Analysis Of The Book Young Goodman Brown By Nathanial...

Everyone Changes Change is inevitable, it is part of life. However, change is a complex process and the reason individuals change may vary from person to person. Change most often comes from experiencing a traumatic event, such as the death of a loved one, a major failure, a life crisis, a relationship ending, being fired from a job, life threatening illness, etc. Change may also come from stories we read, hear or see, which may include family legends, myths, fairy tales, novels, movies, television programs, etc. (Kottler, 2013). In â€Å"Young Goodman Brown,† by Nathanial Hawthorn the protagonist, Goodman Brown, takes a walk through the forest, which turns out to be a dramatically life changing event. Throughout the story, Goodman Brown†¦show more content†¦One night, he kisses his wife goodbye and embarks on a journey which he believed neither his father, nor his father before him had ever gone on. Goodman embarks on a night journey through the forest, which ca n be symbolic to the journey of life. He encounters numerous people and events that have dramatic effects on the rest of his life. As Goodman leaves his wife and home, he turns for one last look at her, â€Å"peeping after him with a melancholy air, in spite of her pink ribbons† (Hawthorn, page 1132). Before entering the forest, he says â€Å"Poor little Faith! †¦ What a wretch am I to leave her on such an errand!† (Hawthorn, page 1133). Not only does this statement represent Goodman saying good-bye to his wife, but the statement also foreshadows him saying good-bye to his faith in God and human kind. Not far into his journey, Goodman meets a mysterious old man who was waiting for him to guide him through the forest. In regards to appearance, the old man showed a â€Å"considerable resemblance to him, though perhaps more in expression than features† (Hawthorn, page 1133). The close resemblance makes Goodman feel he can trust him and follow in through the forest. However, the old man symbolizes evil and temptation. He carries a staff, â€Å"which bore the likeness of a great black snake (Hawthorn, page 1133), which symbolizes the snake that persuaded Adam and Eve to eat the forbidden fruit in The Garden of Eden. The first time Goodman stops and

Social Media And Its Impact On Society - 1537 Words

I have constantly thought about intimacy amongst couples as a private and a special thing between them, and considered it as a cherished moment to be experienced concerning the two without the interruptions of others. Yet, nowadays, every notion of privacy is becoming blurred with the use of technology, and peoples’ interpretations of what is private and what is public has evolved over time with these new technological developments. The smartphone plays a significant role in changing peoples’ views on their privacy, and having these devices in hand at all times, with unlimited access to the internet, alongside countless applications and free social media platforms available to share their content has made it even easier to forget about the concept of privacy. People share their daily activities and encounters on social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat with many other. Some share it with close family, relative and friends, however, others share them with complete strangers that they have never met in person in their whole lives. The content they share could be about any event in their lives, an outing with a few friends, a family gathering, or an intimate time spent with loved ones. Intimacy between couples is no longer considered as a private instant, but as an exposed moment that is being shared and mediated. The idea of intimacy, with social media platforms, have lost its sense of being an intimate moment practiced between two people, yet,Show MoreRelatedImpact Of Social Media On Society Essay917 Words   |  4 PagesHave you thought about the impact that social media has on society? Today I would like to address the impact of social media on society for those of you that are social media users and this includes the advantages or disadvantages that as associated with it. 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Sometimes we mightRead MoreSocial Media And Its Impact On Society Essay1742 Words   |  7 PagesSocial media has gained immense popularity, following increased access to the internet and technology devices including smart phones. Social media is used to denote platforms in which people build and share social connections; thus enhancing information sharing and interaction. Major examples include Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn, Google+, Pinterest and Instagram. Through social media, people can connect, interact and exchange information such as pictures, videos and other digital media byRead MoreSocial Media And Its Impact On Society1563 Words   |  7 PagesSocial media has consumed our society. 47% of American adults used social networking sites in 2011 like Facebook, Myspace, and Twitter; up from 26% in 2008(quoted from procon.org) the aspects of social media both have a positive and negative impact on life. Social networking sites promote interaction with distant fami ly and friends. Social networking sites can demonstrate opportunities to strengthen existing relationships and to develop new friendships as well. The downfall of social media sitesRead MoreSocial Media And Its Impact On Society970 Words   |  4 Pagespiece titled Friends Indeed for the Washington Post. Garreau brings up possible dangers, minor inconveniences, and what truly defines a friend in the new media world we live in. I felt Garreau came across as jaded by most of the interviews he conducted. He did not seem to speak with a wide array of people that gave positive impacts social media can have, but rather focused on the negatives of the subject. Garreau did bring up valid points, however, from personal safety to the aspect of differentRead MoreThe Impact Of Social Media On Society987 Words   |  4 Pages The Negative Impact of Social Media on Society Marylin Vos Savant once said, â€Å"Email, instant messaging, and cell phones give us fabulous ability, but because we live and work in our own little worlds, that communication is totally disorganized†. The society we live in today requires modern technology. Texting, tweeting, and other forms of abbreviated communications are now changing how we speak. Of course technology and social media to be precise, is not necessarily evil; they have boosted the world’sRead MoreThe Impact Of Social Media On Society1652 Words   |  7 PagesIn 1968, popular artist Andy Warhol had brought to attention his opinion on the over-populated celebrity society of the time with his quote â€Å"In the future, everyone will be famous for fifteen minutes†. Times change, and the future approached, but Andy may have underestimated just how true that is. Nowadays, the quote has been translated to fit the modern times, â€Å"everyone will be famous for 15mb†. The quote being changed to that says a lot about the times that we are going through right now, whichRead MoreSocial Media And Its Impact On Society1224 Words   |  5 Pages Social media is a variety of platforms provided to the public as a medium for expression and communication. Seemingly, social media could be viewed as a positive contribution to society, but one must consider the underlying effects of society. Many of us don’t take into account the role that social media plays in the way we perceive things, think, and live our lives. Social media plays a critical part in societal norms. â€Å"Social norms are rules of conduct that governs interactions among individualsRead MoreSocial Media And Its Impact On Society Essay1560 Words   |  7 Pageswaiting for their next high, society has become more and more dependent on social media. One must realize, while the use of social media in today’s society is a necessity due to the fast-paced environment that has been created, it can never fully replace the value received from personal interaction with others. The short film titled, The Library Book, perfectly illustrates this as the charact ers within the film learn to assimilate in a society dominated by social media. The actions of each characterRead MoreSocial Media And Its Impact On Society Essay1622 Words   |  7 Pages What it Means to be Black In 2016, society is at a place where people are able to discover tons of information at the touch of a finger; this indeed can impact on how we view common things in society, such as identity. This statement holds true for â€Å"blacks† or African Americans as well. The stigma that comes with being black has been around for centuries; however, many blacks are using social media to combat negativity. In an era predicated on the use of the internet, black people have proven to

The Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove Chapter 9~10 Free Essays

