Pricing Strategy; Payless Essay Example

Pricing Strategy; Payless Paper Chapter 11 Pricing Strategies Questions for Discussion 1. Which of the different product mix pricing strategies discussed in the text applies best to Payless’s new strategy? : The strategy for setting a product’s price changes when the product is the part of a product mix. Firms are look for a prices that maximizes the profits on the total product mix. There are five product mix pricing strategies for the firms. Product line pricing, optional-product pricing, captive-product pricing, by-product pricing and product bundle pricing. In this case, Payless used product line pricing strategy. A product line pricing strategy is a strategy in which the management sets the price steps between various products in a product line based on cost differences between the products, customer evaluation of different features and competitors prices. Payless used to have only limited lines of shoes and began to lose their customers. However, the company hired to CEO, Matt Rubel and he started to redesign the Payless. He changed the image of Payless, dusty dungeon of cheap footwear into the fun, and fashionable footwear. Therefore, Payless succeed to attract some new customers. 2. How do concept such as psychological pricing and reference pricing apply to the Payless strategy? In what ways does Payless’s strategy deviate from these concepts? : A pricing approach that considers the psychology of prices and not simply the economics; the price is used to say something about the product. For example, $19. 99 or $9. 99 sort of â€Å"odd prices† that can round of by one last digit number. With the new line and new strategy, Payless increase the price of their products. However, if the suddenly change their price by increasing a lot, customers would not feel comfortable and they wouldn’t like it at all. We will write a custom essay sample on Pricing Strategy; Payless specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Pricing Strategy; Payless specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Pricing Strategy; Payless specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer So, they can use this kind of strategy of Psychological pricing so still increasing of prices but make their customers comfortable. 3. Discuss the benefits and risks of the new Payless strategy for both Payless and the designers. Which of these two strands to lost the most? : Payless redesign their logo and launched a new store format, ‘Fashion Lab’ and ‘Hot Zone’. So they changed their image as more fashionable and trendy from cheap dusty dungeon footwear. Payless now are making the store more open, light, and airy. This strategy attracted new customers and it has been successful. However, because of these advertisement in magazines and new retails launchings, increasing of the prices of products get necessary. So, they have some risks to lose their old customer who enjoyed their cheap/affordable footwear. Another risk for the designer is that they will be loses their job or has bad reputations if Payless fail in the market with their new strategy. Since, designers work in Payless for fulltime job. 4. Consider the scale on which Payless operates. How much of a price increase does Payless need to achieve in order to make this venture worthwhile? In this case, Payless should consider the company expenses, competitor and cost inflation. Opening of new stores and advertisements cost money. Therefore, Payless need to increase the price to cover the increasing expenses. Payless also have to consider their competitor products. If they increase to much compare to their competitors, they might lose some customers so always have to keep on eyes on competitors products. Also, Payless can use consumer’s reference prices to set the price. They increase product’s quality and design so customers should to find out the differences of products changes.

Beowulf Essays

Beowulf Essays Beowulf Paper Beowulf Paper 2004. 32-91.

Deafness Disability Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Deafness Disability - Essay Example While the mother of great inventor, Alexander Graham Bell was hard of hearing sine her birth, he used his earned funds to develop a school, called Volta Bureau, to teach deaf children. He also pursued actively the occupation of a deaf educator during late 1800s. People have used Different terminologies to define disability related with hearing impairments. For example, ‘deafened’ means the person who has acquired deafness later in life. While, ‘hearing impairment’ is a medical term, ‘hard of hearing’ is a sociological term. ‘Signing deaf’ is a term for deaf people who communicate using sign language.(Terminology, nd) Before describing this disability, it is essential to mention the difference between deafness and hearing impairment. While common sense provides the definition of being deaf as not being able to hear anything, the hearing impairment or hard of hearing means the ability to hear only partially. However, the fact that deaf people carry the residual hearing ability gives a new dimension to this definition. Accordingly, the physiological definition of deafness relates to the level of sound that the particular person is able to hear. This hearing sensitivity is normally described in terms of ‘decibels’ (dB). This level of sensitivity starts with zero as the perfect detection of an average person to hair faintest sound. The numbers above the zero level indicate the degree of hearing impairment. According to physiological intervention, people with hearing impairment of 90dB or above are considered as deaf and people with less than 90db hearing sensitivity level are considered ‘hard of hearing’. However, there is yet another viewpoint that relates the degree of hearing impairment with the impact it may have on speaking and developing a language, particularly in case of children. Accordingly, educators define a person as deaf who is not able to process, through audition, the linguistic information,

Coursework Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 3

Coursework - Essay Example Cotton was far from the only good that was being manufactured in droves, it was however, seen as the â€Å"pacemaker of industrial change† (Hobsbon, ,p. 34). Industrialization became the reason many settlements were created, those same settlements can be seen as large urban cities today. Industries owned by the working class became more prominent, along with all kinds of other factories. Cotton industry subsequently went onto grow into diversity. There were silk products, wool came into view and the domestic cotton industry got a boom during the 1700 when a ban was placed on imports. By 1770 over 90 per cent of all cotton exports were being fed to the colonial markets that existed under the British rule. While it was planted outside of Europe, the production took place inside it and hence the profits went to them as well. Technology also advanced and machinery was upgraded, things like weaving came into play as the situation changed. Several small changes are what collectively made up the industrial revolution. Hobson attributed the advances during the industrial revolution in part to the slavery, colonialism and the hold Europe had over the world. 3.1 This was one of the first results I found when I googled the key words: industrial revolution. The search engine for google is extremely efficient and turned over around 6,580,000 hits in 0.38 seconds only. The results ranged from simple web pages, to book results on books.google.com and simple articles and papers other students had done on the subject. The search engine page at first glance seemed to be a miracle because of the amount of material it provided. Google.com as a search engine was very effective at bringing out results but the relevancy of these results is what I have issues with. You can find just about anything you want to find through google.com but you need to spend a good amount of time getting to the link that’s

