Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas Essay -- Segregation Rac

Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas On May 17, 1954 the United States Supreme Court handed down the Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka Kansas ruling. The supreme court’s ruling stated that separate was in fact not equal. The court ordered that all schools desegregate. This ruling had finally and once and for all put a stop to the dejure segregation of our nation’s schools that had existed since the time when African Americans were allowed to attend schools. This ruling was definitely one of the most significant legal victories in the history of the civil rights movement and possibly the entire twentieth century. It is viewed this way because â€Å"This movement rebuked centuries of government-sanctioned black inferiority† (Cohen p. 22) and most importantly it overturned the Plessey v. Ferguson ruling. The Brown decision breathed new life for the hope of America’s future, that all children regardless of race would be able to receive an equal education. In addition, the NAACP had gained momentum and had big plans to continue the civil rights movement in other areas. Their agenda included housing segregation and employment discrimination. Thurgood Marshall and other members of the NAACP’s law team were confident in their success and believed that it would only be a short period of time of five years before school segregation would be totally eliminated. Sadly, desegregation was not achieved as rapidly and as smoothly as anticipated. In fact, many people claim that in many areas today the schools are resegregating. According to Ted Shaw, head of the NAACP’s legal defense fund, â€Å"we are currently resegregating, and no none seems to care† (regression on integration). Since this year marks the fiftieth ann... ... from. However, the thing that disappoints me the most is that after conducting more in depth reading than I previously had done, I still have no answer of how to fix the problem. I realize that it would be foolish of me to realistically think that I could fix the problem with what little I have studied the subject in this class, but out of all the reading I have done, I could not find a single article that actually gave a solution of how to fix the problem other than continuing the battle in the courts. This is the part that this is so disheartening to me. There is a real problem and I want to fix it, but apparently it is going to be a long struggle to get things back on track. Works Cited 1. Holst, B. (2004, July). Resegregation's aftermath. The Atlantic Monthly, 294, 64. 2. Cohen, A. (2004, Jan. 18).The supreme struggle. The New York Times, pp. 22.

The Necessary Bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki to End World War II Ess

After the defeat of Germany, the allies turned their attention on crushing Japan. On August 6, 1945, 8:16 A.M, Enola Gay completed its mission and dropped the 9000lb â€Å"little boy† on Hiroshima. 78,000 killed instantly and many more were to die within 5 years. All together, 250,000 citizens of Hiroshima were killed. Another bomb named â€Å"fat man† was dropped on Nagasaki 3 days later, killing 40,000 people. The bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were the quickest way to end the war with the fewest casualties. The boom cost $2000 millions to build and it was a military weapon for war, it should be used to fulfill its purpose- to end the war. The allies may have lost the war if U.S did not use the atomic bomb, the consequences may be even worse. In spite of the lives lost during the bombing, it had taught humans a great deal about atomic bombs and it had advanced mankind. The bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were justified and necessary for World War II. In Japan there were more than 2 million combat troops and 9000 aircrafts ready to fight till the very end. Japan was famous for their resistance and pride and the war may take a lot of energy and time to end. If the allies did not use the atomic bombs, peace may come with a heavy price with possibly 500,000 American causalities, as well as that many for Japanese soldiers and maybe half of that number for British. Prime Minister Churchill knew of Japanese pride and said, â€Å"I had my mind the spectacle of Okinawa Island, where many thousands of Japanese, rather than surrender, had drawn up in line and destroyed themselves by hand-grenades†¦Now that nightmare picture had vanished. In its place was the vision†¦ of the end of the whole war in one or two violent shocks.† The allies had warned t... ... learned from the Atomic bombs are now beneficial to the world today. The bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were justified and necessary for World War II. The use of Atomic bombs was the quickest way to end the war with the fewest casualties. The bombs were weapons of war made by U.S; Americans efficiently used their weapons to end the war in the best way possible. The consequences are unthinkable if the Allies lost the war, the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were necessary to avoid a future that is dominated by Japan. Mankind learned very important lessons from the atomic bombs in WWII and it prevented any future attempts of another World War. The discovery was also very beneficial to mankind. The lives lost due to the bombing were worth it, they traded peace in the future, a world that is aware of the Atomic Bombs’ dangers and millions of lives were saved.

