Does Brand Equity Have a Positive Effect on Spin-off's Performance Dissertation

Does Brand Equity Have a Positive Effect on Spin-off's Performance - Dissertation Example Since 1980s’, many large corporations in the US had been successfully restructured. Restructuring made many companies in traditional industries survive from crisis. Enterprises thus regained the momentum of growth and rebuilt competitive advantage. Therefore, corporate restructuring was one of the most important sources that made the US firms’ competitiveness remount the top in the world. Because of this, the US corporate restructuring practice had become the model to follow by European and Japanese companies, and developed into a wave across Eurasia and even the whole world. It had become one of the most significant challenges in international management in 1990s. Typically, large transaction and corporate decision will be front-page news and very controversial topic. One of the recent year big issues is Kraft’s split. Only 18 months after the significant hostile takeover of the UK-listed chocolate manufacturer Cadbury in September 2009Kraft made another relativ ely important announcement that within the next 12 months, the $48bn conglomerate will be split into two publicly traded companies, creating a global snacks business with revenues of $32bn and a $16bn North America focused grocery business. The goal is to create a global powerhouse in snacks, confectionery and quick meals, with an exception portfolio of leading brands around the world. With Cadbury’s leading positions and significant scale in key developing country such as India and Mexico as well as Europe, it becomes much easier for Kraft to split (Rappeport, 2011). This research is motivated by the case of Kraft’s strategic buy to split, aiming to use a number of methodologies find out the relationship between brand equity and conglomerate spin-off. It starts with the motives, value effects of corporate spin-offs, combing the brand equity effect, analyzing spin-offs’ performance related to brand and not related to brand. Section 2 will review literatures abou t brand equity, brand equity measurement and its prime importance in some corporate activities. It will also provide a review of existing research on the topic of spin-offs, and list them in order to have clear observation of the spin-off performance of both short-term and long-term tested by various methods in different researches. Section 3 is about data collection, which includes85large spin-offs in different fields worldwide in the past two decades. By analyzing the transactions, two streams will be formed: one contains spin-offsthat related to brand equity; the other is for those transactions not brand equity related. This section contains explanations of the rational used to decide is a spin-offis or not suitable for the final sample to test. Section 4 will focus on using methodology to test spin-off performance from the sample on the announcement day and long-term stock performance; in order to find out if brand equity based spin-offs could generate more benefit than non-bran d equity strategic spin-offs. The method will be selected from previous research. The results will be delivered in the following section, showing aggregate values and indications. Analyzing and discussion of the result and assumption will be included in the sixth section. Section 7 of this research is the conclusion and the limitation of this research. Appendixes and bibliography will come up at the end of this paper. 2. Literature

Save Girl Child Essay Example for Free

Save Girl Child Essay The driving force behind our lives is values (desires). A value can be defined as our highest priority in life. It may be Peace, Self Awareness, Money, Beauty, Power, Prestige, Sensual Pleasure, Contentment, Love etc. Whatever in our hierarchy of values, the top most value will be happiness. A better understanding of happiness is necessary to be happy in life. All the sensual pleasures are subjective, vary from person to person. One may like to hear a famous song while other may prefer to be with a beautiful girl or boy. If we seek repeated sensual pleasure, after each incident pleasure will decrease. The same incident will not give same amount of happiness; law of diminishing return applies to it. So every time we need something new to be happy. If we run behind new things to be happy, we will either drain out or will face depression of success. Are there any ways to be happy without any external stimulus or with same routine or same work or same dish or same spouse? Let us examine happiness further; is it possible to be happy without any object of enjoyment? Suppose if we win in one situation or receive praise, we become happy without any objects of enjoyment. Hence, happiness is a state of mind. And the objects or external stimulants are just a provocative cause to evoke that state. Let us examine this state of mind. We understood happiness is not coming from external stimulus and the happiness happens when our mind becomes still. Therefore happiness should be our true nature and our mind is the hindrance to experience it. If we could create the stillness of mind without any external stimulus, we could experience our true self or true nature orswarupa: sat-chit-ananda (pure blissful consciousness). The bliss can be defined as pleasure without any cause. The consciousness is the simultaneous awareness of the witness, the process of witnessing, and the object of witnessing. The objects were just reflecting the ananda or bliss in us and when it is reflected through objects or external stimulus, it is called happiness. When we experience bliss, we feel oneness with God. When this union or realization happens, we tuned with the natural laws. Mind is a collection of thoughts. It is a useful instrument to handle situations in front of you. We collect some thoughts of past or future (desires or values) to choose better in the present. We opt consciously or unconsciously each and every moment. Our choice causes an effect in the Existence and the Existence responds according to its own laws. Since the consequences of choices are beyond our direct control; we face stress or aadhi in decisions. Since happiness depends on external stimulus and law of diminishing return applies to it, each incident will increase our desire for a new. Thus vulnerability to aadhi increases by each incident. We may run behind objects of enjoyment or a stimulus to evoke the state of happiness. It creates continuous aadhi by forming a vicious circle. Our mind will occupy with either thoughts of past or future without taking the relevant decisions. Because, since there are too many considerations and the need to assure happiness; we will lose our courage to fix in one option. In such conditions, we follow mind or conscience as a guide. The mind and conscience may contain samskaras or imprints or memory of the past or future which may prevent appropriate action in the present. If we try to sort it out by thinking, it strengthens the mind and creates more trouble than before. The distorted mind cause to lose present moment or awareness or consciousness. Thus, the mind causes separation or ignorance of our blissful nature.

