An Evaluation Of Mergers And Acquisitions Management Essay

An Evaluation Of Mergers And Acquisitions Management Essay In the modern world, most of the companies try to merge their company with another company. There are some advantages and disadvantages in merging. The main advantages are reputation, brand image can be increase through the merging. The industry will become simple through merging and this is the competitive advantage, Alcatel Lucent Company can gain from the merging. The main disadvantage in merging is cross culture conflicts and this case study is about Alcatel Lucent merger. Alcatel Lucent is one of the leading companies in mobile, fixed, Optics technologies and a pioneer in applications and services (Alcatel Lucent, 2011). According to the merging procedure, Alcatel Lucent merger faced cross culture conflicts from France and U.S. Still, the company tries to control the culture conflicts in the organization. This report mainly describes the conditions and negotiation factors, industry changes after merger and the international challenges of Alcatel Lucent. 1. The conditions and negotiation factors pushed forth the merger in 2006 that were not present in 2001 According to the case, in 2006 both companies come up with new conditions and negotiation factors. Mainly, France shareholders, they gave their approval to merge Alcatel company and Lucent company. Alcatels chief executive Mr. Techuruk encouraged 1500 shareholders in Paris by mentioning Alcatel Lucent is truly global and has no equivalent today and wont in future. He also agreed to pay 10.6 billion euro for Lucent company to merge Alcatel and Lucent companies as Alcatel Lucent. The stock swap was valued at one Alcatel American depository share for every five Lucent shares. Both companies agreed to publish English as the official language of the Alcatel Lucent. After considering above conditions and factors, both company shareholders gave their approval to merge Alcatel Lucent as one company. They also decided to deal with both pre-merger and post-merger integration issues such as salaries, benefits, designations and other structural maters by holding a series of meetings between the top HR executives at the two companies. 2. merged company A merged company which means the combination of two companies where one corporation is completely absorbed by another corporation. After the merging procedure, both companies have to do business as one company. As a result of that, they should invent new identities for the company. They couldnt use their separate identities for the business. Any company, they couldnt merge with another company without the approval of shareholders. Negotiation also very important for merged companies. Negotiation is the process of discussion by which two or more parties aim to reach a mutually acceptable agreement (Strategic International Management, 2011). There are five stages included in the negotiation process. Those stages are preparation, relationship building, exchanging task related information, persuasion and concessions and agreement. Mainly, any organization, they wants to follow this negotiation process when they planning to merge their company with another company. Alcatel is a company which produce the communication equipments for their customers and Lucent company, they provides telecommunication services to their customers. After merging these two companies, their industries become simple. As Alcatel Lucent, they did their sales of $25 billion. They also produced many telecommunication products such as wireless equipments, wire line equipments, wireless infrastructures, internet routers, equipment for carrying calls over the internet, etc. The negative side of the industry is company loss $7 billion since the merger. In addition to that, Alcatel Lucent around 16500 jobs since merger. As the advantages of the industry, for the fourth quarter 2006, the company posts adjusted pro-forma revenues of Euro 4,421 million and operating profits of Euro 21 million. The company reported Euro 18,254 million adjusted pro-forma and operation profit of Euro 1,025 million for the full year 2006. On 31st December 2006, their total cash and marketable securiti es was Euro 6.7 billion leaving a net cash position of Euro 508 million. 3. Evaluation of the comment that the merger is à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“a giant transatlantic experiment in multicultural diversity.à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  When Lucents merger with Frances Alcatel, Russo became CEO of the combined Company and Tchuruk became chairman. According to the American culture terms, that means Russo runs the company. But, in the French culture terms, the chairman is the boss. In addition to that, Americans and French have very different ideas about what to do when a company is in crisis. The American preference is to right-size the business, a euphemism for cutting jobs and lowering costs. In French, their preference is to protect the jobs by looking for assistance from a friendly government. According to the above situation, Alcatel Lucent have to face difficulties because the two nationalities are trying to protect the jobs of their compatriots. Mainly, the French and the Americans have different business cultures. Their business patterns are completely different. In Alcatel Lucent, both American and French cultures affect for the decision making process in the company. Alcatel Lucent have to find a solution t o solve the culture conflicts in the organization. According to the case, there is an evidence that the company has run into cross-cultural problems since the merger took place in 2006. The evidence is, in July 2008, the Alcatel Lucent CEO Patricia Russo resigned by mentioning she cant work with her fellow board member Serge Tchuruk. As a result of that, Mr. Serge Tchuruk also resigned from his job. Mainly, these cross cultural problems occurred because the overall leadership of the company had been handed to the target company. 