Hallas Company Essay

Hallas Company manufactures a fast-bonding glue in its Northwest plant. The company normally produces and sells 40,000 gallons of the glue each month. This glue, which is known as MJ-7, is used in the wood industry to manufacture plywood. The selling price of MJ-7 is $35 per gallon, variable costs are $21 per gallon, fixed manufacturing overhead costs in the plant total $230,000 per month, and the fixed selling costs total $310,000 per month. Strikes in the mills that purchase the bulk of the MJ-7 glue have caused Hallas Company’s sales to temporarily drop to only 11,000 gallons per month. Hallas Company’s management estimates that the strikes will last for two months, after which sales of MJ-7 should return to normal. Due to the current low level of sales, Hallas Company’s management is thinking about closing down the Northwest plant during the strike. If Hallas Company does close down the Northwest plant, fixed manufacturing overhead costs can be reduced by $60,000 per month and fixed selling costs can be reduced by 10%. Start-up costs at the end of the shutdown period would total $14,000. Since Hallas Company uses Lean Production methods, no inventories are on hand. Required: 1. Assuming that the strikes continue for two months, would you recommend that Hallas Company close the Northwest plant? Explain. Show computations to support your answer. 2. At what level of sales (in gallons) for the two-month period should Hallas Company be indifferent between closing the plant or keeping it open? Show computations. (Hint: This is a type of break-even analysis, except that the fixed cost portion of your break-even computation should include only those fixed costs that are relevant [i.e., avoidable] over the two-month period.) No, the company should not close the plant; it should continue to operate at the reduced level of 11,000 gallons produced and sold each month. Closing will result in a $140,000 greater loss over the two-month period than if the company continues to operate. Additional factors are the potential loss of goodwill among the customers who need the 11,000 gallons of MJ-7 each month and the adverse effect on employee morale. By closing down, the needs of  customers will not be met (no inventories are on hand), and their business may be permanently lost to another supplier.

Measuring Customer Satisfaction at ImageStream Essay

ImageStream Internet Solutions, Inc. is a privately held company in its 9th year of operation. ImageStream engineers, manufactures, and distributes Linux-based routing products for network and Internet applications. ImageStream products are used by Internet service providers (ISPs), governments, schools, and businesses in more than 75 countries around the world. As ImageStream moves toward its next decade, market forces require it, like most high technology companies, to be fast and responsive. The company faces constant change in demands and needs along with the pressures of mission creep in the face of limited resources. It is against this backdrop that ImageStream started its ISO 9000:2000 certification process. This process requires not only the implementation of quality processes, but measurement of their efficacy as well. ImageStream conducts key manager meetings twice monthly, and a company-wide review on a semi-annual basis. During these managerial and company reviews, the senior executives identify key metrics driving the success of the company’s mission, including those metrics that would benefit most from significant improvement. This proposal outlines the use of a customer satisfaction survey and seeks to answer the management question: What is the current customer satisfaction with the level and type of customer service provided by ImageStream? The study will explore the conceptual framework of service quality, the positive and negative impacts of service quality on ImageStream, and the effect of favorable and unfavorable customer intentions on perceived quality using survey research. Armed with the statistical analyses outlined below, the operations management team will identify current trends in customer satisfaction in a proactive attempt to resolve to any issues. Background and Literature Review The study and development of customer service techniques and customer  retention management programs has blossomed into its own industry. This increasing focus on customer satisfaction is not surprising, given the positive correlation between happy customers and successful companies illustrated in countless marketing research studies. This study will outline the relationship between customer satisfaction with service and customer retention at ImageStream. To support the findings, we will conduct an empirical study focusing on the relationship between perceived service quality and customer intentions. Weinstein and Johnson (1999) recommend that companies like ImageStream should spend â€Å"75% of its marketing budget on customer retention strategies† and to strengthen these relationships. Once customers commit to a product platform, and the longer they use and deploy that platform, the more profit ImageStream can realize. Longstanding, satisfied customers will generally continue, or often increase, purchasing, require less operational and customer service support, and be more willing to pay price premiums to remain with the company–all without incurring new customer acquisition costs (Pine, Peppers, and Rogers, 1995). This paper will analyze how ImageStream’s service relationship with its customers produces customer behaviors indicating whether or not a customer will remain an ImageStream customer. The methodology used will follow Zeithaml, Berry and Parasuraman’s study on this topic (1996). Since replacing lost customers requires new customer acquisition costs, customer retention should be a fundamental performance measure for ImageStream’s executive staff and a key component of the company’s incentive programs (Zeithaml et al., 1996). According to the American Management Association, acquiring a new customer can require five times the investment needed to keep an existing customer (Weinstein et al., 1999). Literature Review Customer service, not surprisingly, has been researched extensively: from the conceptual framework of service quality, to the positive and negative impacts of service quality, to the effect of favorable and unfavorable  customer intentions on perceived quality. We review these concepts in recent literature, and investigate an empirical study focusing on the relationship between service quality and customer behavioral intentions (Zeithaml et al., 1996). Zeithaml, Berry and Parasuraman (1996) offer a conceptual model of service quality. The researchers postulate that the quality of customer service will determine whether a company retains its customers or loses them to defection. Zeithaml, Berry and Parasuraman (1996) highlight seven key points: 1.Customer defection has a negative relationship with an organization’s profitability. 2.Retaining current customers costs less than acquiring new ones. 3.Customer retention should be a fundamental component of incentive programs. 4.Companies must advertise not only to attract new customers, but to replace lost customers. 5.Advertising, promotion, and sales costs are required expenses when attracting new customers. 6.In general, at the beginning of a customer/vendor relationship, the customers do not generate a profit for the company. Zeithaml, Berry and Parasuraman estimate that acquisition cost recovery can take as long as four years. 7.Positive customer assessments of service quality lead to positive behavioral intentions, strengthening the relationship between the customer and the company. Negative assessments, on the other hand, create unfavorable customer behavioral intentions. The unfavorable conditions weaken the customer/vendor relationship. Based on their research and observations, Zeithaml, Berry and Parasuraman  (1996) believe that expressed or observed behavioral intentions can indicate whether or not customers will remain with an organization. Reinartz and Kumar (2000) challenge Zeithaml, Berry and Parasuraman’s assertions that customer retention always leads well-managed companies to profitability. Reinartz and Kumar (2000) argue that long-term customers are not always the most profitable customers, and dismiss research assuming that loyalty equates with profitability as a gross oversimplification. Reinartz and Kumar (2000) contend that managers should not automatically assume increased lifetime spending, decreased costs of service, and decreased price sensitivity for long-term retained customers. Reinartz and Kumar (2000) go further in also disputing the idea that long-term retained customers require lesser marketing investment by companies. Their research concluded that long-term customers often have inactive purchasing periods unrelated to their retention by an organization (Reinartz and Kumar, 2000). During these dormant periods, these customers are at best a break-even proposition for organizations, and often consume marketing and service resources resulting in net losses during periods of inactivity. Reinartz and Kumar (2000) found that short-term customers may be as significant to customers as longtime clients. Other research indicates that organizations struggling with a single approach to satisfy all customers can end up with â€Å"inefficient and inappropriate levels of service† (Cohen, Cull, Lee and Willen, 2000). Cohen, Cull, Lee and Willen (2000) conclude that organizations must customize their service to meet each customer’s individual needs. Superior service generates favorable behavioral intentions in customers, including increased future spending, acceptance of price premiums, â€Å"word of mouth† referrals, and, ultimately, customer retention (Zeithaml et al., 1996). Research suggests that most employees have a â€Å"true customer orientation† in that they understand their customers’ needs, and possess empathy and respect for their customers (Bitner, Booms and Mohr, 1994). Quality service builds customer faith in the organization, and â€Å"is essential for maintaining competitive advantage† (Berry, Parasuraman and Zeithaml, 1994). Since quality customer service can generate positive behavioral intentions, quality service strategies are effectively profit strategies for organizations. Research illustrates this link between service and profitability, as Keaveney (1995) found that customer defections can cost an organization future revenue stream. As customers’ intentions toward a company improve, the results include new customers, increased business with existing customers, fewer lost customers, and added pricing power (Berry et al., 1994). Berry and Parasuraman (1997) stress the creation of customer feedback channels as a component of quality service. Listening and responding to the customer’s needs in a quality way has a â€Å"direct effect on the quality of service provided† (Berry and Parasuraman, 1997). This focus on customer feedback drove the purpose of this series of papers. Evidence, such as Keaveney’s study, highlighting the role customer loyalty plays in making an organization more profitable makes it imperative that companies quickly and proactively address concerns, complaints and other unfavorable behavioral intentions among their customers (Tax, Brown and Chandrashekar, 1998). Tax, Brown and Chandrashekar’s point also applies in a comparative sense as well. Organizations can potentially provide satisfactory service that nonetheless lags other competitors’ service offerings. In these cases, customers may defect because of the attraction of comparatively superior service offerings from a competitor. Managers of service departments and service companies must recognize this comparative measure, and realize that some customers will defect even when they are satisfied with a former provider (Keaveney, 1995). Customers display favorable intentions such as praising the company, expressing a preference for the company to the company or to other consumers, continuing and/or increasing purchasing volumes, paying price premiums, and making recommendations to others based on their satisfaction with the company (Zeithaml et al., 1996). Satisfied customers stay loyal to an organization longer, pay less attention to competitive products, exhibit less price sensitivity, offer service improvement or expansion ideas to the organization and cost less to service over time than new customers (Weinstein et al., 1999). When dissatisfied, customers display unfavorable intentions such as expressing an eagerness to leave the organization, decreasing purchase patterns, voicing complaints to the vendor, complaining to others, or taking legal action against the organization (Zeithaml et al., 1996). When customers do leave an organization, many choose to do so quietly with the intention of â€Å"getting even by making negative comments† to others about the organization (Tax and Brown, 1998). Since defecting customers can impact current and future revenue streams, properly identifying dissatisfied customers and understanding why customers defect can be valuable tools in improving customer retention management programs. Companies must implement strategies to overcome potential customer defections. Retention efforts should begin as soon as organizations acquire new customers. The organization should proactively attempt to learn and address customer needs and resolve any complaints or concerns quickly (Weinstein et al., 1999). Weinstein et al. (1999) suggest several ways to build loyalty and increase favorable behavioral intentions in customers. They suggest that organizations could embed sales staff at the offices of their best customers, participate in their customer’s events or promotional efforts, interview their customer’s customers, conduct retreats with major customers to share best practices and to train customers on company products and services, develop a preferred customer pricing strategy, reward customers for referring new business, solicit feedback on product development roadmaps, and even partner with key accounts on industry research projects (Weinstein et al., 1999). SERVQUAL Among the most popular assessments tools of service quality is SERVQUAL, an instrument designed by Berry, Parasuraman, and Zeithaml (1994). Through numerous qualitative studies, they evolved a set of five dimensions ranked consistently by customers as central to service quality, regardless of the  service industry. Berry, Parasuraman, and Zeithaml (1994) defined these dimensions as: *Tangibles: the appearance of physical facilities, equipment, personnel, and communication materials; *Reliability: an ability to perform the promised service dependably and accurately; *Responsiveness: a willingness to help customers and provide prompt service; *Assurance: the knowledge and courtesy of employees and their ability to convey trust and confidence; and *Empathy: the caring, individualized attention the firm provides its customers. Based on the five SERVQUAL dimensions, the researchers also developed a survey instrument to measure the gap between customers’ expectation for excellence and their perception of actual service delivered. The SERVQUAL instrument helps service providers understand both customer expectations and perceptions of specific services, as well as quality improvements over time (Berry, Parasuraman, and Zeithaml, 1988). Analysis of customer responses to a SERVQUAL questionnaire presents numerous potential practical implications for companies and their customer service teams. Scope We will conduct a study of all ImageStream customers (the â€Å"population†) by e-mailing or mailing a questionnaire to companies listed in ImageStream’s internal records. The study will take less than one month to complete. We will contact all customers and direct them to the on-line survey, and follow up with customers who have not responded after two weeks. We will end the study after four weeks, and expect 25%-30% participation. We base this estimate on the response rate of similar studies mentioned above. A response  rate of at least 10% will yield a significant sample, enabling us to make conclusive findings and recommendations. Methodology We identify three determinants of customer satisfaction with ImageStream: service quality, solution quality, and price (through a measure of perceived value). Data on customer satisfaction, service quality, solution quality and price will be collected through the attached questionnaire survey. The questionnaire adapts the SERVQUAL instrument developed by Berry, Parasuraman and Zeithaml (1998) and uses a combination of Likert-scaled, dichotomous and unstructured questions. The use of both bipolar Likert/dichotomous and unstructured questions allows us to benefit from the strengths of both quantitative and qualitative research. The use of quantitative questions allows us to obtain a high degree of reliability and validity using the scientific method, and enables others to more easily repeat or replicate our study. The qualitative questions provide background for customer responses, and help to identify any underlying issues highlighted by the quantitative research. Triangulation, in this case the combination of qualitative and quantitative methods, allows us to overcome the weakness of using only one research technique. We do not assume that there is only one reality and believe that different research methods will reveal different perspectives. Using quantitative and qualitative triangulation allows us to use different sets of data, different types of analyses, different researchers, and/or different theoretical perspectives to study customer service. The quantitative question results will provide data that we can subject to complex statistical analyses. We will combine the quantitative question responses to determine central tendencies and dispersion of the data, including measures of mean, standard error, median, mode, standard deviation, variance, kurtosis, skewness, and range. We will analyze the  results of each question and of the study as a whole. Based on the results of the analysis above, we will develop regressions to identify potential relationships between past service experiences, perceived quality, future purchasing behavior, and loyalty. A possible research design for the regression analysis follows. H1: There is a positive correlation between the level of superior customer service and positive future customer behavior. H2: There is a negative or no correlation between the level of superior customer service and positive future customer behavior. H3: There is a positive correlation between the level of inferior customer service and negative future customer behavior. H4: There is a negative or no correlation between the level of inferior customer service and negative future customer behavior. Using these results, we can make conclusions about the management problem defined above. Development of these findings will include the use of anecdotal evidence from the qualitative questions in the survey. We will use the responses to the qualitative questions to support the quantitative findings, and to highlight key issues not covered by the quantitative portions of the survey. Possible Findings Following Zeithaml, Berry and Parasuraman (1996), we believe that a positive relationship exists between quality service and positive customer behavior as defined above. Additionally, we believe that our research will show that favorable customer behavioral intentions will be higher among customers experiencing no service problems. Customers who have experience problems, but received service to resolve them will show the next highest level. Customers with unresolved service problems will show the least favorable  behavioral intentions. Conclusion Customer service and its effect on customer retention in an organization is a growing area of research, and one that is vital to maintaining quality at ImageStream. This paper examined customer retention and defection from an organization in the context of customer service quality, exploring four areas: 1.A conceptual framework of how service quality affects particular customer behaviors and the consequences for ImageStream, establishing the purpose for this study, 2.Empirical studies that focused on the relationship between service quality and customer behavioral intentions, 3.A triangulated quantitative and qualitative survey to study perceived service levels among ImageStream customers, 4.Follow-on research based on the survey results and statistical analysis, including a summary of expected findings Customer retention branches off into many other significant areas such as value-added services, supply chain relationships, use of information systems to service customers better, and very importantly perceived and expected performance. Organizations have a chance to learn from their customers. The more customers teach the company the more effective it becomes at providing exactly what they want and the more difficult it is for competitors to lure them away from the organization (Pine II et al., 1995). Learning about customers is what this whole retention topic is about. The customers tell the organization what to do to keep them. The strategy is for the organization to learn how to listen and respond. References Anton, J. (1996). Customer Relationship Management: Making Hard Decisions with Soft Numbers. New York: Prentice Hall. Berry, L., Parasuraman, A. and Zeithaml, V. (1988). A Conceptual Model of Service Quality and its Implications for Future Research. The Academy of Management Executive, 8, 32-52. Berry, L. and Parasuraman, A. (1997). Listening to the Customer: The Concept of a Service-Quality Information System. Sloan Management Review, 38, 65-76. Berry, L., Parasuraman, A. and Zeithaml, V. (1994). Improving Service Quality in America: Lessons Learned. The Academy of Management Executive, 8, 32-52. Bitner, M., Booms, B. and Mohr, L. (1994). Critical Service Encounters: The Employee’s Viewpoint. Journal of Marketing, 58, 95-106. Chase, R. and Stewart, D. (1994). Make Your Service Failsafe. Sloan Management Review, 35, 35-44. Cohen, M., Cull, C., Lee, H. and Willen, D. (2000). Saturn’s Supply-Chain Cooper, D. and Schindler, P. (2002). Business Research Methods (6th ed.). Burr Ridge, IL: Irwin/McGraw-Hill. Cronin Jr., Joseph J. and Taylor, S. (1992). Measuring Service Quality: A Reexamination and Extension. Journal of Marketing, 56, 55-68. Heskett, J., Jones, T., Loveman, G., Sasser, W., and Schlesinger, L. (1994, March-April). Putting the Service-Profit Chain to Work. Harvard Business Review, 164-174. Innovation: High Value After-Sales. Sloan Management Review, 41, 93. Joppe, M. (n.d.). The Research Process. Retrieved January 12, 2004 from http://www.ryerson.ca/~mjoppe/rp.htm Keaveney, S. (1995). Customer Switching Behavior in Service Industries: An Exploratory Study. Journal of Marketing, 59, 71-82. Pine II, J., Peppers, D. and Rogers, M. (1995). Do You Want to Keep Your Customers Forever? Harvard Business Review, 73, 103-114. Pitt, L., Watson, R., Kavan, C. (1997). Measuring Information Systems Service Quality: Concerns for a complete canvas. MIS Quarterly, 21, 209-221. Reinartz, Werner J. and Kumar, V. (2000). On the Profitability of Long-Life Customers in a Noncontractual Setting: An Empirical Investigation and Implications for Marketing. Journal of Marketing, 64, 17. Tax, S. and Brown, S. (1998). Recovering and learning from service failures. Sloan Management Review, 40, 75-88. Tax, S., Brown, S.and Chandrashekar, M. (1998). Customer evaluations of service complaint experiences: implications for relationship marketing. Journal of Marketing, 62, 60-76. Van Dyke, T., Kappelman, L., and Prybutok, V. (1997, June). Measuring Information Systems Service Quality: Concerns on the use of the SERVQUAL questionnaire. MIS Quarterly, 21, 195-208. Weinstein, Art and Johnson, W. (1999). Designing and Delivering Superior Customer Value: Concepts, Cases, and Applications. Boca Raton: CRC Press. Whyte, G., Bytheway, A., and Edwards, C. (1997). Understanding User Perceptions of Information Systems Success. Journal of Strategic Information Systems, 6, 35-68. Zeithaml, V., Berry, L. and Parasuraman, A. (1996). The Behavioral Consequences of Service Quality. Journal of Marketing, 60, 31-46.

