Deutsche Brauerei Essay Example for Free

Deutsche Brauerei Essay The agenda attached (EXHIIBT 1) became the focus of Ms. Greta Schweitzer’s concentration for the next 24 hours. She relied on her team from her EMBA class in Frankfurt to assist her with the recommendations she would need to address this board tomorrow morning. Upon initial analysis, it became obvious that DB was in trouble with respect to the Ukraine market, much less the proposed capital expansion. Several items alarmed the team when we read the statements from both Lukas Schweitzer and Oleg Pinchuk. The sales and marketing manager has an obviously different approach than that which made DB successful in the past. Oleg Pinchuk has extended credit to its â€Å"distributors† which is causing a rise in sales and accordingly an increase in his salary (as it is based on sales). This needs to be corrected; given such a volatile environment and this firm’s recent history, a person in his position should earn a salary based on accounts receivable collections, rather than sales. Perhaps then, his discretion would be more restrictive with respect to extension of credit. Furthermore, if the distributors are in fact expanding and enhancing their stores by purchasing new equipment and restocking inventories, then obviously they have the cash to pay DB for their outstanding invoices. This raises considerable questions regarding the prudence of â€Å"trade-credit extensions† and compensation packages offered Mr. Pinchuk, and accordingly, we recommend his termination. A new salary structure and job description delineating required results can be negotiated with Mr. Pinchuk’s replacement. When considering adopting the budget for 2001, we must consider the proposed expansion and investments in new plant and equipment (warehouse and distribution center). With the overuse of short term debt and a borrowing rate over 2% higher than the government rate, it will be impossible to finance this capital expansion. We cannot recommend approval of the budget in its current form. There is not enough cash being collected, too much inventory carried on behalf of the distributors, too much risky short term debt and too many capital improvements budgeted to justify this expansion. Without actually collecting cash from the receivables, we do not recommend declaring any additional dividends, as indicated in the budget. Historically, declared and paid dividends were right at or below $2,000 (in thousands of Euros) and the proposed budget increases those to well over $3,200. We recommend restricting dividends declared to what was done in the past, without any increase. Once collections are received and with the change in marketing, credit policies, and inventory control, the company would be in a better financial position to pay additional dividends. As a matter of final note, we strongly urge the Board of Directors of DB to consider the short term effects of expanding into a new market economy. The Ukraine is just transitioning into becoming a market economy (experiencing supply and demand that guides the allocation of resources). Such a transition is politically and socially difficult for businesses because of rising inflation, unemployment, and economic uncertainty. We have serious questions about the vitality of DB and whether it can survive until the long term benefits of this transition are realized.

The Diary Of Anne Frank

The Diary Of Anne Frank Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl takes place between June 12, 1942 and August 1, 1944 in Amsterdam, Holland. Specifically, it takes place in their Secret Annex which is hidden behind a bookcase in Mr. Van Daan and Mr. Franks office. The place is cramped with many people, and they must be very quiet so they do not blow their cover. There are workers working in the building where they are so any noise they make is a risk. The book is written in two moods. Anne writes in a depressing and scary mood but also in an optimistic mood. At any point, the Secret Annex could be discovered and those in hiding could be found. They have to be very quiet and cannot go outside. Therefore, she writes in a dark, depressing mood. She also writes in an optimistic mood. She is happy she is still alive and has faith in humankind. She believes she will be set free someday and is hopeful of this event. Characters Anne Frank is the narrator of the book. She is a young, teenage girl of the Jewish faith. The story takes place during the holocaust, so Anne and her family are hiding in a Secret Annex. Anne was a very popular girl in school with both boys and girls. Wanting to be a writer when she grows up, Anne loves to read and write. Margot Frank is Annes sister and three years older. She is quieter and more serious than Anne. Margot gets along better with their parents and becomes closer with Anne throughout the book. Otto Frank is Anne and Margots dad. He is the one who arranges their hiding spot in the Secret Annex. Mr. Frank is modest and quiet with a very close relationship with Anne. He teaches her most of her subjects including Algebra and English. Edith Frank, Anne and Margots mother, has a horrible relationship with Anne. She does not fit the image of what a mother should be according to Anne. It seems as though she always takes Margots side which really ticks Anne off. Peter Van Daan is the son of another family hiding with the Franks. He appears to be boring at first to Anne, but soon enough they fall in love. Peter is a bit older than Anne, but that doesnt stop them from having a relationship. He starts to cling to her and Anne finds out he does not like religion. Both of these are reasons why Anne eventually dumps him. He does not even make the smallest attempt to change his ways which disgusts Anne. Petronella Van Daan is Peters mom. She does not get along with Anne at all. In fact, she criticizes Anne constantly and flirts with Mr. Frank which really gets Anne mad. However, Anne finds her easier to talk to than her own mother. Hans Van Daan is Peters dad and Mrs. Van Daans wife. He often criticizes Anne like most of the adults. Albert Dussel shares a room with Anne and is the last one to arrive in the Secret Annex. He was a dentist before he went into hiding. Anne likes him at first, but soon she discovers his true personality and has an opposite opinion of him. Occasionally, she would do things to annoy him on purpose. A secondary character in the book is Peter Wessel, a young man who Anne crushes on. Anne often dreams of Peter and once dreamt of him touching her cheek. She hopes that they can be together when it is safe to come out of hiding. Plot Anne Frank is a normal teenage girl living a perfectly normal life until she finds out that the dictator of Germany, Adolph Hitler, is executing all Jews for no good reason. Her and her family are forced to go into hiding so the Nazis dont take them away to concentration camps. They hide in an attic behind a bookcase in Mr. Franks office. They call it the Secret Annex. The three members of the Van Daan family (Petronella, Hans, and Peter) and Mr. Dussel, a