Brand Valuation

Methods of Brand Valuation The various methods of brand valuation can be placed into four categories: (1) cost-based approaches; (2) market-based approaches; (3) income-based approaches; and (4) formulary approaches incorporating future benefits or comparative advantages. Cost-based Approaches This method considers the costs involved in creating the brand through the stages of research and development of the product concept, market testing, continued promotion during commercialization, and product improvements over time. Historically based, this approach is the valuation technique that complies with standard accounting practice for valuating assets. It is also the most conservative method of valuation and provides little future-oriented information that is useful in the brand management process. However, this technique fails to capture value-added through the application of effective strategic brand management activities and processes. Market-based Approaches This valuation method is a much more externally focused approach. It is based on an estimation of the amount for which a brand can be sold. This method requires being able to determine a market value. In the absence of an actual market for most brands, this can be a difficult estimation challenge. To circumvent this problem, proxies are created based upon how the financial markets estimate the value associated with the brand. One way to determine the financial market effects is to separate tangible assets from intangible assets. The market value created by the intangibles can be inferred once the entire value of the firm is determined. The consultants Trademark and Licensing Associates create a similar estimation by comparing the brand being valued to the performance of another substitute brand that is unrelated to the firm. The method is much more realistic if a similar brand exists in the marketplace for comparison purposes. Income-based Approaches The valuation process involves determining future net revenues directly attributable to the brand and then discounting to the present value using an appropriate discount rate. Several methods may be used to determine net revenue. One method compares the brand's price premium to a generic product–one that exists in the marketplace without benefit of marketing investment and name ownership. A second method estimates the annual royalties associated with the brand, as in a licensing agreement. This approach to valuation is generally more applicable to brands competing in international markets. An alternative approach relies on the strength of brand name recognition to estimate revenue. The branded product is then compared to a generic product to estimate volume. Formula Approaches These approaches consider multiple criteria in arriving at a brand value. The consulting firm Interbrand and Financial World magazine use similar methods that are based on an income approach. Interbrand developed its formula approach in the context of external financial reporting, but indicates that the approach to valuation is also very suitable for internal management purposes. The Interbrand approach uses a three-year weighted average of profits after tax as an indicator of brand profitability. In calculating brand profitability, Interbrand strives to consider only factors that relate directly to the brand's identity. This is often difficult because the company may not consider specific functions as separate from the brand. For example, much of a brand's success might be attributable to the distribution system, which supports the brand but is likely not a key element of its identity. Once brand profitability is determined, a multiplier is attached to the calculation. The multiplier is created from an evaluation of brand strength based on seven factors, which are weighted according to Interbrand's guidelines. Leadership: This is the ability of the brand to function as a market leader and secure the benefits associated with holding a dominant market share. Stability: Brands that retain their image and consumer loyalty over long periods of time are more valuable than brands without such stability. Market: Brands in certain product markets are more valuable than brands in other markets because of their ability to generate greater sales volume in a more stable environment with greater barriers to entry from competitors. Internationality: Brands that are international in scope possess the potential to expand the brand and are more valuable than regional or national brands. Trend: This is the ability of the brand to remain current in the perception of consumers. Support: Brands that have been consistently managed and supported by the organization over time are much more valuable than brands that have functioned without any organizational investment. Protection: This factor relates to the legal issues associated with the brand. Brands that are protected by registered trademarks are more valuable in that the organization has the legal right to protect the brand. Financial World arrives at a valuation by estimating the operating profit attributable to a brand and then comparing it to an unbranded product. The resulting premium associated with the brand is adjusted for taxes, and then multiplied by the above seven-item factor using Interbrand's assessment of brand strength. Aaker's â€Å"Brand Equity Ten† concentrates on five categories of measures to establish a comprehensive assessment of brand equity. Specific measures of price premium, satisfaction or loyalty, perceived quality, and leadership or popularity add a customer focus to the valuation methods. Other customer-oriented measures include perceived value, brand personality, organizational associations, and brand awareness. External measures of market share and market price and distribution coverage complete the set of criteria. Overall, the superiority of the formulary approaches lies in the comprehensive nature of these measures. The formulary valuation process allows for the most comprehensive assessment of all areas that have the potential to affect the ability of the brand to generate value for its owner. Brand valuation appears to be the most promising technique capable of illustrating the importance of the brand to managers while also bridging the different orientations between marketers and accountants. Since the value of the brand can be expressed in monetary terms, all decision makers have a common point of reference. The measure of brand value may include subjective elements, but the lack of such a measure means that the importance of intangible assets may be overlooked. The use of brand valuation can help foster a recognition of a common goal for individuals in pursuing strategic objectives. Each discipline can contribute a substantial amount of expertise to the brand valuation process. This joint contribution can then assist the organization with brand management. Cost Approach The cost approach is a valuation technique that estimates value based on the cost required to create the item. Under the cost approach, the actual dollars spent to build a brand are analyzed. While it is difficult to isolate and quantify all historic expenditures incurred in building a brand, it may be possible to identify external marketing costs, including media and promotional spending. This approach can be a highly conservative estimate of the brand value because the cost approach does not factor all costs incurred in building the brand. For example labor costs, other overhead, soft dollar costs, the cost of trademark registration or internal marketing time, just to name a few costs, may not be specifically identifiable and therefore difficult to factor in. Additionally, the historical cost approach does not consider future economic benefits of a branding campaign. As media markets have become more competitive in recent years, the cost of recreating a brand would most likely exceed the historical cost even in real terms. Therefore, the cost approach may be considered as a baseline value of a brand by which to measure future investment. Market Approach The market approach is a valuation method that estimates value based on actual market transactions. The market approach requires the collection of market data from comparable transactions and analysis of the data to estimate the value of the brand through comparison and correlation. AbsoluteBrand combines information and research from our proprietary databases and external market data. The market approach is helpful in researching for potential licensing transactions. Income Approach The most accurate valuation of a brand is the present value of the incremental profit attributable to that brand. The income approach is based on the present value of an income stream. This approach to valuation is based on the assumption that if the brand’s underlying product or service did not own its trademarks it would need to license them from a third party trademark owner. Ownership of its trademarks therefore ‘relieves’ it from paying a license fee (the royalty) for the use of the third party trademarks. It requires the development of income stream projections that are then discounted for risk and the time value of money, i. e. , â€Å"present-valued† as of a certain date. Under the income approach, a complex model integrates historic and forecast financial results, market risk and brand contribution. The result can be a static brand valuation as of a particular date or it can be transformed into a dynamic brand management model. A brand valuation under the income approach is comprised of three main variables: 1. Forecast Income Statements from the Branded Business. The valuation model is segmented to reflect the relevant competitive environment within which the brand operates and forecasts are made. This information is gathered through management input and market research information. 2. Royalty. The brand is benchmarked and comparable brand royalty rates are researched and then applied to a forecast revenue streams. 3. Brand Risk Rates. The brand’s contribution to earnings is analyzed to establish the security of future brand earnings using consumer research and competitor review. This approach utilizes sound valuation principles, namely the discounted cash flow analysis along with quantifiable market research and it relies on the forecast amount of operating earnings that are attributable to the brand. The future expected brand earnings are then present-valued using a discount rate that factors in the risks associated with achieving those future brand earnings. ? Cost-Based Approaches Cost-Based Approaches involve calculating the costs associated with: — Creating the brand (market research, development of the product concept, arket testing, packaging, advertising, etc. ) — Continued promotion through the product life cycle — Product improvement over time and the insuring costs connected with the product improvement According to â€Å"Strategic Brand Valuation: A Cross-Function Perspective† by Karen Cravens and Chris Guilding (Business Horizons, July/August, 1999) the cost-based method â€Å"is the most conservative method of valua tion and provides little future-oriented information that is useful in the brand management process. †

Store and Recover Information About Object Using Binary Serialization in C#

Report Store and Recover Information about Object Using Binary Serialization in C# What is Binary Serialization: Serialization is the process taking an object and converting it to a format which can be transported through net work or store into a storage medium, the storage medium could be file, database, or memory. The . NET Framework provides two types of serialization, XML serialization and Binary serialization. There are also three formats provided by the Microsoft . NET framework to which objects can be serialized. The formats are binary, SOAP, and XML.Binary serialization can either the binary or the SOAP formatter, are suitable for storing object Information in . NET applications, and you don’t need share the information with non-. NET programs. When I mention Binary serialization below I mean â€Å"Binary serialization† using binary formatter, as short expression. Why use Binary Serialization: The binary serialization working chart is: [pic] The chart also can p resent the other two format of serialization. so why we use Binary serialization instead of use the other two? What the advantage and disadvantage of binary serialization?The binary serialization is the most compact and light of the three formats and it is the fastest one of the three formats. Also the binary serialization can serialize all the state of the object, including type information. Therefore when the object is deserialized, you get an accurate and fully functional copy of the original, which xml will not It ignores private member fields and properties. The main limitation of using binary serialization is that binary serialization depends on platform, while XML and SOAP do not adhere to that limitation.Therefore only when all your applications which use serialization are . net framework applications, you can use binary serialization, otherwise uses other two formats instead. Using Binary Serialization in C#: The code to using Binary serialize is very simple. The step is: 1 ) create an instance of an BinaryFormatter class (using the interface iForamatter) 2) pass it an object and an open stream 3) iFormatter. Serialize methodwrites the object's state to the stream. Below I will show a very simple code to serialize an object call aPerson to a file.To make a class serializable we must mark it with the serializable attribute at before the class code The code is: [Serializable] public class Person then we need 2 namespaces for using serialization in our application: using System. Runtime. Serialization. Formatters. Binary; using System. Runtime. Serialization; then use the code below to Serialize: //create an instance of an BinaryFormatter class(IFormatter is a interface) IFormatter formatter = new BinaryFormatter(); //create a stream Stream stream = new FileStream(â€Å"filename†, FileMode. Create, FileAccess.Write, FileShare. None); //pass stream and object to the stream formatter. Serialize method for doing Serialization formatter. Serialize(stre am, aPerson); //finished close the stream stream. Close(); The deserialize just as simple as serialize, the code are: IFormatter formatter = new BinaryFormatter(); Stream stream = new FileStream(â€Å"MyFile. dat†, FileMode. Open, FileAccess. Read, FileShare. Read); Person clone = (Person) formatter. Deserialize(stream); stream. Close(); Some Important not for Serialization: ? the constructors are not called when an object is deserialized. the Serializable attribute cannot be inherited. ? there are some Security issues of serialization you can visit The Security and Serialization (http://msdn. microsoft. com/library/? url=/library/en-us/cpguide/html/cpconsecurityserialization. asp)topic in the Framework Documentation further reading: This report just explains the very basic idea of Binary serialization for further study the following links will help. Serializing Objects: http://msdn. microsoft. com/library/default. asp? url=/library/en-us/cpguide/html/cpovrSerializingObjects. sp C# Object Serialization by Budi Kurniawan http://www. ondotnet. com/pub/a/dotnet/2002/08/26/serialization. html References: Serializing Objects: http://msdn. microsoft. com/library/default. asp? url=/library/en-us/cpguide/html/cpovrSerializingObjects. asp http://www. c-sharpcorner. com/Language/serializingObjectsinCS. asp ———————– Deserialization Binary Serialization network Deserialization Binary Serialization Copy of Your Object A File, Database or memory Storage medium Another Application Your object Your Application

