Gooseberry Season by Simon Armitage Essay Example

Gooseberry Season by Simon Armitage Essay This essay is about the poem which is called â€Å"Gooseberry Season† and it’s by Simon Armitage. I will be looking at the character of father in the poem and look at the different techniques that are used to describe the behaviour of the father. At the start of the poem the character of the father seems to be kind, generous and caring as he lets a stranger stays in the house when the stranger comes and asks for water. This shows his generosity and niceness. Later in the poem he becomes angry and has jealous. At the end of the poem he is a murderer. The title ‘Gooseberry Season’ makes it thinks about a fruit which is bitter and spiky and it grows in summer. Gooseberry is green and the colour green suggests jealousy. The poem starts in a narrative way, â€Å"which reminds me†, it suggest someone is telling a story and may suggests the reader as if he is talking to him. Also it means that there nothing big in his mind he just remembered something. This shows that the father is relaxed and not worried about anything. At the start it also shows that the father is being very generous and nice where it says, â€Å"He appeared at noon, asking for water†, and the father gives him water. Water is a symbol of life so maybe he felt sorry for him when the stranger asks for water. At the end of the stanza one it says that â€Å"We made him a bed†, it suggests that they let a stranger in their house and made him a bed. For the father it suggests that he very kind, generous and caring as he lets stranger in the house. We made him a bed and slept till Monday†, shows that the father been very nice and he welcomes people in the house nicely and he done more than the stranger asked for. It makes the reader wonder at his generosity and niceness as he lets a stranger stay in his house without knowing him. The technique that used at the end of stanza 1 is enjambment which makes sentences carried to the next stanza. The effect on the reader is no pause and it makes it sound like a natural speech. We will write a custom essay sample on Gooseberry Season by Simon Armitage specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Gooseberry Season by Simon Armitage specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Gooseberry Season by Simon Armitage specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer In the second stanza the poet uses imagery as it says â€Å"A week went by and he hung up his coat†, the poet uses an image to create an effect on the reader that the stranger makes himself feel like he at home and he makes himself comfortable. The father gets annoyed as its say that â€Å"then a month, and not stoke of work, a word of thanks, a fathering of rent or a sign of him leaving†, which suggests that the stranger is taking the advantage of the father offering him a place to stay. The stranger does not do anything in return for the father. The effect n the reader is that he is breathless by reading the number of complaints against the stranger and it emphasises the number of list from which the father gets irritated. Another point which is mentioned in the second stanza is, â€Å"a fathering of rent or a sign of him leaving†, which suggests that the stranger has not given them an idea of how long he will be there for and they have not asked him for which he is not giving them signs of leaving. In the third stanza it’s says, â€Å"For smooth, seedless gooseberry sorbet†. Its alliteration and sibilance when the s sound is repeated which reminds us of a snake and anger. In this stanza the father seems angry. As it said that â€Å"sucking up to my wife and on his last night, sizing up my daughter†. This suggests that the father would be getting very angry and it also suggest he is jealous. But the stranger probably thought that she is pretty and maybe just thought that she is lovely. But the father got angrier as it said, â€Å"he was smoking my pipe as we stirred his supper†. This Suggests that he was taking over position of the head and it’s suggest anger. Sibilance is used again which suggests hissing and anger. Here the reader feels the father’s anger is justified because we understand that the fathers anger is understandable because anyone in that situation would feel that way when a stranger behaving in that way. In the four stanzas it says, â€Å"Where does the hand become the wrist? † A rhetorical question makes the reader think and want to answer it. We don’t know at what point his thoughts turned to murder. â€Å"The watershed and then the weight, whatever turns up and tips us over that razor’s edge between something and nothing†, â€Å"razor’s edge† suggests images of bloodshed and he getting annoyed. It introduces an element of danger. In stanza five it says, â€Å"I could of have told him this but didn’t bother†. This suggests that he is going to do but he couldn’t be bothered to tell the stranger about what going to happen to him. It says, â€Å"We run him a bath and held him under† which suggests that he is too angry to care. The reader is shocked and surprised at his cold blooded murderer. It says that â€Å"Dried him off and dressed him and loaded him into the back of the pick-up†. This suggests that they are removing all the evidences that could be there so that’s why they have dried him off and dressed him. They drove without headlights; because they did not want to be seen. In this stanza Enjambment makes it sound like a natural speech and makes a verse from one to ump to another. In this stanza it says, â€Å"We drove to the boundary†, which suggest that he very clever as he does not want to be caught. This makes him clever because he does not want anyone to find any evidence. â€Å"And after my boy had been through his pockets†, this suggests that they searched through his pockets because he does not want be caught and does not want anyone to find any links which connect to him. They dragged him â€Å"like a mattress†, which suggest that they treat him like he nothing and is like a old object which they want to get rid off and were not bothered about it. He did not have any respect and his cold hearted as he drags him like a mattress which means dragging something which is old and you just want to throw it away. It says, â€Å"Across the meadow and on the count of four threw him over the border†, this suggests that he treats him like game and he counts to four and then throws him across the border. The last stanza it says, â€Å"this is not general knowledge, expect in gooseberry season, which reminds me†, this links back to the 1st stanza where it says â€Å"which reminds me†. It says in this stanza, â€Å"Scoop the sorbet into five equal portions, for the hell of it†, he was one of them so they were treating the stranger like a family. But even then he got murdered from them. Last thing mentioned in this stanza, â€Å"I mention this for a good reason†, maybe he was threatening someone. It might suggest that he might do it again.