former dentist, also hide with the Franks for their own safety. The rising action is when the family is sitting around the radio listening to the news about the ongoing war. They hear that things are getting better and the war is on the verge of ending. However, unknown to the Franks, Van Daans, and Mr. Dussel, things really arent getting better. The climax of the story is when Hitler was informed that there are Jews hiding in an annex. Hitler sends Nazis to go and find them. The eight of them are discovered and they are no longer safe. The falling action is when the characters were taken off to concentration camp. They knew they were probably going to die, but tried to look on the bright side. They all were separated except for Margot and Anne who stayed together. The resolution is when Miep finds Annes diary left in the annex. She was looking around in the room after they had been taken away. Miep saw a plaid cloth and went to pick it up. The diary, she soon learned, was under the cloth and an inspirational diary at that. Theme(s) I believe the main theme is isolation in two different ways. The first is physical because the Franks, Van Daans, and Mr. Dussel are physically cut-off from the rest of the world. It is just the eight of them cramped inside a small annex. They cannot go outside, they can barely even make noise, and they lived on the same foods for a while. They are isolated from the outside world. The isolation theme of this book is also mental because Anne feels isolated from her family and friends hiding in the secret annex. Even while all eight of them are in the same room, Anne feels cut-off from most of the people there, especially her mother. Inside Anne, she is as far away from her mother as she can be, even if theyre sharing a chair. Anne feels the same way about Mrs. Van Daan and others hiding with her: isolated. Conflicts The conflict of Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl involves the Germans and the Jews. The story takes place in the middle of World War II and the Holocaust. The Germans, or Nazis, are executing all Jews under Adolph Hitlers command. Jews were sent to concentration camps, which is the same as saying death row. A lot of Jews were sent into hiding, but most were discovered by the German army. The Franks, Van Daans, and Mr. Dussel are hiding from the Nazis in this book. Those hiding in the Secret Annex were avoiding concentration camp, extreme torture, and death. They did not have a choice to hide unless they wanted to die, and would not have a choice to go to the camp if they were found. The Franks, Van Daans, and Mr. Dussel must keep their cover, stay quiet, and wait in hiding until the war is over and it is safe for a Jew to walk the streets in Holland. Important Passages Anne says, I keep my ideals, because in spite of everything I still believe that people are really good at heart. I think this is a very inspirational quote. Anne is facing death at an unknown time, yet she is still very positive. This should instigate use to stay positive. The next time we are faced with a difficult situation and are down with pessimism, we can think of Anne Frank. This innocent girls problem was probably ten times as worse as what we are facing; nevertheless she still looks on the bright side as should we when facing an obstacle. Anne also say, Parents can only give good advice or put them on the right paths, but the final forming of a persons character lies in their own hands. I think this is a good passage from the book because it explains that you should be your own person and you are in the drivers seat of your life. You can be whatever you want to be no matter what others tell you. I think this is good advice for a lot of kids. Even though others can guide you through life, ultimately you make your own decisions about your life. You control your life, use it wisely, do what you love, and have fun doing it! Vocabulary Florin: a cupronickel coin of Great Britain, formerly equal to two shillings or the tenth part of a pound and retained in circulation equal to 10 new pence after decimalization in 1971 Palpitation: an unusually or abnormally rapid or violent beating of the heart Gibe: to utter mocking or scoffing words Opklap: Dutch type of bed, which folds against the wall to look like a bookcase with curtains before it Wangle: to bring about, accomplish, or obtain by scheming or underhand methods Faze: to cause to be disturbed or disconcerted Calligraphy: highly decorative handwriting Finicky: excessively particular or fastidious Saboteur: a person who commits or practices sabotage Paragon: a model or pattern of excellence or of a particular excellence Universal Connection Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl is about an entire race of Jews being executed just because they are Jewish. Racism in the world today is comparable to the Holocaust because they were both discrimination against a race for no good reason. Now in most cases racism today is not as extreme, but it is still racial discrimination. It was wrong back then and it is wrong now. This is a connection between the book and the world today. I can make a personal connection to this book because I sometimes feel as if adults are out to get me when they criticize me. All kids hate being criticized by adults and find at least one adult annoying, including me. Anne had bad relationships with the adults there and I know how she feels because Ive been there before. Sometimes, you just want to talk back to a teacher or scream at a coach, but what makes it worse is you know you cant. Anne felt this way in the book and Ive felt this way before in life. This is how I connect to this book personally. Reflective Questioning I would ask Anne Frank so many questions if I had the chance when she was alive. I would ask things like what was it like hiding for years, did you ever think you would be found, and what went through your mind when you were found. However, I think the first questions I would ask are, Did you ever think your diary would be published and have millions of copies sold? If you knew you did, would you have added anything or taken anything out before its publishing? I would ask that because a lot of what she wrote was personal and I would hate to share all of my personal feelings and thoughts with millions of strangers all around the world. I would like to know if she felt the same. I would rate this book a five of ten. It wasnt one of the worst books I have ever read, but it was clearly not one of the best. I do not like stories that date that far back; I like books that are more modern. Also, I found it boring that it was the same thing every day: they ate the same foods, she writes her adoration for Peter, she complains about the adults, and she writes that she will one day be free. Another reason I did not like it is that it was too slow and took too long to read. I understand it is a classic, and the fact it is a true story is unbelievable. However, it is just not my kind of book. I prefer a book easier to relate to, or a book about a subject I am interested in.

