Boston Beer Essay Example for Free

Boston Beer Essay Boston Beer Company is the maker of Samuel Adams brand beer and the beer industry’s leading craft brewer. On the year of 1995, the Boston Beer filed a registration statement with the U. S. SEC for an initial public stock. Now let’s start from the strategy direction of Boston Beer for analyzing the company. Strategies of Boston Beer Company in its beginning stage of the business were 1) outsourcing beer production facilities instead of building new facilities which requires approximately 10 million capital investment 2) marketing customers by appealing customer’s sense of patriotism in order to attack the imported beers. Boston Beer Company’s competitive advantages can be signified by sources of beer industries and its competitors. The re-reemergence of the craft breweries segment in 1990s had affected the decline of mass-produced beer companies. An increase of health and safety consciousness of beer consumers caused the market for distinctive and flavorful beers. Because of the new trend and customer needs in beer industry, Boston Beer Company was able to grow rapidly. Exhibit 1 shows the tremendous growth of U. S.craft brewing industry barrels and Boston Beer Company is a beneficiary and one of the leading companies that take the lead of the craft brewing market growth. Furthermore, Boston Beer Company’s outsourcing facilities in its early stage of the production and marketing approach to its customers lead the company to have the strategic advantage over its rival entities within competitive beer industry. Boston Beer Company’s income statement and balance sheet (Exhibit 3, 4) show the company has been growing rapidly with a significant growth of revenue and income. Notable competitors’ public stock offering transaction also strengthen the idea that set range of the stock price (10 to 15 dollars) of the company’s bankers can be adjusted to the level of its competitors (17 to 16 dollars per share) because of the growth rate of the company and its healthy financial situation. Currently, Boston Beer using dual-class structure, Class A and Class B, for its equities part. The company’s Class A Common Stock is not entitled to any voting rights, except for the right as a class to approve certain mergers and charter and by-law amendments and to elect a minority of the directors of the company. The Class B Common Stock has full voting rights. As of today, C. James Koch was the sole holder of record of all the company’s issued and outstanding Class B Common Stock. Boston Beer chosen a dual-class structure for its IPO because it would like to ensure that the firms founders and top executives maintained control. Thus, dual-class shares satisfy owners who dont want to give up control, but do want the public equity market to provide financing. In some cases, company performance may benefit from the existence of dual-class shares. Founders often have a longer term vision than investors focused on the most recent quarterly figures. Since stock that provides extra voting rights often cannot be traded, it ensures the company will have a set of loyal investors during rough patches. On the other hand, it can be seen as downright unfair. It creates an inferior class of shareholders and hand over power to a select few, who are then allowed to pass the financial risk onto others. Normally, the existence of dual class shares would be a problem if an investor believed the disproportionate voting rights were allowing inferior management to remain in place in spite of the best interests of shareholders. For outside investors, they should always research the details of a companys share classes if they are considering investing in a firm with more than one class. Due to the sole holder of company’s Class B common stock, it means that The Class B shareholder has significant influence over the company. Mr. Koch is able to exercise substantial influence over all matters requiring stockholder approval, including the composition of the board of directors and approval of equity-based and other executive compensation and other significant corporate matters. This could have the effect of delaying or preventing a change in control of the Company and will make most transactions difficult or impossible to accomplish without the support of Mr. Koch. The risk of investing in the Boston Beer Company first is located on the competitive pressures of the beer industry. With this situation, the profit margins will be declining due to competition on prices and higher production costs on specialty beers. Since the flavor is important for customer’s choices and the eruption of competition in the craft beer industry had increased the pressure to introduce new beers to maintain and grow market share, the research and development facility investment for new product development is increasing each year, together with the increased advertising, promotional and selling expenses. With the expansion of scale and size of the company, Boston Beer also invested more and more on capital expenditures, in 1995 Boston Beer invested $4. 5 million on capital expenditures increase and in 1996 invested another $13 million for related technology equipment at its contract brewing facilities. The large investment on asset-based financing arrangements could take large amount of cash flow and newer technology will raise the dilemma of more investment on updating for new equipment, which can cause the broken of normal cash flow operation. From Exhibit 5 we can see that the capital raised form initial Public Stock Offerings from 1993 to 1995 can vary a lot from $34 million in 1993 drop to about $19. 8 million in 1994, the wave of raised capital can have large effect on decision making process. There was always the potential that the IPO could be under-subscribed and therefore pulled from the market. Then the company would thus miss an opportunity to raise much-needed capital. Before the IPO, Boston Beer was organized as a limited partnership which would be dissolved in November 1995. And at the time of dissolution, the company would distribute $12. 