Jemima J essays

Jemima J essays Jemima J by Jane Green is a classic story of ugly ducklings and swans for the Internet age. Jemima Jones is an employee at the Kilburn Herald, a small London newspaper. As she eats her way through her disappointments, her model thin, fly-by-night flat mates treat her like a maid. Two people touch Jemima very much in this story, Geraldine, a money-hungry, gorgeous co-worker who uses Jemima's writing abilities to her advantage. Then there is the striking and talented Ben Williams is also a co-worker. However, he also happens to be the love of Jemima's life, unfortunately, he is ignorant to the fact that Jemima has any feelings for him. As the Kilburn Herald goes online, she meets Brad, a wonderful California hunk, in an Internet chat room. After that day, everything changes for Jemima. To Brad, she is known as the slim, hip, spellbinding, glamorous, "JJ". Brad and her talk for some time and come to the conclusion that they should meet, there is only one major problem, Jemima isn't not the JJ that Brad thinks that she is and she much change in order to meet his expectations. Once Jemima is in California there are many people and events that help her to realize that California is not that place for her and that Brad is not the man he led her to believe he was. The theme of Jemima J is: outer beauty isn't worth all of the pain and struggle. Throughout the novel, Jemima struggles with her appearance. Whether it is getting passed over for assignments at work for a less-talented, more attractive Geraldine, getting treating like a maid by her roommates or getting the surprise of her life in California when she finds out just how vain Brad is. As the novel begins Jemima tells the reader a little about herself and her daily routine. This routine includes getting up in the morning only to feel horrible about her looks, going to a caf for breakfast and looking at magazines at the faces and bodies of the stunning mo...

Origin of the Roman Satire Genre

Origin of the Roman Satire Genre Roman literature began as an imitation of the Greek literary forms, from the epic stories of Greek heroes and tragedy to the poem known as an epigram. It was only in satire that the Romans could claim originality since the Greeks never split satire off into its own genre. Satire, as invented by the Romans, had a tendency from the beginning towards social criticism- some of it quite nasty- which we still associate with satire. But the defining characteristic of Roman satire was that it was a medley, like a modern revue. Menippean Satire The Romans produced two types of satire. Menippean satire was frequently a parody, blending prose and verse. The first use of this was the Syrian Cynic philosopher Menippus of Gadara (fl. 290 B.C.). Varro (116-27 B.C.) brought it into Latin. The Apocolocyntosis (Pumpkinification of Claudius), attributed to Seneca, a parody of the deification of the drooling emperor, is the only extant Menippean satire. We also have large segments of the Epicurean satire/novel, Satyricon, by Petronius. Verse Satire The other and more important type of satire was the verse satire. Satire unqualified by Menippean usually refers to the verse satire. It was written in dactylic hexameter meter, like epics. Its stately meter partly accounts for its relatively high place in the hierarchy of poetry quoted at the beginning. Founder of the Genre of Satire Although there were earlier Latin writers instrumental in developing the genre of satire, the official founder of this Roman genre is Lucilius, of whom we have only fragments. Horace, Persius, and Juvenal followed, leaving us many complete satires about the life, vice, and moral decay they saw around them. Antecedents of Satire Attacking the foolish, a component of ancient or modern satire, is found in Athenian Old Comedy whose sole extant representative is Aristophanes. The Romans borrowed from him and other than extant Greek writers of comedy, Cratinus, and Eupolus, according to Horace. The Latin satirists also borrowed attention-grabbing techniques from Cynic and Skeptic preachers whose extemporaneous sermons, called diatribes, could be embellished with anecdotes, character sketches, fables, obscene jokes, parodies of serious poetry, and other elements also found in Roman satire.

