Gilded Age Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Gilded Age - Essay Example Mark Twain coined the tem â€Å"Gilded Age† in the last decades of the nineteenth century. Gilded Age refers the era that followed the American Civil War, stretching from the end of the reconstruction period to the dawn of the twentieth century. The era was characterized by enormous economic growth and European investments. Ideally, the Gilded Age was an era of transforming America into a liberal country. Outstanding events that characterized the era included increased immigration, industrial growth, and construction of railway networks. The Gilded Age cannot be considered as a Golden Age for Americans instead, the age symbolizes an era of unsolved problems. In The Gilded Age: a Tale of Today, writers Mark Twain and Charles Dudley confirm that Gilded Age was an era of severe social problems (Biography web). According to the authors, these problems could not be visualized since they remained beneath a thin layer of the supposed gold. In this context, gold symbolizes the economi c and social developments that accompanied Gilded Age. Golden age refers to an era of peace prosperity, stability, and harmony. Unfortunately, the Gilded Age was characterized by neither stability nor prosperity (Zinn 32). In particular, the period can be considered as an era of great economic oppressions as Americans struggled to rebuild their country. To the American, the Gilded Age was an era of exorbitant taxation. American economy became more intertwined with cotton and tobacco exports. The prices of these commodities reduced dramatically affecting the livelihood of ordinary American farmers. Although the country experienced a GDP growth, per capita income remained minimal. Unsolved problems in the agriculture sector included the slave question, the north, and south states issue. These problems were covered under increased exports to the European market and the rise of mechanized farming. Unsolved economic problems became the basis of more sophisticated social and political pro blems. Gilded Age politics were characterized by intense completion between political parties. The third party system promoted intense competition Between the Democratic and the Republican Parties. Consequently, minor parties including the Labor and Farmers unions disappeared as soon as they were established. Intense competition between the two parties intensified the country’s political temperature. Indeed, Americans were divided between Republicans and Democrats (Zinn 54). Both parties established the supposed â€Å"Political Machines† to oversee elections, reward their royalists and buyoff their opponents. Consequently, the wining party becomes the sole controller of state and government’s jobs, contracts and business openings. The â€Å"spoils system† was also a major source of political influence. Elected candidates were expected to pray according to the instructions of their political spoils/sponsors. For example in 1876, Hayes was elected in a secr et deal to be the new president of the United States. In addition, Harrison won the elections without winning the popular vote. Thus, the US did not achieve any form of political stability during the gilded age. Indeed, the era was a cover-up for the political instabilities that characterized the country. The era is considered the most turbulent time in American political history. Political reforms that promoted multiparty democracy and high voter turnout, acted as a conspiracy for politically motivated scandals, political rivalry, and civil unrest. Thus, the Gilded Age can never be considered as the US’s version of the Golden Age. Social developments also remained unattended during the Gilded Age. During the gilded age, discriminations against the black Americans intensified. Black Americans living in the southern states experienced the worst form of discrimination. The black communities were stripped off their political and voting rights. Ideally, the system almost revived slavery despite slave trade and slave labor having been abolished. During the

Models for competitive ddynamis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Models for competitive ddynamis - Essay Example The idea of using internet was later branded Grow Your Business (GYB) strategy. While DYB focusses on chances of business failure, GYB focusses on the growth gap ahead and do not consider the past or current state of the, which can yield negative effects in the future, it is all about optimism without real time consideration. (Byrne, 1998). While GYB is based on future growth, DYB considers the current position of the business in terms of mistakes, unutilized chances and comes up with a way of handling the problems. This way, the business is able to identify its weakness and strengthen them. As a result, the business is able to compete favorably. DYB provided a better foundation for the two major types of business growth and profit maximization, namely top-line growth and bottom line growth. In top line growth, one identifies lucrative ideas and invests more funds on them to generate more revenues, this can be identified by checking on how the products are doing in market and making decision on where to direct more effort based on DYB results. The bottom line growth involves cutting cost so that profits are maximized; this is the basis of DYB (Byrne, 1998). Generally, DYB have more chances of keeping a business equally competitive to the rest of the firms and is more critical in profit maximization in the long-term per iod. Cannibalization when used in business context refers to deliberate reduction in production, sales and revenue from a product because of introduction of another product from the same producer (Ward & Reiffen, 2005). Virtually, this may seem to be antagonistic to the aims of profit-oriented organization, but if carefully planned may yield more profit and help a company contain competition from rivals. Rather than producing a new product to capture new clients, the company maintains the old clients by swapping demand for the established product with demand for the new product. In essence, two items belonging to the same company competes

