Customer Value and Superior Performance Essay Example for Free

Customer Value and Superior Performance Essay Market Orientation, Customer Value, and Superior Performance Stanley F. Slater and John C Narver Thinking in terms of the market (not marketing) is essential in the highiy competitive arenas of today, o achieve superior performance, a business must develop and sustain competitive advantage. But where competitive advantage was once based on structural characteristics such as market power, economies of scale, or a broad product line, the emphasis today has shifted to capabilities that enable a business to consistently deliver superior value to its customers. This, after all, is the meaning of competitive advantage. Our recent research shows that a market-oriented culture provides a solid foundation for these value-creating capabilities. A business is market-oriented when its culture is systematically and entirely committed to the continuous creation of superior customer value. Specifically, this entails collecting and coordinating information on customers, competitors, and other significant market influencers (such as regulators and suppliers) to use in building that value (see Figure 1). The three major components of market orientation+ustomer orientation, competitor focus, and cross-functional coordination-are long-term in vision and profit-driven. Based on extensive interviews with managers and executives, Kohli and Jaworski (1990) conclude that market orientation provides â€Å"a unifying focus for the efforts and projects of individuals, thereby leading to superior performance. † A developing stream of empirical research has found a strong relation- T ship between market orientation and several measures of business performance, including profitability. customer retention, sales growth, and new product success. Customer Orientation The heart of a market orientation is its customer focus. To create superior value for buyers continuously requires that a seller understand a buyer’s entire value chain, not only as it is today but also as it evolves over time. Buyer value can be created at any point in the chain by making the buyer either more effective in its markets or more efficient in its operations. A market-oriented business understands the cost and revenue dynamics not only of its immediate target buyers but also of all markets beyond, for demand in the immediate and â€Å"upstream† markets is derived from the demand in the original â€Å"downstream† markets. Therefore, a market-driven business develops a comprehensive understanding of its customers’ business and how customers in the immediate and downstream markets perceive value. Employees of market-oriented businesses spend considerable time with their customers. Managers and employees throughout the business call on their customers or bring them into their own facilities in a constant search for new ways to satisfy their needs. For example, Ih Pont has developed a program called â€Å"Adopt a Customer† that encourages a blue-collar worker to visit a customer once a month, learn the customer’s needs, and be the customer representative on the factory floor. Market-driven businesses continuously monitor their customer commitment by making im- proved customer satisfaction an ongoing objective. To maintain the relationships that are critical to delivering superior customer value, they pay close attention to service, both before and after sales. Because of the importance of employees in this effort, these businesses take great care to recruit and retain the best people available and provide them with regular training. Some businesses even involve their customers in hiring, training, and developing contact people as well as in making motivation and reward system decisions. Involving customers in these key areas forges strong customer loyalty. ogy development. Top managers frequently discuss competitors’ strategies to develop a shared perspective on probable sources of competitive threats. A reason for the success of many Japanese companies is that they train managers to understand that competitive intelligence is part of everyone’s job. Using this information, marketdriven businesses often target opportunities for competitive advantage based on competitors’ weaknesses. In any case, they keep competitors from developing an advantage by responding rapidly or anticipating their actions. Interfunctionai Coordination Competitor Focus The third of the three core components of a marCreating superior customer value requires more ket orientation is the coordination of personnel than just focusing on customers. The key quesand other resources from throughout the comtions are which competitors, and what technolopany to create value for buyers. Any point in the gies, and whether target customers perceive them buyer’s value chain is an opportunity for a seller as alternate satisfiers. Superior value requires that to create value for the buyer firm. This means the seller identify and understand the principal that any individual in any function in a seller firm competitors’ short-term strengths and weaknesses can potentially contribute to value creation. As and long-term capabilities and strategies. For Michael Porter (1985) explains: example, a team of Marriott employees traveled the country for six months, staying in economy Every department, facility, branch office, hotels and collecting information about their and other organizational unit has a role facilities and services. Armed with this informathat must be defined and understood. All tion about potential competitors’ strengths and employees, regardless of their distance weaknesses, Marriott invested $500 million in a from the strategy formulation process, new hotel chain. Fairfield Inn, its budget market must recognize their role in helping a entry, achieved an occupancy rate 10 points firm achieve and sustain competitive higher than the industry average in one year. advantage. A seller should adopt a chess-game perspective of its current and principal potential competiTo accomplish this, effective companies have tors. Moreover, it should continuously examine developed horizontal structures that focus on the competitive threats they pose, inferring these building value, such as time-to-market for new threats from intent and value-creation capabilities. This is crucial information to a seller in developFigure 1 ing its contingency competitive Market Orientation strategies. In one case, HewlettPackard decided to accelerate the Interfunctional announcement of a new computer Information Assessment Acquisition peripheral after discovering through its travel agency that a rival had booked conference rooms around the country for a specific date. Knowing that this rival had a similar product in development, H-I-’ rushed its announcement and beat the competition to the market. In market-driven businesses, employees from