Whole Foods Market ( Wfm ) Essay - 1191 Words

Whole Foods Market (WFM) is a leading natural and organic food supermarket founded in Austin, Texas by four local business people: John Mackey and Renee Lawson Hardy, owners of Safer Way Natural Foods, and Craig Weller and Mark Skiles, owners of Clarksville Natural Grocery. WFM opened its first store in 1980, they staffed their first store with only 19 workers, the store was an immediate success partly because at the time there were less than half a dozen organic stores in the entire country. The original WFM store opened on September in 1980 after Safer Way and Clarksville Natural Foods partnered, the 10,500 square feet location was quite larger than the standard health food store of the 80’s. The business had its first hiccup a year after they opened their doors, their entire inventory was lost and most of the equipment was damaged by a historic flood that devastated the city of Austin. The owners did not have insurance but they were able to quickly get back on their feet d ue to the volunteered help of neighbors and customers as well as the help of creditors, vendors, and investors who provided breathing room for them. The store reopened just after 28 days of the flood. The expansion of the business happened quickly in the late 80’s. New locations appeared in Houston and Dallas, then New Orleans. In 1989, WFM expanded to the West Coast and opened a store in Palo Alto, CA. WFM started acquiring several different natural foods chains such as Wellspring Grocery ofShow MoreRelatedHow The Whole Foods Market ( Wfm ) Is A Model Company For Corporate Social Responsibility Essay1628 Words   |  7 PagesBefore viewing the videos, I thought of how Whole Foods Market (WFM) is a model company for corporate social responsibility. I am therefore not surprised that the company was the first to endorse Honest Tea. Seth Goldman, CEO of Honest Tea, echoes some of the very same sentiments that John Mackey, founder of WFM does with regards to the purpose and mis sion of his company. Per Goldman CRS is the focal point of how Honest Tea is managed and the motivation behind the business is not to see, â€Å"how manyRead MoreThe Fresh Market652 Words   |  3 PagesFor â€Å"The Business Model† Slide:  · The Fresh Markets financial results show a tangible manifestation (outward or perceptible indication) of a retail strategy that has worked over the past several years to appeal to a shopper looking for a specialty experience and specialty products.  · Although The Fresh Market is often compared to Whole Foods, this comparison is only valid based upon the customer demographic shopping within the store. o Whole Foods is a more mature retailer that has achievedRead MoreWhole Foods Mission Statement Essays1332 Words   |  6 Pagesbusiness is to make a profit and in order to do this; the business must find a way for their customers to spend money in their firm. Whole Foods Market  ® incorporates many of the guide lines discussed in the readings; however, their mission statement exceeds the two page recommended length. II. BODY OF WORK (a) The importance of a mission statement. Whole Foods Market  ® follows the basic guidelines for a mission statement with the most important aspect, motivation. This motivation was not only justRead MoreThe Organic Foods Segment Of The Retail Grocery Industry1446 Words   |  6 Pages(Morecroft, 2007). The organic foods segment of the retail grocery industry conforms to this idea in a significant way. The factors that influence production, sales, and profitability in this segment are closely interlinked. Consequently, changes in just one of the critical factors can trigger changes in other factors, affecting the systems overall performance. This paper will identify and analyze one balancing loop, and one reinforcing loop for Whole Foods Market (WFM) systems that are critical toRead MoreWhole Foods Market: It’s Organic Essay1365 Words   |  6 Pagesthe co-founders of the current Whole Foods Market, simply wanted to provide quality healthy food to the American consumer. This was about three decades ago when the first store opened. According to Mackey, making money was not the first priory, but helping people to eat better was. Happily for Mackey and Lawson, the residents of Austin Texas were hungry, no pun intended, for just this type of product. At the time, though there were several small independent healthy food stores, there was not a fullRead MoreWhole Foods Market, Inc.1304 Words   |  6 Pages Whole Foods Market, Inc. (WFM) was founded in Austin, Texas and is a supermarket chain concentrating in organic and natural foods. John Mackey, Rene Lawson Hardy, Craig Weller. The first store opened on September 20, 1980. Whole Foods Markets are located in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom. Since 1980, Whole Foods Market has remained committed to upholding their missions and values within their company. Whole Foods Market’s motto—â€Å"Whole