5 million to its existing partners, The IPO proceeds would be used to immediately repay the debt incurred in dissolving the original partnership. Also, the company was planning to use $7 million of the proceeds to fund capital expenditures in 1996, while the remaining proceeds were to be used to fund working capital expenses or invested in investment grade securities. Talking about the over-capitalization, this is a situation when total of owned and borrowed capital exceed its fixed and current assets. An over capitalized company can be like a very fat person who cannot carry his weight properly, which is, in great troubles. There are many causes of over capitalization. First is the idle fund, money may be living idle in banks or in the form of low yield investments. Second is the over-valuation, some fixed assets, especially goodwill, may be over-valued. Third, the fall in value can let some inventories have much higher book value than the real economic value, according to the wave of price of inventories. And the forth, the inadequate depreciation provision can also be the reason for over-capitalization. For the fair value of stocks based on two different valuation methods; the discount cash flow model and the free cash flow model. First we use the discount cash flow method to value the Boston Beer Company’s fair value. (Please see the analyze process in Exhibit 1) First, we use the income before tax from the exhibit 3 in the year 1995. Because the case did not offer the depreciation fee, we assume the depreciation to be 0. Even though the tax rate changes slightly every year, we use the tax rate in the year 1995. From the form above, we can see the change in net working capital and capital expenditure is very small in the year 1995. But from the case we know that after the company raises money from the IPO, the company was planning to use $7 million of the proceeds to fund capital expenditures in 1996. And the remaining proceeds were to be used to fund working capital expenses or invested in investment grade securities. Because we are valuing the firm before IPO and do not know the exact number the firm will spend on the working capital and capital expenditure. We assume the firm will increase stable. We calculate the free cash flow of year 1995 using income before tax*(1-tax rate)-change in net working capital-capital expenditure. Then we use the growth rate from 1996 to 2000 to calculate each year’s estimate free cash flow. We use the discount rate 10%, the perpetuity growth rate 5% and the free cash flow of year 2000 to calculate the terminal value. Terminal value= free cash flow in 2000*(1+growth rate) / (discount rate- growth rate). Then use the discount rate, all the free cash flow and the terminal value to calculate the fair value of the company. The value of the Boston Beer Company is around 244 million. From the exhibit 3 in the case, we know the shares outstanding in year 1995 are 18273000. The case said that a total of 3984215 shares were to be offered in Boston Beer’s IPO, of which the company would issue 2540379 shares to raise capital for expansion. In addition, existing partners would sell 1443836 shares. Therefore, the new issued share would be 2540379. After add the new issued share to the original shares, we can calculate the stock price using the fair value. So the stock price=fair value/ total shares outstanding. The stock price we estimate is around 11. 74 dollar/share. The second method is for the free cash flow model in evaluating the company’s value. The first assumption is to assume that Boston Beer will pay dividend so that we can use the dividend discount model to find a fair value. The growth rates are 40% in 1996-1997 and 30% in 1998-1999 and 5 thereafter. We assumed that ROE will be constant at 47. 39% and EPS in 1995 is 0. 35 (both figures was given in the case’s exhibit 3 but should use the annualized number). Retention ratio comes from growth/ROE. All assumptions are listed in the table below. Based on these assumptions, we find that the fair value of stock at the time in the case should be $15. 42. (Please see the exhibit 2) According to the statistic and analyze, we come to summarize the opinion on the short-term and long-term current outlook for America’s brewing industry, especially with respect to its international competitors. Brewers Association announced the fact that 2,075 US craft breweries operated and 2,126 total breweries operated as of July, 2012, the highest total since the 1880s. Overall U. S. beer sales were down an estimated 1. 3% by volume in 2011, 1. 2% in 2010. Imported beer sales were up 1% in 2011 and up 5% in 2010. However, craft brewers sold an estimated 11,468,152 barrels of beer in 2011, up from 10,133,571 in 2010. These statistics suggest that imports and craft beers are in growth, while sales of main players in US beer market, such as AB InBev and MillerCoors , are declining. I assume this situation is going to last for a few years. Imports will keep increasing because a significant number of people, especially young drinks having been enjoy drinking quality beers. Craft beers are popular because the hallmark of craft beer and craft brewers is innovation and craft brewers have distinctive, individualistic approaches to connecting with their customers. In the long term, US beer companies may increase their sales by brewing imported beers in US. AB InBev began brewing Beck’s-previously imported- at St Louis brewery earlier last year. Also, though almost all craft brewers are operation at or near their full capacity, many craft brewers cannot meet growing demand. Some brewers have increased their sales by outsourcing some of production. With more craft brewers increasing investment and production, we can predict that sales of craft beers will go up more in the future. (See Exhibit 3and 4) Exhibit 1 Discount cash flow method Exhibit 2 Free cash flow method Exhibit 3US Breweries Operating as of July 1, 2012| | | Brewpubs| 1072| | Microbreweries| 922| | Regional Craft Breweries| 81| | Total US Craft Breweries| 2075| | Large Non-Craft Breweries| 22| | Other Non-Craft Breweries| 29| | Total US Breweries| 2126| | Exhibit 4.