Economic Intervention by Government

Economic Intervention by Government Free Online Research Papers In todays world there are various kind of entities. Some entities can do no wrong, such as the WHO or greenpeace. They can do whatever they like and still end up smelling of roses. The government, however can evidently do no right. Today, wherever you turn you find some bloke clamoring for less government intervention or more government intervention and generally complaining about how governments have not been this bad since the bad old days of Muhammad Bin Tughlaq. My aim in writing this paper is to present a model of governance through which the debate regarding intervention may perhaps be put to rest. Firstly let us look at what government intervention is and why it can be a problem. The primary task of the government is to form legislation to ensure the external and internal security of its people and propagate an environment where it is possible for any one and every one to self actualize. So, a criminal in jail is not entitled to protest the government intervention. Government intervention refers to an intervention purely in an economic sense which distorts the market for any or all goods by affecting demand, supply, or (more likely) both. The theory of free markets says that if everybody is left to do what they like, sellers will charge whatever price they like and buyers will pay whatever price they like. However for business to ensue they must be brought on to the same page, that is, the same price, a price at which the seller is happy selling and a buyer is happy buying. Then the government crashes the party. A prime example of how the government can intervene in a market is through taxes. If, a tax is levied on a particular good, it becomes more expensive and some people can no longer afford it, so the demand contracts. The sellers are now selling far less than they were initially. This is known as a distortion in the market. Other ways in which government intervention may distort a market is through subsidies, through price regulation, through trade tariffs etc. When there is no government intervention, the role of the government is to just stand around lamely while business is conducted and to help out in case of emergencies, for example the government of the US bailed out major banks during the recession. However, it is entirely possible that some timely intervention by the government may just have nipped the problem in the bud. So, to intervene or not to intervene, that is the question. I believe that the government should exist in the market as a corporate entity. That is, it should be a participant, not a regulator and therefore it can alter the market without distorting it. Here we must note that in all non economic matters the government must continue to function as it does presently, so if you kill someone, you will still go to jail. The government would be like any other large company with multiple diversified interests, such as construction (housing, roadways etc) , banking, power generation, telecom etc. All public sector industries will be opened to up to allow private players free entry and exit. Initially the government will be humungous with its influence extending to more or less every industry in the country. However, like every large corporation the government will face skyrocketing costs and sluggish revenue growth. Why? The government has a very large workforce which is very hard to monitor, and therefore tends to be a tad less productive than it ought to be. This is known as managerial diseconomies. This will prompt the government to externalize as many process’ as it can to try and minimize its technical and managerial diseconomies. This will lead to a lot of collateral growth in these industries. This will allow the government to enforce all its welfare measures without distorting the market. Consider the case of the minimum wage. Earlier this acted like a price floor in the factor market, which was distorting the market. It was also a mammoth failure as hardly anyone complied with the norms. However if the government, as a company was to offer employment at a particular wage rate, all the other companies would be forced to comply, otherwise they would find themselves without an adequately large labour force. The motive of the government will be long term welfare maximization, however it will have to generate at least normal profits. Now, ordinarily normal profits are the factor rewards for the entrepreneur, however in this case these profits are used to pay the dividends to the investors This company like all companies will be run on investment, with one major difference; The government of india as an institution belongs to every citizen of india. Similarly, the government of india as a company also belongs to every citizen of india, that is every citizen is a shareholder, however, it is not compulsory for every citizen to invest their savings, therefore investing in the government does not make you a shareholder, it only entitles you to claim a dividend. Also, the amount that one invests does not determine how much of the government one owns, every citizen has an equal share, however a larger investment will necessarily mean a higher dividend. What this does is, it still maintains the democratic nature of our country, but it incentivises investment. The largest implication of this model is that the citizens now have to pay far lower taxes. The only areas that the government is entitled to fund from tax revenue are defense and law and order. All other industries are now funded by investment. This would make it possible for the government to only tax the higher income groups, or to tax the middle and higher income groups a lot less than they do at present. All the various indirect taxes such as sales tax, vat, excise etc can no longer be levied. This step would make the government far more accountable to the people on a day to day basis. If the government is not performing then their stock price is going to fall massively. This will force the government to shake their malaise in order to compete in the market. It will force the government to be aware of all the corruption in the system to which it would ordinarily turn a blind eye. It will force the government to appoint competent ministers. No more will sick industries be allowed to lumber along for years, if a particular part is not performing the government will have to shape up or ship out, it cant afford to have any non performance. This would force the government to set up large think tanks in order to find solutions to these problems. This would create a large demand for highly educated researchers. The problem with our country is that our government is too complacent. Once elected, they know that for the next five years they don’t have anyone to answer to. The bureaucratic machinery is large and unwieldy and this makes officers at every level corrupt because they feel like they can get away with it. Public sector industries are sick and underperforming.The problem is that there are no consequences that the government has to face for these inefficiencies If the government was to enter the market, the government would be forced to be efficient in order to compete, or they would lag behind. Research Papers on Economic Intervention by GovernmentPETSTEL analysis of IndiaDefinition of Export QuotasQuebec and CanadaThe Effects of Illegal ImmigrationBringing Democracy to AfricaNever Been Kicked Out of a Place This NiceInfluences of Socio-Economic Status of Married MalesAnalysis of Ebay Expanding into AsiaTwilight of the UAWAssess the importance of Nationalism 1815-1850 Europe

