The Influence of Media to Female Audiences

In the current state of society, the media has placed itself as one of the most important institutions in which influences the masses through the perspective that it has. One of the most evident and controversial issues that media had brought is the status of the female.There had been many issues regarding females in which some find very intriguing and even degrading for some. One of the most common issues for females is the issue of body structure. In the media, it is important that a person maybe able to maintain the body a healthy body.However, a healthy body immediately means that a female should have a slim and slender body. Having a slim and slender body for the media automatically means being healthy and being beautiful. But then, this type of issue had been a concern of some females in which contradicts the view of the media.It is known that every individual has his or her own body type. Others may have a slim body or some may have a pear shaped body. It is also recognized th at we cannot choose the type of body that we want because most of the time it is biological in nature.In connection to the concerns of the media regarding the body, it is somehow unfair for those that cannot and would not attain the body in which they view as beautiful. Of course, every woman and even men want to be known as beautiful. Each and everyone want to be recognized and seen as beautiful yet the media had already set their criteria in their perception of what is beautiful or not.Although the media is still in contradiction to the hypothesis of people that they are indeed setting a criterion for women and their body, it is evident in magazines and television shows that the media sees a slender women are much beautiful than the regular ones.As a proof, many celebrities and models are slender. Most of them have a body in which regular individuals would not exactly have like Misha Barton, Paris Hilton, Angelina Jolie, Jennifer Aniston and etc. All of these personalities’ exposes a body in which is very perfect in the view of the media. They are often seen as sexy and glamorous actresses in which could carry them selves well. In red carpet nights or even small parties, they are seen as beautiful.On the other hand, celebrities who are a bit heavier or has a much curvy body is not appreciated as much compared to slender celebrities. In magazine covers, slim actresses or models are often featured. Every edition of the magazine presents a slim female in which often posses a sexy image. However, curvy females in the media are not often given this opportunity. If they are able to pose for a magazine this is because they have done something important or they magazine advocates curvy women.The continuous presentation of the media of these types of women influences the society and their view towards the body. It could be observed that many women have created a thought that they should and must be like these Hollywood stars in order to be fully accepted by th e society.Any woman would like to be recognized as someone â€Å"beautiful† in the eyes of the society. Women started to make ways in order to imitate the celebrities. Some women try to exercise and lessen their food in take for them to be like these celebrities.However, this process is not enough for some women. There are those women that would like better and assured results for their bodies. Some result to plastic surgery which is the fastest way to eliminate excess fat or fix their problematic areas. Furthermore, there are women in which results to very unhealthy weight lost activities such as bulimia or anorexia.

Negative Effects of Reality Television Essay

I know for a fact that reality TV shows are negative on teenagers. To start with, the shows for example jersey shore they do not emphasize education and responsibility. All they care for is partying drinking and smoking weed every single day. The characters in the show think its no big deal to show what they doing in daily basis on reality TV. They don’t care a bit for what kids might be learning from there shows. Teenager’s behaviors are changing every time reality shows air out on TV. Teenage females are starting to dress differently; they are starting to show more skin at a very young age. Young female teenagers are starting to love attention from the males it makes them feel good about them selves. Their seeing all type of attention on reality TV and how men always make the female feel good. That’s when teenager is losing respect for their families and respect for them selves. Some families starting to get worried about there teenagers because most of their children are slicking on school and education. Secondly, these types of shows not only influences teenagers who watch their show into this type of shallow behavior, but they also send out an image to the world about what America can be like. Its also giving out an image to the world about what American parents can be like how they might not care for there children. Reality television shows are bringing down hopes for the ones who want a better future for their selves. Another show that has a negative influence on teenagers is â€Å"teen mom† I must say that is the most disturbing show they can air out for teenagers to watch. What were they really thinking? After the show was aired out on TV 55% of the females in high school got pregnant. The females on the show are talking about how they are in love and ready to make a family at the age of 16. When the show is being watched by teenager they think is ok to Have a baby too and be in love if the people on reality TV shows can do it why not them? What viewers don’t understand is that this is problem because reality TV is not exactly just real life on camera. Instead, the shows are edited to make them more interesting and exciting. What this tends to mean is that they get edited to include more conflict, more danger, more of things that you could call negative but teenagers would enjoy. When viewers watch this sort of show, they believe that reality is like that how they enjoying their life everyday.

Building a rule based credit risk assessment expert system Research Paper

Building a rule based credit risk assessment expert system - Research Paper Example In most cases, statistical preventive analytical techniques are used to analyze and determine credit risk levels associated with loans and credits given to borrowers. Therefore, the significance of credit risk assessment is to reduce credit or loan defaulters. Adequate information about the credit users are often for the analysis of credit risk levels. This information is usually obtained from internal credit scoring systems. This system allows computation of personal information credit scores from credit reports (Camp 14). Such information is provided for by rating agencies or external credit bureaus. Notably, the credit scores often indicate an individual or organizations’ current and historical financial situation. These financial reports are then used to analyzing credit risk levels thereby determine credit defaulters (Grzymala-Busse 71). However, the internal credit scoring techniques do not define defective or ineffective score. Therefore, it does not predict the actual levels of risk associated with lending a person. The shortcomings of the internal credit scoring methods have been solved by the use of the Profiling risky credit segments. This method is tremendously significant in assessing credit risk levels. It applies The Pareto principle that suggests that the majority (eighty to ninety percent) of the credit defaulters emanate from lower (ten to twenty percent) lending segments. Therefore, segment profiling usually provide vital information for credit risk analysis. In this analysis, Credit providers usually collect vast credit information or data of the credit users (Graham and Milne 38). Numerical and categorical data concerning the credit users are collected. Since the collected information is never synchronized, it is often considered noisy or insufficient. Therefore, profiling facilitates the identification of variables or

Quantitative Analysis for Management Speech or Presentation

Quantitative Analysis for Management - Speech or Presentation Example But escalates labor cost by 32% that is 4,000 hours out of the total number of 12,500 hours. Then the subsequent mode; is modified model after taking into reconsideration the labor time and corresponding labor cost: Through searching for the maximum profits mainly based on the LP utilizing POM software, the corresponding maximum profits will be $59,900 resulted from the prevailing manufacturing 1,100 units of W00075C, 250 units of W0033C, and 600 units of W0007X (Render & Stair, Hanna, 2012). Moreover, the outcome also depicts of not to produce W0005C product. Addition of more headcounts within the drawing department will reduce the labor time and increasing the labor cost by 32% (Anderson, 2013). In regard to the outcome from the POM software, the underlying quantity of the will not change (Anderson, 2011). Nevertheless, the change is better but result to less profit of $53,653 since there is no escalation within the pricing but resulting to increase burden thus increasing the cost. In order to attain maximum profits the produce will be 1,100 units of the W0075C, 250 units of W0033C and 600 units of W0007X. Company ought to reject the orders of producing 1,510 units of the W0005X. Moreover, it will be better for the company not to escalate the underlying number within the drawing department for it to maintain low cost (Anderson, 2011). The model utilized to solve the prevailing problem suffers from the limitation that there are numerous optimal outcomes and a diverse answer might be attained depending on the underlying sequence in which the constraints are normally answered (Anderson, 2013). Yes, alteration by 40% to a relatively higher value would significantly reduce the costs. This can be depicted by the sensitivity analysis that is changing to 60 makes the cost to be $2,485.83 whilst changing to 80% makes the cost to be $2,382.08. Therefore, as the

Does a diasporic identity erase, alter, re-creat or negate this Essay

Does a diasporic identity erase, alter, re-creat or negate this obsession with chinea obvious in much of 20 century chinese literature - Essay Example Chinese authors have bared their souls through printed text that clearly displays divergent views about what it is about China that makes it citizens so resilient, yet willing to submit to a status quo element that maintains the continuity of the good and bad sides of Chinese society. C.T. Hsia has made strong assertions in the article, â€Å"Obsession with China: The Moral Burden of Modern Chinese Literature†. To truly understand Hsia’s views, it is essential that we carefully analyze key excerpts of the article. Note the following: â€Å"What distinguishes the â€Å"modern† phase of Chinese literature from the traditional phase is rather its burden of moral contemplation: its obsessive concern with China as a nation afflicted with a spiritual disease and therefore unable to strengthen itself or change its set ways of inhumanity.† Chinese citizens operating from a diasporic identity clearly feel it is their duty to articulate the horrors that occur in china concerning oppression of and human rights abuses against Chinese citizens. Theoretically, where traditional Chinese literature required and in many cases demanded compliance from Chinese authors in representing China as the government would have the world see it instead of how it was operating in reality, Chinese citizens in the diaspora are articulating chilling excerpts of life under oppressive regimes. Surprisingly, the proponents of traditional Chinese literature represented the lower social classes in many cases. Modern authors of Chinese literature are working feverishly to bring the lower classes to the realization that they must voice their displeasure about human rights abuses that affect them and if these atrocities do not affect them, the modern authors are sparing no expense to change that reality, as the lower class citizens will have to be en listed in any successful

Apple and samsung Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Apple and samsung - Essay Example Apple and Samsung companies are doing very well and they have several things in common. The objective of this writing is to compare and evaluate the two major competitor corporations, Apple and Samsung. According to Wagstaff & Kim (2012), it is undeniable that both companies are similar in terms of size though were founded in different periods. Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak founded Apple in 1976 while Samsung was founded in 1938 by a Korean businessperson, Byung-Chull Lee. Even though Samsung started as a vegetable and fruit company, it later started back in 1969 as an electronic company. Apple’s personal computers were amongst the best but later experienced a decrease in sales after the high competition in electronics began. The company then started to produce new product iPod that largely enhanced her revenues. On the other hand, Samsung was developing slowly through introduction of various products in the market prompting it to change her mission statement to keep pace with its growing global operations, changes in the world economy as well as escalation from well-established companies. Moreover, Apple prides herself on innovation and is known for taking 8 years to develop a single product before releasing it to market. Worstall (2013) explains that Apple’s culture is to release products that are not perfect and once released, they make major updates hardly, confident that their original work is the best. This technique ensures a fascinated tech press and awed public, which compels a certain level of security as well as secrecy that segregates the company from attaining valuable market feedback prior to launch. This further raise the stakes of every product launch to the market changing and checking on any of their recent launches such as iPhone 5 and iOS7, it is nearly impossible for Apple live up to the demand for their products. Samsung however, releases a less than perfect product and iterate their way to success, which conforms, to their hi story of releasing new products that are far from perfect. The company does not make massive splash, instead the first generation product is meant to gauge interest and test capabilities since they are content to iterate their way to successful products. It is worth noting that Samsung uses less resources in product launch compared Apple although they are both at the top of the global smartphone market (Worstall, 2013). Although Samsung is a vast industrial conglomerate that manufacturers several things such as refrigerators and semiconductors, most people identifies it with smartphones, which is actually powering her growth. The company’s stunning fourth quarter results saw her profits rising to 87%. It is apparent that the phone division contributed to half of the profit and it does not break out smartphone revenues (Gupta, Kim and Levine, 2013). In 2011, Samsung sold almost 63.5 million in the quarter of which 40 million came from Samsung Galaxy S3 although the market seem to reach saturation in developed countries and the competition is high in developing countries. In the last quarter of 2011, Apple saw a remarkable profit of $13bn, which included 48 million of iPhones outpacing the Samsung Galaxy S3. Apple is even more dependent for profits for profits on smartphones compared to Samsung and Apple still takes a vast share of the mobile phone

Future Career Personal Statement Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Future Career - Personal Statement Example This allows me to use my imagination and creativity alongside the technical skills I have developed which allow me to conceive a problem from a wide range of perspectives. Business is an interesting field with as many variables as engineering, and perhaps less predictable outcomes. Exceptions to business common sense can produce exceptional results; the same can rarely be said of engineering. The very value of education in this field is one of hot debate, from entrepreneurs proud to have left school with nothing to the MBA hotshot riding the corporate inside track - it is a discipline where success by any means can be argued as valid. As a highly successful student of facts and natural laws, this is a highly intriguing idea. For all I can learn from lectures and research, there is always a higher level to aspire to - always a rival with an edge of natural flair. An academic analysis, for example, of a systemic change can soon fail without the personal skills to 'sell' it to the workers. I have spent a long time developing my brain; I now want the chance to test my heart, soul and guts. There are numerous obstacles but the interesting part is to overcome the obstacles and run a smooth form of business. My parents have taught me that a balance between activities is always necessary for a healthy lifestyle. I engage in spending my free time constructively by serving the community and doing several jobs in my free time. I love reading business books. Just as I believe the highest level of success in business comes from drawing on every ounce of talent and ability, I believe that success in life comes through engaging every talent. The Cass MSc in Management enables graduates from a wide range of disciplines to develop real world knowledge and skills in key areas of modern management - it is this that most appeals to me, bringing the whole of my real world and life experiences to bear on how I do business. Through this program I hope to graduate with the confidence to sensitively and intelligently apply practical quantitative skills, which are required for a successful career in risk management. I chose to join the program to further polish out mytechnical and quantitative knowledgeof different specialist risk management areas, such as financial modelling, valuation theory, credit derivative pricing, and credit portfolio management. My strong technical groundingandquantitative skill from my current studies will have a definite impact on my career, qualifying me for a more specialized risk manager role. As much as a personality is important in business decision making, a person is also important in their society. While decisions can be made without feeling and individuals can try to exist as islands, both states seem unnatural and dangerous - oversimplified models that ignore a greater complexity. Activities I enjoy are enjoyable because of the interplay between myself and my community - the term 'altruistic' does not quite match, because I believe that every positive action brings broad rewards. I can rationalize this as a kind of karmic belief structure, but really it comes down to an analytical approach - what is good for a system or business should permeate all levels to bring mutual benefits. My natural talents have been nurtured thanks to the good will and determination of others. As a product of a global society, I try to carry out activities that make a positive impact

