Should Video Games Be Addictive - 1003 Words

Gaming has been a way for adolescents and adults to escape reality and pass the time. It not only provides them with a recreational hobby, but also allows them to connect and communicate with those alike. The field of gaming is constantly growing and allowing new opportunities for creative ideas. There is such a large variety to choose from, making it a truly diverse and engaging world. The question of whether video games can be addictive is left unanswered because many articles and studies provide evidence that supports both sides of the debate. The article, â€Å"Online Gaming Addiction? Motives Predict Addictive Play Behavior in Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games† by Kuss et al, primarily covers Massively Multiplayer Online†¦show more content†¦They hope to continue further research in an attempt to create prevention protocols and treatments. I find that the overall message of the article is that, in order to prevent and possibly treat the addictive behaviors and consequences associated with MMORPGs, researchers must begin to understand and research the motivations associated with playing MMORPGs. The article outlines many of the motivations that drive players to addictive behavior, such as competition, rank reputation, social interactions, relationships, customization, role-playing, and escapism. The article also contains many studies and research findings which reinforce that claim and make it more credible. What is interesting to me is that the studies show that participants who play MMORPGs are more likely to experience game-related problems and addictive behaviors than players who did not play MMORPGs. According to the article, the characteristics of MMORPGs (escapism and immersion) may be variables that influence these outcomes. Kuss et al stated, â€Å"Results indicated that... the gaming motivations escapism and mechanics significantly predicted excessive gaming and appeared as stronger predictors than time investment in game.† The material I read reinforced the idea that MMORPGs are more addictive because of the immersive nature. The article consistently keeps its focus on the addictive nature of MMORPGs and the correlation betweenShow MoreRelatedWhat Makes A Video Game Addictive?1537 Words   |  7 Pages Video Game Addiction Caymon Mosquera Leslie Henderson Intro to Mass Communication 1307.87 4/17/2016 â€Æ' What makes a video game addictive? As with any addiction video games are a multi-faceted issue. For starters, video games are made to be addictive. Not â€Å"addictive† in the clinical way, but designers are always looking for ways to make their games more interesting and increase the amount of time people will spend playing them. Consequently, games are designed to be difficult enough to be trulyRead MoreVideo Games Effects On Children972 Words   |  4 PagesDictionary, as defined the word video game is an electronic game in which players control images on a television or computer screen. Playing video games is fun that we make as entertainment to divert all the stress and pressure that we have been experiencing. But, video games can have detrimental effects on children, teenagers, and adults when they spend too much time sitting in front of the computer, as they cannot get enough sleep and often times forget to eat. Video games can destroy people’s livesRead MoreVideo Game Addiction Is A Modern Day P sychological Disorder1529 Words   |  7 Pagesto play outside , he would probably carry his laptop out there and play games therein. Yes, one would readily agree to the current scenario of increasing teenagers falling into the prey of gaming addiction. Sometimes I ponder if the same excitement, the same joy is inherited by their minds on slitting his virtual enemy’s throat, which we derived by scoring a goal or hitting a six in midst of the heat of the game. Video games are a common entertainment tool among today’s children. Gaming has grownRead MoreVideo Games Effect On Today s Adolescents839 Words   |  4 PagesAre video games having a negative effect on today’s adolescents? For most teens, video games can be a fun way to escape reality. How do video games impact us? Are video games having a positive or a negative effect on today’s adolescents? Spending too much time playing video games leads to escalating rates of teen violence, obesity and declin ing grades. Violence, which also includes bullying, among teens has been on the rise for years, Watch the local evening news and you will most likely hearRead MoreAre There So Much Violence on Video Games?1114 Words   |  5 Pagesin video games to much? The violence use to be so little and mild now it’s just outragous to where the games look like real life from the characters, to the items in the games, and voices for the characters. The games are no longer little fuzzy pictures now they look like pictures that you have taken of an actual person. Should video games with violence in them even be able to hit the shelf to sale? Let’s be honest there the new thing that is trending now in our time. With the popular games likeRead MoreVideo Games Effect On Children948 Words   |  4 Pages â€Å"Video games are a ubiquitous part of almost all children’s and adolescents’ lives, with 97% playing for at least one hour per day in the United States† (Granic, Lobel and Engels 66). Video games are a big part of life in America and around the world. Technological advances allow for many different devices where video games can be played, so it is not hard for children to get their hands on video games. There is also a wide variety of games, from building games to board games to war games. ThereRead MoreThe Documentary, Digital Nation, Directed By Rachel Dretzin1130 Words   |  5 PagesSchoenmakers, Mark Griffiths, and Dike Van De Mheen. Video Game Addiction and Social Responsibility. Addiction Research Theory 18.5 (2010): 489-93. Web. The article is similar to Weinstein’s in the comparison of habitual gambling to gaming. However this article differs from Weinstein in its reason for addiction, because while Weinstein argues that emotional and psychological investment are the main reason, â€Å"Video Game Addiction and Social Responsibility† argues that repetition isRead MoreVideo Games And Its Effects On Society1588 Words   |  7 PagesSince the creation of Spacewar in spring of 1962, video games have dramatically improved along with technology. It has become the most popular way of entertainment in modern civilization, but it also has become a subject of public concern regarding to its negative effects on peoples psychological and physical problems, especially in children and teens. Video games are now recognized by a study as an addiction according to the journal Psychological Science: â€Å"Researchers used data on 1,200 childrenRead MoreVideo Game : Video Games888 Words   |  4 Pagesyou eve r played or owned any type of video game? Video games are very addictive, especially your favorite one. Call of Duty is a popular video game that is full of violence and shootings. The quality of this video game looks just like real humans, shootings, guns, cities, towns, roads, etc. Call of Duty started off as a simple video game and is now expanding into a whole series that people keep purchasing. Children of all ages are involved in playing this game, and most people are against it. CallRead MoreThe Long Term Trajectory Of Problem Gaming Symptoms Among Adult Regular Video Gamers1511 Words   |  7 Pagessome experts refer to as video game addiction. Many professionals have differing opinions on the addictive nature of video games, but it does not take an expert to see that children are no longer playing outside, toddlers have learned how to operate pieces of technology that are challenging to some adults and cry when they are taken away from them, and some adults jeopardize thei r health every year by risking malnutrition and heart disease all in the attempts to play video games. A study was conducted

The Importance Of Ancient Spartan Militarism - 833 Words

Ancient Spartan militarism led to Sparta being a large military power in Ancient Greece, but the strict restrictions on citizenship led to the decline and destruction of the city-state. The overly strict requirements combined with a string of military defeats led to a weakened state from which the Spartan government could not recover from. This led to Sparta becoming a second rate power in Greece until its destruction at the hands of the Roman imperial army at the battle of Adrianople. Spartan militarism came into being when a man known as Lycurgus the Lawgiver reformed Sparta. During the seventh and eighth centuries BC, Sparta experienced extended periods of lawlessness and civil strife. Lycurgus studied the governments of the†¦show more content†¦When they are in the agoge they are treated horribly, required to go barefoot and underfed. There were three main reasons for under feeding them. One was to get used to going without food so they could go on extended campaigns wit h minimal supplies. Another was to force them to steal to boost their survival skills. The third was to weed out the weak from them so none made it into the military (Cutler). The Spartans also used the boys to terrorize and control the helot, or slave, population (Ancient Military.com). The slave population of Sparta was used to do the day to day activities the Spartan citizens saw as beneath them. They were farmers, servants, nurses, military attendants, and other unskilled workers (History.com). The helot population outnumbered the citizen population significantly. Because of this, the citizen population was allowed to treat the helot population brutally and oppressively. They often got the helots debilitatingly drunk so they made fools of themselves in public (History.com). On the harsher side of things, Spartans could kill the helots for trifle things such as being to athletic or to smart (History.com), and there was an annual holiday where the citizen population declared ritua listic against the helot population, which meant all crimes against them were legal (Ancient Military.com). These measures were put in place to keep the helot population living in fear, and toShow MoreRelatedPlutarch, Lycurgus and Spartan Militarist Values1169 Words   |  5 PagesRunning head: PLUTARCH, LYCURGUS AND SPARTAN MILITARISM Plutarch, Lycurgus and Spartan Militarist Values Student Name The University of Southern Queensland APA PLUTARCH, LYCURGUS AND SPARTAN MILITARIST VALUES Militarist systems of government have been instituted in many nations around the world; however one of the earliest and most extreme examples of this system is that of Sparta. The Spartan State was a militaristic force to be reckonedRead MoreThe Life Of Spartan Women2027 Words   |  9 PagesThe lives of Spartan women were unusual in the sense that they were very different from those of other Greek women. In Athens, for instance, women were confined to the domicile and wore clothing that covered and hid their form. In Sparta, this was not the case at all. Sparta enjoyed communal ownership of property and all things, in essence, belonged to the State—men, women, children and goods. Thus, all were equal (or nearly so) before the State’s needs and women had more freedom to move aboutRead MoreEssay about Ancient History: Sparta 98% Assesment Mark6373 Words   |  26 PagesANCIENT HISTORY ASSESMENT: SPARTA By Jorge T What are the main features of Spartan government in the period to 500BC?: HOW SPARTAN CONSTITUTION/GOVERNMENT CAME TO BE: Throughout the Greek world at this time, a great period of expansion and colonization took place, chiefly due to land hunger. Sparta attacked neighboring Messenia and engaged in a series of wars, reducing the population to serfdom. The success in these wars enabled Sparta to double the agricultural resources. At some pointRead MoreEssay on the Role of Women in Ancient Greece14417 Words   |  58 Pagesâ€Å"Rulers ruled by women†: an economic analysis of the rise and fall of women’s rights in ancient Sparta Robert K. Fleck  · F. Andrew Hanssen Received: 10 January 2008 / Accepted: 27 May 2008 / Published online: 20 March 2009  © Springer-Verlag 2009 Abstract Until modern times, most women possessed relatively few formal rights. The women of ancient Sparta were a striking exception. Although they could not vote, Spartan women reportedly owned 40 percent of Sparta’s agricultural land, and enjoyed other