all functions share information concerning competitors. For example, it is crucial for RD to receive information acquired by the sales group about the pace of a competitor’s technol- Customer Information Competitor Information d Coordinated Superior Customer Value Other Market Information Market Orientation. Customer Value, and Superior Performance 23 products. They manage projects through small multifunctional teams that can move more quickly and easily than businesses that use the tradtional function-by-function, sequential approach. For example, cross-functional teams call on customers to identify additional opportunities for value creation. Engineering becomes involved during preliminary market research to help marketers understand what is feasible. Production is involved during product design to ensure that the product can be manufactured at a reasonable cost. Engineers and production people constantly discuss their capabilities and limitations with sales and marketing so capabilities can be leveraged and limitations avoided when promoting products or sewices. When all functions contribute to creating buyer value this way, more creativity is brought to bear on increasing effectiveness and efficiency for customers. Does This Mean the Marketing Department Is in Charge? Shapiro (1988) tells the anecdote of a company CEO explaining to top managers that because of increasing competition, the business needed to become more market-oriented. With that encouragement the marketing vice president jumped in, â€Å"I’ve been saying all along we need to be more marketing-oriented. Marketing has to be more involved in everything Ixcause we represent the customer and we have an integrated view of the company. † At that point the CEO snarled. â€Å"I said more maet-oriented. not 177arketin~-oriented. † That story is very epresentative of our experience with marketing orientation as well. A marketing orientation implies an emphasis on the marketing function that may not be appropriate. Customer value is created by core capabilities throughout the entire organization. Whereas Procter and Gamble’s competitive advantage may be based on :I core marketing capability, 3M’s advantage is innovation: Canon’s is technology. This does not make 3M or Canon any less market-oriented than Procter and Gaml~le. Because market-driven behavior permeates multiple functions at 3M and Canon, they may be more market-oriented and less marketing-oriented. In our view, lvhen a business achieves the objective of developing a pervasive market orientation, the marketing function may become lessnot more-important, because all functions are dedicated to creating and delivering customer value. This is consistent with Regis McKenna’s (1991) notion that â€Å"Marketing is everything and everything is marketing. † Webster (1992) foresees a time when marketing specialists will become increasingly rare while marketing as a general management function becomes more important. This is the result of a general focus on cross- unctional cooperation, which causes internal functional boundaries to lose meaning. GE’s 1990 Annual Report puts it this way: In a boundary-less company, internal functions begin to blur. Engineering doesn’t design a product, then â€Å"hand it off† to manufacturing. They form a team, along with marketing and sales, finance, and the rest. Customer service? It’s not somebody’s job. It’s everybody’s job. However, for businesses that currently have an internal orientation on production or research and development, the marketing department may have to take the lead role in encouraging marketoriented thinking throughout the firm. As the primary boundary between the business and its markets, marketing is â€Å"management’s window on the world† (Holver and Garda 1985). Because it is dependent on other functional areas for the timely and efficient development, production, and delivery of the product, marketing is likely to be the first function that fully appreciates the benefits of market orientation. To maximize its effectiveness. marketing must demonstrate the benefits of market-driven behavior to top management and to other functions. Marketing may have a key role in the development and maintenance of a culture that is truly arket-oriented The crux is that the responsibility for superior buyer value is beyond that of any one function. Creating value for buyers is analogous to a symphony orchestra in which all members contribute according to a general plan and in which the contribution of each subgroup is tailored and integrated by a conductor-with a synergistic effect. A seller must draw upon a nd integrate effectively all of its human and other resources in an ongoing effort to create superior ,alue for buyers at a profit. This coordinated integration of company resources builds directly on both customer and competitor analysis.

Energy Performance of Curtain Wall

Energy Performance of Curtain Wall Introduction Building envelope is used to separate the conditioned and unconditioned environment, the material used in envelop will affect the indoor environment of the building. For a commercial building, the electricity consumption of HVAC system and lighting system is related to the features of the curtain wall system, such as U-value, shading coefficient and visible transmittance. The energy performance of each curtain wall system will be studied in this chapter and it can separate into three sections: 1) U-value and Energy Consumption of HVAC system, 2) Shading Coefficient and Energy Consumption of HVAC system and 3) Visible Transmittance and Energy Consumption of Lighting system. U-value and Energy Consumption of HVAC system According to Bougdah (2009), U-value, a thermal transmittance coefficient, is used to measure the insulation property of a building element. As thermal insulation of curtain wall may affect the energy consumption of the building, the relationship between U-Value and energy consumption of HVAC systems is studied in order to analyze the energy performance of various curtain wall system. Based on table 6.2.1, the relationship between U-value and energy consumption of HVAC systems can be shown. The U-value of curtain wall system is directly proportional to the annual energy consumption of HVAC system. With higher values of U-value, the energy performance of the curtain wall system becomes poorer and it requires more electricity as the heat can more easily transfer from outdoor to indoor. On the contrary, the lower in U-value, curtain wall system can perform better energy consumption in HVAC system. Table 6.2.1 U-value and Energy Performance of HVAC System of Targeted Curtain Wall Figure 6.2.1 Relationship between U-Value and Energy Consumption of HVAC System Figure 6.2.1 demonstrates the directly proportional relationship between U-value and energy consumption of HVAC system obviously. With the saw-tooth pattern of the line chart, there