Theory of Knowledge - ‘the Ultimate Protection Against...

‘The Ultimate protection against research error and bias is supposed to come from the way scientists constantly test and retest each others results’ – To What extent would you agree with this claim in the natural and human sciences. Human beings are inherently flawed creatures. Through faults in reason and sense perception we interpret the world not as it truly is. Both the Human and Natural Sciences are tools to understand the world and are a lens in which to comprehend ideas not readily available to us purely through common sense logic and sense perception. The implications made in the title are that the inductive scientific method, when removed from error and bias, provides unequivocal and unobjectionable objective truth. The†¦show more content†¦Assumptions in the title of this essay imply that results, theories and laws resulting from the current system of peer review multiple perspectives produce completely infallible objective truth, this is a false premise. Whilst the group of knowers known as the scientific community have collectively less bias than one lone knower trying to understand the universe, there is still collective and engrained level of institutional bias. The same problems of confir mation bias and expectation are present in a group of knowers just as they are with one single knower. According to Karl Popper (1902-1994) the best way to eliminate any expectation and confirmation bias was to falsify and disprove rather than confirm one’s hypothesis and predictions. Popper argues: no matter how convincing an argument or theory is, all that is needed to disprove it is one piece of valid counterclaiming evidence. Whilst this theory is valid on an individual level, it really becomes an effective tool in the objectivity of science on a large scale. Despite this attempt at objectifying and ‘protecting against’ error and bias it is inadequate due to inherent flaws in the scientific method. Induction, moving from the specific to the general, is the key element in scientific logic. Any theory or law ‘proved’ through this logic has some key flaws: the main flaw being that inductive logic can never be certain of any event happening or of any prediction. Richard van de LagemaatShow MoreRelatedFundamentals of Hrm263904 Words   |  1056 PagesThis online teaching and learning environment integrates the entire digital textbook with the most effective instructor and student resources With WileyPLUS: Students achieve concept mastery in a rich, structured environment that’s available 24/7 Instructors personalize and manage their course more effectively with assessment, assignments, grade tracking, and more manage time better study smarter save money From multiple study paths, to self-assessment, to a wealth of interactive visualRead MoreStrategic Human Resource Management View.Pdf Uploaded Successfully133347 Words   |  534 PagesVIEW Strategic Human Resource Management Taken from: Strategic Human Resource Management, Second Edition by Charles R. Greer Copyright  © 2001, 1995 by Prentice-Hall, Inc. A Pearson Education Company Upper Saddle River, New Jersey 07458 Compilation Copyright  © 2003 by Pearson Custom Publishing All rights reserved. This copyright covers material written expressly for this volume by the editor/s as well as the compilation itself. It does not cover the individual selections herein that

Math And Nature Fibonacci Sequence - 1110 Words

Fibonacci Sequence My topic for the cool math paper is the Fibonacci Sequence. I choose to do the Fibonacci Sequence because it’s in math and nature. This interests me so much because I haven’t really seen many clear examples of math in nature especially like the Fibonacci Sequence appears.This is also a tangible way to learn about math. The Fibonacci Sequence is a sequence of numbers that is created by adding the previous two numbers together. You take 1 then add 0 to get the second number which is 1, then you’ll add 1 and 1 to get 2, after that you’ll add 1 and 2 to get 3, and so on. The sequence can continue this way forever. For example the first ten numbers in the sequence are 1, 1 ,2 ,3 ,5 ,8 ,13 ,21 ,34 ,55. The Fibonacci Sequence was named after Leonardo Pisano Bogollo (He lived between 1170-1250) whose nickname was Fibonacci. He did an investigation in 1202 about Rabbit breeding. If there are two rabbits that can mate at the age of one month old and the rabbits alwa ys produce a male female pair and they never die how many rabbits will there be in one year. This investigation ended with the Fibonacci sequence becoming clearer. There were one set of rabbits at the end of the first month (1,1). At the end of the second month there are three pairs (1,1,3). At the end of the fourth (1,1,3,5). If the rabbits never die and always produce a male female pair it will continue this way forever. Fibonacci’s example is helpful but not realistic because the bunny’s willShow MoreRelated Essay on Number Theory1704 Words   |  7 PagesThroughout math, there are many patterns of numbers that have special and distinct properties. There are even numbers, primes, odd numbers, multiples of four, eight, seven, ten, etc. One important and strange pattern of numbers is the set of Fibonacci numbers. This is the sequence of numbers that follow in this pattern: 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, etc. The idea is that each number is the sum of its previous two numb ers (n=[n-1]+[n-2]) (Kreith). The Fibonacci numbers appear in various topics of math, suchRead MoreThe Role Of Mathematics And Grasp The Beauty Of It1007 Words   |  5 Pagesubiquitous. Discovered or invented, it has been around since the beginning of time. Mathematics can explain the indescribable wonder of our cosmos. It is through mathematics that we are able to explore our universe. This essay will demonstrate how maths is an integral part of our universe and will attempt to show that mathematics might be the key to discovering the great unknown. In order to understand the role of mathematics and grasp the beauty of it in our world, we must first explain what mathematicsRead MoreDoes Cognitive Bias Influence The Patterns We Exist?1529 Words   |  7 Pageseffect could be seen in experiments to help prove or disprove the claim. Mathematics as an area of knowledge is helpful because it uses logic and reason through values and shapes to present patterns and it is the most common form of patterns. Also in math we can look at imaginary and irrational numbers as well as geometry to determine if cognitive bias causes pareidolia in logical patterns. My claim for human sciences is that human sciences show that cognitive bias is used when humans claim to see aRead MoreEssay The Golden Ratio995 Words   |  4 Pagesfascination with them. Often, when examined carefully, you may find a common â€Å"coincidence† between man made objects and those found naturally in nature. This fluke, however, may be used to ascertain various mathematical relationships between these objects. This paper will introduce the golden ratio and weigh its significance on math, art, and nature. 