Harvard business review Essay

For each team, by submitting the document online, you claim that the document is original from your own idea. Each team must work on the assignments independently. All the materials submitted will be checked for plagiarism electronically. For more information, please refer to http://www.plagiarism.org/ Should you have questions and concerns in regards to plagiarism, you should contact the course coordinator immediately. Content Tutorial III consists of two parts. The first part includes case discussion while the second part focuses on the feedback to the common mistakes in the intermediate exam. Requirements First, all the students are required to be present and participate in the discussion. Second, all the students are required to read the following two cases: Case Part A: Toyota—Under†the†Radar Recall Response on Page 346 of the textbook; Case – Quality Parts Company on Page 426 of the textbook. Each team is required to write a case note for these two cases. In the case note, you need to give answers to the questions proposed in the corresponding cases. The length of the case note is at most three A4 pages with font size 12 and 1.5 line space, excluding the figure of value stream mapping. For Case – Quality Parts Company, you are NOT required to answer Question 2 and 3. Instead, you need to draw a value stream map for the production process of Model Z based on the symbols which can be found in exhibit 12.3 on Page 409 in the text book. Suppose that customers order every month. After orders are realized, Quality Parts Company orders from suppliers every month. The company does weekly delivery. Inspection is immediately executed after assembly. Every week a production plan is generated which serves as a template for the daily planning activities performed by the production manager. How much value-added time and how much non-value-added time can be found in the production process? Note that you have to ï ¿ ¼Ã¯ ¿ ¼1 use Microsoft Visio 2010 to draw the VSM. Otherwise, no mark is given. You can directly copy the diagram from Visio to Word. Presentation Team 7 of all the groups and Team 12 of IEM groups should present Toyota. Team 8 of all the groups and Team 13 of IEM groups should present Quality Parts. Team 9 of Group 2, 5, 7 should present Quality Parts. The teams present separately. Each presentation takes five minutes. Please use Microsoft Powerpoint to prepare your presentation and the number of slides is at most 5. Please copy your powerpoint file into a USB stick and bring it to the tutorial. To prepare the presentation for cases, you need to present the solutions to the questions proposed in the case description and give a convincing argument for your solutions. The performance of your presentation will be counted for class participation. Submission Your assignment will be graded only if it is submitted online in the fold of Assignment on Nestor by the deadline and a hard copy is passed to your tutorial teacher in class. The deadline is by 24:00 on October 15. Note that write down your names and student numbers at the first page of your document. For the case note, please name your file as groupnumber_teamnumber_case, such as g1_t1_case. Please print your file with a double†sided format. For your presentation file, you only need to give the hard copy of your slides to your tutorial teacher. Topic

Macbeth’s Misunderstanding of Evil

Macbeth, one of Shakespeare’s most well-known plays, captivates the audience and readers with a unique plot and note worthy characters. Of these characters, Macbeth, not unaffected by evil, an internal or external force that compels an individual to do harm to others, ultimately reaches self-devastation by his own hand. His choices lead him to do so. Macbeth, the tragic hero of the play, allows his flaw of misunderstanding of evil guide him to destruction. As the tragic hero of Shakespeare’s Macbeth, Macbeth is perceived a character with values. Shakespeare portrays him as a tragic hero, having one flaw, but primarily an honorable character. In act 1 a servant tells about Macbeth’s experiences on the battle field. The servant relaying the events of the battle to the king refers to Macbeth as â€Å"For brave Macbeth-well he deserves that name (2). † This shows that others view Macbeth as being brave. Macbeth, also said to be â€Å"Like valour’s minion (2),† clearly can be seen as courageous because he models himself based on heroism and bravery. Macbeth â€Å"unseam’d [the enemy] from the nave to the chaps,/ And fix’d his head upon our battlements (2). † This shows Macbeth’s strength and power in battle. It also displays his loyalty to the king because he kills the enemy. Macbeth, being brave, strong, and loyal, is a decent and wholesome character. Although Macbeth exists as a note worth character, he misunderstands evil and this flaw leads to his demise. In act one Shakespeare shows Macbeth’s curiosity in the witches who are the epitome of evil. When the three witches tell Macbeth that he can potentially be the Thane of Cawdor and the King of Scotland, he wonders how and requests more information from the witches. Macbeth’s speech reveals that he has much interest in what the supernatural powers of the witches can tell him. When he says, â€Å"Stay you imperfect speakers, tell me more (6)† he asks them to give him more information about how he can become thane and king. He believes that the witches are giving him useful information and he has faith that he will prosper if he listens. Macbeth also displays his curiosity when he says, â€Å"and to be king/ Stands not within the prospect of belief,/ No more than to be Cawdor. Say from whence/ You owe this strange intelligence? (6)† He wonders how he can become king and inquires about the witches’ source of information. This shows that he believes that good can come from evil. Macbeth does have ambition, but he has ambition only because he misreads the witches’ intentions. His ambition causes him to want to be thane of Cawdor and king of Scotland, but the misunderstanding of evil causes him to believe that his dreams of being more powerful can come true. After continuing to misunderstand evil Macbeth finally fully commits to evil in act three. Shakespeare shows his audience that Macbeth has made a choice to stay with evil because he has faith that evil is getting him where he wants to be. In act 3Macbeth admits that he is looking forward to hearing the rest of the witches’ prophecies. In scene three he has made a commitment to evil. He acknowledges the fact that righting his wrongs can be possible, but because he believes being evil will gain him power, he chooses to continue on the path of the murderous actions he has already taken. When Macbeth says, â€Å"More shall they speak, for now I am bent to know, By the worst means, the worst (46). † he is revealing that he would like to hear the witches’ predictions and find out what he has to do in order to move himself further up the social ladder. When he says, â€Å"I am in blood Stepp’d in so far that, should I wade no more, Returning were as tedious as go o’er (46)† he is committing to evil. He believes that turning back to good could be possible, but he chooses to follow the witches’ prophecy because he believes that good will come out of his evil actions. His ambition and excessive pride do play a role in causing him to commit to evil, but he only takes on those other characteristics because he misunderstands the wicked forces working against him. After committing to evil, Macbeth realizes that his life no longer has value and therefore does not have a life worth living. Shakespeare breaks the mold of tragic heroes’ demises being their downfall with Macbeth. Macbeth’s demise is that he now has an empty life. It finally occurs to Macbeth that he lives a life that does not posses any qualities that give meaning to life, when he says, â€Å"I have lived long enough: my way of life/ Is fall’n into the sear (73)† he comes to the conclusion that he now lives a wicked life that will propel him towards being condemned to Hell. He also says, â€Å"the which should accompany old age,/ As honour, love, obedience, troops of friends,/ I must not look to have (73),† at which point he realizes that his life no longer has any meaning because he has no honor, emotion, self control, or loyal friends. These are the things that make life worth living, and because none of these qualities are preserved within him he approaches his downfall rapidly. Macbeth’s downfall, being that he lives a meaningless life, is proof that an individual’s fate is the direct result of the choices he makes. Shakespeare’s theme in Macbeth, an individual can control his own fate by the choices he makes despite the temptations of supernatural forces, can be demonstrated by Macbeth choosing to commit to evil and as a result eventually having a fate worse than death. In the final act of the play Macbeth speaks of how he no longer has emotional reactions to events that would have previously aroused him. When he says, â€Å"my senses would have cool’d/ To hear a night-shriek (76)† he confesses that once before he would be nervous after hearing noises at night. Now that he has made many bad decisions he will never again react to a â€Å"night-shriek†. Macbeth also says, â€Å"Direness, familiar to my slaughterous thoughts,/ Cannot once start me (76). † Again he is saying that happenings that would have fazed him before he committed to evil will not faze him now. He has fated himself to become cold and callous. Throughout Macbeth, Macbeth is seen as a note worthy and honorable character. He has only shown one flaw, his misunderstanding of evil. His misunderstanding of evil ultimately leads to his own death. He acknowledges his flaw at the end of the play which proves that he is a tragic hero. Unfortunately, Macbeth caused his own death, due to his misunderstanding of evil.

My role model Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

My role model - Essay Example And this lady, born as Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu with ethnicity of Albania left her nation, kin and known environment and initiated her mission in India and served the poor, sick, orphans across the globe for more than forty five years. Thesis Statement This essay intends to examine and explore the way by which my life was motivated by the great works of the great lady called Mother Teresa. My Role Model Since my childhood only life of Mother inspired me to a great extent. She had that desperation, courage and strength to stand beside the poor and needy. Her life inspired me and captivated my spirit totally and very soon, I inculcated to stand by the side of the people who are really in need and distress. Once my locality was hit by a storm and after the calamity was over, by instinct, I felt to stand by the people who were the victims of the catastrophic calamity. While working for the people in distress, I recalled Mother again and again and it provided me immense mental and physical s trength to work like monster along with the disaster management cell of my area. We all are privileged with the love and care of our parents. We are blessed with a family that stays by our side through our thick and thin. But Mother took the pain to metamorphose herself into a universal Mother. She had love for all the children of the world. She loved us, like the son of God loved the mankind. This profound love for the children who are angles of heaven as Mother has seen them helped her to establish homes for the destitute. I was moved by the hardships and struggle Mother Teresa had to undergo to establish her homes in the city of Kolkata of India. I still do not have that much courage to stand beside the orphans in a way Mother stood and dedicated her life towards them. But the clarion call from inside helped me to sponsor a child for her education in one such homes. Whenever I meet her and spend some time with the child, I feel so blessed and happy from inside. This feeling canno t be made parallel with any other material pursuit in the world. Mother had immense potential. She worked for the sick across the globe. Not only she went for relief at the outbreak of any epidemic but laid the foundation and homes for the people who are suffering from acute congenital disease like tuberculosis and leprosy. She had immense network that launched awareness for HIV Aids, Tuberculosis and Leprosy. Her Leprosy mission is outstanding and she worked and contributed a lot to eradicate and aware people against HIV and Leprosy in the south-east Asia in particular. Her mission for the eradication of these diseases had spread across the globe very fast as well. While in my high school days when a community programme was launched for spreading the awareness against the HIV positive infection, I took active part in it. Under that programme, I got the opportunity to spread the awareness into the red light area of the city and meet the people, especially the women and children of t hose areas who live in darkness and get lost in that dark abbey of life easily. Along with awareness, these people need the light of education and care, love and empathy. The course of my life changed to a great extent after visiting this section of the society and in future I look forward to work for these underprivileged at a greater scale and on a more serious note. Conclusion Blessed Teresa of Kolkata is an entity which

