Richard III - Did Richard Kill the Children? :: Richard II Richard III Essays

Did Richard III Kill the Children? Â   We really cannot know for certain. If there was a cover-up to protect the actual murderers, it was done exceedingly well and so thoroughly that we will never be able to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt what really happened. In spite of what I see as very persuasive evidence that Richard did not kill the children, there are many very intelligent, highly successful, and unquestionably reputable historical scholars out there who believe that they have evidence that the king did commit the murders and that this evidence is equally as compelling as anything I believe. Â   But since you ask, let me give you my reasons. First, Richard did not have a strong enough need to kill the boys or enough of a reason. He seems to have successfully had them declared bastards legally--based on evidence of bigamy against his elder brother (their late father) Edward IV-- before he (Richard) ascended the throne. This action removed the boys from the line of succession to the throne of England. Killing them might thereby rid Richard of two people who later might try to prove their own right to inherit, but killing them also might alienate him from his own supporters as a murderer of his own family. This logic, however, does not save Richard from the charge of having had someone else--most commonly thought to be Buckingham--assassinate them secretly. I still do not feel this is likely, for reasons I will explain as I go. But Richard's successor, the usurper Henry Tudor, had all sorts of good reasons to kill off any Plantagenet heirs to the throne, the main one being that Henry was out to establish his own family--the Tudors--as the reigning dynasty. Henry celebrated his success in taking over the throne by hiring his own historian to write an account of how this all came about, and we are still relying on this account, even though we know that it is pro-Tudor propaganda. Â   Second, Richard's family is known to have been extremely close in their affections for each other. Richard's older brother, Edward IV, seems to have trusted Richard a great deal; when the younger sibling was a mere teenager, Edward had him commanding armies in the battles over the succession (a.k.a. The Wars of the Roses). When Edward made his will, he left Richard as Regent to protect the two sons--Edward, Prince of Wales and Richard of York--of the dying king and his wife Elizabeth.

Nonconceptuality and the Emotions :: Conceptuality Psychology Papers

Nonconceptuality and the Emotions I present an argument for the existence of nonconceptual states. A nonconceptual state is an intentional state which does not require the bearer to possess all requisite concepts in order to represent the state. I frame the debate by outlining two constraints that an argument for nonconceptuality should meet. First, successful argument must present a platitude of concepts and illustrate that there are intentional states which both actually violate this platitude (the empirical constraint) and explain behavior independently of conceptual states (the robustness constraint). This ensures that the notion of nonconceptuality established by the argument will have a significant part in the explanatory arsenal of the intentional psychologist. Secondly, I formulate a platitude of concepts based on the intuition that an individual can only legitimately be held responsible for behavior caused by conceptual states. After qualifying the platitude, I argue that emotional states actually violate th e platitude and meet the necessary constraints. Finally, I defend my argument against two challenges: one which denies that the empirical constraint has been met and the other which denies that the robustness constraint has been met. I conclude my discussion with some general remarks on the nature of nonconceptual representation. Any satisfactory model of the emotions must at once recognize their place within intentional psychology and acknowledge their uniqueness as mental causes. In the first half of the century, the theories of James and Freud had considerable influence on reinforcing the idea that emotions are non-intentional. (1) The uniqueness of emotions was therefore acknowledged at the price of denying them content, of denying them a place within intentional psychology proper. More recently, cognitive reductionists like Joel Marks and Martha Nussbaum recognize that emotions are intentional but, by reducing them to beliefs, judgements, desires, etc., fail to capture their distinctiveness as mental causes. (2) In other words, their place within intentional psychology is acknowledged at the price of denying them their uniqueness. Anti-reductionists, as I see them, are committed to the idea that emotions are both intentional and unique. This uniqueness, however, is rarely, if ever, traced to emotional content itself. An anti-reductionist is more likely to single out, e.g., a phenomenological, evaluative or perspectival feature which, as purportedly distinctive of emotional experience, precludes the reduction of emotions to, say, cognitive states. (3) My intention is not to assess these efforts. Rather, I want to offer an argument which shows that emotions are unique in virtue of the kind of intentionality they have.

