Thursday, October 31, 2019

Comparison and contrast essay Anchorage,Alaska and Key West Florida

Comparison and contrast Anchorage,Alaska and Key West Florida - Essay Example Perhaps. Key West, Florida and Anchorage, Alaska may be thousands of miles apart geographically and culturally, but in some ways, they are practically next door neighbors. The first striking difference between these two cities is obviously geography and climate. Key West is the westernmost island of the archipelago known as The Florida Keys. Close proximity to the Tropic of Capricorn and the warm currents of the Caribbean Sea give Key West a balmy average temperature of 82oF. Add to this an annual rainfall of nearly 40 inches per year and you have a pleasant climate capable of supporting a host of interesting vegetation while providing many hours of sunny weather to enjoy the waters surrounding the island. Of course, any city that has taken on the title of â€Å"Southernmost City in America† had better have plenty of warm weather and sunshine to back up their claim. Anchorage, while not the northernmost city in America is a great deal different than Key West. One has no need to look beyond the raw numbers to see that two more different cities could not be found in America in regards to geography and climate. Anchorage boasts and average annual temperature of 35oF with an average annual precipitation of just 16 inches (most of it of the frozen variety)(Hoare, 2008). Though summer days can reach into the mid 70’s, summer and winter weather is unpredictable in Anchorage. 40oF swings in temperature have been known to occur within the space of several hours. Anchorage enjoys long summer days due to its high latitude, but the subarctic climate surrounding the city dissuades most people from spending those summer days swimming in the frigid coastal waters nearby. An additional geographic feature that makes Anchorage much different that Key West is the nearby presence of active volcanoes. Occasional ash accumulation from these volcanoes poses a slight