Management Accounting Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Management Accounting - Essay Example Many individual country studies have been done on the national management accounting practices all over the world (Broomwitch and Wang, 1991; Amat et al, 1994 etc). However, the investor confidence has been deteriorating internationally in the accounting process because of the widespread occurrences of creative accounting and scandal. These two common events have created serious concerns among the investors globally. This has changed the image of management accounting as an objective discipline and showed the political nature of accounting. Many individual country case studies have been done to evaluate the existing management accounting practices globally (Broomwitch and Wang, 1991; Amat et al, 1994; Adlegan, 2000). Given this background, this essay critically evaluates the subjectivity of management accounting and the various images and practice that have shaped the subjectivity debate. The organization of the essay is given below. Section 2 discusses the debate regarding convergen ce to IFRS and true and fair value concept. Section 3 discusses the creative accounting in detail. Section 4 concludes the essay. 2. ... It is argued that the convergence of national accounting standards and IFRS has advantages like internationally comparable financial information with high quality. Moreover, it is supposed to obtain other benefits of globalization (Purvis et al, 1991). At the same time, this has created serious concerns in many nations also in spite of the above-mentioned benefits of financial reporting under IFRS. The main reason for this concern is that though it has many advantages, it may sometimes avoid country-specific interests (Barton, 1999). The internationalization can lead to the emergence of many account setting bodies which can have their own specific interests that can be in conflict with the interests of a particular nation. These groups can have the dominating power in such cases and the specific interests of a nation can be ignored. This has been a debatable issue in the recent years. IFRS has many major requirements, among which the main is the need for fair value reporting of their financial matters by the public companies in their financial statements. Based on this approach, the exchange price estimates need to be the basis for the asset and liability measurement in some cases. These prices need to be in a transaction at present and between parties who are not associated with each other and are known (Landsman, 2006; Ryan, 2008). However, this approach has raised many questions among the different scholars later. There have been many concerns regarding the fair value approach. In case of illiquid markets, the fair values can be obtained only by adjusting for illiquidity. Here, the market to market values or market to model values will be the adjustment done for estimation of fair values (Landsman, 2006).

Answer short questions Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Answer short questions - Essay Example The whole play is about mastery and rule. It is a play that represents colonization by the English colonizers and their expansion into America. The Tempest can serve as an allegory, as we know that an allegory is an indirect representation of something .The story criticizes the European for the bad treatment to the native people. Native Americans represent a significant contrast to all of the other groups, for theirs was not an immigrant experience; they were the original Americans before the voyage of Columbus. When English colonizers arrived, they stereotyped them as savages and seized their lands by warfare (Takaki n.p.). Some of the Shakespearian characters in the Tempest have been used to make representation. For example, Sebastian and Antonio wanted to overthrow King Alonso and make the drunken butler Stephano the king of island. These characters represent the English colonizers, who came and possessed the native America’s land through warfare (Takaki n.p.). Caliban, one of the principal characters, was a new world inhabitant by the name Carib, which was the name of an Indian tribe, who came to mean savage for America. What are some of the parallels between the English expansion into Ireland and the English expansion into America? The English colonizer had different impacts in Ireland and America. ... After four years, the English had reduced the Irish people to wretchedness and they took possession of the Irish land (Takaki n.p.). While in America, the English colonizers had a lot of impact. The native people in America were the Indian people. The English colonizers saw the Indians reminding them of the Irish people. Unlike the Irish people, the Indians did not waste time in taking advantage by beginning with the educational process that would transform their lives (Takaki n.p.). Why did the European colonists believe that American Indians were lower on the scale of development then they were? The English colonizers did not find any difference between the Indians and the Irish people; they saw them as being lower on the scale of development. This was because they saw the Indians as being uncivilized and with no educational skills, so they could not be able to work on any development. They were also seen as being lazy and unwilling to work for their own needs. According to Takaki, the European colonists described them as beasts that were only ready to reap from what the English had (n.p.). Why did the British wish to take over Indian land? What opened the way for them to do so? In America, the English colonizers first settled in Virginia, where the Powhatans, an agricultural people, occupied and cultivated corn. Initially, when the English came to Virginia, the encounter between these Indians and the English was a peaceful one, and of friendship. After they had established a camp, it was reported that there came starvation and most of the English colonizers died leaving only a few. That is when the English started attacking the Indians trying to extort their food. The English colonizers were soon

Political development and the international political system Research Paper

Political development and the international political system - Research Paper Example Martinussen (1997) found that political development is essential to process inputs into such outputs that can be implemented for the benefits of the society. Any country needs development of a proper political system in order to run the government institutions in an appropriate manner because it is very difficult to manage those institutions without having a well-structured political system. Such countries face political decline where there are no signs of political development because political problems cannot be solved easily without development of a proper political system in a country. Kingsbury (2007) found that political development reflects a process of change that is away from archaic political forms, such as feudalism, through to authoritarian or oligarchic political systems, or on the extreme end, a totalitarian or parasitic form of government (p.17). Bringing democracy in a country and then strengthening the roots of democracy is one of the main motives of political develo pment. The main goal of political development is human freedom, which is vital for pursuing capabilities, and realizing rights (Kingsbury, 2007, p.17). Political development not only results in implementation of laws but also brings considerable changes in the social and political dimensions of a society. Political development is also necessary to strengthen the economic system of a country. It is because there is a strong link between the economic development and political system of a country. Political development involves such characteristics and variables, which not only changes the attitudes of the political culture but also carries out considerable institutional reforms. Models of political development play an important role in setting the dimensions of a desired political system. There is no single model for political development. The two models presented by the political development literature include unilinear and monolithic models. Both of these models provide assistance i n the proper political development in a country. Is Democratization Equivalent to Political Development? Democratization is one of the trends in modern political science and it can be a transition from an authoritarian political regime to a democratic political regime. â€Å"Democratization is important because of one of the most widely (but not universally) accepted trends in international relations, known as the democratic peace† (Hauss, 2003). Democratization is not equivalent to political development because democratization is a process by which a country adopts a democratic political regime whereas political development refers to the concept of developing a political structure for implementation. Hauss (2003) states, â€Å"There is less agreement among political scientists about how that process occurs, including the criteria to use in determining if democratization has, in fact, taken place†. â€Å"Democratization relates specifically to a programmatic agenda of state reform promoted by transnational actors† (Burnell, 2006, p. 24). Political development means to form an authoritarian, oligarchic, totalitarian, or parasitic type of government whereas democratization is the transition of autocratic form of government into a democratic regime. Political development is very broad concept related to development of a political attitudes and values in order to form a political system whereas democrati

Improving operations Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Improving operations - Essay Example The company uses enterprise resource planning (SAP) which helps in integrating the internal and external information and helps in quick response to the customer and improves customer relationship. The purpose of this management operating system is to share information among employees (Harwood, 2003). As the banking industry performance depends more on the individual performance of the employee and his/her ability to engage customers for a long-term relationship investment in the company. The organization uses the simplified idea management SIM process which effectively manages the productivity of the employees regarding innovation (Barton, 2010). The SIM process is implemented in each department of the bank because the model helps in better serving the customers and reduces cost for the organization. This process is necessary throughout the organization for continuous improvement and better growth (Barton, 2010). The SIM process is an effective approach in meeting customers’ needs and expectation because it allows employees to share information across all the organization about the customer’s desires and steps to ensure better customer satisfaction (Barton,

Sustainability Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Sustainability - Research Paper Example In fact, it is a common misconception that the presence of global economic crisis could a zero growth rate in the demand for international tourism. According to Reisinger (2009, p. 8), tourism involves the movement of â€Å"goods, services, and people†. For this reason, the context of international tourism is very broad in the sense that this concept includes not only people who are travelling for leisure purposes (i.e. vacation purposes or visiting wildlife attractions, art galleries, museums, and a local festival, etc.) (Felsenstein & Fleischer, 2003) but also those individuals who are migrating to another country in search for new business or employment opportunities (Baum, 2006; Lundmark, 2006). Globalization has something to do with the continuously increasing demand for international tourism. In fact, significant change that is currently occurring in the trend of international tourism became more complex and fast-paced not only because of globalization but also due to th e availability of advance communication technology (Reisinger, 2009, p. 8; Formica & Kothari, 2008; Kyriaki & Vogt, 2006; Morrison, Taylor, & Douglas, 2004). For this reason, Reisinger (2009, p. 27) explained that globalization is the secret behind the opening of new business opportunities and growth in international tourism. ... Other than the permanent or contractual foreign workers, social tourism also includes low-income government employees who are assigned to work outside their homeland (Bhatia, 2001, p. 55). It is relatively cheaper and easier to hire highly competitive individuals from foreign countries. Therefore, one of the main reasons why companies in developed countries are hiring foreign workers is to cut down the fixed cost of labor. In relation to the on-going free trading of labor forces, millions of people each year are expected to be travelling from one country to another (Baum, 2006; Lundmark, 2006). In search for a better financial income, a lot of people from developing or underdeveloped counties will continuously attempt to look for better employment opportunities in developed countries. This explains why the number of illegal immigrants and low-skilled workers who are migrating to UK is excessively higher than expected (Beckford, 2012; Jowit, 2012). To control the increasing number of illegal migrants, the UK government is firm in its decision to deport back illegal immigrants to their homeland (Beckford, 2012). This could somehow increase the number of travelers each year. Instead of forcing illegal immigrants to return back to their mother land, President Obama decided to suspend the deportation and legally allow 1.7 million illegal immigrants to work in the United States (Emmanuel, 2012; Preston, 2012a, 2012b). In general, the presence of economic recession caused by natural calamities can open new business opportunities for some private sectors. Such incidence could eventually open new business and work opportunities not only on the part of highly reputable engineers but also the architects

