Strength Training for Volleyball Players

Strength Training for Volleyball Players The improvement of these abilities is quite important for a volleyball player, being the muscular strength many times the priority for the young athlete. Several studies have reported significant improvements in vertical jump following resistance training (Baker et al, 1994 ) and (Stone et al, 1981).The purpose of strength training for volleyball is not to build big muscles, but to develop the physical characteristics necessary to improve a player’s performance. Strength training is very important to volleyball and however, should not be developed independently from other abilities such as agility, speed and endurance. This program is designed mainly to improve the skill of vertical jump in volleyball for players with moderate to advanced experience. Needs Analysis Needs analysis focuses on the fitness needs of both the activity (vertical jump) and the athlete involved in the sport (volleyball). Sport analysis Successful participation in volleyball sport requires expertise in many physical skills and performance is often dependent on an individual’s ability to propel themselves into the air during both offensive and defensive manoeuvres. These movements include the jump serve, spike, and block. During the carrying out of a jump serve or a spike, the player jumps high into the air and strikes the ball at the highest point of their jump in an effort to propel the ball rapidly down towards the opposing side of the net. Defensively, front row players defend against spikes by jumping into the air with their hands raised in an effort to impede the offensive attack. Unlike offensive jumps, defensive jumps are not maximal vertical jump efforts. There are many factors that are involved in an athlete’s vertical jump and many factors that are involved in improving an athlete’s vertical jump. Vertical jump mainly involves use of the lower limbs. However, the upper limbs play an important role in vertical jump activity. Feltner et al (1999) and Harman et al (1990) concluded that using an arm swing during vertical jumping improved performance over no arm swing. An upward swing causes a downward force on the trunk which in turn slows the rate of contraction of the leg muscles allowing the muscles to contract at a slower velocity and thus generates more force. The fact that an arm swing is so important to vertical jumping performance, may indicate that there is a technique or skill component to vertical jumping, rather than just leg power (Young, 1995). Another biomechanical aspect of vertical jump is the bi-lateral deficit. Bi-lateral deficit results in different heights one-leg versus two-leg vertical jump. The maximal height achieved from one-legged jump is approximately 60% of the maximal two-legged height (Challis, 1998). The possible reason for this deficit may be a neuromuscular adaptation. One-leg jump requires a maximal recruitment of muscle fibres due to less muscle mass available. Furthermore, the height that is achieved by the vertical jump has a direct correlation with the amount of force that is produced by the muscle fibres. This force is created by a phenomenon known as the stretch-shortening cycle of muscle fibres. The stretch-shortening cycle is a natural reaction by muscle fibres to slow the body from fast movements and prevent injury to the individual involved (Kraemer and Newton, 1994). The stretch-shortening cycle involves a counter-movement when a muscle fibre is rapidly stretched creating tension within the muscle. A counter-movement occurs when the muscles are eccentrically stretched, and then rapidly shortened to accelerate the body in the opposite direction and achieve the reverse desirable action. To accomplish this, the muscles act eccentrically to slow the body and initiate the reverse desirable movement (Kraemer and Newton, 1994). This cycle is critical to vertical jump performance. As the individual flexes the knees to jump, the stretch shortening cycle is activated and the athlete explodes into the jump. Newton et al (1997) claimed that there may be an even more important factor to producing more forceful contractions. The research that they conducted came to the conclusion that force output did increase as a function of load, but lighter loads also produced more force because of the speed that the muscle was contracting. In terms of muscle fibre type, elite volleyball players typically show muscle fibre percentages of around 52-60% Fast Twitch muscle fibre composition, which compare favourably to samples from elite level sprinters and jumpers (45-80%FT) (Conlee et al, 1982). A final biomechanical feature of vertical jumps involves the mechanics of the two-joint muscles of the lower limbs. The major muscle groups of the lower extremities involved in vertical jump are the hamstrings, quadriceps and gastrocnemius. All these muscle groups are bi-articulated muscles that cross over multiple joints. The sequence of muscle activation occurs through a proximal to distal pattern (Pandy, 1991). Thus, the gluteus maximus and hamstrings are activated first with a distinct goal of accelerating the trunk upward after countermovement. The activation continues downward through thigh, shank and finally to the toes. Therefore, all of the lower limb muscles must work in order to develop an explosive power. Energy source Research has shown that elite volleyball players to rely primarily upon their anaerobic energy system to supply energy demands during a match (Conlee et al, 1982). However, matches can last up to two and a half hours; therefore some aerobic component must be present as well. Volleyball is 90% anaerobic and 10% aerobic (Baechle et al, 2000). The aerobic energy system may not be relied upon during matches, but it is certainly important during training sessions, rest, and recovery periods. In relation to the specific composition of muscle fibres, it has been suggested that athletes with a well developed anaerobic power capacity will generate more power than athletes with a high aerobic power capacity (Conlee et al, 1982). Primary sites of injury The mechanisms and frequencies of injury in volleyball are well documented. The jump-landing sequence is the most common source of injury in volleyball (Briner and Kacmar, 1997). In fact, blocking and spiking are linked with over 70% of volleyball injuries (Watkins and Green, 1992). Ferretti et al., (1992) hypothesized that the high number of jumps and the likelihood of losing balance due to deviations in jumping technique are the primary causes of injury during volleyball. The vast majority (90%) of volleyball injuries occur in the lower extremity with the knee joint being particularly vulnerable (Gerberich et al, 1987). Knee injuries are of particular importance because they are associated with more lost time from sports participation than other injury sites (Solgà ¥rd et al, 1995). A well-designed volleyball training program will also help to reduce the incidence and severity of injury in volleyball players. Despite being a non-contact sport, a three study found that volleyball is the eighth most injury prone sport in the age group 14 to 20 years (De Loà «s ,1995). Program Design A well-structured volleyball training program can increase explosive power, vertical jump height, stamina and speed and agility around the court. Skill training alone, such as practising spikes, wont develop the physical traits necessary to play to the athletes full potential (Gabbett et al, 2006).Volleyball players have exceptional lower body power and perform well in the vertical jump test (Smith et al,1992). Power in the legs is needed to jump explosively off the ground in order to spike, block, set and dive. This program is designed to maximize the vertical jump for a professional volleyball player who is very interested in increasing his vertical jump to enhance his sport performance for the in-season period. It is a pre-season program which focuses on actual sport specific functions. Squatting, jumping, lateral stepping, hitting and spiking are all common volleyball movements. The pre-season volleyball strength training routine is less intense than the off-season. The goal is to maintain that strength and power, but to perfect sport specific movements. The subject is a full-time employee therefore he has no plenty of time for training. He also practises volleyball with no real schedule. He devotes his weekend to leisure activities and social commitments, so training must be scheduled during weekdays. Conveniently, the subject has no prior major sports injury and he was medically cleared fit for resistance training. The subject has good background of resistance training programs and he has been on training course over the past three months. His training included jogging for 30 minutes and some basic general strength exercises. In order to make strength a valuable physiological component, it must be trained in such a way that gains in strength lead to the highest levels of jumping power. This jumping power must then be effectively applied during the game. To achieve this, strength program is structured into three training phases that lead into the competitive phase. This program consists of three phases (mesocycles) derived from a classic periodization model. These three phases are basic strength, explosive strength and reactive strength. Each phase is four weeks in length. Phase 1 This phase precedes explosive strength and reactive strength training. This is important even for experienced strength-trained athletes as the nature of competitive sport places uneven stresses on the body. The goal here is not to try to necessarily mimic sports movements, but rather just to increase the contractual force producing capabilities of the muscles that are involved in the vertical jump. This phase lasts for 4 weeks and it aims to balance strength between the two sides of the body. It also aims to restore correct balance between the flexors and extensors (such as the hamstrings and quadriceps for example). Attention will be paid to developing limit strength in the muscles of the quadriceps, glutes, hamstrings and lower back as these are the most important muscle groups for vertical jumping. The muscles of the hip extensors will be given special attention because they are usually the weak links in the large majority of athletes. These muscles are the glutes, hamstrings, and lower back. During this phase, training begins at a low intensity with high volume. It includes sport-specific exercises related to vertical jump as well as some non-specific exercises such as core exercises. Overload progress from 60% to 75% of 1RM. Repetitions per set range from 5 to 10 depending on how intense the exercise is. Phase 2 The goal of explosive strength exercises is to either perform the movement with more speed, or with more height. For example, try to jump higher while squatting with light to moderate weights. Generally, speed of movement, especially the beginning of the movement, is more important than the load involved when it comes to these exercises.Explosive strength movements focus on developing maximal starting and explosive strength, without much involvement of the reflexive stretch-shortening cycle .They essentially focus on applying max voluntary force as quickly as possible. In this phase plyometric exercises will be introduced particularly jumps in place and standing jump. Phase 3 Reactive strength exercises generally consist of jumps. The goal with the reactive strength exercises is to execute the movements with either less time spent on the ground or by jumping higher. These movements allow you to take advantage and build upon the reflexive forces that come from the plyometric effect. They are essential for anyone wanting to jump higher and run faster. This training uses the stretch-shortening cycle (stretch reflex) .The stretching reflex responds to the speed at which muscle/tendon complex is stretched prior to movement. Therefore, the faster and greater the stretch is the greater the corresponding reactive force will be. Specificity All exercises included in this program are designed to improve strength, neuromuscular adaptations and recruitment of muscles involved in vertical jump. Volleyball requires explosive movements with sequential use of