Pumpkin Patch Was Established Marketing Essay

Pumpkin Patch Was Established Marketing Essay Pumpkin Patch was established in 1990 as a provider of children wear through mail order. Since then it has expanded into 4 countries. The organization works in apparel industry which has favorable conditions to grow with healthy rate as of 2005 except the demographics which are inclined towards developing countries. The industry is also highly competitive. Pumpkin Patch as a player of this industry has great core competencies like its design capabilities and brand recognition of being a niche player. The organization can further maintain its long term profitability if it can expand its logistics capabilities in developed markets and create brand recognition for itself in emerging economies which will help it in long run. Introduction Pumpkin Patch is an organization which is into business of children wear. Pumpkin Patch was established in 1990 in New Zealand and since then has expanded into other countries including Australia, UK and USA by the end of 2005. The organization has established itself as a brand which is known for great designs, large range, good quality and reasonable price of products. Though Pumpkin Patch is a small player if compared to major established players in the business but these features have helped grow at a high rate for all these years. In order to understand the organization, its functioning and the factors leading to it in a better way, this report will try to analyze its external environment, its internal environment, its current strategy. On the basis of the analysis finally the recommendations will be provided which can help it grow further in future. External Analysis The organization is basically into apparel industry but the organization majorly caters to a specific set of customers (children). Thus on more microscopic level, Pumpkin Patch is a part of children wear industry. The industry has been rapidly growing all these years and thus has been attractive to the players in this industry. It is also important to understand the general environment in which the industry works. The economic conditions in 2005 are pretty good which suggest that the industry will see a healthy demand from the customers in coming years and thus the industry will see observe a healthy growth rate in coming future. The global conditions in 2005 suggest that the globalization is further going to increase in the world which presents a very good opportunity for the players of the industry to expand in new markets and increase their revenue as well as profits. The technological conditions tell that though the conventional retail sales are preferred by the customers, the organizations are moving towards online sale as it is easier to maintain the catalogs and cater to the demands of customers who are in remote locations. From the political and legal conditions it can be seen that the import duties are going down in many countries which are helpful for those players of the industry which are not pr esent in these countries but export their products and thus expand their market (Thomas 2006, pp. 13-14). From demographic point of view, the future of children wear industry is not very bright in developed countries in long term, where the average age of population is higher than the emerging economies and this population is soon going to mature. Thus the industry has more opportunities demographically in emerging economies in long term. To understand the industry environment better it is also important to analyze the forces which operate in the environment. The major suppliers of the industry include the manufacturers of apparels in China, India and other Asian countries which manufacture the products on demand from players like Pumpkin Patch. The suppliers dont have significant clout over the industry players as there are many manufacturers who can provide the same products. Due to presence of large number of such manufacturers and the competition between them, their power is less. The competitors include major brands like GAP and discount stores like Wal-Mart. The competitors have captured a large market share across the world in terms of children wear and have a brand loyal customer base. Due to the sheer size and the brand, the competitors have great power over smaller players. The buyers also have a significant clout over the industry players as they have got a lot of choices from different players. With a lot of brands to choose from, the customers can move to some other brand if they are dissatisfied with the quality, price or designs of the apparels of one player. There are no exact substitutes of children wear, though customers who just buy the apparels for fun and not exactly need them can switch to other stuffs which can entertain children like games, etc. Thus there is no significant power for substitutes in the industry. Potential entrants also have a significant influence on the industry as it is lucrative at present and has healthy profit margins, especially on designer ranges. This means that the industry is attractive for new players to enter and make the environment more competitive. (Freeman McVea 2001, pp. 102-108) There are mainly three types of strategic groups in this industry. In the first group competitors like GAP are present. Players in this group compete on the basis of quality and brand recognition. The second group includes players like Mark Spencers and Wal-Mart which compete on price and discounts. The third group includes players like Pumpkin Patch which compete based on the number of designs, variety and quality of the products. The fourth group includes players like JK which compete based on the variety, design and price. Looking at the analysis on the industry it can be seen that the