4. The international challenges that Alcatel-Lucent faces as it moves forward as a combined company Low cost competition from new Chinese rivals There are many Chinese competitors in the industry. Those competitors mainly affects the Alcatel Lucents business. In China, their labour cost is very low comparing to the France or USA. As a result of that, the product cost in china is very low and it affects with the Alcatel Lucents product price. Most of the customers, they always try to buy cheap products from the market. Alcatel Lucent company, still they couldnt earn enough profit from their industry. They do their business as low profit, low growth company. For example, Alcatel Lucents main Chinese competitors are ZTE and Huawei. Their cost structures are more favorable than Alcatel Lucent Company. Technology changes Technology changes also very important for Alcatel Lucent Company. The technology is always getting improving. As a result of that, many companies tries to add new features to their equipments. As an international company, Alcatel Lucent also wants to consider these technological changes when they do their production process. Sometimes, Alcatel Lucent company have to spend more money to get latest technology for their products. Alcatel Lucent is the only Western Company to offer or develop products for all wireless technologies (GSM, UMTS/HSPA, LTE, CDMA2000, WiMAX). Transformation to digital economies On 7th of September in 2007, Alcatel Lucent and Nextgen Networks started their broadband business in Australia. Nextgen Networks owns and operates Australias third fibre network. This is the first Australian and Asia Pacific first with the delivery of traffic 100 gigabits speed. When Alcatel Lucent entering to the digital economies such as Australia, the company have to transfer of over 100,000 mp3 files in 60 seconds or the live streaming of over 15,000 HDTV channels parallel. Mainly, the company should improve their optical and IP technologies to do the above process successfully. Alcatel Lucent have to find some cost effective strategies when they do their fast broadband business in Australia. They also have to increase network capacity and manage quality of service to meet new customer demands in Australia. Rural Inclusion According to the rural inclusion, Alcatel Lucent Company have to expand their business all over the world. When they planning to start their business in a rural area, the company have to arrange the background to start business over there. Mainly, the company have to built partnership with local companies to create high added value services. The company also have to consider the local population in those areas when they start business internationally. Cross Culture Conflicts According to the case, there were some changes in management team and board of directors in Alcatel Lucent company. CEO, Pat Russo resigned from her job in July 2008. Non executive chairman, Serge Tchuruk also resigned from his job. Pat Russo clearly mentioned that she cannot work with Serge Tchuruk. At that time, there were many disagreements between Russo and Serge in the company. Still, both U.S and France cultures affects on Alcatel Lucents business. Alcatel Lucent as a multinational company, they have to start their business in various countries. Mainly, they have to make cultural changes inside the company according to the country to country. For example, If Alcatel Lucent starts their business in Dubai, they have to get new employees from Dubai and they have to design their marketing according to the culture of the country. 5. Conclusion After merging Alcatel and Lucent Companies, their industries become one industry. The Alcatel Lucent merger provides many equipment and telecommunication categories to the customers. The company invented many new equipments for the customers after merging. Before the merger, both Alcatel and Lucent companies, they did their business separately. As a France company, Alcatel had their own business culture and Lucent company had own business culture as U.S company. As a result of that, both U.S and France cultures affects on Alcatel Lucent merger. The merger has many problems under cross culture conflicts. The Company lose their previous CEO and Non executive chairman because of cross culture conflicts. These cultural conflicts mainly affects on Alcatel Lucents business. In Alcatel Lucent, they have a huge competition from China. Their main competitors are ZTE and Huawei. The product price of Alcatel Lucent is very higher comparing to the Chinese competitors. Mainly, Alcatel Lucent should have to implement new strategies to reduce the product cost. Most of the customers try to buy low cost products from Chinese Companies. As a result of that, Alcatel Lucent company will lose profits from their industry. In addition to that, the company also should have to consider technological changes, transformation to digital economies and rural inclusion when they do business internationally.