Popular Music in Film | Research

Popular Music in Film | Research Introduction This study aims to look into pre-existing popular music in film, its use and place within modern film making, with express interest in determining whether or not it can fairly be compared and judged along side more traditional original scoring techniques as an artistically viable means by which to add depth and further weight to the image, or if it is simply a cheap and easy means by which to score a film. In Ronald Rodmans essay The use of popular music as leitmotif in 1990s film, he states that â€Å"within the hands of a skilled director and music editor, the use of pre-existing popular music can be used to convey narrative events and characters in a way similar to classical Hollywood scoring. However, the two exist at opposite ends of a modernist/post modernist continuum. With the Hollywood score being valued for its original and film specific uniqueness and the found score being valued for its ability to redefine and recycle its self when used well, it offers a â€Å"live again† feeling, that allows the music to transcend its original form, and find new merit within the context of the imageâ€Å". (Rodman, from the compiled essay collection Changing Tunes: The Use of Pre-existing Music in Film (2005: 135) This study does not refer to a specific question requiring a final answer, instead aims to explore whether or not the idea of recycled music truly can transcend its self in skilled hands, and if the use of popular music in film has become used more widely and in a more sophisticated fashion following its emergence in many films of the 1990s. I also intend on looking into the work produced when artists more established within the realms of popular music, try their hand writing original music for film, and if this combination of film specific, more traditional scored music and the different approaches that popular music and those more schooled in its construction can bring to the table with regards to an original score, is truly the definitive way to create an interesting, exciting and truly brilliant piece of work that does what all good scores should achieve, too not only enhance the image, but to stand strong on its own as piece of work in its own right. By exploring the research of others with original research and thoughts of my own, I intend to come to a personal conclusion regarding the matter. This investigation is going to be based around the initial idea that popular music has a valuable and useful place within modern film making, however, due to it often being used in a lazy and not fully thought through manner, it has become some what looked down upon with in the medium, being seen simply as a means for cheap laughs, a pleasant way to pad out the background music of a scene and as a way to add more marketability to a film . In light of this generally accepted opinion of popular musics place in film, and its viewing in such a negative light, I wish to look into how and why this view exists, despite countless examples of it being used to great effect within a film and how in recent years, the trend for recruiting the skills of popular musicians to construct original material specifically for film is not only the next step in popular musics place in cinema, but its creative apex. This investigation, through the course of its three main chapters, intends to look closely at popular musics place within modern cinema, how it has arrived there, where it can go from here, and if it can be seen as important and useful as classical means of film scoring. I intend on looking into the following points through out the course of this investigation: Chapter 1 Popular music and Modern Cinema How the genesis of both popular music and cinema are inherently linked to one another and a cross-pollination between the mediums has always been inevitable How popular music as score differs from traditional scores in what it does within a film. The potential (both positive and negative) that pre-existing material brings to a film, from its ability to comment add extra levels to a film through its lyrical content and its already established place in the public subconscious through to the historical and social abilities it has in helping define eras and public attitudes when necessary. I shall look at the use of The Doors song ‘The End in Apocalypse Now (Francis Ford Coppola, 1984) in order to explore this The powerful imprinting effect that the correct piece of popular music and the correct visuals can have on one another, combining in such a way that they elevate both song and scene to a completely new level of meaning, operating on many more levels than they would have done separately. I Shall look at Roy Orbisons ‘In Dreams within the movies Blue Velvet (David Lynch 1982) Chapter 2 Popular music as Leitmotif Look into how popular music has adopted the traditional film scoring technique, leitmotif. Explore the manner in which popular musics use denotatively and connotatively through leitmotif differs from the classic score, how it is not relied upon the actual repetition of specific themes that connect characters and narrative, but rather the repetition of styles of music or their social context. Investigate two films that use popular music as leitmotif, Shaun of The Dead (Edgar Wright,2004) and Pulp Fiction (Quentin Tarantino, 1992) and how their employment of the technique differs to one another. Chapter 3 The Popular Musician as Composer Investigate, through existing examples within movies, of popular musicians being either being used to write film specific music for cinema or actually constructing an original score tailor made for a film, and if these approaches herald different results and opportunities to scores constructed by more traditional composition methods. Conclusion Discuss an over view of my investigation, come to a personal evaluation of whether popular musics place within cinemas audio landscape is viable as artistically expressive and appropriate as a method of scoring. Chapter 1 Popular Music and Modern Cinema Popular music, since the late 1970s has come to hold a particularly interesting and powerful position amongst the many visual media forms that exist, and though a large majority of these forms that have mutated and cross pollinated as a result of the rise of various technologies and the prominence of popular music as a form of cultural expression, are mainly used as tools of marketing (music videos, television spots and advertisements), it possess a unique functioning purpose within the medium of film, â€Å"only in dramatic film and television are popular songs used in order to help tell a sustained narrative story a role that has traditionally been played by commissioned musical score† (Wright, Popular music and Film, 2003:8) Its hardly surprising that popular music has come to be used as such within film, though at their most fundamental levels they operate as two quit different forms of expression, the trajectories both have moved along through the early twentieth century show striking similarities to one another, to quote Ian Inglis in his introduction to Popular Film and Music (2003) â€Å"The genesis of both came about as a direct result of late nineteenth century technological developments, both predominantly rely on a new type of mass audience sharing a common interest, both started with humble beginnings as novelties to expand and become some of the largest industries in the world with colossal annual turnovers, both have been approached and consumed from perspectives that have allowed them to evolve from simple tools of popular and mass culture into examples of more high and elite cultureâ€Å". (Inglis, 2003:1) It is no longer required in modern film making to contain a score written specifically with the images and narrative in mind, a movies musical landscape is now just as likely to be entirely filled with pre-existing songs (be they popular or more esoteric) as it is to feature a more traditional score, often a combination of the two will be employed by a director. In order to greater appreciate the role that using pre-existing popular music in a film can have on, not only the narrative implications, but the way an audience will respond to the