Breaking Society’s Rules :: Essays Papers

Breaking Society’s Rules American literature often examines people and motives. In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel, The Scarlet Letter, and in Arthur Miller’s dramatic classic, The Crucible, people and motives often depict patterns of Puritans struggling for life during a precarious time. Guilt and shame can tear a person's soul away. The inevitable consequence of sin is the immediate reaction of guilt, shame, and remorse. For example: John Proctor, Elizabeth Proctor, and Reverend Dimmesdale have all committed a sin or sins and are feeling extremely guilty about it. They want to be forgiven, but they have no strength and are cowards. Forgiveness can only be obtained when these characters find the strength within themselves to speak the truth. The first to commit a sin is John Proctor, the husband of Elizabeth Proctor. John is a good man until Abigail Williams comes into his life. John lives in a house feeling empty and thinking his wife does not love him. Lust is a very powerful feeling, and it tempts John right into bed with Abigail. Unfortunately once he commits adultery, Elizabeth does not forgive him. She finds ways to punish John and make him feel more remorseful. For example, Reverend Hale asks John to recite the commandments, and he forgets one, Elizabeth then says sarcastically, â€Å"Adultery, John.† Elizabeth responds in such a manner that John feels overwhelming pain in his heart. Naturally, Elizabeth feels guilty as well. She tells John, â€Å"I have sins of my own to count. It needs a cold wife to prompt lechery.† Elizabeth feels as though she is to blame for John committing adultery. She is a mother and, of course, Elizabeth will be consumed with taking care of their children, cooking, cleaning, etc. At first, Elizabeth does not recognize John pulling away from her and turning towards Abigail. Soon after Elizabeth finds out John committed adultery with Abby, she fires her. Later on in the novel Elizabeth is accused of being a witch and John goes to court to prove Abigail is lying.