United Kingdom Reforms Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words

United Kingdom Reforms - Essay Example The act assists buyers to obtain legal redress when they encounter problems with their purchases. The act requires that the supplier should sell goods that fit their description, serve their intended purpose and are of satisfactory quality. The act benefits suppliers, who comply, as they can use their conformity to their advantage, as they use it to boost their consumer relationships. The act essentially aims to protect individual customers from defected or unsafe goods. The Act covers traded contracts made on or after 1 January 1894. Prior before the passing of the 1995 Act, the sale of goods act 1979, (c 54) was applied. This Act of Parliament regulated English contract law as well as the UK commercial law regarding goods traded. The m1979 act merged the original act of 1893 as well as subsequent legislation that consecutively codified and joined the law. Before the 1995 Act, section 16 barred transferring of ownership in goods to the buyer from the seller until the goods were established. Under s.20A of the 1979 Act, as buyer becomes the owner in common bulk2 of property, in an undivided share, in the bulk transferred to him. S.16 of the 1979 act provides that where there is a contract for selling unascertained goods, the property cannot be passed to the buyer unless or until the goods are identified. The buyer acquires no aptness interest in the goods he paid for since he was regarded as an unsecured creditor for the return in price in the occurrence of insolvency. This rendered for the sellers creditors benefitting with an undeserved windfall 3 as they will claim both goods and money paid for them. When all the requirements have been met, the property ownership of the undivided share is given to the purchaser unless both parties agree. The purchased share is a fraction of the bulk goods as an equal owner. Section 61 (1) of the 1979 Act describes the bulk as a collection of goods of the same type contained in the same area or space and is such that goods in the mass are interchangeable with other goods of the same quantity or number. The goods can be ascertained by separation from the bulk through either exhaustion3 or consolidation4. This act was biased to extents that, even if the seller sold all his goods to different clients, thereby divesting himself all interest in the bulk, no property will be passed to the clients until the quant ities have been ascertained. The same applied if the seller became insolvent while the goods were still in bulk or the seller’s creditor arrested the bulk. This entails that the buyers or buyer will have no claim even if they had paid for the goods fully or partly. The buyer will only claim for damages, breach of contract or return of price only as an unsecured creditor 5but will have no equitable interest in the goods. Furthermore, traders who purchased goods either on land or in the course of the sea were concerned of this problem. In addition, suing carriers of goods by sea was covered on agreement  in a bill of lading6 was under the Bills of lading Act1855, covering the transfer of property in the goods by the bill. Therefore, the buyer of part of the bulk had no right of suing the transporter in contract if the goods in transit were missing or damaged. In addition, Section 16 stressed the Lading Bills did not convey the intended meaning by the parties as outlined by th e known Law commission. The parties’

Graphic design is the branch of visual art Essay

Graphic design is the branch of visual art - Essay Example By effectiveness, we mean how much power a design has to motivate people or help them identify a company. For example, where a one or two letter sign may be effective in identifying a company such as BP, it is not effective for another company simply identified as B. Plus; presentation of an idea does not necessarily mean it was communicated accurately. A scribbled "keep off grass" sign is not as effective as a neatly designed "keep off grass" sign with an appropriately designed logo. Also, just because a sign communicates effectively does not mean what it communicates is good. Governments have become masters at influencing citizens with graphic design by communicating messages sometimes to support darkly political objectives. Graphic design is the branch of visual art dedicated to communicating messages. It is most used in marketing and brand recognition strategies. Having watch and listened to a video of a talk about design given by David Carson, I walk away with certain understandings about graphic design.

The church of England national society Essay Example for Free

The church of England national society Essay In 1800 there were only a very small number of women who were literate, this was a large number of women who could neither read, nor write, this was the way that the men of the time wanted it to be. This was because women were not seen to need these skills, they should stay in the home and perform their duties as a mother. By 1900 a large number of women were literate. This change was largely due to universal elementary education. The biggest early provider of this education were factories and workhouses, the education went hand-in-hand with these places as many women children were working at them at this time. Also, the poor law began in 1834, unemployed people could go to work houses where they would be given jobs to do. These jobs were often meaningless tasks such as bone breaking to try and encourage people to get out and get a job. Naturally the conditions at these places were horrible. This was to make sure that you would not go there by choice and sponge off the state. The poor law also made the work houses legally bound to give half time education to all its child workers. These schools taught the three Rs, reading, writing and arithmetic. The education was poor but it was equal for both genders. Workhouse schools were often a lot worse than in the factories, both sexes were taught to read but girls were often taught more domestic jobs such as sewing and cooking rather than academic subjects that they would not need in the home In 1870 the education act was passed to educate all. The church wanted people to read the bible and so the Church of England National Society for Education was set up. The majority of working class children went to these schools at some point, the Sunday schools offered similar education to factory schools and religious groups financed them. Some people believe that this was just a social control to convince the working classes to accept their position in life. Although this was one of the only educational opportunities for girls many parents kept them at home. Girls and boys were also seated separately. During the 1830s the middle class values began to be incorporated and girls were taught how to cook and clean. Inspectors even suggested that arithmetic might help with shopping bills. Dame schools were also set up. These were run by women for a small fee, the teachers were part-time and mainly female. They were seen as better then the factory run schools because they had a better atmosphere. The quality of the education varied as many taught gender-specific skills such as needlework to girls only. The 1870 education act had many benefits such as schools built in poorer areas and Local Education Authorities replacing school boards in 1902 paving the way for secondary education. However, there were fears over moral decline and this led to attempts to reinforce family values, in 1878 domestic science was made compulsory in Board Schools. These emphases on domesticity meant that many girls did worse in subjects like arithmetic that were given a lower priority. Girls were not discriminated against in education, but the education of boys was seen as more important. During 1833 the government gave away money to existing schools to help them educate the children. Working class men were given the vote in 1867, this gave hope and a greater prospect to the working classes. Then in 1870 the plan was to, fill in the gaps this was because some people were not being educated. In order to educate them Board schools were set up in areas with low prevision. The need for education was spreading due to the power of the church and social control, if the children are educated at a young age then they will not turn against the government later on in life. Political and economic growths are also reasons for this want of education. By 1880 education was compulsory in Britain for all girls and boys. In 1890 the monitorial system came into play, this was a pupil to teacher system where children with good prospects as teachers would stay on at the school and become monitors, and eventually they would also become teachers themselves. In 1864 Kay-Shuttleworth set up a scheme where grants were given to best equipped elementary schools to train teachers, however, this system was criticized for lack of intellectual rigor and was ended in 1902. In 1842 the first womens college was founded at Whitelands but used trainee students as domestic helps. For the working classes the amount of change was not substantial, although the education act meant that a lot of women were suddenly able to read and write, however it stopped there. The focus at this time was on universal education of all, but this education was gender specific, as the academic education of boys seemed to take priority. This does not mean to say that this did not aid womens emancipation, as the skills acquired would be very useful in the suffragette years to come. This is also an example of continuity, the change for this group was not large as I mentioned above and there was not a great deal to come for the working classes for quite some time. Education of the middle and upper classes consisted of most girls being taught at home by parents or a home tutor if you could afford one. Thus this education varied and was usually directed at the domestic side of life such as child upbringing, cooking and cleaning. The aim of home tutoring was primarily to help women find a husband. The argument used against education at this time was that it was cause an upset in social order with women competing for professional jobs. That the relationship between the sexes would break down and social values lost. This is view is obviously incorrect but the men at the time were afraid of this new kind of educated women. In the mid 19th Century new schools were established, they were run by trustees on a professional basis to educate middle class girls, e. g. The North London Collegiate school founded by Frances Mary Buss. However, girls were still expected to behave in a ladylike manner and only the minority attended with 70 % still at the old private schools. These schools were highly exclusive, with high fees and only the daughters of independent gentlemen and professionals were allowed. For this group of women the change was almost the opposite of the working classes.

