We have looked at many different types of courtship and we have seen the different parts that convention plays in each one Essay Example For Students

We have looked at many different types of courtship and we have seen the different parts that convention plays in each one Essay We have looked at many different types of courtship and we have seen the different parts that convention plays in each one. We started off with Trianspotting and looked at the part that convention played when the lead character, Renton is trying to charm Diane. We see that Renton goes against all conventions and complements her on something other than her looks. He says: I was very impressed by the capable and stylish manner in which you dealt with that situation. In this instance Renton is somewhat unconventional in his courtship. His first remarks to Diane are unusually wordy and they fail to mention the one thing that he is struck by, namely, her appearance. His courtship at this stage is insincere. Diane brushes him off, as she is used to men chatting her up. Nevertheless, once Renton gets into the taxi with her, Diane takes the initiative and kisses Renton. In this courtship the messages are ambiguous. First she brushes him off, and then she kisses him. They have sex, and afterwards Renton says, Christ I havent felt that good since Archie Gemmil scored against Holland in 1978. This remark suggests that football and sex with a pretty girl are equally important in his life. I think that this is quite a convincing portrayal of courtship nowadays. We will write a custom essay on We have looked at many different types of courtship and we have seen the different parts that convention plays in each one specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now The next morning Renton is shocked to see Diane wearing her school uniform. He realises that he had sex with an underage girl, and that means that he has committed a criminal act. Diane immediately takes the upper hand as Renton is so frightened off by the prospect of police action, theyd cut my balls off and flush them down the fucking toilet. Diane exploits her dominant position by blackmailing him into seeing her again. This courtship has one striking unconventional feature. Within a short space of time each person reverses his or her role: Diane wasnt keen to start the relationship but she wants to see him again; Renton tried to chat her up in the first place and now he is trying to escape. We also looked at a few extracts from Jane Austens Pride and Prejudice. We first looked at the scene when Mr Bingley and his good friend Mr Darcy come to look at a vacant house near the Bennet house. When the extract starts we see Mrs. Bennet rush into the room where Mr. Bennet is sitting and announces that someone has moved into the vacant house across them. She says that it is a fine thing for our girls! this shows that Mrs. Bennet is not concerned much about the personality about the man but about how big his fortune is. When we meet Mr Bingley we can see that he is a nice man and he has a friend called Mr Darcy who has an even bigger fortune than Mr Bingley so he is now the front-runner for Mr and Mrs Bennets daughters. In this extract the convention of courtship could not be more different to what occurs in Trainspotting. In Pride and Prejudice the young ladies rely on their parents to make all of the introductions. Furthermore, the parents consider which men are considered eligible bachelors and which are not. In those days financial security was considered to be one of the most important factors. In Trainspotting the man and woman introduce themselves and have sex without even knowing each other. In Pride and Prejudice there is no mention whatsoever of sex, which presumably can only take place after marriage. Nevertheless, some conventions never change since Mr Darcy dismisses Elizabeth the moment he sets eyes upon her. Clearly, even in Jane Austens time women were judged in the first instance by their appearance. The relationship between Mr Darcy and Elizabeth at the first stage of their courtship is very restrained. He judges her and he is ascendant Trainspotting he judges her but then the girl quickly gains authority over Renton. Mr Collins proposal follows a textbook convention; as if he is following a manual. First he obtains Mrs Bennets permission to propose to Elizabeth. Then he sets out his reasons for marriage as if he were arranging a business transaction. In order to impress Elizabeth he refers to Lady Catherine de Bourgh a lot which shows his connections to the upper classes. .uc617e7decc4d40ebdc81c4f7c3c26ae7 , .uc617e7decc4d40ebdc81c4f7c3c26ae7 .postImageUrl , .uc617e7decc4d40ebdc81c4f7c3c26ae7 .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .uc617e7decc4d40ebdc81c4f7c3c26ae7 , .uc617e7decc4d40ebdc81c4f7c3c26ae7:hover , .uc617e7decc4d40ebdc81c4f7c3c26ae7:visited , .uc617e7decc4d40ebdc81c4f7c3c26ae7:active { border:0!important; } .uc617e7decc4d40ebdc81c4f7c3c26ae7 .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .uc617e7decc4d40ebdc81c4f7c3c26ae7 { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .uc617e7decc4d40ebdc81c4f7c3c26ae7:active , .uc617e7decc4d40ebdc81c4f7c3c26ae7:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .uc617e7decc4d40ebdc81c4f7c3c26ae7 .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .uc617e7decc4d40ebdc81c4f7c3c26ae7 .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .uc617e7decc4d40ebdc81c4f7c3c26ae7 .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .uc617e7decc4d40ebdc81c4f7c3c26ae7 .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .uc617e7decc4d40ebdc81c4f7c3c26ae7:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .uc617e7decc4d40ebdc81c4f7c3c26ae7 .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .uc617e7decc4d40ebdc81c4f7c3c26ae7 .uc617e7decc4d40ebdc81c4f7c3c26ae7-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .uc617e7decc4d40ebdc81c4f7c3c26ae7:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: Frankenstein typical of the gothic genre EssayMr Collins proposal is most unconventional because he never says anything about Elizabeth. Furthermore it seems most unromantic to court a woman by asking her to consider her position when her father and mother die. It is difficult to imagine anything so different to how things develop in Trainspotting. When Elizabeth rejects Mr Collins, he returns to the beginning of his textbook and tries again to propose to Elizabeth but this time with a little more feeling but still as if he were following his manual. Mr Darcys proposal contains no talk of business and has more feeling. In a general sense Mr Darcy uses a more unconventional approach. Mr Darcys courtship is more complex, since on one hand he expresses himself with more feeling than Mr Collins, but on the other hand he addresses Elizabeth as if she were inferior. Furthermore, his courtship is unconventional due to their different social classes Could you expect me to rejoice in the inferiority of your connections? Mr Darcy is actually hypocritical in proposing to Elizabeth, since he had tried his utmost to prevent Mr Bingley from marrying Elizabeths sister on the grounds that Jane was socially inferior to Mr Bingley. It appears that there is one rule for Mr Bingley and