Business in Context (N) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Business in Context (N) - Essay Example The reason that matters underneath is the economic power shift from the leading western countries to the emerging eastern countries. The BRIC received its name from Goldman chief Jim O’Neil in 2001 and since then it has continuously been in the bull’s-eye category of economists in predicting future changes and suggesting remedies to the suffering economies. Most of the economists and analysts have already stated that by 2050, the BRIC economy especially China is going to be the biggest economy in the world (Economy Watch. 2010). This makes the reason for UK economy to consider the growth of BRIC economies and rethink its future perspective to face this global challenge. To work as a fuel to the matter, the GDP rate of UK was recorded to be $1.5, while on the context the GDP ratings for BRIC economies were standing at a height of $5.2, $4.3, $8.5 and $6.8 respectively in 2007 and is estimated to be $2.0 for UK, $3.1 for Brazil, $3.2 for Russia, $5.0 for India and $4.6 for China. Therefore it can be seen, in both the period’s figures are in favour of BRIC nations and certainly at a high volume compared to UK. As such, the concern regarding BRIC economies are quite justified (Hawksworth & Cookson, 2008). The world economic power for a long period of time had been concentrated upon three powerful economic regions i.e. USA, Japan and European Union. These three are recognised as Triad Region. The power of economy has with time been spread across the world and has transpired in the hands of the BRIC countries. The power shift of economies to be noted is not only affecting UK economy but it is also changing the prospects of other developed western economies like USA, Canada, and Australia. But the reason why only UK economy is under so much pressure is because of the fact that at the initial stage when all the other economies were on a mindset to enjoy the mounting opportunities served by these

Comparisons among 5 companies of retailer industry Essay

Comparisons among 5 companies of retailer industry - Essay Example It is still believed that the sector will grow by 15 percent in the next five years. By the year 2011, it is estimated that the annual sales of the industry would be around  £312 billion. The sector employs around 3 million people accounting for 11 percent of the total UK workforce. At the same time, the industry contributes 8 percent to the GDP of the country. (Invest in UK, 2010) According to the TNS World Panel grocery market share report as of 29th April 2009, the big three players of the retail industry in the UK are: Tesco with 31 percent market share, ASDA with 17 percent and Sainsbury with 16 percent. The retail industry in the UK has developed in all aspects and categories. The sector has shown tremendous growth and competition in all the allied sub-divisions: electrical, groceries, clothing and footwear, cosmetics, home-ware, floor coverings and furniture, gardening as well as e-retail. (Tesco, 2010) Tesco is a global grocery and merchandising store with headquarters based in UK. The brand is the largest grocery brand within the limits of United Kingdom with the market share of 31 percent. Tesco is globally ranked as the third largest retailer with respect to revenues and second largest with respect to profits. The brand is now well developed with stores in 14 different countries across Europe, Asia and North America. The company appeals to all the different segments of people by providing all kinds of products from grocery to appliances, tires to gardening, clothing to cosmetics as well as furniture. Tesco has added 502 new stores globally to its portfolio in the last fiscal year. (Tesco, 2010) Tesco sales showed an increase by 6.8 percent whereas it’s before tax-profit increased by 10 percent. The company has now transformed itself into a globally diversified business and is well positioned for consistent long term growth. (Tesco, 2010) Tesco plans to invest  £27 million to reduce its carbon footprint by 2020.