Comparative Analysis of Amazon and Webvan

Webvan was founded by Louis Borders in 1999 after he saw the opportunity in the growing number of people making online purchases. Borders created Webvan as an enterprise that would offer greater variety than conventional stores and at the same time provide the necessary convenience to online shoppers. Webvan started by offering groceries that were frequently bought by online shoppers to ensure economies of scale in their orders.After establishing a critical customer base, it planned to use its distribution system to expand its sale to product lines that were not being frequently offered but with high profit margins such as books and consumer electronics. The company developed the web store and constructed its distribution and fulfillment center in the San Francisco Bay area from 1997 to 1999. After implementing its trial delivery system in May 1999 to 1,100 customers, Webvan was launched in June of the same year as a venture whose primordial mission is to deliver to its customers eve rything from groceries to palm pilots in a cheap and efficient manner.After raising $1. 2 billion as start-up capital from its stock offering, it began to execute grandiose plans of establishing strings of futuristic warehouses with motorized carousels and robotic product-pulling machines which costed $35 million, hoping it would minimize the cost of operations. With profit-margins so thin, Webvan failed to cover its growing cost of operations. Demand was so weak to sustain the income that Webvan needed to raise. Finally, after suffering a net loss of $217 million and accumulating tremendous deficits amounting to $830 million, Webvan found itself in a loosing situation.By July 2001, Webvan Group, Inc. and its subsidiaries, Webvan-Bay Area, Inc. , Webvan Operations, Inc. , and HomeGrocer. com, Inc. filed voluntary petitions for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the United Stated Bankruptcy Court in July 2001 and ceased operations. Amazon was founded by Jeff Bezos in 1994, after he noticed the promising growth of Web sites and internet access. Bezos was said to be particularly â€Å"optimistic about online retail opportunities and set out to develop a business model that will leverage growth of internet access in the United States†.Bezos decided to start with bookselling as its initial retail category, with the belief that online business model possessed superior economics to established competitors. Amazon was so successful in its initial public offering that it was able to sell 3 million shares at $18 per share, thereby raising $54 million as part of its start-up capital. And so they say the rest is history. Amazon evolved from a tiny warehouse to a leading internet retailer in the world. Bogler and Johnson (2000) wrote:â€Å"The company’s growth was phenomenal: it expanded from books to offering 28 million items across numerous categories and acquired 29 million global customers along the way. By 2000 according to Interbrand, Amazon. com beca me the forty-eighth most valuable brand in the world, embodying the principle of electronic commerce for people worldwide. † However by late 2001, Amazon experienced a tremendous loss of $2. 3 billion. Its share price which ascended rapidly in 1999 went down significantly. Fortunately, it was able to borrow $2.1 billion to sustain its international investments. With innovations such as the one-click system and creative strategies to raise revenues from publishers and increase in sales from wider product selection, Amazon was able to survive the slump in the subsequent period at the NASDAQ. (Burgelman, 2001) By 2008, Amazon emerged as a global brand with 76 million active customer accounts and order fulfillment to more than 200 countries. With this volume of sales, on December 31, 2007 Amazon employed approximately 17,000 full-time and part-time employees. COMPARE & CONTRASTIt would be interesting to note that the founder of Webvan actually started in the business of booksellin g. In terms of experience in the dot-com business, Amazon started earlier in 1994 while Webvan started in 1999. Webvan started operations in 1999 and was publicly-listed on November of the same year, with its share price zooming to $34 from the offering price of $15 on its opening day. This allowed Webvan to raise a whopping $1. 