The Impact of Advertising in Our Daily Lives Student

Advertising is a form of communication whose purpose is to fix the attention of a target to induce the desired behavior: purchase product, election of a politician, encouraging environment.. Advertising, to make public action or statement of what is public has come to mean all modern means used to publicize a product, an industrial or commercial to1830. Advertising does influence our consumption? Indeed, advertising influences our choices as consumers, initially targeting its message, then the presence of subliminal image and ending with propaganda. However, advertising is not that this aim, it can also be humanistic objects. Advertising is ubiquitous. Advertising does not leave us indifferent: She seduces,entertains or otherwise irritated, exasperated. The goal is to make known and to bring a product to purchase behavior. Advertising is a product of mass consumption. Theadvertisement conveys the norm of internality: â€Å"You can as long as we confine the means. † Advertising is the vector, creates or reinforces stereotypes. She teaches the components of a lifestyle (hygiene, meals †¦ ) desirable. It relays the consumer aspects of the practice groups that are in dominant positions and luxury products are presentedas accessible to all. They played on and reinforces stereotypes. Advertising is fundamentally conservative. Advertising adapts to customer segments. . Advertising inventing anything. An advertising is so easy for her to come to encourage there are several steps. The development of a commercial complex, the general approachbegins by defining strategy with targets thereof, objectives and constraints, we must then develop the message you want to go and find media to disseminate the advertising. Everything is considered and calculated. Developing a message inside of an advertisement is done by â€Å"copy strategy â€Å". It has promise, a concrete proposal to the consumer, the evidence supporting the promise corresponding to a distinguishing feature of the product, the consumer benefit, as provided by the use of this product, and tone, the elements of messages to create an atmosphere. Then there is the advertisement which consists of visual, written and sound effects. All items are calculated based on the target (the slogan, color, text, grip). Advertising also encourages us through subliminal image. The subliminal image is an image that is undetectable to the naked eye but the brain processes anyway. It should be noted that most existing laws prohibiting such images in advertising. A subliminal message is a stimulus that is not consciously perceived by the person who receives it ,it is beyond the level of consciousness, but it excites the senses well. An example of a subliminal message is in the re-election of Francois Mitterrand to the presidency. The daily of Paris â€Å"accusing him of having received subliminal messages contained in the Generic of journal TV france2. We can clearly see when it stops the picture is a picture of Mitterrand in the credits. However, the trial for â€Å"electoral manipulation† has been lost because the image lasted more than one twenty-fifth of a second, thereby excluding the qualifying subliminal. But there are many other examples. One can see that M6(French TV ) Is taken in offense by the HAC (Higher Audiovisual Council) for airing during the credits to sponsor the show â€Å"Camera Cafe† a subliminal image representing the logo Freedent White, a chewing gum brand Wrigley's . Propaganda is also a way to encourage consumption in our advertising. It is primarily a tool of manipulation. All those who hold power use it to convince, manipulate, and getmembership bid. Religions, sects, governments use them to achieve their ends. For their part, traders, sellers, use advertising which is a form of propaganda. Traders, vendors, seeking to convince people that they hold the secret to make them happy, the secret is obviously their products supposedly miraculous. And the dream continues. Propaganda or advertising, used in all areas: consumer products, sporting, cultural, fashion, electronic gadgets, etc.. All are using advertising to convince people to buy their products. The power of propaganda or advertising is not from the veracity of the facts or the quality of the product and it comes from the persuasiveness of the seller and his ability to convince. The means used must touch the emotions of the customer. It is the intent of the religions, governments, traders, sellers. Everything is used to transfer theresistance and get people to buy, to become passionate followers, fanatics. Wealways call to emotions rather than reason, as it is with emotion that we submit to it as easily. Despite the manipulative side of advertising, communication can be more humanistic goals. Road safety has constantly need to communicate, need to be present in the eyes of drivers. It therefore makes advertising campaigns to sensitize the impact of alcohol, drugs, phone or driving too fast. In this case, the short films that can be seen on television as advertising are not intended to influence or manipulate but to educate, raise awareness to the driver that he is endangering himself and others and should therefore be careful. The images are harsh, violent, traumatic. By dint of constantly saying that we should not drink and drive, using advertising campaigns, present and future generations will be increasingly sophisticated and advertising will be served with human goals. Advertising against alcohol and drugs at the wheel are more common on our television screens to educate young drivers and other road hazards. The side of the advertising that appears next is a more objective, we do not sell anything, it merely gives advice that is useful. Do not take the road hazards and the lightly advertising makes us feel good. Found in this type of advertising to target a more human side. Manipulation is not the goal of this campaign. The AIDS campaign is high profile, many commercials are created, like those for road safety awareness, prevent risks. These are general interest campaigns to raise awareness of a social or economic problem. They are nonprofit. There are different kinds of campaigns of this kind, such as prevention against smoking, the presidential campaigns, the introduction of TNT on all TV. These ads are aimed to prevent, anticipate, fight, act on economic or social problems. In conclusion, advertising is a form of communication that greatly influences our consumption. One can almost qualify as a science because everything is calculated for one is like to eat what we saw, or we will create the need for what we heard. Advertising manipulates us in our buying behavior. We identify with the characters in advertisings; we create needs, and must be filled. Advertising hide flaws because it transmits he new movements of fashion or appearance to the company embarks and followsthis movement with no questions asked to fit the new mold. However, advertising has a positive side when it comes to raise awareness of the dangers of drinking and driving, or protect themselves against AIDS. It therefore has a more human purpose when not used for profit to sell us the latest product of such a mark. Chapter one: The origin of advertising 1-history of advertising: Egyptians used papyrus to make sales messages and wall posters. Commercial messages and political campaign displays have been found in the ruins of Pompeii and ancient Arabia. Lost and found advertising on papyrus was common in Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome. Wall or rock painting for commercial advertising is another manifestation of an ancient advertising form, which is present to this day in many parts of Asia, Africa, and South America. The tradition of wall painting can be traced back to Indian rock art paintings that date back to 4000 BC. ]History tells us that Out-of-home advertising and billboards are the oldest forms of advertising. As the towns and cities of the Middle Ages began to grow, and the general populace was unable to read, signs that today would say cobbler, miller, tailor or blacksmith would use an image associated with their trade such as a boot, a suit, a hat, a clock, a diamond, a horse shoe, a candle or even a bag of flour. Fruits and vegetables were sold in the city square from the backs of carts and wagons and their proprietors used street callers (town criers) to announce their whereabouts for the convenience of the customers. As education became an apparent need and reading, as well as printing, developed advertising expanded to include handbills. In the 17th century advertisements started to appear in weekly newspapers in England. These early print advertisements were used mainly to promote books and newspapers, which became increasingly affordable with advances in the printing press; and medicines, which were increasingly sought after as disease ravaged Europe. However, false advertising and so-called â€Å"quack† advertisements became a problem, which ushered in the regulation of advertising content. As the economy expanded during the 19th century, advertising grew alongside. In the United States, the success of this advertising format eventually led to the growth of mail-order advertising. In June 1836, French newspaper La Presse was the first to include paid advertising in its pages, allowing it to lower its price, extend its readership and increase its profitability and the formula was soon copied by all titles. Around 1840, Volney B. Palmer established the roots of the modern day advertising agency in Philadelphia. In 1842 Palmer bought large amounts of space in various newspapers at a discounted rate then resold the space at higher rates to advertisers. The actual ad- the copy, layout, and artwork- was stilled prepared by the company wishing to advertise; in effect, Palmer was a space broker. The situation changed in the late 19th century when the advertising agency of N. W. Ayer & Son was founded. Ayer and Son offered to plan, create, and execute complete advertising campaigns for its customers. By 1900 the advertising agency had become the focal point of creative planning, and advertising was firmly established as a profession. Around the same time, in France, Charles-Louis Havas extended the services of his news agency, Havas to include advertisement brokerage, making it the first French group to organize. At first, agencies were brokers for advertisement space in newspapers. N. W. Ayer & Son was the first full-service agency to assume responsibility for advertising content. N. W. Ayer opened in 1869, and was located in Philadelphia. At the turn of the century, there were few career choices for women in business; however, advertising was one of the few. Since women were responsible for most of the purchasing done in their household, advertisers and agencies recognized the value of women's insight during the creative process. In fact, the first American advertising to use a sexual sell was created by a woman – for a soap product. Although tame by today's standards, the advertisement featured a couple with the message â€Å"The skin you love to touch†. . In the early 1920s, the first radio stations were established by radio equipment manufacturers and retailers who offered programs in order to sell more radios to consumers. As time passed, many non-profit organizations followed suit in setting up their own radio stations, and included: schools, clubs and civic groups. When the practice of sponsoring programs was popularised, each individual radio program was usually sponsored by a single business in exchange for a brief mention of the business' name at the beginning and end of the sponsored shows. However, radio station owners soon realised they could earn more money by selling sponsorship rights in small time allocations to multiple businesses throughout their radio station's broadcasts, rather than selling the sponsorship rights to single businesses per show. This practice was carried over to television in the late 1940s and early 1950s. A fierce battle was fought between those seeking to commercialise the radio and people who argued that the radio spectrum should be considered a part of the commons – to be used only non-commercially and for the public good. The United Kingdom pursued a public funding model for the BBC, originally a private company, the British Broadcasting Company, but incorporated as a public body by Royal Charter in 1927. In Canada, advocates like Graham Spry were likewise able to persuade the federal government to adopt a public funding model, creating theCanadian Broadcasting Corporation. However, in the United States, the capitalist model prevailed with the passage of theCommunications Act of 1934 which created the Federal Communications Commission. [5] However, the U. S. Congress did require commercial broadcasters to operate in the â€Å"public interest, convenience, and necessity†. 6] Public broadcasting now exists in the United States due to the 1967 Public Broadcasting Act which led to the Public Broadcasting Service and National Public Radio. In the early 1950s, the Dumont Television Network began the modern practice of selling advertisement time to multiple sponsors. Previously, DuMont had trouble finding sponsors for many of their programs and compensated by selling smaller blocks of advertising time to several businesses. This eventually became the standard for the commercial televi sion industry in the United States. However, it was still a common practice to have single sponsor shows, such as The United States Steel Hour. In some instances the sponsors exercised great control over the content of the show—up to and including having one's advertising agency actually writing the show. The single sponsor model is much less prevalent now, a notable exception being the Hallmark Hall of Fame. The 1960s saw advertising transform into a modern approach in which creativity was allowed to shine, producing unexpected messages that made advertisements more tempting to consumers' eyes. The Volkswagen ad campaign—featuring such headlines as â€Å"Think Small† and â€Å"Lemon† (which were used to describe the appearance of the car)—ushered in the era of modern advertising by promoting a â€Å"position† or â€Å"unique selling proposition† designed to associate each brand with a specific idea in the reader or viewer's mind. This period of American advertising is called the Creative Revolution and its archetype was William Bernbach who helped create the revolutionary Volkswagen ads among others. Some of the most creative and long-standing American advertising dates to this period. The late 1980s and early 1990s saw the introduction of cable television and particularly MTV. Pioneering the concept of the music video, MTV ushered in a new type of advertising: the consumer tunes in for the advertising message, rather than it being a by-product or afterthought. As cable and satellite television became increasingly prevalent, specialty channels emerged, including channels entirely devoted to advertising, such as QVC, Home Shopping Network, andShopTV Canada. Marketing through the Internet opened new frontiers for advertisers and contributed to the â€Å"dot-com† boom of the 1990s. Entire corporations operated solely on advertising revenue, offering everything from coupons to free Internet access. At the turn of the 21st century, a number of websites including the search engine Google, started a change in online advertising by emphasizing contextually relevant, unobtrusive ads intended to help, rather than inundate, users. This has led to a plethora of similar efforts and an increasing trend of interactive advertising.

