Statista Report Essay Example for Free

Statista Report Essay The Print Media surveys in Spain EGM ? The EGM is the Print Media survey in Spain †¢ Since 1968 †¢ Multimedia: †¢ Newspapers (currency) †¢ Magazines (currency) †¢ Radio (currency) †¢ Cinema †¢ Tv (Referential for meters) †¢ Internet (Referential for meters) †¢ Outdoors †¢ The EGM is the Cross Media survey in Spain 2 The Print Media surveys in Spain EGM Radio n = 36. 000 EGM 2000 EGM Multimedia n = 43. 000 The Print Media surveys in Spain EGM Radio n = 36. 000 EGM 2007 EGM Newspaper n = 32. 000 EGM Multimedia n = 43. 000 3 The Print Media surveys in Spain EGM With these extensions we have two different data for Radio and Newspapers: ? The official data (multimedia+monomedia) ? The multimedia data from the Cross Media Survey Example: In 2007 the official audience of â€Å"El Pais was 2,234,000 readers, and the result for the Cross Media Survey was 2,127,000 readers, some 5% less. The Print Media surveys in Spain EGM The â€Å"Market† accepted the coexistence of two different data: ? â€Å"the official data†, currency for the media, is used in the monomedia advertising plans for Radio or Newspapers. ? â€Å"the other data† is used in the multimedia advertising plan where Radio stations or Newspapers titles are included. 4 The Print Media surveys in Spain EGM Radio n = 49. 000 EGM 2008 EGM Newspaper n = 45. 000 EGM Multimedia EGM Magazine n = 20. 000 n = 30. 000 EGM TV n = 13. 000 The Print Media surveys in Spain EGM The Market demanded the implementation of a Data Fusion Process with the following conditions: ? Audience data for each title, station, etc, must fully coincide with the data that comes from each official source. ? The procedure must be traceable. ? Lastly, it would be convenient that the procedure not imply a long-time frame to come up with presentable data. 5 The Print Media surveys in Spain Data Fusion: Origin Interviews: MULTIMEDIA 30. 00 DEMO GRAPHICS OTHERS INTERNET CINEMA OUTDOORS + LIFE STYLE EQUIPMENT CONSUMPTION + NEWSPAPERS RADIO MAGAZINES TV MOMOMEDIA NEWSPAPERS + 45. 000 + DEMO GRAPHICS + NEWSPAPERS + + + MOMOMEDIA RADIO + 49. 000 + DEMO GRAPHICS + + + + RADIO + + MOMOMEDIA MAGAZINES + 20. 000 + DEMO GRAPHICS + + + + + MAGAZINES + MOMOMEDIA TV + 13. 000 + DEMO GRAPHICS + + + + + + TV The Print Media surveys i n Spain Data Fusion. Final Objetive Interviews: MULTIMEDIA 30. 000 DEMO GRAPHICS OTHERS INTERNET CINEMA OUTDOORS + LIFE STYLE EQUIPMENT CONSUMPTION + NEWSPAPERS RADIO MAGAZINES TV MOMOMEDIA NEWSPAPERS + 45. 000 DEMO GRAPHICS + NEWSPAPERS + + + MOMOMEDIA RADIO + 49. 000 + DEMO GRAPHICS + + + + RADIO + + MOMOMEDIA MAGAZINES + 20. 000 + DEMO GRAPHICS + + + + + MAGAZINES + MOMOMEDIA TV + 13. 000 + DEMO GRAPHICS + + + + + + TV = TOTAL = DEMO GRAPHICS = OTHERS INTERNET CINEMA OUTDOORS = LIFE STYLE EQUIPMENT CONSUMPTION = NEWSPAPERS = RADIO = MAGAZINES = TV 6 The Print Media surveys in Spain Data Fusion. System We used predefined strata of known size in the population: Province (50) x Town Size (2) x Week Day (2)= 200 strata Province (50) x Town Size (2) x Gender (2)= 200 strata (Depending on the Media being fused) We wanted to make sure that the strata of the 5 studies and the sum of the 5 original files amount to the same as the population within each strata: Example: Province Valencia Town Size + 50. 000 Gender Men Population 902,626 The Print Media surveys in Spain Data Fusion. System The sum file of the 5 initial surveys has missing information that we are going to fulfill in 5 steps, adding with each step the information of one of the media with monomedia extention, and the rest of the information that only exists in the multimedia survey. 7 The Print Media surveys in Spain Data Fusion. System In each strata we used a donor-receiving system, assigned the information to each receiver of the closest donor of the available ones, computed the range on the basis of a wide set of variables: Age Role Social Status Weekday Language Household Size Town Etc. Nationality Children in home Sex The Print Media surveys in Spain Data Fusion. System Distances are rank ordered and the pair of most similar individuals is selected: For each stratus h 1 wr1 2 wr2 Receivers †¦ †¦ j wrj †¦ q wrq Donors 1 2 . . i . . p Weight Weight wd1 wd2 †¦ †¦ wdi †¦ †¦ wdp Distance Matrix 8 The Print Media surveys in Spain Data Fusion. System Donors and their weights: Distance matrix is computed and distances are rank ordered from greatest to lowest. Receivers and their weights: Total Receivers weight: 3,10 0,60 1,40 1,80 1,10 8,00 3,00 1,50 2,00 1,00 0,50 8,00 Total donors weight 8 2 6 1 3 7 5 Distance Matrix The Print Media surveys in Spain Data Fusion. System Donors and their weights: Pair with the lowest distance between them is selected. Receivers and their weights: Total Receivers weight: 3,10 0,60 1,40 1,80 1,10 8,00 3,00 1,50 2,00 1,00 0,50 8,00 Total donors weight 8 2 6 1 3 7 5 Distance Matrix 9 The Print Media surveys in Spain Data Fusion. System Donors and their weights: Receiver is pasted donor information Receivers and their weights: Total Receivers weight: 3,10 0,60 1,40 1,80 1,10 8,00 3,00 1,50 2,00 1,00 0,50 8,00 Total donors weight 8 2 6 1 3 7 5 Distance Matrix Donor weight greater than receiver weight The Print Media surveys in Spain Data Fusion. System Donors and their weights: Receiver is written in to the fused file with its own weight and deleted from the distance table Receivers and their weights: Total Receivers weight: 3,10 0,60 1,40 1,80 1,10 8,00 3,00 1,50 2,00 1,00 0,50 8,00 Total donors weight 8 2 6 1 3 7 5 Distance Matrix Donor weight greater than receiver weight 0 The Print Media surveys in Spain Data Fusion. System Donors and their weights: Donor finishes in the table with a weight equal to the difference in weight bettewn that of the donor and that of the receiver Receivers and their weights: Total Receivers weight: 3,10 0,60 1,40 1,80 1,10 7,40 3,00 1,50 2,00 0,40 0,50 7,40 Total donors weight 8 2 6 1 3 7 5 Distance Matrix Donor weight greater than receiver weight The Print Media surveys in Spain Data Fusion. System Donors and their weights: Pair with the lowest distance between them is selected. Receivers and their weights: Total Receivers weight: 3,10 0,60 1,40 1,80 ,10 7,40 3,00 1,50 2,00 0,40 0,50 7,40 Total donors weight 8 2 6 1 3 7 5 Distance Matrix 11 The Print Media surveys in Spain Data Fusion. System Donors and their weights: Receiver is pasted donor information Receivers and their weights: Total Receivers weight: 3,10 0,60 1,40 1,80 1,10 7,40 3,00 1,50 2,00 0,40 0,50 7,40 Total donors weight 8 2 6 1 3 7 5 Distance Matrix Donor weight less than receiver weight The Print Media surveys in Spain Data Fusion. System Donors and their weights: Receiver is written to the fused file with a weight equal to the donor weight Receivers and their weights: Total Receivers weight: ,10 0,60 1,40 1,80 1,10 7,40 3,00 1,50 2,00 0,40 0,50 7,40 Total donors weight 8 2 6 1 3 7 5 Distance Mat rix Donor weight less than receiver weight 12 The Print Media surveys in Spain Data Fusion. System Donors and their weights: Receiver finishes in the table with a weight equal to the difference in weight Donor is deleted from the distance table Receivers and their weights: Total Receivers weight: 1,10 0,60 1,40 1,80 1,10 5,40 3,00 1,50 2,00 0,40 0,50 5,40 Total donors weight 8 2 6 1 3 7 5 Distance Matrix Donor weight less than receiver weight The Print Media surveys in Spain Conclusions Donor file, Receiver file and Fused file contain exactly the same information in the imputed variables, and this for all the common strata and for all their possible additions. Internal relations among fused variables are kept and are the same for all the files and surveys. For those variables not controlled, distributions should be as similar as possible. Traceability is possible, one can know exactly how many times each record is replicated, and how original interviews are the base for each data. 13 Thank you! WRRS Valencia 2009 14

Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining

Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining Melchor Abejon With the increasing use of electronic health records (EHR), data collection in many Health Care Organizations (HCOs) has improved and accumulated at a remarkable pace. EHRs have enabled HCOs to generate and collect a vast amount of data and information from their daily encounter of patients. And this is when Health Informatics (HI) comes into play- to develop and employ computational theories, tools and techniques that can assist in extracting useful information and knowledge from these volumes of data, and use this knowledge to uncover useful patterns and to create models that can enhance decision-making and processes in the healthcare and HI industry. This process is called the Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining (KDDM). The purpose of this paper is to give an overview on why KDDM is a necessity in the healthcare and HI industry, and also to discuss how the aforementioned technique continues to improve the healthcare and HI industry. Benefits of KDDM in the Healthcare Industry The abundance of data and information in healthcare had made KDDM a necessity. According to Taranu (2015), with the growing rate of data accumulation in HCOs, there is a need for expert analysis of these vast medical data. The ability to use these data in order to extract useful information is a key factor for many health institutions to establish quality healthcare. Listed below are some of the benefits of KDDM in the healthcare industry: Increase in the accuracy of diagnoses. The use of predictive algorithms can help healthcare providers such as the physicians to make diagnosis more accurate and decide for the appropriate treatment for their patients. Prediction of patient population risk. KDDM enables the creation of programs and risk models that can be employed to recognize and detect high-risk patients and chronic diseases. Because of this, healthcare providers are able to design the right clinical intervention for their patients. Reduction in the rate of hospital admissions and readmissions. The creation of algorithm and predictive analytics can enable the identification of patients who are at high risk for hospital admissions, thus enabling providers to design more efficient clinical interventions to better treat their patients. Enhancement of clinical decision support. KDDM enables the comparison of symptoms, causes, treatments and analysis of effective clinical intervention for a group of patients. Prevention of diseases and promotion of general public health. The application of predictive analytics particularly in genomics can aid physicians to recognize their patients who are highly at risk of certain diseases. Also, through predictive analytics, pharmaceutical companies are able to develop drugs that suit the needs for specific groups of people. Better patient-related decisions and patient satisfaction. The identification of usage patterns, preferences and the current and future needs of patients can give information that will assist staff in their interaction with their patients. Patients will also be happy because they will be receiving a treatment that will really work for them. Detection of medical insurance fraud and abuse. The detection of unusual claims patterns can assist insurance companies in the detection of medical insurance fraud and abuse. Benefits of KDDM in the Health Informatics Industry According to Shukla, Patel and Sen (2014), HI can be subdivided into four main subfields which are the (a) clinical care, (b) administration of health services, (c) medical research, and (d) education and training; and that each subfield and can be extended and improved with the application of KDDM. Clinical care. One of the applications of HI in healthcare is in the aspect of clinical decision-making through the implementation of the Clinical Decision Support System (CDSS). This computer program is designed to assist healthcare providers in making clinical decisions through (a) information retrieval, (b) alert systems, (c) reminders, (d) suggestion systems, and (e) prediction models. The application of KDDM techniques on the database will render health providers analytical tools and as well as predictive tools that go beyond what is evident from the surface of the data. For example, predictive models can assist physicians to decide whether a certain patient would be treated as inpatient or as an outpatient. Administration of health services. Being an administrator of a healthcare entity can be a very tough job as this position requires daily critical decision making. The quality of information that these critical decisions are based on is an essential factor for this job. The KDDM technique can help in the creation of systems that can predict disease outbreaks, and can give representation of the benefits and the costs of the different preventive measures that are effective against a disease outbreak. Medical research. The application of KDDM is very successful in the medical research. Data mining methods can be applied on the vast medical data to extract useful patterns, predictive scoring systems and cause and effect relationships. Nelson and Staggers (2014, p.56) states KDDM can also be used to patch weaknesses in clinical data that pose a barrier to research. Education and training. E-learning is one of the rapidly growing method of learning in the healthcare and even in the HI industry. The application of KDDM in e-learning can efficiently monitor the progress in the learning process and as well as enhance the learning experience of students, administrators, and educators by recommending different learning methods, resources, and study materials. For educators, it can provide objective feedback about the course and students learning patterns. For administrators, they can learn about the users behavior, so that servers can be optimized and network traffic can be distributed. Through KDDM, the effectiveness of educational programs can be efficiently assessed. Conclusion With the growing accumulation of data in healthcare, no wonder KDDM will continue to be an indispensable tool than can be utilized to extract knowledge and insightful patterns which are essential in the development of systems and models to improve the safety and quality of healthcare. And as the use of health information systems continue to grow, KDDM will continue to mend the weaknesses and imperfections in clinical data to make these data more usable for the benefit of the healthcare and HI industry. References Crockett, D., Johnson, R., Eliason, B. (2014). What is data mining in healthcare? Retrieved January 15, 2017, from https://www.healthcatalyst.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/What-is-data-mining-in-healthcare.pdf Fayyad, U., Shapiro, P., and Smyth, P. (1996). From data mining to knowledge discovering in databases. Retrieved January 15, 2017, from http://www.aaai.org/ojs/index.php/aimagazine/article/viewFile/1230/1131 Miner, L.A. (2014). Seven ways predictive analytics can improve healthcare. Retrieved January 15, 2017, from https://www.elsevier.com/connect/seven-ways-predictive-analytics-can-improve-healthcare Nelson, R. Staggers, N. (2014). Health Informatics: An Interprofessional Approach. St. Louis, MO.: Elsevier Mosby Shukla, D.P., Patel, S.P., Sen, A.K. (2014). A literature review in health informatics using data mining techniques. Retrieved January 15, 2017, from http://ijournals.in/ijshre/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/IJSHRE-2220.pdf Taranut, I.(2015). Data mining in healthcare: Decision making and precision. Retrieved January 15, 2017, from http://eds.b.ebscohost.com.lib.kaplan.edu/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=0be35910-eda5-4fda-a7c2-1a72f0962ec8%40sessionmgr102vid=2hid=114 The Modeling Agency (2015). How data mining is helping healthcare. Retrieved January 15, 2017, from https://the-modeling-agency.com/how-data-mining-is-helping-healthcare/

Marketing Strategies: Bang Olufsen vs. Sony