movie going experience, one must lay out the inherent differences and opportunities that popular music can bring when compared to a traditional classical score. Music written and scored with a film in mind is specifically catered to the needs of the images on screen, often a film will be scored late in a films production schedule, there for it is necessary to bend and fit to the constraints of the image, the composer is almost a slave to the film at hand, taking full responsibility for fleshing out every nuance and emotion that a scene requires. They must adapt and fit around what is (normally by the time a composer is brought on board) a fairly concrete structure of how the narrative events take place. On the other hand, when a director chooses to use pre-existing material in a film, the scenes have usually been designed in such a way as to bend around the song. Pre-existing material can not be manipulated in the same manner of a piece tailored to fit a narrative, however, through the use of shooting and editing a sequence with music in mind, it allows a certain unity and rhythm to emerge from the combination of the two. Looking at whether or not one of these approaches to film scoring is more artistically viable is a more complex question that at first it would appear. â€Å"The most fundamental observation that can be made about music in any audio? Visual medium is that it enjoys a rather direct route to our subconscious. Humans are by nature more visually orientated, we digest visual information more consciously and more critically than we do aural information† (Wright 2003:10) Since its musics uncanny ability to override the logical front of our brains and plug directly into our emotional back allies, it tends to offer the driving force in telling us how to feel about events within a film. It can be used with great effect to inform us how we should feel about characters or places, it can instantly set time periods or moods, â€Å"precisely because in most cases it is completely removed from the specific logic of a films story line† (Wright 2003:10). However, it is this powerful, yet extremely subtle ability to steer an audiences emotions within a film that makes the score so depended on a plethora of various factors, be they cultural, historical or otherwise. What a person is going to feel when exposed to different sounds is extremely subjective, how one person responds may not correlate with how another would when exposed to the same thing. â€Å"All popular music contains visual elements; all film relies, in varying degrees, on musical elements† (Inglies 2003:3) A director can take great advantage of that fact that pre-existing popular music will often have already existed within the consciousness of the public for long enough that a response will have been built up in their mind, especially with regards to songs containing specific, concrete lyrics. An example of the successful combination of a songs lyrics and a sequence edited perfectly to its rhythm would be the opening montage of the Zack Snyder directed Watchmen (2009), the sequence, which shows the unfolding of an alternate historical timeline of the 1960s, moves along at a constant, smooth and meditative crawl, all the while Bob Dylans â€Å"The times they are a-changing† echoes out, the lyrics seeming to directly reference the events taking place and the mid tempo, simple yet mournful and effective guitar/harmonica parts perfectly compliment the mood and set the tone; there is a heavy sense of sadness, a great part of the story centres around the fact that a new generation of costumed heroes are now faced with a society that no longer has time for them, that fears them even and in this sequence we look back into the halcyon golden days of the older generation of costumed heroes, when it was more innocent, but we view the often depressing events that lead to the current state of affairs within the narrative. In other instances, the right song placed with the right images can elevate both beyond their limits as separate mediums, fleshing out one another in new and exciting directions. For example in David Lynchs masterpiece Blue Velvet(1986), a few keys scenes, use pre-existing material to truly haunting and terrifying effect. Most famously perhaps is the scene where Jeffery Beaumont (Kyle Maclachlan) is serenaded by the suave, menacing, porcelain white, rake thin figure of Ben (Dean Stockwell). Ben lip-synchs along to Roy Orbisons classic â€Å"In Dreams†. The song, a ballad that tells a story of lost love, had already become a well known hit by the time Lynch made Blue Velvet. Recorded in 1963 (twenty three years prior to Blue Velvets release) it peaked at number seven on the billboard charts. Within the dark, unsettling noir universe that Lynch had created for the film, the song took on something of a far more disturbing meaning. The ironic juxtaposition of Orbisons ethereal voice, haunting melody and the dream like music accompanying it, along side the creeping dread and ominous shadow of impending violence smothering the sequence help elevate the mood and capture it brilliantly. Blue Velvet itself felt a lot like a dream, or a nightmare, and the songs lyrics resonated with a compelling and strange clarity within the films mood. The whole film was about looking below the surface of something seemingly perfect and finding that it was rotten to the core, here, in this context, a remarkable beautiful piece of music is suddenly something more, theres something darker at its heart. A truly inspiring choice of popular music for a scene, and a prime example of the amplification of a scenes mood the correct piece of pre-existing music can have. The innocent, whimsical connotations and feelings evoked by â€Å"In Dreams† sits in a perfect, jarringly uncomfortable unity along side the hellish, violent world at â€Å"Blue Velvets† heart. The impact of the sequence is unmistakable, one can not imagine the scene playing out with any other song and similarly after viewing the sequence, one can not hear the song without imaging Ben swaying and singing or Frank Booth (Dennis Hooper) becoming lost in sadness, then insane with rage upon hearing the song hes obsessed with. From a commercial aspect the song was incredibly useful in revitalising Roy Orbisons then lagging career, though he was at first shocked upon viewing the way his music had been used, the song and film bolstered interest back into the singers work. Although, on the other side of the coin, â€Å"it is precisely because the message in music is so implicit, because it influences us somewhat subliminally, that we find its failings so noteworthy[†¦] The stakes are high: when it works, it moves us, but when it fails, we cringe at the attempt† (Wright 2003:12). Because popular music tends to exist within the moment, it changes and mutates at the same rate as fashion or hairstyles, the risk of using a popular song from a certain time can immediately give a film a shelf life. Obviously, over time, all films begin to look dated compared to their modern equivalents, however, popular music evolves at such a lightning pace that the wrong piece (or some times, the right piece for that moment in time) can often make a film seem laughable or extremely out dated within a short space of time (See many, many, many films from the 80s) It therefore, appears that producers and directors run significant risk when making a conscious decision to use popular music as score. Which does seem to beg the question, that if music written for the film can be tailored to fit a films needs precisely and pre-existing material tends to loose its relevance within years, why do people still use popular music? From a cynical point of view it could be suggested that its more often than not with financial reasons in mind, its common knowledge that only one in ten productions will return a substantial profit, however its the huge profit of that one that makes up for all the others, so the added bonus of having an easily marketable sound track is always going to be a draw in terms of money. However, pre-existing music has its own artistic merits within film as a choice of soundtrack. Since most popular songs chosen for film (such as â€Å"In Dreams† mentioned earlier) have already existed