What has gone wrong with Williams teams efforts and what should be Case Study

What has gone wrong with Williams teams efforts and what should be done to ensure a successful outcome for the team - Case Study Example The group dynamic theory highlights on the social and psychological problems that come up in workplaces. Members of the team have differences in their opinions on the way forward. Tom is one of the longest serving employees in the organization and has earned more respect from William. Other members of the team include Bryce, Casey, and Jenny. â€Å"They do not feel loyalty for the organizations they work for† (Barr and Gassenheimer 2005, p.82) The major setback among the team leaders is that they lack a common understanding. â€Å"Designing team assignments and creating environments that support and enhance these skills are critical for learning," (Barr and Gassenheimer, 2005, p. 82) Tom makes most of the decisions hence denying other members of the chance to express their views. According to the group dynamic theory, all team members should be offered an equal opportunity to present their ideas. On the contrary, Tom is seen to make most of the contributions whereas he is not the group leader. Another problem is the lack of interest. Bryce’s objective is to see the work done. He does not care where the ideas on the new renovations will be put in place. Jenny, on the other hand, has also been issued with another project that has led to her change in focus. The group dynamic theory has stipulated various solutions to group problems. Firstly, the levels of personal and teamwork communications should be advanced. â€Å"All communication within groups is between individuals and is, therefore, interpersonal communication† (David and Frank 2000, p.145). Relay of information among the group members will help them improve their skills. All employees should contribute opinions while the group leaders should make rational decisions. â€Å"The group predominates over the individuals and members are expected to accommodate to the demands of the group† (Hill, James, Danny, & Mark, 2007, p.71). Tom’s hard work has made the other team members to look

Context of Indigenous health Essay Example for Free

Context of Indigenous health Essay Historical context and social determinants of Indigenous health There is a clear relationship between the social disadvantages experienced by Indigenous people and their current health status [1]. These social disadvantages, directly related to dispossession and characterised by poverty and powerlessness, are reflected in measures of education, employment, and income. Before presenting the key indicators of Indigenous health status, it is important, therefore, to provide a brief summary of the context within which these indicators should be considered. The historical context of Indigenous health Indigenous peoples generally enjoyed better health in 1788 than most people living in Europe [2][3][4][5][6]. They did not suffer from smallpox, measles, influenza, tuberculosis, scarlet fever, venereal syphilis and gonorrhoea, diseases that were common in 18th century Europe. Indigenous people probably suffered from hepatitis B, some bacterial infections (including a non-venereal form of syphilis and yaws) and some intestinal parasites. Trauma is likely to have been a major cause of death, and anaemia, arthritis, periodontal disease, and tooth attrition are known to have occurred. The impact of these diseases at a population level was relatively small compared with the effects of the diseases that affected 18th century Europe. All of this changed after 1788 with the arrival of introduced illness, initially smallpox and sexually transmissible infections (gonorrhoea and venereal syphilis), and later tuberculosis, influenza, measles, scarlet fever, and whooping cough [3][4][7][8]. These diseases, particularly smallpox, caused considerable loss of life among Indigenous populations, but the impacts were not restricted to the immediate victims. The epidemic also affected the fabric of Indigenous societies through depopulation and social disruption. The impact of introduced diseases was almost certainly the major cause of death for Indigenous people, but direct conflict and occupation of Indigenous homelands also contributed substantially to Indigenous mortality [7][9][10]. The initial responses of Indigenous people to the arrival of the First Fleet were apparently quite peaceful. It didnt take long, however, before conflict started to occur initially over access to fish stocks and then over access to other resources as non-Indigenous people started to plant crops and introduce livestock. This pattern of conflict was almost certainly widespread as non-Indigenous people spread across the country. Conflict escalated in many places, in some instances resulting in overt massacres of Indigenous people. The 1838 massacre at Myall Creek (near Inverell, NSW) is the most infamous [11], but less well-known massacres occurred across Australia [10]. As Bruce Elder notes, as painful and shameful as they are, the massacres should be as much a part of Australian history as the First Fleet, the explorers, the gold rushes and the bushrangers ([10], p. vi). Prior to 1788, Indigenous people were able to define their own sense of being through control over all aspects of their lives, including ceremonies, spiritual practices, medicine, social relationships, management of land, law, and economic activities [12][13][14]. In addition to the impacts of introduced diseases and conflict, the spread of non-Indigenous peoples undermined the ability of Indigenous people to lead healthy lives by devaluing their culture, destroying their traditional food base, separating families, and dispossessing whole communities [3][4][7]. This loss of autonomy undermined social vitality, which, in turn, affected the capacity to meet challenges, including health challenges; a cycle of dispossession, demoralisation, and poor health was established. These impacts on Indigenous populations eventually forced colonial authorities to try to protect remaining Indigenous peoples. This pressure led to the establishment of Aboriginal protection boards, the first established in Vic by the Aboriginal Protection Act of 1869 [15]. A similar Act established the NSW Aborigines Protection Board in 1883, with the other colonies also enacting legislation to protect Indigenous populations within their boundaries. The protection provided under the provisions of the various Acts imposed enormous restrictions on the lives of many Indigenous people. These restrictions meant that, as late as 1961, in eastern Australia nearly one-third of all Australians recorded as being of Aboriginal descent lived in settlements ([16], p. 4). The provisions of the Acts were also used to justify the forced separation of Indigenous children from their families by compulsion, duress or undue influence ([15], p. 2). The National Inquiry into the separation of the children concluded that between one-in-three and one-in-ten Indigenous children were forcibly removed from their families and communities in the period from approximately 1910 until 1970 ([15], p. 31). It was the 1960s, at the earliest, when the various protection Acts were either repealed or became inoperative. The importance of contemporary social determinants and cultural concepts of Indigenous health The health disadvantages experienced by Indigenous people can be considered historical in origin [14], but perpetuation of the disadvantages owes much to contemporary structural and social factors, embodied in what have been termed the social determinants of health [1][17][18]. In broad terms, economic opportunity, physical infrastructure, and social conditions influence the health of individuals, communities, and societies as a whole. These factors are specifically manifest in measures such as education, employment, income, housing, access to services, social networks, connection with land, racism, and incarceration. On all these measures, Indigenous people suffer substantial disadvantage. For many Indigenous people, the ongoing effects of protection and the forced separation of children from their families compound other social disadvantages. It is also important in considering Indigenous health to understand how Indigenous people themselves conceptualise health. There was no separate term in Indigenous languages for health as it is understood in western society [19]. The traditional Indigenous perspective of health is holistic. It encompasses everything important in a persons life, including land, environment, physical body, community, relationships, and law. Health is the social, emotional, and cultural wellbeing of the whole community and the concept is therefore linked to the sense of being Indigenous. This conceptualisation of health has much in common with the social determinants model and has crucial implications for the simple application of biomedically-derived concepts as a means of improving Indigenous health. The reductionist, biomedical approach is undoubtedly useful in identifying and reducing disease in individuals, but its limitations in addressing population-wide health disadvantages, such as those experienced by Indigenous people, must be recognised. Indicators of Indigenous social disadvantage. The key measures in these areas for Indigenous people nationally include: Education According to 2011 Australian Census [20]: 92% of 5 year-old Indigenous children were attending an educational institution 1. 6% of the Indigenous population had not attended school compared with 0. 9% of the non-Indigenous population 29% of Indigenous people reported year 10 as their highest year of school completion; 25% had completed year 12, compared with 52% of non-Indigenous people 26% of Indigenous people reported having a post-school qualification, compared with 49% of non-Indigenous people 4. 