are some types of curtain wall system which have three layers of glazing require more energy than two layers one. It means that there are other factors, such as shading coefficient, which may also affect the energy performance of the HVAC system. The relationship between shading coefficient and annual energy consumption of HVAC system will be discussed in the next section. Shading Coefficient and Energy Consumption of HVAC system According to Ander (2014), the shading coefficient of glass is a measure to determine the solar heat gain through the glazing. Radiation is a method to transfer heat from the outdoor environment to the indoor environment. For commercial buildings with curtain wall system, shading coefficient becomes another major factor that affects the amount of heat transferred to the building. The external envelope of the building is glazing which has lower insulation for heat transmission through radiation. Since the shading coefficient will affect the energy consumption, the relationship of shading coefficient and energy consumption of HVAC system is studied. Based on the table 6.3.1 below, the shading coefficient of curtain wall is directly proportion to the energy consumption of HVAC system. It means that the amount of annual energy consumption of HVAC system becomes higher with a relatively high shading coefficient of curtain wall system. With the lower of the shading coefficient, the lower the energy consumption of HVAC system, less heat transfer from external environment to internal environment. The major factor affected the shading coefficient of curtain wall system is the type of glazing. In this study, clear glasses and tinted glasses are used in various types of curtain wall. Tinted glass is a common glazing that used to construct the curtain wall system and Pfrommer (1995) stated that the tinting can produce various colours, such as green, bronzer and tinted glass can absorb solar radiation and reduce those heat and light transmission. Tinted glass can perform a better energy saving performance compared with clear glass which do not contain any chemicals to absorb radiation. However, the price of curtain wall system with tinted glass is more expensive than clear glass. Besides, the number of layers of curtain wall system is another reason affected the shading coefficient of that curtain wall system. It is easy to understand that the radiation transmission becomes lower with a higher number of layers of curtain wall system. Therefore, triple glazed curtain wall with tinted glass has the lowest annual energy consumption while single glazed curtain wall with clear glass has the highest annual energy consumption. Table 6.3.1 Shading Coefficient and Energy Performance of HVAC System of Targeted Curtain Wall Figure 6.2.1 Relationship between shading coefficient and Energy Consumption of HVAC System From the figure 6.2.1 above, a straight proportional relationship between shading coefficient and annual energy consumption of HVAC system can be identified. Type I triple glazed curtain wall system with spectrally low-e tinted glass which has the lowest shading coefficient has the best performance in annual energy consumption of HVAC system. However, Type A single glazed curtain wall system with clear glass which has the highest shading coefficient has the poorest performance in annual energy consumption of HVAC system. Visible Transmittance and Energy Consumption of Lighting System Apart from the attractive appearance, a high portion of natural lighting is another characteristic of curtain wall system. Unlike other external wall construction, curtain wall systems are constructed by glazing elements and more daylighting can pass through to the indoor environment of the building. Efficient Windows Collaborative (2014) stated that visible transmittance is the amount of light in the visible portion of the light spectrum that passes through glasses and it will be influenced by the glazing type, the number of panels, and any glass coatings. Based on the table 6.4.1 and figure 6.4.1, lighting transmittance is inversely proportional to the annual energy consumption of the lighting system. With a higher value of lighting transmittance, the amount of annual energy consumption of lighting system becomes lower. It means that more visible light transmitted from the external environment to internal environment and the target building can save more energy in lighting system. However, more energy is used in lighting system in case the value of lighting transmittance is in a small value. In this study, two factors affect the lighting transmittance of curtain wall can be identified. The first reason is the number of layers. More layers can increase the thickness of curtain wall, thus less visible daylighting can pass through curtain wall. This is easy to understand that triple glazed curtain wall system blocks more lighting than single glazed curtain wall and double glazed curtain wall system. The second reason is the type of glazi ng. From table 6.4.1, clear glasses always have higher lighting transmittance than tinted glasses. As mentioned above, tinted glasses can reduce light transmission. Although it performs good energy saving in HVAC system, it consumes more energy in lighting system. Table 6.4.1 Visible Transmittance and Energy Performance of Lighting System of Targeted Curtain Wall Figure 6.4.1 Relationship between Visible Transmittance and Annual Energy Consumption of Lighting System From the above figure 6.4.1, the inversely proportional relationship between visible transmittance and annual energy consumption of lighting system is shown. Type I triple glazed curtain wall system with spectrally low-e tinted glass which has the lowest visible transmittance has the poorest performance in annual energy consumption of lighting system. Nevertheless, Type A single glazed curtain wall system with clear glass which has the highest visible transmittance has the best performance in annual energy consumption of lighting system. Overall Performance in Energy Performance After assessment, the performance of each curtain wall system can be assessed. Using the ranking as the score to calculate the performance of curtain wall, curtain wall system with a higher performance score means they perform better in energy consumption of Building A. The performance ranking is converted to score from 1 (the poorest performer) to 10 (the best performer). As around 70% of electricity is consumed by HVAC system normally, the over score is equal to â€Å"HVAC System Score x 70% + Lighting System Score x 30%†. Based on the following table, Type J obtains the highest score in this study, whereas type B obtain the lowest score in this study. Table 6.5.1 Score of Targeted Curtain Wall System Type A Curtain Wall System Type A curtain wall is constructed by single glazed with clear glass. As there is only one layer of glass, the U-value of