Foods, Whole People, Whole Planet—emphasizesRead MoreThe Company Whole Foods Market1560 Words   |  7 Pagesassignment, I chose the company Whole Foods Market (WFM) which deals in selling products that are organic and fresh to its customers. WFM was founded by John Mackey and Renee Lawson Hardy, owners of Safer Way Natural Foods, and Craig Weller and Mark Skiles, owners of Clarksville Natural Grocery in Austin, Texas where the original store opened in 1980 and consisted of a staff of only 19 people. WFM was founded because those four local businesspeople decided the natural foods industry was ready for a supermarketRead MoreWhole Foods Market Corporate Social Respinsiblity(CSR) Essay1724 Words   |  7 Pagescause. The Whole Foods Market (WFM) is the perfect example of how the use of the CSR works for a company. To understand how stores like the WFM influence society’s move towards sustainability and healthy living, it is important to look at the stores CSR strategy portrayed through their advertising, such as their website. In my paper I hope to further the conversation about the use of the corporate responsibility strategy for businesses to help themselves and society. When stores market a societalRead MoreWhole Foods Market : Whole Food Market2993 Words   |  12 Pages Comparing Two Retail Companies Company A: Whole Food Market Whole Foods Market (WFM) is leading natural and organic food supermarket in the world. It started as one-store entrepreneur shop and has since grown into an $8 billion a year. By 2008, Whole Food Market had 264 stores in the United States that host its headquarters. It had six stores in Canada and five stores in the United Kingdom (Harbin, 2000). It is located in an area of 80000 square foot flagship store in Austin. The CEO and founderRead MoreMarketing Plan For Whole Foods1441 Words   |  6 PagesWhole Foods Name: Course: Tutor: Date: â€Æ' Whole Foods Introduction In United States, study shows that Whole Foods Market (WFM), Inc is one of the largest natural foods supermarkets chains that offer citizens various services. The firm enjoys strong brand name recognition in the natural foods niche market that is growing significantly. The company uses SIC Code 5411 in the grocery stores. According to Whole Foods Company, natural foods are those foods that are processed at a tiny extent or foods that

Essay about A Brief Synopsis of the Movie The Breakfast Club

The Princess, the Basket Case, the Jock, the Nerd, and the Criminal The Breakfast Club looks at young adults in their late teen years as they strive to figure out who they truly are and what they believe in. In the course of the movie the teens come to understand themselves and others better. This idea of self-identification follows closely with theorist Erik Erikson’s idea that at each stage in our lives we go through a psychological crisis and resolve it before moving on to the next stage. A Brief Synopsis of the Movie The breakfast club opens up with the quotation from David Bowie saying, â€Å"†¦and these children that you spit on, as they try to change their worlds are immune to your consultations. Theyre quite aware of what theyre†¦show more content†¦She breaks through her stigma that popular girls don’t talk to the unpopular kids as she creates a relationship with Bender. Bender, a boy from across the tracks, is the stereotypical bad boy; he skips class, smokes dope, and comes from a broken home. He learns from Clair that although things may seem bad, there is some good in the world. Allison, a quiet shy girl, is considered more than different, she’s crazy. She keeps to herself and doesn’t conform to society; she wants to travel and try new things. Allison learns that she is unique but that sometimes conforming to society is okay when she decides to let Andrew into her life. Andrew, who is part of the same crowd as Clair, is a popular jock, and wants his dad to think that he could be the son any man would want. He learns that he is a good guy and comes to term with himself. Brian—the brain—feels the stress all straight A students feel. His parents pressure him to get good grades and stay on the straight and narrow. In the movie Brian learns it’s okay to be a kid and have fun every once in a while; that if he doesn’t he and all the other kids will become who they all hate most, their parents. At the end of the movie, the teens who were once strangers, all depart together. They become their own group realizing that in high school clicks aren’t everything and that their friendship is different than most. It’s on a deeper level and that each teen has something different to offer. They leave with a sense of self and aShow MoreRelatedProject Mgmt296381 Words   |  1186 Pagesdoes not include management of projects. Rà ©sumà ©s of managers will soon be primarily a d escription of the individual’s participation in and contributions to projects. Good luck on your journey through the text and on your future projects. xi Brief