Tuesday, November 26, 2019

Assessing Reliability and Credibility of Cam Essay Example

Assessing Reliability and Credibility of Cam Essay Example Assessing Reliability and Credibility of Cam Essay Assessing Reliability and Credibility of Cam Essay Research is an important part of finding the appropriate CAM therapy that will help the patient’s symptoms. The information that is obtained during research could be full of opinions and not facts. Since we want factual information instead of opinions it is important that we are sure the information we are looking at is a reliable and credible source. Criteria for Reliability and Credibility  CAM therapies are being used more today than in years past. The use of CAM has become helpful for many patients to elevate symptoms of their ailment. When studying which CAM therapy is right for the symptoms that are presented we need to be sure that the source of information is reliable and credible. There are several things we can ask ourselves to ensure the information we are using is reliable and credible. These criteria should be considered: 1)Does the source provide (Harris, Robert, June 15, 2007): a.Author’s name b.Author’s title and position c.Author’s organizational affiliation d.Date of the document 2)The documentation provides the information we are looking for (Harris, Robert. June 15, 2007): a.Facts b.Opinions c.Arguments d.Statistics e.Narratives f.Descriptions 3)Has there been cited information within the document that we are reviewing (Montecino, Virginia, August 1998). 4)What type of website is the information provided on (Montecino, Virginia, August 1998): a.A personal page b.Special interest site c.Professional site d.News or journalistic site e.Commercial site 5)Does the website contain information that is (Harris, Robert, June 15, 2007): a.Fair b.Objective c.Quality information d.Lacking hidden motives Website for Review The website that I am going to use for review is a website regarding fish oil: http://healthlibrary.epnet.com/GetContent.aspx?token=e0498803-7f62-4563-8d47-5fe33da65dd4chunkiid=21684#P3. The website homepage is from iherb.com/default.aspx?. The homepage offers information on herbs, supplements, conditions, drug interactions, homeopathy, and it has a medical library that you can look up all kinds of information. Consumer’s Attitudes and Beliefs about CAM Consumers are skeptical of using CAM therapies to heal the symptoms that are present or to help prevent symptoms of different diseases from appearing in their health. For some consumer’s their religious beliefs or beliefs they have been raised with do not support the use of CAM therapies. Cases where a consumer’s beliefs do not support the use of CAM the consumer would not even consider the possibility of using CAM therapies. Consumers have set opinions and attitudes about different things within their lives. For some they hold these opinions and attitudes to a stern heart and cannot be persuaded to change for any reason. Consumer’s that are set in their opinion and attitude often will not even consider change even with facts in front of them that the change can be a good change. Conclusion about Website For the purpose of this paper I have focused my research on fish oil. The webpage on fish oil has been reviewed by EBSCO CAM Medical Review Board in April 2009. The author of the source is not revealed; with the webpage being reviewed by the EBSCO CAM Medical Review Board it can be considered a reliable and credible source. If the information provided on this webpage is  not correct information the Medical Review Board would not support the information. According to the website the page was last updated April 1, 2009, therefore the information is a year old and not extremely outdated. The webpage provides factual information and discusses studies that have been done on fish oil. The beginning of the webpage gives alternative names for fish oil, which can be helpful to the consumer when being sure they are not allergic to another name of fish oil. The webpage has 271 references where the information has been gathered for the purpose of this webpage. Throughout the webpage it allows the person reviewing the information to click on different terms for a further explanation of the term that has been used. The webpage allows the researcher to see and click on different proposed uses of fish oil to review. The information on other proposed uses is useful when looking at other possible symptoms of diseases that the consumer may have, in some cases the use of fish oil could help the consumer with more than one ailment. Through the review of this webpage I would consider it a reliable and credible source of information. Increase Credibility The website I have reviewed on fish oil seems to be a credible website. The information is full of factual information along with studies that have been conducted regarding the use of fish oil. The website even has a disclaimer regarding the use of fish oil, which many websites that discuss different CAM treatments does not include. The website could contain testimonials from consumers that have already used fish oil for the different aliments it helps. The testimonials could give consumers first hand information from consumers that have already used fish oil for the symptoms that the consumer doing the research is trying to elevate. I do not know of any other way that the site could increase the credibility any more than it already has contained within the website. Conclusion CAM can help consumer’s improve symptoms they may be experiencing and in some cases help to prevent a disease by the use of different CAM therapies. Consumer’s read information about different CAM therapies but the consumer needs to be sure that the information they are reading is from a reliable and credible source. Information obtained on the internet can be placed on the internet and contain nothing but opinions. Ensuring that the information is factual and reliable is something a consumer should consider before using any type of CAM therapy. Following the criteria discussed within this paper can help consumers be sure that the information they have found and are considering is credible and reliable, and most of all information that can be used when making decisions on their health. References Harris, Robert. (June 15, 2007). Evaluating Internet Research Sources. Retrieved April 24, 2010 from: virtualsalt.com/evalu8it.htm iHerb.com. (2010). Fish Oil. Retrieved April 25, 2010 from: http://healthlibrary.epnet.com/GetContent.aspx?token=e0498803-7f62-4563-8d47-5fe33da65dd4chunkiid=21684#P3 Montecino, Virginia. (August 1998). Criteria to Evaluate the Credibility of WWW Resources. Retrieved April 25, 2010 from: http://mason.gmu.edu/~montecin/web-eval-sites.htm

