Pride and Prejudice Jane Austen

Independent Reading A Guide to Pride and Prejudice Jane Austen â€Å"Follies and nonsense, whims and inconsistencies do divert me, I own, and I laugh at them whenever I can. † Special Considerations Copyright Holt, Rinehart and Winston. All rights reserved. The Novel at a Glance Pride and Prejudice (1813) is a comedy of manners that explores how considerations of money, family background, and personal vanity can complicate the course of true love. Setting: Mostly in rural Hertfordshire in England in the late eighteenth century.Protagonist: Elizabeth Bennet, the most intelligent and complex daughter in a family of five unmarried isters who have no prospect of inheriting wealth. Structure: The novel is divided into three each subdivided into many short chapters. The plot involves pairs of lovers who seem destined never to get together because of the opposition of powerful blocking fgures and forces. The couples, however, after bringing the entire community together, are happily married in the end. Conflicts: The plot is propelled by the need of the female characters to find suitable husbands.The main conflicts are the obstacles or blocks that get in the way of achieving these marriages. The obstacles are both external (the want of beauty, money, sense, r social connections) and internal (an inability to discern the true character or feelings of another). Resolution: By learning from her experience and honestly evaluating herself, Elizabeth gains a husband who is not only wealthy but truly worthy. She overcomes her prejudice against Fitzwilliam Darcy, which was based on his appearance of pride, and he overcomes his prejudice against her family, which was based on pride in his own social rank and good manners.Themes: Knowledge comes through caretul reasoning and considered experience, unclouded by pride or prejudice based on rank or mere appearances. Of Special Note: By means of comic irony and satirical exaggeration, Austen exposes the social and moral foll ies of her society. The vocabulary of Pride and Prejudice should pose no major problems to upper-grade-level students reading at grade level, but all students, especially those reading below grade level, should be prepared to encounter a society whose social and economic conditions are markedly different from those of today.They can learn a great deal about Austen's world from the novel itself, but some understanding of the British system of inherited wealth and the position of omen within that system during the early nineteenth century will help orient them. Background Entailed Property. In the traditional British class system, wealth was passed on via the inheritance of family property, an annual income for life, or both. Inherited wealth conferred far more status than money earned by work. Family estates were usually inherited by the oldest son; and other sons, and sometimes daughters, were given smaller incomes.An entail is a restriction on the inheritance of family property, an d in the case of the Bennets, the entail stipulated that Longbourn, the family home, be passed on to a male cousin. The Eighteenth-century Gentlewoman. The Bennet sisters were considered gentlewomen because their father had inherited some wealth and therefore did not have to work to earn money. Because of the entail, however, they would not inherit any wealth of their own, unlike Georgiana Darcy and Caroline Bingley, whose fathers' estates were so large that all the children were designated to inherit.Since it was not respectable or generally even feasible for gentlewomen to work, the Bennet sisters had no option but to find husbands who could support them and maintain their position in the class to which they were born. If they did not marry, hey would have to depend on the generosity of male relatives. Jane Austen's own situation was typical of the time: she remained with her father until he died and then moved to her brother's house. What was not typical was that she wrote books and was paid for her work. Pride and Prejudice 1 Mrs.Bennet, a frivolous woman, bent on making advantageous matches for her five daughters but lacking the ability to Judge the worth of their prospective suitors. She makes silly comments, otten at inappropriate times. Mr. Bennet, an intelligent but usually aloof man who looks on his wife and the marital dilemmas of his daughters with detached amusement. Notable for witty comments. Jane Bennet, the eldest daughter (in her early twenties), very beautiful and sweet- tempered, always ready to think well of others and modestly of herself†the friend and foil of her sister Elizabeth.Elizabeth Bennet, at first too quick and confident in her Judgments, she refines her knowledge of herself and her ability to evaluate others. More outspoken and opinionated than her sister Jane. Mary, Catherine (Kitty), and Lydia Bennet, the three younger sisters, flat characters who change little in response to experience. Mary is a pedant with no real kn owledge. Lydia's high spirits are unrestrained by good ense. Charles Bingley, a good-looking, wealthy, and agreeable young man, who falls in love with Jane but whose courtship of Jane is not encouraged by his friend Darcy or his fashionable sister Caroline, who wishes to marry Darcy.Functions as a foil for Darcy. Fitzwilliam Darcy, a handsome, dignified gentleman, heir to great property and wealth. A reserved man, ill at ease with strangers and mindful of social rank. He strikes the Bennets as cold and aloof. Falls in love with Elizabeth. Reverend William Collins, a clergyman and cousin of Mr. Bennet, who has ingratiated himself with the formidable Lady Catherine de Bourgh and stands to inherit Longbourn. He is accepted by Elizabeth's plain, practical friend, Charlotte Lucas, after Elizabeth rejects his marriage proposals.

My first job experience

I appreciate the most. I feel the individual who I respect most is A. R. Raman. He is an composer, vocalist lyricist, music maker, performer and donor. For the duration of my life, music has dependably been a significant Impact. Music Is an exceptionally Imperative piece of our live, and the Individuals who make music are extremely extraordinary In this world. I appreciate A. R. Raman In light of the way that being a musical artist Is an extraordinary vocation on the grounds that the compensation is great, hard specialist and he got many awards.Most importantly, Raman is the extraordinary music composers in India. He is the writer and also an author and artist. Raman gets compensated as a rate of the quality his songs gets sold. He gets about RSI. 2 to 4 score for one film. The way it meets expectations for a top music author is this: he charges around 10 to 20 lake rupees for every tune; If there are six tunes, he gets paid RSI. 60 lake to 1 to 2 score. In Dalton to this Raman lives up to expectations hard to accomplish his objectives. For Instance when he Is nine his father was dead from that point he starts playing console and orchestrates groups, for example, Roots.He comprehended the console, piano, synthesizer, harmonium and guitar. He got many awards in India as well as in different nations too like Oscar for best melody in Slum dog Millionaire. In spite of the fact that A. R. Raman acquire a normal compensation of around 2 to 4 score for every film, this is just following 10-15 years of being in the music business. Before they achieve this pay, most artists likely battle Just to make a proper living and pay the bills. But at that point then there are plentiful, there are numerous different reasons, other than compensation, his dedicated nature and getting recompenses for his diligent work.

Discrimination Complaint

Many employees, especially in America are faced with discrimination either in schools or in work places. The case at hand is about John. He, being a federal employee files a discrimination complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) against his employer, who heads the agency he is working for. He takes this initiative because as per the Code of Federal Regulations, each employee has a right to file complaint for an equal employment opportunity with the agency.A charge filed with EEOC will also automatically be filled with Fair Employment Practices Agencies (FEPAs) since they work hand in hand to avoid effort doubling-up of charge processing. Moreover, it is determined within a short period of time (EEOC, 2009). In John’s case, since he is the aggrieved person, prior to his the case filing, he will first consult with an Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) officer in an attempt to decide the discrimination matter casually. During the forty five days EEO proc ess, John is mandated to have his own representative, probably an attorney.During this period, the counselor should be neutral to both the employer agency and John. The counselor will offer John a variety of the available legal choices. After having gone through his rights and responsibilities list provided by the counselor, John has to raise a counseling matter; otherwise the formal EEO complaint is discharged. If a concrete resolution is not realized, then this paves way for the aggrieved person, in this case John, to file a formal EEO complaint with a federal district court.This is because all the available administrative remedies have been exhausted. However, before John can file a formal complaint, he must have received a notice of final interview from the EEO counselor. Moreover, he must be provided with an apposite official of his employer agency. The right to file a formal complaint has to be effected within Fifteen days after receiving the aforementioned notice (Bernnett & Hartman, 2007). When John is filing this complaint in person, he has to go to the meeting with any papers or information that will aid the EEOC figure out his case.This may include a letter or notice indicating his performance evaluations and also that he was kicked out of the job. Moreover, he will bring with him names of fellow employees, who have sufficient information of what went on with their contacts included. On the other side, he can send a letter containing his personal details, the employer’s details, a brief explanation of the proceedings that he believes were bigoted, the date when these discriminatory events took place and the number of the employees in the company.The inequitable dealings have to be unambiguous, for instance, John has to state whether he was fired, harassed or demoted. Additionally, he has to give the reasons as to why he believes he is facing discrimination such as sex, religion, genetic information or even age. Importantly, John has to make s ure that he signs his letter to give EEOC the go-ahead for investigations. This information is assessed and a follow up questionnaire may be sent to John if additional information is required from him. John has to be timely and follow the aforesaid EEOC procedures so as to avoid from being dismissed off his complaint.Later on, the information is got into in a certified EEOC charge form. Both John and his lawyer are conducted to sign the form. In the acknowledgement letter issued to John by his employer, he (the employer), will be required to indicate the EEOC office’s address in which the complaint is to be heard, the time that the employer requires to conduct an appropriate and impartial investigation of the complaint filing by John and the employer’s right to appeal to the ultimate pronouncement arrived or dismissal of John’s grievance.In case John has more similar claims over or related to those of the earlier pending complaint, he has the mandate to add the same. This is referred to as amendment of the pending complaint. For John to be in a position to amend the complaint, he must write a letter addressed to the EEO director of his employer. In this letter, John has to explicitly give detailed information about the new occurrence(s). Furthermore, he is entitled to affirm his intend to amend the complaint by including the new incidents.On receiving the letter, John’s employer or his EEO director will carefully assess the amendment request with the aim of determining the handling correctness of the complaint amendment. However, if John’s existent claim offers adequate support to the additional claims and does not birth a new claim or if the arising claim is closely related to the former, there is no need for a new EEO counseling. John’s new claims qualify to be part and parcel of the investigation and the same is communicated to him.A comprehensive and inclusive investigation of John’s employer then commences. This ought to be developed without prejudice and must be factual in all its recordings. The aim of it being factual and impartial is to ensure that the conclusions to be drawn at the end will be reasonable as to whether John was discriminated by his employer or not. During this process, the investigators are consented to with oaths administrations, witness testimonies and proper documentation. Moreover, they must not have a conflict of interests with the aggrieved party during their investigation.Besides, they should congregate pertinent substantiation that will be employed as a fact-finder in determining whether or not the employer had been involved in a discriminatory act against John. Once the investigation process is over, the employer will provide John with a copy of file in which the complaint had been recorded, the investigation report and the notice of the right to ask for either the on the spot employer’s final decision or an EEOC hearing. The federal district court thus, after the EEOC resolves to file a civil action, handles John’s discrimination complaint entirely as a new case.Moreover, the assumption that arises is that no findings were conducted by the EEOC. The principal purpose behind the court’s take to handle the case as above mention is to ensure that no biasness during the process of issuing a judgment (Cornell, 2009). Moreover, new and more thorough investigations take place. Irrespective of EEOC denying John a right-to-sue-letter, he still bears this right to file a court case. However, John can fail to receive a satisfying resolution of his case or the judgment might not be to his favor.If he has sufficient basis to appeal his case, John may further opt to file his appeal with the U. S. Supreme court. In conclusion, although John is very conversant with the legal actions that he can follow in his complaint, he has to consider the expenses he will incur in this process. Besides, his employer agency has more resource s than him. So long as EEOC helps protect employees from prejudice, the surety that he will receive a right-to-sue letter from the EEOC is only he is in a position to substantiate the earlier mentioned bases of discrimination. References Bennett-Alexander, D. & Hartman, L. (2007). Employment Law for Business. New York: McGraw Hill Cornell, (2009). Employment Discrimination: An Overview. Retrieved on 24 July 2010 from < http://topics.law.cornell.edu/wex/Employment_discrimination> EEOC, (2009). The Digest of Equal Employment Opportunity Law. Retrieved on 24 July 2010 from   < http://www.eeoc.gov/federal/digest/xx-1.cfm>