1.6180339887†¦. has been given many names varying from the â€Å"golden ratio† first coined by the Greeks, to the â€Å"golden rectangle† and â€Å"golden section†Read MoreAnalysis Of The Book Fibonacci Rabbits 1552 Words   |  7 Pages Leonardo Fibonacci was an Italian mathematician who lived from 1170 to 1240. While Fibonacci was growing up, he was sent to study mathematics with an Arab master. Once he finished studying, he began to travel to other countries to study their mathematics and calculations (Encyclopedia Britannica). In 1202, Fibonacci published his book that was entitled Liber Abaci or Book of the Counting. In this book, he used Hindu-Arabic numbers. This is the number system that we are using today. Prior to hisRead MoreFractals: Stonehenge, the Pyramids of Giza, the Parthenon1575 Words   |  7 Pagesforces of nature, were being constructed by human hands. Although I wanted badly to find out more, I waited until that summer, when I discovered a YouTube account by the name of Vihart. Vihart’s videos are not tutorials on how to do math, however Vihart’s ramblings about the nature and the concepts of the mathematical world have a lot of educational value, especially on topics that are m ore complicated to understand then to compute. Her videos on fractal math and their comparability to nature, helpedRead MoreDebussys use of the Fibonacci sequence Essay1403 Words   |  6 Pagesï » ¿Ã¢â‚¬Å"I can count†: Mathematics in Music An Analysis of Debussy’s Nocturne Math has been associated with music for many years, particularly that of the Fibonacci sequence and the Golden Ratio. In Debussy’s Nocturne, composed in 1892, I look into the use of the Fibonacci sequence and the Golden Ratio. Previously it has been noted that composers used the Fibonacci sequence and the Golden Ratio in terms of form, however in my analysis I look into the use of it in terms of notation as well. I will exploreRead MoreThe Golden Mean in Anatomy965 Words   |  4 Pagesthinkers like no other component in mathematics. While studying the golden mean it becomes evident just how relevant this number is in the world. Many architects and artists have used this ratio as a scale and proportion sequence. The sequence is also relevant in music, nature and even the human body. Ancient mathematicians were so fascinated in the ratio because of its frequency in geometry. The first person to provide a written definition was Euclid. He stated â€Å"A straight line is said to haveRead MoreMathematics and Music: The Collision of Science and Art Essay1735 Words   |  7 Pagesagainst each other by many scholars. It is not uncommon now for a mathematician or physicist to dismiss the Arts as a waste of time; or for an artist or musician to proclaim the Sciences as useless to them. As both an avid blues guitarist and an IB math student, I aim to contrast this modern opinion. I will do so by exploring the relationship between the Arts and Sciences; specifically mathematics and music. On a personal level, I find this to be extremely important, as I hold a deep value for allRead MoreMathematical and Musical Harmony1308 Words   |  6 Pagesopposites as they are commonly considered to do, but that there are connections and similarities between them, which may explain why some musicians like mathematics and why mathematicians frequently love music. Music is mathematical because the Fibonacci numbers and the golden section exist in musical compositions. The questions of tone and tuning are one aspect in which mathematical thoughts enter the world of music. However, music—at least in a modern perception—does not only consist of notes and

In the following essay, I will examine the development of Plaths Example For Students

In the following essay, I will examine the development of Plaths In the following essay, I will examine the development of Plashs poetry through analysis of major themes and imagery found in her description of landscapes, seascapes, and the natural world. By acceptable Sylvia Plashs Psychic Landscapes In the following essay. I will examine the development of Plashs poetry through analysis of major themes and imagery found in her description of landscapes, seascapes, and the natural world. Following the lead of Ted Hughes, critics today tend to read Sylvia Plashs poetry as a unity. Individual poems are best read in the context of the whole oeuvre: motifs, homes and images link poems together and these linkages Illuminate their meaning and heighten their power. It is certainly easy to see that through almost obsessive repetition some elements put their unforgettable mark on the poetry: themes such as the contradictory desires for life and death and the quests for selfless and truth; images like those of color, with red, black and white dominating the palette; and symbols of haunting ambiguity, for example, the moon and the sea. But equally obvious Is the striking development that Plashs work underwent In the course of her brief career as a professional poet. This is perhaps most readily seen in the prosody: from exerting her equilibriums skill at handling demanding verse forms, such as the terra rim and the Belleville, she broke free of the demands of such literary conventions and created a personal verse form which still retained some of the basic elements of her earlier academic style. She turned the three-line stanza of the Belleville into a highly flexible medium. Freed from the prosodic strictness of poems like Medallion, written in 1959, this verse form reappeared in poems composed In the last year of her life In a superbly liberated yet controlled form. Some f her finest and most personal poems are written ;n this medium, for example, Fever 1030, Ariel, Nick and the Candlestick, Lady Lazarus, Mars Song, and the late Sheep in Fog, Child and Contusion. More Important, though, Is the development one can observe In Plashs handling of images and themes, of settings and scenes. My concern in this essay is Plashs use of landscapes as settings. There are indoor settings in her poetry, such as kitchens and bedrooms, hospitals and museums, but the outdoor ones are in overwhelming majority. Plashs use of landscapes and seascapes Is Indeed one of the most harmonistic features of her poetry. They put their mark on a considerable part of a woman and a poet. The seascapes with their crucial relevance for themes like the daughter-father relationship, loss and death, deserve a special and thorough treatment of their own and will have to fall outside the scope of this essay. No reader can fail to note the many items of nature that Plate makes use of as setting and image. Three scholars have paid special attention to this aspect. In her pioneering work, The Poetry of Sylvia Plate: A Study of Themes (1972), Ingrain Mainlander includes analyses of poems set in different landscapes and seascapes that Plate knew; in addition to discussing a group of poems connected to the sea, she deals with the following landscape poems: two poems on the moorland (retardants Crags and Withering Heights); two idylls (terrycloth of Shortchanges Meadows and In Midas Country); and three landscapes as experienced by the traveler (sleep in the Mojave Desert, Stars over the Doreen and