Consumption is a site of social struggle between structure and agency Essay

Consumption is a site of social struggle between structure and agency - Essay Example According to the research findings ever since, women and men have always been conscious of how they look. In business too, the image one portrays is extremely beneficial in business and may depict his or her personality. Therefore, the fashion and design industry often provide ways in which individuals could fit into various occasions. In the community, one would be surprised at the rate which people consume commodities, especially clothes and beauty products. In addition, as one walks across the street, one can be impressed by the number of people wearing fashionable clothes and jewellery. Fashion has become part of the society. Many people have derived advantages from the fashion industry. The fashion and design culture started in the past limited to certain aspects in the society. For instance, in the past, it was easy to judge from the quality and the fabric used on a given clothe the social status of a certain person. Nowadays many more dimensions have evolved and considered as under the following: conservative or progressive, low or high educational level, low or high ecological awareness or more. Culture is a unique entity and fashion got its way to its heart million of years ago. With fashion, people often regard it to some cultures that have been there since time immemorial. Take for instance wearing of skirts by the Scottish people. In as much as fashion has more been likened to language since the past, still there is a vast gap existing between them. Language has grammar, and the sequence of the words provides meaning. Clothing, on the other hand has constantly perceived as one entity, not as a sequence, plus has no grammar. In the society, there are some impression regarding language and the clothes people wear (McCracken 2009, p.34). Another example could be the association Kanzus to Arab speaking people. Different languages have in the past been associated to certain fashions. Take for instance the Maasai speaking people in Kenya with their fashio nable clothes. As much as the fashion industry is trying not to associate certain clothes with languages, still in some reasons they become forced to do so. Fashion and culture have always been intertwined. In the society, people refer to certain fashion and designs as attributed to certain cultures. For example, sneakers get associated with the American culture (Douglas & Goodman 2004, p.78). There are some clothes which people associate them with hip hop culture, rock culture and the rest. Fashions get always attributed to certain cultures in the society. Individuals often associate with different cultures for the sake of identity (McCracken 2009, p.36). It is the love for identity that people often look for in certain clothes and materials. The items help them to associate with a given culture. In addition, there are some fashions that are unique, and it is only people who could afford them could possess them. Therefore, some fashion and design industries produce items that are u nique to the specifications of such people (McCracken 2009, p.40). Over time, consumption has proved to be site for social struggle between the agency and the structure. The fashion and design industry have at times have a problem with getting consumers for their products. Finding the right consumer for your product requires a lot of marketing into the lives of people living in the society. In regard to culture, sometimes fashion and culture have clashed. Take for instance the wearing of jeans by women in the Muslim community (Yurchisin 2010, p.33). The societies in some regions are against certain cultures. Majorly, the fashion and design industry often are in the move to create newer things, but the problem, which they often await is, will it be sold or not. There have been cases of outstanding designs and fashions rejected in certain

Telecommunication Technology & the delivery of Healthcare Services Essay

Telecommunication Technology & the delivery of Healthcare Services - Essay Example It is now widespread and is being integrated into the operations of hospitals, home health agencies, specialty departments, private physician offices and patient’s workplaces and homes (Blobel st al, 2008). It should be made clear that telemedicine is not a separate and independent medical specialty. The goods and services offered through telemedicine are most of the time part of a larger and higher investment by the medical institution. This investment is either on the delivery of clinical care or information technology. In fact during reimbursement, there is never a clear distinction specified between the services provided by telemedicine and those provided on site. The fee structure does not reflect a separate coding and billing for the remote services (Lewis, 2005). The terms telehealth and telemedicine can be used interchangeably as they as mean the same concept. Telemedicine encompasses the following services; Sometimes the term telehealth is used to refer to a wider description of remote health care which does not necessarily involve medical and clinical services. However, The American Telemedicine Association uses the two terms in a similar manner a person would refer to health or medicine in the local vernacular. There is a close relationship between telemedicine and health information technology (HIT). However, there is a slight difference; HIT more often than not refers to e-medical records and accompanying information systems. On the other hand, telemedicine is the actual offering of remote medical and clinical services by the use of technology. 2. Monitoring of patients remotely; Involves the use of devices to collect patient data remotely then send them to a remote diagnostic testing facility (RDTF) or a home health agency for interpretation. Such services assist the visiting nurses. In terms of improved access, telemedicine does not only improve patient’s access to medical services, but also gives health facilities

Financial Decision Making and Theory

