Marketing Online Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Marketing Online - Essay Example Particular concentration is given to the significance of a channel management general strategy in the e-marketing background. Firms consider this alternative require to have a high level of capability in relationship marketing skills (Jeeves, 2005). Now question is what is a brand "Your brand is the relationship you have with your customers," says L. Kareem Geiger, founder and vice president of client relations at TechnikOne (www.technikone.com), like him other professional says branding answers the questions: What do people think of us Who are we Who are our customers How are we making bigger ourselves in an association with them (Cravens, D., 2000) Hi-tech products can be an outcome of a fantastic innovative idea, superb technological breakthrough but if customers don't accept the value proposition since they don't perceive the similar, it will not last long with sustainable revenue model. The technical products can be substituted extremely rapidly as technological advancements are extremely fast also these products can reach the adulthood levels rapidly and can become outdated in no time (Barney, J., 1991, 99-120). Nowadays it is much easier for a competitor to copy your goods, services and systems. Technology is becoming a product business, and the comparatively established hi-tech companies discover themselves being sucked in to the product trap (Chowdhury. J., 2001, 72-86). Coca-Cola. McDonald's. Jaguar. every name evokes a mini universe of things you've come to be expecting from them. Coke's branding, for instance, pervades its product excellence, packaging, advertising, the look of its trucks, dispensers, and machines, and it has supervised to productively port its image online. Smart move bearing in mind online sales will reach $126 billion by 2004, according to an eMarketer report (Costa, J. & Teare, R. 2000, 156-169). Like all other organizations Coca-Cola recognized premature on that the Web would play a significant role in not only cementing brand faithfulness but also in draw latest customers to its product (Conant, J., 2000, 365-383). Let's take a look upon Adds Carrie Williams, owner of Williams imaginative Marketing in Seattle, "Brand transcends your products. If your brand communicates effectively, it can bring a culture together, whether it's an internal audience (the company) or an external audience (consumers)." (Dabholkar, P., 2003, 3-16) A company doesn't produce a brand just for the product or overhaul it sells, it does it for the association and trust that go with it. "Brand has a lot of essence; it's not just a graphic look," says Patricia Belyea, president and planned director of Seattle's Belyea Marketing/ Communication /Design. "Brand is graphics, customer service, quality of product, and dependability of delivery. It is performance, not public relations." (Day, G. 2004, 37-52) There are quite a few ways to draw consumers online using both. Offline marketing gives consumers a chance to examine your Website and get further information concerning your products and services. Innovation/Contribution in Marketing The Brand One of the major benefits of the Internet is its cost-effectiveness when contrast by other marketing methods such as straight mail, television, radio, prints advertising,

Is there a relationship between weather temperature and the incidence Essay

Is there a relationship between weather temperature and the incidence of myocardial infarction (MI) in people aged 65 and older - Essay Example One of the physiological responses to cold, external environments is vasoconstriction. When this takes place, particularly in the elderly, myocardial infarction is a likely event. The purpose of this research paper is to discuss how variations in weather temperatures may be related to the occurrence of myocardial infarctions in individuals over 65. This paper will also seek to identify risk factors and identify the biological mechanisms involved in myocardial infarctions as pertaining to the elderly. Numerous studies have indicated the event of myocardial infarctions in the elderly during colder temperatures based on mortality rates of individuals: â€Å"Seasonality in coronary heart disease (CHD) events, with a winter peak and summer nadir, has been recognized for many decades and across diverse populations† (Gerber, Jacobsen, Killian, Weston, & Roger, 2006). In a study conducted between 1979 and 2002, â€Å"2,066 SCD (48% women) and 2,676 incident MI (43% women) were recorded in Olmsted County. The mean age (SD) was 78 (13) years at SCD and 68 (14) years at incident MI (p As early as 1938, scientists were noting incidence of myocardial infarctions occurring more prominently during times of colder weather conditions. What has been difficult to assess,

Ethical Decision Making: Nike Case Study

