Great Expectations Essay Example for Free

Great Expectations Essay Describe the character of Magwitch. What do you think Dickens has to say about crime and punishment in the sections of the novel where he appears? The following essay and the content of it are about the story of Great Expectations, its plot and what Charles Dickens was really trying to say. Great Expectations is the tale about a young man, Phillip Pirrip nicknamed Pip for short, came to build up and have his great expectations dashed. The novel begins with Pip as a young boy out on the marshes and as the novel continues, it follows Pips journey to a gentleman and then later on into a businessman. Throughout the novel, Pip is involved in a few rather dramatic events and with some rather colourful characters alongside him. At the beginning of the story we see the young Pip, an orphan being brought up and looked after by his horrible, hard sister and her husband whose character is defined as being a gentle giant, Joe Gargery, the blacksmith. While upon on the marshes, Pip comes into contact with an escaped convict by the name of Abel Magwitch. As the novel reads on, it proves that Magwitch seems to have a profound effect on Pips life. Pip is influenced also by Miss Havisham, an eccentric and reclusive old woman. It turns out o be that there are two young women in Pips life: the very understanding and kind and gentle Biddy and the proud and perfectly beautiful Estella. It comes about one day that Pip has come into a generous fortune. A benefactor, who to Pip is unknown, wishes for Pip to travel to London to become and succeed as a high class gentleman. This is the answer to all of Pips dreams, its like his Christmases have all come at once but all doesnt go as well as Pip would have hoped and he becomes involved in quite a few adventures. Also, when he is handed his fortune, Pip becomes a snob and the money changes him totally and its all for the worse. At the beginning of Chapter 1, we meet Magwitch. While Pip is in the graveyard, where his mother is buried, he meets Magwitch. Magwitch puts a great fear into Pip demanding food, drink and a file as he still has chains around his ankles since he has escaped from prison-You bring me, to-morrow morning early, that file and them wittles, Magwitch, page 8. Before Magwitch demands these sources, he rummages through Pips pockets for food and takes him by his ankles and absurdly shakes Pip upside down. Pip is scared into such a fright by Magwitch firstly telling Pip whether he should live or not-The question being whether youre to be let to live-Magwitch, (page 7. ) Magwitch tells Pip that there is a man a lot worse than him-Theres a young man hid with me, in comparison with which young man I am a Angel, Magwitch, page 8. After this, Pip is determined to go home, gather the things Magwitch needs and return to meet him the next day. An immediate view of the relationship between Magwitch and Pip is one based completely on fear and power, to which Magwitch has the upper hand so Pip cannot compete with him. It seems though that Magwitch and Pip share an unlikely but yet common loneliness. This is such because Pip was alone in the churchyard with the tombstones of his parents, who had passed away many years before and Magwitch has never really had any family around and the very unfair and unjust way Magwitch has been treated and punished, it is like the crime and punishment system in the 1900s was too unjust and was almost like it turned men into beasts and are not treated in an orderly fashion. Magwitch returns in Chapter 39. It is Pips 23rd birthday and he seems to be doing extremely little with his life. He is still on good terms with Mr Pocket, even though Pip is no longer being tutored by him and even though he keeps trying occupations, he isnt sticking to them long enough to develop further in them but he is finding that he is reading a lot. On a stormy night in London, Magwitch comes to Pips home and Pip invites him in and treats him with courteous disdain-Do you wish to come in-Pip, page 289. Pip welcomed him in to talk about Magwitchs business and only then does Pip gradually begin to recognise this visitor as the convict that he had met and given him a file and some food up on the marshes when Pip was just a young boy. It is only then that Magwitch reveals himself as being Pips mysterious benefactor and that he had been living in Australia all these years previous, working as a sheep farmer and the money he was earning from that would go to Pip-I lived rough so you could live smooth, page 313, Magwitch said this to Pip to prove that everything he had done in Australia, was for Pip. As Pip thought Miss Havisham was his benefactor, he had hopes of marrying Estella and the two of them becoming a lady and gentleman couple but his dreams have been shattered-Miss Havishams intentions towards me, all a mere dream, Pip, page 317. Pip is repulsed by Magwitch. He is horrified and appalled but luckily Magwitch didnt notice it and is upset that he should owe so much to such a person. Furthermore, to Pips state of shock, it is only now that he realises it was not Miss Havisham who was his benefactor and that Estella, who Pip adores dearly, had not been intended for him at all. While Pip is in a state of turmoil, we learn of Magwitchs past. The reader learns that because Magwitch didnt dress like a gentleman, his punishment was a lot harsher rather than if you look like a gentleman, the justice system would be a lot more lenient on the more vicious criminal. Even though Magwitch had a minimal choice about whether he could afford to turn to crime or not, he had little choice and could see himself not getting anywhere. Magwitch tells Pip that due to the fact that he committed a crime to save himself and he had no choice, it was because he didnt look or dress like a gentleman that he was given a heavy sentence and shipped to Australia where, only then, he was rehabilitated because he was supposedly no longer a danger to society or anyone around him. As Magwitch has come back and risked his life to see him, as much as he feels ashamed and feels as though all his dreams were just that, Pip feels as though in one sense he should still protect him. Pip does have a sense that he doesnt want Magwitch to risk his life and this shows Pip to still be human by having little conscience by not wanting Magwitch to get caught and hung or taken away, even though Pip is thinking he is the lowest of the low because he is associated with a convict and he feels as though he cant touch Magwitchs money anymore.