Financial Decision Making and Theory Abstract The aim of this research is to provide an overview of financial decision making and theory and practise according to which the decision has been taken. In this research the risks faced by any person or company in financial decision making and the strategies adopted by companies will be discussed. Decision making is plays an important role in progress of any company. Basically there are some set goals and objectives according to which company make their strategies and take financial decisions. Intelligent decisions put company on a progressive way and all this depends on the financial manager that how to make the strategy, how to follow a set plan of strategies and how much will be the success. Making right decision at the right time will lead a company to success, for this purpose one have to analyze the resources and then define some goals. Different strategies will be brought in to action to achieve those objectives and goals. Afterwards what will be the impact of investment for the company and how much profitable it will be also the role of taxation will be discussed. Chapter 1: Background and Introduction Introduction: Decision making is an important and necessary part of everyones life. When it comes to making business decisions i.e. where huge money is involved, and loss and profit make a big difference then financial decisions will be more risky, and difficult, however there will be certain rules and procedures by which risk of financial decision can be reduced or minimize the loss. The process of corporate decision making is the most important decision for effective management. Decision making process is based on experts knowledge and experience. The good financial decisions help the organization to generate profit effectively, if the decision is accurate, business in specific time will be successful, and however poor decision could lead to failure of business (Mind tools 2007). Every firm have some objective and goals because if there are no objectives and goals, then there is no point to struggle and hard work and therefore no development and success. According to those goals and objectives there will be a vision and mission of company and then some strategies will be defined to achieve those objectives. Profitability is the basic aim behind every strategy because it will help the company to forecast their profits, revenues and profits according to each strategy.(Lumby,S 2004) When deciding on an investment opportunity, one has to consider the risks involved. As an investor or manager makes decisions on which project to invest, consideration must be given for the Net Present Value (NPV) of the different projects from which to choose. Afterward, a good investor should conduct sensitivity and scenario analysis as well as a risk analysis. Sensitivity analysis shows NPV under varying assumptions, giving managers a better feel for the projects risks (Ross et al, 2005). In the real world, it is likely that there will be many variables affecting a project. The sensitivity analysis only modifies one variable at a time. This is where the scenario analysis comes into play. Scenario analysis examines a projects performance under different scenarios (Ross et al, 2005). Finally, the break-even analysis helps to calculate the figure at which the project breaks even. This is useful as Company want to know how bad forecasts must be before a project loses money. All three analyses help an organization or individual understand the risks involved in a project. The goal of dissertation is to analyze the risks associated with the investment that will help to make financial decision. Profitability index is a good tool to help determine which of the projects will give the company the highest value after investment. As a financial analyst, it is extremely difficult to eliminate bias for analysis. One has the option to adjust his or her stance and can choose to be conservative, moderate or aggressive. The value of the NPV, IRR and PI can be higher or lower based on the position that the financial analyst favours the most. This is a risk as it also poses some form of bias relating to the financial analysts view. The results would not show the true stance of the company, rather it would show the analysts view. To mitigate this risk, a strategic analyst will make decisions based on a combination of results and abstain from decisions based on his or her own stance (Ross et al, 2005). The fact that no one can be certain as to how the economy or market will perform in the coming years also poses a major risk. As the values are selected and decided, outside factors might have a major effect in the following years that will skew the current values. In the Financial decision making, no information is given on the stability of the market. If the market is not stable, predictions could not be made to a certain extent, thereby making investment decisions risky. To mitigate this risk, the concept of forecasting needs to be applied. Although forecasting would not eliminate all risks associated with the future, it may help identify and evaluate risks, clarifying factors and reveal assumptions (Veryard Projects, 2001). Forecasting will help to identify future risks in order for the companies to create a backup plan. Environmental scanning is also another mitigation method as it will help identify external factors that might pose a threat to their decisions (Veryard Projects, 2001). The Risk element in concept of investment decision is an imperative factor in the valuation of likely investments. Risk and risk management are at the core of an investments success. Risk refers to the volatility of unexpected outcomes, usually relating to the value of assets or incomes gained from them (Jorion and Khoury, 1996). In simple words, risk refers to a measure of the possibility of being surprised. A key concern for financial institutions and investors is the enormous issue of market risks. Risk can be categorised into number of types but a clear understanding of Financial Risk is beneficial in evaluation and monitoring of investments. Financial Risk is the variability in the investors returns. Investors can considerably reduce the variation in returns by carefully investing in two or more assets. Finally it is concluded that decision making is all about compare possible options and alternatives and financial decision is totally based on the theory of valuation because company valuation is necessary in order to make multiple alternatives and in all types of decisions there are same essential concepts involved which has exclusive features in the valuation and later on decision making process (Lumby, S 2004). These strategies help in making intelligent decisions by analyzing the given or required information. These strategies also help in selecting the best possible action based upon the consequences of decisions and also work out the significance of individual aspects (Mind tools 2007). Aims and Objectives The aim of this dissertation is to reduce the