Saturday, November 23, 2019

What Is a Point Guard Basketball’s Team Leader

What Is a Point Guard Basketball’s Team Leader SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips Love watching Steph Curry hit three-pointers? Or seeing Lindsay Whalen dribble down the court? What exactly do these point guards do? What is a point guard in basketball, even? Well, every basketball team’s starting lineup is made up of five players (each team puts 5 people on the court): a center, small forward, power forward, shooting guard, and a point guard. Each of these players has unique skills that make them an asset on the court. What is a point guard’s specialty? A point guard’s expertise is typically ball handling and passing. What Is a Point Guard? Point guards in basketball are expected to be great at dribbling the ball and great at passing, so that they can create opportunities for their team to score. However, they need to be so much more than that. They’re team leaders; they’re the person the team turns to to lead them on offense. They need to have positive attitudes because they’re the person their teammates turn to for support; they need to keep morale high. The chart below shows the five players positioned on offense, so you can see how the point guard fits in with the rest of the team. The point guard is typically one of the shorter players on the team (simply because this position doesn’t require height like some of the others). However, point guards are also usually the fastest players on the team because they control their team’s offense. Point Guard Offensive Responsibilities What exactly does the point guard need to do on offense in basketball? You have to master these six key responsibilities to be a top point guard. #1: Bringing Up the Ball The point guard (labeled number 1 above) is traditionally responsible for bringing up the ball from the other side of the court. This means after the other team scores, the point guard dribbles the ball (bounces the ball back and forth on the ground) back to your side of the court. The point guard then usually stands near the top of the key (the point shown in the diagram above) and figures out what play to make. #2: Controlling the Pace Because point guards bring up the ball, they end up setting the pace for the offense. If they bring up the ball slowly, walking while dribbling, they’ll slow down the offense. This can be good if the team needs a breather or if the other team’s offense is moving very fast, it helps reset the pace of the game. If they bring up the ball quickly, running while dribbling, they’ll speed up their offense. They might do this to try to catch the other team off guard. #3: Calling Plays After bringing up the ball, they may also call for the team to run a specific play. They may literally call it out loud by shouting something â€Å"James 45,† or they might make some sort of hand motion to signal for a play (such as putting their fist in the air). Think of them as the team organizer, like the quarterback in football. They start with the ball and then try to organize the team to get the ball to the basket. #4: Passing As I said, the point guard is an expert passer in basketball. As a point guard, you need to be good at passing the ball because once you dribble the ball to your side of the court, you’ll need to pass the ball to your fellow teammates to create opportunities to score. You’ll never see a point guard who can’t pass well. It’s arguably their most crucial skill. #5: Outside Shooting The point guard needs to be able to make shots from far away from the basket. While some players, such as the center and forwards, play close to the basket, the point guard generally stays around the 3-point line or just inside, so they need to be able to shoot from farther away. #6: Driving to the Basket While you’ll primarily see point guards pass or shoot from the outside, you’ll sometimes see top point guards dribble past the defense down to the basket to shoot layups (a shot from right next to the basket). A great point guard has the skills to fake out the defensive players, get around them, and score. Point Guard Defensive Responsibilities The best point guards won’t just be strong on offensive but on defense as well. The point guard’s role on defense will depend on what kind of defense the team plays. In basketball, there are two main types of defense: man-to-man and zone. You’ll more typically see man-to-man play in the NBA (or some sort of hybrid of the two). In man-to-man defense, each player is assigned another player on the other team to guard. They are responsible for guarding that player the entire game. In that scenario, the point guard will likely be matched with the other team’s point guard. They’ll try to stop the other team’s point guard from shooting or dribbling closer to the basket. In zone defense, each player is assigned an area of the court to guard, and they need to make sure to guard any opposing team player in their zone. In that case, the point guard typically guards the top of the key. They make sure no one is able to shoot a basket from the top of the key. Summary: What Does a Point Guard Do in Basketball? A point guard is one of the 5 positions on a basketball team. Point guards are the team organizers like quarterbacks in basketball. On offense, they need to be great at dribbling, to bring the ball to their side of the court. They need to be great passers, so they can give the balls to their teammates to create scoring opportunities. They need to be great at shooting from around the 3-point line. The best point guards will also be able to sneak around defense players and make layups. On defense, point guards are responsible for making sure the opposing team players don’t get shots off near the top of the key.

Thursday, November 21, 2019

Capacity and Forecasting at Green Valley Bakers Research Paper - 1

Capacity and Forecasting at Green Valley Bakers - Research Paper Example This paper illustrates that the concepts of capacity utilization and forecasting techniques are very important for any business venture. Indeed, an entrepreneur or businessman will only venture to invest his capital in a business if he knows and understands that it will give him a good return on the capital invested. It takes a lot of time, effort and skills to plan out the start of operations, from where the inventory will come, how and when sales will be made and at what margins, so that some profit is left over to compensate the businessman and other stakeholders of the business, if there are any, after the costs and expenses of the bakery have been paid out. Forecasting must also take into account the current and future environment as regards legal, technological, social and other phenomena such as changes in Government policy regarding taxation on bakeries, prices of inventory items, changing tastes of consumers and improvements in baking technology. The researcher will consider all these as he evolves a strategy for capacity utilization and demand and sales forecasting at Green Valley Bakers. Capacity utilization has been one of the main concerns of entrepreneurs and industrialists right from the very beginning of organized business enterprise. In fact, the start of the Industrial Revolution saw much of the population of villages move to the cities, lured by the prospects of gainful employment and higher and more consistent wages, thereby leading to a better lifestyle and social progress. Imagine their predicament when they were forced to move into often cramped and squalid living quarters, eating meager rations and toiling long hours in factories and mills that sought only to gain the most advantage from this situation. It was only after the refusal of workers in Chicago to continue to work under these appalling conditions that the world has moved towards respecting the rights of the workers. Even the economists of old regarded Labor as but a factor of p roduction. As regards capacity, J.B Say remarked that Supply would create its own demand. And the production concept in marketing so popular in the 1950s enunciated that if one built a better mousetrap (meaning product), people would flock to your door to buy it. Even today there is a debate among economists as to whether Full Employment or Partial Unemployment is better for the economy.

Tuesday, November 19, 2019

Designing marketing campaign for ExxonMobil Qatar Coursework

Designing marketing campaign for ExxonMobil Qatar - Coursework Example The main target groups of the marketing strategies are the customers, the shareholders, business partners and host governments. Some of the marketing strategies employed here include advertising that is done through print media, car stickers, TV commercials as well as internet based advertisements. The TV commercials serve to complement the print media such as magazines, newspapers, and business journals. The adverts have the company profile and the financial programming. They are run on the Arabic networks such as JSC and MBC.The Company has also been able to organize sports as a way to make it known for the products as well as the services it offers in the market. Some of the sports have included the organization of tennis, hockey and golf tournaments that are usually based in Doha ("ExxonMobil Qatar Inc," n.d.). The events are organized by the Qatar Olympic committee that oversees the participation. The company has also been supporting science and technology in the schools by recruiting some of the best University students in Qatar into the company making it well known all over the region. The company has also been able to embrace technology and has now been able to market its products through the internet marketing strategies through their websites as well as social networking sites such as twitter, Face book among others ("ExxonMobil Qatar Inc," n.d.). The company has also been engaging in activities that are in tandem with corporate social responsibility they have been able to promote safety awareness in the region through what they call the pink t-shirt campaign. Through this the company supports relief services all over the world. The business women an award that acknowledges successful women is also some form of marketing Campaign. Through the marketing campaigns the company has been able to reach its customers in the region. Requests for partnerships have also been on the rise, since the inception of various marketing strategies. Most