A close focus on act III of The Crucible Essay Example for Free

A close focus on act III of ‘The Crucible’ Essay The Crucible (395) , John Proctor (276) , Tituba (113) , Giles Corey (38) , Actions (5) Haven't found the essay you want? Get your custom sample essay for only $13.90/page ? The play, ‘The crucible’, shows how people react to mass hysteria caused by a group of people, as people did during the McCarthy hearings in the 1950’s. The â€Å"House un-American activities committee† searched for communist sympathisers because they were felt to be a threat to the state. Many Americans were wrongly accused of being communist sympathisers and were convicted and sentenced without any real evidence of them having committed a crime. Mere suspicion was classed as evidence. And like the during the witch hunts, anyone who spoke out was accused which made defending yourself a death wish. This is how McCarthyism was linked with the witch-hunts that had taken place in Salem, Massachusetts in 1692. The title of the play describes exactly what was happening at the time of the witch-hunts. A crucible is a container in which metals are heated to extracted the pure element from impurities, and crucible is another word for a cauldron that witches use to brew their magic potions in. So the word ‘crucible’ could metaphorically be used to explain how the activities in Salem were like a potion brewing in a cauldron with the potion being ‘mixed’ to separate the witches (impurities) from the good, god-loving citizens (element). The opening scene of the play shows the girls dancing in the woods around a cauldron, they are spotted by Parris who also see’s that one of them is naked.  The people of Salem were Puritans and so dancing was perceived as a sin.  The morning after the dancing, two of the youngest girls cannot wake from bed. A doctor is called to help the girls but he cannot diagnose what is wrong with them or how they can be helped, His only advice is to look to the unnatural. The girls do not confess to their activities until Parris confronts them. Abigail says all that they did was dance and strongly denies that any of them were naked, ‘Uncle, we did dance.’ ‘There is nothin’ more. I swear it, uncle.’ Mrs Putnam, the mother of the other ill child, believes that her daughter Ruth and Parris’s daughter Betty’s illnesses are caused by the devil. Parris calls for Hale who is an expert on ‘demonic arts’  Parris is the minister of the Village, much to the Putnam’s dismay. Mr Putnam’s brother was in competition with Parris for the position of minister and so the Putnam’s have a grudge against not only Parris, but the Nurse family who prevented him from being minister and many of there neighbours for various reasons. Especially with Giles Corey who has worked out that the Putnam’s will do anything to get their hands on other peoples land, ‘This man is killing his neighbours for their land!’ John Proctor also has a grudge against Parris. Hale arrives in Salem, He is a confident and well education young man who believes he has all the answers. As he is examining Betty Giles Corey distracts him by asking him questions about his wife. Giles says that his wife reads strange books whilst they are in bed and while she is reading, he cannot pray. Hale carries on trying to help Betty with little effect. Parris tells Hale that he thinks he saw a kettle in the grass with the girls in the wood with something moving inside it. Hale questions Abigail but she denies that she drank blood and called the devil. Abigail then realises that if the truth is found out she will get in a lot of trouble and so she passes the blame onto Tituba, Parris’s black slave, by saying that Tituba forced her to drink blood and even blames her wicked dreams on the slave. Tituba confesses to save herself from being hung. She mentions four people’s names that she supposedly saw with the devil. Abigail mentions more and more names and then the rest of the girls join in, mentioning the names of anyone they hate, have a grudge against or just dislike. As the girls cried out more names, the hysteria began to grow.  By accusing others of witchcraft they are diverting attention away from their original misdemeanours. We can see that the Proctors relationship is not very strong, they make petty small talk over dinner and don’t appear to be happy together. One reason for this may be that Elizabeth has not forgiven John for having an affair with Abigail whilst she was ill.  Whilst Mary was at court with the other girls where people were being tried for witchcraft she made a poppet for Elizabeth. Abigail was sitting next to Mary whilst she made it. By now 39 women had been arrested and Goody Osborn was sentenced to hanging.  Mary, who had always been a very shy, timid girl was now becoming very easily led along by Abigail and just as confused between fact and fantasy as the other girls and. This is apparent when she tells the Proctors that Sarah Good had confessed to having made contact with Lucifer, and that Sarah Goods spirit tried to choke her in the courtroom. Mary then speaks of even more fantasy when she says that terrible stomach pains had been inflicted upon her when she had turned the old woman away whilst she was begging. Mary also accused the old woman of mumbling a spell to her, but Sarah Good claimed it was not a spell, it were her commandments. The court asked her to repeat the commandments, but she could not. A close focus on act III of ‘The Crucible’. (2017, Oct 04).

Project management 2 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3750 words

Project management 2 - Essay Example The house stands on a 3000 square feet plot. Approximately 1500 square feet area will be used for building space. The house will have two storeys and an elaborate garage capable of housing two huge SUV's. It will be surrounded by a huge garden with fountains and fences. The project is named Lovely Palace and is indicated by the name LP throughout the process. Memphis construction is a huge company handling several such projects. They work on several housing projects at a time and there are specific teams to take care of each process in the project. The researcher is the team leader for the project LP. 6 teams work under him to complete the assigned tasks on time. A detailed Gantt chart is drawn assigning various tasks and sub tasks to these teams and 3 team leaders are supposed to report to the project leader at specific time intervals. Gantt chart There are several tools designed to help planning a project in a step by step manner. Many advanced tools help in scheduling the project hour wise. The minimum or maximum time necessary to complete the project can be calculated using them. The planning and scheduling process is simplified beyond belief in the modern days through such tools. Gantt chart is one such tool used to represent the progress of a project in a graphical way. It is similar to a bar chart, but gives a much detailed view of the project with exact time schedules. It can be created using Microsoft Excel or Microsoft Project. The main advantage of using Gantt chart is its capability to break the project into tasks and subtasks. This paves way for better management of the project. Colours used in the Gantt Charts In the attached Gantt chart all the tasks are represented through a black bar and the sub tasks are represented through a blue bar. The time frame for each task, sub task and which team the task is assigned is mentioned in the chart clearly. One look at the graphical Gantt chart will help us determine the progress of the project time wise an d budget wise. The time for parallel processes, the minor delays in the projects as well as the total budget can be determined easily using this Gantt chart. Memphis Construction has skilled employees working in the consulting and planning department capable of creating a multifaceted Gantt chart which is easily amendable. They create it after detailed discussion with various team leaders and present the final draft to the LP project head. Each member involved in the project has a copy of their assigned tasks and its time frame. They are requested to stick strictly to the schedule and report to their respective team leaders regarding the progress or delay in the work at the end of each day. Project development Stages Stage 1: Finalizing the plan Memphis Construction Company assigns the project to the project head in this case the researcher, once a customer approaches the company for a plan. The work starts from the day the customer agrees to work with them. The engineers and design ers in the company draw a plan based on the customer’s specification. The initial consultation for the customer is free. Once the architect team presents the plan, the customer can fix any number of sittings with them and get it modified according to their necessity. Each sitting costs around $90 per

Techniques of 21st century political speech writing Essay

Techniques of 21st century political speech writing - Essay Example The following tools of successful political speech writing reveal a curtain of mystery from this rhetoric master skill. Imagery means, such as metaphor and simile: â€Å"Like being savaged by a dead sheep†. This simile appeals to the audience and makes an emphasis on required issues clearly. It goes without saying and it’s no wonder that usage of imagery in political speeches bears fruits: in one way or another, subconsciously or not, the recipient audience looks in their memories for a certain image thus information encoded is engraved in their minds. Another technique, such as repetition, is considered to be relevant in political speech writing too. More often it is claimed that anaphora, which is repetition of the first words of each line, is generally used. It is also possible to use repetition inside the sentence, for example: â€Å"There are some of us... who will fight, fight, and fight again to save the party we love.† or â€Å"Ask me my three priorities : education, education, education†. In such a way repetition engraves the most crucial aspects of political speech. Nevertheless it is necessary to underline that usage of repetition throughout the speech can be boring and ineffective.

Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 7

Assignment Example He will either be lenient towards all others out of guilt (as well as to avoid confrontations that might arise due to differences of opinion with those he reviews) or more strict with others to cover for Virginia’s incompetence. After all, the way he rated Virginia’s performance, makes it clear that his first priority is to avoid confrontation and the extra time and effort required to justify his below average rating, for which he would need to go through the records he had been able to collect. On the other hand, he might try to compensate his erroneous rating of Virginia’s performance by being overly harsh in his rating of other employees; especially the ones he thinks will take his ratings and comments without the ensuing emotional outburst that he is desperate to avoid, even at the cost of introducing stagnation of effort in the organization. Ans3. The most crucial mistake that Steve made in rating Virginia’s performance was the lack of around the year monitoring and frank discussions with Virginia about her performance level. Next, he compounded his mistake by letting his emotions and fear of facing a tough situation, get in the way of a truthful and fair evaluation that would have been of benefit to both, the organization and the job holder in the long run. Instead, Steve should have approached the appraisal process with total honesty and strength. Moreover, he should have had the wisdom to have open discussions with Virginia prior to the actual appraisal and encouraged her to recognize her shortcomings in order to improve herself. In this way he could have guided her throughout the year to make improvements in areas where she lagged, to contribute actual value to the organization. Ans4. The performance review conducted by Steve was biased and incorrect owing to his lack of proper effort and feelings about the employee.