Tenure at NU Essay -- Education Teaching Essays

Tenure at NU *Please note: Portions of this article and some information appeared in the Northeastern News, in the issue of December 3, 2003, Vol. LXXVII, No. 45. The respective text and information was extracted, solely, from the student reporter’s own writing and news-gathering. Appealing an Administration: A Professor’s Struggle to Remain at NU Six years ago, Northeastern’s Modern Languages Department asked an incoming professor, Harry Kuoshu, to build a Chinese Studies program. With minimal faculty support, he did just that, providing integral courses for the uprising interest in Asian Studies at the university. So when Kuoshu applied for tenure last March, the process seemed a mere formality. With unanimous support from both the Modern Language Department and the College of Arts and Sciences committees on tenure, his dossier was sent to the office of the Provost Ahmed Abdelal—who then rejected Kuoshu’s request. â€Å"I was very shocked,† said Kuoshu, from his office in the Modern Languages Department. â€Å"I try to forget about it. I focus on my work and on my research.† An author of three books, Kuoshu believes his rejection stemmed from criticism of his scholarship by external reviewers—experts from other institutions that evaluate the research of tenure-track professors. Recently nominated and named to â€Å"Who’s Who Among American Professors,† Kuoshu teaches virtually all classes in the Chinese Studies program. As a result, his tenure rejection has brought forth a wave of protest from his students, who have been actively writing to President Richard Freeland. Upon the provost’s decision, Kuoshu sent his dossier to an appeals board on tenure—comprised of 13 members—who voted 7-6 to uphold Abdelal’s prerogative. Un... ...rn. Now well-established in the Suffolk community, Haughton believes that his tenure rejection from Northeastern worked out for the betterment of his career. Having spent the majority of his teaching career in the greater Boston area, earning his Ph.D. in 1983 from Harvard—where he taught briefly before arriving at Northeastern—he has become a senior analyst at the Beacon Hill Institute for Public Policy, a place he juggles his time with along with teaching at Suffolk. â€Å"It’s funny the way things work,† he said. â€Å"But you know, life goes on. I teach at Suffolk now and I’m very happy.† In terms of his tenure rejection at Northeastern, Haughton said that while the incident caused some stress, he remembered that such episodes are common. â€Å"Everyone is academia realizes that’s the game,† he said. â€Å"If you have solid skills, you’ll land on your feet somewhere.†

Madame Bovary And The Death Of Ivan Ilych Essay

What is the nature of man? Gustave Flaubert’s Madame Bovary and Leo Tolstoy’s The Death of Ivan Ilych portray not only a glimpse of what man’s nature is, but also in so doing provide a criticism of it. Both works look into the life of people who want more out of life, and yet ironically what they desire only adds shallowness and not meaning to their existence. Whereas Flaubert’s Madam Bovary shows the depressing end of a woman consumed by passions, Tolstoy gives hope with a dying man’s last days where he gets an epiphany of what the nature of man should be. Emma is Madame Bovary, a young woman who lived in her world of romantic fantasy. She came from the country and read romantic novels when she was in the convent, and believed in earnest that love and marriage will make her happy. But after marrying a simple-minded and incompetent doctor Charles, she grows disillusioned as she sinks in the routine activities of daily life. She wanted romance, passion, excitement, and although her husband loves her and adores her, she wanted more. She wanted the latest trends in fashion and she felt that she was born unjustly to a lower class than was supposed to be for her, the aristocrat. But Emma does nothing to earn the admiration or the respect of the people she admired: she can copy their outward mannerism and clothes, but she does not have the refinement or the manners to be truly aristocratic. She merely believes in her fantasy world where the aristocrats live in luxury and a life of excitement. She was ambitious, but did not have any means to acquire her material cravings but for using her beauty and body. She gets into extramarital affairs because she finds her married life dull, even when she gives birth to a daughter. She does not take care of her daughter because she wanted a boy, and instead romps off with Rodolphe Boulanger, and does not care what other people say. She is oftentimes indiscreet and cares not of her reputation or her husband’s. Emma is self-centered and she had a sense of entitlement and superiority which had no basis but drove her to act without a thought to the consequences of her actions. She is, in a way, always likening herself to playing a role that sparks her imagination at the moment: a young woman being married to a foreign doctor, a middle class with a noble’s spirit, a bored wife having an affair, a lover, a woman of rich tastes. She could not accept that her reality was the norm and that her fantasies were exaggerated, dramatic ideals. When she was young she wanted the same romance she read in her romantic novels. When she became exposed to the high society at the ball she wanted to become like them. When she saw the melodramatic opera â€Å"Lucia de Lammemoor† she adopts the character and like her commits suicide. She drove herself to debt by buying expensive items which she sometimes gave as gifts to her lovers even when she had no means of paying for these in the first place. She signed promissory notes even when she did not understand them because the merchant Lheureux played with her fantasy that she was meant for the finest things in life. When her first lover leaves her, she is distraught and falls gravely ill. With her second affair she acts as the man, covering the costs for the affair and taking charge of where, when, and how they will meet. Her debts pile up as she purchases more and more to fill the gaping hole in her being. She believed she needed passion and excitement, but it seems that what she really needed was purpose and direction, for her life held no meaning. Her innocent tendency towards romance is transformed into full blown moral corruption as she was unable to hold herself together and keep her urges and desires under control. Emma is not productive, she has no desire to improve herself or her skills, and she does not nurture her relationships with her husband, her