industry has good opportunities in emerging economies and has substantial threat from the competitive players which will eventually pull down the profit margins of the industry. Internal Analysis Pumpkin Patch has had sufficient resources which has enabled it to reach at the point it has reached till 2005. The organization has about 1700 employees who work for it in various departments including its design, warehousing, marketing and selling. Its resources dedicated to come up with new designs have done great job to create brand awareness among the customers (Reichheld 2006, pp. 5-7). As far as warehousing is concerned, the organization has one warehouse at Auckland which supplies the products to various locations. This has also helped it in reducing its inventory costs and channeling the products more smoothly. But organization lacks in having a proper supply chain abroad where still mostly the orders are sent through mail orders directly from Auckland. Further if the financial statements of the organization are observed, it can be seen that the assets of the organization have been increasing. In 2005, the current assets of the organization which determine the liquidity avai lable at hands stands at NZ$ 72 million while the assets related to property and plant stand at NZ$ 35 million which is tiny as compared to its bigger competitors but tell the story of high growth of the organization since its start. The organization has done justification to the capabilities it had and capabilities it developed in order to achieve the growth. For example, Pumpkin Patch gave special emphasis on designs which are liked by the customers. By combining its own capability to prepare attractive designs with buying other good designs from outside made its designs as its core competency. More over focus on majorly children wear gave the organization edge over the others as the whole potential and energy of the organization was directed towards providing the products for children wear. The analysis and research of the market is another capability which has helped improving the profitability of the organization as through it, it could regularly remove the failed designs and promote the successful designs. Similarly product sourcing from quality manufacturers of Asia was one of the major capabilities as it helped in reducing the cost of the product because of cheap labor cost in Asia. However, cheap product sourcing is not a competitive advantage as it is available to every competitor in the market. Pumpkin Patch also has good quality control in its supply chain where there is continuous monitoring of quality at each and every step. This capability also has helped the organization to build a brand for its products. But this is also not a core competency as other manufacturers like GAP and Benetton are known for equal if not better quality control. The organization also lacks in a more coordinated and smoother logistics as all the products have to be sourced from warehouse at Auckland which increases the time to respond and puts constraints on making use of the opportunities which its expanding customer base at abroad provides (Thompson McHugh 2002, pp. 37-43). Also the retailing capability of the organization is limited to New Zealand and Australia and has no significant presence in its other major markets like US. The value chain of the organization includes primary activities like RD for preparing designs for its new products. This activity adds the maximum value to Pumpkin Patchs products. It also includes product sourcing from manufacturers in Asia. This is also an important step as it helps to keep the product price lower and competitive. The quality control is another value addition which is done within the organization and outside organization as well. Here the products are checked for quality at every step. This also helps in adding value to the product as the lower quality of product can severely damage the brand image of Pumpkin Patch. With the current scale of operations, the next value adding activity of warehousing has provided good value to the organization as it has reduced the losses due to higher inventory (Barroso Galan 2006, pp. 54-56). But with increased scale of operations, this warehousing activity will cause a major constraint for the organization. Retailing is another m ajor value adding activity as the stores give an image of the trendiest children wear providers. Retailing also provides substantial value to Pumpkin Patch as it helps to bring more customers for it and also in increasing its brand recognition as the retail stores are designed and prepared in such a way to communicate the brand of the organization. The organization also has some weaknesses such as limited logistics capability to cater to the demands of customers from northern hemisphere, smaller size and financial power to compete with major brands like GAP and Benetton. Looking at the analysis above it can be said that the organization has strengths in its design capabilities and building brand through retail stores. The weaknesses of the organization include the lack of capable logistics to manage higher growth in northern hemisphere and smaller financial resources to compete in other established markets. The organization has more opportunities in expanding itself in Australia, New Zealand where its brand has good recognition and in emerging economies where there is thin presence of its established competitors. The threat to the organization is majorly due to its limited logistics capabilities because its competitors like JK can eat up its markets if Pumpkin Patch fails to act on it. Current Strategy The strategy currently followed by the organization is of differentiation focus. This means that the organization has a select category of customers to