Social Media In The Jasmine Revolution

Social Media In The Jasmine Revolution The Jasmine Revolution is another name for the Tunisian Revolution, a series of violent protests that began on 18 December 2010 in Tunisia as a form of civil resistance. The revolution was a result of years of corruption, unemployment, poor living conditions, and lack of freedom of speech, facilities, inflation and political freedom. The protests were trigged when Mohamed Bouazizi, a street vendor, set himself on fire on 17 December 2010 protesting the humiliation inflicted on him by a woman municipal official. This led to a period of great social and political turbulence in Tunisia which eventually led to President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, who had been ruling Tunisia since 1987, fleeing the country and officially resigning on 14 January 2011. This uprising in Tunisia led to subsequent revolutions in many Arab countries, popularly known as Arab Spring. Protests began in Egypt which led to fleeing of President Hosni Mubarak, ending his 30 year rule. There was civil war in Libya which led to fleeing and death of the ruler Muhammar Gaddafi, ending his 42 year rule. There were also major uprisings in other parts of the Arab world like Yemen, Jordan, Syria, Bahrain, Algeria, Morocco, Iraq, Iran and Mauritania. There were also protest in other parts of the globe like North Africa and Middle East. Dictator Bel-Alis government had a strong control on various media platforms. Despite great attempts at repressing the protests that were happening in Tunisia, Tunisians used a very powerful tool to make their voices heard social media. The role of social media in the Jasmine Revolution is analysed in this paper. Literature Review In the article Social Media: The New Tool of Revolution by Aditi Malhotra, appeared in CLAWS Publication, she talks about how social networks like Facebook, and Twitter played a very vital role in being about the change during the Arab Spring. She talks about this fire spread from Tunisia to Egypt, Libya, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Algeria, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. While talking about the Jasmine Revolution in specific, she talks about the media blackout that was present in Tunisia. The government controlled all media platforms and it was the social media who finally was able to make a break through. Millions of people in Tunisia and all over the world were a part of the revolution as pictures and videos of the protests were shared all over the social network. Mohamed Bouazizis self-immolation which triggered the revolution was in fact not one of the first cases of self-immolation in Tunisia, but it was covered by Al Jazzera and other news channels and shown to the entire world. The ar ticle goes on to say how the government did in fact try to stop the flow of information by blocking websites, deleting accounts, arresting bloggers and other active people on the social platform but they were unable to the stop this great force. In another article, The Emerging Role of Social Media in Political and Regime Change by Rita Safranek, published in ProQuest, talks about social media as a major catalyst in bringing about the change in many countries that were going through a major period of political unrest. The author talks about the triggering point of the Jasmine Revolution, the self-immolation of Mohamed Bouazizi was captured by passers-bys and posted and re-posted on YouTube for everyone to see. Furthermore, the mass protests at his funeral also spread quickly and all over. The author goes on say that despite very strict censorship of the internet by Tunisias government, Tunisians were able to emerge as highly connected 33% of the Tunisian population uses the internet, 16% uses Facebook and 18% uses Twitter. Although the government did block YouTube during the crucial period of protests, it was unable to stop experienced bloggers and activists from finding alternate methods like by using private and proxy net works to post and re-post various contents and videos all over the cyber world. In fact, there was an eight percent increase in the number of Facebook users in Tunisia in the beginning of January 2011. The nature of the content being shared also changed with time more content related to the current political situation and unrest was being shared. Although the author credits social media with helping organize the protest and connect activists, she also goes on to say that the social media will not be help with running the country which is the current concern in the country at present. Discussion of the Case The social media Facebook and Twitter might not have caused the Jasmine Revolution but it definitely was a major catalyst in bringing about the change that we see in Tunisia today. Tunisia was always susceptible to an internet-enable revolution considering a good number of Tunisians are internet-savvy, use social media and most of the population uses mobile phones. Although the number of people active on Twitter was not as high, what matters more is who is tweeting, rather than how many people are tweeting. The very first trigger to the revolution, Mohamed Bouazizis self-immolation, created such an upheaval due to the fact that is shared on the social media and which is when it got Al Jazeeras attention which showed it to the world and after which when news channels all over the world started showcasing it. The revolution thus began in the city of Sidi Bouzid, in the interior of the country as a result of the police got violent and the shocking images and content were shared on the Internet. Subsequently, the protest spread to the more the more prosperous parts of the country where activists became more organized and finally when President Ben Ali was ousted and the country was in mayhem, Tunisians used to the help of the social media platforms to organize themselves further to combat the armed forces. The internet and mobile phones were effectively used to inform places where the security forces were being deployed and where the next protest would be. Facebook was used to share the latest news regarding the protests and images of the governments brutality against the citizens. 75% of Facebook users were 18-24 years of age. Tunisians used Facebook to update their friends and families about the current situations on their cities and villages. Many Facebook users changed their profile picture to the symbol of the democratic revolt showing images of camaraderie. Twitter was also a major platform for the people to voice their sentiments. Tweets were dominated by the tag #bouazizi, subsequently, the day the President was ousted, #sidibouzid was most used hash tag and finally the whole country became consumed with #tunisia. In total, there were 196,000 mentions of Tunisia, which reached 26 million Twitter users all over the world. Television also became a part of the revolution. Even though the domestic channels were heavily-censored by Ben Alis regime, the cable channel, Al Jazeera began broadcasting videos that were being shared on the internet. This helped in spreading the revolution from the younger demographics were techno-savvy to the older demographics. This helped in making the movement bigger and more active. Instances of brutality by the police and officials became more and more public which generated even more rebellion in the Tunisians. An aspect where social media helped was creating some order and organization to the chaos. Rumours and misinformation could be easily corrected and passed on using social media. Activists could use this platform to create calm and counter people who were taking advantage of the situation in order to create terror. Another aspect of that played a significant role was the spread of music on the social media platform. Hamada Ben Amor, a.k.a. El General performed a song Rais Lebled which became a sort of revolution anthem for the young protestors of Tunisia. Hamada Ben Amor was one of the most popular Tunisian Internet rap artists. The lyrics of the song talked about oppression and poverty and considering the fact that rap was banned; the song became an even more major symbol of youth rebellion. The song was shared only on Facebook, which made it even more exclusive. After the President fled from the country, the song was aired on Tunisian television for everyone to hear. Since then El General wrote a new rap song, Vive Tunisie! as a tribute to the protestors of not only the Jasmine Revolution, but also of many other Arab countries were revolutions took place like Egypt, Morocco, Libya and Algeria. Analysis and Conclusion Social media indeed was a major enabler of the Jasmine Revolution. In fact, it has also gone to be a similar catalyst in many more uprising to follow in the Arab world. It will continue to play a major role in political change as it easy to access and difficult to control. The authoritative governments cannot control the social media the way they can control the traditional media. Social media enable the chance to organize even when surrounded by utter chaos. Social media also helps achieve something major connection with the outer world. It is easy for the authoritative government to ban or censor various traditional media platforms thus influencing the kinds of news that is outside world hears. But using social media which is hard to censor or ban, such a restriction is impossible. The real picture of what is going on in the country can be portrayed to the world. This can enable to country in question get outside help and support which will only strengthen the entire movement. The interesting characteristic of an internet-enabled movement is the flat structure. The movement is not led by one particular person organization. It thus seizes to have a hierarchy. Anybody, of any age group, size, colour or gender can be an integral part of this movement and nothing can break down this flatness.