Failure free essay sample

There is only one time I can think of that I experienced failure. It was in 2010 and I was at the recognition ceremony for the Prudential Spirit of Community Service Awards Ceremony in Washington D.C. This ceremony was the last big thing of our time in D.C. and was definitely the most important to us. Moreover, for 10 kids, what they found out during the ceremony would change their life for at least a little while. The ceremony would tell 102 children which 10 were worthy of being National winners for the award according to Prudential. We had all done fantastic projects and activities to get us this far and we all wanted to get the national award. The presenter started announcing the Middle School and High School winners in random order so we never knew who would be next. It was suspenseful for everybody in the room, myself included. I was sitting there thinking about what the kids who had already been called had done, what I should say when (and if) I get it, and I have no idea what else. We will write a custom essay sample on Failure or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page However, I was intently focusing on what I would do if I got the National Level award. I did so much so that I was not really paying attention to those who were being called, unless I met them over the week. Moreover, after each spot was filled, I would quietly calculate the odds of me getting it because I felt that I did a great project and deserved to get it. That is what I thought, and that is what I stuck with. However, Prudential had a different idea about what would happen and who would get the highest level of the award that night. The suspense and tensions rose as there were less and less seats left on stage. At least they did in my mind; I cannot speak for anyone else about that. They rose so much and I was so focused on that possibility of getting it that I was dumbfounded at the announcement of the last name. I did not get it. In addition, I was very upset and saw it a failure on my part because I did not get it. I thought that my project was great and deserved recognition. However, in retrospect, after some time and I calmed down about it, I saw that my project was indeed less than those who received the National Level award. In time, I saw that my odds were actually bad and I was not sure why I wanted it so badly, and was hurt when I did not get it. In time, I learned that those who got the national award really were not much different from the rest of us. All they had was $5,000 to give to a charity, a crystal bowl-trophy thing that was to go to the organization that nominated them, a heavy gold medal from prudential, and a slightly different certificate than everyone else. I learned that the greatest satisfaction of doing community service is not what people give me credit, awards, certificates, and other things for, the greatest satisfaction is found inside me. It is knowing that I was able to help somebody or something (an animal) in a way that not many would. It is knowing that I made a difference in somebody’s life, and I do not care if they know if it was me or not. I learned over time that I do not need or want recognition for helping and volunteering, I am not the kind of person who wants the spotlight and wants the big awards. I just want to sit back and watch as a person’s life is changed in a good way, at least for the rest of the day. So yes, I experienced failure, but from that failure came the greatest teachings that would change me and help me discover what I am all about.

The 10,000-Hour Rule free essay sample

The Matthew Effect looks at Canadian hockey players and how the overwhelming majority of these players are born from January to March. The cutoff date determining what division the child can play is in January 1st, so those children born early in the year are older, and more mature, and this gives them an advantage at the beginner level. This book is called; Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell. In his book, Gladwell tries to explain how these kids are starting to get funneled into more elite programs, the child born in January, who is older, bigger, and more mature, will get selected. For my analysis of The Matthew Effect, Gladwell uses figurative language such as imagery, rhetorical question, and exemplification. â€Å"The air was filled with cigar smoke and the smell of champagne and sweat-soaked hockey gear. † In this quote, Gladwell uses imagery to describe the smell and tension into the winning team’s locker room. We will write a custom essay sample on The 10,000-Hour Rule or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page The smell of champagne and sweat-soaked hockey gear filled the locker room with the excitement and the cheers of the winning team. Cigar smoke came from the winning teams families and sports reporters that came from across the country to celebrate the winning team’s success. The reader can literally visualize the after math of the game in the locker room. Gladwell closes the first section of the chapter with a rhetorical question. A rhetorical question is when the author asks a question but doesn’t answer it. â€Å"Players are judged on their own performance, not on anyone elses, and on the basis of their ability, not on some other arbitrary fact. Or are they? † In this quote Gladwell is describing a real player chosen by their performance and their ability. He ends the quote by asking, are the hockey players chosen based on individual merit. The last paragraph of section one of the chapter, Gladwell begins to use exemplification to describe success. â€Å"Biologists often talk about the ecology of an organ ­ism: the tallest oak in the forest is the tallest not just because it grew from the hardiest acorn; it is the tallest also because no other trees blocked its sunlight, the soil around it was deep and rich, no rabbit chewed through its bark as a sapling, and no lumberjack cut it down before it matured In fact, its downright peculiar. † In this quote Gladwell is saying people come from Hence, my analysis of The Matthew Effect, Gladwell uses figurative language to describe the way he felt. Gladwell also uses exemplification throughout the chapter to get his ideas across.

The Progressive Conservatives for the Ontario Government essays

The Progressive Conservatives for the Ontario Government essays It is, of course, important to vote but quite frankly all of the parties have large disadvantages and are being lead by people who are clearly incompetent. The Liberals Dalton McGinty often seems uncomfortable with the public and many of his policies seem ill conceived with little input from himself. Howard Hampton of the NDP seems to have some popular notions at face value but some tax payers are concerned that an NDP government would just create higher levels of debt and weaken our economic standing. The Ernie Eves conservative government has gone from problem to problem, putting out political fires on an on going basis, while always saying the wrong things and offending people. The Progressive Conservative government has shown, from their run with Ernie Eves, Mike Harris and others that they have trouble choosing the right person to represent them. However, in my opinion, the PC party itself, stands for and believes in the things that I feel are right like supporting business, re ducing welfare programs for those who dont need them, and reducing government interference. For these reasons, the progressive conservative government would be the party I would vote for. The Conservatives support businesses while the other parties place unfair burdens on them (raising minimum wage, taxing them much more). The other parties seem to keep forgetting that business is what keeps everything running because they are too busy thinking that businesses are out to take all the money they can. They believe that as the rich businesses get richer, the poor will get poorer. This is partly true, there are always going to be poorer people and the wealthier business people, but it works well - the greedy businesses make the jobs, the jobs that the lower or middle class people need to make a living. Instead of trying to hurt business, the Conservative party fully supports business, therefore supporting the economy, which even...