Henry David Thoreau Essay

â€Å"Simplify! was Thoreau’s motto† in his life (Stanley 20). He showed people how to live simple life by living a simple life in Walden. Due to Thoreau’s efforts and works on nature people considers a nature an important part in their lives, as a result nature became one of the top topics in 21st century. Henry David Thoreau was born on July 12, 1817, in Concord, Massachusetts (Meltzer 11). His parents were John Thoreau and Cynthia Dunbar Thoreau (12). Henry had three siblings named Helen, John Jr. and Sophia (12). The Thoreau family continuously moved to different places in search for better living conditions (11). Henry’s father John had difficulties finding a job (13). He eventually started a very famous pencil making business (13). Henry’s parents named him David Henry Thoreau, â€Å"after his uncle David Thoreau† (Stanley 16). Thoreau changed his name to Henry David Thoreau (Olson 14). He changed his name because â€Å"people called him Henry† (Stanley 16). Henry and his siblings went to same school (Stanley 16). First, they went to school called â€Å"Concord’s Public Grammar School† (16). At his school all students for all grades, â€Å"sat together on hard benches† (16). Although Henry’s family could not really afford a private school, Henry still went to private school named â€Å"Concord academy† (16). He went to Concord academy from age eleven until sixteen (16). He was very quite child at school, as he often did not play games with children (Olson 30). Henry had many nicknames like â€Å"Judge† and â€Å"the fine scholar with big nose† (30-32). These nicknames came from children at his school because he did not join in their play (30-32). Since he was born, he was very interested in nature and natural phenomena (Olson 33). At age eleven, he wrote famous piece of writing about seasons (Meltzer 15). The writing about the seasons stated like this: The Seasons Why do the seasons change? And Why Does Winter’s stormy brow appear? Is it the word of him on high? Who rules the changing varied year? (15) Henry went to Harvard University for college education (Olson 34). He was not interested in going to college as he barely passes his entrance exams for Harvard; he thought he might work as a carpenter (34). In college, his interest in writing and poetry grew especially with poems of English poets such John Milton, William Shakespeare and Geoffrey Chaucer (35). In Harvard university, William Ellery Channing became Henry’s one of the best friend (35). Later Henry realized that William Ellery Channing was the one who helped him towards his writing (35). In college, Henry started to read many books from college library (Stanley 17). On August 30, 1837, Henry graduated from Harvard University (Olson 37). After graduating from Harvard University Henry did not knew what to do for living (Stanley 18). He was usually was call upon to do land surveying but he thought it was not a great profession although he had a skill to do land surveying (17). Ralph Waldo Emerson was Henry’s great friend and mentor as Henry got many ideas from Emerson towards his writing (Olson 9). Emerson also allowed Henry to live in his house until Henry has some job to do (Stanley 18). While living with Emerson, Henry was introduced to,† Concord’s elite circle of writers and philosophers† (18). While living with Emerson, Henry thought, he needed to do something in order for living so he did, â€Å"odd jobs like gardening and fence mending† (8). Emerson held informal meeting at his house in which the group of writers and philosophers were welcomed to attend (Olson 27). Henry was also present during these meetings (27). Transcendentalists were the people who used to attend these meeting (Stanley 18). They talked about topics such as political, cultural and regional etc (Olson 27). These Transcendentalists were concerned about, â€Å"society’s materialism† (Stanley 18). â€Å"They believed each person is born with an inner voice, or conscience, and those who live simple lives, close to nature, can hear the inner voice more clearly† (18). These Transcendentalists people keep their journals with them for writing their ideas and works (19). The Transcendentalists influenced Henry so much that he came up with this famous quote, â€Å"If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music he hears however measured or far away† (19). After college, Thoreau gave many lectures in Concord Lyceum (Stanley 87). On April 11, 1838, Thoreau made his first lecture in Concord Lyceum (Olson 43). His topic of first lecture was â€Å"Society† (43). On 1838, Lyceum elected Henry as secretary and curator but due to various reasons, he only held these positions until December 1840 (43). Thoreau wrote and read many lectures about Nature while working in Concord Lyceum (Stanley 8). Thoreau disliked slavery as in Concord Lyceum he lectured against it in his lecture, â€Å"Slavery in Massachusetts† (Woodlief). Thoreau also supported John Brown efforts in ending slavery as he told in front of Concord Lyceum in his lecture, â€Å"A Plea for Captain John Brown† (Woodlief). Henry David Thoreau gave nineteen lectures in Concord Lyceum (Stanley 87-88). Henry was not paid anything for lecturing in Concord Lyceum (88). When Emerson said town and people of Concord Lyceum about fees people started giving fees (88). Due to Emerson help, fifty dollars was paid to Thoreau because of his lectures that he spoke (88). Thoreau’s fees in Concord Lyceum were always low (88). Thoreau did not care about fees in Concord Lyceum, as he only wanted to help people and show them right path (88). In 1847, Thoreau worked as land surveyor (Meltzer 86). Thoreau was appointed surveyor-in-chief by Concord (86). As a surveyor-in-chief, Thoreau has to do many jobs such as, â€Å"to lay out roads, walk the bounds with town officials, and supply the technical documents for lawsuits involving his craft† (86). Thoreau left his land surveying paper after his death. (86). His land paper were so complete that it included every farm in town (87). Most of Thoreau’s surveys were made between 1849 and 1861 (87). According to Meltzer the survey made between 1849 and 1861 were about two hundred. These surveys are still found in Concord Free Public Library (87). Thoreau was able to make more than one hundred and fifty land surveys (87). Most of the Thoreau’s surveys were made in Concord but some were in different cities (87). Even modern land surveyors who use modern technologies and tools appreciate Thoreau’s work (87). They said his work as a land surveyor was phenomenal (87). Modern surveyors made surveys of Walden Pond could not disproves, â€Å"Thoreau conclusion† about Walden Pond, â€Å"made only from a string and a stone† (87). Thoreau as a talent land surveyor he made the map of Walden (Olson 80). Thoreau was very conservative when it came to land and because of him, government made the, â€Å"National Park Service (NPS) in 1916† (81). The National Park Service was more than fifty million acres (81). It, â€Å"became important part of America’s conservative effort† (81). The National Park Service â€Å"preserves natural resources and save the nation’s forest for future generations† (81). After studying in college, Henry David Thoreau tried to teach schools in Concord (Stanley 18). After two weeks of teaching schools, Henry David Thoreau was fired because, â€Å"he was expected to flog children if they were bad† (18). So as a teacher Henry David Thoreau was not successful†(18).   