Tuesday, October 29, 2019

Thermodynamics Laws and Life Essay Example for Free

Thermodynamics Laws and Life Essay Introduction The universe is governed by the laws of thermodynamics. In other words, it affects the everyday lives of human beings. Every moment   a man exists, performs his daily activities or interacts with objects around him like every time he walks or drives a car or turn on an air conditioner, or use an electrical appliance, he   reap the practical benefits of thermodynamics (Sonntag 223). According to Sonntag in his book Fundamentals of Physics, â€Å"one excellent definition of thermodynamics is that it is the science of energy and entropy†. Another good definition would be that thermodynamics is the science that deals with heat and work and the properties of substance that bear a relation to heat and work†. As I understand it, thermodynamics had something to with anything that involves the use and transfer heat or energy, and the resulting work it produces. This means that without heat or energy then there would be no work to be performed. And when work is absent then there would be no human existence for life is closely tied with activities. Like all sciences, thermodynamics was established based on experimental observation. Out of this experiments evolved the three laws of thermodynamics (Sonntag 16). The Laws of Thermodynamics First law of Thermodynamics The first law of thermodynamics is often called the Law of Conservation of Energy which states that â€Å"energy cannot be created nor destroyed†. Furthermore, this law suggests that since energy cannot be created or destroyed it is merely transferred from one system to another in many forms. In other words, there is an idea of energy conversion like from heat energy to mechanical energy.   Because energy is not created or destroyed, in the universe as a closed system the amount of energy available is constant (there is no addition or subtraction of energy) . Energy is usually introduced into a system and from thereon undergoes energy transformation to perform some functions(Young 534-536) . In relating to life, a good example would be when a man takes in food (introduction of energy to the body through calorie), heat energy in the form of calorie is transform into chemical energy by his cells which in turn is transform into a mechanical energy so that a man is able to perform physical activities like walking, dancing or talking.   Man by his own self cannot create his own energy (he needs to eat to get energy) and that this energy through bodily processes is transform within his body to enable him to perform some bodily functions. What the first law actually is trying to say is that man just cannot get something out of nothing like he just cannot survive without first eating some amount of food; otherwise he will just fell dead. If only man can create his own energy then he does not need to eat. In the same way, the survival of other living things depend on getting energy from outside sources, for example plants need the energy of the sun for photosynthesis. For objects, in order for it to function, like for a plane in order for it to fly it needs the heat of combustion of its fuel to do work in propelling the plane (Young 534). Second law of Thermodynamics While the first law deals with the conservation of energy, the second law tells of the direction of conservation. In other words, how or where energy transformation normally proceeds. The second law settles the question why when you put ice into a hot cup of tea, heat will flow from the hot tea to the cold ice and melt the ice in the beloved beverage illustrating the unalterable reality that heat cannot be transferred from a colder to a hotter body. It is because natural processes that involve energy transfer must have one direction, and all natural processes are irreversible. That is why, man as human being that makes use of many bodily energy conversions can never go back to being an infant but must proceed to old age.   Or that a machine will go from new to old, it depreciates and lowers in value.   In a sense, the second law puts limitations into how heat conversion is achieved in real life. The second law further states that the direction of thermodynamic processes is more towards from an order to a disorder state or entropy. Entropy is the measure of the disorder or randomness of energy and matter in a system, the higher is a disorder the greater is the entropy. That is why in hot and cold bodies the process proceeds from hot to cold because adding heat to a body increases its disorder because â€Å"it increases average molecular speeds and therefore the randomness of molecular motion†(Young 574).   In other aspects, it is clear now why it is easy to mess up than to clean, and that the greater are the things present the messier it is. According to Young in his book University Physics, in a natural   irreversible isolated system (one that does no work on its surroundings) entropy is always increasing, or the degree of disorder increases with time( Young 541 and579) . This can be illustrated by man getting old. Although some scientific researches had created formulas to make man look younger than his age, this only controls the pace of his getting old, but eventually man had to surrender to the irreversible natural process of body deterioration that will lead to old age and ultimately death. As man increased in age, his body weakens, his cells degenerate and eventually he dies. And when a body decays and die it cannot be renewed again and bring back to life but it will rot on the grave . What the second law of thermodynamics is saying is that there are some things that I cannot control from happening for it is a natural process that needs or must occur and when it did occur it is impossible to undo. This reminds me in some sense of where man is heading in life. He always go towards the future and leaves behind a past. What happened in the past he can never undo for he can never go back to the past. That direction will be forever close to him no matter how much energy he is willing to spend to retraced back to that road. Critics in the biological evolution however, claimed that the theory of evolution violates the second law of thermodynamics, since evolution involves simple life forms developing on their own into more complex, more highly ordered organisms. But living things are not closed systems because they can interact with outside sources of energy like the sun and it has been shown â€Å"that energy and/or mass flow through a system can constrain it far from equilibrium, resulting in an increase in order†.   The organizing ‘work† is then primarily carried on by metabolic motor of DNA, enzymes, etc(  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   ). Third law of Thermodynamics The third law touches on reaching a state of absolute zero (oK) or to avoid entropy by making temperature equals to zero.   At absolute zero the system has a minimum total internal energy (kinetic plus potential). This can only happen if all energy and matter are randomly distributed in space eradicating all thermal motion( Young 574). This however will never occur unless perhaps in few extraordinary, carefully-engineered situations. The third law of thermodynamics reinforced the fact that in life there are things that are unattainable and accepting this reality is a much better idea than to fight the laws of life. Conclusion The laws of thermodynamics just clearly put into much clearer terms the laws of life. Since thermodynamics is a science that deals with energy and energy transformations as well as the resulting work it produces, it has practical applications in life for life is an active use of energy. First law is a conservation of energy which states that energy cannot be created or destroyed meaning that energy is already in existence and needs only to be applied to a system, example a human system, in various forms to benefit life. The second law states that in a natural process there is a direction from which the conservation follows and this is usually to a more disordered state (entropy). The third law just simply states that if absolute zero is reached then entropy will be zero, but such is an impossible occurrence.       References Isaak, Mark. Five Major Misconceptions about Evolution. The Talk Origins Archive.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   October 1, 2003. Retrieved December 3, 2007   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   http://www.talkorigins.org/faq/faq-misconceptions.html Sonntag, Richard E. and Claus Borgnakke. Fundamentals of Thermodynamics, 5th ed. New   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   York: John Wiley and Sons, Inc., 1998. Young, Hugh D. and Roger A. Freedman. University Physics, Vol. 1. 9th ed. New York:   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, Inc., 1996.