Toyotas Advertising and Sales Promotion Campaigns Essay

Toyotas Advertising and Sales Promotion Campaigns - Essay Example This mix of strengths are, a very good understanding of market conditions in the different markets around the world, a very focused segmentation, targeting, and positioning to address these market conditions, speed and flexibility in manufacturing to meet the needs of these of these markets, commitment to lean manufacturing techniques and quality, to remain competitive, and provide value for money to their customers, and forward looking marketing strategy that attempts to incorporate new and emerging technologies into their products, to blaze trails in the new directions that automobiles are expected to take. Â  The weakness of Toyota lies mainly in its dependence on the automobile segment. Toyota has a diversified range of business activities that include automobiles, material handling equipment, textile machinery and electric components. Yet, there is over-dependence on the automobile sector as can be seen from the revenue generation. The automobile segment contributes 52% of the total revenue of Toyota. Looking at the changes that have taken place from 2000 to 2004 in terms of sales per employee, there has been a reduction causing a decrease in revenue per employee. This has had a negative impact on the productivity and efficiency levels in Toyota. (Toyota Industries Inc. Company Profile). Â  The oil prices have skyrocketed in the recent past and show no sign of decline with increased energy consumption from the emerging economies of populous countries like China and India. The worldwide focus has changed to looking for alternative sources of energy, including use in automobiles.

Marion Kaplans Between Dignity and Despair Essay

Marion Kaplans Between Dignity and Despair - Essay Example Above all, Marion A Kaplan has been able to demonstrate as to how the overall family experiences transformed due to marginalization and restrictions imposed on Jewish community. This book is academically critical as it narrates the story of common Jews who were part of the community before the rise of Hitler to the power. Marion A Kaplan offered a detailed account of changes in the social attitudes of common Germans when Hitler assumed the power. Marion attempted to illustrate the historical account of how ordinary Jews suffered during the period immediately preceding the war. She has specially been able to portray the experiences of women and how the family experiences changed during that era. Marion is known for her work on the feminist movement and extensive work on detailing the day to day lives of Jews during Imperial Germany. She has been able to combine the history of ordinary Jews with that of the gender studies with focus on women. The theme of this book is to present the Jewish history from the point of view of individuals- women specially and is based upon an extensive account of personal memoirs as well as testimonies of women who lived during that era. There has been extensive historical coverage of how the Jews survived under these conditions however; Marion’s account is more rigorous as it offered a unique and different perspective to this historical period. Until this work, Jewish history was not seen particularly from this perspective and thus this book is significant milestone towards contributing the academic literature on this subject. Marion has been able to demonstrate as to how the psychological, social as well as physical isolation of the German Jews further deteriorated their spirit and marginalized them in same society where they were considered as equal citizens. The use of legislations to actually undermine the social, economic as well as legal standing of the Jews in the country was widely used against them. These actions

Edna Manley Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Edna Manley - Essay Example However, her later works were done in clay and cast. The sculptors she made were greatly influenced by the cultural changes taking place in Jamaica at the time. Her art was aimed at reflecting the Jamaican culture and the experiences Jamaicans were undergoing at the time. During the early 1920s, after she had returned to Jamaica from England, Edna realized that Jamaican middle class expected all women to be subjects of their husbands and operate in their shadows. However, she was a keen observer of the Jamaican way of life, and through this observation, she got inspiration for her work. Beadseller is the first bronze casting sculptor she created in 1923. The beadseller was a sharp and lean body depicting a person undergoing hardships. This piece personified the suffering and troubles many people in Jamaica went through. Through her work, Edna also attempted to elevate the status of women in the society. Unlike many other artists at the time, her style mainly centered on women, for instance, in 1928, she created the carving Eve from mahogany. This image had rounded and sensual body forms (Laduke, 37). This piece was recognized as one of Edna’s important works in which she acknowledges the mother of mankind. Through her art, she was able to recognize the role women had in the society. For instance, in her work The Message (1977), Edna shows two women sharing a secret. She claimed that she saw these two women in the market place and knew that it was a secret an older woman tells a younger one. Other works with the theme of older women include Man-Child (1974) and The Ancestor (1974) (Laduke, 37). She was a champion and advocate of the Black Jamaican rights and freedom. Through her works, Edna was able to show the world that Black Jamaicans were capable and ready to make a contribution to the Jamaican society and the world as a whole. These works represented the quest for a new order in the Jamaican society. Two of such

Perceptions of Adjustment to Stepfamily Living Case Study

Perceptions of Adjustment to Stepfamily Living - Case Study Example According to the paper the age of the child to be included will be limited from age thirteen to eighteen. This case study will help individuals, couples, and families determine how to meet stepfamily challenges through a clearer understanding of how their own perceptions are contingent upon particular outcomes. This study will additionally contribute to the fields of social science, psychology and family therapy by adding to the already existing body of knowledge on stepfamily functioning. Finally, such information would be particularly valuable to professionals in the field who can draw on the findings to assist them as they work with stepfamilies in their daily practice, and to understand the value of the utilization of the therapeutic process. This study declares that stepfamilies are becoming an increasingly more common type of family in almost all countries, especially in the UK and USA. Increasing parental separation over past decades means that approximately one million children under 18 years of age will experience the divorce of their parents. A large population pool for remarriages and the formation of stepfamilies is created by high divorce rates. Estimates project that 50-60 percent of couples in first marriages will separate. Research indicates that women (mothers) ordinarily re-partner within 3-5 years post-separation and men (fathers) typically re-partner within 1-2 years of separation, most of these include children from a prior marriage, and thus, stepfamilies are formed. While educational, social, and economic factors present unique barriers to stepfamilies, societal stereotyping is another major challenge that stepfamilies encounter. The negative stereotyping of stepfamilies may lead new members of stepfami lies to expect negative outcomes which can then increase the chance of family disharmony.  

Unlawful Justice Essay Example for Free

Unlawful Justice Essay Many people have disagreements on the death penalty. My opinion on this argument is that we should abolish the death penalty from our criminal punishment system. As someone once said two wrongs do not make a right and I think that he is right. It is not doing justice killing another person because that person killed someone. My friend says this If the person didnt mean to kill them they should live but, if they wanted to kill them then they should die(Holeman). More than half of the countries in the world have abolished capital punishment from law or practice. Some of these countries that have abolished it, to us are considered third world countries. Are we any better than these third world countries if we still use the death penalty and they dont? A total of 109 countries have abolished the death penalty. 749 prisoners have been executed since capital punishment was resumed in 1977. Almost all the states in the U.S. use the lethal injection if they even have the death penalty. Electrocution that used to be widely used is now the second most used. Very few states use the gas chamber, hanging, and firing squad and most of the states have lethal injection as a secondary. Most people see the lethal injection as the most humane but; all of them are very terrible deaths to die. On January 1st 2001 there were around 3,700 inmates on death row. The average cost to seek the death penalty is $218,112 and that is added to the total cost of the case. U.S. is the leader in killing kids worldwide. We have sentenced 160 children to death since 1973. There is not really an official age at which you can sentence a child to the death penalty. Mississippi sought the death penalty in 1996 for kids of the age of 13. Most kids sent to death row are colored and stats show that two out of three kids sent to death row are children of color. Also, almost 90% of people put  to death for committing a crime were convicted of murdering whites but, about half of all homicide victims in the U.S. are colored. It is so bad in Maryland that if you kill a white person you are seven times more likely to get the death sentence than if you murder a colored person. About 90 % of the people that the U.S. Government prosecutors tried and execute are Black or Latino. Many people that seek the death penalty only want it for people that are not white. Another major problem with the system is that even if you are innocent you have a high chance of being put on death row. Around 23 innocent people have been sentenced to death row and have been executed for crimes they did not commit this century. More than 69 people have been released from death row since 1972 for being wrongly convicted. That is more than one innocent person for every 100 convicts on death row. One example of mistaken guilt was of Robert Nelson Drew who was executed even after another man confessed to the murder. A few countries other than the U.S. show that we dont execute people that bad. Go live in Afghanistan they will stone you to death or maybe go to Sudan where you can be stoned or crucified and other countries even behead you. Another bad thing about the death penalty is that in Florida each of the states executions cost $3.2 million and life inprison only cost $600,000. Spending our taxpayers money on the death penalty takes away from more important stuff for example investigating drug crimes, domestic violence, and child abuse. If we did not have the death penalty we could have better education and rehabilitation. Around five years ago many Americans heavily supported the death penalty and around 80% of Americans favored executing convicted murders. According to the polls now it is at 66 percent that is a major drop. In ten or twenty years will we even have the death penalty? Now for the first time for a very long time people can debate whether we should have the death penalty or not.  Governor George Ryan of Illinois started up the train to debate the death penalty and has it moving. Many states in the U.S. are looking over the death penalty in their state. In the 1990s the death penalty was the main thing to do to get tough on crime movement. In the 90s the death penalty has seen the toughest increase in death row inmates. With President Clinton in office he expanded the federal death penalty to additional 60 more crimes. Now I come to my conclusion many people have disagreements on the death penalty but nobody will change my decision. If you look at the facts the death penalty has some major mess-ups. Nobody is going to be able to correct those fully and the only way to stop the mess-ups is to abolish the death penalty. Many innocent people are killed and a lot of jurors are racist and judge the crime poorly. Almost half of the countries in the world have abolished it why shouldnt we. What if you were wrongly accused of committing a crime and were put to death would justice have been served I think not. Do you see why it should be abolished? Maybe some day you will march against the death penalty even if you dont just please do not support it. Thank you for your time and I hope you learned a lot about the death penalty. Works Cited www.web.amnesty.org 2 April 2002 www.agitator.com 2 April 2002 www.abcnews.go.com 2 April 2002 www.derechos.org/dp/ 2 April 2002 www.uscourts.gov 2 April 2002 www.ncadp.org 2 April 2002 www.amnesty-usa.org 2 April 2002 www.alternet.org 2 April 2002 www.prodeathpenalty.com 8 March 2002 Pence, Alex. Death Penalty. Report by Alex Pence. 2001 Holeman, Spencer. Interview. 4 April 2002