another rule for Mr Darcy. I have no wish of denying, I did everything in my power to separate my friend from your sister, or that I rejoice in my success. In Pride and Prejudice it is evident from Mrs Bennets concern over her daughters that a woman who was still unmarried at the age of twenty-four was considered in danger of becoming a spinster. However, in Trainspotting it is clear from the age and status of Rentons friends that twenty-four years of age is still considered young and young and reasonable for an unmarried woman. In this sonnet by Drayton a different type of courtship is desired. Drayton follows the convention of expressing love in the form of a sonnet his purpose is to seduce a woman. He uses language most romantically Me thinks this time becommeth lovers best; He even uses the word ordaind to suggest that religion would not oppose them spending the night together. He talks about romantic subjects and how the night separates them and not about how the woman may not actually want to be with him at night. He has stuck to the convention of putting charming words and phrases in his sonnet such as returns unto his love to ensure that the woman will be seduced by the end of the sonnet. Drayton addresses the lady as Deere and the poem is written as if he is talking directly to his lover, this is just the kind of romantic intimacy that Shakespeare has inverted the usual sensual descriptions of a mistress so that her breasts are dun. Shakespeares rhyming scheme and use of iambic pentameter is the same as Draytons, yet it achieves the opposite effect. The very first line of Shakespeares sonnet is obviously a parody. My mistress eyes are nothing like the sun; It would be more conventional to write that, my mistress eyes are like the Sun. The word nothing in this context is entirely unromantic and unconventional for a sonnet. We then looked at Shakespeares sonnet that is conventional in form but quite unconventional in content, he talks about how the womans hair is as thick as wires and her breath reeks. He has written a parody of a normal sonnet and has turned the content around to demean of women. He has also stuck to the strict form for sonnets, as he wants it to be recognised as such. We also looked at Tony Kytes à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" The Arch Deceiver this has a big shift in prospective as there is a narrator that is telling the story in first person. Which is different to all of the other pieces of prose that we looked at, in Trainspotting there was a narrator but it was not in first person and the extracts of Pride and Prejudice that we looked at were all in third person. This story is all in first person of the narrator and in third person of Tony. .u69387559288645cb98b36b98a05a613c , .u69387559288645cb98b36b98a05a613c .postImageUrl , .u69387559288645cb98b36b98a05a613c .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .u69387559288645cb98b36b98a05a613c , .u69387559288645cb98b36b98a05a613c:hover , .u69387559288645cb98b36b98a05a613c:visited , .u69387559288645cb98b36b98a05a613c:active { border:0!important; } .u69387559288645cb98b36b98a05a613c .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .u69387559288645cb98b36b98a05a613c { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .u69387559288645cb98b36b98a05a613c:active , .u69387559288645cb98b36b98a05a613c:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .u69387559288645cb98b36b98a05a613c .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .u69387559288645cb98b36b98a05a613c .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .u69387559288645cb98b36b98a05a613c .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .u69387559288645cb98b36b98a05a613c .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .u69387559288645cb98b36b98a05a613c:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .u69387559288645cb98b36b98a05a613c .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .u69387559288645cb98b36b98a05a613c .u69387559288645cb98b36b98a05a613c-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .u69387559288645cb98b36b98a05a613c:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: Ibsen's "A Doll's House", Act Two Scene 6 EssayThe story is very contradictory, Tony is a serious person but he is very interested in women and they do not take him very seriously we can know this when the narrator says he loved them in shoals. When Tony is finally fixed down he if fixed with Milly, who sound very gullible and naÃÆ' ¯ve, she has been taken in by Tonys promise of marriage. Just as in Pride and Prejudice, all of the women mentioned all look good, it seems that all of the women have been primarily judged by their looks, handsome girl is used to describe Tonys ex girlfriend Unity. When the story journey starts unity is the first girl that we meet and we see that she is quite a nice looking girl and the narrator mentions that Tony used to go out with her and was close to marrying her. When she goes into the carriage she instantly starts questioning Tony about his choice. We can see that Tony is quite affected by Unitys looks, he let his eyes light on her this shows that he may be reconsidering his marriage proposal to Milly. When he sees Milly walking down the road he suddenly asks Unity to get into the back of the carriage and in return he tells her that he may reconsider his proposal to Milly. We then see that one of Tonys first girlfriends is walking down the road and she asks for a lift. The only way that he was able to get Milly in the back of the carriage in the empty sack was to use their marriage and his proposal as a bargaining tool Now, Milly would you do me a favour à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" my coming wife as I may say? The reason that they accept this is that they will have a husband and for this they will do anything. When he tells Hannah that he may marry her and break things off with Milly. Milly hears this and starts to make noises as if it were to warn Tony that she is there and he should not say anything like that. n the next part Tony starts to wonder why he ever thought of asking Milly or Unity to marry him as Hannah is so attractive. Even now the appearance counts for most of the decision in which woman Tony wants to marry. Tony is very conventional as he knows exactly what the woman wants to hear and he uses this fully to his advantage. This story captures properly the excitement of youth romance and how it is based on looks and not on personality. When we get the first description of Milly it says that she is described as light and small which are not the best descriptions for an attractive woman. Tony is able to juggle with the three women in his wagon quite well as he lasts quite a long time without them even noticing each other with this the reader is always left guessing what will happen next in the minute of the story. We can see that the courtship that has taken place is quite unconventional as the girl that Tony finally marries has accepted him after all of the other girls have declined him and she has no spirit and says yes to him. That was the last piece that we looked at and I can see that convention plays a very big part in courtship as it can be used well to your advantage Tony and it can be used very badly Mr Collins.