muscles in a specific order. Olympic lifts strengthen muscles at a similar velocity and in the same order as needed in volleyball (Cross, 1993). Thus, this program will include use of Olympic lifts (snatch, clean and jerk). Most vertical jumping in volleyball is performed from static standing or from a two-step approach (Black, 1995). However, many upward and lateral movements of the upper limb are needed for blocking and spiking. Upper body and abdominal (trunk) strength has also been shown to be a contributing factor to vertical jump performance (Bobbert et al, 1994). Strength in the upper body, particularly the arms and shoulders helps to increase the strength throughout the trunk region which creates solid posture to help maximise jumping technique. Therefore, this program includes many exercises of upper body in order to strengthen all muscles involved in vertical jump.Other exercises (bench press, push press and core conditioning) are included in the program although they do not specifically improve vertical jump. These exercises are included to maintain muscular balance and enhance strength base. While this program is basically designed to improve the vertical jump, it would also be sufficient in developing upper and lower body strength and power. This program also includes some plyometric activities for both upper and lower limbs.Velocity specificity is an important consideration when designing resistance training programs for vertical jump. It indicates that training adaptations (e.g., increased strength/power) are greatest at or near the training velocity (Pereira and Gomes, 2003). However, there exists a conflicting hypothesis that the intention to move a barbell, one’s own body, or any other object explosively is more important than the actual movement velocity in determining velocity-specific responses of the neuromuscular system to resistance training (Behm and Sale, 1993)Plyometric training has been shown to be one of the most effective methods for improving explosive power (Fleck and Kraemer, 2004). A wide variety of athletes can benefit from power training, particularly if it follows or coincides with a strength training program. In order for plyometric training to be at its most effective it should follow a phase of maximal strength training (Baechle et al, 2000). The purpose of plyometrics is to improve the athlete’s capacity to apply more force more rapidly. Logically then, the greater the athlete’s ability to generate maximal force or strength to begin with, the more of it can be converted into sport-specific power. Weighted vertical jumps are included in this program for its popularity among training specialists and for its proven benefits in many studies. Baker et al. (2001) found that maximal power was achieved during weighted squat jumps with a 48-63% of 1RM squat. Moreover, Wilson et al. (1993) concluded that weighted jumps increased counter-movement and non-counter-movement vertical jump heights more than the traditional resistance training and plyometric. In the same way, Newton et al (1997) showed that ballistic jump squat training against 30, 60, and 80% 1RM improved vertical jump performance of elite volleyball players significantly more than squat and leg press training with 6RM loads. Subjects in both groups also completed the usual on-court volleyball practice, which involved a large volume of jumping activities. Harris et al. (2000) support this idea by showing the superiority of a combination of heavy- and light-load training to either training method alone in improving a variety of sports performance in football players. Accordingly, athletes may benefit most from resistance training using a range of loads with the intention to move explosively coupled with practicing of the actual sport movement Equipment and spotting This program relies mainly on free-weight training exercises including barbell and dumbbells. Other equipment include pulley and plyometric training facilities such as medicine balls, boxes and hurdles .Free weight training has some advantages over machine training such as whole body training and simulation of real sport activities. However, free weight training requires more balance and coordination. Therefore, spotting is highly required during training with free weights particularly with beginners and young athletes. This program has plenty of free weight exercises performed in different positions and angles and at different velocities therefore, spotting will be carried out for the most of exercises but special attention will be given to the most dangerous exercises such as overhead exercises and Olympic lifts. Intensity The intensity of the program starts at a low level and increases gradually throughout the program. 1RM strength was established at the beginning of the program by estimation from a 10RM test-measured value. 1RM is retested every two weeks after the initial test. However, 1RM will be estimated from 1RM-5RM at the beginning of the second mesocycle. Estimating the 1RM from 10RM provides a general guide until the trainee has developed sufficient strength and neural adaptations that would make testing at low RMs safe an effective (Fleck and Kraemer, 2004). Intensity is adjusted by increasing the amount lifted and using supersetting and compound exercises (several exercises for the same muscle group, or multiple exercises for different muscle groups performed with little or no rest). During the last week (microcycle) of each mesocycle, the intensity and volume are slightly decreased in order to allow time for complete adaptation to take place. Plyometric exercises are introduced according to their intensity level. Low intensity exercises are first introduced followed by moderate and then high intensity exercises. Training volume Training volume is generally estimated from the total number of sets and repetitions performed in a single session. A multiple-set (three to six sets) power program incorporated into a strength training program consisting of one to six repetitions in periodized manner is recommended for advanced power training (Fleck and Kraemer, 2004). One meta-analysis (Rhea et al, 2003) concluded that four sets of resistance training produced twice the strength increases of one set. Baker et al (2001) concluded that as training volume increases, power tends to decrease and vice versa. Therefore, in order to maximize power gains in this program, the volume of the training starts at a high level and steadily decreases over time. Resistance training volume is further reduced when introducing plyometric exercises. Volume is adjusted by decreasing the number of repetitions per set or by decreasing the number of sets per session. Rest and recovery Adequate rest and recovery are addressed by allowing a full day of rest between each two successive sessions, as well as limiting number of exercises per set. Generally, rest between sets ranges from three to four minutes depending on the number of repetitions performed and intensity of the exercise. For example, a set of 6 repetitions of box jump will need four- minute- rest. When training muscle groups which act together in the same session (i.e. pectorals and deltoids), fatigue may take place. To prevent this problem the muscle groups just trained will be rested or an unrelated muscle groups such as calf group may be trained prior to the training of subsequent muscle groups that have similar actions. Plyometric exercises are performed at the beginning of the training session after a thorough warm-up. Doing so, athlete will develop maximal power before muscle become fatigued from resistance training (Fleck and Kraemer, 2004). The highest volume and intensity exercises are usually performed on Fridays, thus allowing two-day recovery. Periodization This program is designed as a pre-season training consisting of three mesocycles, with four microcycles in each mesocycle. Each microcycle is one week long and involves training over three days: Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Conclusion This program is designed to improve the vertical jump in a professional volleyball player. The workouts are demanding but simple enough to complete in 40 minutes or less. More importantly, psychological factors have been taken into account. This is the reason for the variation in the program within each cycle. Subject may skip some workouts or be not interested in training because of physical or emotional stress. However, with proper supervision and coaching and compliance to this program, the subject will see not only increases in strength and power, but also improvement in vertical jumping and consequently physical performance.

Critically analyze Brandom and Haugeland’s views regarding Cartesianism

The concept of Cartesianism is that every and/or any thing that can be doubted must be discarded, and ideally formulated anew in order to be cemented in truthfulness. Doubting is the first way of determining whether something is useful, and if it isn’t, you discard what you know and basically reinvent it in such a way that is useful. We apply this Cartesianism in a social context when we look at society, politics and the interactions of people on any communicative grounds.This would include linguistics, thinking and any other forms of interaction that form any kind of groundwork for social and societal interaction. Using Cartesianism, we can draw distinctions between such things. We will look at the notions of language, reasoning and thinking, in terms of the works of two philosophers, Robert Brandom and John Haugeland, with the emphasis on comparing and contrasting their unique views. Brandom: Freedom, Norms, Reason and ThoughtRobert Brandom’s views on personal freedom were rooted in the difference between how he perceived his forerunners on the subject matter; he compared and contrasted Kant and Hegel in his work ‘Freedom and Constraint by Norms’. In this work, he critically observes the foundation from which Kant and Hegel analyzed the ideas of personal freedom, as expressed – or refuted – by norms. In order to set out these principles – freedom and norms – we must first define them. Brandom had this to say about Kant’s viewpoint:One of the most suggestive responses to the first set of concerns has been developed by the Kantian tradition: the doctrine that freedom consists precisely in being constrained by norms rather than merely by causes, answering to what ought to be as well as what is. (1979, p. 187). We assume the fact here that norms are things which become established over time by society/community, and that they determine and decide how things should be done, by the individual and by the community.Where Kant pragmatically argued that society used norms to determine the individual’s actions, Brandom also included how Hegel proposed a different approach, from a different angle: The central feature determining the character of any vision of human freedom is the account offered of positive freedom (freedom to) – those respects in which our activity should be distinguished from the mere lack of external causal constraint (freedom from) †¦ (1979, p. 187). Brandom furthers his argument by taking his proposed solution into the domain of the linguistic.He argues that the basis of norms, with regards to their use in regulating society and the individual’s role therein, requires creative expression from individuals in order to promote the Hegelian concept of idealistic, ‘positive’ freedom. Ultimately, Brandom proposes a post-Hegelian solution, one which builds on Hegel’s initial statements and ideally assists the advancement of ind ividuals within a communal setting. In ‘A Social Route from Reasoning to Representing’, Brandom further explores the generally held principles that individual beings are capable of reasoning and reasonable thought processes.Because of this inherent trait, fostered in the upbringing of each individual, truth by inference or deductive reasoning becomes a cornerstone of the thoughts and actions of every individual. The exploration of the difference between actually thinking and thinking about something is established and represented by the accepted standard that individuals move in social circles, and so influence each other’s ideas and notions of reason. Common ground is found in these motions, or as Brandom qualifies, â€Å"the representational dimension †¦ reflects the social structure †¦ in the game of giving and asking for reason.