2 billion in start-up capital from the offering and other sources such as venture capitalists, thereby putting it within the league of Amazon.com. ([email  protected], 2001) In other words, both companies were of equal footing in 1999 when Webvan caught up with Amazon in terms of dot-com stature and financial backing. Both companies also established strategic alliances in the course of their operations. In the case of Webvan, it established partnership with Eve. com, an online prestige beauty products retailing company. It also established strategic alliances with Coca-Cola Company, Kraft Foods, and Chlorox Company. This was done by Webvan to reduce its pr ocurement costs.Amazon partnered with Drugstore. com (pharmacy), Living. com (furniture), Pets. com (pet supplies), Wineshopper. com (wines), Sothebys. com (auctions) and Kozmo. com (urban home delivery). In most cases, Amazon purchased an equity stake in these partners, so that it would share in their prosperity. Such partnerships helped Amazon extend its reach into the customer-base of other suppliers, and of course, customers who buy in one category such as books can be encouraged to purchase into other areas such as clothing or electronics.Webvan carried mostly perishable grocery goods in its retail categories while Amazon had the policy of selling only non-perishable and conveyable items. Since profit margins were so thin for perishable goods compared to non-perishable goods, it would be easy to undertsand why Amazon had greater chances of success than Webvan. Furthermore, perishable items have greater risk and cost in inventory handling. This is the reason why Webvan had to in vest too much money in its warehousing infrastructure. This spelled the difference in the success and failure of the Amazon and Webvan.Webvan had to invest too much money on a system that must ensure the freshness of its perishable goods. It had to establish a highly technological and robotic warehousing infrastructure that was very expensive to begin with in contrast to Amazons system which required its employees to â€Å"touch† its products. In the case of Amazon, since most of its items sold online were non-perishable, it had lesser inventory risks. In addition to that, its business model allowed it to shift it cost of carrying most of its inventory to its suppliers.Thus, Amazon had better grip in its infrastructure costs. The savings it obtained from its leaner operations allowed it to invest its money in developing its software systems that facilitated greater efficiency in its distribution. Finally, the viability of both business differed mainly from its customer-base a nd funding support during hard times. Webvan had a weak local customer-base that was often dissatisfied by its delivery service while Amazon had a strong customer-base that was not only confined to the US but also overseas.More so, NASDAQ just gave up on Webvan when it continously experienced financial setbacks while Amazon was able to secure additional investments to sustain its global operations. CAUSES FOR FAILURE OR SUCCESS One of the main reasons why Webvan failed is because it made the wrong decision of investing the money it successfully raised in a very expensive infrastructure and rapid expansion of operations. According to Strom (2001): â€Å"Webvan spent huge sums on high-tech warehouses that were designed to revolutionize distribution, but they turned out to be mostly a waste of money.The problem is that all the technology was meant to reduce labor costs, and labor is relatively cheap. Worse, Webvan designed the warehouses so they could scale to 8,000 orders per day, bu t that's a lot of unnecessary expense when you're receiving less than half that many orders. † Another factor that led to the failure of Webvan is the decline in the quality of its service delivery. When Webvan took over HomeGrocer, an internet grocery shopping store which was absorbed into Webvan’s grandiose expansion plan, customers noticed the deteriorating effectivity of customer service.Before the takeover, there were no complaints with HomeGrocer specially interms of customer service. Emails from customers were being promptly addressed by customer service such as providing refunds in cases of occasional mistake or damaged food. This quality of service worsened when customers started to receive rotten fruits from the delivery. Webvan was buying inferior produce in order to save on cost. Such decline in customer service resulted in customers going back to the conventional way of picking up their groceries and patronizing the local groceries once again.