After college, Thoreau also worked in his father’s pencil making business (Woodlief). Although Thoreau worked in his father’s pencil, making business he really did not wanted to join him in his pencil making business due to various reasons (Stanley 18). In 1838 Henry’s brother John and he himself, â€Å"took over Concord Academy† (18). In Concord academy they started to teach students as they,† introduced many new ideas in education† (18). In Concord academy, â€Å"John and Henry took students for weekly nature walks to observe animals and plants so that they would learn through discoveries and firsthand experience† (18). Henry and his brother were very profitable in running Concord Academy (18). The academy closed in 1840 due to John’s sickness (18). The Concord Academy was very successful when John and Henry ran it (18). In 1843, when Henry David Thoreau was twenty-six years old, â€Å"he believed he was ready to make literature his profession† (Meltzer 53). Henry’s first writing work came in the periodical named Dial published by Hedge Club (Olson 48). In his first work, he wrote a poem named â€Å"Sympathy† (48). The poem was about Thoreau’s friend Edmund Sewall, â€Å"a young friend whose free and pure spirit Thoreau admired† (48). Margaret Fuller was the first editor of Dial (48). She remained editor of Dial from 1840 to 1842 (50). Tension between Thoreau and the editor Margaret Fuller began as later Margaret Fuller rejected many essays and articles written by Thoreau (48). Margaret Fuller also rejected Thoreau’s essay, which was about, â€Å"four-day walk Thoreau took with Fuller brother, Richard† (48). Thoreau was rumored to like Margaret Fuller and wanted to marry her (48-50). In 1842, Emerson became editor of Dial as a result Thoreau’s essay was more published in Dial (50). Henry David Thoreau wrote an essay on nature in an edition of Dial called â€Å"Natural History of Massachusetts† (50). In 1844, Thoreau wrote his last essay in the edition of Dial (97). In 1839, Henry and his brother went for a trip together (Olson 53). Their trip was to sail from Concord River to Merrimack River (53). For going on this trip, they needed transportation system, so they made a boat called Musketaquid (53). Musketaquid is a Native American name for Concord River (53). The boat they made was fifteen ft in length and three feet in width. This trip provides material was Thoreau’s book A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers (53). On the trip Henry went with his journal to write down ideas and notes about the trip (Stanley 15). Henry David Thoreau published his notes for the book A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers ten years after the trip (16). During the trip, the friendship between Henry and John grew, as they became more and more close (Olson 55). For the past few years, Henry and John used to hate each other, as they wanted to marry same woman named Ellen Sewall (55). Although Henry wanted to marry Ellen Sewall, he never got married to anyone (6). In 1849 Henry’s, book A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers was published. The book was not that popular when it was published as only two hundred twenty copies of that book was sold when it was published but in the modern times the book got more and more popular (53). Shortly after the trip, Henry’s brother John died on January 11, 1842, from lockjaw, which was caused by cut while John was shaving (Woodlief). After John’s death Henry was, â€Å"freed to become what he really wanted to be: a writer who embraced the transcendentalist notion of the self-reliant man† (Olson 57). On July 4, 1845, when Thoreau was 27 years old he started living near Walden Pond (Stanley 20). The Walden Pond became the sight of his famous book Walden or Life in the Woods (Olson 58). Henry David Thoreau admired Walden Pond and it beauty when he was very young (Burleigh 6). Thoreau book Walden or Life in the Woods was based on the beauty of nature as many of Thoreau’s work came from nature (6). Near Walden Pond, â€Å"he often walk and sees the animals, river and trees, all beauties of nature and writes it’s down in his journal† (6). Walden or Life in the Woods was a book that described lifestyle of Henry after returning from Concord to Walden Pond and how he spent his life near Walden Pond (Olson 60). Near Walden Pond Thoreau built up his own cabin (Woodlief). Thoreau’s cabin was built on the land owned by Emerson (Woodlief). While living in Walden Thoreau did extensive amount of reading and writing (Woodlief). While living in Walden Thoreau looked up the nature very closely (Woodlief). While living in Walden Thoreau just saw the nature all day long (Burleigh 10). While living near Walden Thoreau, â€Å"wanted to get so close to nature that he became one with it† (10). Henry went to Walden because he wanted to prove himself (14). â€Å"He wanted to show that someone could live very, very simply† (14). Thoreau went to Walden, as he wanted to enjoy his life (16). Thoreau didn’t like any luxuries in his life, as he wanted to be as simple as he could (16). At Walden, he lived very simple life as he with only forty-seven dollars he provided himself with food, clothing and shelter (Olson 60). In Walden, Thoreau made a desk for himself in which he wrote Walden or Life in the Woods and his famous essay â€Å"Civil Disobedience† (Meltzer 85). Thoreau got his intelligence from, â€Å"natural world and the experiences of his life† (13). Walden or Life in the Woods was the last book that he published and it was the last book published before his death (61). Walden or Life in the Woods was not that popular on its publication and did not make a lot of money but it was one of the famous works of American literature (12). After returning from Walden Thoreau had very tough time in Concord (Olson 65). Henry David Thoreau got imprisonment for not paying his poll tax for last several years (66). He refused to pay his poll taxes because he was against Mexican War as he thought it was another way to extend slavery in U.S (Meltzer 77).Sam Staples was the constable who arrested Thoreau (66). Sam offered to give money for Thoreau but he rejected (Olson 66). Thoreau got so angry that he asked Staples to quit from his job as a constable (66). Thoreau was surprised to find out the conditions of jail in which he was (68). He said, â€Å"it was the neatest apartment in town† (68). While Thoreau was in the jail, that night a woman came and paid poll taxes for Thoreau (Meltzer 76). The woman who came neither told who she was nor shared her identity (76). Some people thought that woman who came was the Thoreau’s aunt Marla (76). When Thoreau was free to go, he refused it and was â€Å"mad as the devil!† (77). In the jail, Thoreau started to write his essay called â€Å"Resistance to Government† later called â€Å"Civil Disobedience† (77). Many of Thoreau ideas in his essay were shares by many abolitionists (Olson 71). As always Thoreau essay got little popularity in the beginning (Meltzer 79). In 1866, four years after Thoreau’s death his essay was renamed as â€Å"Civil Disobedience (79). In his essay he said, â€Å"that a law should be respected not because it is a law, but only if it is just and right. If unjust laws exist, civil disobedience, such as refusing to pay taxes, is an effective way to oppose and change them† (80). Thoreau thought there were two types of laws, conscience laws and government laws and â€Å"when these two laws conflict, it’s citizen duty to obey the voice of conscience rather than that of government† (81). Many people were influenced by Thoreau because his essay â€Å"Civil Disobedience† and not paying his poll taxes (â€Å"Part Way with Thoreau†). Among these people were two great leaders known as Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. (Meltzer 81). As people were influenced by Thoreau, during Vietnam War four hundred and forty eight writers didn’t pay their poll taxes and protested against them (â€Å"Part Way with Thoreau†). During their protest, they had two major points (â€Å"Part Way with Thoreau†). The first point was, â€Å"None of us voluntarily will pay the proposed ten percent surcharged