New Year Eve in Different Countries Essays

New Year Eve in Different Countries Essays New Year Eve in Different Countries Essay New Year Eve in Different Countries Essay Julia Deegan Ngan Do Eva Fraga November 15, 2012 Compare and Contrast New Year Eve in Different Countries Wouldnt it be fun to travel around the world and celebrate the New Year all year long? All over the world, people celebrate the New Year; This is one of the oldest of all holidays. Most New Year celebrations focus on family and friends, food and traditions, but not all of the celebrations take place on the same day or in the same way! Because people in different parts of the world use different alendars, accordingly, Mexico and Ukraine celebrate the New Year on the first day of January, whereas Vietnam keeps a lunar calendar. In Mexico and Ukraine official date of New Year celebrations is from December thirty-first to January first. Vietnamese New Year takes place from the first day of the first month of the Lunar calendar, and its around late January or early February, until at least the third day. New Year Eve is a time for families and friends to be tog ether. And while it has its traditions, this holiday is not so family-oriented in Mexico. A lot of people in Mexico are going to the beach and looking for a good time. On the other hand, for Ukrainian and Vietnamese people, it is a time for family reunions, they waiting for relatives to return home and gather around the table. Whether you celebrate with family or friends, New Years Eve dinner is usually a feast. The glasses are filled with champagne in every home, and that makes Mexico, Ukraine, and Vietnam look alike, however, the traditional New Years Eve food in Mexico, Ukraine, and Vietnam is different. In Mexico oast turkey or stuffed pork loin with pasta in a creamy sauce and a salad are favorites, whereas, fried sausages, cabbage rolls, jellied meats, vareniki, holubtsi and borsch are favorites in Ukraine. In Vietnam a special rice pudding with mung beans and pork, sweet beef, chicken, fish, and especially watermelon are eaten at New Year. Traditional Christmas Tree with toys and fireworks is a symbol of the New Year in Mexico and Ukraine, exception Vietnam. The last day of the year a plant such as the bamboo tree is planted in the ourtyard of Vietnamese homes. They decorate the tree with bells, flowers, and red streamers. The decorations are not for decorative purposes, but are to guard the family against evil spirits. In conclusion, the people in different parts of the world use different calendars. Some people celebrate the New Year with their friends, and other with their relatives. Mexico, Ukraine and Vietnam have different traditional meals, but every country enjoys this time of the year with their unusual for other countries food.

Read 3 Stories and Indentify the Dominant Style of Leadership Essay

Read 3 Stories and Indentify the Dominant Style of Leadership - Essay Example On the second article, â€Å"Taking on Additional Responsibilities†, Jim Madison exemplifies the leader member exchange style or LMX. The theory of this said practice involves the dyadic relationship of leaders with specific key individuals in his group, and provides them more responsibilities and favors than the rest. This inner circle of followers or in-group, as represented by Shirley, Patti, Ted and Jana, are inclined to prove themselves to their leader by working harder and show commitment and loyalty to the organization, hence preparing them to be suitable candidates to take the role of the leader in the future. On the other hand, the out-group are the followers that prefer to work without expecting any indebtedness from the leader in return and regard the later with outmost formality. Lastly, Dr. Cook the article â€Å"Students Dig It† illustrates a transformational style of leadership. A transformational leader demonstrates the ability to inspire and motivate people in completing a task through leading by example. This type of leader listens to what his followers are thinking and ensure their well-being in every aspect. In return, the followers’ morale increases while their talents developed and eventually accomplishes their tasks with minimal supervision. (Martindale,

Personal history Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Personal history - Essay Example It was my first Monday at work after a happy long vacation. I was walking through the aisle of my Walgreens, when I suddenly heard from the Vitamin’s aisle a sweet voice of a little Cuban girl. ‘Mami, mami, manana es tu cumpleanos (mom, mom, tomorrow is your birthday)!’ said the little girl with a huge smile and happiness in her face. In that moment, a rush of emotion invaded my mind, and I could not stop the tears of my eyes falling to the floor. As I was looking at the mother’s girl with an immense smile, I saw a cheerful girl during the spring of 2000 in Cuba, when I was only 10 year old, and I saw the radiant smile of the woman who gave me life. In that age, I had a straight black hair, brown eyes and rep lips. Although I was a skinny and stylish girl like a Barbies’ model, I did not like to brush my hair and dress up my bed in the mornings, and every day I was waiting for make a new mischief with my friends at school. In that time of my life, my favorite place was a little space that I created for myself with rocks and small pieces of wood at the back yard of my home. I was the leader there! My school friends and I went to there to do homework, study for the tests, make some food and of course, play games endlessly. I had a very unique family. I lived with my father my brother and my Queen: my mother. She was my teacher, my best friend and my witness. Always, every single plan that I did, I had told her before. I almost forget! I cannot fail to mention my little and adorable Blanquito, my funny and crazy puppy! These are some of my most precious treasures of memories, but the storm that would come and the darkness that would surround me, along with the anguish and pain that destroyed my heart would forever leave me wanting to see her face again. Mum had been seriously ill in the days leading up to her painful demise. In the latter days, as her condition grew worse, my

Non organic growth strategy

Non organic growth strategy Abstract : As microfinance industry has been growing rapidly, in many places the market of this sector becomes relatively mature and lies in competitive situation. Some of microfinance institutions start thinking, exploring and doing non organic growth strategies. This paper presents the idea of non organic growth strategies in microfinance whether through strategic alliances or mergers and acquisitions which can be a choice for achieving rapid growth and expansion. One of the key success factors in doing such strategies in microfinance could be the comprehensive assessment to the similarities and differences of organizations characteristics, such as their structure and culture. BACKGROUND In the recent years undoubtedly that microfinance has become a diverse and growing industry. This sector has been attracting many eyes for several reasons. One of the reasons can be said that on one side microfinance business is not only based on financial motive, but also on other side used as means for social development, as many called double bottom line principal. Many microfinance institutions (MFIs) have been placing and operating the business in the area where there has been potential market of microenterprises and low-income households. Consultative Group to Assist The Poor (2010) , broadly defined microfinance institution (MFI) is as an organization that deals with the provision of financial services mainly for the benefit of the poor. These organizations vary in their legal structure, mission, and methodology. Generally there are four categories of microfinance providers, namely informal, member-owned organizations, NGOs and Formal financial institutions ,such as Regulated MFI and Commercial Bank (Helms, 2006). All categories of those microfinance institutions are struggling to grow and survive in the arena. As the market is facing the maturity and fierce competition, many microfinance institutions keep trying to expand their portfolio by providing financial services to a larger number of clients while at the same time fulfilling an MFIs social mission. Some of them explore to alternative means for reaching rapid growth by formulating and doing better strategies. They have been trying to adapt non organic growth strategies whether through doing strategic alliances or mergers and acquisitions. Generally speaking in the world of business, we have been witnessing with a lot of examples of many firms achieving growth by creating alliances/collaboration with other parties and mergers and acquisitions. Both strategies are common done by many firms in the world since these can help the firms to covering each own weaknesses and combining each own different resources as well as facing challenges much more powerful. But in microfinance those two kind of strategies are still newly developed. In authors opinion, the issue of non organic growth strategy chosen by MFI whether they want to decide to do strategic alliance/collaboration or merger and acquisition is interesting due to the fact of unique characteristics of the players in microfinance arena as mentioned above. For example, we find that Microfinance Formal Financial Institution (MFIF) comparing to Microfinance NGO is more financially oriented rather than socially. In MFIF, the organization goals are always associated with the financial indicators and sales indicators. Whereas in microfinance NGOs are closely related to the non financial changes, particularly in the social changes of community, such as household income changes, effects of loan to women empowerment, health etc. These differences are very important to be understood considering that the differences inherent to those two institutions will affect to the successful or the failure of doing non organic growth strategic. Therefore,this paper presents the idea for MFIs, mainly for MFIF and Microfinance NGO types, in choosing such non organic growth strategies, whether they want to create a strategic alliance or merger and acquisition. The structure of this paper will be presented as follows : Section 1 provides the background regarding to authors opinion to raise the issue of non organic growth strategy in microfinance. The section 2 elaborates the conceptual background about the definition of strategic alliance and the merger and acquisition, and points out motives and diffrences behinds these strategies as well as the explanation of success keys. Then institutional features of players in microfinance arena is presented in the section 3. In the section 4, we try to give the idea to answer the question which strategy chosen by MFIs based on the different characteristics of those non organic growth strategies and distinctive features of microfinance institutions as explained in section 2 and 3, and thi s section leads to the conclusion as section 5. At the end references are appeared in the section 6. The limitation of this paper is not addressing the issue of alliances or mergers and acquisitions between MFIs which formed in informal and member-owned organizations or cooperatives. This paper only focuses on the basic idea of doing alliances or mergers and acquisition for MFIFs and NGOs form and doesnt explain quantitatively in details. Conceptual Background The words of organic growth and non-organic (external) growth are common known in the corporate growth discussion. Organic growth is usually defined as a companys growth rate excluding any scale increases from takeovers, acquisitions, or mergers. Growth of this type is also referred to as a companys core growth. Organic growth is generated, for example, by selling more product (services as well) to current customers, selling product to new customers, or selling product at a higher price ( Dalton and Dalton, 2006) .Whereas non organic growth obviously can be defined as a strategy to obtain companys growth through alliances, mergers and acquisition and takeovers. Many firms decide to do alliances /collaboration or merger acquisition to survive and to grow rather than to run business relying on the individual efforts. These non growth strategies are done by many firms to form powerful energy in managing difference resources owned by each party. As Zhiang et al (2009) notes that resources are heterogeneously distributed across firms, therefore some important internal resources can be obtained from external sources via inter organizational relationships such as alliances, or by engaging in mergers and acquisitions. Compared to internal development or organic growth, strategic alliances as well as mergers and acquisitions strategy is a much faster way to build organic capabilities. Strategic Alliances A strategic alliance is defined as an arrangement between two or more independent companies that decide to carry out a project or operate in a specific business area by coordinating the necessary skills and resources jointly rather than operating on their own or merging their operations (Dussauge et al,1999) . It can be a contractual arrangement to collaborate on one or all levels without any intended change in organization legal structure (McCarter, 2002). Strategic alliance occurs for a certain period of time whether short or long time. According to Koza and Lewin (1998), there are two main motivations for the decision of doing alliances, namely exploitative and exploratory. Exploitative means that in the agreed alliance, each party seeks to leverage their own resources and capabilities in order to enhance revenue or reduce cost, whereas exploratory each collaborating party willing to create new opportunities, markets, product and technologies. From the conceptual point of view, Sudarsanam (2003) lists some factors potentially conducive to successful alliances: Each party should bring complimentary skills, capabilities and market to the alliance Market overlap between partners should be minimal to avoid conflict of interest Alliance should be based on balance of business strength and ownership interest among partners The alliance must have a degree of autonomy with strong leadership and continual commitment and support The alliance must build up trust and confidence between the partners and not depend only contractual right and obligations Divergence of management styles and corporate culture must be handled with sensitivity, and a new common style and culture distinct. Merger and Acquisition Merger and acquisition is defined as the combination of two companies or firms to achieve certain strategic and business objectives forming a great significance transaction not only to the companies but also to many constituencies, such as share holder, workers, managers, competitors, communities as well as the economy as whole (Sudarsanam, 2003). Schoenberg (2003) notes that firms often use mergers and acquisitions in order to achieve such diverse strategic goals , for example, increasing market power, expanding