daughter, not even with her lovers. She just saw them as means of escape from her dull life, and when they fall short of her expectations she just drops them. When the consequences of her actions finally catch up on her and her world becomes smaller and smaller, she decides to play a role – that of a tragic heroine and kills herself with swallowing arsenic. She could not face up to the trouble that she has caused and decides to escape rather than take responsibility as she could not imagine a life of poverty and shame – although her whole life she was never wealthy and she lived a scandalous life with her known affairs. Up until then she saw her life differently – believed she had wealth, pride and breeding because that was what she wanted, but sadly these did not bring her the happiness she sought. Emma had a good life but was not able to appreciate it with her preoccupation with the things she did not have. By focusing her energies on her fantasies of wealth and romance she failed to live her life to the fullest, and for the most part it could be said that she was living in a dream and when she woke to find herself in the gravity of her real life situation, she killed herself to escape, but there was no going back to her fantasy world, and no redemption as even after her death her husband discovers her infidelity which kills him and her daughter sent off to work on a cotton mill. In her, we see the nature of man as ruled by emotions, desires and appetites, without caution or control, without compassion to others. Emma was not able to see and recognize the humanity in her, all the time she was acting out, even her motherly functions, her martyr facade. She never truly enjoyed life because she never saw anything and anyone beyond their appearances, and never learned to appreciate the little things that make life worthwhile. The theme of life and death is also examined in Leo Tolstoy’s The Death of Ivan Ilych, where he uses the characters to critique the artificial life that people live in society characterized by materialism and shallowness. Tolstoy puts forward a picture of society with striking honesty and insight: individuals do not behave as individuals but rather aspire to be like everybody else, trying to live a correct life as appropriated by norms, striving to have a comfortable life accentuated with material wealth even if their spiritual life and human relationships are dry and empty. With his narrative, Tolstoy then poses the question of what is important in life, how life should be led, and ultimately, how important life is and how people take it for granted by deluding themselves into believing they are exempt from death. Most of the characters in the story are portrayed as materialistic social climbers, who equated material wealth and position in society as determinants of success and happiness. Ivan, his wife and daughter, his supposed friends, all troubled themselves with appearances – they were preoccupied with proper decorum and attires, of looking well off, of having power over others. But these are all temporal, for these things do not really matter in the face of death. Ivan finds out that what is important is living one’s life according to one’s own vindication, not blindly following trends in society which results in a shallow, routine, meaningless life. He belatedly understood that empathy and recognizing the individual as an individual with thoughts and emotions rather than as subjects with mere faces is what mattered in life, that to live humanly is what gives life its meaning. Only Gerasim and his son are the ones in the story that have empathy and humanity in them – in Gerasim it is made obvious by his understanding that everybody, regardless of position or appearance, are all equal, with the same fate waiting for them in the end, especially when he said, â€Å"We shall all of us die, so why should I grudge a little trouble? †. The son, on the other hand, is the only one in Ivan household who showed any feelings for his dying father – he took his father’s hand and kissed it while crying. This can be taken as the boy was young; he was still innocent and not yet tainted with the demands of society. Ivan himself was dissatisfied with the boy because he behaved differently from him, his wife and daughter, but in his last days it was his son who showed him that there is a human soul in the world who regarded his life important. Also, this depiction of the innocence in childhood is mirrored in Ivan’s experiences: the only times he felt truly alive was when he was a boy, before he went to Law School. Being assimilated into society, he found that he trapped himself into a prison of standards, and lived a largely artificial life. Tolstoy showed that an artificial life is characterized by materialism and social climbing. At the beginning of the story, we find Ivan dead but his friends were chiefly concerned with the position that he will be vacating, the promotions and changes in the workplace and what they have to gain from it, all the while denying to themselves that they too will end up like Ivan sooner or later, that they will die eventually. They act as though they could live forever and concern themselves with the trivial everyday things. Even in his wake, his friends put a show of grievance because it was what was required of â€Å"friends†, but were more interested in playing bridge. They did not see the inevitability of death and suffering, of the hollowness of their lives. Peter Ivanovich, Ivan’s perceived closest friend, somehow felt disturbed and concerned, but rushed to quell these feelings because he reasoned he was alive and Ivan dead and there should be no reason to â€Å"hinder their spending the evening agreeably†. When he was still alive, Ivan himself saw how he had lived superficially in the way his doctors treated him, as though he was some subject whose sentence they hold in their hands, his life holding no real importance or meaning to the doctors. What mattered to the doctors was their perception of themselves that they feel important and significant by virtue of their occupation; that is what gave them satisfaction and purpose. Ivan himself acted the same way many times in his life – with the accused brought before him he reduced them to facts on paper and did not see them as individuals, he got married for it was expected of a man of his station and chose a bride not out of love or devotion but out of the social status it will benefit him. In the end, the story teaches that material wealth and position in society are not what matters. In the face of