Marketing Strategies: Bang Olufsen vs. Sony Marketing Strategies and Customer behaviors of High-tech products: Bang Olufsen vs. Sony Introduction The high-tech industry is experiencing furious competition in the global market, especially in the sectors of audio/video, loudspeakers and digital appliances. Bang Olufsen and Sony are both successful organizations offer examples of excellent strategies in their respective markets in the same industry. Compared to Bang Olufsen, Sony is a less expensive brand, which was founded in 1946 in Japan. It is one of the leading electronics and entertainment companies, offering quality digital and media products to the mass global market. Sony stands on a strong foundation of innovation, experience, talent, capital and desire (Sony 2008). Its products and services are available around the world. They are attached with strong design capability, good quality and high prestige. Bang Olufsen (BO) was founded in 1925 by two young Danish engineers, Peter Bang and Svend Olufsen. Known all over the world for spectacular, idea based, quality products (Christensen and Jà ¸rgensen 1997). It produces and develops a wide range of digital appliances as well as audio/video products. This report will assess the effectiveness of distinct marketing strategies of these two organizations, and then identify and analyze their key customer behaviors. Background of the companies 2.1 Sony With its commitment to quality and consistent dedication to customer satisfaction Sony is recognized as a benchmark for New Age technology. Sony adapts Digital Signage, which is a powerful tool to influence Customer behavior, both at point of purchase and at point of sale. Bang Olufsen: Bang and Olufsen have tied with e-commerce giant Amazon to influence their customer behavior, wherein products purchased by the customers will be provided with warranty registration forms which allows customer to register the purchased products for support throughout the life of the product. Key Customers Behaviors Jim Blythe (2006)says that many purchases are made without apparent conscious thought – people often buy as a result of unexplained impulses, or simply fall in love with a product for no apparent reason. In the market of high-tech products, the customer behavior follows the seven stages of CDP (Consumer Decision Process) model . First, they recognize that something is needed in their lives. Then they search for information. The information may be internal (remembering facts about products, or recalling experiences with them) or external (reading about possible products, visiting shops, etc). Based on the information, they conduct the pre-purchase evaluation of alternatives. During the process, they compare a number of factors (such as price, design, functions) of various brands to select the possible alternatives that best fulfill the needs (Yan 2008). Finally, they make the purchase, and then use the product for the purpose of fulfilling the need. The past-consumption evaluat ion will be carried out to consider whether the product actually satisfy the needs or not. They might dispose the product before or at the end of its life cycle (Blythe 2006). A simple goal hierarchy for buying a high-tech product might look like this: Find out which high-tech product best suit the individual needs. Find out which brand has the right product at the right price. Go and buy the product. Bang Olufsen targets the elite group, which can be explained as upper class customers who are educated, well-to-do, cultivated in their interests and highly individualistic and self-motivated. These consumers are normally wealthy with high income and good taste. Most of them have luxury houses/flats and cars. They would like to spend large amount of money to achieve the same quality for their audio and video equipment, long before design-widescreen TVs became fashionable. Bang Olufsen’s designs attract both men and women with a combination of high-end technology, spectacular and often audacious Danish modern styling, excellent performance and extremely functional integration into the typical upper middle class home (Austin and Beyersdorfer 2007). In addition to the luxury offers, Bang Olufsen had introduced a new range of smaller products (such as Serene) with relative lower prices to attract the wealthy fashion-conscious youth market. In a word, these customers are persons who are willing to sacrifice a lot to get the very best in some particular area. For this reason, the step 2 in the goal hierarchy might be missing from their purchasing process as they are wealthy and non-price sensitive, attracted only by the products featured with unique looking, high-end technology, personalization and customization (Dolbow 2002). Compared to Bang Olufsen, Sony’s customers have relatively lower standards of â€Å"lifestyle†, although Sony’s products still have higher prices and better qualities than the industry average. These groups of customers are price-sensitive. They totally follow the CDP and goal hierarchy estimated. Most of Sony’s products are marketed as value for money products with strong brand image and good design. Unlike Bang Olufsen, Sony does not want its products to be zero flaws, but meet the demands of the mass global customers. It limits the application of the high-end technologies such as finer art of design and frequency range to reduce the costs. Individualization is excluded from its production profile for the same reason. Therefore, its products may not be able to fully meet the expectations of one specific person. In such products one feature appeals to one type of person, other features to another, the price, but no features, to a third, etc. But on the whole, the consumer will pay for a number of features that he or she never really wanted and perhaps never will use (Ravasi 2004). Marketing Strategies and Tactics The Bang Olufsen specialist will represent the Bang Olufsen showroom located closest to the customers residence, and the specialist and showroom will then be available for customer services. The Competitive Approach Bang Olufsen always had a more high-brow approach. It competes for upper middle-class discretionary dollars. In the fact, there are no any direct competitors of Bang Olufsen in the high-end electronics industry, because it does not want to make mass-market products with a broad appeal like its competitors – products without any regard for the preferences and needs of the individual end-users. Bang and Olufsen locates the showrooms close to its potential customer’s residence. In addition to the normal working hours, all the services and showrooms are made available to customers by appointment. Resources are selectively employed to serve its end-customers intelligently. Bang Olufsen highlights customization and personalization. It charges premium price to makes individual products for individual people (Hendriksen 2001). Basically, all the products share the same Bang Olufsen qualities, but each of them has a specific design profile that works individually to serve th e end-customers in the market. The integration of unique designs and high qualities are notable selling points of each product. The Quality Approach In parallel with the design and quality, Bang Olufsen, therefore, developed a marketing and communication strategy a lifestyle oriented strategy aimed at a smaller, but more international target group. The targeting strategy was best encapsulated in the advertising slogan of the period: Bang Olufsen is for those who consider taste and quality before price. The products offered by Bang Olufsen are therefore regarded as ‘lifestyle’ products. Each of them is manufactured to the highest standards, and that last 15-20 years instead of the industry typical 24 months. Bang Olufsen conducts a niche marketing strategy by operating under a completely different margin scheme than any of the large, well-sourced players like Sony, Philips, Samsung, Matsushita, Thomason, who all need market share to be visible and profitable (Hendriksen et al., 2002). The Differentiation approach Bang Olufsen is not built on a low cost structure. The advantage of cost leadership does not exist. Each of the products from Bang Olufsen is unique in the market. Product lies not only in the way it looks, but also in the way it works. Intelligent technology, advanced features and unconventional solutions are what set Bang Olufsen apart. Under this strategy Bang Olufsen strengths and skills are used to differentiate the company’s electronic products from those of its potential competitors. The differentiation strategy creates, or emphasizes, a reason why the target customers should buy from Bang Olufsen rather than from its competitors. It also creates a market-based advantage. In this way, Bang Olufsen’s products can command higher prices and margins and thus avoid competing on price alone. In addition, this strategy of BO is hard for potential competitors to imitate, because the differentiation is integrative. All the products are integrations of design, qualit y, aesthetics, and functionality. Marketing Strategies of Sony From a general point of view, Sony conducts a segmentation marketing strategy by dividing products into three main categories: Electronics, Game, and Pictures. This report only highlights the marketing strategy of its electronics division. Sony always responds quickly to catch the popular lifestyle accepted by most of the people. Compared to Bang Olufsen, Sony is more likely to conduct a â€Å"One product for the many† marketing strategy, with mass production to serve