Effect of Same Sex Parenting on Adolescent Developement

Effect of Same Sex Parenting on Adolescent Developement Outcomes for children with gay and lesbian parents: A review. What evidence is there to support the assumption that gay or lesbian parents have a negative impact on child and adolescent developmental outcomes? Same sex parenting remains a controversial topic; the most important assumption being same sex parenting has a negative impact on children and adolescent developmental outcomes. The term â€Å"same-sex parenting† is intended in this paper to include families headed by gay and lesbian couples. The literature in this review is limited to studies of children from divorced lesbian and gay parents, as well as studies conducted on children of gay and lesbian families that are planned. The paper will consider whether the evidence suggests a negative or positive impact on children, or none at all in terms of gender role, behavioural and emotional development of children raised with gay and lesbian parents in contrast to heterosexual parents, to ascertain whether sexual orientation of parents is a key indicator to the impact of development. The scope of this review will cover all children from a life-span perspective (0-24 years) to include those born into a divorced lesbian, those ado pted or conceived through artificial insemination. This review will begin with an overview of previous research in the results section of this paper. A critique of the assumptions guiding this area of research will follow in the discussion section together with highlighting the limitations of these studies and provision for further research before a conclusion is drawn to ascertain whether same sex parenting has a positive or negative impact on developmental outcomes. Findings from the research on long term development of children and adolescence raised by gay and lesbian parents is of high relevance to both theoretical debates; particularly the importance of mothers and fathers and their effects on child development, and also public debates to provide assistance concerning parental rights of gay and lesbian parents (Patterson, 1992). Historically, lesbian mothers were denied artificial insemination and same sex parents were denied the permission to adopt children on the grounds that they were unable to provide an optimal family environment in contrast their heterosexual counterparts with the assumption gay and lesbian parents have a negative impact on the long term developmental well-being of the child. Commonly, women who had bourn children in a heterosexual relationship which broke down irretrievably, were denied custody of their biological children on the grounds that the children would show atypical gender development, causing behavioural and emotional problems in long term development due to the mother not been an affective parent. However, (Patterson, 1992) has provided research on the psychological development of children raised in lesbian mothers and has failed to provide empirical evidence which supports the assumption that same-sex parenting has a negative impact on long-term development, suggesting that they are developing well psychologically, behaviourally and emotionally in positive directions across the lifespan Method A comprehensive review of the literature on the outcomes for children with same-sex parents was conducted in an attempt to understand the key patterns in the body of literature to consider the development of gender role, behavioural/emotional outcomes of children with same-sex parents. A search of the literature was limited from 1990 and up to 2014. A search of the following databases was conducted; Summon, Academic Search and Google Scholar and sought to identify key patterns found in case studies, research studies, peer reviews, journals and books. Key words were chosen with the purpose of the literature review in mind and modified on the basis of the demonstrated location of the pertinent literature. Examples of keywords used are as follows: (â€Å"same-sex parenting† or â€Å"gay† or â€Å"lesbian†) (â€Å"heterosexual parenting† or â€Å"mothers† or â€Å"fathers†) (â€Å"lesbian families† or â€Å"gay families†) (â€Å"child rearing† or â€Å"child adjustment†) (â€Å"prenatal† or â€Å"children† or â€Å"adolescence†) (â€Å"divorced† or â€Å"planned† or â€Å"adoption† or â€Å"surrogacy) (â€Å"psychological† or â€Å"behavioural† or â€Å"emotional outcomes†). A review of the literature was carried out on all works located through the limited search and which were relevant to the topic under discussion. Additional materials referenced in the works were read which appeared relevant to the topic. Results Gender development Many discussions surrounding the controversies of same-sex parenting is headed by the assumption that gay and lesbian parents have negative effect on gender development of a child. For the purpose of this paper, â€Å"gender role† is intended to include; gender identity, gender-role behaviour and sexual orientation. Tasker and Golombok, (1995) conducted a follow up study of 46 young adults aged 17-35 and concluded there were no significant differences between young adults from lesbian mothers in contrast to those headed by heterosexual single-mother households. From the 46 participants, 6 youngs adults (five daughters, one son) raised by lesbian mothers, reported same-gender sexual attraction and had entered into a same-gender sexual relationship. However, due to the in semi structured method adopted in the follow up study, this figure may be underestimated. Moreover, all the young adults from the study had experienced at least one opposite-gender sexual relationship but none of the adults from households headed by a heterosexual single mother reported same-gender sexual attraction. From the sample, only two women were currently in a lesbian relationship with the majority identifying as heterosexual. Bos, van Balen, Sandfort and van Den Boom, (2006) strenghtened these findings when they