† (2000, p. 183). Haugeland: Truth, Rules and Social Cartesianism John Haugeland approaches the idea behind the soci al establishments in much the same way as Brandom. He explores the same set of topics in his work ‘Truth and Rule-following’, where he mentions the idea of norms as being bound to rules and how the social circle comprised of unique individuals see such institutes. These rules are divided into factual and governing, with factual being held as understood and upheld by all and governing as normative; â€Å"how they ought to be† (Haugeland, 1998, p. 306).Haugeland also argues that these norms are upheld by a communal motion to associate and create similarities between individuals: conformity. He further proposes that social normativity can be grounded in biological normativity – the same principles and arguments can be applied, but only insofar as human beings are capable of reason, and that a biological body by contrast follows certain predetermined, preprogrammed sets or rules, while a reasoning mind can necessarily adapt around or expand on conditions and w ork beyond them, as a biological preset cannot.This supports the idea of governing norms being changeable, separate from objective truth. Also, social norms are enacted through the input of others, in a sense promoting a system where one member of the community checks up on the others, and vice versa. Haugeland’s case is concluded with an emphatic argument for the similarity and union between norms of reason (governing norms) and objective truth (factual norms) boiling down to being the same thing: both are in fact changeable, if in different, subjective ways.With ‘Social Cartesianism’, Haugeland explores the work of three other philosophers, objectifying the reason for his assumptions based on the use of philosophy in language, which all three works – the works of Goodman, Quine and Wittgenstein/Kripke – explore in some form. The reason for this analysis is Cartesian in origin. The first work, by Goodman, is an argument based on defining predicates – accepted rules – and testing the limits of their acceptability, in true, doubtful, Cartesian style.The work of Quine focuses on the elements of translation, of taking personally accepted norms and placing them over a culture with differing norms, thereby defining that culture according to our own way of doing things. Lastly, the debate ventured by Wittgenstein/Kripke is one of skepticism that proposes that all norms are social, not private: â€Å"In sum: if meanings must be normative, but individuals can’t impose norms on themselves, then private, individual meanings are impossible† (Haugeland, p. 219).Haugeland extrapolates that each one of these arguments is fundamentally flawed, based on the conclusion he draws regarding each of the three works’ shortcomings: they all fail to account for the real world, the world that everyone lives in and is affected by. Brandom versus Haugeland Perhaps the most obvious similarity between Brandom and Haugela nd’s individual accounts and reasoning is the fact that they approach the same kinds of topics: social situation, individuality, freedom, language and thought.Despite various approaches and held viewpoints, both are compelled to a certain Cartesian way of doing things, of discarding everything or anything that is not beyond doubt and recreating these things anew by using sound reasoning. Brandom is fond of referencing Kant and Hegel and placing them in opposition against each other, most notably in stating their viewpoints from necessity and polarity: Kant held the view that norms dictated freedom and individuality, whereas Hegel was more positive in expressing his views on freedom ultimately determining norms.In a similar fashion, Haugeland approached the subject of norms and normativity, and how they affected individuals, both linguistically and thoughtfully. We will look at the comparison of norms and normativity first, and then spread outward into linguistics and thought. The view of normativity being a deciding factor, most notably on a linguistic basis, for representing the two polarities of norms and facts, is upheld by both philosophers.Brandom sees norms as something which is instituted based on reason, on the idea that they are something that is held by a communal mindset and imposed on the individual. Facts in turn are things which are accepted as a given by not only individuals but also by the community. Focusing on linguistics, Brandom draws on translation, on the action of placing or transposing one set of accepted norms – from, say, one community’s point of view – onto another community’s point of view. Note here that Haugeland also referenced the idea of translation in his critique of Quine’s work.This poses the first real contrast between Brandom and Haugeland’s points of view: Brandom poses the idea that translation promotes assimilation: By translating, rather than causally explaining some per formance, we extend our community (the one which engages in the social practices into which we translate the stranger’s behavior) so as to include the stranger, and treat his performances as variants of our own. (1979, p. 191). The act of making something your own, drawing something or someone in from outside your boundaries, speaks of a shift of norms.Logically it can be argued that assimilating something new forces your way of thinking about something to be altered to accommodate what is new, even if what has been absorbed becomes a representation of something completely new and different. In this we see Brandom’s shift to the Hegelian idea of the novel, the new, being created in a positive sense in order to advance and enhance the communal whole. Haugeland contrasts by referencing Quine: â€Å"†¦ although the translations are different, there is no fact as to which of them is the ‘right’ one, because there is no ‘objective matter to be right or wrong about’.† (cited from Haugeland, ). Haugeland would seemingly disagree with Brandom’s use of translation as a means of successfully integrating norms, of taking norm and transforming it into fact. Translation still argues for something similar, not new: it presupposes a universal component that stretches through all languages. Judgment is another key concept, one bound to reason and thought. Brandom cites Kant once more in bringing to the fore the sense that one must act from thought, and that judging and acting requires a commitment, â€Å"staking a claim – undertaking a commitment† (1979, p. 164).Brandom repeats the basis of linguistics, of the game played between people, based on inference and the inherent ability to deduce and conclude. An individual can naturally deduce something spoken or gestured from another individual by making a commitment to do so. This commitment relies heavily on the shared understanding between individuals, th e factual norms that are referenced again and again as a means of achieving the communal awareness of similarity. Haugeland agrees here; linguistically, words must have a normal, generic meaning in order for the speaking individual to be understood.There must be common ground. He continues by saying that â€Å"meanings, by their very nature, are normative rules,† and emphasizes this dilemma by citing this example: And the essential problem is that individuals cannot impose norms on themselves. For that would be like taking a dictator, with absolute legal authority, to be bound by her own law. But she can’t really be bound by her own law since, given her authority, if she changes her mind and does something different, that just changes the law – which is equivalent to saying that the law did not bind her in the first place.Similarly †¦ an individual cannot, on his own authority, bind himself by his private norm. (Haugeland, , p. 219). The crux of this compar ison between Haugeland and Brandom is that both agree on the fact that law, in a sense, and rules, must be used to bind a norm, albeit a governing one – a norm based on reason. A person cannot be subject to his/her own norms, therefore the norms must be implemented from outside the individual; from the communal.Coming back to the linguistic component again, we can logically assume that language as a means of communication forms a regulating basis here. The words, actions and judgment of others forces a certain conformity, a means whereby an individual can operate and coexist within a community. Thought has always been at the core of the human need to define him/herself. The adage cogito ergo sum (I think therefore I am) has been advanced to more complex statements. Rene Descartes advanced dubito, ergo cogito, ergo sum (Latin for I doubt, therefore I think, therefore I am) (Persaud, p. 259).Cartesian philosophy dwells deeply on thought processes, so it should be unsurprising t hat both Brandom and Haugeland spent some thought on the dynamics of applying Cartesian methods on the thought process. Haugeland praised Descartes’ input, going further than the original assumptions made by Descartes and stating that â€Å"The determinacy that matters here concerns not the formal reality of those ideas †¦ but rather their objective reality (roughly their intentional content as representations. ) (Haugeland, , p. 224). In other words, Haugeland implies that human individuals in isolation, as subjectively separate, is fairly unimportant.What matters ultimately is the collective, the union of all individuals in an objective community, not necessarily defined by the community but by their place in it, and their unique contributions to it. Brandom seems to agree by stating: The social dimension of inference [deduction] involved in the communication to others of claims that must be available as reasons [common ground] both to the speaker [individual] and to the audience [collective, community], in spite of differences in collateral commitments, is what underlies the representational dimension of discourse [communication]. (2000, p. 183).Summed up, the previous statement can be matched to Haugeland’s assumptions: the community is not the only important thing, but in order for norms, rules and laws to make sense regarding thought, language and freedom, the community or collective needs to operate on a standard of shared understanding, so that each unique individual can still function and interact with others despite the individuality. Conclusion Through using Cartesian principles regarding the discovery of usefulness, we have come to the conclusion that, with regards to using doubt as a means of determining an outcome or a reality, pragmatism is in fact a necessary element.Reality, as Haugeland would have us believe, is not simply determined by the individuals, communities and their norms only, but rather arises from the world we live in first, before casting a shadow of effects over the individual and the rest. We have argued that Brandom and Haugeland, though often different in their modes of expression and discourse, are nevertheless in agreement on many of the key aspects regarding norms, whether factual or governing, subjective or objective.At the end, Cartesian doubt influences thought, and thought influences language and interaction between people, yielding a collected sense of understanding and finally yielding a system of laws, rules and judgments that govern and regulate society and community. However, in conclusion it is perhaps better to emphasize Hegel’s idealism – as opposed to Kant’s pragmatism: that freedom be positive, to allow for creativity within the system and to not be bound by external causes such as rules and laws only. References Brandom, R. B. (2000). A Social Route from Reasoning to Representing.Articulating Reasons: an Introduction to Inferentialism. Cambridge , Harvard University Press. Brandom, R. B. (1979). Freedom and Constraint by Norms. American Philosophical Quarterly, Volume 16, 13, 87-196. Haugeland, J. (). Social Cartesianism. 213-225. Haugeland, J. (1998). Truth and Rule-following. Having Thought: Essays in the metaphysics of mind. Cambridge, Harvard University Press. Persaud, R. (2002) Ten Books. The British Journal of Psychiatry, Volume 181, 258-261, Retrieved May 17, 2008, from http://bjp. rcpsych. org/cgi/content/full/181/3/258.

