The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn By Mark Twain - 2849 Words

Calicia Perea The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by: Mark Twain Chapter 1 Widow Douglas is reading the Bible to Huck. A Bulrusher is different types of an aquatic or wetland that has plants with grass like leaves. Many of these plants are similar to the papyrus and the cattail plants. Chapter 2 Jim said witches rode him in his sleep because his hat was hung on a tree and if he didn’t do it then who did. He also woke up under the tree, many other slaves have said they have seen witches as well, but they haven’t been taken places in their sleep. Eventually Jim said that he was taken all around the world in his sleep. Chapter 3 The Spaniards’ and the A-rabs turned out to be a Sunday school picnic. Tom Sawyer told Huck that the magicians†¦show more content†¦Judge Thatcher and Widow had to quit their business with Huck and his father. Chapter 6 Pap comes home drunk but he continued to drink. Huck was hoping to escape when Pap fell asleep, but Huck is afraid of Pap waking up. Later Pap jumps up thinking he is covered in snakes. He eventually fell asleep and he dreams that the angel of death is after him and he starts to chase Huck around the cabin with a knife. Huck manages to get the gun and held it for protection. Chapter 7 When Pap leaves Huck takes the opportunity to finish sawing the corner where he was going to escape, and goes to his canoe with anything that might be worth any money. With his axe, he cuts down the door and goes hunting for anything he can find particularly game. Huck shoots a wild pig, and butchers it inside the cabin then spreads the blood on his shirt and the floor. Carefully he lays some of his hair on the axe to make it appear that he was killed. He cuts open a sock of flour and marks a trail that the killer left and went to the lake that does not lead to the river where his canoe is. This will prevent anyone from searching the river for his dead body. Chapter 8 The first way they tried to find his body was they were firing a cannon over the water to make the carcass rise from the bottom. The second way was they put quicksilver in loaves of bread and let them float off. They stop at

The Outsiders Movie And Movie Essay - 970 Words

The book, and the movie, â€Å"the Outsiders† is about a conflict between greasers and socs. Up until the point where Johnny kills a soc, there are mostly only small fights and arguments between the two. The story â€Å"the Outsiders† takes place in the 1960’s, when there were two main lifestyles. Greasers and Socs. Greasers are known for greasing their hair. Socs are rich kids who have good clothes, drive mustangs, and always have an argument against the greasers. The main character in S. E. Hinton’s book â€Å"the Outsiders† is Ponyboy Curtis. He has two older brothers Darry and Soda. Pony is 14 years old and his best friend, Johnny, is 16 years old. S. E. Hinton wrote â€Å"the Outsiders† when she was 17 years old. Her book was published in 1967. The†¦show more content†¦According to the book, Pony wrote the book â€Å"the Outsiders† for his English project. The movie also has some events that the book doesn’t have j ust like the book has events that the movie doesn’t have. The movie â€Å"the Outsiders† is very different from the book, written by S. E. Hinton. The very first scene in the movie shows Ponyboy writing in his journal the very first words in the book, â€Å"When I stepped out into the bright sunlight†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (The Outsiders). The book does not show or say in the beginning of the book that Pony was writing in his journal. Almost right after that scene it barely shows a slight argument/fight between greasers and socs. The book tells us that the fight was more serious and Ponyboy got hurt pretty bad, when in the movie all Pony gets is a little scar. After Johnny gets hurt when the old church catches on fire he ends up dying. Dally, another greaser that is part of the main group of friends, ends up shoplifting because he really cared about Johnny. Dally was eventually shot and killed by the police. The scene in the movie where Dally is in the store, thinking about sh oplifting, is not in the book. â€Å"He’s just robbed a grocery store and the cops are after him.† (Hinton 153). The whole scene of Dally in the store is not in the book. Although there are many differences between the movie and the book, â€Å"the Outsiders†, there are also many similarities. Through being the overall same story, the book and the movieShow MoreRelatedEssay On The Outsiders Movie979 Words   |  4 PagesS.E Hinton’s novel The Outsiders was so successful, selling more than ten million copies, that there had to be a movie. The movie, The Outsiders, is about two Greaser, Ponyboy and Johnny, who got into a fight with a group of Socs. In self-defense, Johnny killed one of the Socs, so they ran away. They were aided by another greaser and their friend, Dallas Winston, who helped hide them from the cops. However, when the church they were hiding in got on fire, Johnny and Ponyboy run to save the kids whoRead MoreOutsiders Book and Movie Compari son Essay1004 Words   |  5 PagesThe book and the movie of the Outsiders are two very different stories. The book has so much more detail then the movie. The movie is not the most detailed but it does get its point across. There are may similarities and also many differences between the two the book is by far more interesting and more detailed then the movie. I enjoyed the book a lot and the movies a lot but the movie was missing a lot. A few similarities between the movie and book are that the movie still has the complete GreaserRead MoreHoles Book Vs. Movie Essay794 Words   |  4 Pagesï » ¿5 Paragraph Essay 1st Paragraph – Introduction paragraph. Last sentence of this paragraph is your thesis statement. 2nd Paragraph – This paragraph defends the first point of your thesis statement. 3rd Paragraph – This paragraph defends the second point of your thesis statement. 4th Paragraph – This paragraph defends the third point of your thesis statement 5th Paragraph – Conclusion paragraph. This paragraph concludes and wraps up your paper and sometimes restates your thesis statementRead MoreOutsiders Compare And Contrast Essay757 Words   |  4 Pagesâ€Å"The Outsiders†: Compare/Contrast Essay â€Å"The Outsiders† is by far one of my favorite books of all time. I think it’s a great story that tells about how a fourteen-year-old boy overcomes many challenges and learns how to get through each of them individually. â€Å"The Outsiders† is a story about a boy named Ponyboy that lives with his two older brothers, and they have a group of friends, called the Greasers. One day Pony gets upset with his older brother, Darry, and goes to a park with his friend JohnnyRead MoreAnalysis Of The Movie Gosford Park 1482 Words   |  6 Pagespresent country house life in his movie, Gosford Park. In this 2001 murder-mystery film, the 1930s country house is depicted as a place that relied much on the idea of appearance and â€Å"being seen.† While the movie shows numerous themes of country house life, this essay will focus in particular on the themes dealing with themes of the presence of the â€Å"outsider†, familial bonds, and the intermingling between the upstairs and the downstairs. In doing so, this essay argues that the director’s interpretationRead MoreOutsiders Reflection on Difference783 Words   |  3 Pageshumor, and sincerity. In the book The Outsiders by SE Hinton, there are many details, some of minor significance, some not as trivial. The movie The Outsiders, produced the endowed Francis Coppolas undiluted ingenuity, the director of the fine movie, contains these essential details obviously, but also adds in some lesser minutiae that was not mentioned in the book. Why? That’s the reason why I’m writing this essay. There are many ways that the book and the movie are different, comparisons and contrastsRead MoreParadise Lost: Censorship and Hypocrisy in the Italian Film Cinema Paradiso840 Words   |  4 Pagesbelieved that communities should set their own standards on censorship as much as possible. However as Rosenblatt (2002) points out in his persuasive essay about Cinema Paradiso, without the neutral and objective oversight of outsiders – such as the United States Supreme Court – even well-intentioned censorship can become repressive. Even in the movie, little Toto’s friend Alfredo felt that the local priest’s strictures were repressive. He told Toto, â€Å"You leave [the village] or you will never findRead MoreMy Personal Reaction On Hotel Rwanda Essay933 Words   |  4 Pages Hotel Rwanda Introduction In this essay I will write of my personal reaction on the movie Hotel Rwanda. This movie left me with a plethora of mixed emotions. Yet, it taught me many lessons on life and the world. From its historical background to its most recent movie filmed in 2004. Background Information Mille Collines was the main setting of this movie. It was a four-star hotel located in Kigali, Rwanda where Americans, French, and many more tourists would go for a calm oasis. KigaliRead More1950s Movie Essay: Rebel Without a Cause1058 Words   |  5 Pages1950s Movie Essay: Rebel Without A Cause Introduction Rebel Without A Cause is a very popular film from 1955. It depicts life in the 1950s from the viewpoint of three teenagers who live in Los Angeles, California. They live in a comfortable environment in middle-class America. However, they must deal with their own inabilities to fit into society. The teens try to fit in with their peers and find the love they so desperately need from their families and others like their peers. The biasesRead More 1950s Movie Essay: Rebel Without A Cause1033 Words   |  5 Pages1950s Movie Essay: Rebel Without A Cause Introduction Rebel Without A Cause is a very popular film from 1955. It depicts life in the 1950s from the viewpoint of three teenagers who live in Los Angeles, California. They live in a comfortable environment in middle-class America. However, they must deal with their own inabilities to fit into society. The teens try to fit in with their peers and find the love they so desperately need from their families and others like their peers. The biases

