Cultural Change and Shifting Views of America Essay

The Chicago World’s Fair in 1893 was a huge event! Not only because the World’s fair is a big deal, but this particular World’s fair was a hard one for Chicago to get. Many other big cities put in their bids to host the event, including New York and Washington D.C. On May 1, 1893, the gates opened at the World’s Columbian Exposition. This fair which was meant to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus’ first voyage also served as a showcase for a fully rebuilt Chicago. †At the core of the fair was an area that quickly became known as the White City for its buildings with white stucco siding and its streets illuminated by electric lights† (Maranzani, 2013). The Ashcan school was a group of New York city artists who wanted to capture the turn of the 20th century in New York city through realistic portraits of everyday life. These artists captured all aspects. Not just the rich and promising on Fifth Avenue, but the lower class and culturally textured immigrants. Some critics of the time did not like their choice of subjects which often included slums, alleys, and taverns that were frequented by the local working class. The Gilded age was a time when many changes in America were taking place. The economy was flourishing and so was art. Painters were depicting a realistic look at all the glories and hardships of the new age. Wealthy Americans wanted to fill their homes with beautiful things and yearned to have their image captured for posterity by having their portraits painted. These two times have something in common. Both include art that depicted realism and the things going on around them. While both covered the high and the low times, the gilded age was a postwar era that marked a cultural change for the country. Painters in this era like Winslow Homer gained fame for realistic illustrations of the Civil War. Culture inspires art. A lot of artist paint what they know or the things around them. Culture survives man through many things such as, music,  poetry, sculptures, architecture, etc. These things are all art. Think back to the ancient times that we study. Hieroglyphics were a form of communication which used pictures to convey messages. This is part of Egyptian culture, yet it is art at the same time. Art and culture is how humanity makes sense of and shares the world around us. References Maranzani, B., (2013). 7 Things You May Not Know About the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair. Retrieved from http://www.history.com/news/7-things-you-may-not-know-about-the-1893-chicago-worlds-fair U.S History, (n.d.). Painting the Gilded Age. Retrieved from http://www.ushistory.org/us/38f.asp Boundless, (n.d.), The Rise of Realism. Retrieved from https://www.boundless.com/u-s-history/textbooks/boundless-u-s-history-textbook/race-empire-and-culture-in-the-gilded-age-1870-1900-21/the-rise-of-realism-161/the-rise-of-realism-861-10326/

Religion in Film: a Comparison of Fight Club and Antz Essay

At first glance, David Fincher’s â€Å"Fight Club† and Dreamworks Studio’s â€Å"Antz† could not be more diametrically opposed to each other in form and genre. One is a dark commentary on the vacuity of modern life, fraught with homoerotic subtext; the other is a brightly animated cartoon where the bad guy dies, the good guy gets the girl, and everybody lives happily ever after. I intentionally chose these two films, however, for their thematic similarity, to examine the recurring motif of striving for identity in a society of conveyer belt roles where the value of the individual is quickly depreciating toward extinction. By analyzing both films through a theological and Freudian lens, I intend to reveal the tension that has always existed between possessing the freedom of choice and submitting to an oppressive, delineating structure. â€Å"Antz† opens up with a disembodied voice announcing its anxieties. As the camera penetrates layers of New York underground, the voice is revealed to belong to a lonely ant. He is in therapy. We soon learn that his name is â€Å"Z† and he is a disgruntled worker ant, airing his frustrations over working all his life and never quite feeling satisfied. One is expected, as an ant, to devote all his efforts toward the good of his colony and deal with his needs being ignored. This is a common grievance, felt among the spectrum of classes and races. Regardless of status, hardly anybody ever feels he is getting his. Before we have time to dismiss Z’s grouchiness as trivial angst, the camera pans out and introduces us to the â€Å"gung-ho super organism† of ant life. What we see is a hyper complex built by and on millions of bodies that link together to drive the meticulous engine that runs and perpetuates the system. It is impossible to make out any one creature from the swarm of activity. We see elevator pulleys marked with phrases lik e â€Å"Let’s Work† and â€Å"Conquer Idleness,† a chilly reference to the Nazi motto that likewise drove millions of human souls to a state of dejection reflected in the demeanor of the worker ants, as well as Ed Norton’s character from Fight Club. We see ants producing their bundled babies for appraisal, where they are systematically (one might say, arbitrarily) assigned a role in the microcosm. Roles like â€Å"worker† and â€Å"soldier† are shouted out at random and these tiny cocoons, before even having a sense of their individuality—what Freud called recognition of self as separate from the mother (colony)—they are deprived of it. They are then designated a place in the hierarchy that will forever  determine their value by output. This systematic allocation of significance by measure of the whole in turn leaves the individual feeling utterly insignificant (Brintall 303). This is the way of life and up until now it went largely unquestioned. As everybody will tell Z, one ant is meaningless. It is not about him it’s about â€Å"us, the team,† working endlessly to build and acquire more, and he would do best to content himself with it and be happy. Don’t think too much. Think ing leads to rogue individualism that puts the whole microcosm in jeopardy. There appears to be no room for pleasure in this life. Even activities intended to relieve pressure and stress, such as dancing and drinking, are normalized, structured. Socializing too has its place, as the ants are transferred from one ghetto to the next. Ants dance in a group and any who desist are either bullied back into submission or removed entirely. If one may speak of computerized ants in a sexual nature, we can observe how the libidinal economy is so tightly controlled in their environment that all drive toward freedom and creativity is squelched. Inner desires have been buried under dirt and exhaustion and thus, if Freud was correct and our energy drive must be pointed somewhere, the eros is redirected toward work, ungratifying as it may be (Brintall 296). It is transferred into idolizing the strength inherent in uniformity, as personified by the macho General Mandible, who’s face comes as close to sexual gratification as an ant’s could when glancing out at the swarming and sweating organism. Although pleasure is at odds with pain, when all prospects for it are denied, pain—the endurance of reality—becomes the only frontier where any pleasure can surface (Brintall 299). It is through pain that the Narrator in â€Å"Fight Club† asserts his identity, his masculinity and his divorce from the whole of society. He feels the punch, not the corporation he slaves for. That scar, that bruise, that burn is on his body and his alone. But this is later in the plot, which it makes little sense to spend time recapitulating, as you are most likely already familiar with it. Rather, I would like to isolate and review specific incidents to connect them with themes of religion and sociology. Though the repressive system of collectivism is not stated as overtly in black and white as in â€Å"Antz,† it is clear that the totalitarian regime in â€Å"Fight Club† is modern consumer culture. Having returned home (after successfully realizing his alter-ego Tyler Durden) to find his apartment  blown to pieces, the Narrator (who’s name is necessarily inconsequential) laments the loss of his beloved designer wardrobe and catalogue dining room set. What are we, asks Tyler? And the answer is infamous: we are consumers. Consumers who exhaust themselves to emptiness, working to fulfill a false dream, to acquire and acquire, believing each new possession will bring them closer to feeling complete. Human beings work to be the masters of their domain, a domain filled with the products of other human labor and frustrations of their own lack and inability to conquer it fully (Brintall 297). All creative energy and hope is transferred into consumerism, an oppressive system we ourselves helped create and perpetuate and thus permit it to establish mastery over us. And what are we told when we inevitably find ourselves feeling even more empty than where we started? To lighten up and not dwell on â€Å"it.† What is this â€Å"it†? This is the â€Å"it† that keeps the Narrator up at night; the â€Å"it† that inspires Z to run away in search of freedom, in search of release; the â€Å"it† that leads both characters into the next stage of their development in their search for meaning and identity; the elusive â€Å"it† that excites the first blow and enables both the main characters to opt out of being just another avatar in the assembly line of human souls and go in search of something better, something else. For Z, it is a perfect utopia where insects can choose their own roles in life instead of being handled by the institution. For Tyler, it is a dystopia, perfect in its chaos and lack of oppressive structure. Each character makes a conscious choice to pursue a different course in life, meaning to demonstrate how individuality is a by-product of free will. But how free are human beings, really? Closer inspection reveals that neither character liberate s himself from structure, and especially not from idolatry. His focus simply shifts toward romanticizing a more bohemian lifestyle (or perhaps it is the audience’s focus that shifts). Although â€Å"Fight Club† is rarely referred to as romanticized. In his commentary about the film, director David Fincher talks about the meticulously sloppy care devoted to the film by exposing it to durations of harsh light, stretching contrast, and similar distortion techniques used to achieve the washed-out, deconstructed picture—a nod back to the film noir genre that characterized the inescapable dreariness and nihilism of the war-time era when life was so desperately devoid of all purpose or intrinsic value. But Tyler encourages  us to send all our pre-constructed notions of value and purpose to hell, and face reality. The reality is that there is no greater meaning, no utopia â€Å"beyond the mast and across the river,† as swears Z, and that putting one’s faith in redemption or God is useless, seeing as how in all pro bability â€Å"God hates you.† It is not surprising he feels this way, given the direct correlation between God and the father. Both films are interlaced with the issue of fatherly abandonment. When the scene first opens up on Z reclining in his therapist’s office cavity, we are subjected to the comical farce of an ant theorizing that his anxieties are most likely rooted in his childhood abandonment issues: his father crawled out on him when he was just a maggot. One cannot help but feel the cinematic hilarity of a tiny ant who’s immense feelings of inadequacy are not only mirrored by our own, but are actually in consensus with our estimation of an ant (and thus ourselves). In a similar exchange between the Narrator and Tyler Durden, the former recalls his father’s proclivity for fostering families all over and then walking out on them. To which Tyler, soaking nonchalantly in a tub in front of his ‘friend’, cogently replies the man is â€Å"setting up franchises,† as though the nurturing of children was nothing more than a simple business transaction. So how can these â€Å"thirty year old boys† be expected to enter into, as Freud wrote, normal, heterosexual society when their lives have been devoid of the strong authority of the father? (Freud handout) After all, â€Å"Our fathers were our models for God,† points out Tyler, â€Å"If they left, what does that tell you about God?† But to abandon our search for the divine is impossible, for in religion there lie answers. With the help of religion we can extract meaning. We see the Narrator attending support groups for the terminally ill in an attempt to establish a connection and find meaning, once again with pain as the currency. By witnessing the pain of other people’s realities, he finds pleasure, he finds acceptance and release—and sleep. These groups are for him akin to communion, a place where pent-up energies can be redistributed. Whatever the grievance, whatever is lacking in this life, a spiritual gathering maintains the possibility for ho pe. Religion thus becomes not just an outlet, a place where the eros can stir and the soul can come alive, but a way to compensate for the â€Å"longing for paternal protection,† the feeling of emptiness rooted early in childhood. Even as Tyler argues that religion is ineffectual, we realize  that in a society where children’s mental and social development is outsourced to vacuous advertisements, those products and ads take the place of the father—and eventually God himself. As â€Å"Fight Club† evolves and membership in the bloody communion grows larger and larger, we see the film come full circle. What began as a search for meaning beyond identification with a repressive system of consumerism, swelled into its own macrocosm (not unlike institutionalized Atheism) fueled by identical and nameless, yet willful, automatons. They are still participating in a society that extinguishes rogue individuality, but they are doing so by choice. Still, human beings need something to elevate and hold up as God, as the ideal. So they elevate Tyler Durden. They elevate fight club, the reality of owning your pain because pleasure is a blinding myth. Are human beings therefore truly free to make their own choices, is the abiding theological and sociological question. The task of determining the controlling force of society—religious collectivism, political collectivism, even anarchical collectivism—nags at our notion of free will. Of course in â€Å"Antz,† it being a kid’s film after all, the tyranny is embodied in one character. In â€Å"Fight Club† it is intentionally disembodied, in-your-face yet still invisible. â€Å"Our great war,† Tyler advocates, â€Å"is a spiritual war.† One might think if we just do away with consumerism, religion, any system, the subconscious would be free to express its most inner desires. But we discover this is not so. There doesn’t seem to be any more meaning or truth in the Ikea catalogue than in the eventual culmination of Project Mayhem, which conspires for the destruction of all authority and material idols—what Freud would deem the death drive. Though the characters in â€Å"Fight Club† have been so disheartened by the lacking prospect of creativity and purpose, and now seek to destroy everything they’ve ever identified with, they are still not free. Perhaps it is only through losing oneself in God, in work, in different institutions, each with their own offerings of value, that one can seek out one’s unique identity. It is possible that the hope for something better—be it called enlightenment, utopia or deeper understanding—allows one to exercise free will in the pursuit of meaning and pleasure, if never finding either itself. Works Cited 1. Anker, Roy M. â€Å"Narrative.† 2. â€Å"Antz.† (1998, dir. Eric Darnell) 3. Brintnall, Kent. â€Å"Psychoanalysis.† 4. â€Å"Fight Club.† (1999, dir. David Fincher) 5. Freud, Sigmund. â€Å"Civilization and Its Discontents.†