Consumer behavior Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 2

Consumer behavior - Essay Example can be defined as â€Å"the broad concept that businesses are more than just profit-seeking entities and therefore also have an obligation to benefit society† (Werther & Chandler, 2006: 6-7). Thesis Statement: The purpose of this paper is to investigate consumer attitudes about green and ethical marketing translating into their purchasing behaviour. Further, the impact of green and ethical consumerism on companies adopting corporate social responsibility measures, will be determined. During the 1980s, ethics started affecting purchasing habits due to increase in environmental awareness on the part of consumers, development of green products and the availability of green consumer guides (Doonar, 2005). The concept of green consumerism is related to environmental sustainability in which environmental quality and the conservation of nature’s assets are of prime importance. From the wise use of resources for the sake of future generations, the concept of sustainability evolved to include a focus on nature preservation for intragenerational distribution of nature’s bounty. Sustainability is a continuing process that needs careful planning and implementation to confront the problems facing â€Å"modern agriculture, natural resource management and land use† (Gunning & Holm, 2005: 129). Sustainability takes into account the human factors of production, manufacture and use along with environmental and ecological concerns such as global warming, acid rain, deforestation, ozone depletion and other occurrences (Strong, 1997). Consumers may opt for one product over another because of political, religious, social, spiritual, environmental or other motives, and may differ in opinion from one another. One common factor among ethical consumers is that they are concerned about the â€Å"effects that a purchasing choice has not only on themselves, but also on the external world around them† (Harrison et al, 2005: 2). Choosing organic foods because of a concern that pesticide use

Product Portfolio Analysis of Heinz Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Product Portfolio Analysis of Heinz - Case Study Example The BCG growth-share matrix displays the positions of business units on graph of the market growth rate against their market share relative to competitors. Of all the products launched by Heinz between 2003 and 2006, sauces, dressings and condiments took the largest share, of 25.5%. However, ready meals also took a sizeable share of 20.9%. Other categories that been key to the company's new product developments include canned food (13.1%) and fruit and vegetable products (9.2%). Of all the products launched between 2003 and 2006, 1.5% products were classed as innovative. When looking at innovation within Heinz, the company is most innovative in meat, fish and poultry products with 6.1% of all meat products launched by the company, innovative (Datamonitor Inc., 2007). Additionally, from the information that is available about the business units of the company, it can be stated that the Tinned Pasta and Retail Brown sauce business units were the most profitable with a revenue generation of 78.2 and 74% respectively. From this information, according to the BCG Matrix, these two units can be termed as Stars. Secondly, the Retail Ketchup and Baked Beans divisions were other two divisions which generated considerable revenues. Baby food and drink products are another area in which Heinz is a leading innovator. 3.1% of all baby products launched were classed as innovative. One of the most impo... The company also increased its focus on the consumer with a strong spotlight on health and wellness. Apart from these, the company also increased investment in marketing for future growth, greater R & D and impressive productivity measures (Merrett, 2007). Heinz's international growth strategy of acquiring new companies in the Netherlands, Indonesia, the Philippines, Singapore and Costa Rica also have been of great help to the company's growth and improved performance. The company also launched growth and reorganization plans to focus on Meal Enhancers and Meals & Snacks. The historic transaction with Del Monte Foods is designed to make Heinz a more focused company able to invest more effectively in its strongest brands (Heinz). Heinz intends to build growth and value over the long term through a strategy based on certain imperatives like expansion and improved consumer price-value, remove the clutter by reducing the complexity of Heinz's business processes and continuing to focus resources on those products and activities that maximize profitability; Task 1 - C Pricing Strategies & Porter's Five forces Pricing again also played its part in the company's overall performance as changes in pricing and improved volumes, through key brands like weight watchers and Heinz baked beans, were offset by difficulties in Russia for its non-Heinz products and unbranded frozen foods. By maintaining the key initiatives of the yearof pushing both innovation and the number of its brands globally, Heinz believes that it can continue the strong performance into the 2008 fiscal year. The company was also keen in squeezing out costs to deliver the margin improvements necessary to underwrite greater marketing investment. The effective formulation