Two Campers in Cloud Country). Mainlanders approach is thematic and she makes no attempt to suggest development or continuity concerning this aspect of the poetry. In Jon Restaurants Sylvia Plate: The Poetry of Initiation (1979), in my view still the cost useful book-length critical study, the idea of development is a main concern. He devotes one chapter to Plashs use of landscapes and seascapes, focusing on the transition from early to late poetry as part of his overriding argument: that Plashs poetry enacts a ritual of initiation from symbolic death to rebirth. He pragmatically refrains from placing her poems in extraterrestrial contexts, such as her biography. Edward Butcher, on the other hand, goes to the other extreme in his critical biography, Sylvia Plate: Method and Madness (1976), where he makes no essential preference between the life and the poetry. While he offers many imaginative and perceptive comments on Plashs anthropomorphism of nature, they naturally become subsumed in the telling of the story of the poets life and also, frequently, slightly distorted by Butchers psychoanalytically loaded thesis about the emergence of Sylvia Plate the bitchy goddess. Since the appearance of these three studies Sylvia Plashs Collected Poems has been published (1981) with a securer and more precise dating of the poems than before, and we are now in a better position to deal with the poems chronologically. The Journals of Sylvia Plate (1982) also add to our knowledge of the composition of the poems. Linda W. Wagner-Martins recent biography (198 7) has given us a firm platform to build our critical studies on, by confirming or correcting information provided by previous biographies and memoirs. With the premise that Plashs poetry should be read as a unity I wish to study the development of her use of landscapes throughout her career, paying special attention to the role the landscape plays in the individual poemquantitatively and qualitativelyand to the way the poet creates psychic landscapes out of concrete landscapes Sylvia Plate had seen. With a poetry like Plashs, which is highly subjective and concrete, it is surely a disadvantage to disconnect the poems from the poets life. My use of biography aims at illuminating the poetic process, and my main interest is in the subtle and gradual shift in the poets technique: the process by which her landscapes become increasingly psychic and at the end fragmented. Sylvia Plate evidently looked upon herself as a city person (in spite of her documented love of the sea). Amidst the beautiful scenery at an artists colony in upstate New York she complained: l do rather miss Boston and dont think I could ever settle for living far from a big city full of museums and theaters. Nevertheless she seldom used the cities and towns where she lived, more or less permanently, as settings in poems. Cambridge, England; Northampton, Massachusetts; Boston and London, these places made little impact on the poetry as cityscapes. When she draws on such settings, she usually lets her persona move from the streets and buildings to parks or gardens or surrounding fields. When she remembers Cambridge, she sees meadows and fields outside the town, as in Watercolors of Shortchanges Meadows (1959). Of Northampton she commemorates above all a park with frog pond, fountain, shrubbery and flowers, as in Frog Autumn and Childs Park Stones, both written in 1958. Where the town of Northampton itself does figure, in Owl (1958), it is as a frivolous contrast to harshly elemental nature. Commenting on an actual experience in the summer of 1958 such as described in this poem, she noted: Visions of violence. The animal world seems to me more and more intriguing. One of the rare poems with a London setting is Parliament Hill Fields (1961), but typically the scene has a rural touch. It is set on Hempstead Heath). Inspiredand sometimes proddedby her husband who was versed in country things, Sylvia Plate the city person turned to nature for topics and scenery. Shortly after having met Ted Hughes in the spring of 1956 she confided to her mother: l cannot stop writing poems! They come from the vocabulary of woods and animals and earth that Ted is teaching me. Prodded or inspired, Plate drew on her personal experiences of different places and landscapes as raw material for many of the poems. One might actually plot locations and stages of her life on the map of her work. Among the poems that open her career as a professional poether debut can conveniently be set to 1956we can find scenes from her stay in England and her travels on the Continent. Later there will be scenes from New England and other parts of the United States and Canada. After her return to England in 1959 she set many of the poems in Devon and a few in London. Ones immediate reaction to Plashs outdoor scenery is that the persona never seems to be quite at home in nature. Descriptions of nature will most often register feelings of estrangement, fear and the like. This is true even of poems commemorating travel experiences in happy odds, such as camping in a California desert (sleep in the Mojave Desert) or by a Canadian lake (two Campers in Cloud Country), poems written in 1960. Plashs depictions of places and landscapes reveal her interest in pictorial art. She music, when I go to some other art form. We know of this interest in art, American and European, and the inspiration she derived from specific paintings resulting in, for example, the poems Jackhammers (1957) and Hading, on a Red Couch, Among Lilies (1958), both modeled on paintings by Henry Rousseau, and Sculptor (1958), dedicated to her friend Leonard Basking. Her own efforts as a draftswoman establish a link between her verbal gifts and her graphic talents. Some of her drawings have been reproduced; The Christian Science Monitor (November 5 and 6, 1956) illustrated her reports about a summer visit to Ovenbird in Spain with a couple of strictly realistic sketches by her hand: sardine boats pulled up on a beach; a corner of a peasant market; and trees and houses clinging on to steep sea cliffs. Poetry Anthology EssayThus in Private Ground the grasses / Unload their grief in the protagonists shoes, and in The Manor Garden items from nature are used to parallel and explain the growth of a fetus in a human body. It is not enough for Plate in these poems to call forth a human mood or attitude from a fairly detailed, more or less realistic picture of objects and scenes in nature; now she will more readily metaphoric natural suffice to hint at a parallel or an origin in nature. Early in 1959 Plate had made clear what she wished to achieve in her nature poems. After finishing Watercolors of Shortchanges Meadowsa memory of the Cambridge surroundingsshe noted: Wrote a Shortchanges poem of pure description. I must get philosophy in. As every reader knows, Plate was wrong about this poem: in her picture of a seemingly idyllic landscape, cruelty and violence are lurking beneath the smooth appearance. The realistic scenery is distorted, not in the direction of the ugly and the grotesque, but in the direction of nursery-plate prettiness. The philosophy