International Business Decision Making Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

International Business Decision Making - Essay Example One or two decisions makers are however given the decision taking authority but limited with number of decisions to be taken. Because of this most of the decisions are delayed and memos seeking claims are passed slowly gathering signatures on the way. This slow process is however adversely affecting the airlines in today's competitive environment, where decisions are to be taken fast. In the air transport sector, there is lots of uncertainty which largely depends on consumer behavior. The logics used for estimations of operations and environments are not very clear. Under this sector, many important decisions like the supply of services etc. are based on these estimates and therefore a clear decision has to be taken. The carrier's supply decision making process is investigated, first when the demand function is obtained through classical methods then when it is given by a fuzzy function. (Charfeddine 2005, P.8). However, there are different interesting equipments set up by Airlines for convenience of their customers, while waiting for the flight arrival, and if there is a long gap between flights and have to stay at airport for quite a long time for uncanny reasons. Few of them are given below: The American Airlines Admirals Club at DFW has a kid's room with computer games and cartoons. O'Hare got a play zone under Terminal Two operated by the Chicago Children's Museum. San Francisco has Kids' Spot in Terminal 3. Vancouver's international terminal has a man-made stream that leads to an aquarium filled with 850 sea creatures and 1000 jellyfish tank. Singapore's Airport was named best airport in world for past 2 decades by Business Traveler magazine. It contains exotic gardens, two house tour nearby Singapore, napping rooms as also a movie theatre. All these facilities can attract the customers and are made in the interest of customers who have to wait for long hours for their flights to arrive and have nothing to do, can take advantage of all these beautiful arrangements. There are online travels shopping services available by airline through which you can track airline ticket pricing for leisure as well as business travels; the website helps the travelers easily compare the flight options and airfares. (The inside on how airlines set fares and make decisions. 2007). "Airline transport is a quite booming industry with an expected yearly growth rate of 6% for the 5 coming years. But airline transport is also a difficult industry, particularly for old European companies with heavy management structures, unionized personnel, and poor flexibility." The to and fro operations of the company takes place from Brussels airport. Here there are different options of operating more lines and with high efficient aircrafts, both in Europe and intercontinental, as additional traffic is generated by transfer passengers flying between their origin and

LeBlanc’s Analysis of Sexuality in Chopin’s The Awakening Essay

LeBlanc’s Analysis of Sexuality in Chopin’s The Awakening Definitions are tricky things. Such is the conclusion of Ross C. Murfin in his attempts to spell out the major literary theories discussed in our text: "attempts to highlight the difference between feminist and gender criticism are inevitably prone to reductive overgeneralization and occasional distortion"(footnote p.226). Such is the conclusion of gender theorists in general in their pursuit of critiquing the traditional definitions of male/ female, masculine/ feminine, and heterosexual/ homosexual. Such is my conclusion in reading Elizabeth LeBlanc's attempts at defining and utilizing the notion of the "metaphorical lesbian" in her analysis of Kate Chopin's The Awakening. Tricky as they may be, however, definitions, at least in our efforts to formulate them, constitute our lives, our thought processes, and our discourse: Who are we? What is our purpose? What does it all mean? With this in mind, what are we to make of the "metaphorical lesbian" or of the "real" lesbian? Although I f ound LeBlanc's essay to be exceptionally interesting in its formulations and insights, after reading it I am, nonetheless, left with the feeling that her definitions have become so broad as to seemingly negate any tangible, differentiated meaning. Within the essay, LeBlanc uses Bonnie Zimmerman's concept of the "metaphorical lesbian," Adrienne Rich's concept of "compulsory heterosexuality," and de Lauretis' rejection of a biological definition of feminine gender in reevaluating The Awakening as a lesbian text. In doing so, she defines Edna Pontellier as this "metaphorical lesbian" in that the character repudiates the societal "myth of woman," fosters "women-identified" experience, crea... ...nature. As the novel progresses, Edna seems to pull away from her female relationships in that she stops receiving her women callers and even visits with Adele less frequently. Edna seems concerned with her sole self and its enrichment more than with forming and/or maintaining bonds with anyone else, except for maybe the male Robert. Even in regards to her sexuality, she appears to be more interested in the sexual feelings themselves than in who is creating them for her, such as with her indifference towards Arobin after their sexual interaction. In this light, perhaps Edna is more of a "metaphorical masturbator" than a "metaphorical lesbian." Regardless of Edna's metaphors, however, LeBlanc's metaphors in describing her are extremely inclusive in a way that leaves telling gaps. LeBlanc's "metaphorical lesbian" can thus be seen in actuality as a metaphorical nebula.