Extended commentary of ‘The Darkling Thrush’ by Thomas Hardy Essay

On the title: A thrush is a bird; plump, soft-plumaged, small to medium-sized, often inhabiting wooded areas. They feed on the ground or eat small fruit – but aren’t famed for their songs. Examples include a robin. ‘Darkling’ is an archaic word for ‘a creature of darkness’ or ‘in the dark’. Hardy uses it in its latter sense – the bird appears in a very gloomy scene, at the end of the day, at the end of the year (and century, for that matter). It also has negative connotations as well, however – for obvious reasons. Potential other implications: ‘darkling’ is perhaps used to create a diminutive form of the thrush (like a ‘duckling’). Other critics have identified the title as explaining, or preparing the reader for the unexpected advent of the bird half way through the poem, appearing into the scene from nowhere. Perhaps Hardy was attempting to use an antiquitated word to further demonstrate the bird is bringing joy to a dark land, and that there exists an enormous time difference between the new century and the old? Overall Structure: Hardy uses four regular eight line iambic stanzas; in either ‘tetrameter’ or ‘trimeter’, depending on the length of the line. This meter creates a poetic lilt, with alternate stressed feet. It seems very out of place in such a depressing poem – we must question why this is. Does it reflect the hope expressed at the end of the poem, or prepares us for it? Or does it tell of an oddity within the persona; is his negative manner actually genuine – perhaps we shouldn’t accept the persona’s judgment/emotions to the same extent as he’d like us to? His choice of rhyme scheme and meter along with the harsh subject fail to match up. Themes: Time (passing of century), Isolation, Man and the Natural World. Difficult Language Notes: ‘Darkling’ – discussed above. ‘Illimited’ is an archaic form of ‘unlimited’. First and Second Stanza Notes: As usual, Hardy presents us with an image, this time of a landscape – a depressing one, at that. This poem was published at the end of the century – 31st December 1900 (Hardy was one of those people who believe that a century is complete when the hundredth year is over.) It is very cold and frosty and the day is growing to a close. It really is the end of a century. And Hardy presents us with a very clear image of death – he later personifies the Century itself as being dead. The first two stanzas are full of death-language: 1. â€Å"When Frost was spectre-gray†. A clear example of ghost imagery (‘a spectre’). This line is of interest on its own, due to the obvious personification of ‘Frost’. This is a good place to make a key note about the poem itself. Throughout, we discover a distinct Hardy-esque style; the environment is unpleasant and it demonstrates his usual antics in animism. Hardy develops complex (and often deeply personal) symbolic systems which deal almost exclusively with the natural world. The reader is made personal with non-human entities like frost and birds but avoids people – even the persona is a subject avoided in great detail. 1. Back with the ‘death imagery’, â€Å"The weakening eye of day†; a comment on the darkening sky – the day is dying. 1. â€Å"All mankind that haunted nigh† – haunted is clearly a reference to death and ghosts. Hardy is commenting on the lack of human life in his scene; they â€Å"had sought their household fires†. A further indication of the low temperature. Is it a hint that the world is ending? Or is that just a little extreme? In any case, note how the rest of humanity are seeking light in an otherwise dark environment. The second stanza contains an extended metaphor involving the dead century, but we need to examine the first stanza more before moving on. Hardy’s persona is leaning upon a coppice gate – a gate into a small woods or ‘coppice’. It is a highly ambiguous persona (another thing to explore), but he leans nevertheless. The scene is wintry, indeed, along with Frost, Winter is personified equally – â€Å"Winter’s dregs made desolate/ The weakening eye of day.† The dregs of the season indicate a very cold atmosphere; one without much colour. Clearly this has emptied the scene of any colourful sight upon which the â€Å"eye of day† weakens. The day is ending; thus dusk darkens the scene. â€Å"Tangled bine-stems scored the sky/ Like strings of broken lyres†. As before mentioned, the persona is standing in woodland, thus â€Å"Bine-stems† are tree branches. Hardy’s comparison of them to broken lyres is interesting. Lyres are a) harmonious in Classical literature and b) belong only in Classical literature. Hardy is clearly stating that the scene is not ‘harmonious’ or perhaps the ‘death-lament’ later mentioned isn’t. Or is it also a reference Hardy’s romantic passion for the past, that it was somehow better than the day in which he writes? Second Stanza Notes: The first four lines of this stanza deal explicitly with Hardy’s ‘dead Century’ metaphor. He imagines the land before him as â€Å"the Century’s corpse outleant.† Quite what ‘outleant’ means, I have no idea, (The OED has confirmed that ‘outleant’ is not, nor ever has been a word) but â€Å"his crypt [becomes] the cloudy canopy† (the cloudy sky) and â€Å"the wind his death-lament†. One need not explain it in any more detail; the implications are quite explicit. Hardy’s persona clearly didn’t approve of the past century, but had yet to indicate an emotional reflection on the future. He imagines England as a rotting corpse, essentially. However, note the use of the verb ‘seems’ – is all as it seems? However, Hardy goes on to write even more damningly of his persona’s scene. ‘The ancient pulse of germ and birth’ – the regenerative power of life, following Winter’s onslaught – ‘was shrunken dry and hard’. Nothing appears to be growing back – is this another indication of the end of the world, or certainly of an era. Hardy appears to be making the simple change of an arbitrary number into something quite different, and more serious. A degeneration of life itself. Indeed, â€Å"every spirit upon earth/ Seemed fervourless than I.† Very negative. Observe how silent the description is up to this point in the poem. There is an implied sound in both the death-lament and of broken lyres, but otherwise, the sound is non-existent. That changes soon. Here comes the VOLTA. Third Stanza Notes: â€Å"At once a voice arose among The bleak twigs overhead In a full-hearted evensong Of Joy illimited;† Hardy emphasizes a sudden change with the words â€Å"At once† – indeed, there are multiple changes which create this volta: * Note the sudden inclusion of sound – the thrush is singing! This breaks the poetic still (of death) which has held the poem so far. * The length of ‘sentence’ also changes. Note the semicolon at the end of these four lines above. Previously, each quatrain had completed with a full stop. Perhaps Hardy is opening up his poetic form to mirror the sudden movement in the lines themselves. The use of enjambment accentuates this. There are perhaps religious connotations with ‘evensong’. Much as Hardy may simply be again referring to the mundane fact that the bird is singing a ‘song’ and ‘eve’, we pray that the man is capable of higher minded comparisons. These vaguely religious nuances are maintained throughout the poem. The crucial fact is that the mood has changed, perhaps. â€Å"Of Joy illimited† suggests a pleasant image, which stands in stark contrast to the surrounding gloom. â€Å"An aged thrush, frail, gaunt, and small, In blast-beruffled plume,† Yet the mood is suddenly plunged back into the red with Hardy’s following lines. The thrush, which is, admittedly, a very odd bird to chose (not famed for their song), is an elderly figure in a storm – hence the ‘blast-beruffled plume’. In this otherwise grim situation, the reader’s immediate concern is whether the bird itself is going to survive at all! The use of â€Å"frail, gaunt, and small† mirrors the ghoulish imagery used in the first two stanzas – the thrush is alive, for certain, but perhaps the persona questions for how much longer? Note how the thrush is NOT personified. Every other element of the natural world takes an animated form, but not the bird! Why does Hardy do this? â€Å"Had chosen thus to fling his soul Upon the growing gloom.† Perhaps desperation is the key word in this stanza, but also hope. There is a powerful message in the face of this ghoulish bird; that, in spite of all the darkness and death, the thrush maintains his song. Stanza Four Notes: â€Å"So little cause for carolings Of such ecstatic sound Was written on terrestrial things Afar or nigh around,† Once again, Hardy’s use of enjambment allows for the lines to ‘bleed’ into each other – in a direct contrast to the poem’s former rigidity. Perhaps he is now gathering momentum for a change in mood? Yet, in terms of sense, Hardy appears to be doing the opposite. He states that the bird has no reason to be singing a joyful song amongst so much desolation. However, perhaps, by even considering such a fact, the persona’s own deep-rooted pessimism is beginning to shift away? On some key language points: * Note more religious emphasis: ‘carolings’ typically sing hymns at Christmas time. Hymns are definitely religious! * Perhaps there is an equally religious connotation which Hardy applies to his comments on the ‘terrestrial things’. If there is not any cause for singing about things on Earth, then perhaps, reciprocally, there is cause for celebrating the sky, or heaven? â€Å"That I could think there trembled through His happy good-night air Some blessed Hope, whereof he knew And I was unaware.† It is a rather ambiguous ending upon which Hardy chooses to conclude, but he achieves a sense of dramatic effect through it. The persona realises the presence of (a perhaps religious) hope, in the fact of utter desperation, but it is unintelligible to him. In an odd way, the reader is forced to consider whether the persona is being entirely accurate: * Can one be unaware of something, yet still able to write about it? * Does this tell us that the persona, as a Modernist, is able to perceive such an uplifting messages but unable to interpret them in such a way as to ‘release’ himself from the ‘dark’? Hardy himself was a modernist and therefore dwells upon an odd lot of ideas. Amongst them was ‘searching for hope/meaning to darkness and cruelty’. Despite being a realist, he was deeply influenced by Romantic notions (look them up) – perhaps this exploration is one of them? * The use of ‘blessed’ again implies a deified presence within the thrush’s message. Is the persona experiencing some divine inspiration?