Strategic Planning And Analysis Of Primark Marketing Essay

Strategic Planning And Analysis Of Primark Marketing Essay Strategic Planning is a complete process about making strategies, or direction, and allocation of recourses to achieve targets. There are numbers of business analysis techniques which can be used in strategic planning and these are SWOT Analysis PEST Analysis STEER Analysis EPISTEL Analysis Strategic planning simply describes the main objectives and future targets of the organization and the efficient and effective process to achieve those targets. Strategic planning covers three main areas which are as follows Present Position Future Prospects and targets Means to achieve those targets PRIMARK Primark is a one of the leading clothing chain of UK. It was founded in June 1969 in Mary Street Dublin under the trading name of PENNEYS. The store added four more brances in local area within its first year of operation. The first store which was opened outside Dublin was opened in Cork in 1971. In that year there were 12 more stores opened 11 in irland and 1 in Northeren Irland. Move Into Great Britain In 1973, four out-of-town stores opened and like this Primark began its trading operations in Great Britain. In 1984, the first multiple acquisition took place when five Woolworth stores were purchased in Ireland. Further in 1984 to 1994 in ten year period Primark opened 25 stores together in UK and Ireland. In 1992 one of BHS stores was purchased and added in the chain. The year 1995 was the year in which primark made most of its expension when the acquisition of the BHS One-Up-Discount chain took place. With this major expension 16 sotres wew added in UK region and most of them in Greater London with a significant sizes. Another major aquisation was in 1999 when 11 Co-Op stores were added. In 2000, another 11 stores acquired from C A. In October 2001 massive store was opened in Manchester. Primark continued its expension in the following year. As a result, number of reached to 109 in the end of 2001 consisting 75 in Uk and 34 in Ireland. In 2005 six stores were acquired from Allders. In April 2007 two more stores were opened, one in London and the other one was in Livelpool. Entrance to Europe Primark entered in Europe by opening a store in Spain in May 2006 and later in the same year in Semtember a second store was opened in Murica. In 2007 two stores were opened in Spain and in Xanadu. In 2008 three more sotres were opened in Bilbao, Islazul and in Oviedo. In the same year more braches were open in Parque, Zaragoza, Asturias and Coruna. Primark entered in Netherlands market in 2008 by opening its first store in Rotterdam. In 2009 more stores were added in eorupe business by opening the branches in Portugal, Germany and Belgium. Currently, In total 196 stores are in business under the name of PRIMARK. The counts is as follows   Region Number of Branches UK   138 Ireland 38   Spain 14 Portugal 2 The Netherlands   1 Belgium 1 Germany 2 Total 196 STRATEGIC PLANNING HISTORY OF PRIMARK Primark is second largest clothing retailer and runs 13 department including Children wear, women wear, men wear, foot wear, assocries and house holds. New and fashion able clothing with cheap prices are very challenging task among the high intensity of competition among the competitors. Primark has a firmly defined target consumers which are under 35 age group. There are two main methods to earn profits more than normal rates, by establishing a product leader ship or can be through cost leader ship. Primark established a cost leadership because in cost leader ship the firm supplies same product at lower price rather then to provide strong differentiation as like in product leader shipe where coustomers are ready to pay high prices. Primark established a strong strategy of cost leader ship. This strategy is pursued by companies selling affordable products across all sectors. In united states, Southewest Airline has same strategy with success in aviation sector. To maintain this strategy Primark always focuses on buying, logistics and supply chain management. To get world wide fashion trends and discovering of cheap supplies a separate team has been set in UK that travels all over the world. The company sources the manufacturing of its clothes to developing countries like India which have cheap labor. With this strategy PRIMARK saves huge cost. Primark also keep a strong warehousing and distribution network because of its strategy to reduce the time-to-market to as less as possible. To keep that promise Primark uses computerized customs clearance. TNT who provide logestic service world wide, dedicates one of its huge ware house exclusively to Primark stock distribution. Primark established a customer confidence about its cheap price promises. To sustain this strategy Primark has to maintain high efficiency level and effective cost controls on on going basis. WOOLWORTHS Woolworths, the high street retail chain that collapsed in 2008, was founded in 1909. Since then it had grown into a chain of about 800 stores. But the recent history is one of trials and tribulations that ended in entering into administration in November 2008. The retailer faced intense competition from supermarket chains like Sainsbury, Tesco etc. Lately it had entered into entertainment and electronics retail after its acquisition of Entertainment UK. In September 2008, Woolworths announced a pre-tax loss of pound 99 million for the six months ending on August 2, 2008. The company then embarked on a turnaround plan. It decided to sell 120 stores, axe about one-fourth of its products from the stores , reduce web operations and cut jobs. In 2008 the financial crisis brought a severe credit squeeze. The companys banks, GMAC and Burdale decided to recall their loans. The company that was burdened with debts worth pound 385 million had to enter administration. By January 2009 all 807 Woolworths stores in UK were closed. But Woolworths was more a casualty of its flawed strategic planning than the economic recession. STRATEGIC PLANNING AT WOOLWORTH Woolworths strategy had no target segment or focus point. It lacked a single Unique Selling Proposition ( USP).Its product leadership was in the pic n mix sweets. In other product segments like music, books toys etc it was neither a product leader nor a cost leader. (Chandler 1990) Even in the childrens clothes and school uniform segment it soon lost its leadership to retailers like Asda and Tesco. Woolworths strategy had always been to achieve cost leadership. The original US chain founded by Frank Woolworth sold everything at 5 cents. When the chain opened its first store in UK in Liverpool, every item was priced below 6 pence. Woolworths pursued successfully this cost leadership strategy for many years after that. It reached