curtain wall is the lowest. Clear glass used in Type A cannot absorb radiation but it can provide more visible lighting to Building A. From the above reason, Type A obtains the highest score in lighting system and the lowest score in HVAC system. Type B Curtain Wall System Single glazed with tinted glass curtain wall system is similar to Type A curtain wall system. Nevertheless, tinted glass is used in this curtain wall system. Type B curtain wall system has a relatively low shading coefficient and visible transmittance compared with Type A curtain wall system. Type C Curtain Wall System Type C curtain wall system is double glazed with low-e tinted glass. The low-e coating can minimize the amount of ultraviolet and infrared light that pass through glass. As there is air space between two glasses, the U-value of curtain wall is lower than curtain wall system with one layer. And less heat can be transferred from the external environment to the internal environment since tinted glasses can reduce the heat transmittance through radiation. Type D Curtain Wall System Type D curtain wall system is double glazed with low-e clear glass. Compared with Type C, it has better performance in annual energy consumption of lighting system as it has a higher value in visible transmittance. However, clear glass has a poor performance in thermal insulation in which the amount of heat transmitted through radiation is higher than Type C. Type E Curtain Wall System The emissivity level of Type E curtain wall system is lower than 0.1. With a spectrally low-e value, U-value and shading coefficient of the curtain wall system will be reduced and the energy consumption of HVAC system also can be reduced. However, the visible transmittance will be reduced because of the low-e coating. Type F Curtain Wall System Like Type E curtain wall system, it performs a better performance than Type D in saving energy of HVAC system because of spectrally low-e coating. On the contrary, the annual energy consumption of Type F curtain wall system in lighting system is higher than Type D which has the same number of layers as Type E curtain wall system Type G Curtain Wall System Type G curtain wall system is constructed by three layers of tinted glass and its U-value is higher than previous curtain wall systems. It has a better thermal insulation compared to one layer and two layers because of increasing in thickness and number of air space. It ranks no.3 in this assessment because of its low value of shading coefficient and U-value. Type H Curtain Wall System Triple glazed with low-e clear glass has same U-value as Type G. Nevertheless, the visible transmittance of Type H curtain wall system is higher than Type G since Type H curtain wall uses clear glasses which cannot absorb radiation. As mentioned before, the thermal insulation of clear glass is relatively lower than tinted glass used in Type G. Type I Curtain Wall System In this assessment, Type I has the highest score. The emissivity of Type I curtain wall system is lower than 0.1. The U-Value and shading coefficient of Type I are lower than Type G system and it has the best performance in annual energy consumption of HVAC system. Type J Curtain Wall System Triple glazed with spectrally low-e clear glass has a better performance than Type I in the energy consumption lighting system. However, more heat can be transferred to indoor as shading coefficient of clear glasses is higher than Type I. It still ranks no.2 in energy consumption because of three layer glass and spectrally low-e coating of curtain wall. In figure 6.5.1, U-value and shading coefficient are direct proportion to the annual energy consumption of HVAC system and it means that both of them may affect the energy consumption directly. For energy consumption of lighting system, visible transmittance can influence the curtain wall performance. However, an interesting results is identified. The influence of shading coefficient is more obvious compared to U-value. Using Type B and Type D curtain wall system as an example, although Type B and Type D have similar amounts of annual energy consumption in lighting system, the U-value of type B is much higher than type D. It shows that the shading coefficient of curtain wall system is in the first priority during making decision on the types of curtain wall system. Figure 6.5.1 Overall Performance of targeted building in HVAC System

The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway Essay -- Sun Also Rises Ernest

The epigraph to "The Sun Also Rises'; contains a quote from Gertrude Stein, saying: "You are all a lost generation';. This proclamation is juxtaposed with the passage from the beginning of the Book of Ecclesiastes: "One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh: but the earth abideth for ever';. The message of the former quote clearly conveys that the WW1 generation, of which Jake Barns, Robert Cohn, Brett Ashley and Mike Campbell are the representatives, is forever deprived of moral, emotional, spiritual and physical values. On the other hand, the latter passage gives a lot of hope: "The sun also ariseth, and the sun goeth down, and hasteth to his place where he arose.'; This statement, from which the title of the novel comes, as well as the content of the whole Book of Ecclesiastes, may be the reason for upholding this hope, the hope given by the rising Sun, the hope of forever abiding Earth. It is a common knowledge that war - "the calamity for civilization';, as the narrator Jake names it - disorganises or even destroys human's inner life, his priorities, his code of values; that war causes a lot of chaos in the way one perceives oneself as well as others; that war deprives man of dignity and (self-)respect. The lives of the (dis)affiliates of the Lost Generation, who have gone through the tragedy of the World War1, epitomise this universal truth. They are constantly coping with finding themselves in the world after the war. It is highly probable that the ethics and morality for them is to be found in the book of Ecclesiastes. The preacher provides the reader, or rather the members of the team of expatriates, with the code of conduct they should follow to find the meaning and the purpose of their lives. However futile and vain life may be, on which Ecclesiastes insists by repeating the statement: "All is vanity and vexation of spirit';, one predominantly should put his life into the hands of God and obey Him. Do the protagonists manage to find any significance in their post-war existence? Are their lives likely to regain the meaning? Will they manage to "put together the pieces of their shattered personal faiths'; (Maloney 188) to obliterate their painful memories of "that dirty war';? Book 1 presents the tragic and hopeless situation of the Lost Generation. All the protagonists belong to the degenerated society of the expatria... ...g life as a constant