Select two of the movies that we have studied and compare and contrast Essay

Select two of the movies that we have studied and compare and contrast how they represent national identity and the national pas - Essay Example The success of the movies in bringing out matters of identity and national past are immense enough to be contrasted and compared in a meaningful and sustainable debate, as shall be seen forthwith. It is important to note that in Good Bye, Lenin! nationalism is still regarded as being propounded by the exploits of a state. This can be seen in the instance where Alex Kerner remembers as a child, how he as the first German and in the company of his compatriots, proudly entered space. The fact that this forms part of the movie’s prologue and is presented as a form of flashback, is significant. The significance of the scene is important since it portrays this national occasion as important to the state which is Germany. This caption seems to insinuate that national exploits make citizens more proud (of their country) and inspire the ‘we-feeling’ among citizens. The case immediately above converges ways with Bergman’s The Seventh Seal. This is because, the theme of loyalty to one’s state is extolled, though nationalism is not thoroughly mentioned in Bergman’s work. The extolling of nationalism in The Seventh Seal is seen in Knight Antonius Block obediently carry out the Crusades. The Crusades were sanctioned by the state under the tutelage of the monarch. Because of his loyalty to his state, Block engages in the Crusades, even if such engagements may portend risking life. The difference between the two movies is underpinned by the disparity of time in which they are set. While Good Bye, Lenin! has a setting that dates back to the Cold War (probably 1950s to 1990), The Seventh Seal has a setting that can date between 1095 and 1291 AD. In both cases, the concept of patriotism to one’s country was still regarded as paramount (Vermilye, 2006, 29). In the movie Good Bye, Lenin! the family is portrayed as having an immense influence on the personality and identity of an individual. For instance, after Alex’s father fle es to West Berlin, Alex has no recourse to living with his mother Christiane, his sister Ariane and Paula, Alex’s niece who is also Ariane’s daughter. In the absence of Alex’s father, his mother Christiane becomes an ardent follower of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany and a radical idealist (Fisher and Prager, 2010, 17). It is most probable that the author of Good Bye, Lenin! writes the movie with a mind of conservative. This is seen in the manner in which he devotes his time to discuss the effect of national policies on the family. By highlighting the plight of Christiane, Alex and Ariane after the head of the family flees to West Berlin, the audience is made aware of the import of unfriendly policies and absentee fatherhood. It helps that the author uses Alex as a mouthpiece and the protagonist so that in him, the audience is made aware of the far reaching damages that accost an unstable family. Again, the author unites the family in the end, and thereby i mplying the triumph over the family, over state-sanctioned inhuman policies. It therefore suffices to say that the author tends towards familism rather than individualism, for he had the prerogatives to draw out a plotline that centres on an individual (in lieu of a family), yet he does not. It is also clear that in the period between 1945 (when Cold War started) and 1990 (when Cold War ended) had stronger family values, compared to the moment. Therefore, it is logical that Good Bye, Lenin! contains strong family values. As opposed to the case above where the author as an

Ramifications of working abroad (Hong Kong). What can you do to make Research Paper

Ramifications of working abroad (Hong Kong). What can you do to make it worthwhile - Research Paper Example Leaving one’s own country and relocating to another place and calling it as the new and adopted homeland is indeed a Herculean task because it involves renewed networking possibilities and the eventual myth of getting failed and then coming back to the earlier home nonetheless. It is indeed something that poses as a risk if seen within the correct settings and my case has been no different. When I contemplate the kind of risks that I am about to undertake, I think of both the positives and negatives and then I weigh them to find out which pan is heavier of the two. I have always believed in taking risks throughout my life but it is the calculated risk that I am always banking upon rather than shooting in the dark which does not bring down any success for any one. If I move to Hong Kong, I would have to forego all my personal and professional ties that have been built with the passage of time within the United States (Whalen, 2011). This would mean that my journey will start fr om scratch as far as Hong Kong is concerned. It shall be a new home for me and hence a totally new and revitalizing experience. ... One has to look after so many aspects that it seems like a very arduous task in entirety. Moving ahead, I need to compare each and everything with what I am getting in the United States. This puts me in a direct comparison with what I shall receive within Hong Kong and how I will muster up enough confidence to get myself and my family to the new country and start life afresh. It would mean that I compare each and everything in a very one on one basis, and find out where I am going wrong and what positives and negatives remain for me in the long run scheme of things. There is just so much for me to fathom that I feel I might be lost somewhere in the middle. I need to consider the salary issues which will keep coming every month as far as my job domains are concerned (Sibeck, 2011). Also the fact that I need to find a space for myself and my family is one of the most difficult tasks that I have to undertake at this point in time. It will tell me exactly where I stand as far as making t his relocation decision towards Hong Kong. In essence all my comparisons would be done with the United States because this is the country that will bid farewell to. I shall consider the case of transportation within Hong Kong and how much is it of a hassle to move from one place to another. I will study the amount of traffic there is within Hong Kong and what I would need to do to move from one suburb to another. These are some of the salient aspects that I shall be comparing on a persistent basis between where I am living currently (United States) and where I intend shifting to (Hong Kong). If only I am able to find all these answers within the

Global Performance of German and France Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Global Performance of German and France - Essay Example It is hard to say whether the impact has been positive or negative because there is lot of gap and difference between the status in the middle and upper and lower middle and low classes of business. Globalization has widened this gap to the extent that they look un-breach able. Whichever way you look at this transformation it is obvious that globalization is an economical aspect. And it is good that it is; the onset of globalization has kick-started a movement of liberalization of independent thought process, which due to the heightened global interconnectivity may prove more successful than it ever was in any of the past socio-economic and cultural revolutions and in this respect these two countries, France and Germany, cannot be overlooked. (Dos, 441-442) Globalization is a big word today and one that has changed the way we look at and understand things around us. What is actually globalization? What do we understand by this word? Globalization is simply the predisposition of the economy through business, knowledge through technology and thought through philosophy to spread globally. Globalization can also mean the process by which this happens. This term is almost synonymous with intertwining of markets and economies without any consideration for physical border or legal restraints and it general it is well applicable for France and Germany. (Fletcher, 188)... The downside is that globalization seems to profit the rich more and the poor less, thus widening the gap further. It is true that globalization actually means the broadening of global linkages, while also impacting upon the social and cultural dimensions of the global society, hence propagating a one-world-citizenship which has one economy, one culture and one social order. Ecumenically globalization's definition would be complete with the above classifications. But there are many inroads in the understanding of the term. This is the process with which the poor countries can think of modernization and global competition, enhanced living standards, and work opportunities; on the other hand this very same process is the one which can destroy economies by sudden influx of foreign capital, can destroy marginalized workers livelihood and destabilize national banks. Hence, globalization literally is like a coin - with two very separate sides and much of it is realized in France and German y. However it should be mentioned that France is much well placed in terms of economy in this context when compared to Germany. At the same note it can be mentioned that the economic equilibrium in the international level is changing very quickly with the affects of financial flows and increasing trade. It is globalization that forces us to re evaluate the position of Europe along with major countries like France and Germany in the world market. This new wave of economy has given enough impetuous that positions held about three years ago are certainly to be changed. As it is these two countries are not doing in a very favourable mode in the international economic sector and domestically these two countries are witnessing rising inequalities with industrial instability as

Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 27

Case Study Example In that case, the main issue is whether or not Mimi should be considered for the position since her prior destructive actions might taint the image of the company. Although Mimi is creative, a Chinese citizen, and has successfully launched two brands from the biggest clothing organizations in the US, she is highly opinionated and brash; hence, Fred Weston, the CEO has a difficult time deciding on whether to hire her. Furthermore, due to Fred’s loyalty to John, he feels that he should hire Mimi, who is John’s daughter. Fred Weston is also afraid that the competitors could hire her and the company would be at a competitive disadvantage. Regardless of her prior behaviors, Mimi has the qualifications and credentials that are required in order to improve the image of the company and take it to a higher level. For that reason, Fred Weston should go ahead and permanently hire Mimi in the US branch but not in China. Moreover, since she is aware of the Chinese history, she has experience in the local dialect, and can speak Mandarin fluently; Fred should ask her to become a mediator or liaison between the China and the US markets. Although the company will be covering Mimi’s background, Fred will have done a tremendous job of offering the firm a creative and talented worker; hence, improve on its relationship with the China market. This means that the company can conduct another interview and hire a project manager who will work in China while at the same time employing Mimi for the US operation and keeping her as part of the Chinese operations’ strategic team. Besides that, Mimi is a brilliant person who can boost the sales of the company and is described as opinionated, overly creative, innovative, and a risk taker. She also understands the culture of the Chinese people as well as their fashion oriented trends. This means that Fred can include her in discussing how Hathaway Jones can be developed in

Accounting Proposal Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Accounting Proposal - Essay Example The current revolution in the information technology industry has had an important impact on the accounting information systems (AIS).Traditional bookkeeping and accounting methods proved to consume more time and involved a lot of resources and in extension, led to high costs of production. Improvement in IT has led to the development of computers and thus facilitated the easy computerization of accounting (Prasad & Green, 2015). I intend to pursue an accounting project focussed on finding out effective and efficient ways through which small businesses can incorporate the usage of computerized accounting systems to reduce the accounting workload. My project will be titled â€Å"Integrating computerized accounting into small scale businesses.† The research study has a very broad scope. The project covers a variety of aspects that are useful in various ways to different people. It enables small scale businesses to find out the expectations of customers about tally accounting software. Moreover, it shows various reasons for selecting different accounting packages and also gives a representation of customer satisfaction after the usage of accounting software by the business. My project focuses on small businesses that do not see the need to incorporate computerized Accounting Information Systems because they are small and consequently will not benefit much. Computerized accounting information systems have caused the substitution of manual bookkeeping systems with digital ones. Manual processing of data is slow and prone to error, unlike computerized accounting (Prasad & Green, 2015). Improvements in technology have resulted in quicker ways of collecting, processing and retrieval of data. Automated accounting systems have taken over the functions of manual accounting systems. An example of such functions is the data input function. In manual accounting, the data capture happened together with the source documents

Different Types of Writing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Different Types of Writing - Essay Example Each of the above types of writing had unique requirements. This enhanced the interactivity of the course since I carried out researches and brainstormed ideas with the view to constructive effective pieces. My strength is on research. I enjoy reading and I love science-based subjects. A read numerous books and articles on the internet and can, therefore, compile descriptive articles. I love justifying actions through provable scientific and psychological theories. With such abilities, I often wrote better argumentative and expository essays than I did the narratives. As explained earlier, my greatest weaknesses include visualizing actions and creating fictional plots. My imagination remains limited to the scientific theorems and observable realities. Such validated my inability to write effective narratives since the type of essay required effective use of descriptive words coupled with an equally avid imagination in creating conflicts. My best work was the argumentative essay. This type of essay requires one to carry out researches and adopt a position in an argument. After this, a writer must provide adequate support for his reasoning by giving rational thought and appropriate examples where necessary. The fact that such writings are neither right nor wrong makes the experience even more interesting. The quality of the papers relies on the author’s ability to explain his thoughts effectively thus convincing the audience on a particular viewpoint. My worst work was on a narrative.