Enron And The Collapse Of Enron - 1254 Words

Imagine that we were stockholders of one of the biggest company, and our stock value has been on the rise and is now up to almost 100 dollars a share, but one day, our share value drops below one dollar. This happened to shareholders of Enron. The total debt amounted to over $ 16 billion, which was the largest corporate bankruptcy in American history. Shareholders lost 60 billion dollars within a few days, 4500 employees lost their jobs, and the employees lost billions in pension benefits. I had never heard the name of Enron nor Enron’s scandal until I watched a film, â€Å"Enron: The Smartest Guys in The Room,† but I realized the Enron scandal affected the whole of the business in the United States. What were the causes of the collapse of†¦show more content†¦When the Securities and Exchange Commission was formally looking into Enron, Andersen employees shredded important documents about Enron s finances. In fact, Enron had payed huge money to Arthur Andersen every month, and the relationship between Enron and Arthur Andersen was so intimate that Arthur Andersen worked as an auditor. What was the effect of the Enron scandal upon the accounting industry? This Enron s scandal led to new regulations and lawmaking to promote the accuracy of financial reporting for companies. Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) was legislation passed by Congress in July of 2002 and then signed by President George W. Bush. SOX requires companies to review internal control and take responsibility for the accuracy and completeness of their financial reports. Also, SOX made it a criminal offense to falsity financial statement. In it, about half of the language deals with setting up a new regulator for the accounting profession called the Public Companies Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) that oversees the audit firms (Financial Managerial Accounting, P11). The rest of the legislation deals with some important things like ensuring that management is held accountable for the financial reports that they file with the SEC. It improves the independence of corporate boards, as well as the independence of the auditors, and it increasedShow MoreRelatedEnron And The Collapse Of E nron1303 Words   |  6 PagesEnron, a company which originated in Huston, Texas, was one of the largest American energy trading corporations in the nation. Although it was one of the most well known companies, it was also one that crashed and burned the fastest, shocking many people when it did. Not only did it end fast, the company caused quite a scandal which is still being discussed and reviewed in today’s world. Enron’s bankruptcy scandal was so widely known because of the many people who associated themselves with the companyRead MoreEnron : The Collapse Of Enron1644 Words   |  7 PagesEnron was once one of the world s leading energy companies by reshaping the way natural gas and electricity were bought and sold. They filed the largest corporate bankruptcy in American history in 2001. Enron Corporation was an energy company running out of Texas that was started when two companies, Houston Natural Gas and InterNorth, merged together in 1985. By 1992, Enron b ecame the largest seller of natural gas in North America and began to offer other services like wholesaler trading and riskRead MoreThe Collapse Of Enron And Enron1365 Words   |  6 PagesTwo organizations that will live on in infamy in the business world are World Com and Enron. These names are synonymous with the largest corporate scandals in US history. Their failure to live by ethical and moral codes resulted in bankruptcy, large financial losses to employees and shareholders as well criminal penalties. Additionally, these deviations from ethical behavior from several related parties shined a light on the accounting profession and resulted in several changes in the industryRead MoreThe Collapse Of Enron And Enron1736 Words   |  7 PagesAbstract Fortune used to rank Enron as the most successful business in the United States. The collapse of Enron was shocked the whole world energy trading market. It caused significant losses to investors. In this paper shows analysis reason of factors that lead to Enron demise and also lessons can be learnt from Enron case study. The approach which have used in this paper to respond, the case study question are the background of the case organization and how business structure had been use by theRead MoreEnron And The Collapse Of Enron1718 Words   |  7 PagesINTRODUCTION Enron, one of the most influential and profitable companies in utility, paper, and communications for numerous years, came crashing down and filed for bankruptcy in fall 2001 (Bottiglieri, Revile, and Grunewald 1). Houston National Gas and InterNorth fused together and created Enron in 1985. The company faced initial problems of debt and loss of exclusive rights to pipelines (Thomas 1). This accounting method allowed Enron to log entire profits from the life of a contract in the yearRead MoreEnron : The Collapse Of Enron2469 Words   |  10 Pagesscandal of Enron in 2001 lead the company to the bankruptcy. Enron is the largest bankruptcy reorganization in American history at that time. Undoubtedly, Enron is the biggest example of the audit failure. It is ever the most famous company in the world, but it also is one of companies which fell down too fast. In this paper, it describe the reason why Enron became an admired company in the world, the story of Enron s rise and fall, the iss ues of internal and external auditing in Enron, the breachesRead MoreCollapse of Enron4178 Words   |  17 PagesTHE COLLAPSE OF ENRON August 11 2008 [Type the abstract of the document here. The abstract is typically a short summary of the contents of the document. Type the abstract of the document here. The abstract is typically a short summary of the contents of the document.] FROM PERSPECTIVE OF CORPORATE GOVERNANCE â€Æ' TABLE OF CONTENTS CONTENTS PAGE NO. Introduction 3 Background of Enron 3 Enron Business Model 4 Summary of transactions PartnershipsRead MoreThe Ethics Of The Enron Collapse Of Enron1366 Words   |  6 PagesCulture of Enron Before Enron bankruptcy it was one of America’s most powerful and successful energy companies. The company thrived and pushed to be number one no matter the circumstance, in this company’s case if it meant doing it illegally. Fraud accounting, auditing, energy trading, and illegal finance was the company’s downfall leading to corruption and most of all greed. Enron was aggressive and a competitive environment. The documentary was just not giving the name â€Å"The Smartest Guys in theRead MoreThe Collapse Of Enron Corporation1787 Words   |  8 Pagesâ€Å"When a company ascends to the number seven spot on the Fortune 500 and then collapses in weeks into a smoking ruin, its stock worth pennies, its CEO, a confidante of presidents, more or less evaporated, there must be lessons in there somewhere.† -Daniel Henninger, The Wall Street Journal The collapse of Enron Corporation has created many discussions about the structure of corporate governance. The question of this essay first calls to examine some of the strengths and weaknesses of theRead MoreFinancial Collapse : The And Enron1320 Words   |  6 PagesOneTel and Enron were huge technology companies, dominating the competition that they faced although - everything changed. Both of these companies operated in the same era, coincedently both suffering financial collapse. The reasons were mainly because of the failure to follow major accounting principles, lacking morals and lacking strong work ethics. If even a major corporation can fall into this â€Å"trap†, then avoiding doesn’t sound easy, although accountants can easily avoid scandals by following

50 Million Years of Horse Evolution

Apart from a couple of bothersome side branches, horse evolution presents a neat, orderly picture of natural selection in action. The basic storyline goes like this: as the woodlands of North America gave way to grassy plains, the tiny proto-horses of the Eocene Epoch (about 50 million years ago) gradually evolved single, large toes on their feet, more sophisticated teeth, larger sizes, and the ability to run at a clip, culminating in the modern horse genus Equus. There are a number of prehistoric horses, including 10 essential prehistoric horses to know. As part of the evolution of horses, you should also know the recently extinct horse breeds. This story has the virtue of being essentially true, with a couple of important ands and buts. But before we embark on this journey, its important to dial back a bit and place horses in their proper position on the evolutionary tree of life. Technically, horses are perissodactyls, that is, ungulates (hoofed mammals) with odd numbers of toes. The other main branch of hoofed mammals, the even-toed artiodactyls, are represented today by pigs, deer, sheep, goats, and cattle, whereas the only other significant perissodactyls beside horses are tapirs and rhinoceroses. What this means is that perissodactyls and artiodactyls (which counted among the mammalian megafauna of prehistoric times) both evolved from a common ancestor, which lived only a few million years after the demise of the dinosaurs at the end of the Cretaceous period, 65 million years ago. In fact, the earliest perissodactyls (like Eohippus, the earliest identified common ancestor of all horses) looked more like small deer than majestic equines. Hyracotherium and Mesohippus, the Earliest Horses Until an even earlier candidate is found, paleontologists agree that the ultimate ancestor of all modern horses was Eohippus, the dawn horse, a tiny (no more than 50 pounds), deer-like herbivore with four toes on its front feet and three toes on its back feet. The giveaway to Eohippus status  was its posture: this perissodactyl put most of its weight on a single toe of each foot, anticipating later equine developments. Eohippus was closely related to another early ungulate, Palaeotherium, which occupied a distant side branch of the horse evolutionary tree. Five to ten million years after Eohippus/Hyracotherium came Orohippus (mountain horse), Mesohippus (middle horse), and Miohippus (Miocene horse, even though it went extinct long before the Miocene Epoch). These perissodactyls were about the size of large dogs and sported slightly longer limbs with enhanced middle toes on each foot. They probably spent most of their time in dense woodlands, but may have ventured out onto the grassy plains for short jaunts. Epihippus, Parahippus, and Merychippus—Moving Toward True Horses During the Miocene epoch, North America saw the evolution of intermediate horses, bigger than Eohippus and its ilk but smaller than the equines that followed. One of the most important of these was Epihippus (marginal horse), which was slightly heavier (possibly weighing a few hundred pounds) and equipped with more robust grinding teeth than its ancestors. As you might have guessed, Epihippus also continued the trend toward enlarged middle toes, and it seems to have been the first prehistoric horse to spend more time feeding in meadows than in forests. Following Epihippus were two more hippi, Parahippus and Merychippus. Parahippus (almost horse) can be considered a next-model Miohippus, slightly bigger than its ancestor and (like Epihippus) sporting long legs, robust teeth, and enlarged middle toes. Merychippus (ruminant horse) was the largest of all these intermediate equines, about the size of a modern horse (1,000 pounds) and blessed with an especially fast gait. At this point, its worth asking the question: what drove the evolution of horses in the fleet, single-toed, long-legged direction? During the Miocene epoch, waves of tasty grass covered the North American plains, a rich source of food for any animal well-adapted enough to graze at leisure and run quickly from predators if necessary. Basically, prehistoric horses evolved to fill this evolutionary niche. Hipparion and Hippidion, the Next Steps Toward Equus Following the success of intermediate horses like Parahippus and Merychippus, the stage was set for the emergence of bigger, more robust, more horsey horses. Chief among these were the similarly named Hipparion (like a horse) and Hippidion (like a pony). Hipparion was the most successful horse of its day, radiating out from its North American habitat (by way of the Siberian land bridge) to Africa and Eurasia. Hipparion was about the size of a modern horse; only a trained eye would have noticed the two vestigial toes surrounding its single hooves. Lesser known than Hipparion, but perhaps more interesting, was Hippidion, one of the few prehistoric horses to have colonized South America (where it persisted until historical times). The donkey-sized Hippidion was distinguished by its prominent nasal bones, a clue that it had a highly developed sense of smell. Hippidion may well turn out to have been a species of Equus, making it more closely related to modern horses than Hipparion was. Speaking of Equus, this genus—which includes modern horses, zebras, and donkeys—evolved in North America during the Pliocene Epoch, about four million years ago, and then, like Hipparion, migrated across the land bridge to Eurasia. The last Ice Age saw the extinction of both North and South American horses, which disappeared from both continents by about 10,000 BCE. Ironically, though, Equus continued to flourish on the plains of Eurasia and was reintroduced to the Americas by the European colonizing expeditions of the 15th and 16th centuries CE.