Much Ado About Nothing :: essays research papers

An Analysis of Much Ado About Nothing Written between 1598 and 1600 at the peak of Shakespeare's skill in writing comedic work, Much Ado About Nothing is one of Shakespeare's wittiest works. In this comedy, Shakespeare's drama satirizes love and human courtliness between two couples who take very different paths to reach the same goal: making the connection between inward and outward beauty. Much Ado About Nothing shows different ways of how people are attracted to one another, and how their realization and definitions of "love" relate to their perceptions of inward and outward beauty. The play is set in Messina, Italy, a small province facing the Straits of Messina, in northeastern Sicily, at the estate of the governor of Messina, Leonato. Don Pedro, Prince of Arragon, Don John, his brother, Borachio his servant, Bene*censored*, a young lord, and Claudio his best friend are all returning from war, and have been invited to stay with Leonato for a month. Shakespeare's antago nist Don John, bears much resemblance to Don John of Austria, the illegitimate son of Charles V, half-brother to the King of Aragon who defeated the Turks at Lepanto and returned to Messina after his victory in October of 1571 (Richmond 51). Don John of Austria had many of the qualities that Shakespeare's Don John did, he was not on good terms with his brother, and although he tried with much effort to gain status, he was frequently humiliated in attempts to bring himself fame. Shakespeare was known to draw parallels between his characters and actual historical figures, in an attempt to produce a sort abstract history of the times (Richmond 49). Upon returning from war, Claudio saw a young woman named Hero that he had seen before going to fight, and felt a strong attraction to her. Claudio expressed to Bene*censored* his attraction to Hero, Leonato's daughter, and Bene*censored*, with a mouth as loose as oiled hinge immediately told Don Pedro of the attraction. Don Pedro, being much closer to Leonato than any of the other veterans were, told the governor Leonato about Claudio, who in turn informed his daughter Hero of him, all with the lightning speed of gossip. Claudio's attraction to Hero is described by Shakespeare with skill as he puts emphasis on the Claudio-Hero relationship that is forming but at the same time keeps it in the background. Claudio is clearly attracted to Hero's outer beauty and knows nothing of her inner beauty, but after conversing with his friend Bene*censored* and then Don Pedro he decides he will marry Hero.