or any war designated tax increase† (â€Å"Part Way with Thoreau†). Their second point was, â€Å"Many of us will not pay that twenty three percent of our current income tax which is being used to finance the war† (â€Å"Part Way with Thoreau†). In Thoreau’s last twenty years, he began his observation about vegetation in Concord (Gray). Thoreau’s goal was, â€Å"to find God in nature† (Gray). Henry got his goal about nature from his mind and from Emerson (Gray). After leaving Walden, Thoreau tried to find scientific things in nature (Gray). In 1999, Thoreau book Wild Fruit was published (Gray). The book was imprint because of Thoreau’s friend Bradley Dean (Gray). The manuscript of this book was â€Å"neatly stacked and wrapped at time of his death† (Gray). The manuscript of the book was lost many times because of change of owners of Thoreau’s house and due to it bad handwriting (Gray). This book was written as Thoreau took notes on each plant in order, which they grew (Gray). In that book, the sentences were mainly poetic (Gray). In the book, he asks people to pay close attention to fruit grown by nature (Gray). In the book he take stand against destruction of environment especially wilderness (Gray). The advised Thoreau made during the book was to, â€Å"let us try to keep the New World new† (Gray). His advised is being taken a century later (Gray). After writing this book Thoreau traveled to Main Woods and Cape Cod very often as traveling there he was interested in Native American and their frontiers (Woodlief). In 1860, Thoreau got a cold as the symptoms of tuberculosis such as cold created problems for him (Olson 84). Tuberculosis also created problems for his family as Henry’s elder sister who was a schoolteacher died of tuberculosis (Meltzer 12). Even with cold, he lectured in lyceum in Waterbury, Connecticut (Olson 84). Thoreau’ cold felt worse after the lecture â€Å"as he found that his deepened into bronchitis† (84). Later his cold and health got much worse (84). On May 1861, he planned to go to trip to Minnesota in order to study plants (84). The trip was not fully completed due to Thoreau’s bad health (86). Thoreau thought his end of his live was very near (86). In September 1861, he made his last visit to Walden (86). On November 3, 1861, Thoreau made his one last final entry in his journal (86). Thoreau last words before his death was, â€Å"Moose and Indian† (Woodlief). Henry David Thoreau died on May 6, 1862 at the age of forty-four years (Meltzer 145). Henry left his essays and his two books after his death (Woodlief). Henry also left his huge journal after his death, which was later published in twenty volumes (Woodlief). After Thoreau’s death, his friend Emerson and Luisa May Alcott wrote memorials for him (Woodlief). Emerson memorial was, â€Å"Emerson eulogy† and May’s memorial was, â€Å"Thoreau’s Flute† (Woodlief). â€Å"Thoreau is buried in Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in Concord, Massachusetts. The cemetery also contains the graves of authors such as Louisa May Alcott and Nathaniel Hawthorne. Thoreau long time friend and mentor Ralph Waldo Emerson is also buried in the cemetery† (Olson 87). Although Henry David Thoreau was very simple, he gave many things to people in this world that people can benefit from. His works on nature forced people to realize that our nature was something as people benefited from Thoreau’s work almost a century later (Olson 88). Works Cited Burleigh, Robert. A Man Named Thoreau. New York: Atheneum, 1985. Gray, Paul. â€Å"Unregarded Berries.† Time 29 November 1999. 18 May 2009 Meltzer, Milton. A Biography Henry David Thoreau. Minneapolis: Twenty-First Century Books, 2007. Olson, Steven P. Henry David Thoreau American Naturalist, Writer, And Transcendentalists. New York: The Rosen Publishing Group, Inc, 2006. â€Å"Part Way with Thoreau.† Time 9 February 1968. 5 May 2009 Stanley, Phyllis M. American Environmental Heroes. New Jersey: Enslow Publishers, Inc, 1996. Woodlief, Ann. â€Å"Henry David Thoreau.† American Transcendentalism Web. 26 June 2007. 19 May 2009

Organization Design And Technology Of Sony Corporation Essay

Due to the fast-paced growth of Sony Corporation in the international market, it gave way for the misalignment of its market and internal expansion leading to the deterioration of its rate of technological development or the quality of its product lines, and the decline of the efficiency of its workforce as the number of responsibilities and tasks suddenly increased triggered by the market expansion of the said company. With the aid of ICT Supplier Self-Assessment Questionnaire and balance scorecard, Sony Corporation has been able to improve the quality of its product and workforce efficiency. By expanding the workforce of Sony, it can solve the deterioration of its rate of technological advancement and inefficiency on workforce on a long term basis. Between adding new position to the organization structure of Sony and hiring more workers to expand the workforce of the said company, adding new position to Sony Corporation is the one that fits to solve the above mentioned problems of Sony considering the cost of its implementation and effectiveness. Introduction With the growing competition in the international market, it is a must for Sony Corporation to secure competitive advantage in terms of internal stability and technological development. Most consumers nowadays provides more premium on the most advanced products in the market, and this is the primary reason why Sony Corporation allot significant amount of resources to research and development to maintain the pace of their technological development. Furthermore, Sony has designed its organization structure in such a way that it could easily respond to various new market challenges. But the forces of market competition and globalization blocks the technological advantages of Sony as well as destabilized the internal stability through attacking their organization design as various departments and key person of the said company shoulders broader responsibilities as the company continues to expand in the international market. Sony’s competitors, Panasonic, Toshiba, Apple, Microsoft, and Dell are just few of the many electronics companies also operating in the international market with fast-paced technological development (Isuppli. om 2006: 1). Due to this scenario, Sony’s products appears to be less technologically advanced compared to its competitors leading to a sudden down turn on their sales and profit internationally as their customers shift to their competitors (Eetimes. com 2008: 1). Furthermore, during the peak of Sony’s international operation, various departments and top level managers was bombarded with more tasks and responsibilities in order to support their market expansion which presently lead to the deterioration of their performances. Distribution of task and responsibilities is weak and most of the organization design of Sony is already obsolete considering the present condition of competition and globalization in the international market. In this regard, this paper aims to discuss how the forces of competition and globalization weaken the organization design and technological advantage of Sony as well as the potential alternatives that Sony must undertake in order to solve the said weaknesses. At the end of this paper, expect for a recommendation that would best solve the problems of Sony concerning its organization design and technology. Classification of Organization Structure Sony Corporation has been using divisional type of organizational design as illustrated by their organizational chart, see appendix (. During the early years of Sony’s operation in the market, the divisional type of organization design enables them to easily implement strategies and decisions