Sunday, November 17, 2019

Section 176 Of Companies Act 1965 Essay Example for Free

Section 176 Of Companies Act 1965 Essay In Malaysia companies Act 1965 (CA), is one of the vital statutes which govern and regulate the formation and operation of a company. All the sections in this statute govern each and every part of company governance. In this case section 176 of Companies Act plays a very important role on arrangements and reconstruction of a company when the company heavily burdened with debt. Financial crisis is the most dangerous and a serious disadvantage for a company, in such situations companies normally will use this provision to escape and avoid liabilities against their creditors. This section allows the company to make arrangement and reconstruction where they can negotiate with the other parties such as creditors regarding the debt they owe. Section 176(5) of CA, must be read together with section 176 (3) of CA, where this section stress that the order made under subsection (3) is not valid until a copy of the said order is given to the registrar and only after the order is lodged, the said order will carry a binding effect from the date of the order lodgment. On the other hand, if the court find is reasonable than the court may determine any earlier date as specified in the order. This section basically talks about the date and effectiveness of the notice which been agreed by members and creditors as per subsection (3) of this provision.1 According to subsection (6), a copy of the order which made under subsection (3), must be put together or annexed with every single copy of the company’s memorandum which is issued after the order made under subsection (3).2 In the event where the company does not have a memorandum, than the order should be annexed to all instruments constituting or defining the constitution of the company. This is generally to give knowledge to a third party about the agreement between the company and the members or creditors. In this case the court may and have power to determine the period of time where the company shall comply to subsection (6). This can be seen in subsection (7) of the same provision.3 Any company fail to follow subsection (6) will be guilty of an offence against subsection (9) of the same provision where penalty of RM 2,000.00 will be imposed.4 Section 176 (10) of CA, govern the power of court to restrain proceedings.5 Here in this subsection, when there is no resolution or arrangement is made by members and creditors with company, the court have power to restrain further  proceedings in any action against the company. There are certain things the company has to do once the company obtains such order from the court. First, the company shall lodge a copy to Suruhanjaya Syarikat Malaysia (SSM). Second, the company should publish the obtained order in newspapers so that all the members and creditors of the company can know about the restrain order. Subsection (10A) says that the court may grant the restrain order for a period of not more than 90 days but there are four situations where the courts can extent the period of the restrain order for good reason. Firstly, the court must be satisfied that there is a proposal for compromise or arrangement between the company and the creditors and the creditor who representing this must hold one half of the value of all creditors which is basically 50 percent. Secondly, the court must feel that the restraining order is important for the company and the creditors to make arrangements or scheme of compromise for the approval of the creditors. Thirdly, a statement in the prescribed form must be made before three days before of the application of the order. Fourthly, the court must approve a nominated person among the creditors to act as a director of the company. These four things must be satisfied by the court for the court to give extension of time for the restrain order.6 In the case of PECD Bhd Anor v. Merino-ODD Sdn Bhd Ors the court held that, for the court to grant the extension of time more than 90 days, the company should and must follow the entire four things which stated in subsection (10A) of section 176.7 About the good reasons, Justice Vincent Ng have stated that the word good reason in section 176(10A) of CA, refers to the applicants’ bona fide intention and action to make arrangement or scheme of compromise in the case of Metroplex Bhd Ors V Morgan Stanley Emerging Markets Inc.8 Section 176 on the CA is actually a sealed but not a sword. The intention of section 176 CA is actually to help companies which face some serious financial problems and debts to the creditors. This provision is must be used by the companies to prevent bankruptcy and as a chance to settle the debts to the creditors. However, some companies may misuse this section for their own enjoyment or benefit which was not and never the intention of parliament for enacting this provision. When companies start to misuse this provision, the objective of this provision is misinterpretated. This  misinterpretation can be said as one of the reason for financial crisis in 1997. Some companies may use these provisions to cheat the creditors of the company; in this case the improper usage of this section may lead to injustice to creditors. As a conclusion, section 176 of CA is very important provision which should be interpreted as per the original intention of the enactment. This provision is very helpful for the companies in financial difficulties and it will provide room for the companies to run their business and gain profit to overcome the debts. This provision also does not violate the rights of the creditors where by using this provision the company cannot escape the debt but only can obtain some time extension to repay it. This section must be used in a good manner so that the company and also the creditors do not held in injustice.

Thursday, November 14, 2019

The Many Personalities of Lolita and Humbert in Nabokov’s Lolita Essay

The Many Personalities of Lolita and Humbert in Nabokov’s Lolita Although they are intimately involved, the title character of Nabokov's Lolita never fully reveals her true self to Humbert. Likewise, Humbert pours his physical love into Lolita, but he never reveals to his stepdaughter a self that is separate from his obsession with her. These two characters mask large parts of their personalities from each other and the rest of the world, creating different images and personas in regard to different people and situations. One assumption of post-structuralism holds that â€Å"persons are culturally and discursively structured, created in interaction as situated, symbolic beings.† In accordance with this idea that people are created by their culture and in their interactions, both Lolita and Humbert have different personalities in different situations and circumstances. However, they ultimately show a more continuous and profound self-existence than just as faces created in their various interactions. Post-structuralism is a theory containing a wide array of ideas concerning meaning, reality, and identity. Post-structuralism believes that the mind receives â€Å"impressions from without which it sifts and organizes into a knowledge of the world† which is expressed in language, or symbols (Selden, Widdowson 128). The â€Å"subject,† or person, â€Å"grasps the object and puts it into words†(128). Knowledge is formed from various types of communication which â€Å"pre-exist the subject’s experiences,† the subject existing as a being that is â€Å"not an autonomous or unified identity, but is always ‘in process’†(129). There are many assumptions of post-structuralism, but only one will be focused on here, in terms of Lolita and Humbert. This assumpti... ...s of Lolita and Humbert to show the isolation and loneliness they feel, and to show just how different and immoral the situation is. By stressing the dissonance between one persona to the next, he portrays a view of his characters that is sad and shocking, for the public seen is also the reader; the unaware, innocent, â€Å"moral† group. By letting us into the different faces of Lolita and Humbert, Nabokov reveals the tragedy in the novel, and allows the reader to vividly feel what is morally right and wrong with Humbert, Lolita, and ourselves. Works Cited Lye, John. Some Post-Structural Assumptions. 1997. 5-2001. http://www.brocku.ca/english/courses/4F70/poststruct.html. Nabokov, Vladimir. Lolita. New York: Random, 1997. Selden, Raman, and Peter Widdowson. A Reader’s Guide To Contemporary Literary Theory. Lexington: The University Press of Kentucky, 1993.