Sunday, October 27, 2019

Military force and promoting humanitarian values

Military force and promoting humanitarian values This essay will argue that military force is an ineffective instrument for the promotion of humanitarian values. However, this is qualified by also presenting reasons for discounting the effectiveness of non-military interventions. This essay will be structured as follows. The first sections will confront methodological issues that have to be addressed before the question can be answered. Following this we will embark on a comparison of military and non-military interventions. The essay will evaluate a paradigm case of a successful operation, Australia in East Timor. We will argue it is anomalous and can barely qualify as a genuine intervention. We then see a true case of an intervention, Afghanistan, and conclude that this constitutes a failure of a military promotion of humanitarian values. We will then move onto evaluate two cases of non-military interventions, UN Resolutions and economic sanctions. It will be argued that UN sanctions are impotent, with reference to the actions of Israel. The essay will then examine the sanctions placed on Iraq, and argue that they caused a greater humanitarian crisis than any hitherto encountered intervention. The essay will conclude with reasons why one should refrain from drawing methodological precepts from previous interventions, and advocates a case-by-case analysis. It is important to limit the scope of this debate. First of all, I will not be discussing issues such as the legitimacy of military force being used in national liberation movements with the discussion instead focusing on third party military intervention. There are questions that further need to be addressed: Firstly, what constitutes military force? Is it the mere presence of military personnel (e.g. UN Peacekeeping forces), or does it have to be active military participation? Secondly, what are humanitarian values? Thirdly, how does one measure the promotion of such values? Is there a quantifiable way to ask whether their promotion has been effective? Fourthly, are there case studies which can be turned to in order to address the question? If there has never been a genuinely humanitarian intervention, then it will be impossible to assess the success of such an endeavour. In response to the first question, it is simpler to treat all military interventions of the same ilk. Consider the criteria set out by the Red Cross (1997), arguing that a prerequisite for an intervention to be humanitarian it has to be neutral, impartial and independent. The position of the Red Cross is that no armed force could satisfy these requirements backed as they are by political governments with their own agenda. If one finds this cogent, then there is no prima facie reason for discerning between mercenary, state-backed and UN organisations[1]. In regards to humanitarian values, and how to measure their effectiveness, to find a view backed by consensus is almost impossible. We confront positions as diverse as simple, utilitarian measurements of the amount of people whose lives have been saved (Janzekovic, 2006: 144) to more specific positions such as Regan (1996: 341-342) who claims that an intervention can be deemed successful if it destabilises the region in such a way, so that it is more difficult for the oppressing-state to continue with its human rights violations. This position would not use a short-term measurement such as deaths to measure the success of an intervention. However, I shall err on the simpler measurement. This is simply due to that the measurement of injuries, fatalities and abuses in a conflict is a simpler tool of analysis, rather than a vague notion such as favourable destabilisation[2]. Finally, as to whether there has been a genuine humanitarian intervention, the answer seems to be negative[3]. Regardless of whether or not one agrees with the historical analysis in the books cited, there is an explanatory problem for believers in genuine intervention, which is the sporadic and inconsistent use of such interventions. This is what Paris (2014: 578-588) calls the inconsistency problem. The thrust of the problem is that such inconsistent use of military intervention in regards to humanitarian crises implies that there is more tha n just selfless means motivating the intervenors. Although other factors affect the ability to intervene (Binder: 2009), there is a strong motivation that, when combined with the historical record, humanitarian intervention is a misnomer. However, let us leave this issue to the side. What we shall discuss now is the following: Do military interventions for nominally humanitarian ends, save more lives than non-military means for the same ends? Let us examine some of the paradigmatic cases of successful military intervention. One often cited is the success of the Australian intervention in East Timor in 1999. The intervention was required due to the Indonesian governments oppressive measures used to quell an East Timorese population insistent on independence from Jakarta. During the referendum campaign, there was widespread use of militia intimidation to quell support for independence, accompanied by widespread human rights violations. The actions of the Indonesian forces resulted in the displacement of around 40,000 – 85,000 East Timorese (T. Seybolt, 2007: 88.)). The success of the Australian military has been praised by some, such as Wheeler and Dunne (2001) who took such success as totalling almost a paradigm shift on the effectiveness and new normative perspective of a humanitarian intervention (contrasting it with the collusion of the United States in the violent occupation of the East Timor in 1975 (Amnesty In ternational, 1985). However, although the Australian intervention is largely considered successful, unfortunately, it does not meet the criteria of a humanitarian intervention. Humanitarian interventions, under most definitions (Roberts, 2003:5) have to be a military action without the consent of the oppressing power, in this case, Indonesia. However, as is noted by