within the public consciousness for considerable time enough for people to build and attach their own set of feelings and emotions to a song, the use of popular music brings with it a ready prepared set of emotional triggers that a film or scene can build on top of, this always for a scene to carry more emotional clout than if an unheard and unknown score made for the film was used in its place. â€Å"The right song in the right place can be an extremely powerful device† (Wright 2003:13) Though it is indeed true that the use of popular music can run the risk of making a film seem out dated fairly quickly, the act that pre-existing popular music does capture and retain the mood of the time period it was created in can be an extremely useful tool when the subject matter of a film is specific to a certain era, it can instantly and effortlessly conjure up the mood of a certain point in history in a way that a composed score would struggle to achieve. Familiar examples of music from the desired era summon up not only the musical memory of the time, but come complete with the attitudes and ideas that were linked to that period (Wright 2003:13). For example, the 1960s for many cultural and historical reasons stills resonates powerfully within the public consciousness. Francis Ford Coppolas Apocalypse Now (1979) partly achieved a faithfully accurate depiction of the ear through the careful use of songs strongly linked to that decade, but more than that, the songs chosen often reflect the bizarre situations Captain Willard (Martin Sheen) finds himself in and the deepening sense of dread that consumes him as he heads further down the river and into the stories nightmarish underbelly. This effect is starkly illustrated in the films famous beginnings, as Willard stares blankly at a ceiling fan in his room, the Doors song ‘The End plays non-diegetically along with the sound of helicopter blades. Not only does the song help to evoke feeling and images of the 60s, but it also comments upon an uncomfortable and unsettling notion that haunts the film, as Matthew Caley describes it in his essay Heavy Rotation â€Å"The opening sequence invokes the notion of a terrible re-occurrence the end becoming the beginning, signifying the heaviest of burdens† (Pop Fiction, Caley 2005:38) Some events, in this case the Vietnam war, can never be overcome on a personal level. Another important difference between the use of popular music as score and traditionally composed pieces is that, for the most part, traditional scores are used non-diegetically, as seemingly separate entitles, floating above the action, where as very often, popular music is used diegetically within the frame. This could be in part that we are almost conditioned to think of songs as more than simply visual accompaniment, we hear a song and nine times out of ten well imagine a performance going along with it, we see the band, the singer and the stage, lyrics also cry out for attention and want to be hear and analysed. Simply underscoring a scene with a popular song, can in some cases distract the audience from the main narrative drive, and as soon as an audience is lost from the film, it becomes increasingly difficult to get them back involved. So, to counter this, more often than not the source of a piece of popular music will normally be within the frame, be it a car radio or a CD p layer or (as was the case in Blue Velvet) some one singing. In this way, we no longer find the presence of a separate medium looking for attention problematic, the characters can hear what we are hearing, a logical justification for the songs presence has been given. This can also happen on a wider scale through out a film, when the set up provides a musical or semi-musical means by which to accept the constant presence of diegetic music, for example in High Fidelity (Stephen Frears, 2000), the narrative revolves around Rob Gordon (John Cussack) who runs a small, alternative-music store, and his employees. The overt musical setting always for many chances for popular songs to appear diegetically within the movie, however, once the action is removed from the apparent source of these songs, they act as score instead, but because the viewer has been given enough logical justification for their presence, their use in these situations does not direct attention from the action, or seem co ntrived and indulgent in their use. With out the earlier conditioning provided by the films location allows use, this may not be the case. â€Å"Given all these difficulties, music, with its ‘back door access to our consciousness, is a powerful tool [†¦] it stealthily pilot The audiences mood ad emotional response to a films content† (Wright 2003: 20) What it is that succeeds when popular music is used as accompaniment in film is subject to many different factors, most extremely subtle. Precisely how it effects a person is of course on an individual level and cant realistically be hammered down to a science in any way, but the successful use of music often engages in a way that is simultaneously original, but resonate with a timeless quality. Popular music is an ever changing form of expression in and of itself, and as too, the landscape and language of cinema grows and changes over time it is fair to say that what in principle can be regard as the rules to determine what does and does not work as musical accompaniment to film, will remain the same. An interesting angle that has also been undertaken by many modern film makers (perhaps not consciously) is the mimicking of techniques used in more traditional film scores when using pre-existing material, the most prevalent of these could possibly be the use of popular song as Leitmotif, which I will now explore in chapter two. Chapter 2 Popular Music as Leitmotif Firstly, the term leitmotif is, according to Groves Dictionary of Music defined as such: â€Å"A theme, or other coherent idea, clearly defined so as to retain its identity if modified on subsequent appearances, and whose purpose is to represent or symbolise a person, object, place, idea, state of mind, supernatural force or any other ingredient in a dramatic work, usually operatic but also vocal, choral or instrumental† A term used original to denote a process occurring in the operas of Richard Wagner, it has been adopted by film scholars as a means by which to describe a similar role in the classical film score, â€Å"a way of producing subtle sensations and associations in the listener (or viewer)† (Costantini: http://filmsound.org/gustavo/leitmotif-revisted.htm). In essence, the leitmotif is any melody, progression or harmony that occurs more than once during the film, and is normally attached to characters or actions as a means to evoke a memory in the viewer via a subconscious attachment of the repeating music to the images on screen. Leitmotifs also have the power to be both denotative and connotative in they way they present emotions and link to the image. The music denotes characters or/and situations through a link with music, then a repetition of the music, it can also create more subtle connotations when â€Å"foreshadowing or contradicting the images on screen† (Rodman, changing tunes 2006:124) For example, many of the scores composed by Ennio Morricone for director Sergio Leones spaghetti westerns, prominently feature the use of leitmotif to establish characters. In The Good, The Bad and The Ugly (1966), the use of a recurring two note melody is a frequent motif, played on three separate instruments to represent the three main characters of the film: flute for Blondie, ocarina for Angel eyes and human voices for Tuco. Through the denotative use of the notes A and its fourth interval upwards D, a Spanish flavour is achieved within the music, along side the three separate instruments help create a potent connection with the characters and ambience of the images on screen. The link between this leitmotif and the images it scores are so prevalent, that it is practically impossible to separate the two from one another, they are forever inescapably tethered together through this denotation, however, as leitmotif works connotatively as well, the describing traits that the music presents can exist outside the images context. Though we will