Ethics in health Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Ethics in health - Essay Example The devastating impact of child maltreatment on individuals, families, and society at large is well documented in empirical and clinical studies (Gilbert, 1994). Many serious long-term effects have been linked to child maltreatment, including mental retardation, intellectual and intelligence handicaps, impaired aggressive impulse control, diminished ego competency, reduced reality testing, and poor interpersonal relationships. Child maltreatment results in increased antisocial activities. Maltreated aboriginal aboriginal children have more serious personal problems and engage in more antisocial activities and violence toward themselves and others (Hutchinson, Dattalo and Rodwell, 1994). When older, they end up in juvenile and adult correctional facilities at higher rates than aboriginal children from the general population. It is evident that child abuse and neglect is a problem that affects not only the individuals and families directly involved, but all sectors of society. Therefore, in order to deal with this problem, it is necessary for all professionals from all aspects of human ecology (individual, family, community, society, world) to become involved. Aboriginal children throughout the world suffer an array of threats to their development, well-being, and survival (Lindsey, 1994). They suffer from poverty, famine, disease, and war. They suffer as they navigate the child-rearing practices and rites of their diverse cultures. And, they suffer from acts of omission or commission by their individual parents and caretakers. Parental behavior that compromises the development and survival of their offspring seems to contradict the biological and cultural dictates of rearing the next generation (Pecora et al, 1995). This enigma of human behavior demands consideration from a wider range of human cultural adaptation than that afforded by Western societies alone. This chapter will consider definitional issues that have been an impediment to cross-cultural research on child maltreatment. It will then turn to a review of current knowledge concerning categories of aboriginal children vulnerable to abuse, the relationship of kinship and social networks to child maltreatment, and the impact of urbanization and social change. Child abuse is defined as any action (or lack of) which endangers or impairs a child's physical, psychological or emotional health and development. There are many factors that constitute child abuse (Pelton, 1989): Physical Abuse - is any physical injury to a child which is not accidental. This involves severe beating, shaking, burns, human bites, strangulation. Emotional Abuse - is when a child is not nurtured and is not provided with love and security. This involves constant criticism, belittling and persistent teasing. Sexual Abuse - is when the child is involved in any sexual activity with an adult. This involves fondling, exhibitionism, sexual intercourse, incest, pornography. Neglect - is depriving a child of their essential needs. These include nutrition, clothing, warmth and shelter, emotional security and protection, medical and dental care, hygiene, education and supervision. According to Campbell in 1999, a clinical doctor, every case of child abuse leads to permanent damage and great long-term suffering. It may also lead to psychological trauma. Caplan in 1994 defined psychological trauma as the unique individual experience of an event or enduring conditions, in which: 1.

Economic Competitiveness of the EU in the Light of Growing Trade Essay

Economic Competitiveness of the EU in the Light of Growing Trade Expansion from China - Essay Example The study will try to understand the competitiveness by taking into consideration of the emergence of China. However, it is not possible to consider all the above mentioned aspects in accordance to their merit due to space restriction. This can be referred as the major limitation of this report. Trade Deficit between EU and China International trade between EU and China has been increased in last decade, for example, export of EU to China has been increased by 110 billion euro during the year 2000 to 2011 (Eurostat, 2012). However, import from China to EU has been increased by 173 billion euro in the same period of time (Eurostat, 2012). The trend is showing that balance of trade is declining for EU and dependency on Chinese export is increasing. Export and import deficit of EU in context to China can be depicted in the following manner. (Source: Eurostat, 2012) Although the trade deficit between for EU has been decreased from 75 billion euro to 67 billion euro in the first six month of 2012 but still the amount of deficit is large enough to impact the competitiveness of EU. After the economic recession, the trade deficit between EU and China has been improving but still the difference is large enough to affect the economic strength of EU nations. According to the above table only Germany and Finland have trade surplus to china while other European countries have trade deficit with China. However, Germany and Finland were unable to convert the trade deficit into trade surplus prior to recession. Careful analysis of the chart shows that growth rate of export from EU nations to China has been outpaced the growth rate of import from China. For example, export volume of Greece to Chine has been doubled... This essay presents a modern comprehensive analysis of the changing nature of economic relationships between China and European Union. It is shown in the essay, that China gradually improve its level of competitiveness in these relationships, by increasing its exports to the EU, to an extent with the help of such practices as protectionism, intellectual property rights violation and dumping. International trade between EU and China has been increased in last decade, for example, export of EU to China has been increased by 110 billion euro during the year 2000 to 2011. However, import from China to EU has been increased by 173 billion euro. The trend is showing that balance of trade is declining for EU and dependency on Chinese export is increasing. Although the trade deficit between for EU has been decreased from 75 billion euro to 67 billion euro in the first six month of 2012 but the amount of deficit is large enough to impact the competitiveness of EU. After the economic recession, the trade deficit between EU and China has been improving Harsh fact is that there cannot be a single recommendation which can help EU nations to improve its competitiveness in overnight manner. It is shown through that low cost advantage of China cannot be depleted easily by EU manufacturers. EU can use the concept of vertical specialisation to decrease its dependency on Chinese imports and give the domestic players some breathing space. In vertical specialisation model, EU needs to identify sectors which need immediate attention.

Comparing between harvey norman and wesfarmers ( financially) Essay

Comparing between harvey norman and wesfarmers ( financially) - Essay Example On the other hand, stock price appreciates almost exclusively through good financial results. Through the use of financial analysis, this paper compares the performance of two companies Harvey Norman and Westfarmers in different financial aspects namely liquidity, profitability, asset efficiency and capital structures. The company’s ability to generate wealth for its stockholders is the ultimate measure of the financial performance of a business organization and should become the basis of where to invest. It should be noted that as opposed to creditors, companies have little liability to its stockholders. Before dividends are paid, current liabilities are first settled together with long term obligations. In fact, payments to stockholders are not required. Thus, stockholders have the last claim in the company’s earnings and if it is able to keep much for them after other liabilities are settled, the business organization’s stock is considered as a better investment. In this consideration, this paper recommends the use of return of equity as the sole ratio for the investment decision. Thus, investment in Harvey Norman appears to be more profitable than Westfarmers. It should be noted that during the fiscal year 2007, Harvey Norman’s return on equity is 26.74% which represents an increase of 8.7% from the 18.04% recorded in 2006. This is much higher than the 0.125% recorded by Westfarmers in 2007. Thus, we recommend that funds should be better invested in Harvey Norman as it has a better ability of maximizing shareholder wealth through higher

Social Psychology and Health (Stress) Term Paper

Social Psychology and Health (Stress) - Term Paper Example It is analyzed that he has low measure of self efficacy and hardiness which should be treated with right clinical therapy , social support , yoga and meditation. Social psychology and Health (Stress) Here a situation is presented, where stress has played a main role in destabilizing the life of a close friend of mine. Andrew was naturally a cheerful person with high energy and spirits and was much friendly with me. Suddenly, one day Andrew’s wife informed me that he started displaying a very negative attitude towards her and his kid by shouting and yelling at them for no reason. She said that he frequently remaining silent and was not communicating with her in a peaceful manner and was displaying a sign of restlessness and loss of appetite. Due to concern, I called one of our common friends to enquire about the matter and found out that he was given ultimatum from his office and was in fear of losing his job. Moreover, Andrew himself confessed to me that, he experienced less s leep and used to leave for office often earlier than normal. Gradually, I realized that Andrew showed sign of negativism in the way he communicated, and also was smoking more than before. When I probed more in to Andrew’s problem, I found out that Andrew faced high level of pressure from his senior authorities towards the accomplishment of his sales targets and was encountering terrible stress. Here it can be observed that Andrew is not a Type A personality and considerably lacks competitive mentality and passion for work. Only if a person is highly ambitious, competitive, and has obsession for work he can work challengingly and attain success in life. Moreover, the self awareness of Andrew is not intense and he is unable to measure his performance and values to perform a particular task. He lacked perceived control and is unable to control his boss, and fell victim to desperation and frustration. Moreover, the self efficacy measure of Andrew can also be partially blamed for the stress he is experiencing. His self –efficacy measure also seems to be average and hence, he has less confidence on his abilities and is unable to visualize or picture success in risky situations. People with low self –efficacy tend to give up easily whereas, those with high self – efficacy try harder and persist more in case of failure and thereby are more likely to succeed in the long run. In addition to this, self efficacy operates like a self prophesy, the more you believe that you can accomplish a task, more are the chances of your success. Here we can also observe an element of internal attributions in Andrew’s case, as he concluded that he is unable to perform up to the expectation of his boss, due to lacking in his personal abilities and skills. He is also depicting stable attribution as he acts as if his situation is unchangeable or stable. Andrew is considerably stressed for the fear of losing job, and being a family man he possess a high fi nancial and social responsibility. Here, we can evaluate that he has less ability to cope up with an adverse situations and his learned helplessness is making things even more worse. He being pessimistic, is unable to finds a better way to solve the dilemma he is in. Unlike Andrew, some people have strong sense of coherence and have high resistance to internal and external pressures from social atmosphere, hence

