disturbed state of mind and his feelings of being tormented by war. However, Stanhope sees through his disguise and tells Hibbert that he will be shot for deserting. Deserting was a slight problem during WW1 as 346 British soldiers were executed for either desertion, cowardice or striking a superior officer. Hibbert commits every single one of these crimes showing he is one of the few people that have become so disturbed that they rather die than stay in the trenches. This is shown when he swears that he will ‘never go into these trenches again’ and encourages Stanhope to ‘Shoot! ’. He also has come to the point where he dares to strike a superior officer which is shown as he tries to leave for the doctors Stanhope stops him and Hibbert ‘strikes blindly’ at him. These actions show that he is disturbed and should be executed for multiple offences. Another reason why I believe that Hibbert is disturbed is because of the pictures that he carries around with him. In act 3 scene 2 we see Stanhope, Trotter and Hibbert drinking champagne and talking about women. Hibbert later on pulls out a couple of erotic pictures of women and shows them to the other officers. This shows that he may b slightly disturbed to carry around pictures like that. We would usually expect a soldier to bring a picture of this family or of their fiance or wife like Stanhope did in act 1. We do not expect someone to have those inappropriate pictures with them especially when it is against the law. Having multiple pictures of women that he had affairs with may suggest that he is disturbed. Sherriff could be using his type of behaviour to describe what his fellow soldiers brought around and talked about in WW1. Overall, I believe that Sheriff presents the disturbed characters based on his experiences of war and how he saw his fellow soldiers behave like. He presents the characters as either cowards or as people who have no or little emotions visible. He shows the true reality of war and how people think and act during it. Words: 971