Ralph Lauren Essay

Ralph Lauren Corp is one of the best-known fashion design and licensing company in the world. The brand was launched in 1967 founded by American designer Ralph Lauren. Prior to starting Ralph Lauren, he worked for Brooks Brothers. In 1968 he started a line of men’s ties. By 1969 he had a boutique store within the Manhattan department store Bloomingdale’s. In 1971, Polo Ralph Lauren launched its first women’s collection and his first store in Beverly Hills, California. Ten years later, in 1981, the brand went global with its first international store on London’s New Bond Street. The Polo Sport line was introduced in 1993. The brand’s mission is they are always standing for providing quality products, creating worlds and inviting people to take part in their dreams. They are the innovators of lifestyle advertisements that tell a story and the first to create stores that encourage customers to participate in their lifestyle. And their vision is planning to open more stores and increase market share in the next fiscal years, positioning to begin taking advantage of international market’s appetite for luxury goods. Ralph Lauren designs, markets and distributes luxury products domestically and globally. The company’s brand names include Polo by Ralph Lauren, Ralph Lauren, Purple Label, Ralph Lauren, Black Label, Blue Label, Lauren by Ralph Lauren, Polo Jeans Co. , RRL, RLX, Rugby, RL Children’s wear, Chaps and Club Monaco. The company offers, along with its licensing partners, broad lifestyle product collections in four categories: apparel, which includes collections of men’s, women’s and children’s clothing; home, which includes coordinated products for the home, such as bedding and bath products, furniture, fabric and wallpaper, paints, broadloom, tabletop and giftware; accessories, which encompass products such as footwear, eyewear, jewelry and leather goods, including handbags and luggage, and fragrance and skin care, of which products are sold under the Glamorous, Romance, Polo, Lauren, Safari and Polo Sport brands. The Company operates in three integrated business segments: wholesale, retail and licensing. The company sells the products through department stores, specialty stores, golf and professional shops, as well as its own stores and licensed retail stores, concessions-based shop-within-shops, and e-commerce Websites. Distribution is accomplished at a domestic and international level with the three business segments. Due to the business expansion and fast growing e-business, the company’s wholesale cited strong demand in U.  S and international market. As of the first quarter of 2013, Ralph Lauren had 329 retail stores around the world, and operated 240 wholesale of its own stores in the U. S, 100 retail outlets, 478 concession-base shop-within shops and 6 e-commerce websites. In the end of 2012, the total revenue reached to $6. 8 billion. According to Yahoo Finance, from the fourth quarter of 2012 to the first quarter of 2013, the total revenue reached 992. 1. There are two main competitors towards Ralph Lauren. Tommy Hilfiger(THC), though its subsidiaries, designs, sources and market men’s and women’s sportswear, jeans wear and children’s wear under Tommy Hilfiger trademarks. THC offers the products in the global market and engaged in wholesale, retail and licensing, Tommy Hilfiger reported earnings results from the fourth quarter 2012 and the first quarter of 2013, the revenue increased 9% to $891. 1 million from $815. 8 million in the prior year’s fourth quarter. So THC is the biggest competitor of Ralph Lauren. And another main competitor is Liz Claiborne Inc. LIZ), its designs and markets branded women’s and men’s apparel, accessories and fragrance products. This Company is operating wholesale, retail also and reaching consumers of various age, gender, size or value preference. Due to stripping out unrealized foreign currency losses and other items, the company’s total revenue has decrease. But it still reached $307. 4 million from the end of 2012 to the first quarter of 2013, which is the competitor for Ralph Lauren and share the market. Ralph Lauren’s strengths lie in its brand equity, infrastructure improvements, its history, and its financial strength. Ralph Lauren’s brand name and the logo are both recognizable and highly regarded in the fashion world. Polo Ralph Lauren’s classic style has allowed the company to expand its product portfolio into markets. High customer loyalty allows for a larger profit margin than most other companies in its industry. The powerful brand equity responsible for such a strong consumer following reduces the price sensitivity for retail sales, which was a strong factor in maintaining good performance. However, the weaknesses are in its dependence on department store sales and manufacturing. Sales from department Sales from department stores make up for almost one third of Ralph Lauren’s revenues. Sales in department stores can be uncertain due to market share with competitors and the financial stability of these stores. Moreover, manufacturers has resulted in limitations with manufacturing for situations of high demand. Due to the high standards of the Lauren fashions. Lauren’s designs sometimes create new methods for quality with manufacturing, which hinder future growth. Lauren’s opportunities for growth include brand extension, and international expansion. International expansion presents a wealth of opportunity for Ralph Lauren. Their approach to each region is specific to its business climate and structure, while the common goal is to broaden their reach through increasing direct brand ownership and control with new specialty retail store openings. The strong, flexible infrastructure allows Lauren to capitalize on opportunities to grow businesses around the world. Lauren has a strong investment of $1. 1 billion comes from its stakeholders and long-term debt ratio just 7% at the end of first quarter of fiscal 2013. The company’ financial and strategic fundamentals looks like very strong. It shows that Ralph Lauren is highly reliable. Wholesale and retail are the two main business segments of Ralph Lauren, accounting for about 97% of its revenues. About 45% of the retailer’s revenue comes from the wholesale segment, and the retail segment constitutes about 52%. In fact, the wholesale business’ contribution to overall revenues has been declining since 2008. It stood at 58% of total revenues in 2008 and 45% in 2012. On the other hand, the retail segment improved from 39% to 52% during the same period. So this trend will continue in the future with wholesale’s contribution coming down to as low as 30%. t Moreover, the department stores’ market share has been declining in the U. S. retail market and the market per share has decline from $179. 90 to $168. 41 between the end of 2012 and the first quarter of 2013, which representing the percentage 6. 