death, one looks back at the quality of life that he has led, and the most precious times would be the ones he felt most alive, when he was free and himself. The Death of Ivan Ilych and Madame Bovary teach us the nature of man as susceptible to fantasies of the happiness that wealth and material possessions can bring, but in reality these are more likely to corrupt us than give us real happiness. The nature of man is that of desire – desire to achieve in all aspects of life, and in this man should always apply himself to make himself a better person. However, desire for achievement is different from greed. Achievement should not only be limited to the professional and material aspects of life, but more importantly to the relationships with others. The meaning and purpose of life is not about the material achievement but how well one lived his life. Man’s nature reflects that of his society, and society that of man, as the individual is part of the whole and the whole consists of its parts. Both protagonists were deeply influenced by their time and what was regarded as important then. They have let others dictate, influence and take advantage of them, and by not taking responsibility d control over their lives they eventually found themselves in situations they did not dream of. This could have only come up to those who did not examine their actions and the kind of life they lead. Emma and Ivan believed that wealth and material things can bring happiness, but they both ended up dead – although here the stories’ protagonists differ. Whereas Emma chooses suicide to escape her suffering, Ivan comes to terms with his death and accepts it. Although Emma’s final act was of her own decision, we cannot say that she was finally taking things in her hands as before that she was always feeling hindered and trapped by her circumstances. She did not have a realization of what brought down her downfall, even in her final days she did not know what held meaning and not. Her suicide, like all her actions before, was an attempt at escaping reality, and this time she succeeded. Emma was not able to redeem herself, nor was she able to see what would make her life happy, but Ivan was changed and in his last days was able to make sense of his suffering. Tolstoy showed that no matter how sullen or materialistic a man behaved and lived, there is still hope for him to change as long as he lives. That man’s innate nature is towards living an authentic life, towards goodness, and that even if society is corrupt and superficial, pure love and humanity also exists, and it is always within us, and also in our capacity, to choose what kind of life to lead.

Comparative Analysis of Amazon and Webvan

Webvan was founded by Louis Borders in 1999 after he saw the opportunity in the growing number of people making online purchases. Borders created Webvan as an enterprise that would offer greater variety than conventional stores and at the same time provide the necessary convenience to online shoppers. Webvan started by offering groceries that were frequently bought by online shoppers to ensure economies of scale in their orders.After establishing a critical customer base, it planned to use its distribution system to expand its sale to product lines that were not being frequently offered but with high profit margins such as books and consumer electronics. The company developed the web store and constructed its distribution and fulfillment center in the San Francisco Bay area from 1997 to 1999. After implementing its trial delivery system in May 1999 to 1,100 customers, Webvan was launched in June of the same year as a venture whose primordial mission is to deliver to its customers eve rything from groceries to palm pilots in a cheap and efficient manner.After raising $1. 2 billion as start-up capital from its stock offering, it began to execute grandiose plans of establishing strings of futuristic warehouses with motorized carousels and robotic product-pulling machines which costed $35 million, hoping it would minimize the cost of operations. With profit-margins so thin, Webvan failed to cover its growing cost of operations. Demand was so weak to sustain the income that Webvan needed to raise. Finally, after suffering a net loss of $217 million and accumulating tremendous deficits amounting to $830 million, Webvan found itself in a loosing situation.By July 2001, Webvan Group, Inc. and its subsidiaries, Webvan-Bay Area, Inc. , Webvan Operations, Inc. , and HomeGrocer. com, Inc. filed voluntary petitions for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the United Stated Bankruptcy Court in July 2001 and ceased operations. Amazon was founded by Jeff Bezos in 1994, after he noticed the promising growth of Web sites and internet access. Bezos was said to be particularly â€Å"optimistic about online retail opportunities and set out to develop a business model that will leverage growth of internet access in the United States†.Bezos decided to start with bookselling as its initial retail category, with the belief that online business model possessed superior economics to established competitors. Amazon was so successful in its initial public offering that it was able to sell 3 million shares at $18 per share, thereby raising $54 million as part of its start-up capital. And so they say the rest is history. Amazon evolved from a tiny warehouse to a leading internet retailer in the world. Bogler and Johnson (2000) wrote:â€Å"The company’s growth was phenomenal: it expanded from books to offering 28 million items across numerous categories and acquired 29 million global customers along the way. By 2000 according to Interbrand, Amazon. com beca me the forty-eighth most valuable brand in the world, embodying the principle of electronic commerce for people worldwide. † However by late 2001, Amazon experienced a tremendous loss of $2. 3 billion. Its share price which ascended rapidly in 1999 went down significantly. Fortunately, it was able to borrow $2.1 billion to sustain its international investments. With innovations such as the one-click system and creative strategies to raise revenues from publishers and increase in sales from wider product selection, Amazon was able to survive the slump in the subsequent period at the NASDAQ. (Burgelman, 2001) By 2008, Amazon emerged as a global brand with 76 million active customer accounts and order fulfillment to more than 200 countries. With this volume of sales, on December 31, 2007 Amazon employed approximately 17,000 full-time and part-time employees. COMPARE & CONTRASTIt would be interesting to note that the founder of Webvan actually started in the business of booksellin g. In terms of experience in the dot-com business, Amazon started earlier in 1994 while Webvan started in 1999. Webvan started operations in 1999 and was publicly-listed on November of the same year, with its share price zooming to $34 from the offering price of $15 on its opening day. This allowed Webvan to raise a whopping $1. 