Paraphrasing an Introduction Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Paraphrasing an Introduction - Essay Example Before printing technology was invented, authors used to write their manuscripts manually. It is straightforward that it involved a lot of time and money to handwrite books and other materials. As such, the role of printing technology is obvious: spread of knowledge and literature to the whole world. This is as a result number of books increased number of books and other educational materials. Apart from advancing the field of knowledge and information, printing has also lead to conveyance of religious thoughts, magazines, and other domain areas. In Qatar, for example, there is a large numerous leading printing companies that are established primarily to provide high quality goods and services to the customer. In addition, these companies are instrumental in manufacturing high quality goods and offering good terms of sale that include prices and expeditious delivery. These companies have developed a culture of healthy competition and hence growth. As it has been aforementioned, printing technology has provided a comparative backbone to communication. It is estimated that apart from spoken word, written communication tops the list of the most used mode of communication. As such, Industrial and System Engineering require to lay a lot of emphasis in ensuring that written communication has its rightful place in the society. Apart from many positive impacts that the printing has caused to our societies, there are a few shortcoming of printing that require to be addressed. Most important is that Printing press setups generate waste. In this case, they pollute our environment and as such, they infringe the economics and safety principles in our society. In addition, the printing industry has been accused of violating the principles of work method and process flow management as processes are taking place with several non-value adding activities and without ensuring that the welfare workers is taken care of. To correct the above-mentioned shortcomings, the

Tools And Techniques In Environmental Analysis Commerce Essay

Tools And Techniques In Environmental Analysis Commerce Essay Strategic management is also called institutional management. It is the art and science of making, implementing and evaluating cross-functional decision making that helps an organization to achieve its long-term objectives. In this process the organizations mission, vision and objectives are discussed and developed. After these objectives are developed, the policies, plans, with respect to projects and programs, are designed, and then resources are allocated or budgeted to implement them and achieve the objectives. (wikipedia n.d.) Strategic management consists of a set of activities that come under setting goals and over the process of putting together tactics to achieve these goals and objectives. How strategic management is carried out depends on the organizational structure of the company. The Board of Directors, the management team as well as other stake holders of the company can be involved in these activities that fall under strategic management. Strategy can be defined as unified, comprehensive and integrated plan that relates to the strategic advantages of the firm to the challenges of the environment. It is designed to ensure that the basic objectives of the enterprise are achieved through the proper execution by the organization. (Jauch and Glueck 1988) Formulating a strategy for achieving an objective or a set of objectives is a combines three main processes which are: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ By analyzing the situation, self-evaluation and competitor analysis: both internal and external, both micro-environmental and macro-environmental. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ After this assessment, objectives are set. These objectives should be parallel to a time-line; some are in the short-term and others on the long-term. This involves creating vision statements (which is the long term view of a possible future), mission statements (which is the role that the organization gives itself in society), overall corporate objectives (both financial and strategic), strategic business unit objectives (both financial and strategic), and tactical objectives. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ These objectives should be studied along with the results of the situation analysis and a strategic plan can be formulated. The plan provides the details of how to achieve these objectives. Environmental analysis is a process that begins from identification of environmental factors, assessing their nature and impact, auditing them to find their impact to the business, and making various profiles for positioning. All the decisions taken by the organization and the impact of these decisions depend on the organizations internal and external environmental factors. These environmental factors should be carefully analyzed before taking any decisions. Environmental analysis is made up of the processes of scanning, monitoring, analyzing, and forecasting the business situations and variables of the environment. Scanning is done to get information from the environment. Monitoring is done to check the nature of the environmental factors. Analyzing requires data collection and the use of tools and techniques. Forecasting is a method to find the future possibilities based on the past results and present scenario. (Business Environment Analysis n.d.) Different types of methods, tools, and techniques are used for environmental analysis. Some of the major methods of analysis are Scenario Building, Benchmarking, and Network methods. Scenario building gives an overall picture of the total system with the factors which affect it. Benchmarking is to find the best standard in an industry and to compare the ones strengths and weakness with the standard. Network method is to assess organizational systems and its outside environment to find the strength and weakness, opportunity and threats of an organization. Some of the techniques of primary information collection can be Delphi, Brainstorming, Survey, and Historical enquiry. Delphi technique collects independent information from the experts without mixing them. Brainstorming is information collection technique being open minded without criticizing others. Survey is to design questions and to ask them to the participants whereas the historical enquiry is a kind of case analysis of past period. Analysis tools can be statistical such general descriptive tools as mean, median, mode, frequency or tools can be inferential as ANOVA, correlation, regression, factor, cluster, and multiple regression analysis. (BADU 2002) SWOT Analysis A scan of the internal and external environment is an important part of the strategic planning process. Environmental factors internal to the firm usually can be classified as strengths (S) or weaknesses (W), and those external to the firm can be classified as opportunities (O) or threats (T). This is called SWOT analysis. (QuickMBA n.d.) The SWOT analysis provides information that is helpful in matching the firms resources and capabilities to the environment in which it operates. The SWOT Matrix A matrix of these factors can be constructed. This matrix will be helpful in developing the strategies for the firm. The SWOT matrix (also known as a TOWS Matrix) is shown in the next page: SWOT / TOWS Matrix Strengths Weaknesses Opportunities S-O strategies W-O strategies Threats S-T strategies W-T strategies S-O strategies pursue opportunities that are a good fit to the companys strengths. W-O strategies overcome weaknesses to pursue opportunities. S-T strategies identify ways that the firm can use its strengths to reduce its vulnerability to external threats. W-T strategies establish a defensive plan to prevent the firms weaknesses from making it highly susceptible to external threats. ENVIRONMENTAL ANALYSIS OR EXTERNAL AUDIT The organizations should adapt themselves and their strategy to the external environment which is constantly changing. The external environment is also called macro environment. These forces of the external environment cannot be controlled and can be analyzed using a variety of tools and techniques such as Environmental Scanning and PEST analysis. Environmental Scanning Environmental scanning is defined as the process that seeks information about events and relationships in a firms environment, the knowledge of which help top management chart the firms future. In this process, the external environment is divided into sectors or areas such as political, economic, cultural, technological and further analysis such as Pest analysis can be done after scanning the environment. Information is collected by monitoring and forecasting any changes that occur to the variables of the environment that have been identified earlier. This collection of information helps the organizations to find out where they are lacking and what exactly they need which helps them in formulating the strategies. (Acar 1995) Environmental scanning is used to gather information from the environment. PEST Analysis A PEST analysis looks at the Political, Economic, Social and Technological drivers or the external forces that affect the organization. It is most useful when used together with other tools such as the SWOT analysis. Political Factors These factors may have direct or indirect impact on the organizations operation. Decisions made by the government may have an effect on the business. The political arena has a big influence on how organization operates. Economic Factors Economic factors such as the market prices and market cycles affect the purchasing power and behavior of the consumers. Sociological Factors These factors include the demography, lifestyle, cultural aspects of the consumers. These factors have a big influence on the consumer needs and wants. Sociological factors also affect the size of potential markets. Technological Factors Technological changes play an important role in shaping how organizations operate. Technological factor is very important to gain competitive advantage. Technological innovation can also improve the production efficiency, quality and speed. New technology is changing how organizations operate. Porters Five Forces Analysis Porter identified the following five forces model of competitive strategy: The threat of new entrants and the appearance of new competitors The degree of rivalry among existing competitors in the market The bargaining power of buyers The bargaining power of suppliers The threat of substitute products or services which could shrink the market The strength of each of these forces varies from industry to industry, but taken together they determine long-term profitability. These five factors affect the strategy of the organization. It is important to analyze and study these five forces to be able to craft a successful strategy. To be successful, the organization must respond effectively to the pressures of these five forces. INTERNAL ENVIRONMENTAL ANALYSIS The resources, strengths, behaviors, weakness and distinctive competences are major components of the internal environment of an organization. An organization uses different types of resources which help them achieve their objectives and the way in which they utilize their resources can be the source of their strengths or weaknesses. This can also be defined as organizational capability which is used to develop the strategies and objectives which the organization can achieve and these should not unrealistic according to its capabilities. Some of the components of the internal environment of an organization are: Organizational Resources These are all the tangible and intangible inputs used in the organization to create outputs in the firm of product or services through a transformation process. Organizational Behavior The behavior of an organization demonstrates is the result of forces operating internally which will determine the ability or constraints in the usage of resources. Competency Competency of an organization is the ability to do what its competitors cannot do or the ability to do better than what they can do. This concept is used for strategy formulation. CONCLUSION It can be seen that the analysis of the environment is critical to the success of the decisions that managers have to make which have widespread impact on the functions and processes of the business.