Euthanasia Debate Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Euthanasia Debate - Essay Example Introduction The role of nursing (though previously restricted to caring for in patients and currently diversified to include coordination of care and critical thinking towards health care solutions in the society) is to ensure well being of members of the society. Therefore, nurses are the principle caregivers, communicators, advisers, and can change agents in health care provision with focus on patients’ interests. Euthanasia and physician assisted deaths have emerged as contemporary controversial issues that support and contradict the role of nursing. Euthanasia defines a physician’s direct involvement in terminating patient’s life and involves actions like injecting lethal drugs to facilitate death, while physician assisted suicide involves an indirect role, such as consultancy or provision of a lethal substance for a patient’s use towards a faster death. The irony of a nurse’s involvement in euthanasia and physically assisted suicide (contrary to the traditionally perceived role of facilitating well being and relieving patients of pain together with moral and legal concerns over people’s lives) has raised the debate on whether euthanasia and physically assisted suicide should be legalized. This paper explores existing literature to develop the position that euthanasia and physically assisted suicide could and should be legalized. ... The patients, their relatives and close associates, and even their care givers may face the dilemma of relieving the pain or letting the patient suffer the pain awaiting natural death and the right to make such decisions are reflective of ethical and legal considerations. Martin, Mauron, and Hurst argue that core to the debate on euthanasia and physician assisted suicide is consideration of the wider scope of medical ethics, even beyond issues of patients’ deaths (2011). The authors argue that caregivers have many roles that supersede healing and that some forms of assisted deaths may be necessary and justified. A consideration of some medical practices that have been legalized despite their moral contentions and non-healing objectives is the first basis for exploring the euthanasia and physician assisted suicide debate. Application of contraceptive pills that control unwanted pregnancies is a non-healing act but is considered legal and ethical and similarity in application of contraceptives and those of euthanasia and physician assisted suicide means that they should be accorded a similar treatment regarding the healing argument. The core objective of contraceptive application is to respect people’s right to determine their appropriate time for having children and implies the need for respect of people’s autonomy in other matters. Termination of life through physicians’ assistance falls within such categories of personal decisions, especially if the patient makes the primary reason (Martin, Mauron, and Hurst, 2011). Legal and moral considerations over â€Å"preventive medical measures and palliative care† are other reasons that support legalization of euthanasia and physician assisted

Politic papers Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Politic papers - Essay Example Wars have raged in these regions for several years and the devastation brought about these wars has been tremendous. To be specific, the Iraq War had cost so much destruction of lives and properties. For the next five years, the destruction of lives and properties will most likely continue. On the other hand, the aftermath of the war could take a great toll on the economy and stability of the area for the next 20 years. The implications of the war in Iraq on the lives of the people and the security of the area are so great that the United States should address this problem more fully. I fully understand the position of the United States on the issue of terrorism but the point is that there are other ways of address terrorism other than counter-violence. We all know that violence begets violence and if the United States does not take concrete moves to end the violence in the area once and for all, this situation will not be resolved in the next several years. I believe that a solution of the problem would be a shift in foreign policies in Iraq. Instead of focusing on counter-terrorism and supporting the armed conflict in the area, the United States government should focus its attention more on the rehabilitation and rebuilding of Iraq through education, economic development and political participation by the people. We must understand that as long as the people in the area feel oppressed and deprived, they will be more prone to violence. Due to the presence of oil in this region, most of us are lead to believe that the economy in these parts of world is doing well. Unfortunately, that is not the case. Although some of the oil rich countries in these areas are dong really well, many of them are struggling to against poverty and deprivation. According to the report of the World Bank in 2006, about one in every five persons in the Middle East and North Africa Region can be