which it caters and also provides a differentiated product to the customers (Hoskisson Hitt 2006, pp. 23-27). In this case Pumpkin Patch is mostly catering to the children and pre-teen customers thus it has a focus approach or niche market. Also the organization is providing a great range of designer products to the customers thus it is also differentiating itself from the competitors on the basis of the varieties and range of designs it offers to its customers. The current strategy has been quite successful up till now when the organization has only expanded itself into selected markets. The success of this strategy comes from the fact that there are many players in the apparel market but only few have a complete focus towards children wear which is an all-weather market and provides great opportunity for profitability. By focusing itself towards this niche market, Pumpkin Patch was able to create a brand image of it which has complete focus towards children wear. On top of that the organizations high range of designs keeps it apart from the other players. Even GAP and Benetton dont have so many varieties of designs when it comes to children wear. Recommendations The organization must look into following recommendations and try to implement them in order to remain a profitable organization even in future. Pumpkin Patch must increase its capacity, especially logistics capacity in US and UK where due to these constraints the organization hasnt been able to establish itself in these markets. These two markets are too large and lucrative to be ignored thus it must try to increase its retail presence here. Even if the organization can capture a small share of market of these markets from GAP, Benetton or Wal-Mart, it will be a huge boost to its current revenues. Pumpkin Patch must also look at the markets in emerging economies like China, South Korea and South Africa where the disposable income is increasing for the people and demographically they will have a large number of their population as children. Thus for maintaining long term profitability the organization must also look at ways for entering these markets. Initially the organization can start with online selling and whole selling in departmental stores selling because that will require the least investment. (Jeannet Hennessey 2001, pp. 20-25) Pumpkin Patch must completely abandon its print catalogs as they consume a lot of resources (finances, time and attention). Anyhow the print catalogs are no more relevant with ever decreasing mail order selling. Instead for mail orders organization can have better and more detailed online catalogs. The customers who cant reach the retail stores can go to website and select the product they want. Conclusion Pumpkin Patch is operating in apparel industry but is mostly catering to children wear market. The industry in 2005 is operating in a good external environment but the demographics suggest that the children wear market will shift towards emerging economies in next few years. The environment also sees fierce competition among various players thus it is important for Pumpkin Patch to maintain and extend its presence by use of its competitive advantage of great range of designs and brand associated with children wear. In order to do that organization must strengthen its presence in countries like UK and US which hold lot of potential for its growth. Also it must try to start catering to customers from emerging economies which will help it in long run.

The ethical dilemmas faced in Banking

The ethical dilemmas faced in Banking Banks play important roles in the modern days society, these roles include opening accounts, save money in those accounts and have peoples money available at all times so they can take it out of their accounts. These roles also include giving out mortgages, giving out loans, savings, investments and protecting rights and interests of many depositors. Banks are expected to operate with responsibility, reliability, honesty and most of all banks should operate ethically. In 1921, in the Joachimson case a bank is defined as The bank undertakes to receive money and to collect bills for its customers account. The proceeds so received are not to be held in trust for the customer, but the bank borrows the proceeds and undertakes to repay them. The promise to repay is to repay at the branch of the bank where the account is kept, and during banking hours. It includes a promise to repay any part of the amount due against the written order of the customer addressed to the bank at the branch.. Bankers never do make a payment to a customer in respect of a current account except upon demand. A bank is an organisation, where people deposit their money to keep it secure however, this is only a small part of how a bank operates. There are different types of banks, there is the retail bank, the central bank and the investment bank. Retail banking deals directly with individuals and small businesses. Investment banking is a financial intermediary that carries out variety of services. This includes underwriting, acting as an adviser between an issuer of securities and the investing public and smooth the progress of mergers and other corporate reorganizations. Central bank is the governments banker. The central bank sets the interest rates, is the bankers bank, the lender of last resort and prints money According to Smith and Smith, (2003), Ethics is the integrity measure, which evaluates the values, norms and rules that constitute the base for individual and social relationships, from a moral perspective. Its very important for a bank to be ethical as it deal with peoples money. All banks should have social responsibilities towards their customers. Ethical dilemma is any situation where the moral principles cant determine