Smoking Cigarettes :: Argumentative Persuasive Example Essays

Throughout the book, the conflict between the mothers, their Chinese tradition, and language and the daughters, their American tradition, and language are evident. Suyuan and Jing-Mei Woo are mother and daughter, respectively, who are characters that illustrate the conflict between the two cultures. In the beginning of the story, the mothers who play Mahjong tell Jing-Mei to see her long lost sisters and tell them of their mother. Jing-Mei replies, "What will I say? What can I tell them about my mother? I don't know anything. She was my mother. (p31)" Then it occurs to Jing-Mei that "they are frightened" because in her they see "their own daughters, just as ignorant, just as unmindful of all the truths and hopes they have brought to America. (p31)" In these quotes, Jing-Mei perceives the gap that occurs between the mothers and daughters. This gap between each mother and daughter is described in later chapters. Jing-Mei Woo, who is called June in America, represents her mother's hopes and dreams. Her mother's name, Suyuan, meaning, "long cherished wish" speaks of this hope for Jing-Mei, whose name means "the pure younger sister (p322-3)". In the beginning, June is excited and dreams of what she will become. "In all my imaginings, I was filled with a sense that I would soon become perfect. My mother and father would adore me. I would be beyond reproach. I would never feel the need to sulk for anything (p. 143)." Her mother pushes June into many areas- academics, dance, and the piano. After failing to excel at any of the areas presented to her, she feels like a failure. She sees all the hopes her mother has for June as expectations. The final conflict comes when June performs a piano piece filled with mistakes at a talent show, which makes June believe that her mother is completely ashamed and disappointed with her. June looked through the crowd to her motherâ₠¬â„¢s face. She thought to herself, "...my mother’s expression was what devastated me: a quiet, blank look that said she had lost everything." (p. 143) What June did not realize, was that the real reason why her mother was upset was not because she had not lived up to her expectations. She was unhappy because June did not care about having the best for herself. She did not have high hopes or a passion to be successful at anything.