the majority of the market. Except the quality, price is utilized as a tool for competing with rivals. In recent years, Sony outsourced most of its non-core businesses such as assembling, packaging to organizations in developing countries for further reductions of its operating costs. The Annual Report 2008 states that Sony successfully re-engineered the company by dramatically reducing operating costs, streamlining the operations. As a result, on an annual basis and compared to three years prior, sales and operating revenue rose 23% (Sony 2008). Marketing 4Ps The report applies a simple marketing mix of 5P’s to analyze the difference between Bang Olufsen and Sony. Product Bang Olufsen Product Strategy Bang Olufsen develops and markets a unique rang of audio/video, communication and multimedia products. All the products are integrations of design, quality, aesthetics, and functionality, which are easily differentiated from the products of other companies (Hendriksen et al., 2002). According to the feature of target customers, Bang Olufsen discovers that their clients usually do not know what they really want. They desire something that could stand out of the mass, or lasts and represents something appeals to them, but not just follow the fashionable style. Bang Olufsen always keep the concept to produce groundbreaking products to satisfy its customers’ needs and update their products more frequently in the dynamic environment. Ground-breaking products have been launched for the audiophile world, with BeoLab 5 named as one of the world’s finest loudspeakers, and within TV (Aigner et al., 2006). Over the past few years, the branded business has extended into new areas. BO has developed sound systems for, so far, six Audi models. These have attracted strong praise with BO being awarded the title of â€Å"Best Brand 2008† in the Car-HiFi category in the respected German auto magazine â€Å"Auto Motor und Sport† (Anthony 2008). In the automotive area, Bang Olufsen has also entered into a strategic partnership with Aston Martin, the UK’s sports car maker, and latest, Mercedes-AMG. Through its Enterprise department, BO focuses on sales to hotels where the company’s products are currently represented in more than 200 five-star hotels across the world. In addition, BO Enterprise has initiated and expanded a number of partnerships with leading property developers for the supply of audio/video products for exclusive property projects (Vej 2007). To ensure that all the products are in the highest standards, Bang Olufsen only concentrates on fewer product categories. Sony – Product Strategy Unlike Bang Olufsen, Sony has a broad list of electronic products. In the fiscal year 2005-2008, it launched the BRAVIA brand of LCD television. It took a strong position in each major market, and became the first to bring to market organic light-emitting diode televisions (Russinovich 2005). Sony mainly focuses on the marketing development to increase the products variety to meet the demands from different customer groups. People at different levels of socioeconomic status may find their favorable products from Sony. Moreover, Sony’s products are normally with a short lifecycle, for example 12-24 months. New products are quickly imitated by the competitors. Therefore, Sony has to update its product lists frequently to catch sales. This typical marketing strategy is also adopted by most of its competitors, such as Apple, Samsung etc. Price In theory, price is really determined by the discovery of what customers perceive is the value of the item on sale. Pricing Strategy of Bang Olufsen According to an online research, the average BO purchase is  £2,800 (Underwood 2005). The prices are much higher than the industry average. The price reflects the product’s quality and brand image (Raun 2009). Customers regard price as one of the notable aspects of Bang Olufsen, which stands for the highest value of design, outstanding performance, durability, and long-term reliable services. Pricing strategy of Sony: Being a premium brand and known for its high quality products, Sony adapts premium prices for the products. It sells its products at comparatively higher price. Promotion Bang Olufsen – Promotion Strategy Bang Olufsen produces differentiated products to satisfy their elite customer group. Around 80% of its sales revenue is generated from between 800-1000 of its customers. It determines that the promotions are only available for a small amount of VIPs, which are especially used to establish the long term relationships with those important customers. Sony – Promotion Strategy Sony adapts dynamic promotion strategies through Marketing communication, Advertising, Sales promotion, Public relations and Direct selling. Place (Distribution) Bang Olufsen – Place (Distribution) Strategy By the end of May 2008, Bang Olufsen has 822 B1 shops across the world, which accounts for 81% of the total turnover. Bang Olufsen dedicates to provide the best services for its customers. Customers could make the appointment online for after working hour services. Because most of its products are very expensive, only small amounts of relatively cheaper products are sold via online dealers. Sony – Place (Distribution) Strategy Sony practices Selective distribution of its products through selective dealers. It distributes products in various channels (Zone-Level, One Level and Two-Level Channels). Sony also distributes through online facility which proved to be more effective and efficient way of distribution. People Bang Olufsen’s Strategy It motivates the people with their knowledge towards technology and provides greater opportunities to explore and carrier growth to achieve. Sony’s Strategy Sony is driven by its mission to offer an opportunity to create and fulfill dreams of all kinds of people, including customers, employees, share holders and business partners. Conclusion This report compares the marketing strategies and key customer behaviors between Bang Olufsen, the very expensive high-tech products provider, and Sony, a less expensive quality high-tech products provider. Although they operate in the same industry, there is no actual competition existing between them as they target different customer groups. Reference Aigner, G., Budzinski, O., and Christiansen, A. (2006). The analysis of coordinated effects in EU merger control: where do we stand after Sony, BMG and Impala, pp. 311–336. Anthony, S. (2008). Sony: Winning the DVD battle but losing the innovation war, Innovation Insights. Austin, R. and Beyersdorfer, D. (2007). Bang Olufsen: Design Driven Innovation, Harvard Business School Case. Blythe, J. (2006). Essentials of marketing communications, Prentice Hall. Christensen, S. and Jà ¸rgensen, J. (1997). Analysing Bang Olufsens BeoLink (R) Audio/Video System Using Coloured Petri Nets, Lecture Notes in Computer Science, pp. 387-406. Dolbow, S. (2002). Bang Olufsen Tunes Sales Channel for S20K Plasma-Based TV System, Brandweek, pp. 14. Hendriksen, O. (2001). Long-term Monitoring at Bang Olufsen Office Building, in Editor (ed)^(eds), Book Long-term Monitoring at Bang Olufsen Office Building, City, pp. Hendriksen, O., Brohus, H., Frier, C., and Heiselberg, P. (2002). Pilot Study Report: Bang Olufsen Head Quarter, Paris, France: International Energy Agency. Raun, H. (2009). Strategisk analyse og và ¦rdiansà ¦ttelse af Bang Olufsen pr 21. oktober 2008. Ravasi, D. (2004). Bang Olufsen A, S, Bocconi, Mailand. Russinovich, M. (2005). Sony, rootkits and digital rights management gone too far, Marks Sysinternals Blog, October, Vol. 31. Sony (2008). Sony Global Annual Report 2008, in Editor (ed)^(eds), Book Sony Global Annual Report 2008, City, Sony, pp. Underwood, R. (2005). The case for fanaticism. At high-end Danish electronics firm Bang Olufsen, design is king, Even if it means sacrificing revenue, FAST COMPANY, Vol. 101, pp. 84. Vej, P. (2007). Bang Olufsen Holding, International Directory of Company Histories: Volume 86, pp. 24. Yan, G. (2008). Sony Style in China,:, No. 010, pp. 22-23. Emergency Planning Techniques: Private and Federal Sector Emergency Planning Techniques: Private and Federal Sector Emergency Planning Abstract The basis of this paper deals with the emergency planning techniques of both the private and the federal sector. They each have their own way of writing and carrying out the emergency plans. There are similarities in each and there are differences in each. However, both have the same goal of protecting people and property. Thoroughly discuss how private planning