BUSINESS ECONOMICS COURSEWORK Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

BUSINESS ECONOMICS COURSEWORK - Essay Example With cost-plus pricing, the firm can just increase the price. Price increase is possible due to the fact that at some point, the production costs of a product may not be clear in advance. This literally may have significant advantage in cases of supply contracts. Although cost-plus pricing strategy may have advantages, it also has remarkable drawbacks which include the following: ignoring the demand, image, and market positioning; favouring historical accounting costs rather than replacement value; applying standard output level to allocate fixed costs; offering few incentives for efficiency, as costs are passed off to customers; ignoring the role of customers and the value they drive; and creating a competitive disadvantage using average costs (Brickley, Smith & Zimmerman, 2009; BPP Learning Media, 2009, p.302; Holden & Burton, 2010). Perhaps, the most striking of all of these is on how the costs are clearly passed off to customers. Cost-plus pricing may therefore not that competitive in a marketplace where there are new entrants, especially those willing to compete with price by and lowering down their price offerings to generate a market share or acceptance. At some point, cost-plus pricing may trigger a less affinity (less demand) for a certain service or product offering in the long run as competition arises. Cost-plus pricing is a safer pricing strategy on the part of Bhagat Incorporated due to production costs that may not be clear beforehand. It is a natural practice that when a manufacturing company set the price of a good, the cost of labour is always taken into account (Brickley, Smith & Zimmerman, 2009; Krauss & Johnson, 2006, p.211; Campbell, 2003, p.167). Labour costs are categorised either direct or indirect (Sears, Sears & Clough, 2010, p.46). The indirect labour costs can be reduced (Appelbaum, 200, p151; Roderhorst, 2009, p.80). If Bhagat has so much increase in its indirect labour costs, then this could be

Cyber Law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Cyber Law - Essay Example Jurisdiction refers to the power and authority of a government to adjudicate, legislate and enforce its laws it is bound by territorial confines (does not outspread beyond the territory) (Singh, 2010). At one given time, the first questions that courts consider when a case is brought forward is whether they have the mandate to hear the case and whether they are the most appropriate courts for to hear the case.   If a court does not have jurisdiction over a matter, then the court is regarded as incompetent to adjudicate the matter and if it hears and make a decision over the matter, then the ruling made by the court would be quashed and termed as null and void (Chander, 2010). In this era of internet, worries of sovereignty and jurisdiction have rapidly come to the fore because internet does not make jurisdictional and geographical boundaries clear (Sherry, 2013). Therefore, for the above explained situation, the transaction may involve application of at least two jurisdictions name ly 1) the laws of the state/nation in which the user resides, the laws of the state/nation that apply where the server hosting the transaction is located (owner of Widget product). The law of the state/nation which applies to a person or business with whom a transaction takes place may also apply as the third law (Sherry, 2013).   For the case of the user in California, Federal Statues should apply since they are the supreme laws on the US soil and they overrule any opposing USA constituent state’s statues.

English law. Annotation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

English law. Annotation - Essay Example The exception to the rule that past consideration is not good consideration is subject to conditions discussed by the Privy Council in Pau On v Lau Yiu Long, wherein their Lordships held that this was admissible whenever: Whether, part payment of an existing debt is valid consideration for a promise has been decided in the Pinnel's case. In this case, Cole owed Pinnel 8-10s-0d (8.50) which was due on 11 November. At Pinnel's request, Cole paid 5-2s-2d (5.11) on 1 October, which Pinnel accepted in full settlement of the debt. Subsequently, Pinnel sued Cole for the amount owed. It was held that part payment in itself was not consideration. However, it was held that the agreement to accept part payment would be binding if the debtor, at the creditor's request, provided some fresh consideration (Pinnel's Case,1602). From the foregoing it can be concluded that, under certain circumstances, past consideration is held to be valid.

The History of Religion and Religious Conflict Essay

The History of Religion and Religious Conflict - Essay Example In this light, religion can have many positive influences, it can uplift the soul, spur on artistic production, and cause people to lead more driven, purposeful lives. On the other hand, however, religion has also shown that it can be a destructive force on many different occasions. In his work, â€Å"The Art of Happiness,† the Dali Lama makes many claims about religion, but seems to fundamentally believe that religion has always been a positive influence on the world, saying, for instance, that â€Å"all world religions have, of course, provided tremendous benefit for millions of human beings throughout many centuries past† (Dali Lama, 296). When considering this claim, it is easy to oscillate drastically to one side or other of this argument. Someone seeking to defend religion would point at the acts of Mother Theresa, to the charity of religious organizations, and to the benefits that organized religion can give to people personally, such as peace and comfort. Detrac tors from religion, however, can point to the attacks of Sept. 11, or the Crusades, and decry religion as a destructive force that causes hatred and violence throughout world history. Neither of these answers are fully correct, however. Rather, religion often does not make a significant amount of difference in and of itself. Religious actions, either positive or negative, are often results of complex societal interactions rather than religious fervor: so the Dali Lama is incorrect, as I believe that religion has not been a consistently positive nor negative influence on the progress of world history. One of the first things that must be understood in this discussion is the relationship between religion and spirituality. Though these are very closely linked ideas, â€Å"the Dali Lama distinguishes between spirituality and religion† (294). This is because spirituality and religion happen on very differ planes – spirituality is a personal, though often sometimes communal thing, that has to do fundamentally with belief in the underlying structures of the world, and one’s place within them. Religion, though resting on spirituality, is a very different thing. It is a structured organization that codifies beliefs and practices, almost like creating rules and laws for spirituality. This difference is important because many of the impulses often attributed to religion may in fact be spiritual. Altruism, for instance, is often one of the things most lauded about religious people and institutions. But there are obviously many people who are altruistic without being religious – they do good out of a fundamental belief that it is good to do so, which is much more akin to spirituality than religion, while there are also certainly religious people and institutions that are far from being altruistic. So when analyzing the impact that religion has had on the world, one must isolate the religious side – the order and structure of beliefs and a ctions, from the spiritual side. Upon parsing the actions of a religion or religious institution from the actions based on spirituality, one might be immediately drawn to condemning religion whole-heartedly. Religions and their institutions have been guilty of many grave sins that immediately spring to mind. Current, organized Islamic leaders have called for terrorist attacks and Martyrdom, and the Westboro Baptist Church’s â€Å"God Hates Fags† campaign has disgusted people worldwide, many churches in the United States were associated with hate crimes against blacks during and before the civil rights

Operation management Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Operation management - Assignment Example The New Zealand Blood Services has first established a data where they have the locations of all the blood donors and therefore whenever blood is needed, the donors are contacted immediately. The donors list is also regularly updated and this means that they only have the blood donors who are allowed to donate blood. After the process of identification and donation, comes the most critical part which is donation of blood. Blood donation is critical and the goods involved which is blood is normally a precious and urgent commodity hence they source for the most available and fastest means that will allow the blood recipient get their blood. Due care is also needed here such as ensuring that the blood is placed at room temperatures. The blood is then processed and split into the platelets, the red blood cells and the white blood cells which boost efficiency. After this the product is then distributed to all the areas that may need the blood and later it is kept for storage. Inventory of the blood is also taken. Whenever blood is needed, there is normally real time communication between the delivery team as well as those who need it which ensures delivery. The Fast Food business in India is also another example of supply chain that despite not being well organized, has managed to ensure that there is always delivery of the products to the consumer. The system ensures in time product delivery as well as strict measures to ensure that the consumers get what they wanted. The food is normally prepared and put into tins and then delivery men are set to work to ensure that the food reaches the consumers in time. In addition, the food is well labeled to ensure that the food reaches the customer is the right one. Various means of delivery are used ranging from use of rickshaw, trains, and bicycles to the use of bodies to carry the food to the end consumer. In both cases there are various