risk of financial decision making. To define a way for the managers by which they can reduce the risk of uncertainty and they can identify that whether to invest in this business is profitable or is there any risk of loss. There will be certain processes and procedures. By following them financial decision making will not very difficult and after investing these process will also make an estimation of the profit or loss. The main objectives of this dissertation will be as follows:- Identify the risks in financial decision making process. Define the methods and procedures to minimize the risk. To calculate that after investing in certain project what will be the impact of that investment i.e. Profitable or not. What will be the taxation effect? These objectives will be addressed in the different sections and then based on the research and findings a conclusion will be defined at the end. Chapter summaries This dissertation consists of an Abstract and five further chapters. In first chapter will be a thorough introduction of dissertation and about the aims and objectives In second chapter the literature review will highlight different areas of research and about the objectives to be achieved. Research methodology will be described in the third chapter and in this chapter different methods using during the research will be explained and also the collection of data. Chapter four will be about the outcomes of the research and there comparison with literature. Chapter five will be about the conclusion and recommendation by analyzing the objectives through different methodologies that what the final outcome of the dissertation is. Chapter 2: Literature Review Responsibilities of Financial manager in investment decision making The financial manager is the person whom primary responsibility for financial management in a firm. The financial manager must act as an intermediary standing among financial markets and the firms operations, where the firms securities are traded. The role of financial manager is very complicated its a two way process. Firstly, maintain a cash flow from shareholders to company and secondly from company to shareholders. This cash is for the purpose to acquire real assets used in and by the company operations and expanses. Later on if the performance of company is good and progressive these real assets generate profits for the company which works as cash inflows and finally this profit is returned to the shareholders who have earlier made the investment (BusinessCreditInfo.com, 2006). This shows that the financial manager has to deal with capital markets as well as the firms operations. Therefore, the financial manager must understand how capital markets work. The financial manager must undertake certain specific duties to carry out the responsibilities satisfactorily. Some of the main duties are summarized by the following; 1. The financial manager is continuously involved in financial analysis to monitor the financial performance of a firm. For example, financial manager has to ensure and provide adequate financial control such that funds are allocated in an efficient manner. 2. The financial manager must ensure that the firm meets its day-to-day cash requirements. 3. The financial manager advises on the acquisition of fixed assets such as cash, market securities, accounts receivable and inventories. 4. The current and fixed assets of a firm are usually financed through a combination of current and long-term liabilities, and equity, or shareholders money. The financial manager must ensure that a firm invests in the types and amounts of fixed assets needed for efficient operation. 5. The financial manager must pay attention to the welfare of the firms shareholders. In this regard, financial manager needs to develop and implement a dividend policy which is acceptable to these shareholders. The fundamental financial goal of any organization is to maximize the stockholders value. In general, an increase in stockholders wealth means that value has been added to firm assets and wealth of society has generally increased. In addition, stockholders are satisfy to contribute cash only if the decisions made to generate at least equal to the returns that stockholders could earn by investing in financial markets. Otherwise, shareholders might be wanted their money back. (Ardalan, K 2003) According to Van Horne J., (2007) stated that maximization of profits is regarded as the proper objective of the firm; however, maximization of profits is not as inclusive a goal as that of maximizing shareholder wealth. For one thing, total profits are not as important as earnings per share. A firm could always raise total profits by issuing shares and using the proceeds to invest in Treasury bills. The viewpoint of financial manager and stockholder regarding to maximizing share value are as following (Arcas, 2007); 1. The viewpoint of financial managers is creating high retained earning or profit to the company. Whereas, Shareholders consider to dividend and stock price of the company so the aim of the management is always to make the company profitable and progressive to maximize shareholders value. The makeup of the shareholders can change without affecting the operation of the corporation whereas the decision from financial manager could imply the trend of shareholders wealth. 2. Long-term and Short-term; financial managers: good financial managers will have a long-term plan to increase share value along with the current market situation. Meanwhile stakeholders and shareholders may desire to get the higher return with short-time period. Therefore, they may change and move around to find more profits. 3. Ethics in management; unethical financial manager may attempt to find the short-term prosperity and give him/herself a return in many kinds from company compensation. Meanwhile stakeholders: the inappropriate practice may lead to the unacceptable image and may relate to the industry wealth. In addition, shareholders: the unethical decision from manager could pull down the share value and may result in bankrupt if the owners are not promptly action to solve the issue. 