to new product markets or geographical territories, or gaining access to valuable resources. From this point, even though it seems we can see that strategic alliance and mergers and acquistions have the similar purpose but we noticed that mergers and acquisitions may create some different change concerning the business, organization, ownership and legal status in the result company. Furthermore, Damodaran (2002) describes the term of merger,consolidation, tender offer, acquisition and buy out as all parts of merger and acquisition parlances, and a firm can be combined by another firm by 5 ways : Mergers , when a target firm become part of acquiring firm and stockholder approval needed from both firms. Consolidation, when target firm and acquiring firm become new firm and stockholder approval needed from both firms. Tender offer, when firm continues to exist, as long as there are dissident stockholders holding out. Successful tender offers ultimately become mergers and no shareholder approval is needed. Acquisition of asset , when target firm remains as shell company, but its assets are transferred to the acquiring firm and ultimately target firm is liquidated. Buy Out, when target firm continues to exist but as a private business usually accomplished with tender offer. There are several and diverse motives for mergers and acquisitions, Johnson et al (2005) grouped under three headings. They are environment, strategic capability and expectations: Environment. The need to keep up with a changing environment can dominate thinking about acquisitions. Some major aspects which influenced the changing environment are the need of business speed, competitive situation and deregulation. Strategic capability. Achieving cost efficiency, developing innovation and learning organization are some reasons behind mergers and acquisitions in many industries. Expectation. In some ways, stakeholders have highly expectation and interest to give insight for the growth of company. In this case, mergers and acquisition may be perceived by many stakeholders as a quick way to deliver companys growth. Mark and Mirvis (1993), from their research have summarized that one of the key success for establishing the desired combination between two companies is the assessment of two sides companys structures and cultures. They suggest that in mergers and acquisitions efforts, each party should be proactive in the pre combination phase; planning and preparation are integral to success when companies join forces At least there are different aspects to be taken into account carefully in steering a combination toward the successful path: purpose, partner, parameter and people. But it doesnt end up to the planning and preparation. The most important thing to be taken into account for achieving successful mergers and acquisitions is post-merger combination. All these efforts may help to overcome the most commonly cited reasons for failures: conflicting corporate cultures, over estimation of synergies, inadequate due diligence, slow/poor post-merger combination and poor leadership or management ( McCarter, 2002) The Differences From the explanation about two kinds of non organic growth strategy above, we can note the main difference between strategic alliances and mergers and acquisitions. It can be said that creating strategic alliances is not as difficult as mergers and acquisitions. It is because of making the mergers and acquisition work successfully is complicated process which involves not only putting two organizations together but also involves integrating people of two organizations with different cultures, attitudes and mindsets (Mallikarjunappa and Nayak, 2007). Meanwhile, in the strategic alliances, each company is still independent and it seems to need less effort in term of cost and time. Therefore, Reuer (1999) differentiates alliances and merger and acquisitions in four dimensions which strategic alliances may be preferred: Infeasibility: acquisition may not be feasible for regulatory, political or legal reasons. Information asymmetry : the partners have access to different information sets making it difficult to value their relative contributions Indigestibility: post mergers and acquisition integration of the acquirer and the acquired firms poses problems so severe as to prevent value creation from the acquisition. When indigestibility is substantial, alliances can be attractive because they allow companies to link their resources selectively. Even when acquired assets can be divested this alliance advantage remains. Strategic flexibility: it is more important than commitment of the partners. Now, how we relate this conceptual background of those strategy into the idea of impelementing these to the microfinance industry. However, we should better know the two kind of institutional features of microfinance as explained below. Institutional Features : MFIFs and MFI NGOs As mentioned in the previous page, there are some players in the microfinance arena and they obviously have different characteristics. However, there are basically two main different characteristics in the discussion about players in microfinance industry, namely for profit or financially oriented, and non profit or socially oriented The financially oriented institution, mainly private enterprises/ companies, could be Microfinance Formal financial institutions (MFIF) such as bank and regulated MFI or non bank financial institution. Mean while the socially oriented institutions, most of them are NGOs. What makes different between two types of MFIs? It may be better to look at a table presented by Estallo et al (2006) indicating the differences between private enterprise and NGO types: All these factors make different structure and culture of those two organizations. In the case of MFIs, another important distinctive feature between private MFIFs and MFI NGOs is concerning with the ownership. As Lauer (2008) stated that ownership structure is one of the critical issues to consider in the specific context of each type transformation of such institution. MFIs ownership structure encompasses the ensemble of mechanism by which stakeholders define and pursue the institution vision and mission and ensure its sustainability. Alliances or Merger and Acquisitions ? As whole, from the conceptual background section, we have seen that strategic alliances and mergers and acquisitions might have some similarities and some principally differences. In other section, we have also already known the main difference characteristics of the microfinance players. Then now it raises a question how does an MFI choose a choice between two? MFIF NGO Alliances There have been some evidences that alliances can help the collaborative firms or institution to expand its business. Strategic alliances are able to scale up access to financial services in rural areas in term of the outreach to new clients and markets as well as the introduction of new products (Gallardo et al, 2006). Rondinelli and London (2003) noted that Alliances, in fact, may be the only option for companies interested in accessing the knowledge held by (NGOs), since internal development of such expertise may be too costly, inefficient and time-consuming for most companies and merger with or acquisition of an (NGO) is highly unlikely. While Kramer and Kania (2006) also stated with a similar view that nonprofits often have much deeper comprehension to solve the social problems, which enables them to help companies determining comprehensive strategies and set more ambitious and goals. Strategic alliances