Contents Preface vii 2 1. Modern Project Management 13. Progress and Performance Measurement and Evaluation 14. Project Closure 16. Oversight 564 504 532 15. International Projects 452 2. Organization Strategy and Project Selection 22 3. Organization:Read MoreDeveloping Management Skills404131 Words   |  1617 Pagesrely on a proven methodology that has grounding in the scientific literature. We present what has been shown to be a superior process for improving management skills, and we base our claims on scholarly evidence. This Introduction concludes with a brief description of the organization of the rest of the book and the importance of keeping in mind individual differences among people. INTRODUCTION 5 The Importance of Competent Managers In the last decade or so, an abundance of evidence hasRead MoreProject Managment Case Studies214937 Words   |  860 Pageswork. If marketing would stay out of engineering, we could get our job done. Marketing doesn t understand that there s more work for us to do other than just new product development. Marketing personnel should spend their time at the country club and in bar rooms. This will allow us in engineering to finish our work uninterrupted! Questions Marketing expects everyone in engineering to stop what they are doing in order to put out marketing fires. I believe that most of the time the

Economics for Business Appropriate Business Ideas

Question: Describe about the Economics for Business of Appropriate Business Ideas. Answer: Introduction Economics for Business is a subject that helps to observe and analyse the economic outcomes of an activity from the point of view of economists. The study of Economics of Business helps to analyse the benefits and issues related with a strategy that helps in proper decision making. The paper has been developed to answer two questions on the perspective of economic outcomes of two major activities. The study explains the impact of technology on the newspaper sales and police crackdowns on illicit drugs in the Northern Territory. Furthermore, the study recommends innovative ideas that can be helpful in making appropriate decisions while implying new strategies. Analysis The digital media such as the internet has entirely destroyed the revenue structure of printed newspapers all over the international market. According to the World Association of Newspapers, the stiff challenges of the conventional printed newspaper industry are not restricted in the US or UK markets. Due to digital media, traditional newspapers have vanished half of their classified Print and Advertising revenue. In the current scenario of modern technological efficiency, sales of the newspaper have been falling radically over the last two decades (Marshall, Moncrief, Rudd, Lee, 2012). Through the identification of the primary drivers leading to the situation, as an Economists standpoint, some instrumental discussions have been argued to the Board of Directors of ABC Newspaper. Meanwhile, the discussion and the economics for the current business scenario can be utilised to deliver significant advice to be followed by the newspaper agency. Figure: Print Revenue versus Online Revenue Source: (Mazzoleni Vigevani, 2013) In the current business scenario, a graph can be shown to the Board of Directors to identify the comparison of print revenue and online revenue generated in the contemporary markets. Meanwhile, since 2000, the print media revenue has been continuously declining against digital revenue. In the year 2000, the revenue generated by print media such as newspapers were recorded to be more than $65 billion whereas in 2013 the figure has touched as low as below $20 billion (Schrape, 2013). Conversely, the online revenue has explored the market at a robust pace. As a result of the decline of the sales, the print media advertising revenue has been decreased considerably in the past decade or so (Rodman, 2008). Therefore, looking at the demand perspective of the global buyers, the newspaper circulation must be reduced so that the cost of production can be manageable to some extent. Figure: Number of Newspaper Firms Source: (Mazzoleni Vigevani, 2013) On the other hand, in the last decade and a half, the number of newspaper firms has also been declined drastically due to the revenue decline in print media advertising. Meanwhile, in 2000, there were around 6200 newspaper firms wherein 2013, the revised figure showed 4500 newspaper firms operating in the market area. Through the understanding of the headwinds in the print media advertising, the Board of Directors of ABC Newspaper must be advised to improvise at the e-Newspaper to manage the target demographics popularity (Mazzoleni Vigevani, 2013). Moreover, by reducing the circulation of the newspapers, ABC Newspaper should target to stop the newspaper printing in the upcoming decade or so concentrating primarily on electronic media. Figure: Broadsheet newspaper circulation Source: (Speck Elliott, 