How to Analyize and Argue an Essay Essay Example for Free

How to Analyize and Argue an Essay Essay A critique is an essay in which you evaluate (comment on the positive and negative aspects of) an essay or article. A critique can be positive (reasons the argument worked), negative (reasons the argument did not work), or shaded (reasons parts of it worked and parts of it didn’t). When you write a critique, it is important to keep in mind that you are not making suggestions for the author odds are the author isn’t interested in what you think she could have done differently—you are writing for another reader. A critique is often born out of reaction (you liked or disliked the argument), but is based on and supported by close reading and evaluation, not just how you feel. Writing a critique requires that you have a clear understanding of the essay. You should know the argument, the purpose, and the ways that the author supports the argument. If you can’t clearly articulate those things, you’ll have a hard time critiquing them. For tips on that process, see the summary page. Sometimes a critique is called an analysis or a close reading. In all cases you’re offering your own reasoned response to the ideas that the writer presents and the way the writer presents them. What to do: Begin by summarizing the piece. You’ll likely need a brief overview in your introduction anyway, and it never hurts to have a firm sense of the argument in your head before you begin a critique. In many cases your instructor will require you to begin a critique with a summary. Decide whether your critique will be positive or negative. Are you interested in the positives of the piece or the negatives? Did the author convince you or not? Do you want to highlight a combination of positive and negative? Pick several specific points from the essay that you wish to use as your supporting claims. You might take issue with an author’s organization or tone, or with her use of supporting arguments. The more specific you are in your points, the better your critique will be. See below for a list of possible critique points. The thesis of a critique is relatively straightforward. You simply need to present your evaluation of the article you’re critiquing. You then support that thesis using the several points you’ve chosen. In each paragraph of a critique, develop one of your points. Use specific examples from the text. If you want to say that the author’s tone was inappropriate for the subject matter, find a quote and then explain how the tone is inappropriate and why. Usually each paragraph explains only one example. You might have two paragraphs that discuss different examples of the same general point—for instance, two different examples of inappropriate tone. The number of body paragraphs depends on the length of the assignment. A two-page critique might not have more than two or three body paragraphs. A four-page critique might require five or six body paragraphs. Choose enough examples so that you can discuss each one in its own body paragraph. A general rule of thumb is that body paragraphs should be about a half a page long, double-spaced. In your conclusion, you want to remind readers of your thesis and pull all of your examples together. You don’t want your conclusion to simply restate your introduction, nor do you want to provide entirely new information. You want to naturally draw readers to an end. *Elements to Critique Here is a list of various elements you can look for in an article you want to critique. Keep in mind that not every item will be appropriate to every article. Logic: Has the writer picked examples that logically support her claim? Is her reasoning (the way she works out her ideas) in line with the claim and what you know to be true? Logic: Does the writer have reasonable support but is the overall claim itself flawed? (one might claim that global warming doesn’t exist, and then use sources that describe the recent temperature shifts as normal geological cycles. The supporting claims are logical, but the overall claim that global warming doesn’t exist is not logical because the temperatures are, in fact, rising. Does the writer use enough evidence to support his claims? Is the evidence the writer uses appropriate? For example, using outdated statistics is not effective, nor is using evidence that is not actually relevant to the topic. Tone: Is the writer’s tone appropriate to the subject matter? Is the tone at an appropriate level to the audience? If the writer is overly sarcastic, for example, that tone might not be appropriate to a subject like drunk driving. Tone: Does the author seem overly critical of a single person or movement in ways that do not support his or her thesis? Is the word choice appropriate for the audience? (If the article is from a popular magazine such as MacLean’s, but the language is highly technical and specialized, that might be less appropriate. ) Organization: Is the article organized in a way that makes sense? Does the organization make the article easier to read or more difficult? Expertise: Does the author establish herself as an authority on the subject? If so, how? Does she describe her credentials? Use technical terms? Refer to sources? These are just some of the different aspects of an article that are open to critique. Pick a few, look for very specific examples in the text, and build your body paragraphs around them. What it looks like: Below you will find two different samples. Each one contains the introduction and one body paragraph of a critique. One is a mostly positive critique, and one is a negative critique. Positive Critique: In â€Å"Game Theories† Clive Thompson uses the story of a man, Edward Castronova, to discuss online gaming worlds and their economy. He begins with a long introduction about Mr. Castronova, and then proceeds to outline several points about online gaming while still using Castronova’s story throughout the essay. His intent is to bring to light several opinions, facts, and debates regarding virtual reality games. In writing this piece, Thompson is effective in reaching this goal. He does so by using Edward Castronova as a credible example and reference, by his language and word choices, by quoting people highly involved in the virtual world, and by using recognizable and interesting examples of specific online gaming worlds. Thompson begins his essay by introducing readers to Edward Castronova, an economist who investigated the economy of online gaming worlds, and who submitted his findings on an academic website. Right off the bat Thompson draws the attention of readers by presenting Edward Castronova in a simple, story-like way. Readers find stories easy to read and to relate to, and for the first several paragraphs Thompson is in fact telling a brief story. Once Clive Thompson has successfully given readers Castronova’s background, he brings himself into the piece in a brief paragraph telling how he met Castronova. This is very effective because it associates him with the person whom readers are now interested in, and gives them more reason to find his writing credible and worth interest. Being able to associate with a real-life person allows readers to be more connected to the piece and to the author. It brings the entire piece closer to home, so to speak, which makes the entire essay more readable. Readers are more likely to enjoy an essay if they feel they can relate to its topic and to the author. Thompson accomplishes this reader comfort by introducing Edward Castronova and by connecting himself to this man. Negative Critique: In â€Å"Image World,† Michael Posner analyzes society’s dependence on visual stimulation using daily events as examples. Posner demonstrates society’s inability to distinguish reality from fantasy through numerous examples such as theme parks, rock concerts and political campaigns. Posner emphasizes on society’s attachment to imagery because he believes it is the only way to capture our attention, he also believes that it is the only way for people to understand the significance of a piece of writing or event. Posner’s primary audience include readers of Queen’s Quarterly and his secondary audience include students. Although readers recognize Posner’s argument on the effects of imagery within the culture of society, they are not convinced because of his negative outlook; therefore, he is not effective in his argument. In this essay I examine the different methods in which Posner is not effective: the use of excessive examples, tone and language, and organization. Posner’s use of excessive examples to support his argument distracts the reader. Although some readers may believe that using numerous examples further supports Posner’s argument, that writing alone is not enough to captivate the attention of the reader, students would argue against. For instance, he lists â€Å"Logos, billboards, banks of televisions, video monitors, camcorders, games downloadable to cellphones,† examples that have been mentioned already (p. 326). When using example after example, the reader is temporarily distracted and must figure out his point again. As Posner asks, â€Å"More examples? † he insults the reader suggesting that his audience cannot recognize and perceive his main purpose (p. 327). By insulting the reader Posner subtly suggests he knows better, separating himself from his audience. This separation causes the audience, students mainly, to not take him or his writing seriously.