4. Different Opinion in a type of investment to increase the shareholder wealth between financial manager and Shareholders because each person may see the high return from different perspective and the best decision can not be concluded. For example, stockholders may not think about risk of the possible earnings stream. Stockholders want to increase stock price by increasing the risk. On the other hand, financial manager who looks at the overall pictures for long-term goal, financial manager want to accelerate good performances of the company by limiting the risk that the company should take. Market price is the performance indicator for any company. It tells that how much company is earning and also the management performance on their shareholders behalf. The management is under continuous review. If a shareholder is dissatisfied with managements performance, he/she may sell his/her shares and invest in others company. This action, if taken by other unsatisfied shareholders, will put downward pressure on the market price per share. Therefore, the company cannot survive and raise the fund on as favorable terms as possible in the market which impact directly to the financial manager. In short, financial manager has important roles in managing financial in the firm, dealing with conflictions either boards of director, employees or shareholders, which made financial manager requires short-term and long-term viewpoint to increase financial status and to maximize shareholder value. Techniques used in financial decision making and risks involved Researches show that investment decisions which are made, no matter in large or small businesses are mostly dependant on Capital Budgeting techniques. According to Jones and Smith (1982), an American engineer has first use the present value calculations to calculate non financial investments back in 1887 who were really concerned with the railway construction economies (Jones and Smith, 1982). It is also seen that Fishers (1907) seminal work called The Rate of Interest is first discussed by an American economist evaluating in finding net present value.(Fisher, 1907). Capital Budgeting, frankly speaking is the process of generating, evaluating, selecting and following up on capital expenditures (Study Finance, 2007), or in other words the planning process used to determine a firms long term investment. According to Maccarrone (1996), in the last few years capital investment has boost in decision making and further believes that most of the theories about capital investments behavioural aspects and about the association between investment decision. (Maccarrone, 1996). Also looking at the research paper by Fourcans (1987), where he says that, in the success of all big names and multinational companies capital budgeting is the most popular strategy and plays very important role in the development of any organization. As other techniques there are some drawbacks, ambiguity and risks involved in using capital budgeting as Fourcans (1987) focused that when you use certain strategies in business, a certain risk level is associated with each technique (Fourcans, 1987). As mentioned before, majority of investment decision which take place are mostly backed up by capital budgeting techniques, but in real life, not all companies follow the same type of techniques. The type of techniques they use sometimes depends on their size or on the position of the business in the market. In this report wewill be looking at different business positions and list the type of techniques they use based on research. Also there will be a discussion on looking at the risks and uncertainty involved in capital budgeting techniques because theories and researches suggest that quite a lot of time the results from capital budgeting are inefficient and in-accurate. Technically speaking, every investment project is worth the go if the net present value (NPV) is positive, but according to Holmà ©n (2005) this is not always the case. For the calculation of NPV, different cash flows of a project required and then discount them at a given discount rate. Discount rate is the risk of cash flow for which the price is charged by capital markets. The formula for NPV is Where t is Time of the cash flow. r is The discount rate. Ct is the net cash flow. The stockholders from big organizations think that discount rate is a risk according to the strategy that affects the project value. During capital budgeting, the deficiency of capital markets, bankruptcy costs were mostly ignored when there is capital market imperfection (Holmà ©n, 2005). This reason is also backed up by Stulz (1999) who believes that there are certain aspects which are neglected while making decisions based on NPV (Stulz 1999). There is no doubt that NPV is the most commonly used technique, but there are also other alternates like payback period etc. The payback method used is consider the most imperfect method because firstly it overlooks cash flows and secondly time value of money; this factor is ignored. According to Graham and Harvey (2001), which is also a surprising fact that 57% of Corporate Finance Organizations (CFo) apply payback method for capital budgeting decisions and 76% use NPV method (Graham and Harvey, 2001). Koedik et al (2004) says that the met hod of payback is widely used not only in Europe but also in UK, Germany and France. It is second largely popular technique in Netherlands subsequent to NPV (Koedjik et al, 2004, pg 71-101). As stated previously in the report, most of the organization use capital budgeting in different ways and techniques depending on the size and growth because if a company is bigger in size and position is stable then they have higher expectations and they will use more complex techniques because they have extra shares in the markets and they have got enough time to achieve what they have budgeted. As mentioned in the research done by Holmà ©n (2005), large and growing organization, the majority of them use NPV more willingly then other techniques (Holmà ©n, 2005). Even Ryan AND Ryan (2002) states in his research that NPV and IRR is most popular capital budgeted technique in progressed organization. Patricia and Glenns research was done on 1000 companies and the outcome was, about 49.8% big organizations use NPV and on the other hand 44.6% use IRR with the possibility of using each more commonly being 85.1% and 76.7% respectively (Ryan and Ryan, 2002). Collis and Jarvis (2000) say that in small companies financial decision is all depends on owners and managers that how they use their resources and information to manage and control their process (Collis and Jarvis, 2000). Consequently, According to Peel and Wilson (1996), if financial management practices in the small firm sector could be improved significantly, then fewer firms would fail economic welfare would be increased substantially (Peel and Wilson, 1996). Normally in practise small companies tend to follow the criterion of big financial names but according to their size and growth they make