Book review on enduring love Free Essays

The basic story line to the book is all about a man who experiences a ballooning accident where he and a group of other guys try to pull down a balloon that has a boy in, which is the captain of the air balloons grandson†¦ so they are all holding it down trying to get the kid out but a strong gust of wind blows the balloon up and the four guys still holding on are pulled up with it but before it gets too high three of the four Jump off to safety which intern leaves one guy called Logan hanging on to the rope after a couple of minutes Logan looses his grip and slips to the very end of the ope†¦ or a split second he continues to hold on but finally again his grip goes and he drops to his death in front of this crowd of people. After the incident the main character for the rest of the book is Just left with this over riding feeling of guilt, but also deeper there was a man at the accident who comes away with almost post traumatic stress and as an onlooker as the reader you exp erience him become uncontrollably obsessed with the main character in the book and by the end of the book Jed whom is obsessed causes Joe and cassia his girlfriend to split up simply by getting in to Joes head through the couple of letters he sends him. The book takes in the story several months to get the middle of the plot but the book passes within a year. We will write a custom essay sample on Book review on enduring love or any similar topic only for you Order Now To me what happened in terms of the accident is unusual as you don’t here hot air balloon accidents everyday and the after events I’m sure happen but don’t come to light as this one did for example the fact Jed stalked Joe so relentlessly for that period of time so openly is never talked about let alone written in a book! The storyline right from the begging grips you as it opens with the main character acting as a narrator talking through the day when he had a role to play in the loss of life and freak accident caused it!! Characters: Real main characters in the book for me are: Joe Rose Joe Rose is a middle-aged successful science Journalist living with his long-time girlfriend Clarissa Rose in London. He considers himself unattractive and marvels that Clarissa loves him. He is the object of Jed Parry’s obsessions. Clarissa Mellon Clarissa is Joe’s girlfriend and an English professor who specializes in the Romantic poet John Keats. She loves children and is secretly devastated that she is barren. She loves Joe’s completely but she is ruled by her emotions and interpretive intuition. Jed Parry Jed Parry is a lonely young man who lives by himself in a large house he inherited from his mother. He is devoutly Christian, although he doesnt follow any specific sect. He suffers from I feel syndrome that causes him to believe that a stranger is in love with you. (Interestingly enough there is a syndrome called Clearmalt’s syndrome which has the exactly the same symptoms) The object of his obsession is Joe Rose, whom he stalks. Jean Logan Jean Logan is John Logan’s wife and a history professor at Oxford. She struggles with John’s death, convincing herselt that ne was having an affair. Clarissa was interesting to say the least, as the book opens you find her to be very warming to Joe rose but very quickly as the reader you see that she instantly after the accident turns away from Joe you could say that Joe caused some of the relationship fail but mostly it all comes from Clarissa. You see this instantly as they drive home yes you can say she still is in shock but when they get home the interaction between both of them is so odd†¦ the chatting at the table yes ill say that is normal but what happened after that the sexual contact is benign, I think the author is trying to get cross the fact the two characters are still Jumpy and sketchy after both witnessing such a horrendous accident and uses the odd physical contact as a way to show that. It’s very easy to comment on the relationship between Joe and Clarissa but it’s harder to talk about the conflicts. Again there is a blindingly obvious one of the conflict between Joe and Clarissa that develops but one I find more interesting is the not conflict but awkwardness between Joe rose and Jean Logan for those who don’t know is John Logan’s wife, the conflict if we call it that is when Joe goes round to Jeans ouse which may I say is a long drive to talk to her about Jed (the pedo) Joe almost invite himself in and sits waiting as Jeans makes some tea. Long story short the fact that a man that Jean doesn’t know is sat in her living room as she makes tea for him waiting to talk to her about a guy who has an obsession with him, to me from the offset is Just going to cause so form of mental conflict. Personally all characters change over the course of the book but easily you can spot the person who changes the most is Joe rose and the start he is very confident and towards the end he turns into somebody with very low self-esteem. The biggest and easiest change in the book surprisingly enough isn’t Jed I feel its Joe as the effect of the incident is immediate even on the way home the shock of the accident starts to make its mark on Joe and his girlfriend there are long awkward chats in the kitchen and from there it Just goes down hill†¦ will say though Jed stalking Joe religiously doesn’t help things but after what Joe saw, heard and felt that breezy summers day it marked him as a dead man you couldn’t see that when you start reading the book but as you dig deeper and start to think in depth more about what happened you easily make connections that urn into ideas and before you know it you find yourself predicting the rest of the book†¦ The story was written in first person. It helped the story as it put the person into the shoes of the book and really helps the reader to get into the book and really understand the dilemma that the characters are in throughout the book. Another factor that helped the reader get a grip n the reader and hold them there until the book unfolds and ends is how the author really puts the reader in the story is how he describes the surroundings that the characters are in and how the time period really elps you not only believe the story line but shocks you that in this modern age not only do accidents happen like this but the after affects aren’t picked up by those around the characters for example Jed who is to his own accord until the point that others realise that he is a danger to those around him and society in general. To be completely honest and to wrap up the review id say I would recommend the book to people but will warn them ot the graphic paedophilia that takes place in the book also the sexual content isn’t off putting but in places is hard to get to grips off until you read further on and realise why.. How to cite Book review on enduring love, Papers

For the Love of the Game Essay Example For Students

For the Love of the Game Essay There was this one time back in, I don’t know, maybe grade six, when I was playing football with some friends during recess. Back then, all we did was play football; it didn’t matter if the snow banks were seven feet tall, because we didn’t care. We just wanted to play football. We would play tackle football as well even though the teachers told us not to. But we did anyways, and every day we would be called inside for a scolding but the next day we would play again. This repeated everyday for the whole year. Anyways, we were outside as usual when my friend John sends a long bomb that was completely mis thrown and went way too high. We laughed at him for what seemed ages until we saw John’s face. He was looking up at the roof of the school with a kind of sadness you only get when your dog dies. We realized the ball and landed on the roof and we all knew what that meant; The ball was gone. The roof was a no-go zone where we thought at the time was someplace you should never go because horrible things happened up there. This was only bolstered by the fact that the teachers didn’t want us to go up there. We knew we had to go up and get our football down because we knew we didn’t have any other options. Of course there were actually other options but back then every kid was jostling for the position of alpha male. Everybody wanted to be cool, Everyone wanted to be a hero, but we were still afraid of the roof, But our love of that ball gave us courage and that overrode our fears of going up on that godforsaken place. We needed that football. So we did what any kid our age would do. We all played rock paper scissors until we found the loser. I was the loser in this case so I had to go get the ball from the roof. There was no safe place to get up on the roof seeing as there was no ladder to climb, and to a sixth grader like me at that time the roof seemed as high as mount everest. But we needed that ball. So I grabbed a recycle bin: The large blue kind that you can find in industrial areas. I climbed on top of the blue thing and sat there eyeing the ledge of the roof for a while until my friend Roger said just go for it. I suddenly knew that I had positioned the recycle bin too far away from the school to easily grab the ledge and climb up. I could have come back down and just moved the bin closer; but to my sixth grade brain, that was not an option. I stood atop the bin crouched and took a deep breath, then I jumped. As I jumped the bin wobbled and fell right as I left the bin and crashed into the pavement. At that moment I felt I could fly: I felt like freaking Michael Jordan. I stretched out my arms and grabbed the ledge of the school roof and pulled myself up. I had done it; I had made it to the roof. Then I saw the ball, shining in all it’s glory. I picked myself up and ran towards the ball. I picked that ball up and ran to the edge again with it high above my head. My friends all cheered, because we could all play football again. I threw them the ball and thought to myself, how am I going to get down. Eventually a teacher had to come with a ladder and get me down. I felt kind of embarrassed that i couldn’t get down myself but I had got the football so I still felt proud of what I had done. I had got the ball, I had faced my fears and conquered the roof. I had become a legend. I got a pretty good scolding for that but I really didn’t care because I felt like a champion. I could have probably just asked a teacher to get the football but where’s the fun in that?

Seated Buddha. Thinking and Writing about Art History

This paper will discuss the bronze statue called Seated Buddha. It is necessary to speak about the style of this sculpture, its artistic elements, and its relation to the social, religious political and cultural world of that period.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Seated Buddha. Thinking and Writing about Art History specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More This work of art was created in Thailand in the fourteenth century. Its height is approximately fifty inches. The name of the sculptor remains anonymous to art historians and archeologists. The subject of this artistic piece is SiddhÄ rtha Gautama, the originator and spiritual leader of Buddhism. His legs are crossed and one his hands nearly touches the earth. This gesture has to symbolize Buddha’s victory over Mara. One can only deduce the true purpose of this work. Probably, this work of art strives to demonstrate the placidity of Buddha and his serenity. Similarly, the message of this sculpture may not be clear to the viewers at once. Probably, this author tried to show that only by following the principle of Buddhism one can achieve peace with the others and with oneself. To some degree, this statue demonstrates how an enlightened person can look like. By creating this statue, the author tried to set an example for the viewers. Yet, this is just a conjecture. This Seated Buddha was created during the so-called Sukhothai period. This period which began in the early fourteenth century, and this work has several elements of the sculptural style which evolved during that time. Namely, we should speak about slightly elongated head of Buddha, placid facial expression, and very smooth skin. It should be noted that during that time, the statues of Buddha were usually cast out of metal and at that time it was a real departure from the convention.Advertising Looking for essay on art and design? Let's see if we can help you! Get your fir st paper with 15% OFF Learn More Overall, the person depicted by the sculptor produces the impression of power and tranquility. In part, my response can be explained by his posture and facial expression. Unfortunately, we do not know whether this artistic piece fits into the career of the sculptor or not. Moreover, there is very little information about the life of this sculptor. It is quite possible that he relied on both visual and literary sources. For example, the depictions of Buddha are present in numerous illustrated manuscripts and drawings of the twelfth and thirteenth period. We can mention such sources as the so-called Pali texts which explain how the statues of Buddha should look like (Kislenko, 81). It is worth mentioning that these Pali texts present a very detailed portrayal of Buddha; there are many metaphoric descriptions of his face, body, feet, skin, and so forth (Kislenko, 81). Thus, the sculptor could have relied on wealthy literary tradition. Currently , there are no documents of that period which discuss this work of art. One cannot tell how this piece was perceived by the contemporaries. Yet, we know that this sculpture was cast in during the time when the Sukhothai Kingdom was very powerful (Kislenko, 10). Such sculptures could represent not only Buddha, but also the rulers of the country. Overall, this work of art demonstrates that such religion as Buddhism played a very important role in the life of the the Sukhothai Kingdom. At that time, the teachings of SiddhÄ rtha Gautama became prevalent in the intellectual circles of the Sukhothai Kingdom. This philosophy truly became the mainstream ideology. Even now its importance cannot be underestimated.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Seated Buddha. Thinking and Writing about Art History specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More It is possible to compare this Seated Buddha with other sculptures created earlier. For ex ample, one can draw parallels between this statue and Amida Buddha created in the thirteenth-century Japan. They are similar in terms of posture and facial expression of SiddhÄ rtha Gautama. Nonetheless, the Japanese structure differs in terms of technique, since it is made of carved wooden pieces which were joined together. Apart from that, the hand of Amida Buddha makes a gesture which symbolizes peace. Thus, the statue that we are discussing emphasizes the perfection and power of Buddha, whereas its Japanese counterpart focuses on his peacefulness. These are the main differences between them. These distinctions can be explained by the fact that the two sculptors perceived this person in different ways. At this point, art historians do not know very much as to how this sculpture was created. One can see that this statue consists out several metal casts which were joined together. Yet, it is very difficult to determine the methods that the sculptor applied while creating this art istic piece. Moreover, it is unclear if he/she made some preliminary steps in order to better visualize the image of Buddha. These questions are still of great interest to modern art historians and archeologists. This sculpture is a prominent example of Thai art. It shows that during the Sukhothai period this culture achieved enormous degree of sophistication. Moreover, this piece demonstrates the extent to which Buddhism shaped the identity of Thai people. In this case, Buddha symbolizes an ideal which everyone must try to attain. Finally, this artistic piece can be praised for its meticulous metalwork which is very difficult to surpass.Advertising Looking for essay on art and design? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Works Cited Kislenko, Arne. Culture and customs of Thailand. London: Greenwood Publishing Group, 2004. Print. This essay on Seated Buddha. Thinking and Writing about Art History was written and submitted by user Ogun to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