suggested daughters (around 10 years old) concieved through aritificial insemination by their lesbian mothers were less likely to have heterosexual idenitity than those who where conceived conventionally with opposite-sex parents. Although, these findings are relatively low, they do provide evidence against homosexual families, notwithstanding, it would not be proper to conclude same-sex parents have a negative impact on child development, without reviewing further research from advocates of same-sex parenting. In contrast, (Crowl, Ahn, and Baker, 2008) conducted a homogeneity test across 19 studies in relation to include six developmental outcomes (parent-child relationship, cognitive development, gender role behaviour, gender identity, child sexual preferences and psychological adjustment). The study adopted the fixed effects model with 64 effect sizes between same-sex and opposite-sex parents. 564 same-sex participants and 647 heterosexual participants concluded the sample; the children’s age was from 5-24 years. In comparing the groups, the study concluded heterosexual parents reported having a significantly better relationship with their children. Interestingly, there was no significant difference in parent-child relationship reported by those children living with same-sex parents and those living with opposite-sex parents, the findings concluding that there is no significant difference in gender role development between children of same-sex parents and opposite sex parents. Bailey, Bobrow, Wolfe, Mikach, (1995) recruited a sample of 82 sons of 55 gay and bisexual fathers to conduct a study of sexual orientation. In their report, clear indications were concluded that 90% of sons are heterosexual which implies, gay fathers do not impact on the sexual orientation of their sons. The study also concluded, there was no positive correlation between the likelihood of being gay and the time which the sons lived with their fathers. However, the study has the limitation of no control group, partly as a result of population-based surveys being inappropriate in comparision due to underestimations of homosexuality due to underreporting of noncoporation. Notwithstanding, its limitations it is clear from this conclusion, that a large number of sons lead by gay parent households are heterosexual which in turn dilutes the theory that sexual orientation is lead by environmental factors. Bailey, Bobrow, Wolfe, Mikach, (1995) study can be concluded as an advocate for positi ve gender role developmental outcomes for children with same-sex parents. Turning to another dimension of gender development in children of same-sex parenting, (Fulcher, Sutfin, and Patterson, 2008) conducted a study of 4 to 6 years old boys and girls from lesbian parent and heterosexual parent families and reported no significant differences in preferences for traditional masculine and feminine activities and occupational preferences between the two groups. The study concluded that children found with parents who had less stereotypical attidudes held less gender-stereotypical attitudes creating a healty structured environment. The conclusions raised in this study, is that same-sex parenting does not create less masuline and feminine environments, rather it highlights the importance that non-traditional gender stereotypical environments can create a healthy child and their attitudes towards gender.

The Revolt Of The Poor - The Demise Of Intellectual Property :: essays research papers

<a href="http://www.geocities.com/vaksam/">Sam Vaknin's Psychology, Philosophy, Economics and Foreign Affairs Web Sites Three years ago I published a book of short stories in Israel. The publishing house belongs to Israel’s leading (and exceedingly wealthy) newspaper. I signed a contract which stated that I am entitled to receive 8% of the income from the sales of the book after commissions payable to distributors, shops, etc. A few months later, I won the coveted Prize of the Ministry of Education (for short prose). The prize money (a few thousand DMs) was snatched by the publishing house on the legal grounds that all the money generated by the book belongs to them because they own the copyright. In the mythology generated by capitalism to pacify the masses, the myth of intellectual property stands out. It goes like this : if the rights to intellectual property were not defined and enforced, commercial entrepreneurs would not have taken on the risks associated with publishing books, recording records and preparing multimedia products. As a result, creative people will have suffered because they will have found no way to make their works accessible to the public. Ultimately, it is the public which pays the price of piracy, goes the refrain. But this is factually untrue. In the USA there is a very limited group of authors who actually live by their pen. Only select musicians eke out a living from their noisy vocation (most of them rock stars who own their labels – George Michael had to fight Sony to do just that) and very few actors come close to deriving subsistence level income from their profession. All these can no longer be thought of as mostly creative people. Forced to defend thie intellectual property rights and the interests of Big Money, Madonna, Michael Jackson, Schwarzenegger and Grisham are businessmen at least as much as they are artists. Economically and rationally, we should expect that the costlier a work of art is to produce and the narrower its market – the more its intellectual property rights will be emphasized. Consider a publishing house. A book which costs 50,000 DM to produce with a potential audience of 1000 purchasers (certain academic texts are like this) – would have to be priced at a a minimum of 100 DM to recoup only the direct costs. If illegally copied (thereby shrinking the potential market – some people will prefer to buy the cheaper illegal copies) – its price would have to go up prohibitively, thus driving out potential buyers.