degenerate characteristics of dracula :: essays research papers

Degenerate Characters of Dracula In the novel, Dracula, Bram Stoker puts together a variety of characters with several characteristics that are unique and somewhat alike in many ways. One way that some of the characters are similar is that they show signs of being a degenerate. A degenerate is a person who has sunk below a former or normal condition and lost normal or higher qualities. These people most likely have mentally and sometimes physically become deteriorated to the point where they no longer can think and function as a normal person would. Two characters in the novel that stand out as degenerates are Dracula and Renfield. Both are degenerates in their own ways and also have characteristics that are in some ways the same. They follow most of the traits that degenerates contain and portray it throughout the novel. The best way to imagine a degenerate person would be to think of people on death roe in prison. The ones that aren’t remorseful for what they did, and could care less about what others think. They do not know what is right from wrong, and even if one tried to explain it to them, they couldn’t figure it out. Degenerates have no common sense, let alone a functioning brain. They are most definitely missing a few screws in there heads. These two characters of Dracula and Renfield both have a lot of these traits that degenerates consist of. Dracula most definitely contains degenerate characteristics throughout the novel. He has a lack of compassion for people’s well being, and has signs of selfishness. Vampires fit under the degenerate theme very well. How he became a vampire we are not sure, although Van Helsing calls him King-Vampire, because of his consistency and power driven obsessions towards his cravings. His powers include a wide range of abilities in which some are beyond the powers of the other vampires or immortal people in the novel. Degenerates are predestined to crime and don’t know why it is wrong. Van Helsing wrote of Dracula by saying, "The Count is a criminal and of criminal type. Nordau and Lombroso would so classify him, and qua criminal he is of imperfectly formed mind" (Stoker chapter 28). With all his killings and bites he proceeds on people, Dracula fights the degenerate theme. Renfield as well has qualities and characteristics of degenerates throughout the novel. Renfield was taken under the care of Dr. degenerate characteristics of dracula :: essays research papers Degenerate Characters of Dracula In the novel, Dracula, Bram Stoker puts together a variety of characters with several characteristics that are unique and somewhat alike in many ways. One way that some of the characters are similar is that they show signs of being a degenerate. A degenerate is a person who has sunk below a former or normal condition and lost normal or higher qualities. These people most likely have mentally and sometimes physically become deteriorated to the point where they no longer can think and function as a normal person would. Two characters in the novel that stand out as degenerates are Dracula and Renfield. Both are degenerates in their own ways and also have characteristics that are in some ways the same. They follow most of the traits that degenerates contain and portray it throughout the novel. The best way to imagine a degenerate person would be to think of people on death roe in prison. The ones that aren’t remorseful for what they did, and could care less about what others think. They do not know what is right from wrong, and even if one tried to explain it to them, they couldn’t figure it out. Degenerates have no common sense, let alone a functioning brain. They are most definitely missing a few screws in there heads. These two characters of Dracula and Renfield both have a lot of these traits that degenerates consist of. Dracula most definitely contains degenerate characteristics throughout the novel. He has a lack of compassion for people’s well being, and has signs of selfishness. Vampires fit under the degenerate theme very well. How he became a vampire we are not sure, although Van Helsing calls him King-Vampire, because of his consistency and power driven obsessions towards his cravings. His powers include a wide range of abilities in which some are beyond the powers of the other vampires or immortal people in the novel. Degenerates are predestined to crime and don’t know why it is wrong. Van Helsing wrote of Dracula by saying, "The Count is a criminal and of criminal type. Nordau and Lombroso would so classify him, and qua criminal he is of imperfectly formed mind" (Stoker chapter 28). With all his killings and bites he proceeds on people, Dracula fights the degenerate theme. Renfield as well has qualities and characteristics of degenerates throughout the novel. Renfield was taken under the care of Dr.