(Mcafee, 2006) Finally, it can be seen that Webvan’s botched acquisition of HomeGrocer led to its failure as it did’nt handle the merger of resources and assets wisely. HomeGrocer’s competency and strength in terms of operations and marketing were not totally assimilated into Webvan’s system. Amazon’s e-commerce technology platform, brand power and fulfillment infrastructure was a key to its success. It had technological innovations that efficiently facilitated online order such as the â€Å"one-click check out process†.Amazon provided its customers with an online system that allowed shoppers to purchase products online without filling lengthy registration and shipping forms that would usually turn-away buyers. Amazon was able to create an online system that also helped repeat purchases by buyers to be executed by just one click of a button – a system whose patent was eventually awarded to Amazon. One important factor why Amazon succeeded is becaus e of certain inherent strengths in its business model.Its negative operating cycle allowed Amazon to get credit card payments from its customers in a few days while enjoying a time lag of thirty to sixty days to pay its vendors after the sale. This gave Amazon a financial advantage that allowed it to generate interest in the full price of its goods for over a month. Another inherent strength in Amazon’s business model is its less dependence on physical infrastructure such warehouses. Amazon was able to sell it products with out actually carrying in most of its inventory thus shifting the risk of its inventory to its vendors.Amazon’s suppliers carried the burden of storage, thereby lessening its cost due to minimal inventory handling. Amazon also instituted free shipping offers to encourage increase in basket size since customers have to spend over a certain amount to receive free shipping. The level at which free-shipping is set is critical to profitability. Because of this, Amazon got a competitive edge as promotional battles evolved with its competitors. LESSONS LEARNED AND CONCLUSION Growing Too Fast Too Soon The lesson that can be learned from the experience of Webvan is that of timing.Some would think it’s a business that is way ahead of its time; others would say it grew too fast too soon. In his review of the â€Å"Top ten dot-com flops†, German (2009) wrote that: â€Å"A core lesson from the dot-com boom is that even if you have a good idea, it is best not to grow too fast too soon. But online grocer Webvan was the poster child for doing just that, making the celebrated company our number one dot-com flop. In a mere 18 months, it raised $375 million in an IPO, expanded from the San Francisco Bay Area to eight U. S.cities, and built a gigantic infrastructure from the ground up (including a $1 billion order for a group of high-tech warehouses). Webvan came to be worth $1. 2 billion (or $30 per share at its peak), and it toute d a 26-city expansion plan. But considering that the grocery business has razor-thin margins to begin with, it was never able to attract enough customers to justify its spending spree. The company closed in July 2001, putting 2,000 out of work and leaving San Francisco's new ballpark with a Webvan cup holder at every seat.† Getting Big Fast Ironically, in the case of Amazon, the same business principle of getting big fast was said to be the most important decision that lead to its success. In an interview with Jeff Bezos by Fortune Magazine, he said that the initial strategy was very focused and very uni-dimensional†¦It was GBF: Get Big Fast†¦What once looked foolish can seem smart now. When we started the company on July 15, 1995 we offered one million titles. We were advised by very knowledgeable people to offer only three hundred thousand titles.That was twice the size of the inventory carried by the largest physical bookstores. The catalogue was hard for us but d oable. Obtaining the books was really hard. But the success generated word of mouth. (Brooker, 2000) Supply-chain management was also a crucial lesson in the experience of Webvan and Amazon. The company that was able to efficiently and effectively manage its online retail business with minimal inventory cost and risk was the company that turned out to be successful.The difference in the supply chain management of both companies ultimately distinguished between the company that was financially viable and which one was not. References Bogler, Daniel and Edgecliffe-Johnson, Andrew (2000). Jeff Bezos: The Man of Last Year Revisited. Brooker, Katrina (2000). Beautiful Dreamer. Fortune Magazine. Burgelman, Robert and Meza, Philip (2001). Amazon. com: Evolution of an e-tailer. Graduate School of Business. Stanford University. [email  protected] (2001).Webvan Finds that Shopping for Food Online Hasn’t Clicked with Consumers. [Online]. Available: http://knowledge. wharton. upenn. ed u/article. cfm? articleid=321 German Kent (2009). Top 10 dot-com flops. CNET Networks Incorporated. [Online]. Available: http://www. cnet. com/1990-11136_1-6278387-1. html Mcaffee, Andrew and Ashiya, Mona (2006). Webvan. Harvard Business School. President and Fellows of Harvard College. Strom, David (2001). Where Webvan Went Wrong. TidBits #588. [Online]. Available: http://www. strom. com/awards/255. html