Performance Analysis Of Election Algorithm Computer Science Essay

Performance Analysis Of Election Algorithm Computer Science Essay Distributed systems are the systems consisting of multiple processors that connect through a network to communicate. To manage the communication between different nodes and the exchange of data between them, a leader among them is required. In our project we implement the various Election algorithms for choosing the leader in Distributed Systems thus solving the coordinator election problem. We are also comparing the performance of each of these election algorithms. First we implemented the Election algorithms using the message passing interface(MPI). Then we measured and compared the performance of each of these election algorithms and simulated the results. Finally we modified the distributed leader election algorithm to suit the mobile ad-hoc networks. Key Words: Distributed Systems Election algorithms Unidirectional ring algorithm Lelanns algorithm Chang Roberts algorithm Bidirectional ring Leader election Mobile Adhoc Networks Introduction Distributed system It is a group of processors where the memory or a clock is not shared. Every processor has its own associated memory and the information is exchanged through communication networks. Distributed algorithm A distributed algorithm is an algorithm run on such a distributed system assuming the non-existence of central coordinator in these systems. So these algorithms require one process to act as a coordinator. There is no way to select one of them to be leader if all the processes are alike without different characteristics. One of the processes has to take this special responsibility, no matter which process takes it. This problem in which a leader has to be elected is termed as the coordinator election problem that is how to choose a process among the different processors to make it a central coordinator. Election algorithm An election algorithm is used to solve the coordinator election problem in these distributed systems. Any election algorithm must be a distributed algorithm by the nature of the coordinator election problem. The most important feature in election algorithm is it assumes every process has a Unique ID. It votes a process from among the different processors which can act as the initiator, sequencer and monitor in detecting and solving situations like Deadlock, Mutual Exclusion etc. Thus electing a leader process has become a major issue in wired and ad hoc networks. The goal of election algorithm is to see that when an election begins it ends with all processes by an agreement as who has to be the new coordinator. ELECTION ALGORITHM ON RINGS : A ring is formed by the processes in ring algorithm. In this each process sends only messages to the next process in the ring. It can be classified into two categories Unidirectional Bidirectional The messages are sent only in one direction in unidirectional and in both directions in Bidirectional ring algorithms. To compare the performance of these algorithms, the different criteria taken into consideration are Total number of messages passed Complexity of the messages used Time elapsed by the algorithm 2. Implementation Software We have used the message passing interface (MPI) for implementing our algorithms which are discussed below. It is a standard specification for communication through messages among different processes. It is independent of any language. It is used in parallel computing to write programs for group and point to point communication between nodes. We used the C language to implement the election algorithms. The MPIs routines are directly callable in C. The main MPI calls used in our program are MPI_Init: Before communicating, all instances of the code should call this so as to prepare the MPI implementation for the communications environment. MPI_Finalize: For exiting the communication, this is called by all the instances of the code. MPI_Comm_size: To learn about the number of processors which are using MPI environment to communicate, this routine is called. MPI_Comm_rank: Each of this process assigns an integer to the communicating process. MPI_Send: To send a message to another process, this is called. MPI_Recv: This call allows to receive a message from a process. 3. Unidirectional Ring Algorithms The ring algorithm consists of processes arranged in the form of a ring consisting of a token. The token is passed between processes and the process which has the ring can send a message. The election problem can be implemented using the ring algorithms Lelanns algorithm Chang Roberts algorithm 3.1 LeLanns algorithm In this we assume that all the processes are physically and logically ordered. In LeLanns algorithm whenever the coordinator is lost, the initiator sends a token to the other processes in the ring by adding its id. Nodes cannot initiate any messages once they receive the token. After circulating the token, if the process receives back its id then it is chosen to be the leader since it knows that others cannot become leaders as it knows all the ids of the other processes and it has the least id. The message complexity of LeLanns algorithm is O(N2). ALGORITHM: Step 1: begin Step 2: send the token to neighbours with id of current process as i Step 3: add current process id j and forward to neighbours Step 4: if process P receives back its id then Step 5: leader is P Step 6: else return null Step 7: end Message Complexity: Every initiator sends N messages. So the worst case time complexity is N2. The algorithm is implemented using MPI and the message complexity and time complexity given by the MPI program is No.of processes Messages Real time User time System time 5 25 1.195 0.025 0.023 10 100 1.292 0.027 0.024 15 225 1.446 0.030 0.027 20 400 1.551 0.034 0.030 25 625 1.654 0.036 0.030 Table 1: LeLanns algorithm 3.2 Chang Roberts algorithm This is similar to lelanns algorithm but with a little change. When a process receives a token with an id greater than the current process id, it drops that particular token as that process cannot be a leader . Hence it forwards the token with an id less that itself. In this way it saves time by discarding the unwanted messages. The worst case message complexity of Chang Roberts algorithm is O(N2) and the average case message complexity is O(N logN). ALGORITHM: Step 1 : send message with identifier = I to other processes Step 2 : if identifier J of current process > I then send the message to neighbours with identifier I Step 3 : else drop message with identifier I and send the message with identifier J to neighbours Step 4 : continue this process until a particular process receives back a message with its identifier. Step 5: if a process receives a message with its id then process= leader. Step 6: else return null Step 7:end Message Complexity: The best case time complexity is 2N-1. The process with largest id sends N messages and other N-1 processes send one message each. The algorithm is implemented using MPI and the message complexity and time complexity given by the MPI program is given in the table 2. No.of processes Messages Real time User time System time 5 9 1.189 0.024 0.023 10 19 1.299 0.027 0.024 15 29 1.412 0.029 0.026 20 39 1.531 0.033 0.028 25 49 1.650 0.036 0.031 Table 2:Robert Changs Best Case Algorithm The worst case time complexity is N(N+1)/2. The process with largest id sends N messages and other N-1 processes send messages from 1à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦N-1. No.of processes Messages Real time User time System time 5 15 1.186 0.024 0.023 10 55 1.301 0.027 0.025 15 120 1.414 0.030 0.027 20 210 2.511 0.034 0.029 25 325 1.654 0.035 0.030 Table 3: Robert Changs Worst Case Algorithm 4. Bidirectional Ring Algorithms 4.1 Leader election algorithm for Bidirectional Ring In these bidirectional ring algorithm messages can be sent or exchanged in any direction. We have used the algorithm mentioned in [2] An improved upperbound for distributed election in bidirectional rings of processors. J.Van Leeumen and R.B Tan. Distributed Computing(1987)2:149-160 for implementing it with the MPI. The name (identifier) of a large processor is contained in the register ID which is maintained by the processor and a (Boolean) register DIR that has a direction on the ring in which there are processors that still have a smaller processor up for election. A smaller candidate which is still alive when the messages( the ones having the name of a Large candidate) are created, have them being sent out in its direction. Processors that begin a chase are known as active, and the left over processors are observant. To get rid of the smaller candidate and force agreement on the larger candidate is the main idea behind a chase. After the current active processors have begun the chase, the observant processors basically relay messages onwards unless they notice an unusual situation on the ring only. As the algorithm proceeds, there are two unusual situations that can arise at the location of an observant processor. They are (i) The processor receives a message of the current phase, say through its left link, that contains a value which is less than the current value in its ID register. The processor turns active, increments its phase number by 1, and initiates a chase with the value its current ID in the direction of the message that was received, i.e., out over its left link. (ii) Two messages of the same phase are received by the processor from opposite directions. The processor turns active, increments its phase number by 1, and initiates a chase with the largest value contained in the two messages in the direction of the smallest. As the algorithm proceeds, several active processors that can arise in a phase rapidly decreases, and at the end a single processor will be left precisely. This processor will be familiar that it receives two messages of the same phase from opposite directions that hold same values and is elected because either it receives a message of the current phase with a value exactly alike to the one it sent out (and stored in its ID register) or it receives two messages of the same phase from opposite directions that hold same values. ALGORITHM [2]: The algorithm describes the actions of an arbitrary processor on a bidirectional ring with half-duplex links as required for electing a leader 1) Initialization a) Let u be the executing processors identification number. Send message to both neighbors and phase number Pnum:=0; b) Wait for corresponding messages and to come in from two neighbors c) Compare u1 and u2 and set ID to max(u1,u2)and Dir to the min(u1,u2) and goto Active state else Observant state. 2) Election A processor performs in either active or observant state. a) Active A processor enters the active state with some value v stored in its ID register and a phase number p. The phase number p is either stored in Pnum or it is an update stored in temporary register. The phase number Pnum is incremented by 1 and a message is sent in Dir direction and goes to observant state. b) Observant In this state a processor receives messages and passes them on, unless an unusual situation is observed that enables it to initiate a new phase. Receive messages from one or both directions. Discard any message received with p less than Pnum. i) If the number of messages left are zero then go to observant state. ii) If the number of messages left is one then { Let the one message received be where necessarily p>=PNUM.} if p=PNUM then v = ID:goto inaugurate; v DIR:= direction from which the message was received; goto active state v > ID:begin goto observant else PNUM = p; ID =:v; DIR:=the direction in which the message was going Send message to direction DIR; goto observant iii) If the number of messages left is one then{Let the two messages received be and ,necessarily from opposite directions and with p>=PNUM} if v1=v2 Pnum := p; goto inaugurate else v1!=v2; ID:-=max(v1,v2); DIR:=the direction of min(v1,v2); goto active 3) Inauguration A transfer to this final phase occurs when the algorithm terminates and the ID register contains the identity of the unique leader. Message complexity: The message complexity of the bidirectional algorithm is 1.44NlogN + O(N). MPI is used implementing the algorithm. The Time and message complexity given by the MPI program is No.of processes Messages Real time User time System time 5 14 1.186 0.024 0.022 10 29 1.302 0.027 0.024 15 44 1.417 0.030 0.026 20 59 1.534 0.033 0.028 25 74 1.661 0.036 0.030 Table 4: Leader election algorithm for Bidirectional Ring 4.2 Leader election algorithm for Mobile Adhoc Networks A mobile ad hoc network is dynamic in nature. It is composed of a set of peer-to-peer nodes, that exchanges the information within the network through some wireless channels directly or through a series of such links. A node is independent to move around as there is no fixed final topology. The nodes move freely in a geographical area and are loosely bounded by the transmission range of these wireless channels. Within its transmission range, a mobile node communicates with a set of nodes thus implying all of them have to be in a network. These set of nodes are also known as the neighbors of the communicating node. The mobile nodes act as intermediary routers to direct the packets between the source and the destination nodes (i.e., the set of neighbors). A node is designated as a leader to coordinate the information that needs to be exchanged among nodes and to be in charge of their data requirements. The identification problem of a leader is termed as the leader election problem. Why do we need to select this leader? When the nodes are set out, they form an adhoc network between them within which the whole communication happens. If the topology of the network changes dynamically, a node may suspend its communication with the previous node, just like in distributed networks. So there has risen a need for a leader so that the maintenance of the network and the clock synchronization within it can be done. Also a new leader has to be chosen every time the members of the group are getting updated while communication is taking place. When the communicating nodes move freely and if they are not within the transmission range of each other, then the wireless network fails . Similarly the formation of wireless links happen only when the nodes which are separated and are too far and to communicate, move within the transmission range of one another. The network topology may change rapidly and unpredictably over time since the nodes are mobile. So developing efficient distributed algorithm for adhoc networks is a challenging work to be done. The largest identity node is chosen to be the leader using minimum wireless messages in this approach. A mobile ad hoc network can be considered as a static network with frequent link or node failures, which can be thought of as a mobile node of an adhoc network going out of reach. To cover all the nodes in the network we use the diameter concept. While distance is described as the shortest path between the nodes, diameter is defined as the longest distance between any two nodes in the network. The number of hops will be the taken for measuring the distance and the assumption is that the network becomes stable after a change happens during leader election process and there are only a limited number of changes in the network. A network having N nodes are considered here. Since the topological changes are considered during the leader election, this algorithm takes more than diameter rounds to terminate. If however, the topological changes are not considered diameter rounds are taken to elect the leader. We have used the algorithm mentioned in [3]An Efficient Leader Election Algorithm for Mobile Adhoc Networks Pradeep Parvathipuram1, Vijay Kumar1, and Gi-Chul Yang2 for implementing it with the MPI. Leader Election Each node propagates its unique identifier to its neighbors and a maximum identifier is elected as a leader in every round. This maximum identifier is propagated in the subsequent rounds. All the rounds need to be synchronized. idlist (i) identifies identifier list for node i, which consists of all the neighbors for node i. Lid(i) =max(idlist(i)) Termination At (rounds >= diameter), for each node i, If all identifiers in idlist are the same(i) the node i stops sending the maximum identifier further and chooses the maximum identifier in the idlist(i) as the leader. The algorithm gets terminated if for each node i the elements in idlist (for each node) are the same. The termination may not be at the final part of the diameter rounds, If all identifiers in the idlist as the leader. ALGORITHM [3]: Each node i in the network has two components a) idlist identifier list b) Lid(i) leader id of node i. 1) Each node say node i transmits its unique identifier in the first round and Lid(i) in the subsequent rounds to their neighbors and all these ids will be stored in idlist. Lid(i) = max (idlist(i)); 2) A unique leader is elected in diameter rounds, if there are no topological changes in the network. The algorithm is modified to incorporate topological changes in between the rounds and below is the description of how the algorithm is modified. Case 1: If a node has no outgoing links then lid(i) = i; Case 2: If a node leaves between the rounds, then the neighbors would know this. Suppose node i leaves the network after round r and let its neighbors be j and k. neighbors of i (i.e. j, k). 1) Delete (ilist, idlist(j k)) // delete ilist from idlist ilist contains the group of identifiers that node i has sent to its neighbors before round r along with i The ilist information is also deleted from all the neighbors of j and k if the ilist identifiers have been propagated in the previous rounds. This process continues until all the nodes in the network are covered. 2) Repeat while (round > = diameter), // Termination condition Compare all the identifiers present in idlist(i) for each node i. If all the identifiers in idlist(i) are equal, node i stops propagating its maximum identifier and elects the maximum identifier as the leader. Case 3: If a new node i joins the network in between the rounds say round r then the neighbors will update its idlist. 1) If neighbors of i say node j is the neighbor for node i. Add (i,idlist(j));The normal algorithm continues (the ids are propagated), nodes keep exchanging the information till diameter rounds. 2) Repeat while (round > = diameter),For all nodes in the network (node j) receives an identifier i at diameter round. IF i is greater than the maximum identifier node j has propagated in the previous round (diameter-1). a) Propagate node i to all the neighbors of j. b) Also propagate the node i information to all the neighbors of neighbors i until the whole network is covered, if the above condition satisfies. Else do not propagate the information to nodes in the network i) Compare all the identifiers present in idlist(i) If all the identifiers in idlist(i) are equal, node i stops propagating its maximum identifier and elects the maximum identifier as the leader. ii) All nodes in the network follow this process and a unique leader is elected connected component. The time taken for the algorithm to elect a leader will be O (diam + Άt) where Άt is the time taken for all the nodes to converge and Άt depends on the topology changes. Message complexity The message complexity of this algorithm depends on the number of rounds. In each round it sends 2N messages if we consider a ring topology as every node has 2 neighbors. So message complexity is 2N* No. of rounds. This algorithm is implemented using MPI and the message complexity and time complexity given by the MPI program is No.of processes Messages Real time User time System time 5 30 1.187 0.023 0.022 10 120 1.301 0.026 0.024 15 240 1.421 0.030 0.027 20 440 1.541 0.032 0.029 25 650 1.752 0.037 0.031 Table 5: Leader Election Algorithm for Mobile Adhoc Networks 5. Simulations Message Complexity with respect to number of processes Time No.of Messages Transferred Sno Algorithm N=5 N=10 N=15 N=20 N=25 N=5 N=10 N=15 N=20 N=25 1 LeLanns 1.195 1.292 1.446 1.551 1.654 25 100 225 400 625 2 Chang Roberts 1.189 1.299 1.412 1.531 1.65 9 19 29 39 49 3 Bidirectional Ring 1.186 1.302 1.417 1.534 1.661 14 29 44 59 74 4 MobileAdhoc 1.187 1.301 1.421 1.541 1.752 30 120 240 440 650The message and time complexity of each of these 4 algorithms for different number of processes is implemented in our programs and the results are as shown in table 6. All the above simulations are plotted on the graph so as to analyze the way different algorithms message complexity varies with the number of processes on which it executes. 6. Conclusions Table 6: Simulation ResultsComparing the results, we can conclude that the Lelanns algorithm is the most fundamental algorithm and requires large number of message exchanges among the four algorithms. Changs and Robert algorithm made considerable changes to Lelanns algorithm however in the worst case that algorithm also requires O(N2). For leader election in ring topology these are the two unidirectional algorithms that are to be considered. The bidirectional algorithm requires less messages than the worst case Changs and Roberts algorithm. It requires O(N logN) messages. It takes less time to discover the leader when compared to unidirectional algorithms since the messages are sent in both the directions. The final algorithm is put into effect for mobile adhoc networks and is run in many rounds. The messages complexity depends on number of rounds. It guarantees that there is only one leader at a time but however it handles the partition in the network and requires more number of messages .