to problems that need immediate solution. Since Sony was only on its development stage, they were able to fully utilize the optimal gains that can be derived from using divisional organization structure. The fast relay of information, decision making and implementation of strategies through the use of divisional organization design provided Sony with tremendous amount of gains in the international market as they start successfully penetrating their target market and out-performed their competitors in the market, making them one of the successful multinational companies around the globe (Goliath. ecnext. com 2007: 1). Furthermore, the divisional organization design enables Sony to specialize its â€Å"groups† since thereby improving the quality of their products in the market (Market Wire 2005: 1). Like for instance, the Sony Ericson Mobile Communications Group concentrate only to develop and produce mobile communication products in the market. The head of Ericson Mobile Communications Group is directly below the CEO of Sony, and so with their other groups (Sony. net 2008: 1). The direct relationship between the head of Sony’s groups and its CEO provides ease on decision making and distribution of information as well as strategies on brand development. But this organizational structure starts to provide instabilities to Sony Corporation as it continues to grow as electronics industry superpower in the international market. As the company grew in the international market, responsibilities of each head of various groups also increased up to the point wherein they start performing inefficiently as their time being spent on every vital aspect of their operation become lesser and lesser. In this regard, the present status of divisional organization design to Sony becomes ineffective and only provides instabilities as the executives of the company starts to perform inefficiently on their respective fields. But divisional organization design fits Sony than any other organization structure available in the business management realm. Since Sony have a diversity of products in the market, and each group specializes into the production of their own product lines, then, divisional structure already fits Sony. The only problem lies on the fact that every executive of Sony starts gaining more responsibilities in his/her assigned group. In other words, the international expansion of Sony in the recent years was not accompanied by expansion of internal responsibilities of various executives of the said company, thereby leading to a down turn on their overall performance. In order for Sony to restore the stability of its internal affairs, it does not have to change its organization design; rather, Sony management can make improvements on their divisional structure by adding new positions or by appointing executive assistants to key positions on various groups of the said company. This strategy will provide enough room for the key personnel of Sony to manage their responsibilities well and delegate those less priority tasks to their assistance or new positions in the group. In other words, this strategy will give way for the internal expansion of Sony while maintaining their original organization design that was already proven to be effective and fit to the business structure of Sony Corporation. Choosing organization structure other than divisional design would provide great risk since Sony operates on various groups with different product lines to produce into the market. Furthermore, each group has less influence on one another and almost operates independently from other group while their headquarters and CEO serves as the link between them. In this regard, it is vital for Sony Corporation to implement the said internal expansion of their groups in order for them to re-establish their competitive advantage in the international market in terms of internal stability and workforce efficiency especially during these times wherein the forces of tight market competition and globalization calls for the acquisition of more potential sources of competitive advantages to keep the pace of Sony’s growth internationally. Key Determinant and Influences on Organizational Structure One of the main strategies of Sony in expanding its share on the international market would be the diversification of its product line from electronics to B2B business solutions, which later on enables the company to tap various resources. Since each product line of Sony needs different production processes compared to others, Sony decided to use divisional organizational structure in order to easily manage the entire company without compromising the quality of their product lines. For instance, Sony Financial Holdings Group provides business solution services to the market and needs different operational processes compared to Sony Entertainment Business Group that provides television, digital cameras, and video cameras in the market. Each of these groups requires different set of operational style, set of skills and equipments, and set of strategies, thereby providing enough room to these groups to operate independently from one another would enhance their productivity and efficiency as they specialize into their production process. This is the main reason why Sony chose to use divisional organization design in order to provide enough room for each product line to be developed separately by workers specialized on producing it from other product line. In this regard, the strategy of Sony to diversify its product line gave way for the use of divisional organization structure. Furthermore, another factor that serves to be the key determinant of Sony Corporation’s organization structure would be its growth rate. Sony Corporation has roughly 4 percent sales growth rate internationally as of this month which is relatively higher compared to its rival companies like Panasonic with -2. 78 percent sales growth rate (Reuters. com 2008: 1). During the initial stage of Sony’s growth in the international market, as their product become more diverse leading to a fast-paced growth, Sony chose to use divisional organization structure to allow the company to cope up with the said growth rate since divisional organization structure provides enough room for Sony to further develop their diverse product line through specialization. At present, the root of organization stability of Sony roots on the fact that they were not able to accompanied their market growth and expansion with internal expansion causing for the divisional organization structure to work inefficiently. Once the internal growth rate of Sony already aligned itself to its market growth, then, that is the only time wherein Sony can fully utilize the potential gains of using divisional organization structure. In this regard, it is therefore vital for Sony to keep track its market growth and internal growth if whether these two still align each other since these affects the performance of their organization structure. The strategy and growth of Sony is interrelated to one another and this is the main reason why these two factors greatly affect its organization structure. The strategy of Sony to diversify its product line provided them with enough opportunity to increase their market share in the international market. The said product line expansion and increase of market share enable Sony to easily penetrate its target market and outperformed its competitors. Furthermore, as Sony continues to successfully penetrate its target market and outperformed its competitors, it starts to gain impressive growth in the market due to higher sales and profit. But the said market growth of Sony was not accompanied by internal expansion which presently leads to tremendous losses as key personnel of its groups starts performing