is apparent: terror and violence in the shape of an owl swooping down on an inoffensive water rat are at the heart of creation. Melville had said the same thing in Mob Dick when he let Shame reflect on the tiger heart that pants beneath the oceans skin. Plashs most ambitious piece of writing done at the artists colony was the sequence Poem for a Birthday. Making notes for it she acknowledged the influence of Theodore Rotten. The greenhouse on the estate must have been a special link to him; it was a mine of subjects. Her tentative plans for the poem were these: To be a dwelling on madhouse, nature: meanings of tools, greenhouses, florists shops, tunnels, vivid and disjointed. An adventure. Never over. Developing, Rebirth, Despair. Old women. Block it out. Her ambition was to be true to own weirdnesss. Starting as an end-of-autumn poem it immediately turns into a seemingly random search for the origins and processes of the self; the landscape disappears, and forays into the past take over. The poem comes full circle by ending with a hope of birth into a new life. Poem for a Birthday is an indication of the direction Plashs poetry was to take from now on: toward greater use of free associations and Juxtaposition of fragments of scenes and objects, experiences lived and imagined, feelings and Houghton harbored. Sylvia Plashs life and surroundings in Devon, where she lived from September 1961 to December the following year, provided rich material for poetry. Court Green, the thatch-roofed house the Hughes had bought, sat in a two-acre plot with a great lawn, in spring overflowing with daffodils, with an apple orchard and other trees that found their way into the poems. The settings of the poems she wrote in Devon are very varied. Several are set indoors, for instance, in a hospital (the Surgeon at 2 a. M. , Three Women), a kitchen (an Appearance, The Detective, Losses, Cut, Mars Song), an office (the Applicant), or an unspecified interior (the Other, Words heard, by accident, over the phone, Kindness). These interiors are never described; they are often to be inferred by a situation traumatized or an action going on, such as cooking a Sunday dinner or being served tea. Action and character play the greater role. The trees and flowers of the Court Green garden appear in several poems, such as Among the Narcissism, Poppies in July and Poppies in October, all from 1962. But in these poems too there is much more story or incident than description. Eternal for poetry at this transitional stage in her career. Written in October 1961 this was the first poem for which she drew on her immediate Devon surroundings. As we see from Ted Hughes comments, she still needed an occasional prodding to find a topic: The yew tree stands in a churchyard to the west of the house in Devon, and visible from Asps bedroom window. On this occasion, the full moon, Just before dawn, was setting behind this yew tree and her husband assigned her to write a verse exercise about it. This nature poem is marked by the metaphorical mode already in the opening line: This is the light of the mind, cold and planetary. Using a phrase from an earlier poem (private Ground) the poet creates a transition to the garden landscape by anthropomorphism nature: The grasses unload their grief on my feet as if I were God. The light of the mind does not help. The speaker complains: l simply cannot see where there is to get to. Following the upright lines of the yew tree, the speakers eyes seek the mother moon. Yew tree and church, o ne planted in the earth but striving toward heaven, the other bringing the message of heaven to earth, have nothing to give the speaker. She faces her real self: it is not the Church with its mixture of far reaching authority (the booming bells), its holiness stiffened by convention (the sculptured or painted saints floating above the heads of the churchgoers) and its somewhat sentimentalists sweetness (the mild Virgin), it is not these she can identify with: she is the daughter of the wild female moon with her dark and dangerous power. Plate herself evidently read this poem slightly differently. Introducing it in a BBC program she said that a yew tree she had once put into a poem began, with astounding egotism, to manage and order the whole affair. It was not a yew tree by a church on a road past a house in a town where a certain woman lived And so on, as it might have been in a novel. Oh no. It stood squarely in the middle of my poem, manipulating its dark shades, the voices in the churchyard, the clouds, the birds, the tender melancholy with which I contemplated iteverything! I couldnt subdue it. And, in the end, my poem was a poem about a yew tree. The yew tree was Just too proud to be a passing black mark in a novel. As I have indicated, another reading of the poem highlights the moon as the one who is taking over the scene. The yew tree appears again in Little Fugue, written in 1962, but only as an introductory image bringing in a contrast through its blackness counterpoised with whiteness in the concrete form of a cloud (the yews black fingers wag; / Cold clouds go over). Black and white do not merge, Just as the blind do not receive the message of the deaf and dumb. These counterpoising absences prefigure the main theme of the fugue: the speaker-daughters despair at not being able to reach her dead father: Gothic and barbarous he was a yew hedge of orders. Now he sees nothing, and the beaker is lame in the memory. The fugue ends by finally Joining the two items from naturethe black yew tree and the pale cloudas images of a marriage between The Devon milieu is the scene also for Among the Narcissism. Here an ailing old neighbor is the main subject, the flowers attending upon him like a flock of children. Another poem with a Devon setting is Pheasant. It is a scene in the drama of tensions in a marri age, of suspicions, hurt, Jealousy and anger, which was begun in Zoo Keepers Wife and continued in Elm, The Rabbit Catcher, Event, Poppies in July and Poppies in October. Two poems written in the last month Sylvia Plate spent in Devon, Letter in November and Winter Trees, testify to the almost uncanny equilibriums she was capable of by now in realizing highly different topics, scenes, moods, as it would seem from one moment to the next. Anger at deception (the Couriers), longing for spiritual rebirth (getting There), tender anguish at a childs future (the Night Dances), revulsion at death (death Co. ) and fascination with the dynamics of motion and life (areas), naked hatred and contempt (the Fearful), these are some of the emotions embodied n the November poems. Letter in November is set in the Court Green garden. It is unusual for Plate at this stage in her career in that it contains a fairly detailed picture of the scenery. The letter is addressed to an unspecified receiver (perhaps a child) apostrophe as love. It describes, in a relaxed tone, details of a well-known garden which in this moment of seasonal transition is shifting color and form as if by some kind of magic that a child would understand. The speakers boots squelch realistically in the wet masses of fallen leaves.