Battle of Petersburg in the Civil War

Battle of Petersburg in the Civil War The Battle of Petersburg was part of the American Civil War (1861-1865) and was fought between June 9, 1864 and April 2, 1865. In the wake of his defeat at the Battle of Cold Harbor in early June 1864, Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant continued pressing south towards the Confederate capital at Richmond. Departing Cold Harbor on June 12, his men stole a march on General Robert E. Lees Army of Northern Virginia and crossed the James River on a large pontoon bridge. This maneuver led Lee to become concerned that he might be forced into a siege at Richmond. This was not Grants intention, as the Union leader sought to capture the vital city of Petersburg. Located south of Richmond, Petersburg was a strategic crossroads and railroad hub which supplied the capital and Lees army. Its loss would make would Richmond indefensible (Map). Armies Commanders Union Lieutenant General Ulysses S. GrantMajor General George G. Meade67,000 increasing to 125,000 men Confederate General Robert E. Leeapprox. 52,000 men Smith and Butler Move Aware of Petersburgs importance, Major General Benjamin Butler, commanding Union forces at Bermuda Hundred, attempted an attack on the city on June 9. Crossing the Appomattox River, his men assault the citys outermost defenses known as the Dimmock Line. These attacks were halted by Confederate forces under General P.G.T. Beauregard and Butler withdrew. On June 14, with the Army of the Potomac nearing Petersburg, Grant instructed Butler to dispatch Major General William F. Baldy Smiths XVIII Corps to attack the city. Crossing the river, Smiths advance was delayed through the day on the 15th, though he finally moved to attack the Dimmock Line that evening. Possessing 16,500 men, Smith was able to overwhelm Brigadier General Henry Wises Confederates along the northeastern portion of the Dimmock Line. Falling back, Wises men occupied a weaker line along Harrisons Creek. With night setting in, Smith halted with intention of resuming his attack at dawn. First Assaults That evening, Beauregard, whose call for reinforcements had been ignored by Lee, stripped his defenses at Bermuda Hundred to reinforce Petersburg, increasing his forces there to around 14,000. Unaware of this, Butler remained idle rather than threatening Richmond. Despite this, Beauregard remained badly outnumbered as Grants columns began arriving on the field increasing Union strength to over 50,000. Attacking late in the day with the XVIII, II, and IX Corps, Grants men slowly pushed the Confederates back. Fighting continued on 17th with the Confederates defending tenaciously and preventing a Union breakthrough. As the fighting raged, Beauregards engineers began building a new line of fortifications closer the city and Lee began marching to the fighting. Attacks on June 18 gained some ground but were halted at the new line with heavy losses. Unable to advance, the commander of the Army of the Potomac, Major General George G. Meade, ordered his troops to dig in opposite the Confederates. In four days of fighting, Union losses totaled 1,688 killed, 8,513 wounded, 1,185 missing or captured, while the Confederates lost around 200 killed, 2,900 wounded, 900 missing or captured Moving Against the Railroads Having been stopped by the Confederate defenses, Grant began making plans for severing the three open railroads leading into Petersburg. While one ran north to Richmond, the other two, the Weldon Petersburg and Southside, were open to attack. The closest, the Weldon, ran south to North Carolina and provided a connection to the open port of Wilmington. As a first step, Grant planned a large cavalry raid to attack both railroads, while ordering the II and VI Corps to march on the Weldon. Advancing with their men, Major Generals David Birney and Horatio Wright encountered Confederate troops on June 21. The next two days saw them fight the Battle of Jerusalem Plank Road which resulted in over 2,900 Union casualties and around 572 Confederate. An inconclusive engagement, it saw the Confederates retain possession of the railroad, but Union forces extend their siege lines. As Lees army was significantly smaller, any need lengthen his lines correspondingly weakened the whole. Wilson-Kautz Raid As Union forces were failing in their efforts to seize the Weldon Railroad, a cavalry force led by Brigadier Generals James H. Wilson and August Kautz circled south of Petersburg to strike at the railroads. Burning stock and tearing up around 60 miles of track, the raiders fought battles at Staunton River Bridge, Sappony Church, and Reams Station. In the wake of this last fight, they found themselves unable to breakthrough to return to the Union lines. As a result, the Wilson-Kautz raiders were forced to burn their wagons and destroy their guns before fleeing north. Returning to the Union lines on July 1, the raiders lost 1,445 men (approx. 25% of the command). A New Plan As Union forces operated against the railroads, efforts of a different sort were underway to break the deadlock in front of Petersburg. Among the units in the Union trenches was the 48th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry of Major General Ambrose Burnsides IX Corps. Composed largely of former coal miners, the men of the 48th devised a plan for breaking through the Confederate lines. Observing that the closest Confederate fortification, Elliotts Salient, was a mere 400 feet from their position, the men of the 48th believed that a mine could be run from their lines under the enemy earthworks. Once complete, this mine could be packed with enough explosives to open a hole in the Confederate lines. The Battle of the Crater This idea was seized upon by their commanding officer Lieutenant Colonel Henry Pleasants. A mining engineer by trade, Pleasants approached Burnside with the plan arguing that the explosion would take the Confederates by surprise and would allow Union troops to rush in to take the city. Approved by Grant and Burnside, planning moved forward and construction of the mine began. Anticipating the attack to occur on July 30, Grant ordered Major General Winfield S. Hancocks II Corps and two divisions of Major General Philip Sheridans Cavalry Corps north across the James to the Union position at Deep Bottom. From this position, they were to advance against Richmond with the goal of drawing Confederate troops away from Petersburg. If this was not practicable, then Hancock was to pin the Confederates while Sheridan raided around the city. Attacking on July 27 and 28, Hancock and Sheridan fought an inconclusive action but one which succeeded in pulling Confederate troops from Petersburg. Having achieved his objective, Grant suspended operations on the evening of July 28. At 4:45 AM on July 30, the charge in the mine was detonated killing at least 278 Confederate soldiers and creating a crater 170 feet long, 60-80 feet wide, and 30 feet deep. Advancing, the Union attack soon bogged down as last-minute changes to the plan and a rapid Confederate response doomed it to failure. By 1:00 PM the fighting in the area ended and Union forces suffered 3,793 killed, wounded, and captured, while the Confederates incurred around 1,500. For his part in the attacks failure, Burnside was sacked by Grant and command of IX Corps passed to Major General John G. Parke. The Fighting Continues While the two sides were fighting in the vicinity of Petersburg, Confederate forces under Lieutenant General Jubal A. Early were successfully campaigning in the Shenandoah Valley. Advancing from the valley, he won the Battle of Monocacy on July 9 and menaced Washington on July 11-12. Retreating, he burned Chambersburg, PA on July 30. Earlys actions forced Grant to send VI Corps to Washington to bolster its defenses. Concerned that Grant might move to crush Early, Lee shifted two divisions to Culpeper, VA where they would be in position to support either front. Mistakenly believing that this movement had greatly weakened the Richmond defenses, Grant ordered II and X Corps to attack again at Deep Bottom on August 14. In six days of fighting, little was achieved other than forcing Lee to further strengthen the Richmond defenses. To end the threat posed by Early, Sheridan was dispatched to the valley to head up Union operations. Closing the Weldon Railroad While the fighting was raging at Deep Bottom, Grant ordered Major General Gouverneur K. Warrens V Corps to advance against the Weldon Railroad. Moving out on August 18, they reached the railroad at Globe Tavern around 9:00 AM. Attacked by Confederate forces, Warrens men fought a back and forth battle for three days. When it ended, Warren had succeeded in holding a position astride the railroad and had linked his fortifications with the main Union line near the Jerusalem Plank Road. The Union victory forced Lees men to offload supplies from the railroad at Stony Creek and bring them to Petersburg by wagon via the Boydton Plank Road. Wishing to permanently damage the Weldon Railroad, Grant ordered Hancocks tired II Corps to Reams Station to destroy the tracks. Arriving on August 22 and 23, they effectively destroyed the railroad to within two miles of Reams Station. Seeing the Union presence as a threat to his line of retreat, Lee ordered Major General A.P. Hill south to defeat Hancock. Attacking on August 25, Hills men succeeded in forcing Hancock to retreat after a protracted fight. Through a tactical reverse, Grant was pleased with the operation as the railroad had been put out of commission leaving the Southside as the only track running into Petersburg. (Map). Fighting in the Fall On September 16, while Grant was absent meeting with Sheridan in the Shenandoah Valley, Major General Wade Hampton led the Confederate cavalry on a successful raid against the Union rear. Dubbed the Beefsteak Raid, his men escaped with 2,486 head of cattle. Returning, Grant mounted another operation in later September intending to strike at both ends of Lees position. The first part saw Butlers Army of the James attack north of the James at Chaffins Farm on September 29-30. Though he had some initial success, he was soon contained by the Confederates. South of Petersburg, elements of V and IX Corps, supported by cavalry, successfully extended the Union line to the area of Peebles and Pegrams Farms by October 2. In an effort to relieve pressure north of the James, Lee attacked the Union positions there on October 7. The resulting Battle of Darbytown and New Market Roads saw his men repulsed forcing him to fall back. Continuing his trend of striking both flanks simultaneously, Grant sent Butler forward again on October 27-28. Fighting the Battle of Fair Oaks and Darbytown Road, Butler faired no better than Lee earlier in the month. At the other end of the line, Hancock moved west with a mixed force in an attempt to cut the Boydton Plank Road. Though his men gained the road on October 27, subsequent Confederate counterattacks forced him to fall back. As a result, the road remained open for Lee throughout the winter (Map). The End Nears With the setback at Boydton Plank Road, fighting began to quiet as winter approached. The re-election of President Abraham Lincoln in November ensured that the war would be prosecuted to the end. On February 5, 1865, offensive operations resumed with Brigadier General David Greggs cavalry division moving out to strike Confederate supply trains on the Boydton Plank Road. To protect the raid, Warrens corps crossed Hatchers Run and established a blocking position on the Vaughan Road with elements of II Corps in support. Here they repulsed a Confederate attack late in the day. Following Greggs return the following day, Warren pushed up the road and was assaulted near Dabneys Mill. Though his advance was halted, Warren succeeded in further extending the Union line to Hatchers Run. Lees Last Gamble By early March 1865, over eight months in the trenches around Petersburg had begun to wreck Lees army. Plagued by disease, desertion, and a chronic lack of supplies, his force had dropped to around 50,000. Already outnumbered 2.5-to-1, he faced the daunting prospect of another 50,000 Union troops arriving as Sheridan concluded operations in the valley. Desperately needing to change the equation before Grant assaulted his lines, Lee asked Major General John B. Gordon to plan an attack on the Union lines with the goal of reaching Grants headquarters area at City Point. Gordon began preparations and at 4:15 AM on March 25, the lead elements began moving against Fort Stedman in the northern part of the Union line. Striking hard, they overwhelmed the defenders and soon had taken Fort Stedman as well as several nearby batteries opening a 1000-foot breach in the Union position. Responding to the crisis, Parke ordered Brigadier General John F. Hartranfts division to seal the gap. In tight fighting, Hartranfts men succeeded in isolating Gordons attack by 7:30 AM. Supported by a vast number of Union guns, they counterattacked and drove the Confederates back to their own lines. Suffering around 4,000 casualties, the failure of the Confederate effort at Fort Stedman effectively doomed Lees ability to hold the city. Five Forks Sensing Lee was weak, Grant ordered the newly returned Sheridan to attempt a move around the Confederate right flank to the west of Petersburg. To counter this move, Lee dispatched 9,200 men under Major General George Pickett to defend the vital crossroads of Five Forks and the Southside Railroad, with orders to hold them at all hazards. On March 31, Sheridans force encountered Picketts lines and moved to attack. After some initial confusion, Sheridans men routed the Confederates at the Battle of Five Forks, inflicting 2,950 casualties. Pickett, who was away at a shad bake when the fighting started, was relieved of his command by Lee. With the Southside Railroad cut, Lee lost his best line of retreat. The following morning, seeing no other options, Lee informed President Jefferson Davis that both Petersburg and Richmond must be evacuated (Map). The Fall of Petersburg This coincided with Grant ordering a massive offensive against the majority of the Confederate lines. Moving forward early on April 2, Parkes IX Corps struck Fort Mahone and the lines around the Jerusalem Plank Road. In bitter fighting, they overwhelmed the defenders and held on against strong counterattacks by Gordons men. To the south, Wrights VI Corps shattered the Boydton Line allowing Major General John Gibbons XXIV Corps to exploit the breach. Advancing, Gibbons men fought a protracted battle for Forts Gregg and Whitworth. Though they captured both, the delay allowed Lieutenant General James Longstreet to bring troops down from Richmond. To the west, Major General Andrew Humphreys, now commanding II Corps, broke through the Hatchers Run Line and pushed back Confederate forces under Major General Henry Heth. Though he was having success, he was ordered to advance on the city by Meade. Doing so, he left a division to deal with Heth. By late afternoon, Union forces had forced the Confederates into Petersburgs inner defenses but had worn themselves out in the process. That evening, as Grant planned a final assault for the following day, Lee began evacuating the city (Map). Aftermath Retreating west, Lee hoped to resupply and join with General Joseph Johnstons forces in North Carolina. As Confederate forces departed, Union troops entered both Petersburg and Richmond on April 3. Closely pursued by Grants forces, Lees army began to disintegrate. After a week of retreating, Lee finally met with Grant at Appomattox Court House and surrendered his army on April 9, 1865. Lees surrender effectively ended the Civil War in the East.