rebirth, as the "re-entering the earthly paradise'; (Maloney 186) outside the novel, but still within the works of Hemingway, whose crucial message is after all that man can be beaten up, but not lost, that man can be destroyed but not defeated. Works Cited Backman, Melvin. "Hemingway: The Metador and the Crucified." Hemingway and His Critics. Ed. Carlos Baker. New York, American Century Series: Hill and Wang, 1961. Benson, Jackson J. Hemingway: The Writer's Art of Self-Defense. Minnesota: the University of Minnesota, 1969 Kashkeen, Ivan. "Alive in the Midst of Death: Ernest Hemingway." Hemingway and His Critics. Ed. Carlos Baker. New York, American Century Series: Hill and Wang, 1961. Maloney, Michael F. "Ernest Hemingway: The Missing Third Dimension." Hemingway and His Critics. Ed. Carlos Baker. New York, American Century Series: Hill and Wang, 1961. Spilka, Mark. "The Death of Love in The Sun Also Rises." Hemingway and His Critics. Ed. Carlos Baker. New York, American Century Series: Hill and Wang, 1961. (http://members.aol.com/_ht_a/pamplonaweb/riauriau.htm) (http://www.cliffsnotes.com/WileyCDA/LitNote/id-178,pageNum-51.html)

Religious Influences on Vietnam :: essays research papers

RELIGIOUS INFLUENCES ON VIETNAM   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  I understand there to be copious amounts of influential events which triggered trends in Vietnamese culture. The Chinese influence in Vietnam may have likely led to its communist political system. Vietnamese nationalism may have contributed to the difficulties the French faced during its colonization of Vietnam. However, I believe that the most relevant contribution to contemporary Vietnamese culture is the religious diversity and how it contributes to Vietnam’s closed-door economic and political philosophies.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Buddhism is the primary religion in Vietnam. Buddhists believe that the way to become â€Å"enlightened† is to understand the Four Noble Truths of Buddhism and to follow the Eight-Fold Path. Basically, I understand Buddhism to be a very internal religion based on the spirituality of the self. Various forms of meditation and intense study coupled with the eradication of desire lead to a very defined lifestyle with little or no need for external human interaction. Once a Buddhist has achieved what is considered to be the proper behavior and proper knowledge called for by the Eight Fold Path, and after a Buddhist has spent many years manipulating his or her dharma, Buddhists tend to leave behind all belongings and travel forth into the wilderness trying to achieve nirvana. This religious practice, in my opinion, has had a significant impact on the Vietnamese culture and the way they interact with outsiders. The fact that the Vietnamese are not exceedingly eage r to be invaded by foreign corporations and capitalism makes sense; capitalism is not a prerequisite to Buddhism.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Taoism was also introduced to medieval Vietnam and is still noticeably practiced there today. Taoists believe that the way to achieve enlightenment is through chaos. Doing nothing and letting nature take its course without human interference are the methods by which Taoists feel most spiritual. Although I do not feel that there is a strong aroma of Taoism in contemporary Vietnam, I nonetheless deduce that it had a significant impact on Vietnamese trends. Compared to Buddhism and certainly Confucianism, which is discussed below, Taoism was an extremely outlandish concept to the Vietnamese when it was first introduced. The fact that sloth and confusion were being rejoiced in a time of awareness and filial piety must have caused a certain sense of segregation in the Vietnamese community.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Confucianism is the last of three relevant religions which were introduced into medieval Vietnam. Confucius preached that filial piety and ancestor warship were critical to attaining enlightenment. Religious Influences on Vietnam :: essays research papers RELIGIOUS INFLUENCES ON VIETNAM   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  I understand there to be copious amounts of influential events which triggered trends in Vietnamese culture. The Chinese influence in Vietnam may have likely led to its communist political system. Vietnamese nationalism may have contributed to the difficulties the French faced during its colonization of Vietnam. However, I believe that the most relevant contribution to contemporary Vietnamese culture is the religious diversity and how it contributes to Vietnam’s closed-door economic and political philosophies.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Buddhism is the primary religion in Vietnam. Buddhists believe that the way to become â€Å"enlightened† is to understand the Four Noble Truths of Buddhism and to follow the Eight-Fold Path. Basically, I understand Buddhism to be a very internal religion based on the spirituality of the self. Various forms of meditation and intense study coupled with the eradication of desire lead to a very defined lifestyle with little or no need for external human interaction. Once a Buddhist has achieved what is considered to be the proper behavior and proper knowledge called for by the Eight Fold Path, and after a Buddhist has spent many years manipulating his or her dharma, Buddhists tend to leave behind all belongings and travel forth into the wilderness trying to achieve nirvana. This religious practice, in my opinion, has had a significant impact on the Vietnamese culture and the way they interact with outsiders. The fact that the Vietnamese are not exceedingly eage r to be invaded by foreign corporations and capitalism makes sense; capitalism is not a prerequisite to Buddhism.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Taoism was also introduced to medieval Vietnam and is still noticeably practiced there today. Taoists believe that the way to achieve enlightenment is through chaos. Doing nothing and letting nature take its course without human interference are the methods by which Taoists feel most spiritual. Although I do not feel that there is a strong aroma of Taoism in contemporary Vietnam, I nonetheless deduce that it had a significant impact on Vietnamese trends. Compared to Buddhism and certainly Confucianism, which is discussed below, Taoism was an extremely outlandish concept to the Vietnamese when it was first introduced. The fact that sloth and confusion were being rejoiced in a time of awareness and filial piety must have caused a certain sense of segregation in the Vietnamese community.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Confucianism is the last of three relevant religions which were introduced into medieval Vietnam. Confucius preached that filial piety and ancestor warship were critical to attaining enlightenment.