Tuesday, November 12, 2019

Dance Philosophy Essay

Dance is the reason I exist and as cheesy as it sounds its true. In 1982 my father met my mother at a dance club. He said after watching her dancing with her friends he had to talk to her. Dance has the power to cross boundaries and touch one’s soul. As a form dance can be anything. Rain falling into a pound, an individual tying their shoe, a swan boureeing across a stage or man rolling across a stage can all be dance. Dance is a series of movements stitched together with an intent and frame. Weather the intent is to express emotion, showcase technique, or make a statement it is all dance. I started dancing in high school after a teacher of mine recommended I take a class. My first real dance class was ballet. It was a foreign language to me. At first it was a string of movements empty in meaning and emotion. I just danced through the motions until one day my teacher told us that we needed to bring the movement to life. I did not understand this concept at first, how could movement come to life? It wasn’t until I began taking a modern class that I understood this concept. I could use movement to express my own thoughts, fears, joys, and questions. When I try and analyze what dances means to me, ultimately, I see it as a multifaceted entity. Dance is part of my identity and without it I believe I would struggle with understanding who I am. First and foremost dance for me has always been a form of therapy. Growing up I hated conflict and as a result internalized my issues. Through dance I was able to find a reliable outlet to release my frustrations, fears, and inhibitions, which allowed me to explore my personal struggles through movement. Secondly I believe that movement has the power to transcend boundaries and make statements that are often hard to say. Movement is an outlet to foster awareness, dialogue, change and growth while bridging the gap between artistic expression and community dialogue.

Saturday, November 9, 2019

Chick Webb

In a genre as widely popular and influential as jazz, even some of the most well-respected musicians could fall through the cracks in terms of being a mainstream legend. This is not a revelation of a statement on its own, as this was the story for many a musician. The cause could be simply be a casualty of overshadowing during the jazz/swing craze, not being terribly innovative, or not having a string of hits. Some of these causes even afflicted the subject of this paper. However, it was another factor that makes his story so interesting, yet tragic.Not every artist could be etched in legend such as figures like Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington, or have his music played all over like Benny Goodman. But Chick Webb’s impact on both the music, culture and technique regarding the drums were and still are well-respected in the jazz scene, despite some of the factors that would hold him back from being a transcendent star. The story of Chick Webb has to begin with the factor that held him back the most and is also the first to afflict him. Despite his disputed birth date, Chick was born in Baltimore, Maryland to William H. and Marie Johnson Webb.William Henry Webb, his birth name, was born with spinal tuberculosis, a condition that would negatively affect him his whole life and ultimately cost him his life. So how does one manage all this pain, let alone become the greatest jazz drummer in history? For starters, the idea of playing the drums came from his doctor. The intent was that the rapid movement of the limbs that is required by the drums would â€Å"loosen up† his stiff limbs and lessen the pain. With the appeal of the instruments’ recreational and medicinal apparent, a young Webb would become a newspaper boy with the sole goal of saving up enough money to buy a drum set.Until then, Webb would settle for the bottom of overturned garbage cans to whet his appetite. By 11 years old, Webb would have his drum set and by 17 years old, he had mo ved to New York City to pursue his dream of being a player in the jazz capital of the world. Chick Webb began playing in New York night clubs as soon as he arrived in 1924. Clubs such as the Paddock Club and the Black Bottom took him in, reference by none other than Duke Ellington, who instantly recognized his talent. Ellington would become an important figure in Webb’s life, both as a mentor and a rival, further down the line.Noting his dominant skill and strong personality, Ellington would encourage Webb to form and lead his own small band. Webb would do just that by forming the Harlem Stoppers, a quintet that would go on to supply the demand for swing music in the era known as the Harlem Renaissance. His skills were rare, and considered ideal to fuel the upbeat pace of swing music and provide a drive to the music that could rarely be matched. Naturally, this skill became quickly recognized all over the city, leading to the expansion of the Harlem Stoppers, who would now be known as the Chick Webb Orchestra.Webb’s status as a successful musician was cemented when his band was selected as the house band of the Savoy Ballroom, a legendary venue located in Harlem. He would be the face of the venue until his final years. Based solely off their own merits, the Chick Webb Orchestra was a highly regarded band. But what made the band legendary in its own right was their willingness to accept challengers in what was known as â€Å"cuttin’ sessions†, or battles of the bands. Many good, but ordinary jazz bands attempted to challenge the great Chick Webb Orchestra, only to be blown out of the ballroom.However, when then-â€Å"King of Swing† Benny Goodman and his band arrived to challenge Webb’s, Chick began to finally get some acclaim from outside of New York. In New York, over 9,000 people came to see this historical event, 5,000 of them standing outside just to have the chance of possibly hearing the monumental clash that was to take place. And when the opportunity arose for Webb and his band to make a statement, they did so in force. Performing first, Goodman’s orchestra performed honorably as many expected from a unit of their stature.But when Webb’s crew began, the outcome would become obvious. With the roar of the crowd Webb’s orchestra, they would end up blowing Benny Goodman’s band out of the ballroom just as he did all the other bands before him that challenged him. His driving sounds often over-powered other bands, playing into the hard swing of his orchestra. Gene Krupa, a legendary drummer in his own right and drummer for Goodman’s band noted that â€Å"Webb cut me to ribbons! † It was this moment where Webb was crowned â€Å"King of Swing† and undoubtedly â€Å"King of the Savoy†.Other legendary challengers such as Count Basie (who played Webb to a draw at the very least), Fletcher Henderson and Duke Ellington would test the mettle of the Chick Webb Orchestra, but none would diminish his status as one of the preeminent bandleaders and musicians of the time. Like most famous muscians of the time, Webb began to record his work, beginning in 1927. However, his powerful sound was difficult to record cleanly without drowning out the full composition of the work. This forced im to tone down his sound and let the rest of the music even out, possibly lessening his fame. However, in circles within the music industry, Webb’s talent and influence did not go unnoticed. When Decca Records formed in 1934, Webb signed to the label and made his most famous recordings, almost all of which featuring Ella Fitzgerald as the singer. Webb initially discouraged the inclusion of Fitzgerald as she did not fit the image of the typical lead vocalist for a swing band. However, once he heard her voice, she would become the lead vocalist for Chick Webb’s Orchestra.This addition skyrocketed the careers of both artist, transforming F itzgerald into a bonafide superstar following the success of their top hit together, Fitzgeralds rendition of â€Å"A-tisket, A-Tasket†. As the quintessential swing artist, Webb’s sound merged perfectly with Fitzgerald, so much so that she became known as the â€Å"First Lady of Swing†. Unfortunately, one could say the vast popularity of Fitzgerald would often overshadow Webb, especially true on recordings. What made it worse for Chick Webb, was the timing of his newfound popularity. In 1938, not too long after the instant success of â€Å"A-tisket, A-tasket†, Webb’s health began to fail.Webb had been playing through pain his entire career, often leaving the stage exhausted. But this time, his spinal condition became more serious and restricted him from playing to a standard that he deemed fit for his fans. Seeking relief, Webb would return to Baltimore for a major operation at Johns Hopkins Hospital. Sadly, Webb would never leave the hospital, dyi ng at just 34 years old. Reportedly, his last words were to his mother, saying â€Å"I’m sorry, I’ve got to go. † The respect the jazz scene had for Chick Webb was obvious at his funeral, where the top musicians of the time all came to pay their respects.The general public also came in full force, so much so that the church where the services were being held could not contain them all, and the procession was composed of almost 80 cars. As one of the few prominent drummer-led swing bands, Webb’s impact is almost always understated. Be it because his lack of hit records as the frontman, a result of Ella Fitzgerald’s popularity or the era’s inability to properly record his talent, or his shortened lifespan, Chick Webb has become a somewhat forgotten name to the mainstream, despite his legendary status within the jazz culture.But due to his influential style, and his battles against some of the more marquee names in jazz/swing, Chick Webb will n ever be forgotten. Works Cited Fritts, Ron, and Ken Vail. Ella Fitzgerald: The Chick Webb Years & beyond. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow, 2003. Print. McDonough, John. â€Å"CHICK WEBB: THE MATRIX. † Down Beat 77. 8 (2010): 37. Downbeat. com. Down Beat, Aug. 2010. Web. 26 Oct. 2012. . Sandler, Gilbert. â€Å"Webb Won the Battle of the Bands. † Baltimore Sun.N. p. , 28 Apr. 1992. Web. 26 Oct. 2012. . Teichroew, Jacob. â€Å"Artist Profile: Swing Drummer and Bandleader Chick Webb. † About. com Jazz. N. p. , n. d. Web. 26 Oct. 2012. . Turner, Nathaniel. â€Å"Chick Webb Bio. † Chick Webb Bio. N. p. , n. d. Web. 26 Oct. 2012. .