Ecosystem toxic chemical threat Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Ecosystem toxic chemical threat - Research Paper Example The environment is vulnerable to dioxins. Plants, animals and human beings are all vulnerable to dioxins. Unlike animals, human beings do not appear to be susceptible to fatal effects of dioxin. In Vietnam, dioxin-based pesticides were sprayed in the 1970’s. Consequently, chronic and acute health effects were observed in military personnel as and in the population of Vietnam. Therefore, this environmental threat is both chronic and acute depending on the genetic makeup of the organism. The severity of potential exposure to dioxins ranges from cancer to noncancer effects. Some of the noncancer effects are endocrine disruption, neurological effects, suppression of the immune system and effects on reproductive and sexual development. 95% of human exposure comes from food especially dairy products, fish and eggs. This is because of dioxins bioaccumulate in body fat of higher organisms. This chemical threat is systemic because it affects all living organisms in the environment. The se threaten the well-being of human beings, rodents, aquatic life and vegetation. The presence of dioxins in vegetation is indicated by wilting or color change in leaves. The methods of eliminating dioxins in the environment are not highly effective. This is due to the complex nature of the dioxin structure. This structure is hard to break down making it difficult to eliminate it from the environmentÃ'Ž The activities that I undertake determine what environmental, chemical threats I contribute to the environment. For an example, driving a gasoline car leads to carbon emission, which is a threat to the environment. Carbon emission also occurs when burning firewood, which is detrimental to the environment. Burning firewood especially in the presence of chlorine leads to emission of dioxins which are chemical threats to the environment. In order to mitigate the threat of dioxins to the environment, institutions such as Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) should regulate dioxin emission by outlining rules that govern the disposal of waste

The relationship between Oxidative Stress and Apoptosis in Plants Annotated Bibliography

The relationship between Oxidative Stress and Apoptosis in Plants - Annotated Bibliography Example Tor, Y. S., Yazan, L. S., Foo, J. B., Wibowo, A., Ismail, N., Ismail, M., Yazan, L. S., Yeap, S. K. (June 05, 2015). Induction of apoptosis in MCF-7 cells via oxidative stress generation, mitochondria-dependent and caspase-independent pathway by ethyl acetate extract of Dillenia suffruticosa and its chemical profile. Plos One, 106.) In this article, the authors unravel that from a previous intense research, they deduced that EADs boost induction of oxidative stress in MCF-7 cells that results to cell death since a pre-treatment with antioxidants such as ascorbic acid significantly reduces the extract cytotoxicity.The article is purely qualitative research that was done to establish the relationship between Oxidative stress, Reactive Oxygen Species and apoptosis in plants. The article seeks to answer biological cascades which occur when programmed cell death is induced in MCF-7 cell through oxidative stress, mitochondria dependent and caspace – independent pathways. In this context, D. suffruticosa plant was selected and tested. It was found out that after six hour pre-treatment with ÃŽ ±-tocopherol and ascorbic acid significantly increased the viability of MCF-7 cells treated with EADS in a time and dose-dependent manner to 110% and 99%, respectively, compared to the cells treated with 50 ÃŽ ¼g/mL of EADs alone (66%) at 24 hours (P

Business plan Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Business plan - Essay Example This piece of paper presents a brief business plan of studentevents.com, describing the business objectives, mission and vision of the business and analyzing projected financial performance. This paper addresses the conceptual framework related to various components in a business plan and are applied to the example of studentevents.com. StudentEvents: The Business Rationale An effectively prepared business plan must be able to describe the proposed business venture in terms of the products or services it provides, available resources and business opportunities (Leach and Melicher, 2008, p. 74). It means that the what, where, and why explanations about a business is critically important aspect in a business plan. As far as StudentEvents.com is concerned, it is small start-up company with six full time employees. Five of them are expert and qualified in computer engineering and software development and one is an educator who can update the company regarding trends, seminars, events, ac ademic sessions, syllabus components, tuition program, etc that are important to education and students around the world. Though plenty of websites attract students for chat with friends, none of them are found user-friendly and convenient for online sharing of events and parties. StudentEvent.com is not just an alternative to a social network, but an extremely useful database wherefrom students can obtain information about competition, event and programs that they may benefit attending. The image and video sharing of school-programs also will certainly attract wide numbers of customers to the website. Business Objectives As a critical component to business plan, the business objective need to cover both long and short term expectations and these need to be measured in terms of money or other tangible means (Ochtel, 2009). The primary objective of the company is to provide students with opportunity to get connected with others and to share their memories of school-events. From a bus iness point of view, it will target students, design a service wherein they can entertain, increase the traffics and commercialize this with a view to benefit the investors. Mission Statement This is meant with a view to continually add vitality to students’ life. We would like the students get connected with others and share their feelings of happiness and mishaps they experienced with various events or celebrations within their school or college campuses. Success Measures StudentEvents.com will take measures to ensure greater success in its business. The company aims: To facilitate access for students to the website to update with parties, events and celebrations, To help students organize birthday or valentine parties to friends online by automated-email messaging, To arrange summer campaigns, study tours, graduation ceremonies etc through specific online gaming arrangements To take dynamic business strategies to retain the visitors and increase traffic to get more marketi ng advantages. Marketing Plan Marketing Mix Elements Today’s business environment is rigorously competitive. No matter

