Wednesday, May 6, 2020
Social Media Facebook - 2302 Words
Social Media Facebook The popular social network founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg at Harvard University. It is a web-based social utility that was designed to facilitate efï ¬ cient communication between family, friends and co-workers (Witek, 2012). Facebook announced its Q1 2014 financial and user figures, showing that now there are more than 1 billion mobile monthly active users across the world. Overall, Facebook has 1.27 billion MAUs (Monthly Active Users) and 802 million DAUs. (Monthly Active Users) (Inside Facebook, 2014) Champoux, Durgee, McGlynn (2012) provided attitude toward the reputation of Facebook that depends on the method of mutual conversations at no cost, and it has many advantages as well as disadvantages. Witek (2012) described Facebook is operated base on three main roles, there are Feeds, Share and Comment. Feeds: access and control A feed is defined as the information and updates about routine life of all contacting users in a converse timely sequence. Two key feeds of the Facebook are News Feed and Timeline of users. After logging into the account, the News Feed is showed on the initial page of any user. The main information in the first page comprises status updates, videos, pictures and links of website. The word ââ¬ËNew Feedââ¬â¢ stems from the way that every users acquire the news and any updates about userââ¬â¢s interests in routine life. In contrast, for a userââ¬â¢s Timeline, only userââ¬â¢s own updates and activities are presented. The Timeline is accessibleShow MoreRelatedFacebook and Social Media Addiction938 Words à |à 4 Pagesfor her phone back so she could look at her Facebook notification. Her mom said no but she just kept on begging and begging for it back until her mom noticedâ⬠¦ Sarah was crying over an electronic device. At that point she understood that her daughter was falling into the deep, dark hole of social media addiction. Why are social sites like a drug to some people? Is it normal to use the Internet a lot? What really makes a person addicted to a social media site? To answer these crucial questions, oneRead MoreFacebook s Impact On Social Media923 Words à |à 4 PagesTwitter is rapidly ground online social media network platform that allows user to send short messages ââ¬Å"tweetsâ⬠and read other user messages. Through this system people are able to receive real time updates, and follow other users in order to stay updated on significant information based on individual preference. The initial ââ¬Å"tweetâ⬠was sent on March 21, 2006 by the Web designer Jack Dorsey (Nicholas Carlson, 2011). The Twitter developed from the start-up company Odeo Inc., and first idea was toRead MoreFacebook s Influence On Social Media Essay1736 Words à |à 7 PagesOver the last 10 years Facebook has become one of the most socially pervasive social media platforms by offering users a wide variety of fea tures free of charge. In western countries, almost everyone knows what Facebook is, or knows someone on the social media website. However, what users fail to recognise is they are compromising their personal data for the purpose of advertising. The raises the main concern of exploitation through Facebookââ¬â¢s advertising techniques, alongside issues of privacy andRead MoreStudy on Facebook and Social Media Usage 647 Words à |à 3 PagesGrahl, Social media are ââ¬Å"Services that allow you to upload and share various media such as pictures and video. Most services have additional social features such as profiles, commenting, etcâ⬠. There are many purposes of using the social media such as Personal use, creating brand awareness, Marketing, sharing of information, entertainment. Different social media has provided different usage on them thus may serve different purposes. 2. The write Gary Hayden has concluded that using Facebook is depressingRead MoreSocial Media Experience : The Rise Of Facebook2729 Words à |à 11 Pages Social Media Experience: The Rise of Facebook Research Report CCT208: Writing and Research Methods in Communication Tiffany Wong 1000691593 Professor Divya Maharajh April 8th, 2015 Abstract In this project, quantitative research was conducted to provide students and adults in our community data on how the frequent use of posting or viewing Facebook correlate to oneââ¬â¢s emotions of narcissism or loneliness. The study was conducted to understand the motivationsRead MoreSocial Media and Kathmandu Facebook Page Essay4875 Words à |à 20 PagesLimited | April 4 2013 | How do social media and consumer-generated content change the way marketers operate? | Nicole Mack | Contents 1.0 Executive Summary 2 2.0 An Introduction to Kathmandu Holdings Limited 3 2.1 Products 3 2.2 Target market and key financials 3 2.3 Analysis of key financials 4 3.0 An investigation of Kathmanduââ¬â¢s Facebook page 6 3.1 Marketing on the Kathmandu Facebook page 6 3.2 Engaging their customers through Facebook 7 3.3 What Kathmandu could do toRead MoreFacebook Is The Most Successful And Popular Form Of Social Media1873 Words à |à 8 PagesFacebook is the most successful and popular form of social media. It was established in 2004 and has over 900 million active users; half of who use it on a mobile device. It also appears in 77 different languages. Because of its overwhelming popularity, Facebook is a widely used outlet for marketers worldwide. Facebook and social media as a whole play a large role in a companyââ¬â¢s Integrated Marketing Communications strategy. Companies are incorporating social media into their marketing mix to reachRead MoreSocial Media Business Model Analysis - Case Tencent, Facebook, and Myspace34799 Words à |à 140 Pagesl Social Media Business Model Analysis - Case Tencent, Facebook, and Myspace Logistics Master s thesis Xiaoyan Hu 2011 Department of Information and Service Economy Aalto University School of Economics ABSTRACT The term of social media is becoming increasingly popular presently, the amount of social media users is growing dramatically, and the monetization of social media has been discussed in publications but not in details. Nowadays, the most frequently used approach to make money forRead MoreFacebook Is A Social Media864 Words à |à 4 PagesTwitter is a social media app where teens can share and experience whatââ¬â¢s going throughout their lives and whatââ¬â¢s going on throughout the world. People can use twitter in many ways, they can share pictures and other peopleââ¬â¢s tweets or they can simply tweet about what they want. Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey, Evan Williams, Biz Stone, and Noah Glass. The app can be retrieved through any smartphone and the cost of it is free. Twitter is like Facebook, you can post any type of picturesRead MoreFacebook Is A Social Media Website1102 Words à |à 5 PagesFacebook is a social media website that is used among people of all ages, to stay connected with friends and family all within the privacy of their home. The uses of Facebook consist of, joining groups, playing games, and making new friends. With so many aspects itââ¬â¢s no wonder the Facebook network grows larger and larger by the second. Like all social media sites there are precautions that should be taken to ensure safe use. To use Facebook responsibly users should check account privacy settings
Tuesday, May 5, 2020
International Business Robust Analysis and Discussion â⬠Sample