may differ from governmental emergency planning. Should there be any difference? If so, when and how. Planning for a major disaster can take many different forms. On a governmental level, the federal, state, and local governments are responsible for the protection of its citizens. Emergency planning is designed specifically for this area and can come from such things as the use of intelligence gathering and even Congress passing laws like the USA PATRIOT ACT. On a private level, businesses are responsible for the protection of their employees and assets. More often than not, these emergency plans are also dubbed Business Continuity Plans (BCP). These plans help if a disaster like a tornado should strike their area. Even more narrowed down than that, there are even plans for families to help protect themselves in their home. From top to bottom it is kind of likened to a bulls-eye. The outer circle is the Unites States government all the way to the smaller middle part, the individual/family. The bottom line is that it is important to have some kind of plan in place in all levels to ens ure the utmost safety. On the governmental level, one of the main areas of planning and the one that is forefront in the event of a major national disaster is the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The DHS was created in response to the terrorist attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001. This particular department heads numerous other agencies that assist in the event of a catastrophe of national significance. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) which was created by Jimmy Carter by executive order on March 30, 1979. (Woolley, 2005) The main goal of FEMA is to put together a response plant to catastrophes that happen in the United States which surpass the resources and abilities of local and state jurisdictions. States also have their own emergency management agencies but when an incident is too much for them the governor of the state where the incident takes place must declare a state of emergency and make a formal request for assistance to the President of the United States that F EMA and the Federal Government respond to the disaster. Like most government agencies FEMA is under high scrutiny whenever a disaster occurs. In recent years the agency has not gotten very high marks for their efforts. Most notably are their responses to natural disasters like hurricanes. They are often criticized for their response times like in the cases of hurricanes Hugo in 1989 and Andrew in 1992. Most notably was the way FEMA (and the government as a whole) handled Hurricane Katrina in 2005. In the wake of Katrina, the United States Congress issued a scathing report on how it was handled noting that elements of the National Response Plan were executed late, ineffectively, or not at all. It cited, in part: DHS and FEMA lacked adequate trained and experienced staff for the Katrina response The readiness of FEMA’s national emergency response teams was inadequate and reduced the effectiveness of the federal response Long-standing weaknesses and magnitude of the disaster overwhelmed FEMS’s ability to provide emergency shelter and temporary housing FEMA logistics and contracting systems did not support a targeted, massive, and sustained provision of commodities (Congressional Select Committee, 2006) Get help with your essay from our expert essay writers FEMA is just one part of the National Plan for emergency readiness. Another agency in the mix is the Transportation Security Administration. This agency was also started as a direct result of the 9/11 attacks and is also under the umbrella of the DHS. As stated in their mission statement, â€Å"The Transportation Security Administration protects the Nation’s transportation systems to ensure freedom of movement for people and commerce.† (Transportaton Security Administration, N/A) This particular agency is most noted and seen at our nation’s airports but are also responsible for transportation of land and sea as well. Like FEMA, there have been criticisms of this particular department as well. There have been complaints of invasion of privacy, theft of airline passenger’s possessions, and wasteful spending in its hiring practices. FEMA and the TSA are just a couple of the many areas in which the federal government has set its emergency planning into motion. As stated before, the governmental agencies are under a microscope and when something fails (or appears to have failed) it will be put into the spotlight. Citizens often turn to their governments for answers and direction, as they should, when a disaster occurs. Some involved in security planning privately feel that there are those agencies that need to do more in the way of explaining emergency and security plans to employees. However they also believe that the government has come a long way in emergency planning since the 9/11 attacks on the Pentagon and World Trade Center. In the private sector, planning for an emergency becomes more focused. The emphasis is on a much smaller populace depending on the size of the entity whether it be a business, school, hospital, etc. No matter how much planning or preparation an entity does, there can never assurances that all crisis will be handled flawlessly. If a business fails to plan properly, the likelihood of problems during a disaster will greatly intensify. One issue that arises is that the managers of the business and public safety officials sometimes underestimate the issues that may arise during a crisis situation. Administrators normally don’t have experience or prior training with emergency management issues. That is where the area of the Director of Security would come into play. This person would be responsible for writing up the emergency plan (i.e. Business Continuity Plan). Business continuity plans are essential in helping companies stay afloat through any misfortune and aid them in coming back more quickly after the setbacks. Without the BCP companies could be in great danger of going out of business is a disaster occurs. This could not only impact the business itself but the people it employs and the economy of an area if the business is large enough. Mary Carrido, president MLC Associates stated, After the Oklahoma City bombing, 40 square blocks were barricaded off for weeks. This devastated 4,000 businesses; 210 are not in existence anymore. (Rodetis, 1999) Had there been some kind of back-up plan to help these companies more businesses could have been saved. It’s much easer to minimize a risk than to try and recover from a setback. A thorough plan can take a few months or even years to develop, depending on the size of the organization. Unfortunately a recent study by KPMG, LLP, found nearly 40% of respondents either lacked business contin uity plans or had not tested theirs within the last six months. (Rodetis, 1999) In this day and age, especially with the technology available, it is unbelievable that many businesses do not have proper planning. The old adage of not planning to fail but failing to plan comes to mind. The next part to discuss is the really whittled down part, family planning (not the kind where you want to have kids). This is extremely important on this level too because families should do things like practice regular fire drills so the whole family knows where to go or find exits from the house in the event of a fire. These plans should also involve making sure fire alarms are placed properly throughout the house and ensure that the batteries are in working order. Also if some sort of disaster should occur while the family is away, there should be different means as how to contact one another and have a known meeting place if the family is separated. One should determine the type of risk that is most likely to happen whether it be a hurricane, tornado, man-made disaster, etc. and prepare for those risks. According to the FEMA website, it is suggested that enough food, water, and other supplies are stocked up enough to last at least three days. As written in the paper, the governmental and private sectors are different in many ways but the one underlying similarity is the basic need for protection of life and property. The differences are in the way plans are carried out and how they are managed. The federal government would not have to go through the same processes as say a business would to receive assistance. Ultimately some plan needs to be in place on all levels to minimize the risks and if there are areas in the federal level that need to be changed so response times are better or relief aid gets to an area sooner or mandating that all companies have a document emergency plan, then these actions need to be taken. References Congressional Select Committee. (2006, N/A). Executive Summary of Findings. Retrieved July 16, 2007, from United States Congress: http://www.gpoaccess.gov/katrinareport/execsummary.pdf. Rodetis, S. (1999, February 1). Can your business survive the unexpected?(business continuity plans). Retrieved July 17, 2007, from Journal of Accountancy: http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-53878194.html. Transportaton Security Administration. (N/A, N/A). Mission, Vision, and Core Values (Who We Are). Retrieved July 17, 2007, from Transportation Security Administration: http://www.tsa.gov/who_we_are/mission.shtm. Woolley, L. (2005, September 12). FEMA Disaster of an Agency. Retrieved July 17, 2007, from newsmax.com: http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2005/9/12/102827.shtml.