their own policies and strategies with clear intention keeping in mind their objects and goals and are quite similar like the big organizations are following. These can be explained critically as follows. First, the financial management practices of large firms are neither conclusive nor indisputable. On the contrary, they are controversial and continually changing (Johnson and Kaplan, 1987). Second, the larger companies themselves, even with highly skilled and experienced staff, do not always stick strictly to standards defined by them so could not avoid the serious failure in real practise of financial decision making (Jarvis et al., 1996).Third, many research studies have demonstrated that because of the structure small companies do not function in the circumstances as large organizations because of the different environment, economy and financi al restrictions (Curran, 1990). According to McMahon and Stanger (1995), because of different size and growth there is a difference in operation environment and so in the level of risk and uncertainty (McMahon and Stanger, 1995). So it can be said that uniqueness of small firms required financial strategies which suits to its requirements and which are designed to fulfil its requirement according to their scale and quite similar to the strategies of big successful organizations (Jarvis et al., 1996). Small organizations have limited resources to manage the strategies in the real world as compare to the big organization (Jennings and Beaver, 1997). So the fact is that small companies have different environment and conditions as compare to large organizations because the decisions making capability of small firms is often unstable by success point of view which big organizations dont face many times. According to Taylor III (1998) research, when assess the investment management there are two perspective namely local and global. In local perspective company performance can be calculated by its smaller units and then combine them on a local level. If performance of the company at the local level is good then it will maximize the performance of the organization as a smaller component. Local measures include usually Pay back method, IRR (Internal Rate of Return) and NPV (Net Present Value). On the other hand global measures assess any company performance as complete unit. If the performance of company as complete unit is fine it will maximize the performance of the organization completely. In global measures ROI (Return on Investment) net profit and cash flow techniques are being used (Taylor, 1998). As above explained that the difference of capital budgeting techniques in small and big organizations. Now see that do these techniques make any difference in public and private sector. According to Habib et al (1997) tells how financial decisions made. In his paper he said, Recent developments, such as privatization and the private finance initiative, have raised the issue of which assets should be owned by the public sector and whether assets have different values in the public and private sectors (Habib et al 1997). The research shows that there is a difference between capital investment in each sector and in different organizations depending upon their size, capabilities and growth and how well establish companies maximize shareholders value and how finance managers take decisions for the benefit of shareholders. As the research continues it tells us that NPV (Net Present Value) is used to calculate shareholders value but calculation by NPV shows a risk in the financial market and more research shows that calculation by NPV calculation in evaluating the risk factor is efficient or not. Further research shows that projects using NPV in most of the public sectors are quite similar so the outcome is also similar which will help in getting the profitability and maximize the shareholders wealth (Habib et al,1997). Capital budgeting techniques which are frequently used these days in every organization do involve certain amount of risk. In investment decisions the techniques involved not always give perfect outcome. Drury andTalyes (1997) in their research say that for a long time capital budgeting techniques in UK and USA and using all four techniques of capital budgeting i.e. NPV, IRR, ARR and PBP. Further says despite the increased usage of the more theoretically sound discounting techniques, several writers in both the UK and USA have claimed that companies are under investing because they misapply or misinterpret discounted cash flow techniques(Drury and Tayles, 1997). Other writers like Finnie (1988), Hodder and Riggs (1985) and Kaplan (1986) say that firms are guilty of rejecting worthwhile investments because the improper treatment of inflation in the financial appraisal; inflation affects both future cash flows and the cost of capital that is used to discount the cash flows (Finnie, 198 8; Hodder and Riggs, 1985; Kaplan 1986). Amongst the risk involved in the investment appraisal techniques is the use of excessive discount rates. Dimson and Marsh (1994) say that many UK companies may be using excessively high discount rates to appraise investments and, as a result, these companies are in danger of under investing (Dimson and Marsh, 1994). Porter (1992) says that in the USA it has also been alleged that firms used discount rates to evaluate investment projects that are higher than their estimated cost of capital (Porter, 1992) Ehrhardt and Daves (1999), in their research for unusual and extraordinary cash flows, say that by ignoring cash flows, capital budgeting results are incorrect which are Quite large From normal operating cash flows risk are quite different Not part of companies normal operating cash flows. There are some risk avoidance methods which can be used to get more accuracy in investment decisions. These methods and techniques can be used for the future purposes in taking financial decisions (Ehrhardt and Daves, 1999). Take right decision at the right time is important so to get good outcome from capital budgeting it is essential to use right technique at the right time. (Pollet et al, 2006). Research shows that there is a difficulty in calculating the theory of capital budgeting and find different opportunities of investment and when making investment decisions the market should be consider positive. Further it is observed that organization using complex budgeting techniques to achieve their high standard goals and objectives for short term and in order to gain maximum market share, but on the other side companies with high goals for long term use