Developmental Psychology and Early Childhood Education Essay Example for Free

Developmental Psychology and Early Childhood Education Essay Introduction The first six years of life are critical years of human life since the rate of development in these years is more rapid than at any other stage of development. Global brain research also informs us about the significance of early years for brain development. Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) makes a positive contribution to children’s long term development and learning by facilitating an enabling and stimulating environment in these foundation stages of lifelong learning. Parents as caregivers are critical in providing a stimulating learning environment to the child and the first two and a half to three years need not be in a formal learning environment. The National Curriculum Framework acknowledges the significance of involvement of parents, family and community. The programme at the early childhood stage helps to ensure opportunities for holistic learning and growth. The ECCE programme needs to be determined by children’s developmental and contextual needs, providing for more need based inputs and an enabling environment. Given this need for an individualised approach, it was believed that a common ‘curriculum’ would not be appropriate for all. However, over the years it has been observed that the practical realities are different and most of the ECCE programmes on offer currently do not have developmentally appropriate programmes for the young child. The vacuum created by a lack of curriculum framework has resulted in its being filled with either a minimalist programme or the downward extension of the primary stage curriculum. To ensure optimal development for all children, there is a need to create a planned curriculum framework, encompassing developmentally appropriate knowledge and skills, with flexibility for contextualization. A curriculum framework is also required to ensure that important learning areas are covered, taking care of all the developmental needs of the young child. It also facilitates adoption of a common pedagogical approach to reach for a certain level of quality and address the widespread diversity in the ECCE programmes available for the young children in India. This Curriculum Framework is in line with the Government’s vision of ECCE as spelt out in the National Early Childhood Care Education Policy and is a broad framework of basic guidelines for curricular goals, programme content, classroom practices, parent guidance 4 Early Childhood Education Curriculum Framework 2012  and teacher preparation across different provisions and across all regions. The purpose of this open framework is to promote quality and excellence in early childhood education by providing guidelines for practices that would promote optimum learning and development of all young children and set out the broad arrangement of approaches and experiences rather than detailed defining of the content. A cautious approach is being adopted to not provide a detailed curriculum/syllabus which would be prescriptive and ‘delivered’ to the young children in a ‘straight jacketed manner’. The Curriculum Framework calls attention to the common principles and developmental tasks, at the same time, respecting the diversity in the child rearing practices and contextual ECCE needs. Each programme is expected to develop its own curriculum to meet the needs of its children, their families, the specific setting, the linguistic culture and the local community. However, the programmes should be based on the curriculum principles and guidelines laid down in this framework. This Framework is a dynamic document and would be continually reviewed and evolved in the light of emerging needs. Also, with the adoption of the framework, case studies of emerging best practices will follow and learnings from them would further strengthen the framework. This Framework is firmly focussed on the needs of the child and should lead to improved quality of learning and increased attainment of learning outcomes for children participating in ECCE programmes. The other components for the holistic ECCE programme such as nutrition, health and care are to be ensured by cross reference from related instruments. Objectives of Early Childhood Education The aim of Early Childhood Care and Education is to facilitate optimum development of the child’s full potential and lay the foundation for all round development and lifelong learning. This aim is to be achieved through enabling the child to: ? Develop a positive self-concept. ? Establish a sound foundation for a good physique, adequate muscular coordination and basic motor skills. 5 Early Childhood Education Curriculum Framework 2012 ? Imbibe good health habits and basic life skills/ self-help skills necessary for personal social adjustment. ? Enhance verbal and non- verbal communication skills which would facilitate expression of thoughts and feelings in fluent, correct, clear speech. ? Develop the five senses and cognitive skills and concepts which are foundation for higher order thinking and reasoning. ? Develop emotional maturity by guiding the child to express, understand, accept and control feelings and emotions. ? Imbibe values, social attitudes and manners important in his/her socio cultural context and to become sensitive to rights and privileges of others. ? Develop independence, aesthetic appreciation and creativity by providing child with sufficient opportunities for self-expression and active exploration, investigation and experimentation. ? Make a smooth transition from preschool to primary through development of emergent literacy and school readiness. Principles of Early Learning Learning begins from birth: From infancy children are mentally and physically active. They learn through all their senses and stimulations. Children construct knowledge: They construct their own knowledge or working models while they actively engage in their environment and through repeated interactions with people and materials. This simply means that children touch, taste, shake things etc. to find out what happens and learn about things in their environment. Children’s curiosity and desire to learn: Children are curious and eager to learn. They have an inherent need to make sense of their experiences and learn about the world around them. Children learn through play: Play is central to the child’s well-being and development Children’s spontaneous play provides opportunities for exploration, experimentation, manipulation and problem solving that are essential for constructing knowledge. Play contributes to the development of representational thought. 6 Early Childhood Education Curriculum Framework 2012 Child development and learning are characterized by individual variation: No two children are same. Each child has an individual pattern and timing of growth and development as well as individual styles of learning. Children’s personal, family experiences and cultural backgrounds also vary. Children’s learning reflects a recurring spiral that begins in awareness, and moves to exploration, to inquiry, and finally, to application. Any new learning by children begins with awareness, which is generated from their experiences with objects, events, or people and ends with utilization, where children are able to use what they have learnt for multiple purposes and apply their learning to new situations. At this stage children start exploring the next level of information and the spiral continues. Children need to experience success more than failure to form a positive self-concept: The experiences should be planned in accordance with the maturational level of the children, such that they are challenging yet achievable, so as to promote self-confidence. When children have confidence in themselves, they do better. They are eager to try new and harder things; they gain new skills and become more confident and capable. Children develop holistically and benefit from integrated experiences and education: Learning and development of children takes place in totality. All the domains of development i. e. physical, motor, cognitive, language, socio-personal, emotional and creative and aesthetic appreciation are interrelated and take place simultaneously. Curriculum Content The curriculum must address the following interrelated domains of holistic development through an integrated and play based approach which focuses on development of life skills. ? Physical and Motor Development: Gross motor skills; coordination of fine muscles with dexterity ; eye hand coordination; sense of balance, physical co-ordination, and awareness of space and direction; nutrition, health status and practices. ? Language Development: Listening and comprehension; oral skills/speaking and communicating; vocabulary development; pre- literacy/emergent literacy skills like phonological awareness; print awareness 7 and concepts; letter- sound Early Childhood Education Curriculum Framework 2012 correspondence; recognition of letters; building words and sentences and early writing. Introduction to language of school transaction. ? Cognitive Development: Development of various concepts including pre number and number concepts and operations (knowledge and skills related to comparing, classification, seriation, conservation of space and quantity, one to one correspondence; counting); spatial sense; patterns and estimations in measurement; data handling; skills related to sequential thinking, critical thinking, observing, reasoning and problem solving; and knowledge about concepts and physical, social and biological environment. ? Socio-Personal and Emotional Development: Development of self-concept; selfcontrol; life skills/ self-help skills; habit formation; initiative and curiosity; engagement and persistence; cooperation; compassion; social relationships; group interaction; pro- social behaviour; expressing feelings, accepting others feelings. ? Sensorial Development: Development of the five senses through visual, auditory and kinaesthetic experiences. ? Development of Creative and Aesthetic Appreciation: Exploring different art forms, develop dispositions, expression and appreciation for artistic, dance/ drama and musical activities Physical Motor Development Creative and Aesthetic Appreciation Language Development Socio-Personal Development Cognitive Development Emotional Development 8 Early Childhood Education Curriculum Framework 2012 ECCE is†¦.. †¢ A balanced play based programme of language, cognitive, creative and psychomotor activities A child centered programme catering to individual children’s learning emotional needs through individual, small and large group activities and one to one communication. A school readiness programme which ‘readies’ children for learning to read, write and do arithmetic later. A programme which indirectly promotes self-control and thereby inner discipline in children through interactions. †¢ ECCE is not†¦.. A syllabus bound programme for teaching 3R’s nor ‘a song and a rhyme and go home’ approach. A teacher centred programme that follows formal classroom approach as in school A program for formally ‘teaching’ reading, writing and arithmetic, which is to be done in primary. Not a programme which demands unquestioning obedience or exercise strict classroom discipline †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ (Source: Kaul, V. (2010): Early Childhood Education Programme. National Council for Educational Research and Training) The ECCE programme should ensure ‘holistic development’ of the child and reflect the inseparable nature of care and education by comprehensively addressing the need for care, nutrition, health and well-being of young children and parent counselling along with supporting the development of all domains. The holistic development approach is vital for provision of interconnected and interrelated activities covering all domains of development. Suggestive Developmentally Appropriate/Age appropriate Activities for ECCE For Children Under 3 years ? Focus on health, nutrition and early psycho social stimulation through free play and a lot of adult child interaction. Eg. s. , (infant games, traditional songs syllables, access to variety of play materials, individualized adult attention and interaction, opportunities to explore, early introduction to stories, infant books, drawings etc. ) in safe, spacious and clean environment. 9 Early Childhood Education Curriculum Framework 2012 For Children between 3 to 4 years ? Planned play based programme for all round development with more of free play. Continuous opportunities, more free but some guided, for adult –child, child to child Basic Tenets of Curriculum Development ? Based on needs and capacities of young children ? Recognition of special features of children’s thinking ? Mix of formal and informal interaction ? Familiarity and challenge in everyday rhythm ? Primacy of experience rather than expertise ? Developmentally appropriate practice and flexibility ? Use of local material, arts and knowledge which reflect the diversity and culture of the children. Source: Position Paper, National Focus Group on ECCE, 2005 interaction and interaction with play materials and environment through a variety of individual, small group and large group activities. ? Opportunities to listen to stories, learn rhymes, create, indulge in imaginative play, ask questions, do simple problem solving, experiment to promote active and interactive learning and generally have a ‘feel good’ experience for a positive self-image. For Children between 4 to 6 years Moving towards an increasing ratio of adult guided vs. free play activities, and more of large group activities for 4-5 year old and focused more on specific school readiness for 5-6 year old, with increasing complexity in all of above. ? Reading Readiness: e. g. picture –sound matching, shapes, phonetics; increasing vocabulary; verbal expression, developing bond with and interest in reading through picture books, storytelling, charts etc. 10 Early Childhood Education Curriculum Framework 2012 ? Writing Readiness: e. g. eye hand coordination, interest in writing, left to right directionality. ? Math: developing skills in classification, seriation, pattern making, reasoning, problem solving, forming concepts: pre number and number concepts and space concepts and vocabulary, environment concepts. ? Motor development: fine motor development through activities such as beading, pegboards and puzzles and large muscle development through running, jumping, balancing activities etc. ? Creativity and aesthetic appreciation: Creative drama, cultural activities, field trips etc. The programme should be relevant to individual and societal needs. The age demarcations are indicative and the activities have to be planned according to the developmental level of the children. Principles of Programme Planning ? ? ? The activities should be age and developmentally appropriate. Activities fostering all domains of development should be appropriately planned. The attention span of young children is 15-20 minutes; therefore the duration of activities should be 20 minutes, with additional time allotted for winding up and initiation of the next activity. However, the programme should allow space and flexibility for need based variations. ? There should be a balance between structured and unstructured; active and quiet; outdoor and indoor; self-directed and adult initiated learning opportunities and individual, small group and large group activities. ? ? ? ? The experiences should progress from simple to complex. A wide range of individual and group experiences should be planned which are related to the child’s environment, are enjoyable and challenging for children. Routine fosters a sense of security in children. Therefore some routine should be followed in the daily programme. The ECCE programme should never be rigid. 11 Early Childhood Education Curriculum Framework 2012 ? The duration of the pre-school programmes should be 3 to 4 hours. The programme should provide for some rest period during the day and if it is of longer duration, as a full day programme, then a nap time is to be ensured. ? Learning opportunities should be interconnected, linking learning experiences across developmental domains in a meaningful context, reflecting the real life context of the children. ? The language used should be the mother tongue of the child. Efforts should be made to extend their language sensitively and introduce the school language gradually to facilitate school readiness. ? Curriculum goal and objectives should guide classroom process and assessment of the children. The curriculum should be implemented in a manner that reflects responsiveness to family/ home values, beliefs and experiences. ? The programme should provide opportunities for exploration and experiential learning, promoting active engagement with people and objects in the environment. Outcomes of Early Childhood Education Curriculum Children who ? ? ? Communicate effectively Display emergent literacy skills, mathematical skills and scientific temperament Express emotions in socially acceptable manner, are socially adaptive and cooperative ? Have physical control, strength and healthy habits Pedagogical Approaches The curriculum adopts a play and activity based approach. Children are visualised as active beings who construct their own knowledge and the process of teaching –learning is one of co-construction of knowledge, with adults as facilitators. 12 Early Childhood Education Curriculum Framework 2012 Various approaches are practised for transacting the Early Childhood Education programme. Some commonly adopted approaches are: Montessori Method: This method is characterized by an emphasis on independence, freedom within limits, and respect for a child’s natural psychological development and is transacted through specialised sensorial material. Regio Emillia: Based on the work of Loris Mallaguzi, this is a constructivist approach which focuses on creation of a learning environment that enhances and facilitates children’s construction of their own thinking through the combination of communicative, expressive and cognitive languages as they engage actively with people, material and environment. Progressive Method: This is an eclectic approach which draws from the major child development theories. Recognizing the many paths of learning, latest researches and contemporary work lay the foundation of this framework. Thematic Approach: Integrated themes and projects form the core content of the curriculum. These themes should enable the children to make meaningful connections among the different concepts and develop holistic understanding of the world around them. The curriculum should be flexible and responsive to the needs of the children in the class. It is to be constructed to suit the diverse social, cultural, linguistic contexts in the country, and initiate integrated learning. A programme can adopt any of the above mentioned approaches to transact the curriculum. An integrated daily/ weekly/ monthly programme should be prepared with a well-rounded selection of learning experiences that strengthen all domains of development and are age and developmentally appropriate. The activities for different domains and concepts should be planned purposefully to enable a child to actively engage with and experience the concepts. These will help to consolidate the learning and lay the foundations for future. Caution should be observed to not equate the curriculum to just an exercise of organising activities, rather it should be viewed as a planned and purposeful intervention and adult child and child to child interaction to facilitate the process of knowing, understanding and construction of knowledge by the children. The aim of the curriculum should be to foster 13 Early Childhood Education Curriculum Framework 2012 development through integrated activities rather than mere completion of worksheets or repetitive exercises and activities. To address the needs of the large group of children in one class and multi-age setting, the strategy would be to conduct the activities in large group, small group and individual level. Essential Play and Learning Material In early childhood stage, a child learns through interacting with immediate environment hence environment should be stimulating and should have a variety of materials to arouse and sustain the child’s curiosity, interest and promote his learning. ? Adequate supply of developmentally appropriate play materials to foster all round development should be available at the ECCE centre ? The materials should be safe, clean and in good conditions. Sufficient quantity should be available to work in small groups and it should be easily accessible to the child. ? The materials should promote gross and fine motor development and help the child to discover and explore including constructing and reconstructing. It should promote sensory exploration and social interaction along with creative expressions through arts, painting, etc. Some essential play materials are Indoor Material o Blocks for constructive play o Manipulative toys 14 Early Childhood Education Curriculum Framework 2012 o Material for imaginative play /Dramatic play – dolls, puppets, masks, kitchen sets, mirrors, old spectacle frames, purses, old shoes, weighting scales, clock etc. o Material to develop Language skills – books and picture books, storytelling aid, puppets, story cards, sound board, conversation cards, flash cards, picture dominoes, collection of rhymes and stories, visual discrimination and auditory and visual association materials, slates, chalks, crayons, blackboard, drawing paper, etc. o Material to develop cognitive skills – sound boxes, visual discrimination cards, touch cards, feel bag, food items of varying kind to develop sensory skills, number domino cards, picture jigsaw and self-correcting puzzles for matching, sorting, arranging, classifying, problem solving, memory and sequential thinking to develop cognitive skills and materials in the environment o Musical instruments o Art material for creative expression such as paints, crayons, pencil, paint brushes, cotton, threads, clay, knife, papers, scissors, cloth, gum and fevicol, bead, etc. In addition to locally available material, teachers/caregivers can develop play and learning material for specific activities planned in the programme. Outdoor Materials o Play equipment to build balancing, jumping, climbing, swinging, swaying, cycling, etc. o Materials like large or small balls, old tyres, rings, etc. for throwing, catching, kicking, rolling, etc. 15 Early Childhood Education Curriculum Framework 2012 o Sand and water play arrangement with sand pit, mugs, spoons, cups, bucket, sieves, strainer, etc. Assessment Assessment is an essential and integral component of any ECCE programme to ensure that the programme remains child centric and the experiences and activities are planned according to the level of the child. It gives an insight into children’s interests, achievements and possible difficulties in their learning from which next steps in learning and teaching can be planned and thereby provides a platform to support the planning of a coherent curriculum for progression in learning. In order to ensure that the programme is responsive to the developmental needs of the child, it is essential to maintain their developmental and learning profile. The purpose of assessment is to give useful information about children’s learning and development to the adults providing the programme as also to children and their families. It also helps ensure early identification of developmental delays, special educational needs and particular abilities. Assessment contributes to evaluation, revision, and development of programmes. The areas of assessment ? ? ? The child’s interest and participation Skills and abilities Social interactions The assessment of the children should be formative, continuous and flow from the experiences planned in the curriculum. Formative continuous assessment implies documenting the development of the child, by interpreting the evidence from the day to day experiences of the child with the purpose of recognising and encouraging strengths and addresses learning/developmental gaps. Teachers need to evaluate each childs progress on an ongoing basis, through observations of their behaviour; their artwork and other products. Home-based observations may also be 16 Early Childhood Education Curriculum Framework 2012 conducted. The current level of performance should be rewarded to reinforce small steps of accomplishments towards the long term goals. Portfolio should be maintained for individual child. It should contain anecdotal records, developmental checklists, samples of drawing, writing and other activities, observation notes and parent teacher meeting notes. Role of Caregiver/Teacher The caregivers/ teachers in an ECCE programme are facilitators who engage children in multiple experiences to foster their all-round development. They play the following roles: ? Observe children to identify their needs and capabilities and move with the pace of the child’s development ? Plan appropriate, ? ? ? developmentally holistic and challenging activities Focus not only on planning and conducting activities but also on continuous processes for interaction and relating learning to child’s environment. Create nurturing and positive relationships with children and among children Organise supportive learning environment by taking care of aspects such as the arrangement of the physical environment and equipment; the scheduling of activities and events and groupings ? ? ? Work in partnership with parents Facilitate learning to meet the objectives of the curriculum Help in early identification and intervention for children with special needs 17 Early Childhood Education Curriculum Framework 2012 To accomplish the above the teachers need to enjoy being with young children, be knowledgeable about children’s development and early childhood curriculum and should be skilled at implementing the curriculum. Role of Parent The young child spends most of the time at home and much of the early learning occurs through the child’s day to day interactions with the family. The parents have a major role to play in the child’s development, much beyond merely being around the child and providing food and other basic needs. Parents need to: ? Provide a conducive environment at home for optimal development and learning and spend quality time with the child ? ? ? ? ? Encourage exploration and experimentation at home and optimally utilise the ample opportunities for incidental and lifelong learning arising from the daily activities Play a cooperative role and establish a relationship of trust and mutual respect with the teacher/caregiver at the ECCE centre Share and plan the development of their child along with the teacher/caregiver Participate in the open days and other events for parents and community Not to force formal learning and competition at this early age and respect children’s abilities and personalities. Supportive Essentials The open framework approach to curriculum adopted herein requires certain preconditions as essentials. These are: ? An enabling and stimulating learning environment which has been carefully designed and is child friendly 18 Early Childhood Education Curriculum Framework 2012 ? ? ? ? ? Contextually and culturally appropriate curriculum content Developmentally appropriate learning and play material Activity; rhyme and story bank Children’s Activity Book Trainer’s Manual and Teacher’s Guidebook addressing adult-child interaction, arrangement of the physical environment and equipment, planning of the daily routine etc.to help teachers implement the curriculum effectively ? ? Supportive supervision Professional development opportunity for ECCE caregivers 19 Early Childhood Education Curriculum Framework 2012 Annexure 1 Some Significant Themes to be covered in the Curriculum Myself, my family and community Food, health, hygiene and cleanliness Natural world and environment: plants; animals and birds; fruits and vegetables Physical environment: air, water, universe, seasons Social environment: My country; festivals and celebrations; neighbourhood; means of transport 20. Early Childhood Education Curriculum Framework 2012 Annexure 2 Sample Weekly Plan Theme: Animals Time 9. 00-9. 30 9. 30-10. 00 Monday Circle Time Free Conversation (Animal Names) Tuesday Assembly Guided Conversation (Homes of Animals) Sorting Cards (Animals and their young ones) Block Play Lunch Tearing and pasting on animal drawings Wednesday Circle Time Free Conversation (Food of Animals) Soft and Hard Surface Thursday Assembly Guided Conversation (Animals and their young ones) Shape: Circle Friday Circle Time Guided Conversation (Uses of Animals) Pattern Writing. 10. 00-10. 30 Seriation Activity (Small to large animal) 10. 30-11. 00 11. 00-11. 30 11. 30-12. 00 Animal Race Lunch Free hand drawing of pet animals Swings and slides Lunch Models of animal homes Walking on Zigzag line Lunch Making Clay Animals Sand Pit Lunch Mask Making 12. 00-12. 30 Animal Rhyme (Pet Animals) Music and Movement Activity (How animals move) Rhyme Dramatization (Farm Animals) Animal Story (Wild Animals) Song and Dance (Birds) 12. 30-1. 00 Winding up Departure Winding up Departure Winding up Departure Winding up Departure Winding up Departure. Note: The time allotted for each activity is 15-20 minutes; the time slots of 30 minutes allotted in the plan include setting up, distribution of material and winding up for each activity. 21 Early Childhood Education Curriculum Framework 2012 Annexure 3 Sample Thematic Web Numeracy: Sorting pictures of animals and their young ones Creative Art : Models of Animal Homes Language: Rhymes and stories on Animals Cognitive : Animal names Types: Pet/ Wild/ Aquatic Animal food, sound , home Animals Physical Motor: Animal Race Tearing and Pasting on Animal Drawings. Socio-Emotional : Free Conversation Music Movement : Song and Dramatization 22 Early Childhood Education Curriculum Framework 2012 Important Resources 1. Bhatnagar, R (2005): Little Steps. A Manual for Preschool Teachers. National Council for Educational Research and Training. New Delhi 2. Kaul, V. (2010): Early Childhood Education Programme. National Council for Educational Research and Training. New Delhi 3. Mother and Child Protection Card, Ministry of Women and Child Development, Government of India. 4. Muralidharan, R. , Asthana, S. (1991): Stimulation Activities for Young Children. National Council for Educational Research and Training. New Delhi 5. Position Paper on Early Childhood Care and Education, National Focus Group (2006). National Council for Educational Research and Training. New Delhi 6. Soni, R, Kapoor R, Vashishtha, K. K. (2008): Early Childhood Education. An Introduction. National Council for Educational Research and Training. New Delhi 7. Swaminathan, M. and Daniel, P. (2004): Play Activities for Child Development: A Guide to Preschool Teachers. National Book Trust, New Delhi. 8. WHO Child Growth Standards- Methods and Development, World Health Organisation 23.