Iomega Corporation Data Storage

The purpose of this report is to examine the Iomega Corporation, based in Roy, Utah, for the BA 201 – Survey of Business course at Birmingham-Southern College. The company manufactures computer storage devices: the ZipTM and JazTM drives, the Clik! Storage device, and the BuzTM audio and video drive. 1 The leading supplier of data storage devices in Europe, and the third largest supplier in the world, Iomega has now strengthened its line of products with the Ditto tape backup device.2 The industry†s enthusiasm and public satisfaction with which these products were received is unprecedented in the computer industry, making Iomega an innovator among innovators. This report will discuss the following components of the Iomega Corporation: History of the corporation and its products Marketing strategies and product offerings Iomega was founded in 1980 with its flagship removable storage device, the Bernoulli drive. Though its original efforts are now more than antiquated, Bernoulli Optical Systems remains a subsidiary of Iomega. In 1983 Iomega was made public, and for the next twelve years, the company would see a period of experimentation and growth. While Iomega remained behind the major industry names of Apple and IBM, the late eighties and early nineties were integral to Iomega†s current success. The technical bases for the Zip and Jaz drives were built upon, leading to these products† 1995 release.2 Public response to the release of the portable data storage devices was enormous. Orders clogged the production component of Iomega before the disks were even released to the public, and by April 1996, barely one year after its introduction, Sony Pictures Entertainment entered into an exclusive agreement with Iomega for use of its Jaz disks.3 June of that same year would bring even greater response; Iomega entered into marketing agreements with IBM, NEC Technologies, Gateway, and Unisys.4 By the end of the summer of 1996, Iomega had formed partnerships with every major computer manufacturer in the United States. The media frenzy surrounding the release of the drives was further fueled by honors awarded by computing magazines PC Computing and Gadget Guru. The Jaz drive was named 1996†³s â€Å"Innovation of the Year† and â€Å"Most Valuable Product† by PC. Gadget Guru named the Jaz drive the â€Å"Best Computer Accessory of 1996.† These and other accolades pushed public familiarity of Iomega products higher and higher, boosting production and sales.5 In response to this domestic success, Iomega began a complete expansion of its foreign production and marketing in early 1997. European headquarters were set up in both the Netherlands and Switzerland, and their production site in Malaysia was expanded and modified. While the base of the company remained in Roy, Utah, Iomega†s presence in both Europe and Asia was fortified with a larger number of production jobs for Asians and Europeans. Coupled with a greater concentration of foreign marketing and advertising, Iomega emerged as the third largest producer of data storage devices in the world.6 The end of the 1996 fiscal year showed a 272% increase in revenue from the previous year.7 The introduction of the Jaz and Zip drives in 1995 was undoubtedly responsible for this success, which was followed in 1997 by new partnerships with Motorola, Apple, Kinko†s, and Hewlett Packard.4 By June of 1997, Iomega†s Zip drive shipments reached six million; it was then a standard in new Sony personal computers, Micron notebook computers, and in all Kinko†s store computers nationwide.8 The success of the Iomega drives remained rampant when the company announced the introduction of the Buz multimedia producer in late 1997. The Buz producer would allow consumers to capture movies, music, and photographs on their personal computers. While the success of the Buz drive still remains far behind that of the Zip and Jaz drives, this diversification allowed the company to remain on the cutting edge of computer technology. The Jaz drive was marketed as a companion piece to the Buz drive, lightly forcing consumers to purchase two products with one goal in mind.9 The approach was successful, leading to 1997 fiscal year earnings of 77%.10 May 1998, in the wake of the Buz release, brought about another important computer modernization, the Clik! drive. The Clik! drive revolutionized methods by which consumers could store digital information from handheld video cameras, computers, and cameras.11 Marketed with special Clik! disks, the drive itself brought the portable storage efforts of Iomega full circle, now having storage products for virtually every major computer product on the market. Iomega advertises in many different places. The web site www.iomega.com provides a simple way to find out about the company. It provides potential customers with many different sections geared towards answering their questions about Iomega and its products. The site allows potential customers the opportunity to gather information through press releases and news articles related to the company, and gives customers a chance to win free products in contests. More importantly, Iomega†s web site allows customers the opportunity to order its products online via a virtual shopping mall. Customers can receive Iomega†s products without ever stepping foot outside their front door. Iomega also advertises its products through other companies. Having Iomega Zip drives already installed in computers, such as Apple, Dell, and Gateway, allows customers the option of buying a Zip drive already installed in a computer of a well-established personal computer (PC) manufacturer. About 40% of Dell computers already have Iomega Zip drives installed in them. Due to all of the positive responses Iomega has received from forming partnerships with these PC manufacturers, it has decided to form a new partnership with Fujifilm. Fuji Photo Film Company Ltd. has recently started marketing branded Clik! disks. Fuji already markets Fujifilm branded Zip drives and has now signed with the forty megabyte Clik! disks. Said Steven A. Solomon, senior vice president of Fuji Photo Film USA, Inc., â€Å"We've had great success branding Iomega's popular Zip disks and we believe that we will have similar success with Clik! disks.