Thursday, November 7, 2019

Counselling Assignment Essays

Counselling Assignment Essays Counselling Assignment Essay Counselling Assignment Essay Essay Topic: 12 Angry Men It is a vital function of our memory systems. It also helps people to connect and relate with each other. However, stereotyping can also be based on assumptions and presumptions about people Which leads to sentimentalism and can result in a bypass Of the counselors capacity for empathy. As such, it is highly relevant to the counseling experience. Stereotypes are not fresh or born of the present moment and tend to reduce the dull humanity of a person and obscure the bigger picture. Rather than deny that we make assumptions and operate from stereotypes, our tutors have proposed that it is much more healthy and lawful to the counseling process for the counselor to be aware of any stereotypes they might have. The value of recognizing a stereotype is that it trees both parties from inauthentic relating. I would guess that the more difference there is between the client and the counselor, the more likely a stereotype is to exist, To assess the worth or quality of the relevance of stereotyping and see both the strengths and weaknesses Of it, Will take the following examples. As a counselor, would first Of all need to be very aware Of my own personal stereotyping. For instance, do hold the view that young people in their ass are too young to fully appreciate or relate to the value of money, This impedes me from being able to see the true values that a young client would be putting on money. They might not he able to organize their money or plan for things they want to do in the future due to inexperience, and they might need some help in this area, but the judgment would be holding would not let me see this need. The relevance of stereotyping comes from people observing patterns of human nature in other people and perhaps in themselves. The danger of it being a shorthand is that it can mean e objectify other people and do not allow ourselves to have a direct fresh up-to-date heartfelt relationship With the person Who we are relating With. As a counselor to a young person in their ass, I would need to find simple open questions that allowed the client to explore his relationship with money. I might also reveal my own struggles With money management, in order to create empathy. Our tutors pointed out that honoring difference, valuing differences, can deepen the connection or bond between counselor and client by deepening the capacity for empathy. Personally, I feel I dont carry any prejudices about people?s racial backgrounds. Ive traveled a lot in my life and found many ways to connect with people of different races. However because of difficulties have had while working in Scotland, do hold prejudices against Scottish people. The only strength or value I can see of holding this stereotype or prejudice about the Scottish national identity wool be if it were to be true for the client in any given moment. For instance, one aspect of this that I feel to be true is that Scottish people hold themselves to be different, and generally to be badly treated by their English neighbors. It could be helpful to assess freshly with the client the veracity of this particular stereotype. If the stereotype is actually true, for the client, then they can be c value for it. If it is not true, this might be an opportunity for empathy in connection with the client. Where stereotyping might make a valuable contribution is when it holds a truth for the client at that moment. If the client uses a stereotype to present themselves, and it is true, it is no longer a Stereotype. Many Scottish people have over the centuries been themselves victim of stereotyping and prejudice by the English neighbors. Discrimination. This is why they are unhappy about it. But to be on the receiving end of something that is historical and for which I have no responsibility for his painful and irksome and makes me feel somehow invisible and unvalued as a person with individuality and a contribution to make to the present moment. Also, if the client is presenting them selves and talking about themselves as a stereotype, almost as a cliche of themselves, it would be helpful to look at this in terms of symbiotic identification and individuation processes. A client who says L am like my ad, like my beer, I like my dinner on the table at 6 oclock, I like my women in short skirts and support Gaston Villa. Asking open questions that guide the client to an appreciation of the implicit exchange in his relationships might well be a challenge to somebody who has such a stereotypical view of himself. And to take another example, I would personally hold the news of a client revealing that she is pregnant to be positive. If a client, for instance, were to reveal that to me, and I were to automatically assume that this is good news for the client, I might miss attuning to her real feelings about eyeing pregnant. Being interested in her direct experience would be more helpful. So a question like L could imagine that this would be good news of some people but not so great for others, how is this news for you? Would help the counselor attune to the clients direct experience of being pregnant Language Issues. Assessing the worth or value of the relevance of language issues to the counseling process needs to be taken on a case-by-case basis. Competence in the shared language that the counseling process is conducted in would be an easy and comfortable assumption to make. The issue of the language that as used in the counseling process might be much less significant in cases where such spe cific circumstances were not present. But if the client is foreign, or has a stammer a stutter, or has been severely abused for speaking their mind, the counselor would need to take into account the specific circumstances in order to attune to the needs of their client. The impact of the act of speaking might be very emotionally charged in these cases, in which case the counselor would need to place a very high value and importance on the language that they used and the impact that the language had on their client. As well as the emotional processes that were engaged by the client when they begin to speak. The way a counselor speaks is also significant in the counseling process. If the counselor comes from a middle or upper class background, and speaks in a way that the client deems to be overly posh, it might be more difficult to establish a rapport with the client. Because the client might think that the counselor doesnt have the same problems and experiences and difficulties that they do. Have faced this particular difficulty myself when working as a supply teacher in a special needs school. The young students came from deprived working class families and they did not believe that I could understand their difficulties and that I would be judging them. This prejudice was difficult to overcome in the short time that I had to work with them. I personally remember seeing a Gestalt therapist about 25 years ago with the issue of language became very significant to me. I found him critical of me for using flowery language to describe my experience. This became one of the significant reasons why stopped working with him. Different Belief Systems. The area of religious belief can have a powerful impact on the way a client experiences their world. What affects the value is the strength with which the client holds to their belief systems. If the counselor is working with a person who has a strong belief in a Christian God, for instance, and they have experienced a tragic loss of their child, the client might be angry with God and suffer a crisis of faith because God has taken their child away from them, or on the other hand, might feel soothed and supported by a belief in a higher power that has a grand design for our lives. The counselor who does not respect such a faith will not be able to serve this client well. And if a unsolder who is not a Muslim is counseling a Muslim, it might be difficult for them to understand not only the religious but also the community links that are Muslim client might value. In this case it will be helpful for the counselor to be very direct about the differences and ask for the client to explain his own particular perspective. On the other hand, if the client does not hold beliefs that have been taken on from a religious code, it becomes important to look at the beliefs that the client has decided for themselves out Of their direct experience Of living in within their family and social culture. Family Structures. Neurologically, the family environment in which we grow up is immensely significant to the kind of person we become. Cannot evaluate the relevance of this theme of a family structures highly enough. I would value it as, generally, the highest of all influences. Mom from a small family, with one brother, one auntie and two cousins who live in Italy. I find it difficult to understand people who grow up in a large family and the need to make a particular effort to compensate for my lack of experience in this area. I even find it difficult to imagine how somebody makes decisions about their life in allegations to their families demands and pressures. The rules of a family, be they spoken or not, are u sually very powerful influences on the values and decision-making processes of the client. Particularly if the counselor is committed to exploring the implicit emotional experience of the client, and the client grew up in a family which didnt do emotions or feelings, the counselor would need to attune his challenges and support for the clients emotional journey to the capacities of the client to even feel their own emotions. Such a family would probably feel threatened by the values of a unsolder who emphasizes feelings more than the family culture does. I have a friend who is the eldest child in a family of five; her mum had five