always link that two note motif visually with the characters of The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, we too will always link the emotions, mood and feeling of the film (A romanticised, stylised version the west, heroism, treachery, adventure) with the music , and these connotations can carry on beyond the context of the films images, having been emotional hardwired in to our minds via the ‘back door access connotations within music can supply. It is interesting to note that upon its release as a soundtrack album, Morricones score performed very well, reaching number four on the billboard charts and becoming frequently sampled , re used and referenced by many popular musicians since (including, Gorrilaz, R.E.M and The Pogues) and thus, could be argued that it has moved from its initial use as a film score, more into the public consensus as popular music, possibly even a cultural touchstone, even if its original interests where not defined that way. As popular music has evolved beyond a simple form of entertainment and entered into the musical landscape of cinema as a method of scoring, its denotative/connotative properties have made it possible to assume the role of leitmotif when used correctly in films, it is this utilising of an established method of scoring†¦and utilising correctly, that gives yet more weight to popular music as artistically viable. When used as leitmotif, popular music tends to be given more denotative power than a traditional score, though also still able to connotate subtle meanings. The difference being that the denotation is more subtle, nuanced and relies more heavily on the viewers familiarity and competence with the music prior to experiencing it in the film. To explore this, I shall examine two popular modern films that heavily rely on popular music as score, both using it as leitmotif, in different ways however. Shaun of the Dead (Edgar Wright, 2004) and Pulp Fiction (Quentin Tarantino, 1994). Shaun of the Dead is presented as being a romantic comedy†¦with zombies, the film garnered hugely favourable reviews upon its release for its blend of witty Douglas Adams-esque British humour and the classic elements of the zombie genre found in the work of George A Romero. Like director and writer (along with Simon Pegg) Edgar Wrights earlier work on the television series Spaced, Shaun of the Dead uses a compilation score (along with a few tracks written specifically for the film) consisting of popular tunes. The same song does not reappear frequently through the film to reinforce character or situation as leitmotif may be used in a traditional score, instead the films leitmotif is to be drawn from a perceived prior knowledge that the viewer must have with the songs, which allows an emphatic, direct meaning (via lyrics, song titles and often a reference to horror genre) to achieve denotative references, often used to comic effect to act as leitmotif through the film. The stipulations of leitmotif are also achieved via the songs connotative effect on the viewer via their subtle (sometimes not so subtle) descriptions of a scenes mood, or a character trait or often the films overall theme. For example, the film opens with an excerpt from ‘Ghost Town by the Specials over a black screen, before cutting to a medium close up of Shaun (Simon Pegg) sat, mouth agape, a brain dead expression stapled to his face, in a pub (we there for automatically make the assumption that the music is being heard diegetically by the characters as well, emanating from a jukebox or something similar). The song immediately makes clear the mood of the film, the very title of the track is ‘Ghost Town, straight away subtly suggesting the coming events of the films narrative, The lyrics (though originally written about the large scale unemployment feared to be brought by the policies of Margret Thatcher) twist and lend perfectly with one of the films core themes, the idea that modern British society is dulling down, decaying, zombifing itself and wasting away in to nothing more than the aforementioned ‘Ghost Town of the songs title. The style of music itself also captures the spirit of the film, connotating on an almost subconscious level to the viewer what to expect in terms of the films mood, the up beat Ska style is certainly light hearted almost comical in its bouncy rhythms, but a sinister vein runs through the song, similarly, the film, though a comedy at heart, has moments of real horror as the zombie crisis escalates towards the end of the film. It is also extremely British in sound, as the film is too, extremely British in its writing and acting. Other examples of songs being used for their inherent referencing/or placement within the horror genre are ‘Zombie Nation by Kernkraft 4000 and ‘The Blue Wrath by I Monster. Both these songs differ wildly in their stylistic traits, but by their nature of both taking reference points from supernatural angles (zombies, monsters) they are linked to the leitmotif structure the film uses. ‘Zombie Nation in particular, though used for only a very short space of time, prescribes to a similar denotative/connotative use as Ghost Town does. Denotatively in its title it directly name checks not only the main antagonistic force of the movie but also the movies entire scene set up and connotativley it also refers to the perceived notion of a zombifed Britain, using the title in a less literal sense, the style of music (a repetitive dance song) also, through heavy irony, helps subtly convey the idea of a brain dead society, (though, thats not to suggest that dance music is inhere ntly brain dead, more that, the repetitive nature of its genre along with the social image of hordes of silent, blank eyed individuals, twitching along in unison trapped in some nightclub runs a neat parallel with the zombie hordes occupying the move) A sequence which has since gained a great deal of attention and become something of a ‘classic comedy moment, takes place towards the end of the film, trapped by the marauding, relentless zombie hordes into the Winchester pub, Shaun and his friends are forced to deal with the now un dead pub landlord, during the course of the melee the jukebox starts to play the Queen hit ‘Dont Stop me Now. The juxtaposition of the songs upbeat, positive, energetic refrain against not only harrowing and almost certainly doomed situation the characters find themselves in, but also the beaten down, bloody, bruised and emotionally frayed survivors creates a sublime moment as song and image seamlessly combine, creating comedy from unexpected irony. The songs place here however, does not conform to the regular leitmotif that has been used through the film (song as denotative via lyrics or song title), and initially the lyrics seem ironic in their positive mantra, however, the song can also be seen as a comment on Shauns now fully developed character traits. Up until now hes been something of a loser, unable to pull his life together and it takes the apocalypse to rally his leadership qualities, from this angle, the songs positive message seems more sincere in its use, we

Account of the Travels, Sufferings and Persecutions of Barbara Blaugdon

Account of the Travels, Sufferings and Persecutions of Barbara Blaugdone The title of Barbara Blaugdone’s memoir is An Account of the Travels, Sufferings and Persecutions of Barbara Blaugdone, with â€Å"travels† highlighted by its enormous size. Indeed, when reading the book the reader is perhaps most struck by Blaugdone’s excessive, nearly constant travel habits. It may even be argued that at its heart the book is a travel narrative and not a memoir or even a religious account. She traipses about the seas around the British Islea, not only in England but also venturing to Ireland to proselytize and preach to those yet untouched by the Quaker message. Travel was an important part of Quaker life. As a fledgling religious movement focused on the importance of introspective faith and a personal relationship with God, many Friends took it upon themselves to spread the word world-wide. Furthermore, as a group looked down upon and disliked by the rest of English society, Quakers were tempered to have a predisposition towards independence and adventure that serve...