Ethical Decision Making: Nike Case Study 1. OBJECTIVE The main objective of writing this report is to help students gain a deeper understanding regarding the course CBEB 3101 Business Ethics. Through this course, we get to learn how to make ethical decisions in a company. Some of the principles that we have learned are the principle of utilitarianism and principle of rights. By writing this report, we get to learn how to apply the theories learned in lectures into real life cases and situations. Different situations have different theories and principles. We also get to learn the proper steps in the decision making model, which are determine the facts, identify the ethical issues involve, identify stakeholders and consider the situation from their point of view, consider available alternative, consider how a decision affects stakeholders, make a decision and monitor outcomes. Besides that, we get to build stronger relationships among our group members. All the time spent together discussing and analyzing the case study helps to strengthen our bond and molds us into becoming a more responsible person in the future. We also get to see the corporate world from a different point of view, whereby being ethical is very important. 2. INTRODUCTION Phil Knight and Bill Bowerman are the founders of Blue Ribbon Sports in the year 1964. Later, it was renamed as Nike in the year 1978 whereby it received its name from the Greek goddess of victory. Nike has become the worlds major supplier for athletic shoes and sport apparels. As to remain competitive in the market, Nike searched for cheaper resources and markets. Therefore, Nike had shifted its production to lower manufacturing cost countries such as Japan, Korea and Taiwan. Later in the 1980s, production had moved to Southern China. However, as Japans economic started expanding, the manufacturing cost increased. Therefore, Nike shifted its contracts to Vietnam, Indonesia and China. Starting from the mid 1990s, there were criticisms from human right protectors and media regarding labour health and safety conditions, low wages and discrimination in the hiring and firing process. Therefore, Nike started to take actions as to rescue its reputation. Since 1991, Nikes corporate social responsibility practices started evolving. As time passed, Nike revised its code of conduct and became more ethical in its manufacturing practices. In 1998, Nikes revenues and stock prices had decreased dramatically. Due to that, Nike laid off 1600 workers. Nike then immediately started to launch several public relations campaigns as to reduce the damage to its reputation. A code of conduct was implemented with Global Alliances to review all of Nikes factories. On August 1996, Nike Corporation joined the Apparel Industry Partnership to draft a code of conduct for the usage of the whole industry. In 1998, audit tools were developed to increase the transparency in order to evaluate the compliance with the company standard, Nikes Code Leadership Standards by those subcontractors. In addition, Bike had disclosed the names and locations of its subcontractors factories in the year 2000. The reason for disclosing its supply chain was to enhance monitoring and make changes. The Corporate Responsibility Board was developed during the year 2001. The purpose of the board is to review the policies and activities and therefore, make recommendations to the board of directors regarding labour and environmental practices. The organizational environment of Nike is a competitive market. In order to remain competitive, Nike had moved the production to poorer nation countries where low cost labour was attainable. Therefore, Nike subcontracted its production to other countries without proper regulation on the working conditions of workers and wages. Simple time line of events Year Descriptions 1964 Phil Knight and William Bowerman founded Blue Ribbon Sports. 1965 Jeff Johnson signed an agreement with Blue Ribbon Sports to be a full time employee. 1966 Jeff Johnson opens the first Blue Ribbon Sports retail outlet in Santa Monica, California. Phil Knight and William Bowerman signed a formal written Partnership. 1967 Company was incorporated and named as Blue Ribbon Sports Inc. 1971 Swoosh trademark is created by a graphic student named Carolyn Davidson for a fee of $35. Jeff Johnson dreams of Nike, the Greek goddess of victory. 1972 Litigation on distribution and broke the business relationship between Blue Ribbon Sports and Onitsuka Tiger. 1973 Romanian tennis star Ilie Nastase was the first professional athlete who signed the endorsement contract with Blue Ribbon Sports to wear Nike Shoes. 1977 Blue Ribbon Sports starts the first US track and training club called Athletics West. 1978 Blue Ribbon Sports officially change its name to Nike. 1981 Nike begins promotional efforts in China by supplying the national basketball team with sports apparel and footwear. 1988 Nike acquired Cole Haan which is the producer of mens and womens footwear, outerwear and accessories. 1993 Nike introduced a program called Reuse A Shoe which collects athletic shoes and makes athletic courts and fields. 1995 Reuse A Shoe began to collect old shoes from Nike retail stores. 