Technology and Human Dignity

Question: Does democracy help advance modern science and technology more than tyrannical and oppressive regimes? Under what government system do science and technology advance the most quickly and fully? Answer: Democracy does play an important role in the advancement of technology and science. A democratic government system is one of the greatest motivators for individuals working harder towards a brighter future, in order to excel in aspects of science and technology, unlike the oppressive and tyrannical regimes, where people lack the inspiration to make technological and scientific advances. Karl Marx believed that democracy and science, has brought about a progression from necessity towards freedom enhancing the standards of living, as compared to a non-democratic society, which enforce restrictions in civil liberties thereby limiting technological change (Berlin, 2013). A democratic nation might not be an advancing nation, since a whole lot of decisions is at disposition of the elected government officials, who might not necessarily be successful in investing in effective projects which promise a better future. According to Nicholas Mele (2014), the dignity of an individual has been undermined despite the prolonged life ensured advances in medical science, because it gives the people the ability to manipulate life. Science and liberty do not share the same goals, science aims to predict and control the future, and on the contrary, liberty aims on the privileges of the citizens of a nation. References Berlin, I. (2013).Karl Marx. Princeton University Press. Mele, N. (2014). Technology and Human Dignity. https://www.ipjc.org/journal/AMOSSpring14.pdf. Retrieved 22 July 2016, from https://www.ipjc.org/journal/AMOSSpring14.pdf

Picards Pest and Porters Analysis. the Pontetial of a French Company Expanding Into the Uk. Essay Example

Picards Pest and Porters Analysis. the Pontetial of a French Company Expanding Into the Uk. Paper CONTENTS PAGE 1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 2 2. INTRODUCTION 2 2. 1 Picard overview 4 2. 2 Picard? s corporate strategy 5 2. 3 SWOT analysis 6 3. PEST ANALYSIS 6 4. PORTER? S FIVE FORCES Analysis of entering the UK Market 7 5. CONCLUSION 11 6. BIBLIOGRAPHY 12 7. APPENDICES 13 1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The aim of this report is to analyse Picard? s market performance as well as challenges in its operating market using the PEST analysis tool, in order to identify if the company has prospects of entering and succeeding in the UK based on Porter? s five forces model. Picard is a French frozen food retailer focusing exclusively on its own brand product lines. The company has grown to be France? s leading frozen food specialist capturing 20% market share with a network of over 800 stores, and it is also the largest specialised network of frozen food in Italy. Picard also offers a leading home delivery service from internet and telephone orders, including in other countries such as Spain, Luxemburg and Belgium. The retailer? s overall strategy is characterised as a premium proposition with a vision of convenience, quality and innovation, firmly positioning itself on the high end of the market. We will write a custom essay sample on Picards Pest and Porters Analysis. the Pontetial of a French Company Expanding Into the Uk. specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Picards Pest and Porters Analysis. the Pontetial of a French Company Expanding Into the Uk. specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Picards Pest and Porters Analysis. the Pontetial of a French Company Expanding Into the Uk. specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer Picard currently aims to continue opening approximately 50 new stores per year given its successful and consistent performance, allowing the company to potentially expand further overseas. Using the PEST analysis tool it was identified that Picard? s major challenges in its operating market are the increased competition with other retailers in the convenience sector, the extent to which the products are adapted for each country, the frozen food quality perception and association to a premium offering, and the lack of a loyalty card scheme. It was identified in this research that the level of competition in the UK frozen food sector was intermediate given Picard? s differentiated premium frozen food advantage against competitors such as Iceland and Tesco, however there are several barriers to enter the market owing to powerful large supermarket chains, building a challenge to establish a brand name in the UK. In addition to this supermarkets are increasingly developing their own label range and investing further in the convenience format. On the other hand Picard? vertically integrated supply chain and close geographical location to the current distribution network is considered a significant advantage. Furthermore UK consumers are the one of the largest frozen food buyers globally and Picard has a leading home delivery channel already established in 6 countries from online and telephone orders. It is therefore concluded that the UK is an attractive proposition for Picard. 2. INTRODUCTION In these straitened economic ti mes, frozen food is a sector that is growing as consumers recognise two main factors. Firstly it offers value for money, and secondly it helps to reduce food waste. The UK frozen food market is worth around ? 5. 1 billion a year and accounts for 8% of the UK Grocery Industry (Kantar Worldpanel, 2010). Although in 2010 the market remained flat, it has shown 11. 3% value growth between 2007-2010, with indication that the market will continue to grow this year. [pic] Souce: Kantar Worldpanel, September 2010 Convenience is driving the frozen market sales globally as consumers are looking for healthy and less time-consuming meals (Seth and Randall, 2011). Private label is performing extremely well, consistently increasing its share creating a challenge for major brands in the current market. Additionally as recession kicked in the UK, the frozen food chain Iceland reported double-digit sales growth while another supermarket seeing incredible growth in the freezer aisles today is Waitrose, revealing two contrasting retailers market positioning. Chart 1: Manufacturer? s frozen market share [pic] Source: Kantar Worldpanel. Data to 12th June 2011 Chart 2: Retailer frozen market share [pic] Source: Kantar Worldpanel. Data to 12th June 2011 Combining the growth in the frozen food market, the over performance of private label and the trend towards convenience, this research will focus on this particular market sector and analyse Picard, a premium French frozen food retailer, and its potential to expand internationally into the UK. 1. Picard overview Picard is a limited company (SA) owned by Lion Capital, a private equity investment firm, and it is today the number one frozen food retailer in France, with a product range that covers over 1,100 SKUs across nine product categories, from starters to desserts and from raw ingredients to prepared meals. Picard has distinguished itself through a commitment to high quality and innovation with over 98% of its products developed in-house exclusively for the company, and sold under the Picard brand. Picard also has retail stores in Italy and offers a home delivery service from Internet shopping and telephone orders to other countries such as Luxemburg, Belgium and Spain. | | |Chart 3: Picard La part de marche de Picard de 2004 a 2009? market share in France from 2004| |to 2009 | |[pic] | |Source: www. Picard. fr | | | |Chart 4: Picard Total Store Number from 2000 to 2010 | [pic] Source: Syndigel, Kantar Consumer Panel 2. Picard? s corporate strategy Picard? focus on a single segment of the market has positioned the company as the market leader in frozen food in France, with the vision of convenience, innovation and quality at affordable prices to everyone. Following this defined marketing strategy Picard management developed their position from 12. 