Societies of Chesapeake Bay and New England Colonies

Societies of Chesapeake Bay and New England Colonies Many settlers who came to the New World from Britain in the early seventeenth century sought to establish a settlement for motives including economic and religious freedom in areas such as Chesapeake Bay colonies that comprised of Virginia and Maryland colonies and the New England colonies that consisted of Connecticut, Maine, and Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island. Settlers who often came to these regions came with varying motivations, settled into different regions that had varying geographies, and encountered different circumstances. Through the passing of time, these particular distinctions would contribute into casting the two regions into two distinct societies. While those who settled in the early sixteenth centuries in the New England and Chesapeake Bay colonies were mostly settled by the English, on the contrary to what most believe, these two regions developed into two distinct societies by the eighteenth century. These societies were able to be characterized through their differences in many aspects of society including politically, economically, socially, and educationally. One aspect that illustrates difference between the Chesapeake Bay and New England colonies was the social differences that the two regions developed. For example, in the Chesapeake region, disease such as dysentery, typhoid fever, and malaria ravaged through the area. Unclean air and the hot climate further spread disease amongst the settlers. These factors had larger implications for Chesapeake colony society. With the combination of these factors, an individual living in the Chesapeake often had their life cut short by an average of ten years than an individual in the New England colony. As a result of shorter life spans, many families were disunited as widows were left with young children to support. Thus, women had a greater status than women in the New England colonies. Women of the Chesapeake region were able to inherit their husband’s estates and were issued a different property title. Disease also affected the population growth of the Chesapeake region. Since disease was widespread and many women did not migrate to the region, fertility rates were low. However, in the New England colonies, where a combination of clean air and colder climate helped decrease the risk of diseases, an individual tended to outlive their ounterpart in the Chesapeake region. Furthermore, settlers tended to migrate as families to the New England colonies, so the population was able to grow quicker. With a longer life, an individual could see the upbringing of their grandchildren. They had a pivotal role in ensuring the children grew up in a nurturing environment and that these c hildren followed the morale and guidelines of society. Early marriage and high fertility rates contributed in a booming birthrate. These facets contributed to the creation a strong, tranquil social structure of the New England colonies. Also unlike their Chesapeake counterparts, women in the New England colonies gave up there property rights when they married because Puritan lawmakers worried that recognizing women’s separate rights would cause conflicts between the husband and wife. As illustrated through these examples, New England and Chesapeake colonies were varied through social aspects of their societies. Another aspect in which the two regions differentiated in were economically. For example, in New England colonies, where there was not much arable land, the settlers were forced to depend on more livestock such as pigs, cattle, and sheep. Nonetheless, the settlers were able to create a small varied assortment of crops from the little land that they had. Furthermore, settlers of the New England region developed other industries such as developing their coastlines and built them for use as harbors for industries such as fishing and shipbuilding. In contrast to the New England region, the Chesapeake Bay colonies were quite different economically. The colonies of this region were much more dependent on agriculture economically. The settlers widely grew the addictive tobacco plant after John Rolfe (settler of the Virginia colony and the husband of Pocahantas) improved the bitterness of the plant. Thus, the demand for the plant grew steadily in England. This dependency on agriculture would eventually advance where individuals would create plantation system in order to meet the demands. Once again, as illustrated, Chesapeake and the New England region were different through their economic standards is one of the way that these two regions developed into distinct societies. These different economic characteristics eventually leads to another differentiation in these two colonial societies. In addition to these two societies differing economically and socially, these colonial regions also differed in the political aspects. For instance, in the New England colonies, especially in the colony of Connecticut, the government was based on a town system. The congregational Puritan churches of the region were where the adult men would gather and vote. The New England villagers voted on aspects such as electing their officials, appointing schoolmasters, as well as discussing daily matters. The colonists of this region saw sovereignty as being in the towns. The colonists also adopted this idea as a result of their conviction of unity for purpose. Conversely, the governments of the Chesapeake region operated more on a county system such as that of the House of Burgesses, where the colonists met on a yearly basis. This was a result of the people being spread out from their use of the plantation that tended to distribute the population throughout the region. As demonstrated, the New England colonies form of government varied widely from the Chesapeake form of government. New England’s use of the town meeting system and the Chesapeake colonies use of the county system show the differing political viewpoints, just one of the aspects that defined the two regions as two different distinct societies. Although the Chesapeake and New England colonies were considered monolithic when they were first settled in the early sixteenth century, the passing of time would eventually these regions into two distinctive societies. Those differences that define the characteristics of these two societies are essential because they play an essential role in the creation in several facets United States history such as the development of the government (as later shown in history through Roger Sherman‘s Connecticut Compromise) and social and political issues such as slavery. The Chesapeake Bay and New England colonies were indeed significant regions; even though they varied in many aspects, played a significant role in shaping the attitudes of American society later in the nation’s history.