Ballad of Birmingham :: Ballad of Birmingham Essays

Ballad of Birmingham In the poem Ballad of Birmingham, by Dudley Randall, written in 1969, Mr. Randall uses of irony to describes the events of the mothers decision, and also her concern for the welfare of her darling little child. It seems odd that this child would even know what a freedom march is, but this would be considered normal back in the early 1960's, when Mr. Martin Luther King Jr. had rallies and freedom marches to free the African American people from discrimination and segregation (Hunter 6). It also seems very ironic that the young child is acting like an adult in this particular situation (Hunter 12). I think the mother would be the one who would want to got to the march to free her people, not the child. In the poem "Ballad of Birmingham", by Dudley Randall, written in 1969, Mr. Randall uses tone and irony to describe the events of the mothers decisions, and as well as her concern for her child's well being. In the first stanza irony is used in order to make reading the poem more interesting. The situation in this first stanza is also very important. The little child is in a desperate situation and wants to help better the lives of the African Americans. Randall also focuses on specific culture here. The speaker is allowing the reader to make a mental picture of one specific march in Birmingham (Hunter 17). But, you know as well as I, that with peace marches and rallies comes violence and hostility. This is exactly what the little girls mother is afraid of, this is why she will not let her go to the march. It also seems weird that her mother is so sure that going to church, instead of going to the march, will be the best thing for her. (Hunter 19-20). Typically, a church is to be a very safe and sacred place where no-one would imagine a bombing or any other type of violence to happen. What is ironic about this is that going to church turns out to be the worst place for her to be (Hunter 21). Something else that strikes me funny is that her mother dresses her in her daughter in her best clothes to go to church with her. What is ironic here is that she ended up wearing them to her funeral instead (Hunter 26). There is also a shift in dialogue here in the fifth stanza(Hunter 27). Here the narrator starts to take over. The narrator's tone shows the reader the pride and