inefficiently and ineffectiveness of their organization structure. Furthermore, as these key personnel of Sony perform inefficiently, the research and development of their products starts to drop, giving enough room for its competitors to step up in the electronics and business solutions industry and provide financial losses to the company (Forbes. com 2008: 1). Therefore, at this point in time, it is vital for Sony to address these instabilities on its workforce in order to restore their competitiveness in the international market with respect to their market strategies and technological advancement. Organizational Effectiveness One way in which Sony Corporation evaluates performance would be through the use of Information and Communications Technology Supplier Self-Assessment Questionnaire which aims to determine if whether their suppliers uphold the Electronic Industry Code of Conduct. Since suppliers have a direct impact on the overall performance of Sony in terms of product quality, along with other electronics companies around the globe such as HP, IBM, and Microsoft, Sony Corporation created the Electronic Industry Code of Conduct which encompasses the ICT Supplier Self-Assessment Questionnaire. Through the ICT Supplier Self-Assessment Questionnaire, Sony can monitor the product quality of their suppliers. By securing the performance of their suppliers, Sony Corporation has been able to maintain its integrity of producing high quality products in the market. There were cases wherein Sony Corporation was sued for releasing substandard products in the market. Like what happened recently when a couple sued Sony when the battery of a Sony laptop exploded causing injuries to the complainants. Due to this, Sony had to pull out all of the batteries that were being suspected as substandard and replaced with a new one in order to prevent having more accidents. In this regard, through the ICT Supplier Self Assessment Questionnaire, Sony Corporation can stop the above mentioned accident caused to substandard products that they release in the market which mostly came from their suppliers. Dell, the maker of the said substandard battery of Sony laptop, is now making collaboration with Sony in pulling out those substandard laptop batteries in the market. Another way by which Sony evaluates their performance is through the use of balance scorecard. Balance score card help every organization in the market to determine if whether their smaller scale operational activities are still aligned with their larger scale activities. As for the case of Sony Corporation, it uses balance scorecard in determining the alignment operational processes of its groups, e. g. Sony Ericson Mobile Communications, Game Business Group, Entertainment Business Group, and Sony Financial Holdings Group, to the vision and strategy of the entire organization. For instance, the balance scorecard is being used by Sony Corporation in determining if whether the processes used in producing Sony Ericsson in the market are still aligned with the Corporate Social Responsibility of the entire company. Through this, Sony Corporation can keep their various groups intact to the vision and strategies of their â€Å"parent† company – Sony Corporation. Just recently, Sony Ericsson phone was awarded as the most â€Å"Eco-Friendly† phone in the market and the said award is being attributed to the continues success of Sony Corporation to uphold its Corporate Social Responsibility on minimizing the wastes being emitted in producing the said product (Sayer 2008: 1). Considering the said success of Sony Ericsson phone in the market, there is a great possibility that it can earn positive balance scorecard by upholding the CSR of Sony Corporation, which can eventually serve as the basis for further development of Sony Ericsson phone in the market (Ericsson. co. jp 2005: 9). Therefore, balance scorecard provides enough room for Sony Corporation to determine the alignment of their product lines to their vision and strategy especially when it concerns the integrity of their brand name. At this point, the performance evaluation tools of Sony Corporation, ICT Supplier Self Assessment Questionnaire and Balance Scorecard, has been able to solve its problem regarding maintaining the quality of their products in the market by securing the compliance of their suppliers and aligning the production processes of their product lines into their Corporate Social Responsibilities. Therefore, ICT Supplier Self Assessment Questionnaire and Balance Scorecard fit to the vision and strategies of Sony Corporation based from their successful solution regarding the low quality level of Sony’s products in the market. This issue on quality level and on how the above identified evaluation tools of Sony Corporation solved it will be thoroughly discussed in the next part of the paper. Critical Analysis of Current Problems Actually, the main problem of Sony Corporation would be the misalignment of its market and internal expansion that eventually lead to various â€Å"branch-problems† like low performance rate from the workforce of the company as well as the deterioration of the quality level of their product lines in the market. The fast-paced growth of Sony in the past years, while leaving their internal condition to remain untouched, provided inefficiencies on the part of their workforce as the responsibility of one another can no longer be performed as efficient as before, and low product quality as the said inefficiencies on their workforce started to reflect on the quality level of their product lines. This is the main reason why Sony Corporation suffers from return on investment and profit on its operation as their customers shift to the side of their competitors since the latter already have relatively technologically advanced product lines in the market compared to Sony Corporation. In order to provide a long term solution to this problem of Sony Corporation, it is a must for the management of the said company to expand their workforce either by adding new positions to reinforce the key positions in the company or hire more workers to delegate the tasks optimally among their workforce. But at present, Sony Corporation is applying short term solutions to these problems through the use of evaluation tools as discussed on the previous part of this paper. First, the ICT Supplier Self Assessment Questionnaire provided solution on securing the quality of their supplier’s products which later on be used on the production process of Sony. With the ICT Supplier Self Assessment Questionnaire, Sony can monitor if whether the supplies of their suppliers are substandard or complies with the Electronic Industry Code of Conduct which sets up the standards for electronic products in the market (Greenwald 2005: 2). Sony Corporation can now minimize the incidence of product malfunction or substandard components of their product lines just like what happened to the batteries of Sony’s laptop that exploded due to overheating. ICT Supplier Self Assessment Questionnaire will improve the quality of Sony’s product line even up to a small degree since it only solves their problem on the side of their supplier and not the root of the problem which still lies on the internal stability of their workforce. With the rise of ICT Supplier Self Assessment Questionnaire and Electronic Industry Code of Conduct, cases of substandard electronic products in the market will be minimized leading for Sony to improve the quality level of its products (United Nations Environment Program 2005: 1). In this regard, through the use of ICT Supplier Self Assessment Questionnaire, Sony Corporation manages to improve the quality of their product lines even up to a small degree. On the other hand, the balance scorecard of Sony Corporation provides