1998 Phil Knight set standards for Nike subcontracted factories: minimum age, air quality, mandatory education programs, expansion of microloan program, factory monitoring and increase the transparency of Nikes corporate social responsibility practices. 1999 Bill Bowerman died at the age of 88. 2001 Nike developed a Corporate Responsibility (CR) Board to review the policies and make recommendations to the board of directors on labour and environment practices. 2002 Nike partnered with National Recycling Coalition to set up the drop off stations in Europe and Australia. 2004 Phil Knight stepped down as CEO and president of Nike but continues to work as chairman in Nike. 2. ISSUES AND ANALYSIS Issue 1: Nikes Manufacturing Practices on Sweatshop Summary To be competitive in the market as well as keeping the manufacturing costs low, Nike had shifted its contract to low labour cost countries such as China, Vietnam Indonesia, Pakistan and etc. Nikes reputation was damaged especially due to accusations on human and labour rights violations by labour rights activists and the mainstream media. The accusations were deficiencies in working environment, health and safety conditions and low wages and indiscriminate in hiring and firing practices in the factories. Roberta Baskins CBS had reported about the conditions in Nikes manufacturing factories in Indonesia. Even though subcontracted work to poor nations had created employment, the pay was merely $1.60 a day to Vietnam factory workers when the living wage is around $3 per day (Hill, 2009). In this situation, is it ethical for Nike to treat its labourers this way? Analysis We can evaluate the practices by using these principles: Utilitarianism Utilitarianism is a moral theory whereby we should act in ways that produce the most pleasure or happiness for the greatest number of people affected by our actions. By using utilitarian reasoning, the following are the good and bad consequences: Good Consequences Bad Consequences Increase profitability of the company. Labourers welfare are ignored. Shareholders wealth is maximised. Company reputation has been affected badly by those practices. Customers loyalty towards the company becomes a doubt. From the overall consequences, even though increasing profit of the company can ensure the shareholders wealth, it is more important to take care of their employees welfare and gain trust and maintain a profitable relationship with its customers. This is because employees and customers are the primary stakeholders of the company who have the ability to influence the business of the company and especially those whose continual association is necessary for a firms survival. Therefore, in the long term, it is found that the unethical practices of Nike had negatively influenced stakeholders and changed the perception of the shareholders towards the company. Principle of Rights The basic human rights under Kantian are the rights that are the result of particular roles, special relationships or specific circumstances. Nike as an employer should consider the rights of its employees to have a safe working environment and a competitive wage instead of being a sweatshop labour. Although Nike is doing a much better job with foreign labour relations compared to other corporations, Nike should not be comparing itself to other companies. Rather, it should be holding itself to the absolute highest ethical standards it can attain. Principle of Duty Based on this principle, rightness of our actions depends on whether we perform our duties. If we fail to carry out our duties in the society, our acts are considered unethical or wrong. In our opinion, we feel that all the contractual factories in developing countries or any further subcontracted out work of Nike has a moral duty to ensure the health and financial well-being of all the people who work for it. Categorical Imperative Principle of universalizability mentions that we should treat others the way we want to be treated. Nikes management team should put themselves in the labourers shoes and they will find out that they would not want their employers to violate their rights to have safe working conditions and fair wages. As a result, Nikes practice on sweatshop labour is wrong. Therefore, it has to work on its corporate responsibilities to make sure its practices have improved. Besides that, principle of ends means that we must respect humanity and never exploit others to achieve our own benefit or purpose. Nikes act of exploiting other human beings such as the sweatshop practice is to serve its own interest which is to maintain low manufacturing cost. Principle of Equal Liberty Each person has an equal right to be treated equally under the principle of equal liberty. Obviously, Rawls would disagree with Nikes labour and business practices as it is unethical for Nike to overwork its employees or perhaps pay them meager wages just so it can supply shoes to America. Besides that, in order to fulfill the expectation as an employer, it is necessary to appreciate individual