Service Delivery And Service Recovery Strategy Tourism Essay

Service Delivery And Service Recovery Strategy Tourism Essay Expectation is one of the most important thing related directly to the guest that the hotel has to know in order to be able to provide the service that fulfill the needs and desire of the guest. Its the key to know whats the hotel has to provide in order to make the guest feel satisfy. Before experiencing the service, each guest must have their own expectation. As what Pizam and Ellis had discussed in their research, the meaning of expectation can be describe as a mutable internal standard which is based on a multitude of factors including needs, objectives, past personal or vicarious experiences with the same establishment restaurant, with similar establishments, and the availability of alternatives. Besides on past personal experience and other factors have been mentioned, the expectation of the guest can also be based on whats the hotel had been promised to the guest. Not only that, another factor such as advertisement which is based on external communication can affect the expectation of the guest. For example, the guest who is looking for five star hotels for the accommodation during their holiday will search some particular hotels through the website, brochure, etc. If the advertisement of that particular hotel is very attractive and the physical of the hotel looks luxury and interested, most probably it will build higher expectation to the guest. Halstead (1994) also stated that the guest who, didnt have any experience before they go to one particular hotel, will rely on external source of information. H1: Good advertising could probably affect and increase the expectation made by the guest. Moreover, through the research made by Getty and Thomson in 1994, it is known that the expectation should be elicited prior to the service being provided; otherwise it will be influenced by perceptions of the actual service being provided.For instance, the guest may change her expectations during the service encounter and use those changes (perhaps more realistic) expectations as the standard of comparison. Many researchers support that statement because some think that the information that the guest receive during the current service will affect the expectation they have made before the service experience. Halstead (1993) found that expectations that are measured after service experience was higher for dissatisfy customers than for satisfy customers. On the other side, the guest, who has little or no experience of product and service before, will generate little information that leads to lower expectation made on the first time they experience the service. For instance, the guest who has never been stayed in five star hotel will have lower expectation about the five star hotel they are about to stay. This happened because the guest doesnt know whatare the products and service offered by the five star hotel, the guest just has little information that might be gotten from the advertisement they have seen before. Though there are differentiations for both the factors influence expectation and the times the guest makes their expectation, but normally the expectation of the guest can be grouped as several parts. As written in the research made by Lewis and McCann (2004), they classifying the expectations that based on what the guest expect from three or four star hotels. Below are the results of the ranking both business and leisure guests expect through their staying in three or four star hotels: Clean, comfortable bedrooms with all items in working order. Good quality food and beverages. Friendly, helpful, polite and efficient staff. High level of room security. Speedy, efficient check-in and out. The data above was made in the research made by Dolnicar (2002) to show that most of people expect to have clean room (including bathroom). Meaning to say that the guestwho are staying in three or four star hotel are more concern to the cleanliness of the hotel. Even the data was obtained through the questionnaire; it can change according to how many star of the hotel. Besides, she had completed her data with the expectation from the business travelers hotel expectation by hotel star category. The data is shown below. */** *** **** ***** Good food 8.0% 10.0% 5.6% 3.7% TV 5.3% 6.0% 2.1% 0.0% Good service 1.3% 4.0% 2.6% 4.9% Good location 2.7% 3.0% 2.1% 4.9% Staff 2.7% 2.0% 1.0% 0.0% Good value for money 5.3% 1.5% 3.1% 0.0% Pleasant atmosphere 0.0% 1.5% 3.6% 3.7% Large room 0.0% 1.5% 3.1% 3.7% Toilet 1.3% 1.5% 0.0% 0.0% Cheap 1.3% 1.0% 0.0% 0.0% Shower 9.3% 1.0% 1.5% 1.2% Internet 0.0% 1.0% 1.5% 2.5% High quality 0.0% 0.5% 1.5% 2.5% Food 6.7% 0.0% 0.0% 2.5% Comfortable bed 2.7% 0.0% 1.0% 1.2% Comfort 0.0% 0.0% 0.5% 3.7% It is shown in the data above that the expectation from business travelers hotel expectation is different according to the star of the hotel theyve been staying at. Both of the data above broaden the factors influence expectation of the guest; star of the hotel and type of the guest are also influence the expectation made by guest. Jonathan D. Barsky also stated that the perception of product or service performance will influence the response made by guest if it combines with the expectation or pre-experience standard. When the guest has no pre-experience standards or expectation, the response of the guest will directly reveal their perception of the product or service experience without being affected by their expectation. Satisfaction In hospitality industry, the guest will evaluate more on its service than its product. Quality of service becomes the most important things that the guest will experience and give their valuation through. Since every guest wish to perceive the best service or in the other word; excellent service, hotel has to make efforts in giving them what they wish. The meaning of the excellent service is given in the research made by Berry, Parasuraman, and Zeithami which is a profit strategy because it results in more new customers, more business with existing customers, fewer lost customers, more insulation from price competition, and fewer mistakes requiring the re-performance of services (1994, pg. 32 Vol 8. No. 2). It is clearly said that through the excellent service, hotel will increase their customer and decrease the lost of the customer. In other words, if hotel gives excellent service to the guest, it will result in having more profit for the hotel itself.However, excellent service will lead to satisfaction of the guest which will cause in the increasing of guests loyalty. When it comes to satisfaction, every guest who feels satisfy with the service given will disposed to be loyal to the hotel. So, it can be said that the satisfaction the hotel wants to obtain from the guest is to gain the loyalty from them.It was said by Jones and Sasser (1995) that increased customer loyalty is a critical driver of a firms long-term financial performance. Besides, the guests who feel dissatisfied with the hotel will reduce loyalty and the reputation of the hotel through the action they may do after experienced service failure. Therefore, satisfaction is the goal that the hotel wants to achieve. The meaning of customer satisfaction had been written in the article as a psychological concept that involves the feeling of well-being and pleasure that results from obtaining what one hopes for and expects from an appealing product and/or service (WTO, 1985). Through this definition, it is known that satisfaction can be obtained by fulfilling guests hopes and expectation. Furthermore, satisfaction is not a definite thing that will go constantly the same; each person will perceive different level of satisfaction even when they are in the same hospitality experience. The reason behind it is that each guest has their own needs, objectives, and past experience that will affect their expectations. Based on this statement, its very important for the hotel to know how to measure customer satisfaction. Of course, the reason for measuring customer satisfaction has to be clear in order to get the right information from the guest. According to Naumann (1995), five objectives that are the reasons the hotel measures customer satisfaction are: To get close to the customer It was well explained that the hotel has not only just know but also understand the most important attributes to customer, why those attributes affects customers decision making, the importance of those attributes, and get a feedback of how well the hotel perform to deliver each attribute. Measure continuous improvement The attributes that are necessary for the customer are linked directly to value added processes in the firm and are put into a form consistent with the internal measurements used to evaluate the process. To achieve customer driven improvement Not all customers are from the same source of valuable innovation. This will need creation of a comprehensive database that not only tracks sales, but sources of innovations. To measure competitive strengths and weaknesses Perceptions of the customer will be determined by the competitive choices. This is achieved through the possible survey and future customers as well as current and past customers. To link customer satisfaction measurement data to internal systems (Naumann, 1995, pp.22-7). Knowing that satisfaction is very important to be learned in the industry especially service industry such as hospitality industry, there have been research discussed about this topic. There have been nine distinct that researchers developed about the theories of customer satisfaction. The nine theories include: expectancy disconfirmation, assimilation or cognitive dissonance, contrast, assimilation-contrast, equity, attribution, comparison-level, generalized negativity, and value-precept (Oh and Parks, 1997). Based on expectancy disconfirmation theory, satisfaction is caused by confirmation or positive disconfirmation of consumer expectations, and dissatisfaction is caused by negative disconfirmation of consumer expectations. (Pizam and Ellis, 1999). When the outcomes received by the guest are different from what the guest have been expected, negative disconfirmation occurs. According to the research made by Yuksel (2001), there is positive disconfirmation when the service performance is better than what the guest had been expected before which lead to the satisfaction of the guest. When service performance is the same as the guests expectation, there is a confirmation which still leads to the satisfaction of the guest. Moreover, the guest will feel dissatisfy when the service performance is not good as what the guest had been expected which there will be a negative disconfirmation occurs. At the time the guest feel dissatisfy, it means that the need and wants of the guest cant be fulfilled by the hotel. Even though the satisfaction of the guest depends on the service performance and the expectation, minimum tolerable level also give impact to the satisfaction of the guest. Minimum tolerable level is the situation where the guest still can accept the failure that the hotel made. According to Yuksel (2011), depending on the situation, some of the guests will still feel satisfy when the service performance falls short of their predictive expectation but above the minimum tolerable level. Each person has different minimum tolerable level as they have different expectation. Basically, this minimum tolerable level cant be predicted and measured, so the hotel cant provide the service based on this minimum tolerable level just to prevent the guest feel dissatisfied. H2: When the hotel cant meet the high expectation made by guest, they will still feel satisfy if the service meets their minimum tolerable level. According to Pizam (1999), Dissatisfiers were more likely to earn a complaint for low performance or absence of a desired feature than anything else. But an operation that exceeds the threshold performance standard apparently will not receive compliments on the attributes. Meaning to say, the guest can be easily feel dissatisfy of the failures or the small things that not happened smoothly but will be very hard to appreciate the higher performance level achieved by the hotel. For example, the guest will easily feel dissatisfy when they expect the bathroom was clean but they found a rubbish near the basin. However, the guest will not be easily impressed when they expect the room was clean and the hotel provide more than that with decorating the room with a flower. Service Recovery Service Recovery was made because its impossible to give a maintain service that will never change nor have a mistake. In order to compete with other industries, each has to improve their performance all the time. Not only creating new stuff, products, or refurbished the building but also improving the service. Unfortunately, even there is a significant improvement, mistakes and failures will always be made since theres no so called perfect service.Through this realized condition, hotel creates recovery service to obtain positive response from the guest. Service recovery involves those actions designed to resolve problems, alter negative attitudes of dissatisfied customers and to ultimately retain these customers (Miller et al., 2000, p.38), and it includes situations in which a service failure occurs but no complaint is lodged by the customers (Smith et al., 1999, p. 359). There are always the strategies made before doing the recovery of the service. According to Lewis and McCann (2004), service recovery strategies are the actions that services providers take, in response to defects or failures, comprise a combination of psychological recoveries and tangible efforts. In addition, service recovery strategy is made to avoid bad response showed by the guest after theyve experienced service failure. When the guest experienced service failure, they may switch their option and move to the competitors, make a complaint that will give bad impact for the hotel if they speak out in public media, and the worst thing; they may use negative words to share about the bad experienced theyve had. As word of mouth is one of the media that works fast among people, negative words shared by the guest can influence hotels profit and reputation.There have been many researches stated that dissatisfied customers might tell ten to twenty people about their bad experience with their colleagues (Zemke, 1999). In order to decrease dissatisfactionthat lead to the negative consequences for hotel, some strategies have to be performed to the guest that experienced service failure as the recovery. H3: Service recovery strategy will prevent the hotel from the negativeopinion shared by the guest who had experienced service failures. At the first time the guest chose the place to stay, they have made their expectation and when the guest dont get what they have been expected or the quality that they evaluate is very poor, the guest will feel dissatisfy. After feel dissatisfy, the guest will either make a complaint or give their feedback to the hotel. From those situations, then only the hotel know that theres some failures occur.Sundaram, Jurowski, and Webster (1997) had mentioned in their research that Dissatisfied customers expect that service failures will be recovered when they complain. Moreover, there are five broad service dimensions that the guests use to evaluate or judge the service quality. The five dimensions are: RELIABILITY : The ability to perform the promised service dependably (32%) and accurately. RESPONSIVENESS : The willingness to help customers and provide prompt (22%) service. ASSURANCE : The knowledge and courtesy of employees and their (19%) ability to convey trust and confidence. EMPHATY : The caring, individualized attention provided to (16%) customers. TANGIBLES : The appearance of physical facilities, equipment, (11%)personnel, and communication materials. Those five broad service dimensions will affect to the evaluation made by the guest. Once one of the dimensions cant be fulfilled by the hotel, the evaluation from the guest through the hotel will decrease and vice versa. As human being, we will absolutely make a mistake. Thats why the service which is done by the staff will never be constantly perfect. Its a common thing for a hotel to do some failures to the guest. However, when some failure occurs, the hotel will definitely do the recovery to enhance customer satisfaction, build customer relationship, and keep the loyalty of their guest. Service recovery strategy is described by Gronroos (1988) in their research as the actions that hotels take in response to defects or failures. The action of recovery strategy is done with the range of doing nothing to do some efforts to fix the problems or the failures occur. A lot of researchers have made the research connecting with service recovery strategies theme. The summary of the research, about the strategies the hotel do after the failures occur, made by Bitner et al. (1990), Kelley et al. (1993), Johnston (1994), Hoffman et al., (1995), Tax et al. (1998), Miller et al. (2000) and Lewis and Spyrakopoulos (2001), generate the result that the strategies may be classified as : Apology; Corrections; Empathy; Compensation; Follow-up; Acknowledgement; Explanation; Exceptional Treatment; and Managerial Intervention. Apology is a basic strategy the hotel does after some failures occur. The moment the hotel does some failures, the first action to be taken is to apologize to the guest. When apologize is compulsory to be implemented as a service recovery strategy, the other action needs to be done according to the failures made by the hotel. Berry, Parasuraman, and Zeithaml (1994) stated that even though the guests appreciate an apology, the apology will not make the guest forget the memory about the service failure happened. That makes the other recovery strategy was made to be fit in the type of failures. Even though some strategies may need to be done at the same time, some may not need to be done at all. For example; compensation will not necessary be donewhen the failure occurs is just the small failure such as mention the name of the guest wrongly. Effectiveness After service failure occurred, hotel will give the prompt service recovery strategy that match the failure and the guest will react according to what theyve received. The response of the guest will determine whether the service recovery strategy is effective. Meaning to say, the effectiveness of service recovery strategy can be measured with seeing guests response. When the guest feel satisfy with the service recovery strategy given by the hotel, it means the service recovery given was effective. Dissatisfaction of the service recovery given by the hotel is evidence that the service recovery was not effective. The guest who feel satisfy with the service recovery strategy offered will forget about the failure and may increase their satisfaction level after dissatisfaction occurred. In contrast, when the service recovery offered didnt match what the guests expected, they will feel dissatisfy and may not be loyal to that particular hotel.Other than that, Tax et al. (1998) had mentioned in his research that even though a customer may be satisfied with the type of service recovery strategies offered, the recovery evaluation might be poor because of the process endured to obtain the recovery outcome. So, the process how the hotel delivers the service recovery will affect the overall satisfaction of the guest. However, the service recovery strategies given by the hotel will be affected by some factors. Each strategy may give different result for different people. A man who has been travelling for 2 years will have different expectation and will have different result in receiving service recovery strategy than a man who has never been for travelling. Many researches about the effectiveness of recovery strategy were built upon this kind of situation. Further, factors that influence the type and effectiveness of service recovery strategies are : The service (e.g. Mattila, 2001); Purpose of purchase (e.g. McDougall and Levesque, 1999); The failure (e.g. Smith et.al, 1999); The magnitude of the failure (Kelley et al., 1993; Smith et al., 1999; Michel, 2001; Mattila, 2001); Previous experience with an organization (e.g. Tax et al., 1998); and Service recovery expectations (e.g. Miller et al., 2000). When the hotel offered one of service recovery strategies, they have to choose the right strategy that can possibly increase guests satisfaction. Magnitude of the failure will definitely affect the type and effectiveness of service recovery strategy. For example; hotel has made the failure throughthe bad temperature of the food given to the guest. Since it was a small failure, the recovery strategy given will be different from the time the hotel did big failure such as; the room where the guest stayed wasnt clean. According to Zemke (1999), only the guest themselves who can describe and tell how annoying is a particular service failure has been. Miller et al., (2000) stated that if the failures made by hotel are very serious, it will later require more drastic reparation. That will make service organization need to train more of their front-line employees so they can be able to handle the guests complaint and asses their situation correctly. Moreover, service recovery expectation also gives big impact on the effectiveness of recovery strategy. Kelley and Davis (1994) found that the guest who rated highly for the service quality will mainly have higher expectation on service recovery strategy. It can be understood by the guest to have a better service recovery on five star hotel that to have service recovery by four star hotel. In other way, it can be said that the quality of the hotel will surely affect the expectation of the recovery strategy. It is stated by Hart, Heskett, and Sasser (1990) that the main reason of the guest dissatisfaction is the problem resolution which cant satisfy the guest and up to 50% of the guest who experience service failure not feel satisfy with the recovery strategy (Best and Andreasen, 1976; Zeithaml, Berry, and Parasuraman, 1990). Based on this situation, hotel has to follow up the guest to make sure that the service recovery they have made was successfully increasing the satisfaction of the guest. After the hotel has given the recovery strategy to the guest, they will not know the response of the guest until they follow up their guest and receive their evaluations. Giving the service recovery to the guest for the first time when the hotel made some failures will not always give the same result on the guest for the second time. When the first time the hotel made mistakes, some guests can be offered the minimum service recovery strategies or another service recovery strategy depends on the failures made by the hotel. That can reduce dissatisfaction of the guest, but it will give different result on the second, third, and on the next arrival. On the second arrival, the guest may not be able to accept the same way of service recovery strategy theyve ever offered. With the same recovery strategy given by the hotel on the second time with the same service failures experienced, the guest may not feel satisfy.Thats why, the evaluation and feedback is needed to know the guests response. Of course there will be more advantages on hotel when they can successfully give service recovery strategy that match the failure theyve made. First, they can get loyalty from the guest. Loyal customers are those who continue to stick with an unsatisfying product/seller with the hope that things will soon improve (Boshoff, 1997; Hirschman, 1970). When the guest feel satisfy with the service perceived, they will be loyal to the hotel and willing to come for another time. Loyalty of the guest will directly impact the profit of the hotel. It will lead to the increasing of the profit of hotel. Besides the loyalty and profitability, the effective recovery strategy can prevent the spread of negative word of mouth that is believed to be the most important post-purchase behavior. Service entities could increase their profits up to 85% by reducing the customer defection rate by 5% (Reichheld and Sasser, 1990).It has been proved that word of mouth has an effective power in spreading their opinion as a free advertisement tools. So, if hotel make the guest satisfy, the advertisement via word of mouth will be very useful to be used for spreading good advertisement. In the other way, if the hotel make the guest dissatisfy, the advertisement via word of mouth will not be useful anymore. It will even give bad impact to the hotel and may decrease the profit of the hotel. The last thing, when the hotel can handle the complaint of the guest and give the best service strategy match with the failure was made, they can build the trust from the guest. Moorman, Deshpande, and Zaltman (1993) defined trust as the willingness to rely on an exchange partner in whom one has confidence (p. 315). The moment the guest trusts the hotel, the guest will willing to come again to the same hotel. The trust built by making the guest satisfy can also make the guest increase their minimum tolerable level. Both loyalty and trust will give long term benefit for the hotel. Basically, when the hotel had successfully build trust in the guest, loyalty will directly follow. As the guest has trust the hotel, they will be loyal to that particular hotel. They will feel safe and comfortable with the hotel because they have trusted that the hotel will do their best to provide and deliver the best service. It is proved by Gilly (1987) that the guests who experience the service failure and did complainthen feel satisfy with the service recovery given, have higher repurchase intention than the guest who already satisfied with the service and did not complain. H4 : Guest expectation will be higher after he experienced service failure and offered recovery strategy.