enough room for the said company to improve the quality of their workforce’s performance since the company can determine if whether a group or department already performs outside the boundaries of their vision and corporate strategies. There are times wherein the misalignment of Sony Corporation’s products to their vision and corporate strategies roots on the inefficient performance of workforce of a given department or group, and balance scorecard can determine if whether a given group of Sony Corporation performs inefficiently based from the evaluation of the products being produced by that given group. Through this, Sony Corporation can easily determine which group among its companies needs to undergo workforce expansion to solve the said inefficiency of their workers. In this regard, the balance scorecard provides two services to Sony Corporation, evaluation of their product’s performance in the market and its alignment to the vision and corporate strategies of the company, and on which group of the company needs workforce expansion in order to improve the quality of their product lines just like what happened to Sony Ericsson phone in the market (Esato. com 2007: 1). Solutions In order for Sony Corporation to have long term solution to their problem regarding the misalignment of their market and internal expansion as the consequence of their fast-paced growth, it is advisable for them to expand their workforce either by adding new positions into their organization structure to optimally delegate the tasks among the workers of the company; or, the management could hire more workers that will handle the additional responsibilities provided by the market expansion of the company. Furthermore, through adding new position to the organization structure to various business groups of Sony Corporation, e. g. executive assistants will give their key executives to delegate some of the less important tasks and responsibilities to their assistants so they can concentrate to more responsibilities. The divisional organization structure of Sony Corporation will still be used in the organization design of Sony under the said strategy considering that it is the only organization design that fits to the business nature of Sony Corporation as discussed on the previous part of this paper. On the other hand, with regards to hiring more workers that will be responsible on shouldering the additional tasks provided by the market expansion of Sony Corporation, this will provide Sony with enough room to improve the efficiency of their workforce as every person on their workforce can now perform their responsibilities to their optimal level since tasks are now well distributed on their workforce. At the end of the day, these strategies will improve the quality of Sony’s workforce and so with the quality of their products. The only problem with hiring of additional workers would be the fact that it is costly to hire more workers for the company considering that Sony is presently suffering from low profitability in the market compared to adding new position to the organization structure of Sony Corporation. Recommendation Both of the above mentioned strategies provides same improvement on lifting the efficiency of Sony Corporation’s workforce and boosting its product quality level, but in terms of costs on the part of the company, adding new positions to the organization structure of Sony is relatively cheaper than hiring more workers. In this regard, alongside with the performance evaluation tools of Sony Corporation, it is a must for their management to add new positions into the divisional organization structure of the company to provide long term solution on their low quality product in terms of technology and improving the efficiency of their workforce considering the extent of their market expansion in the global market. Conclusion With the misalignment of market and internal expansion of Sony Corporation due to its fast-paced growth in the international market, it provided various problems into the said company. Technological advancement of Sony’s products drops while the efficiency of its workforce decline due to the significant increase on tasks and responsibilities on the workplace caused by the fast-paced growth of Sony in the recent years. Through adding new positions on the organization structure of Sony, it can already improve the efficiency of its workforce and so with the rate of its product line’s technological advancement in the market.

Ansoff Matrix Essay

Ansoff Matrix 3 BY arnab007 The Ansoff Matrix Providing strategic options is a role of the marketing plan, but how does the marketing team come up with bright ideas? Fortunately there is a simple tool that can help – the Ansoff Matrix. Developed in 1957 it still holds true today – a 2 x 2 matrix that guides planners in coming up with options. Basically, it gives you four options dependent on two variables – developing new products or entering new markets. New product development and entering new markets involve expense and therefore risk. They also produce risk to your brand – if an undertakers’ firm were to branch out into whoopee cushions their credibility as an undertaker would be scarred! Therefore, the further down or right on the grid you go, the higher the risk. When is a product entirely new or when is it Just an amendment? That is subjective, so Judgement must be used – a car manufacturer producing a new model probably doesn’t count as â€Å"new’ but if that same company were to launch a mission to Mars it may well do†¦ There is no guarantee of success for any plan, as highlighted below: Market Penetration You stay with the same product and keep selling it to the same people. So how do you grow? The answer comes from adjusting the marketing mix – maybe promoting yourself better, making the product better or lowering the price. It is the least risky option, but consequently is likely to reap the least reward. A good example of market penetration is Fuller’s London Pride – once a regional ale in the South East but now the best selling cask ale in the I-JK (CAMRA). They have done this by relying on a high quality product but increasing promotional activity – articularly advertising connected with sports events. On the other side is Rover – they kept selling similar cars to the same market but Just lost touch. The product was well-overtaken and badly promoted, and the results are there for all to see. The moral of the story? Even if you do nothing, make sure you do something! Product Development If you have a well-respected brand with your customers, it may be possible to sell them other things. This is probably the most common option to head in as companies can use the good will they have in the market to generate credibility. As long as the ew product in question isn’t too left-field, customers will like it. uality pens. For many people a Mont Blanc is the pen to have. The trouble is, once you have a fountain pen, ballpoint and a pencil, that is it. Mont Blanc’s quality means you may have the same pen for life, so you will never buy anything from them again. As a result, Mont Blanc decided to start selling you other things: cuff links, wallets, notebooks and so on. The same high quality prestige brand transferred to other products with great success. Possibly the world’s best-known brand got it seriously wrong when they launched a ew product . Coca Cola’s premium bottled water, Dasani, was launched their existing I-JK consumer market, but unfortunately they got it very wrong. Dasani was little more than bottled tap water and the fall-out hit Coca Cola hard. It wasn’t Coke’s first time though after the New Coca Cola debacle nearly ruined them. If you are going to launch a new product, make sure that it reflects your brand and won’t damage what you