2 billion in start-up capital from the offering and other sources such as venture capitalists, thereby putting it within the league of Amazon.com. ([email  protected], 2001) In other words, both companies were of equal footing in 1999 when Webvan caught up with Amazon in terms of dot-com stature and financial backing. Both companies also established strategic alliances in the course of their operations. In the case of Webvan, it established partnership with Eve. com, an online prestige beauty products retailing company. It also established strategic alliances with Coca-Cola Company, Kraft Foods, and Chlorox Company. This was done by Webvan to reduce its pr ocurement costs.Amazon partnered with Drugstore. com (pharmacy), Living. com (furniture), Pets. com (pet supplies), Wineshopper. com (wines), Sothebys. com (auctions) and Kozmo. com (urban home delivery). In most cases, Amazon purchased an equity stake in these partners, so that it would share in their prosperity. Such partnerships helped Amazon extend its reach into the customer-base of other suppliers, and of course, customers who buy in one category such as books can be encouraged to purchase into other areas such as clothing or electronics.Webvan carried mostly perishable grocery goods in its retail categories while Amazon had the policy of selling only non-perishable and conveyable items. Since profit margins were so thin for perishable goods compared to non-perishable goods, it would be easy to undertsand why Amazon had greater chances of success than Webvan. Furthermore, perishable items have greater risk and cost in inventory handling. This is the reason why Webvan had to in vest too much money in its warehousing infrastructure. This spelled the difference in the success and failure of the Amazon and Webvan.Webvan had to invest too much money on a system that must ensure the freshness of its perishable goods. It had to establish a highly technological and robotic warehousing infrastructure that was very expensive to begin with in contrast to Amazons system which required its employees to â€Å"touch† its products. In the case of Amazon, since most of its items sold online were non-perishable, it had lesser inventory risks. In addition to that, its business model allowed it to shift it cost of carrying most of its inventory to its suppliers.Thus, Amazon had better grip in its infrastructure costs. The savings it obtained from its leaner operations allowed it to invest its money in developing its software systems that facilitated greater efficiency in its distribution. Finally, the viability of both business differed mainly from its customer-base a nd funding support during hard times. Webvan had a weak local customer-base that was often dissatisfied by its delivery service while Amazon had a strong customer-base that was not only confined to the US but also overseas.More so, NASDAQ just gave up on Webvan when it continously experienced financial setbacks while Amazon was able to secure additional investments to sustain its global operations. CAUSES FOR FAILURE OR SUCCESS One of the main reasons why Webvan failed is because it made the wrong decision of investing the money it successfully raised in a very expensive infrastructure and rapid expansion of operations. According to Strom (2001): â€Å"Webvan spent huge sums on high-tech warehouses that were designed to revolutionize distribution, but they turned out to be mostly a waste of money.The problem is that all the technology was meant to reduce labor costs, and labor is relatively cheap. Worse, Webvan designed the warehouses so they could scale to 8,000 orders per day, bu t that's a lot of unnecessary expense when you're receiving less than half that many orders. † Another factor that led to the failure of Webvan is the decline in the quality of its service delivery. When Webvan took over HomeGrocer, an internet grocery shopping store which was absorbed into Webvan’s grandiose expansion plan, customers noticed the deteriorating effectivity of customer service.Before the takeover, there were no complaints with HomeGrocer specially interms of customer service. Emails from customers were being promptly addressed by customer service such as providing refunds in cases of occasional mistake or damaged food. This quality of service worsened when customers started to receive rotten fruits from the delivery. Webvan was buying inferior produce in order to save on cost. Such decline in customer service resulted in customers going back to the conventional way of picking up their groceries and patronizing the local groceries once again.(Mcafee, 2006) Finally, it can be seen that Webvan’s botched acquisition of HomeGrocer led to its failure as it did’nt handle the merger of resources and assets wisely. HomeGrocer’s competency and strength in terms of operations and marketing were not totally assimilated into Webvan’s system. Amazon’s e-commerce technology platform, brand power and fulfillment infrastructure was a key to its success. It had technological innovations that efficiently facilitated online order such as the â€Å"one-click check out process†.Amazon provided its customers with an online system that allowed shoppers to purchase products online without filling lengthy registration and shipping forms that would usually turn-away buyers. Amazon was able to create an online system that also helped repeat purchases by buyers to be executed by just one click of a button – a system whose patent was eventually awarded to Amazon. One important factor why Amazon succeeded is becaus e of certain inherent strengths in its business model.Its negative operating cycle allowed Amazon to get credit card payments from its customers in a few days while enjoying a time lag of thirty to sixty days to pay its vendors after the sale. This gave Amazon a financial advantage that allowed it to generate interest in the full price of its goods for over a month. Another inherent strength in Amazon’s business model is its less dependence on physical infrastructure such warehouses. Amazon was able to sell it products with out actually carrying in most of its inventory thus shifting the risk of its inventory to