Free Essays on Should Top Executives Make The Money They Do

It is a well-known fact that many people holding high positions in companies make an exorbitant amount of money. Some, however, say that they do not deserve the amount that they are paid. They feel that for the amount of work that is done by these executives, their paycheck is simply too high. Also, they believe that these high paid workers often do a mediocre job, while still managing to reap the benefits of being an executive. While these are viable arguments against this issue, the other side of the spectrum shows that this is not so. There is an equal amount of evidence, if not more, that suggests that executives earn every penny of their paychecks. The CEOs of companies are under an extraordinary amount of pressure. They face the task of making sure that a company pulls in a profit, or possibly losing their job. There are few, if any other positions that put an employee in this situation. Important decisions are made by them everyday, many of which decide whether a company will prosper, or go under. Many of these men had to work their way to the top. They usually have extensive business backgrounds, and know their field well. There are very few people qualified, or knowledgeable enough to perform well in executive positions. That makes the ones that are, a hot commodity. Thus allowing them to demand the high pay that they earn. High Pay Seems Small When Compared To Company Profits When the public sees a salary that they consider to be too big, they are usually looking at only half of the picture. It is impossible to look at just the salary, without taking any other factors into consideration. One must look at the amount of earnings, compared to the profits of the company. For instance, Robert Allen, who runs ATT was recently pointed out by 60 Minutes as being an overpaid executive. Their major problem was that he had been responsible for laying off 40,000 employees, while still managing to give himself a large pay increase. At firs... Free Essays on Should Top Executives Make The Money They Do Free Essays on Should Top Executives Make The Money They Do It is a well-known fact that many people holding high positions in companies make an exorbitant amount of money. Some, however, say that they do not deserve the amount that they are paid. They feel that for the amount of work that is done by these executives, their paycheck is simply too high. Also, they believe that these high paid workers often do a mediocre job, while still managing to reap the benefits of being an executive. While these are viable arguments against this issue, the other side of the spectrum shows that this is not so. There is an equal amount of evidence, if not more, that suggests that executives earn every penny of their paychecks. The CEOs of companies are under an extraordinary amount of pressure. They face the task of making sure that a company pulls in a profit, or possibly losing their job. There are few, if any other positions that put an employee in this situation. Important decisions are made by them everyday, many of which decide whether a company will prosper, or go under. Many of these men had to work their way to the top. They usually have extensive business backgrounds, and know their field well. There are very few people qualified, or knowledgeable enough to perform well in executive positions. That makes the ones that are, a hot commodity. Thus allowing them to demand the high pay that they earn. High Pay Seems Small When Compared To Company Profits When the public sees a salary that they consider to be too big, they are usually looking at only half of the picture. It is impossible to look at just the salary, without taking any other factors into consideration. One must look at the amount of earnings, compared to the profits of the company. For instance, Robert Allen, who runs ATT was recently pointed out by 60 Minutes as being an overpaid executive. Their major problem was that he had been responsible for laying off 40,000 employees, while still managing to give himself a large pay increase. At firs...

The History of Terrorism in the United States Research Paper - 1

The History of Terrorism in the United States - Research Paper Example The motives of terrorism have also transformed over the years from the causes of liberation to mass devastation (Piszkiewicz, 2003). The effects of terrorism have also transformed into evil for the masses. The latest act of terrorism is the desolation of The World Trade Centre. The range of terrorist attacks in the United States has resulted in the liberation of slavery, the assassination of the country’s president to the devastation of the public. Earlier the concept of terrorism in the United States was considered as armed activities against the state forces in order to support the causes of liberation. The activities over the period of history have changed into bombings, kidnappings, and assassinations of the state personnel and the public. Â  The activities of terrorism in the United States have a long historical background. The activities of terrorism started in the United States in 1850. In the 1850s, the nation was divided into the North and the South. There were several states in the South which were slave states. The people at one point in time wanted to get rid of slavery which caused opposition forces to revolt against the state forces. From 1856 to 1859, John Brown raised a strategic opposition against the states in order to create a situation of terror. The objective of John Brown in creating terror was to bring a change in the political system and abolish slavery from the United States. John Brown resorted to the armed revolution against the state force. The revolutionary activists were soon captured and John Brown was executed. Â  

International business class (Discussion Board) Assignment - 5

International business class (Discussion Board) - Assignment Example es-spatial proximity of upstream and downstream industries enhances the sharing of information and this enables a continuous sharing of ideas and innovation, which can create competitive bias in a certain type of industry. Factor conditions- against the traditional thought, he argued that key factor of production are created and not inherited. The key factors are skilled labour, capita and infrastructure. These are the ones that can create a competitive advantage. He referred to those factors as the â€Å"diamond of national advantage†, by implication he asserted that it is the inter-linkage of these factors that would actually precede the attainment of the competitive advantage. Further, he pointed out that government policy and the chance of event had a role to play in the inter-linkage and hence a national competitive advantage factor. Texas cotton farmers have in recent years been facing stiff competition from other overseas farmers, particularly China and India. The provision of subsidy-government policy, a factor that affects the inter-linkage of other factors may have tilted productions in favour of the Asian giants. However, demand conditions in the American market for cotton products, new business strategies being employed and the existence of a system of powerful infrastructural development in the region might tilt the scale in their favor. The four advanced factors that Porter writes about are Demand Conditions, Related and Supporting Industries, Factor Conditions, and Firm Strategy, Structure, and Rivalry. Texas cotton farmers were able to use Porters Diamond model to redefine their business strategy in order to remain competitive. One of the ways they did this was to upgrade on their machines and technologies. This propelled them into the new millennium and provided support for them to remain competitive in the national and global market. This helped them build up the industry into a new more effective and efficient operation. So national brands

Internationalisation Strategies Taken by Xerox, Ricoh and Canon Dissertation

Internationalisation Strategies Taken by Xerox, Ricoh and Canon - Dissertation Example The case analysis highlights the approaches and strategies that these organisations had taken in the Chinese office electronics market to overcome the challenges that it poses for companies bent on internationalisation in this setting with highly peculiar characteristics. Contents Internationalisation Strategies Taken by Xerox, 1 Ricoh and Canon to Respond to Challenges 1 Posed By China's Emerging Market 1 Abstract 2 Contents 3 Chapter One 5 Introduction 5 Chapter Two 8 Literature Review 8 2.1 Internationalisation Challenges 8 2.3.1 Local Market Disadvantages 8 2.3.2 Disproportionate Operating Costs and Denial of Benefits Accorded to Domestic Firms 9 2.3.3 Cultural Distance and Market Entry Modes 10 2.3.4 Political Bargaining and Positioning 12 2.3.5 Institutional Differences and Corruption 13 2.3.6 Local Density and WFOE Performance 13 2.3.7 Organizational Capabilities 14 2.3.3 Administrative Heritage 15 2.3.4 Organisational Structure 17 2.2 Internationalisation Strategies 17 2.2.1 Exporting 19 2.2.2 International Licensing Agreements 19 2.2.3 International Joint Ventures and Strategic Alliances 20 2.2.4 Wholly-Owned Foreign Enterprise 21 2.4 Doing Business in China 22 2.5 The Global Office Electronics Industry 23 Chapter Three 25 Research Design 25 3.1 Case Study Approach 25 3.2 Data Collection 26 3.3 Framework for Analysis 26 Chapter Four 28 Case Studies 28 4.1 Short-Term Challenges 28 4.1.1 Cultural Distance and Organisational Capabilities 29 4.1.2 Political Bargaining and Positioning 32 4.2 Long-Term Challenges 34 4.2.1 Administrative Heritage 35 4.2.2 Organisational Structure 37 4.3 China Strategies of Office Electronics Firms 39 4.4 Discussion 41 4.4.1 Short-Term Challenges 43 4.4.2 Long-Term Challenges 43 4.4.3...The technology for office electronics is closely associated with communications, which was perfected in the US in the 1920s. Thenceforth until the 1970s, the US was the logical world leader in this industry, after which industry leadership shifted to Western Europe. Going into the 1990s, Japan broke into the world economic elite and established dominance over this industry, including all manufacturing activities related to electronics. Now the future of this industry is in China, the world’s most populous nation with 1.3 billion people and the axis of Asia, which in turn comprises 60 per cent of the world population. Office electronics is an $88.8 billion industry worldwide as of 2004 and still growing, with Xerox, Canon and Ricoh as the global big three. The three are just part of over 600,000 multinational enterprises, represented by about 800,000 subsidiaries, that push internationalisation in the global market (Lou, 2002). Altogether, Xerox, Canon and Ricoh account for some 28 percent of the global market through operations in mostly developed countries. Such market share, large though it may be, is proving less and less secure as the office electronics industry in developed markets becomes saturated and overcrowded (Datamonitor, 2005). For continued viability and long-term growth, the companies involved have to turn their sights towards emerging markets like China where future growth opportunities lie. China is a particularly attractive market, not only for its sheer size and cheap labour advantage.