Literature Review On The Hospitality Industry Tourism Essay

Literature Review On The Hospitality Industry Tourism Essay The hospitality industry is experiencing growth even in times of recession. Between 2004 and 2014, the hospitality industry is expected to add 17 percent in wage and salary employment (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2006-07). A growing demand of hospitality workers can be translated into a growing need of hospitality educational programs to adequately prepare the workforce to meet present and future demands in this enormous industry. Programs need to provide an education that improves the employability of the hospitality graduates. However, employability of the future graduates will not increase until and unless they convincingly demonstrate the skills and competencies required in the workplace. In an education program, students develop skills and competencies through courses in various subject areas. In that aspect, the hospitality curriculum needs to prioritize the subject areas according to the perceived importance of the industry practitioners, and this prioritization has to be up-to-date to reflect the changing needs of the industry. Although curriculum of hospitality and tourism programs have been examined in a plethora of research studies, little attention is given to hospitality programs housed in accredited colleges of business. Because of the limitations obligated by the accrediting bodies, important aspects of the curriculum such as course offerings, and credits become restricted to certain extent. As a result, there is a need to evaluate the curriculum of such programs separately from other hospitality and tourism management programs such as the independent ones and those housed in various different colleges. Gursoy and Swanger (2004) investigated the curriculum of a hospitality and tourism management program housed in an accredited college of business. As part of their study, they ranked hospitality subject areas according to the perceptions of hospitality professionals, identified any gaps between the perceptions and the current curriculum and suggested a model of curriculum for hospitality programs in accredited colleges of Business. However, hospitality curriculum needs to be ongoing and relevant to the current industry needs and expectations. Also, the changing nature of the industry calls for recent graduates to reflect the changes and challenges of the industry. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to replicate Gursoy and Swangers (2004) study, and provide an updated ranking of the hospitality subject areas. In addition, the changing needs of the hospitality industry is highlighted through a comparison of their 2004 ranking with the current ranking of hospitality subject areas a ccording to hospitality professionals perceptions. As such, likely changes to the 2004 curriculum model are suggested based on the findings of this study. The specific research questions that will be answered through this study are: What are the current perceptions of industry professionals regarding the importance of course subject areas? Are there any significant changes in the perceptions of industry professionals in the last five years? Are there any gaps between the industry needs within the changing operational environment and the current hospitality curriculum? Literature Review Hospitality students have often been criticized for having unrealistic expectations of the types of responsibilities they may be given and consequently the types of skills they will be expected to exercise on entering the hospitality industry (Purcell and Quinn, 1996). At the same time, the industry often discounted a students formal qualifications on the grounds of lack of experience and frequently we hear the complaint that students are overqualified but under experienced for even entry level management positions (Raybould Wilkins, 2005). In order to bridge this gap, the hospitality programs underwent several changes in its content, focus, and structure. In 1996, Formica published a study of tourism and hospitality education in Europe and America that examined programs and future trends. In his study, he argued that there was an international movement that supported the emancipation of hospitality education from its vocational base to an academic field of inquiry. Formicas claim was later supported by Morrison and OMahony (2003) in their case study regarding the liberation of hospitality management education. Rappole (2000) stated that programs have shifted from a home-economics focus towards a business-related one and Chathoth and Sharma (2007) noted this as the likely reason behind the change in curricular structure of hospitality programs in the United States. Most programs in the 1980s and early 1990s were geared towards developing the operational skills of the students, but during the past decade, universities were focusing on both operational and management-related courses as part of the curriculum (Chathoth Sharma 2007; Rappo le, 2000).   Developing a hospitality curriculum broadly involve three major components: substantive knowledge, skills, and values (Dopson and Tas, 2004). While operational issues such as working knowledge of hospitality services were important (Kay and Russette 2000), managerial and behavioral issues such as managerial skills were often considered to be more important (Okeiyi, Finely and Postel 1994).  Thus, the hospitality curriculum should not only teach the students in crucial operational skills but also facilitate them to learn and demonstrate the art of management.   