ShantanuT01/DACTYL-Pretraining huggingface dataset:
Introduction Distribution channel describes the process through which goods pass from the manufacturer to the consumer. An organization can carry out thorough marketing but if the distribution channel is not working, it will be difficult for the goods to reach the consumer (Gorchels et al, 2004, p. 40). Some organizations have rolled out distribution channels that seek to eliminate the wholesaler and retailer in direct selling plans. These companies have introduced direct selling mostly through multilevel marketing that involves the customers purchasing the products directly from the manufacturers and selling them to the consumers. Although the direct seller of these products helps move the products, there have been many instances of over pricing and uncontrolled selling, tax evasion and inefficiency in the distribution channel (Rosenbloom, 1993, p. 78). The intermediaries in the distribution channel that include whole sellers and retailers tend to add efficiency to the system leading to effective reach of consumers. These intermediaries increase specialization on the channel because of the flexibility and convenience they offer to customers. This paper will concentrate on the distribution channel of different kinds of shoes for both men and women. The distribution channel of these shoes follows the regular distribution channel apart from a few instances that involves direct buying and selling. Manufacturers Manufacturers are at the top of the distribution chain of the company’s products (McCalley, 1996, p. 168). The company is one of the manufacturers of the products in the diverse economy. The manufacturer of shoes specializes in producing shoes that fit to many customers descriptions and preferences. To some extent, the manufacturers have specialized in handling different distribution phases. Wholesalers Wholesalers of these shoes have specialized in moving large qualities of the products from the manufacturers to the different retailers (Dent, 2008, p. 96). They are at the second level of the channel of distribution. Some of these wholesalers stores are owned by the company while the bulk of them are owned by other parties. These whole sellers distribute shoes at a slightly higher price than the manufacturers. They move large qualities of shoes that only suits large retailers like super markets and shoes stores. Retailers The retailers are at the end of the chain next to the consumers (Sheth, 1986, p. 267). They buy the shoes from wholesalers and stock them in retail prices. The retailers Exceptions Despite the existence of the above traditional chain on the manufacture of shoes by the company, there are a few instances that the chain has been broken and is not strictly followed. Some retailers prefer to buy the goods directly from the manufactures. They do so to reduce costs associated with procuring shoes that have already been procured by wholesalers. The role of the wholesaler has been questions especially on the backdrop of increasingly large retailers who easily compete with whole sellers. Similarly, there is the
Introduction The focal point of the paper is to evaluate and analyze the National Geographic movie China: Beyond the Clouds . The director of the movie is Phil Agland. He is also the photographer and the producer of the movie. Executive producers Tom Simon and Nicolas Noxon support the making and Janet McFadden is the supervising producer. This film was made for the National Geographic Society and River Film Prods and was distributed by Canal Plus and Channel Four TV. The entire movie is filmed in the Chinese provinces of Yi and Lijiang. Review The fundamentals of the featured deal with the town of Lijiang that is opening up at a brisk pace through the old systems are well operational in farms like Jade’s Dragon Mountain. This town has modern hospitals and traditional butcher shops at the same note. Here we find a Yi minority teacher Lu who lives with his wife and children. He is most comfortable with Tang, an acupuncturist, whose daughter Lixing is a medical assistant. Tang runs the private clinic and acts as a psychologist to Mu, the butcher. Tang is related to four elderly women who provide the traditional essence of Chinese beliefs. In the meantime, local gangsters kill Asan, nephew of Mu. Thus, the feature relates to the criminal activities of provincial China and the pact with the justice system. This is shown through the interrogation and investigation process that creates huge discontent among the locals. Though politics is not directly dealt with in this feature it is obvious the tone of the political essence is present throughout. Following anthropological theory or concepts of monoculture, it is evident that the local judiciary or authority seldom manages to catch up with the psyche of the local culture at the advent of a foreign concept or dominant culture. However, it should be taken into account that the East has very intricate value systems, which even today pose questions to the West. A thorough understanding is needed of their culture, perceptions, and style of thinking to accurately predict their behavior on Western understanding scales. Ethical values and corporate social responsibility are fast gaining global priority. The corporate sector has, for long, behaved as an isolated entity, powerful enough to influence and dictate directions in the life of the common man, as well as governments. The emergence of environmental concerns and sustainability issues has highlighted the role of ethics and social responsibility in the functioning of the corporate sector. Modernization has brought in materialism and consumerism, which by itself is not detrimental. However, it should be mentioned that China has coped with the changes quite well in its way. In this context, it should also be mentioned that as far as international strategic order is concerned China has projected its position in this aspect with great success. Their ideas about values are indeed different but they hardly exert it on their foreign issues. That way China remains at par with the rest of the world. Thus in a way, there is every possibility that China is likely to be a “status quo” power. From the point of v