Finance market Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Finance market - Essay Example RWT basically stated that speculative price changes were independent and identically distributed, so that the past price data had no predictive power for future share price movements. RWT also stated that the distribution of price changes from transaction to transaction had finite variance. In addition, if transactions were fairly uniformly spread across time and were large in numbers, then the Central Limit Theorem suggested that the price changes would be normally distributed. Kendall (1953) calculated the first differences of twenty-two different speculative price series at weekly intervals from 486 to 2,387 terms. He concluded that the random changes from one term to the next were large and obfuscated any systematic effect which may be present. In fact, he stated that 'the data behaved almost like a wandering series' (random walk). Specifically, an analysis of share price movement revealed little serial correlation, with the conclusion that there was very little predictability of movements in share prices for a week ahead without extraneous information. In 1959, Roberts generated a pattern of market levels and changes akin to real levels and changes in the Dow Jones Industrial Index. He estimated the probability of different share price movements over time by using a frequency distribution of historical changes in the weekly market index, and assumed weekly changes were independently drawn from a normal distribution with a mean of + 0.5 and a standard deviation of 5.0. He concluded that changes in security prices behaved as if they had been generated by a simple chance model .The fundamental concept behind random walk theory is that competition in perfect markets would remove excess economic profits, except from those parties who exercised some degree of market monopoly. This meant that a trader with specialized information about future events could profit from the monopolistic access to information, but that fundamental and technical analysts who rely on p ast information should not expect to have speculative gains.From the empirical evidence and theory of random walks arose the theory of efficient markets. Fama (1970, 1976) gives out the details of the early literature on both the theoretical and empirical foundations of the Efficient Markets Hypothesis, whilst Cuthbertson (1996) summarizes the latest research developments. While EMH has empirical findings in respect of aspects like market perfection and information availability when combined with practices like trading platform and transaction costs may produce only marginal and well calculated opportunities for speculative gains; many other economists have quoted the existence of stock market bubbles. A bubble is generally defined by the economists as a deviation from stock market fundamentals; whereas Kindleberger reckons a bubble as an upward price movement over an extended range that tends to implode (Kindleberger 1996). By the same analogy an extended negative bubble is a crash . The existence of such situations has immediate

Writer's choice Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Writer's choice - Assignment Example Perception of the product results to formation of an attitude that is likely to traverse across many potential customers. Attitude formation ends up influencing the purchase of the product in a positive manner if it is positive and negatively for a negative attitude. Any product is meant to satisfy a range of the consumer needs; this is the reason why customers opt to purchase a certain product. Therefore, the marketer should ensure that the buyer is motivated to have the product since it is able to take into perspective their needs. In general, consumer behavior is a complex aspect that involves all the processes that are involved in the selection, purchase, and the use of goods, services, either ideas or experiences. In this paper, an evaluation of the consumer attitude formation, motivation, learning, and perceptions towards the purchase of Jeans trousers will be put into perspective. Jeans are trousers that are made of a special material either dungaree or denim cloth. The trousers have been in use for quite a long period; initially, they were meant for miners as well as cowboys but they have been advanced over the years to take into perspective the various needs of the people. Jeans have been developed in various fashions, each having its uniqueness, and appealing to a given section of the consumers. Jeans have a strong cultural basis since they were embraced greatly by teenagers especially those of the greaser subculture that dominated the 1950s especially in parts of the United States. This culture was highly influenced by singers such as James Dean and Elvis Presley among others. This subculture made the purchase of the jeans, initially made by Levi to be quite high. Various brands of jeans exist in the market today and have continued to attract diverse groups in the population. In addition, there are a number of fits developed for the jeans

Carbon in the form of a pencil Essay Example for Free

Carbon in the form of a pencil Essay Although with this line I could not prove that width and resistance of a carbon track have an inversely proportional relationship, this means that as one increases the other decreases in proportion. Although to show that this relationship applies in this case I have to plot in a graph resistance against the reciprocal of the width (which is 1 divided by the width). When I did this the graph produced a set of results which when a line of best fit was drawn it produced a straight line which passed through zero. This means that my prediction that width and resistance would be inversely proportional was true. The shape of the initial graph of width against resistance also shows simply that as the width increases the resistance decreases. The resistance also decreases far quicker for the smaller widths and as the width gets to about 5cm although it is still decreasing it is much more gradual. Evaluation: I believe that using my results I can draw useful and correct observations this is because I repeated every reading I took three times and then averaged them. I then plotted the graphs with the averaged results meaning that they are fairly reliable. Although, there are some results I feel especially on the width and resistance graphs that appear anomalous and I would have liked to repeat these readings again but due to time restraints I couldnt. In particular the resistances of the widths above 4cm appear incongruent. This may be because on the larger widths the contact did not span the entire width of the carbon track (as shown in the diagram below) although on the smaller widths, which produced the results, I had expected it did span the entire width. The results may have also been affected by the fact that the contacts remained in the same place for every reading, meaning that towards the end as the contact had a fairly sharp edge the carbon where the readings were being taken may have been rubbed off. This would mean that the resistance would be greater than expected which is the case in the later results. Therefore if was to do the experiment again and had unlimited time I would have redrawn the width line every time so that the effect of the contacts rubbing off carbon would not have an effect. This is because the contact would not have been removed from the track and so no carbon could be removed from the track. Another improvement to the experiment I would make would be improving the accuracy of the carbon track. This would mean that the carbon would be uniformly thick throughout the line and would go exactly up to the line and not pass it. This is so that we could know that the resistance was of exactly 5cm was not the resistance of between 4. 5cm and 5. 5cm. To do this I would make a template for the carbon track, which, could be coloured in ensuring that the carbon would no go past where it is, desired which happens no matter how hard you try to stay within the lines. An example of this is in the carbon track I drew, which appears to be quite good in that no carbon went over the lines but on closer inspection it in place is over a millimetre past the line. My carbon line in normal view: As you can see the line appears perfect. Magnified view of Carbon track: This closer view shows that the carbon track is by no means perfect and this degree inaccuracy means that the results may not be what they should. The patterns in my graphs were fairly obvious to find and I believe that when I did use a straight fit best line instead of a curve it was acceptable because it was more fitting for the readings. Show preview only The above preview is unformatted text This student written piece of work is one of many that can be found in our GCSE Electricity and Magnetism section. Download this essay Print Save Not the one? Search for

Goodman Brown’s Loss of Faith in Hawthornes Young Goodman Brown Essay

Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote Young Goodman Brown based on morals and what Easterly in "Lachrymal Imagery in Hawthorne's 'Young Goodman Brown' " calls "spiritual maturity" (Easterly 339). In the short story, Goodman Brown, a young Puritan leaves his wife of three months to watch a witch ceremony in the forest. During this point in time, Puritans based their lives on teachings of religion and morality; therefore, witch-meetings were surely immoral, and they betrayed the commitment of God. Dwelling in the forest throughout the night, Goodman Brown experiences an event that changes his entire perspective of life. In one night, the event destroys "his relationship with his wife Faith, isolates him from his neighbors, and destroys his ability to worship God"(Easterly 339). Eventually, Goodman Brown dies without his faith, and "they carved no hopeful verse upon his tombstone; for his dying hour was gloom"(Easterly 339). Â   Before Brown leaves the house, Faith begs him to stay saying, "...put off your journey until sunrise, and sleep in your own bed to-night" (Hawthorne 298), but of course, Brown ignores her plea and continues his journey anyhow. In the forest, he meets a man with a staff "which bore the likeness of a great black snake" (Hawthorne 299), an ultimate representation of evil. Surely, Goodman Brown knows that the witch meeting appears to be his destination. Walking through the forest, he pays close attention to every tree and every rock. As he proceeds his journey, Brown sights Faith and his moral and spiritual adviser, along with Deacon Gookin and the minister. He then notices Goody Cloyse, an old "Christian woman" (Hawthorne 300), rushing through the woods. Surely Brown's suspicion begins to take over, now curious about... ... and spiritual maturity because he could not handle the fact that others worshiped the devil (those he certainly did not expect). In this, Hawthorne tells us that the man who sheds no tears lives the rest of his life a sad man, whose "dying hour was gloom" (Easterly 339). Â   Works Cited Easterly, Joan Elizabeth. "Lachrymal Imagery in Hawthorne's 'Young Goodman Brown.' " Studies in Short Fiction. 28 (1991): 339 Hawthorne, Nathaniel. "Young Goodman Brown." Literature: Reading, Reacting, Writing. Ed. Laurie G. Kirszner and Stephen R. Mandell. Fort Worth: Harcourt, 1997. 298-308. Â  Mikosh, Bert A. "The Allegorical Goodman Brown." An American Literature Survey Site. September 1996. Â  Segura, Giberto. "The View of 'Young Goodman Brown.' " An American Literature Survey Site. September 1996. (31 March 1999)