Women, Violence and Mental Illness Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Women, Violence and Mental Illness - Essay Example The continued exclusion of women as equal to women has become one of the primary factors that have contributed to women’s experience of violence in the home (Sokoloff and Dupont, 2005). Although there is already a rising awareness of violence against women, fact remains that almost a 12.9 million of women have experienced domestic violence in UK (Walby and Allen, 2004). In addition, 44% of victim of domestic violence are involved in more than just one (Dodd et al, 2004) and that women are assaulted by men they know (Walby and Allen, 2004). These data only represent the reported violence committed against women. It is assumed there are still more cases left undocumented because violence is generally perceived as underreported (Flink, Paavilainen, and stedt-Kurki, 2005). In this scenario, the continued experience of violence against women is an attestation of the unremitting struggle of women for inclusion in the public sphere (e.g. Jaggar & Young 2000; Tong 2000). In this conte xt, this study will attempt to address the issue of how socio-political factors influence mental health. Several identified socio-political factors affect mental health.... Intimate partner violence includes physical and sexual violence, threats of violence and psychological and emotional abuse. The perpetrator may be a current or former spouse, boyfriend/girlfriend, or dating partner (Watts and Zimmerman, 2002). Numerous studies have shown that women abused by partners or by other perpetrators are more likely to suffer from depression, anxiety, headache, gynaecological and sexual problems, PTSD, eating and digestive disorders, infections, musculoskeletal disorders, and chronic pain; they are more likely to attempt suicide, to abuse alcohol and legal and illegal drugs (Campbell, 2002; Koss et al., 2003; Krug et al., 2002). Battered women or women suffering from violence are also women subjected to psychological illness or distress. In this situation, women become the â€Å"embodiment of a â€Å"problem† which must be resolved or eliminated† (Tremain, 2008, p 102). Gender as a factor that affects mental illness increases the stigma of menta l illness, widens, and deepens the experience of discrimination and injustice, if it is experience by a woman. As such, women become more isolated and left voiceless because socio-political factors have become the instruments that perpetuate her continued oppression and dehumanisation as she suffers from. It is a triple burden that women carry alone and in isolation for, they have become â€Å"the deviant Other which in turn eliminates the possibility of mutuality (Stocker, 2001, p 49). The Woman’s Voiceless Call The life of a woman is permeated by concerns associated with psychiatric disorders, from her menstruation, through her pregnancy, in her post-partum period until her menopause (Kornstein and Clayton 2002). Prejudice and stereotyping are typically associated and created base on the gender

Business Law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words - 2

Business Law - Essay Example What will happen if people will know about the duplication? Will there be legal consequences given the situation? Brief Answer One of the possible effects of what Sam Evening’s act is getting charged of theft by false pretenses. This includes false promises which are promises without intent of performance. In the case at bar, Sam Evening and Janet Evening promised to sell to the customers 1000 pieces of Limited Royal Wedding Collectibles which are handmade and personally painted and signed by the artist. The customers are being promised with the quality and the worth of the product. But selling a product made through the service of duplication company is making false pretenses and future promises about products. They are selling the products with intention to gain. Courts will require having a good materiality of misrepresentation. There should be causal relation between the swindler’s deception and the victim’s loss. The state of mind of the accused with respect to his intentions should be given great importance. In the case, Sam’s situation can be said to be a form of obtaining money by false pretenses. Another possible legal effect of Sam’s action is theft by deception. A different offense and can be define in a broader sense. This is the type of theft which uses deception to obtain property of another or service of another. This happens when a person has an intention to deceive other persons to gain. Sam Evening will also be held liable for damages under the Tort Law. These are the damages that he will eventually cause to his business partners under breach of partnership trust. Under the Tort Law, a relief is provided for those who suffered harm from the wrongful acts of others (Hg.org, Tort Law). Statement of Facts The case at bar is considering the possible legal issues that Sam Evening will face after selling products made through the service of duplication company. The products are to be sold as Limited Edition Royal W edding collectibles. There will only be 1000 limited collectibles to be sold for $100. Janet and Sam are so confident that the plates would increase in value. The sellers decided to guarantee the increase in value by promising to buy any plate back within five years from issuance at an appreciated price of 5% annually. Sam and Janet and a friend of theirs, Largess Bucks, each contributed $1000 to cover expenses Sam began producing and signing the plates and Janet created a website to advertise and sell the plates to customers in the United States. After handpainting, signing and numbering 37, Sam got tired and felt like he was doing all of the hard work. Janet did manage the website, including processing payments and shipping products. Their other partner is Largess did nothing. Sam Evening found a plate duplication service and decided to get the service of a duplication company to finish the works of the plates. The company required a minimum order of 1000 plates in order to perfor m these services and a down payment of $3000 to start the order with the remaining $7000 to be paid upon delivery. Unfortunately of the $3000 that they had contributed, $1000 had been used for initial supplies, $500 to set up the website payment processing service, $185 for initial shipping supplies and $315 had been paid to repurchase three plates out of a total of ten plates that had been shipped so far. Sam thought that income from the first set of plate sales would be given at the end of April. So Sam decided to take the $1000 remaining and added $1000 of his

Inside the Clinton White House Essay Example for Free

Inside the Clinton White House Essay The book â€Å"The Agenda: Inside the Clinton White House† (1995) written by Bob Woodward keeps an eye Bill Clintons activities on a day-to-day basis, and most often than not on a minute-by-minute account starting from the period Clinton made a decision to run for president by way of telling the story of his campaign, the election, and Clinton’s first year in office as President. The book deals with the time from late August in the year 1991to early 1994. Almost two-thirds of the book covers the planning, writing, and eventual passing of Bill Clinton’s economic policy, which is considered to be the â€Å"heart† or â€Å"core† of his presidential campaign in the year 1992. Meanwhile, I personally think that the heart of Woodward’s book is about the synergetic activities of the First Couple – Bill and Hillary . This activities include their collaboration and partnership with their advisers and friends, their interpersonal relationship, their power, skill and capability to have an influnce on Congressmen, and also their failure to adapt and adjust to the way of living in Washington. In writing this book, the author interviewed and reinterviewed over 250 individuals. Sometimes, Woodward carried out 20 interviews with 10 sources to document and record a single meeting or a decision made. According to Woodward, in majority of these interviews, he had an agreement with his sources that he will withhold their identity. Nevertheless, in a lot of instances, the readers of the book could easily recognize these sources. Aside from conducting Woodward also obtained information from diaries, schedules, meeting notes, transcripts, and memoranda. I think that most likely, the greatest surprise of the book is the degree to which the people or the sources gave their private papers and opinions to Woodward. In fact, a lot of those people who are close to the First Couple offered exceedingly candid, and oftentimes condescending evaluation of Bill and Hillary. Upon reading the book, as I have said earlier, I think that the topic of the book is Bill Clinton’s first year in office and his effort mainly to pass an economic plan. However, I also think that his effort also includes NAFTA and Health Care. As I can remember, President Clinton had promised three main things as far as his economic plan was concerned. These things are first, to cut the deficit; second, to cut middle class taxes and third, to reinvest in social programs for the working and middle classes. Nevertheless, they swiftly discarded the tax cut and the spending programs ensured afterward, so all they had left was a strategy to cut $500 Billion from the country’s deficit for a period of five years. This brought about a big gap and discord among the inner circles of the Administration. According to the book, on the one hand were the deficit hawks and on the other hand were the people who wanted to stress tax cuts and spending programs. In the meantime, according to Woodward, somewhere in the middle, leaning one way or another, was President Bill Clinton. Despite the fact that the author discloses in detail what a lot of people know, which is the reality that Bill has a temper and has the capacity to be enraged at people, Woodward likewise portrays Bill as a man who is sincerely concerened regarding what has occurred to the middle class people and a man who honestly desires to fulfill his promises made during his campaign and help the people. Moreover, in his book, the author depicts Bill as a hard-working and intelligent President who might have a hard time coming up with a decision, yet wishes to attain what he thinks and feels will enable America to become a safer, better, and more secure nation. In this book, Woodward has also portrayed a somewhat convincing and believable picture of Bill Clinton at work as President. Nevertheless, he also showed a not-so-pretty picture of Bill Clinton. For instance, Woodward has shwin that Bill Clinton tends to vacinate, even though Bill’s uncertainty to act in a powerful and straightforward way is an outcome of thinking too much. Hence, it is in this part that Woodward paints a positive image of Hillary. According to Woodward, she thinks that the burden of implementing the Administration policies was too much on her husband and she also thought that a lot of senior officials in the Administration and on the staff were stopping short of full preparation. In his book, Woodward also disclosed some of Hillary’s thoughts about Bill. According to the book, Hillary said that her husband was such a complex person. She also said that no one had described the whole personality of Bill because people kept attempting to chop Bill into little pieces. She further said that her husband confused people because his manner produced dissonance. Woodward has kind words for Hillary in this book. Obviously, it can be gleaned that Woodward spent several hours with Hillary and was extremely impressed with her. In his book, Woodward regards Hillary to be Bill’s most significant adviser. Woodwards thinks that Hillary is a considerate and compasionate woman because she is eager on doing things that she thought would be best for America. Woodward said that oftentimes, Hillary thought of the thousands of people they had seen and met during their campaign rallies and trips and rallies and she thought and felt that she and Bill had a responsibility to deal with these people’s and the country’s concerns. In terms of the style in writing thr book, Woodward’s book is well-written and interesting and offers a postive and favorable impression and account of Bill Clinton’s work as President. I even think that the book could convince or persuade some Republicans to vote fo Democrats in the next election for President. In reading this book, the reader will observe that Woodward made a novelistic approach to a political issue because as stated earlier, Wordward was able to show that he obtained information from a variety of sources including getting insider information. I think that the purpose of the book is to show that Woodward has unique access to the inner councils of government, and to show the reader an exciting glimpse of the typically unknown process of governing. I believe that through his work, Woodward was able to show that in his own subtle way, he is capable of creating an indictment of centralized political power. I think that â€Å"The Agenda† is a good example of this method of Woodward. Nevertheless, I also think that there is a problem with the author’s failure to take into account larger concepts and ideas. Since the author’s viewpoint is somewhat narrow, since sometimes he is looking down into the details, he tends to miss the big picture. I think that the big picture is how insignificant Clinton’s bill was. Moreover, the author mainly centered on Bill’s failures but doesnt put the appropriate emphasis on the plan’s conclusion: President Clinton got his economic plan passed eventually despite of the odds against him and numerous gaffes, a budget that could be considered as equally important as the 1981 Reagan plan, was passed. Lastly, I think that Woodward must have done o a better job explaining how hard and complex it is to get things accomplished and fulfilled in Washington, particularly legislation that is viewed as damaging well-established and ingrained interests and introduced by a freshman administration. # Reference Woodward,B. (1995). The Agenda: Inside the Clinton White House. Pocket.