Question: Discuss about the International Business for Robust Analysis and Discussion? Answer: Introduction: This assignment is about robust analysis and discussion of an esteemed organization which regularly features in business journals and documents. The report is all about illustrative and comprehensive write-up about The Coca Cola Company and its financial details. The author has extensively researched about financial as well as non-financial data of the Coca Cola Company. Coca Cola is a leading consumer goods company in UK. The company is highly famous for the flagship product Coca Cola. The branding strategy and formula of the company were bought by Asa Griggs Candler, who created the Coca Cola company is the year 1892. The organization manufactures syrup content which has extensive territory regarding bottling and marketing. The performance graph of the company is laid below (coca-colacompany.com, 2015). A comparative graphical analysis stated above reflects on the performance of the Coca Cola with regard to players or competitors namely, Archer Daniels Midland Company, Brown-Forman Corporation, Campbell Soup Company, ConAgra Foods, Inc., Constellation Brands, Inc., BG Foods, Inc., Dean Foods Company, Dr Pepper Snapple Group, Inc., Darling Ingredients Inc., Herbalife Ltd., The Hershey Company, Hormel Foods Corporation, Kellogg Company, The J.M. Smucker Company etc. Rationale for selection: Coca Cola has been on the forefront in the industry and a major player in the domain of consumer goods for over an extended period. The overall business operations of Coca Cola define simplicity and easiness. The company has never deviated from its core ethos and business values as promulgated by the founders of the organization (Aula and Heinonen 2016). Throughout the decades, Coca Cola has managed to sustain the values and ethics in the industry. Coca-Cola has remained consistent when communicating one robust and powerful message: enjoyment. Persisting with simple slogans the likes of Enjoy and Happiness never fades out of style and attracts attention of masses quickly across the length and breadth of the world. Measurement of Cola Cola's achievement can be simply done (Ir.cokecce.com 2016). Their success is reflected by the product quality and figures are reflected in sales. Currently, Coca Cola has lead the industry by having the most popular and consumed soft drinks in world (Ba ah 2015). Critically speaking, Coca Cola had its share of unsuccessful times. In developed markets, the growth of the booming drinks industry from the 1970s to the 1990s came to a standstill. At that period, the competition was intensifying from players other players. Adding to that, consumers were becoming more health conscious and wary of health drinks. Other environmental issues cropped up then (Balmer 2012). Coca Cola devised a strategy of modifying its core product line. It launched Diet Coke or Coke Light thereby adding to revenue and growth. First, growth can be found in mature or stable categories. The success of the organization underlines that. Second, companies should be flexible concerning their business model and functions. Hence, it is indeed worth learning from Coca Cola about how to do business in keeping with various issues and concerns yet flourishing the way it has (Pendergrast 2013). Performance Analysis: For analysis of the performance of Coca Cola of Ratios has been made asunder. Profitability Ratios 2015 2014 2013 2012 2011 Return on capital employed Net Operating Income/ ( Total Assets - Current Liabilities) 13.81% 16.22% 17.24% 18.95% 14.87% Return on Equity Net Income / Equity 28.77% 23.41% 25.88% 27.51% 27.37% Net Profit Percentage Net Income / Net Sales 16.60% 15.45% 18.38% 18.76% 18.42% Gross Profit Percentage Gross Profit / Net Sales 60.54% 61.20% 60.88% 60.25% 60.86% Operating Profit Percentage Operating Income / Net Sales 19.71% 21.07% 22.97% 23.00% 21.82% Liquidity Ratios Current ratio Current Asset/ Current Liabilities 1.24% 1.02% 1.13% 1.09% 1.05% Quick Ratio Quick Assets/ Current Liabilities 0.72% 0.81% 0.90% 0.77% 0.78% Working Capital Management Ratio Working Capital Turnover Ratio Working capital turnover = Net operating revenues Working capital 60.42% 75.16% 13.41% 19.15% 38.34% Capital Structure Inventory Turnover Ratio Cost of Goods Sold/ Inventory 5.80% 5.77% 5.62% 5.84% 5.89% Stock Holding Period ( Days) 365/ Inventory Turnover 12.58% 11.77% 11.14% 11.18% 12.01% Stock Market Performance Price/ Earnings ratio EPS/MPS 0.04% 5.07% 5.23% 5.76% 5.53% Dividend Yield Dividend per share / Current Share Price 3.13% 3.29% 2.97% 2.95% 3.02% A SWOT analysis will demonstrate the performance of Coca Cola Company last few years is laid below: Strengths Quality of product offered to the customers is high. Coca-Cola has strong position in the UK market. It has been able to sustain a healthy financial state of affairs, and pays high dividends to the investors. Coca Cola holds world's largest market share in beverages which amounts to about 40%. The company enjoys having one of the most loyal consumer groups across the globe. Coca Cola being the largest beverage manufacturer in the world has significant powers over its suppliers to attain the lowest price. Coca Cola is increasingly aiming its operations on Customer Social Responsibilities through varied initiatives like energy conversation, recycling, and packaging which boosts the firm's social image and provides an edge over its competitors in the industry. Weakness Lack of diversification in products and services is an important shortcoming. Coca Cola offers only syrup based items as products. It should introspect over the introduction of new products to diversify its business operations (Bes-Rastrollo et al. 2013). Sometimes, the firm is accused of adverse publicity by drawing criticism from various quarters over the high level of water usage in the products. Opportunities The consumer goods business in UK has the high rate of growth in the future. Individuals of different culture reside in UK. The firms or MNCs in UK showcase an increase in number of customers each year. This has increased the business for the same domain. Due to several awareness of demand to fight obesity and health issues, the need for nutritious food products has considerably risen (Nguyen and Nguyen 2015). Therefore, Coca Cola has enormous opportunities for the introduction of food items and calories which are low fat in nature. Consumption of soft drinks and beverages is still on a high as far as BRIC nations are concerned. The firm could have inroads into the market of those countries. Threats 1. Coca Cola company operates in a highly competitive market. It has heavy competition from other FMCG industry. The players namely, PepsiCo and others are fast catching on Coca Cola. Hence, its imperative for the firm to devise new strategies and plans and work out the plan subsequently. Consumers across the globe are becoming health conscious and mainly avoid soft drinks which are carbonated in nature. The problem here is that the firm primarily serves carbonated items. Few of Coca Colas products have adverse health concerns. Hence, some governments of respective nations are contemplating to pass legislations which would mean that the firm would have to provide information disclosing health information on its label. The financial performance of Coca Cola has exposed strong growth in terms of profitability index. Growth has been witnessed in the EPS of shareholders. The rate of divided has also demonstrated steady and stable growth over the said time. The Summary and break-up of analysis of ratios above is discussed below: Profitability Ratios Years 2015 2014 2013 2012 2011 Return on capital employed Net Operating Income/ ( Total Assets - Current Liabilities) 13.81% 16.22% 17.24% 18.95% 14.87% Return on Equity Net Income / Equity 28.77% 23.41% 25.88% 27.51% 