39% decrease. Due to the increase in the share of private label brands, such as the competitors expand their business by introducing the new lines for their products, Ralph Lauren’s specialty stores and other department store revenues will be impacted. Other factors such as the discontinuation of American Living brand and consolidation of China network will also weigh on the wholesale segment’s growth. The international revenue has decline from 10% to 8%, which dragging its overall revenues down by 2%, especially in countries in Europe. From 2012, Lauren witnessed a sharp decline in its revenues from Europe due to its over reliance on the region’s southern countries, which have been significantly impacted by the debt crisis. Lauren is facing problems in Europe mainly due to the increasing cost of wholesale hipments and tax cost. Lauren set a high retail price on its products but people don’t want to spend too much to buy it. Therefore, it result in the large surplus of the product. On the other hand, Lauren found out the high shipment and tax cost are mainly due to the unfavorable economic environment and its high concentration in the worst hit Europe. The retailer operates more than 600 stores in the region. As a result, it earns more than 60% of its revenues from this region and has high exposure to countries such as Spain, Italy and Greece, where economy remains weak. In addition to this, the retailer runs the risk of self-cannibalization due to its high concentration in these markets. Since the European business accounts for an important part of Laure’s revenues, the decreased from 10% to 8%, dragging its overall revenues down by 2%. The counterfeit issue which affects the Lauren’s brand image, especially happened in Asian market, such as China. The evidence shows that Ralph Lauren being more focus on Asian market. For instance, in China, there are more than 16 retail stores and 23 factory stores opened in recent years. Therefore, the new problem counterfeit issue has shown up during Lauren’s expanding. It was reflected in people said that they have bought the counterfeit shirt in China. Even in the U. S, more and more counterfeit clothes which have the same label with the authentic ones entered into market. The reason that cause this problem in China mainly due to the position of Ralph Lauren, Ralph Lauren have three color label (purple, black and blue) series represent the different level of craft, but the retailer in the Asian market mix them together to sell. On the other hand, the â€Å"high class† series mainly remain in the U.  S, and just a small amount exports to China. Therefore, the blue series which represent the â€Å"low class† are sold more. So people regard Ralph Lauren as cheap and common and believe it can just fit for the young people. They don’t regard Lauren as one of the luxury goods brands. This opinion affect the position of the brand. The counterfeit products occur because the blue series it is easier to replicate. The retailer doesn’t classify the different Ralph Lauren labels probably because he lacking of strict requirements for the site selection of the retailers. With the large growing population of China, more and more U. S company aim China as their second large market and wants to earn more market share. Ralph Lauren’s retailer had to missed the opportunity in the big cities and choose the customers in smaller cities as the object aimlessly. And the economy situation is different between the big cities and medium-small cities; it is easier to sell their products in big cities in order to build the good brand image. Moreover, brand image usually is cognized in big cities and then spread to other medium and small cities. Therefore, the need of the Ralph Lauren is affected by the development of the cities and as the result affects its performance. Overall, the brand image is affected by the counterfeit issue. For increasing the market share, there are a number of potential solutions. Introduce new design for the existing product line, such as design more color on product especially for the apparel in different season. People’s need is always changing, different color on the product will give people more options. Besides, U. S retailers should get more focus on online sale. Online is important trade group, it can attract more people to buy if they publish its own online-holiday-sale. In addition, online sales were expected to continue to outpace the growth in in-store sales. To take an advantage of online sale, The potential solution for the counterfeit issue all over the world, especially for the China market is building a good brand image. The problem here for Ralph Lauren is, â€Å"people don’t know what’s real and what isn’t. † To build a good brand image, Lauren should stick to its commitment to the market and take more or direct control of its China operations, product, and quality. For example, close non-profitable stores and moving away from selling products in department stores to focus on setting up its own retail outlets. Due to the lacking of restrict requirement for the site selection and lacking of understanding of the brand for the retailers, Ralph Lauren now is probably a little behind the other luxury retailers in entering this market, so the they should consider the company’s new stores in China must be in Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Guangzhou and surrounding regions. The other potential solution for the counterfeit issue is Lauren maybe can introduce the new unique product line for the international market. Such as the limit edition for the different product only for each foreign market or make more different label tags on the product so that it is not easy to replicate. However, this requires Ralph Lauren had better do a lot research on different culture in order to make the best product to meet people’s need.

The Opinion of Capital Punishment Free Essay Example, 2500 words

The Supreme Court has on several occasions dealt with judging the merits of the death penalty and whether or not it is interpreted by the Constitution as punishment which is cruel and unusual. The Court has always ruled the terminology of the Eighth Amendment does not exclude the implementation of death as punishment. The Constitution is a malleable document, however. The interpretation of the Eighth Amendment has evolved somewhat throughout the years and the Court could possibly reverse this point of view sometime in the future as a result of changing societal values. For example, the whipping of offenders was commonplace until the late Eighteenth Century. This practice came to be considered inappropriate because society s opinion changed to include it as a cruel punishment. With respect to capital punishment, though, the Court has maintained that there remains broad public support for the death penalty as a remedy for the most serious of crimes (Mott, 2004). Historically s peaking, the rationale for punishing criminals has been to avenge the crime, to protect society by imprisoning the criminal, to deter that person and other potential offenders from the commission of crimes and to obtain reparations from the offender (Wolfgang, 1998). We will write a custom essay sample on The Opinion of Capital Punishment or any topic specifically for you Only $17.96 $11.86/page This use of punishment is society s way of striking back at one who has disturbed the emotional and ethical senses of a people (Lunden, 1967: 232).