diversity and become more dedicated to offering equal opportunity to each individual. Issue 2: Nikes Manufacturing Practices on Child Labours Summary In this issue, Nikes contracted factories hire children to work overtime at below minimum pay as the children are not capable to make right decisions and unable to differentiate pros and cons of certain matters. Hence, children have been exploited to work for the subcontracted factories. The issue being is: whether it is ethical for Nike to hire child labours to reduce manufacturing cost? Analysis Utilitarianism Based on utilitarianism, below is the comparison of good and bad consequences of this issue: Good Consequences Bad Consequences Nike gets cheap labour and low cost facilities and therefore, low cost of production allows Nike to set lower price on its product to attract more consumers. Children suffer psychological and physical harms. Bring in foreign investments and job opportunities and therefore, alleviate poverty level for the countries that Nike are operating in. Denied opportunities for childrens education. Extremely low pay still cannot alleviate poverty of the countries. From the overall consequences to the entire society, Nike had violated the theory of utilitarianism As one of the largest multinational companies, Nike should have carefully evaluated the outcome of using low cost labours. From the analysis, hiring child labours to serve its own interest to keep low labour cost is unethical. Principle of Rights Children have their right to get their education instead of working as they are under age according to the law of the country. Therefore, Nike should not hire child labour which violates their right to stay in school and receive education. Categorical Imperative Under the principle of universalizability, Nike should put itself into the situation of the child and will realize that it also does not want to work under such working conditions with such a low pay. Nike also should not exploit the children to serve its own interest to keep the low labour cost because the act is unethical according to the principle of means. Principle of Equal Liberty Children in Nikes contracted factories countries should be given an equal opportunity and treated as the children in other country as they are underage to work and supposed to have their education. Issue 3: Contract between Nike and University of North Carolina Summary In order to work on CSR after the incident which deeply affected the companys reputation, Nike had entered into a social contract with the University of North Carolina. Nikes contract requires all UNC athletes to wear its brand. In this issue, whether is it ethical to bind all UNC athletes under the contract? Analysis Utilitarianism Based on this concept, there are some benefits from the contract, such as, Nike has pumped in money which brings pleasure to the athletic department and the student athletes by virtue of wearing Nikes brand, improving Nikes reputation and rebuilding their confidence in public. However, the university should consider how the contract would affect the academic integrity and goals of the institution. It is more important to look at the issue from the perspective of athletes and the institution which will bring more consequences to the firm. Rawls theory of individual liberty Under this theory, it will disagree with the contract for the lone reason being the athletes have lost their individual rights to chose whether or not to wear Nikes brand. Even if the institution has maximized pleasure for itself, at the same time it infringes on the choice of its athletes. There is no right for the social institution to take away a basic individual right. Besides that, Nike also should not restrict the individuals right to have their own choice to wear other companys brand. Principle of Duty According to this principle, the University also has a moral responsibility to itself and Nike. It is morally obligated to use its position of power to encourage Nike to work harder to improve its business practices. Besides that, it also has a moral obligation to back out of a contract with any corporation that lacks ethical business integrity. Issue 4: Enhancing Nikes images by using endorsers Summary In this issue, Nike has signed with some well-known athletes as its endorsers to project a better athletic image for itself. For example. Nike has signed an endorser contract with famous basketball legend, Micheal Jordan. According to the contract, Nike has created more revenue from his fans with launching more new series of producst. In return, Nike paid 20 million per year to Micheal Jordan as its endorser. At the same time, labourers at its contract factories were paid low wages which was just above the minimum standard. In this issue, is it ethical for Nike to pay its labors and endorses unfairly? Analysis Utilitarianism Based on this principle, it solely benefits the company and the endorser while the labourers suffer from low wages. It is more beneficial to every party if Nike can use the money