string(106) " She pounded on the window and the kid looked up, not startled, but with a dreamy expression on his face\." Nine When Mikey â€Å"the Collector† Plotznik wheeled into town and saw that the Texaco station had blown up, leaving a charred circle two hundred yards wide around it, he knew that it was going to be a great day. It was a shame about the burger stand going up too, and he’d miss their spicy fries, but hey, you don’t often get to see the toasting of a major landmark like the Texaco. The fire was all out now, but several firemen were still sifting through the wreck-age. We will write a custom essay sample on The Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove Chapter 9~10 or any similar topic only for you Order Now The Collector waved to them as he wheeled by. They waved back, somewhat reticently, for the Collector’s reputation preceded him and made them nervous. Today would be the day, Mikey thought. The Texaco was an omen, the star in the sky over his lifelong dream. Today he’d catch Molly Michon naked, and when he did (and brought back the proof), his reputation would grow to mythic proportions. He patted the disposable camera he carried in the front pouch of his hooded sweatshirt. Oh yes, he’d have evidence to back up his story. They would believe him – and bow to him. At this point in his life, the Collector was more interested in explosions than in naked women. He was only ten, and it would be a couple of years before his interests moved to girls. Freud never identified a stage of devel-opment known as â€Å"pyrotechnic fascination,† but that was only because there wasn’t an abundant supply of disposable lighters in nineteenth-cen-tury Vienna. Ten-year-old boys blow shit up. It’s what they do. But today a strange new feeling had come over Mikey, a feeling he couldn’t put a word to, but if he could, the word would have been â€Å"horny.† As he Rollerbladed through town, tossing the Los Angeles Times into the shrubs and gutters of businesses along Cypress Street, he felt a tightness in his shorts that until now he had associated with having to take a raging pee in the morning. Today it signified a need to see the Crazy Lady in a state of undress. Paperboys are the carriers of preadolescent myth. On every paper route, there is a haunted house, a kid-eating dog, an old woman who tips with twenties, and a woman who answers the door in the nude. Mikey had never actually seen any of these things, but that never stopped him from spinning wild stories for his buddies at school. Today he would get proof, he could feel it in his loins. He skated down the driveway into the Fly Rod Trailer Court, chucked a paper into the rose bushes in front of Mr. Nunez’s trailer, then made a beeline for the Crazy Lady’s house. He could see a blue glow coming through her windows, a TV. She was home and awake. Yes! He pulled up a couple of doors down and noticed that a new trailer had moved in next to the Crazy Lady. A new customer? Why not give it a try? The Crazy Lady didn’t receive the paper, so his pretense for knocking on her door was to get her to subscribe. He could practice on these new people. As he skated up to the front door of the new trailer, lights came on in the two front windows. Yes! Someone was home. Strange curtains – they looked like cat’s eyes. Through a part in the curtains, Molly watched the kid come down the road into the trailer park. She liked kids, but she didn’t like this kid. At least once a week he knocked on her door and tried to get her to subscribe to the paper, and once a week she told him to go away and never come back. Sometimes he would bring one of his little buddies along. She could hear them skulking around her trailer, trying to peek in the windows. â€Å"Swear to God, she’s got a dead guy in there that she does it with. I’ve seen him. And she ate a kid once.† The kid was heading for the monster trailer. In the background, a videotape was playing on her TV – Mechanized Death: Warrior Babe VII – and THE SCENE was coming up. Molly looked away from the window and watched THE SCENE for the thousandth time. Kendra is standing in the back of a jeep, manning a rack of net guns as the jeep pursues the Evil Warlord across the desert. The driver turns, as he is supposed to, throwing up a fishtail of dust, but the front wheel of the jeep hits a rock and the jeep rolls. Kendra is thrown fifty feet in the air and lands in a heap. The steel bra she is wearing cuts deep into her chest and blood sprays out across the dust. The bastards! Every time she watches THE SCENE she can’t believe the bastards left it in. The accident was real, the blood was Molly’s, and when she returned to the set ten days later, a security guard escorted her to the producer’s trailer. â€Å"I can pay you extra’s wages as a mutant,† the producer said, â€Å"but let’s face it, babe, you didn’t get your billing because of your acting ability. You think I’m gonna hold up filming for ten days when the whole schedule is only three weeks long? We got a new Kendra. Wrote the accident and the facial reconstruction into the script. She’s a cyborg now. Now you can get in line with the mutants to pick up your bag of rags, or you can get the fuck off the set. My audience wants perfect bodies, and you were getting up there anyway. With that scar you don’t sell anymore.† Molly had just turned twenty-seven years old. She pulled herself from THE SCENE and looked out the window again. The kid was there, right there in front of the monster trailer. She should warn him or something. She pounded on the window and the kid looked up, not startled, but with a dreamy expression on his face. Molly gestured for him to move away. The window she was looking out of didn’t open. (Trailers built in those days were designed so people would burn up in case of a fire. The manufacturers thought it would keep the lawsuits down.) The kid just stood there, his fist poised before the door as if he were frozen in the middle of knocking. As Molly watched, the door began to open. Not on the hinges, but vertically, like a garage door. Molly pounded furiously on the window with the hilt of her sword. The kid smiled. A huge red tongue snaked out of the door, wrapped around the kid, and slurped him in, Rollerblades, paper satchel, and all. Molly screamed. The door slammed shut. Molly watched, stunned, not knowing what to do. A few seconds later the mouth opened and expectorated a soccer-ball-sized wad of newspaper. Theo The hours of Theo’s day had moved like slugs crawling on razor wire. By four in the afternoon, he felt as if he’d been awake for a week and the cups of French roast he’d been drinking had turned to foaming acid in his stomach. Mercifully, there hadn’t been a single call for a bar fight or do-mestic dispute, so he had spent the entire day at the scene of the fuel truck explosion, talking to firemen, representatives from Texaco Oil, and an arson investigator sent up from the San Junipero Fire Department. Much to his surprise, going all day without a hit from his Sneaky Pete pot pipe had not sent him into fits of anxiety as it usually did. He was a little paranoid, but he wasn’t sure that that wasn’t just an informed response to the world anyway. At a quarter past four, the arson investigator crossed the charred parking lot to where Theo was leaning on the hood of his Volvo. The investigator was in his late twenties, clean-cut, and carried himself like an athlete, even in the orange toxic waste suit. He carried a plastic space helmet under his arm like a tumorous football. â€Å"Constable Crowe, I think that’s about all I can do today. It’ll be dark soon, and as long as we keep the area closed off, I’m sure everything will still be here in the morning.† â€Å"What’s your call so far? â€Å"Well, we generally look for evidence of accelerants, gas, kerosene, paint thinner – and I’d say there were definitely some flammable liquids involved here.† He smiled a weary smile. â€Å"So you don’t know what happened?† â€Å"Offhand, I’d say a fuel truck blew up, but without further investigation I’d hate to make a commitment at this time.† Again the smile. Theo smiled back. â€Å"So no cause?† â€Å"The driver probably didn’t seal the hose correctly and a cloud of fumes got set off. There wasn’t much wind last night, so the fumes would have just clung to the ground and built up. Anything could have set it off: the driver could have been smoking, the pilot lights at the hamburger place, a spark in the truck exhaust. Right now I’d say it was totally accidental. It was a company-owned store, and it was turning a profit, so there really isn’t a financial motive for arson. Texaco will definitely be building your town a new burger stand and probably paying off some nuisance settlements from people claiming trauma, duress, and irritation.† â€Å"I have the information on the driver,† Theo said. â€Å"I’ll check to see if he was a smoker.† â€Å"I asked him. He’s keeping quiet† came a voice from a few yards away. Theo and the arson investigator looked up to see Vance McNally coming toward them holding up a Ziploc bag full of white and gray powder. â€Å"I’ve got him right here,† the EMT said. â€Å"You want to interrogate him?† â€Å"Very funny, Vance,† Theo said. â€Å"They’re going to have to do the autopsy with a flour sifter,† Vance said. The investigator took the Ziploc from Vance and examined it. â€Å"You find any remains of a cigarette lighter? Anything like that?† â€Å"Not my job,† Vance said. â€Å"The fire was so hot it turned the seat springs to liquid. Even incinerated the bones, except for those little bits of calcium in there. Honestly, this might not all be our boy. We might be giving his wife a bag full of burnt-up truck parts to put in an urn on the mantel.† The investigator shrugged and handed the bag back to Vance. Then to Theo he said, â€Å"I’m going home. I’ll come back tomorrow and look around some more. As soon as I give the okay, the oil company will send in a crew to drain the ground tanks.† â€Å"Thanks,† Theo said. The investigator left in a county car. Vance McNally turned the Ziploc bag of truck driver in the air. â€Å"Theo, this ever happens to me, I want you to get all my friends together, have a big party, and snort me, okay?† â€Å"You have friends, Vance?† â€Å"Okay, it was just an idea,† Vance said. He turned and carried his bag to the waiting ambulance. Theo sipped his coffee and noticed something moving in the charred brush beyond the Texaco. It looked as if someone was holding up a TV antenna and getting altogether too close to the yellow tape he had run around the perimeter. Jeez, was he going to have to stay here all night guarding the scene? He pried himself off the Volvo and headed for the offender. â€Å"Hey there!† Theo called. Gabe Fenton, the biologist, emerged from the brush, indeed holding up some kind of antenna, followed by his Labrador retriever, Skinner. The dog ran to meet Theo and greeted him with two muddy paw prints on the chest. Theo rubbed Skinner’s ears to hold him at bay, the classic slobbering Labrador control move. â€Å"Gabe, what in the hell are you doing down here?† The biologist was covered with burrs and foxtails, his face striped with soot from the charred brush. He looked exhausted, yet there was a note of excitement bordering on ecstasy in his voice. â€Å"You won’t believe this, Theo. My rats moved en masse this morning.† Theo tried, but couldn’t match Gabe’s enthusiasm. â€Å"That’s swell, Gabe. Texaco blew up last night.† Gabe Fenton looked around at the surrounding area as if seeing the destruction for the first time. â€Å"What time?† â€Å"About four in the morning.† â€Å"Hmmm, maybe they sensed it.† â€Å"They?† â€Å"The rats. Around 2 A.M. they all started moving west. I can’t figure out what caused it. Here, look at the screen.† Gabe had a laptop computer strapped into a harness around his waist. He turned it so Theo could see the screen. â€Å"Each of these dots represents an animal I have implanted with a tracking chip. Here’s their location at 1 A.M.† He clicked a key and the screen drew a topographical map of the area. Green dots were scattered pretty much evenly along the creek bed and the business district of Pine Cove. Gabe hit another key. â€Å"Now here they are at two.† All but a few of the dots had moved into the ranchland east of Pine Cove. â€Å"Uh-huh,† Theo said. Gabe was a nice guy. Spent too much time with vermin, but he was a nice guy. Gabe needs to talk to humans occasionally, Theo thought. â€Å"Well, don’t you see? They all moved at once, except for these ten over here that moved to the shore.† â€Å"Uh-huh,† Theo said. â€Å"Gabe, the Texaco blew up. A guy was killed. I was talking to firemen in space suits all day. Every paper in the county has called me. The battery is almost out on my cell phone. I haven’t eaten since yesterday and I only slept an hour last night. Help me find the significance in rat migration, okay?† Gabe looked crestfallen. â€Å"Well, I don’t know the significance yet. I’m tracking the ten that didn’t move east, hoping the anomalies will give a clue to the behavior of the larger group. Strange thing is, four of the ten disappeared off my screen a little after two. Even if they were killed, the chips should still transmit. I need to find them.† â€Å"And I wish you the best of luck, but this area may still be dangerous. You can’t be here, buddy.† â€Å"Maybe there were fumes,† Gabe said. â€Å"But that doesn’t explain why they all moved in the same direction. Some even came through this area from the shore.† Theo couldn’t bear to express to Gabe how little he cared. â€Å"You had any dinner, Gabe?† â€Å"No, I’ve been doing this since last night.† â€Å"Pizza, Gabe. We need pizza and beer. I’ll buy.† â€Å"But I need to†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"You’re a single guy, Gabe. You need pizza every eighteen hours or you can’t function properly. And I have a question to ask you about footprints, but I want you to watch me drink a few beers before I ask so I can claim diminished capacity. Come, Gabe, let me take you to the land of pizza and beer.† Theo gestured to his Volvo. â€Å"You can stick the antenna out the sunroof.† â€Å"I guess I could take a break.† Theo opened the passenger door and Skinner leapt into the car, leaving sooty paw prints on the seat. â€Å"Your dog needs pizza. It’s the humane thing to do.† â€Å"Okay,† Gabe said. â€Å"I want to show you something over by the creek bed.† â€Å"What.† â€Å"A footprint. Or what’s left of one.† Ten minutes later they sat over frosty mugs of beer at Pizza in the Pines, Pine Cove’s only pizza parlor. They’d taken a window table so Gabe could keep an eye on Skinner, who was bouncing up and down outside, giving them an ever-changing view of the street, then the street with dog face (ears akimbo), then the street, then the street with dog face again. Other than to order a beer, Gabe Fenton hadn’t said a word since they’d gone to the creek bed. â€Å"Will he just keep doing that?† Theo asked. â€Å"Until we take him a slice of pizza, yes.† â€Å"Amazing.† Gabe shrugged. â€Å"He’s a dog.† â€Å"Always the biologist.† â€Å"One needs to keep the mind limber.† â€Å"Well, what do you think?† â€Å"I think that you obliterated most of what you thought was a footprint.† â€Å"Gabe, it was a footprint. A talon or something.† â€Å"There are a thousand explanations for a depression in the mud like that, Theo, but one of them is not an animal track.† â€Å"Why not?† â€Å"Well, for one, there hasn’t been anything that large on this continent for about sixty million years, and for another, animals tend to leave more than one track, unless it’s a creature especially adapted for hopping.† Gabe grinned. The flying dog head pogoed by the windowsill. â€Å"There were a lot of people and vehicles around there, the other tracks might have been wiped out.† â€Å"Theo, don’t let your imagination run away with you. You’ve had a long day and†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"And I’m a pothead.† â€Å"I wasn’t going to say that.† â€Å"I know, I’m saying it. Tell me about your rats. What will you do when you find them?† â€Å"Well, first I’m going to keep searching for the stimulus of their behavior, then I’ll catch a few of the group that migrated and compare their brain chemistry to those that headed toward the shore.† â€Å"Does that hurt them?† â€Å"You have to blend up their brains and run the liquid in a centrifuge.† â€Å"I guess so then.† The waitress brought their pizza and Gabe was severing cables of cheese from his first slice when Theo’s cell phone rang. The constable listened for a second, then stood and dug into his pocket for money. â€Å"I’ve got to go, Gabe.