Advantages And Disadvantages Of Online Business Information Technology Essay

Advantages And Disadvantages Of Online Business Information Technology Essay Several decades ago nobody could have imagined that development of technologies would lead to radical changes in business management. Moreover, we did not even suppose that a usual process of buying and selling which was implemented through real communication between buyer and trader would become so convenient and accessible. Till some particular moment communication was the only way of holding negotiations we got accustomed to, which now is being gradually replaced by this new possibility to do business by using the Internet technologies. From year to year online business method that was intended only for privileged is becoming more and more demanded and available for everyone in the cyberspace. Electronic business has a significant impact on company performance and new ways of growth and improvement are opened for its subsequent prosperity. This improvement is achieved by changing the concept of operations and establishing closer relationship with customers. The economic basis of e lectronic business is radically expanding the audience, increasing marketing effectiveness, accelerating the process of buying and selling of all kinds of goods and services (Shelly Vermaat, 2009, p.737). We used to refer the phrase electronic shop (Shelly Vermaat, 2009, p.738) to a specialized website where web visitor is able to purchase any goods directly online and acquaints preliminarily with their descriptions. Customers process of buying in an electronic shop differs from the traditional form of purchasing items in usual shops. This trend of modern trade continues to grow and this is the reason why most companies are now actively converting conventional business models and are focused on multi-marketing strategy. Today, investment in electronic business is a priority for many of them. However, its solution is necessary for clear understanding of the key factors which determine the success. Although electronic business definitely has valuable advantages over other types of business, it has disadvantages which should not be overlooked. It cannot be denied that the main benefits of online business are its low start up cost and fast development in comparison with the common one. There is no need in renting a physical space as the cyberspace is infinite area to some extent and the seller can suggest a wide range of products. Therefore the clients have more extensive choice. The more things the customer has to choose the more satisfied he/she is. For the generation of online shops it does not require a lot of efforts and time to set it up. At the beginning of the business a websites developer should register the project and promote it through various advertising companies. All these costs do not require a lot of money expenditures while in conventional business it does. Thus, any business process, in which you can use the electronic interaction between people, has the potential for reducing expenditures, which, in turn, entails lower prices for customers (Fields, 2007). Another important advantage of online business is its capability to attract not only local customers but also a worldwide audience with minimal effort. Of course, it is possible to reach international public through other forms of advertising like traditional ones: television, radio and print media. But all together they are not as effective in reaching potential clients around the world as electronic marketing is. Basically, any product or service that is registered on the World Wide Web has a limitless market that transcends age, culture, geography and time zone (Campbell, 2007). No matter of wherever and whenever the clients are, it is not a problem now to get the things they want within the shortest period. At the same time, it unites people of all ages, races and occupations into one whole community of online buyers in some meaning. Having a discussion with each other on the forums, the clients from different countries exchange their knowledge about some kind of products and get both useful information and also an international experience of communication. Online business gives traders a possibility to earn money even if they sleep as their shops work 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The important feature of the Internet is that it has automatic operating mode of websites and therefore the probability of missing clients is minimized in this situation because they can purchase goods at any time they want and what is of high importance is that sellers save a lot of their time. Thousands of people can surf website simultaneously without making a crowd while it is rarely happens in offline business. In addition, traders can spend enough time doing the things they like and working at the time they prefer. It is very convenient for them to manage daytime in this way as they can put the work aside whenever they like and get some rest or vice versa (Smith, 2005). A very strong side of starting online business is the fact that in the situation of business failure the businessperson does not lose his/her life savings. Usually the activity of electronic business has to be stopped because of the deficiency of profit and thereby the businessperson has to end his/her activity. The only thing the owner can lose is his/her money that were spent for the development and promotion of business. The risk of such failure can be much bigger if business was granted franchise. It means that all the efforts the seller put into activation of business, the list of his/her patrons and customers in common, a respectful position in the business sector, communication with persons of consequence, all these life benefits disappear in a moment. Electronic business has transformed its customer service into the convenient and effective one. Auspicious conditions were created for maintenance of confidential relationships between clients and traders. The customer can contact a commercial agent in an interactive mode to get more information about the product or service. Furthermore, the clients can read recommendations and reviews of different people within website who already have opinions about items that they want to buy or already purchased and used them. If some product the customer wants to buy is not available for the current time then it is possible to send a request to inform him/her about its appearance via e-mail. What is more convenient is that payments can be implemented online and the items can be delivered to the customers without their participation (Iyer, n.d.). Remember the situation in the shop when people have to go through different departments to find the items they need. It takes a lot of time and power and as a consequence the amenities of shopping disappear. Fortunately, online shops have a very smart option the possibility to search products in catalogues just by entering the keywords into search form. After several seconds the integrated search engine would find all the possible offers of goods. It is a very attractive option for people who do not like to waste a lot of time on selecting the products (Shelly Vermaat, 2009, p.745). The last advantage I want to pay attention is a lack of necessity in hiring personnel like software engineer to run online business. The basic thing to activate online store is to create and upload it to the Internet. Even if hire a professional programmer, it would be a kind of a temporary work which does not require permanent control. One way around this is to outsource as many of your business functions as possible (Kaarakainen, 2010). If later the shop owner could fulfill such things like monitoring of the website, observation of clients requests and some other stuff by himself/herself then there is no need in outsourcing anymore, maybe except the situations like technical problems when it is almost impossible to hold down a job without specialists help. Having considered the main benefits of online business it is important to pay attention to the drawbacks as they put obstacles in the way of taking the leading position of online business running. A use of electronic communications is becoming one of the key conditions for the survival of companies in a huge competitive environment however competition is also one of the most alarming problems. Because competition comes in all forms and shapes, your sales pitch would have to be truly attention-calling (Campbell, 2007). One of the necessities in the competitive activity is occasional price reduction when only the most stable business could survive. The customers often become victims of a warm work of competitive organizations and sometimes can find it difficult to make the right decision in choosing the right goods for themselves. So the only possible constructive tool in clients attraction could be the proper marketing strategy in the cruel wars of the business rivals. As online shops became accessible for all the visitors so the tendency of copying ideas which were put there is of high possibility. People tend to do these things following the main motivation of gaining as much profit as possible. In view of the fact that if ones online business is not officially registered as the trade mark then stealing the project of website construction is not taken as a copyright offence. So that means that everyone who would take the same concept of already existing website could live with no worry. It is a very grievous aspect of open business activity when all your marketing strategies are visible and clear (Kaarakainen, 2010). Another disadvantage that also should be observed is a security threat of supposed electronic transaction which customer usually accomplishes during the purchase. People are still worrying about security of electronic commerce in spite of the wide spread of modern software that helps to protect their personal information. Through the growing number of fraudulent schemes people in most cases are afraid of giving details of their account until they are sure about the reliability of the payment system. And such behavior is fully justified as no one would like to lose his/her money (Campbell, 2007). As all the talks of customer and trader are implemented via the Internet it is really hard to build a good and trusting relationships (Burton, 2008) between them because of their isolation from each other. Most of people find it almost impossible to negotiate in this way as they do not have any idea of who they are contacting with. Therefore, the seller should endeavor a lot to satisfy all the needs of the clients and try to keep positive and friendly relationships in order to attract as many new customers as possible for the further possible collaboration. In conclusion I would like to stress that all the mentioned advantages of online business are very strong and have conclusive proofs that maintaining business with the help of modern high technologies is optimized as much as possible and continues to develop day after day. For those who have never tried it, electronic business could be perceived as not serious occupation but this system really works. Just look at the real examples of such successful online companies like Amazon or eBay as they are the parts of the list of online giants with overwhelming profit made since their creation. Unfortunately, we should admit the fact that deficiencies hamper subsequent progress of online business techniques and traders have to cope with them. In the near future it seems to be the full dominance of high technologies in the commerce sector and its improvements would be interpreted as a fertile soil for the effectiveness of peoples saving time (Shelly Vermaat, 2009, p.751).