Postmodernism in London Architecture

Postmodernism in London Architecture Reflective Summary The video was produced to critically examine the concept and spatial pattern of London as many cities in one. We took a postmodern urbanism view using iconographic place making analysis. It must be stated that the term postmodernism in itself is a highly debated topic (Crook, 1992). There exits much debate about whether the conditions described as postmodern are at all unique and new, or if said conditions even exist (Best and Kellner, 1992). For us, the very debate surrounding the term is evidence enough that as embedded researchers we must consider the ideas associated with the term. Thus, the term has become an indispensable name for a way of thinking about urbanism, which clearly concerns us. The video showcases how social and urbanism intersect and the concept of postmodernism in London. The video incorporates hard and soft features of the city, focusing on eight key aspects of urban ecology, economic, religious, tourist, education, retail, sports, and political. Expanding on th e concentric zone theory by the Chicago School, we detailed social spaces of London that could iconically define the city on their own. I focused on London as an educational city. My initial approach was to examine and detail London’s education system as a whole, but quickly realized this was too ambitious. So I decided to only include the higher education institutions. Higher Education students make up 4.7% of London’s total population of 8.17 million estimated in the 2011 Census. In 2013 London’s universities attracted over 100,000 international students, and 62,000 from the rest of the UK; additionally, 24% of all international students in the UK were studying in London (London Higher, 2013). Through my research I found this to be quit a task as well, since London has approximately 40 higher education institutions. I had to narrow down what would be the most iconic institutions for my video, and decided the oldest institutions would be the most iconic. So I research the three oldest institutions, Kings College Founded in 1829, University of London Founded in 1836, and London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) Founded in 189 5. These schools have a long history and distinct architecture which I thought was important to the overall project. The universities were all centrally located in the heart London with the tourist spaces a short distance away. This posed some difficulties in the ease of access, since the only viable transport seemed to be the subway. So I planned accordingly, first starting with King’s College. King’s College is organised into nine academic schools, spread across four Thames-side campuses in central London. I decided to film on the Strand Campus, which is the founding campus of Kings College. Once I began filming I started by detailing the architecture, and spaces within the campus. The most prominent building on the campus was the Somerset House East Wing. This was contrasted by the postmodern architecture of the entrance to the main reception building, and remodelled facade facing Strand St. (See Plate 1). This mix of architecture was interesting, and a good example of defined periods in English history. I started with architecture because contained within each of these two buildings is the respective ideologies of neoclassicism and postmodernism (Jencks, 2002). The architecture provides a clear example of the visual aesthetics associated with each movement, and a concrete reflection of the culture and economic conditions from which it arises. Walking around the ca mpus I had the feeling of exclusion, as the area was gated and there was a stark difference in the social aspect of the space, and social aspect outside the gate just a few meters away. In contrast, LSE less than a block away has a feeling of inclusion and openness. Plate 1. Contrasting architecture of Somerset House East Wing, and the main reception building. The London School of Economics and Political Science campus at Clare Market and Houghton Street in Westminster was my second filming location. The openness of the campus is due to its ownership of adjacent buildings, creating an almost continuous campus between Kingsway and the Royal Courts (See Plate 2). The architecture was modern, and walking through the campus felt like walking on a regular London street. However, there were spaces of student culture, which felt different and unique from off campus. These spaces had various arts, student made posters, and seating areas. There is current renovation occurring at the school that may be postmodern, but is not visible. Plate 2. LSE campus at Houghton St. and Aldwych. The third and final site filmed was the University of London (See Plate 3). London is the second-largest university by number of full-time students in the United Kingdom, with around 135,000 campus-based students (London Higher, 2013). The main criticism of urban ecology is that it neglects the role of culture in its analysis of the social structure of a city. Another criticism is that the theory is overly simplistic, taking no account of class, race, gender and ethnicity (Best and Kellner, 1992). When filming on this campus I decided to address this by taking a social approach, and filmed the cultural aspects of the students in the campus spaces. Although the campus is relatively open like LSE, there is a feeling of exclusion when walking through the space. In and around the university the student culture is very apparent. The demographics of the students were diverse with no sign of a dominate race or sex, creating a multi-cultural space. Additionally the local shops in the area ca tered to the students, indicating a symbiotic relationship with the students driving the economy in the area (Clarke, 2003). Plate 3. University of London campus at Gower St. As the finished film was put together we begin to see that postmodernism is not purely an aesthetic style, but something more. This something more includes cultural and economic conditions. More precisely, Postmodernism names a change in the cultural and economic conditions that help to constitute the western world. References Best, S. and Kellner, D. (1992) Postmodern Theory: Critical Interrogations, New York, Guilford Publications Clarke, D. (2003) Consumer Society and the Postmodern City, London, Routledge Crook, S. (1992) Postmodernization, London, Sage Dear, M. and Flusty, S. (2002) Spaces of Postmodernity, Oxford, Blackwell Gane, N (2002) Max Weber and Postmodern Theory, London, Palgrave Jencks, C. (2002) The New Paradigm in Architecture: The Language of Post-modern Architecture. 7th ed. New Haven: Yale University Press Kaplan, A. (1988) Postmodernism and its Discontents, London, Verso London Higher (2013) Students In Higher Education Institutions 2012/13 – London Region, From http://www.hesa.ac.uk/index.php?option=com_pubstask=show_pub_detailpubid=1Itemid=286 accessed on 02 Feb 2013 McKible, A. (2002) Space and Place of Modernism, London, Routledge Minca, C. (2001) Postmodern Geography: theory and praxis, London, Blackwell