† â€Å"What’s up?† â€Å"The Plotznik kid is missing. No one’s seen him since he left on his paper route this morning.† â€Å"Probably hiding. That kid is evil. He rigged up something with his remote control car that affected the chips in my rats once. I spent three weeks trying to figure out why they were running figure eights in the parking lot outside the grocery story before I found him lurking in the weeds with the controller.† â€Å"I know,† Theo said. â€Å"Mikey told me that if he wired ten of your rats together, he could pick up the Discovery Channel. I still have to find him. He has parents.† â€Å"Skinner is a pretty good tracker. Want to take him?† â€Å"Thanks, but I doubt that the kid had a pizza in his pocket.† Theo folded his phone, snagged a slice of pizza for the road, and headed out the door. Ten Val Riordan leaned against her office door, trying to catch her breath and maintain her temper. Nothing in her clinical experience compared to the sessions she held on the day after the Texaco exploded. She had seen twenty patients in ten hours, and every one of them had wanted to talk about sex. And not abstract sex either, not issues or attitudes about sex, just squishy, thumping sex itself. It was unnerving. She’d anticipated a spike in libido among her patients (it was a common symptom of withdrawal from antidepressants), but the books said not more than five to fifteen percent would have a reaction – about the same number that experienced a loss of libido upon taking the drugs. But today she’d hit one hundred percent. It was as if she were running a kennel for hopeless horndogs rather than a psychiatric practice. After the last patient, she’d come out of her office to find her new receptionist, Chloe, furiously masturbating, her feet hooked into the edge of the desk, her steno chair squeaking like a tortured squirrel. Val had excused herself, turned on her heel, walked back into her office, and shut the door. Chloe, twenty-one, had maroon hair, an entire wardrobe rendered in black, and a sapphire nose ring. Val had begun treating the girl in her teens for bulimia, then hired her when the volume of appointments skyrocketed after the placebo went into effect. Chloe worked in exchange for therapy; Val had thought it would be a good financial move. Frankly, she’d liked her better when she just threw up a lot. Val was still trying to figure out exactly what to do when there was a soft knock on the door. â€Å"Yes?† â€Å"Sorry,† Chloe said through the door. â€Å"Uh, Chloe, that is not appropriate office behavior.† â€Å"Well, your last appointment had left. I thought that you would be working on your notes or something for a while. I’m really sorry.† â€Å"That’s it? My last appointment leaves, so let the wild rumpus begin?† â€Å"Am I fired?† Val thought for a second. There were twenty more patients to see tomorrow and twenty the day after that. If the weirdness didn’t kill her, the workload would. She couldn’t afford to lose Chloe now. â€Å"No, you’re not fired. But please, no more of that in the office.† â€Å"Do you have time to talk? I know my next session isn’t until next week, but I really need to talk to you.† â€Å"Wouldn’t you prefer to go home and, uh, think about things?† â€Å"You mean finish? No, I’m finished for now. That’s what I want to talk to you about. That wasn’t the first time today.† Val gulped. It was highly unprofessional to talk to a patient through a door. She steeled herself and opened it. â€Å"Come in.† She returned to her desk without looking at the girl. Chloe took a seat across from her. â€Å"So this wasn’t the first time today?† Val was the psychotherapist now, not the boss. If she’d been the boss, she would have come over the desk and strangled the little slut. â€Å"No, I can’t seem to get enough. I, well, it started about two in the morning, and I went straight though until time to get ready for work. Then once or twice while each patient was in session.† Val’s jaw dropped. Sixteen hours of intermittent masturbation? The other patients she had seen had cited two in the morning as when their sexual adventures had started too. She said, â€Å"And how do you feel about that?† â€Å"I feel okay. My wrist hurts a little. Do you think I could have carpal tunnel?† â€Å"Chloe, if you think that you’re going to file a workmen’s compensation claim for this†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"No no no, I just want to stop.† â€Å"Did something happen to set this off? Something at two in the morning? A dream perhaps?† Her other patients had described various sexual dreams. Winston Krauss, the pharmacist with the sexual obsession for marine mammals, confessed to dreaming of having sex with a blue whale, riding it through the depths like Ahab with a hard-on. Upon awakening, he’d abused his inflatable Flipper until it would no longer hold air. Chloe shifted uncomfortably in her chair. Her long maroon hair hid her face. â€Å"I dreamed I was having sex with a tank truck, and it blew up.† â€Å"A tank truck?† â€Å"I came.† â€Å"Sexual dreams are completely normal, Chloe.† Right, a tank truck? That’s normal. â€Å"Tell me, was there fire in your dream?† Pyromaniacs de-rived sexual pleasure from setting and watching fires. That’s how they caught them, look in the crowd for a grinning guy with a woody and gas stains on his shoes. â€Å"No, no fire. I woke up at the explosion. Val, what’s wrong with me? All I want to do is, you know, do it.† â€Å"And you feel that you might do something impulsive?† Chloe put on her cynical Goth-girl face. â€Å"If you mean something like buffing the muffin while I’m at work, yes, Dr. Riordan, I’m a little worried. Can’t you adjust my medication or something?† There it was. In the past, that would have been the answer. Increase the Prozac to eighty milligrams, about four times the dose for the average de-pressed patient, and let the side effect of reduced libido do the work. Val had used the method to treat a nymphomaniac when she was an intern and it had worked marvelously. But what now? Duct tape oven mitts to her receptionist’s hands? Although her typing probably wouldn’t suffer much, it might make the patients nervous. Val said. â€Å"Chloe, masturbation is a natural thing. Everyone does it. But obviously there are appropriate times and places. Perhaps you should just cut back. Allow yourself to masturbate as a reward for controlling your urges.† Chloe’s face went slack. â€Å"Cut down? I’m worried about driving home safely. I have a stick shift. I need both hands to drive, but I don’t think I’m going to have them. Do you have a patch you can prescribe, like they do for smoking?† â€Å"A patch?† Val suppressed a laugh. She imagined a twitching, moaning line of people around the block at the pharmacy, there to pick up their prescriptions for the orgasm patch. It would make heroin look like Gummi Bears. â€Å"No, there’s no patch, Chloe. You’re just going to have to try to control yourself. I have a feeling that this is a side effect of your medication. It should pass in a day or two. I want to hear more about this dream of yours. We’ll talk tomorrow, okay?† Chloe stood, obviously not satisfied with the help her therapist was offering, which was none. â€Å"I’ll try.† She left the office, closing the door behind her. Val let her head fall to the desk. Jesus, Joseph, and Mary, why didn’t I go into pathology? she thought. It would be so peaceful sitting around, boiling up beakers of urine and culturing bugs. No wackos. No stress. Okay, occasionally you’d be exposed to some deadly anthrax spores, but at least other people’s sex lives stay in the bedroom and the tabloids where they belong. Her appointment with Martin and Lisbeth Luder rose in her head. They were in their seventies, had been in counseling because they hadn’t had a decent conversation since 1958, and today they had come in and dumped a half hour of explicit sexual narrative on her, an account of perversions they’d indulged in the night before, starting at around 2 A.M. The visual conjured in Val’s mind – all that parched, wrinkled flesh in furious fric-tion – culminated in flames, as if some giant cosmic Boy Scout had decided to rub two old people together to make a fire. The worst of it, the absolute worst of it, is that she’d found herself getting turned on while listening. She’d had to change her panties between appointments four times today. She considered pouring herself a hefty tumbler of brandy and settling down in front of the television, but that wasn’t going to do it. Batteries; she needed four C-cell batteries and she needed them now. Then it was time to dig through her lingerie drawers and find a long-forgotten friend – and hope that it still worked. Molly Long past dark and Molly was still staring though the gap in the curtains at the trailer that ate the kid. The problem with being nuts, she thought, is that you don’t always feel as if you’re nuts. Sometimes, in fact, you feel perfectly sane, and there just happens to be a trailer-shaped dragon crouching in the lot next door. Not that she was ready to go out and pro-claim that fact to anyone, because no matter how sane you feel, some stuff just sounds too crazy. So she watched, still wearing her Warrior Babe outfit, hoping someone else would come along and notice. Around eight, someone did. She saw Theophilus Crowe going from door to door in the park. He came into view two trailers down at the Morales home, spoke briefly with Mr. Morales at the door, then headed for the dragon trailer. Molly was torn. She liked Theo. Yes, he’d taken her to County once or twice, but he’d always been kind to her – warned her about the guy in the day room who cheated at Parcheesi by eating the marbles. And he never spoke to her like she was a crazy woman. Theo was a fan. As Theo was raising his black Mag lite to tap on the dragon trailer’s door, Molly saw the two windows on the end slowly open, revealing the cat’seye pupils. Theo obviously didn’t see them. He was looking at his shoes. She threw up the aluminum sash and shouted, â€Å"They’re not home!† The constable turned toward Molly. â€Å"Just a second,† she said. She bolted out the door of her trailer and stopped by the street where Theo could see her. â€Å"They aren’t home. Come here a second,† she repeated. Theo tucked his Mag lite into his belt. â€Å"Molly, how are you?† â€Å"Fine, fine, fine. I need to talk to you, okay? Over here, okay?† She didn’t want to tell him why. what if the eyes weren’t there? What if it was just a trailer? She’d be on her way to County in a heartbeat. â€Å"They’re not home then?† Theo said, pointing over his shoulder to the dragon trailer. He was staring at her now, at the same time trying not to stare. He had a goofy grin on his face, the same sort Molly had seen on the kid right before he got slurped. â€Å"Nope, gone all day.† â€Å"What’s with the sword? Oh shit! She forgot she’d grabbed the sword on the way out. â€Å"I was just making some stir-fry. Chopping up some veggies.† â€Å"That ought to do it.† â€Å"Broccoli stems,† she said, as if that explained everything. He was looking at the leather bikini, and she watched his eyes stop on the scar above her breast, then look away. She covered the scar with her hand. â€Å"One of my old Kendra costumes. Everything else is in the dryer.† â€Å"Sure. Hey, you don’t get the Times, do you?† â€Å"Nope. Why?† â€Å"The kid that delivers it, Mikey Plotznik, left for his route this morning and no one has seen him since. Looks like the last paper he delivered was a few doors down. You didn’t happen to see him, did you?† â€Å"About ten, blond kid, Rollerblades? Kinda evil?† â€Å"That’s him.† â€Å"Nope, haven’t seen him.† She watched the eyes of the dragon trailer close behind Theo and took a deep breath. â€Å"You seem a little tense, Molly. You okay?† â€Å"Fine, fine, just wanted to get back to my stir-fry. You hungry?† â€Å"Did Val Riordan get hold of you?† â€Å"Yep, she called. I’m not nuts.† â€Å"Of course not. I’d like you to keep an eye out for this kid, Molly. One of his buddies fessed up that Mikey had a little bit of an obsession with you.† â€Å"Me? No kidding?† â€Å"He might be creeping around your trailer.† â€Å"Really?† â€Å"If you see him, give me a call, would you? His folks are worried about him.† â€Å"I’ll do that.† â€Å"Thanks. And ask your neighbors when they get home, would you?† â€Å"You betcha.† Molly realized he was stalling. Just staring at her with that goofy grin on his face. â€Å"They just moved in. I don’t know them very well, but I’ll ask.† â€Å"Thanks.† He said, still just standing there, like a twelve-year-old ready to make an assault on the wall-flowers at his first dance. â€Å"I’d better go, Theo. I have broccoli in the dryer.† No, she had wanted to say she had to get back to dinner, or to her laundry, not both. â€Å"Okay. See ya.† She ran into her trailer, slammed the door, and leaned against it. Through the window she could see the dragon trailer open an eye and close it quickly. She could have sworn it was winking at her. Theo A niggling voice in Theo’s head told him that finding the Crazy Lady attractive – extremely attractive – was an indicator that he was less than sane himself. On the other hand, he didn’t feel that bad about it. He didn’t feel bad about anything, not since he’d walked into the trailer park anyway. He had to deal with an explosion, a lost kid, the recent increase in general nuttiness in town – a virtual shit storm of responsibility – but he didn’t feel all that bad. And in that moment outside of Molly’s trailer, reflecting and waiting for the tide of lust to ebb, he realized that he hadn’t smoked any pot all day. Strange. Normally this long without nursing from his Sneaky Pete and his skin would be crawling. He was heading back to his Volvo to resume the search for the lost boy when his cell phone rang. Sheriff John Burton didn’t say hello. â€Å"Get to a land line,† Burton said. â€Å"I’m in the middle of trying to find a lost kid,† Theo replied. â€Å"A land line now, Crowe. My private line. You have five minutes.† Theo drove to a pay phone outside the Head of the Slug Saloon and checked his watch. When fifteen minutes had passed, he dialed Burton’s number. â€Å"I said five minutes.† â€Å"Yes, you did.† Theo smiled to himself in spite of Burton’s tone, which was on the verge of screaming. â€Å"No one goes on the ranch, Crowe. The lost kid is not on the ranch, do you hear me?† â€Å"It’s standard procedure to search all the ranchland. Emergency services has the area gridded out. We have to cover the whole grid. I was going to call in some deputies to help us. The volunteer fire guys are exhausted from the explosion this morning.† â€Å"No. None of my guys. Don’t call the Highway Patrol or the CCC either. And no aircraft. If the grid on the ranch has to be checked off, then check it off. No one goes on that land, is that clear?† â€Å"And what if the kid actually is on the ranch. You’re talking about a thousand acres of pasture and forest that won’t be searched.† â€Å"Oh bullshit, the kid is probably in a tree house somewhere with a stack of Playboys. He’s only been missing for what, twelve hours?† â€Å"What if he’s not?† There was silence on the line for a moment. Theo waited, watching three new couples leave the Head of the Slug in less than a minute. New couples: in Pine Cove everyone knew who everyone else was dating, and these were people who didn’t go together. Not that unusual a phenomenon perhaps on a Friday night at 2 A.M., but this was Wednesday, and it was barely eight o’clock. Maybe he wasn’t the only one feeling a wave of horniness. The couples were groping each other as if trying to get all the foreplay out of the way before they reached the car. Burton came back on the line. â€Å"I’ll see that the ranchland is searched and call you if they find the kid. But I want to be the first to know if you find him.† â€Å"That it?† â€Å"Find that little fucker, Crowe.† Burton hung up. Theo got into his Volvo and drove to his cabin at the edge of the ranch. There were at least twenty citizen volunteers searching for Mikey Plotznik. The effort could spare him long enough to catch a shower and change his smoke-saturated clothes. As he parked the Volvo, an expensive, tricked-out red pickup truck pulled into the ranch entrance and rolled slowly by. As they passed, a Hispanic man sitting in the bed laughed and saluted Theo with the barrel of an AK-47 assault rifle. Theo looked away and walked to the dark cabin, wishing that there was someone there waiting for him. How to cite The Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove Chapter 9~10, Essay examples