target oriented strategies which are not very difficult to achieve (Della Vigna and Pollet, 2006). Chapter 3: Research Objectives Research questions How much external and Internal funds impact on Corporate financial decisions and how? How corporate capital structures effect the financial decision making? Has tax effect in corporate financial decisions? If yes how and how much? Objectives To find out the financial decision making process of a company and the basic ideas on which that decision is based. To identify how taxes affect the process of financial decision making process and how much the effect will be? To find out how different type of investments effect the financial decision making process and how much the effect will be? To research how can we reduce the risk of decision making in the industry using corporate financial decision, how a company should make its decision and which aspects a company should be concerned about while making an investment decision? Chapter 4: Methodology Research Philosophy According to Remenyi et al (2003, p.32) positivistic philosophy aims at the derivation of laws or law-like generality which are related in natural and physical sciences. In quantitative research the researchers are allowed to understand the concept of the problem which is under observation. Facts and the causes of behaviour is the major emphasis area(Bogdan and Biklen 1988), in which the numeric information can be calculated, and summarized using a mathematical process and then the final outcome which is in statistical terminology is formulated (Charles 1995). There are two features common in realistic philosophy and positivism philosophy: a belief that for data collection in social and natural sciences the approach is almost same and for explanation and assurance to the view that scientists normally pay attention to the external reality (Bryman 2001). The interprevistic philosophy in contrast, emphasize that the suppositions of both philosophies are unnecessary; especially in cases where many factors manipulate the objective of the study, very complex to separate and control in experimental laboratory settings (Hirschheim and Klein 1994). Qualitative research, generally defined, means any kind of research that generates result not arrived at through quantification (Strauss and Corbin 1990, p.17) and which take place from real-world circumstances (Patton 2001, p.39). In this situation this study is using interprevistic approach because the findings i.e. how to make investment decisions and how much will be the risk in that decision and how much will be the impact of that investment afterwards is really difficult to calculate exactly and also is a complex collection in real-world scenario, so it will not appropriate to use positivistic approach. Research approach Inductive reasoning implement to the situations where measurements or some particular observations are formed towards formulating broader conclusions, generalizations and theories (Saunders et al. 2003, p.87-88). The deductive reasoning is the approach in which one start thinking about generalizations, and then continues towards the particulars of how to implement the generalizations (Saunders et al. 2003, p.86-87), mostly applicable in disciplines where agreed facts and established theories are available (Remenyi et al. 2000, p.75) From the following table will tells the major differences among inductive and deductive approaches and in this research, inductive approach will be used as it is best suitable for an interpretivistic research. Deduction Induction Processing from theory to data high structured approach collection of quantitative data independence to researcher understanding research context closely realization that the researcher is the part of research process collection of qualitative data providing flexible structure allow to change the research emphasis by the progress of research <

Korean Players in Major League Baseball Essay -- Major League Baseball

Even though Chan-Ho Park’s case proved that Korean players could compete in Major League Baseball, none of other Koreans successfully settled in U.S.A. after Park. Approximately after ten years, a similar case with Park’s debut came out with Shin-Soo Choo. Shin-Soo Choo, who did not make a debut in Korean Baseball Championship before debuting in Major League Baseball, made debut with Seattle Mariners on 21 April 2005. Choo dreamed about Major League Baseball, which led him into a Rookie contract with Seattle mariners after his graduation from high school in 2000. Therefore, he made up to Seattle Mariners’s Minor League and even up to Major League (â€Å"Choo Shin Soo†). Nonetheless, his debut in the Major League did not lead him into running for full season, and he mostly spent time in the minor league. Finally, he was traded to the Cleveland Indians in 2006. As soon as he was traded to Indians, he ironically hit a home run against the Seattle Ma riners, and he recorded a 0.295 Batting Average and a 0.373 OBP (On Base Percentage) in 2006 season with the Cleveland. A similar quality of plays was continued until the season 2008. In 2008, Choo finished the season with a 0.309 Batting Average and a 0.397 OBP. Even more, during September, he pushed up his Batting Average up to a 0.40 with thirty-four hits and five home runs. Hence, Shin-Soo Choo was selected as the American League Player of the Month. In 2009, Choo made contract with Indians for only one year, and during the one-year contract, he broke his records and joined 20-20 club (20 home runs and 20 stolen bases). Choo was the first Asian to earn the title in the Major Leagues and became the only player in the American League with a 0.30 Batting Average, 20 home runs, and 20... ....com." Baseball-Reference.com. Web. 17 Mar. 2014. "Korean Baseball History." Naver Encyclopedia. NHN, Web. 17 Mar. 2014. Minami, Craig. "2013 Dodgers Review: Hyun-jin Ryu - True Blue LA." True Blue LA. 4 Nov. 2013. Web. 17 Mar. 2014. Rosenbaum, Mike. "Why the Los Angeles Dodgers Will Overpay for South Korean LHP Hyun-Jin Ryu." Bleacher Report. 13 Nov. 2012. Web. 17 Mar. 2014. "Shin-Soo Choo." Baseball Reference- BR Bullpen. Web. 17 Mar. 2014. "Shin-Soo Choo Batting Statistics and History - Baseball-Reference.com." Baseball-Reference.com. Web. 17 Mar. 2014. Swaine, Rick. "Jackie Robinson." SABR. Society for American Baseball Research. Web. 16 Mar. 2014. Wells, Adam. "Ryu Hyun-Jin: Dodgers' Foolish Investment in Korean Star Will End Badly." Bleacher Report. 10 Dec. 2012. Web. 17 Mar. 2014. "What Is Moneyball?" SportingCharts.com. Web. 17 Mar. 2014.