Friendship Is The Most Wonderful Relationship That Anyone...

Friendship is the most wonderful relationship that anyone can have. Ideally a friend is a person who offers love and respect and will never leave or betray us. Friends can tell harsh truths when they must be told. There are four different types of friends: True friends, Convenient friends, Special interest friends, and historical friends. To have friendship is to have comfort. In times of crisis and depression, a friend is there to calm us and to help lift up our spirits. There are many illustrations that show why a friend can be a great comforter. For example, if a student is going through a hard time at school, a friend can offer guidance, encouragement and support. A true friend is also someone who loves and respects us. A boyfriend and a girlfriend desire to be with each other. They love each other so much that they just want to be with each other as much as possible. This bond is also present in a good friendship because it has genuine love. Also, as friends they respect each other. They try to avoid causing conflicts. They don’t make fun of each other, but treat each other with respect. As friends, we all make sacrifices for each other. Some friends risk their lives for a friend. An example of this true friendship can be found in the movie, American Pie. Todd had a championship football game, but on the same day there was an All-State choir going on. Todd and his girlfriend were both into choir. He couldn’t be in two places at once, so he gave up his footballShow MoreRelatedFriendship Is The Most Wonderful Relationship That Anyone Can Have Essay854 Words   |  4 PagesFriendship is the most wonderful relationship that anyone can have. Ideally a friend is a person who offers love and respect and will never leave or betray us. Friends can tell harsh truths when they must be told. There are four different types of friends: True friends, Convenient friends, Special interest friends, and historical friends. To have friendship is to have comfort. In times of crisis and depression, a friend is there to calm us and to help lift up our spirits. There are many illustrationsRead MoreThe Importance Of A True Friendship947 Words   |  4 Pages What exactly is Friendship? this question has been asked for centuries, how exactly can you tell you have a true friend? Friendship is an relationship between two or more people who care a lot about each other. Your Friendship is something that will keep you happy and going, but its not always easy cake. Their will be some ups and downs in every friendship, but if you can bounce back from that downfall than you might realize you have a true friendship. Friendship includes time, effort, commitmentRead MoreBeing A Nurse For All Of My Adult Life868 Words   |  4 PagesI have wanted to be a nurse for all of my adult life. I worked very hard to get my Associates Degree in Science while working full time. In 2010, I entered Regis University’s BSN program and was so excited to earn my degree. During the summer, I needed an abdominal surgery. During this procedure my abdominal aorta was severed and my small intestine was cut through in two different places. I was in the ICU for 10 days. My family was told I probably wouldn’t live much longer. By a true miracle of GodRead MoreImportance Of Sports1076 Words   |  5 Pagesyourself as a person. First, playing sports helps maintain strong relationships with others. Next, it keeps you in contact with great performance levels in school. Finally, participating in sports boosts your self esteem. Continue reading to understand the importance of participating in sports. Playing sports helps maintain close relationships with others. â€Å"Playing sports enable you to create friendships you otherwise might not have formed. Sports bring teens together from different schools, backgroundsRead MoreFriendship And Relationships In Hamlet919 Words   |  4 Pagesreader a great deal about life. Shakespeare provides wonderful insight into everything from friendships to death. Of all the stories taught in British Literature, Hamlet is certainly the most important piece to keep due to the lessons in presents. It is definitely an understatement to say that friendships and relationships are complicated and difficult. Sometimes, it can be utterly impossible to know what one should do when conflicts arise in friendship. William Shakespeare gives advice on this throughRead MoreEssay on love1749 Words   |  7 Pagesmanipulated, traded, forgotten, or stolen. Love is pure, honest, true, fulfilling, and most of all valuable. Love is not limited either. An unknown author once wrote, quot;Trying to bring pleasure to someone, because of the pleasure you feel to see that persons pleasure, is perhaps the most beautiful demonstration of love.quot; Isn’t amazing how something so powerful can be found in the simplest of things. In my life I have felt love in many aspects of my life. I love my family, my friends, my countryRead MoreErikson s Theory, Ego Integrity Versus Despair1209 Words   |  5 Pagesoutcome, despair, occurs when aging adults feel they have made many wrong decisions, and may become overwhelmed with bitterness, defeat, and hopelessness (Berk, 2010). The women that I chose to interview seem to have confronted Erikson’s last psychological crisis. One woman is single, never married, no children, takes care of an elderly gentleman, participates in many church activities, mentors young children, benefits from quality family relationships, bonds with her girlfriends on a weekly basis, andRead MoreLiterary Analysis : A Literary Analysis Of Essay1749 Words   |  7 PagesAnalysis of Fatherhood There’s nothing more like it than a father and son relationship. Although it’s a different type of bond of friendship that you can ever have with anyone else; that helps you shape into the person that you are or becoming to be and you’ll never have to look up to anyone else but him. Although they’re some poor father and son relationships in our society that can affect anyone’s emotional heath, which can lead onto a major lead factor into their growth throughout the teenage yearsRead MoreThe Color Purple By Alice Walker1659 Words   |  7 Pageswho had a complicated relationship with Mr. Blank, Celie’s husband. While Celie is immediately perceived as a weak and subjugated young girl and Shug Avery is seen as a confident and all empowering woman, it is their relationship that allows both women to grow. Due to their friendship Celie gains the confidence to break free from societal oppression and Shug Avery grows into a kinder and more emphatic women. While Celie and Shug Avery are foil Characters it is their relationship that frees both womenRead MoreArtistic Expression Should Not Be Denied Because1141 Words   |  5 Pagesexpress one’s views in any form of expression. Sommer Wadman observes that, â€Å"Research suggests that when people have opportunities to explore and express who they are, they gain confidence that translates into success, both in adolescence and throughout adulthood† (â€Å"Express Yourself: Power of the Arts† par. 4). According to this evidence, expressing yourself and being able to explore the world can gain confidence. This confidence, then turns into success. It helps young adults and teenagers into becoming

Curious Incident of a Family Break Up Free Essays

Curious incident of a family break up Mark Haddon expresses the importance of family relationships within society itself. He does this through the clear and perfect understanding of the deficiency and absence of love portrayed between his parents and himself. Christopher’s suffering of Aspergers syndrome is transparent towards his parents as they find it difficult to react to Christopher’s behavior. We will write a custom essay sample on Curious Incident of a Family Break Up or any similar topic only for you Order Now Both parents had to deal with Christopher’s persistent obsession with mathematics, numbers (prime numbers used throughout the beginning of every chapter) as their son is a single minded human being with and extraordinary talent faced upon factual data that only he can obtain as many cannot. Christopher’s mother is an important factor among his life as he is told a lie from his father about his mother passing from cancer. But in fact from the hard troubled arguments from the relationship of his parents towards each other, Christopher’s inability to deal with affection is a huge factor of why Mr. and Mrs. Boone are driven apart. Christopher does not understand how affection works, which would mean that Mr. and Mrs. Boone do not have a romantic relationship to begin with. If Mr. and Mrs. Boone do not show affection towards each other, it is not setting a very good example towards Christopher. When Christopher’s mother wrote him, she said,† We had a lot of arguments like that, and by the end we stopped talking to each other because we knew it would end up as an argument and go no where. I felt really lonely† (107). Mrs. Boone is giving an example of how she runs away from all her problems leading up to when she left Christopher. The stress of having to raise a child like Christopher drove her to leaving the family. Christopher can be difficult and irritating in many ways because he is unable to show how he feels towards his parents, so they never know how he is feeling. Also, he never knows how his parents are feeling. When Christopher’s mother said, â€Å"Christopher, let me hold your hand, just for once. Just for me will you? I will hold it hard†(194). Christopher told her that he did not like holding hands. It proves that he has no knowledge of what love means and affection towards your family. Also, Mrs. Boone said, â€Å"I could not walk for one month, do you remember? Your father had to look after you. I remember looking at the two of you and seeing you two together and thinking how you were really different with him. You were a lot calmer, and it made me sad, because it made the think that you did not need me at all(108). This quote can be confusing, because it is portraying that Mrs. Boone as upset that Christopher did not need her, but yet she leaves the family because of the stress of her autistic child. Mrs. Boone has a confusing way of showing affection, leading Christopher of not having a very good example of a mother. The lack of communication between Mr. and Mrs. Boone and Christopher puts a tremendous amount of stress on the family because the Boone’s never know what Christopher may be thinking or wanting at that time. Mr. and Mrs. Boone has to adjust to his ways of communication making it difficult for other people to understand how he communicates. For example, when the policeman grabbed Christopher, but they were never meaning to harm him(8). Christopher thought that by the policeman grabbing him they were trying to hurt him, when only they were trying to get his attention. Also, Christopher does not understand the importance of communication which means that i does not mean a lot of him. The Boone’s do not always know Christopher’s needs and wants. This leads up to Mr. and Mrs. Boone fighting over their views of what Christopher wants. Mrs. Boone would get very stressed out about not knowing what Christopher wants and just basically