Murdstones in Charles Dickens Great Expectations :: Charles Dickens Great Expectations Essays

Murdstones in Charles Dickens' Great Expectations I think the Murdstones are the two main villains in the story. Mr.Murdstone, step dad of David, he is evil, cruel and treats David harshly. He hates David and wants him out of the way. Mrs Murdstone, sister of Mr.Murstone also vicious and self-centred. Both of them together ruin the early childhood of David and have control of the Copperfield family. The sheer evilness of the Murdstones resulted in the death of David's mother-Clara, although at one point he did love Clara, but her pretty house and her income probably added to her attractions in his eye. I think worst of all the Murdstones tormented David both physically and psychologically. Dickens is very clever in describing the appearance of the Murdstones, it very much relates to their ruthlessness. He describes the eyes of Mr.Murdstones as "à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦. with his ill-omened black eyesà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦." Already we are given a warning of impending disaster from the looks of his eyes. ". Shallow black eyeà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦an eye that has no depth in it to be looked into" This just shows the wretched character he is. As much as I hate the character, I noticed that Dickens have put a touch of gentleness to the character of Mr.Murdstone. This is stated when David notices his 'handsomer' side. "à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦In spite of my misgivings, a very handsome man." I think this description is very cleverly done. It makes the character more real and life like so we can relate to. It emphasizes "never judge the book by its cover". Miss.Murdstone, sister of Mr.Murstone, doesn't perform well either, description wise. ". Gloomy-looking lady she was: dark, like her brotherà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦" This shows the similarities of the characters, not only connected by blood, but also by appearance and by heart. Jane Murdstone is stronger, colder, and more heartless than her brother. Dickens makes her seem inhuman by comparing her to metallic objects, especially locks, chains, and prisons. In a society where a spinster is a dependent creature, she uses her power over her brother to secure a home for herself. "à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Hard lack boxesà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦" "Hard brass nail." ". Hard steel purseà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦" ". Jail of a bagà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦." ". Heavy chain." ". Metallic lady." All the above quotes describe the 'characters' of the things she carry and how they resemble her. The word "hard" have come up several times and so has anything that has got to do with it. This just shows how much wickedness she posses only in her belongings. I think the main feature in which Dickens expresses that really brings out the villainous of the characters are the things they do. Ever since entering the Copperfield household they have been controlling

The Characteristics of a Perfectly Competitive Market Structure

Characteristics of a perfectly competitive market structure The four main characteristics of a perfectly competitive market are as follows: A large number of small firms, identical products sold by all firms, no barriers on entry or exit and perfect knowledge of prices and technology. These characteristics mean that a perfectly competitive firm is unable to exert control over the market, as a large number of perfect substitutes exist for the output produced by any given firm.The demand curve for a perfectly competitive firm’s output is perfectly elastic. This means that a consumer will not buy a good or service if the price rises, due to not being a necessity. An example could be an airplane ticket since vacation travel is not an essential service. Freedom of entry into and exit out of the industry means that capital and other resources are perfectly mobile and that it is not possible to erect barriers to entry.Perfect knowledge means that all firms operate on the same footing , that buyers know about all possible perfect substitutes for a given good and that firms actually do produce identical products. A perfectly competitive market or industry contains a large number of small firms, each of which is relatively small compared to the overall size of the market. Ensuring that no single firm can exert control over price or quantity. If one firm decides to double its output or halt production, the market remains unaffected.Each firm in a perfectly competitive market sells an identical product. Essentially, this means that the buyers cannot discern any difference between the products, as there are no brand names or distinguishing features that differentiate products by firm. Thus every perfectly competitive firm produces a good which is a perfect substitute for the output of every other firm in the market. As such, no firm can charge a different price than that received by other firms. Changing price would result in buyers switching to other goods that are p erfect substitutes.Furthermore, perfectly competitive firms are able to freely enter or exit an industry, as they aren’t restricted by government rules and regulations, start-up costs or other barriers to entry. Perfectly competitive firms don’t incur high start-up cost or need government permits to enter an industry. Likewise it is not prevented from leaving an industry, as is the case for government regulated public utilities. Perfectly competitive firms are also free to acquire without delay and restrictions whatever resources they need e. . Land and labour. Subsequently, as a result of perfect knowledge, consumers are completely aware of a firm’s prices, such that one firm cannot sell its goods higher prices than those of other firms. Each firm also has information about prices charged by other firms, in order to avoid charging less or more of the market price. Perfect knowledge also extends to technology, so all firms have access to all production technique s, no firm can producer its output faster, better or cheaper than another firm.