5% market share in 2002 to 20% in Fran ce today (Picard. fr, 2010), running approximately 800 stores and a plan to continue to expand, opening around 50 stores per year. Almost a million households buy frozen food from Picard with a wide audience ranging from large families to pensioners, students and foodies. In Italy, â€Å"Picard i Surgelati† is the largest specialised network of frozen food sales, with a portfolio of 700 SKUs tailored to its market needs, selling mostly frozen raw products, differently to the wide range of dishes in France. Picard? s main values here are proximity, quality and service, and the market is identified as growing with plans to continue opening new stores and expanding geographically (Picard. it, 2011). In 1999 the company bought the Italian subsidiary Gel 2000 to open its 28 stores in Italy, using a strategy of internationalization through acquisition. Picard overall price strategy is characterised as a premium proposition. The retailer is known to offer high quality and services to customers, firmly positioning itself on the high end of the market. Picards high-end range includes sashimi, foie gras and rooster with truffle shavings, alongside standard frozen fare like pizza and fries. The company promotes about seventy products as the selection of the month with up to 15% off with the aim to encourage customers to try new items and to reinforce the value brand image. 3. SWOT Analysis [pic] 3. PEST ANALYSIS In this section, it will be outlined the challenges Picard currently faces using the PEST analysis which is concerned with the key external environmental influences on the business, identifying and evaluating the Political, Economic, Social and Technological factors summarising the external environment in which the business operates, mostly focusing on its domestic market in France and other operating countries. Political †¢ The convenience sector in France has offered great opportunities to retailers following President Nicolas Sarkozys liberalisation of the retail sector in June 2008 (Hall, FT. om, 2008), aimed to break down barriers to entry and to remove price regulation, consequently allowing the German discounters in, such as Aldi and Lidl. This has led to increased price competition and Picard must highlight their differentiation message to all consumers to win in the convenience sector. †¢ The labour regulations are many in France, and the society emphasizes the wel l being of the workers. The French â€Å"work to live† and appreciate time to spend with their family. They have a legal system set forth by the French labour code (Code du Travail) that is built to protect the workforce rather than the enterprises (Global Politics, 2009). Nonetheless the company is affected by the civil unrest and sense of economic hopelessness by the population, and Picard is currently under pressure by the Union on wage level. Economic †¢ As noted at the latest IGD France country presentation (June 2011), France? s GDP growth is projected to pick up slowly towards an annualised pace of 2% by 2012, led by business investment and exports. The unemployment rate has peaked but is set to decline only slightly, while price pressures will remain subdued, with underlying inflation at about 1% per year. In Picard? s case the downturn time represented an opportunity and the challenge now is to keep the momentum going and through a potential economic recovery. †¢ Picard is present in countries member of the European Union which is both a free trade area and a customs union, which means trade is neither restricted nor subdued to customs duties. Its distribution network is therefore made easy to countries such as Italy, Luxemburg, Belgium and Spain where a home delivery service is available, however consumer confidence and inflation rates are contrastingly different and Picard does not adapt the price of products to reflect each country economic factors. Social †¢ The type of goods and services demanded by consumers is a function of their social conditioning and their consequent attitudes and beliefs. Consumers’ attitude towards food in Europe is constantly changing as they have become more health-conscious and concerned about sustainable production methods (Lancaster Reynolds, 2005). However it is still a barrier for Picard that only 38. 2% of adults consider frozen foods as being as good for you as fresh food, although this figure has increased from 28. 7% in 2005 (Mintel, September 2010). †¢ The demographic changes such as the aging population is discouraging for the food retailers as older people tend to eat less, have a tighter food shopping budget and are also less likely to visit shops on a regular basis. To overcome this, Picard supply products with suitable portion sizes to meet the consumer needs, in addition to providing a home delivery service not only from internet but also from telephone orders, representing a total of 2,5% of Picard’s sales from all operating countries (Picard. fr, 2011). Technological †¢ One of the key macro-environmental variables that have directly influenced the supply chain, operations and processes of grocery and food retailers is technology. The share of households with broadband internet access has doubled since 2006 (eGovernment Resource Centre, 2010). Picard currently has a website with its entire range available to be ordered and delivered within 48 hours, accounting for 20% of its total sales, however the website is only in French and Italian, limiting customers to use and understand the website to shop. †¢ Loyalty cards provide an important route through which to differentiate offers from those of the completion and this is a growing feature of the grocery retail market (IGD, 2011). In France most retailers have adopted this as a promotional strategy however Picard has not yet shown signs of a scheme. This is nowadays an important element in the wider promotional mix and is a competitive disadvantage for Picard. 4. PORTER? S FIVE FORCES – Analysis of entering the UK Market Porter’s Five Forces Model (1980) holds the purpose to analyse an industry in order to determine the level of intensity regarding the competition and attractiveness of the industry, in this case the UK. They consist of those forces close to Picard that affect its ability to serve its customers and make a profit. The nature of competitiveness of Picard in the UK industry can be viewed as a combination of the following five forces: [pic] Figure 1: Porter? s Five Forces Competitive Rivalry The intensity of competitive rivalry for Picard in the UK frozen food retail sector is medium. There is a constant battle between firms competing in the same industry in order to win customer share (IGD, 2011). There are many significant firms in the UK supermarket industry with the five most dominant in the frozen food sector being Tesco, Asda, Iceland, Morrisons and Sainsbury’s (see chart 2). This highly competitive market has fostered an accelerated level of development, resulting in a situation where Picard has to be innovative to build market share. Picard? strategy is focused on quality and innovation therefore its key competitor would be Waitrose, with an increasing number of convenience stores in the UK. According to Seth and Randall (2011), grocery trading margins in the UK have been markedly higher than in Europe currently, they are on average three times higher than in France, for example. UK consumers have been p repared to pay for the difference and the quality of the shopping experience in the best UK superstores. Thus Picard premium frozen food shows an advantage against potential strong competitors such as Iceland and Tesco where the focus is value and volume drivers. Threat of Potential New Entrants There are numerous barriers and challenges for Picard to enter the UK frozen retail industry, resulting in a high threat to enter and compete against existing players. Over the last 30 years, the grocery market has been transformed into the supermarket-dominated business, according to Ritz (2005). Most of the large chains have built their power due to operating efficiency, one-stop shopping and major