To accomplish this purpose, it was necessary to incorporate the perspectives of the industry professionals into the hospitality curriculum. This was basically achieved in two ways. First, regular industry professionals were invited to visit classrooms as guest lecturers and industry experts, or to participate in executive education programs, as part of the curriculum review process (Lefever Withiam, 1998). Second, comp etency models were devised through which industry practitioners ranked the competencies and content areas most important in the workplace. Educators then made a strong note of these important competencies, and likewise incorporated them into the curriculum. In the course of time, a wide number of studies were undertaken regarding identifying and ranking competencies of hospitality graduates. One of the first competency based studies in hospitality was undertaken by Buergermeister (1983) where he found human relation skills and attitudes to be a very important area for hospitality graduates. Among others, Tas (1988) put forward a hospitality curriculum by identifying 36 skills college graduates expected to possess from surveying general managers of 75 hotels. While, most competency based studies in hospitality management focused solely on the perceptions of the hospitality industry practitioners (Ashley et al. 1995; Breiter and Clements, 1996; Kriegl, 2000) a few incorporated the perspectives of educators along with the industry practitioners (Su et al. 1997; Tsai et al. 2006) and a few even added the perspectives of students to the group (Enz et al. 1993; Okeiyi et al.1994). Among the studies from the industrys perspective, the majority focused on either the hotel industry itself (Tas 1988; Siu 1998; Kay and Russette, 2000; Tesone and Ricci, 2006) or the overall hospitality industry (Ashley et al. 1995; Breiter and Clements, 1996), with a few focusing solely on other sectors such as the food service sector (Horng Lu, 2006; Okeiyi et al. 1994). Notable works in the competency-based approach include Chung-Herrera, Enz, and Lankaus (2003) presentation of an industry specific and future based leadership competency model. In their study, they identified and ranked 99 key hospitality work related competencies. In another case, Nelson and Dopson (2001) compared hotel managers, human resource specialists, and hospitality alumnis perceptions of competencies necessary for success in the hospitality field. Eventually, Dopson and Nelson (2003) ranked 37 course content areas using the same three groups, and found several differences in their perceived importance of those course content areas. Competency models were developed as a descriptive tool to identify, categorize and summarize competencies that might be relevant to perform a specific job effectively in an organization (Chung-Herrera et al., 2003). However, these competency models are often broad and generic in nature and lacks emphasis on specific hospitality skills. Employers, who generally do not want narrowly trained graduates, recognize the importance of generic competencies (Harvey, et. al., 1997). Raybould and Wilkins (2005) integrated a generic skill framework to rank important skill areas of hospitality graduates from both employers and students perspectives. However, the nature of hospitality workplace, demands mastery of both generic skill sets and hospitality specific skill sets. In that aspect, taking into account hospitality subject areas, and course content areas, provides an extensive representation of the skills and knowledge graduates will require at the workplace. Chung (2000) laid out an effective plan for reforming the hotel management curriculum of Korean universities based on required competencies of hotel employees and career success in the hotel industry. Their study found significant relationships between competencies required of hotel employees and hotel management courses of universities, between competencies required of hotel employees and career success in the hotel industry, between hotel management courses of universities and career success in the hotel industry, and last but not the least between hotel management courses of universities and their contribution to career development in the hotel industry. While this method might be easier for the industry practitioners to identify with, it might be difficult for educators to reform a programs curriculum based on such models because of the broad and diverse nature of such competencies. Since, there is a significant relationship between competencies required of hotel employees and ho tel management courses of universities, in this regard, it makes more sense if the industry practitioners rank the actual subject areas and course content areas offered in the curriculum. However, the subject areas and course content areas in the hospitality program might be difficult for industry practitioners to identify with especially if they are not graduates of hospitality programs. In this regard, the concerned school has to rank the subject areas from the perspectives of their own alumni, who are now established hospitality industry professionals so that they can easily identify the subject areas and relate them to their skill requirements in the workplace. Keeping the hospitality curricula rigorous, relevant, and current to the industry trends seems to be a clear concern of the hospitality practitioners. According to Dopson and Tas (2004) the biggest challenge for hospitality educators today is to determine clear objectives for the curriculum that takes care of the constantly changing needs of the industry. In that aspect, it is of utmost importance to close the gap between what is taught to students and what the industry expects of the students being hired (Dopsan and Tas 2004; Okeyi et al. 1994). Therefore, in addition to being an industry and faculty driven process, curriculum development needs to incorporate the changing needs of the industry, and foster innovation. In short, the process needs to be ongoing (Dopson and Tas, 2004). Methods The purpose of this study was to identify hospitality subject areas and rank them according to the perceptions of hospitality industry professionals. In addition the current perceptions of industry professionals regarding hospitality subject areas were to be compared to their perceptions five years ago to reflect the changing requirements of the industry. For gathering data from industry professionals, the same survey instrument developed using a four-step process by Gursoy and Swanger (2004) was used. The four steps included conducting a series of focus groups, developing the survey instrument to systematically measure the perceived importance of the course subject areas by industry and to investigate the gaps between hospitality curriculum and industry needs based on the findings of the focus groups, pre-testing the instrument on a sample of industry professionals using an on-line survey method and last but not the least revising and finalizing the instruments based on the pre-test results. Based on the feedback received by Gursoy and Swanger (2004) from their respondents, the survey instrument was modified in 2009. For the purpose of comparison only the common subject areas between the 2004 and 2009 surveys were retained. The final instrument was employed to collect data on hospitality industry professionals