† 12 Iomega offers customers a way to store large amounts of information on disks rather than saving them on the hard drive of their computer. The company offers 100MB Zip USB and now the new 250MB Zip drives. This option benefits both businesses and personal computer owners. Businesses profit from owning a Zip drive due to the convenience of saving large presentations or proposals on a disk and then carrying it to different places; for personal computer owners, the Zip drive allows everyone in the house to have their own disk, keeping children†s games separate from parent†s finances. The notebook Zip gives people with digital computers the ability to carry large amounts of information with them in a slim, low power design for easier storage and transportation. Iomega recently lowered the price on their external Zip 100MB SCSI and their 100MB Zip USB; the new prices are $99.95 and $129.95, respectively. Reducing the prices was â€Å"driven by the product†s universal adoption by the users of more than twenty-two million Zip drives,† said David J. Henry, vice-president and general manager of Zip/Jaz management at Iomega Corporation. 14 By lowering the price of the product, Iomega makes their products more affordable for their customers, attracting more potential buyers. Iomega Corporation announced in January 1999 that it is restructuring in hopes of increasing gross profit figures for the upcoming fiscal year. Although Iomega controls over 86% of the removable storage market, its gross profits have decreased to levels that have made public investors somewhat weary. Previously, Iomega†s structure was that of three decentralized product units which included the Professional Products, Personal Storage, and Mobile Storage divisions. The new structure will focus on eight business functions that include sales and marketing, product development, manufacturing and operations, corporate marketing, finance, legal, human resources, and corporate development and strategy. In addition, top management created a new functional group known as customer service and development which combines the existing customer service organization with a new group of applications engineers.15 Iomega hopes that these changes will ease the rise-fall-and-rise-again impression that the company has acquired since its entry into the removable storage market in 1980, thus spurring improved gross profits, consumer confidence, and an increased interest on Wall Street.16 In 1983, Iomega was on top of the Wall Street world. The searing property raised $21.7 million in public offerings due to the interest drawn by IBM PC users who were amazed by Iomega†s patented Bernoulli Box technology. The Bernoulli Box used a subsystem with stand-alone disk drives that rest beneath the monitor and provide unlimited data storage capability with removable cartridges. After several years of prosperity, the bottom fell out in 1986 and 1987 when computer makers began including relatively large storage hard drives as a standard part of the home PC. Demand for the Bernoulli Box technology waned, and Iomega experienced hard times that included an $8.5 million bank debt and enormous inventories. Michael Kucha took the reins as chief executive officer (CEO) and immediately made an impact on the struggling company. Kucha cut costs by trimming the workforce from 1,350 to 750 as well as utilizing substantial tax write-offs. In less then a year, Kucha helped Iomega gain an $18 million cash balance, cut the bank debt to zero, and slashed inventory by 50%.16 More importantly, Kucha stressed research and development during his leadership reign. The company was able to adapt its Bernoulli Box product for the Apple Macintosh computers and began benefiting from the increased demand for the Macintosh in the late 1980†³s and early 1990†³s. After a few years of slightly above average success, 1993 proved to be a disastrous year for Iomega. CEO Fred Wenniger, who replaced Kucha in 1989, departed due to shrinking margins and increased competition. The removable storage market had recently been flooded with Iomega clones that caused prices to decline, thus increasing competition. Analysts wondered if the company would survive the year.17 Leon Staciokas was named acting CEO as the company restructured during 1993 and 1994. In January 1994, Staciokas advocated a staff cut in hopes of reducing overhead expenses and freeing up extra cash. Eight percent of salaried positions were cut as part of the corporate wide restructuring.18 Later in the year, Kim Edwards replaced Staciokas and became permanent CEO of Iomega. Edwards first task was freeing up more money to invest in updating and improving technology. In July, Iomega cut 100 salaried jobs in a bold management move that would free up $4 million in overhead annually.19 Edwards† new management approach towards Iomega eventually transformed the company from a struggling business into the most successful removable storage manufacturer in the world. This approach was based on the idea of creating a product that the public would buy and use rather than simply admire. After meeting with top management and technical advisors in the early months of 1995, Edwards was able to lay the groundwork for the release of Iomega†s new Zip drive that would revolutionize the industry and reestablish the company as a major player in removable storage software. The creation and release of the Zip drive in late 1995, as well as wise financial management by Edwards, helped to increase Iomega†s operating budget from $141 million in 1995 to just over $1.2 billion in 1997. 20 Unfortunately, Iomega encountered more problems in late 1997 and early 1998. Edwards believed that opening a new product engineering and manufacturing plant in Milipitas, California, would yield greater productivity and allow for quicker response time to customer demands for new technology.21 And it did. However, in July 1998, Iomega acquired Nomai, another removable storage manufacturer, in hopes of shrinking competition and placing the company squarely in front of all competitors. This bold move hurt Iomega†s finances and caused a significant increase in operating expenses when paired with the upkeep of a brand new factory. This poor management decision by Edwards cost him his job. 22 Presently, Jodie Glore serves as president and CEO of Iomega. Mr. Glore is the permanent replacement for Kim Edwards after James Sierk served a brief stint as interim CEO. Glore hopes to reorganize and restructure Iomega; he wants to focus on the areas that the company has been criticized for in the past such as customer service and unsatisfactory product performance. Glore has already taken steps to alleviate these problems by ordering internal restructuring that will overhaul the previous system. The new system of eight business functions is a more elaborate, yet organized hierarchy. Glore hopes that it will allow a quicker response to customers, placing their needs as a top priority.15