its vendors.Amazon’s suppliers carried the burden of storage, thereby lessening its cost due to minimal inventory handling. Amazon also instituted free shipping offers to encourage increase in basket size since customers have to spend over a certain amount to receive free shipping. The level at which free-shipping is set is critical to profitability. Because of this, Amazon got a competitive edge as promotional battles evolved with its competitors. LESSONS LEARNED AND CONCLUSION Growing Too Fast Too Soon The lesson that can be learned from the experience of Webvan is that of timing.Some would think it’s a business that is way ahead of its time; others would say it grew too fast too soon. In his review of the â€Å"Top ten dot-com flops†, German (2009) wrote that: â€Å"A core lesson from the dot-com boom is that even if you have a good idea, it is best not to grow too fast too soon. But online grocer Webvan was the poster child for doing just that, making the celebrated company our number one dot-com flop. In a mere 18 months, it raised $375 million in an IPO, expanded from the San Francisco Bay Area to eight U. S.cities, and built a gigantic infrastructure from the ground up (including a $1 billion order for a group of high-tech warehouses). Webvan came to be worth $1. 2 billion (or $30 per share at its peak), and it toute d a 26-city expansion plan. But considering that the grocery business has razor-thin margins to begin with, it was never able to attract enough customers to justify its spending spree. The company closed in July 2001, putting 2,000 out of work and leaving San Francisco's new ballpark with a Webvan cup holder at every seat.† Getting Big Fast Ironically, in the case of Amazon, the same business principle of getting big fast was said to be the most important decision that lead to its success. In an interview with Jeff Bezos by Fortune Magazine, he said that the initial strategy was very focused and very uni-dimensional†¦It was GBF: Get Big Fast†¦What once looked foolish can seem smart now. When we started the company on July 15, 1995 we offered one million titles. We were advised by very knowledgeable people to offer only three hundred thousand titles.That was twice the size of the inventory carried by the largest physical bookstores. The catalogue was hard for us but d oable. Obtaining the books was really hard. But the success generated word of mouth. (Brooker, 2000) Supply-chain management was also a crucial lesson in the experience of Webvan and Amazon. The company that was able to efficiently and effectively manage its online retail business with minimal inventory cost and risk was the company that turned out to be successful.The difference in the supply chain management of both companies ultimately distinguished between the company that was financially viable and which one was not. References Bogler, Daniel and Edgecliffe-Johnson, Andrew (2000). Jeff Bezos: The Man of Last Year Revisited. Brooker, Katrina (2000). Beautiful Dreamer. Fortune Magazine. Burgelman, Robert and Meza, Philip (2001). Amazon. com: Evolution of an e-tailer. Graduate School of Business. Stanford University. [email  protected] (2001).Webvan Finds that Shopping for Food Online Hasn’t Clicked with Consumers. [Online]. Available: http://knowledge. wharton. upenn. ed u/article. cfm? articleid=321 German Kent (2009). Top 10 dot-com flops. CNET Networks Incorporated. [Online]. Available: http://www. cnet. com/1990-11136_1-6278387-1. html Mcaffee, Andrew and Ashiya, Mona (2006). Webvan. Harvard Business School. President and Fellows of Harvard College. Strom, David (2001). Where Webvan Went Wrong. TidBits #588. [Online]. Available: http://www. strom. com/awards/255. html

Multi Tasking Madness

Digital native is a term used to describe a person who has grown up and been attached with the immersion of technology. In the article â€Å"Multitasking Madness†, the digital natives have been known with the ability of multitasking at which previous generations are surprised. The digital natives are able to do many tasks at the same time because they strengthen brain cells to carry out specific activities. However, the question has been addressed: â€Å"How will businesses need to change to capitalize on the multitasking ability of the digital natives?In a few years later, the baby boomers will get retired, then businesses will replace them with the younger generations, among them are digital natives who are much better in multitasking than previous generations. Also, technology has rocketed since the mid of 90's, which requires businesses need to update and catch up with the rapid development of technology; as a result, businesses have to consider of hiring employees who ar e familiar with new technologies and adapt them into work efficiently.With those two reasons, business organizations must come up with hanges, such as creating a new work environment in which the digital natives can maximize their abilities, and allowing them to work in their personal time. Creating such a good work environment to capitalize the abilities of the digital natives is making them comfortable at work. Their work area is no longer limited in a small cubicle but any place in the building so they don't feel narrowed down in the small area. Also, they only need a thin slight laptop instead of a big screen desktop computer to carry around with them so that they can work anytime and anywhere.For example, as an accountant for a website security company, I'm responsible for business transactions between the company with our clients and vendors, having a laptop with me all the time, I quickly respond urgent inquiries from them while interacting with other employees on IM windows. Allowing the digital natives to work in their personal time is one of changes that businesses should consider too, such as providing them with access so that they can work at anywhere and anytime. For instance, they can work at home and still are able to take care of their kids.Or as my situation, full-time employee and attend school as part-time student, to be able to catch up with school and work projects, a permission of working on my own time would be a great idea for me. Creating a work environment at the workplace to capitalize the abilities of the digital natives is the best solution that business should consider because a company still hold the control of their employees, which is knowing if they show up for work and attend conferences and meetings frequently as requested. Businesses don't need to spend much money on office furniture and big flat screen monitors.