marketing-mix expenditure. The industry now possesses a strong barrier for new entrants, being a significant disadvantage for Picard to establish a brand name in the UK. It makes it rather difficult for Picard to raise sufficient capital, especially being a private company, because of large fixed costs and marketing communications necessary to set up the brand? s success. Another likely disadvantage of entering the UK market is the cultural barrier. The nature of French cuisine is very different to that expected by the UK market, making it difficult for Picard to charge a premium for its frozen products, a channel that until now has sat firmly in the discount and value areas of the market. Threat of Substitutes The threat of substitutes in the specific frozen retail market is low to medium. Given the current consumer trends of increased eating at home and a desire for reduced wastage and better value for money in the UK (BFFF, 2011), Picard? s broad range of more sophisticated products fits perfectly with the trend of dinner parties in addition to providing a long shelf-life, proving an alternative to restaurants. In the food retail market, the substitutes of Picard would be convenience stores, particularly in local towns and city centres, creating a hurdle for Picard to enter and succeed in the market. Picard? s innovative store format with high quality frozen products is a differentiated approach which stands a competitive advantage against all retailers in the UK. On the other hand existing supermarket chains are increasingly developing and promoting their premium own label product range with a noteworthy value message, though it still lacks the assortment of raw products and innovative dishes sold in Picard. Bargaining Power of Suppliers The bargaining power of suppliers is low. Picard? s strategy is a vertical integration supply chain as it is currently implemented. According to Scott (2011) this offers great bargaining power over suppliers, consistent quality and reduced risk of supply disruption. However, it can also reduce operational flexibility and limit access to the best suppliers. The company currently uses over 200 suppliers of which approximately 70% are French to manufacture its own label range which represents 98% of products sold in stores. The geographical location and continuing service of current suppliers is therefore a significant advantage for Picard? expansion in the UK. Suppliers are still expected to comply with strict quality standards and to meet increased demand as required, consequently meeting greater economies of scale and gaining greater margins, being able to offer more competitive prices to consumers. Bargaining Power of Customers The bargaining power of buyers is low to medium. Customer power also acts to force prices down (Porter, 1980). If chips are too expensive in Picard, buyers will exercise their power and m ove to Iceland. However Picard? premium range is unseen in any other retailers in the UK, so customers will not be able to find a frozen Japanese dinner party set of quality frozen food anywhere else for example. In customising its service with better and innovative choices, Picard has the advantage to control and retain a customer base. In the UK there is a growing tendency of shoppers to use a wider repertoire of formats to support their grocery shopping needs, with convenience outperforming the market (IGD, 2011). This is an advantage to Picard as their target is urban areas mostly city centres within walking reach. On the other hand Picard is unable to compete with larger format stores in the UK where shoppers can find a wide range of products from chilled to non-food items, possibly satisfying their shopping needs in one go. Online is another channel to meet different aspects of shopper demand for more convenient shopping solution. IGD forecast the online channel in the UK to grow by 14. 4% from 2010 to 2015, becoming 5. 2% of the total grocery market. Picard would appear to have an advantage over the UK market as online shopping already accounts for 20% of its total sales in current operating countries. pic] 5. CONCLUSION In the light of the above analysis, it can be concluded that Picard? s lean operations, successful business model and differentiated approach allows potential for the company to expand into the UK. The â€Å"hit-and-run† gastronomy concept would re-invigorated the UK frozen food market and become a strong competitor in the convenience sector, but to succeed Picard mus t spend heavily on opening stores focused in urban areas and on advertising to gain levels of brand awareness. 6. BIBLIOGRAPHY 1. BFFF (2011, 20 April). British Frozen Food Federation. Retail Frozen Food Statistics Year on Year to 20 March 2011 2. eGovernment Resource Centre (2010, 21 December). Internet usage in 2010 Households and Individuals 3. Hall, B. (2008, 23 January). Sarkozy backs liberalisation plan. Financial Times, FT. com 4. IGD (2011); The Food and Grocery Industry. Unit 1 5. IGD (June 2011). France Country Presentation. IGD Retail Analysis 6. Kantar Worldpannel (2010, September). Retail Frozen Market till roll 7. Lancaster, G. Reynolds, P. (2005). Management of Marketing. Butterworth-Heinemann Publication. Oxford, UK. 8. Marian, P. (2010, 27 July). Analysis: Will Picards unique proposition translate abroad? Just-food. com 9. Mintel (2010). Chilled and Frozen ready meals UK- May 2010 10. Picard. it (2011) Available at: http://www. picard. fr/ [Accessed 4th – 10th July] 11. Picartd. fr (2011) Available at: http://www. picard. it/picard/index. php [Accessed 4th – 11th July] 12. Porter, M. E. (1980) Competitive Strategy. Free Press. New York 13. Ritz (2005) Store wars, Business Review, Vol. 11, April, pp. 22-23 14. Scott, C. , Lundgren, H. Thompson, P. (2011) Guide to Supply Chain Management. Springer 15. Seth, A. and Randall, G. (2011). The grocers: the rise and rise of the supermarket chains. 3rd edition. London, UK 7. APPENDICES APPENDIX 1 Picard: |Criteria |Characteristics | |Home Country |France | |Total Sales (â‚ ¬mn), and year-on-year growth (%) |â‚ ¬1,285m, 4. % | |Total operating profit (â‚ ¬mn), and year-on-year growth (%) |N/A* | |Number of countries in which present |5 | |Home market as a % of total sales |95% | |Price positioning (1-5, where 1=value and 5=premium) |3-4 | |Quality positioning (1-5, where 1=low and 5=high) |4-5 | |Main price/promotion strategy (EDLP, Hi-Lo, combination) |Premium | |Non-food as a % of total sales |0% | |Number of different store formats |1 | * Data not published APPENDIX 2 Photographs Picard? s product examples: [pic][pic][pic] [pic] [pic][pic] [pic] [pic] [pic] Store: [pic]

Procurement and acquisitions

Procurement and acquisitions Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) is an act which enables uniformity in commercial code, in relation to particular commercial transactions or concerning personal property as well as contracts and documents relating to them. They include commercial papers, sales, credit letters, and deposits in banks, collections, and transfers in bulk, lading bills, and other title documents. Consequently, UCC eliminates regulations in agency acquisition unnecessarily repeated and paraphrases or restates FAR.