Adopting Agile Project Management Methodology Management Essay

Adopting Agile Project Management Methodology Management Essay Agile project management is considered as one of the flexible and interactive project management approach. Agile methodology, as its meaning would suggest, is adopted for rapid development projects. It is very much different than the traditional project management technique which is considered to be more structured and disciplined. Deliberate planning and designing various control methods is inherent part of the traditional style. Normally all the tasks are completed in a predefined sequence to ensure the success which requires lot of planning to be done up front. Evolution: As the business processes became more and more complex they also became more interdependent than ever before. Along with the processes the organizational structure of business also changed in order to support complex communities, comprised of alliances with strategic suppliers, outsourcing vendors and partnerships and ever increasing competitors. With time-to-market compression and rapidly changing technologies fast track development has become the order of the day for most of the business. This increased importance of agile project management methodologies. Agile management is derived from the agile software development and hence it is a variant of iterative life cycle process.   In agile methodology, the evaluation of the project requirements and the end product/solution is a collaborative effort between self-organized, cross-functional teams across the organization or may be from different organizations. Comparison with Traditional Approach Agile project management methodology differs from traditional project management methodology which gives more attention to making software development a better process and hence it gives importance to contract negotiation (managing scope), comprehensive documentation, maintaining and following a project plan with the help of various processes and tools. In contrast, Agile methodology gives stress upon working software and responding to constant changes and there by gaining customer satisfaction. Having frequent client interactions is one of the most important attribute to the success of this approach. Challenges Associated with Agile Methodology Many companies, such as IBM, have adopted agile development because of its underlying benefits of being flexible, simple and fast. The customer centric approach of this methodology makes it very popular amongst the customers and also the possibility of project being self supporting even in the initial stages lures businessmen towards it. Because of these and many other advantages the some of the inherent problems such scope management, risk management issues are overlooked. Normally these issues arise due to lack of planning and documentation for the project, which goes against the agile methodology. This also raises the possibility of indentifying problems/dependencies in the later part of the projects. The complete development becomes person dependant rather than process dependant and team dynamics and HR strategies in the company becomes key ingredients in the success of project. It should be noted that as such process also adds an additional variable in the form customers. Customers get an influential seat at the table to shape the value proposition of the project as it unfolds. They are actively involved in the development process to establish, prioritize, and verify requirements at each and every stage. The ability of agile methodology to adapt to changing customer priorities and requirements keep the project current and relevant. But with such frequent changes in the requirements and scope of the project, strong commitment to the business milestones, which is one of the features of agile methodology, becomes difficult if the project is not managed properly. Because of the high dependency on team dynamics it is often difficult to apply agile methodologies to large project teams and large scale projects, where better planning is required. But it suits the company having culture of innovation as the focus is never shifted from exploratory development to planning and controlling. Research Objective As seen above there are positives and negatives of both the project management methodologies. According a survey taken by one of the leading companies, about 50% of business correspondents claim that agile methods had been successful in about 95% of their projects, where are remaining say that such methods are still too premature and require extensive academic proof/research. I am hoping that through this research paper I am able to explore the challenges faced by such business correspondents while implementing agile project management methodology. I will try to find if adopting agile methodology guaranties success. This paper will also focus on handling change management, risk management, HR issues and Team management issues. Research will stress on various ways of tackling these problems to increase the probability of success. The research will also touch upon adopting the traditional project management activities such as project plan, earned value analysis, balance sheets into the agile project management. The Common practices followed in different types of methodologies for agile project management such as SCRUM, XP, CRYSTAL, EVO will also be discussed in this paper. Sources: Project Management the Agile Way: Making It Work in the Enterprise   By John C. Goodpasture The Blending of Traditional and Agile Management By Kathleen B. Hass, Published in PM World Today May 2007 (Vol. IX, Issue V) Agile Project Management Methods for IT Projects By Glen B. Alleman Wikipedia

Software Piracy From An Islamic Perspective Information Technology Essay

Software Piracy From An Islamic Perspective Information Technology Essay Software piracy is considered to be unethical as such act may hugely affect the right of ones ownership towards his/her products and piece of works. However, statistics (refer:http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/cri_sof_pir_rat-crime-software-piracy-rate) indicate that the rate of software piracy is high especially among the developing nations, in which majority of them are Muslims. In fact, this problem seems to have no ending point despite all the efforts and initiatives done either at the individual, group, national or international levels. Discuss this critical issue of software piracy in the light of Islamic point of view on ethics and ownership. Everywhere in the face of this earth, the issue of using pirated software is widely talked and discussed by people. However, do people really understand and know what is the meaning of software piracy, the copyright infringement of software (often referred to as software piracy) refers to several practices which involve the unauthorized copying of computer software. Copyright infringement of this kind is extremely common. Most countries have copyright laws which apply to software, but the degree of enforcement varies  [1]  . There are several reasons not to use pirated or pirate software. Firstly, it is illegal and there is liability on your part. Its risky. If the software is from an unauthorized source, you could be getting a program that is not fully functional. Secondly, there wont be another version of the software if there is no revenue to put back into research and development. This revenue has made the product affordable to legitimate users. Thirdly, it is totally not eth ical. Or we like to say doing the right thing when no one is looking. Ask yourself how you would feel if your lifes work went without compensation? Start now and be an ethical professional.  [2]   Software piracy refers to the act of copying different computer software without having to pay for them. This is a form of stealing intellectual property. Intellectual property and copyright fall under the same area which declared that copyright provides legal rights exclusively given for a definite periods to the creators of an intellectual work, e.g. literary works (anything in writing), artistic works (drawings, maps, plans etc), musical works, films, sound recordings, computer programs (source and object code) for sale or any other use. It is, in principle, not concerned with things that are not perceivable, such as abstract ideas, concept, and the like. Copyright protection begins when works are actually created and fixed in a tangible form. the emerging digital technology, increasing use of computers, communication technology and their convergence into an integrated information technology, have given rise to challenging legal issues for copyright and many mire are expected in t he future, the ease of distribution, altering digital information and proliferation of computer networking, raise concerns about copyright. Copyright was designed for three basic reasons: to reward creators for their original works: to encourage availability of the works to the public; and to facilitate access and use of copyrighted works by their public in certain circumstances.  [3]   As mentioned before, software piracy is illegal. Sarcastically, many who are practicing and involving in pirate software are fully aware of the legalities, though they are able to reduce continuing the practice. Some think about the only solution that works without splurging too much money on purchasing the product. Around the world, authorities are already enlisted and stated the laws regarding software piracy, these are some of them:  [4]   Counterfeit Copies Producing counterfeit copies and selling them to other consumers is a grave offense. There are different punishments in different countries but all are in agreement that making money off of someone elses intellectual property is an offense. This includes making copies of different software, such as games, video games and other software that is used for the computer. Distributing Counterfeit Copies Creating counterfeit copies and giving them away is also a form of piracy. Even if the person does not charge anything for these copies, it is considered an offense as the person is not the owner of the copyright or does not have the consent of the copyright owner to distribute the copies. This is one of the most rampant piracy practices that the anti-piracy association is trying to fight. Selling Computers with Pre-installed Pirated Software Although the item for sale here is the computer, this is considered an offense as the computer for sale is loaded with different pirated programs. This act is also known as hard disk loading. This is considered an offense because the consumer who will buy the computer does not receive the copy of the original program and the other items included with it, including the CDs or license agreements. Online Sharing Sharing of software online is prohibited. Freeware and shareware programs are the only programs that can be distributed online. Other software is not allowed to be shared with other people over the Internet. This also includes piracy music. The Internet can be used as a means of transmitting illegal software to different people around the world. This is the case for plenty of copyright software. Shareware with No License Although shareware can be legally distributed over the Internet, it becomes illegal when the license for use has already expired. This works for software that can be downloaded for a free trial. Using this software after the free trial has expired is considered software piracy. Software licensing must be acquired before these shareware programs can be shared with anyone else. Islam is supposed to be a complete way of life. A Muslim is bound by Islamic rules and hence is obliged to follow the instructions as prescribed in the Quran and Hadiths. Islam is a religion based upon the surrender to God (Allah). The very name of the religion, al-Islam in Arabic, means submission and peace, for it is in submitting to Gods will that human beings gain peace in their lives in this world and in the hereafter. Islam is considered to be a comprehensive religion and its ethical system is considered to be one of the major ethical systems. Owing to the importance of establishing an ethical system in the field of IT, especially at our present time which is witnessing an ever increasing ethical problems, several specialist organizations have prepared codes of ethics to be complied with by members of those organizations.  [5]   The main agendas which can be recognized to ethics in relation to information technology can be tied down to hacking, privacy, software piracy and IT personnel work ethics. By taking into deeper look, we begin to realize that ethics and information technology involve more issues which on the whole are just as worst. These are some issues related: Computer professionals responsibilities towards their employers and their clients; Proper documentation of software by designers and developers; Proper testing of software by designers and developers; Handover of systems to clients; Designers and developers leaving a computer project mid-stream; Providing maximum security of software to clients; Computer professionals honoring the proprietary issues relating to the algorithms, procedures and data; Computer professionals working towards accurate systems with the aim of Complete data integrity; and Computer professionals involvement in developing systems aimed at unethical ends. In defining the concept of harm that can be done by an IT professional or just normal people and civilians, harm can be defined as the undesired effects to individuals or organizations resulting from any task or system (software) used. In order to avoid the harm Allah has warned us to be honest and trustworthy through his word of wisdom which is Al-Quran in Surah 13, Ayah 119: O ye who believe! Fear Allah and be with those who are truthful. And Prophet Muhammad (saw) has said: The trader must avoid five qualities, otherwise he should not buy or sell: Usury, swearing by God that the merchandise is good, withholding the defect, commending (the commodity) when selling and belittling (it) when he is buying (Tahtheeb al-Ahkam Ch. 7).  [6]   The verses above clearly emphasize the importance of telling the truth and how God perceives those who tell the truth and how they are rewarded. The first verse encourages people to be in the group of those who are honest and only tell the truth whilst the second verse portrays the great reward of those who were truthful on earth. Suggest potential solutions to at least minimize the act of software piracy among these societies. Before we can move on to the deeper solutions, why not we discover what the real are cause the occurrence of software piracy. Causes of piracy and counterfeiting may include rising cost of original software, making them unaffordable to a large segment of the population, advances in technology (tools for reproduction of copyright product) making piracy an easy task, low starting cost for pirating, absence or lack of enforcing copyright laws, huge profits can be made easily by pirates and weak deterrent (fines and prison sentences are minimal). The literature suggests that many factors explain the software piracy phenomena. These factors are grouped into four categories: first is an economic factor; suggest that Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita is inversely related to software piracy level. Given the decrease in software prices, it may be that a countrys GDP has a less effect on piracy than it did some years ago. Second is ethnical factors; software piracy is assumed to be more prevalent in nations with a weak IT infrastructure since the quality of available software is lower. Thus, people often copy and work with pirated software. The problem is compounded as software revisions occur. While the need to remain competitive through upgrades is important, it is worthwhile only when affordable. Thirdly is regulatory factors; developing countries may unintentionally encourage software piracy by imposing high tariffs, hence increasing the cost of software. It is also believed that lack of penalties for buying pirated softw are are also reasons for piracy growth. And lastly social/cultural factors; these factors refer to the prevailing social and cultural attitudes shared by members of a society. Many studies have indicated that the culture factor influences a countrys software piracy rate.  [7]   Getting through with the causes, the disadvantages are seen to come along due to lack of public awareness of in third world countries. There is probably the lost revenue to the companies and countries involved, the increased prices by software companies to compensate for losses, lost jobs wherever software companies have plants, lost domestic and foreign investments, lost trust in the ability of some countries to protect intellectual property, immoral activity condemned by all religions, illegal activity leading to prosecution and increased international pressure at the economic, financial, Political level. According to Robert Hollyman, BSA president and chief executive officer, software piracy robs the global economy of hundreds of thousands of jobs and billions of dollars in wages and tax revenues.  [8]   Given the situation of software piracy in campus since it is a small community yet has quite big of potential software piracy practice. Software piracy on college campuses may be generally divided into two categories. The first occurs when the institution itself is violating copyright law. This results when installations of software programs are in excess of the terms stated in the licensing agreement or under law. For example, software that is licensed for use on a single machine is installed on many computers or on a network server, allowing unlimited access. Oftentimes, the school is unaware of the problem as a result of poor or no software management. In other instances the school simply cannot afford to buy software and chooses to risk the infringements. Students more commonly conduct the second type of piracy. In this scenario the piracy often takes place on the Internet where students trade or simply give away software programs as one would trade. If the students are using the schools network or computers to facilitate their illegal activity, the college itself may be held liable. All members of the campus community can take steps to prevent such illegal activity and minimize misuse of computer resources. It is important to promote an understanding of the law and to ensure that specific procedures and protocols are implemented to establish a foundation on which illegal activity may be prevented.  [9]   Discussing these two issues, there are five solutions offered to enable schools to be software legal: Appoint a software manager. Create and implement a computer usage policy, including software and Internet access. Conduct periodic software audits. Establish and maintain a software log of licenses and registration materials. Teach and promote awareness of software compliance. It is stated above that in the case of school, college or university software piracy where some solutions are proposed but, generally these are some more solutions and tips to prevent or lessen the software piracy. The first tip is by applying the code key For the past 5 to 7 years, software developers have devised a plan to lessen or prevent software piracy. This is by using a code key. A code key comes with the software that you buy. Before fully installing the software on your computer, you must provide the specific code key that came with the software. After providing the code key, you can run the software on your computer. The code key also locks after it has been used. This is so that the software cannot be installed on other computers after it has been installed on one. You will have to call the manufacturer of the software to be able to use the code key again. This is not good news to people who pirate software. Secondly is the introduction of open source; described as free software that anyone can download from the Internet. A lot of different software can are licensed as open source. Open source software is under the license free software license. There are also different upgrades for these open source software that can also be freely downloaded from the Internet. By using open source software, people dont need to worry about spending a lot of money for original copies of software. This will also lessen the number of people who are using pirated software as there are alternative programs that can be used and they do not have to pay fines when they are caught. Third is the hardware key; a hardware key is a device that is used for anti-piracy. This tool prevents software vendors to distribute their products or use them without authorization from the copyright owner of the software. The hardware key works when it is attached to a computer. It monitors software licensing and enforces licensing of the protected software that is detected on the computer. This tool will lessen software vendors from illegally distributing the software that they have and is a good prevention measure for piracy. And lastly is anti-piracy software; there are different types of anti-piracy software that are available for free. Anti-piracy software is used to prevent illegal duplication or illegal use of copyrighted software. There is also an anti-piracy software that prevents hackers from getting into the software and copying it without consent from the copyright owner. Some of them are also already integrated on the disks of the software that contains the program. This may also be for piracy music. The anti-piracy association is also looking for other ways to prevent software piracy. Reporting anti-piracy may prevent it from happening.  [10]   These are some of the measures that have been implemented or created to stop and prevent software piracy. With the improvement of technology, there are a lot of things people can use to bypass these piracy measures but there are always new and effective things to use against piracy. The issue of software piracy seems to remain a permanent feature of the marketplace. It is a problem that will not go away, but it can be controlled or curbed to reduce its negative effect on the companies and countries involved. There are some measures that can be taken to reduce piracy acts and the losses associated with them. Piracy is not going to be eliminated or eradicated from the world, but it sure can be curbed and reduced to its minimum activities with the cooperation of the developed and the developing countries in taking these drastic measures to make the world a better place to live.

