A Thousand Splendid Suns--see instructions Essay

A Thousand Splendid Suns--see instructions - Essay Example Under normal conditions, the more traditional and older Mariam would be an unlikely confidant and friend of the more educated Laila. Both come from different social classes but in spite of the efforts of the country to oppress its women, these two create strong bonds as a consequence of that very oppression. Mariam was raised in a small, run down shack outside of the main city of Herat. Though she was considered a strong girl, she was also taught to understand her place as a harami, or bastard child. She understood this to be an unattractive role, â€Å"that a harami was an unwanted thing; that she, Mariam, was an illegitimate person who would never have legitimate claim to the things other people had, things such as love, family, home and acceptance.† (Hosseini 4). While she understood this role, she questioned those in authority and the rules she was forced to follow and often dreamed of a better way of life. In fact, she was very close to her father, Jalil, who always spoke to her in kind words fueling her aspirations for something better as she knew being a harami was not her own fault. As she got older, she was tired of feeling guilty about the circumstances of her birth as â€Å"it did not occur to young Mariam to ponder the unfairness of apologizing for the manner of her own birth.† (Hosseini 11). A younger Mariam accepted her role, but the older one desired more in life. She was raised by her mother (Nana) and fell into a deep despair upon her death, especially as she is married off against her will to Rasheed. He forced her into submission taking away all of her hope of a better life until she finally had the courage to rise up in revenge and kill him. Unfortunately for her, the Taliban executed her for this murder. In contrast, Laila had a happier childhood, or at least as happy as it could be for a woman in Afghanistan in the midst of war. She was given an opportunity for education and to realize her full potential. Her father had

The return of IBM Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4000 words

The return of IBM - Essay Example It should be noted that IBM enjoyed double digit net annual profit of 10-15% during the 1950-1980. These profitable years were coupled with strong company growth. For a firm like IBM, this was remarkable as profits are ballooning with the company's expansion (Duby 1995). This put IBM on top of other firms and became the most admired corporation in America. IBM is the envy of the corporate world as it enjoys an incredible culture of high performance and excellence. However, the early 1990s saw the downfall of the corporate giant. Iwata (2005) attributes the seeds of these failures top the big shifts in the Information Technology (IT) market and the key market changes and developments which were disregarded by IBM in the late 1980s. These problems triggered the financial catastrophe which was experienced during the 1990s. The downfall is indicated by the abrupt collapse in the firm's profit margin, stagnation and decline of its revenue and huge net losses. The internal performance of IBM together with the speculations on the firm's future slashed its stock price by almost half. The company also has to layoff 200,000 employs in four years (Iwata 2005). Amidst all these dilemmas, IBM managed to stand up and recover through various measures. The entry of Louis V. Gertsner, Jr. as the firm's new CEO when it is in the deepest trouble had helped the company to regain its robust performance. This paper will tackle the downfall and recovery of IBM. The succeeding paragraphs will justify the importance of the IBM's case in corporate finance. Another section will highlight the role and implication of innovation and changing technology to the business organization. In order to fully get acquainted with IBM, this paper will give a brief corporate profile of IBM together with the products and services it provides. The next section is an overview of the technology sector and the major competitors of IBM. A comparison of their financial performance is also shown. This paper will also give light on major issues faced by IBM and their causes. The last section will give a brief outlook for the company. Truly, the case of the Big Blue is very significant in the field of corporate finance. As with other business entities, the firm had experienced profitable years along with troublesome ones. The only difference that IBM shows is its capability of recovering after a great downfall. As a student, I believe that the downfall and recovery of IBM should become an imperative in a Corporate Finance course as it clearly shows the interdependence of the company's financial health and the firm's overall performance. The case of IBM also shows the mistakes that firms usually make. Through this, students who are trained to become financial executives someday are cautioned and trained on how to better handle decision-making processes. Another point which is highlighted by the IBM's downfall and recovery is the great impact of a firm's external environment. As mentioned above, the company's downfall was triggered by its disregard of the changing markets and emerging trends. Thus, IBM teaches stud ents that financial policies should take into account a firm's external factors. It is equally amazing how IBM was able to cope and surpass all this financial pitfalls. The case of IBM is also an important

The television as a product in relation to edward de Bono thinking hat Assignment