whether the action taken is ether right or wrong. In banking there are a lot of right and wrongs. In modern day society have banks have ethical policies they have to obey. These ethical policies include human rights some banks may not invest in any businesses who fail to support basic human rights, also other ethical policies are Arms trade, social responsibility and global trade, social enterprise, animal welfare and customers consultation. These are some of the ethical policies a bank has to uphold. However, the question is do all the banks support and obey these policies? Unfortunately, ethical policies are still not firmly followed in the banking system. A lot of banks accept bribes in return for loans, still lend to cheating customers and most of all many banks are still convicted for money laundering. Nowadays the banking business is becoming more complex and the borderline between what is legitimate and illegitimate becomes more indistinct (Carse, D 1999). Therefore, banks have to stick to a strong set of ethics which will help them to get though all the ethical choices they face in everydays life. Banks make peoples live a lot easier, they do this by sorting out all the funding and transactions. Many people are not very good with money and thats when bank come into play. They help people save their money, they offer advice about mortgages and investing, they give out loans and they make it easy for people to pay their bills. Now image if banks didnt exist, there wouldnt be a place to deposit your money where it save, it would have a big impact on the economy, companies who have millions and billions of money have no where to keep this money and could be exposed to thiefs and mafia and all sorts of crimes and people would just have a much harder life without banks. So as you can banks play a very important role in modern days society. Many people, when they think of banks, they think of all the negatives things however, banks are not bad at all. Nowadays, there is no form of economy that doesnt have a banking sector. Banks enable transactions to take place without actually coins changing hands, they enable people to borrow money and today, we have the electronic transfer system which has made peoples life much easier and many now also issue stocks, bonds and other securities. Many have banks have recently introduced an ethical policy a good example of this the co-operative bank. The co-operative bank believes that by introducing an ethical policy they can invest for the long-term benefit of customers and, at the same time, as an investor they can improve their environment and society (co-operative bank 2002). Since the co-operative bank introduced the ethical policy many banks looked to pursue this policy and by doing this they will attract customers and gain more profit. Banks deal with numerous depositors, they enable people to deposit their money and keep it in a save place, they give advice on investing and mortgages, most importantly they give out loans. Giving out loans is a very risky business this is because people may not pay the money back to the bank. Basically the money people put in a bank is the money a bank uses for loans and they charge interest on that loan so when someone doesnt pay their loan the bank has to cover the loan in order to have enough money available for depositors to take out. Banks also offer overdrafts, this is where the bank provides a short term loan to pay off for example bills. Loans can be secured or unsecured, unsecured loans are when people pledge some assets such a car or property as collateral for the loan. Many people use their house as a security when they take out a loan. Now for those who dont pay the loan back the bank will take possession of the asset and maybe sell it to recover the debt. Before the bank takes possession of the asset, the bank will give the borrower reasonable notice. They dont just turn up one day and take possession of the asset. Also, a bank is unable to close a customers account without giving them reasonable notice. Reasonable notice could be two weeks or month nobody knows how long reasonable is. Is it argued that reasonable is that which is reasonable in the circumstances. So how do banks make profit? Well when people deposit their money in a bank the money doesnt just stay their. The bank will use this money to make loans. Now the amount of money a bank can lend is influenced by the reserve requirement which is set by the federal services. At the moment the reserve requirement is from 8% 10% of the banks total deposit. If we think about it the bank is using our own money to lend to other people, this might sound unfair however, this has a very positive impact on the economy because, lets say for example we go to the bank and deposit  £100, the bank will keep 10% of that amount and lend  £90. That  £90 is going to go back in the economy, purchasing goods and services or deposited in another bank. That bank will then go on and lends  £81 and keep 10%. That  £81 goes bank in the economy and goods and services are purchased or its deposited at other bank that proceed to lend a percentage of the total amount. Banks charge an interest on those lo ans and thats where some of their profit comes from. So if we just refer back to the question, Banking, an ethical dilemma? We shall see that banking is not an ethical dilemma at all. There many banking activities which have a positive affect on the economy and which make peoples live much easier. Banks do this by enabling people to deposit their money and keep that money in a safe place, they provide advice to customers, they offer long term and short term loan, provide customers with plenty of information and inform them on the consequences when not repaying a loan and they give people a reasonable