Metamorphosis Of Narcissus - Salvador Dali Essay -- Art Artwork

The painting Metamorphosis of Narcissus was created in 1937 by oil on canvas by Salvador Dali. This painting uses a lot of images to say what it means, for example, a person, a hand, water, a starving dog, a chess board, a canyon or cliff, and people. This is not to fill the paper or distract the viewer from the suggested meaning or point, but to support the idea that hope and despair are reflections of one another; on opposite sides of a coin, spinning in mid-air, waiting to land and fix or destroy everything. The first thing that one thinks upon first seeing it, from far away, is that Dali just painted the same thing twice. From afar, it appears as if he simply cut the canvas down the middle and made one side brown and the other blue, but on closer inspection, one sees that the two sides, although very similar, are nothing alike. On one side, there sits a limp body staring at the reflection of herself in the water that she sinks in. The setting sun glistens off the back of her head, but she just wallows in grim depression and boredom. The canyons trap her in the barren wasteland as she sits motionless, without movement, struggle, or life. This mysterious figure looks so vacant that it might as well be dead. Nothing is happening on this side, so one's attention is directed to the other. On the other side, a blue decaying hand emerges from the ground with ants crawling on it, possibly making their homes in it or finding food on it. Atop this pedestal, rests an egg with a flower sprouting from it. This display of life emerging from the dead is a symbol of hope and beauty. To the left of the hand, a very unhealthy malnourished dog feasts on fresh meat; his salvation is handed to him and he survives. Behind the dog is a chess board with a young man in the middle of it, proudly surveying the battlefield as though it were his kingdom. To his left are people on a road that leads off into the horizon. All these things symbolize new beginnings out of old life and hope from death. The message that Salvador Dali was trying to get across is that hope and despair, failure and victory, and life and death are all equal forces, each one pulling the other in an eternal war to balance everything. It's all a cycle, and like all cycles, it repeats itself forever and ever, and there's no way of having one without the other. Guemi... ...es. Texture is kept to a minimum in the specific work as it is a very two dimensional art work and as is common of the cubism style. He has made extremely good use of space as nearly the entire canvas is used, while maintaining the balance which is necessary to keep the composition aesthetically pleasing. Among the many symbolic images in the work are a bull, a horse a soldier with a broken sword and a woman looking out of a window with a very concerned look on her face. The broken sword in the soldiers hand, which can be seen at the bottom center of the composition was used to symbolize the broken spirits and the failure to resist on the part of the people. The woman is a symbol of concern for the fighting people by people who have succeeded in being able to see the whole picture. The largest contributing factor to "Guernica's" overall appeal is the excellent use of symbolism which encourages it's audience to think. If ever given the opportunity I would be most interested in seeing the original of this work. I have gained a lot of respect for not only the artistic integrity of this painting, but also for Pablo Picasso as an overall intuitive and creative person. Metamorphosis Of Narcissus - Salvador Dali Essay -- Art Artwork The painting Metamorphosis of Narcissus was created in 1937 by oil on canvas by Salvador Dali. This painting uses a lot of images to say what it means, for example, a person, a hand, water, a starving dog, a chess board, a canyon or cliff, and people. This is not to fill the paper or distract the viewer from the suggested meaning or point, but to support the idea that hope and despair are reflections of one another; on opposite sides of a coin, spinning in mid-air, waiting to land and fix or destroy everything. The first thing that one thinks upon first seeing it, from far away, is that Dali just painted the same thing twice. From afar, it appears as if he simply cut the canvas down the middle and made one side brown and the other blue, but on closer inspection, one sees that the two sides, although very similar, are nothing alike. On one side, there sits a limp body staring at the reflection of herself in the water that she sinks in. The setting sun glistens off the back of her head, but she just wallows in grim depression and boredom. The canyons trap her in the barren wasteland as she sits motionless, without movement, struggle, or life. This mysterious figure looks so vacant that it might as well be dead. Nothing is happening on this side, so one's attention is directed to the other. On the other side, a blue decaying hand emerges from the ground with ants crawling on it, possibly making their homes in it or finding food on it. Atop this pedestal, rests an egg with a flower sprouting from it. This display of life emerging from the dead is a symbol of hope and beauty. To the left of the hand, a very unhealthy malnourished dog feasts on fresh meat; his salvation is handed to him and he survives. Behind the dog is a chess board with a young man in the middle of it, proudly surveying the battlefield as though it were his kingdom. To his left are people on a road that leads off into the horizon. All these things symbolize new beginnings out of old life and hope from death. The message that Salvador Dali was trying to get across is that hope and despair, failure and victory, and life and death are all equal forces, each one pulling the other in an eternal war to balance everything. It's all a cycle, and like all cycles, it repeats itself forever and ever, and there's no way of having one without the other. Guemi... ...es. Texture is kept to a minimum in the specific work as it is a very two dimensional art work and as is common of the cubism style. He has made extremely good use of space as nearly the entire canvas is used, while maintaining the balance which is necessary to keep the composition aesthetically pleasing. Among the many symbolic images in the work are a bull, a horse a soldier with a broken sword and a woman looking out of a window with a very concerned look on her face. The broken sword in the soldiers hand, which can be seen at the bottom center of the composition was used to symbolize the broken spirits and the failure to resist on the part of the people. The woman is a symbol of concern for the fighting people by people who have succeeded in being able to see the whole picture. The largest contributing factor to "Guernica's" overall appeal is the excellent use of symbolism which encourages it's audience to think. If ever given the opportunity I would be most interested in seeing the original of this work. I have gained a lot of respect for not only the artistic integrity of this painting, but also for Pablo Picasso as an overall intuitive and creative person.

managerial accounting Essay -- essays research papers

Austin Watches is a start-up watch producer and distribution company. Its strategy is to serve the upscale niche markets of the watch industry. It will capitalize on the German engineering and manufacturing used to build the watches. There are many untapped potential markets within this industry that desire high-quality, stylish goods, but do not think they can afford them or do not know where to purchase them. It is the firm's intention to build and export its products to the United States and to make Austin Watches the number one selling European watch in the Western U.S. To do this the company's long-term goals are to achieve a 20% market share in the U.S, build brand image and brand equity through marketing, achieve a sustainable 55% profit margin, and eventually produce luxury watches in addition to the initial, moderately-priced line. Mission Austin Watches is a watch company that produces wristwatches for sale in the United States - initially in California. The company will build its image, as a quality watch first, and then will begin selling higher profit, luxury watches. Austin Watches sells quality watches and provides excellent customer service for customers seeking a reliable watch. In the future Austin Watches intends to enter the luxury watch market The Company and Ownership Austin Watches is a privately owned international corporation. Production takes place in Germany and sales and marketing are focused in California, United States, for the short-term...