Design Limitations for Speakers

Design Limitations for Speakers Introduction There are many factors which determine the characteristics of a loudspeaker; to produce a successful design a careful balance of many factors must be achieved. Most of the challenges and considerations of loudspeaker design stem from the inherent limitations of the drivers themselves. Desirable Characteristics Real-Word Implementation For a coherent approach to loudspeaker design to be established, one may elucidate the problem by considering two main sets of criteria; the desired characteristics of the finished system and the limitations which impinge on the achievement of these desired characteristics. The key desirable characteristics for the finished system are listed below. Reproduction of all frequencies across input range Flat frequency response across input range Adequate Damping Good Efficiency Adequate SPL or perceived loudness Minimal distortion Minimal noise Many of the above considerations are quite obvious. In terms of frequency response it is desired that the response of the system as a whole should be as flat as possible, since to truthfully reproduce a signal all frequencies across the input range should be represented equally. Weems (2000, p.14) notes that â€Å"smoothness of response is more important than range†. Naturally noise and distortion are undesirable for accurate signal reproduction. Damping is an important concern; when a signal is no longer applied to a loudspeaker there will be a natural tendency for the cone to continue to move under its own inertia. Thus damping must be employed in order to ensure that the SPL generated by such movement is sufficiently low and relatively inaudible. Rossing (1990, p.31) refers to damping as â€Å"loss of energy of a vibrator, usually through friction†. This is a simplification, however, the back EMF generated by the driver and the varying impedance seen by the amplifier of the crossover/driver network play an important role. As Weems (2000, p.17) rightly says â€Å"there are two types of damping, mechanical and electrical†. Another quite obvious consideration is that the loudspeaker must indeed be loud enough. This is related to the issue of efficiency, since the more inefficient the speaker, the more power will be needed to drive it. The choice of enclosure design plays quite a significant role here, as will be seen shortly. In terms of limitations, there are several immediate problems posed by the nature of the drivers themselves that must be addressed. Firstly, the sound from the back of the speaker cone is 180 degrees out of phase with the sound from the front. This phase separation means the sounds will cancel each other at lower frequencies, or interfere with each other in a more complex manner at high frequencies; clearly neither is desirable. In some senses it would be ideal to mount the drivers in a wall with a large room behind, the so-called â€Å"infinite baffle†, having the sound from the rear of the cone dissipate in a large separate space, being thus unable to interfere with the sound produced by the front. In reality this is impractical; however some provision must be made to isolate sound from the rear of the cone. To this end, some sort of enclosure must be made for the drivers, yet this presents a new set of considerations. Without an enclosure, a loudspeaker is very inefficient when the sound wavelengths to be produced are longer than the speaker diameter. This results in an inadequate bass response; for an 8 inch speaker this equates to anything below around 1700Hz[1]. So the infinite baffle is terribly inefficient in terms of the SPL produced at lower frequencies. Furthermore, the free cone resonance of the speaker works against the flat frequency response that is desired; input frequencies close to the resonant frequency will be represented too forcefully. Another real-world complication is the fact that for high-fidelity applications, no one loudspeaker will be able to handle the entire range of input frequencies; â€Å"the requirements for low frequency sound are the opposite to those for high frequencies† (Weems, 2000, p.13). Higher frequencies require less power to be reproduced, but the driver must respond more quickly, whereas low frequencies require a larger driver and hence greater power to be effectively realised. In view of the above, multiple drivers must be used, with each producing a certain frequency range of the input signal; at the very least a woofer and tweeter are required. In order to deliver only the appropriate frequencies to each driver, a device known as a crossover must be implemented. This can take the form of passive filter circuits within the speaker itself, or active circuitry that filters the signal prior to amplification. In the latter case, multiple amplifiers are needed, making this a more costly approach. The fundamentals of crossover design will be dealt with in a separate document and are hence not dealt with in detail here. Enclosure Design Faced with the reality that an enclosure is in almost all cases a practical necessity, perhaps the most important aspect of speaker design in the design of the enclosure itself. The first step in producing a successful design is to decide upon the drivers to be used and use this as a basis for choosing a cabinet design, or to decide upon the desired cabinet type first and allow this to inform the choice of driver. In general, most of the design work with regard to the cabinet is focused firmly toward the woofer, since the enclosure design is most critical with regard to midrange/bass performance. In typical 2-way designs, the tweeter is mounted in the same box as the woofer, but it is the latter which largely defines the cabinet dimensions. In the past the design of enclosures was often something of a hit-or-miss affair, however the research of Thiele (1971) and Small (1973) has led to a much more organised design process. Most transducers today are accompanied by a comprehensive datasheet of Thiele-Small parameters, which allow most of the guess work to be taken out of enclosure design. Ignoring more exotic enclosure designs, the first question is whether the enclosure should be ported or sealed (it should be noted that in reality even â€Å"sealed† enclosures are very slightly open or â€Å"leaky† in order to allow the internal pressure to equalise with the surroundings). If a driver has already been chosen, this can be determined from the Efficiency Bandwidth Product, which is defined as: EBP = Fs / Qes(1) Where Fs is the free air resonance of the driver and Qes the electrical Q or damping. In general, an EBP of 50 or less indicates a sealed box, whilst an EBP above 90 suggests a ported enclosure (Dickason, 2000). In between, the choice of enclosure lies more or less with the designer and a driver that falls in the middle should perform acceptably in either closed or ported situations. So, what are the advantages and disadvantages of sealed vs ported enclosures? A sealed enclosure is very simple to build, whilst a ported enclosure requires some degree of tuning to ensure the port is matched correctly to the driver – in the ported or â€Å"bass reflex† design a tube extends into the cabinet allowing some air to escape from inside; if correctly tuned the air that leaves the port is delayed in phase by 180 degrees, hence reinforcing the sound from the front of the cone. With a sealed enclosure the air inside acts as an approximately linear spring for the transducer cone and assuming the driver has a low Fs, a healthy bass extension with a gentle roll-off of -12dB per octave can be expected. The disadvantages are several; the enclosure may need to be quite large to achieve an acceptable Qtc (the damping value for a sealed system) and efficiency is poor. Further, with a sealed enclosure the driver reaches maximum excursion at resonance, which translates to greater distortion. Therefore a driver for use in a sealed enclosure requires quite a large linear throw to perform well. By contrast, in correctly tuned ported enclosures the driver is maximally damped at resonance, so a large linear throw is not critical and distortion is lower as a result. The basic methods of sealed and ported cabinet design shall now be explained. Sealed Enclosure Design To design a sealed enclosure the basic methodology is quite straightforward; the essential challenge is simply to find the optimum volume for the cabinet for the chosen driver. First one must decide on the value of the damping constant Qtc; the optimum value is 0.707 since it gives the lowest -3db break frequency and hence the best potential for bass extension, as well as good transient response. If the enclosure size is too large at this optimum value then Qtc may be increased, resulting in a trade-off between bass performance, transient response and enclosure volume. However, the more Qtc is increased, the more boomy and muddy the sound will become. Depending on the application, the enclosure size may not be important; in this case an optimum Qtc is encouraged. Once Qtc is known, the constant ÃŽ ± may be calculated using the below formula, where Qts is the total Q factor of the driver at resonance (this may be obtained from the manufacture’s data sheet). ÃŽ ± = [Qtc/Qts]2 – 1(2) Having calculated ÃŽ ±, the correct enclosure volume Vb is trivial to determine using the relationship below. Note that Vas is the equivalent volume of air that has the same acoustic compliance as the driver; again this may be obtained from the datasheet or experimentally. Note from equation (1) that a lower Qts will result in a higher ÃŽ ±, and hence a smaller enclosure. Thus for two transducers with equivalent acoustic compliance, a lower Qts will result in a smaller enclosure. Vb = Vas/ÃŽ ±(3) Assuming the required box volume is acceptable, one may then also calculate the resonant frequency of the system (fs is the free-air resonant frequency of the driver): (4) Once fc is known the -3db break frequency may also be found: (5) Recall that below this frequency the roll-off is -12dB per octave and one can gain a fairly good impression of the bass performance to be expected. Naturally it is desirable for f3 to be low for maximum extension into the bass area, hence a low fs is a characteristic one should look for when choosing a driver for sealed enclosure use. If it is felt that the break frequency is too high, then a different driver must be selected for the sealed implementation. Ported Enclosure Design For ported cabinet design, the equations are more complex and it is generally not practical to attempt to design such an enclosure by hand. Instead there are a number of free and commercial software calculators available that simplify the process. One good freeware calculator is AJ Vented Designer[2]. Using such a program enables the designer to quickly ascertain what size enclosure and port is required for a given driver and whether this is feasible – for certain combinations the port may not physically fit within the enclosure for example. In addition, the program also plots the theoretical frequency response of the design, which simplifies matters greatly. Acoustic Damping and Avoiding Resonance In addition to the type of enclosure and the calculation of the required volume, diameter and size of ports (if ported), there are several other design considerations. Firstly, standing waves within the enclosure must be minimised. Thus enclosures are often stuffed with fibreglass, long-fibre wool or polyurethane foam. In addition to standing waves and the resonance of the enclosure, one must also bear in mind the possibility of dimensional resonances with sealed designs. To avoid this it is prudent to ensure that length, width and height of the enclosure are all different and to not centrally mount the drivers. The choice of cabinet material and thickness are also factors that require careful consideration; in general wood is the most appropriate material and a thicker structure is likely to be more rugged and be less susceptible to undesirable vibration. The structure should also be isolated from the floor since vibrations passed to a floor (especially a wooden floor) can cause the floor to vibrate which will muddy or colour the sound. Spikes or stands are commonly used to achieve this. Conclusion There are many factors that affect speaker design but perhaps the most important is that of the enclosure itself. More exotic enclosures such as band-pass and transmission line configurations are beyond the scope of this document, however it should be noted that there are many different approaches beyond the common sealed or ported methodologies. As with any engineering problem, successful speaker design requires a careful balance of many often opposing factors to be reached. Sources Borwick, John. (2001). Loudspeaker and Headphone Handbook, Focal Press. Dickason, V. (1995). The Loudspeaker Design Cookbook, Audio Amateur Publications. Rosenthal, M. (1979). How to select and use loudspeakers and enclosures, SAMS. Rossing, T. (1990). The Science of Sound, Addison-Wesley. Weems, D. (2000). Great sound stereo speaker manual, McGraw-Hill. 1 [1] Nave R, Coupling Loudspeaker to Air. http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/Hbase/hframe.html [2] http://www.ajdesigner.com/speaker/index.php