2016) On the commercial propagation, a review of the broadsheet of newspaper circulation of the biggest market operators must be presented to the Board of Directors to make a realistic decision. The above figure has been given to show the dismal broadsheet of newspaper circulation of the most popular newspapers around the international market. Significantly, all of the favourite newspapers have shown a decline in newspaper circulation since 2007. By considering the poor market performance of the biggest market players of the newspaper industry, the Board of Directors must be advised to consider the conventional newspaper as one of the sources of news to promote electronic media to the target demographics at a reasonable pricing (Kaiser Song, 2009). The online e-paper of ABC Newspaper may find a massive number of subscribers as the online readers will find interest in the electronic copy following the demand trend. Figure: Time Spent versus Ad Spending on different Media Source: (Schrape, 2013) Despite the global heritage of newspaper, the modern social public has seemed to be spent more time on the internet platform. Herein, a graph has been specified to identify the time spent and advertising spending on different media in recent times. Surprisingly, the internet has been identified as the most profitable resource as 38% of the time has been spent by the public on the internet platform. Also, the advertisement spent has been upgraded to 8% in the same section. Conversely, the newspaper has shown the largest downside as social people have spent merely 8% of the time with newspaper. As a result, the advertisement spent has been reduced to 20% in the same media. Hence, from an economists standpoint, the Board of Directors must be suggested to identify the endless opportunities in the e-marketing so that the organisation can increase their profitability through the online advertising resources (Yu, Qi, Zhao, 2013). Under the given scenario, being realistic, the sales of the newspaper cannot be increased due to the presence of the internet platform. The reading trends and distribution of news have created significant headwinds for the conventional newspaper agencies (Cameron Haley, 2012). Therefore, on the basis of the business economics and demand perspective, e-Newspaper must be highlighted reducing the circulation of printed form of the news. In this way, the cost of production will be reduced by a significant margin. 2: Police Crackdowns are used to cut the supply of illicit drugs by reducing criminal and dealers overload. It has been found through research that in maximum cases there is a negative impact of the police crackdown that leads to increase in drug-related violence, murder and gun crime in a region (Engs Mulqueeny, 2013). Hence, the study has been developed to analyse the effect of increase police crackdown on illicit drugs and the health awareness programs along with increase penalties on use of illicit drugs over the Northern Territory. In order to proceed with the study, it is important to keep in mind that the demand of illicit drugs is assumed to be perfectly inelastic (Goodman Moynihan, 2012). Hence, the study presents the impacts using theoretical concepts and facts from previous researches. (a) Increase police crackdowns Increased police crackdowns on illicit drugs leads to fall in the number of dealers for a short span of time. But, due to perfectly inelastic demand of illicit drugs, the arrested drug dealers are replaced by new competitors in the long run. Hence, a negative impact can be evident due to increased crackdowns of police (Milmo, 2010). The effect of increased police crackdowns on illicit drugs are discussed herein below: Positive Impact The police of Northern Territory will take action against the drug dealers and agents. This will reduce the supply of illicit drugs in the region leading to rise in the price (Rowe, Wiggers, Wolfenden, Lynn Francis, 2010). A diagram has been presented below for better understanding. Figure: Demand and Supply of Illicit Drugs in the Short Run Source: (Cooper, Moore, Gruskin, Krieger, 2015) It can be seen that the supply falls in the short run from S1 to S2 due to decline in the number of dealers. It leads to rise in the price of illicit drugs in the Northern Territory from P1 to P2. Negative Impact It is expected that the number of dealers will be replaced by new competitors due to high rate of profitability because of the increase in price. Furthermore, there will a gang war to replace the older position of the dealers (Scott, 2004). Furthermore, the drug dealers will be ready to pay penalties to seek high profitability from the illegal business. A diagram has been presented for better understanding. Figure: Demand and Supply of Illicit Drugs in the Long Run Source: (Cooper, Moore, Gruskin, Krieger, 2015) It can be seen that due to fall in supply, the demand will increase at a higher pace that will further promote the price