Revelation and the Apocalyptic Tradition, Jesus' Letters to the seven Essay

Revelation and the Apocalyptic Tradition, Jesus' Letters to the seven Churches, visions and signs from heaven - Essay Example Bible says the ‘Jesus sent seven letters from heaven’ through John to seven churches on earth. John wrote the letters as said by Jesus to us (Letters to the Seven Churches of Asia, Revelation 2 & 3). All seven letters follow the same pattern and refer to actual historical circumstances in those churches in the first century that first praises the church, then criticizes for their work, giving them warning and finally encouraging to continue their good work (Harris, Ch.20).The Revelation was a special vision given by Jesus to John which interprets the history which had happen and reveals the prophecy that will happen (Letters to the Seven Churches of Asia, Revelation 2 & 3). Jesus, while instructing John to write the letters, appeared to John showing signs like double edged sword, seven stars, keys, seven lamps. Harris (20) interprets the symbols as referring to the events in first century; future predictions which will take place or occur at a particular place and time. The seven lamps symbolize seven churches, where the letters were to be sent. The seven churches were Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea. The seven letters explain the significance to doing good and benefits of overcoming the bad. Referring to the first letter written to Ephesus, Jesus writes to the angel ‘announcer’ of the church ‘people’ of Ephesus expressing his happiness over their hard work and patience for not giving up their faith but criticizes the same church for not showing eager love as in the past. But the same does not prevail now and threatens to steal the lamp from the church if eager love does not exist and promises fruit from tree of life for overcoming the obstacle (The Letter to the Church at Ephesus). Second letter written to Smyrna reveals true love of God to the church. Jesus writes that ‘He is the first and He is the last’ and praises the church of Smyrna for their faith in Christ despit e horrible torture carried out by the Roman and Israelis for not following their God. Jesus criticizes those persecuting the people of church and assures that the people who will face the atrocities and win, will be crown of life. This refers to a place in heaven with real riches. The letter also refers to the second death which will not die which means ‘the lake of fire’ i.e. our soul which will never die (Revelation 2: Jesus’ Letters to Seven Churches). The letter to Pergamum explains the true faith of Christianity. As usual letter starts praising the people for their faith in God but criticizes them for following two religions, eat food sacrificed to idols, comprise with religious duties. Jesus warns them to accurate the doctrine of Christianity and threatens to come to church with double edged swords which are His ‘words’. While encouraging, Jesus ensures to give them MANNA, special bread from heaven and a name of white stone (Letters to the Seve n Churches of Asia, Revelation 2 & 3). In its letter to Thyatira, Jesus appears in eyes with fire and shining bronze feet praising the church for its increasing greatness of deeds, faith, service to people, love while warning them not to follow Jezebel, the lady who is spreading sex sins and destroying churches. The letter reveals that Jesus has patience and power look through the hearts of people to inspect their soul and encourages the church to follow true religion and the one who overcome will receive God (Letters to the S

Money and banking Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Money and banking - Essay Example In mid 1998, Brazil's consolidated fiscal position was showing primary deficit, as the government expenditure exceeded its income. The current account deficit was approaching 5% of GDP, even as the economy was sliding into recession. The situation was further aggravated when Russia defaulted on its debt payment and external capital flow came to a halt (Fraga, 2000). Floating of Real was the course of action taken by the government in January 1999 with the consequence that the exchange value of Real plunge to an all time low R$2.15. The government realised that any drastic step taken out of distress rather than alleviating the problem could create further imbalances by fuelling inflation. The government was contemplating whether to float, peg and initiate a fixed- rate regime. After looking through all the possibilities the government had announced in March 1999 that the full inflation targeting system would come into force in June 1999. The Brazilian government could have taken recourse to many instruments at its disposal to implement country's economic policy but the government had assigned to the Central Bank the task of keeping the rate of inflation at a low level. ... Another reason for choosing the inflation targeting regime is its' near immunity to political influence in policy decisions. Another purpose of the regime is to coordinate the prospects of inflation. While this contributes towards achieving the target, at the same time, it may enhance the credibility and transparency. The inflation targeting regime helps to buffer the shocks hitting the economy. Due to the flexibility of the system, it can absorb these shocks. Brazil is a country that is still dependent on foreign capital. Introduction of floating exchange rate as a part of the inflation targeting regime will directly absorb part of external shocks. The key points of the inflation targeted regime can be summarized as follows: Inflation target will be established on the basis of variations of a widely known price index The inflation targets as well as the tolerance intervals will be set by the National Monetary Council on a basis of a proposal by the Finance Minister The price index that would be adopted for the purpose of inflation targeting framework will be chosen by the National Monetary Council on the basis of a proposal by the Finance Minister The targets will be considered to have been met whenever the observed accumulated inflation during the period of January-December of each year falls within the tolerance interval In case the targets are breached, the Central bank's Governor needs to issue an open letter addressed to the Finance Minister explaining the causes of the breach, the measures to be adopted to ensure that the inflation returns to the tolerance levels, and the period of time that will be needed for these measures to have effect,

Discuss the Importance of Non-Lethal Weapons for Police Operations Research Paper

Discuss the Importance of Non-Lethal Weapons for Police Operations - Research Paper Example It is often left to the practical application on the field (Jussila, 2001), as it is not possible to determine the extent of police force used before the actual event. However, preferably, the police is expected to minimize the damage to the persons involved, and the property (Jussila, 2001), with the understanding that it is inevitable to cause some sort of offence to the criminals or the property during police operations. If there is no checks and balances, there would be unfair and unjustified loss, both of the life and the property of the parties involved (Jussila, 2001). For this purpose, there is an increased trend to employ non-lethal weapons, or force instruments (Jussila, 2001), so that even fewer cases of damages are invoked. This paper purports to analyze the importance of such non-lethal weapons during police operations. The weapons are basically categorized into two classes; against the people and against the machinery, such as the vehicles (Capstick, 2001). There are so me significant examples of weaponry employed for each category, and the following is a brief description of each of these non-lethal weapons, and their importance in police operations. ` The most common forms of weapons are lasers and tasers. Lasers are straight rays of high intensity light that is used to focus targets, make the machinery malfunction, and even as an offensive weapon against criminals (Capstick, 2001). The newer versions of lasers are safe for the eyes, so they can be used without any permanent damage to the victims (Capstick, 2001). Tasers, on the other hand, are essentially shocks of high voltage, low amplitude electricity that is shot through the body of the victim (Capstick, 2001). This causes a reversible and temporary neuromuscular failure, causing the victim to succumb to the police officers (Capstick, 2001). However, care must be taken not to overuse the tasers as it might even prove to be detrimental to the officers using them. Foams come in sticky and aque ous forms (Capstick, 2001). They stick to the victim and make him unable to move, by increasing in volume and engulfing the victim (Capstick, 2001). The aqueous forms can easily be removed later on and do not cause the danger of suffocation or eye damage (Capstick, 2001). However, they are not as adhesive as the sticky foam. Simple water is perhaps the most effective and the safest form of non-lethal weapon used against large gatherings for dispersion and for clearance of a closed off area (Capstick, 2001). It is used with pressure through pumps and water guns, and can be infused with dyes to mark the miscreants (Capstick, 2001). Acoustic weapons and malodarants are two technologies that can be effectively used against mass gatherings and for crowd dispersal (Capstick, 2001). However, they can be a source of inconvenience for the people in the neighborhood and for untargeted victims (Capstick, 2001), as they need to be further improved and refined. However, they have the potential f or effective force employment that is non-detrimental to the victims, like the water guns. Sticky nets are another example of non-lethal weapons, and they can be fired using simple dispensers that can be attached to the police guns to entrap the victims and make them indisposed to counterattack (Capstick, 2001). Non-lethal weapons that can be used against machinery such as vehicles include