The Great Gatsby: The American Dream :: essays research papers

The Great Gatsby: The American Dream "Their love is founded upon feelings from the past, these give it, notwithstanding Gatsby's insistence on being able to repeat the past, an inviolability. It exists in the world of money and corruption but is not of it." The Great Gatsby, a novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald, is about the American Dream, and the demise of those who attempt to capture its false goals. For Jay, the dream is that, through wealth and power, one can obtain happiness. To get this happiness Jay must reach into the past and relive an old dream and in order to do this he must have wealth and power. Jay Gatsby, the central figure of the story, is a character who longs for the past. He devotes most of his adult life trying to recapture it and, eventually dying in its pursuit. In the past, Gatsby had a love affair with the beautiful and seemingly innocent Daisy. Knowing he could not marry her because of the difference in their social status, he leaves her to accumulate his wealth so that he reaches her economic and social standards. Once he acquires this wealth, he moves just across the bay from her and her husband, Tom. At this mansion, he throws extravagant parties, hoping by chance that Daisy might show up at one of them. He does not actually attend his parties but watches them from a distance. When this attempt fails, he asks around casually if anyone knows her. Soon he meets Nick Carraway, his neighbor and fortunately a cousin of Daisy, who agrees to set up a meeting. Later, during a confrontation in the Plaza Hotel, Gatsby still believes that Daisy loves him. He is convinced of this as is shown when he takes the blame for Myrtle's death even though it had been Daisy who was driving. He also watches and protects Daisy as she returns home that night after all the secret affairs come unfolded, agreeing to stay all night waiting outside her house if Tom tries anything. Gatsby cannot accept that the past is gone and done with. Gatsby is sure that he can capture his dream with wealth and influence. He believes that he went beyond his personal interest and that should guarantee success. Nick attempts to show Gatsby the flaw of his dream, but Gatsby innocently replies to Nick's statement that the past cannot be relived by saying, "Can't repeat the past?

The Opposition to Human Cloning: How Morality and Ethics Factor in Ess

The Opposition to Human Cloning: How Morality and Ethics Factor in If a random individual were asked twenty years ago if he/she believed that science could clone an animal, most would have given a weird look and responded, â€Å"Are you kidding me?† However, that once crazy idea has now become a reality, and with this reality, has come debate after debate about the ethics and morality of cloning. Yet technology has not stopped with just the cloning of animals, but now many scientists are contemplating and are trying to find successful ways to clone human individuals. This idea of human cloning has fueled debate not just in the United States, but also with countries all over the world. I believe that it is not morally and ethically right to clone humans. Even though technology is constantly advancing, it is not reasonable to believe that human cloning is morally and ethically correct, due to the killing of human embryos, the unsafe process of cloning, and the resulting consequences of having deformed clones. Human cloning is the process by which genetic material from one person would be artificially transferred into a human or animal egg cell, thereby beginning the life of a new human individual who has only one parent and who is genetically identical to that parent. The once impossible idea of cloning became a reality in 1997 when Scottish embryologist Ian Wilmut and his colleagues at the Roslin Institute in Scotland announced that a cloned sheep named Dolly was born. Dolly was created by removing the nucleus from a sheep egg cell and replacing it in the nucleus of a cell taken from the udder of another sheep. This said might sound good, but there are other pieces of information that need to be known about this process. ... ....† A World of Ideas. Ed. Lee Jacobus. Boston: Bedford, 2002. 261-284. â€Å"Hundreds want clones, scientists say.† 9 March 2002. MSNBC.com 2 April 2002 http://www.msnbc.com/news/541711.asp?cp1=1. Jefferson, Thomas. â€Å"The Declaration of Independence.† A World of Ideas. Ed. Lee Jacobus. Boston: Bedford, 2002. 75-84. Lee, Jean K. â€Å"Panel Discusses Ethical Issues of Cloning at Crowded Forum.† The Tech v117 (9 May 1997) p12. 5 April 2002 http://the-tech.mit.edu/V117/N25/cloning.25n.html. â€Å"Much Confusion Over Cloning: Many Americans Don’t Understand Science, Risks.† 2 April 2002. The Associated Press. 5 April 2002 http://www.msnbc.com/news/553785.asp. Wachbroit, Robert. Genetic Encores: The Ethics of Human Cloning. 1999. Institute for Philosophy & Public Policy, U of Maryland. 5 April 2002 http://www.puaf.umd.edu/IPPP/Fall97Report/cloning.htm.

Brave New World :: essays research papers

In the book, Brave New World, there are many examples of prophecy. The first example of prophecy is cloning. In the book they were cloning up to 96 people that all looked identical. Today we have successfully cloned a sheep, and we are moving towards possibly cloning humans just like the book prophesied. The second example of prophecy is brainwashing and hypnotism. In the book they conditioned, or brainwashed, the infants and children to like and hate certain things for the purpose of increased consumption. Today, there are certain things that hypnotize us like commercials and billboards. More strongly there are hypnotist who hypnotize people in order to find out about someone’s past and also to tried to cure their bad habits and phobias. This is just matter of opinion, but brainwashing is probably going on behind the scenes of our government. The final example of prophecy is genetically altering embryos. In the book they altered the embryos to make some not as smart as others . They also did it to put the people in different caste systems. They also, not mentioned in the book, prevented diseases from the altering of the embryos. Certainly there were many things that Aldous Huxley prophesied that came true.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  There were many examples of fantasy in the book, Brave New World. The first is the thought of no mothers and fathers. In the book they had no mothers or fathers and those words were considered bad. They belonged to the state and that was all they needed. Today, mothers and fathers affect their children so greatly that the thoughts of there not being mothers or fathers are just so far-fetched. People today wouldn’t conform to that, because they are proud of having children and continuing certain traditions and family names. The next example of fantasy is the Bokanovsky Process. In the book they would have one egg that split into 96 eggs over a certain time which produced 96 identical twins. I believe that wouldn’t happen today because we live in a world that relies on the individual for stability. If one would take away people’s individuality by making them 95 sisters and brothers then the whole world would be in an uproar. The last example of fantasy is caste colors. In the book there was 5 different castes in which each caste had their own color. Today the thought of everyone dressing alike would be absurd.

Industrialized Poets Essay

Edgar Allan Poe, Walter Benjamin, and Arthur Rimbaud all lived in the turbulent 19th Century where the idyllic countryside was giving way to the industrialized world. Their poetry reflects the profound impact industrialization’s onslaught had on the world. Starting from Edgar Allan Poe, to Arthur Rimbaud and finally to Walter Benjamin this paper will discuss the effect of industrialization on their respective worldview vis-à  -vis the situation of the world during their life time. A City in the Sea By Edgar Allan Poe Lo! Death has reared himself a throne In a strange city lying alone Far down within the dim West, Where the good and the bad and the worst and the best Have gone to their eternal rest. There shrines and palaces and towers (Time-eaten towers that tremble not!) Resemble nothing that is ours. Around, by lifting winds forgot, Resignedly beneath the sky The melancholy waters lie. No rays from the holy heaven come down On the long night-time of that town; But light from out the lurid sea Streams up the turrets silently — Gleams up the pinnacles far and free — Up domes — up spires — up kingly halls — Up fanes — up Babylon-like walls — Up shadowy long-forgotten bowers Of sculptured ivy and stone flowers — Up many and many a marvelous shrine Whose wreathà ©d friezes intertwine The viol, the violet, and the vine. So blend the turrets and shadows there That all seem pendulous in the air, While from a proud tower in the town Death looks gigantically down. There open fanes and gaping graves Yawn level with the luminous waves; But not the riches there that lie In each idol’s diamond eye — Not the gaily-jeweled dead Tempt the waters from their bed; For no ripples curl, alas! Along that wilderness of glass — No swellings tell that winds may be Upon some far-off happier sea — No heavings hint that winds have been On seas less hideously serene. But lo, a stir is in the air! The wave — there is a movement there! As if the towers had thrust aside, In slightly sinking, the dull tide — As if their tops had feebly given A void within the filmy Heaven. The waves have now a redder glow — The hours are breathing faint and low — And when, amid no earthly moans, Down, down that town shall settle hence, Hell, rising from a thousand thrones, Shall do it reverence.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The setting is in a city in the west ruled by death who is worshiped by all. This set is often quoted or at least used for the crafting of gothic films or at work. Death looks down upon all from his high tower, like Sauron atop Barad-Dur. The city has ‘domes, spires and kingly halls, and fanes and Babylon like walls. The poem makes a rather ironic point because the west has always been associated with good and life and the east with evil and death. For example, in Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings Trilogy Aragorn is the goodly Lord of the West while the Sauron commands a legion of evil Easterlings.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Poe speaks of a brooding end of days when ‘the waves now have a redder glow, the hours are breathing faint and low.’ The waves turning red as a sign of hells coming because red is the color of fire and hence the color of Hell and the Devil. ‘and when, amid no earthly moans, down, down the tower shall settle hence, Hell rising from a thousand thrones, shall do it reverence. It would appear that the poem speaks of the city of death as if it were superior to Hell. Rather, as if Hell were subordinate and must pay homage. The end is a creepy scene where the Devil expresses gratitude to the devil for allowing him to come and rule the Earth.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   As can be expected of Edgar Allan Poe the setting is dark and brooding. In relation to the modernization being experienced during Poe’s time it is quite possibly a comment on the widening gap between the rich and poor as a result of industrialization, specifically the factory system. Poe lived in the early 19th Century in his time factories were being setup left and right. People were migrating from the provinces to the cities in order to get jobs at the factories because the cottage industries they used to have were no longer viable. Instead they had to move to cities. The cities were grim gothic environs in their own right. Sanitation, Housing, and food were all in short supplies. The cities were dirty, grimy, disease ridden affairs for the vast majority of the rural immigrants. Life was short and dangerous, they lived miserable lives often working in inhuman conditions for factory owners who ruthlessly abused them. Contrast this with the capitalists who owned the factories. The newness of the factory system meant that laws were not yet in place to protect the rights of the workings. Unscrupulous factory owners worked the peasants to the hilt. Fourteen-hour work days and Six-day work weeks were not unknown. Wages were a scandal, with no wage boards or unions to protect them and with the labor being a buyers market most workers had no choice but to accept the poor wages or be unemployed. As a result, the factory owners could become oppressively rich. In fact, in the Victorian era the Nobles and the now-wealthy Capitalists mingled as equals in the lavish parties of the day. Men like Vanderbilt and Astor could afford to build Palatial estates fit for kings quite possibly at the expense of the wretched workers in their factories. In my opinion, aside from his already dark and brooding outlook and writing style, Edgar Allan Poe was inspired to write A City in the sea by his exposure to the factory system. The oppression of the workers vis-à  -vis the extreme privilege of the owner may have further jaded mr. Poe. He would is not the first, and he was certainly not the last to suggest that Hell itself will rise from the City in the Sea. Moving forward, Arthur Rimbaud’s Une Saison en Enfer or A season in hell was written at the time when he was recovering from a gunshot. The book has had considerable influence on later Surrealist writers it was considered a revolutionary work because it shunned conventional description, straightforward narrative and didactic purpose. His work revolts against naturalism, precision and objectivity. Rimbaud relies on suggestion and evocation rather than concrete depiction. For this paper we will focus on the second poem Bad blood. The poems read like the confessions of a self-confessed scoundrel. And why should it not? Rimbaud had a homosexual lover named Paul Verlaine who later shot him when they broke up. The book was direct result of his shooting and the tumults he underwent while recovering from the wound. Initially the book was unsuccessful. The poem Bad Blood, like the rest of his work, reads like the rants of a self-confessed scoundrel. He explores his pre-Christian, Gaellic origins and emphasizes his alienation from modern civilization. Scholars are at variance as to what the actual theme of his work is. However, the general consensus is that it has to do with the Narrator’s struggle to reconcile the ideals of Christianity with the Hypocrisy and Corruption of Western Civilization. There are many dualities presented and exposed for what they are. In relation to his times the Hypocrisy and Corruption was at its hilt. In those days nearly every European power had colonies overseas. All European nations, at least in the west, professed freedom and civil liberties as inalienable rights. Slavery and serfdom were obsolete and illegal in Western Europe. Yet all one has to do is leave the confines of continental Europe so see that slavery is still widely practiced. I believe that as result of modern printing and communication methods like the Morse code and the AFP news began to travel faster than it did before. This exposed Rimbaud to the many forms of Hypocrisy and Corruption that crippled the morale fiber of Europe. For example, Africans are treated as second-class citizens in their own country. They are forced to work inhumane conditions in the mines, plantations and farms of their European masters for little or no viable compensation. Civil liberties are denied to colonials to the hilt, in the Philippines the Spanish are allowed to beat up the locals just for not showing them the proper deference. In fact, he did not have to go very far. There were many reports of women and children working in English coal mines. They even went on strike to protest their inhumane wages and working conditions. Normally news from England would take days or even weeks to reach continental Europe and vise versa but thanks to the telegraph a worker’s strike in Paris can be known to Londoners as quickly as the next day. Finally, Benjamin’s work was perhaps the most heavily affected by industrialization. In fact, his book Paris, Capital of the Nineteenth Century is almost entirely about the advances and changes brought about by the rapid industrialization of the bygone century. The book outlines the changes in almost glowingly utopia perspective. This is in contrast to the dark, brooding and negative views of the previous authors. For example, the first chapter â€Å"Arcades† points out that material and social conditions that makes Arcades possible. With the advancement of capitalism, Arcades have become obsolete, replaced by the department store. As an aside, Benjamin refers to Arcades as almost utopian paradises. The next chapter about Daguerre photography mentions the role of photography in transforming art. The chapter also mentions how photos become a commodity and emphasizes the commodity trade of photographs in relation to portraits. Benjamin will later refer to this as unconscious optics. The fourth chapter points out how the rapidly industrialized world has successfully separated home from work. In the olden days of Agriculture people worked that land where they lived. In his day people traveled quite far to reach the factories and shops where they worked.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Simply put, Benjamin chronicles the changes that industrialization has brought about. It is appears he view industrialization as positive since there are few mentions of the negative aspect of it. Instead Industrialization is viewed positively as a means to improve the lives and livelihoods of people.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Industrialization brought about massive changes during the 19th century. Poets and writers as purveyors and chroniclers of the people’s world-view are not isolated from these sweeping changes. These authors are just a few examples of how the great changes of their times greatly affected their styles.