Learning And Development On The Job Training Management Essay

Learning And Development On The Job Training Management Essay When you are going to perform any task in your work or personal life, you will need to train at the best you can and try to gain the knowledge that will enable you to handle the work or the task properly. Training will help to improve your performance and get ready to handle something you were not aware how to handle but in this case you will have to choose the appropriate technique and method for your training. Human Resources Management includes different activities like, planning how to recruit the staff that you need as per what your organization needs, interviewing and selecting them, making sure they have the right skills and the knowledge to perform the job they are selected for with the best they can so they increase the works performance and meet with the company goals and objectives, managing their benefits and compensation, planning for their bonuses and motivations periodically, managing and keeping their records, and the most important aspect which how to train them using all the training methods and techniques in order for them to capture the appropriate information, knowledge and skills related to their new job that will lead to developing the personnel who will be working in the company therefore developing the organization. We are going to speak into depth on one of the most effective and most frequently used types of training On the job training. On the job training does ha ve so many advantages that helps meet the expectations of the training, but it can also have few disadvantages if it is not properly planned and executed. The bottom-line: You need to train people, you need to train them quickly, and you need to find a low-cost, yet effective way to do that. You also need to improve morale and develop responsible, loyal, high-performing employees. And, you know that the old way of training people on-the-job i.e., the degenerating buddy system, follow Joe around, or unstructured OJT simply does not workà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ (Team OJT, HPA, 2008) On the job training is one of the best methods of training. For most of the employees, On the job training forms the most important part of their learning and development when they first join the company. It will keep them in a close contact with their colleagues and that will help forming a strong spirit among the team. Usually, this type of training is planned by the supervisor or manager, its their responsibility to use the available resources and benefit from their best existing staff experience and skills to develop their new employees. To successfully organize it, they need to assign one the best performing employees to be the coach for the new joiner. The trainee will be using the same equipments, materials and tools that he will use when performing his real job. Its an effective way where the trainee acquires the knowledge and skills at the actual work place. The trainee will learn by watching and observing someone very well experienced doing the job in the real work location. Most of the trainees find it more practical and more effective when learning directly from their colleagues instead of learning through materials in training classes. This training is effective as it is delivered before the new employee starts performing the actual and real job in the workplace like that, the trainee will be able to practice the real job in the workplace he will be working in and he/she will be having an immediate feedback on the challenges that he/she will be facing. Also, when one of the colleagues is coaching the new member this will help him integrate into the team. On the job training is also a benefit for the organization as it is generally cost effective since they dont have to organize a special and separate training for the new joiners. The new employee will be joining the team and using the tools and equipments they are using and no extra equipments will be needed. It works very well for the organization as the On the job training will be held in the same working hours and no training periods is dedicated for training the new employees and that usually have a training allowance which may be lower than the regular pay scale for the job. And the trainee might not have to travel to another location for the training. He or she will be in the same work place as the manager and that will enable the manager to give an instant feedback leading the new employee to grow faster in the job. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦OJT is regularly low-cost as no particular tools are required other than from what is usually applied on the job (Gubman, 1998) The new employees will have more confidence when they are being trained in their actual work location among their colleagues or team members, they will live and feel the real work environment, getting to know more the people they will be working with and the manager they will be dealing with, building expectations and getting motivated by how fast they can prove themselves and build a good relation and trust. They will feel more comfortable and at ease when they are trained with people they know rather than strangers who are holding and teaching a training course and do not know much about the work challenges more than an colleagues performing and facing real challenges every working day. Its an interface between the learning and work environment, like a transition from university to work. On the job training is productive as the employees will be working while they are learning and they will allow them to have more confidence hence working on a high standard. On the other hand, when the On the job training is not planned properly, It can not be executed properly. And the trainee will get a vague picture of the company as he will be receiving missing or wrong information. It may sometimes overload the trainee with so much information when too much information is provided in the training session. The trainer should have the knowledge and experience to train someone else. Providing the new comer with the knowledge that he/she will refer to when they are actually working is very important and critical. The trainer should have the teaching and coaching skills to provide the correct and most accurate information to the new joiner and prevent providing any misleading information or bad habits. Having someone from the existing employees coaching a new employee is very critical as the supervisor or manager who assigned this person for this task should ensure that this assignee does not have bad habits to avoid passing it to the trainee. The trainer might provide instructions based on how they feel and whats important to them. But what is important to them, it may not be important to another or for the work of the organization. Also, if the trainer does not have a structured plan, he/she might miss or forget to cover some important points which may lead the trainee to incomplete info rmation. While attending On the job training, sometimes the trainer will miss out covering in details and accuracy some theories of the operation and the trainee will be missing very important information. As the new employee is having a lack in his knowledge base which will lead to a poor decision making and it will be difficult for him facing some daily challenges when things are not going exactly as they learned. If the trainer was not the right person for the job, he might lead the trainee to bad habits and attitudes as the new employee will be adopting the same habits in work, safety, customer service, and even his relationship with the management or colleagues. One of the major problems the trainer will be facing while holding the training, is being able to manage his job and tasks properly and at the same time being able to give the appropriate time to the trainee and giving him the attention he/she needs to be able to attend his queries and provide him/her with good knowledge base and experience as required, its very difficult to find the right person among the team to perform both the tasks equally and assigning the right time they need for each activity, they should be really careful not to pass the bad work habits and teach the learner accurate, relevant information and methods. Each employee requires more learning in order to improve his /her skills, no matter how best a candidate is, he/she can not be 100% percent qualifiedà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ (American Society, 2007) à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Thus, OJT is important both to the organization and the trainees who are being trained. OJT is beneficial to the organization in the manner that it offers cheap to carry out as the main resources required is time only. After which it offers the organizations with trained employees who understands well the organization culture objectives and goals. And thus able to achieve the much required high production and effective working. To the trainees, OJT offers them a practical and easy way of learning while they are working giving them a unique opportunity to practice what you have learnt. According to many scholars this is the best way of learning since offers the right tools and environment for learningà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ (Ruffini, F et al. 2000). The trainer may not have sufficient knowledge or skills then On the job training may be inappropriate and if its not done effectively, it can damage the work objectives. Its about finding the right person to perform this task. Leaving aside these disadvantages, On the job training can give benefit for both the company and the new employee. Since On-The Job Training is performed at the work place, the trainee will be focused on performing real job tasks and gaining real experience. Although On-The Job Training is often the most practical training method when you only need to train a couple of employees at a time but another training methods and techniques will be complementary to provide the new employee all the required skills and knowledge base about the products, services and systems in the organization.