Chesterman (2002), Australia sought the consent of the Indonesian government, before intervening. The Australian government of the 5th of September said that they would only consider intervention if four conditions were met: (i) there was a security council mandate, (ii) if the Indonesian government consented, (iii) if the endeavour was a short term one, and (iv) if the force had a strong regional component Wheeler and Dunne (ibid p.807). What makes the fact that consent was sought from Indonesia considerably stranger was the fact that, apart from Australia, the international community did not believe that Indonesia had any rights over East Timor, with East Timor being internationally considered to be an independent state. As Chesterman goes onto note as well, that, although it is often cited to be an example of successful intervention, the fact remains that the international community displayed great reticence in intervening (contrasted with their enthusiasm regarding Bosnia). Chesterman concludes that if Australia had not intervened, no one else would have (Chesterman 2002:181)) There are also significant reasons that the reason for Australian intervention were hardly impartial either, as Chesterman also notes that the Howard Government of Australia was probably more worried about the influx of refugees that would come from such a crisis (a point which is corroborated by Gonzalez-Forester (2004), who documents Australia and other countries previous ambivalences to violent Indonesian actions towards the East-Timorese.) This case study appears to support the question posed in the affirmative, as once the Australian forces intervened, the extent of the massacres and expropriations stopped considerably. Thus, there does appear to be some motivation for considering military intervention a useful technique. However, there are also other considerable problems by extrapolating from this example. First of all, the Indonesian forces consented to their intervention, so the Australians were entering a comparatively un-hostile environment, and secondly, this fact is bolstered by the generally warm relations between Australia and Indonesia. In order for us to extrapolate from this example, we would have to see how well interventions perform in a country which does not openly consent to the intervention from a third party. Such an example would be Afghanistan, a country that has twice been intervened by hostile forces supporting apparently humanitarian goals (both Russia (1979-1989) and the United States (2001- Ongoing)). Both of these interventions have had the nominal motivation of humanitarian ends, and both have, to some extent worked towards them. In the case of the Russian intervention, it seems to be that the attempt to intervene has failed, despite the attempt to implement progressive policies (Bennis, 2015). The report cited documents how their attempts to implement progressive policies in the rural areas of Afghanistan provoked widespread rebellion, thus making the humanitarian situation considerably worse. The United States intervention initially seemed to be a more intelligent intervention, with there being a pronouncement of the military intervention being accompanied by humanitarian aid drops. However, as Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) note, the aid packages of food (which only occurred a round once a month) shared the same yellow packaging as cluster bombs, which led to a number of casualties (Calas and Salignon: 2004, p. 82.) Asides from that, there also seems to be strong reports that human rights are being abused by militant forces which the united states support. For example, the New York Times have reported on a massacre occurring in Dasht-E-Leili, where Afghan Soldiers killed Taliban POWs on their route to Sheberghen Prison (Gall, 2001).this directly violates Article 13 of the Geneva Convention regarding the treatment of POWs (ICRC, 1949). Incidents such as this are indicative of a failed intervention, in regards to the promotion of explicitly humanitarian values. Although the indefinite extension of the US-Afghanistan war means that any conclusion might seem premature, the track record of the past 14 years indicates that military interventions do not promote humanitarian ends if the members of the occupying country do not welcome it. We have thus encountered compelling reasons to dismiss the effectiveness of military means for promoting humanitarian ends. What is now necessary is to contrast this with the effectiveness of non-military interventions. We shall examine two such examples: UN declarations and economic sanctions. We shall conclude that both are ineffective: UN declarations are ineffective without military support, and economic sanctions can exacerbate already precarious situations. In regards to the first point, there does seem to be a strong case for this. Consider, for example, the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory in the West Bank and Gaza, as well as their occupation of the Golan Heights in Syria. All of these violate international law, and violate UN sanctions (Hammon, 2010)). However, this does not seem to have deterred the Israeli government from refraining from the maintenance of such illegal activities, nor does it seem to have any force in preventing further breaches of internationa l law. Secondly, consider the economic sanctions that were placed on Iraq in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait implemented by United Nations Security Council Resolution 661 (S/RES/661 (1990)) These sanctions are considered to have some of the most disastrous humanitarian results of recent history. The result of these sanctions have resulted in UNICEF reporting around 500,000 Iraqi children under the age of 5 dying (an increase of over 4,000 deaths a month compared to before the sanctions were enforced) (Edwards, 2000) In fact, the oil-for-food program has had effects that compelled the organiser of the program, Denis Halliday, to resign, calling the program genocidal. The fact that this resignation at such a senior level in the UN is almost unprecedented is