Marketing Plan for Kathon MWX :: Business Marketing Case Study Essays, solution

Marketing Plan for Kathon MWX 1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Rohm & Haas is a diversified chemicals company. Its industrial chemicals division manufactures maintenance biocide products to the metal working industry. The company enjoys a healthy 30% market share with its Kathon 886 MW in the Central Systems segment. Rohm & Haas has recently launched Kathon MWX to target 150,000 customers in the Individual systems segment where the market for biocides is underdeveloped and has little competition. A large part of the customers use substitute products such as deodorants and bleaches with little effect on microorganisms. The company estimates the market size for the individual segment to be at $20 million and aims to achieve $0.2 Million revenues from this segment in the first year. Despite a superior product, the sales of Kathon MWX reached a meager 6 % of the annual plan in first five months. Rohm and Haas wishes to re-evaluate its strategy in order to tap this huge segment to significantly increase sales volume and market share of Kathon MWX. Rohm and Haas plans to enhance its allocation for distribution and marketing spend of the Kathon MWX. This would result in additional revenue of 0.1 million. This target would be achieved by a combination of a revamped distribution network for Kathon MWX, focused promotion campaign and sampling. 2. PROBLEM STATEMENT Can Rohm & Haas increase its market share and revenues in the maintenance biocide market with its current product line? The sales of Kathon MWX have barely touched 6% of the annual targeted sales for 1984. Is this the right product to target the Individual Systems segment? Can the current marketing strategy for this product help achieve the company?s objectives in the long run? 3. SITUATION ANALYSIS 3.1. Context The product sales of the company?s newly launched product Kathon MWX are well below the target set in the marketing plan for 1984. Despite its superior quality, the consumers have shown little inclination to adopt this product. 3.2. Company Rohm and Haas is a strong player in the maintenance biocide market for Central systems. The product Kathon 886 MW has a 30% share of the 18 million market. The company enjoys 70-80% market share in the non-ferrous metals segment and about 20% share in the ferrous metals market. The company has launched its new product Kathon MWX, a biocide targeted at Individual systems consumers.

Wholefoods Market, Do They Practice What They Preach?