Denying Premise :: Philosophy

The quest to find out who we are, where we came from, where we will go after we die and what, if anything, controls our world has fascinated mankind throughout the centuries. Famous philosophers have devoted their whole lives to developing theories, and yet the closest any have come to success has been to not have their theories disproved. With the knowledge that no theory has been proven to fact, â€Å"I don’t know† may be the only true answer to one of civilization’s oldest questions. The idea that we can never know the answers to these and many other questions leads to the theory of Skepticism. This theory maintains that we must doubt every single one of our empirical beliefs, as they are from our perceptions like our material body. We doubt them because they are seen from the lens of our own prejudices. For example, just as our senses can deceive us, or our dreams seem real, our experiences can also deceive us. Therefore, we cannot with certainty say that anything is true, and we have no knowledge and we live in the unknown. However, Skepticism is contrary to one of the most basic of human instincts: the fear of the unknown. The desire to define the world and make order out of chaos and the refusal to accept â€Å"I don’t know† as the answer has motivated both scientists and philosophers. Rene Descartes (1596-1650 was one such man. Though brilliant, and the author of Mediations, feared being skeptical of the external world. Descartes wanted to disprove the skepticism theory. To do so, he first developed two premises for the skepticism theory, and then rejected it by disproving one premise. The first premise is that of Naà ¯ve Empiricism. This premise states that all knowledge rests on our perception, our own experiences, and therefore all our knowledge is true. The second premise is the method of Doubt. Descartes claims knowledge is something that is indubitable. That is, for each body of evidence, only one conclusion can be reached. With those two premises, Descartes derives the sub-conclusion that if we do have unique knowledge, then the evidence of our senses must rule out all other possibilities. In short, truth is derived entirely from the empirical evidence we collect. However, Descartes also had a third premise which undermined the first two. This premise is that of the Evil Demon. This theory states that even with all our empirical knowledge, that there is still no material world.

Why Was Stormont Dissolved in 1972?