its peak in the 60s and 70s. The company hardly spent anything on branding. Its stores were without frills. But lately the company lost its cost leadership to discounters like Wilkinsons, Tesco etc. Almost anything that it sold now, the competitors were able to sell at a lower or at least the same price. Woolworths was also using a lot of debt or leverage in its capital structure. It was also using debt to open new stores. While it was opening new stores, many of its existing stores were in mess. Another part of Woolworths strategy, right from the beginning, was to sell a variety of merchandise. In its early days the chain was able to undersell its competitors through mass production. This strategy worked so well that at one point of time Woolworth was opening one new store every seventeen days. The IPO of Woolworths in the London Stock Exchange was so successful that for just 15% offloading of its equity in Woolworths UK, the parent company was able to give its shareholders a dividend of 90 cents for every dollar worth of their shares. During the World War-2 the company suffered badly with many of its stores bombed and destroyed during the air raids. Prominent among them was the bombing of the New Cross High Street store in which 160 people were killed. The post-war inflation forced it to give up its under six pence strategy. (Cooper 2003) Woolworths then capitalized on the pop mania of Beatles. It made a fortune selling the Beatles merchandise like dolls and other mascots. It followed this by expanding its entertainment offerings. For opening new stores, Woolworth was taking the real estate on rent or lease. At the last count it had about 700 landlords. Its lease payments were rising at the rate of 2.5% per year. Its rent bill had soared from pound 70 million in 1998 to pound 160 million in 2008. So when the credit crunch and the recession started, Woolworths had no fixed assets to fall back on. After its demerger with Kingfisher in 1982, Woolworths aimed long term growth through operating the following: (Coulson 2004) Hypermarkets. The Big W stores. Woolworths general stores. Streets online. But the company soon reversed its strategy, discontinued the above three stores and started focusing once again on its traditional strength products like confectionery, toys and entertainment. But in spite of narrowing its focus in order to cut costs, Woolworths was not able to match competitors like Wilkinson and Poundland which ate into its market share. Even in the range of product offering, it proved to be no match to Tesco.Its price points were higher and it also lost out on the convenience quotient. When all its strategies failed to bring a turnaround it approached the restructuring specialist Hilco. Hilco agreed to buy Woolworth for a nominal sum of pound 1 and take pound 300 million debt of the retailer. But at the last minute the deal was thwarted by its lenders, Burdale and GMAC. This led the retailer into administration in November 2008, just before the peak Christmas season. (Fifield 1998) COMPARISON AND CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF THE STRATEGIC PLANNING OF PRIMARK AND WOOLWORTHS The strategic plan of Primark consisted of the strategy of growing inorganically as well as organically. For inorganic growth it made strategic acquisitions. For its organic growth the company successfully pursued cost leadership. It was also successful in churning out fashionable clothes that were up to the latest trends. And it churned these at very affordable prices. It did so through strategically using outsourcing and having an integrated supply chain that was extremely fast in delivering. It has a much focused target segment of consumers. (Fleming 2009) If we conduct the SWOT analysis of Primark, we get the following: Strengths- Its cost leadership and its supply chain and logistics processes. These have become a source of competitive advantage for the company. Weakness- It is not into branding. Lack of having brands with high brand equity may hurt its profitability in future. Excessive reliance on outsourcing for manufacturing and supply chain processes make it dependent on suppliers and vendors. Opportunities- There are huge opportunities for retailers of discount fashion clothing. The recession has reduced the disposable income and the consumers have become more value conscious. Threats- The company has recently come under the attack of anti-poverty campaigners for the sweat shops in Bangladesh and India. The company is fighting off its reputation of being an unethical company driven solely by the lust for more profits. On the competitive front it has tough competition in the form of Marks Spencer, Debenhams etc. FIVE FORCES ANALYSIS OF PRIMARK Threat of competitors or intensity of rivalry- The competitive rivalry is reasonably high in the discount fashion segment. Threat of substitutes- The threat of substitutes is high. Fashionable clothes have a large number of substitutes. Bargaining power of suppliers- Discount chains like Primark use a lot of outsourcing from developing countries like India, Bangladesh etc. The bargaining power of these suppliers is low as they are dependent for their revenues on large clients like Primark. Bargaining power of customers- The bargaining power of customers is high. Customers of discount chains like Primark are bargain hunters who look for the best bargain. (Oakland 2003) Threat of new entrants- To produce fashionable clothes at the lowest prices is quite a challenging task. This raises naturally a high barrier to entry. Thus the threat of new entrants is significantly lowered. CORE COMPETENCY OF PRIMARK Core competency is that capability which is central to the existence of a business or corporation. A capability or set of capabilities qualify as core competency if they have the following attributes: (Peter 1989) It is the source of value proposition to the customers. It is difficult for competitors to acquire similar capabilities. The capabilities can be leveraged across different products and markets. The core competency of Primark is to produce fashionable clothes for as low prices as possible. It has been able to do so through entering into strategic partnerships with companies like TNT logistics and outsourcing manufacturing to cheap offshore locations like Bangladesh. VALUE CHAIN ANALYSIS OF PRIMARK The value chain of any organization is divided into two types of activities: Primary activities. Secondary activities. The primary activities of the value chain comprise the following: Inbound logistics. Manufacturing. Outbound logistics. Marketing and Sales. Services. The secondary activities include: Human Resource Management. Technology support and research and development. Procurement. Primark has been able to gain and sustain competitive advantage by focusing