are also important in the public sector as a means of addressing particula r social outcomes (Johnson et al, 2005). This also could happen in the alliance MFIF-NGO. Dahan et al (2009) gives examples of MFIF NGO strategic alliances. HSBC Amanah (HSBCs global Islamic banking division) has partnered with, an international development and relief organization, the Islamic Relief, to provide financial services to Muslims in accordance with Islamic Shariah law. Another example is In Dominica. MasterCard builds on an affinity card relationship with Banco Popular Dominicano and Asociacion para el Desarrollo de Microempresas, Inc. (ADEMI), a micro and small-scale lender .This partnership is aimed at providing unbankable entrepreneurs using MasterCard-ADEMI- BancoPopular Dominicano credit cards to withdraw cash and to pay utility and other bills in order to support the micro entrepreneurs in Dominica to run their business. However, this does not close the possibility of the combination between MFIF and NGO in mergers form. For example, McCarter (2002), gives two mergers between MFIF with NGO. In Nicaragua, the Interfin, a licensed Nicaraguan financier, in January 2000 merged with NGO Mennonite Economic Development Associates (MEDA) Chispa microcredit program, forming Financiera Confia. Another example in Guatemala, there was a merger between Bancasol, a local commercial bank, with ACCION Internationals affiliate NGO to form Genesis. Meanwhile in 2007, Sonata, a start up MFI in Northern India purchased of Jeevika Livelihood Support Organization to expand its microfinance operation (Tiwari and Chasnow, 2009). Mergers and Acquisitions between MFIF and MFIF or between NGO and NGO As stated on the previous page, making the mergers and acquisition work is complicated process rather than strategic alliances, but this doesnt mean that this strategy is far away from success. Mergers and acquisitions can be used by MFIs to create new capability to survive and achieve significance growth. Mergers and acquisitions are not only about the combination between two organizations which merely based on financial aspect but also the structure and culture of two organizations combined. It takes much more energy, cost and time. It may be the similarity of structure and culture of organization used as a good starting point to think about mergers and acquisitions in the arena of non growth strategy of MFIs. So doing MFIF-MFIF merger or NGO-NGO mergers is more appropriate combination than creating strategic alliances. However, it doesnt mean that MFIF-MFIF strategic alliances cannot be implemented to reduce the competition tension. There are some examples mergers and acquisition in the microfinance industry around the world as summarized and showed in the annex of this paper. Conclusion As the microfinance sector matures, non organic growth strategies mainly strategic alliances and mergers and acquisitions can be a choice for achieving rapid growth and expansion in microfinance. Of course, this effort actually is not easy to be implemented. But it is also not to say that making work such strategies is impossible to be realized. By analyzing the differences between two non organic growth strategies above as well as the different characteristics between MFIF and NGO, on the one hand we may conclude that strategic alliance will likely to be considered for both rather than mergers and acquisitions. However, this does not close the possibility of the combination between MFIF and NGO in mergers and acquisitions form. A strategic alliance between MFIF and NGOs is less effort in term of cost and time but still can result in the growth of the organization. On the other hand, mergers and acquisition can also be created for combining MFIF with MFIF or NGO with NGO. Some evidences showed that the similarity of the structure and culture of those organizations can be used as the good starting point to do mergers and acquisition. It is very important to be considered because mergers and acquisitions are not only about the marriage between two organizations which merely based on financial aspect but also the structure and culture of two organizations combined. One of the key success factors for the future microfinance non growth strategy should be based on the assessment of characteristics of the similarities and differences of organization (i.e structure and culture) before choosing strategic alliances or mergers and acquisitions strategy. For those microfinance organizations who intend to do a non growth organic strategy but both of them have highly different structure and culture, it may be a strategic alliance is more suitable to be created. But in the case, there are some similarities in term of organizations characteristics, merger and acquisition could be an option. REFERENCES Dussauge, O, Garrette B and Mitchell W (1999) Learning from Competing Partners: Outcomes and Duration of Scale and Link Alliances in Europe, North America and Asia, Strategic Management Journal, vol. 21, pp. 99-126. Damodaran, A. (2002), Investment Valuation , Tools and techniques for determining the value of any asset (2nd ed) , John Wiley and Son, New York. Dalton, D.R., and Dalton, Catherine M. (2006). Corporate growth: our advice to directors is to buy organic. Journal of Business Strategy, Vol .27 No.2, pp. 5-7. Dahan, Nicholas. M., Doh.Jonathan.P, Oetzel.J.,and Yazji.M.,(2009), Corporate-NGO Collaboration: co-creating new business models for developing markets, Long Range Planning. Estallo, Maria de L .A .G , Fuente., Fernando .G.D.L, and Miquela, C.G (2006), The Strategic Social Map of Nongovernmental Organization, International Advances in Economic Research, Vol.12 pp.105-114. Gallardo, J.,Goldberg,M. and Randhawa, B.,(2006), Strategic Alliances to Scale Up Financial Services in Rural Areas, World Bank Working Paper No.76, The World Bank, Washington D.C. Helms, Brigit. (2006), Access for All: Building Inclusive Financial Systems, World Bank, Washington DC. Johnson, G., Scholes, K. and Whittington, R. (2005), Exploring Corporate Strategy. Text and Cases. Seventh Edition. Prentice Hall. Koza,M.P.,and Lewin A. (1998), The co-Evolution of Strategic Alliances, Organization Science, Vol.9,pp 255-264. Kramer, M. and Kania, J.,(2006),A New Role for Non Profit , Stanford Social Innovation Review, Vol.4 No.1 pp.32-41. Lauer, K., (2008), Transforming NGO MFIs: Critical Ownership Issues to Consider, CGAP Notes No.13. Marks.M.L, and Mirvis.P.L (1993), Making Mergers and Acquisitions Work : Strategic and Psychological Preparation, Academy of Management Executive, Vol.15 no.2 pp.80-94. McCarter, E. (2002), Tying the Knot: A Guide to Mergers in Microfinance , Catholic Relief Services. Mallikarjunappa, T., and Nayak,P., (2007) Why Do Mergers and Acquisitions Quite Often Fail? Association of Indian Management Scholars, Journal of Management , Vol.15 no.2 pp.80-94. Reuer,J.(1999), Collaborative strategy : The Logic of Alliances , Financial Times, Mastering Strategy series part 2. Rondinelli. D.A, and London, T.,(2003), How Corporations and Enviromental Group Cooperate : Assesing Sector Alliances and Collaborations, Academy of Management Executive, Vol.17 No.1 pp.62-76. Sudarsanam. S., (2003). Creating Value from Mergers and Acquisitions : The Challlenges, Prentice Hall, England. Schoenberg R.(2003). Mergers and acquisitions: Motives, value creation, and implementation. Oxford University Press: Oxford. Tiwari, A., and Chasnow.M.,(2009) ,A Closer Look at Consolidation: The Sonata-Jeevika Acquisition, Center for Microfinance, Insitute for Financial Management and Research, Chennai, India. Zhiang (John) Li, Haibin.Yang and Bindu, A (2009), Alliance Partners and Firm Partnership Resource Complimentary and Status Association, Strategic Management Journal, Vol.30 No.9 pp: 921-940. http://www.cgap.org/p/site/c/template.rc/1.26.1308/, Last accessed: March 18, 2010