Porters National Competitive Advantage Diamond

Porters National Competitive Advantage Diamond Fraser Neave holding Bhd. was incorporated at year 1883 when founders John Fraser and David Chalmers Neave formed a company named Singapore Straits Aerated Water Company in Singapore. Few years later, FN was consolidated and enter the food beverage industry. FN has its own vision to become the leading total beverage company in Malaysia and the region and their mission is to be a world-class multinational enterprise providing superior returns to their shareholders, excellent value for their customers and a rewarding career for their employees. FN Company is one of the Malaysia well known beverage company which the famous product is the isotonic drinks 100plus launched at year 1984. FN produce wide range of beverage that can be classified as soft drinks, dairies, non-carbonated beverages as well as separate business property. They were launching the sweetened condensed filled milk in year 1973, and the acquisition of Nestlà ©s canned milk business in Thailand and Malaysia in year 2007. Other than that FN high quality canned milk was also gain excellent reputation in Malaysia. This product is largely use as beverage mixers in coffee, tea and chocolate drinks and now canned milk has successfully to export this product to more than 20 countries around the world. In addition, the halal certification offers strong reassurance to Muslim customers in the growing Halal markets in the Middle East and Africa. FN Company was awarded The Readers Digest Trusted Brand from year 2005 to 2008, Media Magazine Top 1000 Asian Brands 2007 and so on. It proves that their customer was confident when using their products since they are concern about their health and safety quality. FN Company was continuously improve their quality and brands to challenges the marketplace and to become the leader. FN Company is also well-known company that caring about the social environment and working environment. They implemented and executed various environmental stewardship and launched numerous recycling campaigns in schools to inculcate good environmental habits among young people and thus, create awareness on the importance of recycling. FN Company also set-up a RM1.2 million funds named Chairmans Award to promote educational excellence and to recognize high-achievers among children of FN Groups employees. FN Company has achieved a safety record of zero accident (no loss time accident) accumulated from 1 February 2007 to 21 September 2009 with a total 962 days or 2.3 million working hours. In terms of its environmental compliance incident and achieved zero environmental compliance status. PEST Mission: To be a world-class multinational enterprise providing superior returns to our shareholders, excellent value for our customers and a rewarding career for our employees. Vision: To become the leading total beverage company in Malaysia and the region. Every company has their mission and vision statement served as overall purpose of business. The mission and vision statement above are set by FN. There are external environmental issues have or will affect FN to achieve their mission. These external environmental issues are being categorized according to PEST(EL) model. PEST(EL) model is to analyze the external environment issues of company. It categorized environment issues into political, economic, social, technological, ecological and legal influences. Economic Improving growth prospect of Malaysia, Thailand and the region brings more income to FN as is signals economy are in good condition and peoples are willing to spend hence will increase sales in that particular region. The growth prospects include rising of Malaysia GDP in year 2010 that is approximately 10% compare to 4.5% in 2009 that rise from some major factor of manufacturing industry production with a double digit growth of 16.9% in year 2010. ASEAN countries are growing quick in their economy thus putting FN a favourable factor in growing of profits. FN has built up positive consumer sentiment to their product. For example 100PLUS, isotonic drink that is specialized for sportsmen to retain the metabolism. It is a concept well-built that it is voted number 1 isotonic drinks in Malaysia since its introduction in 1983. That well-built positive sentiment brings others drinks of FN to be well marketable. It is the consumer sentiment to the products enhanced the profitability factor of FN towards other competitor thus is at an advantage in the market. Political Government had put initiative to boost spending of consumer with new economic model (NEM), with this model being pursue, Malaysia economic boost as consumer purchasing power increases and are advised to spend. FN will get benefit by provide goods to be sold to the market hence boosting sales. FN products are all Halal hence are entitled for Halal Hub Tax Incentive. The incentive offered had decreased FN some percentage of tax liability to the government. It made FN more profitable compare to those companies which does not qualified for the incentive. Government has taken back some incentive in year 2009, the withdrawal of subsidy of fuel and sugar has put an impact to FN as most of the FN core businesses needed large amount of sugar which is dairies and soft drink business. The withdrawal of sugar subsidy lower the overall profit of the FN although there is a large improve a sales but the profit doesnt show much improvement as the sugar cost increases. Withdrawals of fuel did also impact on FN as the cost of their internal and external distribution cost increases thus reduces profit. Technological In the beginning of 2011, FN introduced new product, Ice Mountain and it has faster share gain among bottler waters player which established 5% market share in Malaysia. FN launched new beverage Zesta across Malaysia in October 2011.Zesta has remarkably great tasting berry soda flavored soda. It contents the Guarana tropical berries that originate from Amazon, South America. In addition, Guarana tropical berries invigorate the body and mind. Zesta is an extension of our already large array of FN beverages, a beverage that was initiated to complement our existing range of FN brands, creating a transition vehicle for our growing band of consumers, said Dato Ng Jui Sia, CEO of Fraser Neave Holdings Bhd. FN believes that Zesta is the illustration of growing trends for beverage enhanced soda. (Zesta 2011) Environmental Sichuan Earthquake of May 2008 has caused the raw material cost increase and companys profit is affected. Natural disaster is beyond expectation and control of the company. Profit before interest and tax in 2008 grew only 5%. This environmental factor has affected company to achieve their mission. Natural disaster would serve as obstacle that FN provide superior returns to shareholders. Porters 5 forces Today, Fraser Neave Holdings Bhd (FN) has extended business at more than 20 countries worldwide and established itself as a regional player. So that, FN need use Porters five forces model to analysis and understanding the nature of the competitive environment. FN has a lot of benefits from using Porters five forces model. They can ensure that management considers a wide range of potential impacts when devising strategy. They allow the division of the work in environmental analysis and make decision in time. Not only that, Porters five force also developing effective strategies to raise FN profitability, power, and competitive position in an industry. Porters five forces is divided into threat of entry, intensity of competitive rivalry, threat of substitute product, bargaining power of buyer and bargaining power of suppliers. Threat of entry Threat of entry is new entrants into market will bring extra capacity and intensify competition. The strength of the threat from new entrants will depend upon the strength of the barriers to entry and the likely response of existing competition to a new entrant. FN produce two new soft drink FN Clearly Citrus and Zesta were launched in soft drink market at year 2011. Zesta and FN Clearly Citrus are getting customer support and the new produces also have a higher demand from the buyer. Zesta sales would create other competitor have entered the soda market, it will make a threat for the FN affect the market sales. Therefore, FN should defensively competitor who are entered the soda market to creating barriers that new entrants to the market find difficult to overcome. This can ensure the Zesta sales would not affect and ensure the maximize shareholders wealth. FN able to occupy in the Malaysia soda market a very important role. FN have 90% product are using sugar to produce, so that sugars fees occupy more of the material cost. Early government distribution sugar subsidy to sugar supplier that FN can use a lower price to purchases sugar. This can save a lot of unnecessary expenses, so FN can use a lower price to sell them soft drink and dairy product. Government removes all sugar subsidies since year 2011 until now. The serious increase in sugar prices had a major impact, together with the global merchandise cost increase, and led to an inevitable 25 per cent price increase of Sweetened Condensed Milk. This change of government budget makes FN facing a great crisis and bargaining power of supplier. Bargaining power of supplier Bargaining power of suppliers definition with the stronger power of suppliers in an industry the more difficult it is for firms within that sector to make a profit. It is because suppliers can determine the terms and conditions on which business is conducted. When government removes the sugar subsidies, FN need to research and evaluation current sugar supplier what price they giving and analysis the inflation whether FN can accepted. FN should do more research to find another sugar supplier who can provide lower cost to them. FN also facing sugar quality are not same compare with current supplier when choosing a lower cost provided from another supplier. This would make the customer not satisfaction with FN soft drink and dairy product. If FN continue purchase with the current supplier, they should spend more cost with sugar. Then FN would increase selling price to cover back the losses. FN customer would choose another substitute product. Bargaining power of buyer Next, bargaining power of buyer also is a serious problem facing by FN. Bargaining power of buyer sense of the powerful buyer can force price cuts and quality improvement. The government remove sugar subsidy, FN material cost will increase and affect the product selling price to increase. But FN need to concentration of buyer so they cannot random to adjust the selling prince. Buyer also has full information about the soft drink and dairy product market. They should know which company product cheaper, more health and best quality. FN need to hold the customer so they would always improve quality of product and extrusion new product to attract customers attention. Measure FN is a best choice and first choice from customer. This threat is more difficult to control, because FN management need to concentration of buyer and also need to maximize the shareholders wealth. Threat of substitute product Porters 5 forces have indicated that the threat of substitute product is the other firms within the industry has offers similar product with similar benefits for the customer. This threat may affects the competitive environment of the company and influence our ability to achieve profitability. On FN Magnolia have offers Pasteurised Milk and Sterilised Milk. The range of the customers is children and adults. The Pasteurised Fresh Milk can be enjoyed chilled or warm, plain or mixed with other foods or beverages and they innovate into Lo-Fat Hi-Cal Milk provide less fat and more healthier of the Fresh Milk for our body. However, Marigold has offers HL Milk is low-fat milk No.1 in Malaysia. HL Milk has perfect balance of nutrients for everyone in the family and it consists high in calcium and protein, low in fat and lactose and fortified with 9 essential vitamins to supplement healthier lifestyle. Marigold HL Milk is first choice for the customers who are caring health conscious. FN should innovation their milk product provide more healthy to attract or retain consumer choices. Another competitor is Dutch Lady has provided a Dutch Lady Milk powder for satisfy customer needs who want mix it with other favorites coffee or tea and it has a rich and creamy taste and can mixes easily in hot or cold water. Furthermore, Dutch Lady also has provided different formulations to cater to children of different ages to promote their brain development and healthy growth. Therefore, most of the mother would choose Dutch Lady milk products of their children rather than choose FN milk products. FN SEASONS offers soft drink products are leaders in countrys most comprehensive range of consumer, catering to every occasion. The Soya range provides protein nourishment while the Chrysanthemum and Grass Jelly provides healthier refreshment with less sugar let FN SEASONS become best quality and healthy drinks. However, they less favors for the customer choose. YEOS have more favors, such as Lychee drink, Sugarcane drink, Bandung Rose drink, coconut juice, soursop drink and guava drink for the customer to choice. Thence, consumers who are Sugarcane drink lover may change its option to YEOS products. Intensity of competitive rivalry Intensity of competitive rivalry among competitors in the industry try to strive the competitive advantage over the rivals and drives the profit of the rivals firm to zero. The company can gains the competitive advantage by several ways, such as changing the pricing, improving the products differentiation with other and exploiting relationships with suppliers. If can gain more competitive advantage rather than other competitor can increase the profitability of the company. FN only have provided soft drink products and dairy products, appears less competitive advantage compare with others. Nowadays, people more have health conscious when they buying products may choice to buy the products which consists more nutrition. In food and beverage industry also have many company has provide more diet product to satisfied the requirements of the different customers. Like the Dutch Lady Low Fat Yoghurt is a healthy snack and it will enhance the absorption of nutrients, ensuring digestive system stays healthy. It contains Vitamin A,C and E, calcium and Active Live Cultures. In Addition, the Marigold have offer the Yogurt and cultured milk Vitagen which have consists nutrition products for the body. The Vitagen has billions of live probiotic cultures to help maintain a healthy digestive system. Probiotic cultures in VITAGEN can withstand bile and acidic stomach juices and reach the intestines alive to fight harmful bacteria in the intestines. Furthermore, the Yoghurt contains live and active cultureshelp digestion and promote a healthy digestive system and calcium for the development of strong bones and teeth. Marigold also has offers Jelly is a great-tasting double-layered jelly that is filled with fresh fruits. Its cool and refreshing taste makes it great for everyone in the family and contains no preservatives and is a healthy alternative to fruits after a hearty meal. This makes Marigold become Malaysias first and only pasteurised Jelly. This all is key reasons that the consumer may change favors to this type of products. To gain competitive advantage, FN should provide more nutrition products for the customers have