already have. Market Development Selling the same product to a new market is a tricky proposition, but a number of companies have done it very well. Guinness, Lucozade and Skoda have all managed to salvage weak brands by launching them into a new market. However the most successful repositioning was Sony PlayStation – a repositioning that was pre-planned, not firefighting. Sony had planned to sell PlayStations to children then, once the product life cycle had reached maturity, relaunch in the adult market – enter Lara Croft. Failed repositionings litter the history of marketing but, for me, the most interesting is that of cricket. Some marketing chaps went to America, saw baseball and thought Wow! That will make cricket trendy! Cricket clubs suddenly had silly names like Scorpions (what on Earth have scorpions got to do with Derbyshire anyway) and music was blasted out every time a run was scored. The youth market was not impressed. It was only when the core product was improved that cricket’s popularity returned – thanks be to Freddy Flintoff and co. Diversification So, you know nothing about the mark et you are selling to or about the product you are launching. Sounds like a recipe for disaster†¦ The risks of diversification are otentially grave, but the rewards can be enormous. Caterpillar used to make yellow diggers and bulldozers and sold them to construction companies. Now they sell boots to young adult consumers. Apple used to sell computers to graphic designers. Now they adorn the belt of Just about every 16-24 year old in the country with the iPod. The reward has been easy to see. When diversification goes wrong, you can be left with a feeling of: â€Å"What were they thinking? † Sir Clive Sinclair produced and sold one of the first home entertainment transport. Still, a C5 can be worth a fortune on EBay.

Encompass Technologies Inc International Venture Research Paper

Encompass Technologies Inc International Venture - Research Paper Example Market research and analysis shows that in order to increase profits in general, Encompasses Technologies Inc needs to venture into international markets. Focused groups have found that we need to go global in order to expand our target audience and broaden our market share. Going beyond Mexico will allow Encompass Technologies Inc to expand its expertise in its technological area. A global venture will keep us from losing our customers who are looking online for computer services. The venture is meant to offset domestic markets reliance that sometimes limits the company’s profit margin due to an increase in target consumers willing to purchase the products. A venture like this will lead to greater prospects for absence of seasonal fluctuation. The decision to venture into new markets must be taken with caution considering the many hurdles of setting up in a new environment. But because Encompass has reached a phase of growth it can start the development of international business. Good communication will help us plan and come up with ideal strategies on how to enter new markets. Market globalization is to our advantage because more and more people internationally are demanding for computer products and services. The environmental analysis will assist us identify the opportunities our organization has and we can use our main strength product quality and fair pricing to acquire a broad market share. While our competitors may be ahead of us in penetrating the market out selection criteria chosen will assist us identify the gap-an untapped market niche -whatever the country. Thanks to our R&D team and technology we have adequate information on our target market and we can start planning our marketing strategy. The marketing mix will rely heavily on how much we are ready to put in foreign markets. The monitoring team that will follow performance tests before actually venturing into the markets can cover uncertainties. If Encompass focuses its energy now in venturing into international markets it will acquire rapid response because there is ready market in the developing countries. These countries are embracing technology at a high rate creating high demand for computer services. The creativity of this company has placed it to the top and by venturing into international markets Encompass will increase its profit margin as it broadens its market share.

Philosophy Ethics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Philosophy Ethics - Essay Example Mill explained this rule with the aid of the principle of utility. According to this principle which is also sometimes referred to as the principle of happiness, for a person to be happy himself he should consider the happiness of others to be as important as his own happiness (Mills 1867). This philosophy of happiness was further explained by John Stuart Mill with the assistance of his theories by putting forward the rules of thumb. The reason for presenting these rules was that Mill argued that a person should not misunderstand the meaning of happiness. These rules were used by him to support the theory of maximizing happiness and provide an insight into the meaning of this principle. These rules encompass the aspects of this principle to cover the features and the characteristics which should be understood about it. The rules of thumb were to be always considered to reach to a proper conclusion as to what happiness actually is. According to these rules, it is through knowledge and learning that a person actually gets to know that what act will bring about the maximum happiness. The reason behind this is that it is through awareness of the developing of humans and human nature that one can understand that what act is morally correct and will actually bring about the maximum happiness for the maximum number of people. These rules also present that a person should increase his level when thinking about happiness. That is happiness should not be restricted to certain things. A person should search for happiness in everything that surrounds him. These things can range from nature to music to history and art. That is a person should be learned and it is through his knowledge that he will be able to find happiness in all these things. An example of education can be considered here as to how much educated an individual is to know about certain facts about life. Being educated would help an individual to distinguish between the higher and lower pleasures in terms of happiness. He would understand as to which pleasures are attainable and which are not. With appropriate education the individuals are able to experience both the lower and higher forms of pleasure through which they can decide as to what they would prefer. With enough education one can know about different things existing in the world and thus individuals can then decide as to which happiness they really want. (Mills 1867; Steward & Blocker 2005). To make his theory even better understood Mill clearly presented the exceptions that implied to this rule of happiness. He explained that though acts like lying and murder are considered to be wrong under normal circumstances but these acts become acceptable under certain conditions. An example to this can be that when a person has to protect himself from a murderer he has a right to act in self defense. Another example which can be considered is a person can lie when the person has to conceal some information from someone who might misuse it and cause great harm. Mill is quoted as â€Å"Actions are right in proportion as they tend to promote happiness; wrong as they tend to produce the reverse of happiness. By happiness is intended pleasure and the absence of pain† (Mill 1986 ii). According to the utilitarian position, it is the consequences of an act that matter the most. In this regard, John Stuart Mill who was a