children with five different men, none of whom she married. And another friend who was the eldest child out of six children that her mother had. Her dad disappeared before he was 20, and the other five children were fathered by her stepfather. Both of my friends have issues of over-responsibility and difficulties to make decisions in their own self interest due to the family structure in which they grew up in. Conversely, I grew up in a male orientated Emily. My father and younger brother, and a pretty unfeminine mother. It feels to me that I have gone on a long journey to understand and appreciate to the degree I do now that women are wired very differently from men. Became most intimately aware of this when lived with a partner who had two daughters Of ages six and nine. Realized during the 4 years we were together just how differently girls grow up from boys, and how their whole perspective on life, the physical emotional and mental filters through which they view their experience of the moment, is so different from boys. And revises such different value systems from those of boys. Eel still have a lot to learn about gender differences but at least have become aware of the different priorities of men and women. The question asks me to evaluate the relevance of family structures in the counseling process. Personally would place a very high value on this, I can see no counter argument whereby family structures would not be significant in the counseling process. Fifth client I was counseling were to have a similar family structure to myself, that could be both simpler, but potentially more difficult, than somebody whose family Truckee was very different from my own. Simpler because I might have similar experiences to refer to in myself, but potentially more difficult because I might assume that my client would respond in the same way and develop themselves in a similar way to me. This would be a very dangerous presumption to bring into the counseling space. Family Life Experiences I have had a girlfriend who was Turkish. When she had been divorcing her husband, named Tail, all her family relatives and all his family relatives met for a very long meeting one night to discuss whether their marriage should continue or not. The counselor needs to understand how their clients decisions might be affected by the size of their family as well as the traditions of their religion or country of origin. During childhood we learn very powerful lessons about money, sex and power from how our parents relate to money sex and power, for example. If the counselor has had a difficult relationship with money, feeling they are not rewarded properly for instance, and they are counseling a client who has a lot of money or has inherited a lot of money, there may be particular challenges within that working relationship that the unsolder needs to be aware of. If the counselors own relationship with their sexuality as a heterosexual person has not being comfortable, due to their father coming out as gay half way through the counselors childhood, it might be difficult to counsel the client who might be deciding to relate more Openly to their previously suppressed homosexuality, and in particular how they might present this to any children they may have. I remember a close friend of mine during my university days, when I was 22, deciding that she needed to tell people that she was a lesbian. As the first person that she told. This was a very powerful and moving moment in her life. She was mainly terrified. A counselor might be the first person that young person shares what might have been a secret for them up until then. This will be a very significant opportunity for the coo nestles to develop trust with their client. And in terms of power, remember visiting a friend of mines family for New Years Eve meal, where perhaps 15 of their family w ere present. I noticed that no one in the family was willing to take the lead and make a decision about any shared activity that we would participate in that evening. Contrasted it to there families that have visited where them was one powerful leader of the group, or two or three family members who are quite capable of expressing their opinions on getting what they want in conflict and opposition with other family members. The relevance of family life experiences can mediate disability very significantly. I remember meeting a woman in her mid-ass who had a form of dwarfism. As I got to know her realism that she grew up in a really loving family is one of five children in Newcastle. She was passionate about her job, working in the job centre to support other people with usability and because she had had such a loving family environment she was able to face the difficulties common to all humans with many more resources than an able-bodied person who did not have such a loving family structure to support their development in their childhood. Unfortunately, due to her dwarfism, she unable to find a good man -? all the men I go out with are knobs was her precise phrase. I remember being very touched by her situation she clearly had so much love to give, and was so loved by her family, but due to her body shape she was unable to attract a man worthy of ere heart. As with the previous sub section to this question, I feel that family life experiences are highly relevant for both the counselor and the client. The main way that they become less relevant is for them to be shared openly, by the client in the counseling room, and by the counselor with their supervisor, if they are particularly triggered by this case; such sharing should allow for empathy to be created and the bond or connection between the counselor and client to be deepened. Learning Outcome Two. 2. 1 . Explain what is meant by cultural divisions and heritage. Cultural divisions offers to the way groups of people in a country feel affiliated to people who share specific aspects of their identity in terms of religion, culture, beliefs, national identity, class, the traditions of a family or a community, sexuality or the ethnic background in which they grow up. For instance the civil rights movement in USA divided the country along the lines of race or ethnic background. The issue of abortion creates conflict and division between those for and those against which can cause extreme violence and even homicide. Same sex marriage is another theme which can create cultural divisions thin a society. I am guessing the second part of the question refers to Cultural heritage. In which case this would refer to the way a religion, a national culture, a national identity, class or the traditions of a family or a community or sexuality or the ethnic background of a group within a larger society has historically influenced those groupings in a way which people either want to adhere to these values or want to break away from them. In Greece, for instance, pensions have traditionally been offering unsustainable levels of income (up to 90% sometimes) to the elderly because of the value Greeks place on their parental heritage. Religion endorses cultural heritage in the form of certain practices around the year Christmas, Ramadan, the Marching season in Northern Ireland, the Chinese New Year. Ways those groupings mourn and bury the dead. 2. 2. Using examples, analyses how the cultural heritage of clients might influence one-to-one counseling interactions. Religion. It feels easiest to me to begin with some more extreme examples. If the client had grown up in a family culture where religion was very important, can imagine that it might be difficult for them to find their own sense of self and orate decisions based on their own organic experience of their lives, as a humanist might. An obvious example might be someone growing up in a strongly Christian Bible-based religious community, which condemned homosexual activity, and that client would be homosexual. All sorts of conflicts and difficulties that arise as they repeat the injunctions against homosexual activity, and struggled to value their own sexual orientation. Personally, do not share the Christian injunctions against homosexual activity, and I believe it is important for where men and women to enjoy thee sexual preferences free of any dogma whatsoever. But Ive never had to experience the intense feelings of guilt and shame that can be felt by people whose family of origin takes a religious position against such a personal, intimate and private experience. A friend of mine grew up in her family of five; her father was a Protestant minister in France and a mother was heavily) involved in caring for the needs oftener Protestant community to the detriment of caring for the needs of her family. It was a family where person needs was sacrificed for the greater good of the community. 