Whole Foods Market, Do they practice what they preach? Festus Acha, Jaesang Kim, Wanda Moss, Linda Pressley, Alioune Thiam The Johns Hopkins Carey Business School Management & Organizational Behavior Professor Rick Milter March 22, 2010 Whole Foods Market, Do they practice what they preach? Abstract The purpose of this paper is to show a correlation between what is perceived about Whole Foods Market and what is factual about them. We intend to explore and investigate the following key points such as their mission statement, vision, their strategy for success, and empowerment techniques. We will look at how they motivate, compete with others, and the type of inspiration used as a whole to promote cohesiveness throughout their business. We want to feel out their communication techniques as well as the emotional intelligence of their employees. It will be an experience to observe their team leadership in action rather than by hearsay. Coaching and mentoring has to be an important function for such a global organization as well as the steps taken for decision making and problem solving. We have come to realize that change is inevitable in any business and we want to know what their plans for change are and how it will be dealt with. Lastly we take our information collectively and see just how Whole Foods holds up through our audit of their leadership. Our leadership audit of Whole Foods Market, Inc. (WFMI) was based on the following criteria: Mission & Vision Statement (Core Values) Strategy for Success Empowering Employees Motivation & Inspiration Competing without fear Communication Emotional Intelligence Team Leadership Effectiveness Coaching & Mentoring Problem solving & decision making Organizational Change Overall Management We graded them on a sliding scale of Excellence to Needs Improvement and based on the financial data and management of their competitors such as Kroger’s, Safeway, and Trader Joe’s their score was given based on overall performance in those areas. Their biggest competitor being Trader Joe’s being a privately held company it was difficult to obtain financial information to do an effective comparison. Whole Foods Market has a running history of being a family oriented company. It is also reported that upper management uses a hands off practice of allowing its employees complete autonomy in decision making regarding the operation of their stores. Based on primary information obtained through observations and interviews at multiple Whole Foods Markets throughout the Maryland area we are able to shed some validity to some of the theories currently circulating. We also have information that may show or allude to controversial information as well. During these interviews we talked with employees and the managers on duty. What we learned is what people say and what you see may not always be the same. Our secondary information was obtained through reports found through second party interviews, up to date journals and magazines such as Harvard Business Review. Vision & Mission (Core Values) Whole Foods Market came into existence on September 12, 1980. Workers for Whole Foods Market experience this organization as a positive paternalistic organization. It is characterized by very high trust levels, complete autonomy and accompanied by very little uncertainty. Their vision statement speaks of their objectives and goals reaching beyond a food retailer. It highlights its customer satisfaction, healthy employee environment, profits, investments and stockholders always ending on a positive note. Their mission is to lead by example. Some of their core values are things such as: Ensuring they are selling the best quality all natural and or organic products available for resale. Making sure their customers are always satisfied Support team members Invest in the community and the environment Great relationships with our suppliers and business partners Whole Foods truly believes in creating wealth through profits and growth for the company and its employees. However, on March 17, 2010 one of our team members Wanda Moss visited the Whole Foods Market located at 1001 Fleet Street, Baltimore, Maryland 21202. Her visit revealed that workers were friendly, outgoing, and very accommodating as she sought out a particular herbal seasoning to use in a seafood casserole. Her curiosity and interest in their herbs and spices made G. Singh, an employee more relaxed as she divulged her interest in their company for a school project. Ms. Singh has been working for the company for a little over four years she revealed. When questioned about the mission of Whole Foods as it pertained to her store and she replied that they are very good to her and they act as family towards one another. The employee was asked one other question in regards to the company’s position on unionized labor and she replied no one that she knows in her store wants to be in a union and that they like things just fine. Wanda Moss said she felt a defensive spirit as â€Å"G† responded. Nonetheless Ms. Moss continued to check out with her items and thanked the young lady for her time. Whole Food Markets employees are very knowledgeable about the store and its practices almost as if one has to rehearse. We have surmised either these employees are well prepared for inquisitions or the vision or mission statement of Whole Foods is genuine being practiced. We rated them good in their ability to mirror their vision and mission statement. Strategy for Success Which leads us to what is their marketing strategy to remain successful and move forward? Information obtained from their website suggests that they rigorously will be vigilante assessing their current situations in all aspects of the business in which they operate and examine as to how they can stay the front runner. Part of that plan is to expand geographically in the future and give consideration to altering their product mix to attract more main stream customers. Since they are not really clear on their plan of execution for expansion and innovation in altering their current mix, we rated them average and the need for improvement. Empowerment Their strategy will lead us to how they intend or are currently empowering their employees and low level managers to remain on the frontline for the business. What was learned is that their empowerment techniques equate to trust all day long. For instance the employees believe that with management placing an immeasurable amount of faith in them, a high value is placed upon them. That same value is transferred to the customers and other stakeholders that help them to remain profitable and a front runner in their field. Their CEO John Mackey is walking the talk by nurturing from the inside out to enhance the quality of benefits distributed in all of their stores. The empowerment of their employees and or team leaders is unique and inspiring so we rated them excellent in this category. Inspiration Whole Food Market was created by local business people who had the conviction that the natural food industry was ready for bigger stores. They decided to opt for the supermarket format that was hosted by only â€Å"half a dozen† stores providing natural food in the United States. In terms of nutrition, Whole Food Market claims to always look for the â€Å"highest quality, least processed, most flavorful and natural food possible†. They believe that their products are the purest within the US and that everything that you can pick up at the store will be healthy. The company also buys from local growers in order to support them and reduce their â€Å"carbon footprint†. That way, Whole Food Market is then really â€Å"committed to helping take care of the world around [them]† and the â€Å"support of organic farming and sustainable agriculture helps protect our planet†. The company also supports food banks and all sorts of micro lending operations in order to leave something positive to the community. Whole Food Market also believes that its employees make the company. They select them carefully, making sure that their values and the Whole Food market’s values are in sync. The company is trying to create a workplace where employees are pushed to improve and feel respected as well. Motivation Several factors have to be taken into account when assessing the origin of employees’ motivation. One important factor that motivates employees is that Whole Food Market support â€Å"advancement from within†. In other words, they promote their current employees to apply for the higher responsibilities positions. According to Whole Food Market, once an employee has gained valuable knowledge, he may qualify to apply for any available opportunity in the Whole Food stores and facilities. Whole food makes a point to post all the openings for positions â€Å"at team leader level or higher† only in their internal job site. It prevents outsider to access high level responsibilities positions as well as it promotes current employee to expand their product knowledge, develop their skills, enhance their value to the team, and advance inside the company. Another important factor that keeps the employees motivated is the benefit packages provided to them. Fortune Magazine recognized Whole Food Market to be one of the â€Å"100 best companies to work for during the last 13 years†. In 2009, Whole Food Market was part of the only 15 companies that would provide 100% coverage on their employees’ health insurance premiums. Their benefit packages include â€Å"health insurance, paid time off, retirement savings and generous store discounts. The company also claims to be unique in the way it allocates benefit packages. Indeed, since every team member is important to the companies, they all get a voice when it comes to the content of their benefit packages. Team members will vote every three years to determine the content of the benefit packages offered by the company. This system results in different benefit packages according to the country or region employees are working in. The Paid- Time –Off policy, for example, is different depending on where the employee is working. For US employees, the paid time off depends on whether the employee is working full-time or part-time. In Canada paid-time-off depends on the time spent within the company in years, and In the UK, every single employee gets 7 days and the possibility to add an extra day. The last factor (but not least) that we discovered to be pushing employees is the learning experience and the experience itself. Alioune Thiam, one of our team members interviewed a couple of employees at different positions. When they were asked the question † what motivates you† one of them spontaneously answered that the learning experience was her principal source of motivation when the other stated that he just love the company and what the company does for the environment. Competition Based on the multiple interviews held with the store managers, Whole Food Market does not consider other giants of the food industry as threatening competitors. They acknowledge that other stores also carry organic food but they are convinced that the high quality standard set is not rivaled. Employees also mentioned shopping at Whole Food Market as an experience where the customer and the team members are educated. They emphasized a lot about the learning experience that makes them unique and out of reach for other grocery stores. However, according to Hoovers, a business analysis company, Whole Food Market still has dangerous competitors. A business analysis of the Whole Food market shows us that The Kroger is the most important competitors to Whole Food Market closely followed by Safeway and Trader Jo’s. Even though these stores do not provide only natural, organic, healthy food, they do offer a wide variety of food ranging from organic/natural to less healthy and more commonly found nutrition. Communication Communication is essential in any organization and it would appear that Whole Foods has communication as one of its top priorities. There is great communication among team members as well as the different teams in each store. I visited the Whole Foods store in Mt. Washington and spoke with Joe Young, Associate Customer Service Team Leader regarding how communication. Mr. Young stated that the employees feel that the communication is very transparent, from team leadership to team members. Any communication from the corporate office in Texas is given to the regional offices. Information is then given to the stores and is disseminated to the team leaders who, in turn, give it to the team members. I asked about feedback from customers. Mr. Young stated that feedback from customers is encouraged. Whenever feedback is received from a customer, it is given to the team leader for whichever section it concerns. The question along with the answer is posted on a bulletin board for customers to see. This feedback response is usually given within a week. However, some of the research that I have found indicates that team members are not allowed to say anything about working at Whole Foods on social websites, such as Facebook. According to some blogs, John Mackey uses pseudo names to become â€Å"friends† with some of his employees on Facebook to keep a tab on what is being said about the company. These employees face repercussions from posting on the website. Communication Grade – Good. There seems to be good multi-directional with team leaders and customers. However, employees should be able to express themselves constructively through social websites and not feel they will be penalized. Emotional Intelligence Emotional intelligence is defined as an ability to recognize the meanings of emotion and their relationships and to reason and problem-solve on the basis of them. The employees I interview seemed to really enjoy working for Whole Foods. According to Fortune 500 Magazine, Whole Foods is listed as one of the best places to work and has been for the past 10 years. When I visited the Mt. Washington store, the atmosphere had a relaxed feel. People seemed to enjoy shopping there and the employees were attuned to the customer needs. While I was speaking with Mr. Young, he greeted several customers by name. Mr. Young pointed out the core values of Whole Foods which are listed on huge individual placards in the store. The quality standards were also listed individually on placards. As I stood in line to purchase my items, the cashiers had a great attitude. They also knew customers by name, commented on their purchases – one cashier spoke about the dinner and dessert from purchases of a customer. I also interview a long-time customer of the store. She stated she could not find anything to say negatively. She recently moved for New Orleans and shopped at those stores as well as the store at Mt. Washington, Maryland. She felt the employees enjoyed working at Whole Foods and would stop whatever they were doing to help customers, even if it meant walking over the whole store to help them find products. She felt that the service and atmosphere of Whole Foods makes customers feel good about what they are buying there. In her opinion, the team members take pride in the products that they sell. Emotional Intelligence Grade – Excellent Team Leadership & Effectiveness In the textbook The Future of Management, author Gary Hamel describe the type of management of Whole Foods. Each store is considered a team and inside the each store, there are departmental teams. According to my research, this concept seems to work. Leadership decisions are made from the bottom up instead of from the top down, which is the industry norm. Each departmental team has team leaders. It is very intriguing the way team leadership is chosen. The leader of each team is interviewed by a panel. The panel includes Regional Vice Presidents, various Team Leaders either from the same store or another store in the region, as well as a cross of team members. Mr. Young also said there is no â€Å"seniority† when choosing a leader. Leaders are chosen by the panel if they exhibit the ability to lead a team and not by how many years they have been with the company. Mr. Young also stated that when decisions affecting their team members need to be made, all team members are allowed to vote on the changes. For example, when it comes time to choose health care, the team members all vote for their health benefits. Team Leadership Grade – Excellent Coaching & Mentoring Decision Making The Whole Foods culture is built on decentralized teamwork. Decisions in Whole Foods are not made by upper management but each store has been empowered to make its decisions independent of the other. Critical decisions, such as whom to hire is made by those who will be directly impacted by the consequences of such decisions. Decision making in Whole Foods is made by teams. Each department and its team are responsible for all key operating decisions, including pricing, ordering, staffing, and in-store promotion. With regards to product selection, team leaders are given the authority to stock products they feel appeal to customers. Stores are encouraged to buy locally as long as the items meet the stringent standards of Whole Foods. With this empowerment given to teams comes accountability, which ensures that associates use their discretionary decision-making power in ways that drive the business forward. Part of Whole Foods’ strategy is to put decision right down to the front lines and hence teams make many important decisions. Problem Solving Teams maintain a culture in which open dialogue and debate is the norm. This is reinforced by openly addressing behavior that involves excessive criticism or cynicism. Not tolerating such behavior sends a strong signal to the team and sets behavior patterns. Team processes have a profound influence on team effectiveness. Effective processes ensure rigorous and optimal decision-making; generate buy-in from team members, balance the influence each member exerts on the group and minimize interpersonal conflicts while encourage constructive debate. Information and ideas of each team member is properly incorporated into the decision making process. Whole Foods has multiple processes built into its teams to achieve optimal team functioning. The tight linkage between business intelligence and decision-making authority at Whole Foods ensures that little problems do not have to compound into big problems before action is taken. Organizational Change Whole Foods Market started with a small single store. In 1978, twenty-five year old college dropout John Mackey and twenty-one year old Rene Lawson Hardy opened a small natural foods store, Safer Way, in Austin, in Texas. Two years later, John and Rene merged Safer Way with Clarksville Natural Grocery and then they opened the original Whole Foods market in 1800. Even though Whole foods Market focused on natural foods, it tried to change structure and management to improve its performance. In 1986, it was first time to purchase an existing store, when Whole foods bought the Bluebonnet Natural Foods Grocery in Dallas and converted it into a Whole Foods Market. After that, Whole Foods not only open new stores but also purchased their competitors in new regions. Through the expansion program, Whole Food Market reached out to potential customers. Whole Foods Markets launched a private label called Whole Foods. Whole Foods Market tried to find smaller manufacturers who produced quality organic products. The private label encouraged customers to return to Whole Foods Market. Its own Whole Foods brand became the first retailer to maintain a private label line featuring organic food products. In 1996, in order to resemble other Whole foods store, Whole Food Market started to transform the Mrs. Gooch's stores and made them adopt the Whole Foods Market name. The change in name caused a 5 to 10 percent sales drop. After that, Whole Foods was more careful about changing the names of acquired stores. To improve productivity, Whole Foods established a centralized purchasing system. By the end of 1997, the system facilitated the company to track product movement and prices. In addition, Whole Foods made a low priced private label, 365. The 365 products were different from the Whole Foods products. The 365 products did not provide organic products, but they were priced about 20 percent cheaper. The 365 products attracted more customers who typically bought groceries. Moreover, Whole Foods Market has expanded into global market. In 2002, Whole Foods Market expanded into Canada and two year later it entered the United Kingdom. In 2010, Whole Foods employs 53,300people in more than 290 stores in the U. S. , Canada, and the UK. The tenth-largest food and drug store in the U. S. , Whole Foods ranks 324th on the Fortune 500 list, with annual sales of approximately $8 billion. Whole Foods Market has high standards and provides organic and quality foods. In 2003, Whole Foods Market was designated America's first National Certified Organic Grocer. Three years earlier, Whole Foods was the first national food retailer to join the USDA advisory board to help increase the U. S. Organic Standards. In 2008, Whole Foods established stricter guidelines to reduce environmental impact and to require vendors to pass a third-party audit. Over the past decade, Whole Foods Market is increasing its reputation with organic, fair-trade, or locally produced food. Even though Whole Foods Market is a huge food store, it is going to change and to pursue what people need. Over the next decade, Whole Foods will offer more resources to emphasize healthful eating. If Whole Foods Market stops changing, it cannot survive in the food industry. Overall Management Whole Foods Market believes that customer experiences anticipate and predict its business outcomes. Whole Foods Market also knows employee performance has influence on customer experiences. Therefore, Whole Foods Market tries to satisfy its employees by offering adequate compensation program, safe and friendly work environment. These facts are able to motivate and guide employees to increase productivity and effectiveness. Whole Foods Market also makes employees feel like a part of the company. So every employee takes an important role to achieve its goals and their performances affect directly to the company’s outputs. Especially, Whole Foods Market is a workplace to respect for all individual team members and self-empowerment. At Whole Foods Market, there are five values to affect the employees’ performance outcomes. First, Whole Foods Market believes one of the most important jobs is talking to team members. Whole Foods Market knows what its team leaders say and do affect their team members. If team members cannot trust the leader, they also do not trust the mission of the company. Each leader represents their teams. Whole Foods Market knows communication is very important. So each leader attempts to share the mission and core values of Whole Foods Market. Also, Whole Foods Market emphasizes a self-directed team structure. It organizes Whole Foods store and company into a variety of teams. In small team organizational structure, every member is vital and important. The contributions of every member make the success of the team. Whole Foods think self-directed teams are the key work unit of the company. So Whole Food pays more attention to each team. To discuss issues, solve problems and appreciate each others' contributions, each team meets regularly. Whole Foods Market insists empowerment enhances the effectiveness of teams. When each team is fully empowered to do their work and to fulfill the organization’s mission and values, empowered organizations have great advantage. Empowerment improves creativity and innovation. Whole Foods support individual team members. Next, Whole Foods Market attempts to optimize transparency to all team members because an important element of trust is transparency. Whole Foods Market allows every team member to access information that affects their jobs and annual individual compensation report. When a company decides to hide some information, the motivation is a lack of trust. Whole Foods is afraid that the information that would cause more harm than good if it was known. However, Whole Foods is willing to take the risk. Without transparency, Whole Foods cannot reach out to high level of organizational trust. Finally, Whole Foods is not able to create high trust organizations without love and care. We are more likely to look for love and friendship with our families and friends, but not from our work. If the leadership expresses love and care in their actions, then love and care will flourish in the organization. For example, everyone participates in the meeting and gives the opportunity to voluntarily appreciate other members in the group for services. Appreciating team members helps encourage every team member. They want to get involved in their teams and trust each member. As a result, in 2010, Whole Foods ranked 18th on Fortune’s list of the â€Å"100 Best Companies to Work For. Appendix Table of opportunities: Table of opportunities: Competitors list: Leadership Audit References Diamond, D. (2009, October 1). Perception Vs. Reality. Progressive Grocer, 88(7), 34. Hamstra, M. (2010, January 1). Mackey No Longer Chairman? Supermarket News, 58(1), 1-7. Hoovers Company Records, 10952. Dow Jones Financial Data on Whole Foods Market. Retrieved March 25, 2010, from http:/ /finance. yahoo. com/q? s=WFMI. Linda Pressley. Whole Foods Market. Mr. Joe Young, Associate Customer Service Team Leader, Whole Foods Store, Mt. Washington, Maryland. Interviewed on March 23, 2010 Ms. Fay Day, Whole Foods Customer. Interview March 24, 2010. Paskin, J. (2009, February 1). Growth slows, but mackey doesn't [Keeping employees motivated]. 18, 2, 24-26. Pressley, L. Whole Foods Market Interview. Retrieved from www. discoveryhealth. com. Whole Foods Market. Retrieved from www. wholefoodsmarket. com. http://www. hoovers. com/company/Whole_Foods_Market_Inc/ http://www. hoovers. com/about/100000489-1. html www. marketwatch. com/ http://www. wikinvest. com/stock/Whole_Foods_Market_%28WFMI%29