Riot Grrrl: Empowering Women and Changing the World Essay -- Feminism

Take a moment and envision yourself accompanying your significant other at a highly anticipated punk rock concert. Upon arrival, he immediately insists that you play the role of a â€Å"good girlfriend† by holding his jacket while he and the rest of the male audience move up towards the mosh pit. You soon find yourself pushed and shoved to the back of the room, the farthest distance away from the stage as possible, along with hundreds of other â€Å"good girlfriends† as personified coat hangers. This was an issue faced by many women in the early 90’s who were interested in the punk rock scene, yet were unable to have their voices be heard, until now. Riot grrrl, a radical feminist movement that thrived in the underground punk scene has challenged the media to take a step back and recognize the women involved to be able to portray and express themselves without the need of society’s written standards of how or what the ideal woman should be. In Kevin Dunn a nd May Farnsworth’s article, â€Å"We ARE The Revolution†: Riot Grrrl Press, Girl Empowerment, and DIY Self-Publishing, the authors mention how riot grrrl members took matters into their own hands by establishing their own interpersonal sources of positive and influential media through utilization of radio shows, fanzines, television programs, and creative outlets to promote self expression and awareness. They had every good intention to carry these opportunities out since the media has long been known for deliberately distorting every ounce of truth they are given. Misconceptions of feminism have especially emerged through the deceitful tactics of the media and have managed to successfully establish a negative connotation with the movement of feminism. When questioned on the topic of feminism,... ... permanent mark on today’s world. It may be considered a man’s world for now, but with the efforts of millions who support the same values that riot grrrl enforces, it will soon it will be a world of equality where both men and women have equal opportunities to have their voices be heard. Works Cited Downes, Julia. Women Make Noise: Girl Bands from Motown to the Modern. Twickenham: Supernova, 2012. Print. Dunn, Kevin, and May Summer Farnsworth. "â€Å"We ARE The Revolution†: Riot Grrrl Press, Girl Empowerment, And DIY Self-Publishing." Women's Studies 41.2 (2012): 136-157. Academic Search Premier. Web. 5 Dec. 2015. Leonard, Marion. Gender in the Music Industry: Rock, Discourse, and Girl Power. Aldershot, Hampshire, England: Ashgate, 2007. Print. Meltzer, Marisa. Girl Power: The Nineties Revolution in Music. New York: Faber and Faber, 2010. Print.

Kings :: essays research papers

Sex Education Messages In The Media   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The media should not be blamed for the sexuality of american youth.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  First concern in sexual activity is too much media. Television is something that kids watch all the time. Television shows that show sexual activity and children pick up on those events quickly. Teenagers dream about marrying someone who is good looking and has money and then starting a family with them. A lot of teens watch soap operas and romantic shows. Teens see kids, their age, having sex and getting pregnant and they think they can do it, too. Parents should watch what types of TV shows and movies that their children are watching. TV commercials are explicit when it comes to showing sex. Teens can pick up ideas about sex from commercials. Such as, the Trojan Man and the Durex commercials shown frequently on MTV and other stations. The media could be more discrete about that sort of material on the airwaves. In light of these statistics, it would appear that the nonjudgemental/safe-sex approach can add up to a dangerous combination. Dr. Theresa Crenshaw, a past president of the American Association of Sex Educators, Counselors and Therapists, in testimony before a House subcommittee in February 1987, said, â€Å"To say that the use of condoms is ‘safe sex’ is in fact playing Russian roulette. A lot of people will die in this dangerous game.† Yet despite warnings like this, schoolteachers routinely present homosexuality to their students as just another option about which they must decide for themselves (Kilpatrick 598). On the other hand, with the popular television show, Ellen, the main character and the actress who played her, Ellen Degenerous, was an open lesbian. This views homosexuals as nice, fun loving people and not the hated figures that some community activists portray them as. In turn, the media can be a blessing to the gay community because they show the lighter side of their sexual preference. Then again, some parents view this as a wrong statement and refuse to let their children watch this display. Another show is Will and Grace, Will is a gay man living with his friend Grace. This show was aired after the Ellen show was cancelled because of it’s bad ratings after she came out into the limelight with her â€Å"secret†.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Second concern in the media. All sorts of teen’s and women’s magazines that are in stores today are filled with sex and what types of protection to use. Parents should watch what their kids are reading.