Why was Stormont Dissolved in 1972? Eighty- seven years have passed and partition within Ireland still remains the island’s defining feature. Since the six county country of Northern Ireland was formed under the umbrella organisation of the United Kingdom in 1921, Northern Ireland has experienced two periods of its history that are so extreme in their differences. For the first fifty or so years of Northern Ireland’s existence the situation between both sides of the community, the Protestants and the Catholics was peaceful and there was very little hostility or violence between them. Northern Ireland was essentially governed by peaceful co- existence as the government at Stormont ruled with relative ease. However, towards the late 1960s, the history of Northern Ireland changed, as what was to become the darkest period in the country’s short history, ‘the Troubles’, ensued between the Protestant and Catholic sides of the community and threatened to destroy Northern Ireland. In a period that lasted around thirty years, Northern Ireland became a war zone, characterised by bombings, shootings and sectarian violence as the two communities fought to defend their beliefs and protect one another from the so- called ‘other side’. However it is the first three years of ‘the Troubles’, from 1969- 1972 and the dissolution off Stormont that will be the focus of this essay. The dissolution off Stormont in 1972 ended fifty years of Home Rule in the province and led to over two decades of Direct Rule from Westminster. But why was Stormont dissolved in 1972? In this essay I will answer this question but it is important to note that there is no single reason why. The dissolution off Stormont was a multi- causal event brought about, by what I see, as five key causes; the failures of the Unionist Government to reform and control security; the formation of the Provisional IRA (PIRA) and its escalation of violence; Internment and the subsequent PIRA backlash; the formation of the UDA and its systematic killing programme and finally Bloody Sunday and its aftermath. The failures of the unionist government’s to provide sufficient reform, satisfying to both sides and their failure to control the security situation within Northern Ireland from 1969- 1972 was an important factor in the eventual dissolution of Stormont in 1972. During the latter part of Terence O’Neill’s premiership the failure of unionism was on the cards, even then, as his attempted ‘five oint programme’ of reforms was greeted with scepticism by both unionists and nationalists â€Å"and the Paisleyites were fired by what was seen as a concession to militant pressure†¦while others- as events demonstrated- saw only a mixture of weakness and begrudgery. [1] In February 1969, O’Neill’s failure to secure an indisputable mandate showed that the collapse of unionism was beginning to develop because as he suggested, â€Å"old prejudices were too strong for people to break out of the mould of sectarian politics once and for all,†[ 2] His successor James Chichester- Clark inherited what was a difficult situation, that became worse during the marching season of 1969. The failure of the unionist government to successfully control security and the devastating riots, which spread to Belfast following the annual Apprentice Boy’s demonstration in Derry in August, showed just how incapable they were of protecting the people of Northern Ireland and forced Chichester- Clark to request the support of the British army. This was a humiliation, and it underlined the failure of the Stormont administration to deal with either the political or the policing challenges of the popular uprising that was occurring: the decision added a military dimension to the complete financial dependence of the regime on London, and thus paved the way for direct rule. [3]The army was a last desperate measure and although welcomed by Catholics at the beginning, the GOC Lieutenant- general Sir Ian Freeland warned that â€Å"the Honeymoon period between troops and local people is likely to be short lived†. [4] Indeed it was as Catholics lost faith in the army’s ability to protect them, due to â€Å"the failure to ban the 1970 Orange parades, and the massive arms search and curfew of the Lower Falls Road† and directed their support towards the increasingly more militant PIRA. 5] By bringing in the British army, the Unionist Government aroused â€Å"great fear and passion†¦and many Catholics believed that the Unionists had neither the will nor the capacity to make the changes the British Government proposed†, therefore alienating the Nationalist community and gave fuel to the PIRA’s rise because of its inability to bring in reforms that would have a positive affect on them. 6] Together with an inability of the unionist party to rule itself, as a â€Å"vote of no confidence by the Unionist Party executive in the Government’s law and order policies† illustrated in 1970, these factors showed the weak and futile nature of the unionist Government. Further more, alongside later factors which will be discusse d later in the essay, such as Internment, these unionist failures helped to pave the way for Stormont to be dissolved in 1972. The formation of PIRA in 1970 proved to be a major downfall of Stormont. The nationalist community left alienated and feeling unsafe under the Stormont administration increasingly turned their support to Sean MacStiofain and the PIRA and its military policies allowing it to gain momentum in its aims, â€Å"to provide all possible assistance to’ or people’ in the North, left defenceless against the violence of ‘sectarian bigots† and free the Irish people from British rule. [7] The strategy of PIRA was in three phases, designed to eventually bring about the eventual overthrow of British rule in Northern Ireland. Phase one was of a purely defensive nature, avoiding confrontation with the army and â€Å"providing material, financial and training assistance for Northern PIRA units. †[8] â€Å"As soon as it became feasible and practical, the Provisional IRA would move from a purely defensive position to a phase of ‘combined defence and retaliation. †[9] The final phase, therefore, was â€Å"launching an all- out offensive action against the ‘British occupation system’. †[10] The PIRA came into action after Orange Order parades in June 1970, which Catholics saw as a â€Å"demonstration of Protestant power†. 11] The riots which followed saw the killing of five Protestants by the PIRA. Unfortunately for the people of Northern Ireland, the Falls Road curfew imposed by the Chichester- Clark government following this PIRA involvement only served to increase the paramilitary movement’s support base and lose support for the British army and it led to the escalation of violence within the province. The PIRA’s â€Å"campaign was stepped up from the bombing of economic targets to attacks on British army personnel† and on February 6th 1971 the first member of the regular British army was killed. 12] The violence only escalated further during 1971, as the Stormont administration struggled to cope with the unprecedented ferocity of the PIRA’s violence. â€Å"By July 55 people had died violently; In the first seven months of 1971 there were over 300 explosions and 320 shooting incidents†, which heaped an enormous amount of pressure upon Stormont, that it ultimately was not able to cope with and as we will see later in the essay this led brain Faulkner to undertake what became one of the defining nails in the coffin of Stormont, the introduction of ’Internment’. 13] The aspect that strikes you the most about Internment is the scale on which it was a failure, not to mention just how bias it was. It was a major blunder by the Unionist Government under Brian Faulkner â€Å"because it failed to bring about the seizure of the leading members of the Provisional IRA† simply because it lacked the necessary and relevant intelligence that was needed. â€Å"Internment was entirely one- sided. No attempt was made to arrest loyalist suspects despite the UVF’s record of violence†¦There was not a single person on the army’s list of 452 names who was not an anti- partionist. [14] The result of Internment â€Å"was massive alienation among the minority, and mounting enthusiasm for the PIRA. It exacerbated the levels of political violence within the region as â€Å"from 1 January to 8 August 1971, thirty- four people had been killed†¦but from the introduction of Internment until the end of the year139 people died as a result of political violence. †[15] Internment also underpinned the SDLP’s boycott of Stormont, and therefore destroyed Faulkne r’s very tentative move towards power- sharing. 