Zen Garden

Nature is an important element for the Zen Buddhist as it is said to aid with meditation that can achieve enlightenment. The ultimate place for this mediation is a Zen garden. These gardens are a Buddhist art expression that focuses on nature. However, the garden is almost entirely made of stone and gravel, with almost no plant life at all. In this essay I will discuss a brief history of the role of nature in Buddhism, explain why the stones and gravel in the Zen Garden are so important and describe, in detail, the finest Zen Garden example that is Ryoanji Dry Garden in Japan. I have personally visited Ryoanji three times. Introduced to Japan in the mid-sixth century, Buddhism advanced various attitudes towards the natural world. The ideals of many Buddhists evinced a religiously based concern for nature. Buddhists in China and then Japan had long debated weather non sentient beings such as trees and rocks could actually attain Buddha-hood. Saicho (766-822) the founder of Tendai school, was one of the first to voice his opinion in an affirmative way, he declared that â€Å"trees and rocks have Buddha-nature† (Masao, 1989: 186). Later, Ryogen (912-985) a member of the Tendai School claimed that plants, trees and rocks desire Enlightenment, discipline themselves and attain Buddha-hood. Buddhist temples aesthetically enhanced the environment. These temples were surrounded by nature and were often built in forests and on the sides of mountains. Rock gardens, vegetable gardens as well as cherry and plum orchards were common features involved in the setting of temples. These features helped to improve the local environment and aid as a means of meditation through the natural beauty on a spiritual level in search of Nirvana which means to â€Å"put out the flame† in this world and escape to the otherworld. Zen Buddhist in Particular saw enlightenment as an experience to be had through nature. Dogen (1200-1253), founder of the Soto school of Zen Buddhism, declared that â€Å"the ocean speaks and mountains have tongues – that is the everyday speech of Buddha†¦ If you can speak and hear such words you will be one who truly comprehends the entire universe. † (Shaner 1989:114). The Zen Buddhists believed that nature could help them achieve a status of mindfulness in order to ultimately achieve enlightenment. They began to create the ultimate garden for meditation, known as the Zen Garden or â€Å"Dry Garden†. Both by creating and meditating in these gardens aided to the understanding of the Buddhist religion. Karesansui, or the â€Å"dry-landscape† style of Japanese gardens have been in existence for centuries, but the Zen Buddhists developed a smaller, more compact garden style that focussed on observing it from a distance as opposed to walking through it; â€Å"There was a shift back to an emphasis on looking rather than using. These gardens were used specifically as aids to a deeper understanding of Zen concepts†¦these gardens were not an end in themselves†¦but a trigger to contemplation and meditation† (Davidson 1983: 22). In these Zen Gardens large natural stones, in particular, are arranged in ways that allude to the spiritual problems and solutions of the Zen faith. In fact, with in the walls of the gardens there are really only two or three elements used, stones, gravel or sand, and sometimes unintentionally moss. Both the stones and gravel are arranged to create â€Å"simple abstractions of nature† (Kincaid 1966:65). In order for the Buddhists to meditate and achieve enlightenment the garden â€Å"relies on understatement, simplicity, suggestion and implication†¦leaving room for the imagination by providing a starting point† (Davidson 1983:23). The Buddhists believe that the stones are more than just inanimate objects, they are thought to have a soul and are considered to be the realistic part of the garden; â€Å"We treat natural stones as materials which have vital factors. That is because we feel life and soul in the natural stones which are frequently used as an idealistic and also as a realistic representation† (Tono1958:38). The stones are surrounded by gravel that has been intentionally raked into patterns to represent flowing water. The moss that is sometimes found on and around the stones is usually the only plant life found in a Dry Garden and is formed and left as a natural occurrence. All of the elements in nature used in a Dry Garden have a purpose, however they often take a symbolic form and represent something entirely different to what western eyes may see. Stones are often looked upon as something much greater than just a simple stone; â€Å"They have an intrinsic beauty of their own, and on the other hand, can represent something altogether larger and more universal† (Davidson 1983:38). Stones can symbolize many things depending on their shape, colour and texture. Generally â€Å"stones represent mountains, islands, and waterfalls† (Takakuwa 1973:120). However, a vertical stone may symbolize the sky, while a horizontal stone may symbolize the earth. They may also be selected and arranged to represent the essence or spirit of animals or shrubs. The bed of raked gravel surrounding the stones is seen as a body of flowing water and the raked patterns are the ripples and swirls in it. The patterns are said to give energy to the garden and help the meditation process. Figure 1) Ryoanji garden is one of the most famous Zen gardens in the world. It is arguably the highest expression of Zen art and teachings that is perhaps the single greatest masterpiece of Japanese culture. No one knows who exactly designed and arranged this garden, or precisely when, but it is thought to date from the late 1400s. This garden is a karesansui dry-style garden and is relatively small, â€Å"a rectangular area, about twenty-five yards long and ten yards wideâ₠¬  (Holborn 1982:61). It consists of 15 stones that rest on a bed of white gravel, surrounded by low walls. (Figure 2) The moss-covered boulders are placed so that, when looking at the garden from any angle, only 14 are visible at one time. In the Buddhist world the number 15 denotes completeness. So you must have a total view of the garden in your mind to make it a whole and meaningful experience, and yet, from any position in the garden it is impossible to view all 15 stones at once making the only way to see all 15 is on a spiritual level. The gravel around the stones is raked to resemble ripples and swirls, in concentric circles that extend away from the stones, while the remaining surface of the gravel is raked in straight lines, creating a contrast between curved and straight lines. The only â€Å"living† element that lends a sense of depth to the composition is the green moss found covering parts of and around the bases of the stones. The Buddhists have given the garden symbolic levels to serve as illusions, with the gravel around the stones powerfully evoking water, and the whole scene appearing to be a miniature seascape with weathered volcanic islands. The extreme simplicity and powerful balance of the composition have been interpreted by many different people, in many different ways, however its fifteen stones â€Å"are generally believed to represent islands in an ocean, but the composition is called Tora-no-Ko Watashi (Tiger Cubs Crossing a Stretch of Water)† (Takakuwa 1973:122). As a meditation tool of allusion, the garden takes a dramatic title (Tiger Cubs Crossing a Stretch of Water) and uses it to create an image to capture the essence of tension, while viewing the illusion of a strong idealized image of nature, providing a setting for oncentration on the spiritual level. It is only an illusion, because the construction and maintenance of the Dry Garden is not a natural occurrence. The design of the garden and arrangement of the stones is completely artificial and processed by humans. The white gravel lines formed by the rake represent ripples in water or clouds in the sky; however the lines are so neat and precise th at they reveal that the garden is regularly groomed by a human hand. (Figure 1&3)This makes the garden an artificial illusion of nature. It has purposely been designed this way to achieve an idealized image of nature. In Zen Buddhism, enlightenment can be achieved through meditation that can be assisted by creating an illusion of the idealized image of nature. An important focus of this meditation is concerned with the essence of nature and reality. â€Å"Zen art does not try to create the illusion of reality. It abandons true to life perspective, and works with artificial space relations which make one think beyond reality into the essence of reality. This concept of essence as opposed to illusion is basic to Zen art in all phases†. (Lieberman 1997) The purpose of the garden is not to decide on a particular natural image that the stones and the white gravel are supposed to miniaturize. The driving force behind the design as an illusion is to portray an idealized vision of weathered, enduring and sublime nature. The asymmetrical balance of the stones, when combined with the calming patterns in the gravel turn the mind inward, making it ideal for meditation and allowing the Zen Buddhists to achieve Enlightenment. Whether the stones are representing mountains amongst clouds or islands in the ocean is not important. What is important is that they capture the essence of both, displaying the characteristics of endurance, austerity, and balance that is so essential to the idealized Zen Buddhist image of nature. Bibliography: Davidson, A. K. 1983, The art of Zen gardens: a guide to their creation and enjoyment, J. P. Tarcher, L. A. Holborn, M. 1982, The ocean in the sand: Japan, from landscape to garden, Shambhala Publications, Boston. Ito, T. 1972, The Japanese Garden—An Approach to Nature. Yale University Press, New Haven. Kimura, K. 1991, The Self in Medieval Japanese Buddhism: Focusing on Dogen, University of Hawaii Press. Kincaid, P. 1966, Japanese Garden and Floral Art, Hearthside Press Inc. , New York Kuck, L. 1968, The World of the Japanese Garden, Weatherhill, New York, Lieberman, F. 1997, Zen Buddhism and Its Relationship to Elements of Eastern and Western Arts. http://arts. ucsc. edu/faculty/lieberman/zen. html Masao, A. 1989, Zen and Western thought, University of Hawaii Press. Shaner, D. E. 1989, Science and comparative philosophy, Brill Academic Publishers, New York. Takakuwa, G. 1973, Japanese Gardens Revisited. Tuttle Co, Rutland Tono, T. 1958. Secret of Japanese Gardens, published by Mitsuo Onizuka, Tokyo.