GM Financial :: essays research papers

Financial Information GM dealers sold 558,092 cars and trucks in June of 2005 up 41% compared to June of 2004. Gm had the best monthly sales since September 1986. The calendar year to date sales are up 2.5% for the 2005 year. Sales were spiked by GMs â€Å"Employee discount for everyone.† â€Å"We are confident that are employee discount program would hit a responsive cord, but we were a little surprised by just how strong the results were, including bringing over one hundred and fifty thousand new customers into the GM family in June. This definitely moves us in the right direction as we gear to introduce our 2006 models,† says Mark LaNeve, GM vice president of sales and marketing.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  GM of North America in June of 2005 produced 416,000 vehicles compared to 482,000 vehicles in June of 2004. GM had too much inventory and had to run an incentive program that worked. Globally GM has been an industry leader since 1931 and was founded in 1908. GM employs 321,000 individuals world wide. GM has Manufacturing operations in 32 countries and sells vehicles in 200 countries. In 2004 GM sold nearly 9 million vehicles globally. GM was up nearly 4% and posted its second highest total in company history.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Incentives are ran by a company to try and entice a customer to purchase a vehicle. It is a temporary jump start for sales. The last couple years consumers have expect low rates but now GM throws out the employee pricing. Consumer would let the incentives break the tie on which vehicle to purchase. This day in age everyone has low rates ,cash rebates but now employee discount, good thing GM was the leader of the pack.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The financial outlook for present GM is superb and the employee discount drastically sparked sales for a temporary time period. The reason GM had to run an incentive program was the cause of abundance of Inventory and employees are too expensive to maintain. (Pension, benefits†¦..) Gm had an increase in finished product, service parts, etc†¦ between 2003 and 2004 in other words, total inventories increased by nearly one million dollars, as sales decreased during that time period. GM has also seen a rise in healthcare and other benefits in the United States. In 2004 GM had an obligation expense 89,384 million which GM had to pay for its current employees and past employees for the year in benefits.

The Health Risk Associated with a Missing Ingredient in Bottled Water E

The Health Risk Associated with a Missing Ingredient in Bottled Water Nothing in education is so astonishing as the amount of ignorance it accumulates in the form of inert facts. * Henry Adams "We can’t change the bottled water industry, but we can change our own ignorance." –Paul W. Mason You may think that drinking bottled water is healthier than drinking tap water. However, according to a recent Dateline NBC top story on the quality of bottled water, this healthy move is not so healthy after all. Recently, a bottled water company in California was found to be bottling its brand of Yosemite water from a well in Fullerton, right below the LA freeway system (Verhovek 2). While this is happening the American public remains unaware of the dangers of their "healthy" bottled water. This shouldn’t be happening, but due to lax Food and Drug Administration standards and our own ignorance, bottled water sales are up to an amazing sales of 4 billion dollars a year and our health risks are growing at an even faster rate! To further investigate this situation, we must understand the problems we face so that we can analyze the causes, in an attempt to solve for less than healthy water. In order to see the harm that bottled water has on the public, we need to define the problems with bottled water and investigate it’s impending health risks. To do this, we must clarify what defines bottled water. According to the International Bottled Water Association, "Water is classified as ‘bottled water’ or ‘drinking water’ if it meets all applicable federal and state standards, is sealed in a sanitary container and is sold for human consumption" (FAQ’s 1). Bottled water also cannot contain sweeteners or chemical additives and it... ...er." Current Research in Magnesium. John Libbey & Company Ltd.: London, 1996. Mason, Paul. "Calculations of deaths caused by magnesium-deficient bottled water in California." 17 June 1994. <http://www.execpc.com/~magnesium/bottled.html.> (29 September 1998) ---. "Citizens Petition For Mg Fortification." The Magnesium Website. 30 September 1995. <http://www.execpc.com/~magnesium.> (6 September 1998) ---. "Evaluate Your Bottled Water." 8 July 1997. <http://www.execpc.com/~cc/ccwaters.html> (8 September 1998) "Newsletter of the Healthy Bottled Water Association." <Healthy Water Association> (1 June 1997): 1-5 United States. District Court. Case No. C-97-20686 JF. 15 September 1998. Verhovek, Sam Howe. "It’s Wet. It’s Bottled. It Sort of Tastes Like Water." The New York Times Online. 1998. <http://search.nytimes.com> (8 September 1998)