paid to the endorser and spend some on its employees welfare. Therefore, we think that Nike is unethical to pay its endorser such a large amount of money instead of taking care of its employees welfare. Principle of Right Under this issue, the employees have the right to get fair wages and deserve to get better treatment. Principle of Universalizability It is unethical for Nike to treat its employees as an end for themselves and never only as a mean to its own ends. Principle of Justice Employees should have fair wages and deserve to get their welfare whereby Nike should treat them equally with its endorsers. It is unfair to pay the endorsers so high but not taking care of its employees welfare. Actions taken From the case study we know that the corporate culture in Nike did not have a strong ethical focus which was to encourage its employees of the factories in many other countries to practice the ethical behaviours in the past. However, Nike then implements some efforts to instil ethical behaviours and practices and later became an ethical corporate in the industry after going through some critical period with negative issues on its business practices. In our opinion, we feel that Nike has used the integrity-based approach which is a value-driven approach with emphasis on employee responsibility for ethical conduct. It is a better approach which the employees are instructed to act with integrity and conduct business dealings honestly. Besides that, Nike may set goals of an integrity-based approach as it is a broader and more expansive application to the firm. For example, maintaining brands and reputation by ensuring the good quality of products and honesty to its consumers, and creating a better working environment for employees whereby the safety of employees is emphasized. Furthermore, we think that currently Nike focuses on the stakeholder theory instead of shareholder theory in its firm. All the stakeholders groups and their well being should be taken into account whenever the company wishes to take any significant managerial decision but not merely focus on financial and economic relationships with owners. In the past decade, Nike has taken CSR as its social contract. For example, University of North Carolina had entered into a corporate sponsorship agreement with Nike. On the other hand, Nike also undertook CSR because of its enlightened self-interest where CSR activities bring commercial returns to the firm. Especially after the damage by the media to the companys reputation, Nike started to undertake CSR activities in order to enhance its reputation and rebuild its good image. However, Nike now meets its standard for being a good corporate citizen after making progress for years. Corporate Social Responsibility It is a reactive concept where businesses try to do the minimum to fulfil the expectation of stakeholders. In the article, there are some discussions on Nikes CSR practices: Environmental Sustainability Nike had developed ReUse-A-Shoe Program and then expanded it by partnering with the National Recycling Coalition to promote environmental-friendly practices and encourage consumer about this issue. Code of Conduct This is the first step taken by Nike to improve the working conditions in its factories. It complies with the principle of justice, fulfils the duties as an employer to reach the desired level of employer responsibility. Other than comply with the laws and regulations, the company also strives to satisfy the expectation as a leader. Factory Transparency This is the corporate social responsiveness undertaken by Nike as it is the proactive actions where the firm anticipate the needs of stakeholders and try to fulfil those needs before the stakeholders demand them to do so. Nike had publicly disclosed its supply chain as it believes that can be more successful in monitoring and making changes as once issues have been uncovered, not only in its own factories but in an industry-wide basis. Furthermore, implementation of Balanced Scorecard for its suppliers helps the firm better assess factory compliance with the code of conduct. Corporate Responsibility Board Nike developed a Corporate Responsibility Board in 2001 to review policies and activities and make recommendations to the board of directors regarding certain important fields. Through the effort of the CR board, there were significant improvements in its business practices whereby the employees are now aware of their rights and have the opportunity to be educated and well-trained. Philanthropy Each year, Nike proactively donates product and contribution in cash to non-profit organizations and NGOs creating social changes through sports disaster relief efforts around the world. Nowadays, Nike has focused on innovation, collaboration, transparency and advocacy to prepare the company to thrive in a sustainable economy. There are some important initiatives for the company that are included in the CR report which includes Considered Design, GreenXchange (GX), Lean and Human Resource Management (HRM), Sport for Social Change, Energy and Climate Change Strategy. In 2008, Nike launched a footwear energy efficiency program with five contract manufacturers. Nikes commitment to collaboration on this project has shown excellent early results where the contract factories absolute CO2 footprint was down 6 percent despite a 9 percent increase in production. 