remarkable in and of itself. What makes this fact more remarkable is due to the fact that the person assigned to replace him, Hans von Sponeck, also resigned from the post, citing similar reasons (ibid.) A counter-point co uld be raised here, to the effect that it was not so much the food-for-oil program itself that was the problem, but rather the insufficiencies of the program in light of the bombing campaign that almost crippled Iraqs infrastructure. For example, Eric Hoskins claimed that [the bombing campaign] effectively terminated everything vital to human survival in Iraq – electricity, water, sewage systems, agriculture, industry and health care (Curtis, 1995: 189). Thus, the point could be raised that this should be cited as a failure of military intervention, rather than non-violent. This point is a strong one, yet the cataclysmic consequences were not invoked by the bombing campaign, rather it was the sanctions which prevented the rebuilding which precipitated a humanitarian disaster. It is difficult to equate the success and failure of these positions, as they are often used in tandem, and it becomes difficult to dissociate what could be indications of mere incompetence, from the mor e malice invocations of the doctrine of realpolitik. In conclusion, it is difficult to ascertain the effectiveness of military force. This is because paradigmatically successful operations, such as East Timor do not qualify. The possibility of a further answer is complicated due to the fact that the Israel-Palestine conflicts demonstrates the impotence of non-military means without the possibility of an armed intervention. Yet, the fact that condemnations are powerless also does not help us answer the question: Afghanistan shows how a militarily backed campaign can make a military solution to legitimate grievances considerably worse, and yet Iraq shows us how economic sanctions also exacerbate precarious scenarios. It seems to be that to offer an answer regarding the effectiveness of this-or-that method is premature, and universal laws determining efficacy should be replaced with a case-by-case analysis. Footnotes 1 For a response to this, see Janzekovic (2006, p.130). For a more methodological reason regarding the difficulty of providing meaningful distinctions between forms of intervention, see Raymond (2015. p.295-298) 2 For example, did the UN sanctions against Iraq in response to their invasion of Kuwait destabilise Saddam? It is not obvious to say. 3 For why interventions previous to World War I were not humanitarian, see Losurdo (2014) For why interventions post- World War II were not humanitarian see Blum (2003) Bibliography Amnesty International. (1985) East Timor Violations of Human Rights: Extrajudicial Executions, Disappearances, Torture and Political Imprisonment, 1975–1984. London: Amnesty International Publications. Bennis, P. (2015) Afghanistan in: Assange, J. The WikiLeaks Files: The World According to US Empire. New York: Verso Books. Pp. 368-394 Blum, W. (2003) Killing hope: US military and CIA interventions since World War II. London: Zed Books Calas, F. and Salignon, P. (2004) Afghanistan: From Militant Monks to Crusaders. In: Weissman In the Shadow of Just Wars, Weissman, ed. London: Hurts and Co. Chesterman, S. (2002) Just War or Just Peace? Oxford: Oxford University Press Curtis, M. (1995) The ambiguities of power: British foreign policy since 1945. London: Zed books. Edwards, D. (2000) An Interview with Denis Halliday. Media Lens. [Online] 16th May. Available at: http://www.medialens.org/index.php/alerts/interviews/77-an-interview-with-denis-halliday.html. [Accessed 19th October 2015] Gall, C. (2001) Study Hints at Mass Killing by the Taliban. New York Times [Online] May 1st Available at http://www.nytimes.com/2002/05/01/world/study-hints-at-mass-killing-of-the-taliban.html [Accessed 19th October 2015] Gonzalez-Foerster, G. (2004). East Timor: Better Late Than Never. In: Weissman. Ed. In the Shadow of Just Wars, . London: Hurts and Co. 25-42. Hammond, J.R. (2010) Rogue State: Israels violations of UN Security Council resolutions Foreign Policy Journal. [Online] 27th January. Available at: http://www.foreignpolicyjournal.com/2010/01/27/rogue-state-israeli-violations-of-u-n-security-council-resolutions/. [Accessed 19th October 2015] International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (1997) Can Military Intervention and Humanitarian Action Coexist? World Disasters Report. Oxford: Oxford University Press International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) (1949), Geneva Convention Relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War (Fourth Geneva Convention), 12 August, 75 UNTS 287, available at: http://www.refworld.org/docid/3ae6b36d2.html. [Accessed 19 October 2015] Janzekovic, J. (2006) The use of force in humanitarian intervention: morality and practicalities. Hampshire: Ashgate Publishing, Ltd., Losurdo, D. (2014) Liberalism: a counter-history. London: Verso Books. Paris, R. (2014) The Responsibility to Protectand the Structural Problems of Preventive Humanitarian Intervention. International Peacekeeping 21.5: 569-603. Raymond, D (2015). Military Means of Preventing Mass Atrocities. In Rosenberg, S. Galis, T. Zucker A. eds. 2015: Reconstructing Atrocity Prevention. New York: Cambridge University Press. Pp.295- 320 Regan, P M. (1996) Conditions of successful third-party intervention in intrastate conflicts. Journal of Conflict Resolution 40.2: 336-359 Roberts, A. (2002) The So-Called Right of Humanitarian Intervention, in Yearbook of International Humanitarian Law 2000, 3. The Hgue: T.M.C Asser. Seybolt, T B. (2007) Humanitarian military intervention: the conditions for success and failure. Oxford: Oxford University Press. UN Security Council, Resolution 661 (1990) Adopted by the Security Council at its 2933rd meeting, on 6 August 1990, 6 August 1990, S/RES/661 (1990), available at: http://www.refworld.org/docid/3b00f16b24.html [accessed 25 October 2015] Wheeler, N. and Dunne, T. (2001) East Timor and the New Humanitarian Interventionism, International Affairs, 77, 4, pp. 805–27.