of illicit drugs in the territory. Hence, new dealers will replace the older ones to seek high profitability. Hence, it can be expected that the crime rate will increase in the long run. (b) Health awareness programs and increased penalties The health awareness programs will help to educate the population of Northern Territory about the serious health problems related to illicit drugs. Hence, it will make the young generation and new potential buyers aware of the fact that will control the increasing demand for the illicit drugs in the region (Wood, 2004). Furthermore, the increased penalties for illicit drug use will also help to control the demand in the market (Atkinson, 2013). Hence, these two strategies can be used to control the demand of illicit drugs in the Northern Territory. But, it will have certain negative impact over the government that is discussed herein below: High expenses: The government of NT needs to spend high amount of money on the resources that are used to increase the police crackdowns on illicit drugs. Along with that, there is a need of huge fund to conduct the health awareness programs (Scott, 2004). Hence, the strategies to reduce illicit drugs dealings in the region will cost the government with a high amount of money. Impact on the rest of the criminal justice system: The crackdowns lead to increased workload over the other departments of the government. Hence, the offenders are offered with lenient sentences in place of high investigation (Wood, 2004). Furthermore, the crackdowns force the other prisoners and cases out of the system. Opportunity Cost: It is important to note that allocating larger resources to stop crime in one sector will increase the level of crime in other fields. For example, crackdowns on illicit drugs will increase murders and gun crimes. Hence, the increased allocation of resources to stop illicit drugs will have opportunity cost over the government (Scott, 2004). Impact on Police Community relations: The increased crackdowns negatively impact the police-community relations that may lead to a civil war in the region. It is the primary reason for urban riots. Hence, it can be seen from the above analysis that increase crackdowns on illicit drugs increases crime and have negative effects over the NT government. Hence, there is a need of proper cost analysis before implementing new policies in the region. Conclusion Under the existing circumstances on the basis of given scenarios, the Board of Directors of ABC Newspaper must identify the role of e-Newspaper to improve the sales of the newspaper. Moreover, in order to improve the revenue figures of the agency, online advertising must be inevitable. In case of the second scenario, understandably, there will be both negative as well as position effect of police crackdown. Meanwhile, such regime can influence the prices of drugs to move upwards. At the same time, increase crackdowns on illicit drugs increases crime and have negative effects over the NT government as well. References Atkinson, L. (1993). Aboriginal Youth, Police and the Juvenile Justice System in Western Australia.Children Australia,18(01), 14-19. https://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s1035077200003278 Cameron, G. Haley, J. (2012). Feature Advertising: Policies and Attitudes in Print Media.Journal Of Advertising,21(3), 47-55. https://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00913367.1992.10673375 Cooper, H., Moore, L., Gruskin, S., Krieger, N. (2005). The impact of a police drug crackdown on drug injectors ability to practice harm reduction: A qualitative study.Social Science Medicine,61(3), 673-684. https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2004.12.030 Engs, R. Mulqueeny, K. (1983). A survey of drug use and attitudes toward drugs among male law students and police trainees in Queensland, Australia: A research note.Journal Of Criminal Justice,11(1), 57-66. https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0047-2352(83)90098-3 Goodman, A. Moynihan, D. (2012).The silenced majority. Chicago: Haymarket Books. Kaiser, U. Song, M. (2009). Do media consumers really dislike advertising? An empirical assessment of the role of advertising in print media markets.International Journal Of Industrial Organization,27(2), 292-301. https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijindorg.2008.09.003 Marshall, G., Moncrief, W., Rudd, J., Lee, N. (2012). Revolution in Sales: The Impact of Social Media and Related Technology on the Selling Environment.Journal Of Personal Selling And Sales Management,32(3), 349-363. https://dx.doi.org/10.2753/pss0885-3134320305 Mazzoleni, G. Vigevani, G. (2013).Mapping digital media. London: Open Society Foundations. Milmo, C. (2010).Crackdowns on drug dealers led to rise in violent crime, study finds.The Independent. Retrieved September 2016, from https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/crackdowns-on-drug-dealers-led-to-rise-in-violent-crime-study-finds-1955131.html