The Time Machine and the Modern World Essay Example for Free

The Time Machine and the Modern World Essay The Time Machine, written by H.G. Wells, focuses on contemporary social questions. Through the progression of the story Wells delineates various interrelated social issues that existed in Victorian England. Wells reflects on the exploitation of the working class and the negative effect of modern technology on class struggle in a capitalist society. He also puts forward a rather contradictory opinion about how the advent of communism can render humans into being frail, weak and not so innovative like the Elois. In my opinion, Wells’ Marxist critique of capitalism can prove to be a plausible factor in the demise of our civilization and steer us towards the dystopian future that is depicted in the novel. As paraphrased from Comparing Economic Systems in the Twenty-First Century, â€Å"Marxism is an economic and sociopolitical worldview†, developed by renowned German political economist and socialist revolutionary, Karl Henrich Marx. It mostly focuses on class struggle due to the â€Å"alienation and exploitation of the working class in a capitalistic society†. (Gregory, Stuart 62) Class inequality, class struggle or exploitation of the working class has always been a motivating factor for every historical revolution. Karl Heinrich Marx, a German political economist and socialist revolutionary, in his publication â€Å"The Communist Manifesto†, describes the nature and history of the conflict between the Bourgeoisies and Proletarians due to class inequality and struggle. In the initial introductory line he writes, â€Å"The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles (01). Marx’s based his publication on the derogation and exploitation of the working class Proletarians by the ruling class, the Bourgeoisie, in a capitalist society. In the manifesto, he depicts how the Bourgeoisie rule over the Proletarians by the control of private property and class the Proletarians as the labor force with no such value as humans. The Proletarians are enforced to work with minimum wage and extended hours. Although the Proletarians a re portrayed as the slaves of the Bourgeoisies, Marx represents the proletarians as a unique class. They have the miserable existence they share in common, which also aids in good communication and brotherhood among them. After being subjected to such alienation and discrimination: the Proletarians revolt, overthrow the Bourgeoisies and assume control over all private property. The distinct characteristic of this revolution is that in previous revolutions, which were caused by social issues, property was relocated in favor of the new ruling class. However, the Proletarians had no way of differentiating class among themselves since they all belonged to the same class, and hence no way of relocating property. Therefore, when the Proletarians assume control, they destroy all ownership of property and in the process abolish the class system, thus bringing about the communist society that is based on common ownership. â€Å"The Communist Manifesto† points this out as the â€Å"march of history† (42, Sec 1, Part 1). The analytical approach of Marx’s manifesto about class struggle and exploitation in capitalist society is echoed throughout The Time Machine. The Morlocks are the working class in this tale of two humanoid species. And Wells indicates that after being exploited by the Elois, the Morlocks, like the Proletarians, start the â€Å"march of history† and relieve the Elois, of their private ownership (Marx 42). But since the Morlocks were so derogatively exploited and alienated from normal society, they evolved into different beings that can’t survive in bright light conditions. The Morlocks had to move underground. Therefore, with no existing class system and abolition of capitalistic society, both the races began living a communal lifestyle. I agree with Wells’ theory about a similar sort of event taking place in the future that would divide humans in a more distinctive and irreversible way and bring about the demise of civilization. Wells very astutely manages to tell us how the use of modern technology can cause class struggle and also at the same time hinder human capabilities. In The Communist Manifesto, Marx stresses on the negative effect of introducing modern technology into a capitalist society. He writes that the Proletarians can survive as long as they are employed. They are treated as commodities, whose price fluctuates with the supply and demand of the market. With the invention of machines and introduction of division of labor, the proletarians are rendered less efficient. The Bourgeoisies opts for more specialized machines which produce higher output than manual labor. The Proletarians are made redundant and are without any money or food. This causes the Proletarians to plummet further down the class system which adds to their brewing turmoil. This later incites their revolt or as quoted by Marx himself, â€Å"March of history† against the ruling Bourgeoisies. (Sec. 1, Part 2) Wells shows, the possibility of an event like this, in his book by the time traveler’s deduction of the Elois, being the ruling class, pushing the Morlocks further down the class system due to the introduction of technology and their over dependence on it. In the beginning of the novel, The Time Machine, the time traveler thinks that the Elois are frail and their communal lifestyle is what is keeping the world so trouble free. To him it seemed desirable, as it is something every society thrives for. But at the same time it seemed strange. The advent of communism among the Elois and Morlocks has made their life easier. Since property has common ownership and an easy life has made them strive less for innovation and change. This is evident in most of the communist countries today. As compared to their capitalist counterparts, most of the communist countries are still hindering behind in terms of social, cultural and technological advancements. This actually puts forward the question, â€Å"Which socio-political order is more useful? Capitalism or communism?† From what I have derived from Wells novel is that both socio-political orders have their own pros and cons. But history has shown that every time any of these orders have pushed a class of people to their extreme, the pendulum swings back and balance is restored to the system by any of the opposing classes. For Example: The French Revolution, The Slave revolt of Spartacus, Hungarys Revolt against Communism in 1956. Wells portrays this restoration of balance but he also shows how due to that, the pendulum swung in a completely opposite direction for the Elois and Morlocks and thus causing a demise of the modern human civilization. In my opinion, from this repetition of restoration of balance, there will come a point in time when a change would be so devastating that it would totally alter the world and its socio-political order. In a nutshell, I would say that the adventure story of Wells’ novel includes many archetypal elements. The tale of 802,701 is a political commentary of late Victorian England. He recommends that current society must change its ways if it doesn’t want to end up like the Elois, terrified of an underground race of Morlocks. In the book, Wells lampoons the decadence of Elois caused by communism and provides a Marxist critique of capitalism that incited the dawn of the Morlocks. I concur with Wells views, in The Time Machine, are relevant to our world and can bring about the breakdown of the human culture. Works Cited: Wells, H.G. The Time Machine. Penguin Books, 1895. Print. Gregory, Paul R., and Robert C. Stuart. Comparing Economic Systems in the Twenty-First Century. 7. South Western, Cengage Learning, 62. Print. Marx, Karl, and Engels, Friedrich. The Communist Manifesto. Section 1, Bourgeois and Proletarians (Part 1 2), 42. February 21 (1848). Web.