Mccain

External Business environmental challenges on the business One of the biggest problems of McCain was obesity In children. This problem related to external challenges, which faced by the organization. McCain had to focused on the healthy problem occurred due to their products. McCain had to understand the dietary of the customers, which should be balanced as well as healthy. In relation to understand the customer's requirement and other issues, it was mandatory for the company to analyses its environment whether it was internal or external.Following figure show the external challenges: (http://yeomanry. Mom, 2014) After doing the slept analysis organization needs to examine those factors, which affects the business. When slept has been occurred then, company has to made changes according to the environment changes. Some external challenges is as below: Social Factors: It Is one of the Important factors that affects directly to the business. Consumer behavior depends resolute by the pr esent trend. Habits Like eating, drinking changes with time to time. McCain sales growth declined due to some healthy eating patterns of the consumers.McCain reduces the quantity of salt in their potato products. Mccain claimed that their potato products are lower in fats and saturated fats. McCain also promote its product to the public to increase the sales. They communicate with people through campaigns. McCain also made strong public relation with the help of advertisement. Legal Factors: Every company has to deal with the legal criteria set by the government. There must be some standard that are set by the company to meet with the government rules and regulations.Government set standards on the behalf of consumers. They made various traffic lights labels which shows the quality of the product that help the nonusers to choose the right product. For example red dot represent high level of ingredients like fat and unsaturated fats and green dot represent low level of fat. There are some guidelines set by the government for the companies in relation of quality. Some of the guidelines are also called daily amount guidelines, which represent the daily intake of the fats and unsaturated fats.Advertising also comes under legal factors. It supervised by the voluntary body that related to advertising industry. This special authority called advertising standards authority. Economic Factors: One of the mall challenges of the company Is people's rolling Income. This was big problem for the company because as the Income rises then, people prefer to buy the superior varlets of the products. As the people becoming richer they prefer ready to eat meal and ready meals rather than buying potatoes and chips at home. So responsible for health.Then, McCain introduces the various products like Mccain straight cut, oven chips, Home fries, roast potatoes etc. Technological factors: Technology is the most important challenges for the company. Food technology plays an important role in this modern economy. Some of the challenges for the companies like frozen products, muesli bars etc. One of the main challenges for the company how to retain the quality of the potatoes products. B. Two strength and two Weaknesses of McCain foods in emerging the organization sustainability. Strength McCain company toughly emphases on the quality of its products.It hires more than 90 agronomist's potato experts at 55 production facilities across 6 continents, to help local producers to grow best quality of potatoes and vegetables that the company can use those products in manufacturing its products and also confirm consistent supply. McCain Research Farms concentrate on emerging quality agricultural products. (An, 2014) McCain Company drives a Potato Processing Technology Centre in Canada and frequently improvisation's manufacturing processes in order to increase efficiency and product value. An, 2014) The company's thoughtlessly on keeping high quality levels for raw materials d istinguishes its products from others intone market and increases the brand image. (An, 2014) Nakedness's The company has slightest presence in developing the organic segments of food. Organic and natural food products are now becoming the rapid growing classification in food retail sector. Consumer awareness organic alternatives for food products and increasing health anxieties about Junk food have headed to chirography in this particular segment. An, 2014) Restricted existence in a reckless growing product sector mayhap an unfavorable mark on the company's market share. Downtrends status McCain has been popular as a private company; it could face problems in getting money for outgrowth owing to its ownership status. Private ownership's the company at a reasonable disadvantage. (An, 2014) (Strauss, 2014) Adaptability culture is the most corporate culture that McCain need to adopt for their tragedies. In adaptability culture, company develops in external environment. Company need to response as soon as possible when the company makes the decision.It involves the high-risk decisions that get quick feedback from the environment. Managers need to encourage the company staff so that company needs to detect rapidly. Three reasons that make adaptability culture better than others are as below: 1 . The first reason is that it is flexible by nature. Whenever, company need to change the strategies according to customers needs then, company can change any time and very easily. Customer need changes according to time then, it is the first duty of the company to be focused the needs of customer. 2.Employees have self-rule to make decision and also act freely to meet the new needs of customers. Employees should know regarding their decision. If the employees participate a lot in the responsiveness to customers then, those decision will be highly value and appreciated. 