Rodman, G. (2008).Mass media in a changing world. Boston: McGraw Hill. Rowe, S., Wiggers, J., Wolfenden, L., Lynn Francis, J. (2010). Establishments Licensed to Serve Alcohol and Their Contribution to Police-Recorded Crime in Australia: Further Opportunities for Harm Reduction*.Journal Of Studies On Alcohol And Drugs,71(6), 909-916. https://dx.doi.org/10.15288/jsad.2010.71.909 Schrape, K. (2013). Print media in the advertising markets of the future.Journal Of Media Economics,6(1), 52-72. https://dx.doi.org/10.1080/08997769309358234 Scott, M. (2004).Center for Problem-Oriented Policing | Response Guides | The Benefits and Consequences of Police Crackdowns.Popcenter.org. Retrieved September 2016, from https://www.popcenter.org/Responses/police_crackdowns/print/ Speck, P. Elliott, M. (2016). Predictors of Advertising Avoidance in Print and Broadcast Media.Journal Of Advertising,26(3), 61-76. https://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00913367.1997.10673529 Wood, E. (2004). Displacement of Canada's largest public illicit drug market in response to a police crackdown.Canadian Medical Association Journal,170(10), 1551-1556. https://dx.doi.org/10.1503/cmaj.1031928 Yu, X., Qi, Z., Zhao, Y. (2013). Support Vector Regression for Newspaper/Magazine Sales Forecasting.Procedia Computer Science,17, 1055-1062. https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.procs.2013.05.134

Motivation in Learning and Teaching free essay sample

University teachers these days have to make themselves accountable in their teaching. Students are certainly a good source of feedback, for after all it is students that have first-hand experience of their teachers’ teaching. However, even ignoring the doubt whether all students are able to exercise impartial and objective judgement on their teachers’ performance, there are plainly aspects of teaching on which students are not in a position to pass professional judgement. Indeed, â€Å"student feedback questionnaires† tend to be rather limited in scope. Come to think of it, there are actually a number of sources in addition to student feedback, on which we as university teachers can depend for evaluating our teaching. First of all, we ourselves are sometimes the most reliable source of feedback a sort of â€Å"gut feeling† which we must be having right after teaching a class, a vague but genuine feeling about how well or how badly we have done! If only that feeling could be â€Å"externalised† and categorised or even quantified, how much more useful would that be for appraising our own performance. We will write a custom essay sample on Motivation in Learning and Teaching or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Another rich source of feedback is of course our colleagues, our peers. It is precisely in the context of evaluating our teaching performance that colleagues are able to play a significant role. Peer review/observation of teaching, if handled with care and carried out systematically, is capable of yielding extremely fruitful results, because our peers can be absolutely impartial, objective and are subject specialists. Furthermore, peer review/observation of teaching may over time form a substantial part of anyone’s â€Å"teaching portfolio† which may turn into an effective basis for contract renewal, ubstantiation or promotion. But then all this is easier said than done. We are of course well aware of the benefits of peer review/observation of our teaching. But the crucial question is: How should we go about it? One solution may be to happily marry a new form of micro-teaching to peer review/observation of teaching by using â€Å"state-of-the-art† video technolog y. Dr. Dwight Allen, who was one of the founders of traditional micro-teaching back in the sixties in Stanford University, 1 recently developed a new micro-teaching model which centres around the so-called â€Å"2 + 2† feedback. It works like this 1 Allen, Dwight W. Wang, Wai-ping (1996), Micro-teaching,Hsin Hua Publishers, Beijing The colleague whose teaching is being evaluated, teaches a five-minute lesson to a group of peers, usually four colleagues, focusing on one particular skill or technique, e. g. questioning skill, in the presence of a supervisor who is an expert’s in the colleague field. The entire session is videotaped, preferably using more than one camera, so that â€Å"split screen effects† can be achieved, capturing teacher and student action and reaction for playback viewing. Right after the â€Å"trial teach†, the supervisor will ask the teacher to self-critique his or her own performance. Then each peer will be asked to give feedback by following the â€Å"2 + 2† formula, which is actually making two positive comments and two suggestions for improvement. This way, if there are four peers present, a total of eight positive comments and eight different suggestions for improvement will be made available for the teacher’s