16] It was a world- wide disaster for unionism. It portrayed unionism as being sectarian and bias and brought the collapse of Stormont into its home straight as PIRA lashed out against it with a ruthless offensive. â€Å"During August 1971 there were 131 bomb attacks, 196 in September and 117 in October. It seemed that the PIRA was making a concerted attempt to destroy Northern Ireland’s economy, with the short- term aim of drawing the security forces away from Catholic enclaves and the long- term objective of forcing Britain to abandon the region. [17] It seemed to be working as the economy was only rising by one percent in 1971 and British opinion was that it was willing to ditch Northern Ireland. The PIRA were it seemed successfully bringing about the British withdrawal from the region. The protestant reaction to this enormous offensive being carried out by the PIRA was to fight fire with fire, as they formed their ow n paramilitary group, the ‘Ulster Defence Association’ (UDA). The formation of the UDA in September 1971 was the crystallisation of the fears of working- class Protestants, who believed that the threat which the PIRA posed was too great and was not being dealt with by Stormont or Westminster. Instead they saw both governments as giving in to Nationalist pressure and giving them too many concessions. Just like Republican paramilitarism, â€Å"the growth of loyalist paramilitarism was related to the increasing levels of violence and the perception that the security forces could not contain violent republicanism. [18] The Unionist community did not feel safe or protected by the Unionist Government under Faulkner, and like Nationalists sought protection from a paramilitary organisation that could fight the PIRA. At the same time, however, the UDA’s formation served to add to the already hostile situation that was raging within Northern Ireland and as a result put another nail into the coffin of the Stormont administration. By now Direct Rul e was inevitable, and it was a question of when not if it would be introduced. The UDA’s formation and systematic outbreak of violence did nothing but heighten the tension between the Protestant and Catholic sides of the religious divide. â€Å"The UDA’s long- term aim was the ‘DEFENCE of ULSTER against ALL who would destroy her’; its short- term aims were the ‘restoration of law and order to every street in N. Ireland,’ to ‘prevent further disintegration of our society,’ and to ‘begin rebuilding our Community both materially and spiritually. †[19]Throughout late 1971 and 1972, when it killed over one hundred Catholics, who were seen as being disloyal to Northern Ireland, the UDA, along with around another forty loyalist paramilitary groups carried out unplanned and usually spontaneous and unjustified attacks upon Catholics in a response to the IRA’s campaign of violence. As a result the violence within the province reached an all time high heading into 1972, widely considered to be the wo rst year of ‘the Troubles’. This violence came to a head on the 30th January 1972, or ‘Bloody Sunday’ as it is known. It was this day and its aftermath that would become the final nail in the coffin of the Stormont administration. By the end of 1971 Northern Ireland was in danger of disintegrating into a state of anarchy due to the failures and â€Å"break- up of the traditional unionist party, the alienation of the SDLP, and the growth of the PIRA and the Protestant paramilitaries. [20] With Northern Ireland entirely reliant upon the security forces of the British Government in 1972, the reality of just how committed it was in the province was beginning to hit Britain. â€Å"The events of Bloody Sunday brought home both the extent of this involvement and the price being paid. †[21] After thirteen people were shot dead by the army in the Bogside area, Nationalist and Catholic Ireland exploded with anger. For the first time, the South ecame emotionally involved in the crisis occurring in the North and indeed it became occasionally violent (the British embassy in Dublin was burnt down on 5th February 1972). The PIRA and the Official IRA (OIRA) began a violent and bloody bombing campaign in both Northern Ireland and mainland Britain, as it bombed â€Å"the officers’ mess of the 16th Parachute Brigade at Aldershot on 23rd February 1972† as well as the crowded Abercorn restaurant in Belfast on 4th March 1972, one of the cruellest of many violent incidents that took place in the country. 22] Such incidents, proved to be the final straw for the British Government, after what had been a disastrous three years for both Stormont and Westminster. Northern Ireland was a war zone, incapable of ruling itself and Britain recognised this, declaring an end to Home Rule on 24th March 1972. Alvin Jackson asks the question, ‘Why did Stormont fail? and although the question might seem irrelevant given what precedes it, it is still important to sum up just why it happen ed and what the main causes were. In his book ‘Ireland 1798- 1998: Politics and War’, Jackson concludes that â€Å"in terms of proximate causes, Stormont failed because it was no longer compatible with the exigencies of British policy , and because it showed no signs of being able to cope with the street violence and organized terror. In the longer term, it had been unable to represent any other than Unionist opinion, and had been at best grudging towards Catholic aspirations. †[23] The Stormont administration under Unionism was quite simply incapable of organising its own security, as its decision to request the support of the British army in 1969 showed, and it was entirely one –sided, as policies such as Internment showed (a policy that had a massive part to play in the failure of torment. Along with these causes, the rise of the UDA and other loyalist paramilitaries and the events of ‘Bloody Sunday’ contributed largely to its failing, by creating more political violence and alienating the Nationalist community further. However, perhaps, â€Å"the underlying cause†¦was Irish Nationalism. †[24] Thomas Hennessey writes that â€Å"the single most disastrous decision that produced the next two and a half decades of conflict was the decision of the PIRA’s Army Council in January 1970 to begin a war- their war- against the British state. [25] In many ways, Hennessey is totally correct, for had it not been for the bombings and killings of the PIRA within Northern Ireland, then Stormont may well have survived because it would not have had to rule a country that was virtually in a civil war, a country that was in effect untenable. ———————– [1] Alvin Jackson, ‘Ireland 1798-1998:Politics and War’ (Blackwell Publishing, Oxford, 1999) p373 [2] Diarmaid Ferriter, ‘The Transformation of Ireland 1900-2000’ (Profile Books Ltd. Great Britain, 2004) p620 [3] Alvin Jackson, ‘Ireland 1798-1998: Politics and War’ (Blackwell Publishing, Oxford, 1999) p374 [4] Jonathan Bardon, ‘A History of Ulster’ (The Blackstaff Press, Belfast, 1992) p672 [5] Thomas Hennessey, ‘A History of Northern Ireland 1920-1996’ (Gill & Macmillan, Dublin, 1997) p174 [6] Hen ry Kelly, ‘How Stormont Fell’ in John Magee, ‘Northern Ireland: Crisis and Conflict’ (Routledge & Kegan Paul Ltd, London, 1974 ) p121 [7] Thomas Hennessey, ‘A History of Northern Ireland 1920-1996’ (Gill & Macmillan, Dublin, 1997) p173 [8] Ibid p173 9] Ibid p173 [10] Ibidp173 [11] John Whyte, ‘Interpreting Northern Ireland’ (Oxford University Press, New York, 1990) p31 [12] Thomas Hennessey, ‘A History of Northern Ireland 1920-1996’ (Gill & Macmillan, Dublin, 1997) p175 [13] Ibid p193 14] Jonathan Bardon, ‘A History of Ulster’ (The Blackstaff Press, Belfast, 1992) p682 [15] Patrick Buckland, ‘A History of Northern Ireland’ (Gill & Macmillan, Dublin, 1981) p156 [16] Alvin Jackson, ‘Ireland 1798-1998: Politics and War’ (Blackwell Publishing, Oxford, 1999) p376 [17] Jonathan Bardon, ‘A History of Ulster’ (The Blackstaff Press, Belfast, 1992) p685 [18] Thomas Hennessey, à ¢â‚¬ËœA History of Northern Ireland 1920-1996’ (Gill & Macmillan, Dublin, 1997) p201 [19] Ibid p201 20] Patrick Buckland, ‘A History of Northern Ireland’ (Gill & Macmillan, Dublin, 1981) p156 [21] Ibid p156 [22] Ibid p157 [23] Alvin Jackson, ‘Ireland 1798-1998: Politics and War’ (Blackwell Publishing, Oxford, 1999) p376 [24] Thomas Hennessey, ‘Northern Ireland: The Origins of the Troubles’ (Gill and Macmillan Ltd, Dublin, 2005) p385 [25] Ibid p394