Friday, October 25, 2019

Personal Privacy and Companies Essay -- Essays Papers

Personal Privacy and Companies It is certainly a different world nowadays. You can no longer go on the internet and surf without the potential threat of your privacy being compromised and invaded. When the internet first became big you didn’t hear a lot about the issue of privacy and computers. Maybe it was because the public was naà ¯ve, but that is not the case anymore. This issue is fast becoming the heart of heated debates about how to save your privacy. Privacy is a term that is dfifficult to define, it’s different to everyone with about a zillion interpretations of the words exact meaning. So let’s take the time and gain a better understanding of it’s meaning. According to the Webster’s dictionary, privacy is seclusion or isolation from others – secrecy. On the surface this doesn’t seem like it would pertain to information systems, but think again. Everything we do on the Internet has the risk of being watched or observed. It may be from other c ompanies or scary enough the government. This issue is fast becoming the number one concern from users of the web. How can these people keep tabs on me? Technology has been a definite blessing, it’s also has the potential to be dangerous. A good example exists right here on campus. We use our social security numbers for virtually everything, from registration to purchasing books at the bookstore. If this number fell into the wrong hands it could prove disastrous to the person of that number. They would then have full access to any and all information they chose to use. They could access your banking files, your credit report and credit card numbers. They could ruin your lives in a short period of time. So in this respect privacy means a lot more than just i... ... other from access the customer’s information without consent. They will be able to choose the level of privacy they wish to have. While some analysts feel that they don’t see a trend toward software geared the consumer for at home protection, there is a definite surge toward the protection of clientele information. While most companies make a profit off of their customer information databases by selling them to third party companies, some companies like Earthlink have developed a competitive priority not to sell the information. They feel that the information they have on their customer is a privilege to possess and that the customer trust us by giving Earthlink their loyal business and we do not want to violate that. As technology grows so grows the need for companies to listen to their customers and implement a solid privacy policy that the people can trust.

Thursday, October 24, 2019

Footwear Industry Analysis Essay

When you wake up and get dressed every morning, one of the first decisions you make is what shoes you will wear that day. Depending on the weather and the level of professionalism you are perceived to demonstrate, you make your decision. The footwear industry is a large and ever changing industry that caters to the needs of everyone. Although in some parts of the world people are lucky to have one pair of shoes, many people, including myself, have somewhere around 50-100 pairs, each serving a unique purpose. Recently, market trends have shown that the global footwear industry has grown at an average rate of 4.4%, and is expected to continue this growth well into the future. The footwear industry is segmented into four different geographic regions, Americas, Europe, Asia-Pacific and Middle East & Africa. The Americas account for 38.2% of the industry, Europe 38.1%, Asia-Pacific 19.7, and Middle East & Africa only 4% combined. This shows that the majority of the revenue for the market is generated in the Americas and Europe combined. The market distribution ranges from clothing, footwear and sportswear retailers, department stores, hypermarket, supermarket and discounters as well as other channels. The five forces driving competition in the global footwear industry are buyer power, supplier power, new entrants, substitutes, and the degree of rivalry. Although the industry is very large, it is dominated by intense rivalry between large retail groups. Since footwear is considered a necessity among most humans, the overall sales volumes are generally high, reducing buyer power. The majority of the footwear industry is manufactured in low-cost areas (usually South-East Asia); many other manufacturers can compete effectively within the market. Since the fixed costs for retail operations are low, the threat of new entrants are rather high, however many existing firms have significant economies of scale therefore threatening the growth of any new entrants. An important driving force of the footwear industry is buyer power. Although the high volume