80th her father and mother had grown up as orphans, her father being 15 years old and the eldest son to 4 other children when his parents died. There was never any space for grieving the loss of his parents because of his position of responsibility. At the age of 22, her 29-year-old elder brother died on a Friday That Sunday he preached a sermon as usual and didnt mention the loss of his son. For my friend, this was something she finds very emblematic of her childhood circumstance and is unwilling to forgive her father for. In this fame circumstance grieving was not allowed due to the religious tenets and duties that the parents upheld. My friend hashed problems with asthma and her lungs since her adolescence. And is only recently embarking On a journey of individuation from the power of her familys belief systems are. Being unable to feel grief has contributed enormously to her difficulty to feel love and loving in her personal relationships. Since grief returns us back to our hearts Culture. Some estimates put the number of Polish people who have settled in the united Kingdom over the last 15 years at over 1 million. Many of these will have experienced their childhood under a communist regime, and virtually e of them will have had at least parent or grandparent rule has been severely affected by the Second World War. The individual and family trauma of experiencing war being waged in your own country, in your own town, around your own house, can only have a devastating effect on your capacity) to regulate your emotions, to share your emotions with other people, and etc parent your children; but this is something we as a human race are only just recently becoming aware of, and be able to address openly. And then to consider the national trauma of a country that lost 18% of its population in the Second World War. 18% is virtually one in five people; 6 1/2 million people dying and 27 million people surviving. How trauma is passed down from generation to generation as each tide faces the difficulties of human existence is something that I find very difficult to engage with; but imagine will at some point face working with people of Polish extraction. The challenges of working with people from Muslim Indian cultures would also b very interesting and challenging. I imagine that I would find it difficult to understand how somebody who grows up as one of eight children in a family Of, say, 12 uncles and aunties and 60 nephews and nieces. Member a Turkish tour guide I worked with for a number of months saying that the preference between Westerners and Turkish people is that we spend time alone and we make decisions alone. You live for yourselves, he said, We live for our families. He had an interesting cultural background himself, with his father being Muslim and his mother being Christian. They divorced very early after their marriage. Counseling him with his proclivity for young Russian prost itutes would be a very challenging experience. Beliefs. I happen to be associated through my role as step-parent with two people who have a very strong Christian faith; when they got married their wedding arts depicted 6,410 people walking on a path through clouds to some nebulous vision of heaven. With my own commitment to living in the present here and now, and an interest in a Gestalt approach to life, I can imagine it will be very difficult to work with people who believed that the most important thing in their lives was preparing for heaven, and that this life is merely a vale of tears that is preparing us for the promised land. Mind it difficult when people priorities their conceptual beliefs about other people in front of their heartfelt relationship with those other people. And discriminate against them. I can imagine it will be difficult to bring my own integrity forward in a way that respected their different approach, particularly children were involved. National Identity. I find people who are proud of their national identity rather boring and shallow. This is my own particular perspective. I know somebody who seems to believe that people who are English are just naturally better than people who are not. They have the English flag in their garden. I would want to direct their attention to personal differences and also to the way they use this stereotype to justify their choices and actions. American people tend to adore embody who speaks with a British accent and an American client might idols an English-speaking counselor in a way that will be detrimental to their own personal growth. They might project their positive virtues onto the counselor and the counselor would need to pay close attention to the power imbalance in these relationships. Class. I found myself liking to think that class is less significant in our society than it was when I was growing up 30 or 40 years ago. However, the sketch from TWO, That Was the Week that Was, with John Classes, Ronnie Barker and Ronnie Corbett, where each actor introduced themselves as upper middle ND lower class, in accordance with their physical stature, still has a lot of pertinence in our British society, I believe. People make choices about how safe they feel with, for instance, young men of a lower class. As a counselor personally I would feel threatened and afraid of somebody who might be intimidated by perceiving me is from a middle-class background; if they were strong vigorous and kinesthesia I would feel personally threatened by the potential of them to attack me. Conversely, have found people expect me to be wealthy, effective and successful in the ways of the world because they receive me to be well educated intelligent middle-class. Because these have not been my actual values it has been sometimes difficult to bring my experience of myself to them as am in the face of their expectations and presumptions and assumptions. The traditions of a family or a community. Patterns of attachment play out very strongly in family and community affiliations. To belong and be accepted by our family of origin and our community is one of the most powerful drives in our neurological destiny as human beings. Where each person falls either side of this has a massive impact on their identity and the way they live their lives and how the experience satisfaction in their lives. There tend to be two main options within this frame: either one is basically successfully valued and accepted within the family of origin and community, or one falls on the other side of this pattern of identification and forms a sense of self in opposition to what outside the family or community groups. If one ends up on the inside track, the client might be identified with upholding the values and rules of their parents and community. Im thinking of the way the politician Gordon Brown resented himself to the British people as somebody who followed the values of his family (his father was a minister in the Church of Scotland). He grew up as the middle son of three brothers and identified himself very closely with the values of his family and community. He experienced himself as a defender of these values on the world stage. The loss of these values was something that he felt deep concern about and expended most of his political life trying to avoid. And there will be many examples of clients who land on the other side of the tracks of their family and communities conditioning; reaps the son of successful pioneering surgeon who just wants to be a farmer, or an artistic young woman who wants to dance but grows up in a family of accountants, or a person who grows up in a family of bankers and wants to do humanitarian work in Africa. Sexuality. As young people grow up to discover and embrace their sexual self- expression, they will inevitably be comparing themselves to be compared to the sexual orientation of their parents and their community. Communities that have strong sexual codes such as those Muslim and Hindu cultures that support arranged marriage might be unwilling to accept the difference of a on or daughter with gay or lesbian interests. Or even a person with very little interest in creating a sexual connection with another person, or simply dont want to get married. Remember my own father saying how relieved he was that I am not gay. I remember the example off friend of mine whose marriage was falling apart; she was very unhappy with her husband, with whom she had a son, and there was a lot of pressure from friends and family to stick with the marriage. I remember saying to me that she sought out a counselor at this time because the counselor was the only person who didnt have any advice or any agenda for her. She had fallen in love with another man but was unable to share that with her family and community for fear Of their judgment and criticism. And this was an apparently liberal English community without any particularly strong religious affiliations. Ethnic Background ND. The ethnic background of both counselor and client will inevitably have a powerful influence on one-to-one counseling interactions. If both counselor and client are white Caucasians, it would be reasonable to expect that a significant amount of presumed values could be inferred, and would not necessarily need to be enquired into together. If the counselor were white and the client were black, the differences might be significant; and might turn around the perception of racial superiority and inferiority, or racial hatred, that both members of the process might have. I have heard black people complain about there not being enough black counselors for their race, and I have heard of clients making choices about who their counselor will be depending on their racial origin. Racial diversity seems to be less here in Devon than in the major cities of the United Kingdom; but if the client feels that the counselor is unable to hear them fairly without being viewed wrought a prejudicial lens, is unlikely that the counseling process will be successful. For either members of the exchange. The counselor will need to own the difference perspectives that their racial background brings into the space and check them out on a moment by moment basis with the client. Some clients might not be happy with the amount of time that is taken with this process may grow impatient with the counselor and with having to explain what seems obvious to them and their counselor. 2. 3. Using examples, evaluate how your own cultural heritage might impact on counseling interactions with clients. Religion. I grew up in a household with no particular religious orientation. My father believed that God had betrayed him (so he stopped believing in him) and my mother decided, after growing up in a Methodist family, that God did not exist, but the values of Methodism were wholesome and worth using as guidance for her life. As a child and as a teenager was interested in religions, particularly Buddhism. I was fortunate enough to visit India at the age of 20 and was very influenced by the experiences there which took me out of my cultural perspective and gave me something much wider, more open and interesting than I had ever experienced in England.