Oedipus The King :: Oedipus Rex, Sophocles

Oedipus the King: Appetite for Destruction Of all the tragedies that Greek playwright Sophocles created in his illustrious career, the one that stands out as his masterpiece, and quite possibly one of the greatest of all the Greek tragedies is Oedipus the King. The tragedy focuses on the life and downfall of the unfortunate King Oedipus, who was condemned by the oracle at an early age to murder his father and marry his mother. Despite the oracle’s grim prediction, Oedipus was responsible for his own downfall due to his overly proud and impetuous attitude, and his own intellect and diligence. In the polis of Thebes, Oedipus was the not only the king but he was also the hero of the community. The security and health of the community depended on him and he was expected to meet every urgent crisis with a plausible solution. He was celebrated for acting decisively and making decisions and then acting on them. With all his past accomplishments and achievements, Oedipus developed a strong sense of confidence, which fueled his over inflated ego. Unfortunately, when circumstances did not turn out in his favor, such as in his conflict with Tiresias the blind prophet, Oedipus became rigid and refused to see the problem on any one else’s terms except his own. Oedipus only wanted things to go the way he thought they should go. Whatever stood in his way he tried to overcome publicly and without any compromise from the opposing party, which was illustrated in his argument in front of the palace with Creon over the murder of the former King Laius. Ultimately his attitude of confid ence with no compromises contributed to his disastrous and sad end. In most cases, intelligence and diligence are valuable traits to possess, but for Oedipus they contributed to his eventual downfall. Oedipus was known for being extremely intelligent and was very talented at solving riddles. To earn the right to be King of Thebes, Oedipus solved a riddle, which as a result removed a plague from the land. In the play, Oedipus is again faced with another plague in his kingdom and this time the riddle was to discover who murdered King Laius. Using his intelligence, he again solves the riddle, but tragically for Oedipus he discovers that he is the murderer and he ultimately has to punish himself for the crime. Throughout his search all the people around him were urging him to use caution in his search, and even his wife Jocasta ordered him to abandon his quest, citing that the oracle was mistaken and was a hoax.

Gender Stereotypes in Culture Essay -- Gender Issues

1. Describe our cultural gender stereotypes, objectification, and media portrayals of women and how these lead to violence against women. Gender is the psychological characteristics and social categories that are created by human culture. Doing gender is the concept that humans express their gender when they interact with one another; it is done every day without thinking about it. Messages about how a male or female is supposed to act come from countless places. According to Helen M. Eigenberg in Woman Battering in the United States, â€Å"Gender construction starts with assignment to a sex category on the basis of what the genitalia look like at birth. Then babies are dressed or adorned in a way that displays the category because parents don’t want to be constantly asked whether their baby is a girl or a boy† (2001, p. 32). Schools, parents, and friends influence a person. Treatment of one gender differs from those in another. Gender roles also change. Another major factor that influences millions of impressionable females and males is television. Not only does the television teach each sex how to act, it also shows how one sex should expect the other sex to act. In the current television broadcasting, stereotypical behavior goes from programming for the exceptionally young to adult audiences. In this broadcasting range, females are portrayed as motherly, passive and innocent, sex objects, or they are overlooked completely or seen as unimportant entities. In the United States, as well as throughout the majority of the world, people are bombarded with commercials, ads, and articles on a daily basis. The information is used to appeal to the masses. Society perpetuates violence against women through the use of the medi... ...d forcing villagers to carry their food, ammunition, and gear into the jungle. Women cannot even walk to the market without being grabbed by the throat and raped. Domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking, rape, and so on all intersect with one another. Many forms of violence are used in combination with one another to establish power and control over the victim. In addition, gender stereotypes, objectification, media portrayal of women, and victim blaming increase and cause the use of violence against women. Works Cited Eigenberg, H. (2001). Women battering in the united states. Prospect Heights, Illinois: Waveland Press, Inc. Herbert, B. (2009, August 7). Women at risk. The New York Times , p. A19-A20. Russell, D. (1993). Pornography causes violence. Against pornography: the evidence of harm (p. 149-151). Berkeley, CA: Russell Publications.