consideration. All the time, videotaping is going on, so that every one will have a live record of what is happening. For the teacher such micro-teaching sessions would represent opportunities for safe practice and useful feedback. Colleagues may like to consider this suggestion, give it some thought and then try it out together with other colleagues. Colleagues may form â€Å"self-help groups† for micro-teaching/peer review purposes, whereby each colleague will take turns to be â€Å"observed and evaluated† and every time one colleague will act as â€Å"supervisor†. It should be emphasised that not only â€Å"generic† teaching kills such as getting students motivated and interested in the lesson, but even more importantly, particular skills that are specific to a given discipline or subject area should be trained and practised. Thanks to information technology (IT) facilities such as capturing video segments and footage, capturing sound and other media effects onto VCD’s and CD-ROM’s, colleagues these days can â€Å"store† their teaching endeavours and micro-teaching sessions reviewed by peers, in IT-based formats as well as in print format, making documentation of their teaching performances so much more versatile and variegated.

Why has Richard Wagner been a controversial composer even today Essays

Why has Richard Wagner been a controversial composer even today Essays Why has Richard Wagner been a controversial composer even today Essay Why has Richard Wagner been a controversial composer even today Essay in which the orchestra was no longer a simple accompaniment to the singers, but an integral part of the action. Wagner made the music continuous, unlike the previous tendency to make an opera as a collection of separate arias and ensembles which could be performed separately . He used a complex system of what are called Leitmotifs, or melodic ideas which stand for characters , things or ideas in the drama. With Wagner, harmonies became more complex than ever before, and his revolutionary use of this element influenced composers everywhere, and led to the music of the 20th century. As I already mentioned, Wagner is the most controversial composer of 19th century. He divides people as no other composer did it before. A lot of people and musical critics find his work magnificent, but there are a lot of others who cant stand his music, because of his ideas, mostly political opinions in the real life. Even a century ago, many critics and composers thought his music was awful noise, with the most cacophonous harmonies, but others recognized its greatness. Wagners operas, writings, his politics, beliefs and unorthodox lifestyle made him a controversial figure during his lifetime. The debate about his ideas and their interpretation, particularly in Germany during the 20th century, continued to make him politically and socially controversial in a way that other great composers are not. The biggest issue is generated by Wagners comments on Jews, which continue to influence the way that his works are regarded, and by the essays he wrote on the nature of race from 1850 onwards, and their putative influence on the anti-Semitism of Adolf Hitler. In some of his essays, Wagner attacks Jewish contemporaries, especially Felix Mendelssohn, and accused Jews of being a harmful and alien element in German culture. Wagner stated the German people were repelled by their alien appearance and behavior. He argued that because Jews had no connection to the German spirit, Jewish musicians were only capable of producing shallow and artificial music. They therefore composed music to achieve popularity and, thereby, financial success, as opposed to creating genuine works of art. Thats why, Wagner was the Hitlers favorite composer and he made his name a symbol of the Nazis. As a result of his infatuation, Hitler adopted many parts of Wagners thought and used this as propaganda that would influence World War II. As a result Wagners operas cannot be found in the modern state of Israel although his works have been broadcasted on government-owned TV and radio. To this day, those who attempt staging public performances are halted by protests, including protests from Holocaust survivors. As a great example, I have watched, the great from the filmmaking point of view, Triumph of the Will the most dramatic ever made propaganda film by Leni Riefenstahl, which chronicles the 1934 Nazi Party Congress in Nuremberg. The film opens with shots of the clouds above the city, and then moves through the clouds to float above the assembling masses below, with the intention of portraying beauty and majesty of the scene. The shadow of Hitlers plane is visible as it passes over the tiny figures marching below, accompanied by music from Richard Wagners Die Meistersinger von Ni rnberg, which slowly turns into the Horst-Wessel-Lied. Among Wagners ideas was that the opera be an uninterrupted melody, also emphasizing drama as a focal point. To Wagner, the opera