The television as a product in relation to edward de Bono thinking hat - Assignment Example The television has become an evident product in the today’s generation. The television provides communication services to individuals. The television empowers lives in many ways especially through providing important information. Through the television, we have an idea of the global happenings. Through the television information on sports, current good or bad happenings air at the comfort of our homes. Information on the weather enables people to plan for events before they happen. The television is a good source of entertainment accessed at a cheap price and at the convenience of others. Television definitely empowers individuals to live a better life through showing the progress of global happening (Hanson, 2010). Experts denounce the watching of television due to reasons such as the disengagement of people from politics, the obesity issue and the negative images of women it displays. Innovation of the television faces controversies for current years. The fears that it is on ly a matter of time before the television losses market to upcoming technological devices that enhance the outreach. Over the air, the television only has common channel. Individuals result to paying cable and satellite providers to offer extra channels. The consumer market is tired of purchasing more content most of which we are not interested (Lin & Atkin, 2007). Edward de Bono thinking tools The â€Å"Six thinking Hats† is an important powerful tool used to make decisions from different perspectives. Edward de Bono created the tools, which assists individuals to think outside from their normal thinking style. Product producers think in a very rational and positive point of view. This is the reason as to why the end up in success. Many however fail to look at the problems from a creative, intuitive, emotional or negative point of view. This means that the success is only limited to the positive thinking only. They forget that through analysis of the negative aspects creates a better approach of promoting the success of the organization. On a different view, pessimists may extensively support ideas on an emotional aspect failing to analyze decisions rationally and calmly. The thinking technique involves the white hat, red hat, black hat, yellow hat, green hat, and blue hat (Mycoted, 2011). The white hat focuses on the available data where an analysis of information available aids in learning various aspects. While thinking on the aspects, make an analysis of the elements that fill up on information missing. The â€Å"white thinking hat† analyses the past trends and extrapolate from historical data. The red hat thinking involves analyzing problems using gut reaction, emotion and intuition. The thinking involves the emotional aspects of other people involved in the thinking circle. Involving people’s logic assists in analysis of the last reasoning (Runco, 2007). The black hat of thinking involves looking at the negative aspects of the made decision. With defense and caution, analyze on the possibilities of it not working. It is important as it brings out the weak points of the decision. This enables the plan to be refined through elimination, alteration or creation of counter plans. The black hat thinking aspect enables decisions to stand tough grounds and be resilient. It assists in realizing fatal decision making before making a decision. The advantage of this thinking mechanism is that it concentrates on the negative aspects hence eliminating flaws in the decision-making process. This prepares individuals of difficulties arising from the made decision. The yellow hat of thinking concentrates of positive thinking mechanisms. It takes an optimistic point of view giving only the positive outcomes of the decision. The green hat relates to creativity. It involves developing creative solutions to a problem involving a freewheeling with minimal criticism. The blue hat represents the process control. The blue hat

Mango Street Essay Essay Example for Free

Mango Street Essay Essay Throughout history, women have been seen as inferior to men. In the novel, The House On Mango Street, the main character, Esperanza sees many examples of women who are treated lower by their husbands. These women are imprisoned in their own homes on Mango Street. The author, Sandra Cisneros uses the motif of Imprisoned Females to show that women have been seen as inferior to men. There were many chapters in the novel in which women were seen as inferior to men. On page 79 in the novel, Rafael gets locked indoors because her husband is afraid Rafaela will run away since she is too beautiful to look at. Rafael is just one of the many victims of Imprisoned Females on Mango Street. She is scared to leave because she thinks her husband will do something, he doesn’t want other man to take her away from him. Esperazana could also been considered a â€Å"Imprisoned Female. All she wants to do is live in a house she can call her own and be free but she is stuck on Mango Street where she meets all these other women who are stuck like her and she thinks she will never get out. Men treat women like they are nothing. Why? Because they are scared. Scared that women will leave them for someone better. Scared that women will tell someone of all the awful things they have done to them. Scared that women will finally tell the truth.

Joy of Cooking :: essays papers

Joy of Cooking A creative interest I have is cooking with pastries, seafood and poultry. Preparing food can be fun. All I need is just a little imagination and time. Pastries are dessert that are severed for special occasions and after a meal. Pastries are special due to the fact each one tastes and looks different. The creative format comes from the chef. Since I am the one who cooks in my house, I must prepare each dish tasteful and attractive. For example, I was thinking of a creative cake for my daughters&rsquo birthday. I decide to make her a choo choo train cake. The way I want to present this dish is by making it look like a toy train with zoo animals standing near by. The idea of this dish is to make the train look similar to the candy house in the story, "Hansel and Gretel". The first step was to add food coloring to the icing. She was excited. "Mommy, can I mix the colors?" Next, I decorated the cake board with grated coconut. I add green food coloring to the grated coconut. Jessica said, " Mommy, that looks like grass." Then, I decorated the carts of the train with different color icing. For example, I placed green, blue, and red icing on each of the carts. When I finished decorating the carts, I placed them on the black licorice train tracks. When I was finished with placing the carts on the track, Jessica and I arranged assorted candy all over the train. Another creative idea I had was to cook with the children in after school care at William Lehman Elementary. For example, I had decided to make an orange shake with them to celebrate Halloween. The first step I created, was to add orange sherbet ice cream. Next, I add cream soda to the float. When I was finished the shake, I placed one chocolate chip cookie inside of the float. Cooking creativy with seafood is another outstanding process. When cooking shrimp, I must prepare each shrimp to the procedure I want. For example, when preparing Chinese Fried Rice, I cook every item separately. For instance, this dish requires shrimp. This dish I peel each shrimp. Then I season the shrimp with soy sauce. Then, I stir fry them. When I cook this dish, I add everything in a bowl. Once the Chinese rice is cooked, I prepare the platter. For instance, I chop up green onions and place them around the Chinese Rice. Then I slice thin piece of oranges and locate then around the green onion.