Analysis of E-Grocery System in Tesco and Sainsburys

Analysis of E-Grocery System in Tesco and Sainsburys Strategic and Economic Analysis of E-Grocery System in Tesco and Sainsbury ABSTRACT Online shopping and home delivery systems become most famous in recent decades. Online grocers have been testing various business models with altering results. This research study is carried out in two main grocers of the UK (Tesco and Sainsbury). This research study conducted Case study and historical data, and meta-analysis to identify current strategies and business models of e-grocery which contributed to their success. Both companies management styles, expansions strategy, market selections strategy, order-processing and picking methods, home delivery methods, website design and different strategies for customer relationship management are explored and evidenced the successful factors. The findings reveal that online grocery knowledge and experience in grocery business play a significant role in E-grocery success. Using slow and steady expansion with careful investment helps online grocers to stay in game. The In-store picking method is more profitable and suitable for e-grocery business. Understanding customers, wants and needs will provide tremendous opportunity for business expansion. CHAPTER 1 1.1. INTRODUCTION: This chapter provides general background, problem statement, purpose of study, research objectives, major research questions and structure of dissertation. 1.2. General background: From many decades many groceries and also many manufacturing companies are providing delivery services to customers. Home delivery of household goods is not a recent concept in grocery retailing sector. However, until 1990s e-grocery was not potentially recognisable business channel, when grocers introduced internet based online ordering facility it revolutionised whole grocery industry (Papiernik, 2000). Nowadays, not only pure-play industries offer e-grocery services but also many more supermarkets offering e-grocery service. E-grocerys continuous and fast growth is capturing market share from traditional retailers. Many of grocers have tried online unit and some of them are successful and some of them have failed in the history of grocery retail sector. For example, online grocery business is judged to show sales figure. The estimation shows that, about 0.3% to 0.7% of total sales in UK and 0.2% of sales in USA. (Kumar, 2001). The e-grocery market value is estimated at â‚ ¬450 to â‚ ¬1,000 million and $900 million in United States. 1.3. Problem statement:- On one hand, many customers are interested to do online shopping for their household goods, but yet they are not interest to abandon shopping in-store in traditional way. Most of the people still believed that, online shopping is too expensive. On the other hand, many more industries also have made their effort to build online stores by providing this extra service to the customers. Organisations are continuously striving hard to build different strategic approaches for fulfilment of orders in profitable way. However, online unit business will add extra expenditure to grocers with or without some nominal charges. The profit margin is comparably very low in e-grocery to traditional one. Many grocers have undertaken to provide online shopping experience for their customers with different strategies. Profit margin is very low and sustainability in this industry is difficult. In the history of grocery sector many more companies have introduced online shopping and home delivery units and have failed. 1.4. Purpose of the study:- The online shopping and home delivery is still in an emergent phase. E-grocery business is very challenging field and it provides an extraordinary opportunities for business. E-groceries have made many more efforts to implement various strategies and service concepts, there is no much research carried out in this area. This research study provides insight of e-grocery methods in retail sector, identifies operating strategies and strategic and economic analysis of home delivery methods in Sainsbury and Tesco. 1.5. Research objectives and significance of the study:- This research study will be carried out to analyse the current strategies and economic implications of e-grocery sector in Tesco and Sainsbury. The main objective of the study is to determine whether home delivery is strategic and economic contributor to company or not. The research also seeks to perform business models of the e-grocery system. The dissertation will provide the best strategic implementation method for online grocery systems in companies which will result in profit. Another objective is to determine business model for order processing. This study will focus on order picking and home delivery of the goods. 1.6. Structure of dissertation:- The dissertation is structured into five chapters. Chapter 1: This chapter provides general background of online grocery shopping and home delivery system, problem statement, purpose of study, research objectives and significance of the study, and outline of dissertation structure. Chapter 2 This chapter provides literature background for e-grocery system. The literature describes customer base critiqued on the basis of different characteristics, online market share and trends and customer relationship management. Chapter 3: This chapter presents research methods used to analyse the research aim and objectives. The research is carried out with qualitative analysis. Analysis is carried out using two methods, firstly case study and historical analysis, and secondly Meta analysis. Both are used to identify strategies, models, and success and failure levels of industries. Chapter 4: The fourth chapter confers finding of research, analyses the data and shows the results. Chapter 5: The final chapter draws the conclusion for overall report and also proposes possible future research in online grocery field. CHAPTER 2 2. LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1. Introduction:- The literature reviews the operational and strategic analysis of E-grocery systems. There are many business models in E-grocery business. To make E-business model a sustainable one, they are using different strategies in different targeted markets. Each individual model varies from the other in various dimensions such as placing of order, assembling and delivering the goods. The first part of the literature provides statistical description of online grocery industry in various geographical areas and measures. The second part provides review of the E-grocery industrys market and its customer base. The final part offers previous studies, opinions and factors about various outcomes of e-grocery business. 2.2. Industry overview:- Over last five decades grocery business has transformed into new sector of supermarkets in UK. Many of the supermarkets have changed the grocery field dramatically. These champions of consumers have brought vast choices in product and price to improve their business sector. Online grocery shopping and Home delivery system has become one of major aspects in grocery industries. The revolution of technology advancement in internet has promoted grocery industries to embark on new methods in retailing industry. However, many grocers have been unsuccessful to consider the advantages of how it can support grocery business. These developments have lead to dismissal of complete-online supermarkets such as Web-Van, HomeGrocer, Shoplink and homeruns (Ramus and Nielsen, 2005). These results demonstrate the necessity of careful crafting of e-grocery strategies which exploits internet technologys potential of increasing company profit and also customer service (porter, 2001). On one hand, strategy conceptualisation is difficult for pure-play grocery stores since companies have not tried business models before. On the other hand, formulation of strategies for clicks and bricks grocery shops requires strategies which will combine both existing retail practice and internet based shopping processes (Teo, 2002). Online shopping or e-grocery retailing service involves customers online buying behaviour and practices, order fulfilment and delivery of order, development and maintenance of online websites to facilitate customers to enter their orders (Hong and Kim, 2004). This literature provides insight of into e-groceries and their strategic methods. 2.3. Development of home deliveries in the UK:- In United Kingdom, from centuries home delivery of goods has been taking place. During 20th century some local door to door field sales and home deliveries went down due to rise large number of retail centres and also availability of cheap cars. However, some of the home delivery business still in existence such as milk and catalogue distribution etc. The innovation of large consumer products such as washing machines, dishwashers, refrigerators, televisions etc resulted in certain type of delivery methods after mid-twentieth century. (Spufford, 1994) The recent development of information technology has contributed many new methods to retailing sector over the internet which has drastically increased the demand of home deliveries. Online shopping and home delivery has become an ideal path or approach in a society where people themselves believe they are cash-rich and time-poor for grocery or household goods. E-commerce along with some other forms offers the opportunity for consumers to buy household goods from their homes and also to receive deliveries at their flexible timings rather than travelling to stores. (ibid) 2.4. Grocery and grocery industry:- Groceries and other food retailers function each and every day, yet it is fundamental and permanent industry sectors in the business world. Everybody requires food, thus everyone must and should purchase food from one or another retail outlet. Therefore, the grocery industry is a vast, fragmented and tremendously competitive environment (Kelly Delaney et al, 2003 pp 187). â€Å"In Great Britain, food retailing industry constitutes 36 percent of overall retail turnover annually (Central Statistical Office, 1990). In United Kingdom the largest individual category of family expenditure and along with some other groups, which are partially sold in supermarkets, like household goods, tobacco and alcohols, clothing and leisure goods for a considerably large share of customer shopping (Central Statistical Office, 1991). (Russell Aylott et al, 1998, Pp.363) 2.5. Customer base and market trends:- According to Verdict (2006a), 80% of the online shoppers were of 29 to50 age group in 2002. Majority of responded shoppers were females. There are three groups of online shoppers: firstly rich and busy people who are pressed for time, secondly families with one or more young children and thirdly people who find difficulty to get into stores. The first group of people are those who have higher income and less time to shop. These people are normally high internet users, technology comprehend or family with dual income. These rich and busy people prefer someone to shop behalf of them. The second group are those who have got young children in their families. They constitute higher number of e-grocery shoppers. The age group of e-grocery shoppers is 29 to 50 years old with at least one young child under five years of age. This group of people usually spend their time in cooking dinners for their family. Therefore they prefer shop online for regular household groceries. This category of pe ople wants to avoid hassle situation at stores by dragging kids along with them for shopping. The final group is comparably small to other two categories. This group of people are those who find difficulty to access the store environment due to several reasons like age or physical disability etc. Peoples average life span has increased in recent decades comparing to 1950s and 1960s. Peoples average life span has increased from 67.8 to 77.2 in 2007 and the estimated life span is 82.4 for 2015.Aged people and physically challenged people may need little more extra help while doing shopping. They may found it as difficult to drive to supermarkets and to carry heavy household goods back to home. Online shopping will be the good alternative source of grocery shopping for them. 2.6. Estimation of home delivery shopping market and market share:- In the year 1999 the total home shopping market worth was figured at  £12.36bn in the UK market. The projected view for 2004 was  £24.12bn. All sectors have experienced by considerable growth. Constant increase has been expected for following 5 years as customers accept different new channels for purchasing of goods. Traditional grocery shopping is a matured market. However, recent developments and growth predicts that, it has been generated by potential e-commerce and majority of grocers have converted a part of their business into e-grocers. UK e-shopping was  £581m worth in the year 1999 and estimated growth of  £1.53bn in 2000. Verdict research predicted that there will be huge growth of 3.36% of total sales in online market and it was estimated as  £8.84bn by 2004(Nielsen, 2000). 2.7. Market trends in home shopping:- E-commerce growth in recent decades (excluding some declined cases) has transformed old traditional companies into technology implemented new companies. Moreover, now companies are in better position to exploit and implement new technologies to business models to grow their sales and profit. In the starting days of internet technology there were comments from academic commentators that most of incumbent businesses were unwilling to try internet for sales channel. There was lack of internet knowledge and also uneven distribution of amount for physical distribution. These companies distribution infrastructures have their brand names and customer base which will help them to command and access the funding, and provide stronger position to embrace e-commerce (Anderson consulting, 2000). If we consider present situation, majority of internet user are males compare to females. This socio-economic difference in internet profile user also affects online shopping. Along with these higher proportion of society contains children and youth who currently own their own computer systems and access internet more than older generation. However, research depicts that some of these variations may diminish over the growth of technology. For example, the prediction of women internet user by the 2005 will increase by sixty percent of total UK online users. (Tesco 2000a; Tesco Annual Report, 2000). Many more established retailers are likely to adopt a new approach, Multichannel retail sector implementation and development, in future. Already there are alternative channel development methods by many large retailers. It will also permit retailers to create alternative channels to draw supply chains and resources from their existence channels. For manufacturing companies it will provide good opportunity to access customers directly and to formulate new methods of delivering service or product. There is an expectation of launching of new niche catalogues from major drivers in UK as growth rate penetrates. (Webb, 2000). 