27.37% Net Profit Percentage Net Income / Net Sales 16.60% 15.45% 18.38% 18.76% 18.42% Gross Profit Percentage Gross Profit / Net Sales 60.54% 61.20% 60.88% 60.25% 60.86% Operating Profit Percentage Operating Income / Net Sales 19.71% 21.07% 22.97% 23.00% 21.82% The profitability position of an organization can be derived from profitability ratios. It include return on the capital employed, Net Profit margin , return on equity, , Gross Profit margin, and operating profit Margin. Here, key indicators as far as profitability ratios are concerned are Net Profit Percentage, Return on Capital Employed, G/P Percentage and Operating Profit Percentage respectively. Coca Cola has experienced a steady and reasonable growth regarding profitability. Amongst all, G/P rate achieved the best reading (Thomas 2014). Liquidity Ratios Years 2015 2014 2013 2012 2011 Quick Ratio Quick Assets/ Current Liabilities 0.72% 0.81% 0.90% 0.77% 0.78% Current ratio Current Asset/ Current Liabilities 1.240% 1.02% 1.13% 1.09% 1.05% Liquidity ratios state the ability of the organization to repay its current liabilities. Current ratio and the quick ratio are the two liquidity ratios which portray information regarding the liquidity position of organization (Financials.morningstar.com 2016). The quick ratio excludes the inventory. The liquidity position of the organization has been sound. The company has not being able to repay the current liabilities in an efficient manner with the current assets. It reveals that firm has used its inventory effectively. Working Capital Management Ratio Years 2015 2014 2013 2012 2011 Working capital turnover Ratio Net operating revenues Working capital 60.42% 75.16% 13.41% 19.15% 38.34% The working capital turnover has been deducted on dividing net operating revenues by the working capital. In Coca Cola, the working capital turnover of the company has been impressive in the year 2014 (Kraft and Schwartz 2015). However, the same had a decline which lasted between 2011 till 2013. The preceding year has seen a fair result which is better than years of 2011 to 2013. Capital Structure Years 2015 2014 2013 2012 2011 Inventory Turnover Ratio Cost of Goods Sold / Inventory 5.80% 5.77% 5.62% 5.84% 5.89% Stock Holding Period ( Days) 365/ Inventory Turnover 12.58% 11.77% 11.14% 11.18% 12.01% The capital structure consists of Inventory turnover and stock holding period. The capital structure of Coca Cola provides with a sound picture of both. The inventory is computed by dividing Cost of goods sold (CGS) by stock. It has experienced a steady run over the period of five years (Hwang et al. 2015). The stock holding period has been impressive in the year 2015. Otherwise, the remainder of years has witnessed a moderate performance. Stock Market Performance Years 2015 2014 2013 2012 2011 Price/ Earnings ratio EPS/MPS 0.04% 5.07% 5.23% 5.76% 5.53% Dividend Yield Dividend per share / Current Share Price 3.13% 3.29% 2.97% 2.95% 3.02% The stock market performance or activity of a firm is figured out by results of price earnings ratio and dividend yield (Gardner et al. 2012). Price earnings ratio is attained by dividing earning per share by market price of the share. Whereas, the dividend yield has experienced a stable growth for over five years. Nonfinancial performance indicators: Employee Satisfaction- Coca Cola can use the following nonfinancial performance indicators. The firm has to maintain its worthiness amongst the employees. They put strong value to meet the objectives of the employees (Reddy et al. 2016). The company has maintained healthy relation with investors. It has recruited quality employees. The same have been trained via graduate programs thereby maintaining a pool of efficient human resources. The organization is spending funds for training of the employees. Despite adverse economic climate, the company has invested in training the employees. The company has come up with innovative solutions to increase their effectiveness in decision making. It has led to enhancement of its collaboration with the supply chain in order to deliver better quality product to customers. The company has special custom in place to uphold the culture of the organization. The group is boasts of maintenance of its health and the safety standards within its ranks. It will manage issues by the innovative policy. Corporate governance: The organization understands the importance of corporate governance. Coca Cola has never entered into any kind of unethical practices with other organizations (Morrison and Humlen 2015). It has placed definite value on distribution of the rights amongst various participants in group. The various decisions-making process of the organization is governed by rules of corporate governance (Russell et al. 2016). The objectives of the groups are laid by the norms of corporate governance. The company has individual ethos and values. Various mechanisms are followed for monitoring performance and actions of the organization. CSR: The corporation has focused on nonfinancial area i.e. enhancement of its image in the public domain (Strand 2013). This will increase the confidence of the company in the realm of interested parties, and customers and others will build healthy relationship with the community. The objectives of the organization will enable it to sustain its brand image (Karnani 2013). All the activities should generate positive and encouraging feedback from the media and others by and large. Limitations of Ratio Analysis: Ratio analysis can be used for a comparison of financial health in a quantifiable manner and other financial data of the company along with other firms and helps the researcher to gain an overview of cash flows, results and financial statements. Nevertheless, there are certain limitations which are laid as follows. All the figures obtained from ratio analysis results from the actual historical results. There may be deviation of the results in future. However, ratio analysis can be used onpro formainformation and make a comparison the same to historical results for internal uniformity. In the event of change of rate of inflation during the period, this means that the numbers cannot be compared across diverse periods. For instance, if the rate was 100% in a year, then the sales would have revealed to have doubled in the next year, whereas in reality there is no change in sales. This offers erroneous reading going forward (Van Calster et al. 2016). The information obtained from a partic ular financial statement line item might be computed in a different manner earlier so that ratio analysis on the trend line does not give rise to the same information throughout the entire leaning period. A company might modify the basic operational structure to an extent that the ratio will be computed previously and if it is compared to the same ratio today would offer an ambiguous results. For example, if one had implemented constraint analysis system, this may result in reduction in the investment in the fixed assets whereas a ratio analysis might conclude that the company is letting its fixed asset base become excessively matured (Leibold 2015). Different organizations have different strategies for recording a same transaction amount. For example, in Coca Cola, one may applywritten down value method of depreciationwhile the other company uses straight-line of depreciation. Hence it may be hazardous to conduct a ratio analysis for comparison between two firms that have different strategies. For example, Coca-cola might be follow low-cost strategy, and it has willingness to acknowledge lowergross margin level in exchange for market share (Marketwatch.com 2016). Conversely, a company belonging to the same industry may focus on a better customer service strategy where the prices are much higher, and gross margins are much higher, but it will not attain the levels of revenue of first firm. Various companies operate in different industries each having different environmental conditions such as market structure, regulation etc. These factors turn out to be significant that comparing two separate organizations from different industries could be misleading. Hence following a uniform ratio analysis structure for Coca Cola along with its players can be misleading. Financial accounting information is influenced by the estimates and the assumptions. Accounting standards provide allowance to different policies of accounting , which plagues comparability and hence the r atio analysis is not that useful for situations.. Conclusion and recommendation: PepsiCo and Coca-Cola are reputable organizations with reasonable outlook which is positive, but PepsiCo has been enjoying a firm growth. Towards the end of June 2015, Coca Colas income decreased by 1.8%. The net income over the same period fell by 17%. PepsiCos income upped by 4.0% during the time period of June 2015, while rise in net income was 8.6%. Coca Cola showcased delivery of 7.7% CAGR than the last decade, which has been superseded by PepsiCo's 8.6%. The researchers assume that Coca Cola's income to rise by 5.8% in the year 2016, by 4.22% amounting to CAGR during the next 5 years. The analysts estimate around 8.6% growth in EPS for PepsiCo, followed by a 5.9% CAGR over the next 5 years (al and Adams 2014). Coca cola and PepsiCo cannot be considered to experience high rate of growth, but PepsiCo has seen definite edge in the historical as well as the expected growth in case of top line and profits (Yan and Mei 2015). On the other hand, Coca Cola has seen higher margins in comparison to that of PepsiCo. The cost of equity capital is lower than the cost of debt capital. Various investors plead with high debt capital structures for stable firms. Leverage ratios do not specify that which company is superior to the other, but investors and other interested parties should be conscious that PepsiCo carries more debt than Coca Cola (Omar et al. 2014). (For stock related graph, please refer to Appendix 1). The performance of Coca Cola is better than that of PepsiCo in terms of liquidity position, although both companies function with same liquidity and none are mainly uncertain. Coca Colas current ratio is maintained at a higher level than that of PepsiCos and both perform efficiently. Coca Colas quick ratio somewhat higher than PepsiCos quick ratio. Risk-averse investors do not find the indicators attractive. Financial risk is not seen in any of the cases. Both companies can be said to be financial healthy position , and Coca-Cola has enjoyed a slightly better position in the financial state of affairs detailed structure. This overall, lays the fact that. While the numbers of challenges facing Coca-Cola are profuse, this group does have a good deal of assurance for the future. Its overall size, force and fiscal resources have it well situated to take advantage of important possession targets. Plus, the companys brand appeal and underwriting will see it remain as a top-tier beverage pr ovider in near future. Overall, the business has great prospects References: Aula, P., and Heinonen, J., 2016. The Power of Corporate Purpose. InThe Reputable Firm(pp. 83-98). Springer International Publishing. Baah, S., 2015. The Coca-Cola Company.Strategic Management. Balmer, J.M., 2012. Corporate Brand Management Imperatives.California Management Review,54(3), pp.6-33. Bes-Rastrollo, M., Schulze, M.B., Ruiz-Canela, M. and Martinez-Gonzalez, M.A., 2013. Financial conflicts of interest and reporting bias regarding the association between sugar-sweetened beverages and weight gain: a systematic review of systematic reviews.PLoS Med,10(12), p.e1001578. al, B. and Adams, R., 2014. The Effect of Hedonistic and Utilitarian Consumer Behavior on Brand Equity: TurkeyUK Comparison on Coca Cola.Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences,150, pp.475-484. Financials.morningstar.com, 2016.Growth, Profitability, and Financial Ratios for Coca-Cola Co (KO) from Morningstar.com. [online] Available at: https://financials.morningstar.com/ratios/r.html?t=KO [Accessed 22 Feb. 2016]. Gardner, J.C., McGowan, C.B. and Susan Jr, E.M., 2012. Valuing Coca-Cola using the free cash flow to equity valuation model.Journal of Business Economics Research (Online),10(11), p.629. Hwang, C.Y., Titman, S. and Wang, Y., 2015. Investor Tastes, Corporate Behavior and Stock Returns: An Analysis of Corporate Social Responsibility.Corporate Behavior and Stock Returns: An Analysis of Corporate Social Responsibility (February 3, 2015). Ir.cokecce.com, 2016.Coca-Cola Enterprises : Ratios. [online] Available at: https://ir.cokecce.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=117435p=irol-fundratios [Accessed 22 Feb. 2016]. Karnani, A.G., 2013. Corporate Social Responsibility Does Not Avert the Tragedy of the Commons--Case Study: Coca-Cola India.Ross School of Business Paper, (1210). Kraft, H. and Schwartz, E., 2015. Cash Flow Multipliers and Optimal Investment Decisions.European Financial Management,21(3), pp.399-429. Leibold, M., 2015, May. Department of Business Management Department of Business Management University of Stellenbosch University of Stellenbosch. InProceedings of the 1996 Multicultural Marketing Conference(p. 172). Springer. Marketwatch.com, 2016.Coca-Cola Co.. [online] Available at: https://www.marketwatch.com/investing/stock/ko/financials [Accessed 22 Feb. 2016]. Morrison, G. and Humlen, A., 2015. People powered brands: How companies can inspire consumer action.Journal of Brand Strategy,4(3), pp.201-216. Nguyen, T. and Nguyen, T., 2015. Factors that make a marketing cam-paign go viral: Case study: Campaign Share a Coke by Coca Cola in Vietnam. Omar, A.T., Leach, D. and March, J., 2014. Collaboration between nonprofit and business sectors: a framework to guide strategy development for nonprofit organizations.VOLUNTAS: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations,25(3), pp.657-678. Pendergrast, M., 2013.For God, country, and Coca-Cola: The definitive history of the great American soft drink and the company that makes it. Basic Books. Reddy, S.K.Conclusion and recommendation:, Joshi, H. and Mittal, S., 2016. Coca-Colas eKOCoolSolar Cooler: Innovation to Empower Women Retailers in Rural India. Russell, C.A., Russell, D.W. and Honea, H., 2016. Corporate Social Responsibility Failures: How do Consumers Respond to Corporate Violations of Implied Social Contracts?.Journal of Business Ethics, pp.1-15. Stock Analysis on Net, 2016.Coca-Cola Co. (KO) | Short-term (Operating) Activity. [online] Available at: https://www.stock-analysis-on.net/NYSE/Company/Coca-Cola-Co/Ratios/Short-term-Operating-Activity#Inventory-Turnover [Accessed 22 Feb. 2016]. Strand, R., 2013. The chief officer of corporate social responsibility: A study of its presence in top management teams.Journal of Business Ethics,112(4), pp.721-734. Thomas, J.A., 2014.Meaning in interaction: An introduction to pragmatics. Routledge. Van Calster, T., Lemahieu, W. and Baesens, B., 2016. Data-driven algorithm for bottom-up hierarchical forecasting: a global sales forecast for the Coca-Cola Company. Yan, T. and Mei, C., 2015. Estimation and Inference of a Time-dependent Second-order Diffusion Model with Application to Financial Time Series.Communications in Statistics-Simulation and Computation, (just-accepted).