American Beauty – Paper

American Beauty In the movie â€Å"American Beauty† there is a list of interpersonal conflicts. Lester and Carolyn Burnham are a seemingly ordinary couple in an anonymous suburban neighborhood, whose marriage and lives are slowly unraveling. They both have become so distant but remain together to keep up appearances. This relationship shows all the factors that Daniel Dana considers being a conflict. Two people are independent; they each need something from the other, both parties blame the other or find fault with them for causing the problem, one or more of the parties is angry or emotionally upset, the parties’ behaviors are affecting their relationship with each other and/or their relationships with others. †(Dana, 2000) In the movie there are many conflicts but the interpersonal conflict that stands out is that between Lester and Carolyn. The conflict between Lester and Carolyn is hard to ignore. They have stopped communicating effectively to one another. Les ter is a middle aged man, whom sees no satisfaction in his life anymore.Carolyn is a middle aged woman, whom only shows her satisfaction, but it is a mask; to make it seem that she is happy. Lester, at first, seems to have a passive communication style, compared to Carolyn’s aggressive communication style. In the narration from Lester in the beginning of the film; he seems to be tired of his life and how it is going. They live in a big white house with a red door and a white picket fence; living the American dream. Unfortunately it is anything but. They have a daughter Jane who Lester believes he has failed. One night, Lester and Carolyn go to one of her work functions.Almost immediately they go their own ways at the function. Carolyn is being entertained by the â€Å"King† of real estate, drinking. While Lester has found himself outside with the new neighbor boy Ricky Fitts, smoking the illicit drug marijuana. When they go home and are in bed, their problems come to f ruition. At this point the â€Å"blame game† comes into the picture; with much negativity. They fight back and forth sarcastically, saying hurtful things, until Carolyn jumps up out of bed and bursts out â€Å"This isn’t a marriage†. Then Lester finally speaks up and tells her what he has been feeling for years.One factor is the lack of sex between them. Also, he states that he has been her puppet for years; since she received her realtors license, and finally that he has been extremely unhappy. Then he continues saying that the only reason she is mad and saying anything is because he is finally fighting back. His dramatic and angry speech makes Carolyn silent. At this point in the film, I am more aware that they haven’t had effective communication to resolve their conflicts, for many years now. This situation escalated from their root cause of both of them becoming withdrawn, and not resolving their conflicts. When conflict erupts, emotions are involved, and the relationship can be threatened if the conflict is not resolved amicably. †(Sole, 2011) I think what started their downfall, years ago, is that they avoided conflict. This can be destructive in any relationship and/or marriage. If you don’t have the skills of resolving conflict; you run the risk of ruining your marriage, separate friendships, and shatter your family. Since both parties did not obtain the skills necessary to resolve their conflicts, it resulted in Carolyn stepping out of their marriage; to have an affair with her real-estate rival, Buddy Kane the â€Å"King†, of real-estate.Also, resulting in Lester acting out, quitting his job, smoking marijuana, buying a 1970 Pontiac Firebird, and working out to impress a 17 year old girl; what some may call a mid-life crisis. Amazingly enough, this could have all been resolved, as long as they both are willing with positive emotions during their conflicts. Research has shown that interjecting positive e motions, along with negative emotions, during discussions result in happier marriages.I think that is Lester and Carolyn would have used some basic elements like humor, light-hearted fun, or some playfulness during their conversations, their marriage could have remained happy. Then if they could know and understand one another’s communication style, they would be better at resolving conflicts between them. Lester started out having a passive communication style, and then it quickly moved to a passive-aggressive communication style. I believed this happened because he was fed up with how his life was going and started to display resentment.With negative feelings, this indirectly sabotaged his life. If Carolyn held an assertive communication style, rather than an aggressive communication style, I believe they would have been able to eventually resolve their conflicts. All in all, if they had effective interpersonal communication, they would have continued to go down the path, t o be a happily married couple. References Sole, K. ,Making Connections: Understanding Interpersonal Communication,(2011),BridgePoint Education Inc. Retrieved From: https://content. ashford. edu/books