Chronic Illness Strikes Again Essay

Throughout the ‘hard times’ of a person’s life, they may face their difficulties with an attitude of generosity and fortitude. When it comes to living in sickness, however, true human nature seems to reveal itself. When confined to the house, room, or bed with a chronic illness, one becomes weak. This weakness allows themselves to show the nature of humans, which is not the aforementioned strength, but selfishness as well as impatience. Chronic illnesses have an extreme effect on the mindset of an individual. Affected children and adolescents are subjected to developmental issues, worries of being socially unaccepted, and being uncertain of their future. Children have been observed to experience more stress and far more changes in personality and behavior. Their risk for psychological disorders significantly increases in the presence of a severe illness. The limits put on chronically ill children, usually by parents or doctors, destruct their concept of manners an d ‘behaving’. This causes the child to be quick-tempered and prone to tantrums. Human selfishness is the underlying root of negative behavior changes due to sickness. Individuals with a chronic illness are viewed as a burden on society by the vast majority of our population. It is the healthy person’s own selfishness that causes the sick to be aware of everyone else’s ‘not my problem’ attitude. Sickness has a monumental impact on the person living in it and alters every aspect of their life. When a family member is suffering from a severe illness, the dynamic of their family will drastically change. Parents are primarily the caregivers to their children while they are sick. Their role is a challenging one, as they face a great tension between members of the family, high financial expenses, and difficulty communicating with their child. When the family views these stigmas as unmanageable, relationships weaken, and stress accumulates. The parent’s perception of their child’s uncontrollable selfish behavior causes them to believe there are disciplinary issues occurring. The common tendency for mothers who experience more elevated levels of stress due to their child’s illness is to view their behavior as deviant. A severely ill person will naturally have more difficulty suppressing their selfish desires, but this drives a wedge between them and their apathetic family members. Siblings of the sick become ‘forgotten’ by their parents and they too may lash out in attempts of receiving some attention. Elderly people are often diagnosed with chronic illnesses, making them even more aware of their numbered days. When most people hear the words ‘sick old people’ it can be quite obvious that they are the last thing anyone wants to be around. They are believed to be grouchy, rude, and miserable. And it is true, they are! Like many others that are chronically ill, older patients can try to put on the humble and serene faà §ade, but it won’t last very long. Nobody wants to be sick, and nobody wants to be in the presence of a sick person either. Why would anyone want that? People want to be able to make their own decisions without any restrictions. So, when chronic illness stands in the way of that ability, selfishness and impatience become very prominent. Okay I know this is where I am supposed to put my conclusion but it is very late and I really don’t feel like it so whoever is peer editing this if you wouldn’t mind putting down some things you feel as though I should include in this that would be GREAT thank you very much and I know my essay is a bit disorganized and my stance isn’t as clear as it could be but I will make it better it is just very late and my eyes are tired thanks so much. Ps also that’s not going to be my title lol I’m sorry I needed something to put there first thing that popped into my head alright bye

Vedic Religion, Mythology, and Society.

Paige Hammerl Vedic Religion, Mythology and Society The early civilizations of India have proven to be a highly intellectual, god fearing, and advanced collaboration of people. From approximately 2700 B. C. E to around 500 B. C. E two societies flourished in the northern region of India known as the Indus Valley. The Indus Valley Civilization and later, the Aryans – believed by some to have migrated to India from Europe and the middle East – paved the foundation of Hinduism through the influences of their cultures, early religions and social structures.Unfortunately, there is little to be said of the earliest inhabitants, the people of the Indus Valley Civilization because there still does not exist a decipherment of the Indus Valley Script. Based on loose interpretations of artifacts found in ancient Indus Valley cities, we have been able to depict that the people of the Indus Valley were originally a nomadic tribe, but later had a high degree of uniformity amongst cit y development, a language written on a variety of small 1 inch seals, and may have worshiped Goddesses or a pre-Siva God, often seen on these seals with three faces, bullhead, sitting in a yogic position.According to A. L Bashman’s book The Origins and Development of Classical Hinduism, over time the Indus Valley Civilazation began to dwindle because they were driven from their lands by natural disasters, such as the sudden rise in the level of the sea bed south of the delta of the Indus River (Bashman, 1989, pg. 2). Although we have been able to extract minuscule clues from the Indus Valley Civilization, most of Hinduism's pre-history stems from an religious Aryan ancient text called The Veda, consisting of four traditions, the Rg-, Yajur-, Sama-, and Atharva-.It is important to mention that the Veda’s are thought of as eternal, or not written by human beings, and the Aryan people passed down knowledge of the Veda’s from generation to generation through word of mouth. People saw the Veda’s as extremely sacred texts or scriptures and they were verbally relayed for nearly 3000 years with little to almost no change to them. By some the translation of the Veda’s into written word was viewed as against the religion because traditionally not everyone was actually allowed or able to learn the Veda’s in early times, and also it was as if physical written words tainted the sacredness of the scripture.The priestly class of the Vedic Aryans, known as the Brahmans, were viewed as the preservers of vedic tradition. They were allowed to attend the various theological schools which would specialize in the memorization of specific texts within the Veda’s. The Veda’s were composed chronologically with the Rg-Veda as the first text â€Å"written†. The Rg-Veda consists of 10 books of 1028 hymns praising various deities, guessed to be composed in early Sanskrit as early as 1200 BCE over a period of a few hundred year s. The Sama-Veda is a book of songs, all based on the hymns of the Rg-Veda.The Yajur-Veda consists of 4 books: one book is the white Yajur-Veda, and the other three are the black Yajur Veda. Within these books lies vital information regarding procedures for rituals and sacrifices. Lastly, the Atharva-Veda is a collection of hymns and â€Å"magical† material (spells, charms, imprecations, and incantations), and this Veda is essentially overlapping magic and religion. Each of the four Veda’s have a vast number of gods, or devas, being acknowledged and praised. However, within the Veda’s, stories or myths of the gods are scarcely present; that information was assumed to be common knowledge.All the pantheon of Vedic religion are divided into two classes: the gods (devas) which follow rta, the cosmic order, the set course of nature, and the demons (asura), follow anrta, or anti-rta, in an attempt to overturn the natural course of things. The gods uphold rta, which is essentially moral and physical universal law. Many other gods or devas are deities associated with nature, the heavens and space. The main Devas include Indra, Varuna, Mitra, Nastya, and the minor devas include Yama, Vishnu, and Rudra. The nature divinities include Surya (sun), Agni (fire), Soma (ritual plant), Pajanya (rain), Ushas (dawn), Earth, Moon and Night.The gods are viewed as powerful and willing beings whose pleasure or dissatisfaction determines the course of events in humans day to day lives. If they are pleased they can bless the people with rain for their crops, fertility in woman, good health, etc. and if they are displeased they first punish wrong-doers with disease, and after they are banished to â€Å"The House of Clay† a gloomy hell-like place, similar to where Hades of the Greeks resides. Of all the gods mentioned in the vedas, most notably in the Rg-Veda, the god Indra, god of war and weather, has a staggering 250 hymns in his honor.Indra is believed to be the creator of the cosmos, for when the demons, led by the serpent Vrtra, came to attack the gods, Indra, strengthed by Soma drink, faced them alone and came out victorious and from Vrtra’s dead body he created our world. Because of this, Indra is mainly viewed as a war leader (Bashman, 1989, pg. 12). The Veda’s main function were its involvement in public worship, and it were an essential part in rituals. The vedic Aryans main religious practice was promised religious sacrifice on a cyclical basis with the purpose of pleasing the gods and their ancestors.Both demanded praise and acknowledgement so anything from milk, clarified butter or ghee, curds, grain (rice/barely), soma plant, and even domestic animals were all used as offerings to the gods during sacrificial ceremonies (Bashman, 1989, ). There were two types of sacrificial ceremonies: domestic (life-cycle rites, requiring one fire) and solemn (public rites, requiring three fires). The vedic Aryan people used regular sacrificial ritual to maintain functionality of their tribe or cities. The gods were believed to have control over things such as rain, disease, sun, fertility, etc. o the people would sacrifice various goods/animals in their name in order to please them or strengthen them to help them. in order to maintain the functionality of the tribe. Each ritual was an extremely delicate experience. If one word, or one procedure was out of place the ritual was deemed void, and could even sometimes cause harm to the tribe for displeasing the gods. This is where the use of Brahman’s were vital, the rituals did not require massive buildings or elaborate icons, but only a qualified Brahman who knew all the required procedures learned from the Yajur-Veda.Often they had several Brahman’s present in order to ensure the correct sequence of events occurred. Rituals were centered around the idea of fire. In rituals the fire god Agni would, via a specific number of domestic fires, re ceive sacrifices/praises from the people and pass them onto the other gods. This gives Agni the reputation of a rather important god, with 200 hymns dedicated to him in the Rg-Veda. Fire was viewed as a link between the worldly and divine realms (Flood, 2004, 41). Also, rituals consisted one other important act preformed by the Brahmans – the eating of the Soma plant.According to Gavin Flood in An Introduction to Hinduism, Soma is believed to be some variation of a hallucinogenic mushroom, and was used to bring the priests to a mystical state where they could see the gods and recite veda hymns to them. Soma was not only a plant used in rituals, but was also a deity (god) and was praised for creating the link between gods and humans. To the drinker, Soma brought superhuman strength, a sense of growing to a gigantic size, and gave visions of the gods coming down to join the worshipers (Bashman, 1989, 14).Soma was also given to the gods during rituals as a strength inducer so th ey would be able to fight off the demons causing a tribe grief. As stated in An Introduction to Hinduism, rituals were preformed on a daily basis by every Aryan at around dusk or dawn, and also more complicated rituals were preformed at the beginning of the two lunar fortnights of the months (the days of full and new moons). One expensive and important ritual preformed during this period was the rajasuya sacrifice. It was a royal sacrifice used by kings to ensure them a place in heaven during afterlife and also to prove their worth as a king.This complicated sacrifice was put on by the king and was centered around a great stallion (or horse) that would be followed by groups of men for about a year as it roamed the plains going city to city demanding praise before coming back to the main city to be sacrificed to the gods. The significance of the rajasuya sacrificial ceremony was its link to political power (Bashman, 1989, 33). These sacrifices were used to maintain the functionality of a tribe/city and give kings the opportunity to prove their worth to the people, so kings would pay all the extensive expenses in order to put forth these ceremonies.However, the only people that were able to preform these specific ceremonies with perfect precision was the priest class (Brahmans). This gave them a considerable amount of power, and one could argue that it created a power struggle between the ruling class and the priestly class. Nevertheless, all the sacrificial offering ceremonies were a time for rejoicing, not only for the kings who put them on, but also for the entire population because everyone was benefiting. Later in vedic history, after all the Veda’s had been written, people began to grow antsy with their religion.They started to seek more answers and try to create connections between the meaning of life, birth/rebirth, karma, the gods, and the purpose of ritual (Reat, 1977, 1). This is the period when the Upanishads were written. The Upanishads were a â€Å"secret conversation† that was only meant to be heard by a select few people, and was the beginning of the emergence of Enlightenment and created the basis of classical Hinduism. Vedic religion is not the same as the Hinduism religion, it is however a precursor to it.From the vedic religion we can see the pre-stages of important Hinduism concepts, such as the connection between religious sacrifice and karma. To this day some people in traditional Hindu and Nepal societies practice early vedic traditions. The vedic religion is overall a polytheistic religion, however it seen being practiced as monotheistic and henotheistic, and in my opinion this excerpt coming from the Yajur-Veda sums up the Vedic Religion: â€Å"O Supreme Force governing the world! You function as per unchangeable laws which remain the same throughout without slightest of deviations.May I also seek inspiration from. You to be unflinchingly principled in my life. Thus I resolve to seek truth constantl y by eliminating the false from my life every moment to the best of my abilities, intentions and efforts. May I be successful in this noble decision of mine. † Yajurveda 1. 5 Bibliography Bashman, A. L. The Origins & Development of Classical Hinduism. Oxford/New York: Oxford University Press, 1989. Print. Flood, Gavin. An Introduction to Hinduism. New Delhi: Cambridge University Press, 2004. Print. Hammerl, Paige and Deshpande, Madhov. Vedic Religion/Lifestyle Notes.Jamison, S. J. and Witzel, M. â€Å"Vedic Hinduism. † FAS at Harvard University. Harvard University. 2002. Web. Accessed February 4th, 2013. Lorenzen, David N. â€Å"Who Invented Hinduism? † Comprehensive Studies in Society and History. Cambridge University Press. October 1999. Web. 4 February 2013. Ross Reat, Noble. â€Å"Karma and Rebirth in the Upanishads and Buddhism. † Lancaster, England: ProQuest and Information and Learning Company. December 1977. Print (on the web). â€Å"Srauta. † Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 4 December 2012. Web. Access February 4th, 2013.