notice before taking possession of their asset. As we can see there are many good processes a bank sees to. However, even though banking seems all perfect there is a dark side to banking. Banks all over the world graft to make profit. Banks make profit by using their customers money, basically how it works is we deposit our money in the bank, the will then go on and lend a big percentage of that money to other customers. Banks charge interest on the loans which is a big part of their profit. Some banks charge excessive interest rates on loans without informing their customers of better deals. Also, in the modern day society, many people complain of unfair bank charges. This is when the bank decided to charge the customer when exceeding an overdraft limit or when bouncing a cheque. These bank charges are unfair because the office of fair trading believes that charges more than  £12 are significantly higher level that is legally fair (Office for Fair Trading) Banking is becoming more and more complex and some bankers may have trouble explaining their business this may raise trust issues because if bankers dont know what their doing people wont trust banks with their money. Complexity of banking also raises the ethical dilemma issues. In modern days society many banks are guilty of ethical dilemmas. According to a study carried out by Mitchel et al (1992) there were seventeen kinds of unethical behaviour that banks were guilty off and here are a couple of them: bribery, defrauding government, interest fraud, deception, insider trading, discrimination and environmental harm. These

A Character Analysis of Charlie in Fitzgeralds Babylon Revisited :: Babylon Revisited Essays

A Character Analysis of Charlie in Fitzgerald's Babylon Revisited In considering Charlie Wales plight in Fitzgerald's "Babylon Revisited," I believe Charlie is a victim of his own success. As a successful businessman two times over he has burned many bridges behind him and for his well intentions he is blind to that continued fallacy. He does not seem to realize that the success he enjoys now is the envy that brought about Marion and Lincoln's contempt prior to Helen's death. I see Charlie attempting desperately to act out of character. Adept at business he has shown ability, humility and perseverance. However, he seems to be out of touch with the manifested feelings of others his path has crossed. I do believe Charlie is not truly ready for parenthood. It appears he is fighting a demon, longing for a piece of his life that was lost in his past. Motivated by guilt I believe he is substituting materialism for love believing money buys happiness. He would substitute a governess for parenting for he realizes his business ventures will not lend time to child rearing. We can all sympathize with Charlie on the surface, we have all made mistakes that we have to live with. Charlie is attempting to move forward with his life and erase the mistakes of his past. The ghosts of his past torment him repeatedly throughout the story, his child's guardians despise him and his old friends do not understand him. Duncan Schaffer and Lorraine Quarrles represent all that wrong with Charlie's life. Charlie attempts to steam forward and like a anchor they keep him moored in place. I can not truly sympathize with Charlie though there is a sense of empathy within me. I sense that with Lincoln Peters also.

Free Essays - A Farewell to Arms as Historical Romance :: Farewell Arms Essays

A Farewell to Arms - Historical Romance The novel "A Farewell to Arms" should be classified as a historical romance. Many people in reading this book could interpret this to be a war novel, when in fact it was one of the great romance novels written in its time. When reading this book you notice how every important event of the war is overshadowed by the strong love story behind it. The love story is circled around two people, Frederic Henry and Catherine Barkley. Frederic is a young American ambulance driver with the Italian army in World War I. He meets Catherine, a beautiful English nurse, near the front of Italy and Austria. At first Frederic’s relationship with Catherine consists of a game based on his attempts to seduce her. He does make one attempt to kiss her, and is quickly slapped by an offended Catherine. Later in the story, Frederic is wounded and sent to the American hospital where Catherine works. Here he finds a part of him he has never had before, the ability to love. This is where his feelings for Catherine become extremely evident. Their relationship progresses and they begin a passionate love affair. After his stay in the hospital, Frederic returns to the war front. During this period, Hemmingway heavily indicates the love Frederic has for Catherine. It is evident that Frederic is distracted by his love for Catherine. During a massive retreat from the Austrians and the Germans, the Italian forces become disordered and chaotic. Frederic is forced to shoot an engineer sergeant under his command, and in the confusion is arrested by the Italian military police for the crime of not being Italian. Disgusted with the Army and facing death, Frederic decides he has had enough of the war; he dives in to the river to escape. After swimming to safety, Frederic boards a train and reunites with Catherine. She is pregnant with their baby. With the help of an Italian bartender, Catherine and Frederic escape to Switzerland, and plan to marry after the baby is born. When Catherine goes into labor, the doctor suddenly discovers that her pelvis is too narrow to deliver the baby. He attempts an unsuccessful Cesarean section, and she dies in childbirth with the baby. To Frederic, her dead body is like a statue; he walks back to his hotel without finding a way to say goodbye, seemingly lost forever.