of sales in the footwear industry reduce buyer power by a large volume, buyers still have some power. Mainly buyer independence, low-cost s witching, price sensitivity, and tendency to switch, product dispensability, and undifferentiated products drive buyer power. There is a  high degree of differentiation within the market since footwear ranges from fashion, athletic, and fully functional industries. This allows each sub-industry to target each individual on a different level, which therefore reduces buyer-switching power between brands, since each brand holds different features from one another. Altogether, buyer power is considered moderate in the footwear industry. On the other hand, supplier power of the footwear industry is a major driving force as well. Major factors of the supplier power include differentiated input, importance of quality/cost, no substitute inputs, player independence, supplier size and switching costs. Since the majority of the footwear industry is manufactured in low-cost locations, many other locations are unable to compete in the market. Therefore causing these locations to offer highly differentiated products (high end designers and specialty products). Due to the high number of low-cost manufacturers, switchin g is increased and therefore supplier power decreases. Forward integration is also diminished since there are many well established brands within the industry. Altogether supplier power is also considered moderate in the footwear industry as well. Since fixed costs are low, the threat of new entrants is fairly high. However, since there are many well-established retail groups that have significant economies of scale, new entrants can rarely expand. The expansion of the online selling community can serve as a threat to new entrants due to the lack of knowledge the customer has about the company or product, on the other hand this is a great opportunity for growth and expansion of larger more well known companies. Other than a few specialty products, brand recognition in the overall industry is relatively low, which enhances the strength of new entrants. Combined with the low cost of manufacturing, the threat of new entrants in the footwear industry is considered strong. Another force that drives the footwear industry is the threat of subst itutes. A few factors that influence the threat of substitutes in the industry are beneficial alternatives, cheap alternatives and most importantly the low cost switching rate. Since footwear is considered a necessity, the threat of substitutes is relatively low. In less developed regions, such as the Middle East & Africa, consumers are likely to wear secondhand shoes and repair ones that they already own, therefore restrict sales in certain areas. Between the sub-industries there is a fair amount of substitutions, but the overall  industry cannot necessarily be substituted. The final driving force considered in the footwear industry is the degree of rivalry. Rivalry amongst competitors in the industry is driven by competitor size, ease of expansion, high exit barriers, lack of diversity, low switching costs, low fixed costs, the number of players as well as the similarity of these players, storage costs, undifferentiated products and zero sum game. Once again, the footwear industry is mainly composed of large retail groups of which posses a strong sense of rivalry. The low fixed costs allow smaller companies to exists within the industry and allows for expansion of output. In general, the rivalry between footwear retailers is considered mo derate. In conclusion, the five driving forces of the footwear industry do not have a significant power to overtake the industry itself, since in the end the industry is considered a necessity. The footwear industry is showing upwards trends of growth and expansion in the global perspective, and does not show signs of slowing down anytime soon. Although the threat of new entrants is fairly high, the expansion of the online community has supported the growth of established and well-known brands that exist today. There is not a real threat of substitutes for the industry since it is in fact a necessity, so the industry will always be there. Since many consumers have different preferences, the industry will continue to differentiate itself to better fit each target market. There will always be room for growth in this industry and overall it is a well-established and important industry to the global economy. Works Cited â€Å"Global Footwear Industry Profile.† Footwear Industry Profile: Global (2014): 1-29. Business Source Complete. Web. 29 Sept. 2014. Schmitz, Hubert. â€Å"Learning And Earning In Global Garment And Footwear Chains.† European Journal Of Development Research 18.4 (2006): 546-571. Academic Search Complete. Web. 29 Sept. 2014.