Fahrenheit 451 Part 1 Responses

Fahrenheit 451 Part 1 Responses 1. The significance of Montag seeing his reflection in Clarisse’s eyes is that it shows that Clarisse is different. She is special. In this dystopia that Ray Bradbury has made, Clarisse is the one unique part of the society, the â€Å"flaw. † 2. In the childhood memory that Clarisse caused Montag to recall, Montag was a child and the power went out in his house. Montag’s mother had lit a candle. He found an â€Å"hour of rediscovery, of such illumination that space lost its vast dimensions and drew comfortably around them,† and both mother and son transformed, hoping that the power doesn’t come back on. . The two mannerisms, of Montag, that Clarisse pointed out were that Montag laughs at the things she says, regardless of if they’re funny or not, and that he doesn't take a few minutes or some amount of time to think before answering her questions. 4. The Mclellans were looked at as peculiar because they would d o things such as leave all the lights open in their house, stay up, and talk with eachother. Clarisse’s uncle would often get jailed for doing something â€Å"wrong† and against the law. 5. Clarisse asks Montag, â€Å"Are you happy? † and this is significant because this question loops in Montag’s head for the rest of the book.This question sparks this so-called â€Å"revolution† in Montag’s head. 6. The extended metaphor that describes Clarisse through Montag’s eyes when he went inside his home was, â€Å"She had a very thin face like the dial of a small clock seen faintly in a dark room in the middle of a night when you waken to see the time and see the clock telling you the hour and the minute and the second, with a white silence and a glowing, all certainty and knowing what it has to tell of the night passing swiftly on toward further darknesses but moving also toward a new sun. † 7.Clarisse  is inquisitive and thoughtful , and, at first, seems to irritate Montag because she challenges his beliefs with her questioning. In a society where reading, driving slowly, and walking outside are outlawed a conversation is rare, Clarisse’s love for nature and curiosity of people is extremely peculiar. She is forced to go to a psychiatrist for behaviors like hiking and thinking independently. Her family, and especially her uncle, is behind all of this. At night, the McClellan house’s lights are on contrasting with the surrounding area’s silence and darkness.Montag accuses Clarisse of thinking too much. In the end, Clarisse opens Montag’s eyes, and recognizes that he is different from everyone else. Before they met, Montag was full of fascination with only of the fire. Montag’s feels fascinated by Clarisse, yet he also feels pressured. Clarisse takes Montag’s â€Å"mask of happiness†, and forces him to confront the deeper reality of the situation. She is like a ref lection of himself. He feels that she is connected to him in some way, as if she had been waiting for him, around the corner.As Montag looks back on his meeting with her, the encounter seems more and more important and significant. 8. The bedroom is shared by Montag and his wife, Mildred. It is cold and the opposite of homey. The significance is that Montag refers to  the room  as â€Å"empty†, and then says that it is not physically empty because Mildred is laying there, but feels empty, characterizing Mildred. 9. Clarisse McClellan is a beautiful and â€Å"crazy† seventeen-year-old who introduces Montag to the world's potential with her innocence and curiosity.She is out-casted from society because of her peculiar habits, which include hiking and asking questions, but she and her family seem happy with themselves and each other. 10. Clarisse says Montag is different from other firemen in that he stops for her and is willing to have a conversation with her. Most f iremen tend to just walk away and let her babble on to herself, but Montag seems interested in the things that Clarisse says. 11. The mechanical hound is a man-made monster. It is a â€Å"hollow† enforcer that kills things that it is programmed to.It either kills or disables its â€Å"target†. Physically, the hound has eight-legs. A needle from its nose stuns, paralyzes, wounds, poisons, and/or kills its victim. 12. Antisocial: unwilling or unable to associate in a normal or friendly way with other people, but, in the case of this novel, antisocial means someone who is odd, peculiar, someone who doesn’t follow the â€Å"rules† of society. This term is used for Clarisse. 13. Clarrise says that people don't talk anymore. If they do talk, it is about something superficial that have no real meaning or anything of that sort behind them. 4. Montag asks if burning books had always been a fireman's role in the society. The other firemen are shocked the question. This question offends their comfortable belief system, and Montag is dismissed as someone who is misinformed, but this is just the beginning of Montag’s â€Å"awakening. † 15. The woman said, â€Å"Play the man, Master Ridley; we shall this day light such a candle, by God's grace, in England, as I trust shall never be put out. † Beatty later explains this to Montag and the others.In 1655 a man named Latimer said this to his fellow Nicholas Ridley before they were burnt alive for heresy. Just like the firemen are ready to burn the books for their beliefs, the woman is ready to burn for her books and beliefs. Montag steals a few books and lays awake all night thinking about the powerful message that the woman had said. 16. Montag feels horrible for the old woman, but, at the same time, he feels jealous of her. She is standing up for what is right, but he hides behind his title. He steals books from her house and hides them to later read.Even though he feels bad fo r this, he is actually rebelling. 17. Their job is not to put out physical fires, as it should be, but to put out the fire of discontent. As long as people remained â€Å"happy,† everything worked out. â€Å"Intellectuals† became very unpredictable and dangerous people. People who read books and thought for themselves molded ideas against the government. Firemen became the â€Å"guardians of people's comfort†. They destroy books before people could read and use them to form ideas. These ideas could threaten equality and happiness of the people in society.