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Procurement and acquisitions specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More It limits these regulations to the necessary guidelines required to implement policies in FAR and the procedures within the agency in question. Model Procurement Code (MPC) involves the statutory formations and guidance in policy for controlling and managing supplies procurement, construction and services, and enhances public satisfaction ( Jordan, 2009). Supply chain management includes optimization and the oversight in acquiring various inputs that necessitates purchasing and conversion of raw materials into finished products. Ideally, such initiatives play a vital role in enhancing the optimization of various outputs in enhancing planning. FAR enhances planning of acquisitions as one has to list down all potential considerations, buying rules, material handling rules as well as transportation of official supplies and equipment rules have to be followed strictly. The Purchasing and Supply Management Department and the Legal Department have adopted the use of lawyers where the legal experts advise on some complex aspects. The common legislation undertaken includes interpreting complex legislation, providing guidance as well as advising on precedence and drafting of terms and conditions regarding contracts. They have also to ensure that each state follows its purchasing law rules. Such an example is the state of Missis sippi which has rules for purchase figure starting from purchases not exceeding $3500.00 (Jordan, 2009). The Federal Acquisition Regulations requires that the Federal agencies should influence the acquisitions of the various agencies in fostering markets in order to enhance sustainable materials, technologies, services, and products. Federal agencies are normally required to enhance implementation of high-performance through sustainable construction, repair, renovation, maintenance, and management. In addition, the organization should consider deconstruction practices that will ensure reliability and efficient distribution of resources. Contractors in the organization will ensure that the agency’s goals are, ultimately, achieved. Each inventory shall contain a complete and accurate record of all controlled substances on hand on the date the inventory is taken, and shall be maintained in written, typewritten, or printed form at the registered location. An inventory taken by us e of an oral recording device must be promptly transcribed.Advertising Looking for essay on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Consequently, manufacturing resource planning (MRP II) incorporates effective planning strategies that enhances planning and distribution of resources. This will ensure effective utilization of resources in the manufacturing company. It looks at operational planning in terms of units as well as financial planning. In addition, it is capable of answering the questions of â€Å"what-if† during the process of simulation, and ensures that the extension that regards closed-loop MRP can be utilized effectively. Purchasing and procurement also denotes a function of, as well as, the responsibility in procuring supplies, materials and services (Johnstone, 2006). Cost-based pricing only looks at the product cost. This can lead to a decline in sales especially where consumers ar e not concerned about the price but focus on other aspects such as product design or quality. Market-based pricing always leads to miscalculations especially for firms which have not stayed in that particular market for a long time. The basis of consumer’s value-pricing may be different from the firm’s basis. For example, the firm could be basing its judgment on quality while consumers look at quality. On the other hand, Life cycle pricing is based on the stage of life cycle of the product. Most consumers are ignorant of this stage and may deem themselves overcharged at some point. Segmented pricing segregates the market or products and prices products differently. This is a limitation when consumers get information from other consumers (Johnstone, 2006). Customer-driven pricing is a situation where the market forces of demand from customers determines equilibrium prices in the market. In contrary, competition-driven pricing is where entities raise or reduce their pric es based on their competitor’s price. This has often led to price games between competing firms. However, both of these have an effect on the buying organization’s willingness and ability to purchase a good or service. For example, consumers could put their level at a price below the purchase price, leading to that product becoming a cash-cow and its purchase abandoned. Large companies issue mandates that force compliance and do not offer smaller partners the active role of improving. Supply chain managers exist to solve this problem. As a supply chain manager, one is compelled to keep a constant relationship between suppliers and company.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Procurement and acquisitions specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More These professionals are not supposed to reveal confidential information to suppliers. An instance is payment delay information in the cash conversion cycle which could lead to bad firm-supplier relationship in future if revealed. Such is an example of the gate-keeping role of supply and management professionals. Supply chain professionals influence the firm’s decision on purchases and thus indirectly influence the firm as decision-makers on product and supplier selection as well as price acceptance. References Johnstone, N. (2006). The Environmental Performance of Public Procurement: Issues of Policy Coherence, London: OECD Publishing Jordan, D. (2009). Free Course Book for Course 3: Statutory Law and Intelligence 2011, London: Routledge

Analysis of Rembrandt van Rijn's Paintings Essay

Analysis of Rembrandt van Rijn's Paintings - Essay Example The essay "Analysis of Rembrandt van Rijn's Paintings" analyzes two paintings, The Descent from the Cross and Philosopher in Meditation, both found in the art museum of The University of Arizona. The Descent from the Cross refers to a scene from the Gospels reports of Joseph and Nicodemus lowering Christ from the cross following his crucifixion. Artists also refer to it as The Deposition of Christ. Other names not stated in the Gospels who were included in illustrations of this art consist of St. John who is pictured supporting a dimming Mary Magdalene. The Gospels reveal an indeterminate number of women as witnessing the crucifixion. It also included the Three Marys: the Virgin Mary, Mary Salome and also Mary Magdalene who witnessed the burial. These and many other women and unidentified male assistant are shown in the painting. Even in early illustrations the facts and pretense of the work of art and the pose of Christ’s body are different. The scene was incorporated in medi eval cycles of Passion or the Life of Christ, from the crucifixion to the burial of Christ. The weeping of Christ and viewing the body of Christ supported by Mary might intervene between those two. This is widespread in the people’s view, mainly in sculpture. The viewing Christ’s body being moved to his tomb, anointing of Christ and showing the body laid flat on the top of the tomb is another picture that might be thought of in the painting. This is vital in the Orthodox art, where it is revealed on the Epitaph. (Rijn 7). With the resurgence, the painting became accepted for altarpieces, partially because of the challenge of the art work and the fitness of its vertical shape. The Mannerist edition of Russo Florentine is viewed as his most significant painting, and Pontormo’s altarpiece is his most determined painting. This topic of crucifixion was painted many times by both Rembrandt and Rubens. Rembrandt also liked the paintings of Rubens (Rijn 7). Rembrandt ad apted the compositional format for The Descent from the Cross from Ruben’s painting. Rembrandt though sets the theme back in time. The posture of the body Christ is also copied directly from Ruben’s work. His description of the limp and the lifeless Christ discloses a sense of brutality and sorrow which is missing in Rubens painting. Rembrandt used himself as a representation for the boy on the ladder who clings to Christ’s arm (Rijn 7). This signified his emotional connection to the painting and his religious passion. This is the only painting by Rembrandt bearing the dedication of an art dealer and modern publisher, Hedrick Van. Rembrandt’s studio at that time was situated in the publisher's house, and it was there that he met Hedrick Van’s cousin Saki. Rembrandt married Saki in 1634. The Descent from the Cross and the Pendant Christ before Pilate were both published by Cum Privileges. They were approved by the States General and are alike to the recent copyrights (Rijn 7). Philosopher in Meditation Philosopher in Me