Original Writing Essay -- Papers

Original Writing A crunch of pebbles as a perfectly crafted square of engineered metal falls to the beach. 5 figures crawl from their vessel onto a dreary beachhead. The rain beat down on a terrible Tuesday night. Silver, a man in his prime of physical fitness, shivered in the cold. Like lambs his men followed him intently, without question. In their minds, however, they were at home. With their wives and girlfriends, away from the war. Too many men have perished on this 2-mile stretch of coastline for man to contemplate, for a war that is yet to be understood. Since the last attempt at taking this beach, which was a major failure, there has been an armistice. Everything has been quiet, apart from the occasional fire drill inside the enemy's frontline campus. "Omaha Squad, state your position" Crackles Silvers radio equipment, breaking the deadly silence abruptly. In code, he makes his reply. Omaha Squad, led by Silver, was ordered to infiltrate the G25s communication tower to gather intelligence. Hi...

Knowledge Management Mastercard Essay

The company MasterCard is a technology company and payments industry leader. For over four decades, the company has been a driving force at the heart of commerce, making the global economy safer, more efficient, more inclusive and more transparent for all. Consumers, merchants, business partners and governments in markets around the world have reaped the benefits of our innovative products and solutions which, simply put, are designed to make life easier. The mission of MasterCard consists in imagining a world beyond cash and their mission is very simple: Every day, everywhere, Master Card uses their technology and expertise to make payments safe, simple and smart. In the last four decades, people and companies worldwide have changed their way of payment for goods and services. The rise of the electronic payments has fueled economic growth while delivering value to consumers, merchants and governments. From the earliest days of credit cards to the contactless and wireless payment options of today, MasterCard Worldwide has led the industry, driving this evolution. MasterCard works in a three channel method. Those 3 channels are: Franchisor, Processor and Consultant. In the Franchisor channel, products such as Maestro ®, Cirrus ® and MasterCard ® PayPassâ„ ¢ appear. With those products, the company affects more than 32 million establishments. The processor area makes operation with other companies and partners around the world in a simple and smart way. The big key point for these attribute is based on the fast network, one of the biggest VPNs of the world, offering not just agility, but also integration and trust. Least, the Consultant channel provides insights and solutions that promote a better and more competitive market. The research Inside the organization, the Product department and the Commercial department are directly linked. The first one is related to the care of the different products in many different categories that are offered by the organization, while the commercial area is primarily responsible for the customer relationship and supply of structured products to the product area. The commercial departments, responsible for all customer relationships, are divided to provide a better service by segmenting customers according to their importance to the business. For example, for Citibank, one of the most important banks for MasterCard, there are more than two, three people responsible for one client, while for minor banks, there is sometimes only one person responsible. This allows the commercial area to meet its customers by giving attention proportional to the size of each account, seeking solutions that fit in each case, so that one can be created, the best care possible. The product department is targeted through the products it offers, that way, the areas are divided by types of cards (traditional types such as debit and credit, corporate, pre-paid and others). Each group works to meet the needs of the commercial area, seeking the best solutions according to the demands. So we have two areas that work together, but have different focuses, which can cause disagreements about the best way to deliver a product to a given customer. That way, we can find a good topic to do our research based on this issue. Question Due to the analyses made on the previous topic, we can come up with the question for the paper. Why knowledge is not used by all parts? What can we do to improve this topic? Products and Commercial Departments Processes As said before, the process that the products department works is different from the commercial’s one. The products process is characterized by the division of groups and teams specialized in a specific product. That way, we can confirm that a wide knowledge is limited inside this department, but on the other hand, those groups have a high knowledge about a specific product. Differently, the commercial process is divided not by products, but by clients, issuers. So, those groups have a good flexibility when it comes to relation with the customers and so can have a wider knowledge. But, once this group works only with one client, it is possible that this client works with a small number of products, that way, the commercial group would not acquire knowledge in those other products. Tasks Within the tasks that the commercial department is responsible for we can highlight the following main topics: * Direct relationship with the issuers (Banks) * Project with issuers to enhance the number of MasterCard cards inside * Promotions * Campaigns * Raffles * Work together with different departments For the products area, we can highlight the following tasks: * Come up with new products ideas * Develop the product for the clients * Track the performance of the products KM Theory To illustrate the knowledge flow within the two departments, we are going to use a KM model that sustains and explains the formulation of a new departmentalization to enhance the performance of the company Figure 1: Observing, the General Knowledge Model (figure 1), we can make a comparison of that theory with the case that we are discussing. The Knowledge Creation associates entry of new knowledge into the system, and includes knowledge development, discovery and capture. For