Writing Dissertation Proposal

How to Write your Dissertation Proposal There are certain requirements on how to structure and write your dissertation proposal , including the chapters, number of sources, research development, and literature review. When you first get your dissertation proposal details from your professor, you might be confused on where to start. Below, you will find an easy to follow guide by our site experts on how to develop ideas, do your research, and write the chapters of your proposal. While the general guide will help you through the process, you should always consult with your tutor or support staff if you are unsure about something. What is a Dissertation Proposal? A dissertation proposal is the first step on your long journey of completing your dissertation: once the proposal is accepted, the hard work begins, and you will need to deliver the completed dissertation in a given timescale. A dissertation proposal is there to show your tutors what you would like to cover in your final paper, and present your knowledge of the topic you have chosen for your dissertation. A dissertation proposal is also your aid to plan the research of your final paper. Tips on Writing Your Dissertation Your dissertation proposal is important because it helps communicate your plan for the dissertation and show your research to your university. It has to be submitted within a given deadline, and needs to be the foundation of your final dissertation. You must get your dissertation proposal accepted by your university before you start working on the final dissertation. Handing this paper in on time will help you get feedback on your topic, sources, and get your final dissertation right. Always wait for feedback and criticism from your tutor before you start writing the final paper. You need to remember that structure of a research proposal is particular to this format, and it should not be structured as an essay or research paper. It needs to highlight the gap in current research and show your competence in the subject area you want to write your final dissertation in. In this paper, you will not need to prove a thesis, or answer research questions, bu t have to develop them and get them approved by your tutor. The research proposal needs to show the structure of your argument, fit it in the current research literature, show how you are approaching your future research, and provide a detailed methodology structure. It is important that you justify your choice of topic and show how it will contribute towards the knowledge of researchers and industry players in your research area. Eight Steps of Writing Your Dissertation Proposal Develop topics that interest you and investigate them. Make sure that there is enough data, literature, and information available on the subject for you to write your dissertation on. Choose your topic based on your interest, previous research, and suggestions from your tutor. If you have regular meetings and consultations with your professor, you can present multiple research areas and get one approved before you would start writing your dissertation proposal. Ask specific questions about your dissertation proposal structure. Every college and university have their own specific formatting and structure guides, and getting to know them early will save you a lot of time and effort. Start researching the literature. Make sure that you develop a list of sources and obtain copies of related journals and books before you write your dissertation proposal. You might find that some books have limited availability, or you need an academic journal subscription to obtain them. Develop your main ideas based on the literature you researched. This might be the time when you narrow down your topic to a more specific area, and create your ideas. For example, if you chose the topic of â€Å"employee satisfaction†, you might want to research only financial firms that have more than 500 employees. Check that your topic is unique. Once you have your main ideas developed, it is important to make sure that your research will be unique, and provide new information for other researchers in your field. Develop your research questions and purpose. Once you have clarified the research questions and purpose, you have to talk to your supervisor to make sure they approve your dissertation topic. Develop your dissertation proposal. Write an outline and get it approved before you would submit this to your tutor. Make sure that your selected methodology is feasible and clear. Your Dissertation Proposal Outline The main parts of your dissertation proposal outline need to include the information that you want to cover in the following chapters: Introduction Literature review Methodology Conclusion What to Include In Your Dissertation Proposal? Apart from the above main chapters, it is also important to have a time chart or dissertation proposal timeline, providing a schedule of the work you are planning to complete. In the Introduction chapter, you need to include the introduction of the study, organisation of the research, problem statement, research objective, and the outline of the dissertation research proposal. In the Literature Review, you need an introduction, the main literature review, summary, and the fully developed research question. In the Methodology chapter, you will have to state your research philosophy, research approach, and research strategy. Further, you need to show your data collection and analysis plan, followed by information on access, reliability, validity, ethical issues, and research limitations. The conclusion needs to summarise the topic and the current literature, as well as the justification of undertaking the research. Your time chart has to show the important steps and their proposed completion date. Need Help with Your Dissertation Proposal? If you don’t know where to start writing your dissertation proposal, or need to clarify the structure, you need to contact your tutor or supervisor first. Every institution has unique requirements for dissertation proposal structure. If you find it hard to select a topic that will be approved by your tutor, you can always get in touch with the experienced academic writers at our site for help. Related Articles: How to Write a Dissertation Proposal How to Structure a Dissertation Research Proposal Dissertation Proposal Help

Daphne Scholinski the Last Time I Wore a Dress