Challenges and Opportunities Essay

The most famous soliloquy, sometimes through its ambiguity manages to convey Hamlet as the Renaissance man who questions himself and his judgements. It occurs in Act 3 Scene 1, shortly before the play takes place. This soliloquy in particular has a strong theme of suicide running throughout it, most notoriously, ‘Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer†¦ and by opposing end them†¦ to die, to sleep- no more. ‘ The words Hamlet uses almost encourage him to take his life; he makes it sound an appealing and attractive prospect, but also as a cowardly option. He asks the question ‘Who would fardels bear†¦ but that the dread of something after death’ and he convinces himself more and more that he is making the right decision to take his own life, whilst also considering the drawbacks. Both audiences would find this quite harrowing and a director would have to take care to take a perceptive approach. ‘A sea of troubles’ provides the audience with a metaphorical visual image of everything in the world so overwhelming and having everything and everyone he loved and trusted turn against him. Many hidden meanings are left for the audience to unravel for themselves. These are presented through metaphors, euphemisms and other ambiguities. ‘The undiscovered country’ is a euphemism for death; life as seen as a continuous journey and death will never have been explored by any human that is living ‘No traveller returns. ‘ Hamlet does not forget that death is final; it is forever, and this establishes his characteristically detached state further. Hamlet is pensive, reflective whilst remaining analytical. The flat tone the director would allot signifies his dejected, flat state of mind. The soliloquy, in some ways lacks a certain passion that other soliloquies have. The three main characters (Gertrude, Claudius and his father / the ghost) fail to get a mention and instead he tends to use his genuine feelings and concentrate on his awry situation. The soliloquy contains a number of religious references †Tis a consummation†¦ In thy orisons be all my sins remembered. ‘ This shows he is willing to accept the consequences of his actions and that death is his final sleep. Ophelia is again mentioned, though only briefly ‘Soft you now the fair Ophelia. ‘ He does not condemn her as some may expect, yet he highlights how he feels rejected and unloved when he talks about ‘The pangs of despised love’ and this makes the audience realise just how big a burden Hamlet did have to bear. Hamlet also shows his bitterness towards the authorities’ lack of action relating to the crime ‘The insolence of office†¦ the law’s delay’ and their arrogance. The Elizabethan audience would disapprove of this scene because of the strong theme of suicide throughout this soliloquy. It would have made them feel uneasy and overly critical of Hamlet, ‘The eponymous hero. ‘ A modern director would need to be precise in order to portray Hamlet as being fully self-aware. The audience would need to be aware that Hamlet is being watched by Polonius and Claudius and this should help expose Hamlet’s uneasiness. The modern audience would be slightly more perceptive to Hamlet’s dilemma than an audience of his era would, as there have been high profile suicides covered by the media and figures have increased over the years. Still, this would be a poignant and affecting scene for any audience as they would see Hamlet slowly losing grip of his life, and the director should aim to inject passion and emotion into it. The modern director has many new challenges to rise to which will make the play ever more relevant to the audience which the play is directed towards, despite some arguing the language is outdated and has no real relevance any longer. A modern audience will respond more to a play and will not be afraid to voice their opinions about matters raised, many of which are more relevant today as they occur frequently and make headlines. This audience, like the Renaissance thinkers will question Hamlet’s judgments and thoughts, analysing him and his thoughts carefully and relating them to their own experiences, flaws and weaknesses. [1,999] Bibliography: ‘Hamlet’ by William Shakespeare Edited by TJB Spencer New Penguin Shakespeare December 2003 Justine McMenemy.

Machiavelli and Renaissance Humanism

Renaissance Humanism is defined as â€Å"a literary and linguistic movement-an attempt to revive classical Latin (and later Greek), as well as the values and sensibilities that came with the language† (Hunt et al, 415). I think that Machiavelli was a humanist of his era because in his writing The Prince, he relied on history to provide a handbook to future rulers and princes. Machiavelli drew much of this guidebook from his past dealings with politicians and their self-ambitious monarchies. In my opinion he wrote this guide to as a way to show future princes that the ways of the past should be adhered to in order for Italy to regain its prior glory. In The Prince Machiavelli uses many examples from history to show that we need to embrace the past in order to gain a prosperous future. Machiavelli's, The Prince serves as a handbook to future rulers with their roles and responsibilities. Machiavelli begins his handbook with his view of princely virtues. He argues that in order for a person to be a good leader and stay in rule he must not just be a good person but that â€Å"he must learn how to not be good† (Lawall et al, 1951) in order to protect himself from anyone trying to overtake his rule. He must always be prepared and not make himself the â€Å"good guy† all the time. Machiavelli shows that being a good person all of the time will only allow for the bad people to overpower the good people, â€Å"because anyone who determines to act in all circumstances the part of a good man must come to ruin among so many who are not good† (Lawall et al, 1951). Machiavelli goes on to further his humanistic views on how a prince should be viewed by his people. He discusses the choices a person of power has in being â€Å"liberal† (1952) and generous or stingy. He goes on to say that being too liberal will bring a man of power to ruin and that being frugal is important. He explains that as long as a ruler â€Å"abstains from the property of his citizens and subjects† he will gain the respect of his people. He goes on to discuss that a ruler will be more respected if he is living and spending other people’s money. He discusses the examples set by Cyrus, Caesar, and Alexander in which they lived off â€Å"plunder, loot and ransom† (1953). These three rulers were spending the â€Å"money of others† (1953) and therefore were not hurting themselves by having to spend what was already theirs. Machiavelli goes on to explain that â€Å"nothing eats itself up as fast as does liberality† (1953) because when practiced it can lead to poverty and will make a ruler have to raise taxes which will in turn bring hatred on by his people (1953). Machiavelli also discusses the importance of being feared and loved as well as, being thought of as cruel but compassionate all at the same time. He uses Dido and Borgia as examples. Borgia is used as the example for cruelty. He says that because Borgia was so cruel his cruelness brought prosperity and unity to Romagna and therefore was prosperous because of the fear that he instilled in his people. But because his Senate was too â€Å"compassionate† he lost his clout (1954). Machiavelli also explains that a new prince is going to face several challenges and because of this will be faced to make very hard decisions that may or may not hurt his reputation among his people. Here he uses Virgil’s Dido as an example, â€Å"Hard circumstances and the newness of my realm force me to do such things, and to keep watch over all my lands† (1954). From these examples, Machiavelli is telling his reader that as a prince they must be flexible and show cruelty or compassion when needed in any situation. Machiavelli goes on to state that a prince should â€Å"be slow in believing and acting, and should make no one afraid of him†Ã¢â‚¬ ¦so that â€Å"too much confidence does not make him incautious, and too much suspicion does not make him unbearable† (1954). This is the way to keep support from his people and will not turn their backs on him when the going gets tough. Renaissance Humanism is defined as â€Å"a literary and linguistic movement-an attempt to revive classical Latin (and later Greek), as well as the values and sensibilities that came with the language† (Hunt et al, 415). Machiavelli’s The Prince was essentially a handbook for how a Prince should portray himself but could also be seen as a day to day handbook by the everyday people of his time for they were all faced with the same moral decisions on a daily basis. Machiavelli used The Prince as a gateway to create a moral and philosophical guide for all people in general and uses examples from history to show that the past needs to be embraced in order to gain a prosperous future.

How to Bring Clarity to Business Writing

How to Bring Clarity to Business Writing Clarity in business writing allows your ideas to be easily understood, free of add-on words that make a sentence murky and convoluted. There are several rhetorical strategies to achieve clarity, but here are three techniques that best sweep away the bloat to let your ideas shine. Business Writing Clarity Strategy #1: Unsmother Your Verbs Focus on verbs.They are the action of a sentence, and the best opportunity to enhance clarity. Imagine watching a Bruce Willis movie that shows Bruce napping or knitting or whittling on a park bench for 90 minutes... Bored yet? So too are readers if your writing has little action or wimpy verbs. Unsmother your verbs. Smothered verbs are so common in business writing that they feel correct when you use them. However, a smothered verb adds nothing but bloat and the tone feels both timid and boring to a reader. This article will explain smothered verbs in detail. You will cut at least 25% of unnecessary words by simply unsmothering verbs. Let the verb do its job in a sentence without smothering add-on words. The impact on business writing clarity is amazing. Business Writing Clarity Strategy #2: Avoid Adverbs Choose powerful verbs that connote meaning, which don't need a second modifying word to do their job! For instance: "The attendant shouted loudly." "The attendant shouted," is a perfect sentence. "Loudly" is inferred and extraneous. "The executive ran quickly into the boardroom." "Ran quickly" is wasteful. Pick a better verb. "The executive sprinted into the boardroom" is concise, visual, and lively. Business Writing Clarity Strategy #3: Recognize the Power of Short Words. Years back, some business writers felt they conveyed their intelligence more by dropping long words, when short words actually worked better. Rhetorically, this has never been good writing. Long words don’t make you sound intelligent unless used very skillfully and judiciously. In the wrong situation they’ll have the opposite effect, making you sound pretentious and arrogant. They’re also less likely to be understood and more awkward to read. I've always loved Hemingway's response when Faulkner criticized him for his limited word choice: Poor Faulkner. Does he really think big emotions come from big words? He thinks I don’t know the ten-dollar words. I know them all right. But there are older and simpler and better words, and those are the ones I use. Example: Fine, but can be improved: It has never been a good writing practice to use big words indiscriminately. Better: It has never been a good writing practice to use big words needlessly. ("Needlessly" is shorter and simpler than "indiscriminately.") Best: It has never been a good writing practice to bloat with big words. (More powerful verb "bloat" instead of vague verb "use" eliminates the need for modifying adverb "needlessly.") Remember this maxim:Write to express, not to impress. Good business writers use short words well. Richard Lederer sings the praises of the short word to enhance clarity in his book, The Miracle of Language: Here is a sound rule: Use small, old words where you can. If a long word says just what you want to say, do not fear to use it. But know that our tongue is rich in crisp, brisk, swift, short words. Make them the spine and the heart of what you speak and write. Short words are like fast friends. They will not let you down. Read more about the power ofshort words. A clear business report allows an executive to easily understand a recommendation. A clearbusiness email allows all the readers to quickly understand. A proposal that clearly expresses your value wins the sale. Apply these clarity principles, and we're all able to understand each other better. Enjoy this article? Subscribe to this blog.