on inbound logistics (supply chain), outbound logistics (distribution network), manufacturing (outsourcing to cheaper destinations), technology support (computerized supply chain and distribution connected to point of sales). (Pride, Hughes, Kapoor 2009) As far as its marketing strategy is concerned it has responded to the 4Ps of the marketing mix in the following ways: Product- It has been able to understand the latest trends in fashion. A team of experts travels across the globe and monitors new trends in fashion. Price- The company has been able to deliver the products at very low prices. Place- Primark has an effective distribution network. Its stores are located strategically. Promotion- Primark does not spend too much in branding or promotions. Woolworths, on the other hand, lacked a clear strategic plan. It seemed to be bungling with its strategy. It made many strategic experiments, all of which failed to sustain the 99 year old chain. The SWOT analysis of Woolworths, done retrospectively, reveals the following: Strengths- A ninety-nine years old brand name and a reasonable number of loyal customers. It has a very high brand recall and brand recognition. Weakness- It has no target segment. It lacks product leadership as well as cost leadership. It is trying to sell too many products and is competing across too many categories. Opportunities- The opportunities for discount retailers are always high, especially for high street retailers like Woolworths. Threats- The threats are many. It is using too much debt. It is into too many lease agreements. Most of its stores are on rent. It lacks fixed assets to fall back upon. FIVE FORCES ANALYSIS OF WOOLWORTHS The five forces analysis of Woolworths, if done just before its collapse, reveals the following: (Robert 2008) Threat of competitors- Formidable competitors in the likes of Wilkinson, Tesco etc. Wilkinson and Poundland are especially threatening as they are eating into the share of Woolworths. Threat of Substitutes- The threat of substitutes is high in the retail industry. Bargaining power of the customers- The intensity of competition, the business model to offer products at discounted rates; all serve to increase the bargaining power of customers of a chain like Woolworths. Bargaining power of suppliers- The bargaining power of suppliers is not that high. But since Woolworths was operating on rented real-estate, the bargaining power of landlords (suppliers of real estate) had increased tremendously. The annual rise in the rate of rents of Woolworths was 2.5%. Threat of new entrants- The capital intensive nature of the business raises barriers to entry. Thus the threat of new entrants is not that high. CORE COMPETENCY OF WOOLWORTHS The core competency of Woolworths had been once its capability to offer the lowest cost products in categories like children clothing. It also enjoyed product leadership in pic n mix sweets which it continued to enjoy till its very last days. VALUE CHAIN ANALYSIS OF WOOLWORTHS The key to maintaining cost leadership is managing the value chain activities well. Woolworths failed to manage these value chain activities as well as competitors like Tesco, Poundland etc.It was unable to get the lowest cost supplies. Its distribution (outbound logistics) was such that was unable to enhance its convenience quotient. During its hey-days the company was efficient in large scale manufacturing that enabled it to get lowest cost products through economies of scale. Later on it failed to manage this value chain activity as well. Because of the mismanagement of its value chain activities, Woolworths soon lost its competitive advantage. Primark was able to execute the how question of its strategic plan well. It was able to have such processes that enabled it to achieve its objectives. Woolworths failed on both what and how aspects of strategic planning. It lacked vision about where it wanted to reach in future. And since it did not know where to go (goals and objectives), it also did not know how to reach there. Its strategy was like groping in the dark. It was opening too many stores on debt; it had no target segment and finally it was dealing in too many products. As a result both diseconomies of scale and scope had set in. (Sheshinski, Strom, Baumol 2007) OUTCOME OF THE TWO COMPANIES The outcomes have been starkly opposite for both the companies. For the year to 12 September, 2009, Primarks sales jumped by 20%. Its profits were up by 8% to pound 252 million. The company has acquired the nicknames of Primarni or Pradamark because of its ability to sell catwalk fashion at rock bottom prices. In the recession hit economy of UK, which has entered its six consecutive quarter of GDP contraction, Primark has increased its retail space by 9%. It opened six new stores in UK since the recession started.The chain also contributed 40% to the profits of AB foods which is its holding company. Its stores in the continent are also performing well, especially those in Germany. To support its high rate of growth during recession, Primark opened a new distribution centre in Thrapston, Northampton shire. On the other hand, the recession proved to be the final nail in the coffin of Woolworths. Its debt of pound 340 million proved to be too much. All efforts to salvage it failed when its lenders, GMAC and Burdale, recalled their loans. In November 2008 it entered into administration. Neville Kahn, Dann Butters and Nick Dargan of Deloitte were appointed joint administrators. On 26th November 2008, trading in the Woolworth groups shares was suspended. The 807 stores of Woolworths were closed in phases. In the last days, the stores offered discounts as high as 90% in order to dispose of their merchandise. Some of the stores have been reported to have sold their fixtures and fittings also. 207 of these stores closed two days after Christmas on 27th December 2008. The remaining stores were also closed by 6th January 2009. Approximately 30000 jobs were lost as the 99 year old chain went under, in its centenary year. Now Woolworths has come in its new incarnation of a purely online store from its earlier version of a brick-and-mortar retail chain. After it entered administration and was closed down the Woolworths brand name was bought by Shop Direct Group. On 2nd February 2009, Shop Direct announced its intention to continue Woolworth as a purely online store.The online store uses the same URL as the earlier Woolworths groups retail website, Woolworths.co.uk. The outcomes of the strategic planning could not have been more different for both the companies. Primark capitalized on the need of lower cost fashionable clothes during the current recession. Woolworths through its faulty strategic planning, or more accurately, through its lack of strategic planning became its prey.