Faith in “Life of Pi” Essay

How deep is your faith? How strong is your will to survive if the tables were turned and misfortune rocked your boat of life? Throughout the entire novel Life of Pi by Yann Martel, the protagonist Piscine Molitor Patel develops an extreme devotion to God. As the story progresses Pi’s faith becomes stronger, allowing him to continue living a peaceful life even when things get nearly impossible. Religion keeps Pi busy, happy and most importantly†¦ alive. He develops a profound faith in God’s of 3 different religions (Hinduism, Islam and Christianity), which is put to the test when he spends 227 days stranded on a lifeboat in the Pacific Ocean. During those 227 days Pi as a character grows immensely and his beliefs are truly put to the test. Eventually the theme of faith leads to the biggest question in the novel after Pi tells two completely different stories of his survival to the Japanese insurance investigators. Which is the better story? Faith is believing what you want to believe, yet cannot prove. Sadly, many people live with this definition of faith. For some it feels liberating. It means being able to believe in anything; no explanation is required or given; it is just a matter of faith. For others, such a definition is sickening. This definition states as faith increases, reason and meaning eventually disappear. Nothing can be proved, so in other words living in faith is living in the dark. â€Å"Religion will save us,† I said. Since when I could remember, religions had always been close to my heart. â€Å"Religion?† Mr. Kumar grinned broadly. â€Å"I don’t believe in religion. Religion is darkness.†Darkness?† I was puzzled. I thought, Darkness is the last thing that religion is. Religion is light† Pi completely contradicts the statement ‘faith is living in the dark.’ Faith is not meant to be interpreted in such a way, which is something Pi realizes during the earliest stages of the novel. Pi chooses to believe what he would like to believe, even if it meant taking several concepts from 3 completely different religions and combining them to create a Utopian religion in a sense. As a child, Pi begins to read a great amount and starts embracing more than just one religion. He notices that their powerful narratives have the ability to provide meaning and dimension to life, which is where Pi’s  interest and faith in multiple religions truly begin to develop. In Pondicherry, his atheist biology teacher Mr. Kumar challenges his Hindu faith in God, this makes Pi realize the positive power of belief and the need to overcome the harshness of the universe. Piscine then becomes incredibly motivated to learn more and begins practicing Christianity and Islam, realizing these religions all share the same foundation: belief in a loving higher power. Practicing three different religions gave Pi the flexibility to choose the good and convenient aspects from each. This allowed him to practice a utopian religion where his curiosity could be satisfied, so Pi became very dedicated to each religion. He went to worship at the local mosque, mandir and church but chose to hide all of this from his parents. Pi’s faith and belief in God inspires him as a child, keeps him motivated and constantly thinking but most importantly, helps sustain him while at sea. While Pi is in middle the ocean on the lifeboat after the sinking of the TsimTsum, he turns to faith and religion to keep busy and give himself hope. Throughout the novel we see that faith and religion is something Pi turns to in order to keep himself occupied, especially during his 227 days at sea. On that stormy night, cruising on a ship in the middle of the ocean, Pi lost everything, everything that meant something to him, his family, his protection, the feeling of safety and love. In other words, everything that could give him a hint of hope had disappeared in a matter of seconds. In exchange for all of that he was left stranded on a life boat in the Pacific Ocean surrounded with fierce zoo animals. Even though he had no way of being sure that he would be saved, he still pushed himself to believing that somehow he will be able to overcome the crises that he had fallen in. He prayed to God even though he had no proof He was there but he believed that God really was listening. He believed because he had no other choice. In a situation such as this one, Pi needed a miracle. On the lifeboat, prayer becomes a daily routine for the cast away. Each day Pi wakes up, prays, feeds Richard Parker and inspects the raft and lifeboat, which helps him maintain his mental sanity by keeping busy. His religious rituals allow him to feel a sense of calmness and give him the will to go on. â€Å"They brought me comfort, that is certain. But it was hard, oh, it was hard. Faith in God is  an opening up, a letting go, a deep trust, a free act of love- but sometimes it was so hard to love.