Marketing Synopsis

After the Initial success of the casual shoes, GOES expanded its market towards the apparel and the sports shoe market as well, thereby demonstrating the power of Innovation. Since then, GOES had carved out a niche for itself through distinctive innovation. It has been adopting strategies to ensure that it could successfully renew its technology, products and process, and maintain long term competitiveness. Key Issues and Fact Finding: * According to us, first issue was, Polecat had no prior knowledge in the field of engineering and shoe industry. The research process was exhaustive.After insulting various publications and encyclopedias he recognized that a watertight breathing membrane worn by NASA astronauts can act as a prototype for his shoes. * After patenting the new technology, second issue was that none of any shoe leading companies in Italy showed interests in his product. This led him to manufacture the shoes all by himself. * Third Issue was that after diversifying Its pro duct portfolio and expanding Internationally, GOES could not enter sports shoe market as it had intense competition and it required a very different technology.Polecat felt that every sector requires a different mind-set, but in response to nonuser requests, Golf Shoe range was launched in 2009. * The last and the major key Issue was that shoe market was highly competitive and to maintain Its position, only innovation could not help. The shoes must be stylish and trendy enough to match the style offered by others. Thus GOES had to constantly work on product differentiation while maintaining its quality and costs. Key Learning: * The very first thing this case teaches us is that â€Å"Necessity is the mother of invention†.We must be constantly aware of our surroundings. One should have zeal and enough confidence on oneself to convert the opportunity in potential offering. Polecat realized the necessity of the shoes that breathes and created a new market altogether. * Take smal l steps and have full faith in your potential. Polecat initially 1 OFF small. This gave him an opportunity to test the response of the customers in limited period of time. After getting satisfactory response, he then switched over to men and women wear and expanded the market gradually. * â€Å"Think big†.Initially he started locally and then expanded its target market by entering in apparels and sport shoes. The company then, internationally diversified its product portfolio. Polecat realized his true potential and knew to what extent he could go. Questions: IQ . What do creativity and innovation Signify and entail? What are the key types of innovation? SQ. Analyses Goose's innovative strategy in detail. What are features of this strategy that have made Goes shoes a success? What factors, other than product innovation, does Goes owe its competitive advantage to?Q. 3. Assess the market environment of the industries Goes operate in. Who are Goose's key competitors? What Strate gies and options are available to Goes for sustaining its position in these industries? ANSI : Creativity: The process of generating ideas and new ways of doing things is called as creativity. This term is more frequently used in arts. It more refers to the thought process. Innovation: The process of generating ideas and filtering them checking the feasibility of the idea and implementing the idea to create value is called innovation.In simple terms it is the process of creating value by generating new ideas or changing existing ideas. Creativity is a part of innovation. Types of Innovation: Product Innovation: It involves the process of creating new products or altering existing product with new technology in order to create value to the customer. Process Innovation: It involves the key changes in the way of doing business. Impact of process innovation would be big. It should be communicated with the end user effectively.Service Innovation: Creating new service applications which e nables the customer much convenience. NAS:2 Innovation strategy for GOES: A good idea, constant collaboration with universities in order to see if idea is feasible and improve it and a patent to protect the innovation. Success Factors: * Company invested heavily in R&D. In 2008 GOES spent SIS$ 20. Million on R&D expenses. * GOES emphasized on the value of the patents. It made development of â€Å"Breathing Technology' its mission and held over 50 patents in this field.These 50 include Rubber soles patent, Leather soles patent, Apparel patent, patents related to processes, equipment and machinery and material. These patents helped in gaining competitive edge. Factors that Gave Competitive advantage: They positioned themselves as one of a kind catering to the entire family. Product categories were based on the target customer Target customer: Male, Female, Pricing: Medium to medium-high price range of market Product Categories: Classic products which were elegant and traditional.Casu al products which were wearable and adaptable. Production: High quality standards, continuously improving flexibility and time to market, Cost leadership. Marketing: They concentrated around the product features I. E. Technology rather than only concentrating in the fashion and style thus making a clear differentiation from other products. They advertised using the images of product and breathable sole technology. Distribution System: Very efficient and adaptable distribution system for each country they operate in based on their structure.

Autonomous work group an essential ingredient for effective organising? Essay

Following the needs of many businesses to adopt alternative forms of work design this paper tries to explain and make some sense about the effectiveness of autonomous work groups in organising. It will be argue the thesis that such groups have been, are and will be effective in some definite organisational setting. The assumptions underpinning this idea will be explored along the dialectic forming three sections. To understand this concept it seems important introduce notions of individual, group and explain why they are so central from an organisational point of view. Thus, the first part of this paper will present some psychological effects resulting through their interaction of these actors Moreover, being the idea of autonomous work group part of a complex system, it will be restrictive analyse its characteristics without locate it among others concepts produced by sociotechnical researchers. Thus, a broader analysis of sociotechnical system (STS) will be part of the second section. Difference between what STS aimed to achieve, what they really achieved, and/or what they are achieving today is still discussed. This lack of unanimous consensus lets the debate open to several interpretations, and offer the opportunity to explore and address few issues related to the self-managing groups. Hence, the last side of this paper will address a discuss about the role of management, the subordination of human criteria to the dictates of efficiency, the application to both linear and non-linear systems, and a movement toward a self-leading team type. The magnitude of such topic and the number of interesting studies surrounding this area offer to the author a dilemma regarding what should be treated and what should not. Obviously, having this script humanistic approach major evidence is given to people in organisation, and respectively team members, and management. Moreover, analysing the way in which the system adapted itself during the second half of the last century, it will be argued that organisations designed or redesigned in respect of human criteria in certain industries and environments, can reach a competitive advantage respect those that will not do it. In short, STS is an effective tool by which it is possible match both individual and organisational needs. Pursuing the paper this line of argument, issues related to politics, unions, and power, and other effects of identifications, ideology and control are not dealt in this paper neither because not relevant, nor because of secondary importance, rather, due to the limitation of the length. Individuals, Groups and Organisation To some extent groups always existed, even in USA -where in time of cold war ambitions were led to unbridled individualism, organisation used to split task into subtask, assigned it to various subunits, than these subunits divided subtask into sub-subunits and so on. Even if an organisation is formally organised according individual performance, the division of labour break down the organisation into groups. What does group means, and what needs a group fulfil for both organisation and individual? ‘A psychological group is any number of people who interact with one other, are psychologically aware of one other, and perceive themselves as group’ (Schein 1994), and are seen as group by the others from outside (Hackman 1987, in Brown 2003). If in everyday life, groups can be formed through a spontaneous or random meeting -such as four friends meets for chance in library, in organisational setting they have diverse origin. Basically, it is possible recognise two types of groups