M-commerce :: essays research papers

Contents Part A: What is M-Commerce? 2 Part B: Terminologies & Standards 2 Part C: Features & Advantages of M-Commerce 3 Part D: Services 3, 4 Part E: Limitations of M-Commerce 4 Part F: Conclusion 4 Part G: References 5 What is Mobile Commerce? M-commerce (mobile commerce) is the buying and selling or transaction of goods and services through wireless devices such as cellular phones and personal digital assistants (PDAs). OR Simply, any e-commerce done through wireless devices (e.g. mobile phones) over any network especially the internet. Some Terminologies & Standards Used in M-Commerce   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  GPS:  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Global Positioning System A system of satellites and receiving devices used to locate positions on the Earth   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  PDA:  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Personal Digital Assistant It’s a handheld wireless computer.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  SMS:  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Short Messaging Service Enables us to send simple text messages.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  EMS:  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Enhanced Messaging Service Enables us to send simple melodies, images, sounds, animations and formatted text.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  MMS:  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Multimedia Messaging Service Enables us to send multimedia messages.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  WAP:  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Wireless Application Protocol It is an international standard for mobile internet access.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Smart Phone: Internet-enabled cell phones A combination of a mobile phone and a PDA.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  GPRS: General Packet Radio Service One of the latest advancements in wireless data. It is used in GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) for transferring data in packets. Features & Advantages of M-Commerce Mobility Users can carry cell phones or other mobile devices anywhere. Reachability With a cell phone a user can be contacted anywhere anytime. Convenience These devices can store data and have advance features and are easy to use. Instant Connectivity Users can connect instantly and easily to the internet through their wireless devices anytime anywhere. Location-Based Services By knowing interests of a user sellers can send user-specific or location-specific advertising messages. Mobile Services Some services offered in m-commerce are:- Entertainment †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Music †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Games †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Graphics †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Video Communications †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Short Messaging †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Multimedia Messaging †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Advertising Messaging †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  E-mail †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Video – Conferencing Transactions †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Banking †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Shopping †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Auctions †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Booking & Reservations Information †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  News †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Sports †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Jokes †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Directory Services †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Maps †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Traffic and Weather †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Stock Exchange Limitations of M-Commerce   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Limited storage capacity of devices   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Hard to browse sites   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Small size of mobile devices (screens, keypads etc.)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Insufficient bandwidth   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Power consumption limitations   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Poor reception in some places (like tunnels) Conclusion Within a few years, there will be well over a billion mobile phone users worldwide and the majority of mobile phones will be connected to the Internet.

We Should Make Snow on the Mountain Essay -- Argumentative Persuasive

We Should Make Snow on the Mountain The varying opinions on whether snow should be made on the Snowbowl Ski Mountain in Flagstaff, Arizona have grown to become a statewide debate. Snowbowl is one of the sacred mountains in the San Francisco Peaks that is very meaningful to the Native people. If snow were to be made on the mountain, it would interfere with the beliefs of many people. On the other hand, many Arizona residents rely on the ski area for its incoming business, recreation, and for providing jobs to many people. The dispute on the expansion of the ski area and the making of snow has continued to be discussed for the last fifteen years. The tribes defending their lands are very confident in the decisions the National Forest has been faced with. Should snow be made on Snowbowl Mountain? The answer is fast approaching. The National Forest Department of Coconino is taking the final public response on the proposed action before a decision is made. It is clear, though, that the proposed improvements for Snowbowl bri ng about many negative factors such as interfering with the Native beliefs, the effects it will have on the economy, and the costliness of the expansion. This almost makes the proposed plan not worth the effort. First, the Native’s beliefs in this area are very important because the land is so sacred to them. They do not want it to be destroyed. â€Å"It’s something so emotional to the Hopi people. The Peaks are part of our everyday lives. It’s not just a significant landscape; it carries the essence of our life as well.† Kuwanwisiwma, chief of the local Hopi tribe, states in an article published in the Arizona Daily Sun (2002). This project is also very unnatural towards the environment. The making of snow is not... ...f you want to put it into western perspective.† In a letter written by the Forest Supervisor, published by the United States Department of Agriculture (2004), Jim Golden, he insures that a decision will be returned to the public on the proposed action at some point in the next three seasons to come, this was in the season of 2002. Although the snowfall this year looks promising so far, there is no guarantee that the area will pull through. With the thirteen Native tribes strongly opposing all proposals, the effect it will have on the economy, and the costliness of the entire plan all working against the project proposal, the Snowbowl expansion may be set aside for more time to come. Satisfying the needs of the two opposing sides will be difficult, but the community will come to realize that the economy of Flagstaff and surrounding people will be affected greatly.