Teaching at Private versus Public Schools

Teaching at Private versus Public Schools Teaching jobs fall in both the public and private sectors. Deciding where to concentrate a job search raises questions for a lot of new teachers. Though similarities exist between public and private schools, several factors affect the overall teaching experience and deserve your consideration before you accept a position. Student Base in a  Private vs. Public School The law requires public schools to admit all students, without discrimination. Taxes fund public schools, but different districts receive different levels of funding, affecting the available resources in a classroom, among other things. Private schools charge tuition and typically use a selective admissions process. The price of attendance often becomes a factor in determining the socio-economic makeup of the student body, although some private schools offer scholarships to students with demonstrated financial need. Because of limited funds and a lack of mandates, teachers encounter fewer special needs students in private schools than in public schools, so if you specialized in special education, you might not find many available positions in the private sector. Government Oversight and Curriculum The government wields less power over the day-to-day administration of private schools since they do not receive tax dollars. In public schools, state mandates largely determine the subjects offered; private schools maintain much greater leeway in the curriculum standards they use. Further, public schools must use state-mandated standardized tests to measure learning while private schools can choose to use these or their own tests. Some private schools provide religious instruction along with academics and may be closely aligned with a church, synagogue, mosque or other religious institution. While public schools can teach students about religion in a civic or historical context, its against the law for public school educators to teach the tenets of any one religion. Teacher Education Public schools require  certain credentials for teachers including certification and specific degrees. Private schools have much greater leeway. Therefore, teachers in private schools may not have certifications or specific degrees to teach in their subject areas. Class Size and Student Discipline States try to keep class size down, but overcrowded schools  and a lack of teachers and funding make it difficult in many districts. Private schools often promote their small class sizes as an advantage over public schools. Further, because of a greater amount of parental involvement and more leeway when dealing with classroom discipline, private schools teachers find it easier to remove disruptive students from classes and the school itself. It takes a pretty serious offense to get a student permanently removed from the public school system. Pay A private school teacher can find many pros and cons, but pay may be the biggest negative.   Private school teachers  generally earn less than their public school counterparts, with teachers at parochial schools at the lowest end of the salary range.  Teacher salaries  at private schools come  out of student tuition. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, private school teachers on average earn $10,000 – $15,000 less than a comparable public school teacher.

Islamic Feminism as an Umbrella for Different Tendencies Research Paper

Islamic Feminism as an Umbrella for Different Tendencies - Research Paper Example Awde (2005) believes that Islamic feminists may or may not share the main tenets of Western feminism. What Feminists believe Feminists generally criticize a number of discriminatory Islamic rules. A large number of these feminists formulate their criticisms from within the Islamic framework. They profess a double allegiance, to Islam and to women rights. Doorn-Harder(2006) states that feminists generally express the belief that the divine message of Islam is inherently egalitarian. Yet, its egalitarian content has been partly or wholly destroyed by human interpretation. Souaiaia(2007) states that feminists, however, do not all think the same way or even about the same kind of problems and the immensely diversified topics under feminism are self-speaking proof of this. The issue of marriage and divorce, the veil and its necessity as an adornment for Muslim women in order to protect them from causing seduction or discomfort to the society in general, the struggles that women have faced over centuries and the pain that they have borne to make their place in the mainstream market are just a few of the issues that feminists deal with. In the pre-Islamic era and where the woes of polytheism and polyandry prospered, women were gravely burdened by highly discriminated societal views. Rituals like the killing of young girls at birth, restricting of women to household chores, giving women no right over property or land and depriving them of the most essential human rights were some of the major problems. Souaiaia(2009) claims that feminists over the years have raised questions on traditions such as the Crimes of Honor and inform the law upholders how for honour's sake; the protectors of women take away their lives and are unjustly supported by our religious scholars. According to Wilson (2011), the helplessness of a woman in a male-dominated society is a major bone of contention for feminists; a woman is merely a puppet whose strings can be tightened, loosened or even cu t by her guardians.

Marketing - past, present and future Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 1

Marketing - past, present and future - Essay Example The objectives, goals and targets of marketing have to be monitored and met. The competitor strategies must be evaluated, estimated and exceeded. It is only through the effective use of market and its research that an organization can identify its customer’s needs and wants and try to deliver the value its customer wants .It is very important for the organization to ensure that its customers are satisfied. Marketing uses the process of exchange to give the customers the value they desire on their products and services. Exchange transaction requires the customer to exchange value (money) for the product or services that completely satisfy their needs. Clearly, the greater the benefit provided the higher transactional value an organization can charge. It is thus the process by which companies create customer interest in their goods or services. As an activity marketing can only take place where there is a market. It refers to the activity through which exchanges are undertaken. Marketing can be perceived as a social and managerial process through which the customers get what they want. They do it through the process of creating, offering and exchanging products of value for money. Marketing can be considered as a function; It is a philosophy that has an impact on the over-all dealings of an organization with the marketplace. (David M. Reid. (1980). 19-23.) (Rick Wise, Niren Sirohi. (2005).8-13.) The need for marketing rose as a result of the increasing needs, wants and demands of the customers. Needs are a basic requirement for human survival, while wants are the specific means by which individuals’ satisfy their needs. The term, value is one of the most important notions in marketing. It is the difference between the total costs of making a purchase and the total benefits received. In short, it accounts for both, the benefits that a customer gets by making a purchase and also the costs it incurs in the process ( both the money cost and

Finance accounting assignment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Finance accounting assignment - Essay Example Income encompasses both revenue and gains. Revenue is income that arises in the course of ordinary activities of an entity and is referred to by a variety of different names including sales, fees, interest, dividends and royalties. â€Å"Revenue is recognised on the provision of goods and services that relate to the ordinary activities of the entity† (ACCA, 2013). Gain or loss is calculated with reference to the amount received in excess or short of the asset's carrying amount in the books of account. It is also important in accrual accounting that revenue and expenses are required to be matched with the accounting period. IAS 18 clearly specifies that â€Å"When the selling price of a product includes an identifiable amount for subsequent servicing, that amount is deferred and recognised as revenue over the period during which the service is performed† (ec.europa.eu, p. 2). For instance, income received in respect of annual maintenance contract by a company can recogni se only 1/12th of revenue in a month. It is immaterial whether a sale is made on cash or credit basis. Revenue is recognized when title of the goods or services is transferred to the buyer. In the case of construction companies or the projects which takes several years for completion, revenue is recognized to the extent the project is completed during the period. In the case of ‘hire purchase’ the sale at future date is agreed between the parties. The payments collected in instalments in advance by the seller are treated as hire till the last instalment payment is collected. Gross profit in this case is calculated only in proportion to cash received. This concept is important to avoid overstatement or understatement of profit or gains. Similarly, in sale and repurchase agreement, they should be dealt with together. IAS 18 has specified u/s14, the conditions to be satisfied for recognition of revenue from the sale of goods. Section 20 specifies the conditions for recogni tion of revenue associated with rendering of services and 30 specifies the bases for recognising interest, royalties and dividends. This standard also prescribes the norms for disclosure of the accounting policies adopted for recognition of revenue, including the methods adopted to determine the stage of completion of transactions involving rendering of services. Question 2: Case Study A. In the case of sale of electrical goods, it is important to ascertain whether the entity has transferred to the buyer the significant risks and rewards of ownership of the goods. Ibi Ryan Plc retains neither continuing managerial involvement to the degree usually associated with ownership nor effective control over the goods sold as he has sold the goods and despatched them in the normal course of business. Therefore, the accounting treatment is appropriate. B. C. The terms of the company’s contract with Witney specify that the goods remain the property of Ibi Ryan until they are paid for by Witney. Amount owing to Ibi Ryan from Witney ?600,000 includes ?50,000 for the products delivered by Liverpool warehouse. Therefore ? 600,000 treated as sale in the books of account should be reversed fully. 50% of this sale amount i.e. ? 300,000