The Nature of the Heart in Hawthornes The Scarlet Letter Essay

The Nature of the Heart in The Scarlet Letter  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚      Sacrificing of the soul and dedication can lead to suffering for some, but meaning in life for others. This is the main theme of The Scarlet Letter,by Nathaniel Hawthorne. The story takes place in the seventeenth century in Puritan New England. The main character of the legend is Hester Prynne, who has an affair with Arthur Dimmesdale, the minister, and they produce Pearl. Hester's husband, Roger Chillingworth is the town physician. He is seen as the healer, collecting magical herbs to make medicine. Hawthorne twists the purpose of the physician by turning these healing powers into vengeance for an unhappy man. Hawthorne takes the theme and symbolizes the different characters as a part of nature. He also uses imagery to show the different relationships between the characters. He achieves this by showing the dramatic differences between good and evil through light, darkness and shadows being cast upon the earth. When he does this, he draws the reader in and lets them visualize the human nature of struggling lovers. The story opens with a view of the Prison-Door. Near the door are glimpses of men and women surrounded by a cloud of gray. The first hint at nature is to "a wild rosebush, covered . . . with delicate gems . . . offer their fragrance and fragile beauty to the prisoner" (53). The rosebush was shown as the heart of nature that provided pity and comfort to any prisoner which was within its walls. Nearly seven years after Hester's public exhibition for her sin in the Marketplace, she and her young daughter are visiting in the Governor's Hall. Pearl was immediately drawn to the rosebushes in the garden. She begins to scream and throws a fit in her desire... ...eminders of how sinners can truly learn about what type of person they honestly are. Hester would always help people and Dimmesdale would never be true to himself about his religion. The doctor was perhaps the most significant character of the whole story. He would always help people, even if it meant helping them die. Pearl was the reminder of how a free person can really prevail. Hawthorne used his symbolism through nature to show how people develop and rediscover themselves and life. His symbolism also showed how different parts of nature die and how others thrive based on the way they decide to live. He made this connection with the sinners and let the readers picture the relationship between them by using the symbolism through nature.    "Works Cited" Hawthorne, Nathaniel. The World's Great Classics: The Scarlet Letter. New York: Grolier Incorporated.

Volunteerism and Community Service in America Today Essay -- Contributi

â€Å"Volunteers are not paid; not because they are worthless, but because they are priceless.† - Sherry Anderson (Volunteering Quotes: Finest Quotes). Part I: Volunteerism and Community Service in the United States Research shows that when Americans are "properly asked to serve", they serve, says the Corporation for National and Community Service, on their website dedicated to U.S. volunteerism(Volunteering and Civic Life in America 2014). The question, then, is what does "properly asked to serve" consist of. If the government issues a call to all able United States citizens to donate a mere three to five hours a week to a teen-mentoring, child-tutoring, or other volunteer program for the benefit of the country and the good of society, will it happen? Will people, hearing this summons, eagerly and/or obediently sign up at their favorite charity organization for a shift? Will they, with no monetary compensations, social benefits, or employment benefits give of their valuable and potentially dollar-earning time out of the goodness of their hearts and concern for the future well-being of society? Perhaps this isn't what "properly asked to serve" consists of for North Americans. When people do respond to their summons, researchers say, things happen. The mentoring system is supposedly one of the most beneficial of volunteer activities, in terms of reaching "at risk" kids. The Philadelphia Summit on volunteerism that took place in April of 1997 targeted five basic needs of at-risk kids: a relationship with a caring adult, supervised and safe sites for play, marketable skills, a healthy start, and a sense of service. These five criteria, if met, are expected to lower teen pregnancy rates, high school drop-out rates, and the ... ...more fortunate situations share, contribute, and cooperate in the change and development process. Works Cited: Aaker, Jerry. Partners With the Poor. New York: Friendship Press, 1993. "Volunteering and Civic Life in America 2014" Corporation for National and Community Service. Web. 05 May 2015. http://www.volunteeringinamerica.gov/ Chambers, Robert. Rural Development: Putting the Last First. New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 1993. Clasen, Susan. Vultures & Butterflies: Living the Contradictions. Scottdale: Herald Press, 1992. Coles, Robert. Call of Service: A Witness to Idealism. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1993. "Volunteering Quotes :: Finest Quotes." Source for Famous Quotes, Inspirational Quotes & Sayings :: Finest Quotes. Web. 05 May 2015. "What Is Volunteering." Web. 05 May 2015. http://www.volunteerbristol.org.uk/volunteers

Catcher In The Rye :: essays research papers

Catcher in the Rye The setting of this story takes place in Agerstown, Pennsylvania. The home of Pency boarding school. Pency is a college prep schools that advertises only the best things about it and never mentions how much the students will hate going there. On the brochure there is a fake, imaginary student that does not exist playing polo. In real life, there are a couple hundred spoiled little rich students whose parents do not want the trouble of raising them. In the beginning of the story Holden is watching the Friday night football game from a hill. He had just gotten back from a fencing match that had to be cut short in New York because the captain of the fencing team, which happened to be Holden, left all of the equipment on the subway. Needless to say it was a long trip home for Holden. After all of this has happened Holden gets back only to learn that he has been released from Pency and placed on academic probation. Holden was not stupid by any means but if he did not desire to learn what was being taught he refused to try. The professors on the other hand did not agree with Holden’s reasoning. Therefore, he was failing all but one of his classes. Holden had a friend that was a teacher at Pency. He was probably the only person that halfway understood him. The only problem was that Mr. Spencer was old and senile and did not have much pull with in the school board, which meant he did not serve as much help in Holden’s cur rent situation. Mr. Spencer was always trying to prepare Holden for life. Holden rarely listened but felt obligated to say good-bye to him because he had tried to understand him, which is more than most people had ever done for him. Holden went to visit Mr. Spencer before he left. Holden was a prime example of a spoiled little rich kid who had everything but acted as though he had nothing. He had no real friends to rely on, only other spoiled rich kids who were never deprived of anything. This time was different though. This was not the first time that Holden was removed from a school. Holden always knew there was always another boarding school that would be happy to accept him and his money. This time he was not going to just sit back and wait for the next school to pick him up, he was going to enjoy himself while he could.