African American Religion Essay

Before Africans were brought to America during the slave trade, they had their own culture and society. They had their own language and dance. They also had their own religion. History tells us that the Europeans justified their abuse toward the Africans as helping them become more civilized because the Africans lifestyle appeared primal to them and not as developed and industrialized as theirs. What is often overlooked is that even though Africans were taken from Africa and Americanized and have been stripped of their religion, culture, language and even their name, the very essence of the African as a people did not go away. Some African American slaves rejected Christianity’s religion because they saw it as the â€Å"white man’s religion†. History tells us American Slave Masters abused the Africans by whipping them like animals and by treating them inhumane. The fact that these slave masters wanted the African American to worship their god was unacceptable for some because they could not fathom why they should worship a god who allowed people to be so badly treated. Some Africans accepted Christianity’s religion and faith by identifying with Jesus Christ, the son of God who according to the Bible was innocent of sin and yet he was beaten, bruised and crucified for the sins of the world. Some African Americans wanted to remain faithful to their heritage yet did not agree with the conjure practices. Seth Holly’s character is a good example of conforming to the economic prosperity of America which was founded by Christians. White Christians enforced Christian beliefs, values, and some practices based on the Euro American Christian interpretation of Christian text. Seth developed a kind of hatred for his own people proving that he has adopted the practices of white America in the early 1900s. â€Å"Niggers coming up here from that old backwoods†¦ coming up here from the country carrying Bibles and guitars looking for freedom. † Seth says. â€Å"They got a rude awakening† (6). Seth signifies the African American who resents assimilation to the white American culture. But, at the same time, he too attempts to connect with his heritage by simply allowing Bynum to live in his home and bless it with his conjures rituals. Seth also participates in an African dance ritual called the Juba. Bynum’s character is introduced by practicing conjure rituals. He cuts open pigeons and spreads its blood onto him as a type of cleansing to communicate with spirits. Bynum represents the African American who chose to remain faithful to the religion of his heritage. Others who have chosen the faith of Christianity view conjure rituals as evil, witchcraft, or demonic. Some African Americans wanted to remain faithful to their heritage yet did not agree with conjure practices anymore. Loomis walks in on the juba dance and goes into a trance after dinner at the boarding house. He had a vision of skeletons emerge from a body of water. â€Å"Loomis: I done seen bones rise up out the water. Rise up and walk across the water. Bones walking on top of the water† (53). Loomis recognizes through the vision, his state of ignorance to the knowledge that will lead him to the new way of thinking. Bynum serves as a supporting character reacting to Loomis’s trance. â€Å"Bynum: They walking around here now. Mens. Just like you and me. Come right up out the water† (56). Loomis’s trance and Bynum’s interpretation of it is a turning point in the story. The skeletons coming from the bottom of the sea in Loomis’s vision represent the slave ships, the disorientation experienced by the slaves during emancipation, and the confusion of his release from Joe Turner. Both Loomis and Bynum have tapped into their ancestral religion. The difference between the two is that Bynum represents the African who never renounced his religion and Loomis is the African-American who turned from conjure religion and converted to the faith of Christianity. After Joe turner took his life away from him, Loomis questioned his Christian faith and his identity. By walking in on the ancestral ritual of the Juba dance, Loomis literally walked into what he had actually been looking for, his religion, consequently, his ancestral identity and this is why he fell into the trance. Throughout the play conjures is encompasses four generations; Bynum’s father, Bynum, Loomis, and the neighbor boy Reuben. Reuben’s vision is of Seth’s mother by the pigeon coop, she encourages Reuben to release the caged pigeons. Wilson writes in a way that leads the reader to believe that Loomis needs to find his missing wife. Martha Pentecost is not the one who was lost; Loomis was the one who was lost, wondering around from town to town, searching. Loomis came into the state of belief when Bynum helped him translate his vision. That vision represented Loomis going back to his ancestral conjure religion. Loomis needed to find Martha Pentecost simply to say good-bye to her and their life former together. Up until this point of the story, I believed that Loomis needed to find his wife so they could live out the rest of their lives as a happy free family with their daughter. However, it is made pretty obvious this was never Loomis’s intentions. â€Å"That goodbye kept me out on the road searching,† Loomis says, â€Å"now that I see your face I can say my goodbye and make my own world† (90). Martha Pentecost, a woman of Christian faith, represents the African who assimilated into white America’s culture and Loomis needed to find her to say good-bye to her and the Christian faith. Martha stands by her Christian faith by accusing Loomis â€Å"you done gone over to the devil† (91). White man’s religion believed that conjure was evil or the way of the devil. Loomis finds it easier to reject her for her Christian beliefs. â€Å"Loomis: Great big old white man†¦your Mr. Jesus Christ. Standing there with a whip in one hand and a tote board in another, them niggers swimming in a sea of cotton† (92). Loomis proves with his statement, his version of a bible story that differed from other African Americans but was similar to that of the white man who believed that they were on a level below God and the African’s were beneath them, African’s were one third of a person. Loomis now believes that if African’s are going to be free then they have to take charge of their own destiny. Martha Pentecost represents the African American’s religion, she identifies that Loomis needs to â€Å"be washed in the blood of the lamb† (92) and â€Å"you done gone over to the devil. (91) Through class lessons I learned that African American slaves compared themselves with stories in the bible to instill hope of a life free from oppression, violence, and bondage. Jesus according to the bible was innocent of sin and yet he was beaten, bruised and crucified for the sins of the world. The hope of reigning in heave with Jesus is considered the ultimate reward for suffering life’s trials and tribulations. It is the faith of the African Americans who accepted Christianity religion. Blacks trusted in the Lord instead of man. America was Egypt in the exodus story and as long as the enslaving and oppressing took place America would face the same wrath as Egypt. â€Å"Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord. † The bible was depended on in justifying and motivation rebellion for the blacks and used as a tool to keep blacks enslaved by the whites. African Americans used sermons, song, and prayer to convey and teach their message of travail and triumph of Israel. Some African Americans could not get past the treatment from the white people that called themselves Christians and as a result they rejected Christianity. Selig’s role suggests that the link between characters is the acquisition of material goods. Selig admits that his ancestors have always made their living pursuing African Americas; his great grandfather transported slaves from Africa, his father captured runaway slaves and returned them to their masters for a reward, and Selig locates displaced people for a fee. Selig attains his ecstasy through consumer capitalism, through the selling of material goods. African Americans are objects for exploitation and exchange in the new economy. He binds African Americans to the economic system, demanding payment of his services and products which necessitates subsistence labor by taking them from one construction site or work site to