Validity and Reliability Essays

Validity and Reliability Essays Validity and Reliability Essay Validity and Reliability Essay My role as a researcher and as a teacher was difficult and there were a lot of issues that I should consider. Different external factors influenced the whole teaching process and it was hard to get over them. As a solo observer researching in the field of my professional area, I was realizing that in a lot of cases there were dangers of bias and assumption that were influencing my observations. Also, it wasnt easy taking notes and teaching at the same time, so my notes during the teaching process were limited. In order to avoid that I asked from a friend to help by taking some notes about specific characteristics that she could observe during the teaching process. I have tried that in one meeting but it wasnt easy since my friend didnt have any knowledge or skills on taking notes about the things that I wanted to observe. Therefore, I found it more useful to take my own notes. Another limitation that occurred in the current research was the fact that students didnt have much time and meetings of each group were narrowed in just two, instead of three that were the initiative purpose. However, even if the time of the study was limited the fact that I was present while students were working revealed to be valuable since I had the opportunity to ask questions during the process in order to gain greater and specific knowledge about the questions that this research seeks to answer. Moreover, the fact that the meetings werent conducted during school time, in a real learning environment with classroom settings, was another restriction. I realized that in some cases students didnt face their participation in the whole process in a similar way that they would see their participation in a school lesson. In addition, students didnt see me as a regular classroom teacher and this made my role more difficult. It was hard for me to make them focus on the teaching process, because they didnt see the whole procedure equally as a real classroom lesson, but as an evening activity. The main criticisms about observations lie in the fields of validity and reliability. According to Foster (1996), coders might be influenced by wrong prior assumptions they might have. For that reason patterns for general human behaviour must be distinguished from expectations and predictions about particular individuals (Sanger, 1996, p.41). The researcher should adopt a dual role and exchanging between been involved and been detached (Simpson and Tuson, 1995). However, as Sanger (1996) indicates is difficult to see with new eyes, or with the eyes of others. Otherwise our very familiarity with the environment blinds us to perspicacity (p.9). Accordingly, being an observer and a teacher involved issues of bias and objectivity that should be considered in order to ensure validity and reliability in my research. I found it difficult to detach myself from the role of researcher and not become biased from what I expect to see. In some cases, I realised that as a researcher I was expecting to see some things and therefore as a teacher I was pushing students to a certain direction so that I could collect more data about this study. Consequently, in order to ensure more reliability and validity in my analysis I tried to act like a classroom teacher rather that a researcher during the period that the meetings were happening. After all the sessions ended I got involved with the transcription and analysis of students conversations as a researcher. With that way my role as a teacher didnt influence much my role as researcher. Ethical Issues  When conducting a survey with children observations there is variety of ethical issues that emerge and need to be thought. One of the most important matters is be careful between invasion and protection of privacy (Cohen et al, 2000). As Richards (2003) advises, you have to keep in mind that you are getting is someone elses world, who is helping you. So, instead of being frustrating you have to be discreet, especially with note taking and recording procedures. Consequently, the first thing that I had to arrange was to ensure parents permission for the participation of their children in the current study. So, information sheets and consent forms were given to parents in order to take their permissions and guarantee that observations would be made under privacy, anonymity and confidentiality. Moreover, during the study and the written report, information about students wont be mentioned, excluding their first names. DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS In the present section of the study results from VAK are illustrated along with the findings from contextual analysis of students conversations during the teaching activities as well as the program strategies they used. Moreover, the results from group interviews that were analyzed in detail are presented, in order to identify students motivations toward the two learning approaches. All the above are mentioned in separate sections for each group, while later on a comparison between the two groups and some discussion takes part.

E-Commerce Website Description Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

E-Commerce Website Description - Term Paper Example The last thing under the first part is business growth and competitive analysis. Under this,we look at the competitors of the business and how the website quality and technical specifications will allow it exist in the market segment. It also describes the strategic assessment of the customers’ needs. The next section describes the functional requirements of windows blind website. This incorporates what the system can and must do. Each deliverable is described in details on the basis of the functions to be implemented. This section also lists down all the users and their tasks are also elaborated. The functional specifications are further divided into technical specifications and the non-technical specification. The technical specification directly addresses the requirements of the website while the non-technical specifications assist the technical specification in the realization of the objectives described in the first section. The final section presents aaa description of t he site map and the user testing framework. The site map shows all the pages and sections available in the website. It also describes the basic functionalities of the website. It also includes the technical specification documentation and the dimensions of ecommerce security which must be realized by any ecommerce website. These dimensions include authenticity, confidentiality, integrity, non-repudiation and availability. The paper describes how windows blind website achieves all these dimensions. Introduction Windows blind ecommerce website is a website which automates business transactions and that deals in IT products. Its processes are in position to achieve five dimensions of ecommerce security which are confidentiality, integrity, authenticity, non-repudiation and availability. Windows blind has three different users with different privileges. These users are the visitors (non-registered users), customers (registered users) and the administrators. Once the visitors enter the s ite they are expected to register. Registration involves filling of forms or provision of user credential which are eventually stored in the central database for the next login attempts by the registered users. Integrity is the ability to ensure that data being displayed on a network or being transmitted or received over the Internet has not been altered in anyway by an unauthorized party. An e-commerce customer can examine message integrity if the contents are questionable and out of character for the person who sent it. The system administrator must deal with the issues of integrity when determining who should have authority to change data. The more people with authority to change data, the greater the threat of integrity both outside and inside Non repudiation is the ability to ensure that ecommerce parties do not deny their online actions. Windows Blind ecommerce website achieves non repudiation by the use of an arbitrator which implements the public key cryptography to ensure t hat a client or customer is authenticated before any transaction. Confidentiality on the other hand is the ability to ensure that the message sent across the website reaches the intended recipient. Windows blind website achieves confidentiality by a process known as secure electronic transaction. This process requires that the transacting party obtains a public key from a trusted certificate authority. Situation analysis Presented is an ecommerce website known as windows