3. Company need to be creative as well doing experimentation on new products according to the customers ne ed. For example, In the market, there is customer need come in front of the company and company start working on it then, many can easily introduce the new product.Vision & Strategy (http://www. McCain. Com, 2014) Some of the company objectives are as below: Acquire the highest market share Boost the sales of the company Satisfy the customer and its need Personalization for shareholders Growing together business strategy customers and consumers through the development of our people, stewardship of the environment and our actions as a responsible corporate citizen We believe that social responsibility is an expression of how we conduct all aspects of our business and cannot be defined within a single program or policy.This belief is reflected in the Growing Together business strategy we introduced in 2005, which is anchored by three interdependent pillars: Distributed and networked leadership: Developing people as leaders at all levels of the organization and collaborating through le arning and project networks to leverage our global scale and best practices. Market facing: Making decisions at the closest level to the customer and creating demand for our products through innovation, value, differentiation and in the way we interact with our customers and consumers. Global CARS report, 2009) Corporate social responsibility: Making good, nutritious food on the principles of sustainability and food safety and supporting our employees, customers and consumers in their aspiration for a Better Life. Coach section of this report – Respecting our Environment, Inspiring Wellness and Positively Impacting our People – describes the policies, practices and initiatives that underpin our strategy and the progress we are making on our Journey of continuous improvement in advancing our goals in a socially responsible manner. Global CARS report, 2009) Advantages and disadvantages of Management-by-objective Management by Objectives MOB can likewise be alluded as Man agement by Results or Goal Management, and is focused around the presumption that contribution prompts responsibility and if a worker takes part in objective setting and additionally setting norms for estimation of execution towards that objective, then the representative will be roused to perform better and in a way that straightforwardly helps the accomplishment of authoritative goals. Advantages of Management by Objectives 1 .Since Management by targets (MOB) is a result-turned process and concentrates n setting and controlling objectives, if urges chiefs to do unity gritty arranging. 2. Both the top managers and the Juniors realize what is anticipated from them and consequently there is no part imprecision or disarray. When both top managers and subordinates know each other about there work then, there will be no confusion between them. Disadvantages of Management by Objectives 1 . MOB can be accomplishing because it has the complete backing of the top management.If the McCain t op manager will not supportive with there staff then, the strategies will no completed. Whatever, strategic plan made by the management should be related to staff. 2. They may be less weight to co-occur with the administration during setting objectives and goals and these objectives may be set unreasoningly high. This may low down their assurance and they may get to be suspicious about the logic behind MOB. Control System to improve Production process and product quality Controlling is one of the most important functions, which consist planning, organizing, staffing and directing.It is important because It help the company to correct the errors and to take corrective action so that divergence from tankards are minimized and the set goals of the company are achieved in the desired manner. Control in management means to improve the production process, Feed forward Control Concurrent Control Feedback Control Afterwards Afterwards is a communication term that refers to regulate impact t o a person or a company from which anybody can expect output. Feed Forward is not like pre- feedback, because it helps to measure an output and also help in sending the feedback.For example, if pre-feedback is occurred during quality and production process which is really easy for the organization to get an idea of the output. It also involves a document of review and giving post information regarding the production and quality process. Concurrent control will be control that happens in the meantime as a task is happening. This observing and controlling comprises of the courses of action that project execution so that potential issues might be distinguished in a promising way and correct procedures could be made, when needed, to control the execution of the task.If any project is under process in production unit then, concurrent control strategy can be used during that process. It will help the managers to observe and intro and of course, actions can be taken for correct execution o f the process. Feedback is a method in which data about the past or the present impacts the same phenomenon in the present or future. As a part of a chain of its effect and causes that forms a circuit, the occasion is said to â€Å"feedback† into itself. Feedback† exists between two sections when each affects the other. As a company tries to improve its performance, feedback helps to make some adjustments. Feedback helps to motivate the people in the work place. When anybody receives positive or negative feedback, hat person decides how to apply that feedback on his or her Job. In the production and quality process of the company, if any employee receive the positive feedback then, that person will automatically motivated towards company.