2.8. Geographical characteristics:- Sandoval (2002) mentioned analyst Robert Rubin said that average population density in UK is high compared to ones US. The US (31 per sq.km) population density is one-eighth of the UK (248 per sq.km) in 2004 (world population prospectus). Tesco and Sainsbury have become successful e-grocers in the UK. These grocers target highly populated urban areas for more potential consumers. Urban areas are densely populated, people reside very close. In large cities there are less people who own cars. There are other factors which influence online grocery shopping in urban areas such as busy lifestyle, highly crowded shopping malls, public transport dependence for transportation and higher income. According to Mclaughlin (2005) cities are highly populated with internet users and considerable residents with disposable income. It is difficult expand online shopping to system to all geographic areas instead it could be done from one urban area to another, expanding business like this will make company delivery truck to achieve high number of deliveries at every trip. 2.9. Psychographic characteristics:- Punakivi, M., Saranen, J. (2001) mentioned five major decision elements for online shopping (price, convenience, product variety, ambiance and service). He also stated several reasons to increase online shopping chances such as changing family structure, busy work schedule with increased working hours, less free time and time consuming traditional shopping methods. This social system transformation result in search of alternative independent grocery shopping methods. Customer with different disability made their interest towards e-shopping rather than traditional one. Woodside, Arch G. and Randolph J. Trappey (1992) mentioned that time and conveniences are the two major factors for people to switch from traditional shopping methods to electronic shopping methods. Technology should provide complete product description to satisfy different types of customer base. It may depends on several criteria such as different food preferences such as organic, religious, ethnic origin etc 2.10. Technological characteristics:- Punakivi, M., Saranen, J. (2001) states that, the food marketing institute indicates US consumers are highest internet users with eighty-six percent in that seventy percent will shop online daily. Whereas in the UK, broadband user are in fifth position in world and second position in Europe. E-commerce research 2007 shows 15.9 percent respondents brought groceries once in a week, 2.7 percent shops twice or thrice a month, largest group shops once or twice in a year. Increased internet users likely contribute the growth of online shopping. Online shoppers will make more shopping than in-store shoppers. â€Å"As the economy and society have changed, so retailers have responded and shopping as an activity has altered enormously. (Dawson and Broadbridge, 1988). Online shopping is comparatively a recent phenomenon, which provides an opportunity to consumers to carry out at least one part of buying process online. â€Å"Electronic grocery shopping has been defined as shopping when at least part of transaction is started electronically via third party services or the Internet, but paying and logistics are not necessarily performed digitally. (Carl Lewis, 2003-pp.207) E-shop business model represents one class of e-commerce where buyers and sellers interact electronically with each other, except for deliveries. Burke suggests many reasons web marketing of food. As an example, everybody has to eat, and in store shopping consumes considerable time to purchase and majority people do not like grocery shopping. Daily household goods are difficult to move physically from one place to another. Continuous growth of e-commerce enlightens many traditional grocery retailers to use internet channel to sell their goods. The development leads to many more conventional retails to enter into e-grocery field (Boedeker.M, 1997). 2.11. E-Customer Relationship Management (E-CRM):- Smith believed that, customers thinking about the shopping are predetermined in means of preference to products, price and accessibility. Satisfying such conditions and preferences thorough online process is carried out through designing e-commerce website. Online shopping store should focus on creating e-loyalty. Customer relationship management (CRM) programmes are the most effective way to incorporate loyalty. Customer service is one of the major aspects of business which includes customer assistant in sales, maintenance of customer policies, providing customised services, after-sales maintenance etc. Due to the different type and nature of products which are purchased at e-grocery shops there should be complete product description. Some websites provide procedures for return of product or reporting problems as a part of after-sales service. Some stores allow unsatisfied customer to return their product, some websites provide vast description about their products such as ripeness of their tomatoes (smith, 2000). All online shopping websites provide some customer rules and policies. According to Australian legislation, all online websites should maintain privacy policy (Australian Federal Government, 2000). 2.12. Success and failure factors from previous studies:- Friends of Earth (2005) believed that e-grocery method is the best way to promote industrys brand image. However, Punakivi, M., Saranen, J. (2001) and Kotler (1996) stated conversely; brand image of company will help to promote online grocery business. They also believed that industrys business experience and its infrastructure will be added advantage for promotion. One more factor is people ability to spend money for long duration household goods. Pachauri, Moneesha 2002 stated that competition in e-grocery retail sector remains the same until company stay in game. If any child companys online business started down falling then parental company may not let it to happen for longer duration because they are inter-related in means of profit sharing. Without the demand, services of online business company will lead to business failure. Retention of existing customer is one of the main aspects of business. To gain customer loyalty, companies should provide reward to regular shopper. Customers can also gain loyalty points for their spending and it will convert into reward coupons or vouchers. Brick and mortar stores utilises their existing business infrastructure to click and mortar stores to save on costs. Delaney-Klinger, Boyer, and Frohlich (2003) mentioned Tescos success and Webvan failure because of its marketing strategy for online business. Webvan marketed its online sales with value-added service and extra delivery charges to cope up with online ordering cost. Tescos pricing strategy is little higher than the Webvan and it most suitable one for lower volume sales. Smith, Howard (2004) stated that online-only business spent heavy money for their highly automated warehouses. The operating costs for these warehouses are high and order volumes for those companies are not more than half of their capacity. High initial start up cost for online division, although pricing strategy can able to reduce cost for internal order picking and delivery methods. However, Delaney-Klinger et al (2003) believed that the expenditure for short run will increase business cost for warehouse methods and decrease for existing store picking methods comparably. High initial start-up cost will results at higher risk for any organisation. Another aspect for failure will be lack of online business management knowledge and experience. Blythman, Joanna (2005) stated that, companies are not concentrating much on customer relation management for stabilising business consistently. Traditional grocers have more advantage over online grocers in this area. 2.13. Conclusion:- Online shopping and home delivery service is one of the critical aspects of e-grocery business. E-grocery business should have to understand the variable cost affecting structures and service concepts in order to turn online grocery business into profitable one. The different strategies were discussed. Analysing and adopting best strategy for e-grocery business is most important. This literature provides insight of e-groceries. In a service context, as with product marketing, getting and keeping customers is of utmost importance. With service, in particular, someone within the organization will interact with customers; hence they should be viewed as customer relationships not just customers. Customer relationships have to be built and a useful way of viewing these developments as a life cycle. The marketing objective will change as the customer proceeds through the cycle. Understanding service marketing is becoming increasingly important for all organizations as more firms seek to di fferentiate their product or services through their service offering. Interaction and customer relationship concepts are the two key areas of service marketing are said to be of even greater importance to all firms in the future. CHAPTER 3 3. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 3.1. Research topic: Strategic and Economic analysis of E-grocery system in Tesco and Sainsbury (Online shopping and home delivery methods). 3.2. Background of home delivery system and its characteristics- Home delivery is generally defined as delivering of all types of goods to customers homes (or any different location opted by customer example workplace) regardless whether online or any other order forms such as traditional mailing, telephone-based ordering (phone order), internet, fax or order made in person by consumer in store premises. The study is carried out in business to customer order delivery system rather than business to business. Home delivery system refers to all household goods delivered to consumers house (the destination may change such as work place on customers selection). Hence in online shopping and home delivery method the purchased physical household goods are carried out to customers destination by specialised home delivery unit or companies instead of customers themselves. There are some reasons for home deliveries like (i) may be the retail outlet itself would provide an additional service to their customers or ( ii) may be customer do not like to carry the shopped goods at that instance or the required product may be out-of-stock at that moment or (iii) due to goods weight or size ( if it became difficulty to customer to transport by themselves) or (iv) because the seller itself does not have any physical store and may be its complete operation depends on the virtual online store. Thus customer may face impossible situation to collect the goods in store by themselves. (Farahmand and Young, 1998; Nielsen, 2000) 3.3. Research aim and objectives:- 3.3.1. Aim: To analyse the strategic and economic factors of e- grocery system in Tesco and Sainsbury. Hypothesis: Home delivery system is neither a profitable nor a strategic contributor to Tesco and Sainsbury. 3.3.2. Research objectives:- The objective of this study is to find out and explain empirically the above mentioned research issue by using various research methods. Our approach is comparative in nature. The steps adopted in our study are as follows: (1) Identification of the industries under study; (2) Study of background of the industries; (3) Interpretation of appropriateness of strategies and methods of individual firm; (4) Analysis of home delivery methods impact on organisational performance from individual firm. Research questions:- This research study is carried out to understand the factors of e-grocery success by trying to find answer to following research questions. What are Tescos and Sainsburys online units strategies to its success? What are the business models they are following? How are they processing their order? Should they use warehouse system or in-store picking system? Whether home delivery system is profitable or not? How should online unit function to achieve operational efficiency and how they are managing customer relationship? 3.4. Research Approach and methodology:- Research data collection is carried out both quantitatively and qualitatively. It will become difficult to distinguish between these two methods. Generally quantitative research method means collecting numerical data or coded information for objective analysis, data will be later interpreted. Qualitative research method is data collection by observations by peoples activity generally and they are noted in coded description. However, this codified information can be used for later analysis. The important form of this method is often reporting and interpretations by researcher by timely observation. A semi structured interview will be carried out during research which consists of analysis of Sainsbury and Tesco stores for data collection about home delivery. Interviews will be carried out with key persons like grocery manager, online delivery driver, and duty manager etc in each store to collect the quantitative and qualitative data. The quantitative data will be gathered for analysis. And results will be drawn from the following methods. This study uses semi-structured quantitative primary analysis (interview for data collection) and majorly uses qualitative method (secondary source) to identify UK grocery sector and to focus to answer research questions stated. Interviews will provide large amount of information which is main source of information and key pathway for time-constrained studies such as this (Esterberg, 2002). 3.4.1. Case study and historical analysis method:- According to Yin (1989), there are mainly five major investigating methods in social science research namely surveys, archival analysis, case studies, experiments and historical analysis. He also distinguishes them on the basis of three criteria; those are i) what kind of research question will be asked, ii) what will the degree of control over present behavioural consequences and iii) present emphasis compared to past events. Case studies and historical analysis are desirable approaches to evaluate strategies of organisations. These methods are useful to describe and answer the â€Å"how and/or â€Å"why scenario when events happen beyond researcher control and also while researching present phenomenon in real-life time. Inductive and deductive approaches will be used for analysis of research data. Inductive way means drawing the general conclusions from researcher based on empirical grounds. Deductive approach means drawing the conclusions from researchers logical reasoning (Ghauri, et.Al,. 1995). This study focus on collecting information regarding operational strategies of Tesco and Sainsbury and to understand, why they are providing online shopping facility to customers while many of the supermarket failed to stay in game. During the process of study, the companies actions or strategic implementations from them are beyond the control of researcher, case study and historical analysis methods will be best, for a part of research. 3.4.2. Meta-Analysis:- On this part, research study is carried out through qualitative meta-analysis for selected e-grocery organisations. Answers to main research questions will be collected qualitatively for each individual case (Lyons, 2003). The collected data will be analysed and possible relationships between business models and various out comes will be fetched out. This method is used to compare operations characteristics and strategies of Tesco and Sainsbury from the gathered data. This is the systematic approach for cross comparison of business models. There are few draw backs in meta-analysis such as, since data collected from various sources, hence, results quality is directly depends on the quality of source. Another, may companies may use similar strategic approach to achieve their goals which may be rarely identical. There is no unique approach to analyse data for meta-analysis. This effort is made to reveal answers from confirmed information from various sources (Graney and Engle, 1990). 3.5. Significance and limitations:-