Exploring The Fish By Elizabeth Bishop English Literature Essay Essays

Exploring The Fish By Elizabeth Bishop English Literature Essay Essays Exploring The Fish By Elizabeth Bishop English Literature Essay Paper Exploring The Fish By Elizabeth Bishop English Literature Essay Paper every bit good as the stoping rainbows, contains legion mentions to this cognition, every bit good as a cognition of the fish s anatomy ( mica is really the clear, gelatinlike stuff that comprises the fish s swim-bladder ) . The ability of see farther and in more item than with the normal human oculus, which is the power of the field glassess, besides is the power of Bishop s verse form, which enlarges at the same clip as it focuses on the ocular visual aspect of the fish. This extract identifies the writer s purpose of utilizing mica in the verse form. The readers that have experience in the scientific field are to boot referred to see the fish as the storyteller does. The verse form besides has a symbol which is identified through the repeat and initial rhyme of the word rainbow. In line 75, the word rainbow is repeated three times merely before the storyteller Lashkar-e-Taiba s the fish spell. This symbol could be one of spiritual definition when God gave Noah a mark of peace, the rainbow. Possibly, the poet and the fish are now at peace with each other as they go their separate ways. Another significance may be that the fish has a particular ability to flim-flam fishermen by making rainbows perchance through light diffusion of his graduated tables, so he knew that this fisherman would merely allow him travel in awe of his impressiveness. This may be why he did non contend the storyteller. All these poetic devices help the reader get to cognize the fish every bit good as the storyteller knows the fish. The Fish is a narrative verse form by Elizabeth Bishop that exercises poetic elements exemplifying the gimmick of a tremendous fish. Bishop takes advantage of imagination, sensory inside informations, symbols, and similes to heighten the verse form. All of these poetic devices make the verse form existent to the reader by making a image in the reader s head of the narrative that is similar to the poet s apprehension of the verse form.

Folk Wisdom in Pregnancy Module 1 Writing Assignme Essays (1139 words)

Folk Wisdom in Pregnancy Module 1 Writing Assignme Essays (1139 words) Folk Wisdom in Pregnancy Module 1 Writing Assignment PSY 241-N02 Shianne Buie When it comes to pregnancy there is no shortage of the curiosity and uncertainty that surround the birth and delivery of a child. For centuries people have held superstitions and beliefs about pregnancy that many still trust in today. People may believe in wives' tales due to personal experience, supporting facts or plain fear, but either way folk wisdom does seem to hold some insight into the mysteries surrounding pregnancy. I personally come from a family who are no strangers to wives' tales, my own mother actually decided to put one to the test when pregnant with me. When I asked her why she would do that she stated, " I was just really tired of being pregnant and wanted to hurry things along " (Northcutt, 2017). You see I was her firstborn and since she didn ' t necessarily consider patience a virtue in the first place, she was dying to get me out as soon as possible. Tho ugh I ' m guessing that carrying around a baby in her belly with swollen ankles probably had something to do with it as well. The youngest of eight, she ' d grown up listening to my grandmother talk about her own pregnancies and the truth of all the wives' tales she ' d heard throughout the years. One of these tales was that if a woman drinks a spoonful of castor oil near the end of her pregnancy, it will induce the labor. Naturally my mom came to the conclusion that this particular idea was brilliant and she would try it out, despite not knowing a thing about what might really happen. That being said the method was indeed effective, just half a day later I entered the world and needless to say my mother couldn ' t have been more relived. Even with that being said I ' m still pretty skeptical when it comes to placing too much trust into things like that, I just can ' t believe something that is not completely proven like my mother is able to. At least not something that can affect a human life, although I must say some wives' tales might be little easier to put faith in if they had some scientific proof to back them up. While there are individuals who can merely believe in something without confirming that it exists, there are also those who rely on facts and physical evidence to convince them. I myself belong to the latter group and so to really believe that something is true, I have to see the facts to support it. There ' s one wives' tale in particular that does have just that. It suggests that if woman experiences particularly bad heartburn during pregnancy, then her baby will be born will a full head of hair. This occurrence is often found to be correct as according to Robinson (2015), " In a 2006 study involving 64 participants, researchers at Johns Hopkins Hospital found that women who reported moderate levels of heartburn throughout pregnancy gave birth to babies with hair on 82 per cent of occasions , while most expectant mothers who did not show signs of digestive discomfort had children that were bald at birth . Now being a person who naturally places more trust in science that century old superstition, I have no problem admitting that this folk wisdom is indeed highly plausible. However, there are also some folk wisdoms that I ' d rather not put any trust in at all and I know I ' m alone in this. While most are centered on harmless ideals, there are some wives ' tales which carry more fear than fact for any expecting mother. Perhaps one of the more terrifying of these is that if pregnant woman lifts her hands above her head, the umbilical cord will be wrapped around the baby. This particular tale probably scares more expecting mothers into believing it due to the known consequences of an umbilical cord actually causing harm to a child. As it is a fact that when the cord becomes wrapped around a child ' s neck, it cuts