Redcoats, Patriots and Bunker Hill Essay

As the winter of 1783 drew near, the last of the British troops sailed from New York leaving behind an independent nation. A land destined to be the richest and most powerful state in the galaxy of nations. It is possible that some of the redcoats marching into the dreary ship that cold November day had attacked Bunker Hill eight years ago, and stared at astonishment at the hail of bullets coming their way from the muskets of the patriots. The British had gone on to win the battle but at enormous cost, losing more than half their men. It was supposed to have been an easy battle. Their superiors, the officers of the most powerful army on earth had thought that they would overwhelm the enemy and had opted for a frontal assault, only to see their men mowed down repeatedly by a thinking and able enemy. The Battle of Bunker Hill has been enveloped in hagiography by every American historian as a victory in defeat, an American Dunkirk and as one of the first military engagements of the war of independence. It is all this and much more. Its’ importance in shaping history also lies in the two crucial mental victories it gave to the American troops. First, it changed forever the stereotypical image of the Patriots being a rag tag bunch of homegrown militia who could function adequately only under the competent and trained officers of the British army. Second, it brought immense pride to the Patriots and served as a rallying cry, a force mobiliser for the many engagements that were to happen in the next eight years. The British were confident of their military prowess and with good reason. They had fought the French all over the world in The Seven Years war, which lasted from 1756 to 1763 and â€Å"lock(ed) horns (with them) on every continent where the two had outposts†. (Allan, T., P 100)   They had mobilized troops effectively over vast distances, achieved tremendous expertise in military logistics and training and won brilliant battles. The firepower and strength of their navy enabled them to blockade ports and intercept supplies. Canada and Florida had come to them from the French and the Spanish after the Treaty of Paris and British hegemony extended over huge tracts of the inhabited world. The world was theirs to rule and they were a truly awesome military power. The Patriots were in their eyes a motley group of undisciplined part time soldiers, made up of planters, traders and frontiersmen with very little knowledge of arms and the mechanics of warfare. In America, the colonists had fought alongside the redcoats against the French and the Spanish in The Seven Years War but always under the command of British officers. In fact, they had been badly mauled when the Indians of the Northwest went on the warpath in 1763, and had turned in desperation to the British for succor. â€Å"The colonial militia was unable to master them, and in the end it was British regulars who put down the uprising.† (Allan, T., P 101) Many of the militia had joined only for personal advancement. As Lieutenant Scott, a Bunker Hill veteran was to say later â€Å"I lived in a country town; †¦ I was very ambitious †¦ I was asked to enlist as a private soldier; †¦ I offered to enlist upon having a lieutenant’s commission, which was granted. I imagined myself now in a way of promotion if my captain was killed; I should rise in rank, and should still have a chance to rise higher. These, sir were the only motives of my entering into the service; for as to the dispute between Great Britain and the colonies, I know nothing of it† (Sommers, R.J.) Thus, notwithstanding the small setbacks on their way to Boston, a very confident British army looked ready to overrun Boston in the summer of 1775. As the British ships began to arrive with troops ready for battle, Major General John Burgoyne was to remark â€Å"What! Ten Thousand peasants keep 5000 king’s troops shut up! Well, let us get in and we’ll soon find elbow room.† (Allan, T., P 107) General Thomas Gage, the British Commander in Chief, shared this brashness. A few days before the battle, he had written to say, â€Å"They will undoubtedly be lions whilst we are lambs, but if we take the resolute path they will undoubtedly prove very meek.† (Allan, T., P 108) As day broke on June 17, 1775, about 1200 ill equipped and under trained American soldiers were readied on Breed’s Hill to face the advancing redcoats. As thousands of people watched from the top of churches and houses in nearby Boston, 2500 British troops, supported by heavy cannon fire from the ships attacked the American barricades at three in the afternoon.. The patriots, under the command of Colonel William Prescott let the British come right up the hill before opening fire, practically from where â€Å"they could see the whites of their enemy’s eyes† (Battle of Breed’s Hill/Bunker Hill) Casualties were heavy and the redcoats retreated in consternation. The battle lasted for nearly three hours before American ammunition ran out. The British had to make three charges before they could take the defenses on the hill. The last charge was at bayonet point with the heavily outnumbered Americans fighting with rifle butts and rocks until they were ordered to retreat. One of the last to leave the American lines was, General Joseph Warren. The hero lingered only to lose his life with a gunshot in the temple. The cost to the British was terrible. The hollow victory lost them a thousand men including many officers; nearly forty percent of their total force. The militia lost four hundred.   The British then went on to capture both the hills and Charleston was cannon balled until it burnt to the ground. After Bunker Hill, a chastened Thomas Gage wrote, â€Å"They showed a conduct and spirit against us they never showed against the French, and everybody has judged them from their former appearance and behavior.