UK Market Entry Strategy for a Mobile Phone Operator

UK Market Entry Strategy for a Mobile Phone Operator The introduction of mobile telephone service in the United Kingdom was launched in 1985 (BBC News, 2005), however the beginnings of this technology can be traced to its use by the Swedish police in 1946 when they tested a radiophone (Free-Definition, 2005). In terms of modern technology, Bell Labs, a division of ATT, pioneered cellular technology in 1947 and exited the market in 1984 as the company believed the market would not develop to the point of being viable (Wharton School of Business, 2000). Interestingly, ATT ten years later would pay McCaw Cellular Communications $12.6 billion to acquire a cellular phone operator (USD) (Wharton School of Business, 2000). The words ‘mobile phone’ represents a term that encompasses cellular, satellite as well as any type of phone that provides mobility on a wide range scale (Free-Definition, 2005). It must be remembered that today’s cellular technology is based upon radio wave transmission that successively was pioneered by (epanorama, 2005): James Clark Maxwell in 1864 with his electromagnetic radiation theory called ‘Maxwell Equations’. Alexander Graham Bell in 1876 when he invented the telephone. Heinrich Hertz in 1887 with his discovery of ‘hertzian waves’ that are today called ‘radio waves’. Guglielmo Marconi in 1896 who conducted the first radio transmission. Radio frequencies predominated the mobile telephone industry through the 1960’s until the unavailability of these frequencies resulted in the development of cell-based networks to solve the frequency congestion problem in the 1970’s. And while the first modern mobile telephone call is created to Motorola on 3/04/1973 when Martin Cooper placed the first call on the streets of New York to Bell Labs. The first cellular phone network was actually developed in 1981 by ‘Nordisk Mobil Telefon’ (NMT) which was based on analog technology (Free-Definition, 2005). The preceding is acknowledged as the beginning of the cellular telephone industry and the subsequent boom that exceeded all expectations. The cellular industry in the United Kingdom is currently dominated by the following four major companies (BBC News, 2005): Vodafone Orange T-Mobile, and 02 In the face of the preceding, British consumers have been lodging complaints about overcharging, coverage areas and dropped calls which has prompted easyGroup’s Stelios Haji-Ioannou, (easyMobile, 2005), Fresh and Virgin Atlantic’s Sir Richard Branson, among others to announce that they are entering the fray to better serve consumers. This new round of developments in Britain’s cellular industry is an outgrowth of inquiries by the United Kingdom’s Office of Telecommunications (Oftel) that announced that British cellular phone companies four largest operators were overcharging callers by as much as 15% (McDonough, 2003). The preceding has opened the door for new and smaller companies to respond to consumer complaints and the corresponding marketing platform to gain a foothold through new services. The growth of cellular telephone communications in terms of technology, services, companies, handsets and market penetration has increased in the short period of 20 years to the point where 85% of all United Kingdom households have mobile phones (Mobile Operators Association, 2005) which translates into 9 out of every 10 British consumers using a mobile telephone (BBC News, 2005). The convenience offered by cellular services has seen consumers increase their utilization rates to the point where the total number of minutes consumers made on cellular calls almost doubled during the period 2000 to 2004, from 34 million minutes to 62 billion minutes (Mobile Operators Association, 2005). The most important development is that in 2004 the revenues of mobile voice and data companies at  £12.3 billion exceeded fixed-line revenues for the first time in U.K. history (Mobile Operators Association, 2005). The preceding information is important in understanding the far reaching impact, importan ce and inculcation of the mobile telephone in today’s lifestyles, both in personal as well as business use. However, this unprecedented growth is not without its problems. Sir Richard Branson the charismatic owner and founder of the Virgin Group has stated that the mobile phone industry in the United Kingdom is â€Å"†¦rip-off Britain at work again†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Pearse, 1999) and that â€Å"†¦ hardly anyone is getting a good deal†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Pearse, 1999). His statements have been supported by such events as: 2001 â€Å"Regulators launch unannounced inspections in price-fixing investigation† (Broersma, 2001) 2001 â€Å"Mobile phone companies slammed for targeting children† (Wearden, 2001) As well as customer service, insurance costs, coverage, dropped calls, highly monthly rates, high per minute rates, roaming charges, 12 month contracts and billing practices. The free for all at the top of the cellular food chain has created customer dissatisfaction with the ‘big four’ and they are seeking alternative solutions to what was once a novelty. And therein lies one of the biggest shifts in consumer viewpoints, and thus the industry as a whole. Once reserved for business individuals and upper income demographics, the cellular phone is no longer looked upon as a luxury or business item. Consumers see it as a necessity. Cellular telephone market penetration in the United Kingdom has reached the point where cellular phone ownership exceeds 100% of the country’s total population (cellular news, 2004). The industry’s biggest complaint is high per minute and monthly service charge rates. The per rate calling cost tariffs for ‘anytime minutes, mont hly call allotment and pay as you go plans’ differ widely, thus the plan programs tend to be misleading and costly. Table 1 – Monthly Calling rates in the United Kingdom * (Vodafone, 2005) ** (Orange, 2005) *** (One2One, 2005) **** (BT,2005) The above Table indicates the variance between companies for the same basic monthly plans and how longer term contracts result in lower monthly cost per call. The complexity arises when one attempts to calculate the calling time per minute within these plans and the variables attached. As a point of reference the following is a comparison of rate plans on a pay as you go basis: Table 2 – Pay As You Go in the United Kingdom * (Vodafone, 2005) ** (Orange, 2005) *** (One2One, 2005) **** (easymobile, 2005) The advantage of the ‘pay-as-you-go’ plans is that there is the lack of a contractual commitment for a monthly charge, thus depending upon which company you select the rates are slightly more per call. EasyMobile’s promise to slash rates seems to offer British consumers with a viable choice to the a 15p across the board rate that is the calling rate for the monthly plans. While the Virgin Mobile web site for the United Kingdom is not finished, information was obtained that indicates that the proposed ‘pay-as-you-go’ rates should wind up being 15p for the first 5 minutes of calls on a daily basis, and then rolling down to 5p thereafter for all calls made to standard United Kingdom locations as well as other Virgin phones. Calling other mobile networks will cost 35p (Wikipedia, 2005). In the instance of both the monthly plans and the Pay-As-You-Go plans, customers are required to purchase their phone at a cost ranging from  £50 on up. There are also the free phone offers that carry contract minimums of varied prices. The British mobile phone market is highly competitive as well as being a mature market. According to Porter’s (1998) generic strategies, firms fall into two broad categories: firms that utilize an advantage in cost, and firms that use differentiation as a means to establish a difference between themselves and their competitors. The mature and established nature of the British mobile phone market sees companies such as easyMobile, Virgin Mobile and Fresh committed to stealing market share from the big four, Vodafone, Orange, One2One and BT through the utilization of slashing costs to achieve gains in market share. The four major UK mobile phone companies also offer a broad array of services and phone types along with the varied plans to go with them. These services, such as video calling, Internet access, text messaging, along with phones that provide camera and streaming capabilities plus a host of features are designed to reap higher profit margins. The determining factor is price and the big four companies while cognizant of this aspect (price) are focusing on promoting the service and phone features as their major marketing push, along with the advantages of inter-service calling (same network). These services appeal to young adults, professionals and companies where the monthly costs or image fit their lifestyles. But, there are segments of the market where the costs of mobile phones has become a budgetary concern along with those whose credit does not qualify for monthly rates. These groups represent a sizeable share of the market and this is where the low cost providers are seeking to wrest market share away as well as take advantage of the tremendous growth potential in this segment of the market. Prepaid Market Segment The UK cellular phone market, much like those in other countries, has penetration limits in garnering consumers as there are segments of the population whose credit ratings did not and do not qualify them for the service contracts. This reality was recognized by cellular providers and the prepaid segment has been the number one driving force in the growth of the United Kingdom cellular market over the past 5 years. In 1998 Vodafone gained 300,000 new subscribers of which 127,000 joined using the Pay-As-You-Talk plan, or 42% (silicon, 2003). Similarly, Cellnet garnered 80,000 new customers for its Easylife pre-pay plan (silicon, 2003). And while the pay-as-you-go customer represents the least profitable base for cellular phone companies, their numbers and the marketing opportunities they represent in service trade up as well as increased usage makes them important as a group. The four major UK mobile phone providers have recently indicated their willingness to forgo utilizing low price leaders such as pay-as-you-go plans to attract new subscribers. The maturing of the cellular phone market has caused companies to look at profitability and to switch marketing emphasis on profitability per subscriber (BBC News, 2001). This was prompted by a study that showed a high percentage of pay-as-you-go customers were not regularly using their phones. The companies indicated that the marketing and sign up costs for this customer category was consuming a high budgetary percentage, thus the reason for the decreased emphasis (BBC News, 2001). The average prepaid customer brings in just one fourth of the revenue the monthly subscribers generate ((BBC News, 2001) thus the shift from attracting more prepaid customers to retention and upgrade as these customers are already a part of the marketing data base and the cost to increase revenues from this classification is far les s. The following will offer and analysis of the prepaid cellular segment: Age An Accenture survey conducted in 2002 found that fully 73% of children from 10 to 17 used mobile phones. It is interesting to note that the majority of these respondents believed that ‘gaming’ represented a major phone function with 91% describing the games as either poor or just average. Thus, age does represent a significant aspect as these children grow into teenagers and young adults. Cultivation of this market is deemed as being able to yield more benefits in terms of future subscribers familiar with cellular use and thus higher revenues per subscriber than the general prepaid profile. Other Not all prepaid customers are either young or in the upper age brackets. There are a number of valid potential future revenue generating customers within this segment who are either on current prepaid plans as well as those who have not yet taken on a mobile phone. In many instances a change of circumstances would represent a different usage pattern (analysis.com, 2002), : Budget Consumer This classification can take in many differing profiles. From those consumers who either see the mobile phone as a convenience, rather than as a daily phone tool, as well as consumers who just do not utilize the phone for personal or other calls. The budget conscious look to actively limit or manage their mobile phone usage to keep the cost of ownership in a defined pre-set budget range. Fixed Income Individuals on disability, unemployment or in retirement represent subscribers on limited incomes. In some instances, such as retired or some fixed income, the circumstances will not change. However, eliminating potential subscribers on the basis of theoretical potentials in such a highly competitive market could overlook the radiation power these people represent in terms of word of mouth possibilities. Low Income Individuals occupying the lower demographic profiles do not have the income to spend on either a mobile phone or excessive usage. The limitations of income keep this group in the low revenue classification. Changes in circumstances, the economy or other reasons could affect income and thus a change in usage patterns. Bargain Shoppers The demographics of this group spans basically all income classifications in varied percentages. They represent bargain shoppers who look for the best rates and their usage patterns can varying widely Limited Use The groups within this category can range from the average UK citizen in any demographic profile to individuals with multiple residences, or people who regularly travel between the United Kingdom and another country. The preceding summary illustrates that although the prepaid market has been classified by the major four mobile companies as a low revenue generator, there are significant revenue potentials within this group that can not be qualified, yet are there. Chapter 4 – Market Entry Strategies The preceding analysis of the British mobile phone market, along with a review of the four major companies within that field has uncovered the reasons as well as rationales for the existence of the huge pre-paid market within their subscriber base. And while the opportunities for further penetration of the market are limited, the opportunities within the mobile industry sector are definitely there. In addition to the continued entry into the market of teenagers coming of age, the existing cellular and non-cellular prepaid market offers definitive growth and profit opportunities for a firm that grasps the subtle nuances in the market and crafts approaches, pricing plans and marketing efforts to reap the rewards. In order to equate entry into this market, an examination of the management and related methodologies will precede the marketing campaign strategies. 2.1 Management and Strategic Methodologies Porter’s (1998) generic strategies indicates that firms fall into two categories, the ones that have an advantage in cost and the ones that use the principle of differentiation. Adherence to this understanding means that a firm will thereby recognize its strength and thus concentrate efforts to maximizing this effect. The opportunities in the prepaid cellular market’s lies in ‘cost leadership’ as the driving marketing foundation. David (2004) concurs with Porter’s (1998) assessment in advising companies to â€Å"’Establish Company Direction’ David (2004) indicates that this be accomplished through the development of a company vision, the setting of objectives to be achieved and attained. In addition he mentions crafting a strategy that seeks the opportunities inherent within a market and then devising consumer driven rationales to formulate a strategy to achieve these goals. Arnold’s (2003) â€Å"modes of Market Entry’ delves further into the theories raised by Porter (1998) and David (2004) and states that â€Å"The central managerial trade-off between the alternative modes of market entry†¦Ã¢â‚¬  winds up being â€Å"†¦risk and control†. He goes on to add that when one minimizes risk that company is seeking a â€Å"†¦ low intensity†¦Ã¢â‚¬  David (2004) mode of entry. This means that the company will select the safer courses of action which also do not require the depth of commitment by management to map out the detailed corresponding course of action to maximum success. The deeper a company delves into the nuances of the market and competitive approaches, the more skills on the part of the company are required to be worked into the system to handle these demands. These are the places or segments that the major firms are either ignoring, divesting themselves of or have deemed unprofitable. In reality these are the segments of the market that require more attention to detail and closer monitoring to exact opportunities as they present themselves, or via cultivation whereby the consumer is reached with compelling reasons to increase their expenditure. As illustrated by the varied classifications of prepaid subscribers as well as non-subscribers the opportunities exist to wrest profits in the exercise of Wal-Mart like efficient operations and economy of scale modes. Wal-Mart’s retailing example paved the way for a low cost market position to be the road to high market share and thus the resulting economies of scale. By minimizing costs a firm can generate profits from a low margin via operations and systems that cater to and serve consumer needs. The preceding is at the core of David’s (2004) market entry concepts. A firm must equate the degree of risk, and competence it brings to a particular market opportunity in recognition of the capabilities and resourc es of competitive firms, and thus craft a strategy that takes advantage of nuances as well as quarks within the market that have either been missed or deemed unprofitable. Johnson et al (2001) indicates that putting the firm’s strategy into action requires a company to organize itself for success. Exactly the points made by David’s (2004) market entry topics. Every industry leader has devised systems, administrative functions and overall operations to be sensitive to all developments, consumer trends, market opportunities and unexploited areas to dominate their industry group. Microsoft, Mercedes Benz, Wal-Mart, Dyson and others have done this, paid attention to the smallest of details and then exploited them in the marketplace. Marketing Campaign Strategies Given the cellular phone penetration rate in the United Kingdom, whereby 9 out of 10 people use the services of a mobile phone (BBC News, 2005), a wholesale attack on the market taking on established as well as known companies represents a frontal attack on fortified ground. A glorious charge, but prone to the cost of either failure or dismal results. Well-entrenched competitors also have ground to defend within their fiefdoms and attrition can occur by seeking out the disenfranchised as well as defectors and cast offs. The major four mobile companies have indicated their focus on profitable subscriber segments thus devoting fewer resources to the attraction of prepaid subscribers. This opens the door to cultivate new market entrants from the teenage classification as they mature each year, as well as the: Budget Consumer Fixed Income Low Income Bargain Shoppers Limited Use, segments which represent low profit generation groups, but in meaningful enough numbers whereby economies of scale can be employed. This so called ‘discount’ side of the market is not without its difficulties in that lower margin generating subscribers still expect first class service. And this all has to be accomplished using rates that compete with and beat those of easyMobile, Virgin Mobile and other firms concentrating on the prepaid market segment as a means to either growth or opportunity. Market Entry Strategies With the internal administrative functions and systems in place, or planned the company can execute is strategies for market entry. The following maps out the steps in sequencing of accomplishment of the foregoing: Planning Internal Implementation External Linkages Marketing Strategies Service The applications and areas of concentration with respect to the preceding, are as follows: Planning Arnold (2003) , Johnson et al (2001) and David (2004) all illustrated the importance of focusing on the goals and objectives and then planning out the steps leading to market entry. This entails management examining, questioning and devising systems and functions that will be needed to respond to the demands of the business being taken on. In the case of the entry into the British mobile market the state of market maturity and saturation along with established operators in a cost competitive market, the only viable market segments open are the marginal profit base profiles. The major mobile companies did not plan for or implement their operations to handle this type of business from the onset, thus their operational models are not profitable at that end. The utilization as well as concentration on subscriber profitability through new and added services as well as more features in handsets represents their commitment to trade up marketing for growth in a saturated market. As a result the lower profitability subscribers are offered basic services at a higher rate. Through planning to wrest profits from this group via a Wal-Mart type of approach from the onset, builds an organization to fit the marketing realities. Internal Implementation Once the planning concerning systems and functions has been completed and tested it needs to be implemented internally as a working environment. Incentives based upon identifying and lowering internal operational costs while maintaining high service levels are management tools to solicit the cooperation and commitment of managers and employees. External Linkages Outside services and equipment needs such as network costs need to be put in place. The most important aspect of this segment are utilization contracts where when certain numbers are achieved, costs are reduced. This provides built in profit incentives that management as well as the organization must set as goals, thus driving growth. Marketing Strategies Low cost market leader! Porter’s (1998) generic strategies identified this as a prime component along with differentiation. This is the opportunity that exists in the prepaid segment of the UK market which stands in excess of 50% of all subscribers. This market segment has driven subscription rates over the past five years and will continue to do so as consumers modify their cellular phone costs as well as enter the market from non-user categories such as teenagers. While the profitability quotient is lower there are rewards that exist after establishment of quality service at these rates. Much of what consumer seek entails the level of quality received per monetary outlay. As the retail price of computer hardware spiraled downward, Dell managed to garner huge market share through cost cutting direct delivery systems that enabled them to reduce stocking and return costs as well as implement higher levels of just in time delivery to reduce internal operating costs. This low pri ce quality service and product approach became the operative model for an industry faced with saturation, lower retail costs and internal margins. The comparative costs in the prepaid market indicate that the average industry rate hovers in the 15p range. Table 2 – Pay As You Go in the United Kingdom Company Rate Phone Answer Minimum Charge Landlines Other Networks Vodafone* 10p 10p 30p 35p to 40p Orange** 10p 5p 20p 40p One2One*** Offers Flat Rate Based on Calling Card Up to  £10