Australian Stereotypes free essay sample

Stereotyping the Australians has always been a common practice by people all around the world. In fact, Australia has been classified as one of the most stereotyped nations in the world due to the sense that much of the international community believes that they have a solid understanding regarding Australian society, despite the fact that their beliefs bear little similarities to the realities of Australian life in the 21st Century. Australia is a complex nation that is riddled with assumptions that are downright false, and sometimes ridiculous. There’s no denying it – as soon the word ‘Australia’ is out, our mind automatically paints a certain glossy picture. For starters, people have assumed that the Australians love to barbecue all the time. Now, while everyone loves a scrumptious and moist barbecued chicken, who in the world would have the time (or patience) to spend the whole morning barbecuing steaks and chicken just to provide a simple breakfast, and repeat the tedious process again for lunch and dinner every single day? The baneful clean-up process and charcoal stains are simply enough to test my patience. We will write a custom essay sample on Australian Stereotypes or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page However, people in the nationwide has evoke countless of preconceptions that the Aussies are found to be a bunch of barbecue-addicted people, much to the annoyance of the Australians. The real question is ; how did this Australian stereotype become so viral? Australia itself is culpable. Tourism Australia has tried to boost their tourism industries by commercializing Australians with a fresh and rejuvenating look such as the stereotypical â€Å"beach and bimbos† image popularised in the 1980s. However, the portrayal that Aussies loves hang out at the beach every day and ‘put another shrimp on the barbecue’ (or barbie, in the Australian slang) apparently bears a scanty resemblance with the reality. Nick Bryant, a Sydney correspondent also suggested that the popularity of television programs such as Neighbours and Home and Away only rendered the British public to carry a superficial perception of Australia that is not representative of the majority of the nation. Throw another shrimp on the barbie was a 1980s tourism slogan by Paul Hogan which remains as one of the most recognisable quotes associated with Australia within the international community. Another popular Australian stereotype is being belligerent drunkards. People have always assumed that the cities of Australia are full of drunken people, empty scotch bottles and foul alcohol stenches. However, if you happen to walk at the streets of Melbourne, you will realize that it is just like any conventional city, bustling with working ladies and man as opposed to the stereotypical view. Studies have also proved that the country only ranks 44th in terms of global alcohol consumption as opposed to the 17th ranking of the UK. In a nutshell, some of the stereotypical views on Australians are proved to be untrue although some parts of them that are quite true. Stereotypes can be hard to avoid, so my advice is DO NOT always believe what you hear! Many things are always not what they are seemed to be so always do a little research first before ascertaining its validity.

The Factors Affecting the Price of Concrete Batching Plant Essay Example

The Factors Affecting the Price of Concrete Batching Plant Essay Concrete batching plant is the essential equipment to the construction industry , and its market demand is very large. Therefore we need to pay attention to its price when we buy the concrete batching plant. What is the factors affecting the price of concrete batching plant? The price factor of concrete batching plant has four main aspects: The first is the type of concrete batching plant . The type and model of the concrete mixing plant is a wide variety of different models of the different types of machine, the price is generally different. Followed by the equipment of different manufacturers, different manufacturers of concrete batching plant , technology, and industry are also not the same. In general, the major manufacturers of equipment than the small business prices lower, mainly because of the large manufacturers in many aspects of the production process, quality and other advantages. This is one of the main factors to cause the price of the equipment. Again; degree of automation of the concrete batching plant equipment is the degree of automation equipment in operation often. The higher the degree of automation equipment, its price is high, but the manpower consuming less, run from the long-term view of its savings. The final step is some geographical, price and other factors Select the appropriate price of concrete batching plant , you need to consider a number of factors. Integrated in all aspects of the factors, the hope that customers will be able to buy low-price high-quality concrete batching plant . http://www. hmconcreteplant. com offers. We will write a custom essay sample on The Factors Affecting the Price of Concrete Batching Plant specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on The Factors Affecting the Price of Concrete Batching Plant specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on The Factors Affecting the Price of Concrete Batching Plant specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer

buy custom Indian Dance Traditions Culture Review Essay Example

buy custom Indian Dance Traditions Culture Review Essay Example Indian Dance Traditions Research Introduction India has always appeared in minds of Europeans as by far the most exotic and fabulous country. Such image of a country also applies to dancing. When there is a need to depict marvellous landscapes or cheerful characters, a choreographer would usually opt for ornate Indian costumes, charismatic Hindu gods and sumptuous Indian settings. According to Hindu mythology, dance was elaborated by Brahma, the Hindu god of creation. Another famous Hindu gods: Shiva, Krishna and Kali are usually presented while dancing. Dancing is usually dedicated to Hindu gods and is a type of worship. Thus, dance is a sacred popular motif in Hindu mythology. Despite the deep interest, Europeans did not always manage to perceive and recreate the Indian dance as it really is. Indian dance tradition was rather complicated and intricate for Europeans. This literature review focuses mainly on two scholarly works that give a profound insight into the Indian dance tradition in European understanding.