Cuban Missle Crisis Essay -- History Cuba Weapons Essays Cold War

Cuban Missle Crisis Many agree that the Cuban Missile Crisis was the closest the world ever came to nuclear war; but exactly how close did it come? The Crisis was ultimately a showdown between the United States and the Soviet Union from October 16 to October 28, 1962. During those thirteen stressful days, the world’s two biggest superpowers stood on the brink of a nuclear catastrophe. The Crisis started as a result of both the Soviet Union’s fear of losing the arms race, and Cuba’s fear of US invasion. The Soviet Premier, Nikita Khrushchev, thought that both problems could easily be solved by placing Soviet medium range missiles in Cuba. This deployment would double the Soviet arsenal and protect Cuba from US invasion. Khrushchev proposed this idea to Cuban Premier, Fidel Castro, who, like Khrushchev, saw the strategic advantage. The two premiers worked together in secrecy throughout the late-summer and early-fall of 1962. The Soviets shipped sixty medium-range ballistic missiles (M RBMs) along with their warheads, launch equipment, and necessary operating personnel to Cuba. When United States President, John F. Kennedy discovered the presence of these offensive weapons, he immediately organized EX-COMM, a group of his twelve most important advisors. They spent the next couple of days discussing different possible plans of action and finally decided to remove the US missiles from Turkey and promise not to invade Cuba in exchange for the removal of all offensive weapons in Cuba. On October 28, Khrushchev sent Kennedy a letter stating that he agreed to the terms Kennedy stated, and the crisis ended. The Cuban Missile Crisis can be blamed on the insecurity of Cuba and the Soviet Union. After the United States’ unsuccessful attempt to overthrow Castro and end communism in Cuba at the Bay of Pigs in 1961, Castro was fearful of another US invasion. The US Armed Forces conducted a mock invasion and drafted a plan to invade Cuba to keep Castro nervous. As a result, Castro thought the US was serious, and he was desperate to find protection. This protection came in the form of sixty Soviet medium-range ballistic missiles. (Detzer 30-32, 39, 55, 68, 87) During his presidential campaign, Kennedy repeatedly stated that the US had less missiles than the Soviets, contradicting the Pentagon’s claim that the opposite was true. However, during the summer of 1961, when... ...on of aerial and naval reconnaissance flights in Cuban airspace and waters; (5) and the return of Guantanamo Naval Base to Cuba. Eventually, with the help of the UN, Castro backed down and all sides reached an agreement. A UN inspection team was assigned to monitor the removal of the missiles and the demolition of the missile bases in Cuba. Then, the Soviet Navy shipped the missiles back to the USSR. The missiles were sent back on the decks of the ships so that American reconnaissance planes could count the missiles and make sure that all had been removed. Nine months after the crisis ended, Kennedy and Khrushchev signed an agreement to ban nuclear testing in the atmosphere. This marked the beginning of what seemed to be a new willingness to cooperate and communicate. However, on November 22, 1963, President Kennedy was assasinated in Dallas, Texas. Eleven months later, Premier Khrushchev was removed from office by communist "hard liners." (Brugioni 572-574) One can’t help but wonder what would have happened if these two men had stayed in power. Maybe the same two people who brought us so close to nuclear war, now changed by the experience, could have brought us far from it.

Internet vs traditional classrooms Essay

Computer and internet technologies have significantly altered the ways various tasks are carried out. These technologies have introduced alternatives in virtually all fields, which have brought about mixed reactions among stakeholders. Different reactions are usually expressed because these technologies bring about merits and demerits. The learning processes have not been spared by the advancements made in the fields of both internet and computer technologies. The traditional classrooms are gradually being replaced by the internet classrooms as more and more technological advancements are being achieved. There is however a ranging debate, among different stakeholders within the education sector allover the world. While some have welcomed the replacement of traditional classrooms by the internet ones, others have strongly opposed the move. Stakeholders supporting the internet classrooms argue that they offer students and teachers a more advanced learning environment. On the other hand, the opponents of internet classrooms argue that they are reducing the teacher-student interaction which is vital in any learning process. However, looking critically at the facts surrounding the internet and traditional classrooms, there are more benefits associated with the internet classrooms compared to the traditional classrooms and hence the development of these classrooms should be encouraged (Platt et al, para 2-3). Arguments in favor of internet classrooms Internet classrooms are not only convenient but they are also highly flexible to both the students and the instructors. This mode of learning permits students to easily access various materials and contents they are supposed to learn. Such contents can be accessed by students at any time and from any place. As a result, students are not limited to the learning materials and contents that are available from their schools. Internet classes thus increase the knowledge base of students, since they can access a wide range of learning materials. On the other hand, students learning from traditional classrooms are only limited to the learning materials available from their institutions. The students learning via internet classrooms are therefore better placed to learn more details and materials compared to their counterparts learning through the traditional classrooms (Linn, Davis, and Bell, pp 22). Internet based classrooms are much more efficient in terms of knowledge transfer to the students. Instructors teaching their students via the internet enjoy the flexibility of using several methods to pass information to their students. Therefore, students who are not comfortable in a certain method of teaching have the opportunity of paying attention to other methods used in internet classrooms. Such forms of flexibility have the effect of increasing the performance of students since the learning process is much more efficient. In well established internet classrooms instructors are more likely to use less amount of time in teaching a certain course and achieve high level performance as opposed to the traditional classroom learning. The traditional classrooms are less efficient and it is quite difficult for instructors teaching students in such learning environments to effectively use different teaching methods and accommodate the needs of all students in the classroom. Lack of variety in the traditional classrooms has the likelihood of affecting the performance of students. The most affected ones are those who are not favored by the rigid teaching methods adopted by their instructors (Bartini, para 4). Learning via the internet classes greatly eases the ability of instructors to receive feedbacks from their students. Feedbacks from students are very essential to instructors as it is one way through which they can assess and evaluate their performance. Without feedbacks from students it is quite difficult for the instructors to determine objectively whether they are effective in passing knowledge to the students. Instructors also get to learn the teaching methods that are favored by students and thus apply them more while teaching them. On the other hand, it is very difficult for the instructors teaching students using the traditional classrooms to get feedbacks from their students. Lack of such feedback essentially implies that instructors are not in a good position to objectively assess and evaluate their work. It is therefore difficult for such instructors to make any meaningful improvements within a short period of time. Lack of proper feedback mechanism in traditional classrooms is likely to affect the performance of the students (Bartini, para 6). It is possible for students being taught through either internet or traditional classrooms to perform well in their examinations. However, due to the high effective and efficient nature of internet classrooms, good results can be achieved with lower levels of input. Instructors do not have to spend a lot of time elaborating on various points to the class since the students can access a wide variety of materials which they can in turn compare with the ones they receive from their teachers. On the other hand, for students learning via the traditional classrooms to perform well, a lot of time is required since these classes are less effective and efficient. Internet classrooms are therefore much better compared to the traditional classrooms, since better results can be achieved with less inputs and efforts (Platt et al, para 8). Participation of students in various class activities is a very crucial element as far the learning process is concerned. Increased student participation does not only make the learning process more involving and enjoyable, but it also improves the whole learning experience. Internet classrooms are very good in facilitating increased participation of students in class activities. Students are compelled to research more on various issues they are learning in class as well as topics they come across in the internet. They can easily form discussion groups and other learning structures from which they can carryout some research to present to class in turn. Increased student participation in class activities ensures that all students are well involved in the crucial class activities and that no single student is left behind. Similar levels of participation among students are not possible within the traditional classroom set ups. It therefore means that students learning in traditional classrooms are not in a good position to participate effectively in class activities and thus add significant value to the learning process. Their main duty in class is listening and taking note from their instructors. Since increased participation of students in class activities reveals certain weaknesses possessed by students, such cannot easily be determined in traditional classrooms setups where student participation is minimal (Platt et al, para 9). Research projects are a very essential and integral part of the learning process of each student. Research endows students with the necessary skills and techniques of carrying out various studies. Even students learning via traditional classrooms can properly carryout research projects, they are significantly limited. Students learning via internet classes highly advantaged in carrying out their research projects other studies. It is easy for them to not only carryout the research but also be easily assisted by their instructors in case they come across any difficult while carrying out their studies. Students learning in internet based classrooms are likely to spend much less time in researching for their coursework projects, compared to students learning in traditional classroom set ups (Linn, Davis, and Bell, pp 34). Internet based classrooms, greatly exposes students to several technological facilities when they are still young and fresh. One of the greatest objectives of learning is to enable students to apply in future, various skills and techniques that have been learnt. Students are usually prepared by their institutions for the greater challenges ahead in their professional careers. In order for students to be better prepared for such challenges, they have to be well endowed with various technological skills. Internet based classrooms are highly efficient in impacting the necessary technological skills to the students (Schofield and Davidson pp 51). Arguments against internet classrooms At the initial stages of internet based classrooms, especially during the stages of design and development, significant time is consumed thus making these types of classes less efficient. Student as well as instructor’s time is wasted and such may be reflected in the poor performance of students in various examinations. A lot of time is consumed in accessing information online, downloading or uploading learning materials and also when developing and designing various learning messages for the students. If both the instructors and students are not in a position to quickly overcome various simple challenges brought about by the use of internet as a means of learning, this type of classrooms can in the end prove to be highly inefficient and ineffective (Bartini, para 11). Interaction between the students and their instructors is a very essential element in the learning process. However, internet based classrooms are highly efficient in eliminating this vital aspect of the learning process. The level of interaction and communication between the students and their instructors in internet classrooms is minimal and greatly affects the relationship between both sides. Effective learning process does not only involve impacting of knowledge to students. Developing a cordial working relationship between the students and their teachers is also very essential as it greatly facilitates the learning process. Traditional classrooms are the best placed for the development of a good relationship within the classroom environment. Therefore, in regard to the level of interaction between students and teachers, traditional classes are much better compared to the internet ones (Brown, para 13). Conclusion From the essay, it is quite clear that internet based classes are much better compared to the traditional classes. They improve the level of student participation in class activities thus making the learning process a good experience for both students and teachers. Through internet classes, it is much easier for feedback from students to be obtained and thus facilitate the evaluation process. Internet classes are very good in terms of effectiveness and efficiency in passing knowledge to the students. Due to this type of classroom setup, performance of students is highly enhanced. However, internet classrooms are associated with the detriment of increasing the gap between the students and their teachers, thus hurting the relationship between them. These two groups should maintain a good working relationship for good results to be achieved. Such a relationship can only be developed and nurtured properly under the traditional classroom setups. All in all, internet based classrooms are much better than the traditional ones and the few demerits of this type of classrooms can be ironed out through proper management of the learning facilities.