Business Analysis of Yoplait in Mauritius

Business Analysis of Yoplait in Mauritius What is yogurt? Yogurt is a dairy product formed by the fermentation of milk from the action of two live bacteria; lactobacillus bulgaricus and streptococcus thermophilus. These are micro-organisms which transform the milk into the yogurt through a process by which they convert the lactose present in the milk into lactic acid, making the product digestible for people who are cannot ‘tolerate milk and maintaining the balance in the intestinal flora. The yogurt should contain 10 millions of lactic ferments per gram and must be alive to be designated as ‘yogurt. Yogurts are thus fresh products which should be kept frozen at most at 6à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã†â€™ up to its expiry date in order to conserve all its nutritional benefits. History of Yoplait Yoplait was established in 1965 and was recognised as the first complete range of fresh daily products. Furthermore, Yoplait showed innovation as it was the first brand ever to offer refrigerated products to its customers in ‘throw-away packages whereas other products were still sold in jars. In 1967, Yoplait came with the concept of fruit yogurt and established itself on the French market before conquering the world. From its huge success, new products were consecutively launched; diet dairy products in 1972, the first drinking yogurt, Yop, in 1974, yogurt specially for kids in 1985, the fromage frais, Cà ¢lin, in 1987, a range of milk-based desserts in 1992 and Perle de Lait in 1996 (to cite the most famous ones). Yoplait also differentiates itself from other yogurt brands as it constantly shows originality by launching new products, improving them and working strongly on promotion around the world. Today, Yoplait is so successful that it is present in almost 50 countries through subsidiaries, joint ventures and franchisees. It is the number two worldwide (after Danone) and latest statistics show that more than 15,000 cartons of Yoplait are eaten every minute around the world. As the Chairman of Yoplait states, â€Å"We are determined to ensure that the little flower continues its growth and blossoms all over the world.† Yoplait in Mauritius The Yoplait brand established itself in Mauritius in 1976 through a franchise with Maurilait Productions Ltà ©e, a subsidiary of the Food and Allied Group of companies, established in 1966. Maurilait Productions Ltà ©e is today the producer of Yoplait, Candia and Miko products through franchise, technical partnerships and international branding. Marketing mix of Yoplait in Mauritius Product The presence of Yoplait in Mauritius is not only concerned with yogurts, but with a variety of other products. However, for the purpose of the study, it should be noted that the emphasis will be entirely made on yogurts. In this sense, Maurilait has segmented its yogurts into different categories; 1. Firm yogurts; comprising of Nature Sucrà ©, Nature, Silhouette Nature, and Ti-Yoplait. 2. Mixed yogurts; 3. Drinks It should also be noted there also exists different conditionings and groupings for Yoplaits yogurts, namely, tubs of 100g, 115g, 125g, 150g and 1kg. Price Different Yoplait goods have different production costs and therefore have different market prices. When these products are freshly manufactured at Maurilait Productions Ltà ©e, they have a lower price than when they are distributed by Panagora Marketing Ltd. This is so, because Panagora also has to gain a profit from their transactions. However in Mauritius, the outlets show differences in price of Yoplait yogurt products over the whole island. Since, there is no law pertaining that the manufacturer or distributor can impose a fix price for their products, retailers have the right to put their own prices irrespective of whether it is exaggerated or not. Thus, Maurilait and Panagora can only recommend prices for the products. (see Appendix) Place (Distribution) It is Panagora Marketing Ltd, another subsidiary of the Food and Allied Group of Companies, which is in charge of the distribution of all products manufactured at Maurilait Productions Ltà ©e. It ensures that all Yoplait products are accessible to everyone within the island. To do so, it was established that the distribution will be carried out according to three distinct groups: 1. CDP, that is, Commerce De Proximità ©. This category englobes all cornershops, cafetarias and other little businesses around the island. 2. GMS, that is, Grandes et Moyennes Surfaces. For this group, Panagora ensures that the distribution is adequately made to all supermarkets and hypermarkets in the country. 3. Food service, comprising the sale and distribution of Yoplait products in bulk, namely to hotels and restaurants. It should be noted that this system is in fact used for all products distributed by Panagora Marketing Ltd, in order to ensure that the specific needs and requirements of the different categories are met. Promotion All advertisements of Yoplait in Mauritius are designed and disseminated by one of the most famous advertising agencies in Mauritius, namely, Circus Advertising Company Ltd, which is again a member of the Food and Allied Group of Companies. Regarding sales promotion, feasibility studies are conducted by Maurilait Productions Ltà ©e in collaboration with Panagora Marketing Ltd. If the studies reveal that such promotion will be profitable for both organisations, it is again Circus which will be in charge of promoting the new offers. Literature Review Introduction This section will mainly investigate how customer satisfaction, retention and loyalty affect an organisation. But before going into the subject, an essential point should be considered; customer relationship. As will be demonstrated in details below, satisfaction is more likely to induce loyalty and hence profitability if relationships between customers and firms are effectively managed. Customer Relationship Management (CRM) deals with the management philosophy that enables a business to identify, attract and retain the most ‘profitable customers and at the same time build and manage strong relationships with them by delivering superior value and satisfaction. The different stages related to the creation of those relationships are illustrated below: The courtship stage is the one in which the company starts to ‘know the customer and so loyalty is very weak and nearly inexistent. The relationship phase is where the feeling of commitment towards the organisation starts to grow. A strong attachment to the firm is created and the customer is no more likely to switch to competitors. Finally the marriage stage is when a long lasting relationship is created. At this stage, the degree of loyalty is very high and the customers even get personally involved in the organisation. It should be noted that the customers should somehow not be taken for granted. The marriage stage is not an eternal one, and if ever the customer gets disappointed by the company repeatedly or if the relationship is not effectively managed, he may stop any contact with the company, that is, dissolute the relationship. From now on, this section of the study will focus on how these relationships are linked to the satisfaction rate of the customer and how it affects the whole organisation. Customer satisfaction In earlier decades, Hunt (1977) already identified customer satisfaction as the degree to which the customer is pleased by a product and how far he feels his needs and wants being met. More recently, Schiffman, et al. (2008) defined customer satisfaction as being ones perception of the performance of a product or service relative to ones expectations. As can be noticed, the dimensions of customer satisfaction have evolved and they are no longer restricted to simple terms like pleasure and needs fulfilment. Instead, thorough investigation was conducted to come with the essence of the customer satisfaction state; expectations and perceptions about the products and services offered. Kotler et al. (2005) also argued in the same sense, saying that â€Å"customer satisfaction depends on the products perceived performance relative to the buyers expectations.† Both definitions show that if the performance of a product is below the level of expectations, the customer will eventually be dissatisfied and if ever the expectations level matches that of the product performance, satisfaction occurs. Hoyer and MacInnis (2001) illustrated this theory by using the confirmation and disconfirmation paradigm; This model conceptualises the occurrence of satisfaction and dissatisfaction states. For instance, consumers have expectations about the performance of a product. For example, a consumer has certain expectations before tasting a yogurt. If the level of expectations matches that of the performance, in this case the taste of the yogurt, there is confirmation of expectations and the customer is neither satisfied nor dissatisfied. On the other hand, if the performance of the product goes beyond customers expectations, there is positive disconfirmation and the customer is satisfied. If ever the performance of the product is below the level of expectations, there will be negative disconfirmation and thus, dissatisfaction. Furthermore, it is also claimed that a customer is highly satisfied and even delighted if the performance experienced from the product exceeds the expectations level, meaning that both satisfaction and delight may occur from the positive disconfirmation stage. To come forward with this argument, Lovelock and Wirtz (2004) adapted a diagram of how factors influence the customers expectations based form Zeithaml et al. (1993) work. However, there is no ‘absolute definition of the term ‘customer satisfaction and over the past years, many authors tried to illustrate it but we can observe that the different definitions converge to the same broad ideas on the relationship between how the product performs and what the buyers expect from the good itself. During the last decades, organisations came to understand the growing importance of customer satisfaction and from there, the need for delivering value to customers and building relationships came into existence. Importance of customer satisfaction Even with the growing importance of customer satisfaction, some companies still underestimate its value. In the article Surveys value is underestimated (Anon, 2005) it was consequently argued that measuring customers satisfaction also involves the measurement of their dissatisfaction. The author firmly believed that the dissatisfied customers, together with prospects, hold valuable information contributing to the success of the company. Arussy, L (2005) even consolidates this argument by saying that customers and companies both demonstrate distinct ways of thinking, operating and decision-making. Companies fail to satisfy their customers as they assert that they understand them when in fact, they are just following their own rules. Behaving in such a manner ends up in creating the efficient relationship paradox, as illustrated below. In simple terms, the efficient relationship paradox relates to the way in which customers are taken for granted. Before the creation of any relationship with customers, that is, at the courtship stage, companies invest huge amounts of money in promotion and other marketing tools to attract them. When the customer enters in the relationship phase, that is, he starts to demonstrate financial and emotional interests, the firm drops the level of investment in order to maximise profits. In so doing, the customer does not feel valued and automatically defects, thus having the opposite result of firms prior expectations. This is illustrated as the gap in the above diagram, showing that there is a complete misunderstanding between the customers anticipations and the companys actions. Consequently, organisations must be able to understand that customers should not be treated as â€Å"one time acquisitions†. They should essentially be oriented towards valuing their customers and fulfilling their expectations in order to provide them with what they are waiting for and so, giving them satisfaction. Sà ¶derlund (1998) also points out that customer satisfaction generates a powerful tool of colossal importance for organisations; the word of mouth. As described by the cited author, it is â€Å"the extent to which the customer informs friends, relatives and colleagues about an event that has created a certain level of satisfaction†. Hart et al. (1990) went into more details by claiming that the level of the satisfaction may either positively or negatively affect the word of mouth. For instance, satisfying the customer creates positive word of mouth, that is, talking ‘good about the company, and dissatisfying the customer leads to negative word of mouth, that is, talking ‘bad about the firm. He added that â€Å"customers who have had bad experiences tell approximately 11 people about it; those with good experiences tell just 6†. This demonstrates that companies should be extremely careful in delivering value to their customers as failing to do so, may cost them a lot in terms of their reputation. Bad comments may be spread nearly twice faster than it would have been with positive comments. Subsequently, organisations should focus on providing satisfaction to their customers so as to enhance the building of a good reputation. To return on the efficient relationship paradox subject, firms should be conscious that maintaining such an unwise strategy will create a pool of frustrated and dissatisfied customers who will not hesitate to ‘bad-mouth† them and degrade their reputation, which would evidently imply extensive costs for the organisation to overcome this dilemma. Factors affecting customer satisfaction Many drivers of customer satisfaction have been identified through the numerous research conducted during the past decades. However, for the purpose of this study, factors influencing customer satisfaction in the service industry will not be considered since it will not be relevant with the actual research being performed. Consequently, some of the most important drivers of satisfaction are summarised below:- Total Quality Management (TQM) In this line, Rampersad (2001) argued that to attain satisfaction of customers, everyone in the organisation should consider that constant improvement in performance is of primary importance. In order to achieve this, there are fundamental questions that the firm should take into consideration: Which products/services the company provides The product/ service should be defined as more concretely as possible; the more specific the definition is, the better the customer needs are met. Who are the customers The company should know all its customers and examine their needs attentively. It should be noted that both internal and external customers should be considered, the internal ones being the employees. What are the wants and requirements of customers At this stage communication is crucial. Customers needs and desires should be investigated together with their feedback about the current offering. Which are the processes that need to be improved From all the data collected, the company becomes aware of whether they are able to fulfil their customers expectations, needs and wants. And the firm is also now able to improve areas in which all the above steps revealed failures. However, even if everything is respected, TQM relies on the principle that there is always