Saturday, April 11, 2020
Aol Business Strategies Essays - AOL, Online Service Providers
Aol Business Strategies A. Business Strategies 1. Strategic Objectives Brand Name Recognition Alliances with Suppliers to provide Customers with one-stop shopping Develop massive customer base Create an easy internet/email service Create non-financial costs to customers to dissuade them from moving to competitors 2. Cost Strategy Profits mater more than growth Make cost to switch not financially practically Make it financially difficult for competitors to contend with AOL 3. Differentiation Strategy Provide on-line features with special offers to AOL subscribers Attract suppliers by intangible benefit of association with AOL's brand name Offer premium services Provide user-friendly access 4. Innovation Strategy AOL Direct New AOL software AOL TV B. Successes Forty percent of online traffic is from AOL Users are watching less TV therefore advertisers are spending more on internet advertising Reduced costs by eliminating inefficient units Reduced costs by lowering AOL's cost of connect time Reduced costs to acquire new subscribers Leverage AOL's massive subscriber base for all it is worth Generated guaranteed future revenues C. Uses of Technology New AOL software could save up to $40 million in customer service costs Creating a personalized digital newspaper Creating competition for WebTV D. Problems to Overcome Not customer service friendly Internet service occasionally has outages and email glitches The telcos and cable companies are targeting AOL's customers Analysts predict AOL will lose market share Lead companies would rather invest in their own websites than AOL advertising E. Recommendations The key strategy is leveraging the brand name of AOL. AOL adds more than 10,000 users a day . Once consumers associate Internet service with AOL, then competitors will not be able to enter the market. AOL needs to form more alliances with suppliers to ensure guaranteed financial revenues for many years. AOL needs to strategize with the cash surplus and focus on new technology to eliminate system outages and email glitches. If AOL users experience to many difficulties, then they will surrender the financial and nonfinancial costs to mover to a more sophisticated Internet provider. F. Time Warner Merger 20 million families rely on AOL to be their Internet provider. This is a powerful market of consumers who are influenced by convenience. This merger is an attempt to lock in customers to AOL with the convenience of ?one-stop shopping?. Customers will be able to watch TV and email their friends about a particular program at the same time. Customers will also be able to surf the Internet during commercials of their favorite TV show. This merger is another step towards AOL's strategic goal of creating non-financial costs to deter customers from switching to another Internet provider and simultaneously, AOL will be able to create new marketing arenas in order to attract suppliers to form alliances with AOL. Strategies and Technology Customers Suppliers Competitors Strategic Objective Offer many online- * Leverage subscribers *Lock out competitors services for ease base for maximum by locking in customers of customers advertising & suppliers with AOL Cost Strategy Make cost to switch Offers suppliers access Make it financially difficult not practical to have customers pay on-line for competitors to rather than sending out a bill contend with AOL Differentiation Strategy Provide more on-line *Suppliers benefit by *Offer exclusive rights to contracts features with special association with AOL's so competitors are not able to offers to subscribers brand name add equal value to their services Innovation Strategy Introduce AOL Direct #Offer many new ideas #Provide unmatched products so members who have of marketing and and services web pages can be grouped advertising forums by common interests Strategies and Successes Strategic Objective *Brand name recognition *Offer alliances to provide *Develop massive customer base their services in a secure and make it difficult to switch format internet providers Cost Strategy #Increase monthly access fee #Charge premium rates for Cash surplus secures position privilege to advertise on any new delivery platform on AOL Differentiation Strategy #Provide user-friendly access *AOL brand name creates Lower costs of acquiring new immediate value to suppliers subscribers make it difficult for others to compete without suffering a financial hardship * is Strength of AOL # is Weakness of AOL Business
Tuesday, March 10, 2020
Jennifer Lopez Essays
Jennifer Lopez Essays Jennifer Lopez Essay Jennifer Lopez Essay For this essay the writter is going to write about two adverts, Advertising the perfumes Anais Anais by cacharel of Paris and GLOW by celebrity Jennifer Lopez. In this piece of writing the writer will use different examples to explain certain techniques used in these adverts. In this case the writer has chosen to do two adverts advertising two very successful perfumes. The first of these perfume adverts is going to be Anais Anais by cacharel of Paris and the second of these perfume adverts is going to be GLOW by famous celebrity Jennifer Lopez. Many advertisers use adverts to persuade certain people such as us to buy their gorgeous smelling perfumes. The aim of this piece of writing is to demonstrate how the writer understands or relates to the adverts and how they feel when they see these adverts, As the writer can relate to these two very interesting adverts, They will not be challenged in many ways, To use different examples to show us the difference between these two very sophisticated paper adverts. The main purpose of this essay is for the writer to show their understanding of the advertising media, and to achieve a high standard of examples. I am now going to describe the first advert that is advertising the perfume Anais Anais by cacharel of Paris. I have chosen this advert because the meanings of the words used are very cleverly used and the picture is also quite clever, The words are and tenderness will move the world and the picture is of a very beautiful young lady who has got a very natural, elegant, calming and tender look. It has also got a picture of the perfume which is quite simple yet very attracting, the colours on the bottle are pink which denotes blossom or care, green which denotes nature or environment and white which denotes clean and cleanliness, with a tiny hint of silver which denotes sparkle and shine. So this advert is very simple but nice and very attractive as it says that the perfume is tender and gentle and that its tenderness will move the world. I am now going on to describe the second advert that is also advertising a perfume that is GLOW by Jennifer Lopez who is a very famous singer and actress. I chose to do this advert because it was very appealing and it also smells very sensual. The advert is very interesting as many women would like to be Jennifer Lopez this is why the advert would be very appealing to women as this is the perfume that Jennifer Lopez wears. The colours in this advert are mainly shades of gold as this is a colour of wealth and prosperity and the colour denotes the natural goodness. The main picture in this advertisement is of Jennifer Lopez who has no clothes on but is covered in sheer gold fabric or material, At the side of the advert is a picture of the perfume bottle whish has a very extravagant look which is meant in a way to be the shape of a womans body in theory. Where as the words are very different and quite bold and up front and this describes what the perfume is about, the words are Fresh-Sexy-Clean its the GLOW this is a type of slogan as it is quite catchy and it tells u what the product is about in a way. GLOW has been targeted to the younger women aged between 13-20 this is because Jennifer Lopez is a beautiful young lady who has many male admirers so the advert is going out to young women who would like to be admired by there fellow boyfriends or males they like. Whereas Anais Anais is a more shuttle fragrance which is targeted more towards the mature, civilized lady of our day, but necessary anyone who has a good taste in perfume would buy any of these as I brought Anais Anais and I am only 15. The target audience for Anais Anais would be of ages between 21-30 who are a lot more mature than teenagers who would buy GLOW by J-lo (Jennifer Lopez). So the main difference between the two adverts is that one is targeted to a young hyper, sassy, sexy, loud, energetic, beautiful young lady which is the fragrance GLOW and this would attract many young men or boys to the young sexy, sassy, nice scented lady, whereas the other is targeted to a more mature woman who has a very sophisticated, elegant, superior feeling or moods towards her or them rather than the sassy, wild, feeling round a younger sexy female, such as myself, So the perfume for the more mature lady would obviously be Anais Anais. In my next section of writing I will be writing about what I am going to talk about, which is how different advertisers use different colours, visual images and words (language) to persuade consumers to buy the products, I am now going to start with the colours in the advert for the fragrance Anais Anais, the colours in this advert are sensual colours that have a very tender feeling towards the, these colours are mainly pastel shades such as pinks, greens, creams, blues, browns, whites and pale yellows which are very natural , although there is a tiny hint of silver and black on the bottle of the fragrance.