Trung Nguyen Caffee

In 1996 Trung Nguyen was a small business processing coffee in Ban Me Thuoc city. At that time, Vietnam had risen once again to be one of the leading coffee producers in the world, but almost solely producing â€Å"green† coffee (unroasted beans) that were sold on the commodity market. This resulted in no control over the final coffee quality or prices. The Highland region of Vietnam is one of the world's â€Å"top 10† best environments, combining the right altitudes, soils, natural drying conditions, and temperatures for producing the finest of gourmet coffees.Yet the region was not controlling its own destiny to produce these once sought-after coffees. The owners of Trung Nguyen saw that the future for producing gourmet coffee and being reasonably independent of the world commodity markets was to once again follow the best possible growing and processing techniques to produce a world-class coffee, and carry it through all the way to the packaged product.After the revi val of this exotic coffee, the company developed the first Vietnamese franchise of coffee houses and expanded throughout Vietnam and then a number of other countries. Now the most established, respected and successful producer of branded coffee in Vietnam, Trung Nguyen seeks to bring its unique blends to the United States. The West Coast has limited selections of TN coffees available in Asian grocery stores, but most of the US has no source of TN coffees†¦ until now.We are proud to be the first and only authorized Internet shopping source of TN coffee in the US. Trung Nguyen has won numerous prizes and titles for the entrepreneurial achievement of the company, its enlightened business practices, and the excellence of its products. Trung Nguyen coffee growers have been certified by EUREPGAP and Utz Kapeh for â€Å"safe and sustainable† coffee growing practice. Trung Nguyen coffees are grown on smaller farms and using traditional sun-drying methods and natural processing.T heir cultivation supports thriving villages where growers work under contract futures with guaranteed pricing for their products. When you purchase Trung Nguyen coffees, you help preserve heirloom species of coffee and the biodiversity they provide. This protects against the dangerous popularly-held opinion that any one coffee species should be grown in monoculture around the world. Not only does this 100% Arabica movement deny the wide and delicious range of flavors of other coffee varieties, it creates a potential ecological disaster.Advocates of â€Å"1-coffee only† ignore the terrible consequences of past wordlwide Arabica blights that have threatened to change the nature of the coffee plant forever. Trung Nguyen coffees using Arabica, Robusta, Chari (Excelsa), Catimor, Liberica and other diverse varieties preserve the unique flavors and robust nature of the coffee plant and help to create bean blends that are unique and simply broader and better in flavor than any single -source coffee can be. It's good for the future of coffee and its growers; it's delicious in your cup. Enjoy!

Billy Elliot film text reponse Essay

Jackie Elliot is seen as a traditional man with anti feminist views. he sees that boys should be tough whilst girls should be more placid. Throughout the film Billy Elliot, the directer has created the character Jackie Elliot, a widowed father feeling the grief of the recent lose of his wife. This essay suggests that the grief could be a factor of how Jackie goes about supporting his son. The time that this film is set, is in the mid 80s. It could be that people who do not keep to the social norm are discriminated against, which is a different circumstance in todays society, where people are very unique and most people value eachother’s individuality. In the town of Durham, the community has the same expectations as Jackie with gender based traditions and this may have influenced him to think this way. When Billy is taken to the boxing gym by his father, he finds out that he doesn’t really like the idea of being a boxer once he steps into the ring for the first time. Billy knows his father must really want Billy to get good at this tough sport, because in this family, that is stricken with poverty; his father still manages to pay for billy’s lessons and does want him to achieve. â€Å"they were my dad’s gloves, you’d better take better care of them† Jackie and his father were obviously unable to achieve from boxing, he’s putting his last hope in Billy. Billy is aware of how his family and the community feel about boys doing ballet and has alot of courage to put their thoughts aside and just do the thing he loves. Upon finding out about Billy’s dancing. Jackie becomes enraged and expresses views of homophobic, Billy is determined to keep on dancing. It is not until Jackie actually sees Billy dance for the first time, that he realises that dancing might well and trully be his son’s future. He sees that Billy does have talent and lowers himself into going back to work just so he can afford to take Billy to London for his audition himself. â€Å"It is what mum would have wanted†, throughout the film, you watch as Jackie  grieves for his dead wife, in that he hates Billy playing his mother’s piano. Billy must have inherited his interest in music and dance from his mother which is probably why Jackie must have hated it at first; Billy was like his mother and it reminded Jackie of her too much. He gives into his pain by selling jewelry for his son. Jackie is most proud of his son, when at the end of the film. Billy dances out onto a big stage to perform â€Å"swanlake†. It takes Jackie’s breathe away. Overall through this film, we see Jackie, a father who does love his son. Aside from hgis traditional and antifeminist beliefs, Jackie was able to come through with great support for his son. All he wants for his son is to see him doing something he loves, even if that is dancing TEACHER COMMENTS: good, try to use lots of quotes and and examples from the film and refer back to the question throughout your essay.