Classic Airlines Benchmarking Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Classic Airlines Benchmarking - Essay Example The analysis of the Toyota Motor Corporation’s management style and policies applied by it, could prove to be valuable in analyzing the case of Classic Airlines. Generic Benchmarking—The purpose of generic benchmarking is to identify potential solutions to the problem statements defined in Task A. You will do this by looking at how companies in other industries have dealt with similar issues. The Toyota Motor Sales Inc. (USA), headed by Jim Cookie – the national facilities operations manager, initiated concrete steps to revive its old management policies and adopted a new performance based facilities management approach which focused on the customer relationships so as to enable it to meet all needs and expectations of its customers. This new management approach, launched about 3 years back, ensured that the managers spent more time with the customers and was hugely successful, and translated into nearly $10 million in savings over the first five years of its launch. Toyota’s operations in North America comprise of a geographically diverse area, with several business units and branches spread across the length and breadth of the country and hence the company focused on their customer needs and expectations in order to attain optimum levels of customer satisfaction. â€Å"In a large corporation with multiple business units, marketing may be called on to assess consumer trends as an aid to corporate planning. At the business unit level, marketing may be asked to provide leadership in developing a new, integrated customer service program across all business units† (Kerin et al, 2006, ch.2, pp.7). a. Prior to initiating the new management plan, the company initiated measures to assess the needs and expectations of all its customers so as to have a better understanding of the composition of its customers and fulfill those needs and desires to

Human resource and employment law Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Human resource and employment law - Coursework Example He served as an unofficial spokesperson against the abuse of workers in industrial organizations and government corruption. LaFollette supported union growth and development as a check-and-balance on large corporations’ power. Some of the notable, specific measures he supported included protection of workers’ rights, defense of small farmers, preservation of state forests, breaking up monopolies, and taxation on railroads (Wisconsin Historical Society, 2011). The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals case of Spoerle v. Kraft Foods Global, Inc. involved plaintiffs (employees) suing their employer, Kraft. The lawsuit claimed the company was not paying employees for all time owed. Employees were fighting for payment of time spent getting into and out of required safety and sanitation clothing. Additionally, the employees felt they should be paid for the time spent walking to and from the stations where they worked at both the beginning and end of their shifts (Nicholas Kaster Attorneys at Law,  2008). The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) allows union employee and employer relationships, as far as management and policies are concerned, to vary depending upon the agreed Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA). Judge Easterbrook determined the provision, â€Å"requirement that employers pay workers for time spent donning and doffing ‘integral and indispensible’ safety gear under 29 U.S.C.  § 203(o),† did not override Wisconsin’s state law. The current law requires payment to employees for time spent on these required tasks (Nicholas Kaster Attorneys at