Saturday, February 22, 2020
Accounting Theory Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words
Accounting Theory - Essay Example The branch of accounting that involves systematic statement of principles and methodology, as distinct from practice is known as accounting theory (Porwal, 2001 7). The purpose of this is to provide a set of principles and relationships which explain practices that are observed in the real world and predict practices that are unobserved (Schroeder et al., 2010 1). If one wishes to experience firsthand the level of confusion it can create, they should observe how Chinese companies issue three different categories of shares ââ¬â ââ¬ËAââ¬â¢, ââ¬ËBââ¬â¢ and ââ¬ËHââ¬â¢ which are traded in three different markets by three distinct categories of shareholders. Category ââ¬ËAââ¬â¢ type shares are meant only for domestic investors and are transacted Shanghai and Shenzhen stock markets. Category ââ¬ËBââ¬â¢ shares are traded in the same stock exchange but only by foreign investors and category ââ¬ËHââ¬â¢ shares are traded in Hong Kong stock exchange. So, while issuing ââ¬ËAââ¬â¢ category shares a Chinese company has to adhere to Chinese Accounting Standard (CAS), and while issuing ââ¬ËBââ¬â¢ category shares it has to follow International Accounting Standard (IAS) and while issuing ââ¬ËHââ¬â¢ category shares it has to format its accounts as required by Hong Kong Accounting Standard (HKAS). So, a mu ltiplicity of accounting standards, quite obviously, generates financial information of disparate levels of transparency and detailing. Hence it is becoming increasingly difficult for stakeholders to unquestioningly rely on information provided in the financial statements (Chen and Wei 2008 1). Such a lack of convergence among various accounting standards surely lead up to an extremely confusing scenario especially in an era of globalization when capital is freely flowing across continents and frontiers. Though one cannot disregard the local expediencies there must still be sufficient disclosures so
Thursday, February 6, 2020
Comparative Religion Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words
Comparative Religion - Essay Example Three negative aspects and at least one positive aspect of each religion will be named and explained. Secondly, Christianity which seems the closest to the ââ¬Å"truthâ⬠for me will be evaluated and five positive aspects and one negative aspect will be stated. In addition, it will be outlined how I am going to deal with the aspect I did not like. Finally, a conclusion will be provided in which I will explain how this class helped me in the search for the ââ¬Å"truthâ⬠. Hinduism is the main religion in India and other countries on South Asian Subcontinent, especially India and Nepal. It has no single founder or creator, several holy writings and more than one god. Therefore, many people often refer to Hinduism as a way of life, instead of calling it a religion. Furthermore, Hindus have a common system of values, such as duty, virtue, and morality, known as Dharma. Hinduism is a very old religion and for many people it is the religion closest to the ââ¬Å"truthâ⬠. The most appealing aspect for me is that Hinduism is a rather animal friendly religion, for instance, many Hindus are vegetarian. Treating animals well is important to me and therefore, I believe this to be a positive aspect. However, there are three aspects that I do not like. First, Hinduism includes the concept of Varna (class), which divides society into four groups: teachers and priests, warriors and nobles, farmers, merchants, and businessman, and servants and workers. The division of classes served as a model for the social order. I believe it is a negative aspect, because people are born into a certain class and have almost not change of escaping it. It can be argued that Varna was partly responsible for the caste system in India. Secondly, Hindus believe that life is a continuous series of birth, death and rebirth, which is regulated by Karma. Although that might be an attractive aspect for some people, it is not for me, because it sounds restless and wearing. Thirdly, cremati on is obligatory for most Hindus, when they pass away. Although that might be a minor aspect for many, this is a major negative aspect for me, because I would prefer to be buried. When people are buried in a graveyard, it gives friends and family a place to go to and I believe that is important. III. Buddhism Buddhism is a very old religion or way of life, which can also predominantly be found on the Indian subcontinent. It is a very spiritual religion, which focuses on spiritual development and insight into the nature of life. Furthermore, Buddhists do not worship one God or many Gods; instead they follow the teachings of Buddha. Buddhism is a very peaceful religion, since non-violence is the centre of Buddhist thinking and acting. The peaceful character is a major positive characteristic for me. Religion has been misused for many wars and acts of violence, but it is difficult to justify any wars or acts of violence with such a peaceful religion as Buddhism. Nevertheless, Buddhism is not the closest religion to the ââ¬Å"truthâ⬠for me, due to these aspects. First, Buddhists do not believe in the existence of a God. Although this might not be a negative aspect for many, it is a difficult aspect for me, because I like to believe in the existence of a higher power, so the absence of such a higher power is a negative aspect for me. Secondly, meditation as a main feature of Buddhism is a further negative aspect for me. A lot of people praise the benefits of meditation, which is perfectly all right; however, meditation is not for me. I tried to meditate on several occasions, but it does not work for me. Thirdly, a negative aspect of Buddhism for me is that life or existence is described as being a tragedy, filled with suffering
Tuesday, January 28, 2020
To Lie on the Bottom Essay Example for Free
To Lie on the Bottom Essay There is a reason that World War II and the Holocaust are considered turning points in human history, a point from which everything changed: philosophy, art, music, film, architecture, politics, history, even the very concept of humanity was altered in an often imperceptible way. Something in us died; extinguished by a darkness so all-encompassing and cold that all hope and beauty and reason and love could not survive it, nothing could, not even God himself. This darkness, this ephemeral force worse than death eventually destroyed Primo Levi, but what it couldnââ¬â¢t destroy, was his soul. His soul witnessed and suffered something worse than death, ââ¬Å"a journey towards nothingness, a journey down there, towards the bottomâ⬠(Levi, 17) and this tale from the very bottom of hell showed us a side of man never before seen. Danteââ¬â¢s Inferno where there is no God or heaven or right or wrong, but only hunger and despair. A moral hierarchy envisaged by the masterminds of the Final Solution, a cold, remorseless world where the innocent are destroyed and the strong enslaved. A world guided by the ââ¬Å"ferocious law which states: ââ¬Ëto he that has, will be given; from he that has not, will be taken awayââ¬â¢. â⬠(88) The hierarchy of this realm is distant from the rest of humanity, a timeless realm devoid of any remnants of what has been or what is yet to be. A barren, flat, colorless landscape scarred by never-ending paths of metal and wood all leading into the maw of a churning, smoke belching monster marked with a grim, foreboding preface ââ¬Å"Arbeit Macht Frei, work gives freedomâ⬠(22). This is Auschwitz, a place unlike anywhere else in the annals of human history, ââ¬Å"This is hell. Today, in our times, hell must be like this. A huge, empty room: we are tired, standing on our feet, with a tap which drips while we cannot drink the water, and we wait for something which will certainly be terrible, and nothing happens and