perceptions of the importance of the course subject areas. Development of the Survey Instrument The procedures recommended by Churchill (1979) and DeVellis (1991) were followed for developing the survey instrument. Initially, an item pool containing a total of 39 subject matter variables were developed or identified from the literature, current hospitality curriculum, and from a series of five focus groups conducted with the advisory board members, restaurant executives, hotel executives, university alumni, and hospitality educators. The content validity of the items that were identified from the focus groups and from the literature was assessed by ten faculty members. The faculty members feedback on content and understandability was gathered based on which the items were modified to enhance their clarity, readability, and content validity. Based on the same process any redundancy in the scale items was removed to improve the proposed scale. After the content validity check, it was pre-tested using an on-line survey method involving 50 industry professionals. The survey instrument was modified one last time based on the pre-test. Each variable was measured using a 5-point Likert scale (5=extremely important, 1= not important at all) as to their importance for success in the hospitality industry. The final version of the 2004 survey instrument consisted of four parts 40 subject matter variables, 128 course content variables, demographic information, and information regarding the performance of the company the respondent was part of. For this study, only the part that deals with the subject areas and demographic information are considered. In 2009 some changes were made based on the feedback received from the participants of Gursoy and Swangers 2004 study REPEAT. While the 2004 survey dealt with 40 subject areas, the 2009 one had only 33. 11 subject areas were removed from the 2004 survey, while 4 subject matters were added based on the received feedback, in the 2009 survey. The subject areas that were taken out of the 2009 survey instrume nt are: Fundamentals of Cooking, Math, Accounting, Economics for Decision Making, Tourism, Gaming/Casino Operation, Distribution Channels, Secondary Revenue Management, Beverage Management, Destination Management, and Dining Room Service Management. The subject areas that were added to the 2009 study are: International Tourism, Public Relations, Convention and Meeting Planning, and Food and Beverage Management. For the comparison, the 29 common areas between the 2009 and 2004 surveys were considered. Data Collection A self-administered survey questionnaire was mailed to the selected sample of industry professionals. An individually signed cover letter containing the name and address of the respondent was included with each questionnaire, along with a self-addressed, stamped envelope. A reminder was sent after 3 weeks, to increase the number of responses. Data Analysis Descriptive Analysis was undertaken to rank the means of the respective variables from the survey. Independent samples t-tests were carried out to compare the 2009 rankings to the 2004 ones. All the data analysis was performed in Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 18. Results The survey was sent to a total of 2340 target participants. 369 responses were returned, resulting in an acceptable response rate of 15.8%. Profile of the Respondents: The demographic characteristics of gender, present position and company, education level, ethnicity, type of property, and size of the property were included in this study in an effort to provide a descriptive profile of the survey respondents. Gender: The survey asked the participants to indicate their gender (male or female). Out of 369, 358 respondents indicated their gender. The number of male respondents was 177 (49.4%) while female respondents were 179 (50.6%). Present Position/Name of Company: Over 180 different companies were represented in the study. Regarding present work positions, the respondents provided more than 200 different positions or titles, which were grouped into 15 categories based on their similarities. Some of the dominating categories included Sales/Marketing with 42 responses (11.4%), Finance/Accounting with 29 (7.9%), General Manager and Human Resource each with 28 (7.6%), Chairman/President/CEO/CFO/COO and Business Owners each with 16 (4.3%), Educator/Teacher/Trainer with 13 (3.5%), Other Managers (restaurant, FB, convention, events, store, regional, training, guest services, other departments) with 43 (11.7%), and Retired/Unemployed with 26 (7.1%). Besides these major categories, there was an Other category for the grouping of many positions that were listed less than 3 times and did not readily fit into another group, such as Attorney. Education Level: Out of 355 individuals who provided education level information, 298 indicated they have a bachelors degree (80.8%); 38 have a graduate degree (10.3%); 17 did some graduate level work (4.6%); 1 individual was a high school graduate (1.6%), and 1 person indicated other (1.6%). Ethnicity: Of the 352 respondents who indicated their ethnicity, 328 (93.2%), circled Caucasian/White; 10 (2.8%) circled Asian American/Pacific Islander; 8 (2.3%) circled Hispanic/Latino; 3 selected Black/African American; 1 (0.3%) circled American Indian/Alaska Native; and 2 (.6%) circled other. Size of Property: For lodging properties information regarding the number of rooms in the hotel was collected and for restaurants, number of seats information was gathered. If respondents worked in neither a lodging property nor a restaurant, they were asked to provide size information using other appropriate measures. Of the 195 individuals who responded to the survey, 92 provided the number of rooms information, 34 provided the number of seats information, and 69 provided the size information by reporting other measures such as total revenue, number of employees, square footage, and others. Of the 92 managers who provided the number of rooms, 2 (2.2%) indicated the property had less than 75 rooms, 17 (18.5%) indicated the property had 75 to 149 rooms, 18 (19.6%) had 150 to 299 rooms, 29 (31.5%) had 300 to 500 rooms, and 26 (28.3%) indicated the property had more than 500 rooms. Most of the individuals who reported managing more than 500 rooms were regional managers, vice presidents, or presidents and CEOs of hotel corporations. Of the 34 managers who provided number of seats information, 6 (17.6%) indicated the restaurant had less than 100 seats, 13 (38.2%) indicated the restaurant had 100 to 199 seats, 8 (23.5%) had 200 to 300 seats, and 7 (20.6%) indicated the restaurant had more than 300 seats. A good number of the individuals who reported managing more than 300 seats were regional managers, vice presidents, or presidents and CEOs of restaurant corporations. Due to the diverse array of survey