4. RECOMMENDATIONS Due to the ethical issues discussed in the Nike case, we have come up with several recommendations on how to solve the problems occurred throughout the case. We hope that this can also serve as a guideline to other companies as well. First of all, the company management should be stricter on the rules and standards set by themselves. This will make sure that they follow or obey the rules of the company. In this case, the top management of Nike in the US should ensure that all the other retail outlets or factories all around the world follow a standard procedure in everything that they do. This will help them in monitoring all the other outlets around the world. This can also help avoid the issue of poor conditions, child labour, widespread harassment and abuse that has happened in some countries. When other manufacturers all over the world know the standard and code of ethics that they should follow, they will not do what they have done that caused all the issues to arise. This is because they have a guideline to follow and they know that whatever procedure that they are doing will be monitored by the top management. The top management should make sure that they provide a healthy and safe workplace for all its em ployees. This is because their employees have the right to be in a healthy and safe workplace. A poor condition of the workplace is wrong and is one of the main allegations that Nike had to deal with. Next, the management team and employees should also be sent for training once in awhile. This is important as it helps to establish a better corporate culture. This culture shapes the people who are members of the organization as it is a blend of ideas, beliefs, customs, traditional practices, company values, and shared meanings that help define and guide normal behaviour for everyone who work in a company. It is important to continuously train its employees so that the employees become more disciplined and responsible. They will always think of the best interest of the company and not be easily influenced by other factors that might bring the company down. This will help them have a sense of accountability and responsibility towards the company. One of the main issues that Nike was facing was child labour. Therefore, we have come up with an idea that might help solve this problem. Nike began to offshore its production of footwear and other sporting equipment because it wanted to remain competitive and keep manufacturing cost at a low. To solve this, instead of using child labour, Nike can actually install and use machines in it production. At the beginning it might be a little costly but in the long run, it will help the company save a lot of money. It is not only faster, but it also helps Nike save money in the long run and the management does not have to worry about any child labour allegations or poor working conditions. Besides that, the top management of Nike can also perform employee monitoring. The kind of employee monitoring meant over here is checking out the work done by the employees. They could perhaps send some spies or third parties to see how the employees perform their work but at the same time not let the employees know that they are being watched. Lastly, the ethics and compliance system should also be improved. Currently, there is only one person in charge of ten factories and inspection is only done for about 25 percent of the factories. The top management should make sure that it inspects every factory. This can be done by setting up a chart or timeline whereby they have already discussed and come to an agreement on when and which factory should be inspected throughout the year. This is a more systematic approach and the management must make sure that they follow what they have drawn up. CONCLUSION Running a company as big as Nike is definitely not an easy job as the management has to satisfy not only the shareholders of the company, but the stakeholders too. No matter what has happened in the past, Nike has learned its lesson. Remaining competitive and keeping manufacturing costs at a low should not be the only objective of the company. Due to its negligence in certain areas, Nikes allegations of poor conditions and child labour has become a global issue. This is not only bad for Nikes image but it has permanently tarnished its reputation. However, Nike never gave up and has continued to win back the hearts of its stakeholders by carrying out a lot of CSR. Even though it may still have a long way to go in the area of corporate responsibility, it can be seen that it is slowly receiving good responses from the industry. Nike will always continue to be a major brand throughout the whole world.