Tuesday, October 22, 2019

review of american beauty essays

review of american beauty essays The movie American Beauty is an interesting view of Suburbia America. While some people might criticize the movie for being to far fetch and to critical of America, others see the movie for the full value that it holds for its viewers. This movie can initially be labeled as a satire or a movie poking fun of American suburbs, but after deeper inspection this movie is more about the truth of who you are and coming to live with and understanding that realization. In the movie, the only people that were truly happy the whole time was the gay couple. This is funny because it is not a usual occurrence that there is a gay couple living next door. It is also weird because they are the only people that seem to function normally as a whole, and feel as if they have nothing to be ashamed of. The couple is truly happy because they understand who they are and they are secure with there standing in life. The mother of the family is never truly happy with who she is, as can be seen in her slapping herself in the being of the movie and her constantly criticizing her husband, and is very unhappy because of it. She tries to be something that she is not, and would rather live out this fantasy that she has of life that to live her own life. She frustrates her whole family with trying to be in charge of everything when all they really want from her is for her to be herself. The father is truly confused by what he wants from his life. He thinks that g oing back to the way he was during his teenage years will help all his problems go away and will ultimately make him happy. When truthfully all he needs is to accept what he is and learn to love everything that makes up his life. I think the final part of the movie shows that he has come to understand this point and wants to impart all this knowledge upon us as viewers and as strugglers of this confusing life. This movie says a lot about America and the ideals and ...