in organisation, those which are deliberately created by managers in order to fulfil the tasks required from the organisational mission, an those fulfilling psychological needs of individual beyond the minimum ones of doing their jobs; respectively formal and informal groups (Schein 1994). According to its duration the former can be of two types: permanent -such as the group of lecturer or/and professors forming the BOR depth at Lancaster University; or temporary -such as a matrix group of lecturers or/and professors committed in a project for a definite time or mission. Nevertheless, organisation takes an informal structure within which individuals interacting with others generates a group that fulfil their social needs. But contrary to the everyday life the interaction depend on defined physical location, being in fact their activity within the organisation limited by their tasks and mission to perform -such as the possibility to interact with people both meeting and working in the same office, depth, building and so on. Bearing in mind that groups can simultaneously fulfil diverse organisational functions and needs of their members, it useful here to distinguish these kinds of functions in ‘organisational and individual’ (Schein 1994). According to this partition, it is possible group organisational functions as those features coinciding with the mission of the organisation -i.e. working on a complex or interdependent task, generating new ideas or creative solutions, liaison or coordinating functions, facilitate the implementation of complex decision, or be a vehicle of socialisation or training. On the other hand, among needs group members can bring with them and groups can fulfil there are needs such as those of affiliation, sense of identification and maintain self esteem, establish and tests social reality, moreover, it reduce insecurity and anxiety. Appear now clear why groups are so important, from an organisational point of view it speed, facilitate, and improve the task-related functions. On the other hand, spending two third of our life within the workplace, meeting our psychological needs inn a group, and spending two third of our adult life in a work setting of various kinds, groups become a integral part of such work settings (Schein 1994:152). Thus, an enormous potential can be offered mixing up informal and formal functions, to comprehend it means to imagine how they can serve at the same both organisational and individual. Reed supported this thesis stating understand organisations means grasp the diverse political forces acting in it, nevertheless, decisions are not taken during a board of director, rather main actors discuss and reach agreement during a dinner on a golf course (2002). In other words, linking together individual’s needs and organisational functions to fulfil, by means of formal and informal organisation could be achieved, through effectiveness and the right balance with the social needs of employees, an organisational competitive advantage. The Socio Technical System (STS) Understand the dynamic process made up of individual’s needs interacting in organisational setting it is not as easy as at a first sight. After two decades in which the human relation (HR) approach allocate ‘attention to the employees, not work condition per se, that has the dominant impact on productivity (Peters & Waterman, cited in Moldaschl & Weber 1998:350), the sociotechnical group took another direction. Researches, associated with the work done by the Tavistock Institute in London, instead of concentrating on the enterprise as social system -where technology was not considered and workers were treated better whilst their job remained the same (Trist, in Moldaschl & Weber 1998), attempted to overcome both Tayloristic and HR approach of work design. Whereas the HR movement achieved the so-called ‘Hawthorne public relation effect’ -enforcing psychotechnics to deal with employees’ psychological ‘wealth’, STS underlined the importance of a real design of tasks (Emery 1978). The idea of STS implies that any productive organisation or part thereof is a combination of technology and social system in mutual interaction to each other. Each determines each other and the nature of work determines the type of organisation that develops among workers, whilst the sociopsychological characteristics of the worker determine the manner in which a given job will be performed (Schein 1994). This idea led to the development of an open system theory in which organisations imports and converts various things from its environment -such as people, money equipment, raw material, and so on, and exports products, services and waste materials which result from the conversion’s process (Schein 1994). Importing people the organisation have to deal with individual’s needs, values, norms, and expectations, as a consequence, to be effective the organisation have to take in account both the nature of job and those of people. Through the Norwegian â€Å"Industrial Democracy Programmes† sponsored by the government, the employer association, and unions, STS achieved a value-free research far from the political justification for self-governance and from the economic justification of self-regulation (Susman in Moldaschl & Weber 1998:350). It led their researchers to claim a third realization through the so called principle of industrial democracy -whilst for others concentrating their efforts on the micro level of participation, and neglecting representative forms of industrial democracy they realized just direct workplace democracy (Blackler 1982 in Moldaschl & Weber 1998). Another important concept is based on the joint optimisation through which it is possible developing design solutions that consider human criteria and efficiency criteria equally (Brown 2003). Thus, it â€Å"enables a best match in this way†¦such as Emery’s ‘nine-step model’ that aims to reduce â€Å"key variances† in, and between work systems, and to control them by â€Å"self-regulation† of the workers’ (Moldaschl & Weber 1998:360). This self-regulation, interdependence and self-governance, draw attention to decisions that ca be delegated to work groups that, in function of these, are defined as autonomous work group. In some industries has been discovered that higher levels of productivity and quality can be achieved giving clusters of tasks to a work group (Findlay et al, 2000; Barker 1999; Knights and McCabe 2000; Muller 1992; Sewell 1998); such ‘autonomous work groups are then made responsible for producing entire product such a radio, an engine’ (Schein 1994). The idea was to group several workers -organised in multifunctional structure with flexible job rotation, in a spatially and organisationally limited production unit, share a common task that is divided into interdependent sub task, and assume share responsibility over the long term. Among its criteria can be notice boundary maintenance (Moldaschl & Weber 1998:360). What sociotechnology group tried to achieve through the implement of autonomous work group is a way of simultaneously satisfying psychological and task needs (Buchanan 2000:29). In other words, a whole group is provided the opportunity to design and manage a total integrated task, thus permitting workers to fulfil their social and self actualising needs within the context of the work situation’ (Herbst 1962 in Schein 1994:195). Nevertheless being the role of management present to some extents, it is more correct to speak about semi autonomous work groups. Among the variety of semi-autonomous work group, it is useful to adopt the three forms identified by Brown (2003). The composite fully multi skilled -as in the Tavistock Institute Coal Mining studies where miners learnt and performed diverse task; the matrix form -as in Fiorelli’s idea of quality circle where a group of people, having different specialised functions, overlapped competences (1998); and the network where individuals are far but frequently in contact to each other through information technologies such as teleconferencing to exchange knowledge – from which the ongoing ‘knowledge management team’ (Bell, Blackler and Crump in Fulop & Linstead 1999:228). This tri-partition can be associated with changes in the second half of twentieth century in western society where ‘technological and organisational improvement led radical changes in economical sector’ (Ackroyd and Lawernson 1995, Piore & Sabel 1984, Zuboff 1998). Especially during the last three decades of the twenties century, after a climate of tension, a new international distension opened up new opportunities for businesses and ventures, new markets were found available to be explored and offered new competitive advantages to companies, (Hutton 2002). The re-design of the organisational structure bring in fact some effects within the socio-economical system where it is embedded. International markets got crowded; pressure and competition increased forcing companies to redesign their organisation. To face this turbulent environment Trist et al propose: ‘an alternative design based on the redundancies of functions: for individual they create role rather mere jobs; for the