The Human Impact On Environment

The Human Impact On Environment In many peoples opinions mans impact on the environment is a big issue in our life which is easily neglected, as humans are responsible for a staggering amount of damage on the earth. Nature manages its own components. Since the outbreak of technology and industrialisation humans have greatly had a negative impact on the environment, such as; air pollution, habitat destruction, water pollution, the burning of rainforests and land pollution. In this essay I intend to give facts and discuss the effects and causes on these topics and discuss the solutions being carried out to improve the conditions. Air pollution effects people in areas of emission sources, such as, power plants, local industry and major roads. Humans contribute to pollution by the use of machinery in industry causing pollution to the environment. More effects of air pollution on the environment involve using diesel fuel for vehicles and coal for power along with the lack of emission controls for vehicles and industry. Another cause of air pollution is the greenhouse gas CO2, this gas warms the earth through living things as they emit CO2 when breathing which contributes to humans also, as we add to this statistic through breathing also. CO2 is usually thought to be involved with cars, aeroplanes and power plants, in the past 150 years , CO2 has been polluting our atmosphere through the sources mentioned, this is the highest CO2 emissions recorded for a long time. More causes of air pollution is methane gas which comes from swamps which are contributed to man through flooding. Cfcs are another major cause of air pollution by man through the use of fridges and deodorants (aerosols) which harms the earths ozone layer. Solutions to Air Pollution Solutions to air pollution include driving and flying less, recycling, and conservation. Governmentsare limitting emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases through the Kyoto Protocol;this is an agreement between countries that they will cut back on carbon dioxide emissions. Another method being put into practice is to put taxes on carbon emissions or higher taxes on gasoline. ( http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/global-warming/pollution-overview.html ) Acid Rain Acid rain has a big effect on the environment and is caused through men by the emission if nitrogen oxides through road transport, power stations and industry, over 2000 tonnes of nitrogen oxide was polluted into the air in 1990 along with over 3000 tonnes of sulphur dioxide through power stations and industry. Sulfur dioxide is known primarily as a cause of acid rain. But they also reflect light when released in the atmosphere, which keeps sunlight out and causes Earth to cool. Another adverse effect of these gases being emitted into the atmosphere by humans is the weathering of buildings, particularly those made from limestone, marble and sandstone. For example sulphate-rich precipitation reacts with limestone and is easily eroded. Many method have been used to reduce the effects of acid rain, one is to add powdered limestone to lakes to increase their pH values, however the only real effective and practical solution is to reduce fossil fuel consumption by using alternate energy so urces that do not produce nitrate or sulphate gases (hydropower or nuclear power). Water Pollution Asian rivers are the most polluted in the world. They have three times as many bacteria from human waste as the global average and 20 times more lead than rivers in industrialized countries. Thirty percent of Irelands rivers are polluted with sewage or fertilizer. The King River is Australias most polluted river, suffering from a severe acidic condition related to mining operations.100, 000 marine mammals, 1 million sea birds and other aquatic lives are killed due to plastic waste in water and coastal area. Bangladesh has some of the most polluted groundwater in the world. In this case, the contaminant is arsenic, which occurs naturally in the sediments. Around 85% of the total area of the country has contaminated groundwater, with at least 1.2 million Bangladeshis exposed to arsenic poisoning and with millions more at risk. Pollution of freshwater is a problem for about half of the worlds population. Each year there are about 250 million cases of water-related diseases, with roughly 5 to 10 million deaths. The main problem of water pollution is that it kills life; Dead fish, birds, dolphins, and many other animals often wind up on beaches, killed by pollutants. Pollution disrupts the natural food chain as well. Pollutants such as lead and cadmium are eaten by tiny animals. Later, these animals are consumed by fish and shellfish, and the food chain continues to be disrupted at all higher levels. humans are affected by this process as well. People can get diseases such as hepatitis by eating seafood that has been poisoned. Ecosystems can be severely changed or destroyed by water pollution. Many areas are now being affected by careless human pollution, Solutions to Water Pollution  · stabilising wetlands to act as a buffer zone to runoff and to assist in filtering pollutants  · Drive less to reduce the amount of air pollution being emitted into the environment and minimize the amount of nitrogen deposition.  · Improve the sewage treatment system to stop the leaks in the pipes.  · Conserve water  · Improve storm water management.  · Monitor watershed  · Stop deforestation to soak up the rain water and prevent runoff from occurring. Land Pollution The human impacts related with land pollution involves the Increase in urbanization as Construction uses up forestland. More constructions means increase in demand for raw materials like timber. This leads to the exploitation and destruction of forests, the Increase in agricultural land As the human population grew there was a greater demand for food. This caused more land allocated to agriculture. Forests were cut down for this purpose, Agricultural activities Besides domestic waste, pesticides and herbicides used by farmers to increase crop yields also pollute the land when they are washed into the soil and Industrial activities are also a contributing factor to land pollution. For example, in open cast mining, huge holes are dug in the ground and these form dangerously deep mining pools. Heaps of mining waste are left behind and these waste often contain several poisonous substances that will contaminate the soil. The effects on humans is that the Pollution is likely to affect over a billion people around the world, with millions poisoned and killed each year.The World Health Organization estimates that 25 percent of all deaths in the developing world are directly attributable to environmental factor. Some researchers estimate that exposure to pollution causes 40 percent of deaths annually. Many people are not aware of the impact that such industrial pollution can have on the earth. By helping to make it known, you can be one of the voices that will draw attention to the issue thus helping to inspire change. Solutions to Land Pollution New laws and regulations such as, reduce use of plastic, recycle and reuse have greatly reduced the amount of commercial and industrial pollution, Habitat Destruction/Deforestation Habitat destruction is happening all over the world and closer to your home than you might think. Tropical rain forests in Central and South America and in Southeast Asia and Oceania are being threatened. Rainforests now occupy less then  ½ of the land that they did 100 years ago (thats less than 2% of the earths surface). Humans are a major cause of habitat destruction. The causes include, logging, agriculture, the building of roads and cities, and forest fires. Logging involves Humans cutting down the forests and rain forests for wood and wood products. Usually, only large prime trees are cut down, such as mahogany. However, smaller trees can be destroyed in the process and never replaced. Logging can cause soil erosion, and the logging roads that are built can damage rivers and streams. Agriculture involves Wild lands being cleared for crops and domestic animals. The single biggest cause of deforestation is farming. Animals that are used to living in a biodiverse habitat cannot survive in an area with one crop. Humans impact on habitat destruction is majorly involved in the building of roads and cities, although essential for life, this still causes a problem for biodiversity as Humans are clearing trees and wild lands to make room for roads and cities. Cities replace the natural habitat of many species of plants and animals. Highways and freeways can destroy plants and also keep animals from safely travelling through their natural habitat. Recent effects of humans on the environment Humans have recently had a massive impact on the environment with the nuclear power plant disaster in Japan following the biggest earthquake/tsunami ever recorded cooling systems failures that led to radiation escaping from a reactor at one location. The emergency declarations, which include five reactors at the two plants, followed Fridays 8.9-magnitude earthquake off the countrys northeast coast. In a troubling announcement, Japan Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency official Ryohei Shiomi said a monitoring device outside the plant detected radiation that is eight times higher than normal and an evacuation zone has been expanded from three kilometres around the plant to 10 kilometres. ( http://news.slashdot.org/story/11/03/12/038218/Nuclear-Emergency-Declared-At-2-Plants-In-Japan?from=rss ) The impact this had on the environment was really frightening as fears of people being exposed with radiation which was life threatening and people were even evacuated from their homes and told not to go outside, there is now fears that the food produced there may be contaminated with radiation and they are stopping all exports. This radiation from Japan has the potential to cause worldwide biological disruption Referencing/Sources Buz/ed Causes and effects of land pollution [Online] Available: http://www.buzzle.com/articles/causes-and-effects-of-land-pollution.html (accessed 20th march 2011) Biodiversity lectures [Online] Available: www.uws.ac.uk National Geographic Air pollution [Online] Available: http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/global-warming/pollution-overview.html (accessed 20th march 2011) Goudie, A. and Viles, H.(1997) The Earth Transformed An introduction to human impacts on the environment Images Radioactive waste [Online] Available: http://homepages.uel.ac.uk/u0852279/Docs/Radioactive.html Picture (accessed 20th march) Air pollution [Online] Available: http://homepages.uel.ac.uk/u0852279/Docs/Air.html (accessed 20th march 2011) Land Pollution [Online] Available: http://homepages.uel.ac.uk/u0852279/Docs/Land.html (accessed 20th march 2011 Water Pollution [Online] Available: http://homepages.uel.ac.uk/u0852279/Docs/Water.html (accessed 20th march 2011) Image [Online] Available: www.imagesfrom.co.cc (accessed 20th march 2011) Water Pollution [Online] Available: http://library.thinkquest.org/26026/Environmental_Problems/water_pollution_-_effects.html (accessed 20th march 2011) Habitat Destruction [Online] Available: http://www.library.thinkquest.org/08aug/00473/habitatdestruction.html (accessed 20th march 2011) Japan Earth Quake [Online] Available: http://news.slashdot.org/story/11/03/12/038218/Nuclear-Emergency-Declared-At-2-Plants-In-Japan?from=rss (accessed 21th march 2011) Water Pollution [Online] Available: www.peakwater.org (accessed 22nd march 2011) University of the West of Scotland (n.d.) 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Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart - The Downfall of the Ibo Essay