Case Analysis of Wal-Mart Mexico

1. Introduction 1. 1 History: Wal-Mart first stuck its toe into Mexico in 1991 through a joint venture with Cifra, Mexico’s leading retail company, initially limited to developing Sam’s Club warehouse stores in Mexico. The tremendous success of the first Sam’s Club stores and the impending passage of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) encouraged further collaboration, and Wal-Mart and Cifra expanded their joint venture through the 1990s. Wal-Mart purchased a majority stake in Cifra in 1997. Prior to the joint venture, Cifra’s lineup included Aurrera autoservicios (superstores selling food, clothing, and a variety of other items), Superama supermarkets, Suburbia department stores, and Vips restaurants. To this roster, Wal-Mart added Wal-Mart superstores (shifting Aurrera to a budget niche and relabeling its stores Bodega) and Sam’s Club warehouse stores, as well as introducing two new restaurant formats. Wal-Mart-Cifra had fewer grocery stores (though more stores of all formats) than either of competitors Gigante and Comercial Mexicana as of 1993, but had overtaken them by 2000 and today has 326 Wal-Mart, Aurrera, Sam’s, and Superama stores. Wal-Mart rolled out its â€Å"every day low prices† (EDLP) policy in Mexico in 1999-2000. It controlled 49 percent of Mexican supermarket sales in 2001. Wal-Mart also began to post price comparisons with other chains, a practice that in 2002 got it expelled from ANTAD, Mexico’s National Association of Supermarket and Department Stores. Today, 62 percent of Wal-Mart Mexico’s shares are owned by the U. S. based parent, Wal-Mart Stores. 2. Vision The vision of the Company summarizes their commitment to Mexico: â€Å"Contribute toward improving the quality of life for Mexican families. † Their basic belief is Respect for the Individual, Service to Our Customer, and Strive for Excellence, with Integrity being the underlying principle. 1. 3 The Mission Statement The mission upholding the Company’s permanence and success is value creating. All their efforts, strategies and actions are aimed at this objective. . Organizational Chart: Exhibit: 1 Exhibit: 1 2. Divisions of Wal-Mart Mexico: Wal-Mart Mexico’s size and geographic coverage dwarf those of its competition. It operates 694 stores in 73 Mexican cities. The Retail formats of Wal-Mart Mexico are: †¢ Bodega Aurerra †¢ Wal-Nlart Supercenter †¢ Sam’s Club †¢ Superarna †¢ Suburbia and †¢ Vips Although 360 of these stores are self-service (the others are restaurants [Vips] and department stores [Suburbia]), Wal-Mart Mexico has 55 percent of the Mexican retail market. The three major formats (Aurerra, 30 percent; Wal-Mart Supercenter, 27 percent; and Sam’s Club, 29 percent) together provide more than 86 percent of its revenues. 44 percent of the entire countries population is concentrated in 25cities metro areas. A bit more than 18 percent live in the capital city’s metro area. Mexico’s rural population accounts for about 34 million or about 33 percent of the country’s total population. The retail industry does not have a ingle outlet in the rural concentrations, which leaves the market to neighborhood Stores, public markets, or street vendors, which, as individual businesses, do not have a significant presence in the market as a whole. |FORMAT |NAME |#OF STORES |# IN 25 MOST IMPORTANT |% IN 25 MOST IMPORTANT | | | | |URBAN AREAS |URBAN AREAS | Warehouse |Bodega Aurerra |161 |117 |73% | |Suparmarket |Superama |50 |50 |100% | |Hypermarket |Supercenter |86 |74 |86% | |Savings Club |Sam’s Club |61 |42 |68% | |Restur ant |Vips |209 |190 |91% | | |El Porton |46 |42 |91% | |Apparel |Suburbia |53 |53 |100% | |Total | |666 |568 |85% | 3. Target Segments: One of the secret of Wal-Mart Mexico’s success is that it has a clearly defined target market. The Aurerra format (162 stores) is targeted at lower- to lower-middle income classes; these Bodega stores offer 48,000 SKUs. Sam’s Club (61 stores) offers a much more limited variety of products (4,000 SKUs) and targets consumers and businesses buying in volume. The Wal-Mart Supercenter stores (89 units) offer the widest variety of goods (80,000 SKUs). Superama (48 stores) contributes only 3 percent of the company’s sales; these stores offer a variety of goods (35,000 SKUs) but are located in residential areas for convenience. Wal-Mart Mexico’s Suburbia 50 department stores target the middle class, offering fashionable apparel at reasonable prices; these stores contribute 6 percent of the company’s sales. The Vip’s chain of restaurants (284 locations) represents 3 percent of the company’s sales. The vast majority of Wal-Mart Mexico’s stores are located in the 25 most important metro areas in the country. 4. Geographic Coverage [pic] [pic] 5. Responsibilities To the Stakeholders The Customer — The word ‘always' can be seen in virtually all of Wal-Mart Mexico’s literature. Their belief is that the customer is always right, and the stores are still driven by this philosophy. Their commitment to the customers is to Offer the right merchandise assortment, in the right amount, and at the right time at Everyday Low Prices, Always. they ensure and improve the quality of their service to provide the best possible shopping experience. Shareholders – Look after and grow the equity they have been entrusted with, observing the highest standards of integrity and the Corporate Governance best practices is their commitment towards their shareholders. The actions include †¢ foster transparency, timely presentation of information to the shareholders and ethical company management, which in turn contributes towards increasing the value of the Company, all within a control environment and with Corporate Governance best practices. †¢ Through the Statement of Ethics and Compliance program, they ensure that Integrity is an ever-present and global principle. †¢ They develop and every day instill a culture of compliance with beliefs, laws, standards and policies. The Employees – Wal-Mart Mexico believed in listening to employees and challenging them to come up with ideas and suggestions to make the company better. Its first contribution as a corporate citizen is its employment of more than 109,000 people throughout the country and the extensive training programs (4. 2 million hours in 2004) it provides for those employees. The firm highlights its diversity since 48 percent of its employees are female. At each of the Wal-Mart stores, signs are displayed which read, ‘Our People Make the Difference. ‘ One of Wal-Mart's goals was to provide its employees with the appropriate tools to do their jobs efficiently. They provide a sound organizational culture (Integrity, Respect for the Individual, Service to Our Customers, and Strive for Excellence). Personal and professional development for their people is a priority, as well as providing job security for them and economic stability for their families through continuous growth as a company and the diversity of our operations. They have also created programs to improve the quality of life for our Associates, promote gender equality, and benefit the Associates as well as their families. The Community– Wal-Mart is involved in many community outreach programs and has launched several national efforts through industrial development grants. They create and foster programs that promote development and improve the quality of life for all families throughout Mexico. Their initiatives to do so are †¢ Through their programs and on-going support of organizations, they contribute towards generating sustainable changes and creating solutions for malnutrition and food safety issues throughout the country. †¢ They convert community actions into local commitment, allowing each business unit of the Company to become an agent of change. †¢ Wal-Mex also provides direct financial assistance to support high impact projects regarding nutrition for communities in need. The Suppliers — The commitment towards their supplier is to support their development, growth and Consolidation. The purchasing agents of Wal-Mart are very much focused people. ‘Their highest priority is making sure everybody at all times in all cases knows who's in charge, and it's Wal-Mart'. ‘Even though Wal-Mart was tough in negotiating for absolute rock-bottom prices, the company worked closely with suppliers to develop mutual respect and to forge long-term partnerships that benefited both parties'. Actions include the following †¢ They provide development opportunities to suppliers through constant growth. †¢ Through Regional Trade Fairs Wal-Mart Mexico develop local suppliers as a means of providing additional support for small and medium enterprises. They have created areas of development for the textile and garment-making industry, the production chain for perishables, and new regional products. †¢ Our information systems help suppliers to plan production and buy of raw materials, thereby creating greater operations efficiencies and market competitiveness. 6. Financial Analysis: [pic] Financial Highlights 7. Strategic Analysis 7. 1 SWOT Analysis: A scan of the internal and external environment is an important part of the strategic planning process. The SWOT analysis provides information that is helpful in matching the firm's resources and capabilities to the competitive environment in which it operates. Thus, it is instrumental in strategy formulation and selection and simultaneously to develop a competitive advantage. Strengths: ? Good Corporate Citizen: Wal-Mart Mexico has a positive reputation in Mexico as a good corporate citizen, having received prestigious awards for its actions. It publishes an annual social responsibility report, highlighting its activities as a corporate citizen in Mexico. Wal-Mart Mexico has been certified as a â€Å"Socially Responsible Enterprise† since 2001, one of only a handful of companies in Mexico to receive such an honor. ? Market Leader: It is by far the leader in the Mexican retail industry after less than a decade and a half of operations there providing low-price goods to everyone. ? Largest Private Employer: Wal-Mart is Mexico s largest private employer, with 109,057 employees in valuable jobs in many local communities with 55 percent of the Mexican retail market. Wal-Mart argues that its first contribution as a corporate citizen is its employment of more than 109,000 people throughout the country and the extensive training programs (4. 2 million hours in 2004) it provides for those employees. The firm highlights its diversity since 48 percent of its employees are female. ? Large Market Share: Today, 62 percent of Wal-Mart Mexico’s shares are owned by the U. S. based Parent, Wal-Mart Stores. ? Largest Foreign Subsidiary Wal-Mart Mexico is the largest foreign subsidiary of Wal-Mart Stores and provides approximately 25 percent of the parent’s foreign sales. Environmental Performance Wal-Mart Mexico’s environmental performance includes investing over $8 million in 2003 and 2004 to open 73 water treatment plants and a variety of recycling, energy conservation, and pollut ion-reduction activities. It also emphasizes that more than 90 percent of the products sold in its stores are supplied in Mexico. ? Local Suppliers Wal-Mart Mexico sources from local suppliers. It has leveraged its volume buying power with its suppliers. It negotiates the best prices from its vendors and expects commitments of quality merchandise. So it can minimize the cost of the goods and can offer the customers a lower selling price as well. Good promotion and sponsorship Wal-Mart Mexico also is involved in a number of philanthropic activities, including programs focused on education, nutrition, homelessness, and health. In 2004, it sponsored a National Wal-Mart Mexico Volunteer Day, and 2,476 of its associates participated. ? Good Location Good location is one of the very important criteria for being successful in the industry. The vast majority of Wal-Mart Mexico’s stores are located in the 25 most important metro areas in the country. The retail industry does not have a single outlet in the rural concentrations, as these areas do not have a significant presence in the market as a whole. Increased sales Volume Wal-Mart Mexico’s large volume of sales also indicate its strength. The firm’s net income has increased dramatically from 2002 to 2004, from $485 million to $702 million. the total square meters of space have increased between 2001 and 2004, as have sales per square meter and net income per square meter. ? Proper Segmentation Wal-Mart Mexico has a clearly defined target market. The Aurerra format is targeted at lower- to lower-middle income classes; these Bodega stores offer 48,000 SKUs. Sam’s Club targets consumers and businesses buying in volume. The Wal-Mart Supercenter stores, Superama are located in residential areas for convenience. Wal-Mart Mexico’s Suburbia department stores target the middle class, offering fashionable apparel at reasonable prices. Weaknesses: ? Location: Though majority of the stores of Wal-Mart Mexico’s location are very good, one of the stores has been located near a world historic site, the pyramids of Teotihuacan, has elicited global disapproval from activist groups and is a public relations disaster drawing large local protests. For many, it is just another example of Wal-Mart’s lack of sensitivity to community and humanity. ? Lack of clear Strategic plan Though Wal-Mart Mexico has a clear Vision, Mission and strategy they do not have an integrated version of these. Thus, they need a clear strategic plan for the future. ? Easily copied strategy Competitors are learning to respond to Wal-Mart’s size, efficiency, and success. Wal-Mart stores operate according to their ‘Everyday Low Price' philosophy. All of the main competitors are now competing with Wal-Mart now offers some version of its â€Å"every day low prices† (EDLP) formula. Wal-Mart’s competitors insist that there is now no significant price difference, and many Mexican consumers seem to have drawn the same conclusion. Opportunities: ? Scope of Diversification The convenience stores like corner stores, public markets, and street vendors business is relatively new in Mexico, there is a scope of diversification in future for Wal-Mart Mexico. Joint ventures Through a 50—50 joint venture with Office Depot and a 51—49 joint venture with Radio Shack, Grupo Gigante runs 98 Radio Shack stores throughout Mexico. Seems that Wal-Mart Mexico has an opportunity to follow such approaches to be more successful in future. ? Improved services Like Soriana, another competitor of Wal-Mart Mexico it can provides: discount specials, loyalty card programs, big-ticket item raffles and contests (e. g. , a BMW X5 automobile), outgoing employees, and mariachi band entertainment in order to appeal to female middle-class consumers. ? Foreign Penetration Grupo Gigante is successfully penetrating foreign markets. Wal-Mart Mexico can also follow the same like its competitor in order to enter in a new era. ? Strategic Plan Though Wal-Mart Mexico does not have a clear strategic plan, there is a scope to make a good one to do better in future. Threats: ? Aggressive Competitive moves of Competitors The competitors