Schizophrenia and Involuntary Treatment in the Case of Malka Magnesia E

1 Introduction Malka Magnesia, a second year political science student with an A average, suddenly re-pairs to the attic of her parents’ home and refuses to go to school or to work. She explains that she has been ordered by her â€Å"superiors† in another galaxy simply to sit and repent. Her distraught family pleads with her to seek medical assistance but she refuses on the grounds that her â€Å"superiors† consider her â€Å"unworthy†. The family psychiatrist advises that exposure to some of the modern drugs has been known to reduce such schizophrenic symptoms within a period of weeks. To what extent, if at all, should the law permit the involuntary hospitalization and drug treatment of Malka Magnesia? To what extent, if at all, would it make any difference if she suddenly went into the streets and started giving to total strangers, large sums of money from her inheritance, because, again, it was ordered by her â€Å"superiors†? And, to what ex-tent would it make any difference if, for the same reasons, she began to fast? To whatever extent you would permit some form of coercion, spell out the criteria and safeguards, which should apply. The remainder of the paper is organized as follows: In the next section, the three different stages of Malka Magnesia’s illness are examined regarding the question whether she should be involuntarily hospitalized and medicated. In the last section of this paper, the main find-ings are summarized. 2 Three different â€Å"stages† of Malka Magnesia’s illness 2.1 Malka secludes to the attic The first stage of Malka’s illness, in which she secludes herself in the attic and refuses to go to neither school or work, at first glance seems rather harmless: It is mentioned that she is a political science student with an A... ...lized indefinitely (cf. Gray/O’Reilly 2009). This would be indeed akin to being incarcerated for the rest of her life, something usually reserved for serious criminal offenders. Only her treatment would probably improve her condition insofar that she will be able to be released. All in all, this alternative seems worse than involuntary medication. Works Cited Department of Justice (2010): Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. http://laws.justice.gc.ca/en/charter/1.html#anchorbo-ga:l_I. (Last retrieved: December 7th, 2010). Gray, J. /O'Reilly, R. (2009): Supreme court of Canada's "Beautiful Mind" case. In: International journal of law and psychiatry, Vol. 32, Issue 5, pp. 315-322. Gupta, M. (2001): Treatment refusal in the involuntarily hospitalized psychiatric population: Canadian policy and practice. In: Medicine and Law, Vol. 20, Issue 2, pp. 245-265.

Frank Too Big Too Ignore Essay

â€Å"Income Inequality: Too Big to Ignore† Summary Robert Frank, a professer at Cornell University, published an article for the New York Times on October 16, 2010. The title of the article was â€Å"Income Inequality: Too Big to Ignore†. In â€Å"Income Inequality: Too Big to Ignore†, Frank argues that there are differences in the social classes of the American people and that it is having a negative effect on our economy’s growth. Frank explains that middle class citizens are in a struggle to maintain a good financial position. Meanwhile, the upper class citizens are spending copious amounts of money which makes it increasingly more difficult for the middle class to meet their basic needs. He says that the middle class are looking toward upper class citizens, comparing their posesions as well as their financial positions which makes the middle class feel financially unstable. Frank explains that the income gap between the classes are causing distress on marriages of American citizens. He states that divorce rates rise when people are in financial distress. in conjunction with finincial uneasyness, Frank explains that the willingness to ignore infrastructure is an effect as well as the relocation of lower class families to places that are further away from their places of employment. Frank concludes by how the income gap is not only unfair, but that it would be unwise to continue on the current path of income inequality. Connections Frank has a very bleak view of the economic status of America in which he shares with Herbert. One of the main evidence’s of this point is the comparison of Frank’s quote in which he states â€Å"By contrast, during the last three decades, the economy has grown much more slowly, and our infrastructure has fallen into grave disrepair.† (580) with Herbert’s quote â€Å"It will likely take many years, perhaps a decade or more, to get employment back to a level at which one could fairly say the economy is thriving.† (564) In comparison between Frank and Thomas, each author believes that there is something wrong with the system and that the American people need to do something about it. This can be justified within Thomas’ and Frank’s articles. Frank states â€Å"No one dares to argue that rising inequality is required in the name of fairness. So maybe we should just agree that it’s a bad thing – and try to do something about it.†(584). Thomas explains â€Å"We must also understand what got us here and the path that leads upward.† (570) Frank can also agree with Brandon King in the fact that America is still repairable. King states â€Å"If the Great Recession has taught us anything, it is that planning for the future by saving more and enacting policies that sustain economic growth are what will keep the American Dream alive.† In comparison, Frank believes that we need to consult the problem in order to repair it.