Fertility Drugs: Are they worth it? :: Pregnancy Reproduction Medical Essays

Fertility Drugs: Are they worth it? Over the past few years there seems to have been an increase in the amount of couples that have used fertility drugs and ended up having nine or more children. The couples' stories have been aired on the news, and when interviewed, many of the couples stated that they only wanted one child, but because one of the spouses was infertile, they were unable to get pregnant. At the advice of their doctor, the couple took fertility drugs, and the result was the rapid expansion of their family. The effectiveness of fertility drugs such as Clomiphene and Bromocriptine are overshadowed by their many, and often very harmful, side effects. Are infertility drugs worth the cost that possible side effects have? Causes and Solutions to Infertility Infertility affects 7.1 percent, or 2.8 million couples, of married people in the United States. It is difficult to assess the overall percentage of infertility that exists in the United States, as many individuals do not know that they are infertile until they attempt to have children. In addition, information on the web is confined to addressing infertility among married couples, thus this web paper discusses studies conducted among married couples. Less than a third of married couples seek help from their doctors, even though almost 90 percent of all cases of infertility have one or more causes than can be treated. Infertility's most common causes include egg quality/production, blocked tubes, and the male-factor. (1). Problems in egg quality/production are the result of poor egg quality, irregular ovulation or failure to ovulate because of hormonal deficiencies or imbalances. A fourth case is polycystic ovarian syndrome, which is a condition in which a hormonal imbalance prevents the egg-containing follicles on the ovaries from maturing and releasing an egg, instead forming sometimes painful ovarian cysts. These problems, especially deteriorating egg quality, are often age-related, and apply most often to women 37 and older. Possible solutions to poor egg quality/production include use of a donor egg, fertility drugs such as Clomiphene and Bromocriptine, and in vitro fertilization (IVF). (1). Blocked fallopian tubes are often the result of scar tissue, adhesions, and damaged tube ends (fibria). Another common cause is endometriosis, which is the growth of endometrial cells (the tissue that lines the uterus) outside the uterus, most often on the ovaries, Fallopian tubes, or the exterior of the uterus.

Year Stpauls College

Institutions and personal experience In this report I will discuss the Impacts of Institutions. Len this report I will refer to the book raw and Shawano redemption and a poem Power structures. Institutions have many power structures tort example An Institution does not Just have one set power structure with all the rest equal. A power structure Is a person of higher power. For example you're principal or the warden in jail. Students Raw by Scott Monk shows different levels of power structures in institutions. It shows the difference of a good power structure to help people.Tyson abuses his low phew kook raw shows that Tyson uses his size to taunt and bully the other kids on the farm. Tyson taunts Brett by calling him a pretty boy. Tyson thinks he has the power to do so. Shawano Redemption. The men are free. The power structures got them there. They learned from others mistakes and guidelines from the hierarchy. The men are free. The power structures got them there. They learned from others mistakes and guidelines from the hierarchy. Shawano by frank dartboard has a different power structure . He Jail warden is all about control discipline and underneath the Job as warden he is as irrupt as all the other convicts In the Jail. And was always being beaten up and never told any one until the higher power stepped in and stopped It. * The morning sun at the end * Driving into the sunset Rebellion and protest (response to institutionalizing) Rebellion and protest can be a response to institutionalizing. Institutionalizing is where the person in the institution becomes addicted to it and cannot live outside the Institution. Outside the Institution Is onto place for them, they have become institutionalized.Also a key part of Institutionalizing is because the institution revised safety, security and is a predictable place unlike the big wide world. These people that have become dependent on the institution cannot survive without the routine, strong boundary and decision making being made for them. Shawano In Shawano Redemption the character Brooks Heathen saw himself as someone, in prison he had a life there. He was being discharged and was not allowed to stay. Because of this he had to rebel. â€Å"This is the only way they'll let me star (Shawano tofu Redemption). Prison was what en knew and