Pick n Pay’s Essay

What is your strategy to reverse Pick n Pay’s loss of market share? Pick n Pay lost market share in part because it opened materially less space than some of its major competitors. A significant proportion of its capex was invested in supply chain technology infrastructure in recent years, which by its nature doesn’t drive sales compared to stores. Our capital focus is now on new stores and refurbishment, which will drive sales and, in time, profitability. Over the past year we have refreshed, without substantively altering our strategy. Our overarching ambition is for the Group to become the â€Å"Retailer of choice for all South Africans†. This builds on Pick n Pay and Boxer’s brand strength and strong store portfolio. Importantly this refreshed strategy does not represent a major departure from the strategy that has been followed for the past five years. We have seven themes geared to ensure that the business can grow sustainably and profitably. There is a balance of growth-driven priorities, focusing on space, customer, franchise and product, and those largely focused on improving efficiency such as replenishment and store operations. The â€Å"One Pick n Pay† initiative ties these together to ensure that the business works well as a unified whole. Strategic priority: Grow selling space ahead of the market There is substantial competition for retail space both within South Africa and in other African markets. Ensuring that Pick n Pay increases its overall share of trading space over the long term is an important strategic priority. Over the past three years our space growth has lagged that of our competition particularly into the faster growing lower income areas and small stores. This not only directly reduces our market share but also puts pressure on like-for-like sales growth. We will continue to develop store formats and channels that meet customers’ changing needs both in Pick n Pay and Boxer, in South Africa and beyond. Additionally we continue to build a pipeline of new sites, whether greenfield or through acquisition that will ensure we meet our aspirations. Strategic priority: Build deep customer relationships The launch of our customer rewards programme Smartshopper gives us a  significant opportunity to get to know our customers’ shopping habits and preferences substantially better than we do today. Since its launch in March 2011 the programme has been a great success. After just one year we now have over five million active cardholders, exceeding our initial target by two million. This enables us not only to know and understand each customer a great deal better, but to communicate with our customers in a different and more engaging manner. We have direct access to the vast majority of Smartshopper customers by either sms or email, which means that we can send targeted marketing communications directly to them. We can also ask for feedback directly from them. All of this translates into a very valuable two-way dialogue with our customers. As a result we are designing and executing marketing campaigns which are more relevant to our customers. We are extracting insights from their shopping habits data in order to tailor our product ranges and more accurately serve them. All of this will assist us in growing our sales volumes significantly. Strategic priority: Revolutionise Pick n Pay’s product offer During the past 12 months we have invested considerable time and resources in building a single specialised category buying division. Prior to the establishment of this division, Pick n Pay’s sourcing activities were distributed across the operating regions. This led to fragmentation of the Group’s buying scale, with each buyer having a wide range of products to source. Our new specialised category buying division is made up of category teams each of which is responsible for the end-to-end profitability of a specific product category. They are tasked with developing a product range that meets all customer needs, sourcing those products at the lowest possible cost, constructing shelf layouts that help customers find what they are looking for easily, building a promotional plan that generates customer excitement, increased volumes and higher margins, and ensuring that Pick n Pay’s prices remain hig hly competitive. Included in their responsibilities is the task of improving our Pick n Pay branded offer.