6% of Indigenous people had attained a bachelor degree or higher, compared with 20% of non-Indigenous people. An ABS school report [21] revealed, in 2011: the apparent retention rate for Indigenous students from year 7/8 to year 10 was 99%, from year 7/8 to year 12 it was 49% for non-Indigenous students, the apparent retention rate from year 7/8 to year 10 was 101%; and from year 7/8 to year 12 it was 81%. The 2011 national report on schooling in Australia [22] showed: 76% of Indigenous students in year 3 and 66% in year 5 were at or above the national minimum standard for reading, compared with 95% and 93% respectively of all Australian students 80% of year 3 Indigenous students and 69% of year 5 Indigenous students were at or above the national minimum standard for persuasive writing, compared with 96% of all year 3 students and 94% of all year 5 students 72% of year 3 Indigenous students and 69% of year 5. Indigenous students were at or above the national minimum standard for spelling, compared with 94% of all year 3 students and 93% of all year 5 students 71% of year 3 Indigenous students and 65% of year 5 Indigenous students were at or above the national minimum standard for grammar and punctuation, compared with 94% of all year 3 students and 94% of all year 5 students 84% of Indigenous students in year 3 and 75% in year 5 were at or above the national minimum standard for numeracy, compared with 96% and 96% respectively of all Australian students. Employment According to the 2011 Australian Census [20]: 42% of Indigenous people aged 15 years or older were employed and 17% were unemployed. In comparison, 61% of non-Indigenous people aged 15 years or older were employed and 5% were unemployed the most common occupation classification of employed Indigenous people was labourer (18%) followed by community and personal service workers (17%). The most common occupation classification of employed non-Indigenous people was professional (22%). Income According to the 2011 Australian Census [20]: the mean equivalised gross household income for Indigenous persons was around $475 per week approximately 59% of that for non-Indigenous persons (around $800). Indigenous population Based on information collected as a part of the 2011 Census of Population and Housing, the ABS has estimated the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population at 669,736 people at 30 June 2011 [23]. The estimated population for NSW was the highest (208,364 Indigenous people), followed by Qld (188,892), WA (88,277), and the NT (68,901) (Table 1). The NT has the highest proportion of Indigenous people among its population (29. 8%) and Vic the lowest (0. 9%). Table 1: Estimated Indigenous population, by jurisdiction, Australia, 30 June 2011 JurisdictionIndigenous population (number)Proportion of Australian Indigenous population (%)Proportion of jurisdiction population (%) Source: ABS, 2012 [23] Notes: Preliminary estimates are subject to revision; population projections are expected to be finalised by 2014 Australian population includes Jervis Bay Territory, the Cocos (Keeling). Islands, and Christmas Island Proportions of jurisdiction population have used total population figures estimated from demographic information for June 2011 NSW208,36431. 12. 9 Vic47,3277. 10. 9 Qld188,89228. 24. 2 WA88,27713. 23. 8 SA37,3925. 62. 3 Tas24,1553. 64. 7 ACT6,1670. 91. 7 NT68,90110. 329. 8. Australia669,736100. 03. 0 There was a 21% increase in the number of Indigenous people counted in the 2011 Census compared with the 2006 Census2 [24]. The largest increases were in the ACT (34%), Vic (26%), NSW (25%) and Qld (22%). For all jurisdictions, the 55 years and over age-group showed the largest relative increase. There are two structural reasons contributing to the growth of the Indigenous population: the slightly higher fertility rates of Indigenous women compared with the rates of other Australian women (see Births and pregnancy outcome); and the significant numbers of Indigenous babies born to Indigenous fathers and non-Indigenous mothers. Two other factors are considered likely to have contributed to the increase in people identifying as Indigenous: changes in enumeration processes (i. e. more Indigenous people are being captured during the census process); and changes in identification (i. e. people who did not previously identify as Indigenous in the census have changed their response). Based on the 2011 Census, around 33% of Indigenous people lived in a capital city [25]. Detailed information about the geographic distribution of the Indigenous population for 2011 is not yet available, but figures from the 2006 Census indicated that the majority of Indigenous people lived in cities and towns [26]. Slightly more than one-half of the Indigenous population lived in areas classified as major cities or inner regional areas, compared with almost nine-tenths of the non-Indigenous population. (As well as these two classifications of remoteness in terms of access to goods and services and opportunities for social interaction, the Australian Standard Geographical Classification (ASGC) has four other categories: outer regional, remote, very remote, and migratory [27]. ) Almost one-quarter of Indigenous people lived in areas classified as remote or very remote in relation to having very little access to goods, services and opportunities for social interaction ([28], p. 3). Less than 2% of non-Indigenous people lived in remote or very remote areas [26]. In terms of specific geographical areas, more than one-half (53%) of all Indigenous people counted in the 2011 Census lived in nine of the 57 Indigenous regions (based largely on the former Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (ATSIC) regions) [25]. The three largest regions were in eastern Australia (Brisbane, NSW Central and the North Coast, and Sydney-Wollongong), which accounted for 29% of the total Indigenous population. According to the 2011 Census, around 90% of Indigenous people are Aboriginal, 6% are Torres Strait Islanders, and 4% people identified as being of both Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander descent [25]. Around 63% of Torres Strait Islander people3 lived in Qld; NSW was the only other state with a large number of Torres Strait Islander people. The Indigenous population is much younger overall than the non-Indigenous population (Figure 1) [23]. According to estimates from the 2011 Census, at June 2011 about 36% Indigenous people were aged less than 15 years, compared with 18% of non-Indigenous people. About 3. 4% of Indigenous people were aged 65 years or over, compared with 14% of non-Indigenous people. Figure 1. Population pyramid of Indigenous and non-Indigenous populations, 30 June 2011 Population pyramid of indigenous and non-indigenous populations, 2011 Source: ABS, 2012 [23] References Carson B, Dunbar T, Chenhall RD, Bailie R, eds. (2007) Social determinants of Indigenous health. Crows Nest, NSW: Allen and Unwin Jackson LR, Ward JE (1999) Aboriginal health: why is reconciliation necessary?. Medical Journal of Australia; 170(9): 437-440 Butlin NG (1993) Economics and the dreamtime : a hypothetical history. Melbourne: Cambridge University Press Campbell J (2002) Invisible invaders: smallpox and other diseases in Aboriginal Australia 1780-1880. Melbourne: Melbourne University Press Webb S (2009) Palaeopathology of Aboriginal Australians: health and disease across a hunter-gatherer continent. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Anderson W (2007). The colonial medicine of settler states: comparing histories of Indigenous health. Health and History; 9(2): 144-154 Butlin NG (1983) Our original aggression : Aboriginal populations of southeastern Australia, 1788-1850. Sydney: Allen Unwin Thomson N (1991) Tuberculosis among Aborigines. In: Proust AJ, ed. History of tuberculosis in Australia, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea. Canberra, ACT: Brolga Press: 61-67 Reynolds H (1982) The other side of the frontier: Aboriginal resistance to the European invasion of Australia. Ringwood, Victoria: Penguin Books Elder B (2003) Blood on the wattle: massacres and maltreatment of Aboriginal Australians since 1788. 3rd ed. Frenchs Forest, N. S. W: New Holland Harrison B (1978) The Myall Creek massacre. In: McBryde I, ed. Records of times past : ethnohistorical essays on the culture and ecology of the New England tribes. Canberra: Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies: 17-51 Howitt R (2001) Rethinking resource management : justice, sustainability and Indigenous peoples. London: Routledge Hunter E (1993) Aboriginal health and history: power and prejudice in remote Australia. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Saggers S, Gray D (1991) Aboriginal health and society: the traditional and contemporary Aboriginal struggle for better health. North Sydney: Allen and Unwin National Inquiry into the Separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children from their Families (1997) Bringing them home: report of the National Inquiry into the Separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children from their Families. Retrieved 17 November 2011 from http://www. humanrights. gov. au/pdf/social_justice/bringing_them_home_report. pdf Long JPM (1970) Aboriginal settlements: a survey of institutional communities in eastern Australia. Canberra: Australian National University Press Marmot M (2004) The status syndrome: how social standing affects our health and longevity. New York: Holt Paperbacks Wilkinson R, Marmot M (2003) Social determinants of health: the solid facts. Denmark: World Health Organization National Aboriginal Health Strategy Working Party (1989) A national Aboriginal health strategy. Canberra: Department of Aboriginal Affairs Australian Bureau of Statistics (2012) Census of population and housing: characteristics of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians, 2011. Canberra: Australian Bureau of Statistics Australian Bureau of Statistics (2011) Schools, Australia, 2010. Canberra: Australian Bureau of Statistics Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority (2011) National Assessment Program Literacy and Numeracy: achievement in reading, persuasive writing, language conventions and numeracy: national report for 2011. Sydney: Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority Australian Bureau of Statistics (2012) Australian demographic statistics, March quarter 2012. Canberra: Australian Bureau of Statistics Yap M, Biddle N (2012) Indigenous fertility and family formation: CAEPR Indigenous population project: 2011 census papers. Canberra: Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research Australian Bureau of Statistics (2012) Census of population and housing counts of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians, 2011. Canberra: Australian Bureau of Statistics Australian Bureau of Statistics (2010) Population characteristics.