nothing continues to happenâ⬠(22). In a place where the old, the young, and the weak are swallowed into the night and are gone forever, in a godless place like this nothing is as it should be. At the top of this mad house lies the most depraved of all, for in this place the insane rule over the sane, and the cold, mechanical fist of the S. S. is law. An extension of the mad-man responsible for this place, they are hand-picked and forged into thoughtless, remorseless killing machines and entrusted with Hitlerââ¬â¢s most important goal: the destruction of the Jew. Little is said about these brutal men, they are above the camp and therefore distant from it, the camp to them is merely their work place and ââ¬Å"they behave with the calm assurance of people doing their normal duty of every day. â⬠At times they speak to the prisoners like animals whipping them into attention ââ¬Å"in that curt, barbaric barking of Germans in command which seem to give vent to a millennial angerâ⬠, but during the selections when they decide who lives or dies with the slightest glance they are indifferent and speak ââ¬Å"in a subdued tone of voice, with faces of stoneâ⬠¦ We had expected something more apocalyptic: they seemed simple police agents. It was disconcerting and disarmingâ⬠(19). Levi would soon discover that despite their outward appearance, these cold agents of doom were the most apocalyptic men on earth entrusted with the unspeakable mission of the destruction of his people. Below the SS men in the next rung of hell resided the ââ¬ËProminenzââ¬â¢, inhabitants of Block 7 in which no regular prisoner has ever entered, they were ââ¬Å"the aristocracy, the internees holding the highest postâ⬠(32). Below them were the Reichsdeutsche, the Aryan Germans, and the Kapos ââ¬Å"they were particularly pitiless, vigorous and inhuman individuals, installed (following an investiture by the SS command, which showed itself in such choices to possess satanic knowledge of human beings) in the posts of Kapos, Blockaltester, etcâ⬠(89). These individuals established the backbone of authority, doling out punishment with reckless abandon knowing in the back of their heads if they showed the slightest hesitancy or remorse they would be quickly disposed of. Below them resided the rest of the political prisoners and British POWââ¬â¢s who were given special privileges and leniency. Below them resided the Jewish prominents: a sad and notable human phenomenonâ⬠¦ if one offers a position of privilege to a few individuals in a state of slavery, exacting in exchange the betrayal of a natural solidarity with their comrades, there will certainly be someone who will acceptâ⬠¦ When he is given command of a group of unfortunates, with the right of life or death over them, he will be cruel and tyrannical, because he will understand that if he is not sufficiently so, someone else, judged more suitable, will take over his post. Moreover, his capacity for hatred, unfulfilled in the direction of the oppressors, will double back, beyond all reason, on the oppressed; and he will only be satisfied when he has unloaded on to his underlings the injury received from above. (91) These Jewish prominents were particularly hated by Levi and his fellow Jews and this hatred only served to further distance themselves from the rest of the group. Abhorrent as it may seem to abandon your compatriots and become part of the hated ruling class of the camp; the need to survive overrode any moral dilemma, because ââ¬Å"in the Lager things are different: here the struggle to survive is without respite, because everyone is desperately and ferociously alone. â⬠(88) There is no good and evil here because if you are not a prominent you are only ââ¬Ëthe saved and the drownedââ¬â¢. The saved and the drowned are those at the very bottom of hell with nothing between them and gas chamber, only those deemed capable and fit even survive the first day, the others are exterminated immediately. Most who remain quickly succumb to the all-consuming hunger and exhaustion of the camp, ââ¬Å"their life is short, but their number is endless; they, the Muselmanner, the drowned, form the backbone of the camp, an anonymous mass, continually renewed and always identical, of non-men who march and labour in silence, the divine spark dead within them, already too empty to really sufferâ⬠(90). They are the forgotten masses of victims, abandoned by the world to their fate and quickly forgotten; no one remembers their names or their faces for they were condemned by all of humanity to a fate worse than death. ââ¬Å"Imagine a man who is deprived of everyone he lovesâ⬠¦, his house, his habits, his clothesâ⬠¦ everything he possesses: he will be a hollow man, reduced to suffering and needs, forgetful of dignity and restraint, for he who loses all often easily loses himselfâ⬠(27). Itââ¬â¢s in this way the Germans destroyed the humanity of a people before killing them further. The drowned are those who are unable to adapt, they sink down deep until it is too late for in this place ââ¬Å"to sink is the easiest of mattersâ⬠(90). After their children, women, and parents have all been swallowed up and everything they possess stolen, most give up. ââ¬Å"They follow the slope down to the bottom, like streams that run down to the seaâ⬠(90). The saved are the few that remain, the ones who still battle for salvation, who have thrown off all moral constraints that hold them back, resolved to fight ââ¬Å"against the current; to battle every day and every hour against exhaustion, hunger, cold and the resulting inertia; to resist enemies and have no pity for oneââ¬â¢s rivals; to sharpen oneââ¬â¢s wits, build up oneââ¬â¢s patience, strengthen oneââ¬â¢s will-power. Or else, to throttle all dignity and kill all conscience, to climb down into the arena as a beast against other beasts, to let oneself be guided by those unsuspected subterranean forces which sustain families and individuals in cruel timesâ⬠(92). Elias, Schepschel, Alfred L. , and Henri, four very different men, all struggling on the own path to salvation, all willing to do anything; they are not good men, for a good man means nothing in here, all the good men died a long time ago or at least ceased to be good, for only scoundrels remain now. The Germans in a sense created ââ¬Å"a gigantic biological and social experimentâ⬠(87), an alien world like no other in history, stripped of all moral and ethical boundaries, all reason and justice destroyed, replaced with a twisted, sadistic existence of perceived order masking the uncontrolled debauchery of it all. From this horror only a few are blessed with the talents needed to survive, some like Elias have ââ¬Å"survived the destruction from outside, because he is physically indestructible; he has resisted the annihilation from within because he is insaneâ⬠¦ he is a survivorâ⬠¦ the human type most suited to this way of living(97)â⬠¦ Henri, on the other hand, is eminently civilized and saneâ⬠¦ he is extremely intelligent, speaks French, German, English, and Russianâ⬠¦ is perfectly aware of his natural gifts and exploits them with the cold competence of a physic using a scientific instrumentâ⬠¦ there is nothing in the camp that he does not know and about which he has not reasoned in his close and coherent mannerâ⬠¦ hard and distant, enclosed in armour, the enemy of all, inhumanly cunning and incomprehensible like the Serpent in Genesisâ⬠(98-100) Elias and Henri are two sides of the same coin, one physically invincible the other mentally, the rare, extraordinary survivors of a biological experiment gone too far, perfectly molded for the hostile world created to destroy them. They are interesting only in the fact that they are the statistical anomalies of a mathematically-precise extermination process, one which inevitably would destroy even them. Most who survive are not so lucky, not naturally blessed with ability or strength, but simply scratch and claw their