Forecasting Lost Sales Case Study Essay

Carlson Department store suffered heavy damage from a hurricane on August 31. As a result the store was closed for four months, September through December. Carlson is in dispute with its insurance company regarding the lost sales for the length of time the store was closed. Section II: Problem Identification Two issues to address are the amount of sales Carlson department store would have made if there had been no hurricane and if they are entitled to any compensation for excess sales due to increased business activity after the storm. One further important factor is that eight billion dollars in federal disaster relief and insurance money came in to the county which in turn increased sales at department stores and numerous other businesses in the area. Section III: Approach: The method to be used is forecasting with seasonality in order to obtain approximate sales data for the months that Carlson was closed. Section IV: Options After reviewing different methods of forecasting and their measures of forecasting accuracy the linear forecasting method is shown to be the most effective given that the mean square error, and the mean absolute error and the mean absolute percentage error are very close to zero. *See attached Excel spreadsheet for further clarification/breakdown of forecasting methods. However, although the linear trend line can be useful it can also prove to be inappropriate for business retail sales. Real trends change their slope and intercept over time and rarely tend to follow a fixed straight line. Therefore, linear regression with seasonality will be used to determine lost sales. In the past five years Carlson’s overall monthly average for sales was 2.43375. The monthly averages for the months under consideration are as follows; September: 1.8975 October: 2.215 November: 2.775 and December: 4.1875. Approximately thirty nine percent of Carlson’s sales occur within the Sept through December months. The seasonal index as show in figure 6.7 further breaks this down. While reviewing Carlson  department store’s forecasted sales for September through December and taking into account that the time frame is during the holiday season; it is apparent that sales typically increase during this period in relation to seasonality. Section V: Conclusions/Recommendations Figure 6.6 displays the forecast of lost sales for Carlson had there been no hurricane. This table displays that Carlson is entitled to 12.43 million in lost sales for the four months that it was closed. The surrounding department stores showed a consistent increase in sales during the four listed months (September through December) as shown in figure 6.9. The amount of sales were well above what was typically forecasted (On average the surrounding department stores did 18.67 million above forecast). The amount of sales during this time frame increased by 27.03 percent. Based off of this data, Carlson should be provided additional compensation for the increase of sales they would have encountered from disaster relief funds and insurance money. Carlson would have gained an approximate increase of 3.36 million in sales, therefore making the total compensation owed to Carlson from their insurance company 15.788 million for lost sales. Section VI: Other Considerations Some other factors that may require further consideration are moving holidays, or the effect of holidays on the forecasting method. Some holidays may have changing dates which can impact more than one month in a way that depends upon the date. Section VII: Resources References Anderson, D. R., Sweeny, D., Williams, T., Cann, J., Cochran, J., Fry, M., & Ohlmann, J. (2013). Quantitative Methods For Business. Mason, OH: South-Western Cengage Learning.

Patience is a Virtue Essay

Patience is a virtue that every man and woman must strive to have. Without it, things can go horribly wrong, people would have faced much fights and arguments and there will be chaos in this world. Those who are impatient waste their lives thinking of the future. Furthermore many times, bad experiences often help build a better character, so if you are always rushing throughout your life without waiting for the results, how can you learn from your mistakes? Impatience will give you a lot of regrets in life, that is why we need to practice our patience so that there will be peace in you and in our society. The Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary tells us that patience is to be able to remain calm and not to become annoyed when waiting for a long time or when dealing with problems or difficult people. In Christianity, patience is one of the most valuable virtues in life. It is also one of fruits of the Holy Spirit. A good example of patience is Jesus Christ who had enough patience for seeing us sin against Him as He patiently forgives us each time we sin. Patience brings peace to our mind, helps us make the right choices, bring about enjoyment, right understanding, success, and fulfillment of goals in life. If everyone were to have patience in this world, there would be no more suffering, madness, misunderstandings, failures, and chaos in this world. If you are an impatient person, don’t feel depressed because you aren’t patient. Everyone commits mistake and everyone can change. We must be patient and understanding, life is too short to be vengeful and malicious. Like what Jean-Jacques Rosseau said â€Å"Patience is bitter, but its fruit is sweet.†