A Feminist Approach to Toni Morisson’s Beloved Essay

When hearing about Toni Morrison’s novel, â€Å"Beloved†, one may imagine it as being another story about a slave’s life. And this is not wrong. â€Å"Beloved† does tell the tales of many slaves. It tells of whippings, rape, hard work and escape. But, while drawing this image of the historical aspect of enslavement and black culture, Morrison also tells the personal story of a very strong female slave. Morrison’s novel focuses mainly on the female characters – Sethe, Baby Suggs, Denver, Beloved – and their relationships. If feminism may be defined as a major movement in western thinking in western thinking since the 1960s, which puts particular emphasis upon the importance of women’s experience, then â€Å"Beloved† can be regarded through a feminist perspective. Even though â€Å"Beloved† tells the story of many slaves, because of its focus on the proactive and independent women in the novel, it also makes a feminist statement. Morrison has a particular way of writing the female body into the discourse of slavery, motherhood, human rights and morality. She presents the exploitation of the female body in both a sensory and psychological way. There are many examples in the novel that illustrate this aspect. In the case of Sethe, one of the major characters, we can observe both ways of exploitation of the human body. The stealing of her milk during the rape she suffered writes her experience as a woman slave who has no right to her body and also her experience as a slave mother with no defense, who is used to the violation of her own body, but cannot bear the forcible extraction of her milk meant for the child in her womb. The psychological trauma left behind this experience is felt by the mother who is symbolically separated from her child. The earliest need that a child has is mother’s milk. Sethe is traumatized by the experience of having her milk stolen because it means she cannot form the symbolic bond between herself and her daughter. Sethe’s body shows nothing but suffering if one takes into consideration the chokecherry tree scar on her back caused by the cruel whipping she suffered in the same night of the rape and her attempt to escape. She also felt pain when she gave birth to Denver, thing which can be judged by the bleeding feet about which Amy sais â€Å"it hurts for something new to grow†. The only time when Sethe uses her body for her own pleasure was when she has sex with Paul D. Another example of the female body being written into discourse is illustrated through Beloved, a mysterious character thought to be the daughter Sethe murdered when the girl was only two years old. Beloved’s skin is like a baby’s skin, she sleeps a lot and her faculties of speech and movement are not well developed. Physically Beloved is the embodiment of the discourse of motherhood for a slave, of the evil. Her body is a sacrifice that saves the other children’s lives from the meanness of the schoolmaster through her death. From Sethe she feeds on the attention and the maternal guilt that has been poisoning her life. Finally the physical disappearance of her body and her death is the absolving exorcism that removes the last vestiges of torment left over from the slave days. The character of Beloved is the epitome of the past and present entwined in a consciousness. She is still a baby in terms of behavior but the body is like that of the woman she would have become if she wasn’t killed. Her supernatural manifestations are the result of the unresolved conflicts in the mother-child bond between Sethe and Beloved and its very existence is because of the non linearity of her consciousness. I see Beloved’s murdering of her child a desperate gesture of a mother who wants to protect her children from salvery. The community sees Sethe’s murder an unforgivable one. Slavery created a situation where a mother is separated from her child, leaving devastating consequences behind: a whole life suffering from a bad guilt and also a psychic trauma. Motherhood feeling is universally deep and when mothers are unable to provide maternal care for their children, or when their children are taken away from her then they feel a lost sense of self. Similarly, when a child is separated from his mother, he also looses the family identity. Sethe was never able to see her mother’s true face because her smile was distorted from having spent too much time with the â€Å"bit†, so she was not able to connect with her own mother and therefore does not know how to connect with her own children even if she longs to. Concerning the language of the novel, the way of writing, one can observe a feminine way of writing, the semiotic language that Julia Kristeva mentioned sometime. There can be observed a freeplay of language, a fluidity of words free of any control unlike the fixity and linearity of male discourse. There is a passage in the third part of the novel that best illustrates this way of writing, the fluid and poetic nature of the narrative in one of the dialogues between Beloved and Sethe. There can be observed a long flowing verse in which the mother and daughter identify eachother, establishing the long lost maternal bond and acknowledging the events that took place between them: â€Å"Why did you leave me who am you/ I will never leave you again/ I drank your blood/ I brought your milk/ You forgot to smile/ I loved you/ You hurt me/ You came back to me/ You left me†. There are no punctuation marks and one sentence runs into another, each sentence is loaded with intense feelings showing accusation, guilt, assurance, love, like a rushing river that carries all the emotions in its fierce fluidity. The depth of a maternal emotional experience is rendered throughout this novel. The other female characters, Denver and Baby Suggs had the chance to see the beauty of freedom. Baby Suggs’s freedom was bought by the sacrifice of her son Halle, while Denver is far from the tormented life in slavery thanks to her mother’s protection and estrangement from the black community.