Daphne Scholinski’s memoir The Last Time I Wore A Dress is a touching narrative of a girl who was misunderstood. Throughout her childhood and young adulthood, Daphne struggled with identifying with her feelings. Daphne was constantly searching for an answer to why she felt different. Daphne wanted to â€Å"fit in† but she knew she was unconventional. The different labels she was given through out her psychiatric stay stuck with her and left a scar of how she was once perceived. Daphne had very low self esteem through out her childhood. This is because her parents ignored her and gave her little affection. She didn’t even notice when I walked out of her apartment, ran down the stairs,† (Scholinski 4). Her self esteem was worse at her dads house than her moms, however, her relationship with Frank made her very uncomfortable when she would travel into Chicago because she didn’t want to see him. Daphne wanted to be tough; when she hung out on the streets with her gang she needed everyone around her to see her toughness. Her gang saw that she was strong in side and out; this made them respect her. The respect shown by the gang is why Daphne tries to act tough at every new place she goes. Daphne wants to gain respect from them. Daphne knows she looks like a boy but the tough persona given off by this makes Daphne accept it. The people around Daphne treat her like a boy. â€Å"I landed a punch on Louis’ shoulder and he was dead serious looking at me, trying to figure out how to come back at me, but I had him blocked and he decided I passed and Joey agreed,† (Scholinski 71). The Disciples gives her positive feed back abut her boyish look and behavior, this is why she enjoys those memories. However her Dad and Mom are confused by it and they don’t know what to do with her. Her fellow patient’s have their own problems so Daphne’s gender issue doesn’t bother them, although the Doctor’s are highly concerned. At every psychiatric facilities that she is a patient at the Dr. ’s try to break ground with the issue with Daphne. As soon as this happens Daphne losses trust in them and she starts to pull away. She know that this is the root of her problem and she try’s to avoid it at all costs. She is afraid of their perception of her and if she will have to change. Daphne goes through a metamorphosis through her memoir. As a child she acts the way she feels so she is only doing what is natural to her. Because there s violence in her house she acts violent and because she feels like a boy she dresses like a boy. She viewed her as tough and that doesn’t change. However her thoughts of being an under achiever change after her self esteem is restored, which doesn’t fully happen until her stay at the Wilson Cente r. The Wilson Center is where she has the best perceptions of herself; she feels independent, smart, fun, and friendly. Daphne had a very hard time understanding her thoughts and feelings until the Wilson Center. The patients are who gave Daphne strength, the positive environment let Daphne explore who she was and relax and have fun. The Wilson center represents the adolescence that she should have had. The Dr. ’s still make her feel uncomfortable when the gender issue arrises but Daphne can cop with it better because she likes where she is. Meeting Valerie led her to discover her homosexual feelings. It wasn’t the initial meeting of Valerie but later in Daphne’s life she released her true feelings towards women which is the biggest change of all. The reason why Daphne was originally admitted into the Michael Reese Hospital and Medical Center is due to the fact that her parents couldn’t and didn’t want to handle her anymore. Her violent outbursts and rude behavior was in response to the way her Dad treated her but also her own frustrations dealing with her identity crises on her own. The Dr. ’s viewed her gender non-conformity as a bad habit and wanted Daphne to change her appearance. Daphne new that if she changed her appearance the Doctors wouldn’t bother her about it anymore. However Daphne couldn’t do this because its not how she felt. The Doctor’s viewed Daphne as choosing to act this way not Daphne needing to act this way. Each culture establishes gender ideals and the people within that culture follow them. The non-conformist in some cases, like Daphne, are prosecuted for not complying. I feel that this is wrong, To make everyone fit into a type is not necessary because not everyone likes those choices. Daphne was only doing what felt best for her and their is nothing wrong with wanting to feel comfortable. Making Daphne wear makeup for points didn’t do anything in the long run because Daphne didn’t change her ways. Rules like these are the essentialist beliefs that ruled all of the institutions. The essentialist beliefs in the institutions was boys should act and dress like â€Å"boys† and girls needed to act and dress like â€Å"girl†. Michael Reese facility wanted Daphne to wear tighter fitting clothes, nicer shirts, and act girly. Daphne conformed and like the extra attention from boys but I feel like this confused her and led to why she didn’t like being there. During her entire stay at Michael Reese she wasn’t fully being herself creating another identity so she wouldn’t have to face herself. Another essentialist belief of the institutions is if you do what we, the staff, says you will get better. At Forest Hospital Daphne was even farther away from herself at first. Daphne lied about drug addiction and they wouldn’t believe her when she said she lied. They wanted her to tell the truth but she was and this caused a major conflict for Daphne. Daphne viewed institutions such as family and school with little to no trust. This is because she felt that they failed her. â€Å"How come no one ever says school is failing me? † (Scholinski 15). Instead she received a you failed them attitude from everyone. Her lack of trust towards her family is because they were not affectionate towards her and instead gave her the violent tendencies she struggles with. Violence is a theme that dictated a lot of Daphne’s problems. Her Dad was verbally and physically abusive and this environment didn’t give Daphne and her sister the love they needed. Her Mom was not violent towards Daphne, however, where her mom lived allowed Daphne to find other outlets for her budding violent behavior, such as the Disciples. These violent actions she took part in allowed Daphne to act out her frustration with in herself, although he parents eventually couldn’t hand her anymore and turned her over to Michael Reese. Through out her psychiatric stay Daphne used violence to gain respect because this is the only way she knew how to gain it. As Daphne changed and began to understand herself her violent actions diminished. The Trials and the Triumphs of the Transgendered explains the anxiety and depression that can come as baggage to a gender crisis. Daphne dealt with this her entire life because she nor anyone else knew how to categorize her. This research article also explains the questions that one has to manage on a daily basis because of their gender disassociation. Along with the standards of care for Gender Identity Disorders, â€Å"because dysphoria is currently listed as a psychological disorder, transgendered people are assumed to be mentally ill,† (Moffic 3). Moffic gives tips at the end to help Doctor’s with patients that have gender Identity disorders. Daphne’s doctor’s would have benefited from confronting staff about prejudicial behaviors, empower their patients to the discussions, and keep transgender possibility in mind. Daphne’s doctor’s were fixated on changing Daphne to an average girl. When in instead they should have been guiding Daphne to have her be able to understand why she is this way and that there’s nothing wrong with it. Daphne’s struggles was an insightful look at how you can’t change what feels right for you. Through out Daphne’s life she was drawn to being a boy. Instead of changing how she felt she learned that this is good for her. This is how people should view gender identity disorders but people are afraid of the unknown. Daphne’s strength is paving the way to new thinking and understanding of this disorder. The LGBT has come a long way and everyday their efforts to inform us on how they want to be treated equally is allowing them to gain more acceptance. Our society is slowly changing for the better and hopefully one day LGBT won’t have any labels.