of Wal-Mart Mexico proved themselves as quick respondents. They took various desperate initiatives to response with Wal-Mart Mexico’s approaches. As result shows that The Comercial Mexicana (CM) has slipped to third in terms of market share in the Mexican retail sector. Grupo Gigante currently has 13 percent market share in the Mexican retail industry. Soriana’s sales have grown at an annual rate of 17 percent since 1994, and it has no debt. Some of their initiatives are: i. Appealing logos of competitors Chedraui’s corporate logo indicates â€Å"Chedraui: It Costs Less. † Its mission is simply â€Å"to provide the products that customers want at the best price. † ii. Foreign Penetration Grupo Gigante is successfully penetrating foreign markets. iii. Joint Ventures Through a 50—50 joint venture with Office Depot and a 51—49 joint venture with Radio Shack, Grupo Gigante runs 98 Radio Shack stores throughout Mexico. iv. Superior Services Soriana provides: discount specials, loyalty card programs, big-ticket item raffles and contests (e. g. a BMW X5 automobile), outgoing employees, and mariachi band entertainment in order to appeal to female middle-class consumers. v. Prices differences Comercial Mexicana and Soriana now aggressively publicize price differences with Wal-Mart and Aurrera. Wal-M art’s competitors insist that there is now no significant price difference and now many Mexican consumers seem to have drawn the same conclusion. ? ANTAD The Asociacion Nacional de Tiendas de Autoservicio y Departamentales (ANTAD) is the trade association that represents the retail industry in Mexico. Wal-Mart left ANTAD in October 2002 because the association’s new ethics code explicitly stated that members should not publish any type of promotions stating another member’s prices. Since Wal-Mart is not a member of ANTAD, all ANTAD members now publish their lower prices compared to Wal-Mart’s, when they have them. ? Sinergia Because of Wal-Mart’s huge purchasing power, three other retailers—Comercial Mexicana, Gigante, and Soriana—have formed a purchasing cooperative. This cooperative, Sinergia, first introduced in 2002 to compete against Wal-Mart. The cooperative was first thought of as a competitive-directed measure for purchasing imported goods, mainly electronics, where Wal-Mart has been enormously successful, but it now has been extended to such other types of merchandise as groceries and packaged food. ? Specialized Retailers The Mexican retail sector is fragmented; there are a wide variety of retail formats, many of which are informal. Because many shoppers in Mexico do not have access to automobiles, and may not have large refrigeration space to store perishables, very small independent grocery stores have thrived for decades throughout Mexico. This business is controlled by the two Mexican beer makers. Cerveceria Modelo, with the Extra stores and 7-Eleven; and Cerveceria, Cuauhtemoc Moctezuma, with Oxxo (about 3,OOO stores). The concept is beginning to include gas stations, and many small entrepreneurs have a limited regional presence. Major national chains exist in the department, pharmacy, and electronics store formats. ? Mexican Economy The Mexican economy is very volatile; the retail sector is subject to this volatility. Throughout the latter half of the 1990s, inflation and interest rates still annually averaged well over 10 percent. The peso continues in decline in value relative to the dollar. The economic volatility has a negative impact on consumers and business alike. Mexican consumers are very price sensitive because of the economic challenges that the country faces. ? Various Criticisms Despite extensive social responsibility activities and its record as the largest private employer in the country, the potential for criticism of its purchasing practices and supplier and employee relations, as well as its impact on local small businesses and communities, loom as a significant threat 7. PEST Analysis: PEST Analysis The purpose of PEST analysis is to analyze the external environment and identify the strategic opportunities and threats in the organizations operating environment that will affect to it pursues its mission. This analysis requires assessment of the environment in which the company op erates. It also analyzes the country or national environment of the country and takes into account the wider socio economic and macro–environment that may affect the company and the industry. Political Factors Government: Mexico is a federal republic—hence its official name Estados Unidos Mexicanos—operating under a centralized government. Governmental powers at the federal level are divided between executive, legislative, and judicial branches, but in political practice the executive, that is, the presidency, has had strong control over the legislative branch. Only in recent years has the legislative branch seen its power increase because of the strengthening of the multiparty system. The president is elected by popular vote for a six-year period and is both the chief of state and head of government. The president appoints cabinet members. The legislative branch is a bicameral National Congress consisting of the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate. The Chamber of Deputies has five hundred members, elected for three-year terms; the Senate has 128 members, elected for six-year terms. In the judicial branch the Supreme Court of Justice is the highest tribunal. The federation is made up of thirty-one states and the Federal District (the capital). Each state has a governor, who serves a six-year term, and a unicameral legislature. Both are elected by popular vote. Before 1997, the chief of the Federal District was appointed by the president, but has since been elected directly by popular vote. The Federal District also has an Assembly of Representatives. The local administrative level is the municipality, which is governed by a popularly elected mayor and a municipal council for three-year terms. Suffrage is universal and mandatory (but not enforced) for those over the age of eighteen. Leadership and Political Officials: The modern presidency stands in a long tradition of pre-Columbian rulers (tlatoani), Spanish colonial viceroys, and nineteenth century and revolutionary caudillos. The president holds great discretionary powers. Power and leadership are attained through the management of personal relations, which are ruled by principles of loyalty, trust, and reciprocity. These informal networks are interconnected in a pyramidal way and form the real centers of decision making. Vertical patron-client relations can be found in all segments of society. Interactions between politicians, union leaders, top bureaucrats, and ordinary people also take place through these networks. In recent years, academic credentials and technocratic knowledge have become more important than political and electoral experience. Besides being chief of state and head of government, the president has traditionally been the leader of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), which held power from 1929 to 2000. During much of the twentieth century, Mexico was a one-party democracy. The PRI emerged from the revolution and incorporated mass organizations of workers, peasants, and urban middle classes. Because of its particular origins, its longevity in power, and the influence of diverse interest groups, the PRI is difficult to classify ideologically. There are two other significant parties in Mexico. The conservative National Action Party (PAN) began enjoying electoral success at the state level in 1985. The social-democratic Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD) emerged as a breakaway movement from the PRI in 1987 and began governing Mexico City in 1997. Both the PAN and the PRD aim at democratization, but the PRD also proposes a more equal distribution of wealth. The dominance of the PRI in federal elections was finally broken on 2 July 2000, when the candidate of the PAN won a stunning victory with 43 percent of the vote. Social Problems and Control: Both petty and organized crime increased in the 1990s. Muggings and burglaries, increasingly violent, became widespread. Drug-related violence constituted another serious cause of concern. Public security has thus become a key issue for ordinary citizens and the authorities. At the same time, the police and the judiciary system are widely believed to be ineffective and lack public credibility, partially due to unresolved high-profile political assassinations and corruption. This has led to incidents of people taking the law into their own hands. Paid neighborhood watches are common wherever people can afford them. Private security guards no longer patrol only at banks and government buildings but also at medium-sized offices and shops. In response, the government founded an additional police force in 1999, the National Preventive Police. Military Activity: Mexico has had civilian presidents since 1946 and has not been involved in international disputes in recent decades. The primary role of the military is the maintenance of internal order. The Ministry of National Defense (the army and air force) and the marines together comprised an armed force consisting of almost 240,000 members in 1998. Military expenditures have increased substantially in recent years and amounted to $2. 5 billion (U. S. ) in 1996, accounting for almost 1 percent of the GDP. In recent years the military has been involved in two serious problems: the armed uprising in the state of Chiapas and the struggle against drugs. Mexico is a major supplier of marijuana and heroin to the U. S. market and is the primary transshipment country for cocaine from South America. In 1998 the government spent $147 million (U. S. ) to combat drug trafficking, an amount that has increased spectacularly in recent years. Economic Factors Mexico City is a place to love and loathe, with everything one expects to find in the world's third-largest metropolis (only Tokyo and NYC are bigger). Mexico's best and worst ingredients are magi-mixed in this polluted and bustling megalopolis of music and noise, brown air and green parks, colonial palaces and skyscrapers, world-renowned museums and ever-spreading slums. Mexico has been progressing economically since the Mexican Civil War in 1939 when its economy was devastated. Today, tourism, industry and agriculture play a major role in the country’s economy. Mexico has seen the fastest economic development in Western Europe since the 1960’s. Tourism has played a major role since the 1960’s and in the last 40 years, tourism has been the fastest growing economic sector of the country’s GDP, helping to accelerate growth overall. Millions of visitors flock to Mexico and contribute almost $50 billion USD to Mexico’s economy each year. Agriculture contributes less than 5% of the nation’s GDP, which is high compared to other countries in Western Europe. Fishing is another important economic sector for Mexico. Industry contributes about 35% of Mexico’s GDP, but industry is still somewhat dependent on foreign investment. The most common products from this sector are motor vehicles, steel, textiles, chemicals and ships. Mexico is among the world's most open economies, but it is dependent on trade with the U. S. , which bought about 82% of its exports in 2007. Top U. S. xports to Mexico include electronic equipment, motor vehicle parts, and chemicals. Top Mexican exports to the U. S. include petro leum, cars, and electronic equipment. There is considerable intra-company trade. Trade disputes between the United States and Mexico are generally settled through direct negotiations between the two countries or via WTO or North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) panels. The most significant areas of friction involve agricultural products such as livestock and sweeteners. To address the issues that affect these industries in a manner consistent with the principles of free trade, the United States and Mexico have established technical working groups. During the last three decades Mexico has grown with an annual average rate of 4%, even with the changes from an inward-looking developing economic strategy towards a more open economy with a far-reaching trade liberalization program. But the story at the sub-national level is different; these changes have modified the regional development strategies and consequently the growth paths of the 32 Mexican states. There is evidence of an uneven growth, greater disparities and important differences in welfare standards among regions. Socio-Cultural Factors Orientation: Mexicans make several cultural subdivisions within the nation. The most common one identifies northern, central, and south or south-eastern Mexico. The extensive and desertlike north was only sparsely populated until the middle of the twentieth century, except for some important cities such as Monterrey. It has traditionally housed only small indigenous populations and is generally regarded as a frontier culture. Densely populated central and western Mexico is the cradle of the nation. Highly developed Indian cultures populated this region in pre-Columbian times and it was also the heart of the colony of New Spain. Many prominent colonial cities are major urban and industrial centers today. Southern Mexico has a tropical or subtropical climate and some rain forest. It is characterized by a strong indigenous heritage and is also the poorest part of the country. Demography: The preliminary results of the 2000 population census calculated the total number of Mexicans as 97,361,711. In 1950, the total population amounted to approximately 25 million, with the figure reaching nearly 50 million in 1970. These numbers demonstrate the rapid rate of demographic growth that was so characteristic of Mexico during the second half of the twentieth century. The growth rate has slowed, but the population is still very young. The average life expectancy in 1999 was estimated at sixty-nine years for men and a little over seventy-five years for women; the infant mortality rate was almost twenty-five per one thousand. In the late twentieth century, emigration to the United States (mainly of the illegal variety) became a significant phenomenon. Linguistic Affiliation: Spoken by more than 95 percent of the population, Spanish is the official language of Mexico and was introduced through conquest and colonization. Mexican Spanish has its roots in the Spanish of Spain. In terms of grammar, syntax, and spelling there are no important differences between the two, but the pronunciation and sound are different. Certain words from the principal Indian language (Nahuatl) are incorporated into Mexican Spanish, especially in the domains of food and household. Some of these words have also been incorporated into other languages such as the English ‘chocolate' from the Nahuatl ‘chocolatl'. The national culture of Mexico boasts sixty-two indigenous languages. In 1995 at least 5. 