Tuesday, November 5, 2019

À la française - French Expression

la franà §aise - French Expression Expression: la franà §aise Pronunciation: [a la fra(n) sehz] Meaning: French, French-style Literal meaning: in the French manner or fashion Register: normal Notes The French expression la franà §aise is an ellipsis of either la manià ¨re franà §aise or la mode franà §aise. Because the ellipted word is feminine in both of those expressions, franà §aise remains feminine in the shortened phrase, no matter the gender or number of the noun it modifies. Remember that franà §aise is an adjective here, so it cannot be capitalized. Examples​ Je ne comprends pas tout fait lhumour la franà §aise.I dont really understand French humor. Ah, le socialisme la franà §aise!Ah, French-style socialism! Special Uses le format la franà §aise - portrait (as opposed to landscape: format litalienne)un jardin la franà §aise - formal gardenle pain la franà §aise - French breadun parc la franà §aise - formal gardenun plafond la franà §aise - ceiling with exposed beams equal in width to the spaces between themune robe la franà §aise - sack-back gown (18th-century fashion)le service la franà §aise - several dishes served simultaneously (as opposed to sequentially: service la russe) Related Expressions The same ellipsis can be made with other nationalities and peoples: lamà ©ricaine - American-style langlaise - English-style langlo-saxonne - British-style la belge - Belgian-style la suisse - Swiss-style And with places: lafricaine - African-style la caraà ¯be - Caribbean-style la parisienne - Parisian-style la provenà §ale - Provenà §al-style la savoyarde - Savoyard-style

Sunday, November 3, 2019

Amazons Business Model and the Operational Strategies Coursework - 1

Amazons Business Model and the Operational Strategies - Coursework Example Amazon has been able to pull of its business model through the use of three operational strategies to enhance its competitive advantage: low-cost leadership and customer differentiation. However, when we evaluate Amazon’s business model and the operational strategies that underlie it they greatly resemble those of its key competitor Barnes & Noble. Barnes & Noble also used its economies of scale to support low-cost leadership, it broke new ground by developing software that would enable its customers to personalize their web pages and also enjoy the results of collaborative filtering (Ghemawat 13). The difference in one organization’s choice to use a pure play system while the other uses a brick-and-click system is too simplistic to explain the relative success of Amazon.com over Barnes & Noble. This would be best explained through the dynamic capability. Dynamic capability refers to the ability of the firm to purposefully create, extend or modify its resource base so as to achieve congruence with the changing business environment (Menon and Mohanty 3). Of importance to note is the use of the word â€Å"purposefully† which negates the element of accident or luck. Dynamic capability involves intent and the emergent stream of activities within an organization that is taken with a certain implicit aim. Although dynamic capabilities are equifinal and exhibit commonalities across firms, performance differences arise between firms due to both cost and differential timing with which the dynamic capabilities are used (Menon and Mohanty 5). They are path dependent processes thus are idiosyncratic and difficult to imitate. Dynamic capabilities can be a source of competitive advantage. That is why even though Barnes & Noble seem to be following similar operational strategies to Amazon.com, the results are different for each firm.