more choose. Porters national competitive advantage diamond Porters diamond model suggests that there are inherent reasons why some nations and industries within nations are more competitive than others on a global scale. The argument is that the national home base of an organisation provides organisations with specific factors which will potentially create competitive advantages on a global scale. (Michael Porter 1990) Porters diamond model consist of four conditions of national advantage which are factor conditions, demand conditions, related and supporting industries and firm strategy, structure and rivalry. Factor conditions Firstly, discuss about factor conditions. Factor condition is about important elements that exist in a company which lead to national competitive advantage. It can be country specific or industry specific. FN Dairies had constructed plant in Pulau Indah costs RM350 million and will be completed within the second half of 2011. The new plant promotes cutting edge green technology which would have huge gains in water, energy and environmental conservation. With existence of this plant, FN Dairies could be on the top list of worlds largest producers of canned milk. An increase in production line is an advantage of the company. FN had launched a new RM45 million polyethylene terephthalate (PET) monoblock production line which is the first in Asia Pacific. This able to done all the things in only one production line, for example blow bottles, fill and pack all carbonate soft drinks products. FN has the latest innovation and technology that bring advantage to them. With this latest technology, FN can enhance its operations by continuing improve production lines. FN can produce more products in effective and efficient way. In addition, the new machineries increase as the production lines increases. The warehouse management system has implemented to make operation work run smoothly. Besides, the introduction of new sales forecasting tools helps in manufacturing, if sales forecast is low, the manufacturer will produce less stock. Supply chain act as an important role in a business. Without supply, production would not be carried out. Improvement in supply chain lead to high efficiency of production and logistic by upgrade the systems. FN introduce higher level of operational automation and inventory management to ensure the manufacturing process has no error. Besides, the product quality management make sure that the products are in acceptable quality and safety measures are enhanced in order the product would not harm people. Demand conditions Secondly, the demand conditions state that if the local market for a product is larger and more demanding at home than in foreign markets, local firms potentially put more emphasis on improvements than foreign companies. This will potentially increase the global competitiveness of local exporting companies. FN non-carbonated portfolio has slightly increased from 25.4 per cent to 28 per cent in soft drinks business. This represent there is a growing demand for drinks. During the year, FN included fruit teas and juices to its range of soft drinks, and launch new drink called Zesta recently catering consumers of this segment. The ability to innovate, differentiate and manufacture new product lines will bring advantages such as gain more market share. FN Fruit Tree released five new flavours in bottle form which are orange, apple, lychee, blackcurrant and mango. As the demand increases, Fruit Tree has becoming one of the fastest growing categories in Malaysia. The new flavours are the extension to the Fruit Tree cans range and the research shows that consumer preference toward these flavours compared to other brand in the market. FN Holding Berhad has built a new warehouse in Kuching which triple larger than previous warehouse capacity to improve the quality of service and make sure delivery to customers is on time. Furthermore, it utilised advanced warehousing technology such as high selective racking, super flat flooring and Very Narrow Aisleway (VNA) trucks. Related and supporting industries Thirdly, the related and supporting industries mean that when local supporting industries and suppliers are competitive, home country companies will potentially get more cost efficient and receive more innovative products. In February 2010, 100PLUS signed a partnership agreement with AirAsia Berhad, officially sell 100PLUS on AirAsia flights which depart from Malaysia. AirAsia Berhad is a Malaysia top airlines company, being a partner of AirAsia Berhad has a real competitive advantage for FN. This agreement is a big step for division to extend business offshore. Passenger dehydration happened frequently in air travel, with 100PLUS the passenger can get over the dehydration. Support from AirAsia is like an advertisement effect, whenever there is a flight, there is an appearance of 100PLUS. Firm strategy, structure and rivalry Lastly, which are firm strategy, structure and rivalry. Structure and management system can affect competitiveness. FN is running beverage and dairies business in addition to food business too. FN buy 23.08 per cent share in Cocoaland Holdings Berhad. Cocoaland is a major snack food manufacturer in Malaysia. FN is diversifying the business risk to various subsidiaries. FN develop the food business to supplement beverage and dairies business. As the Malaysia grow into high income economy country, the consumption of middle income will increase and food business will be benefited. GE model 3 portfolio business Property Dairy product Soft drink GE business matrix Industry Attractiveness- Market growth rate Business Strength- Brand Strength High Medium Low High Investment/ Growth Soft drinkSelective Growth Selectivity Medium Selective Growth Dairy productSelectivity Harvest/Divest Property businessLow Selectivity Harvest/Divest Harvest/Divest Our business has divided into 3 portfolio and that are Soft Drinks, Dairy Product and Property. First of all we use the market growth rate as our industry attractiveness factors and brand strength as our business factors. Soft Drinks Our main soft drinks business portfolio will be classified at the classes of selective growth. Our company soft drink like 100plus and Zesta was popular in Malaysia; our brand has already helped our company bring certain level of stable income. Our business from year 2007 until 2011 has seems growth constantly that at year 2007 increase 9%,2008 11%, 2009 11%,2010 19% and 2011 grow 12%. At year 2011 the growth has slow down it is because the subsidy of sugar had removed by the government. The impact on FN is their production cost is increase and cause their profitability decline. The attractive of the beverage market will decline and potential competitor will have more consideration to decide whether to or not to enter into soft drink industry. Moreover, Sichuans earthquake causes the prices of the aluminum increase. That mean one of the main direct material has been affect again. Industry attractive will place at the medium due to the problem of sugar subsidy and the aluminum prices arise. Dairy Product Our dairy product will classified at the classes of selectivity. Our company dairy products have included sweetened condensed milk, evaporated milk, pasteurised milk, UHT milk, juice and ice cream. In year 2007, our revenue on dairy products has significant increase by 102% compare with year 2006 and subsequent increase 38% in year 2008. In year 2009 the revenue of the dairy product decline by 6%, but increase 5% in year 2010. Revenue has constant in year 2011 compare with year 2010. Our dairy product has classified at selectivity, with medium level of attractiveness and medium business strength on the dairy product. Although the product Milo are popular in the Malaysia, but Milo is not own by our company, we just a franchise on it. This will reduce our business strength due to our dairy product not a major player in the market. The dairy product will less attractive for investors consider investing because the deliberate the milk market will very costly. In addition, the cost of tec hnical for hire staff and the cost of technology for produce the dairy product also costly for subsequent production cost. Moreover, the dairy product license also difficult to get approval by the government. New entrant will find difficult to entry, because the market has been controlled and play by a few big competitor. These create barriers for the new entrant find difficult to entry. Property Our property business had generated more revenue in year 2007 compare with the year 2006 by 6%. Revenue for the year 2008 had decline by 24% compare to year 2007. In subsequent two year had increase by 65% and 20% in year 2009 and 2010, but decline again in year 2011. Our property business have classified at selectivity with high level of attractiveness and low business strength. Our company more concentrate in the soft drink product and has no hard to promote our property to the public, not many people know that our business has already enter into it. Our property business has not like our beverage business seemed so successful and our business strength in this industry is low. The property business has high profitability in this industry will attract more investor to entry. Our government encourage removing the old building and build more new business park in order to make our country more prosperity. Moreover, our property business is at growth stage because just introduce into in dustry so do not have strong business strength on the property business. Ratio analysis Revenue of continuing operation continues to grow from 2009 to 2010 by 11.2% and 2010 to 2011 7.6%. In 2010, the revenue is able to grow better than 2011 due to improved economic conditions. Malaysia Government has introduced New Economic Model 2010 helps to boost spending in Malaysia. Profit before interest and tax growth rate also decline from 2010 to 2011, 31% to 14%. The result was affected because of particular division wasnt doing well in 2011. Soft Drink Soft Drink division has current ratio of 1.77 and 1.99 for year 2010 and 2011. It indicated improvement in managing assets and liabilities. The growth momentum of soft drink division has continued. The division has been doing well over the years. It contributes the largest profit to FN. In 2010, the soft drink division was able to generate revenue 21% more compared to last year. Soft drink was delivering higher volume especially during festive periods such as Chinese New Year. In addition, sales volume of 100Plus Seasons have grew more than 20% and reflected strong consumption and growing popularity of the brands. 100Plus generated over 88% of market share in isotonic category and Seasons generated 27% market share of Asian drink category. While Badminton competition Thomas Cup was around, 100PLUS Thomas Cup 1 Million Support Campaign was held for Malaysian to show their support for Malaysian badminton team. Apart from that, the division served as distributor of Red Bull energy drinks in Malaysia and commenced from 1 April 2010. Soft drink volume was able to benefit from Red Bull which contributed 2.2% helps to improve the divisions beverage portfolio. (Annual Report 2010) Soft drink division grew only 16% from 2010 to 2011. The growth rate is eroded due to the reason of Malaysian government has withdrawn the subsidy of sugar and fuel. Therefore, raw material cost has increased and causes the profit margin diminished. Coca-Cola business exits the FN in September 2011 which also the reason of profit margin diminished. However, 100Plus and Seasons still generated volume growth 10% and 14% to benefits the division. 100Plus and Seasons are the leading brands in the division and continue to enhance the divisions beverage portfolio. 100Plus was being promoted continuously as 100PLUS New Thematic Launch in July 2011. Beside, FN SEASONS Nourishing You Malaysia National Consumer Contest held between March and April 2011 to create consumers awareness that Season as healthy brand. The division also has introduced new product, Ice Mountain in Malaysia and it is able to establish 5% market share. The division has enhanced the market share of Red Bull in energy drin ks from 40% to 46.8%. It is because RED BULL ENERGIZING MALAYSIA contest has conducted and grand prize is Proton Saga. In addition, division also has organized 1million Bottle Giveaway consumer promotion. (Annual 2011) Dairies Malaysia Dairies Malaysia division has current ratio 3.07 and 4.14 for year 2010 and 2011. The division has quite high current ratio for both years and year 2011 has higher current ratio because liabilities of division have been reduced. Overall sales volume has improved 7% from 2009 to 2010. The ongoing improvement on global economy had a positive impact on consumer sentiment and consumption. Profit before interest and tax of the division has improvement of 8.4% for the reason that division has enjoyed lower raw material cost during first half of the year. However, the positive effect is reversed by raw material cost was higher during second half of the year. Therefore, an increase in price of sweetened condensed and evaporated milk which causes demand diminished. Dairies Malaysia is having over 62% market share and condensed milk brand is able to strengthen its number 1 position with 24% market share. (Annual Report 2010) Dairies Malaysia doesnt doing well in 2011 because the sales volume has declined 15.2%. More than that, revenue and profit before interest tax also decline 6.6% and 45.8%. Malaysian Government has withdrawn subsidy of sugar which cause the price of sugar increased. Beside, global commodity costs have increased together with impact from sugar cost which cause price of Sweetened Condensed Milk increased by 25%. Price of Sweetened Condensed Milk created inflation pressures to consumers and caused the sales volume declined. Apart from that, the sugar subsidy withdrawn on selective basis by government and create unfair competitive environment to Sweetened Condensed Milk manufacturers. The division was still able to getting 60% market share for both Sweetened Condensed Milk and Evaporated Milk markets. (Annual Report 2011) Dairies Thailand Current ratio of division in year 2010 and 2011 are 3.35 and 2.87. The current ratio is considered relatively high but it has decreased because liabilities of division have increased. The sales volume of division has grown 10.6% but revenue only grew 6.6% in year 2010. However, profit before interest and tax has increased 16.6%. Rojana Industrial Estate was operated in December 2009, working as the biggest canned milk manufacturing plant in the region. In July 2010, Dairies Thailand relocated to its Rojana Warehouse Distribution Centre, placed 300 meters nearby to its Rojana dairy plant. Distribution Centre is located to run into the present capacity requirement of the Rojana Plant. It is able to upkeep business growth and future expansion for operations. The division was generating substantial savings of transportation cost. Carnation and TEA POT brands continued to contribute excellent performance to canned milk portfolio. Carnation Sweetened Beverage Creamer (SBC) and Carnation Evaporated Milk (EVAP) have sales growth of over 20 per cent. Carnation Sweetened Beverage Creamer captured market share of 29 per cent while Carnation Evaporated Milk grew three percentage points to record 73 per cent market share. In addition, Bear Brand Sterilized Milk was market leader which captured 98% market share in sterilized milk segment. (Annual Report 2010)<