5 million people spoke an indigenous language. The level of bilinguism, however, was high at 85 percent. Symbolism: The most important icon of Mexican national culture is the Virgin of Guadalupe, which illustrates the pervasive influence of Roman Catholicism in the national culture. She is viewed as the â€Å"mother† of all Mexicans. The dark-skinned Virgin is the Mexican version of the Virgin Mary and as such represents national identity as the product of the mixing of European and Meso-American religions and peoples. Her image was used in the struggle for independence against the Spanish. Mexicans have developed a particular sense of uniqueness, which is expressed in the popular saying como Mexico no hay dos (Mexico is second to none). This sense is also expressed in numerous elements of popular culture such as food and music. Ethnic Relations: Social policies aimed at the emancipation of Indian groups and the elimination of profound socioeconomic inequalities have been employed since the 1930s. Nevertheless, indigenous populations are among the poorest and most marginalized groups in Mexico. Prejudice among broad sectors of the population toward Indians persists. Elites in provincial towns in predominantly indigenous regions are often openly racist. This situation has strained ethnic relations and there has been a rise of indigenous movements in recent years that demand a new space in the national culture. Most significant has been the outbreak of armed indigenous rebellion in the state of Chiapas, where the Zapatista Army for National Liberation declared war on the government in January 1994. Food: Mexico possesses an extensive and sophisticated culinary culture, with a great variety of regional dishes. Three products constitute the heart of most Mexican dishes: corn, hot peppers (chiles), and beans, products that stem from pre-Columbian times. Corn is consumed in all possible forms: as a cooked or roasted corncob (elote), cooked grain of corn, porridge (atole), as wrapped and steamed dough with filling (tamal), but most importantly as a tortilla, a thin, round â€Å"pancake. Tortillas are made from corn dough and come in many sizes, although the traditional tortilla that accompanies most meals has a diameter of approximately six inches (15 centimeters). When tortillas are filled with meat or other ingredients they are called tacos or quesadillas, which are especially popular in cent ral Mexico. Much of the sophistication of Mexican cuisine comes from the use of more than one hundred different types of chiles, which range from the large and â€Å"sweet† chile ancho to the small and extremely hot chile habanero. Mexican Family Values: The family is at the centre of the social structure. Outside of the major cosmopolitan cities, families are still generally large. The extended family is as important as the nuclear family since it provides a sense of stability. Mexicans consider it their duty and responsibility to help family members. For example, the will help find employment or finance a house or other large purchase. Most Mexican families are extremely traditional, with the father as the head, the authority figure and the decision-maker. Mothers are greatly revered, but their role may be seen as secondary to that of their husband. Machismo: Machismo literally means ‘masculinity'. There are different outward behaviors to display machismo. For example, making remarks to women is a stereotypical sign of machismo and should not be seen as harassment. Mexican males generally believe that nothing must be allowed to tarnish their image as a man. Hierarchical Society: Mexican society and business are highly stratified and vertically structured. Mexicans emphasize hierarchical relationships. People respect authority and look to those above them for guidance and decision-making. Rank is important, and those above you in rank must always be treated with respect. This makes it important to know which person is in charge, and leads to an authoritarian approach to decision-making and problem- solving. Mexicans are very aware of how each individual fits into each hierarchy–be it family, friends or business. It would be disrespectful to break the chain of hierarchy. Technological Factors Most scientific research in Mexico is conducted in the public universities, mainly in the National Autonomous University and the Autonomous Metropolitan University, both in Mexico City. The National Polytechnic Institute, also in Mexico City, is the foremost research institute in engineering and technology. In recent years there has been government support for developing research centers outside the capital. There is also an extensive network of specialized autonomous research institutes that are dependent on state finances such as the National Institute of Astrophysics, Optics, and Electronics and the College of Mexico. Just over half of the almost $2 billion (U. S. ) of federal expenditures in science and technology in 1998 was channeled through the Ministry of Public Education and another 34 percent was channeled through the Ministry of Energy. The majority of the latter funds are spent on research into the exploitation of oil. Public policy concentrates on three areas: promotion of quality and quantity of scientific research, establishment of linkages between science and industry, and the promotion of technological innovation. The National Council of Science and Technology is the most important funding agency for the physical and social sciences. In 1998 it had a budget of $287 million (U. S. , with 47 percent allocated to individual postgraduate grants, 25 percent to scientific research and technological development, and 22 percent to the National System of Researchers (SNI), a program of financial incentives to productive academics. In 1998, more than sixty-five hundred researchers were in the SNI. Information on corporate funding of research and development is unavailable but is estimated to be very modest compared to Mexico's main trading partners. Mexico's future development will have to be progressively more based on the effective generation and utilization of knowledge, in order to meet economic, social and environmental challenges. The role of the scientific & technological communities in knowledge supply and in its effective integration in innovation systems cannot be overemphasized. If it wants to invest coherently in its own S&T assets, and assert its own intellectual and scientific capacities in the global knowledge society, Mexico must strive to go beyond the level of being an â€Å"economic province† of the much larger and US-dominated NAFTA. Overall investment levels in S&T remains low, although substantial investment in local human resources and infrastructure is required to ensure the absorption, adaptation and application of world-class technology. For instances, Mexico's investment on RTD is the lowest of the OECD 2 (0. 31% of GDP), compares unfavorably with 0. 38% for Turkey and represents only one-seventh of the OECD average. This figure can also be compared with those of China (0. 7%), India (0. 8%) or Brazil (at least 0. 8%). Human resource formation, a critical output of research projects, also remains disappointingly low. Mexico trains fewer Ph. D. per year than comparable countries, with 3 Ph. D. s per million inhabitants, compared to 5 in India, 6 in Brazil and 19 in South Korea. Moreover, there is a significant regional disparity in the allocation of scientific resources, with 75% of all doctoral degrees being awarded by institutions in the Mexico City area. 8. Problem Symptoms: From the above strategic analyses it could be interpreted that, Wal-Mart's current strong competitive position and its past rapid growth performance can't guarantee that the company will remain as the industry leader or maintain its strong business position in the future, since there are huge threats for the Walmart in the Mexico city. Competitors are now taking aggressive competitive moves and successfully imitating their strategies and diminishing the Wal-Mex advantage. 9. Current Strategies: Low Cost Provider Wal-Mart stores operate according to their ‘Everyday Low Price' philosophy. According their vision to contribute to improve the quality of life for Mexican families, they invest to be near and offer them the best products at Every Day Low Prices. Wal-Mart has emerged as the industry leader because it has been better at containing its costs which has allowed it to pass on the savings to its customers. It continues to improve upon its key business processes, managing them centrally and investing in them heavily for the long term payback. 10. Strategy Implementation The key features of Wal-Mart Mexico's approach to implementing the strategy is the approach to implementing the strategy by building solid working relationships with both suppliers and employees, being aware and taking notice of the most intricate details in store layouts and merchandising techniques, capitalizing on every cost saving opportunity, and creating a high performance spirit. This strategic formula is used to provide customers access to quality goods, to make these goods available when and where customers want them, to develop a cost structure that enables competitive pricing, and to build and maintain a reputation for absolute trustworthiness. Wal-Mart Mexico has been regarded as an industry leader in ‘testing, adapting, and applying a wide range of cutting-edge merchandising approaches Wal-Mart’s secret of having phenomenal track record in Mexico is that it has brought a set of superior management techniques and technologies. Press accounts have emphasized Wal-Mart’s low-price strategy, high-technology distribution network, and intense pressure on suppliers for discounts—â€Å"the same formula† as in the United States, Wal-Mart de Mexico also has connected with and replicated the U. S. Company’s huge, Automated distribution network. With NAFTA eliminating most trade barriers, Wal-Mex has direct links to U. S. -based distribution centers, but also has built twelve distribution centers within Mexico31. In addition to heightened efficiency, this multiplies Wal-Mex’s power as a purchaser, since Wal-Mart consolidates orders for all goods from outside the United States. Another contributor to Wal-Mex’s success is its use of a wide range of formats to appeal to varied classes of consumers, and particularly lower income consumers. Wal-Mart succeed to achieve economies of scale which reduces its costs of sales. With this system, goods are continuously delivered to stores within 48 hours and often without having to inventory them. Lower prices also eliminate the expense of frequent sales promotions and sales are more predictable. Cross docking gives the individual managers more control at the store level. Wal-Mart has been led from the top but run from the bottom, a strategy developed by Sam Walton and carried on by a small group of senior executives. . Although recent growth has led Wal-Mart to add more management layers, senior executives strive to maintain its unique culture. 11. Limits to the success story Mexican retailers have proven to be quick studies. All three of the main national autoservicio chains competing with Wal-Mart now offer some version of its â€Å"every day low prices† (EDLP) formula. Comercial Mexicana and Soriana now aggressively publicize price differences with Wal-Mart and Aurrera. In addition, some of the larger suppliers (especially soft drink and snack food manufacturers) have begun to print suggested prices on their packages, deterring retailers from charging more. Wal-Mart’s competitors insist that there is now no significant price difference, and many Mexican consumers seem to have drawn the same conclusion. Similarly, squeezing suppliers has become commonplace for large Mexican retailers. Executives from competing chains report that they have also begun to shift toward centralized, highly automated distribution and tracking systems, and to create detailed procedure manuals. The net result of Mexican chains’ emulation of Wal-Mart is that Wal-Mex’s share of sales among the top five Mexican retailers has remained steady for the last two years. Closer to home, Wal-Mart has struggled in northern Mexico, particularly the Monterrey area. Executives of another chain offered several analyses of Wal-Mart’s difficulties in the region. Soriana and the Texas-based HEB were already entrenched by the time Wal-Mart arrived. Wal-Mart made some early merchandising mistakes, opening no-frills Bodegas that had done well in central Mexico but left more sophisticated northern customers cold. Finally, as polarization between rich and poor increases in Mexico, Wal-Mart’s approach of selling to a broad middle faces structural limits. 12. Suggested Strategies ‘One little bad thing can wipe out lots of good things'. So every move in its business operation ought to be well thought-out and executed. Wal-Mart needs to address few areas in order to maintain or to capture an even stronger long term business position: Single-business strategy — Wal-Mart's success is mainly based on its concentration of a single-business strategy. This strategy has achieved enviable success over the last three decades without relying upon diversification to sustain its growth and competitive advantages. Given its current position in the industry, Wal-Mart may want to continue its single-business strategy and to push hard to maintain and increase market share. However, there is risk in this strategy, because concentration on a single-business strategy is similar to ‘putting all of a firm's eggs in one industry basket'. In other words, if the retail industry stagnates due to an economic downturn, Wal-Mart might have difficulty achieving past profit performance. Other than this some other suggested strategies could be: 1. Expanding into states where it had no stores; 2. Continuing to saturate its current markets with new stores; 3. Perfecting the Super center format to expand Wal-Mart's retailing reach into the grocery and supermarket arena 4. And last but not the least following the current low cost strategy through minimizing the operating cost and as well as the selling cost. 13. Conclusion The ever-changing market presents continuing challenges to retailers. First and foremost, retailers must recognize the strong implications of a ‘buyers' market' . Customers are being offered a wide choice of shopping experiences, but no one operation can capture them all. A closer look at Wal-Mart’s performance in Mexico indicates that it is neither invincible nor exceptionally exploitative. Imitation by competitors, income polarization, and economic hardship that steers consumers toward the informal sector will limit Wal-Mart de Mexico’s reach in the future. Hence, technology, demographics, consumer attitudes, and the advent of a global economy are all conspiring to rewrite the rules for success. Success in the next decade will depend upon the level of understanding retailers have about the new values, expectations, and needs of the customer. If Wal-Mart continues its customer-driven culture, it should remain a retail industrleader well into the next century. ———————– Ernesto Vega Chairman of the Board Eduardo Solorzano President and CEO Xavier del Rio Executive Vice Present, Real Estate Rafael Mature Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Jose Angel Gallegos Executive Vice Present, Human Resources