The Meaning of Literature - William J. Long

from English Literature: Its History and Its Significance for the Life of the English Speaking World (1909) William J. Long uses the analogy of a boy and man walking along a seashore and finding a shell. Heres what he writes about books, reading, and the meaning of literature... The Shell and the Book A child and a man were one day walking on the seashore when the child found a little shell and held it to his ear. Suddenly he heard sounds,--strange, low, melodious sounds, as if the shell were remembering and repeating to itself the murmurs of its ocean home. The childs face filled with wonder as he listened. Here in the little shell, apparently, was a voice from another world, and he listened with delight to its mystery and music. Then came the man, explaining that the child heard nothing strange; that the pearly curves of the shell simply caught a multitude of sounds too faint for human ears, and filled the glimmering hollows with the murmur of innumerable echoes. It was not a new world, but only the unnoticed harmony of the old that had aroused the childs wonder. Some such experience as this awaits us when we begin the study of literature, which has always two aspects, one of simple enjoyment and appreciation, the other of analysis and exact description. Let a little song appeal to the ear, or a noble book to the heart, and for the moment, at least, we discover a new world, a world so different from our own that it seems a place of dreams and magic. To enter and enjoy this new world, to love good books for their own sake, is the chief thing; to analyze and explain them is a less joyous but still an important matter. Behind every book is a man; behind the man is the race; and behind the race are the natural and social environments whose influence is unconsciously reflected. These also we must know, if the book is to speak its whole message. In a word, we have now reached a point where we wish to understand as well as to enjoy literature; and the first step, since exact definition is impossible, is to determine some of its essential qualities. Meaning: The Shell and the BookQualities of LiteratureImportance of LiteratureSummery The first significant thing is the essentially artistic quality of all literature. All art is the expression of life in forms of truth and beauty; or rather, it is the reflection of some truth and beauty which are in the world, but which remain unnoticed until brought to our attention by some sensitive human soul, just as the delicate curves of the shell reflect sounds and harmonies too faint to be otherwise noticed. A hundred men may pass a hayfield and see only the sweaty toil and the windrows of dried grass; but here is one who pauses by a Roumanian meadow, where girls are making hay and singing as they work. He looks deeper, sees truth and beauty where we see only dead grass, and he reflects what he sees in a little poem in which the hay tells its own story: Yesterdays flowers am I,And I have drunk my last sweet draught of dew.Young maidens came and sang me to my death;The moon looks down and sees me in my shroud,The shroud of my last dew.Yesterdays flowers that are yet in meMust needs make way for all to-morrows flowers.The maidens, too, that sang me to my deathMust even so make way for all the maidsThat are to come.And as my soul, so too their soul will beLaden with fragrance of the days gone by.The maidens that to-morrow come this wayWill not remember that I once did bloom,For they will only see the new-born flowers.Yet will my perfume-laden soul bring back,As a sweet memory, to womens heartsTheir days of maidenhood.And then they will be sorry that they cameTo sing me to my death;And all the butterflies will mourn for me.I bear away with meThe sunshines dear remembrance, and the lowSoft murmurs of the spring.My breath is sweet as childrens prattle is;I drank in all the whole earths fruitfulness,To make of it the fragrance of my soulTh at shall outlive my death. One who reads only that first exquisite line, Yesterdays flowers am I, can never again see hay without recalling the beauty that was hidden from his eyes until the poet found it. In the same pleasing, surprising way, all artistic work must be a kind of revelation. Thus architecture is probably the oldest of the arts; yet we still have many builders but few architects, that is, men whose work in wood or stone suggests some hidden truth and beauty to the human senses. So in literature, which is the art that expresses life in words that appeal to our own sense of the beautiful, we have many writers but few artists. In the broadest sense, perhaps, literature means simply the written records of the race, including all its history and sciences, as well as its poems and novels; in the narrower sense literature is the artistic record of life, and most of our writing is excluded from it, just as the mass of our buildings, mere shelters from storm and from cold, are excluded from architecture. A history or a work of science may be and sometimes is literature, but only as we forget the subject-matter and the presentation of facts in the simple beauty of its expression. Suggestive The second quality of literature is its suggestiveness, its appeal to our emotions and imagination rather than to our intellect. It is not so much what it says as what it awakens in us that constitutes its charm. When Milton makes Satan say, Myself am Hell, he does not state any fact, but rather opens up in these three tremendous words a whole world of speculation and imagination. When Faustus in the presence of Helen asks, Was this the face that launched a thousand ships? he does not state a fact or expect an answer. He opens a door through which our imagination enters a new world, a world of music, love, beauty, heroism,--the whole splendid world of Greek literature. Such magic is in words. When Shakespeare describes the young Biron as speaking In such apt and gracious wordsThat aged ears play truant at his tales, he has unconsciously given not only an excellent description of himself, but the measure of all literature, which makes us play truant with the present world and run away to live awhile