Silk Cut ad campaign analysis

Client Management Mucky Chain Lecturer: Bruce Stains Opinion Piece Topic: Case history of Silk Cut advertising Date: 26/8/2005 Introduction Cigarette advertising in UK has been changed because of the rules and regulation set by Advertising Standards Authority (known as AS), it basically tightens the creative freedom to cigarettes advertising. However, Silk Cut advertising has successfully launched a campaign that break through the tradition of cigarette ad, as well as print ad in the world.This document will be covered the areas of, why the campaign was launched, the location of the campaign had run, the reason behind and the people ho created it. Who creative the Silk Cut campaign? The classic Silk Cut campaign had been produced by the legendary creative director, Paul Arden and his agency's head, Charles Chitchats. Cigarette giant Gallagher corporation had entrusted the Silk Cut campaign to the British based agency, Chitchats & Chitchats. In the late ass, the account was shifted to M Chitchats until the end of the campaign as cigarettes advertising was totally banned in public.Others art directors who was involved the campaign in Chitchats & Chitchats include Graham Fink, Bill Gallagher and Alexandra Taylor. The people who were in charged the campaign in M Chitchats include, Simon Tickets, chief executive director, Moray McClellan, the chief executive officer and Martin Caisson, who was in charged the sponsored event in the 1996 Edinburgh Festival . Fig. 1 fig. 2 Why Silk Cut campaign was the classic? In the time when Chitchats & Chitchats acquired the Silk Cut account, cigarette advertising was not allowed to show to product and its name.Other regulations include, it cannot associated with any social groups, the result of success in business, evoking people to start smoking, masculinity and femininity and it is not allowed to associated with glamour and sports. On the other hand, Silk Cut was promoted as a low tar cigarette, it attracted to the women market as during the period, people got the perception that low tar cigarette is less danger to health. Women target was attracted to that point. Silk Cut cigarette was also target more up-market. In the previous advertising (fig. 1 & fig. 2), it was associated with brandy and coffee.Those objects are related to the smoothness, richness and quality . The later campaign was also associated with that image. The Silk Cut image can also be reflected in the brand name and corporate color. The meaning behind ‘Silk Cut' was a natural cigarette. Silk is a metaphor for natural product as this is a fabric that is not man-made. And ‘Cut' is the action of how tobacco leaf was cropped. Also, the dominated package color was purple, which is associated with royalty and splendor. All those factors were used in this ground- breaking campaign later. Fig. Fig. 4 When was the campaign launched? This famous Silk Cut campaign, more or less was influenced by the other classic cigarette campaign, Hedg es and Benson in the late ass. The common facts were, they were both no-copy ads, and there are some abstract objects to let audience associate o the products. The Silk Cut campaign was first launched in 1984 and ended in February 2003. The last campaign was estimated to cost 2. Mm GAP. Now in I-J, advertising was banned on direct mail, in-pack promotion and sponsorship, and of course, on all print ad and TV commercials.Where was the Silk Cut campaign run? It was run in UK and influenced to the advertising industry, like how the created the brand recognition to the audience, the craft skill that associates to the product and the market. Arguably the Silk Cut campaign was Judged to raise the femininity through its idea, target to women. For instance, the first idea of the campaign (fig. 3) showing the cut on a piece of silky fabric. The cut was associated with the symbolic female genital organ. And in fig 4, the ‘cancan' scissors were Judged as the power of women.Its distinctiv e semiotic concept influenced to the Hedges & Benson campaign later as it was showing the surreal package in all ideas as they were both under the regulation that no product can be shown in the ad. Hedges & Benson ad let people remind it name, and the Silk Cut one reminds people about its name. Fig. 5 fig. 6 How to make it success? As the advertiser understands, the brand royalty is very important to cigarette maker, people stick to a cigarette brand often Just because its name and image. In the early stage of the campaign, it was simply shown a cut silk in purple to let audience think of its brand.Later on, it was developed to showing the tool for cutting the silk, like scissors. And there are more symbolic objects to relate to women which are their target market. The obvious examples are (fig. 5 and 6) those using the scenes of the Hitchcock movies, The Birds and The Psycho. Both scenes in the movies are evicting women being attacked, by birds or killer. In the fig. 7, 8, 9 and 10 , both are related to the feminine power by implicitly showing the actions by women cutting something, or intend to do it. The campaign was success to create the brand association and recognition.As the images in those ads are surreal and symbolic, it attracts the audience to decode the ad. This action makes the whole campaign very memorable as audience spends time to think about the ad. Fig. 11 is a good example to show the twist of the creative even it is not cutting the fabric but the line (phone call). The campaign also created the brand image as mysterious and gloomy. The ads never associate people enjoying a cigarette or showing how cool and attractive a person can be if they consume the product.It differentiates the position with other brands which saying the click message. And it fig. 8 stands out in the market, especially to the women, that people could be captive with the brand, because they are associated to the brand with the gorgeous purple silk, it uses the other way t o present fashionable and modern as it seems to project an impression, that you are clever to know about this ad'. Conclusion The Silk Cut campaign was an advertising classic not Just because no more cigarette advertising can be run in I-J, but its originality and creativeness.