† (page 231) Pi admits that it was hard to put his trust in God when it seemed like He wasn’t listening, but continues praying, staying faithful and practising his religious rituals throughout the entire 227 days. On a superficial level, Pi’s faith contributes to his survival by providing daily rituals. On a deeper level, Pi’s faith contributes to his survival through answered prayers. Several times during his experience on the life boat Pi calls to deities during life threatening situations. â€Å"My heart stopped and then beat triple speed. I turned. â€Å"Jesus, Mary, Muhammad and Vishnu!† I saw a sight that will stay with me for the rest of my days. Richard Parker had risen and emerged. He was not fifteen feet from me. Oh, the size of him! The hyena’s end had come, and mine.’† Here, Pi who is on the point of death. Richard Parker, a deadly animal, could have easily killed Pi. However, due to Pi’s prayer, he is saved. A rat â€Å"appeared out of nowhere† and Pi is able to fling at Richard Parker who accepts the rat as an â€Å"offering† and flops back down on the bottom of the lifeboat. Pi’s prayer along with many others had been answered due to the immense amount of faith and dedication Pi shows throughout the novel. Pi has the faith to go on. Even in the most difficult situations, he realizes that in order to survive or even have the will to survive he must put his trust in God and have faith that things will get better. Pi stays strong and courageous and never has the attitude of defeat, he believes that he will get off the lifeboat eventually. Pi has faith in everything around him, giving him more motivation to continue on with his daily life on the boat.   Throughout the course of this entire novel, Pi’s faith is put to the test. At the beginning of the novel, an older Pi states that he can tell a story that will make the author believe in God, which is true in many ways. Yann Martel creates two stories on Pi’s survival in the Pacific while talking to the Japanese insurance investors. One story involving the zoo animals that was very long, fantastical and elaborate and the other that was incredibly brutal and deals directly with issues such as human brutality and  cannibalis m. The story with Richard Parker and the zoo animals is told in great depth for 318 pages of the novel, but after the insurance investigators flat out tell Pi â€Å"We do not believe your story† Pi recreates another more believable, yet more gruesome story. In Pi’s second story he retells the first one but using humans instead. He hints that the zebra is the Japanese sailor (innocent and defeated), Pi’s mother is the orang-utan,(motherly and caring) the hyena is the cook (pure example of evil in humans) and Pi is Richard Parker. In his second story, the cook is a pure example of evil in humans, which is something that many choose to believe that such a thing does not exist. The first story Pi tells is a much more powerful, inspiring story but the second is more believable in many ways. So where does God come in? How can this story make someone believe in God? In a way, Richard Parker represents God. At the end of the novel, when Pi has told his long story to two Japanese insurance investigators but they refuse to believe him, Pi tells a shorter, ugly version that is much more believable, but many hate to believe. Then Pi asks the investigators which story they prefer. Many want to believe in the story where Richard Parker existed because it’s a better story than the one of madness, murder and cannibalism but that is where faith comes in. Faith that Pi was telling the truth the whole time. So what about the prediction at the beginning, that the story will make anyone believe in God? Yann Martel uses the desire to believe in Richard Parker as a stand in for God, creating an analogy, that the readers and audience must make on their own. Pi desperately wants to believe in God. The whole point of the novel is to trick the reader into the question, which is the better story?. Of course everyone prefers Richard Parker to be real. The theme is to accept that belief in God is the better story, just how Richard Parker is hoped to be real. Yann Martel states people prefer religion over reality because the story of God is a better story than reality.The novel is an elaborate metaphor to explain why people believe in God. It doesn’t say that God exists. It just says people prefer to belief in God because it’s a better story than how we see reality directly. Conclusion: During the course of life of Pi, the theme of faith occurs often. Whether it is keeping Pi educated, alive or even kept in the back of  people’s minds long after the novel ends. Faith gives Pi the power to go on, even when he feels as if everything is hopeless. So, without Pi’s faith in God that he developed near the beginning he would not have made it through the 227 long, hard days as sea. And whichever story is right, the better story will always be the one with Richard Parker because faith is God and God is faith.