Starbucks International Expansion

Starbucks International Expansion International Business Management I. Introduction In General, when international companies consider going into overseas markets, they adapt some strategies of entry modes such as licensing, franchising, joint venture and MA. For example, ‘Pierre Cardin extended their foreign business through a pure licensing and Mcdonalds was able to become the largest fast-food retailer on earth by taking advantage of its unique franchising strategy. Hence, the wise mix of entry modes can be regarded as a core factor for multinational enterprises to advance into new outer markets. As you know, Starbucks Corporation (hereafter, Starbucks) is the largest coffee retailer in the world. It has succeeded in globally by carrying out wise collaborative strategies. Therefore, in this study, Starbucks international performance would be covered at first and it would be followed by further discussions; market issues aboutIndian entry and strategic comparison with the competitors ‘The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf and ‘Hollys Coffee. II. Starbucks International Expansion Since Starbucks established its subsidiaries, â€Å"Starbucks Coffee international† in 1995[i], it has applied to flexible entry strategies; licensing and joint venture and whole ownership. While it is operating its US stores directly, Starbucks is largely running its cafà ©s outside US through joint venture and licensing with local retailers. In fiscal year of 2009, it has opened 3,439 licensed cafà ©s on earth representing 62 percents of entire stores. The main target of international business is Asia and Starbucks has operated 2,062 cafà ©s.[ii](Refer to Table.1) Besides, Starbucks is managing some overseas stores directly by acquiring local coffee retailers. In UK, Canada and some Asian market such as Thailand and Singapore, Starbucks owns 2,068 wholly-owned cafà ©s which account for 38 percents of entire overseas stores.[iii] A. Why Starbucks prefers direct investment to franchising and licensing? When Starbucks expanded its business outbound, â€Å"Coffee culture† has not existed in various countries including Asian nations. Therefore, it was imperative for Starbucks to spread coffee culture and Starbucks has implemented a marketing strategy called â€Å"Cult-duct†[1]. Hence, Starbucks thought that it was more appropriate for Starbucks to have taken advantage of direct investments; joint venture and wholly-owned companies rather than licensing and franchising so as not only to offer tangible products; coffee and cookies but also to deliver a fine coffee culture represented by urban and elegant image. Through this strategy, Starbucks effectively has managed to control its core competencies such as the high quality coffee, the quarterly employee training concerning customer service and store management know-how. B. Motivation of Joint Venture As mentioned above, the main target of Starbucks international is Asia and Starbucks has adapted joint venture as a main method for Asian market, although it has entered with licensing in several Asian regions including Middle East and Philippines. (Refer to table. 2) Above all, Starbucks could minimize risk of Asian operation by running businesses through joint venture with local retailers. At the beginning, since Starbucks did not hold both experience and expertise for Asian market, it is required for Starbucks to share local companies know-how and wide domestic networks to stably perform its Asian operation. Moreover, Starbucks has properly overcome the cultural gap with Asian nations and carried out the splendid market research. To demonstrate, local companies were involved in local staffing and analysis of regional customers taste and preference whereas Starbucks took responsibilities for employee training, coffee roasting and quality control. Besides, Starbucks could release localized products. For example, it is selling Korean traditional beverages such as ‘Sik-hye and ‘Sujungghwa in Insa-dong cafà © and offering sorts of Chinese traditional teas like â€Å"Oriental Beauty Tea† and â€Å"Fancy Black tea† in Taiwan. C. Motivation of Direct Operation Starbucks is also doing its international business with company-owned operation. . In UK, Canada and Australia, Starbucks did not have to worry about the huge gap of culture when it entered into these markets because they all belong to English language culture and there is no remarkable difference of organization culture. Whereas, Starbucks has finally acquired the entire equity of local manufacturers, Coffee Partners in Thailand and Bonstar in Singapore respectively, even if it initially entered those markets with the form of joint venture.[iv] These countries legitimately allowed the foreign capital to hold 100% equity of a company and Starbucks could not trust the marketing capabilities of these local retailers. D. A Key Growth Drive: Indian Entry In 2006, Starbucks decided to initiate its business in India and made a joint venture contract with the Indian local retailer, RPG Enterprises[v]. However, its offer was rejected by Indian government due to issues related to technique transition and strict regulation on ‘foreign retail companies'[vi]. To illustrate, Indian government did not allow direct control of foreign companies in Indian retail industry, even though foreign companies can possess up to 51% of equity. This is a big obstacle to Starbucks because strong control of business is the main principle of Starbucks overseas operation. In February 2009, Indian government made a decision to boost foreign investment owing to late contraction of FDI and then it has finally permitted outer retailers to own its business in case of holding 51% shares of a joint venture company.[vii] As a result, Starbucks reconsidered Indian entry and has begun a talk with ‘Jubiliant Group about the alliance.[viii] However, while Starbucks adheres to joint venture in the entry of India, competitors like Mcdonalds have already launched in India throug franchising and local brands â€Å"Barista† and â€Å"Coffee day† have been rapidly growing. In March 2010, the world largest PEF â€Å"KKR† also determined to invest 200 million US dollar in â€Å"Coffee Day† to compete with Starbucks.[ix] III. Comparison with the competitors A. The Coffee Bean Tea Leaf Some competitors of Starbucks have taken the different way in terms of international business. The representative example is â€Å"The Coffee Bean Tea Leaf† (hereafter, The Coffee Bean). The Coffee Bean has adapted franchising strategy for overseas expansion. As of 2008, The Coffee Bean has opened approximately 750 cafà ©s in 22 nations. Specifically, it has 288 cafà ©s under direct control while 444 cafà ©s are being operated by franchisees[x]. (Refer to Table. 3) When a company makes a licensing contract with licensor, it is able to use licensors patent, know-how, trade mark and technology. By comparison, franchising enables franchisee to get support from franchisor concerning operation and management, working principle and marketing. In other words, franchisor could be strongly involved in franchisees operation. 1. Motivation of Franchising The first reason that The Coffee Bean chose franchising is to expand its business into the outer market quickly. Since it began expanding far later than its competitors, it strived to take faster entry mode than FDI. By doing its international operation with franchising, The Coffee Bean could enter more than 20 countries including India without big trouble. In the meanwhile, Starbucks has struggled to enter India market by governmental and political intervention as we discussed above. Second, as mention above, while Starbucks wanted to provide customers with not only just coffee but also coffee culture at its foreign market entry, The Coffee Bean has more focused on the quality of coffee. As its strategy is to serve tasteful coffee to as many customers as it can, it is essential to motivate franchisee to serve more people. Franchising can provide high motivation to franchisees as they just need to pay fixed royalty. It means that more customers they serve customers, the more profit they can expect. The last reason is cost saving. If it had entered the overseas market as FDI, it would have born more cost such as rent and operating cost. By franchising, extra cost could be avoidable. 2. Disadvantage of franchising One remarkable problem which franchisor could face is that it can lose control of operation. As franchisor doesnt have authority on operating, it might be difficult to keep high quality of service and exerts a bad influence on its brand and image. For example, the coffee bean was uncovered by Korea Food and Drug Administration because it had used unsuitable ingredient. In addition to this, it did not implement a regular staff heath inspection program. The incident damaged the companys image and it can be referred to as a typical example of the disadvantage. B. Hollys Coffee Hollys Coffee is a well-known Korean coffee retailer founded in 1998 and it has developed into one of the domestic competitors of foreign coffee retailers such as Starbucks and The Coffee Bean Tea Leaf in Korea. Since 1998, Hollys Coffee has steadily increased its stores and the number of them has amounted to more than 200 recently. Not satisfied with the huge success in Korean domestic market, Hollys Coffee decided to go abroad and opened stores in Malaysia and Los Angeles in US in 2007. A few months ago, in December 2009, Hollys Coffee launched the third international store in Peru, one of the coffee bean-producing nations. Hollys Coffee announced it would achieve two goals in Peru; operating eight stores and sales up to 7 billion Korean won within a year. In order to realize these goals, Hollys Coffee entered into the Peru through ‘master franchising method that allows individuals or corporations to buy the rights to sub-franchise within some specific countries.[xi] The company usually adapts master franchising method so as to minimize risk when it enters the country where its brand is seldom familiar to the local community as well as it is difficult to attract investments. In Peru, There are a lot of its own domestic coffee retailers and Hollys Coffee is rarely well-known to local people. Thus, it is very important to make Peruvians aware of its brand and Hollys Coffee might be exposed to the financial risk linked with heavy marketing expenditure such as bra nd promotion and advertisement in the course of spreading its brand. There are two entry strategies of Hollys Coffee in Peru one is to introduce products that have Korean own characteristic, another is to differentiate with other coffee brands by focusing on side menus like waffle or patisserie. The Point is that it is hard to make certain whether these strategies are effective enough in Peruvian coffee market or not. Since it is tough to control operation when a company takes franchising, it appears to be difficult to introduce Korean traditional teas and foods properly. IV. Conclusion We have discussed about several entry modes regarding international business. We have looked into Starbucks choice, The Coffee beans strategy as well as Hollys Coffees one. Before completing our study, we would like to discuss two points of contention. Firstly, should Starbucks stick to FDI for India? As discussed above, it has struggled from red tapes. In the end, they still cannot enter Indian market whereas its competitors have expanded their business in India. Secondly, was it a good idea for Hollys Coffee to take franchising entry mode along with a strategy of providing Korean traditional beverages? Since it is not well known and not familiar with local environment, it is understandable not to take FDI entry mode. However, doesnt it seem to go well with two ill-assorted strategies? All entry modes have advantages and disadvantages. Hence, it is absolutely important to apply an entry mode appropriately according to each business format. However, it could be dangerous to enter every region with the single entry mode even though it is the same industry. Both the problem that Starbucks faced in India and the pitfall Hollys Coffee is likely to face can explain how risky it is. Therefore, even though a company wants to expand its identical business abroad, it is recommended to take different entry modes in accordance with each nations regulations, culture, politics, economic and social environment. V. Appendix The composition of retailers of Starbucks (2009.9) Entry mode Total U.S % in US Overseas % in overseas Company Owned 8,832 6,764 61% 2,068 38% Licensed Stores (Joint Venture) 7,803 4,364 39% 3,439 62% Total 16,635 11,128 100% 5,507 100% The Major Overseas Performance of Starbucks (Non- North America) Strategy Region Year Nation Local Partner # of stores Joint Venture Asia 1996 Japan Sazaby Inc. 875 1998 Taiwan President Chain Store 222 2000 S.Korea Shinsegae Department store 288 2000 China Cayman Holdings 283 2002 Mei-xin International 2005 Coffee Concepts 2004 Malaysia Berjaya Group 118 Europe 2002 Spain Sigla, S.A 76 2002 Greece Marinopoulos Bros. 69 2003 Switzerland Marinopoulos Bros. 47 2003 Austria Marinopoulos Bros. N/A 2003 Cyprus Marinopoulos Bros. N/A 2004 France Sigla, S.A 52 2007 Romania Marinopoulos Bros. N/A 2008 Czech AmRest N/A 2008 Portugal Grupo VIPS N/A Direct Operation Asia 2000 Thailand Coffee Partners 131 2002 Australia Local Entrepreneur 23 2004 Singapore Bonstar 64 2005 China Qingdao American Starbucks 191 2006 Mei Da Coffee Europe 1996 UK Seattle Coffee 666 2004 Germany KarlstadtQulle 144 Licensing Asia 1997 Philippines Rustan 160 1998 New Zealand Restaurant Brand 42 2002 Indonesia PT Mitra Adiperkasa 74 Middle East 1999 Kuwait M.H. Alshaya 62 1999 Lebanon M.H. Alshaya N/A 2000 U.A.E M.H. Alshaya 91 2000 Qatar M.H. Alshaya N/A 2000 Saudi Arabia M.H. Alshaya 68 2000 Bahrain M.H. Alshaya N/A 2002 Oman M.H. Alshaya N/A 2005 Jordan M.H. Alshaya N/A Europe 2003 Turkey M.H. Alshaya 123 2006 UK N/A 46 2007 Russia M.H. Alshaya N/A The Coffee Bean and Tea Leafs International Expansion (2008) Year 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 Company-Owned 177 191 217 241 270 288 278 Franchise 46 68 87 137 230 347 444 Total 223 259 304 378 500 625 722 VI. Reference n Starbucks timeline-Asia, Starbucks Corporation, 2009. n Starbucks timeline-EMEA, Starbucks Corporation, 2009. n Starbucks timeline-China, Starbucks Corporation, 2009. n Annual Report of 2009 (Form 10-K), Starbucks Corporation, 2009 n Starbucks India Strategy Looks Promising, Seeking alpha, Oct 2, 2006. n Starbucks Delays Entry of India, Vccircle, Jul 21, 2007 n ì  ¸Ã« â€ž, ì™ ¸Ãª µ ­Ã¬  ¸ ì § Ã¬  â€˜Ã­Ë† ¬Ã¬Å¾  ê ·Å"ì  Å"완화, Yonhap news, Feb 12, 2009 n Starbucks brews a fresh strategy for India entry, The Economic Times, Jan 29, 2010 n KKR in $200m Indian Coffee shop deal, Financial Times, Mar 17, 2010 n Company Growth, The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf (http://coffeebean.com/franchise/company.html) n What is a master franchising? (http://www.allbusiness.com/buying-exiting-businesses/franchising-franchises/2975165-1.html) [1] Cult-duct : A compound is formed from â€Å"culture† and â€Å"product†. It stands for selling a product with the companies culture and social values. Starbucks is a typical example of this. [i] Starbucks timeline-Asia, Starbucks Corporation, 2009 [ii] Annual Report of 2009 (Form 10-K) pp.4, Starbucks Corporation, 2009 [iii] Annual Report of 2009 (Form 10-K) pp.3, Starbucks Corporation, 2009 [iv] Starbucks timeline-Asia, Starbucks Corporation, 2009 [v] Starbucks India Strategy Looks Promising, Seeking alpha, Oct 2, 2006. [vi] Starbucks Delays Entry of India, Vccircle, Jul 21, 2007 [vii] ì  ¸Ã« â€ž, ì™ ¸Ãª µ ­Ã¬  ¸ ì § Ã¬  â€˜Ã­Ë† ¬Ã¬Å¾  ê ·Å"ì  Å"완화, Yonhap news, Feb 12, 2009 [viii] Starbucks brews a fresh strategy for India entry, The Economic Times, Jan 29, 2010 [ix] KKR in $200m Indian Coffee shop deal, Financial Times, Mar 17, 2010 [x] Company Growth, The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf (http://coffeebean.com/franchise/company.html) [xi] What is a master franchising? (http://www.allbusiness.com/buying-exiting-businesses/franchising-franchises/2975165-1.html)