the MasterCard case, the Creation would be for both departments the new ideas of new products and also new ideas for product that already exist. That way, it would have do disparity of how those two departments work. Knowledge Retention includes all activities that preserve knowledge and allow it to remain in the system once introduced. Once the new idea is into the system, both parts have to work together to retain this concept into the system, and the only way for this to happen is if that both of the parts have the same knowledge of the concept (product) Knowledge Transfer refers to activities associated with the flow of knowledge from one party to another. This includes communication, translation, conversion, filtering and rendering. That part would be the most important of the process for the two departments. Here, the knowledge of one part would be transfered to the other, that way, the knowledge of the product would be the same for both parts. Last, but not least, Knowledge Utilization includes the activities and events connected with the application of knowledge to business processes. Data Using the Knowledge Acquisition tool, we can come up with important information and data. To start the KA analysis, is important to find out about the human reasoning process and the human cognitive system with its system constraints. After that step, is important to make a division in task characteristics and cognitive characteristics. That way, we can say that Knowledge Acquisition is about different methods to acquire and elicit knowledge; to make knowledge explicit; to stimulate knowledge transfer; to order, systematize and structure knowledge. That way, we can observe the different types of sources for knowledge acquisition. For the case in study, we can say that the way that knowledge is transmitted and acquire trough communication face-to-face between the product and the commercial department. Moreover, the knowledge about the products is also gain trough handbooks and organizational training. With those information, we can collect a data really important, the fact that knowledge is elicit trough structured (organizational training and presentations) and non-structured (communication face-to-face between commercial department and product department) ways. It is very interesting, that with this tool, we can observe that the knowledge both parts have about the same products is really different sometimes. As already expected, the commercial department has knowledge about sales attributes. On the other hand, the product department has more knowledge about the specific points and technological aspects of the product. To end this disparity of knowledge, a good choice would be to change the working ways in those areas, in other words, it would need a reformulation on the organization structure of MasterCard. Results * With the reformulation that was discussed before, the products would be created jointly, aiming each client and their own segmentation, making products no longer offered by the area of general commercial, but a specific form that would be created, allowing you to create a higher perceived value for the customers, since assembling products would create a synergy that would combine expertise in creating products possessed by product area with full knowledge of the client as the commercial area has. For this, the specialists of the products would have a greater knowledge of each type of product offered, reducing the segmentation of the area in premium products, and upscale retail and other products. So each specialist would be responsible for a niche within each client, allowing maintaining focus on the products he considers the most, rather than generalizing all segments within a specialist. This approach As described above, this approach is a way to get the specialists creating products together with managers of commercial accounts, specific products for customers, improving relationships and creating value for these. Moreover, we can say that with this reformulation, knowledge would be more used in the company and that way, the company would be more successful.

Movie Reflection

What is in your movie? ENG 225 Hannah Judson March 15, 2010 What is in your movie? How does one analysis a movie? How does one watch a movie? What are you looking for in the movie? When you watch the movie, does the movie tell you a story or do you learn any life lessons from it? Movie making is considered an industry and an art form; as an artist media, it can come in a form of expression. A movie has so many components intertwined into it to make it overall and complete. Therefore, is there any one component that is superior to the other when the creators are composing the movie?There are so many elements and components used in creating and analysis a movie. However, before we take a look at those elements, let’s take a look at the history of films. Let’s start with silent films; many silent films were produced in the United States back in the early 1900’s. However, filmgoers never really got to enjoy the film in the theaters as they were intended to be seen. S ilent films were meant to be viewed with the intentions of a full musical orchestra behind the film as was the case with The Birth of a Nation in 1915 (Griffith, 1915).The silent film, with the full musical composition playing behind it, made the movie experience seem much more complete. Now days, so many years later, after the original context, the films have lost the excitement as was intended by the directors. As we look more into the actual making of the film itself, each and every film was recorded on a reel of film. Until the standardization of the projection speed of 24 frames per second (fps) for sound films in 1926, silent films were shot at variable speeds or â€Å"frame rates†, typically anywhere from 16 to 23 frames per second or faster.Unless carefully shown at their original speeds they can appear unnaturally fast and jerky, which reinforces their alien appearance to modern viewers. Eventually, they had the ability to add shades of color into the film. When they wanted to add color into a particular shot, they would actually have to hand paint the slide prior to the film being projected. After many attempts to color each slide and make a complete movie, the directors realized how difficult