Failure of Spanish Armada

In may 1588, the Spanish Armada left the Portuguese expression of Lisbon, full pointed for England with more than 130 ships. Since their disco very of the parvenue World al lastly 100 age before, the Spanish had built one of the wealthiest and some powerful empires on earth. exponent Philip II of Spain wanted to overthrow Queen Elizabeth I of England for both political and religious reasons. Elizabeth had assisted the Protestant rebels in the Netherlands to overthrow Spanish rule in the region. She a want had been allo produceg side pirates called privateers to attack Spanish treasure ships subjecting(a) from the New World.What that added fuel to the discharge were the religious disputes between a Catholic Spain and a Protestant England, whose national church building had split from the Catholic church after the excommunication of Henry VIII in 1535. Outnumbered and outgunned, the side defeated the Spanish Armada in a series of unfor cleartable oceanic encounters. The serendipitous tied(p)t of the side of meat triumph over the Armada changed the balance of humans power. It would consequence hold never been possible without coincidence occurrences like, remainder, weather, and smart maritime designs and strategies.Just months before Phillips Armada was launched, Don Alvaro de Bazen, Marquise of Santa Cruz, died of typhus in January. Santa Cruz had been a veteran coverer and a naval captain unequalled in confidence and s annihilate at the time. He was a narcissistic, avaricious, and cruel man these qualities make him the ideal naval commander. It was tell that only four people attended his burial, and his death was regretted by no one. (Martin 146) If he had non passed, Santa Cruz wouldve been the ideal admiral for the explosive charge because he was so astrayly see and was forgeting to die for his country without a chip vista.One who knew Santa Cruz said he was a grizzled veteran of Lepanto, attainered to accede on the whole face naval forces at the word of the fag. The incline would never allow had a encounter at victory over the Spanish Armada led by such a solid and able soldier. The replace custodyt for Santa Cruz was elect by King Philip II himself. He chose Don Alonso Perez de Guzman, the Duke of Medina Sidonia. Medina Sidonias qualifications to lead the Armada were lackluster. temporary hookup the Duke had a vast knowledge of naval technique, he lacked combat fuck off.However he was the head of one of Spains al most(prenominal) ancient and aristocratic families, and King Philip II therefore saw Medina Sidonia as the apparently perfect leader for his Armada because he was the head of such a respectable family. (Martin 147) stock-still no victories bolstered his pedigree. When the Duke received the letter from the King asking him to lead the Armada, it wasnt a confusion however. Since the very early stages of intend for the Armada, Medina Sidonia had been there and was already well brie fed.As if portending his visitation, he wrote a series of letter to King Philip II stating that he didnt want the job. One of his reasons included in the letter was for I know by the lowly experience I leave had afloat that I soon break down ocean sanctify (Martin 149) Acknowledging that he was non fit(p) for the job and that his qualifications did not add up to those necessary for the Armada to succeed, Medina Sidonia conceded that furthermore this force is so great and the undertaking so important, that it would not be right for a someone like myself, possessing no experience of piloting or war, to take charge of it.I submit no doubt that his majesty will do the favor which I humbly beg, and will not result me to do a task of which certainly, I shall not give a peachy account for I do not understand it, know nothing to the highest degree it, have no health for the sea and have no money to drop down upon it. (Martin 147) The king merely overlooked the Dukes explanatio n as improper humility. What the King was oblivious to was that Medina Sidonia had written a second letter both days later, where he claimed that the whole endeavor was ill-conceived and blasted almost similarly inevitable failure. Martin 148) The king never heard this command because the second letter had been intercepted by two councilors of state. In response they wrote do not impress us with guardianships for the fate of the Armada, because in such a cause immortal will make sure it succeeds (Martin 148) They withal threatened the Duke, saying that if he didnt follow through with leading the Armada they would memorialize the world the letter and he would have been charged with treason. Against his will and only because of example pressure, special persuasion, and blackmail did Medina Sidonia accept the gentle captain general of the ocean sea.It wasnt complete that Medina Sidonia was the completely wrong person to lead the Spanish Armada, he didnt even believe that t he invasion had whatsoever peril of being successful and thought of it as a complete pine a port of time. His defeatist thinking combined with short(p) leadershiphip and lack of sea experience created a deadly concoction of tree sloth and befogged en confide. The launch of the Armada was no surprise to England because the Spanish had not meant to keep it a secret in hopes that Elizabeth would surrender even before the fleet was launched. With plenty of warning, England did its scoop up to gather a large enough naval force, solely it was never enough.At first glance the Armada dwarfed the English dark blue in both size of ships and numbers. With this in mind English commanders believed they would have to win the war with their long guns they would attack to immerse the Spanish ships one at a time from a safe distance. The Armada, which carried a large number of tough and well-trained soldiers gird with swords and muskets, planned to use their advantage on any English sh ips that got in like manner close and the Spanish commanders intended to pull it on base with grappling hooks and send the soldiers on board capture it. (Anderson 24) As is very common in meshing, the plans going into battle are often changed based on the unpredictable circumstances that can unfold. twain sides predictions on tactics that would help them win, were wrong. The English belief that they would sink the Spanish ships from a safe distance was faulty because the guns at the time were tough to aim and too unpredictable to do any concrete harm. (Martin 53) Nonetheless most of the English privateer boats could fire off shots three time faster than Spanish ones.They also could express more cannons because they didnt have to decompose much space carrying food and other(a) resources since the battles happened just miles off their home lantern slide. composition the Spanish intended to pull alongside with grappling hooks and send soldiers on board to capture the ship, English ships were too nimble to be caught in this way by the large Spanish galleons, with wide hulls and heavy cargoes. (Anderson 24) After suffering fine firinges in the battle that unfolded in the English Channel the Armada moved on with the plan.The Armada was to broom to the Netherlands on the beach dear Dunkirk. At the time the Netherlands was under Spanish control, and the vast majority of Spains most trained soldiers were stationed there. Spanish troops in the Netherlands were under the command of the Duke of Parma, a well-known(a) and respected soldiery leader but also the nephew of King Philip II himself. In the next stage of the kings plan, the Armada was to pick up Parmas host from the beaches near Dunkirk, and escort them across the behave to England. Anderson 26) This stage had a problem Spanish ships were not made for shallow water. They were heavy and deep in the water. The Armada could not get close to the beaches because the waters around the slide were s o shallow. In addition, the Dutch rebels aided by Elizabeth controlled the shallow waters off the coast of the Netherlands. This ruined the possibility of Parmas troops being able to sail out and join the Armada without severe casualties. Realizing this, the English took advantage of the wind, and sent eight small burning ships directly at the Armada in hope of causing chaos.The Spanish mistake these for hellburners, vessels loaded with gunpowder and other explosives that could kill thousands, broke formation, cut their anchors, and sailed away without pick up Parmas troops. (Anderson 27) These two occurrences during battles helped lead to English victory, but both occurrences couldve at rest(p) either way if simple things like nimble and smaller ships were used by the Spanish or if Parmas soldiery was picked up at a variant location. The outcome of the entire invasion could have been different.After Phillips Armada failed, he said I sent my Armada against men, not graven ima ges winds and waves. It wasnt privateer long-range cannons that sunk most of the Armadas ships, or those eight hell burners sent by Charles Howard, leader of the English fleet. It was a junto of bad decisions, strong winds, and the unforgiving coast of Ireland. By August 21, 3,000 men were sick and the Armada was too badly damaged to return to the channel and fight the English fleet. (Anderson 32) The leaders made up their mind and resolute instead to make an attempt to bargain home to Spain and save as umpteen ships as they could.The route they chose was to go west around the northern coast of Scotland and Ireland. lucubrate directions were given to each vessel, and each was warned take great heed lest you fall upon the island of Ireland, for fear of the harm that may happen on to you upon that coast. (Anderson 32) This last desperate attempt was the worst decision of the entire voyage. both(prenominal) the vessels and the sailors had come equipt with instruments for a coast al voyage through the English Channel, not an open ocean journey into sedate and unfamiliar waters.In the end, two thirds of the men in the Spanish fleet lost their lives, 25 or more Spanish ships lay splintered on the coast of Ireland. (Anderson 32) If equipped with the proper instruments and blessed with better weather, the Spanish may have made it rearwards to their homeland with minimal casualties. When word of the cataclysm reached Spain, it crushed the Kings hope and temporarily shook his faith that matinee idol was on his side. He ordered that prayers for the Armadas success be canceled. He also sent letters to bishops asking for churches to give thanks God that not everything had been destroyed.Only months foregoing when planning the invasion, Philip had wondered whether the Armada should be launched in the winter. Although the guess was high, he had the up most trust that God would provide good weather, and he even went as far as to say since it is all for His cause, God will send good weather. (Spanish Armada) Philip had sent his fleet in the hollo of God, but instead sheer chance had prevailed, and left the weather-tossed Armada splintered and trashed on the rocky coast of Ireland.King Philip II was one of the most powerful people in the world, and the loss of his Armada wasnt just a military defeat. It drained all of Spains monetary resource and soldiers and set the stage for the loss of Spains world power. It also served as a constant reminder of how the Catholic Church was slowly losing influence and power throughout Europe and the world. The serendipitous event of the English victory over the Armada changed the balance of world power. It would have never been possible without happenstance occurrences like, death, weather, and new naval designs and strategies.