in the pleasant realm of fancy. The province of all art is not to instruct but to delight; and only as literature delights us, causing each reader to build in his own soul that lordly pleasure house of which Tennyson dreamed in his Palace of Art, is it worthy of its name. Permanent The third characteristic of literature, arising directly from the other two, is its permanence. The world does not live by bread alone. Notwithstanding its hurry and bustle and apparent absorption in material things, it does not willingly let any beautiful thing perish. This is even more true of its songs than of its painting and sculpture; though permanence is a quality we should hardly expect in the present deluge of books and magazines pouring day and night and to know him, the man of any age, we must search deeper than his history. History records his deeds, his outward acts largely; but every great act springs from an ideal, and to understand this we must read his literature, where we find his ideals recorded. When we read a history of the Anglo-Saxons, for instance, we learn that they were sea rovers, pirates, explorers, great eaters and drinkers; and we know something of their hovels and habits, and the lands which they harried and plundered. All that is interesting; but it do es not tell us what most we want to know about these old ancestors of ours,--not only what they did, but what they thought and felt; how they looked on life and death; what they loved, what they feared, and what they reverenced in God and man. Then we turn from history to the literature which they themselves produced, and instantly we become acquainted. These hardy people were not simply fighters and freebooters; they were men like ourselves; their emotions awaken instant response in the souls of their descendants. At the words of their gleemen we thrill again to their wild love of freedom and the open sea; we grow tender at their love of home, and patriotic at their deathless loyalty to their chief, whom they chose for themselves and hoisted on their shields in symbol of his leadership. Once more we grow respectful in the presence of pure womanhood, or melancholy before the sorrows and problems of life, or humbly confident, looking up to the God whom they dared to call the Allfathe r. All these and many more intensely real emotions pass through our souls as we read the few shining fragments of verses that the jealous ages have left us. It is so with any age or people. To understand them we must read not simply their history, which records their deeds, but their literature, which records the dreams that made their deeds possible. So Aristotle was profoundly right when he said that poetry is more serious and philosophical than history; and Goethe, when he explained literature as the humanization of the whole world. Meaning: The Shell and the BookQualities of LiteratureImportance of LiteratureSummery So, why is Literature important? How does it show itself as indispensable to a culture? Heres what William Long has to say... Importance of Literature It is a curious and prevalent opinion that literature, like all art, is a mere play of imagination, pleasing enough, like a new novel, but without any serious or practical importance. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Literature preserves the ideals of a people; and ideals--love, faith, duty, friendship, freedom, reverence--are the part of human life most worthy of preservation. The Greeks were a marvelous people; yet of all their mighty works we cherish only a few ideals,--ideals of beauty in perishable stone, and ideals of truth in imperishable prose and poetry. It was simply the ideals of the Greeks and Hebrews and Romans, preserved in their literature, which made them what they were, and which determined their value to future generations. Our democracy, the boast of all English-speaking nations, is a dream; not the doubtful and sometimes disheartening spectacle presented in our legislative halls, but the lovely and immortal ideal of a free and equal manhood, preserved as a most precious heritage in every great literature from the Greeks to the Anglo-Saxons. All our arts, our sciences, even our inventions are founded squarely upon ideals; for under every invention is still the dream of Beowulf, that man may overcome the forces of nature; and the foundation of all our sciences and discoveries is the immortal dream that men shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. In a word, our whole civilization, our freedom, our progress, our homes, our religion, rest solidly upon ideals for their foundation. Nothing but an ideal ever endures upon earth. It is therefore impossible to overestimate the practical importance of literature, which preserves these ideals from fathers to sons, while men, cities, governments, civilizations, vanish from the face of the earth. It is only when we remember this that we appreciate the action of the devout Mussulman, who picks up and carefully preserves every scrap of paper on which words are written, because the scrap may perchance contain the name of Allah, and the ideal is too enormously important to be neglected or lost. Meaning: The Shell and the BookQualities of LiteratureImportance of LiteratureSummery So, to sum up, William Long explains that Literature is the expression of life... Summary of the Subject We are now ready, if not to define, at least to understand a little more clearly the object of our present study. Literature is the expression of life in words of truth and beauty; it is the written record of mans spirit, of his thoughts, emotions, aspirations; it is the history, and the only history, of the human soul. It is characterized by its artistic, its suggestive, its permanent qualities. Its two tests are its universal interest and its personal style. Its object, aside from the delight it gives us, is to know man, that is, the soul of man rather than his actions; and since it preserves to the race the ideals upon which all our civilization is founded, it is one of the most important and delightful subjects that can occupy the human mind. Meaning: The Shell and the BookQualities of LiteratureImportance of LiteratureSummery