another, similar to a temporary employment agency today. You pay for an employee to work for some time, but Selig is getting paid by the person looking for work or a ride to a chance of freedom. Selig cannot find a person that has not purchased a dustpan from him because he keeps the names of his customers. Seth is determined to achieve material success, he has very little patience for African Americans migrating north looking for the same prosperity that he desires. Seth is very demanding of his patrons, insisting on advance payment in full, and is preoccupied with maintaining a respectable house. â€Å"It’s hard enough now without all that ignorant kind of acting. Ever since slavery got over with there ain’t been nothing but foolish-acting niggers. Word get out they need men to work in the mill and put in these roads†¦ and niggers drop everything and head north looking for freedom. †(5, 6) Seth wants to blend in with the white man’s world; therefore he keeps a link with Selig by negotiating the manufacturing and sale of dustpans. Seth does not have any idea of what it would be like to be a slave, as he was born free in the North and was educated. He demonstrates his education with his math calculation when dealing with the boarding house patrons and the quick notation of him letting Selig know that he is trying to overcharge him for the dust pan materials. Educational differences played a role in tension with Southern blacks, most of who were forbidden from learning to read, saw religion as a matter of oral tradition and immediate experience and emotion. Northerner blacks, stressed that one could not truly be Christian unless they was able to read the Bible and understand it. This play denies individual worth and identity for some of Wilson’s characters. To be defrauded of the products of one’s labor or to see that creation diminished, like with Jeremy and the guitar contest, is to be denied a reflection of individual worth and identity. If people have been separated from this truth of individual worth and identity through oppression their capacity to bond with one another, form friendships, or couples, families are undermined. Social alienation in Wilson’s characters are expressed in their stores of broken relationships, uncertainty, or suspicion that they feel toward one another. â€Å"Seth: Something ain’t setting right with that fellow, Bynum. He’s one of them mean-looking niggers look like he done killed somebody gambling over a quarter. †(20) Connection between oppression, alienation from self and inability to form bonds with others is displayed in the character of Loomis. Joe Turner’s ability to oppress Loomis carried a judgment of non-worth. â€Å"Loomis: He told me I was worthless. Worthless is something you throw away. Something you don’t bother with† (73) Turners judgment of worthlessness forced Loomis to accept the reality of the white man’s power; he was marked as â€Å"one of Joe Turners niggers and forced to forget his song. †(71) Being alienated from himself and displaced with his relation to the world, Loomis is unable to establish bonds with people around him. The oppression encountered by Wilson’s characters is material or economic, that oppression is spiritual as well in the capacity to deprive the individual of a sense of himself or his unique song. The reawakening of Loomis after his encounter with cultural wisdom is not the self discovery of an average African American but creation of a new source of cultural wisdom, a new African holy man. Wilson uses many metaphors throughout the play. The song is a metaphor for Loomis’s identity and the African American cultural identity. Music is a large part of African American identity, so it makes since that in search of one’s identity they are searching for their song. The boarding house serves as an inn for traveling folk, but the tenants actually receive a form of healing during their stay. Tenants get direction and guidance from Bertha and Bynum. The shiny man that Bynum is in search for signifies African American independence. The man that Bynum met on the road was an independent African American, just as Loomis was freed by his past when he cleansed himself in his own blood. â€Å"Bynum: Herald Loomis, you shining! You shining like new money! †(94) Loomis has dismissed that the blood of Christ can wash away his sins and make him the man he used to be, but by washing himself in his own blood he has sacrificed the old life to begin his new journey on his terms. Bynum’s shining man has been found, meaning his work is complete; he has passed his powers on to the next generation, Loomis. â€Å"They tell me Joe Turner’s come and Gone† is a song that is sung by Bynum, when I first read the story I thought that the meaning was came and now he is dead however, the second time I read the play I realized that it meant that Joe Turner has come and snatched the men and now he is now gone. August Wilson uses symbolism in the play as a very important part in conveying the meaning of the story. Wilson’s use of symbolism is demonstrated through Mr. Wilson’s use of the road, Martha Pentecost, and Herald Loomis. Symbolic importance is give to the word freedom. The word freedom has instilled hope into the lives of African Americans: during slavery, hope for the release from bondage; after emancipation, the right to be educated, employed, and to move about freely; twentieth century, social, political, and economic justice. Freedom has always stood for the absence of any restraint, because God made all men from his image. There are a number of characters that travel around searching for their place in the world. Mattie, mentions that she keeps on looking, seems like she just keeps starting over, I ain’t never found no place for me to fit. † (76) Reuben tells Zonia, when he finds out that she is leaving the boarding house in search of her mom, â€Å"when I get grown, I come looking for you. †(84) Jeremy does not seem to care much when he loses his job because, â€Å"don’t make me no difference. There’s a big road out there, I can always get my guitar and find me a place to stay. I ain’t planning on staying in one place for too long noway. † (64) Martha & Reverend Tolliver moved the Church up north because of the trouble the church was having. When the Civil War finally brought freedom to previously enslaved African Americans, the task of organizing religious communities was only one element of the larger need to create new lives, to reunite families, to find jobs, and to figure out what it would mean to live in the United States as citizens rather than property. August Wilson’s play, Joe Turner’s come and Gone, examines African Americans search for their cultural identity following slavery. Bibliography Murphy, L. G. (2000). Down By the Riverside. New York: New Yourk University Press. Wilson, A. (1988). Joe Turner’ Come and Gone. New York: Penguin Group.

Many devices are used in this poem to show the raw harsh night of November Essay

The first line is a simile ‘tinkles like ice’ the word ‘ice’ represents the harshness and how painful ice is. When we look at the form of the poem, we can see how the poet uses enjambment to continue in what’s being said. The line ‘tries the door, and sidles past’ gives of a feeling of terror as the poet has personified it and gives of an impression that a human is trying to enter the house. On the second stanza the word ‘gulp’ is used as onampatpia which is a sound technique. The line ‘Brown fuzz of cotton wool’ suggests its unclean and dirty because the ‘brown fuzz’ is pollution. The words ‘lamp fades’ suggests that the light cant be seen. On the third stanza ‘frost in my lungs is harsh as leaves’ implies the sharpness and how rough the lungs are. In addition, ‘harsh as leaves’ is a simile and the poet uses the simile to suggest how chilly the tonight was. It also is a strong simile that The line ‘scrape up on path’ suggests how cruel and harsh the night was. Many devices are used to show us how bitter the night was. On the last stanza the line ‘the worlds a bear shrugged in his den’ suggests he is experiencing the bear pit. Further more, the word ‘snug suggests the warmth inside; ‘snoring night’ is inside away from rest of the world while winter is outside. Inside all inviting but outside it’s harsh. The line ‘the fog unfolds its bitter scent’ suggests its comparing ice to fog and also its comparing the fog to the bad smell ‘chrysanthemums’