Krakow Bpo Destination

Why Krakow for Business Process Outsourcing? Empowering your Business Introduction: Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) has become a major driver of performance in business today. Companies of all sizes and in all industries are realising the many benefits of transferring non-core activities to specialist service providers. In the drive to increase profits and productivity it's important to focus on core operations and value creation.With non-core activities taking up valuable management time it can be difficult to stay competitive, more so in the current economic environment. Working in a collaborative partnership to ensure successful outsourcing and releasing your team members from non-core activities can significantly reduce your operational costs. This position is best summarized as ‘do what you do best and outsource the rest'. Outsourcing is not about what you can subtract from a business. It's about what you can add.Leo Blennerhassett, Managing Director of Accenture Irelan d, the Irish arm of the global leader in BPO, was recently quoted in an interview: ‘The trend to outsourcing is real and companies are looking to improve their overall health by transforming their business on both a strategic ; tactical level'. Research by Gartner, the world's leading research firm, indicates that BPO will achieve double digit growth in the coming years as more and more organizations, of all sizes and from all industries, turn to BPO providers to reduce costs, drive revenue, enhance customer service and eliminate non-core activities from within their firms. 3 Outsourcing is now an essential tool for every organization. Ongoing research from Accenture into the characteristics of high performance, has found that outsourcing is one of the key enablers of high-performance businesses and governments. More and more decision makers are turning to outsourcing to help them elevate their organizations' performance, driving value into their enterprises and driving cost o ut. Evolving Outsourcing's services touch an ever broadening range of industries and business processes. We are transforming existing operations for our clients, making them smarter, faster and cheaper.Why outsource? What are the benefits to my business? Substantial cost savings, both in terms of labour ; capital: o The concept of fully loaded cost is central to BPO. In many cases clients will only think of the cost of labour when attempting to establish the cost to the business of having Person X performing tasks A, B ; C in-house. However, it is critical to factor in the costs associated with hardware, software, furniture, stationary, salary contributions, management, training and so forth in order to accurately understand the true cost of this person to the organization i. . the fully loaded cost. By partnering with a specialist BPO provider you eliminate the need to recruit ; train new employees as well as cutting down on administration ; HR management costs. Acquiring 3rd party expertise by partnering with specialist service providers: o As we head into what has become known as the 3rd Generation of Outsourcing, the emphasis has long shifted from pure cost reduction to performance improvement. BPO providers are specialists at the services they provide and, as such, can deliver improved service quality to our clients' customers.Ability to focus on core competencies: o By allowing your BPO partner to handle some or all of your non-core activities, your own in-house team can refocus all time, energy and resources on activities directly linked to your top line. In the current climate this is particularly important as the need to have all team members focused on sales & revenue has never been greater. Culture of continual improvement: o The idea of continual improvement is central to BPO.BPO providers ought to practice what they preach and be constantly seeking to refine & improve business processes for existing clients leading to continuous and increased gain s for client partners. Increased market flexibility & reduced time-to-market: o By partnering with a BPO provider, firms enable themselves to become leaner, more dynamic and more agile. BPO providers allow client firms to scale quickly in response to increased demand and/or new services/products or promotional campaigns. This is imperative in today's economic climate Factors to Consider when choosing an Outsourcing locationThere are many offshore destinations to which a company can outsource its business processes and there are even more variables which must be considered when choosing the right destination for your company and your specific requirements. Among the most pertinent considerations are: the availability of resources, the quality of those resources and the accompanying risk. While it should never be the single determining factor, price and subsequent cost savings obviously need to be closely examined and clearly understood. 05 Cost Savings: Choosing a location for your B PO requirements is largely a question of risk versus reward.Although it might be easier to manage a relationship with a local company this will not provide the financial advantages that outsourcing to an emerging market can generate, where labour and other non-labour costs are significantly lower. The BPO decision is not purely a lowest cost decision. Practical considerations such as geographic proximity, time difference and cultural similarities are integral to selecting the appropriate BPO location. Locations such as India ; China invariably win the lowest cost element of any selection process.However, outsourcing is now as much about process enhancement and customer service improvement as it is about cost. With this in mind, locations regarded as closer to the ‘west'- geographically, culturally and the way in which they do business – have made huge leaps forward as BPO destinations in recent years. The main beneficiary of this move has been Central ; Eastern Europe ( CEE) and Poland in particular. In several cases, Indian BPO organizations have themselves followed this trend by establishing their own presence in the CEE region. Availability of Resources:Poland boasts the largest number of educational centres and produces the largest number of graduates approximately 40,000 per annum in terms of ICT graduates alone of all countries in the CEE region. Evolving Outsourcing is headquartered in Krakow which is commonly regarded as the ‘Oxford of Poland' and the ‘Silicon Valley of Poland' on account of the number and quality of universities and graduates in the city. However, this fact alone is of no use to your organization if you are not properly positioned to recruit the best people to your BPO project team.This is why it is imperative to understand how a BPO service provider intends to recruit people to your particular project team. Evolving Outsourcing is part of the Evolving Group, which also comprises Evolving Recruitment and Evolvi ng Training. Evolving Recruitment is a full-service HR company with clients ranging from blue chip multi-nationals to SMEs. Therefore, we are not only in a position to handle your outsourced business processes but are also perfectly positioned, in the first instance, to recruit and train the best possible staff for your particular project.This is a crucial component when choosing a BPO partner. Quality of Resources: It is imperative to choose a BPO location in which a large pool of highly-qualified, multi-lingual graduates is being produced every year. Ideally the destination city should have a reputation not only for producing a high number of excellent graduates each year but these graduates should come from a wide range of areas such as engineering, medicine, economics, IT, languages, administration ; management. 