and time consuming it was to complete it. As time went on, they tried to use another technique known as â€Å"tinting†; this was done by coloring the film stock prior to printing on the film.This two-color effect would display the look of black and white and whichever other color that it was tinted in, for example, if they wanted to have a night scene, they would tint the stock blue to make the allusion of a night scene. As was the case in the movie Intolerance (Griffith, 1916), by the Pioneer director D. W. Griffith, also known as the, â€Å"Father of American Films† (Boggs & Petrie, 2008, p. 482). Another coloring technique that was used was known as â€Å"toning†; this was done by adding dye to the film itself so that the lines of the image were colored.By combining the two steps of toning and tinting gave it a two color image experience. Furthermore, as it comes to the langue of the silent films, we could hear a breath taking and moving experience even without the actors saying a word. When the actors were acting in a silent film they were able to communicate and express to the audience by body language, purely by visual elements. How they were able to say so much and have the audience’s attention and involvement was done by their ability to communicate with their eyes, mouth, hands, and body movement.For example, in the movie, City Lights (Chaplin, 1931), Charlie Chaplin, was able to get the audience involved and laughing with his ability to use his body language and facial expression. He would make distinct facial expression with his eyes, eyebrows and mouth to display a stage of concern, happiness, or disbelief, and his ability was very powerful. The silent film language was not limited to the fac e alone; it was expressed by all aspect of the actor’s body. Another very important element of silent films was the actor’s ability to walk. We would think that being able to walk in a film would have no merit to it.No so, as in the case of Charlie Chaplin, he had a very unique walk of his own. When Charlie Chaplin would walk in the film, you could tell who it was without even seeing the actor’s face. It has stated that silent films at its best could express ideas that words itself could not express. As we have enjoyed silent films for many years, we have come to love and enjoy other forms of techniques that unfortunately were not in the silent films. For example, as we moved out of the silent film era, we moved deeper into sounds and we are therefore able to hear the dialogue that gives a different type of expression and experience.Considering that film is usually thought of as a visual medium, sound plays an incredibly vital role. There are three very importan t elements that go into creating sounds in motion films, they are, sound effects, dialogue, and musical score. By adding these elements into the movie, they are increasing the involvement and intensity of the experience. Capturing great quality of sound for the movie is another craft that you will need to learn. If the film contains dialogue, it is very important to be able to record it so the words and mouth movements match up; this is known as â€Å"lip sync†.Shooting film is not just getting a hold of a camera, unlike video, you cannot just record sound directly into the camera, and you will need to record onto sound-recording equipment, like a tape recorder. Although the â€Å"Nagra† reel to reel was the standard for decades, DAT (Digital Auto Tape) has captured the market because of its quality, convenience, and price. Sometimes when recording a film and the dialogue is not very clear during the shoot and must be re-recorded in a studio, preferably using the same recording equipment used during the shoot, this is known as â€Å"dubbing†.There are many different types of equipment that are available for recording known as the ADR (Automatic Dialogue Replacement). When it is necessary, the actors would sit in a sound-proof booth with a screen to play back the movie and allow the actors to re-enact the scene and re-record the dialogue all over again. On feature films, sound engineers use huge multi-track mixing desks and high quality monitor speakers to ensure that the audio is well-balanced and what needs to be heard is audible. Furthermore, any sounds that were not captured during the shoot are added at the post-production stage.Work on sounds that need enhancing; footsteps, doors, creaking, and so on, are usually done by a Foley artist. They create and record all manner of sound and noises in a studio using their own favorite props. A great example that a Foley artist would be used for would be any animated movies. My favorite animate d movie of all time is Monsters Inc. ( Docter, 2001). All of the different sound effects that were made, for example, when â€Å"Sully† was riding around on different doors, the Foley artist had to create the sound of a pulley.Another example of this would be from the movie Titanic when the ship was breaking apart and people were jumping into the water, the sound crew and Foley artist had to implement the sounds by creatively using breaking wood pieces and splashing water as a sound effect. Never the less, the quality of the equipment is very important for any sound crew member. They will need to be using some sort of a microphone; professional shotgun microphones are extremely sensitive and will pick up an incredible amount of ambient sound, despite their narrow recording field.To ensure that they capture only the actors’ voice, they need to have the microphone as close as possible to them; this would want to be done by mounting the microphone onto a boom stick. Apart from the environmental sounds, shooting the movie outside has the added challenges of picking up the wind sound; however, this can be eliminated if they were to use a â€Å"wind boot†. Whatever equipment or methods they might be using to record the sound, getting the best voice recording is imperative, even though it is possible to do voiceover in post-production; the actors are not always able to recapture the intensity of the moment.This leads me into what is the next important element of the movies, â€Å"effective storytelling†. Maybe there is no absolute right way to tell a story, however, I am sure there is probably a wrong way, which will be obvious if you don’t capture the audience. I feel the