en was Witt his trends.Brooks rebels by trying to take a life to stay in prison. He had to rebel, he had to become institutionalized. He did not want to leave because this was his home for his whole life. Because of the institutionalizing when Brooks left prison he saw himself as a minority and did not have the respect and love he got in the prison. And an old man can't rebel or protest so he took his own life. Letters from an Institution By Michael Ryan Poem Letters from an institution by Michael Ryan â€Å"I'd like to push them each somewhere† the institution forces things upon the characters in the movie and the poem.He wants to rebel and push them away, they re hurting him. There is no starting again they are institutionalized. All they know is the institution. If they can't flee or rebel, they â€Å"start to want to crazy' they can't live without the rules forced upon them. Because they are so used to it they start to enjoy it, it becomes an addiction. As Red said in Shawano even now he has left the prison he still has to have to ask to pips. He has done it his whole life and can't stop now. Responsibilities of individuals within institutions The responsibilities of individuals within institutions is to fulfill the goal of institutions ideas.What we are looking at hear is the rehabilitation of individuals in institutions. Beret's self-image impacts his whole time at the farm. After the continuous pressure from his parent's and the police, Brett is lost and confused, he sees that he has no responsibilities and does not belong anywhere. Brett looked at his fists and they were swollen from too many fights, he shook his head. Brett realizes that it is his responsibility as an individual to change his life and do right. Before this point Brett does not want to be rehabilitated and does not see that he is responsible for his own actions.At the end of the book Brett see's that it is not the institutions responsibility to change him but that it is his and only he can change if he wants. â€Å"Only you can help yourself† (Raw). When he drives off into the morning sun he realizes the new day, a new beginning to be responsible and to take the consequences as he makes mistakes. Shawano Redemption. Unlike Brett in Raw, Andy Defense was innocent when he was put in Jail. He knew from the start of his two life sentences what he wanted and knew exactly how to get it. Even though he was doubted by Red when he bought his rock hammer â€Å"waste of money if you ask me†.Also the fact that Andy knew what he had to do to make his life easier. He went with the flow and knew what he had to do to escape. Brett f rom Raw did not know what he wanted and did not think it was his responsibility. Impact on self-image Your own self-image is how you see yourself. This can be particularly bad if your opinion of yourself is bad. But the opposite if it is good. It is how you see yourself through others eyes. For example how you think you look and if you think you're a DOD person or not. RAW Brett blames the world because he thinks everyone hates him.During the book Brett is pressured by obstacles along the way causing negative thoughts about himself and the world. â€Å"It's nard work UT I b it's honest money' (Raw) because Brett HTH KS the world hates him he automatically thinks that Josh is implying that he is a thief when he says this. Josh shows Bret how he sees himself as this person and how he automatically thinks everybody else sees him as this. This impacted Beret's self-image in a positive way. Letters from an Institution This poem reveals how the life has been sucked out the character. He has only one way of doing things, the institutional way.This way, in which people are trained and forced to do the one thing even if they don't want to. â€Å"l pretend a lighthouse with a little man inside†. The character in the poem imagines himself as a free person. He has to dream because he has no other way of doing things. He sees himself as a sailor who tells old stories of the sea. He can't be who he wants. The character from the poem is strapped to his bed tightly and is uncomfortable. He wants to be free but is bound by the beds and is incapable of being what he dreams about himself. He can only use his imagination now and it doesn't matter what everybody else sees him s.So he â€Å"starts to like the needles† and he â€Å"starts to want to crazy' (Letters from an Institution). After analyzing the texts Raw by Scott Monk, Shawano Redemption by Frank Dartboard and the Poem Letters from an Institution by Michael Ryan', I found that every person has a different personal experience in institutions. This report has confirmed my thesis that I believe that every person can and will have different experiences of institution to institution based on the approach they take to the institution. This is seen in Raw when Brett accepts responsibility and starts to improve his behavior and self-image.