Diana, Princess of Wales - Timeline of Events

Diana, Princess of Wales - Timeline of Events July 1, 1961 Diana Frances Spencer born in Norfolk, England 1967 Dianas parents divorced. Diana initially lived with her mother, and then her father fought for and won custody. 1969 Dianas mother married Peter Shand Kydd. 1970 After being educated at home by tutors, Diana was sent to Riddlesworth Hall, Norfolk, a boarding school 1972 Dianas father began a relationship with Raine Legge, Countess of Dartmouth, whose mother was Barbara Cartland, romance novelist 1973 Diana began her education at the West Heath Girls School, Kent, an exclusive girls boarding school 1974 Diana moved to the Spencer family estate in Althorp 1975 Dianas father inherited the title of Earl Spencer, and Diana gained the title of Lady Diana 1976 Dianas father married Raine Legge 1977 Diana dropped out of West Girls Heath School; her father sent her to a Swiss finishing school, Chateau dOex, but she only stayed a few months 1977 Prince Charles and Diana met in November when he was dating her sister, Lady Sarah; Diana taught him to tap-dance 1978 Diana attended a Swiss finishing school, Institut Alpin Videmanette, for a term 1979 Diana moved to London, where she worked as a housekeeper, nanny, and kindergarten teachers aide; she lived with three other girls in a three-bedroom flat purchased by her father 1980 On a visit to see her sister Jane, who was married to Robert Fellowes, an assistant secretary to the Queen, Diana and Charles met again; soon, Charles asked Diana for a date, and in November, he introduced her to several members of the royal family:Â  the Queen, the Queen Mother, and the Duke of Edinburgh (his mother, grandmother, and father) February 3, 1981 Prince Charles proposed to Lady Diana Spencer at a dinner for two at Buckingham Palace February 8, 1981 Lady Diana left for a previously-planned vacation in Australia July 29, 1981 wedding of Lady Diana Spencer and Charles, Prince of Wales, at St. Pauls Cathedral; broadcast worldwide October 1981 the Prince and Princess of Wales visit Wales November 5, 1981 official announcement that Diana was pregnant June 21, 1982 Prince William born (William Arthur Philip Louis) September 15, 1984 Prince Harry born (Henry Charles Albert David) 1986 strains in the marriage began to be obvious to the public, Diana begins relationship with James Hewitt March 29, 1992 Dianas father died June 16, 1992 publication of Mortons book Diana: Her True Story, including the story of Charles long affair with Camilla Parker Bowles and allegations of five suicide attempts including once during Dianas first pregnancy; it later became apparent that Diana or at least her family had cooperated with the author, her father contributing many family photographs December 9, 1992 formal announcement of the legal separation of Diana and Charles December 3, 1993 announcement from Diana that she was withdrawing from public life 1994 Prince Charles interviewed by Jonathan Dimbleby, admitted he had had a relationship with Camilla Parker Bowles since 1986 (later, it was questioned whether his attraction to her had been rekindled earlier) the British television audience was 14 million November 20, 1995 Princess Diana interviewed by Martin Bashir on BBC, with 21.1 million audience in Britain, revealing her struggles with depression, bulimia, and self-mutilations; this interview contained her line, Well, there were three of us in this marriage, so it was a bit crowded, referring to her husbands relationship with Camilla Parker Bowles December 20, 1995 Buckingham Palace announced that the Queen had written to the Prince and Princess of Wales, with the backing of the Prime Minister and Privy Counsel, advising them to divorce February 29, 1996 Princess Diana announced shed agreed to a divorce July 1996 Diana and Charles agreed to divorce terms August 28, 1996 divorce of Diana, Princess of Wales, and Charles, Prince of Wales, final; Diana received about $23 million settlement plus $600,000 per year, retained the title Princess of Wales but not the title Her Royal Highness, continued to live at Kensington Palace; agreement was that both parents were to be active in their childrens lives late 1996 Diana became involved with the issue of landmines 1997 Nobel Peace Prize went to the International Campaign to Ban Landmines, for which Diana had worked and traveled June 29, 1997 Christies in New York auctioned 79 of Dianas evening gowns; proceeds of about $3.5 million went to cancer and AIDS charities. 1997 linked romantically with 42-year-old Dodi Fayed, whose father, Mohammed al-Fayed, owned Harrods Department Store and Paris Ritz Hotel August 31, 1997 Diana, Princess of Wales, died of injuries sustained in a car accident, in Paris, France September 6, 1997 Princess Dianas funeral. She was buried at the Spencer estate at Althorp, on an island in a lake.

Fight the Power essays

Fight the Power essays Public Enemy wrote a song about racism, censorship and freedom. This song was popular among its time back in the late 80s and earlier 90s. The song Im talking about of course is Fight The Power, the title its self is self explanatory. Public Enemy has four members all from unique backgrounds. Its first and most known member would be Chuck D also known as Carlton Ridenhour born on August 1st 1960 same as its second member Professor Griff a.k.a Richard Griffin. Third member of P.E. is Terminator X born as Norman Rogers in 1966 and its fourth and final member is Flavor Flav also known to his family as William Drayton born on March 16th 1959. Public Enemy got their name from So Hank Schocklee when he heard two songs from them featuring the words Public Enemy and a single titled the same. The group toured with such groups as U2, Anthrax and Primus, and Sister of Mercy. Their first tour was the Ill tour headlining the Beastie Boys. Public Enemy is a political group. Theyve always talked about the issues at hand. And they werent afraid to use it in their songs. Their one of the few groups at their time to rap about the issues. Cause at their time gangsta rap had started to take off and people started to listen to different things. But the song Fight The Power was a popular song and so was its music video. The video showed a community coming together at a rally to support a common cause. Also in the video people who looked like they were part of the Black Panthers. The song talks about censorship briefly and I quote While the Black bands sweatin Our freedom of speech is freedom or death We got to fight the powers that be. Not only are they talking about freedom of speech but also racism comes up as part of it. They talk about how blac ...