give up. Christopher can be a difficult child because he can sometimes not know when it is time to stop, and that is what is making Mrs. Boone so stressed out. Christopher might think it is time to play when really Mr. and Mrs. Boone are wanting some quiet time to relax. Haddon persuades the important quality of Truth throughout the novel towards the direction of our society. Christopher’s obsession with truth is organized among the world through his perceptions on the basis. During the story as he feels secure, he needs order and certainty, and facts and logic provide this security. Christopher feels the need to be ‘scared’ and yet ‘shaky’ towards the things that didn’t happen which makes him feel insecure etc. ‘Metaphors’ are a language technique in which Christopher cannot understand. He believes metaphors bring lies towards society as they are false stories and fiction falls within the limits of lies. Christopher accepts ‘similes’ as this technique provides truthfulness and they also emphasize the appearance of what two things have in common. With the acceptation of hard facts within Christopher’s life he refuses to obtain the knowledge and believe of god and the afterlife. Christopher says that he ‘can’t tell lies’. This is the way he truthfully copes with life itself and the imaginary events which fill him with ‘the infinite number of things’. Christopher then pushes the boundaries of lying to himself through continuing the investigation when he told people for example his father he would stop. His father then tends to find out with the quote of â€Å"you knew exactly what you were doing†. During the novel we find out as well as Christopher that his mother is true in fact alive. This is a great impact among Christopher as he hates lying as he quotes â€Å"A lie is when you say something happened which didn’t happen. † Another quote is â€Å"I do not tell lies. Mother used to say that this was because I was a good person†¦it is because I can’t tell lies. † The repetition and usage of the word ‘And’ creates a sense of comforting and secureness for Christopher as well as a few number of rituals. The usage of ‘And’ provides Christopher with the ability to recount every information or incident he has accounted. As for me it is annoying to read but the fact that Christopher has a good memory for speech is observed. One of the rituals Christopher obsesses with is the observation of cars on the way to school as he organizes them into red meaning good and brown and yellow meaning bad. He implies this to his normal day routine. So if he sees a red car he will have a good/normal day but if he sees a brown or yellow he knows his day isn’t going to go too well. Mr. Jevons asked me whether this made me feel safe, having things always in nice order and I said I did† The justification he gives for using these rituals is formed on the ‘scared’ and ‘shaky’ responses which mean that his great need to impose order on a lack of a word is in use. Christopher believes telling the truth is an important aspect among lives as he is revealed that his father killed Wellington the dog and told him that his mother had passed which makes Christopher become very frightened of his father. Christopher flees in terror as he quotes â€Å"†¦he could murder me, because I couldn’t trust him, even though he said, ‘trust me’, because he had told a lie about a big thing† The composer achieves real aspects of telling the truth and telling a lie which happens on a normally daily basis. Christopher’s constant need for attention pushes the Boone’s apart because they have no time for themselves. Mr. and Mrs. Boone revolve their lives around Christopher’s needy lifestyle which led to them to spending every moment with Christopher. Mr. Boone says how he is going to get Christopher ready for his bath, change him, and get him ready for bed(115). This is an example of how he spends every moment revolving his life to Christopher’s need for help because of his disability. In the book, The Curious Case of the Dog in the Night-Time, Christopher display a long list of the things that his mother and father have to deal with on a daily basis with his disability(46). All of these things are responsibilities and other things that Mr. and Mrs. Boone have to keep on their minds through the day. Having an autistic child is like having a second job to Mr. and Mrs. Boone. Mr. Boone gives no attention to Mrs. Boone, because he is always pursuing his life towards the neediness of an autistic child. Mrs. Boone may the want attention from another male, leading her to putting all of her attention towards another lifestyle. This stressful lifestyle caused Mrs. Boone to leave and want to have another life of no worries or responsibilities. Also, Christopher says that he is nervous about his parents getting a divorce because they have a child with behavioral problems(45,46). This explains one of the reasons why Mrs. Boone wanted out of the family because she wants to have children that do not give her such a headache every single day. Christopher’s confidence of truthful matter, in logic and facts, does not defend him from the real society. His many efforts to pursue the truth of Wellington’s murder results in the discovery of his understanding with the world as it is based on a lie. Christopher also learns that although he likes to have things â€Å"in a nice order†, real life is often very deranged, and he cannot always control this. By the end of the novel the composer achieves Christopher’s balance as he returns to normal life, he is regained both parents and has the knowledge that he has coped in difficult circumstances. Mark Haddon achieves the novel with great aspects of this and portrays the actual concerns among a society. Mr. and Mrs. Boone would have a much more suitable relationship if they would set their priorities straight, and make time for each other to be able to go out and have a romantic night together. Obviously, they did not have a romantic relationship, so that could have driven Mrs. Boone away from the family, along with the difficult lifestyle of raising Christopher. In conclusion, Christopher lived a very spoiled lifestyle by being shown attention by his parents all his life. He could not help that he had to have attention shown towards him because of his disability, but it led to the miserable lifestyle between Mr. and Mrs. Boone. If they could have balanced out their schedules, Mr. Boone would not have had to lie to his child about his mothers death, when really she moved away while having an affair. How to cite Curious Incident of a Family Break Up, Essay examples

Research Design and Analysis Largest Multinational Retail

Question: Discuss about the Report for Research Design and Analysis for Largest Multinational Retail. Answer: 1. Walmart is one of the largest multinational retail institutions today. Sam Walton founded the company in 1962 at Rogers, Ark. Walmart is an American multinational retailer that does business in large discount stores and warehouse stores. It became Walmart Stores inc. In 1969. Presently Walmart reports a customer base of 260 million in 28 countries. Walmart as a large corporate had revenue of $482.1 billion in 2016 (Corporate.walmart.com, 2016). Walmart strongly believes in community giving and environmental sustainability. Walmart maintains its own fleet to move goods. Walmart believes in providing every day low prices (EDLP) on a multitude of products both in the stores and online. The present CEO and Walmart US president is Greg Foran. Walmart has established its presence in North and South America, parts of Africa, UK, India and China. During this process of expansion it used different strategies in different countries. The main strategy it used in Mexico was the multi-format strategy. When entering Mexico it tied up with the largest retailer in Mexico CIFRA. This was a symbiotic relationship where Walmart used CIFRAs knowledge of the local culture and market in exchange for Walmarts superior supply chain management. In Canada it used a different strategy to enter the market. In 1994 Walmart purchased 120 of 142 stores of Woolco Discount stores. Walmart with this acquisition got more than 100,000 square feet of floor space in addition to other benefits. In 2011 Walmart again acquired 39 stores of Zellers. While in China it used the Chinese manufacturing business to get its supplies at affordable goods. This was in agreement with the EDLP policy of Walmart. It also faced challenges from the Chinese government regulations and other retailers (Mun and Yazdanifard 2012). Walmart is known for its anti-union policy. Thus it had to agree to unions in China (Yue, Rao and Ingram 2013). In Australia the biggest players in the retail and wholesale sector are Woolworths and Coles. ALDI the German is also going strong. Woolworths as of March 2015 commanded a market share of 38.5% while Coles had a market share of 31.8%. ALDI a distant third had a market share of 11.8% (Forbes.com, 2016). The decision problem in case of Australia hence would be Walmart first has to understand the government regulations in setting up a retail and wholesale business. Since Walmart has both retail and online stores Walmart has to decide how it would set up the retail as well as the online stores. How would Walmart like to enter the Australian market? Whether it wishes it acquire certain small or big retailers or it wants to start on its own? If it wants to set up its own business then it how will it go about to set up its own business. If it wants to set up its own then how does it get the products to be sold at the stores, the supply chain management. How does it challenge the present market leaders in Australia Woolworths and Coles? How does it challenge ALDI which is fast growing and is even challenging the growth of Woolworths and Coles. As and when Walmart decides to enter Australia it will have to do some market research. Walmart will have to do research regarding: Who are the market leaders in the sector in Australia? What are the market strategies employed by the competitors? What are the pricing policies of the competitors? How does it compete with the loyalty programs of Woolworths and Coles? Who can be the potential suppliers for Walmart? What supply chain management techniques to use? 2. Walmarts started the Supercenter concept in 1988. The supercenters at Walmarts are open 24hours of the day and they are a one stop shopping experience (Corporate.walmart.com, 2016). The research design process is the background for doing the marketing research. Walmart in the present case needs to understand the market dynamics (Malhotra 2013). Since Walmart has at present no presence in Australia it needs to understand, the regulatory requirements needed to build its supercenter concept. Walmart in the present context needs to understand its competitors. Its major in Australia are Woolworths, Coles and ALDI. Thus, it needs to understand how these competitors work. Walmart needs to understand the different strategies its competitors in Australia undertake to bring consumers, the different loyalty programs, discounts offered. Since Walmart wishes to build supercenters hence it will need grocery and other items. Hence, Walmart needs suppliers to supply them with goods. Thus, Walmart wi ll have to find out how what are the different types of goods it can get and how to get the goods to its various centres. Since the problem at hand is still loosely defined, hence Walmart will have to conduct an exploratory research first. Exploratory research consists of conducting and in-depth interview. It will have to conduct a research by interviewing both industry experts as well as consumers (Mooi and Sarstedt 2014). The exploratory research will help Walmart to get an idea about the size of the market. Who are the main players in the market? How do they arrange for the raw materials (grocery and others)? How are the raw materials transported? This exploratory research can be used to develop more conclusive research. 