Language competition in the Tongue Essay

Learning a second language has been proven to be a worthwhile experience to many individuals from different nations across the world who wanted to engage in world affairs and fruitful foreign correspondences despite the difficulties that they encountered in the initial steps they took in completing the second language course. Some linguists have noted that the linguistic journey for the purpose of learning a second language becomes difficult when the learner mentally entertains notions that the second language will be extremely difficult to understand, and will be almost impossible to use in daily conversations. Fortunately, some second language teachers know this kind of fear so they train the learners to trust in themselves and allow the experience of learning a second language to be as much fun as possible. However, no motivation can change the fact that learning a second language is not really easy. The good news is the task is not impossible to achieve at all. One can learn a second language when one is determined to do so. What could make learning a second language easier is always the level of enthusiasm and willingness to practice and overcome the difficulties in learning. Learning a second language poses three layers of difficulties: 1. ) flexing the old tongue to be familiar with the phonology of the new language, 2. ) uttering the phonemes and morphemes of the new lexicon without interference from the first language, and ultimately, 3. ) being able to use the new lexicon correctly in sentences and conversations. First, the phonology is observed, and then absorbed by the learner. Phonology is the study of the sound system of a given language and the analysis and classification of its phonemes?. Humans begin to perceive phonemes of their first language even before one reaches a year old. This set of sounds is retained to memory and used throughout one’s life unless a second language is introduced. Naturally, the first language will interfere with the perception and utterance of the new phonemes at the initial stage of learning because the first phonemes have already been solidly established in the part of the brain that processes sounds and speech. Over time, and through constant exposure to and practice of the second language, the new phonemes will have its place in the memory and will be processed by the brain in a distinct manner. The time that it would take for the phonemes of the second language to be fully independent from the first phonemes varies from person to person, specifically from one’s willingness to learn. Some learners never get past the overlapping phonemes of two or more languages in their perception, while those who try harder are able to distinguish and express one from another. After the phonemes comes the morphemes, the smallest units of speech that convey meaning.? Prior to using the second language in conversations one has to be even slightly familiar to some morphemes. At the initial stage of learning morphemes of the second language, one will initially meet interference by the first language. This concept — ? As defined in www. hyperdictionary. com. ? www. hyperdictionary. com. of linguistic interference is called code-mixing. Code-mixing is the use of elements (phonological, lexical, morphosyntactic) from two languages in the same utterance or stretch of conversation (Genesee & Nicoladi 12). It is also normal among bilinguals, as they use code mixing to adjust their brain in learning the new lexicon, using the first language as point of reference, not necessarily or immediately point of translation. Eventually, learners gather more words into their memory and later become competent in distinguishing one code from the other. Morphemes should not keep the learner from trying to learn more about the second language because this stage will define the final stage in learning a second language, its actual use in complete sensible sentences. The third layer of difficulty in learning a second language is actually using the new language in sentences and conversations. It is expected that learners of a second language would struggle with morphemes, as discussed above. The manner in which learners adjust to learning morphemes should also be applied to avoid committing morphological overgeneralization in the new language. Morphological overgeneralization is inability to distinguish the different ways in which grammatical rules apply differently in two or more languages. It can be seen in some English language learners who may initially prefer non-finite forms (e. g. , she go) before they use finite (e. g. , she goes) forms in their utterance and written sentences. Practically, this is a problem under grammatical errors. But since it is covered by the morphology of the new language that is trying to be absorbed and put into practice, the error becomes classified as morphological overgeneralization (Paradis & Genesee, 2). Another example of morphological overgeneralization is inadvertently applying lexicon grammar twice in an utterance or sentence. For instance, language learners who know that the past tense of â€Å"halt† is â€Å"halted† are likely to forget in the early stages of their learning process that there are some exemptions in adding â€Å"-ed† to indicate the past tense. To give a specific example, the past tense of â€Å"go† is â€Å"went;† but some learners might use â€Å"wented† in their speech. Teachers and tutors of second language learners have to be extremely patient and very creative in their job. If they give more details about the language and more examples for common usage, then the learners will have more fun in learning. On the other hand, learners of a second language should find inspiration from foreigners across the world who dared to study new languages and are now competent bilinguals or multilinguals. References: Genesee, F. , & Nicoladis, E. (2006). Bilingual acquisition. In E. Hoff & M. Shatz (eds. ), Handbook of Language Development, Oxford, Eng. : Blackwell. Online Dictionary. 12 Mar 2007. http://www. hyperdictionary. com Paradis, J. & Genesee, F. (1996). Syntactic acquisition in bilingual children: Autonomous or interdependent? Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 18, 1-2.