Essay --

Although Eichendorff’s story displays religious elements, the pious facets take on a different form than in Psyche. In â€Å"The Marble Statue†, Sunday remains a holy day where evil subsides. God and Satan manifest into the metaphysical through characters, settings, and motifs. Fortunato is a pure character directing Florio towards the path of the righteous man while Donati is a sinister man leading the boy into temptation. The seductress is the embodiment of evil while Bianca is the good. The aspect of religion is demonstrated in a more direct manner in Psyche. The artist abandons a life of art to become a brethren of the covenant where it is proclaimed the Goddess of Art is â€Å"a witch who carries towards vanity, towards earthly pleasure†. The good and evil is left to interpretation in â€Å"The Marble Statue† while religion in Andersen's tales contains a straightforward portrayal of faith and sin. Florio and the artist are guilty of violating the same deadly sin: Socordia, or sloth. While sloth has been characterized as physical laziness, an emphasis is placed on spiritual apathy. It is related to melancholy and considered as â€Å"willful refusal to enjoy goodness of God†. Fortunato tells Florio â€Å"There are too many nice, gentle young people, particularly ones in love, who are determined to be unhappy. . .get out into God’s fresh morning air† and if the problem is not solved then it must be the â€Å"devils work†(Eichendorff 145). By the 17th century, the Christian cardinal sin of sloth was defined as the failure to apply one's talents and failing to do what one should. By this definition, the evil is within the young artist as he abstains from utilizing his ability. His old friend Angelo reveals this by exclaiming, â€Å"Why you have sinned against god ... ...has seen her before. The relationships the two protagonist have with those around them can somewhat be mirrored. Their closest companions are the voice of reason. As the young artist is about to smash his marble statue into a thousand pieces his friend Angelo holds him back calling him crazy. His friend sees the talent God has blessed the artist with and is frustrated as his lack of ambition to let the world see his creation. Even after the monotonous years passed of the young artists life, Angelo scorns him for throwing away his gift. Florio’s guiding light is his friend Fortunato. He introduces him to Bianca and bids he go out to pray. When Florio is spending his last moments with the seductress, he runs out of the castle and is saved by Fortunato’s music playing in the distance. The two companions in each story try to help the men recognize their true potentional.

American History X Essay -- Film Movies Sociology

American History X American History X is clearly a film dealing with the social topic of racism. The interesting thing about this film is the way in which the subject is presented. First of all, it is obvious that, though racism is always a difficult subject to deal with, American History X presents it without any reservations or dummying down. Second, the film's figurehead for racism, Derek Vinyard (Edward Norton), is not an unintelligent redneck racist as films often portray them, but is in fact well-spoken, charismatic and bright, although he clearly holds ideals that are terribly wrong. Finally, the film shows that it is not only the white, neo-nazi racists who are fools for being involved in this, but all those who hold hatred in their hearts. Through these methods, the film instills this idea upon the viewer, in an extremely convincingly way, that hatred and racism will destroy a person and those closest to them. It is immediately revealed to the audience at the onset of this movie that there will be no holds barred and no playing down the realism of this intense racial hatred. When the film flashes back to the reason for Derek's incarceration, we see Danny, awoken by the sound of breaking glass, rush to wake up his brother and alert him that some black guys are trying to steal or wreck his truck. At hearing this, Derek immediately jumps out of bed, grabs a gun, and shoots one of them, wounds another, and fires at the third as he drives away. Then, in one of the most brutal scenes in film history, Derek forces the remaining, wounded man to put his face on the curb and Derek kicks the back of his head, smashing in the man's skull. This scene is a perfect example of cumulative causation, for it depicts the endless circl... ...ferred to comes at the end of the film, when a black student Danny had previously encountered and angered shoots him repeatedly. Derek, making a visit to the school, runs in to find that his worst nightmare had come true. His brother was dead, due to racist actions, and his life and the lives of his family will be changed forever for it. For an explanation unknown to anyone, some people are inclined to hating others. Motives may perhaps be because they are insecure of who they are, feel threatened by someone, or an explanation which no one has. This movie explains that a major reason why people hate is because they want to blame someone else for their misfortunes. It is always nice to put the responsibility on somebody else's shoulders. Hopefully in a near future people can begin to comprehend how foolish it is to hate all the time, and then start to love.

Causes of the American Civil War Essay -- Civil War American History E

Causes of the American Civil War The American Civil War is one of the most significant and controversial periods in American history. The Civil War was caused by mounting conflicting pressures, principles, and prejudices, fueled by differences and pride, and set into motion by unlikely set of political events. At the root of all of the problems was the establishment of slavery, which had been introduced into North America in early colonial times. The American Revolution had been fought to confirm the idea that all men were created equal, yet slavery was legal in all of the thirteen colonies throughout the revolutionary period. Although it was largely gone from the northern states by 1787, it was still enshrined in the new Constitution of the United States, not only at the request of the Southern ones, but also with the approval of many of the Northern delegates who saw that there was still much money to be made in the slave trade by the Yankee shipping industry. Eventually its existence came to influence every aspect of American life. It seemed to Thomas Jefferson and many others that slavery was on its way out, doomed to die a natural death. It was becoming increasingly expensive to keep slaves in the south. Northern and Southern members of Congress voted together to abolish the importation of slaves from overseas in 1808, but the domestic slave trade continued to flourish. The invention of the cotton gin made the cultivation of cotton on large plantations using s...

The writeup focuses on the lives of individuals

Is a book that describes how low ranking and shy individuals have suddenly become   a public figure And the question will be that of what siginificance is homosexuality history in Africa? And how this information can help in the fight against the scouge of HIV AIDS ,inequality in socal status as well as gender violence in African continent.The writeup focuses   on the lives of individuals who do not comply with the societal conventios   in regards to marriage and love drawing from Epprecht and  Ã‚   books.HUNGOCHANI is a book written by Eppreth on nauthodox and nonconforming sexuality in southAfrica.coupled therefore with intelligent writing from other writers one can get a clear image of individuals who do practice   what their environment expect as core values.Additional material includes several fictionalised accounts of same-sex relationships in southern Africa.The greatest shocker in Africa in the recent period is the emergence of terms like homosexuality,gay legal rig hts and homophobia and lesbianism all to the chagrin and annoyance of many.Ephereth   book also reported incidence of same sex marrage for instance in 1990,GALZ was founded in ZIMbabwe   with the objective   of enhancing interaction among the gay group members.They have moved further at resent by looking for how to form alliance with activist organization such as he womens;s right campaign group , organizations campaigning agaist HIV/AIDS and human rights groups.The aims of GALZ in Zimbabwe is therefore to increase gays rights awareness in a compound forum thereby facilitating the incorporation of this rights along with some of the other fundamental human rights.This is an area that civil organization are yet to have headway in south Africa.Ghana became in 1957 the first country in colonial Africa to gain its independence. Lesbians and gays, though, are still waiting to be liberated from a repressive British legacy: sodomy laws.A gay social life exists, mostly in the form of h ouse parties, and a few queer-friendly clubs in the capital, Accra, but there are risks. Because homosexuality is illegal, club-goers, especially tourists, risk blackmail. If they don't pay, social and legal consequences can be serious.The book examines   is   a mix of works in the gay and lesbian   associations and it uses journals and other significant materials   to make new record in this regards.the books gave atreatise on therecords of Lesbians   and gays in the Japanese pacific fight   issues like gayism,trangenderism a and also lesbianism.It delves in to queer roups interface in the growing international community and US ,it argues the meaning attributed to the various queer society and opes the eyes of readers to the development o gays and lesbians in the japan after the war .Mac Clelland article titled the social situation facing gay in japan   demonstreates how the society sees and reacts to Queers and reveals the whole organization of Japanese nation and th e expent of tolerancr to sexual minorities as they have   a strong component of the   Human Rights policies constructed by the â€Å"Tokyo City Human Rights Policy Directive Manual released in 2000†.The promise to protect the human rights was made by Japanese government following resistance from the Japanese public,Queer activist group and human rights organization when the policy of 200 excluded the inclusion of gays