My Last Duchess Practice Commentary

We know that it is from a first errors perspective as personal pronouns are used and we know that the narrator is Nell because she comes in other stories from the same anthology such as With Art of Cooking and Serving'. The first paragraph starts with the first line from the poem and introduces the character Of Miss Bessie. The line from the poem creates a literary allusion and shows how the poem by Browning is connected to this story. It is clear that Miss Bessie is a teacher in this story addressing a class of high school students.The nouns â€Å"Gorilla, Scrip, Hippo† are used for other teachers. This name calling is comical but also shows how Miss Bessie is different from the other teachers as she has a comparatively more respectful name among her students. There is a use of colon before listing the names and Miss Besides dialogues are given in quotations. The paragraph ends with Miss Bessie asking a question to her class. The purpose of this paragraph is to introduce the character of Miss Bessie, briefly give the setting of the classroom and show how that poem by Browning is connected to the story.The second paragraph is a lot more secretive about the classroom and the setting outside the room. We get a lot of visual imagery of the sky outside which is described as a â€Å"hazy blue, a warm, drowsy color†. These words give the reader a sense of laziness and the relaxed atmosphere outside the classroom. Also the fact that the students â€Å"couldn't see anything out of them[the windows] except the sky† suggests that classroom is confining. She then goes on to describe the sky in even more detail as â€Å"at the edge of eye sight, huge and featureless and soothing, rolling on and on like the sea†.Here the writer makes a simile between the sky and sea but the sky could also be a motif for Knell's future after high school as she is about to graduate soon and doesn't know what she wants to do, but her time is passing away just like t he sky. We also get an auditory of other the some flies â€Å"buzzing† and â€Å"bumbling† in the classroom. This shows that Nell is distracted as she is paying attention to these tiny details instead of paying attention in class. She also says she â€Å"couldn't risk turning [her] head† to see the flies which makes the action sound more dangerous than it should be.The paragraph ends with her saying â€Å"l was supposed to be thinking about last†. This takes Nell and the reader back to the class where Miss Bessie is discussing the poem. â€Å"Last† being the last sentence in the paragraph also gives a sense of ending to the reader. The purpose of this paragraph is to contrast the confined setting inside the classroom with the freedom and space outside the classroom and also show a indirectly characterize Nell. The third paragraph starts with the word â€Å"last† repeated which says that Nell is really thinking about the poem.We also get an i nsight into what Nell thinks a duchess is like when she describes it as an â€Å"instituting rustle, a whispering: taffeta brushing over a floor†. Such an auditory and visual imagery gives the reader a sense of royalty and luxury. She then goes on to describe the sleepy atmosphere in the classroom saying â€Å"it was hard to resist dozing off, drifting down into reverie or half sleep† and this contrasts with the lively atmosphere outside the classroom as â€Å"the trees outside were flowering' and â€Å"pollen was eddying everywhere†. She says this is during the month of May which gives us he wider setting and the season which is spring here.Words such as â€Å"classroom†, â€Å"metal framed desks† give us a sense of confinement. It mullein's thoughts and views are confined by what she is being taught in the class. The classroom with â€Å"the vibration of it's newness† is juxtaposed with â€Å"the old smell in the room† given off by the adolescents in there. This shows how even though something may change over time, others remain unchanged. This gives a sense of timelessness. We also get some unpleasant olfactory imagery when she describes the old smell as â€Å"fermenting', â€Å"LIFO', â€Å"salty†.The fourth paragraph starts with the word â€Å"last† just like the previous paragraph. This creates parallelism with the previous paragraph which also started with the same word. It shows how Nell diverged from the topic for a bit and is again thinking about it. She creates a simile between the number of duchesses and a chorus line to help us visualize how many duchesses there might have been before. The words â€Å"gone, over with, left behind† create negative diction to imply that something terrible might have happened to the duchess.In terms f structure this is a short paragraph compared to others so far and gives a sense of abruptness. The purpose of these first four paragraphs of the s hort story is to introduce two of the main characters, the protagonist Nell and her English teacher Miss Bessie, give the audience the setting and show how the poem in discussion is an important part of the story. The audience for this short story is adolescents in high school as the protagonist herself is a teenager and is going through an important transition in her life that the adolescents can relate to.