was the ultimate blend of all the arts. Spending many years in exile, he went for long periods without hearing the performance of his own works. It is exceedingly difficult for us of the present generation to do justice to Wagner, or to arrive at any final and impartial conclusions concerning the permanent value of his gigantic achievement. As a conclusion, today Wagner is no longer a symbol of Nationalism and Nazism, as he was at the beginning of the controversy. Like Lili Eylon in her essay Wagner Controversy says: The question is not whether Wagners music is of high or low quality, nor is the argument about how deep-seated was his anti-Semitism really relevant. There is no doubt that there have been other composers who were no less anti-Semitic. While it cannot be maintained that Wagner was directly responsible for German National Socialism, there is no doubt that he was a powerful symbol in the Nazi era, and his music held a singular importance in the Nazi psyche. For those who survived the Holocaust, Wagners music is terrible reminder of the horror those people have gone through. For them music must be separated from the politics, but unfortunately Wagner was the composer, who actually merged them together and became the composer of music and race.

Stereotyping around us Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Stereotyping around us - Essay Example Thus, stereotyping is a dangerous thing, as it makes us judge about all the members of certain group (race, nationality, profession) basing on the information about several representatives of that group. However, it is claimed that stereotypes exist in order to make our lives better and more comfortable. We simply do not have time to receive all the information about certain phenomena, analyzing it ourselves and making judgments. In order to save time society has invented stereotypes which allow passing concentrated information from one person to another. For example, it works with nationalities in a simple way, due to stereotypes we know that all Canadians are polite, Brazilians like to have fun, German are serious and punctual. But not all the stereotypes are positive, unfortunately, and some may hurt dignity of representatives of certain nation (Rogier & Yzerbut, 1999). Stereotypes start acting before mind starts working. Stereotypes leave imprints on our perceptions before this perceptions get to the analytical part of the brain. If a person has solid experience and is not prone to trust all the new information he will critically asses stereotypes and somehow compare it with existing knowledge. But in most cases people think that stereotypes are trustworthy and accept this information as reasonable. This can lead to building further stereotypes and seeing world in a distorted way in general. It is absolutely superficial to judge all 1 billion of Chinese as academically gifted or viewing all the Kuwaiti as showing off, isn`t it? Therefore, stereotypes must be thought over, analyzed critically and only then taken into

Consumer Behaviour Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Consumer Behaviour - Assignment Example This paper will be focused on the marketing practices of the Lloyd’s TSB bank in its endeavours to retain its customers. Lloyd’s TSB is a retail bank that is based in the United Kingdom. It was established in 1995 by the merger of Lloyd’s bank and the TSB group. Lloyd’s bank was originally founded in Birmingham in 1765 while the TSB group, a rival bank, was formed in 1810. The marketing mix of Lloyd’s TSB has seen it realise admirable profits through the years. The marketing mix elements, also known as the 4p’s, are price, place, product and promotion. In simple terms, a product includes all features as well as goods and related services that a business offers to its clients. The product is the most crucial component in the marketing mix. This is because products are the market expression of the manufacturer’s productive capabilities. Products determine a producer’s capacity to link with customers. A product policy or strategy is of enormous significance to a corporation; product decisions dictate the scope and direction of industry activity (Singh, 2011). Additionally, market indicators such as profits, sales, image and market share are also dependent on products. The products of companies also influence other components of the marketing mix. Therefore, without proper product policy, a corporation cannot pursue further elements of the marketing mix. With the rapid advancement of technology, a banking company has no choice but to advance as well in order to satisfy the desires of its clients and remain competitive. The Lloyd’s TSB group boasts a diverse array of services and products that cater for a large clientele. The banking options available to its customers include the phone bank as well as internet banking. Customers can also text financial information from a mobile phone and make use of cash point