As a person who has experienced both your own and American culture Essay

As a person who has experienced both your own and American culture - Essay Example On the other hand, other scholars disagree that American fast food brands are that good for China if they increase health problems and promote conformist and materialistic values (O’Connor 162; Zhang, der Lans, and Dagevos 88). The positive effects of the American fast food industry on Chinese society are the promotion of aspirations for success, freedom, equality, and humanity in general and a successful global business model for Chinese businesses in specific, although the American fast food industry also poses the negative effects of poor health and the spreading potentially harmful cultural practices of conformity and superficiality. One of the positive effects of American fast food brands on Chinese culture is the promotion of positive ideals of success. Many Chinese go to Western fast food outlets to experience the American lifestyle, which is largely connected to material success. Chinese consumers want the â€Å"slice of America† that Dan Roberts writes about (168). Lynn Guenette agrees with Roberts because of examples of Chinese consumers do not want to eat rice and congee in McDonald’s because they want to taste American brands and feel emotionally connected to the success of these brands (8). She cites China Daily, where Jeffrey Schwartz, McDonald’s China CEO explains that, in their focus group studies of Chinese consumers, many of them say that they come to McDonald’s â€Å"because [it is] a Western brand, if [they] want to eat rice or congee [they] can eat it at home†¦[they] want to sample the Western brand† (Guenette 8). Guenette says that the Chinese see America n brands and American success as one: â€Å"Being  Ã¢â‚¬Ëœwestern’  is  a  prerequisite  for  success† (4).   The Chinese want American brands because America stands for success and those who consume its brands access status symbols of success. Roberts notes that, though some groups are falling out of love of American brands because of U.S. foreign

Role Of Women In Ancient Egypt Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Role Of Women In Ancient Egypt - Essay Example Hatshepsut reigned until her death in 1457 B. C, despite the constant threat by her co-ruler Thutmose III, who was at the time old enough and ready to take back his throne. Upon her death, most of her monuments were destroyed, and her name erased from the Egyptian records. Ancient Egyptians were religious, and women had several roles to play in religious activities. First, there were several female goddesses worshiped by the Egyptians. Women were also musicians and priestesses in the temples where religious ceremonies were held. In the role of the temple, women were musician-priestesses and held an important and honorable place in Egyptian religious society. They performed music and sung for the god Amum for his entertainment. In the social role, women were supposed to offer companionship and love to the Egyptian men. They also held the role of childbirth. During child delivery, other women acted as midwives to help the expectant woman through the whole process. Women were also responsible for the raising up of the children. Economically, women were allowed to start and run businesses of their own. In addition to this, several jobs were available to them. They included perfume makers, bakers, and weavers among others (Flux 19). To sum it up, in ancient Egypt, unlike other ancient societies, women were given same legal and economic right. Women were allowed to own, manage and even sell their private properties. Through building projects, Hatshepsut ensured the divine property of both herself and her people.

Summary Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Summary - Assignment Example It had also adopted ‘active industrial policies’ that lured foreign investment in exchange of knowledge transfer. Another important element of its success has been its proximity to Hong Kong where inflow of capital and know how was easy. By focusing on backward areas that were near Hong Kong, it introduced reallocation of labor from agriculture to other activities. The local government and entrepreneurs were given incentives to introduce reforms. The reforms and industrial revolution was accompanied by high quality low waged human skill and infrastructure that was able to mass produce. China has not followed the traditional western culture of best practices but has concentrated on improved performance through incentive driven approach, especially during transition period of growth and development. Indeed, while China lacks in freedom, the billion plus population is high growth market for foreign investment. It has introduced fresh reforms to incorporate the concern regar ding environment concern, human rights and more conducive environment for foreign business. This is a way to declare that its growth is not merely a bubble with short life span. Reference Case study: Understanding a Development Miracle: China.