Analysing the effect of long working hours in Hong Kong's clothing Research Paper

Analysing the effect of long working hours in Hong Kong's clothing retail industry - Research Paper Example This paper will examine the current state of the work of employees in the clothing industry and will show how this is currently affecting those who are subjected to long working hours and the inability to take off more time for family. There will also be an association with how the longer working hours change the effectiveness of the organization and the ability to create sustainable development because of individual complexities from the longer working hours. 1.1 Statement Problem and Rationale The problem with long working hours in Hong Kong is now considered at an epidemic level, specifically among the apparel industry. The demands that are a part of the competition have created the specific problems with the industry because of the amount of competition and the need to remain a priority among Western demands. This is combined with the long working hours becoming socially and culturally accepted to stimulate the economy without having political recourse or labor intensive laws tha t change the main attributes within the industry. The working hours are intertwined with the individual, family, organization and overall apparel industry, making the issue complex with finding policies and standards among a culture. The physical and mental health of employees is first affected. However, the long working hours often don’t change because the inability to produce in a highly competitive environment may become detrimental. The image, reputation and the high performance levels expected then begin to affect the company. This complexity makes it difficult to carry through with specific standards and policies that would demand ethics sand the reaction within the culture provides several problems that are a part of the long hours. The need to alter the standards and understand the detrimental effects of longer working hours is one that is intertwined with the individual outcomes, family problems and the corporate changes that don’t provide the correct affiliat ion with building into the economy with ethical considerations in mind first. Understanding how each area is affected by the longer working hours and what this leads to can then help those working in the fashion industry to begin to change ethical standards and find different alternatives to compete with human resources. 1.2 Investigative Questions The problem with the working industry is one which is defined specifically by the inability to change the needs of employees who are expected to work long hours. The investigative questions asked in this study include: 1. What are the impacts of long working hours on individuals and families in the Hong Kong clothing retail industry? 2. What are the main influences of the long working hours on organizations in the Hong Kong clothing retail industry? 3. What measures can be taken to prevent and relieve negative effects of LWH in Hong Kong clothing retail industry? 2.0 Literature Review The problem with long working hours is one that begins by impacting the individual then moves into the associations with the organization. While higher amounts of productivity are expected with longer working hours, there is also the impact that is made on the organization that

The Rights of Corporations vs. The Rights of Women Essay

The Rights of Corporations vs. The Rights of Women - Essay Example In fact, British allies affirmed that, the personality of the partners was at greater risk depending on how they were treated (Humphreys 125- 130). The rights of corporations as well as the rights of Women despite of them being preserved since the early times, Women rights in comparison to the corporations have been extensively violated. The magnitude of violation was much felt before and during the 19th century. Even though some rights were implemented which empowered women within the business, their still much to be done because they have still not been fully incorporated within the business world. Rights of corporations have been preserved since the early times and are still being amended at the present day. Personhood was integral to the discussion since complete legal â€Å"personhood† had been discussed extensively upon the Limited Liability Corporation in Britain and America about twenty years prior to the discussion. Capitalism had been completely misshaped. As it has been indicated from Lectures IV and VI, the Limited Liability Act of 1855 in Britain had established liability to companies integrated under the Joint Stock Companies. Act of 1844in relation to some capital necessities, had amended the need to obtain a special charter from the Legislative to form a company involving only effortless registration. The structure additionally streamlined under the Joint Stock Company Act of 1856, entailing only seven participants to sign a Memorandum of Association and to include the name or rather abbreviations â€Å"Ltd† at the end of the company’s name. However, the final amendment was resolved in 1897, in Salomon v. Saloman & Co., Ltd., the House of Lords, the then Britain’s Supreme Court. According to this statute, a corporation was analyzed as being as a separate legal entity with its partners (Humphreys 130- 140). Limited liability meant that the shareholders were a different from the corporation and were only liable for the capital invested in the corporation. The company could either sue or be sued in its own name unlike before. The company being a limited liability meant that it could even carry out business activities on its own. This necessitated to raising high capital in order to form big companies that the growing economy needed and also to carry out the operations of the company with administrative competence. Some perceived that it was morally wrong to alleviate partners from undertaking the responsibilities linked to a company. This was also incompatible with the moral principal which held that owning a business under your name was an expression of religious calling. It was not in order to have several members have some share in the business each having a designated responsibility then abruptly they were being relieved from their assignments and become limited to the business (Humphreys 160). Even though there was an intense debate on the issue of limited liability of a company, the decision had been arrived at and it was very essential to the new social order. It was very had to accept the reality, considering that they had been used to Capitalism which entailed mixed consequences as opposed to the Ltd Company. Formation of Limited Liability Company was a great challenge to the British Friends as most of them were separated from their businesses that they had

Business decision making Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Business decision making - Assignment Example Decision making process is a very significant function to any company that must attain success in the market. It stipulates the areas that the company can easily penetrate in the market without enormous incurrence on costs and any impending risks. Data collection is the approach that wills open doors for such a company to make an adequate decision from the analysis they arrive at as per the data segments (Carroll, 2008). In this paper is stipulated that data analysis is a significant faction which every company ought to adopt. The report revolves around a fashion industry selling fashion clothes, shoes, jeans and other related fashion components whose main target is the youth generation. It possesses a challenge since the youths are dynamics in their desires, this call for constant review of its products to meet the demand of its market segment. A group comprising of 20 youths is sampled from Coventry region who are interviewed on a major market trends about fashion and their take on how fashion impacts the development of new products in the market. Their involvement in the changes is the key factor that is considered (Bazerman& Moore, 2013). Decisions amount to the most significant components to business in the market regardless of its current position. For a business to start it must involve decision making processes and growing business must always apply different decisions for its growth purposes, otherwise growth and start-up will never be met. An agglomeration of factors must be taken into consideration on the particular field of the company. A company ought to ask such questions like what is my market size. What is the market trend? Who are my consumers? What is the market perception? Among other critical questions which will drive the company to undertake proper steps. Quality, quantity, location, size and other structural characteristics are influenced by the decisions made by management in a company (Teale,