Articles Of Confederation :: essays research papers

Articles of Confederation It would have been very difficult to run an effective government under the Articles of Confederation. Many of the great minds politically active after the American Revolution realized this; thus arrived the birth of one of the greatest political documents of all time: The Constitution. With the implement of the Constitution, the United States government became effective. The product of some of the greatest minds to ever exist in this world, the Articles did have some positive effects on society. It successfully put an end to the Revolutionary War, it negotiated a favorable end to the war in the Treaty of Paris, and created a model for the admission of new territories courtesy of the Northwest Ordinance. Nonetheless, it was much too weak to give the new nation the necessary foundation on which the growth of society could be started from. For one thing, any amendment of the Articles required a unanimous vote throughout the colonies. Since this was almost impossible, there always being two sides to everything [a pro and a con], changing the Articles to eliminate the ideas that did not function properly was near impossible. Another factor of the Articles' ineffectiveness was that Congress was in essence tied in its authority. After the war, the colonists trusted no ultimate authority; not even one they designed. It could not regulate commerce, so what resulted was thirteen colonies with different taxations and tariff laws. This only added to the already present feelings of dislike and distrust which had existed between the colonies since they were first established. After this period of eight years, the "Critical Period", the light at the end of the tunnel arrived with Thomas Jefferson writing the Constitution. It delegated the power, at the discretion of the people. It was designed to be amended; the great minds who designed it realized that they themselves were not infallible, and could make mistakes. The beauty of the Constitution was that it allowed for these mistakes. Instead of the outrageous unanimous vote of states to change it, two-thirds of Congress and then three-fourths of the states must approve. It ensured that no one section of government could grow so powerful to the point that it could be considered a Parliament through the Checks and