3. Walmart business started in the United States in the late 1960s. Grocery stores, departmental stores are the main business of Walmart .The company has set an example to the whole world what the markret system could achieve. It is a company with huge variety of products. The prices charged are also reasonable. The company has faced many critical issues. Many people has given negative feedback about the company. The company has been criticized for unemployement, low wages of labour, and making profit by keeping the prices high (Morillo, McNally and Block 2015). A study reveals that most of the people thinks the company to be bad for the economy of the country ( Bonanno and Goetz 2012).But the company has been able to overcome the difficulty and establish themselves as a successful business. The Walmart business has grown rapidly in the present days. There are few factors that has helped in the growth. These are the advertisement policies, corporate social responsibilities, using local food supply, using social media for advertising, charging low prices and others. 1. Advertisement: Advertising is an important factor that has contributed to the growth of business of Walmart. The advertisement of Walmart can attract many customers. With the help of proper advertisement the company has able to establish its business in different countries. The company has also attended different trade fairs to promote its goods. The import and export fair in China is one of them where the company has participated along with other companies like Target, Best Buy, Staples.More than 200000 customers visits the fair and there are about 75 reatail companies from all over the world who participates in the fair(Lister,, LeBaron and Dauvergne 2013). CSR: The policy of social responsibility followed by the company can be classified into two types. In one part the company manufactures products, takes care of preparing it and sells it into the market. The company also takes care of the its customers by preparing good kind of products, for example, products with low trans fat and high nutritional value (Taillie, Ng and Popkin 2016). In the other part, the company do not follow any CSR policies that are visible as such. Walmart has joined hands with American organizations to ensure food safety. Wlmart claims that they do not supply food to the city people. They are for people living by the countryside ( Ken 2014) 3. Workforce of the company: The company has almost 2.2 million workers. But the company has faced many criticisms like not paying proper salary to the workers, wages of workers being low. All these comes under the section of corporate social responsibility(Koca-Helvaci 2015). The company wanted to buy and collaborate with other companies in South Africa in the year 2011. The labor unions of South Africa with the help of the labour unions from UK and USA fought the merging ( Kenny 2014). To enter into the business of Australia, the company needs to hire workers from the country. The company has to maintain good relation with the labor force of the country. Women empowerment: The Company supports the growth of women empowerment in the society. Women are running business nowadays and are preparing products. This in another way reflects the social responsibility of the company. Walmart has decided to take about more than 20 billion dollars of products from the businesses that are run by women (Arnold, Brocato and Bone 2015). In an interview Shanthi Flynn one of the top employee of the company has said that Walmart cares encourages women empowerment by taking women and disable people into their company.The posts of Department manger and store manager are offered to them(Chan 2013). Helping the farmers of different countries: The Company has contributed to the agricultural improvement of different countries. The agricultural countries like Bangladesh are benefitted by the Walmart business. In Bangladesh, the AAPI Walmart foundation has operated mainly in three districts namely Barishal, Khulna and Dhaka. The main products that the company trades in this region are brinjal, tomato, cauliflower and cabbage. The main objective of the company is to measure the capacity of fruits and vegetable markets in the country. This project of the company has greatly benefitted the poor farmers of the country. I f the business operates in Australia, the local farmers of the country will be benefitted (Nagarajan 2014).The contractual farming increases supply of food. The contractual farming is practiced in South African countries. The company promotes this in order to get their product supply (Michelson 2013). Collaboration:The main competitor of Walmart in Australia is the Woolworth company. The Woolworth Company was started about 80 years ago and the company employs more than one lakh eighty thousand people of the country. The company also ranks among the top 25 retail companies of the world and the company mainly sells grocery. In order to operate business successfully, Walmart needs to join hands with the Woolworths Company. This joint collaboration would help in the growth and development of business of both the companies (Arli et al. 2013). Labour relations:The NLRB law plays a significant role in the Walmarts labour relations and policies of social media.There has been cases when the company was forced revise its NLRB policy and labour relation rules(Thornthwaite 2015). Influence of Social media: Social media has played a wide role in nowadays life. An idea about the consumer satisfaction of the customers can be obtained from the Facebook pages of the company. In many places, sarcastic comments are made about the company. This creates a negative impression about the company among local peoples. This in turn affects the business of the company (Peeroo Samy and Jones 2015). 7.Other factors: One of the important factor contributing to the growth of the Walmarts policies is low priced charged by the company. Its low prices attract customers. The products offered by the company are also eco friendly. It is the general psychology of any people to spend less money and avail high discounts. Walmart uses RFID technology for its products. The company has started this practice in 2003 in the US. The RFID tag attached on the product helps in reducing errors of scanning the product. This in turn reduces labor costs (Shin Eksioglu 2015). There has also been some discussions that the region where Walmart operates there is a higher rate of crimes. It is mainly found in the counties of United States. The rates of crime are higher in places where there is a Walmart shop. The business that has been started in 1969 by Sam Walto has now grown into one of the leading multinational companies of the world. The company generates highest revenue in the world and employs maximum number of workers. The company also takes good care of its employees. The company also looks after its customers and is honest to them. They provide the customer with products with good nutritional value . Thus by taking good care of the customers and employers the company has been able to establish itself as one of the leading company today. 4: Walmart still does not have a presence in Australia. It thus has to undertake an exploratory research to estimate the different factors that will influence its market. Since Walmart at Australia wants to emulate its supercenter concept hence it would require more than only suppliers of grocery, fresh food products, dairy products, toys and apparel. The supercenter concept of Walmart is more than a supermarket. The supercenters of Walmarts are open 24 hours and also sell electronics and home appliances. These centers also have restaurants, banks and salons. Hence Walmart would need to undertake a qualitative research. Qualitative research is usually undertaken to describe the problem. The research that can be undertaken are: What is the most important characteristics of a supercenter that a customer would be looking for in Australia. Is a customer in Australia interested in the price of the product, the discount on the product or the ambience and accessibility of the store? Would a customer in Australia be amenable to the idea of a supercenter which apart from housing grocery, bakery, fresh food also has banks, home furnishing and electronic goods? What are the strategies being undertaken by the competitors of Walmart Australia? What are some of the loyalty programs being introduces by its competitors? How does the competitors website and mobile store function? Since Walmart has a policy of no unions will the policy work in Australia? Will it get enough employees to work for with its no-union policy. Walmart would also have to conduct research on the supplier chain. A qualitative research would be more useful for Walmart since it requires a sample size. With the help of exploratory research Walmart would be able to develop an understanding of the problem. The objective of Walmart would be gain an insight into how to get into the opportunities and threats in the Australian market. Since Walmart would be new to the Austalian market, hence customers who are loyal to Woolworths and Coles, the largest two market players in the retail supermarket business in Australia may not be forthcoming to divulge all information about the retailers. Some customers may evade or give false answers to even simple questions like How many times in a week do you visit the retail store. Under such circumstances the information desired by Walmart can be obtained by using a qualitative research methodology. Walmart should conduct both direct and indirect qualitative research. In the direct form of qualitative research it should conduct focus group interviews. Focus group interviews are essential since it is an unstructured interview. The salient feature of focus group interview is unexpected findings from the group discussions. Since a focus group interview consists of conducting interview with a homogenous group of persons, Walmart will get an understanding of the demands and requirements of different groups in Australia which may be different from other countries in which Walmart operates. From the focus group interview the following may be the research outcomes: Walmart can possibly identify the household criteria used in selecting a supermarket. Walmart could identify what an Australian customer would search in a product which would differentiate it from its competitors Walmart would be able to identify how to