Implementation At Indo Rama Synthetics Information Technology Essay

Implementation At Indo Rama Synthetics Information Technology Essay Before the year 2000, at INDO RAMA SYNTHETICS LTD., individual department worked independently to achieve its predefined corporate objectives. Every department used different tools and software. For example, the production department used MIMS software, accounts department used FoxPro and KICKS for its functionalities, while marketing department used tools which were not robust enough to support overall marketing functions. Lots of paper work in Human resource management was mind boggling and time consuming. This lacked inter-departmental coordination and hampered information sharing. For example, a department found it difficult to know about the stock kept by another department even in times of urgency due to lack of information. Inventory management always plays an important role in manufacturing industry, Indo Rama wanted to handle it more effectively. All these were the matters of concern for a company aspiring to be the best in its business globally. There was a need of cross-fu nctional and business process integration. So that company could react to changes in the market and economy in the most effective way. To overcome such problems, Indo Rama decided to go for Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP). The company decided to implement ERP from SAP (System Application Product). Indo Rama has been on SAP ERP platform since 2000, one of the earlier companies in India to migrate to the SAP platform. Also, recognizing core competence principles, the company outsourced its IT functions to ACCENTURE TECHNOLOGIES LTD., a global outsourcing firm, in July 2001. Accenture provides IT infrastructure management for all company locations, all legacy systems and ERP. All locations are connected on Wide Area Network (WAN) to the central server located at Butibori, Nagpur. INDO RAMA SYNTHETICS LTD. has implemented four major modules in SAP ERP: Sales Distribution (SD) Finance Costing (FICO) Material Management (MM) Plant Maintenance (PM) All major sites have been fire-walled; all locations have anti-spam and anti-virus software installed. The ERP and the internet have clearly defined password, tables of authorities and levels of access. Indo Rama Synthetics has also launched an intranet facility, Antarnaad, where internal policies, notices and other relevant organizational information are stored. Other application software that are in operation at Indo Rama include the Leave Management System, EMIS (where management reports for various levels are generated) and an auction site for vendor management. For its communications backbone, Indo Rama uses a Virtual Private Network (VPN), through which all locations are linked. The company has adopted Outlook Express for mail communications with a Linux-based back-end. During 2007-08, the IT team at Indo Rama undertook several projects. The key ones are detailed below. IRSL IRPL merger project Indo Rama Synthetics Ltd. has merged Indo Rama Petrochemicals Ltd into itself. The necessary changes needed to integrate the two entities in the ERP platform have been completed. Data Center The company built a new state of the art data centre at Butibori, Nagpur. All servers, the WAN and other network equipment are housed in this data center. The data center has been protected against unauthorized access and potential mishaps. Biometric security systems ensure that only authorized person can enter and access the data servers. Sophisticated systems have been installed for fire detection and suppression, water leakage, rodent damage and variations in ambient temperature and environment. Data backup of the SAP system is taken on tapes attached to SAP servers. One copy of the tapes is stored in a fireproof safe at data center and another at a location away from the factory. Every month, a set of tapes are also sent to the New Delhi office for safe storage. Packing System The legacy packing and recording system, which records the carton / box information and prints the labels, was on a FoxBASE database management system. This application has been converted onto an Oracle platform with enhanced features and functionality. Attendance Tracking System An attendance tracking system is installed at each department, which read the finger print responses of the employees every time they enter or leave the premises. It reduces the paper work and man power required to track the attendance. Significance of the study A Study was carried out keeping the functional working of IT department in view and its integration with other departments. Working and spending time with major departments helped us in drafting this report in the context of over all company objectives and strategies that necessitate a holistic approach cutting across various functional areas Marketing, Human Resource, Operations, Finance and Business environment. By implementing SAP ERP modules, manufacturing companies can attain Cross-Functional and Business Process integration required for information and data sharing across the organization. These functionalities save resource, cost and valuable time enabling the company to react fast enough to changes in market, competition and economy. Introduction Company Profile The journey of Indo Rama group began with the establishment of Ashok Textiles Limited, Nepal in year 1969. Indo Rama Synthetics ( I ) Ltd. as a cherished dream of Mr. O. P. Lohia (Chief Managing Director, IRSL) came into inception at Pithampura, Indore in year 1989. Indo Rama group have its subsidiaries in Indonesia, Srilanka, Malaysia, Nepal and India. ISO9001, 9002 certified Indo Rama, is among the leading producers of polyester with its products namely Poly Staple Fiber, Partially Oriented Yarn, Draw Textured Yarn, Fully Drawn Yarn and Polyester Chips are exported to Germany, Portugal, Greece, Turkey and Italy. Company believes in product technological advancements and is under technical collaboration with USA based DuPont and Japan based Toyobo. It uses most sophisticated machines from a German manufacturer Barmag and USA based Chemetex Intl. Indo Rama is highly committed to environmental regulations and best practices. Its priorities include minimizing waste, recycling, reusing effluents, controlling emissions, and plantation. The company invests significantly to reduce workplace accidents and ensure safety. Housing colonies, schools and health centers are built by the company as a part of corporate social responsibility. Objectives of the study To understand IT infrastructure management and study SAP ERP modules Material Management, Sales and Distribution, Order Processing, Financial Management, Plant Maintenance at Indo Rama Synthetics Ltd. Study shall help Indo Rama by providing the preliminary work, steps and evaluation required to go ahead in integrating the existing and proposed initiatives, through IT infrastructure management and SAP ERP modules. Study shall help in understanding the importance of Cross-Functional and Business Process integration by adopting IT tools and functionalities, so that manufacturing companies can react fast enough to changes in the market and economy. Brief description of the concepts ERP: An overview In the manufacturing industry, MRP (Material Requirement Planning) became the fundamental concept of production management and control in the mid 1970s. At this stage BOM (Bill of Materials), which is purchase order management that utilizes parts list management and parts development, was in the mainstream. And this concept (MRP) unfolded from order inventory management of materials to plant and personnel planning and distribution planning, which in turn became MRP-II (Manufacturing Resource Planning). This incorporated production management, financial accounting, human resource management, sales and distribution management functions and management accounting functions. It came to globally cover all areas of enterprise mainstay business and eventually came to be called ERP. Enterprise Resource Planning covers the techniques and concept employed for the integrated management of business as a whole, from the viewpoint of the effective use of management resources, to improve the efficiency of an enterprise. ERP packages are integrated software packages that support sales management, production management, accounting and financial affairs. ERP System Manufacturing Inventory Management Sales and Distribution Finance Human Resource Logistics Management Operations Quality Management ERP Implementation: Its relevance The basic idea of ERP is to assimilate companys data at some central location or repository where it can be checked, matched, and shared across the organization. This data is then used for resource planning within the organization in conjunction with the decision systems. Here, INDO RAMA SYNTHETICS aimed at eliminating wasteful duplication of data with the help of ERP. There are various techniques to improve production and efficiency across an organization such as Lean Manufacturing, Six Sigma Quality, Employee Involvement, Factory Automation, etc. These are excellent tools with enormous capabilities to support the business. But one can not achieve the full potential of business with these tools and technique unless they are backed by proper IT strategy, which helps in effective forecasting, planning, and scheduling process. ERP implementation is derived from factors such as the cost benefit analysis, decision making through pros and cons, defining performance goals, data integrity issues and solutions, defining operational environment and software selection. Business planning, strategy development Budgeting and forecasting Production plan and programme Material requirement Work load calculation and resource planning Monitoring operations and overall execution Performance measurement, learning and feedback Figure 1: ERP-related process in manufacturing industries. Mapping IT strategic initiative to ERP A few essential steps should be taken while deploying ERP in business process: Visualization: Visualization of need for ERP and impact on production and organization. Strategy formulation: Formulation of a strategy for ERP implementation and the need for the organization to respond to the changes. Planning of resources: Planning the resources and the overall business. Structuring and prioritization: The structuring of the organization and objectives along with prioritization of business initiatives needs to be outlined in detail before embarking on ERP. Transition: The organization ought to be readied for its transition to ERP paradigm. Deployment: Deployment of the system and new technologies. It also includes deployment of new tools. A proper ERP system selection and implementation helps the management to a large extent. There are various phases in the lifecycle of ERP; the major parts of which are planning, implementation and operation phases. IT enables communication between various parts of ERP and establishes an integrated ERP system. Understand the product requirement Solution planning Design phase SLA presentation and acceptance Implementation, testing Delivery Operation Plan Implement Operate Figure 2: ERP project life cycle implementation Supply Chain Management Supply chain management (SCM) refers to the coordination of activities involved in making and moving a product. SCM encompasses planning and management of all the activities involved in sourcing, procurement, conversion, and logistics management. Importantly, it also includes coordination and collaboration with the extended organizations and channel partners, who can be suppliers, intermediaries, third party service providers, and customers. SCM integrates and act as a balancing agent between supply and demand within and across companies. SCM brings value to business in terms of innovation, service, cost, and quality. Innovation: It brings value on table through unique technology or new conceptual products. Innovation gives an organization a competitive edge over other competitors. SCM helps in this process by allowing/producing optimal volume (raw material or products) and also by increasing efficiency, thereby ultimately reducing the time to market. Cost: An efficient operation with better resource management reduces the overall cost. Service: Better service can always attract customers. It is definitely a competitive advantage and SCM fundamentally contributes to it by its very nature. Quality: The quality strategy dictates production of the best-in-the-class products. SCM can also contribute to it through quality control and excellence in production. SCM, ERP and IT Infrastructure are inter-related. ERP begins with the Material Requirement Planning as depicted in following figure. Using intranets and extranets, all members of the supply chain can instantly communicate with each other, using up-to-date information to adjust purchasing, logistics, manufacturing, packaging, and schedules. A standard set of tools that are used by companies all over the world to coordinate global supply chains that include participants from many countries. Following figure explains intranet and extranet for SCM. Figure 3: Intranets and Extranets for Supply Chain Management Intranets integrate information from isolated business processes within the firm to help manage its internal supply chain. Access to these private intranets can also be extended to authorized suppliers, distributors, logistics services, and, sometimes, to retail customers to improve coordination of external supply chain processes. Inventory and Purchasing Management system MRP (Material Requirement Planning) ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) ERP and SCM within the organization ERP and SCM across organizations Figure 4: Evolution of ERP and SCM The ERP functions from the perspective of supply chain optimization are shown in following flowchart. Overall process optimization Expense optimization Revenue and Profit optimization Logistics optimization Knowledge optimization Figure 5: ERP optimization at various stages of supply chain The business value of supply chain management systems includes: Streamlined supply chain and accurate information. Reduced supply chain costs. Increased sales through accurate product availability. IT plays a very important role in developing various functionalities and building an integrated system. Following figure highlights IT components in ERP, IT infrastructure and resources in SCM. The SCM planning is the input for ERP. Operating system Data warehouse Retail Link Data, account, analysis Forecast Inventory plan ERP SCM Manufacturing planning Feedback S E R V E R S Intelligent Systems Internet Figure 6: ERP, IT Infrastructure and resources in SCM Customer Relationship Management Customers can be seen as an enterprises most valuable asset, and customer relationship management enable large firms like Indo Rama Synthetics to understand and work with their customers. CRM can also be called a business strategy to select and manage the most valuable customer relationships. It supports effective marketing, sales and service processes. CRM is the process that manages the interaction between company and its customers. With the advent of sophisticated relation databases and data-mining techniques, CRM has enabled Indo Rama to specifically target customers to determine what products, services and values they want. CRM necessitates the alignment of initiatives such as e-business, sales force effectiveness, customer service, customer relationship planning, enterprise resource planning, and supply chain management with customer-accepted value propositions. But to enable CRM to meet the business objectives, it should be backed by IT strategies. The most telling benefit of IT-powered CRM is Return on Investment (ROI). The ROI from CRM typically comes in two forms. The first is cost reductions from increasing the efficiency. For example, when customer data helps an inside sales team maintain productivity levels with fewer resources, cost reductions do result. When the sales agents in the field spend less time manually entering data into slow legacy systems, companies do save time and money. CRM systems capture and integrate customer data from all over the organization, consolidating the data, analyzing the data, and then distributing the results to various systems and customer touch points across the enterprise. A touch point (also known as a contact point) is a method of interaction with the customer, such as telephone, e-mail, customer service desk, conventional mail, Web site, or retail store. CRM systems provide a single enterprise view of the customer and provide customers with a single view of the company regardless of the touch point the customer uses. Figure 7: Customer Relationship Management CRM systems examine customers from a multifaceted perspective. These systems use a set of integrated applications to address all aspects of the customer relationship, including customer service, sales, and marketing. Good CRM systems provide data and analytical tools for determining the financial lifetime value of a customer and customer loyalty and for identifying profitable customers and their needs. Commercial customer relationship management (CRM) software packages range from niche tools that perform limited functions, such as personalizing Web sites for specific customers, to large-scale enterprise applications. The more comprehensive CRM packages contain modules for: Partner relationship management (PRM): PRM software uses many of the same data, tools, and systems as customer relationship management to enhance collaboration between a company and its selling partners. It provides a company and its selling partners with the ability to trade information and distribute leads and data about customers, integrating lead generation, pricing, promotions, order configurations and availability. Employee relationship management (ERM). ERM software deals with employee issues that are closely related to CRM, such as setting objectives, employee performance management, performance-based compensation, and employee training. CRM typically provide software or tools for: Sales force automation (SFA): SFA modules help sales staff increase their productivity by focusing sales efforts on the most profitable customers. They provide sales prospect and contact information, product information, product configuration capabilities, and sales quote generation capabilities. Customer service: Customer service modules provide information and tools to make call centers, help desks, and customer support staff more efficient. They have capabilities for assigning and managing customer service requests and may include Web-based self-service capabilities. Marketing: Marketing modules support direct-marketing campaigns with capabilities for capturing prospect and customer data, qualifying leads, and scheduling and tracking campaign mailings. They include tools for analyzing marketing and customer data-identifying profitable and unprofitable customers, designing products and services to satisfy specific customer needs and interests, and identifying opportunities for cross-selling, up-selling, and bundling. Cross-selling is the marketing of complementary products to customers. Up-selling is the marketing of higher-value products or services to new or existing customers. Bundling is cross-selling in which a combination of products is sold as a bundle at a price lower than the total cost of the individual products. Figure 8: How CRM supports Marketing Customer relationship management software provides a single point for users to manage and evaluate marketing campaigns across multiple channels, including e-mail, direct mail, telephone, the Web, and wireless messages. The major CRM products support business processes in sales, service, and marketing, integrating customer information from many different sources. Following figure includes supports for both the operational and analytical aspects of CRM. Figure 9: CRM Capabilities CRM software can also be used to increase customer loyalty through customer service by identifying valued customers and providing them with special services or offers. Following process map shows how a best practice for promoting customer loyalty through customer service would be modeled by customer relationship management. The CRM software helps firms identify high-value customers for preferential treatment. Figure 10: Customer Loyalty Management process map Thus, the business value of CRM systems which benefits companies includes: Increased customer satisfaction Reduced direct-marketing costs More effective marketing Lower costs for customer acquisition and retention Increased sales revenues through identifying profitable customers Reduced churn rate: The churn rate measures the number of customers who stop using or purchasing products or services from a company and is an important indicator of the growth or decline of a firms customer base. Order Processing As soon as the clerk enters the order into the system, system checks the inventory records and finds out whether the items are available or not. If the item are available, procedures are triggered automatically that will inform the people in the sales and distribution department and the finance department. The information will contain the details of the items to be shipped, the most economic route to the customer and so on. Also, the system will trigger procedures in the financial module so that the invoices are sent to the customer. The information is transferred Electronic Data Transfer (EDT) and the payments are received electronically through Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT). If the items are not available, then the production-planning module makes a production schedule, which is made available to the production, materials management and plant maintenance modules so that everybody is prepared to start production as per the production schedule. The material requirement planning is done and any item that is not in stock is ordered. If the supplier is connected to the company, the ordering and the associated processes happen electronically. The plant maintenance gets the list of machines required and ensures that all of them are available. Thus, the production of the item goes on without any hitches. An order entered into the ERP system by the order entry clerk triggers a whole lot of procedures and automatically performs a host of functions. All these processes take only a few minutes to complete. ERP in Order Processing After the order is received, within a very short period of time the goods are on their way to the customer. If the goods are not readily available, the customer is informed about it and is given the delivery schedule. Other than the order entry clerk and the people in the distribution, production and maintenance departments, all the other tasks are done by the system and that too automatically. In a non-ERP environment, these tasks could take days or even weeks to complete. Since the ERP system stores all the data in a central database and since the database is updated by all the modules on a real-time basis, the information available in the database is up-to-the minute. This integration of the different business functions and the automation of the business processes and the availability of information is what make the ERP systems capable of producing dramatic improvements in productivity and profitability. Following flowchart explains the order process: In stock? Finished Goods Inventory No Order Production Planning Material Management Production Plant Maintenance Sales Distribution Finance Invoice/Bill Yes Figure 11: Order Processing in an ERP System Finance and Costing The financial application components of the ERP solutions work hand-in-hand to improve the bottom line and the financial goals of organizations. Financial functionalities are integrated across all business areas and all geographic areas. This integration includes all other modules, from material management to human resources to logistics. Because the ERP system automatically links related areas, it eliminates the need to repeat procedures. Data is entered only once. Within the ERP system, all areas work in concert, creating a new level of efficiency in handling financial data. The financial modules of most ERP systems provide financial functionalities and analysis support to thousands of business in many countries across the globe. These ERP systems include not only financial application components, but also Human Resources, Logistics, Business Workflow and links to the internet. Financial modules of most ERP systems will have the following subsystems: Financial Accounting: General ledger, Accounts Receivable/Payable, Special Ledgers, Fixed Asset Accounting, Legal Consolidation. Investment Management: Investment Planning/ Budgeting/ Controlling, Depreciation Forecast/ Simulation/ Calculation. Controlling: Overhead Cost Controlling, Activity-Based Costing, Product Cost Accounting, Profitability Analysis. Treasury: Cash Management, Market Risk Management, Funds Management. Enterprise Controlling: Executive Information System, Business Planning and Budgeting, Profit Center Accounting. Purchasing (Quantity, Value) Sales (Order, Bill) Vendor (Payable) Customer (Receivable) Fixed Assets Employees (Salary, Wages) GENERAL LEDGER Figure 12: General Ledger in ERP Financial Module. Material Management The Material Management module of ERP optimizes all purchasing processes with workflow-driven processing functions, enables automated supplier evaluation, lowers procurement and warehousing costs with accurate inventory and warehouse management and integrates invoice verification. The main modules of Material Management module are: Pre-purchasing Activities: This system supports the complete cycle of bid invitation, award of contract and acceptance of services. The pre-purchasing activities include maintaining a service master database, in which the descriptions of all services that are to be procured can be stored. Requirement Calculation Requisition for Quotations Quotation Evaluation Vendor Selection Vendor Ratings Contracts Figure 13: The Pre-purchasing activities module Purchasing: Purchasing system performs tasks like procurement of materials and services, determination of possible sources of supply for a requirement identified by materials planning and control system or arising directly within a user department, monitoring of deliveries and payments to vendors and so on. Vendor Evaluation: Vendor evaluation component has been completely integrated into the Material Management module. Information such as delivery dates, prices and quantities can be taken from purchase orders. Vendor evaluation also uses data from Quality Management, such as the results of incoming inspections or quality audits. It also access basic data in Material Management, such as goods receipt data from Inventory Management. The Vendor Evaluation system supports the optimization of the procurement processes in the case of both materials and services. It provides accurate information on prices, terms of payment and delivery. By evaluating vendors, company can improve competitiveness. Inventory Management: Inventory Management system allows company to manage its stocks on a quantity and value basis, plan enter and check any goods movements and carry out physical stocks reflect all transactions resulting in a change in stock and thus, in updated inventory levels. The user can easily obtain an overview of the current stocks of any given material. For each material, not only are the stocks in warehouse shown, but also the stocks ordered but not yet delivered, reserved for production or for a customer, and the stocks in quality inspection can be monitored. The stocks are managed not only on a quantity basis but also by value ­Ã‚ ­Ã‚ ­Ã‚ ­-a prerequisite for cost accounting. With every goods movement, the following values are updated: Stock value for inventory management Account assignment for cost accounting Invoice Verification and Material Inspection: The invoice verification component provides the link between Material Management module and the Financial Accounting, controlling and Asset Accounting components. Invoice verification in Materials Management serves the following purposes: It completes the materials procurement process-which starts with the purchase requisition, continues with the purchasing and goods receipt and ends with the invoice receipt. It allows invoices that do not originate in materials procurement (for example, services, expenses, course costs, etc) to be processed. It allows credit memos to be processed, either as invoice cancellations or discounts. Sales and Distribution A Sales and Distribution module will contain the following subsystems: Master Data Management: Every company will have products, customers, and will require raw materials and will have suppliers. The task of the Master Data management module is to keep information about all these entities, so that these can be made available to the decision-makers and also for the automatic generation of reports, contracts, invoices and so on. Order Management: This module includes Sales Order Management and Purchase Order Management and supports the entire sales and purchase processes. Warehouse Management: Components of a good Warehouse Management application include following: Inventory Planning: It comprises all planned inventory movements, which enable the accurate forecasting of trends and the consequent adjustment of reordering points, safety stock, lead-times for orders and service levels. Inventory planning also allows the commitment of inventory to a specific customer order-so that customer receives the right order in the right quantity at the right time. Inventory Handling: Allows for monitoring of all warehouse order scenarios such as receipt, issue and transfer of inventory. To ensure fast communication with suppliers and customers, advanced shipping notifications can be received or sent by means of Electronic Data Interchange (EDI),