West Side Story

In the context of 1960s, chain gangs and gang wars are prevalent between Latin and White American adolescents. For the reason that the White American adolescents despise and discriminate against the Latin Americans (particularly the Puerto Rican race), the Whites resort to bully the minorities and they even ostracize the Latin Americans by depriving them of their rights to use recreation places like the street’s basketball court, food houses, and the like upon believing that the White Americans are the most superior and the better race than the Latin Americans; and in so doing, the White Americans perceive and believe that should not mingle with those inferior and minority race (such that of the Latin Americans as an example) who were different from them (Brian 2005). Moreover, in this movie directed in 1961 by Jerome Robbins & Robert Wise entitled: West Side Story, the conflict between the two opposing races namely the White and the Latin Americans was further described through presentation of some prevailing scenarios that the Latin Americans unjust encounter and experience with the White Americans. Body The West Side Story is a movie adapted from Broadway’s musicale. It was an adaptation of the infamous Shakespearean play, Romeo and Juliet (UAPI 2009). Starred by Natalie Wood as â€Å"Maria,† Richard Beymer as â€Å"Tony,† and George Chakiris as â€Å"Bernardo,† the rest of supporting characters of the film includes: Russ Tamblyn as â€Å"Riff,† Rita Moreno as â€Å"Anita,† Simon Oakland as â€Å"Lieutenant Schrank,† Ned Glass as whom they call â€Å"Doc,† William Bramley (as the notorious police of the street) named, â€Å"Officer Krupke,† Tucker Smith as â€Å"Ice,† Tony Mordente as â€Å"Action,† Eliot Feld as the â€Å"Baby John,† and lastly, David Winters, as the one who portrayed the character of â€Å"A-Rab (Shulman 1961). † The Plot of the West Side Story The Movie West Side Story was depicted in the life of the citizens of the White and Latin Americans living in the 1950’s in Manhattan streets of the United States. A division was clearly evident as it was created and recognized by the adolescents of the east coast and west coast of Manhattan. The setting begins in the mentioned streets of Manhattan as a self-gratifying and self-centered musical song was sung by the Jets (the name for the White Americans’ gang and clique). Throughout the song sung by the Jets, the Puerto Ricans/Latin American adolescent gang led by Bernardo were discriminated and ostracized. First instance was when a fruit held by one of the Sharks (the name of the Latin adolescent Americans)–it was abruptly grabbed by another member of the Jets without consent and respect to the quiet Latino. Moreover, the Latin Americans/ Puerto Ricans were mostly driven away and out of establishments and public leisure places. It was evident in the entire film that the height of discrimination and prejudice occurred in the late 1950s to early 1960s and it was shown how the Latinos were mostly bullied by the White Americans (Dirks 1961). The setting of the West Side Story is at the basketball court of Manhattan. Even if the scenario in the court, it was obvious that the Latin Americans were discriminated as they were not favored to play in the same court with the White Americans. It was evident however, that there was a rival even in basketball for the two different races. Furthermore, a representative member of the Jets (White American adolescents) vandalized a wall and wrote: â€Å"Sharks stink! Upon catching this adolescent in the act, the Sharks saw what the White American adolescent did and so they chased after him and the riot between the White and the Latin Americans began (Howe 2003). The Sharks (East side) and the Jets (West side) A hot-tempered and authoritative cop was assigned in monitoring the activities of the two distinct groups, The Sharks and Jets. The cop’s name was Officer Krupke, played by the actor William Bramley. Officer Krupke’s major task and obligation is to control and to minimize the rate of crime and therefore maintain peace and order in the streets of Manhattan. Meanwhile, the Jets (West side) were preoccupied in praising themselves with all pride and self-centered egoism. According to the Jets, they walk tall as they consider themselves the kings of the streets in Manhattan. The Jets perceive that the east side, Sharks (the Latin Americans) were a threat to their dream of being the king of the streets, in so doing, the Jets consisting of the White Americans just would not stop throwing mock at the Latinos and drive them away wherever the Jets hang out. Further, the Sharks or the Latin Americans led by Bernardo just kept themselves mum at a time just to keep their group away from trouble. However their threshold of patience was reached at a certain point of them when Bernardo was mocked by the cop, Officer Krupke himself—showing that he was in favor of the White Americans. In this case, Bernardo decided he would stand up for his group and race and they decided to fight in defense of those Jets and other White Americans who interfere with their freedom and right of peace (RC 2008). Upon Bernardo’s (leader of the Sharks in west side) and his group’s implicit decision to fight for their right of freedom, respect, and peace in Manhattan, they resort to fight with the Jets in a dance showdown. From that dance, the difference of the two cultures was shown in terms of their specialties in music genre: the Latinos were good dancers of boogie, salsa, twist, and cha-cha, whereas for the white Americans, they are good dancers but not as good and as creative dancers as the Latin Americans. During the dance showdown, two eyes met as if they were magnetized to notice each other inspite of the numerous Sharks and Jets dancing on the floor. The two love birds were Maria (played by the famous Natalie Wood) and Tony (as portrayed by Richard Beymer). Maria (a Puerto Rican/ Latin American woman) fell in love at first sight with Tony ( a member of the Jets, a white American) during the first dance showdown between the White Americans and the Latin American adolescents. Further, the dance showdown halted as soon as Bernardo (Maria’s brother) noticed the undesirable scene. Bernardo obviously did not want his sister to fall in love with a White American especially with belonging in their opponent Jets (Shulman 1961). In the next scene of the film, the West side Jets claim they have departed the social norm that is why they are anti-social and juvenile delinquents. According to the songs they sing, they need help and they could not be blamed for their behavior since each one of them have their issues and problems in their families. Most of them were misunderstood and belonging in broken family set-up. At the end of their song, they address officer Krupke (RC 2008). The climax of this move is when the conflict between the Jets and the Sharks became intense up to the point that both parties decided to pick a fight and end their rival in duel. ON the other hand, Maria (Bernardo’s sister and Tony’s girlfriend) secretly meet with Tony even she knows that it is dangerous for the both of them. Since Tony was madly in love with Maria, he took the risk and courted Maria. However, Maria requested and pleaded her Tony to try to stop the war between the two groups. Tony, hesitant at first for the difficult request of Maria, agreed to do his best and try to stop the fight as soon as possible (Shulman 1961). The West Side Story: A grand slam receiver of Academy Awards Having been released by the United Artists in 1961, the West side story gained praise and at the same time critiques from the viewers and it also achieved the title of: â€Å"the 2nd highest grossing movie† in 1961. The West side story received a total of ten Academy awards and it achieved several nominations and recognitions in the United States. This award winning movie, West Side Story achieved success in depicting the current existing culture of the Americans (both for the White and Latin Americans) during the 1960’s. The West side story achieved several honors and Academy awards namely for the following categories: for Best Picture, considering Robert Wise is the producer; Best for Supporting Actor played by George Chakiris as â€Å"Bernardo;† Best Supporting Actress for Rita Moreno who portrayed the role of â€Å"Anita;† another Academy award for the film’s Best Art Direction category considering the aspects of the right choice of set color and design, claimed by Victor Gangelin and Boris Leven; Best in Cinematography category: good choice and quality for the film’s color which induces the movie’s theme, claimed by Daniel Fapp; another award of Best in Costume Design for Irene Sharaff; Best in Directing for Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins; Best Academy award in Film Editing for Thomas Stanford; Award for the film’s Original Music Score and of the Musical Picture credited to Johnny Green, Saul Chaplin, Sid Ramin, and Irwin Kostal; and last but not the leas t, the West side story also gained the Academy award Academy for Best Sound as credit to Fred Hynes (Todd-AO SSD) and Gordon Sawyer (Samuel Goldwyn SSD) (Howe 2003). In addition, the West side story achieved further recognitions, awards, and nominations were the result of the cooperation of the cast and those working staff behind the scenes. In 1997, the film was promoted by the United States Library of Congress (USLC) as it has been considered as a film that is being â€Å"culturally significant† and it was chosen to be preserved in the collection of the National Film Registry. Similarly, the West side story achieved further awards and recognition as Best in Writing and Screenplay based on material from another medium, as credited to Mr. Ernest Lehman; another received award by this film is the Academy Award for Brilliant Achievements in the Art of Choreography on Film credit to and for Jerome Robbins (one of the directors of the West side story). Furthermore, the west side story achieved 1998 American Film Institution Recognition (AFI) as rating number 41 out of 100 movies in the United States. In 2002, it also gained American Film Institution Recognition (AFI) as rated number three in the Passions of the United States for 100 years. The songs used in the West side story also top rated the charts especially for the songs: Somewhere (rated number 20 for 100 years), also for the song America (rated number 35 for 100 years), and also including the song, Tonight (rated number 59 for 100 years) consecutively as recorded in 2004 charts. In 2006, it achieved recognition of100 Years of Musicals rating number 2 from AFI and apparently, the West side story achieved the recognition of 100 Years for 100 Movies in its tenth (10th) Anniversary Edition rating number 51 from AFI, as put into account in year 2007 (Howe 2003). The Soundtrack used in the West Side Story In order for a great multi-million dollar winning movie to become possible, the choice of songs as background music for the movie’s soundtrack plays a very important factor in determining the success of the movie. Originally, the West side story was a musical created by Johnny Richards. In 1961, West side story was adapted and recorded by the Stan Kenton Orchestra as musical collection jazz orchestra using Bernstein scores. However the Stan Kenton Orchestra’s version was viewed and evaluated by the film directors of the West side story, it was the different version of musicale from the musicale included in the ongoing film. In fact, upon seeing the Stan’s orchestra jazz version, the directors claim that they should have used Stan’s version as soundtrack of the film but it was too late and a new and different version was created by the song directors to be used in the West side story. Although The Stan Kenton’s version was not used as the basis of musicale background of the film, it gained a Grammy Award for Best Jazz Recording of a large group in 1962 (Shulman 196). This is not saying that West side story was free from flaws and considered therefore as perfect, but it was generally agreed by majority that the film was a good and timely musicale reflecting the current cultural norms and values of the Americans in 1960s. In manner of clothing, perception of power, basis for conflict, the prevalent prejudice and discrimination, and the diverse nature of language, music, and dance steps. The difference between the White and Latin Americans was explicitly described and presented in the portrayal of the main and supporting characters of the movie (RC 2008). Characteristics of the Characters in West side story Described as â€Å"New York’s classic of the 1960s,’’ West side story was astoundingly studded with magnificent and good starts who sang the songs like Tonight, Maria, I Feel Pretty, America, Officer Krupke, A Place for Us, and I Have Love (citation). Although Maria was criticized for delivering some lines the songs with uncertain accent, the musicale was a success for its overall success in portraying the life and culture of the adolescent, White and Latin Americans in 1960s. The characters of the West side story played a major role in making the film on of the best musicale created in the United States. First and foremost, Rita Moreno (girlfriend of Bernardo) and the one who played the role of â€Å"Anita,† delivered a great portrayal of her character in the movie. Anita, as a Latin American, was a graceful and flexible dancer, and at the same time, was good singer as she sang some songs in the film. Similarly, Russ Tamblyn, who played the role of Rif, was the persuasive leader of the Westside Jets and portrayed his character fairly as well. Having been playing the role of Maria, Natalie Wood portrayed her character as an innocent-looking, young, and a graceful dancer and singer, Maria. The character Maria fell in love with Tony, the member of the Jets gang in the west side. On the other hand, George Chakiris playing the role of Bernardo, as the brother of Maria and leader of the Sharks in the East side, portrayed the role of a discriminated leader of a minority group of the Latino adolescents in Manhattan. Bernardo could be quiet and soft spoken at times but he has the tendency for aggression to assert himself and represent his group in defending their race against discrimination and prejudice of the white Americans. Most and the rest of the characters exerted their best performance level in portraying their roles for the West side story (UAPI 2009). The Significance and Recommendation of the West side story Thought the West side story was just presented in such a simple way, it successfully addressed the important issues and problems in the society existing long, long time ago at the onset of 1960s and still exists nowadays. The social issues of family set up of the adolescents (particularly as sung by the Jets), the lack of attention parents and school personnel who should aid the personality development of the disturbed adolescents, the racial issues, conflict, discrimination and prejudice existing among culturally-diverse communities, increased the awareness of the viewers (who may be a parent, a policymaker, or district guidance counselor) and so, they could devise ways and create programs for the benefit of the currently growing adolescents. Even if the culture describe in the film was during the 1960’s it is obvious that discrimination and prejudice is still occurring in some communities in the United States; in so doing, this film may serve as a guide for the adolescents and the adults to address and provide solutions to current problems in the society and its members—especially for the benefit of the adolescents who are in pressing need of guidance, understanding, attention, and advice from the adults. In such case, the West side story is must-seen (UAPI 2009). Indeed, the West side story is a re-tell or a remake and a musical version of the popular novel/movie Romeo and Juliet (citation). It is a musical drama with soul-inspiring and enervating song lines sung by the stars of the film. Just like the tragic Shakespearean play Romeo and Juliet, the West side story ended with a tragic accident of killing the major characters in the movie namely Bernardo and Tony. Maria was left alone by her two loved ones due to the hatred built between the Jets and the Sharks of Upper West side Manhattan, New York City (RC 2008). Compared between the rival between Montague and Capulet families of Romeo and Juliet, the gangs Jets and Sharks hate could not stand each other as well. And so the gang wars between the two different races began (war existed between the Latin and White Americans in Manhattan, New York). Thus, the creation of the West side story was just in time to support the cinema/ silver screen in competition with the shows on television popularized during the 1960s (UAPI 2009). The Staff behind the Scenes of the West side story The film version of the West side story was based from the book of Arthur Laurents having the same title. Further, the musicale collection based from the collection of musical scores of Leonard Bernstein. The lyrics of the songs sung by the stars in the West side story were composed by Stephen Sondheim. Moreover, the choreography and the musical concept were contributed of Jerome Robbins. Further, the screenplay was written by Ernest Lehman. Producers of this film were Walter Mirisch, Robert Wise, and Saul Chaplin respectively. The cinematography on the other hand, was powered by the creative mind of Daniel Fapp. Color for the film was also powered by Technicolor and thus, the film itself was taken in Panavision 700. This movie was astoundingly directed two of the greatest directors of the era: namely, Jerome Robbins and Robert Wise (UAPI 2009). The Relationship of the West side story to Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet The West side story was indeed a vibrant film which is full of life among the characters. Further the Broadway musicale style of the 1961 film written by Laurents and directed by Robbins was a â€Å"hit† top-notching the charts of the best movies in 1960s in the silver screen. Replicating the tragic, Shakespearean novel, Romeo and Juliet, the West side story has the same characteristics of the play Romeo and Juliet since the lovers in the story, Tony and Maria attempted to risk the danger of having a relationship despite of their difference in their races. Maria was Puerto Rican and Tony was a White American making them members of the two opposite races (UAPI 2009). The two opposing and distinct races and ethnicities, White and Latin Americans were the focus of this movie. In order to present the differences in culture of the White and Latin Americans, the movie was able to show the attitude of White, European adolescents towards the Latin, Puerto Ricans. Further, the story was presented by producing the story using a ground-breaking, exhilarating musicale with an astounding well-performed choreography by the various outstanding artists. The West side story poses the emerging conflict present among the inhabitants of the Upper West Side Manhattan in New York City during the 1960s. The movie poses the problems of the adolescents in engaging in criminal chain and gang wars which obstructs the peace and order in the community of Upper West side New York. Moreover, in order to present such existing culture and social problems of the United States in 1960, the entire movie was taken and shot in the streets of Upper West side New York City and in Manhattan. However, some