One of Chinua Achebe’s goals in Things Fall Apart is to portray Ibo culture vividly and honestly. Unlike European perspectives of the Africans – such as Conrad’s Heart of Darkness – Achebe’s representation explains intricate customs, rituals, and laws and develops individual characters. Things Fall Apart shows Ibo society to be fully functioning and full of life. However, Achebe maintains his objectivity and avoids giving the Ibo any undue sympathy, painting some of their customs – such as the mandatory abandonment of infant twins – in a questionable light. While it is easy for us – especially in this age of political correctness and multiculturalism – to place upon the white man all the blame for the downfall of the Ibo, Achebe does not make the situation so simple. In fact, it is the acquiescence of his comrades, not the intrusion of the Europeans, which eventually causes Okonkwo to take his own life. Thus, it is difficult to place the Ibo and the white men into traditional categories of good and evil, for each exhibits positive and negative qualities. Although the Ibo certainly possessed a lively, stable society before the Europeans arrived, their internal struggles contributed to their own demise. DEVELOPED CULTURE Throughout the novel, Achebe offers detailed illustrations of the richness of Ibo culture. Many episodes do not directly advance the plot, but rather serve to provide examples of this culture. One of the most significant signs of the development of Ibo culture is its system of laws and justice. A whole chapter describes the proceedings as egwugwu (important clansmen who dress as village ancestors) determine the verdict in a wife-beating case (87). The villagers are not stupid enough to believe... ...ld do if the missionaries brought military reinforcements. In any case, if Ibo society can be compared to a tragic hero, its irrational beliefs would be its tragic flaw. It was these beliefs which directly alienated members of society, such as Nwoye, Nneka, and the osu, and created a rift within the Ibo. While such beliefs and customs are certainly evidence of the depth of Ibo culture, their irrational basis could not withstand the white man’s defiance of them, as shown by the church’s survival in the Evil Forest. Ironically, it is these beliefs – the presence of a social structure, the development of a religion – which not only show the richness of Ibo culture, but also lead to its downfall. Works Cited Achebe, Chinua. â€Å"An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad’s Heart of Darkness.† An Introduction to Literature. Terry, Joseph. New York, NY: Longman, 2001.

Carson McCullers - Exploring the Depths of the Human Heart :: Biography Biographies Essays

Carson McCullers   - Exploring the Depths of the Human Heart      Ã‚  Ã‚   "With poignant insight and compassion Carson McCullers (1917-1967) wrote of human loneliness, unfulfilled love, and the frailty of the human heart."    Of all the characters in the work of Carson McCullers, the one who seemed to her family and friends to be most like the author herself was Frankie Addams: the vulnerable, exasperating, and endearing adolescent of The Member of the Wedding who was looking for the "we of me." However, Carson once said that was, or became in the process of writing, all the characters in her work. This is probable true of most real writers who often with pain draw from their unconscious what the rest of us would just as soon keep hidden from ourselves and others. So accept the fact that Carson was not only Frankie Addams but J.T. Malone, Miss Amelia, and Captain Penderton; but familiarity with the work that she was not able to finish would only be only a partial clue to who and what she was. This was not simply because she had not finished what she had to say, but that she was the artist, and as she often quoted, "Nothing human is alien to me."    So many people were unable to acknowledge Carson's constant closeness to death, and many more resented her for trying to make them face it, but she had lived through enough close calls to convince everyone that she was indestructible.    Carson saw her life one way and those intimate with her often perceived it differently. Intentionally or unintentionally, she added to the confusion about herself. An interviewer was more likely to be cannily interviewed than to extract an interview from her. Besides, she simply liked a good story and frequently embellished the more amusing ones of her life. The one person who singled out this quality in a particularly loving way was Tennessee Williams in his unpublished essay "Praise to Assenting Angels":    The great generation of writers that emerged in the twenties, poets such as Eliot, Crane, Cummings, and Wallace Stevens, prose-writers such as Faulkner, Hemingway, Fitzgerald, and Katharine Anne Porter, has not been succeeded or supplemented by any new figures of corresponding stature with the sole exception of the prodigious young talent that first appeared in 1940 with the publication of her first novel, The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter.