Office Dakota Products Case Analysis

Office Dakota Products Case Analysis Course: BUSA 5061 Managerial Accounting Students Name: Teresa Willette Professors Name: Dr. Conner/Dr. Pollard Date 3/20/2011 Executive Summary The following analysis is written for Dakota Office Products to evaluate current business operations and recommend future actions necessary to ensure company success. In the analysis of the company we will identify inefficient business practices that have led to the companies first profit loss in its history. We will evaluate the companys current pricing structure, ordering methods, shipping and delivery process, and deficiencies in cash flows. For Dakota Office Products (DOP), its existing costing system was inadequate because it is incapable of accounting for even all of the known costs such as the desktop delivery service as well as hidden costs such as the ten percent DOP paid to maintain its working capital line of credit for accounts receivable. Using the Activity Based Costing(ABC) methodology can be utilized to also improve processes and identify opportunities to improve business effectiveness and efficiency by determining the true or real costs of a given product or service. ABC principles are used to focus management's attention on the total cost to produce a product or service, and as a basis for full cost recovery of a production or service process. Background Information The company under the study, Dakota Office Products, is an established and reputed player under this segment. They were regional distributors for office supplies and the major clientele served by the company included institutional and commercial clients. It dealt with all kind of office supplies starting from all kinds of writing equipment to papers and other office supplies. The company has been able to carve a good name for itself in the industry. The company had also arranged for several distribution centers where the shipments were required to be unloaded and packed into cartons meant to be delivered to the respective customers. In order to increase the utility for its customers, the company had introduced the desk top option for its valued customers. Under this option, the company will use its own fleet to directly deliver the goods at the customers premises. The company charged a small additional amount of upto 2% of the marked price for this additional value added service. This decision was made keeping in mind that such a decision could boost the margins of the company. The company had the policy of marking the sales price by 15% over and above the purchase price. This policy was framed o ensure that the overheads and transportation cost of the materials could be made up from the mark up. The company would then add another mark up to ensure coverage of general expenses and contribution of the company. The mark up decision was taken at the beginning of the year based on the projected cost of the different products of the company. Key Issues The management is faced with major pricing and costing issue for its products. The company has been using the traditional costing method to compute the cost of the product provided to the clients. The company then adds a mark up as per its policy to come up at the selling price of the product. As a result of not following the Activity Based Costing, the company has not been able to cost the products realistically. This has lead to mispricing of the products and resultant overall loss to the company. The fact that an increase in sales has not lead to an increased profits, instead, it has resulted in increased losses has exposed the limitations of the cost accounting system of the company. The company has not been able to increase its profits. This has led the management to believe that the existing cost accounting system has some serious flaws which needs to be rectified on an immediate basis so as to avoid making bad decision leading to losses to the company. The company should now be contemplating the implementation of Activity based costing system so as to ensure proper recording of information which will lead to optimum decision making for the company as a whole thus contributing to the growth of the company through increased profitability. The key issue presented in front of the management is the possible steps to be taken by the management in order to avoid such losses. Critical Thought The issue addressed by the accounting system of Dakota office products invites our attention to the premise of Activity Based costing methodology. We are certain about the fact that the accounting and reporting system at Dakota Office Product is inappropriate and is leading to the company making wrong decision ultimately leading to losses. This was apparent from the record where the company was able to increase its sales without a corresponding increase in the profits for that particular year. Activity based costing system is an approach which seeks to allocate the overhead cost to the products on a scientific and realistic basis. The existing system of allocating cost at Dakota Office products were inadequate in so much so that it was following an unreasonable basis for allocating the cost, which were known and visible, such as the desktop delivery cost. The existing system was suffering from oversight of some of the expenses. ABC costing system seeks to overcome the problem of oversight and make a more reasonable allocation of the costs. The distinctive feature of this method is the fact that the method can provide useful insights to the management as to the activities which are leading to the cost by identifying the cost drivers, rates and the number of activity undertaken. This can also help the management redesign the operational system such that the costs associated with the products are reduced. We must also note that the traditional method of costing adapted by Dakota Office Products are typically designed for companies who are dealing with only a single product, or homogeneous products. However Dakota Office Products have come to a stage that they are dealing in multiple products such as writing instruments to copier to pages, thus it makes the traditional costing method even more impractical to be followed by the company. This company was dealing in numerous products and was also making strides in adapting varied operational methodologies such as the desktop delivery or the sales through e commerce internet sites. The operations of the company are such that it would be apt for the company to establish a cost driver rates and apply those rates in the products of the company. The cost driver rates could also be used by the company while applying the cost overheads to some other products that the company may be planning in the future. The existing system of the company involves use of many activities and the company has been able to regularize the operations of the company and is clear about the operational goals that need to be fulfilled by the company. The company is dealing in an industry where the products are quite heterogeneous in nature and once the products are purchased there is very little scope of application of direct materials or labor. The major cost that is expected to be incurred is the overhead costs which are factual dependent upon the number of activities undertaken to accomplish the task. The cost drivers need to be ascertained before the application of the cost drivers to the number of activities attributable to the product as regards the particular activity. Alternate Solution A noteworthy fact is that the company has posted increased losses in spite of an increase in overall sales of the company. The objective of the exercise is to let the management be aware of the reasons as to why the company has osted losses even after an increase in the sales. Moreover, the management needs to be shown the way by which the company could remedial action so that the managements direction is towards the right direction. The alternate solution available to the company could be enlisted as follows Increase in selling price of the products Review the accounting procedures and implement the change required in accounting proc edures Discontinue the product which reports a loss We will make a brief study of the above alternatives before forming an opinion on any of the alternatives. As the company is operating in a competitive market, so an increase in selling price of the products is expected to have far reaching repercussions in the sense that the company could go on to lose clients and contracts which could lead to even lower sales and higher losses. Moreover, the existing accounting procedure is inappropriate to produce the actual cost of the product. The computation of actual cost of the product is important in the backdrop of the company policy to add a mark up on the cost price of the goods. If the accounting system is inappropriate to calculate the cost of the cost, then it would be inappropriate to add a mark up on the goods based on the cost as produced by the existing accounting procedure. A review of the accounting procedure is duly called for as the existing accounting procedure is not appropriate. The accounting procedure is not apt for a company having multiple products and multiple processes, and very little expenses on the direct materials and labor. Application and implementation of the ABC system will be able to contribute to the accounting procedure adapted by the company. A product which is not able to contribute to the overall profits of the company could be considered to be discontinued. However, the decision of the product to be discontinued lies with the management and the accounting system. As mentioned earlier, the accounting system is not fit, so the company should first implement an ABC costing system in order to make proper decision regarding the costing and pricing of various products as well as the costing of servicing various clients. Implementation Measures and Follow up Dakota was following the traditional method of allocating overheads across the product lines. The overheads were not allocated to the products based on the activity undertaken for the manufacture of the product. This led to mispricing of the product and also led to difficulty in taking optimum decision for the company as a whole. The company had incurred losses in spite of an increase in sales, because the company was selling a product at a loss (which was not detected by the traditional costing system). We need to identify the activities on which the cost is dependant, in order to calculate the cost driver rate. The following are the activities identified Processing of Cartons (Activity 1) Service Involving Desktop Delivery (Activity 2) Order Handling (Activity 3) Data Processing and Entry (Activity 4) Activity 1 Amount of Expenses = Warehouse Personnel Expense (90%) + Items Purchased = 90%*2400000+35000000 = 2160000 + 35000000 = 37160000. Activity Driver (Processing of Carton) = 80000 Cost Driver Rate for Activity 1 = 37160000 / 80000 = $ 464. 5 per carton. Activity 2 Amount of Expenses = Warehouse Personnel Expense (10%) + Delivery Truck Expense = 10%*2400000+200000 = 240000 + 200000 = 440000 Activity Driver (Desktop Delivery) = 2000 Cost Driver Rate for Activity 2 = 440000 / 2000 = $ 220 per carton. Activity 3 Amount of Expenses = Warehouse Expense + Freight = 2000000+450000 = 2450000 Activity Driver (Orders) = 16000+8000 = 24000 Cost Driver Rate for Activity 3 = 2450000 / 24000 = $ 102. 083 per order. Activity 4 Amount of Expenses = Order Entry Expenses = 800000 Activity Driver (Orders Line) = 150000 Cost Driver Rate for Activity 4 = 800000 / 150000 = $ 5. 3 per line. The implementation involves computing the profitability of the two clients A Sales Cost Gross Margin No of Cartons Ordered 464. 5 92900 9290 0 B 1040 103000 00 8500 85000 0 1900 18000 0 Desktop Deliveries 220 Order Handling 102. 083 1224. 996 Data Entry 5. 33 Total Cost 319. 8 94444. 8 959. 4 1095 67. 7 5567. 7 1020 8. 3 0 5500 Contribution 8555. 204 The following are t he main causes of difference in profitability between the two customers Customer B has a desktop deliver of 25 whereas customer A has none. The number of data entry for customer B is 180 whereas it is about 60 for customer A. References Michael H. Granof, David E. Plat, Igor Vaysman. (2000). Using Activity-Based Costing to Manage More Effectively. http://costkiller. net/tribune/Tribu-PDF/Using-Activity-BasedCosting-to-Manage-More-Effectively. pdf Rockford Consulting, retrieved March 21, 2011, from http://rockfordconsulting. com/activitybased-costing%20(ABC). htm Value based management, retrievd March 21, 2011, from http://www. valuebasedmanagement. net/methods_abc. html Dakota Products Case Office Analysis Course: BUSA 5061 Managerial Accounting Students Name: Teresa Willette Professors Name: Dr. Conner/Dr. Pollard Date 3/20/2011