respondents, a great many different types of responses were received regarding measure of size. Thus, among the 69 respondents who chose, other in the measure of size category, measures such as square footage of convention/conference/meeting/banquet space, number of restaurants/stores/units, number of employees, number of hotels, amount of revenue generated, number of locations, number of accounts, and various others. In addition some respondents provided multiple measures of size. Type of Property: 188 responses were recorded regarding the type of property the respondents were affiliated with. Of those, 99 (52.7%) selected lodging, 27 (14.4%) circled restaurants, 16 (8.5%) indicated managed services, and 39 (20.8%) selected other types which included vending, marketing/advertising, airlines, associations, distribution/suppliers, cruise lines casinos, clubs retail/convenience stores, cruise lines, health care, real estate/property development, banking/finance, and consulting. Type of Ownership: In the Type of Ownership category 225 responses were recorded. Of them, 124 (55.1) properties were company owned, 68 (30.2%) were independently owned, and 33 (14.7%) were franchised. Ranking and Comparison Results The 33 course subject areas were ranked in the order of importance by the industry professionals. The ranking is provided in table 1. The top ten subject areas are Leadership, Internships/industry experience, Preparation for Industry Employment, Ethics, Overview of the Hospitality Industry, Revenue/Asset Management, Hospitality Management and Organization, Hospitality Operations Analysis, Foodservice Operations and Controls, Computer/Information Technology. The results were compared to Gursoy and Swangers 2004 survey results. Results show that 10 out of 29 hospitality subject areas Hospitality Management and Organization, Principles of Marketing, Hospitality Marketing Strategy, Hospitality Operations Analysis, Ethics, Strategic Management, Service Management, Revenue/Asset Management, Study Abroad, and Innovation and Product Development are significantly different compared to the 2004 rankings. Discussion A look at the two ranking tables (2004 and 2009) reveal that highly important subject areas which were quite consistent in their perceived importance among industry practitioners include leadership, Internships/industry experience, Preparation for Industry Employment, Overview of Hospitality Industry, Foodservice Operations and Controls, and Computer/Information Technology. Leadership, the highest rated subject area, especially has been rated as one of the most important skills deemed of hospitality graduates a number of times in hospitality literature (Okeiyi et al. 1994; Breiter and Clements, 1996; Siu 1998; Kay and Russette, 2000; Kriegl 2000; Nelson and Dopson, 2001). There were some major changes in the rankings over a period of 5 years. The ranking of Ethics went down from 1 to 4, service management from 10 to 18, Principles of Marketing from 12 to 19, and Hospitality Marketing Strategy from 14 to 20. On the other hand, Revenue/Asset Management went up 14 places to number 6, and Finance from number 18 to 13. Finance, accounting, and related skills were recognized as very important by hospitality employers in various studies (Getty et al., 1991; Umbriet, 1992; Ashley et al. 1995; Nelson Dopson, 2001; Agut et al. 2003) in the past. In that aspect, this improvement in ranking of finance and related areas is consistent with past literature. As mentioned before, t-tests revealed significant differences in means between 2009 rankings and 2004 rankings in 10 out of the 29 subject areas. 8 of those 10 subject areas had significantly higher means in 2004 compared to 2009. These areas include Hospitality Management and Organization, Principles of Marketing, Hospitality Marketing Strategy, Hospitality Operations Analysis, Ethics, Strategic Management, Service Management, and Innovation and Product Development. Ethics, especially, showed a very significantly high decrease in means (t (670.079) = -5.116, p = .000). Time and again, ethics has been recognized as the most important skill in the hospitality workplace (Enz et al., 1993; Nelson Dopson, 2001; Gursoy Swanger, 2004). This significant decrease in the ranking of ethics shows that it is not quite deemed as important in the hospitality workplace as it used to be. This decrease in importance can be accounted to two reasons. Firstly, following the wake of Enron, WorldCom, an d Adelphia corporate scandals that shook the business community in early years of this new millennium, audit firms were increasingly putting a lot of emphasis on having stringent audit practices. Consequently, businesses all over the world were paying special attention to preventing corporate fraud through promoting ethical practices within the organization. This has increased the demand for ethics, as a top level competency/skill/subject area deemed of recent graduates in the workplace during the time period of Gursoy and Swangers (2004) study. However, the increased emphasis coming out of the shock the business community received from the corporate scandals has faded away a little as time went by. Moreover, business schools all over the world have been producing much better graduates reflecting ethical preparedness in response to those corporate scandals and the increased pressure from the business community. This can be demonstrated by the increased importance on ethics posed by universities in response to industry pressure. MBA programs that require students to take a course dedicated to business and society issues have increased dramatically over time: 34% in 2001 to 63% in 2007, and to 69% in 2009 (Aspen Institute CBE, 2010). In the accreditation standards of AACSB, formulated in 2003, an increased emphasis on ethics was made, and schools were mandated to integrate ethics across the curriculum to meet the accreditation standards, although there was no requirement of a standalone ethics course in the curriculum (Swanson, Fisher, 2009). Having received better prepared graduates, it can be argued that the business community no longer rate ethics as important as it rated in 2004 because they are more content now compared to six years ago. Secondly, the prolonged economic downturn has caused the business community to put more weight on other skills/subject areas. Consequently, this shifted the importance on other areas such as leadership and financial competencies, which diminished the relative importance of ethics. Also, in the beginning years of the economic downturn, firms were under shock, and had to operate under strict financial conditions prompting them to avoid any unnecessary lawsuits which might cause them to be ultra protective. Thus, they were in need of better ethically prepared employees, which are reflected in the 2004 rankings. Moving away from ethics, marketing related subject areas were also rated significantly less important in 2009 compared to 2004. 