† (Allan, T., P 108) The British would never forget Bunker Hill. It was the pushover that never was, the small dune on the outskirts of Boston where the Americans proved they could fight. The fighting was to continue for six more years during which time redcoats and patriots were to engage in battle as north as Quebec and as south as South Carolina. Most of the fighting however continued in the broad vicinity of Bunker Hill, on the seaboard between Philadelphia and Boston. At last, on September 3, 1783, the Treaty of Paris was signed and Britain recognized the independence of its American possessions. The war that had started at Bunker Hill, in the summer of 1775 finally ended. The infant nation stretched from Georgia in the south to the Great Sea in the north, from the Mississippi in the West to the Atlantic in the East. The Bunker Hill Monument stands on Breed’s Hill, in an overdeveloped area in Boston. There is no hint or sign of the redcoats or the patriots who volleyed and bayoneted here more than two hundred years ago. Works Cited Allan, T., ed., â€Å"Winds of Revolution†, History of the World 1700-1800, Time Life Books, (1990), ISBN 07954 0984 8 Battle of Breeds Hill/Bunker Hill, â€Å"Military Science†, WPI, (2004), 21 June 2006, Sommers, Richard J. â€Å"Ambition.† Parameters 30.4 (2000): 171. Questia. 21 June 2006 . Bibliography Allan, T., ed., â€Å"Winds of Revolution†, History of the World 1700-1800, Time Life Books, (1990), ISBN 07954 0984 8 Bailyn, B., â€Å"The Battle of Bunker Hill† The Massachusetts Historical Society, (2003), 21 June 2006, Battle of Breeds Hill/Bunker Hill, â€Å"Military Science†, WPI, (2004), 21 June 2006, Battle of Bunker Hill 1775, HistoryCentral.com. (2004), 21 June 2006, Beard, James Franklin. â€Å"Cooper and the Revolutionary Mythos.† Early American Literature 11.1 (1976): 84-104. Questia. 21 June 2006 . Sommers, Richard J. â€Å"Ambition.† Parameters 30.4 (2000): 171. Questia. 21 June 2006 . Webster, Daniel. Daniel Webster’s First Bunker Hill Oration. New York: American Book Company, 1910. Questia. 21 June 2006 .

A Brief Look at Italian History

A Brief Look at Italian History The history of Italy is characterized by two periods of unity- the Roman Empire (27 BCE–476 CE) and the modern democratic republic formed after the end of World War II. Between those two periods may have been a millennium and a half of division and disruption, but that disruption saw one of the worlds great flowering of art, the Renaissance (circa 1400–1600 CE). Italy, sitting in southwestern Europe, is comprised largely of a boot-shaped peninsula that extends out into the Mediterranean, as well as a region on the core landmass of the continent. It is bordered by Switzerland and Austria to the north, Slovenia and the Adriatic Sea to the east, France and the Tyrrhenian Sea to the west, and the Ionian Sea and the Mediterranean to the south. Italy also includes the islands of Sicily and Sardinia. Roman Empire Between the sixth to third centuries BCE, the Italian city of Rome conquered Peninsular Italy; over the next few centuries, this empire spread to dominate the Mediterranean and Western Europe. The Roman Empire would go on to define much of Europes history, leaving a mark on culture and society that outlasted the military and political machinations of its leadership. After the Italian part of the Roman Empire declined and â€Å"fell† in the fifth century (an event no one at the time realized was so significant), Italy was the target of several invasions. The previously united region broke apart into several smaller bodies, including the Papal States, governed by the Catholic Pope. Renaissance and the Kingdom of Italy By the eighth and ninth centuries, a number of powerful and trading-oriented city-states emerged, including Florence, Venice, and Genoa; these were the forces that incubated the Renaissance. Italy and its smaller states also went through stages of foreign domination. These smaller states were the fertile grounds of the Renaissance, which changed Europe massively once more and owed a lot to the competing states trying to outspend each other on glorious art and architecture. Unification and independence movements throughout Italy developed ever stronger voices in the 19th century after Napoleon created the short-lived Kingdom of Italy. A war between Austria and France in 1859 allowed several small states to merge with Piedmont; a tipping point had been reached and the Kingdom of Italy was formed in 1861, growing by 1870- when the Papal States joined- to cover almost all of what we now call Italy. Mussolini and Modern Italy The Kingdom of Italy was subverted when Mussolini took power as a fascist dictator, and although he was initially skeptical of German dictator Adolf Hitler, Mussolini took Italy into World War II rather than risk losing out on what he perceived as a land grab. That choice caused his downfall. Modern Italy is now a democratic republic and has been since the modern constitution came into effect in 1948. This followed a referendum in 1946, which voted to abolish the previous monarchy by 12.7 million to 10.7 million votes. Key Rulers Julius Caesar c. 100 BCE–44 BCE A great general and statesman, Julius Caesar won a civil war to become both sole ruler of the extensive Roman domains and dictator for life, setting in motion a process of transformation that led to the creation of the Roman Empire. He was assassinated by enemies and is arguably the most famous ancient Roman. Giuseppe Garibaldi 1807–1882 After exile in South America, forced upon him because of his role in an attempted republican revolution, Guiseppi Garibaldi commanded forces in several Italian conflicts of the 19th century. He played an important role in Italian unification when he and his volunteer army of â€Å"Redshirts† captured Sicily and Naples and allowed them to join the Kingdom of Italy. Although Garibaldi fell out with the new king, in 1862, he was offered a command in the U.S. Civil War by President Abraham Lincoln. That never occurred because Lincoln wouldnt agree to abolish slavery at that early date. Benito Mussolini 1883–1945 Mussolini became the youngest-ever prime minister of Italy in 1922, using his fascist organization of â€Å"Blackshirts† to propel him to power. He transformed the office into a dictatorship and allied with Hitler’s Germany, but was forced to flee when World War II turned Italy against him. He was captured and executed.