A Risks Analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

A Risks Analysis - Essay Example Raise the prices by 20% capital costs is significant due to purchase of machinery and losses in production opportunity time due to installation of the system, training of personnel and repairs in the working environment. In effect, payback period may be unsustainable. fluctuations in interest rates of the lending institution can affect business profitability; transportation costs and custom duties may result to higher sales price; competition with local products afforded with tax incentives and "patronize local products" edge can be unsustainable Option #5: Set up a joint venture with an overseas car manufacturer. An engine manufacturer in an unstable country in Southeast Asia has expressed interest in a joint venture to build all the engines for Suprema Cars. If they do this, Suprema would have to send out a team of engineers to the country to supervise production in the early stages. Transportation costs and custom duties may be too high; fluctuations in exchange rates are high in an unstable country; high Occupational Safety concerns for engineers sent to the country for supervision; quality of engines can be compromised significant capital investment for research and development; lost production opportunity time due to new system of production and training of personnel; competition with other cars with the same qualities maybe unsustainable From the details of the benefi

Walmart Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Walmart - Case Study Example Wal-Mart has not been as successful in the e-commerce marketplace as other online vendors such as EBay and Amazon. A third weakness of Wal-Mart is its high operating costs including having the largest private workforce in the world. During the last two fiscal years the company’s operating expenses increased by 2.7% and 1.7% respectively (Walmartstores, 2011). The company is also susceptible to a variety of risks including foreign currency, lawsuits, and impairment of assets. I think that the neighborhood store format is at conflict with the company’s grand strategy of offering its customers the lowest prices in the retail market. The firm has always place high emphasis on running an efficient operation without any unnecessary added costs. The concept of the neighborhood store format goes against Wal-Mart’s strategy of standardizing its stores in the United States. The firm is able to lower its infrastructure costs by using a similar format in all its stores. Economies of scales are achieved at Wal-Mart by purchasing goods in bulk. Economies of scale are a key advantage for a business because it lowers a firm’s cost per unit (Tutor2u, 2012). Wal-Mart has been able to differentiate its product offering by providing its customers with a higher variety of items at lower prices. The neighborhood store format threatens Wal-Mart’s corporate culture and its long term success in the retail industry. The retail industry generated reven ues in the United States of $4,691 billion in 2011 (Plunkettresearchonline, 2012). Wal-Mart should expect a variety of challenges in its international expansion efforts. The first challenge the company faces is being able to carry over its US brand value into the international markets. Wal-Mart has gained its brand value through the accumulative efforts of its founder, managers and employees for over 50 years. Once the company started to operate outside the United States the company had to start from scratch by

To what Extent has the 'War on Terror' Undermined the Human Rights Essay

To what Extent has the 'War on Terror' Undermined the Human Rights Agenda in World Politics - Essay Example However, the ‘revenge’ was directed against Muslims in general because the aforementioned event, which was insignificant in comparison to the routine onslaughts in other countries, paved the way for incursions into specific Muslim territories. Under this pretext, the US invaded Afghanistan in October 2001 and invaded Iraq in 2003 to further its geopolitical interests. The War on Terror is an implementation of Manichaeism, as it allowed the USA to make a new enemy after the collapse of the USSR. It is serving its imperialistic ambitions by painting the Muslim World as a new axis of evil and a threat to modern Western civilization. However, this enemy is more abstract than real and the situation is only leading to widespread irrational fear and unnecessary destruction. This war would therefore be more aptly described as a ‘War by Terror’ because the US is the real terrorist on its last vestiges of being a superpower. This paper shows how true this is and the e xtent to which this fake war is undermining the human rights agenda in world politics. It also examines how the US has managed to perpetrate these crimes and its aggression despite the existence of international laws to prevent abuse and what can be done to control the real evil which now poses a threat to the entire world. A cornerstone of the US actions post 9/11 has been its application of the doctrine of ‘pre-emptive military strike’. The US asserts that it has the right to take unilateral military action against other states and organisations if it perceives a threat. However, this is a dangerous trend that effectively makes the UN redundant and is out of conformity with international laws, conventions and resolutions (Gupta, 2008). America’s actions even transgress its own and international laws. Its leadership and military have committed serious crimes against humanity. The attempted moralization of the use of the military force, transgresses the norms of humanity (Schmitt, 2008). This situation hearkens back to the era before the UN existed and it could set a dangerous precedent for other nations which would then reverse decades of globalisation efforts to prevent wars. One of the biggest victims of this is human rights; the global agenda to protect human rights and guarantee human dignity and respect. This agenda at the international level began after World War II. In its new phase this century, the effort was to liberalise international relations to that they â€Å"conform to the liberal prescription for the good society† (Forsythe, 2006: 3). Numerous known and hidden human rights abuses have taken place by the US this century. Those that are known include kidnapping of innocent people and their torture and abuse at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, and elsewhere. On a more widespread scale, the US invaded two sovereign countries (Afghanistan and Iraq) and has long been intimidating a third, namely Pakis tan. The US accused former honourable president of Iraq, Saddam Hussein, of harbouring weapons of mass destruction. Fortunately, this baseless accusation was found to be just that when no such weapons were ever found, even by their own admission (Beaumont et al., 2004). This only showed the hypocrisy of the US because it itself possesses weapons of mass destruction yet it accuses others in the same way that it is the world’