In his article, Sut Jhally claims that advertising has many ethical implications for society, and it may be regarded as one of the crucial destructive forces of contemporary time (1). Overall, advertising includes multiple methods implemented in the commercial culture for the promotion of products, internationalization of business, and the development of consumerism. Although the author of the article finds many negative connotations of the commercial promotion, it is possible to say that the instruments and activities used in advertising are neutral in their nature, but the motivations of organizations in their professional performance may lack the consideration of potential negative impacts, and, as a result, advertising can provoke negative effects. According to Jhally, commercial organizations perceive culture as “as simply an adjunct to the system of production and consumption” (2). It is possible to presume that the colonization of the cultures by advertising messages may deteriorate the traditional cultural values. While entering new markets, international organizations often use regional cultural elements in advertising. By using the cultural concepts, the marketers make a product more appealing to the members of local communities. But advertising is rather a part of the global commercial culture that imposes its own values of consumption and production on the society. Advertising promotes consumerism by telling people that the purchase of a particular product can make them happy (Jhally 2). The dominant majority of the advertisements implicitly or explicitly communicates the idea that a purchase of a good or a service inevitably leads to satisfaction and improvement of life quality. It is possible to say that the exploitation of emotional and psychological fulfillment is merely commercial purposes is nonobjective and unethical. It creates the illusions that lead to inevitable frustration in the consumers. Thus, the organizations need to take the ethical aspects of advertising into account and address the social needs in an ade
Introduction Human resource is one of the most crucial components in any given organization. There is need to understand how and why people behave the way they do under different conditions and circumstances. Organizational psychology has been interested in understanding factors contributing to employee motivation (Jex, 2002). Various theories that try to explain the different behaviors of workers have been advanced especially in American context. The research paper describes a selected organization and the continued employee absenteeism. It explains how motivational theories could be applied to solve the problem of absenteeism. Furthermore, the paper analyzes the role of organizational leadership in the identified situation in the organization as well as evaluates the role of power and influence in the selected situation. Selected Organization Many organizations are currently faced with numerous problems in their day to day operations and managers have been forced to make serious decisions to address these challenges (Jex, 2002). Blue-Ways Insurance Company is one such organization which has had to deal with numerous challenges as far as carrying out its operations is concerned. The busiest section in the company is the human resource department as employees interact constantly with clients. The company deals with hundreds of customers on daily basis and this keeps the workers busy throughout. The manner of operation is on an assembly-line management of affairs. Selected Situation However, over the past one year, there has been a growing trend of employee absenteeism in this organization. This has in most cases paralyzed the operations of the company due to fewer client-attendants. According to research findings, employees’ absenteeism has significant financial implications on an organization (Terpstra, 2006). Most organizations define absenteeism as the unscheduled absence from the workplace and usually the cause of this absence cannot be convincingly justified by the absentee. The management in the Blue-Ways Company has been looking for ways to minimize the unexplained abscondment of duty by their employees. They have always had problems temporarily replacing those who fail to turn up for work on different occasions without due work-leaves being granted to them. They have always tried to understand whether the absenteeism was caused by job dissatisfaction or by individual attitudinal orientations (Jex, 2002). Application of Motivational Theories A number of motivational theories have been advanced to explain the problem of absenteeism among workers and the correctional measures that can be taken to address the problem. Virtually all theories advocate the fact that employees can be motivated to function optimally through the use of various approaches especially by the management. Some of the motivational theories include; A. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, D. McGregor’s Theory X and Theory Y, and F. Hertzberg’s motivation theory (Terpstra, 2006). Research conducted by organizational psychologists reveal those employees who are not motivated