Letters Home

Kristin Strickland History 370 Book Essay March 21, 2013 Letters from Vietnam I found that trying to find a book to read about the Vietnam War was rather difficult because there are so many of them out there. I chose Letters from Vietnam edited by Bill Adler because it was a point of view from many soldiers in the war and they were what they were truly feeling at the time. It is not one point of view when you read this many letters and a little background on each of the authors, but there are many points of views, feelings and emotions to help us better understand what they were going through emotionally and physically while overseas.When I first opened the book to the introduction section I was not sure what I was going to find because a lot of times they filter what is out there for us to read or stick to one scheme. This book has went any should us how many of the people felt and under different schemes. I know that Dr. Lofthus always says, â€Å"a picture is worth a thousand wor ds†, while in class but reading someone else’s words is worth much more and when done correctly you can feel what they were feeling when they wrote them.One of the first letters that I read that really stuck out and made me understand that they had to define things to their families and explain what some terms and other things were that maybe they were hearing from the news stations, was a letter written by First Lieutenant James Michener. He wrote the letter in the book while he was a helicopter pilot in Vietnam from 1966-1967. The letter was dated November 17, 1966 from Tuy Hoa, Vietnam and he starts by explaining the reason that he hasn’t written in a while is because he was away from his base for over a week.He goes on to say, â€Å"We were there to furnish air support to units of the IV (Fourth) Infantry Division (â€Å"Ivy Division†) and the 101st Airborne Division (â€Å"Screaming Eagles†). These units were making a general sweep of an area about one hundred miles square. They were looking for Victor Charlie (â€Å"VC†) – that’s what we call him. † While First Lieutenant Michener was writing letters to his family he explained many things about what he was seeing to having his helicopter hit with a bullet. You could tell from his letters that he was fighting for what he believes in. In the chapter titled â€Å"Reflection†, Sgt.David Glading writes a letter home to his girlfriend. He goes on to write, â€Å"It’s a beautiful night, moons out, stars, and no clouds, ya don’t even need a flashlight. I had just finished reading the paper and found a poem, so I’m sending it along. You know, you hear and read about all the things that go on over here, but don’t really understand or believe them until you see it. I’ve seen old men beat women, girls, little boy, and young men, I’ve seen the dead and wounded, and I’ve seen little children cry when their fathers are taken away. † I could not imagine writing a letter like that back home to a loved one.It would be hard to tell them the things that I have seen or how I was feeling. I would want to lie so that they thought I was ok and that everything was fine, but many of these letters if not all can be read and not give families the reassurance that they need. I want to end by saying that I received many letters and emails from my husband while he was in Iraq. He never once let on if anything was wrong. He always asked about our kids or how I was doing. He would tell me when he wanted a new picture or socks, but he never let on as to what he saw until after he was home.He would always reassure me that things were fine when the news would say something else, or when one of our aircraft from the base crashed he would call and tell me he was fine. I am not sure how I would handle a letter like these if they were sent to me. I did not live through that era, but I am sure that it helped them get the things off their chests and out of their minds so that they could continue what they were doing and not have all that accumulated inside. It is good to get it out and now we have all of these wonderful letters to give us an idea and understanding of what they all faced during the Vietnam Era.