Bible As Literature Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Bible As Literature - Essay Example It is also very rich in literary forms that can develop a student's appreciation and analysis of literature. The study of the bible can also help students practice their respect for each other's beliefs by analyzing the books within an impartial academic context that sets aside emotionality. Studying the bible can be very beneficial to students not only for learning about literature but also about life in general. Any legal or educational system builds its foundations from a set of moral values. In fact, Harvard, Yale and Princeton were schools established to teach young men to be pastors and America's children were once generally schooled with the Christian moral values that upheld respect for authority figures like parents and disapproval of sin. ("Cause and Effect," n.d.) Studying the bible as literature can help students identify, appreciate, and implement moral values that can be very beneficial not only to them but to the country itself. regarding the authenticity of the story of creation but the narration about the life of its characters provide clues as to how man had lived in the past. If the genealogy of its characters is to be examined, the bible's information dates back to 4223 years before Jesus Christ was born. (Petrie, n.d.) Its pages write about the culture and beliefs of people who lived through many different eras that can help students appreciate history. There is a great chance that more people have heard about the bible but not read it yet if one turns to the printed text as a shaper of reading, one can truly go further. (Norton, 2000, p. 78) People frequently read the bible in religious perspective yet many artistic forms of writing abound in it. The bible is rich in similes, metaphors, metonymy, synecdoche, personification, anthropomorphism, apostrophes, ironies, hyperboles, euphemisms, litotes, pleonasm, ellipses, zeugma, aposiopesis, allegories, riddles, symbols, narratives, tragedies, poetry, parallelisms, oratories, epistles, etc. Throughout the books of the bible, students can read many samples of literary forms that can help hone their skills in analysis of literature. ("Literary Forms in the bible," n.d.) Studying the bible as literature can help students appreciate their religious differences without emotional involvement. Many different religions have interpreted the bible in their own perspectives and these analyses have even lead to the birth of many other religious sects. Should the bible be studied for its moral values and literary form, students can learn to respect diversity because the books are treated academically instead of spiritually which can be very personal. Teaching Through the bible One of the problems encountered by some students today reveals some professors who cannot help themselves from using the course on bible literature to impose their own religious beliefs. The bible must remain as a learning tool by ensuring that professors are impartial to it. The National Council on Bible Curriculum's web site

IKEA and Fantastic Furniture Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

IKEA and Fantastic Furniture - Research Paper Example The key success factors desirable for such success is the provision of quality and value for customers’ money, understanding the market and targeting advertisements to perceived needs of the markets and provision of an outstanding customer service to the customers. Though IKEA and Fantastic furniture are similar in many ways, they differ in design of products where IKEA emphasizes on flexibility and portability of the furniture, thus, producing self-assembled furniture while Fantastic furniture mostly produces pre-assembled ones. Backward integration and increased productivity are recommended for the two companies, in order to be able to meet the projected increase in furniture demand. Table of Contents Background and Introduction IKEA is a privately owned international company that sells home products that can be assembled, such as home appliances and accessories, beds, and desks (Coker, 2005). The company was founded in 1943 by a 17-year-old Swedish, with the name of the com pany derived from his name and place of origin. The company ranks as the world’s largest retailer of furniture (Dennis, 2008). There are notable strengths that the company has been credited with. Its ability to control costs allows it to offer continuously lower prices for its products. The company is also known for its attention to operational details, allowing it to improve continuously the products it offers to its customers. These strengths have seen the company continuously advance, and expand to different countries in the world (Stroman, 2003). The company comprises of a group of companies that are centrally controlled by a Dutch corporation. The company provides its customers with 12,000 different products and is the third largest consumer of wood in the world (Ben, 2009). The company adopts environmentally friendly manufacturing process to ensure it preserves the environment. Fantastic furniture, on the other hand, was started in 1991 by two founders, Harding and Dejo ng. The company started as a stall that was selling plastic garden furniture, and later, the first of their store was opened at Birkenhead point (Johnson, 1983). In 1992, the company opened the first Fantastic Factory Lounge and in 1995, the Fantastic metal factory was established. The company owes its success to some strength it possessed from its inception. The company indulged in clever advertising, while at the same time improving its products and processes continuously. This way, the company has been able to expand its operations and grow to a large furniture retailer. The company’s growth rate was so high, that the founders were unable to manage this growth. Consequently, they invited other directors who had experiences in handling growth in a new business, effectively increasing the number of company’s director to five (Greenblat, 2010). In 1997, the company opened its first import department, which has been responsible for the sale and distribution of the compa ny’s products to a tune of 50%. The company has expanded its operations to have many other branches in Australia, later transferring its Fantastic Lounge factory to a different location to accommodate the increased production capacity, in 2006. With its growth and expansion, the company acquired a mattress producing company to suffice the mattress requirement of the company in the same year (Ben, 2009). Literature review A furniture retail business should be the most successful business ever running. This is because every day someone needs