Abusive Relationship Essay

Physical, emotional, verbal, and sexual abuse are some of the different types of abuse that can be found within a relationship. The purpose of this paper is to provide a review of adolescent dating aggression, and to define, compare and contrast different points of view. The author of the novel Faultline, Janet Tashjian, describes a series of events in the life of Becky, the main character of the story, where she is getting involved into an abusive relationship with Kip, presenting all the warning signs that every adolescent should know. This story represents the millions of adolescents that are in this same situation. I will be presenting real cases from different sources to demonstrate that adolescent dating aggression is a serious problem for many teenagers. Yet like other forms of aggression, warning signs are often present that a young couple may be at risk. By understanding these precursors we can help adolescents avoid problematic situations and instead develop healthy dating relationships that will set in place a solid foundation for satisfying relationships throughout life. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, one in four teenagers report being verbally, emotionally, physically or sexually abused in a dating relationship. The issue of dating violence is so critical that it was included in the 2005 reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act, along with the crimes of sexual assault, domestic violence and stalking. Statistics indicate that males who are exposed to domestic violence as children are twice as likely to be abusive in their own relationships. Many teens use cell phones and computers as tools of control and abuse in dating relationships. There have been millions of reports of abuse in a relationship; one of these cases was reported by Nicky who was 12 when she fell in love with Richard who was 13. What Nicky has to show for their years together are a chipped tooth, a nose bent several degrees by his fist, three children â€Å"all of whom were born before their due dates because of beatings†, she says, a nd emotional scars that are hard to fathom in someone so young. She shares her story to Los Angeles Times: My earliest memory of abuse? I was 13. When he went into high school, I was still in junior high and he didn’t trust me. One time I was wearing this see-through blouse. I had a slip on underneath it, because my parents taught me how to dress. [But] he got mad, and he pushed me on the ground and started calling me a bitch and everything. I thought, `Well he’s just mad, I shouldn’t have worn that.’ I couldn’t go home. What was I gonna tell my mom? So I went to school and I put on my P.E. clothes and that is what I wore all day. In the last two decades, domestic violence has emerged from the black hole of taboo subjects to become highly visible. And what has long been happening between spouses or adult lovers is now recognized as a problem for teen-agers as well. Surveys show that about 28% of high school- and college-age students are in abusive relationships, roughly the same proportion as adults. But while adults have shelters and well-publicized hot lines, adolescents typically have only each other, if that. They often cannot or will not turn to adults for help and may not even talk to their peers. Young girls and women often do not know how to get out of abusive situations. More schools are providing programs to teach teens the warning signs of abusive relationships and provide them with the tools they need to leave violent and controlling partners. Some people think that dating violence is increasing because many girls are afraid to stand up to an aggressive and controlling boy. Others blame the violent and sexual content in the media as a contributing factor in dating violence. According to a New York Times article, â€Å"The high incidence of adolescent abuse distresses Barrie Levy, a Santa Monica therapist and a founder of the Southern California Coalition for Battered Women†. Levy, who edited the book Dating Violence: Young Women in Danger became aware of the problem in 1982 during a domestic violence education project in Los Angeles-area secondary schools. â€Å"Our focus was on the development of an education program that would target adolescents, thinking that the way to start dealing with domestic violence was presumably before it started,† Levy says. Violence in adolescent dating relationships is a large-scale problem, and may result in long-term trauma and psychological aftermath for victims. I provided some data, statistics, facts and opinion about this issue. An abusive relationship can be prevented if parents, teachers and counselors talk to the adolescents about the warning signs and how get away from that abusive relationship. The novel Faultline is a great example that can be used to teach teenagers about this serious topic.

Human Relations Essay

Human Relations: 1. the study of human problems arising from organizational and interpersonal relations (as in industry). 2. A course, study, or program designed to develop better interpersonal and intergroup adjustments. Medical Definition: 1. the social and interpersonal relations between human beings. 2. A course, study, or program designed to develop better interpersonal and intergroup adjustments. As was found in the Webster’s Dictionary Human relations is also the skill or ability to work effectively through and with people. Also the first known use of human relations was in 1946. Human relations can help you in a few different ways. Having the skill can help you land that job you always wanted and you would be able to enjoy it. You may also become more productive at it and stay with the job longer which in turn would allow the chance to climb the corporate ladder. Our personality has a lot to do with how we relate to other persons in our personal and professional life. It can also affect our ability to interact with others, which in turn can take an impact on our career. So it is very important to separate our personal life from our professional one. For instance if you are having a bad day because of something that may had happened at home you need to leave that problem at home. It will still be there when you return. If you take it out on a patient, a client, or an employee that would be considered poor human relation skills. That is why I think the study of human relations is important, because it can help us understand others and help us separate our personal life from our professional one.