trick of storytelling is not what you say, but how you will say it. How you tell the story will also be how the audience will interpret it. This is a common device that is used to sway people’s opinion or to gain sympathy for a person or event.For feature f ilms the general idea is that you have to grab the audience within the first ten minutes, although this really means that the screenplay needs to catch the reader within the first few pages or take the chance of it being rejected. A credible story has many elements that need to be woven into it, for example, the theme of the movie could be the main focus, however, other elements like the characters, plot, and conflict must be carefully selected so they are uniformed in their relationship so the theme of the movie is clear.By doing this you are able to keep the audiences attention and sitting on the edge of their seats expecting more. There are different components of the film that will keep some moviegoers interested; however, those same components might be boring to other moviegoers. So how does one develop a storyline that will keep everyone’s interest? That might be done by the simplicity of the film, by clearly and directly communicating, so that it is clear to all movieg oers. However, some moviegoers like the more complex challenge of using their intellectual minds.This is done by the author’s ability to implement dramatic or emotional structure, by achieving the maximum intellectual or dramatic impact. The author would then develop the storyline in a linear or non-linear format. The storyline would still be composed of the same elements of exposition, complication, climax, and denouement; however, it would just depend on the way they were structured in the storyline. For example, in the movie Titanic (Cameron, 1997), at the beginning of the movie, they showed an elderly Rose talking with the researchers about the gemstone necklace.However, when she starting telling the story of how she received the necklace, they flashed back decades earlier to the year the ship first set sail, this is known as â€Å"non-linear structure†. In addition, conflict is another major degree of complexity within the film. When I recently watched the movie, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (Forman, 1975), I noticed the dramatic component of â€Å"human conflict† between Nurse Ratched and the mental patient Randall Mc Murphy. They struggled constantly throughout the movie until the very end when Randall received a frontal lobotomy.Needless to say, the conflict between Nurse Ratched and mental patient, Mc Murphy, was not the only thing that I noticed from the movie. The actor’s ability to portray the characters that they were playing really stood out to me. I noticed the roles of Miller played by Alonzo Brown, Turkle played by Scatman Crothers, Martini played by Danny DeVito, were done in an impersonator role, they all had the ability to take on the personality traits of a mentally ill patient. As was the case of â€Å"Rudy†, who was played by, Michael Jeter, in the movie Patch Adams (Shadyac, 1998), Actor MichaelJeter had to take on the characteristics and traits of a very disturbed Schizophrenia patient. He v ery successfully portrayed the behavior of someone suffering from the mental illness of schizophrenia. Schizophrenia causes affected people to exhibit odd and often highly irrational or disorganized behavior, included such symptoms as anxiety, restlessness and hallucinations. In one of the scenes, Rudy, who was a patient in the mental ward, had mentioned to â€Å"Patch† that he needed to use the restroom and then instantly, Rudy’s mental state changed, he was hallucinating that he was being under attack by squirrels.For someone who did not really suffer from this disease, by his ability as an actor that he was actually suffering from the disease, he sure convinced me. In this scenario, I feel that Michael Jeter developed his character from the â€Å"inside out approach. † He was able to fully understand every aspect of his character’s personality and develop the behavior from there. Not the case of Robin Williams’s character, Patch Adams was develo ped on the â€Å"outside in approached. † Robin Williams portrayed a â€Å"living† person; therefore he had to learn everything about this character form the source.With this approach, the actor must know everything there is know about this certain individual, his likes, dislikes, his behavior, his wants, his needs, what makes him tick, and especially his sense of humor. I am sure that this particular â€Å"interpreter† character was not very difficult for Robin Williams to get into character. He has always been very successful as a stand up comedian, therefore, when he was asked to play this character; he seemed to be right at home. When I stop to think about the real reason behind why movies are made, one can only think about the true intentions of the film industry.There are many reasons why screenwriter, directors, producers, and everyone else that are involved with the creation of the film. What stand out the most is how the film makers are able to depict s o many important issues that need to have a wide array of people’s attention. What better way for something to be brought to the attention of thousands, even millions of people’s attention, except through a film, plays, stage performances, or musicals. They are creatively brought to light through different genres, a comedy, documentary, drama, musical, or any other form of entertainment.Some are of true life stories, others are done through the creative mind of an artist. With this we get to see the lead actor, supporting actor, super hero, villains, demons, tricksters and many other characters that are brought to life through the films creator. Furthermore, it is important to understand the elements that are woven into the creation. As I bring this paper to an end, I hope that in some way you are able to understand that there are many components that are woven into the creation of a film that is extraordinarily magical.To be able to see the magical transformation with in the experience is an individual experience that one must find within them. I know for myself, I have seen and experience something new and hope that everyone else has the ability to find and encounter the same extraordinary experience.