The Return: Midnight Chapter 7

Bonnie was in her new first-floor bedroom, and was feeling very bewildered. Black Magic always made her feel giggly, and then very sleepy, but somehow tonight her body refused to sleep. Her head hurt. She was just about to turn the bedside light on, when a familiar voice said, â€Å"How about some tea for your headache?† â€Å"Damon?† â€Å"I made some from Mrs. Flowers's herbs and I decided to make you a cup as wel . Aren't you the lucky girl?†If Bonnie had been listening closely, she might have heard something almost like self-loathing behind the light words – but she wasn't. â€Å"Yes!†Bonnie said, meaning it. Most of Mrs. Flowers's teas smel ed and tasted good. This one was especial y nice, but grainy on her tongue. And not only was the tea good, but Damon stayed to talk to her while she drank it al . That was sweet of him. Strangely, this tea made her feel not exactly sleepy, but as if she could only concentrate on one thing at a time. Damon swam into her field of view. â€Å"Feeling more relaxed?†he asked. â€Å"Yes, thank you.†Weirder and weirder. Even her voice sounded slow and dragging. â€Å"I wanted to make sure nobody was too hard on you for the sil y mistake about Elena,†he explained. â€Å"They weren't, real y,†she said. â€Å"Actual y everybody was more interested in seeing you and Matt fight – â€Å"Bonnie put a hand over her mouth. â€Å"Oh, no! I didn't mean to say that! I'm so sorry!† â€Å"It's al right. It should heal by tomorrow.† Bonnie couldn't imagine why anyone would be so afraid of Damon, who was so nice as to pick up her mug of tea and say he'd put it in the sink. That was good because she was feeling as if she couldn't get up to save her life. That cozy. That comfy. â€Å"Bonnie, can I ask you just one little thing?†Damon paused. â€Å"I can't tel you why, but†¦I have to find out where Misao's star bal is kept,†he said earnestly. â€Å"Oh†¦that,†Bonnie said fuzzily. She giggled. â€Å"Yes, that. And I am truly sorry to ask you, because you're so very young and innocent†¦but I know you'l tel me the truth.† After this praise and comfort, Bonnie felt she could fly. â€Å"It's been in the same place al the time,†she said with sleepy disgust. â€Å"They tried to make me think they'd moved it†¦but when I saw him chained and going down to the root cel ar I knew they hadn't real y.†In the dark, there was a short shake of curls and then a yawn. â€Å"If they were real y going to move it†¦they should have sent me away or something.† â€Å"Wel , maybe they were concerned for your life.† â€Å"Wha'?†¦Ã¢â‚¬ Bonnie yawned again, not sure what he meant. â€Å"I mean, an old, old safe with a combination? I told them†¦that those old safes†¦could be†¦real y be†¦easy to†¦ to†¦Ã¢â‚¬ Bonnie let out a sound like a sigh and her voice stopped. â€Å"I'm glad we had this talk,†Damon murmured in the silence. There was no answer from the bed. Pul ing Bonnie's sheet up as high as it would go, he let it drift down. It covered most of her face. â€Å"Requiescat in pace,†Damon said softly. Then he left her room, not forgetting to take the mug. Now†¦ â€Å"him chained and going down to the root cellar.† Damon mused as he washed out the mug careful y and put it back in the cupboard. The line sounded strange but he had almost al the links now, and it was actual y simple. Al he needed were twelve more of Mrs. Flowers's sleeping cachets and two plates heaped with raw beef. He had al the ingredients†¦but he'd never heard of a root cel ar. Shortly thereafter, he opened the door to the basement. Nope. Didn't match the criteria for â€Å"root cel ar†he'd looked up on his mobile. Irritated and knowing that any moment someone was likely to wander downstairs for something, Damon turned around in frustration. There was an elaborately carved wooden panel across from the basement, but nothing else. Curse it, he would not be thwarted at this point. He would have his life as a vampire back, or he didn't want any life at al ! To punctuate the sentiment, he slammed a fist against the wooden panel in front of him. The knock sounded hollow. Immediately al frustration vanished. Damon examined the panel very careful y. Yes, there were hinges at the very edge, where no sane person would expect them. It wasn't a panel but a door – undoubtedly to the root cel ar where the star bal was. It didn't take long for his sensitive fingers – even his human fingers were more sensitive than most – to find a place that clicked – and then the whole door swung open. He could see the stairs. He tucked his parcel under one arm and descended. By the il umination of the smal flashlight he'd taken from the storage room, the root cel ar was just as described: a damp, earthy room to store fruit and vegetables before refrigerators had been invented. And the safe was just as Bonnie had said: an ancient, rusty combination safe, which any whiz cracker could have opened in about sixty seconds. It would take Damon about six minutes, with his stethoscope (he'd heard once that you could find anything in the boardinghouse if you looked hard enough and it seemed to be true) and every atom of his being concentrating on hearing the tumblers quietly click. First, however, there was the Beast to conquer. Saber the black hel hound had unfolded, awake and alert from the moment the secret door had opened. Undoubtedly, they had used Damon's clothes to teach him to howl madly at his scent. But Damon had his own knowledge of herbs and had ransacked Mrs. Flowers's kitchen to find a handful of witch hazel, a smal amount of strawberry wine, aniseed, some peppermint oil, and a few other essential oils she had in stock, sweet and sharp. Mixed, this created a pungent lotion, which he had gingerly