organisation they bring into being a variety-increasing system rather than the traditional control by variety reduction†¦(through) continuing development of appropriate new values concerned with improving the quality of working life by keeping the technological determinants of worker behaviour to a minimum in order to satisfy social and psychological needs by the involvement of all. Autonomous working groups, collaboration instead competitions, and reduction of hierarchical emphasis, are some of the requirements for operating effectively in modern turbulence (in Pugh & Hickson 1996:182 -emphasis added) As stated by Trist within this theoretical pattern, autonomous work group is an essential ingredient for the effective organising. Discussion and conclusion The role of management seems to be an essential component to the achievement of the best match within the system for both Blackler and Brown (1978), and Fox (1995), whilst strangely, STS approach does not seems to explicitly address neither the problem of management, nor those of managerial control. Differently, Knights & McCabe (2000) exploring what team working means for employees’ lives within an automobile manufacture company, affirm that employees as well as managers are capable of exercise power interpreting and reinterpreting management strategies. Stressing the accent on autonomy, managerial role need to be redefined to support and favourite tasks of group members. Accordingly, to meet autonomous work group needs a manager should be a good diagnostician, trying to be flexible enough to understand and to vary their own behaviour in relation to the needs of their subordinates (Schein 1994). Nevertheless, it is useful remember that individuals’ needs are not just meet through groups, they have another set of necessity that are fulfilled outside the group, alone, as well as with a friend. What I am addressing here is what Costea and Crump called the standardisation of individual -or better how to make an individual as unique as its mate (2003). In other words to be effective in self managing groups members have to maintain their equilibrium that permits them to keep and evolve its personality: members are not asked to follows rules, rather to make decisions. For this reason Often, the practical one does not confirm what in academic setting appear feasible from a conceptual level. Even for the best social scientist it is quite hard, if not impossible, individuate a priori the huge amount of forces arising from the combination of interests and pressure groups in which his theory will become part. In practical conditions, sociotechnical projects sometimes failed because they subordinate human criteria to the dictates of efficiency or because they become victim of a political conflicts (Blackler, 1982; Kelly, 1978; Sydow, 1985; Pasmore, 1995 in Moldaschl & Weber 1998), making it often impossible to translate joint optimisation of human goals and efficiency into reality. ‘Although mainly consisting of psychologist of work and organisation, the â€Å"classical† Tavistock representatives of the STS approach does not regard its primary goal to be the far reaching consideration of human criteria in the design process of a work system. Rather they st rive for an optimal compromise between technical, economic, and human work design objectives’ (Moldaschl & Weber 1998:362). Changing our analysis from a classical to more contemporaneous perspective, a diverse slant come from the observation that self managing groups are still effective, but they loose their grip on organisation when have to deal with the no-routine office work of management and professional -being these set of practices developed for linear work systems (Fox 1995). Diverse from Pugh and Hickson (1986), Fox notes that not always the use of autonomous work group seems to be appropriate, in fact ‘the creation of recticular organisation (characterised by a fluid distribution of information and authority that changes are required) may be appropriate†¦in some non linear work systems (1995:103). STS’ concepts have contributed to improve design and redesign of many work systems, however most of the successful experiences occurred in well-defined linear systems-characterised by a sequential process of input-output, rather in unclear defined non-linear system -where the absence of the in-out property makes it difficult to separate different conversion flows into well-bounded entities (Pava, 1986). Nevertheless, a major revolution is not required to broaden the applicability of STS principles: Modifying the practices employed in STS design to include non-linear work systems is consistent with the essential precepts of STS design: open system analysis, a best match of social and technical subsystems, redundant functions over redundant parts, systemic interrelationships between design factors, self-design, and critical specification (Pava 211). In this capacity to adapt itself in both changing organisational requirements and environment, I think should be recognised the bigger strength of STS. Becoming this adaptability without distort any principle, the approach seems to be relevant especially nowadays, seeking organisations new means of empowerment to boost the productivity in increasingly turbulent environment. A final consideration is due to the work Manz who argue, the future of self-managing groups seems be oriented to lead workers to lead themselves (1992). During this movement toward a self-leading team type of work design, the latter identify some contingency factors relevant to this transition such as: nature of workers; work context; new manufacturing techniques; environment; and organisational system. However, this model seems more likely applicable in such culture where both high trust to workers and decentralisation of power is given -i.e. UK as opposite to Japan and Germany. In fact, ‘Movement toward self-leading team work likely to require significant involvement of the work force in determining the direction of the organisation as well as carrying out that direction, and the opportunity for the work teams to influence that direction, especially as it relates to their specific work performance’ (Manz 1992). Within this framework, it possible imagine shift from traditional & participative leadership to a self management role of leader, in doing it, the new role will be to lead members’ group to lead themselves (Manz & Sims 1987). Being both the power shifting from managers to team members, and the latter able to distinguish true managerial aptitudes from artificial (Knights & McCabe 2000), a certain amount of resistance from the former could be assumed. It leads to pay attention on the way in which managers implement these set of practices. In conclusion, due to its adaptability to technological innovations, and its flexibility in linear and non linear systems autonomous work group could seems even more actual today than during the second half of the second century. Its democratic principles and the democratic way in which tasks are thought and accomplished, seems to make this system the most appropriate within those political environment in which principles of democracy are used. This thesis seems reinforced from the growth of lean systems and consequently from practices as Just in Time, Business Process Re-engineering, or Total Quality Management in those organisational setting where work design diverse from human centred. On the base of both the literature proposed, and the assumption resting on this paper, an important feature seems emerge. For those organisations pursuing human relations and democratic policies, autonomous work group permits both individual and organisations to pursue their own interests. Not just offering the opportunity to decrease alienation filling their social needs to the former, and to reduce practice such as of absenteeism, sabotage, and achieve that commitment and loyalty, to the latter. Rather it seems the best compromise between capitalism and working class since the first industrial revolution to nowadays. An effective tool capable to improves and re-defines the boundaries of the psychological contract and consecutively boosts productivity and reduces costs. To create effective self-managing groups become central the role of top management in planning and develop a long-term program made of continuous investment in work design research, and in staff and management programs (Pearson 1992). It will allow a deep understanding about the dynamics of members’ needs, a constant design, a re-negation of the task requirements, and to avoid both mismanagement, and the establishment of repetitive alienating tasks. Finally, to figure out this sophisticated topic, a broader research should analyse the interrelation and influences of related issue such as: identifications; role of control; ideology of team, politico-economic and socio-cultural peculiarity of the society; in which the organisation will decide to implement self management group working. Within this system, autonomous work group seems to be not a problem to be solved, rather a solution to deal today with the confluence of tensions resulting from yesterday’s decisions.