Biography of Edgar Allan Poe Essay -- Edgar Allan Poe Writers Literatu

Biography of Edgar Allan Poe Edgar Allan Poe is a man who is considered to be a true American genius of our time, and by many, the personification of death. His works have been collected and celebrated for over a hundred years from this day. He was a man who’s dreary horror tales captured and frightened the minds of millions. Poe differed from most other acclaimed writers though. The readers of his work do not admire him because they fall in love with his characters or because his writing touches their hearts. On the contrary, his readers admire him because he managed to change reality for them. Edgar Allan Poe’s skill was developed in his subject matter of death and its horrid truths. Poe’s tales centered away from the life of a man and towards the effects of death on a man, whether it be his own or that of another. Poe was adept at creating an atmosphere of suspense with the minimum use of words and dramatic effects1. Poe’s best known works include such masterpieces as Annabel Lee, The Raven, The Fall of the House of Usher, The Mask of the Red Death, The Murders of the Rue Morgue, and many others. Each and every one of these titles, among others, share one common trait that is more than evident, they all deal with death. When these tittles monopolize the attention, it is only natural that the central body of Poe’s work should seen to be a tissue of nightmares.2 How is it that a subject that is so repulsive to mankind can at the same time attract so many people? Perhaps it wasn’t the subject, but the skill with which it was written that lured people to it. Fish are lured to a deadly hook, but the bait makes it beautiful. In this same manner, people are mesmerized by the beauty and genius of Poe’s work. The better question is, what is it that drove Poe to become so obsessed with death? Why is it that he portrayed his genius through this topic? The only true way to answer these questions is through a deep analysis of not only Poe’s works, but his life and his mind. As stated earlier, one of his most acclaimed works is Annabel Lee. It is indeed a love tale. A poem written for his beautiful Annabel Lee. It speaks of the strong and unbreakable love that existed between them. This appears to be a happy enough topic, except for one significant fact. This Annabel Lee is dead.3 According to Poe, her death was caused by the angels who were jealous of th... ...to make them afraid of sleep for fear of their nightmares. His talent was certainly not appreciated in his time. He gave us much and received pathetically little in return, for he was all his life a starveling poet and a miserably paid writer for ephemeral magazines. It is a final irony that his letters and manuscripts have become the most valuable of all American writers.34 Regardless of what caused his obsession with death, he managed to create tales that will remain on the earth for as long as man exists. Poe is the genius that young children are taught of. He is an icon that America can always claim as her own. Whether Poe wrote of death because of depression, disease, personal losses, insanity, or simply because he may have been the only man bold enough to face the one thing that everyone fears, he interlaced it into his tales to provide us with horror, sorrow, and entertainment. Since his death, he has become appreciated and celebrated. His tales are taught in grade school. His works have been made for theater and film. His genius is preached to anyone who studies the English language.35 From a sad life and a troubled mind flourished a name that will remain in history.