of the parts and scenes in the movie were shot and recorded on the improvised sets and studios prepared by the floor directors (UAPI 2009). In comparison of the West side story in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, The Montague family came to be the counterparts of the White American Jets in the West side story. Similarly, the Capulet family was the counterpart of the Puerto Rican/ Latin American Sharks. Relatively, Bernardo’s abduction of Riff in a gang fight (Tony’s elder brother), simulates the similar scenario of the tragic accident of Mercutio (Romeo’s friend in Romeo and Juliet) being killed by Tybalt, who appears to be Juliet’s cousin. As a result, Romeo resorted to kill Tybalt as well as a revenge for the death of his friend Mercutio. Apparently, the same related scenario of revenge in a fight simulates the scene where Tony abducted Bernardo after stabbing Tony’s elder brother, Riff. Furthermore several characters in the west side story have their counterpart or equivalent characters that portrayed similar roles in Romeo and Juliet and these are the following: Anita in the West side story portraying the â€Å"Nurse† (Juliet’s confidante in Romeo and Juliet) and Doc in the West side story portraying the role of â€Å"Friar Lawrence† in Romeo and Juliet novel. But it is to put into account that the tragic suicide of Romeo and Juliet at the end of the story was not the same with the ending of the West side story since Maria, after the death of her beloved Tony, did not kill herself but she just furiously pointed the blame to the pointless, mad desire of the Shark and Jets gang (citation). Critiques argue for the West side story that the movie was a similar recreation of other classic hit musicales like the â€Å"Gypsy† and the â€Å"Dolls. However it was interpreted that way by critiques and viewers, The West side story is considered as one of the America’s masterpiece production in the global silver screen. The West side story was a hit for it was a divergence from the current popular culture of movies in the 1960s. The unique musicale of the West side story discussed social problems in the United States: gang wars, racial discrimination, juvenile delinquencies and family problems through the songs sung by the adolescents, Jets in the entire movie (Zoglin 2009). Salient points to consider and some important scenarios in the West side story Focusing on Maria and Tony’s love affair, they seem to risk what danger could happen the moment the other members of the Sharks and Jets the get to know the forbidden relationship of Maria and Tony. When the lovers hear the arrival of Anita (Bernardo’s girlfriend) Tony quickly escaped his way out of the house and he said Maria that they should meet at the drug store owned by Doc to elope and get married. However, Anita accidentally caught the presence of Tony quickly escaping the house. Anita was startled and reacted negatively at first but she listened when Maria explained how she loved Tony so much. Inspite of Anita’s grievance over Bernardo’s death she resorts to help Maria arrange their plan of eloping and getting married. Moreover, Anita gave Maria a hint that Chino of the Sharks is after Tony to kill him with a pistol (Zoglin 2009). As the officer, Lt. Schrank arrived at Maria’s house he questioned Maria for the riot/gang wars that recently occurred between the Sharks and the Jets. Maria was careful enough for covering up Tony in order to protect him from the further questioning and investigation of the officer. Maria lured the Lt. Schrank by se nding Anita as an errand to Doc’s drugstore to buy a medicine to relieve the pain she is feeling in her head. Such action of Anita was for the purpose of delivering a message to Tony at the drugstore that Maria could not come and meet her for Maria was held as a detainee a under investigation of Lt. Schrank. However, upon entering the drugstore, Anita did not expect that she was going to be mocked by the White American, Jets. Not only this, the Jets tried to harass her as an insult to her being a â€Å"Puerto Rican. † Maria was disrespected by the rest of the Jets not giving her a chance to deliver Maria’s message for Tony. In so doing, the circumstance really made Anita really furious. Consequentially, Anita distorted the real message that she has to deliver (that Maria was detained due to Lt. Schrank’s queries) and she imparted that her message was to tell Tony that Maria was shot dead by Chino with a gun. The chaos was stopped by Doc as he yelled to them inside the drugstore and also, for the Jets to stop harassing and making fun of the Puerto Rican lady, Anita. The jets stopped and listen to the old man (Doc). However, Doc went down to the basement and checked out the hiding Tony. Further, he relayed Anita’s untrue, bad news to Tony that Maria was shot dead by Chino. So, Tony abruptly ran his way up and out of the drugstore’s basement and then he searched for Chino with desolation and hopelessness and how he’d wish that Chino would kill him as well (Zoglin 2009). While searching for Chino, Tony saw Maria on the road. The lovers were so happy to see each other again especially Tony when he thought that his beloved Maria was already dead. Suddenly, Chino appeared in the scene and shoot Tony. Maria was so startled as her lover fell on his knees and landed on Maria’s arms. Maria, trying to comfort her dying lover sang a song for him so that he will not be afraid. The lovers affirmed that if their love was not possible here, they should continue their love somewhere place as they should see each other again in their next life and in the other world. The White Jets and the Puerto Ricans Sharks ran towards the death scene together with the cops (including Officer Krupke in the scene). Maria was infuriated with the mere presence of officer Krupke and she yelled at him not to even dare to come closer the dead body of his beloved Tony. Maria took the gun from the suspect Chino and there she pointed the gun ate everyone: the Sharks and the Jets. She blamed that the death of Riff, Bernardo, and Tony was the fault of the both gangs and the result to all their selfish hatred. So for the reason that Officer Krupke was hindered by Maria to get even closer to Tony, some of the members of the Jets and Sharks took the initiative in carrying Tony’s corpse. After the tragic killings of the leaders of the Jets and Sharks in the streets of Manhattan, New York, the gang war between the two gangs was considered over (Zoglin 2009). Realism was shown and achieved in the West side story since the songs used in the entire movie were a mixture of English and Spanish songs. In order to reflect the underlying multicultural theme of the story, the songs were carefully selected and very well performed by the actors/singers. Together jam-packed with a set of dance steps, pirouette, leaps in its choreography, the overall mood of the movie was an exciting one (citation). The West side story was indeed a must-seen movie since it is very substantial and culturally significant. In order for people to understand the nature of conflict in different groups, and the reason for discrimination and prejudice, the West side story successfully presented the conflicts occurring among the adolescents resulting to their behavior problems and maladjustment in the society. In the form of musicale of songs and dances, the message of the film was carried out through the innovative and creative performances of the carefully-selected artists of the film (Zoglin 2009). Modified by Ernest Lehman, the rewrite version of the West side story had remained a striking and filled with energetic and enthusiastic songs reflected from its lyrics. Furthermore, the book version of the West side story play was containing songs which are mostly composed by Stephen Sondheim and Leonard Bernstein. The talented directors of the West side story are Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins. Considering Robert Wise’s expertise I the field of directing, the collaboration with the professional dance choreographer, Jerome Robbins was a very intelligent decision and resulted to make the movie a real big hit in the silver screen (Zoglin 2009). Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins respectively gained recognition for the West side story. However, Jerome Robbins was pulled out of the West side story project since he was frequently the reason for procrastination of the shoots, budget-exceeding production rates, and also, Robbin’s frequent disagreement with Wise was a reason for the rest of the staff to remove him from the direction of the West side story. Robbins’ ideals for the completion of the West side story were becoming overwhelmingly expensive just for his wish to make the movie close to perfection. Four of the dynamic dance steps which Robbins choreographed in the West side story were the following: â€Å"Something’s coming,† â€Å"Prologue,† â€Å"Cool,† and â€Å"America. † The West side story is also focused on the love story of two different people having different races. However love was the foundation, Tony and Maria were separated due to hatred and violence. Tony was Maria’s first love. She loved the man inspite of the fact that they were belonging in different race and that her brother and their group of minority Puerto Rican gang (Sharks) not in good terms with the White American gang (Jets). When Maria first set her eyes with Tony, she fall (right then and there) madly in love with Tony and vice versa; these first encounter of Maria and Tony happened during the dance showdown between the Jest and the Sharks. Tony’s on the other hand, who was previously preoccupied with the activities with his gang in the West side has diverted his attention to Maria when he fell in love with her. However, considering the obvious fact that Maria’s brother, Bernardo was a leader of the Sharks and his prospect lover Tony was member of the opponent Jets, Maria still persists to pursue her forbidden and controversial love affair with Tony. Maria knows that Bernardo would never approve of her love affair with Tony for Bernardo knows how cruel, prejudicial, and discriminating the White American race was. Meanwhile, Jets Sharks just would not stop claiming right over the west side streets of New York for their gang’s territory. At first, the Sharks could be observed that they do not have any intention of keeping the streets to their own, but the Jets just would not stop bullying and discriminating, and driving them away wherever they see them. The Sharks think, especially Bernardo (as their leader) that this was too much and they believe they deserve a right to whatever the White Americans enjoy doing and hanging around. So what the Sharks did is to engage in a fight with the Jets most of the time to defend themselves from the unjust dominance of the Jets. Consequentially, the rival lead to a fight between the Jets and the Sharks and this caused the death of Riff, Bernardo, and Tony as well (Zoglin 2009). Maria requested Tony if he could no something to stop the mad fight between the two gangs. At first, Tony hesitated to give in to Mari’s request but because he loves her so much and he would love to marry her, he agreed with Maria and he said he would do everything he can to stop the war between the two gangs. The sad thing is, Tony did not expect that his brother Riff was going to be killed in the gang war. So, to avenge the sudden death of his brother in Bernardo’s hands, Tony resorts to abduct Bernardo as well due to the sudden rage of his emotions (Zoglin 2009). The 1960s showed a great importance to the subculture created by adolescent Americans. Although the Americans are a culture in itself, it has different influence of subcultures branching out and one example of this subculture is the Puerto Ricans. The multicultural society of the gangs among the adolescent White Americans and Puerto Ricans in the New York, West side community was emerged during the 1960’s where gang wars chain gangs had become eminent and widely spread in the local news (Zoglin 2009). The West side story was indeed an enticing film by Jerome Robbins and Robert Wise. Similar to the tragic story of Romeo and Juliet, the west side story successfully addressed the social problem of juvenile delinquency and discrimination in the multicultural society of the United States during the 1950s to 1960s. Relatively, the love story of Maria (Natalie Wood) and Tony (Richard Beymer) is similar to the love story of Romeo and Juliet that the lovers crossed boundaries despite their difference in ethnicity, race, and culture. This shows that the heart does not choose the one to love. For Tony, It does not matter if Maria is a Puerto Rican, discriminated and a member of their enemy, Sharks. Same for Maria: she does not care if Tony is a white American, a mocker, discriminating, and a member of the Jets gang which is the opponent of Maria’s brother, Bernardo. The west side story was able to accomplish a creative, upbeat, and ardent choreography of dance steps and overwhelming lyrics of the songs sang by the characters in the West side story (Zoglin 2009). This invigorating and elating film is dazzling with the combination of songs and dance steps interpreting the lifestyle and culture of adolescent Americans in the United States during the 1960s. It was plausible to the extent that the prevalent gang wars among the diverging culture of the Puerto Ricans against the White Americans was portrayed in such a way that it seems less violent and therefore, there was no violent bloodshed in the movie. However, there was no need for blood-shedding, serious fight in the entire film in order to present how serious the outcome would be for engaging in gang wars of the New York streets (Zoglin 2009). Officer Shrank warned both the Jets and the Sharks to avoid fighting on his streets or else, Officer Shrank threatened the boys that he would beat the boys up. After the encounter with Officer Schrank and Officer Krupke, Riff led his group to sing a song which is praise for the Jets. The Jets despise the Sharks for they were a threat to the streets in which the Jets wants to own. He persuaded the rest of his Jets members to perceive that their gang is the most strenuous, invincible, and superior team and that they deserve the right to everything especially in the streets of the Upper West side New York. Riff was very anxious to control the spreading volume of the Sharks since it was a tendency that the Sharks might dominate the streets of New York, should the latter multiply its members. In so doing, Riff persuaded his gang mates that they should fight against the Sharks/Puerto Ricans and kill them if they have to so as to control their proliferation in the streets. The one who should win the fight would be declared as the winner and therefore, would have the right to dominate in the Manhattan streets of New York. Moreover, Riff resorts to fighting their rival gang, Sharks with deadly weapon like a dagger for instance (Zoglin 2009). Overall, the story shows that there is both a similarity and difference in the culture of the Puerto Ricans and the White Americans. Though they are different in race, color, and ethnicity, both races was shown to have the same interests like in dancing, singing, basketball, and favorite hang-outs. Because of such similarity and interests, the White American Jets, led by Riff was pissed off upon always seeing the Puerto American Sharks wherever they go and spend their time. Further, it was explicitly shown that the Jets are more confident than the Puerto Ricans since they are the majority of inhabitants or citizens in New York during the 1960s (Zoglin 2009). From a challenge to a dance night out with the Sharks, the Jets just would not stop pissing the Sharks and driving their rivals away so that the Sharks would not be a threat to their desire of keeping their authority and ownership of the streets of New York west side. But what happened in the dance was overlapped with the instance when Maria and Tony saw each other and locked each other’s eyes for long time as if they are not seeing anybody but the two of them. Bernardo caught the both of them in the act that is why he did not decide to finish the dance; hence, he took his sister’s hands and pulled her off the dance floor (citation). Because of pride, the Jets boosted their egos by singing themselves song of somewhat victorious melodic songs as if they were the superior race and the others are just second class. Riff (the current leader of the Jets) decided that Tony should be the one to coordinate the challenge of the Jets to the Sharks. At first, Tony was hesitant to give in to the request. However later on, Tony agreed to tell the message to the Sharks. For the reason that Tony was once the leader of the gang since Tony was also a mastermind in co-founding the group of White Americans. On the other hand, Maria was conversing with Anita at a bridal shop where Maria is working. Maria told Anita (Bernardo’s boyfriend), how much Maria loves Tony and that she explained to Anita that his brother Bernardo, should not be that too much, extreme protective of her (Zoglin 2009). Inspite of the distinct difference of the Puerto Ricans from the White Americans, the two divert gangs were shown to be enjoying themselves using their talents in dancing and singing which makes them similar in their interests. The gang members Sharks and Jets may have experienced conflict between their groups because of their overt difference. The majorities of the White Americans dislike the minorities of Puerto Ricans because the Whites believe and perceive that they are the strongest race, invincible, and therefore, they should walk tall and act like kings! For the Jets: they should own, rule, and dominate the streets and they should have the right to the territory no matter what it takes (Dirks 1961). Conclusion The West Side Story highlights the following scenarios which had occurred in the 1960’s: During the 1960’s, juvenile delinquencies are rampant among adolescents. Similarly, there is also prevalence of discrimination and prejudice among the White and Latin Americans. Puerto Ricans are disliked and bullied by the White Americans upon thinking that the White Americans are the superior race that should own the streets and that the Latin Americans, specifically the Puerto Ricans, have no right to be in places where the White American adolescents hang out and play. In so doing there were chain gang fights are everywhere. Emerging in late 1950s and early 1960s, the streets of Manhattan had become a place where there is no peace and order due to the frequent gang wars that occur between the two distinct races of the Whites and the Puerto Rican adolescents. However, the love story of Maria and Tony having the opposite race shows that love does not choose the color, race, and ethnicity of a person as a basis of whom it should love. Works Cited Brian, Paul. 28 November 2005. Leonard Bernstein: West Side Story. 29 April 2009 . Dirks, Tim. 1961. West Side Story. American Movie Classics Company LLC. 29 April 2009 . Howe, Matt. 03 April 2003. West Side Story Impresses. 29 April 2009 . Shulman, Irving. A Novelation by Irving Shulman: West Side Story. New York: Simon & Schister Inc, 1961. â€Å"West Side Story (1961). † 16 December 2008. Reel Classics, L. L. C. 29 April 2009 . â€Å"West Side Story. † 1961. United Artists Pictures, Inc. 29 April 2009 . Zoglin, Richard. 25 March 2009. Is West Side Story Overrated? 29 April 2009 .