applied to himself. The concoction formed for Saber an impossible tangle of strong smel s. The only thing the now-sitting dog knew was that it was surely not Damon sitting on the steps and tossing him hearty bal s of hamburger and delicate strips of filet mignon – each of which he gulped down whole. Damon watched with interest as the animal devoured the mix of sleeping powder and raw meat, tail whisking on the floor. Ten minutes later Saber the hel hound was sprawled out happily unconscious. Six minutes after that, Damon was opening an iron door. One second later he was pul ing a pil owcase out of Mrs. Flowers's antique safe. In the glow of the flashlight he found that he did indeed have a star bal , but that it was just a little more than half ful . Now what did that mean? There was a very neat hole dril ed and corked at the top so that not one precious droplet more need be wasted. But who had used the rest of the fluid – and why? Damon himself had seen the star bal brimful of opalescent, shimmering liquid just days ago. Somehow between that time and now someone had used about a hundred thousand individuals'life energy. Had the others tried to do some remarkable deed with it and failed, at the cost of burning so much Power? Stefan was too kind to have used so much, Damon was certain of that. But†¦ Sage. With an Imperial Summons in his hand, Sage was likely to do anything. So, sometime after the sphere had been brought into the boardinghouse, Sage had poured out almost exactly half the life force from the star bal and then, undoubtedly, left the rest behind for Mutt or someone to cork. And such a colossal amount of Power could only have been used for†¦opening the Gate to the Dark Dimensions. Very slowly, Damon let out his breath and smiled. There were only a few ways to get into the Dark Dimensions, and as a human he obviously could not drive to Arizona and pass through a public Gateway as he had the first time with the girls. But now he had something even better. A star bal to open his own private Gateway. He knew of no other way to cross, unless one was lucky enough to hold one of the almost-mythical Master Keys that al owed one to roam the dimensions at wil . Doubtless, someday in the future, in some nook, Mrs. Flowers would find another thank-you note: this time along with something that was literal y invaluable – something exquisite and priceless and probably from a dimension quite far from Earth. That was how Sage operated. All was quiet above. The humans were relying on their animal companions to keep them safe. Damon gave the root cel ar a single look around and saw nothing more than a dim room completely empty except for the safe, which he now closed. Dumping his own paraphernalia into the pil owcase, he patted Saber, who was gently snoring, and turned toward the steps. That was when he saw that a figure was standing in the doorway. The figure then stepped smoothly behind the door, but Damon had seen enough. In one hand the figure had been holding a fighting stave almost as tal as it was. Which meant that it was a hunter-slayer. Of vampires. Damon had met several hunter-slayers – briefly – in his time. They were, in his consideration, bigoted, unreasonable, and even more stupid than the average human, because they'd usual y been brought up on legends of vampires with fangs like tusks who ripped out the throats of their victims and kil ed them. Damon would be the first to admit that there were some vampires like that, but most were more restrained. Vampire hunters usual y worked in groups, but Damon had a hunch that this one would be alone. He now ascended the steps slowly. He was fairly certain of the identity of this hunter-slayer, but if he was wrong he was going to have to dodge a stave launched straight down at him like a javelin. No problem – if he were stil a vampire. Slightly more difficult, unarmed as he was and at a severe tactical disadvantage. He reached the top of the stairs unharmed. This was real y the most dangerous part of climbing steps, for a weapon of just the right length could send him crashing al the way back down. Of course a vampire wouldn't be permanently injured by that, but – again – he was no longer a vampire. But the person in the kitchen al owed him to climb al the way out of the root cel ar unhindered. A kil er with honor. How sweet. He turned slowly to measure up his vampire hunter. He was immediately impressed. It wasn't the obvious strength that al owed the hunter to be able to whip off a figure eight with the fighting stave that impressed him. It was the weapon itself. Perfectly balanced, it was meant to be held in the middle, and the designs picked out in jewels around the handhold showed that its creator had had excel ent taste. The ends showed that he or she had a sense of humor as wel . The two ends of the stave were made of ironwood for strength – but they were also decorated. In shape, they were made to resemble one of humankind's oldest weapons, the flint-tipped spear. But there were tiny spikes extruding from each of these â€Å"spear flakes,†set firmly into the ironwood. These tiny spikes were of different materials: silver for werewolves, wood for vampires, white ash for Old Ones, iron for al eldritch creatures, and a few that Damon couldn't quite work out. â€Å"They're refil able,†the hunter-slayer explained. â€Å"Hypodermic needles inject on impact. And of course different poisons for different species – quick and simple for humans, wolfsbane for those naughty puppies, and so on. It real y is a jewel of a weapon. I wish I had found it before we met Klaus.† Then she seemed to shake herself back into reality. â€Å"So, Damon, what's it going to be?†asked Meredith.