11.4% of the 2009 respondents were associated with Sales/Marketing compared to 8.9% in 2004. In this regard, it was expected that the ranking of marketing related subject areas would improve, but the results are contrasting indicating that the importance of marketing related subject have indeed gone down. According to IBISWorld industry reports, the overall lodging industry showed positive growth in revenue from 2004 to 2007. However, the report also showed huge decrease in revenue growth in 2008 and 2009. Especially in 2009, revenue decreased by as much as 9.4% for hotel and motel industry, consistent with the projections made in 2008 (IBISWorld, 2010a). This decrease in growth has caused the hospitality industry to be ultra-protective of their expenses. As a result, there has been a decrease in the importance of marketing oriented subject areas, which acco unts for a good chunk of costs in hospitality industry. The same reason can be cited for the significant decrease in hospitality operations subject area. A better argument can be presented from the employment perspective. Because of the sudden economic downturn in the lodging industry, it can be argued that firms have reduced their hiring practices in areas that greatly add to the cost of the hotels such as marketing, operations, and innovations and product development. Same holds true for managerial level positions, which accounts for the decrease in the perceived importance of subject areas such as service management, strategic management, and management and organization. However, reflected in our analysis, it can be pointed out that firms are looking for leaders, who can think out of the box, and bail them out of the financial crisis, which accounts for the high perceived rating of leadership subject area. Especially, it can be argued that hospitality firms are looking for employ ees who can lead from the front and make their decisions, instead of relying on other people such as the managers. Thus, it can be argued that, hospitality firms are trying to cut down the costs of employing specialized managers by trying to promote leadership qualities on their regular employees. The subject areas that showed significantly higher means in 2009 compared to 2004 include Revenue/Asset Management and Study Abroad, which were both highly significant (p Suggested Curriculum Model Gursoy and Swanger (2004) suggested an industry driven model of a hospitality curriculum for programs housed in accredited college of business. Based on our study, some suggestions and improvements are offered to make the semester-based model more rigorous, relevant, and up-to-date. The model of hospitality curriculum was developed based on three different components: business core requirements, hospitality core requirements, and hospitality electives incorporating the ranked subject matter by hospitality industry professionals. Based on the limitations regarding number of credits in the hospitality program and on the suggestions from the focus groups and advisory boards, some subject areas, such as ethics and leadership, were embedded throughout the curriculum. The curriculum model did not embed those subject matters in the business cores and in the general education cores as business core and general education core classes were outside the hospitality programs locus of control. The Senior-level hospitality capstone course integrated all curriculum areas in the program. Subject matters with a mean ranking of 2.0 or lower were suggested to be part of elective courses and were recommended for Sophomore or Junior level. Like the 2004 model, learning a second lang uage (M = 1.76) and studying abroad (M = 1.50) were not deemed essential for success in the industry by the professionals surveyed and hence were not included in the model. Similarly, Entrepreneurship (M = 2.34) and Real Estate/Property Development (M = 1.61) courses, which were thought to be as part of other electives under a different department or program in business, were kept outside the curriculum model. For the 2009 model, electives such as Destination Manag

Rural-Urban Inequality in Contemporary China Essay -- impact of PRC Hok

Introduction -- The Summary of the Reading Materials: 　　The PRC hukou system, whose formal name is â€Å"huji† system, institutionally divides and organizes the Chinese people. To fully appreciate the significance of the hukou system, however, is not easy, even though many, especially those who have lived under the system, can vividly and endlessly attest its mighty presence. For it extensively and powerfully affects almost every aspect of the Chinese society and way of life. In this process, the hukou system tends to generate multifaceted, sometimes even contradictory and conflicting effects on China’s politics, economy, and social life.In politics,the PRC hukou system established stability, authoritarianism, and Elite Class. In economics, the hukou system has allowed the PRC to circumvent the Lewis Transition (also known as Lewis turning point, made in 1968 by Lewis, describes with the growth of rural economic , cheap labor after being fully absorbed, their wages will rise significantly. Lewis displayed wit h this theory of industrialization and urbanization are the best means to combat rural poverty) and hence to enjoy rapid economic growth and technological sophistication in a dual economy with the existence of massive surplus labor, however, the hukou system has created tremendous irrationalities, imbalances, and waste in the Chinese economy and barriers to further development of the Chinese market. At the same time, the PRC hukou system has generated a regionally uneven development and spatial inequality, such as the capita income gap, legal minimum wages, the amount of Welfare Pay. The PRC hukou system made a horizontal stratification in social life: Chinese culture, social stratification, and social norms and values have all d... ... new resources to finally overcome the wide cleavage between rural and urban that has characterized Chinese society since the 1950s, only a sketchy overview pf some the initiatives will be presented. 　　 Conclusion 　　Unlike population registration systems in many other countries, the PRC hukou system was designed not merely to provide population statistics and identify personal status, but also directly to regulate population distribution and serve many other important objectives desired by the state. In fact, the hukou system is one of the major tools of social control employed by the state. Its functions go far beyond simply controlling population mobility. Through nearly fifty-year’s development, the PRC hukou system constituted rural-urban inequality in contemporary China, which has been bringing profound influences on Chinese politics, economics, and social life.