Business Studies – Investigating three shops

The following assignment investigates people and work at three different stores. The first is Sainsbury's Savacentre, a hypermarket located in Beckton. Very wide ranges of items are sold here, not just groceries but clothes and technology too. I have also chosen two specialist shops, each selling a product available in the hypermarket. I have selected ‘The Card Shop' as one of my specialist shops. This is a store, local to my area, specialising in the sale of greetings cards, one of the products made available by the hypermarket. In addition to this, I have chosen Kashmir Store as a specialist shop. This small family run business specialises in the selling of halal meat and certain Asian foods. The Savacentre hypermarket has recently begun to sell some of these products in-store. The aim of this report is to address certain key ideas related to work and industry. This assignment hopes to demonstrate the key ideas in a work environment. The principal key ideas tackled in this project are listed below. 1) There is an important relationship between the level of technology and the nature of work. 2) Workers in different industries are interdependent and modern industry is characterised by specialisation. 3) The way in which industry is organised has an important effect on job satisfaction. Key idea number one suggests that certain types of work require higher levels of technology than other types of work. For example, I would expect office workers to use more technology in the way of photocopiers and computers than builders who use less technology such as cement mixers. Key idea number two suggests that workers from different industries are interdependent. That is to say, the computer manufacturing industry is dependent on the retail industry to sell its product. One cannot survive without the other. Furthermore, the key idea states that modern industry is characterised by specialisation. This means that industry today is specialised and specific or fills a niche. Overall, this key idea implies that because industries are very specific, they may be limited and therefore need to be interdependent. This is analogous to a newspaper and a newsagent. The production of a newspaper is a specialised industry as is the newsagent. Both however are interdependent as the paper cannot be sold without the newsagent and the newsagent will suffer financially without the newspaper. Finally, the third key idea suggests that job satisfaction is influenced by the way in which industry is organised. Job satisfaction is a term to describe how much a person enjoys their job and finds it fulfilling. Industry organisation can lead to poor or very good job satisfaction. This can affect workers quite drastically. For example, poor job satisfaction may lead to inefficient work and high employee turnover, which is not good for the company or industry. In order to find out if these hypotheses are true for the retail industry and more importantly, for the shops that I have chosen, I will carry out two methods of investigation, a questionnaire and general observation. By collecting data using a questionnaire, a large sample can be targeted and answers compared amongst respondents. Due to time restrictions and work place limitations, a structured interview will not be employed. Instead, a questionnaire will be used so that staff can respond in their own time. However, questionnaires are rather limited in the types of data they generate. Boredom in filling out the forms can also lead to falsified results. To combat this, I will directly observe workers. This technique allows for study of behaviour in the ‘natural setting'. The interaction between workers can be studied, as can the behaviour and attitude of individuals. In an ideal situation, I would use participant observation instead but as it is unrealistic to take up employment in order to join the workers, I will just observe as a customer. I will carry out direct observation by visiting the stores and making notes on employee behaviour. I will then obtain questionnaire information by ringing the stores in question for permission to carry out my research. Once this has been established, I will visit the shops and then distribute questionnaires amongst the staff. The research will be carried out in this order to prevent staff from changing their behaviour after filling in their questionnaires.