Economic Factors Affecting Automobile Sector Essay

1. Excess Capacity. According to CSM Worldwide, an automotive research firm, in 2004 the estimated automotive industry global production capacity for light vehicles (about 74 million units) significantly exceeded global production of cars and trucks (about 60 million units). In North America and Europe, the two regions where the majority of revenue and profits are earned in the industry, excess capacity was an estimated 17% and 13%, respectively. CSM Worldwide projects that excess capacity conditions could continue for several more years. 2. Pricing Pressure. Excess capacity, coupled with a proliferation of new products being introduced in key segments by the industry, will keep pressure on manufacturers’ ability to increase prices on their products. In addition, the incremental new capacity in the United States by foreign manufacturers (so-called â€Å"transplants†) in recent years has contributed, and is likely to continue to contribute, to the severe pricing pressure in that market. In the United States, the reduction of real 3. Financing Options Auto industry observers cite car loans as the biggest driving factor for the expansion of the Compact Car segment. At present, almost 85 per cent of all new car sales are backed by auto finance, compared to 65 per cent five years ago. Interest rates on car loans have come down drastically in the past four or five years, which helps prospective buyers take the plunge. The growth of the CC-segment in the past few years can be mainly credited to factors such as rise in income levels leading to increased affordability and simultaneous reduction in interest rates leading to lower EMIs. The drop in interest rates usually helps very few people to probably shift from the base model to a deluxe model. A larger shift happens if people are willing to take long-term loans, like five years instead of the earlier three-year loans.2. 4. Advertising and Marketing Due to the advertising techniques adopted by all the manufacturers in the CC-Segment the sales have risen drastically. It is all due to because the companies now a day are using even aggressive selling techniques for which they are even coping with the Film celebrities and Cricket stars, like Maruti has contracted Irfan Pathan as the brand ambassador of Zen and for Santro Hyundai has contracted for Shah Rukh Khan. And the companies are even trying to approach to the customer as to there demand for a vehicle at special interest loans, etc. They are using data according to the customersreturn and earning capacity for attracting the customers for there vehicles. 5. Income of Consumer / Buyer The income of the consumer or buyer of the car is a very important factor of demand. In recent time we have seen that due to increase in the Income of the general public, there has been a shift from the Lower CC-segment cars to the Upper CC-segmentcars.2Due to the recent increase in the number of multinationals in India, the income level of the employees have risen drastically and has made CC-segment cars an entry level car for a lot of people. The average age of a CC-segment car owner has also dropped from 35 years to 31 years in India. 6. Increase In Affordability The demand for passenger cars is driven mainly by greater affordability, which in turn increases the aspiration level of the customers. Today with high amount of disposable income in the hand of Indian youth, who forms major portion of the population, PV market has larger addressable market. 7. Demographic Drivers Cars being inspirational products, purchase decisions are influenced by the overall economic environment. Increase in per capita income increases the consumption tendency of the customer. Growth in per capita income and rising aspirations and changing lifestyle is leading to increased preference for cars over two-wheelers, which is also having a positive rub off on car demand. 8. Exports The share of exports from domestic production is currently at 12-13%, which is much lower than current export hubs. Currently, India’s share of global passenger cars export volume stands at less than 1%. But India is fast emerging as a manufacturing hub for leading global car makers, and several manufacturers have already firmed up plans for setting up manufacturing bases in India, which will also be used for exports. 9. Presence Across Segments Manufacturers with presence across various product segments can ensure higher volume and better capacity utilization by using the common manufacturing capacity.Typically a customer upgrades from one segment to higher segment and the presenceacross various segments ensures that the company retains its existing customers. 10. Efficient Operations Competition in PV segment is very intense and this requires the existing player’s to initiate steps to reduce their cost of production. Effective and successful operation methods like platform commonality, reduction in vendor base and work force rationalization can help a company immensely. 11. Wide Dealer Network and Availability of Finance A wide dealer network helps the company serve customers over wide geographical area. For e.g. Maruti has used its available wide service  network as point of difference over competitors. The companies are tying up with the financial institutions having rural presence to provide additional financing options to customers in such areas. 12. Access to Latest Technologies Indian PV segment is highly competitive with as many as 14 players operating in it and more than 80 models on the offering. But still any new model launch meets with increase in sales volume for the company. Moreover in a time when a substantial portion of Indian customer is looking to upgrade in higher segment, companies with latest technologies and latest models will catch more attentions. 13. Factors of Production There are some factors of production which influence the supply of a car like Cost of Raw Material Labour Cost Machinery Input Cost These factors influence the supply of a car largely. If the cost of the raw material (Steel, Spare Parts, Rubber) increases there will be an increase in the cost of production leading to decrease in profit margins. Costs like labour costs, machinery and input costs also influence the supply with the increase or decrease in these costs.7. 14. Government Policies and Taxes If there is a change in the government policies regarding the increase in the road tax charged or the tax which is to be paid per unit sold, the supply of a car will fluctuate with the nature of the change. Recently the government has reduced the custom duty on inputs and raw material from 20% to 15% which has increased the supply Factors affecting capital market in India:- The capital market is affected by a range of factors. Some of the factors which influence capital market are as follows:- A) Performance of domestic companies:- The performance of the companies’ or rather corporate earnings is one of the factors which has direct impact or effect on capital market in a country. Weak corporate earnings indicate that the demand for goods and services in the economy is less due to slow growth in per capita income of people. Because of slow growth in demand there is slow growth in employment which means slow growth in demand in the near future. Thus weak corporate earnings indicate average or not so good prospects for the economy as a whole in the near term. In such a scenario the investors (both domestic as well as foreign ) would be wary to invest in the capital market and thus there is bear market like situation. The opposite case of it would be robust corporate earnings and its positive impact on the capital market. B) Environmental Factors:- Environmental Factor in India’s context primarily means- Monsoon . In India around 60 % of agricultural production is dependent on monsoon. Thus there is heavy dependence on monsoon. The major chunk of agricultural production comes from the states of Punjab , Haryana & Uttar Pradesh. Thus deficient or delayed monsoon in this part of the country would directly affect the agricultural output in the country. Apart from monsoon other natural calamities like Floods, tsunami, drought, earthquake, etc. also have an impact on the capital market of a country. The Indian Met Department (IMD) on 24th June stated that India would receive only 93 % rainfall of Long Period average (LPA). This piece of news directly had an impact on Indian capital market with BSE Sensex falling by 0.5 % on the 25th June. The major losers were automakers and consumer goods firms since the below normal monsoon forecast triggered concerns that demand in the crucial rural heartland would take a hit. This is because a deficient monsoon could seriously squeeze rural incomes, reduce the demand for everything from motorbikes to soaps and worsen a slowing economy. C) Macro Economic Numbers:- The macroeconomic numbers also influence the capital market. It includes Index of Industrial Production (IIP) which is released every month, annual Inflation number indicated by Wholesale Price Index (WPI) which is released every week, Export – Import numbers which are declared every month, Core Industries growth rate. This macro –economic indicators indicate the state of the economy and the direction in which the economy is headed and therefore impacts the capital market in India. D) Global Cues:- In this world of globalization various economies are interdependent and interconnected. An event in one part of the world is bound to affect other parts of the world, however the magnitude and intensity of impact would vary. Thus capital market in India is also affected by developments in other parts of the world i.e. U.S. , Europe, Japan , etc. Global cues includes corporate earnings of MNC’s, consumer confidence index in developed countries, jobless claims in developed countries, global growth outlook given by various agencies like IMF, economic growth of major economies, price of crude –oil, credit rating of various economies given by Moody’s, S & P, etc. An obvious example at this point in time would be that of subprime crisis & recession. Recession started in U.S. and some parts of the Europe in early 2008 .Since then it has impacted all the countries of the world- developed, developing, less- developed and even emerging economies. E) Political stability and government policies:- For any economy to achieve and sustain growth it has to have political stability and pro- growth government policies. This is because when there is political stability there is stability and consistency in government’s attitude which is communicated through various government policies. The vice- versa is the case when there is no political stability .So capital market also reacts to the nature of government, attitude of government, and various policies of the government. F) Growth prospectus of an economy:- When the national income of the country increases and per capita income of people increases it is said that the economy is growing. Higher income also means higher expenditure and higher savings. This augurs well for the economy as higher expenditure means higher demand and higher savings means higher investment. Thus when an economy is growing at a good pace capital market of the country attracts more money from investors, both from within and outside the country and vice -versa. So we can say that growth prospects of an economy do have an impact on capital markets. G) Investor Sentiment and risk appetite:- Another factor which influences capital market is investor sentiment and their risk appetite. Even if the investors have the money to invest but if they are not confident about the returns from their investment , they may stay away from investment for some time. At the same time if the investors have low risk appetite , which they were having in global and Indian capital market some four to five months back due to global financial meltdown and recessionary situation in U.S. & some parts of Europe , they may stay away from investment and wait for the right time to come. Risk involved in this sector. †¢ Labour unrest and industrial action. †¢ Unexpected delays and cost overrun due to. †¢ Overlapping government jurisdiction. †¢ Corruptions and bureaucratic inefficiency. †¢ Slow down in government decision due to political instability. †¢ Raw material price. †¢ Restructuring of Automobile company †¢ Financial – Allocation and cash flow †¢ Supply Chain †¢ Operational Efficiency †¢ Raw Material prices †¢ Fuel Efficien †¢ segment Competitiveness †¢ Fuel Prices †¢ Demands †¢ Emerging markets