way out. They learn quickly, they learn a little German, begin to make alliances with those who have something to offer. They steal when they can, grabbing anything of value, anything that can be traded for in the ââ¬ËExchange Marketââ¬â¢, ââ¬Å"where scores of prisoners driven desperate by hunger prowl around, with lips half-open and eyes gleaming, lured by a deceptive instinct to where the merchandise shown makes the gnawing of their stomachs more acute and their salvation more assiduousâ⬠(78). These exchanges are necessary to survive, for to try to live with just the meager sustenance given is impossible, the system was created to destroy them, only by breaking the rules can one hope to survive. Often the saved are assisted by civilian workers or gain the favor of a Prominent who provides them with extra food or clothing. One of the few people Primo Leviââ¬â¢s speaks kindly of in the entire book is such a person, a civilian worker named Lorenzo. I believe that it was really due to Lorenzo that I am alive today; and not so much for his material aid, as for his having constantly reminded me by his presence, by his natural and plain manner of being good, that there existed a just world outside our won, something and someone still pure and whole, not corrupt, not savage, extraneous to hatred and terror; something difficult to define, a remote possibility of good, but for which it was worth surviving. The personages in these pages are not men. Their humanity is buried, or they themselves have buried itâ⬠¦ The evil and insane SS men, the Kapos, the political, the criminals, the prominents, great and small, down to the indifferent slave Haftlinge, all the grades of the mad hierarchy created by the Germans paradoxically fraternized in a uniform internal desolation. But Lorenzo was a man; his humanity was pure and uncontaminated, he was outside this world of negation. Thanks to Lorenzo, I managed not forget that I myself was a man. (121-122) Lorenzo represents the last vestige of a better world, a glimpse of sanity and reason that seems to no longer exist. He reminded Levi that there still remained a world outside the Lager, where humanity endured; that someday this world would no longer exist and your life would continue, and all that was thought lost forever would be returned to you. The Holocaust was not decided upon with anger, but with a cold, calculating necessity, hell-bent on destroying every Jew on Earth, to extinguish an entire people. To the Germans the Jews were a disease, a parasitic organism, which required extermination. The Jews of America and England, the Jews of the Soviet Union and of Spain, the Jews of North Africa and the Middle East, they were all to be dealt with eventually. This is the mindset of the creators of this alien world. The depravity of the camp; its cruel, ordered madness reflected the depravity and evil that emanated from the souls of those wicked men. The SS were their finest pupils, there most willing executioners, those entrusted with the sacred task of the Nazi regime: the destruction of its enemies, a war against all of humanity. The morals and ethics of their creation were the ethics and morals of Hitler himself, of Reinhard Heydrich, of Adolf Eichmann, of Heinrich Himmler, of Rudolph Hess, the masterminds of this unparalleled killing machine. This is what Primo Levi experienced deep down in the belly of the beast, inside the heart of darkness. The orchestra of the camp that emanated it throughout its boundaries ââ¬Å"the perceptible expression of its geometrical madnessâ⬠(51), the driving force behind this choreography of the dead. The SS instilled the camp with their notorious character, driven by their remorseless zeal, controlled by their obsessive discipline. The camp is as much a reflection of them as they are a reflection of their creators, the men who molded them into hardened killing machines. The lack of morals apparent in the camp derives itself from the lack of morals apparent in the individuals who created and ran it. The moral codes and fundamental laws of the Lager are based on three basic assumptions which in accordance formed a deranged society: ââ¬Å"the privileged oppress the unprivilegedâ⬠(44) and ââ¬Å"to he that has, will be given; from he that has not, will be taken awayâ⬠(88), and most importantly the complete inferiority of the Jew. The Jew was nothing, the slaves of the slaves, and everyone acted to continually reaffirm this assertion. The Kapos, the Blockaltesters, the cooks, the nurses, everyone, even the Jewish prominents constantly reminded the Jews of their inferiority, every rule and regulation instilled it further. For many non-Jews this place is nothing but a prison, they lived in relative comfort with adequate food, clothing, and shelter. As soon as they enter they are made at ease for at least there are many much worse off than they; they are given special privileges and ââ¬Å"are automatically invested with offices as they enter the camp in virtue of their natural supremacyâ⬠¦no ââ¬ËAryanââ¬â¢ Haftling was without a post, however modestâ⬠(90-91). For them Auschwitz is but a prison, but to the Jew on the contrary, ââ¬Å"the Lager is not a punishment; for us, no end is foreseen and the Lager is nothing but a manner of living assigned to us, without limits of time, in the bosom of the Germanic social organismâ⬠(82-83). This ââ¬Ëmanner of living assignedââ¬â¢ to the Jews has the effect of reducing them to their most basic needs, their dignity and integrity stripped from them. When Levi first arrived he is still a man, cognizant and alive, searching in the distance for his loved ones, ââ¬Å"at the other end of the platform; then we saw nothing more. Instead, two groups of strange individuals emerged into the light of the lamps. They walked in squads, in rows of three, with an odd, embarrassed step, head dangling in front, arms rigid. On their heads they wore comic berets and were all dressed in long striped overcoats, which even by night and from a distance looked filthy and in rags. We looked at each other without a word. It was all incomprehensible and mad, but one thing we had understood. This was the metamorphosis that awaited us. Tomorrow we would be like themâ⬠(20-21). They are transformed into tired beasts, desperate and alone, aware of only hunger and cold; they show no signs of solidarity or camaraderie, for in the Lager everyone is on his own. They must shut themselves off from reality to survive; they must dispose of all morality and thought before it destroys them. Only in this way can they survive and even then they are guaranteed nothing. They begin to despise themselves, the sad, pathetic faces they see each day, each a reflection of the other, all reduced to ghosts by the machinations of the Lager. This moral hierarchy based on the depraved morals of madmen, sought to destroy the soul of the Jewish people, to torture them into oblivion. They created a monstrous world, where the weak are crushed and the only escape was through the Chimney. This tragedy beyond all comparison in human history told a story. A story that must be told over and over again, no one should be allowed to forget them. Their stories are all the same ââ¬Å"all full of tragic disturbing necessityâ⬠¦ simple and incomprehensible like the stories in the Bible. But are they not themselves stories of a new Bible? â⬠(65-66). This new Bible, this new Exodus would renew the life of the Jewish people, and like all the times before they would begin again. They survived ââ¬Å"to tell the story, to bear witnessâ⬠¦ to save at least the skeleton, the scaffolding, the form of civilizationâ⬠(41) and with their help the world would be revived, its humanity restored, and that alien world destroyed and those responsible for it punished. The Lager would remain, a stark reminder of ââ¬Å"what manââ¬â¢s presumption made of man in Auschwitz. â⬠(55)
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