room for improvement. Employee Skills and Satisfaction Rampersad (2001) also stated that â€Å"All employees determine the degree of customer satisfaction. Employees from within departments should be considered as customers of each other† For a customer to be satisfied, he should obtain a good service from the employees, and for the latter to deliver such a service, they should be satisfied with their job. Regular surveys Monitoring customers expectations and perceptions via regular research is an excellent tool for maintaining the standards of an organisation. When a firm is well informed about the expectations of a customer, it can easily deliver value according to those anticipations. Furthermore, it is also essential for a firm to be aware of how customers perceive it, together with the perceptions of the product or service offerings and performance. With these precious pieces of information, organisations are able to be proactive and thus know exactly how to satisfy and even delight its clientele. Technology According to McKinsey (2001), technology can be critical in leading to critical improvements in levels of customer satisfaction if it is properly used. West (unknown) also added that companies should compulsorily be up to date with technological advances or else be confronted to irreversible consequences. Technology can provide additional features to a product, enhancing better product quality. Technology can also improve productivity and thus be easily fulfilling increasing demand. Taking Yoplait in Mauritius as example, technology succeeded in increasing the yogurts lifetime from 28 to 30 days within only a few years. Reputation and Credibility Kuusik (2007) found in his research that it is of critical importance to match the image and values both from the companys and customers perspective. Also referred as trustworthiness, the level of credibility is critical to the behaviour of the customer. If the level of trustworthiness decreases, the customers will no longer be satisfied and will eventually start to look out for other alternatives. A company should always maintain a high reputation in order to keep its customers satisfied. Sales and Post-Sales Experience It is often the case that products are more likely to be sold by distributors rather than the manufacturers themselves. Therefore, an eye should be kept on the customer experience at the point of sale, since the satisfaction level of customers is inevitably linked to the service quality obtained there. As such, customer sales experience can leave â€Å"a good or bad taste†. If a customer obtains a great sales experience, it is most probable that he will be satisfied and stay with the organisation, whereas if the sales experience is poor, he is more likely to switch to competitors. In the same line, after sales is also a critical factor. The customer should be able to obtain the desired information and assistance about the products purchased. For example, a customer must be able to ask for exchange if ever he purchased an expired product. Customer loyalty Oliver (1999) suggests that loyalty is â€Å"a deeply held commitment to rebuy or repatronise a preferred product or service consistently in the future, thereby causing repetitive same-brand or same-brand set purchasing, despite situational influences and marketing efforts having the potential to cause switching behaviours.† However, the term customer loyalty may be found to be complex to define, and for this reason, many authors tried to categorise and segment customers with the aim of understanding the nature of their loyalty and thus take the most appropriate marketing actions. Rowley (2005) tried to illustrate it by asserting that customers may show loyalty in various ways; i) they can choose to continue to do business with a particular provider, ii) they may also increase the number of purchases or the frequency of those purchases or iii) they can become advocates of the firm. However, it should be noted that the categories above may eventually be overlapping, that is, a customer may show all three behaviours, or simply one or two of them. Taylor, Celuch and Goodwin (2004), came with the following research model Taking the definition of Bowen and Chen (2001), the behavioural approach considers the repeat and consistent purchase of products and services making the customer a loyal one. However, repeated purchase does not necessarily symbolise a form commitment to the company Attitudinal approach uses the emotional and psychological attachment felt towards the firm. It states that â€Å"the attitudinal measurements are about the sense of loyalty, engagement and allegiance.† After having questioned nearly 10,000 respondents in the United States of America about the real application of these variables on loyalty, these two authors reached to the following conclusions: Behavioural loyalty is mostly concerned with brand equity and trust while affect, resistance to change and value do contribute but to a lesser proportion. Concerning satisfaction, it seems that there exists no significant statistical relationship. Again, brand equity and trust have a major relationship with attitudinal loyalty whereas affect and satisfaction have a smaller contribution. In contrast with the results obtained with behavioural loyalty, no significant statistical connection seems to be present between attitudinal loyalty and value and resistance to change. Therefore, they asserted that all the variables present in the model have a contribution to the loyalty level of customers but they can vary across different settings and situations. Bowen and Chen (2001) in addition to the behavioural and attitudinal approaches, illustrated another measurement of loyalty; the composite approach. It combines both the behavioural and attitudinal dimensions which states that loyal customers have positive attitudes towards the organisation, are committed to repeat purchase and recommend the product/service to others. Furthermore, Dick and Basu (1994) argued that loyalty is in fact the strength of the relationship between those behavioural and attitudinal behaviours (repeat patronage and relative attitude) and accordingly proposed four conditions of loyalty which are illustrated in the diagram below Rowley (2005) segments even more the loyalty dimension by suggesting four additional orientations: Captive are most of the time customers who continue to purchase and use a product or service because they have no other alternative. They have a positive attitude towards the brand but may easily be poached by competitors who offer alternative products and especially if the switching cost is reduced or facilitated. Convenience-seekers are routine buyers who purchase with low involvement and usually engage in repeat transactions associated with the brand. They do not show any particular attitude towards the brand and are susceptible to promotions offered by competitors which show more convenience than what they are actually having. Contented customers generally evaluate products based on their merits and attributes and the brand owner may use this opportunity to build relationship with those customers who already made transactions with the brand. They have a positive attitude towards the brand but may switch if they get better value elsewhere or if the product is lagging behind compared to others on the market Committed ones barely consider other brands and are prepared to be involved in the brand or firm. They have a positive attitude and deliver positive word of mouth comments. These customers may somehow be lost if the product fails repeatedly with no appropriate recovery and if competitors offer new products that deliver more value. Each level of the diagram can be defined as follows;  · Suspects: These include all the buyers of the product present in the marketplace who are either unaware of the product or have no intention of purchasing it  · Prospects: These are potential customers who are attracted by the businesss offerings but have not yet started any transaction.  · Customers: Buyers of the product who do not have any feeling of attachment towards the organisation.  · Clients: These are repeat customers who do have a feeling of attachment towards the company but whose contribution is more passive than active.  · Advocates: They are clients who support actively the organisation by recommending the product and service to people around them.  · Partners: This is the strongest form of customer-supplier relationship which is maintained as both parties perceive the relationship as being mutually advantageous. Relationship between customer satisfaction, customer loyalty and profitability. Many companies tend to assume that the link between satisfaction and loyalty is simple and linear, that is, the higher the satisfaction level, the higher the loyalty rate. However, many studies showed that this believed link is neither simple, nor linear. In their study, Bowen and Chen (2001) found out that â€Å"customer satisfaction does not equal customer loyalty†. The resulting table below indicates the relationship between the overall satisfaction of the respondents and their intent to return and willingness to recommend the company. Score on overall satisfaction % Stating they would recommend the hotel % Stating they would return 7 62.6 65.0 6 29.8 24.6 5 and lower 7.6 10.4 Their research, making reference to that of Oliva et al. (1992), also revealed that when satisfaction has reached a certain level, there is a considerable increase in loyalty, and similarly, when satisfaction level declines to a certain point, loyalty drops radically. As the research of Bowen and Chen shows, only extremely satisfied customers would repeat purchases and spread positive comments on the firm. The authors Hill and Alexander (2006) also gave their opinion about this relationship. Based on the research of the Royal Bank of Scotland (n.d), they pointed out that there was a very close link between satisfaction and intended loyalty and customers could only be retained at the highest levels of satisfaction. On their part, Mittal and Lassar (1998) claimed that, while a dissatisfaction state was synonymous with a switching behaviour, a satisfaction one did not guarantee loyalty. They therefore asserted that, still, there was a correlation between satisfaction and loyalty, but that this relationship was rather asymmetrical. In this sense, Bennett and Rundle-Thiele (2004) concluded that managers should not entirely rely on sole fact that satisfaction ratings of customers are high are enough to predict future purchase. Hence, companies should realise that merely satisfying customers is not enough; instead they should concentrate their efforts to extremely satisfy and delight them. As Berman (2005) stated, organisations must do more than delivering on expectations of their customers. In this sense, Gee et al. (2008) added that customer delight can provide the stable loyalty that companies look for. The Kano (1984) model cited in Berman (2005) work distinguishes three levels that explain how customer delight can be reached. i) Must be requirements It is defined as the basic requirement that the customer expects from the product. If this requirement is not matched, the customer will eventually be dissatisfied. ii) Satisfier requirements This requirement has the ability to bring about satisfaction. The more of these are fulfilled, the higher the level of satisfaction. iii) Attractive requirements These are additional requirements that the customer neither expected nor expressed. It is believed that if these requirements are met, delight will be attained. Nevertheless, Gustaffson et al. (2005) also identified two other drivers of customer loyalty, namely, calculative commitment and affective commitment. The calculative commitment is the rational and economic decisions taken by the customer regarding costs and benefits implied, together with costs of switching to other brands, whereas the affective commitment is an emotional factor based on the value and trust offered to the customer. Subsequently, as argued, loyalty is essential to retain current customers. Reichheld (2002) suggested that if customer loyalty is obtained, profits will eventually follow. In his collaborative study with Sasser (1990) and cited in Lovelock and Wirtz (2007), four reasons why loyalty contributes to a firms profitability were identified; 1) Profit is derived from increased purchases When an organisation provides high-quality products and service, individuals may wish to purchase more with them. This may be due to an increase in family size or increase in affluence. It should be somehow noted that in whatever the cause, the loyal customer will continue to purchase with a single company. 2) Profit is derived from reduced operating costs Loyal customers cost less to serve because they know the product and attached procedures and thus require less information and assistance. 3) Profit from referrals of other customers Loyal customers provide free promotion to the company by spreading positive word of mouth, implying that the firm needs less investment in this domain. 4) Profit from price premium It often happens that new customers benefit from an introductory discounted price, whereas loyal customers are more likely to pay regular prices, and even higher ones during peak periods. Clark (1997) went in the same sense by saying that loyal customers will remain customers for a longer period, will purchase more, will be willing to pay more and will provide more business by means of referrals. However, organisations should understand that it is far better to ‘cultivate existing customers than to ‘hunt for new ones. Reichheld and Sasser (1990) even found that 5% increase in customer loyalty and retention is enough to generate a profit increase range of 25% to 125%. Still, companies should bear in mind that all their customers are profitable ones. Clark (1997) recognised that a firm should accurately choose and care for its most profitable customers and at the same time, deselecting the least profitable ones. To make the right decision, organisations can make use of Reinartz and Kumar (2002) model. Customers are segmented into four categories based on their forecasted lifetime duration and profitability. According to Noone et al. (2003) interpretation of Reinartz and Kumar (2002) work; * Butterflies are highly profitable short-term customers. They are always in search of best deals and avoid building relationships with organisations. * True friends are highly profitable long-term customers. These customers are believed to exhibit true loyalty and commitment to a single firm and efforts should be directed towards building relationships with them. * Strangers are low profitable short-term customers. It is with this kind of customers that firms should particularly avoid investing in building relationships with them. Gee et al. even states â€Å"Identify early and dont invest anything† * Barnacles are low profitable long-term customers. They are usually loyal but have a negative impact on profitability. Dear Sir/Madam, My name is Marie-Estelle Lebon and I am a student in Marketing Management Level III at the University of Mauritius. For the purpose of my final year project, I would like to have your opinions on the Yoplait yogurts specific range of products and I would be grateful if you could assist me in filling this questionnaire. Rest assured that all the information that you will provide is only for academic purposes and will rema