07 Cultural Similarity:It is important to choose a BPO location which is culturally aligned to your own country and/or the country or countries in which the majority of your clients are located. There should be cultural and linguistic similarities in order to prevent the perception of a disconnect emerging. There is an abundance of anecdotal evidence to this effect. Evolving Outsourcing is headquartered in Krakow, Poland, a country which is culturally and linguistically aligned to the western business world. Risks: Choosing a location for your BPO requirements is largely a question of risk versus reward.The ‘rewards' of BPO include significant cost savings, improved process performance (further fuelling bottom ; top line) and an enhanced experience for all your clients from partnering with specialist service providers. The ‘risks' are primarily associated with the perceived loss of control which accompanies a move into BPO by an organization. This is a natural reaction for organizations using BPO service providers, particularly for the first time. Bearing this in mind, BPO providers truly committed to partnership- and collaborationbased relationships need to work with the client partner to allay these fears.At Evolving Outsourcing, we spend a significant amount of time discussing this with client partners. We help organizations through this initial period of tentativeness in three key ways. 1. Show the value of recommendations and explain clearly how their implementation will improve the client's particular situation. 2. Ensure the client clearly understands exactly what the proposed solution is going to achieve i. e. to what point are we trying to get? 3. Ensure client partners understand and feel that they ‘own' the proposed solution and are fully committed to implementing it.Striking a balance between risk & reward is key to choosing a BPO partner and location. At Evolving Group, when it came to choosing a location for our Outsourcing delivery centre we felt that Krakow satisfied our requirements in that it is a relatively low cost/low risk location. When speaking with prospective client partners we use t wo main points to elucidate the low risk nature of partnering with Evolving; Firstly, we have found that the average skills of Polish employees tend to be significantly higher than many other countries.Whether it is an IT specialist, a web/graphic designer or a Finance & Accounting professional, we are constantly impressed by both the technical skills and the ‘can do' attitude they display. Secondly, we facilitate our clients by offering to initiate our BPO relationship using a Pilot Project for a short, predetermined period of time. This allows organizations to work with us and see the benefits of what we can bring to their business without the up-front commitment of a longer contract. Naturally, the single most important aspect of selecting a BPO location is choosing the right provider with whom to partner.At Evolving Outsourcing, we provide costsaving & performance-enhancing outsourcing services to companies of all sizes in all markets/industries. Headquartered in Krakow, P oland, our proximity to some of the country's most renowned universities gives us excellent access to a superior pool of talented and highly-educated, multi-lingual graduates allowing us to provide our client partners with world class business process outsourcing services at a much lower price than can be achieved in the Ireland or the UK.Why Krakow? At Evolving Outsourcing, we took the strategic ; tactical decision to locate our delivery centre in Krakow as we feel it provides us and our client partners with a very strong ‘best of both worlds' scenario. We can offer significant cost savings ; performance improvements from a strategically located city which is renowned for producing world class graduates (Krakow has 7 universities). 09 Tholons, (www. tholons. om) a leading global strategic advisory firm focused on the outsourcing industry recently ranked Krakow the 5th most attractive city in the world and 1st in Europe for outsourcing in their report – ‘Top 50 Em erging Outsourcing Cities'. In assessing the cities' levels of attractiveness as an outsourcing destination, the research examined such criteria as the quality and availability of human resources, education levels, costs of running a business, business-related risks, investment climate, infrastructure and quality of life.Many of the world's leading outsourcing and technology companies have already set up operations in Krakow: IBM Outsourcing LogicaCMG General Electric HCL HP Cap Gemini Motorola Google Research Labs Hewitt In addition, the following firms already have ‘shared services' centres in Krakow RR Donnelly Electrolux Bayer Shell Shared Services Centre Philip Morris Outsourcing Centre Hitachi E;Y BP Shared Services Centre Indesit KPMG International Paper Lufthansa Evolving GroupOur starting point at Evolving Outsourcing is to ask ourselves ‘what value can we bring to this company? ‘ We are not interested in ‘elbowing' our way into an organization in or der to ‘sell our wares'. In every first meeting with a potential client we ask the questions ‘what can we do for you? How can we help you? ‘ We listen. We are in the business of consulting, never hard selling. Business Process Outsourcing is a complex undertaking and it is vital to choose the appropriate partner for your firm and your objectives.In the case of Evolving Outsourcing, we provide our services from our state-of-the-art delivery centre in Krakow, Poland. In BPO speak, Krakow is considered a nearshoring location as opposed to an offshoring location. Nearshoring locations like Krakow are characterized by relative proximity to the client country (i. e. Ireland) in terms of geography, time zone, culture (values, behaviours ; attitudes) and language (incl. accent). Examples of offshoring locations include India and China. The nearshore Vs offshore decision has significant implications for the SME business owner.Practical implications such as a monthly or bi-m onthly site visit are entirely feasible from a time ; cost perspective if we are speaking about a nearshoring location such as Krakow. A business owner can fly from Dublin, Cork or Shannon on a weekday morning, be collected at the airport, brought to the delivery centre for the day and be back at their office 24-48 hours later. This is simply not possible with an offshoring destination such as India. All of these practical considerations must also be added to the mix when engaging in a BPO decision-making process.Practical considerations such as the above-mentioned site visits coupled with the communication advantages of a one hour time difference and cultural and linguistic similarities must be carefully weighed against a purely lowest cost-driven decision i. e. offshoring locations such as India and China, as well as emerging destinations like the Philippines, will inevitably win the battle from a purely low cost perspective. Evolving Outsourcing is part of Evolving Group, a multi -lingual, full service HR Services, Training ; Outsourcing Company.Supplying more than 300 companies in over 15 countries with Outsourcing, Recruitment and HR solutions. Our clients, ranging from large multinationals to small and medium size enterprises, are located throughout the EU, Canada and the Middle-East. 84% of our clients are involved in repeat business with us. Our Business Process Outsourcing solutions include Customer Interaction Management Solutions, Back Office Document ; Data Management Solutions, Finance ; Accounting Solutions, IT Support Solutions and Internet ; e-Commerce Outsourcing Solutions.To see how BPO can assist your business, contact us for consultation at [email  protected] com About the author: Brian O'Brien B. Comm. , MSc. is Managing Director, Evolving Outsourcing and Business Development Director, Evolving Group. Having previously lived in Krakow, Poland he has relocated to Ireland to head up Evolving Outsourcing's push into the Irish ; UK markets. H e always welcomes an opportunity to discuss BPO requirements and can be contacted directly at b. [email  protected] com or www. linkedin. com/in/brianobrienireland