How successful have development policies been in Latin American Select Essay

How successful have development policies been in Latin American Select one country and assess its economic evolution from Impor - Essay Example The economic strategy which is known by the name â€Å"Import Substitution Industrialization† arose in relatively under-developed countries as a response to global markets. It was clear that many Latin American countries in particular could not keep up with the fluctuations and demands of a free market system. Many of the participants in the world markets possessed vastly superior technologies, infrastructure and buying power due to their more developed status and stronger currencies. This left weaker economies very vulnerable and so their governments stepped in to guide industrialization in ways which assisted in the development of the country as a whole, rather than just successful trade between individual companies and external customers. The focus was on the internal market rather than on the export market, and the aim of this strategy was to reduce reliance on foreign goods and at the same time encourage local manufacturers to supply more and more goods. As one of the larger South American states, Brazil has played an important part in the economic development of this sub-continent. In the period from the middle of the nineteenth century until the Great Depression in 1929-30 the majority of Latin America enjoyed a phase of export-propelled growth. The combination of reduced buying and selling capacity in industrialized countries and the huge disruption of the Second World War caused great fluctuations in the world markets and this in turn prompted countries like Brazil to focus more on expanding their own internal market. This is where import substitution was devised, as a method of driving forward industrialization while at the same time reducing the country’s need for outside goods and foreign currencies. ... This encouraged innovation, and schemes were set up that allowed foreign companies to invest in Brazil, and transfer technology into that country so that the demand for finished goods could be met. Hirschman notes that countries who come late to industrialization can benefit from the knowledge that other countries have learned before them, for example Britain and other European states, and as a result of this the introduction of new working practices is much smoother. By the early 1960s import substitution industrialization in Brazil was judged to be a considerable success in the short term, but with some rather negative effects in the longer term. (Macario, 1964) One long term effect was that Brazilian industrialists became complacent, and they got used to the lack of competition that ensured their continued success, regardless how efficient they were. There was no external incentive to improve quality or efficiency, and so when Brazil wanted to participate in the world markets to o btain modern goods, it was found that Brazilian products fell far behind those of competitors. There was also very little independent decision making in the industrial sector, since most of the leadership came from government initiatives. When looking at the import substitution period in Brazil from 1930 onwards it is important to understand the significance of political changes which were introduced by the charismatic leader Getulio Vargas. By setting up a Ministry of Labor he managed to get dialogue going between industrialists and government and this eventually cemented his control over all aspects of the economy. (Roett: 2010, p. 38) This central control deepened import substitution policies and allowed various beneficial reforms such as

Paper 1 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Paper 1 - Essay Example The spreading of foreclosure has still not halted as the unemployment rates at 9 percent is the worst happenings US economy ever witnessed. The BOA stock dropped almost 29 percent in the last year is the worst performance in its history. In fact, BOA themselves admitted that they had undermined the mortgage crisis. They are trapped in the falling home price vortex for that leads to more defaults and then to claims from mortgage investors. After second quarter results got public declaring $8.8 billion losses, share price spurted by 28 cents. The phenomena can be explained by not the fundamentals of the company but by the technical analysis as stock market tends to move in opposite direction (contrary to the expectations of masses) for a short while; however a long term direction of the market follows fundamentals that is what happened with BOA also as the stock price is currently, as on 7/25, down at $10.01 having picked $10.23 on 7/21. The long term movement of the stock price of BOA will depend upon how the mortgage market takes turn in the coming months. (Historical prices, 2011) The BOA is not a safe buy now for there are no clear signs of economic recovery in general and housing market in particular. Moreover, unemployment rate is still hovering around 9 percent for the last several quarters. Housing market will improve only when unemployment rate improves and thereby the fortune of Bank of America. Wells Fargo came out with the results of second quarter showing net income of $3.9 billion that comes to 70 cents a share. The earning was up by 29% from 55 cents a share when compared with the figure of a year ago and that is in spite of â€Å"no remarkable change† in economy at macro level; however the revenue was down by 4.7%. That is indeed a good showing by Wells Fargo. Wells Fargos quality of home portfolio can be gauged by its