make loyal Australian customers. Walmart would be able to identify the traits in an Australian customer to make him loyal to Walmart in the long run The results of the focus group interview should not be thought of as conclusive, since they are not representative of the true population. Thus the results of the focus group interview should be probed further to understand the issues that might face Walmart, Australia. Walmart could use the depth interview procedure. In the depth interview procedure a single customer will be interviewed using unstructured questionnaire regarding his experiences of going to a supermarket. An in depth interview probes the customer into revealing hidden information. The in depth interview would answer the reasons behind the customers purchasing decisions. Whether the decision to purchase a product is because of its quality or price. Since Walmart wishes to open the supercenter hence an in depth interview would be able to uncover the customer preference for high value items like home furnishings or electronic goods. An in depth interview could also be used to get answers to confidential and sensitive topics. Since in depth interviews are conducted hence Walmart would be able to get an idea where in Australia do social norms influence shopping behaviours. In depth interviews could also be conducted with market researchers who have prior knowledge of the market dynamics. An in depth interview could also be taken up by Walmart with the suppliers of groceries, fresh produce, bakery items to the would be competitors like Woolworths and Coles. In addition to the direct form of the interview Walmart should also use the indirect form of interview. In the indirect Walmart could use the construction technique. The construction technique is useful in probing the customer about his preferences for different dairy, grocery, bakery and even electronic and household products. 5: The survey that has to be conducted can be conducted with the help of research questionnaire. The research questionaire can be sent to different people with the help of their email or with the help of internet sites that conduct research works. The data collected in the process is the primary data. The data has to reach people all over the country. A pilot survey can be conducted to know about the economic condition of the country, major risks faced by the country, the history of the companies that has already operated business previously in the country. The company cannot open business in the era when there is lot of political unrest or natural calamities. For the business to run smoothly, the taste and preference of the customers of the country are to be known. This information are obtainable from the research questionnaire. The whole country can be subdivided into different regions. The major cities like Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne are the major cities of the country. These are th e metropolitan cities where shopping malls are located. These places will get maximum customers. The country can be classified into four distinct regions- Major metropolitan cities-Sydney, Brisbane Outer major regions like Darwin Inner major regions Remote and very remote places. Data has to be collected from all peoples both rich and poor. The taste and preferences of the customer needs to be known. The data should be subjected to sampling errors. 6: In a Likert Scale a questionnaire is administered to the respondent. The scale usually measure from very strongly positive to very strongly negative. Usually it is in a five point scale with the central being neutral. Sometime a seven point scale or a three point scale can also be administered. Likert Scale Q1. How much do you think price of goods or services matters in a supermarket Always Very Often Sometimes Rarely Never Q2. How much do you think is online sales necessary for a supermarket Always Very Often Sometimes Rarely Never Q3. How important it is for a supermarkets to be open work for 24 hours Very Important Important Moderately Important Slightly Important Not Important Q4. How many times do you visit a supermarket in a Week Once a Day More than once a Day About 15 times About 15 to 20 times More than 21 times The semantic differential measures the attitude of the customers. It is usually seven point bipolar rating scale. Semantic differential How is your experience with our competitors with regard to 1. Website Very Helpful - - - - - - - Not at Helpful 2. Service Superb - - - - - - - Worst 3. Prices Expensive - - - - - - - Affordable 4. Experience Pleasant - - - - - - - Unpleasant 5. Accessibility Easy - - - - - - - Tough -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 The staple scale was developed by Jan Stapel. It usually measures the attitudes of the customer with an adjective which is placed in the middle. The staple scale how much closer or further away is the attitude of the people. Stapel Scales The interviewer needs to ask the following questions on the various features of the competitors of Walmart (Zikmund et. al. 2013) -3 -3 -3 -3 -3 -2 -2 -2 -2 -2 -1 -1 -1 -1 -1 Accessibility Services Employees Prices website 1 1 1 1 1 2 2 2 2 2 3 3 3 3 3 7: The sampling plan is the most important decision that Walmart has to take. The sampling plan will define the sample of customers to be selected, how to select the sample, the size of the sample and what should be the demography of the sample. Since the present research consists of only exploratory research and can be considered to be a feasibility study undertaken by Walmart hence the sample size should be small. Research has shown that for an exploratory study on understanding the market potential a minimum sample size of 500 with a maximum size of 2500 would be sufficient. The sample should consist of an equal number of both males and females. It should also consist of equal number of young and old people. The sample could be divided into 2 or four groups. The groups could be based on the gender of the person or the age group of the person. Since presently Walmart would like to study the Australian market, for supercenters hence it should conduct the survey only at big cities in Australia. Walmart Supercenters in North America is located only at big cities. Thus the sample of the customers should be chosen only from Australian big cities. They should be working and staying in the big cities. Adults fulfilling the above criteria could be selected for the study. The customers could be chosen from random telephone numbers. The sample so selected should be a true representative of the city. The sample so selected should be validated for the accuracy of the sample. The respondents of the sample should be screened for the demographics, familiarity of the market strategies of its competitors, familiarity of different products and such other characteristics so as to ensure that the sample selected is a true representative of the population of the city. The respondents could be loyalty customers of the would be main competitors Woolworths and Coles. Whenever the sample is selected from one particular city it should be checked that they do not represent one particular area or zone of the city. It should also be ensured that the respondents from a particular city should not be visiting the same supermarket. Since this will be the first interview of Walmart and it is looking at exploratory research hence the questionnaire developed in the above section should be administered by an interviewer to the sampled customer. References Arli, V., Dylke, S., Burgess, R., Campus, R. and Soldo, E., 2013. Woolworths Australia and Walmart US: Best practices in supply chain collaboration.Journal of Economics, Business, and Accountancy| Ventura,16(1), pp.27-46. Arnold, G., Brocato, D. and Bone, S., 2015. Women in Business Branding: Consumer Behavior Based on Hedonic vs. Utilitarian Positioning. Bonanno, A. Goetz, S.J. 2012, "WalMart and Local Economic Development: A Survey", Economic Development Quarterly, vol. 26, no. 4, pp. 285-297. Chan, S. 2013, "The Walmart story: Part II", China Staff, vol. 19, no. 4-5, pp. 12. Corporate.walmart.com. (2016). Our Business. [online] Available at: https://corporate.walmart.com/our-story/our-business [Accessed 29 Aug. 2016]. Corporate.walmart.com. (2016). Our Story. [online] Available at: https://corporate.walmart.com/our-story [Accessed 29 Aug. 2016]. Forbes.com. (2016). Forbes Welcome. [online] Available at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/greatspeculations/2014/04/02/challenges-wal-mart-faces-in-mexico-and-china/#3a7e918a4e48 [Accessed 29 Aug. 2016]. Ken, I. 2014, "Profit in the Food Desert: Walmart Stakes its Claim", Theory in Action, vol. 7, no. 4, pp. 13-32. Kenny, B. 2014, "Walmart in South Africa: Precarious Labor and Retail Expansion", International Labor and Working-Class History, vol. 86, pp. 173-177. Koca-Helvaci, Z.C. 2015, "Walmart and its employee relations: organizational stance-taking and legitimacy", On the Horizon, vol. 23, no. 4, pp. 374-386. Lister, J., LeBaron, G. Dauvergne, P. 2013, "A Patch of Green", Alternatives Journal, vol. 39, no. 1, pp. 28 Malhotra, N. (2013). Essentials of marketing research. Frenchs Forest, N.S.W.: Pearson Education Australia. Michelson, H.C. 2013, "Small farmers, NGOs, and a Walmart world: welfare effects of supermarkets operating in Nicaragua", American Journal of Agricultural Economics, vol. 95, no. 3, pp. 628. Mooi, E. and Sarstedt, M. (2014). A Concise Guide to Market Research: The Process, Data, and Methods Using IBM SPSS Statistics. Berlin: Springer. Morillo, J., McNally, C. Block, W.E. 2015, "The Real Walmart", Business and Society Review, vol. 120, no. 3, pp. 385-408. Mun, L.Y. and Yazdanifard, R., 2012. Walmart Success In Mexico, Canada And China: Global Expansion, Strategies, Entry Modes, Threats And Opportunities. Nagarajan, L., 2014. Accelerating Agriculture Productivity Improvement (AAPI) Walmart Foundation Activity Improving Womens Access to Marketing of Fruits and Vegetables Final Report.. Peeroo, S., Samy, M. and Jones, B., 2015, December. Customer engagement manifestations on Facebook pages of Tesco and Walmart. InComputing, Communication and Security (ICCCS), 2015 International Conference on(pp. 1-8). IEEE. Shin, S. Eksioglu, B. 2015, "An empirical study of RFID productivity in the U.S. retail supply chain", International Journal of Production Economics, vol. 163, pp. 89-9 Taillie, L.S., Ng, S.W. and Popkin, B.M., 2016. Walmart and Other Food Retail Chains: Trends and Disparities in the Nutritional Profile of Packaged Food Purchases.American journal of preventive medicine,50(2), pp.171-179. Thornthwaite, L., 2015. Chilling times: social media policies, labour law and employment relations.Asia Pacific Journal of Human Resources. Wolfe, S.E. and Pyrooz, D.C., 2014. Rolling back prices and raising crime rates? The Walmart effect on crime in the United States. British Journal of Criminology, 54(2), pp.199-221. Yue, L.Q., Rao, H. and Ingram, P., 2013. Information spillovers from protests against corporations a tale of Walmart and target. Administrative Science Quarterly, 58(4), pp.669-701. Zikmund W.G., Babin B.J., Carr J.C. and Griffin M. (2013) Business Research Methods 9th Ed. Cengage Learning