Succubus Heat CHAPTER 26

Unfortunately, Roman wasn't entirely joking. â€Å"What are you doing?† I exclaimed when we got back to my apartment. He'd flounced on my couch and promptly grabbed a remote. There was no sign of my car on the street, but if Seth had driven it back, Carter-transportation would have arrived much more quickly. â€Å"I have nowhere to go,† he said mildly. Aubrey strolled out from the bedroom and jumped up next to him. â€Å"You just got amnesty from an archdemon. That's unheard of for a nephilim. I thought you wanted to put down roots? Why don't you go get a place in the suburbs? Work on your lawn?† â€Å"No one wants to live there.† I raked my hand through my hair in exasperation and then immediately rearranged it. God, I'd missed shape-shifting. If I was going to be damned, I might as well enjoy the perks. â€Å"You can't stay here. This place isn't big enough.† â€Å"I don't mind the couch.† I prepped myself for a rant, but then someone knocked at the door. Part of me hoped it would be Seth, even though that was pretty impossible. There was no immortal signature, which meant my visitor was a human. Yes, I'd definitely missed my abilities, even if they had strings attached. I opened the door and found Maddie. â€Å"Hey,† she said cheerily. â€Å"Hey,† I said, not sure I matched her enthusiasm. â€Å"Come in.† She stepped through, then faltered when she saw Roman. â€Å"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to interrupt-â€Å" Roman hopped up from the couch. â€Å"No, no. I'm just an old friend. Roman.† He extended his hand. She shifted some papers she was holding and shook his hand in return. Her smile returned. â€Å"I'm Maddie. Nice to meet you.† She turned to me. â€Å"You got a sec? I was on my way to work and wanted to show you something.† She handed the papers over to me. They were in-depth reports of the new condo over on Alki Beach. There were detailed price listings, as well as room-by-room photos of one unit in particular. It wasn't finished yet. The floor was only a foundation, and the drywall wasn't painted. Nonetheless, the pictures were clear and gave a good idea of the spacious layout. One picture showed a balcony that opened up to a breathtaking view of the water and the Seattle skyline beyond. It was nothing like what Seth and I had shared, but it was nice. Roman, peering over my shoulder, let out a low whistle. â€Å"Nice.† I elbowed him out of my personal space. â€Å"Where'd you get these?† Maddie smiled. â€Å"You said you were busy, so I went over there myself and talked to the builder. This is the only one left, and they let me go through and take pictures.† I jerked my head up. â€Å"You took all these?† â€Å"I knew how stressed you were and wanted to help. Look, keep going, and you can see all the options you can still get. There are the floor choices: maple, bamboo, cherry†¦Ã¢â‚¬  I took a deep breath to steady myself. Maddie hadn't just printed out info for me. After all that searching and fine-tuning, she'd actually gone out of her way to assemble an entire dossier on this place, a place I'd just been acknowledging at random to make her feel better. â€Å"They've got a realtor on-site, but you can get your own too,† she continued. â€Å"Someone else was just looking at it, but the guy said if you were interested and put a bid in soon, he'd consider it along with the other person's.† â€Å"Look,† piped in Roman. â€Å"Two bedrooms.† â€Å"Maddie†¦Ã¢â‚¬  I swallowed. â€Å"You shouldn't have done this.† She gave me a quizzical look. â€Å"Why not?† â€Å"It was too much work.† â€Å"Whatever. Besides, after all the stuff you've done for me? Georgina, this is nothing. Are you going to go talk to them? I'll go with you if you want.† I sank down onto the couch, flipping through the pages without really comprehending them. I'd been angry when she and Seth hooked up. I had no right, however. She hadn't known about our past. And if I hadn't been so dead-set on keeping things secret, if she had known Seth and I had dated, I felt absolutely certain she would have never, ever gotten together with him. Because she was my friend. I felt a burning in my eyes and willed myself not to cry. I didn't entirely know what I'd done to deserve that kind of friendship. She was a good person. She believed the best in me-just as Seth did. In this dark phase, Seth had never given up on me. Both of them were so good, so kind. And at the end of the day, there really wasn't much of that among humans. Carter had said that if there were no other complications in the world, I would be the one Seth chose. But we did have complications. I still refused to hurt him because of sex, and that problem was now in full effect again. He'd thrown himself into danger for me on the beach. There would always be danger with the life I led-danger for him, not me. I wanted him badly, wanted to reestablish what we'd had, but if I did, I'd only be subjecting him to more of this rollercoaster existence. I'd deny him a normal life, a normal love. I couldn't do that to him, no matter what he said about trying it again. Just because things don't work out, it doesn't mean there aren't other people you can't love. Love is too big a thing for you to go without it in life. At least for humans it was. I wanted Seth and Maddie to have that. I wanted them to have the dream I couldn't have. Maddie's expression softened as she peered at me. â€Å"Why are you looking at me like that?† I swallowed and gave her smile. â€Å"Just still amazed you did all this.† â€Å"Will you go take a look?† she asked excitedly. â€Å"Yeah. I will.† This earned me a hug and a smile, and then she had to scurry off to work. I sat back down on the couch, papers still clutched in my hands. Roman sat down opposite me. â€Å"You're going to end it, aren't you?† His voice was surprisingly gentle. â€Å"With Mortensen?† â€Å"Yeah. I mean, I knew we would, but it didn't hit me until just now. We were deluding ourselves†¦caught up by a temporary situation. They deserve to be with each other, and I shouldn't have done what I did to her.† I sighed. â€Å"Nyx tricked me with the dream. It wasn't real.† Without thinking much about it, I rested my hand on my stomach. Even if there'd been any chance of getting pregnant while in stasis, it was gone now. â€Å"It might be real for them, though.† Roman looked so pained, so sympathetic that it was hard to imagine he still wanted to kill me. Though I was pretty sure he did. â€Å"I'm sorry,† he said. â€Å"Sorry you can't have your man and your daughter. I'm even sorry you can't have your cats.† I glanced over at where Aubrey slept, recalling the tortoiseshell cat from the dream. â€Å"Well, I think she's happier being an only child anyway.† Seth showed up later that evening. Roman was mercifully gone, off to buy groceries. No matter my protests, he seemed intent on staying with me. I thought about complaining to Jerome but was pretty sure my boss wouldn't appreciate such a petty concern right now. If he was still even my boss. I was taking no news as good news for now. Seth handed me my car keys as he walked in. â€Å"It's out behind the building.† â€Å"Thanks.† â€Å"Sorry I took off like that. I didn't want to†¦God, that was so hard.† â€Å"It was what I wanted,† I told him. We stood a couple feet apart, hesitant to get much closer. â€Å"I'm glad you listened to me.† â€Å"I wasn't going to, you know. As soon as I got off the phone with that demon-and let me tell you, that was weird-I was going to head right back, and†¦I don't know. I don't know what I would have done. I would have stood by you.† â€Å"You could have gotten yourself killed.† He shrugged, like that was inconsequential. â€Å"I did actually head back, and then†¦then I saw Dante.† I crossed my arms, still fearful about approaching him, largely because I was afraid I'd throw myself at him. â€Å"I knew that's what you'd done. But why? You don't like him. You know what kind of person he is.† Seth nodded. â€Å"I don't like him, but†¦they would have killed him, wouldn't they?† I thought about Jerome, that cold and barely repressed anger in his eyes. He'd been pissed off, and I knew it must have killed him to not be able to take his wrath out on Grace. There were taboos about directly harming and interfering with mortals, but well, it wasn't unheard of, and there were always loopholes. He would have gotten in less trouble for it than for smiting Grace. â€Å"Well,† I said, â€Å"let's just say, they would have at least made him suffer considerably.† â€Å"I figured. And I couldn't let that happen†¦not even to him. What he did was wrong-it seriously messed things up for you and put you at risk. But in some bizarre, crazy way, he did it because he loved you. And I'm not sure someone should be tortured for that. And†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Seth studied me carefully. â€Å"I had a feeling you wouldn't have wanted that.† He was right. No matter how much I'd been hurt, despite the betrayal†¦I had cared about Dante. I still did a little. â€Å"God, I have to stop getting involved with unstable men. Where is he now?† â€Å"I dropped him off at his place. He started coming around and was able to walk and everything.† â€Å"If he has any sense, he'll be long gone. I think Jerome'll have a long memory.† â€Å"And, so†¦things are back to normal?† I took awhile to answer. â€Å"Yeah. I'm back in full succubus glory.† He turned away and began pacing. â€Å"I knew it would happen†¦knew this was coming, and yet†¦I kept pretending it wouldn't.† â€Å"Me too. I think somewhere in my head, I had this fantasy that I could find Jerome and still be with you.† Seth stopped and looked at me. â€Å"We still can be. I meant what I said†¦that I would try again†¦Ã¢â‚¬  I met his gaze levelly. â€Å"What about Maddie?† â€Å"I†¦I would end it with her†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"Do you love her?† My words were blunt. I think I caught him by surprise. â€Å"Yes†¦but it's different. Different from the way I love you.† â€Å"It doesn't matter,† I said. â€Å"You and I can't be together. If you have a chance to be happy, then you need to take it. We can't do this to her again. It's wrong. She doesn't deserve it.† â€Å"I told you I'd end things with her first if we were getting back together. I can't cheat anymore.† â€Å"You can't break up,† I said, surprised by the vehemence in my own voice. â€Å"She loves you. You love her. And after what we did to her†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"You want me to stay with her as some sort of compensation?† I balked. â€Å"Well, no†¦not exactly. But you guys deserve each other. You deserve to be happy. And you aren't ever going to be happy with me. It's going to always be up and down-just like before.† â€Å"I'm starting to think all relationships are like that,† he said wearily. â€Å"I still don't want to hurt you. I can't stand that-I can't forget what Hugh said, about how that would destroy you. And yet†¦something keeps pulling us back. I told you-we're never going to be able to stay apart.† I knew exactly what he meant, but I didn't say so. â€Å"I thought ending things before would fix all that, that the short-term pain would be worth the long-term stability. But I was wrong. We just found a whole new set of problems, and Maddie's in the middle. I'm willing to try again†¦no matter how hard it is.† â€Å"You were right to end it with us,† I said harshly. â€Å"And I'm not willing to do it again.† He stared at me, shocked. My words were a lie, of course. Part of me wanted to try again, to endure anything to be with him. But I couldn't stop thinking about Maddie. Couldn't stop thinking about the hurt she would go through. It was ironic, really. Last time, he'd gone out of his way to hurt me purposely because it was for the greater good. Now I was doing the same for both of them, saving her from heartache and him from more grief with me. We were in an endless cycle. â€Å"You can't mean that. I know you can't.† His face was a mixture of incredulity and pain. I shook my head. â€Å"I do. You and me are a disaster. What we did during this stasis†¦it was wrong. It was disgraceful. Immoral. We betrayed someone who loves both of us, who wishes nothing but the best for us. How could we do that? What kind of precedent is that? How could we expect to have a solid relationship that was built on that sort of sordid foundation? One that was built on lies and deceit?† Saying those words hurt. It was tarnishing the beauty of these precious few days we had, but I needed to make my case. Seth was silent for several moments as he assessed me. â€Å"You're serious.† â€Å"Yes.† I was a good liar, good enough that the person who loved me most couldn't tell. â€Å"Go back to her, Seth. Go back to her and make it up to her.† â€Å"Georgina†¦Ã¢â‚¬  I could see it, see it hitting him. The full weight of betraying Maddie was sinking in. His nature couldn't ignore the wrong he'd done. It was part of his good character, the character that had gone back to save Dante, the character that was going to make him leave me. Again. Hesitantly, he extended his hand to me. I took it, and he pulled me into an embrace. â€Å"I will always love you.† My heart was going to burst. How many times, I wondered, could I endure this kind of agony? â€Å"No, you won't,† I said. â€Å"You'll move on. So will I.† Seth left not long after that. Staring at the door, I replayed my own words. You'll move on. So will I. In spite of how much he loved me, how much he was willing to risk, I truly felt he'd go back to Maddie, that he'd believe what I said. I'd driven home the guilt, made it trump his love for me. You'll move on. So will I. The unfortunate part about being a good liar, however, was that while I could get other people to believe my words, I didn't believe them myself.