People often refer to it as the windy city, but Chicago for me is the place I call home. In my early adulthood years, I often gave much prominence to the act of growing up, but I now know that wholesome living is the more important aspect of life. It is through living that I get to adjust my temperament in order to fit into my current environment and probably prosper in the process. I grew up in Chicago with my family but by the time I was old enough to comprehend life, my father had already left our family. Therefore, I am accustomed to referring to my mother and sister as the only family that I have. Psychologists will often tell you how growing up without a father affects a child negatively. However, I feel like I am exempt from this theory because I had a great experience while being raised singlehandedly by my mother. Ultimately, I feel that my mother did a better job than the one two parents could have done. I do not feel as if I have missed anything in life, especially now that I am a grownup who can comprehend and analyze situations. For instance, when I was a child in elementary school I envied the kids who had the attention of two parents, but I no longer have this problem as a grownup. My social experiences in life have been many and varied. However, throughout all my socialization experiences I find that I always end up growing a little. My most remarkable social experience was high school, mostly because it was also quite a turbulent period. When I remember this experience, I see that I could have been totally lost. I ended up dropping out of high school for a short period of time. Dropping out of high school was not because I did not like schoolwork, but I had major underlying issues with the entire experience. For instance, I was not sure which path to follow and I often found myself in what might be referred to as the ‘wrong crowd’. Nevertheless, even if my social experiences were a challenge, I resolved to make my life complete by finishing my high school education in another school. Socialization continued to be a challenge even in my new environment but I was able to find overall success in this new school. The experience of finishing high school is directly connected to my current goal of acquiring a bachelor’s degree. I want this journey to come to a climax when I become a certified as a physical therapist. It is easy for anyone to become embroiled in his/her own issues, thereby forgetting to pay attention to the bigger picture. The fact is that human beings are never alone and their problems are often collective in nature. Therefore, the easiest way for a person to solve his/her problems is by rectifying the issues that surround him/her. For example, in the course of my life I have often ignored how effective empathy can be, if it is genuinely directed towards others. Instead, I have chosen a less effective path of burying myself in my own problems. One effect of thi
The story How to Write a War Story by Tim O’Brien is a definitive initiation story of a young soldier, living out of the traumas of the Vietnam War. In the story, O’Brien relates the criteria of a “true war story.” The story focuses on the features that might make a story a true war tale as the narrator relates “A true war story is never moral” . The story is narrated in the first person about two characters Rat Kiley and Curt Lemon, who do not resemble the image of a soldier but are rather depicted as boys in search of fun and adventure. The story, apart from being a metaphysical account of the war, traces the journey of a young soldier in Vietnam, who matures through his traumatic experiences at war and attains maturity. In presenting the nature of a true war story, the narrator grows from a boy who writes to the sister of Rat Kiley and pours his heart out to describe what he meant to him to the man who realizes that war stories never fetch listeners and only mean unanswered letters. The story is arranged in an unpredictable fashion as that of the nature of war itself: “the only certainty is overwhelming ambiguity” . The narrator in his way to maturity relates that “The final and definitive truth” in a straightforward manner as the “truths are contradictory” . The road to maturity for the narrator is through his intercourse with the war, and the readers are made aware that the true nature of the narrator in the story beginning when he relates that he wrote an earnest letter to Rat Kiley’s sister. However, when he received no answer for that heart-wrenching letter, the narrator takes the readers back in time to portray the characters of Rat Kiley and Curt Lemon, who are described as boys. The narrative is arranged in segments that facilitate the readers to be actively engaged with the text. The characters that are described as dead at the beginning of the story are brought back in the story through flashbacks is separate, disjoint, and disconnected parts of the text. It is in this later recollections of the dead characters that their life and nature of death are discussed in greater detail. Lemon appears on the third page of the story, where the narrator states that the “dead guy’s name was Curt Lemon” . The death of Curt Lemon and Rat Kiley described in the later part of the story, and the nature of their death is described in detail, slowly throughout the whole course of the narrative. In between, the story presents other tales that of Rat Kiley and Mitchell Sanders. All the three characters we just talked about were described as “kids.” Lemon and Rat Kiley were said to be the ones who did not understand the situation and the graveness of the war, for the narrator relates, “They were kids.” In describing them, the narrator creates a picture of young b
Sports and athletics have always been a male domain and female athletes have always struggled to be taken seriously. Women are perceived as frail and delicate beings and they are not supposed to participate in activities that involve any kind of physicality. The traditional female roles require that women be limited to their homes and kitchens and their main interests be limited to looking sexy and getting married. Bend it Like Beckham explores the problems faced by two women who want to pursue their passion in soccer but are conflicted by the traditionally expected role of women in society. Jesminder “Jess” Bhamara played by Parminder Nagra and Juliette “Jules” Paxton played by Keira Knightley are the two soccer crazy women who each face and overcome family and social pressures as they pursue their passion. The biggest obstacle for women wanting to pursue a sporting career is that they are expected to be feminine while athletic women are considered to be masculine and hence sports are not considered an ideal career choice for women. The societal expectations from women make it difficult for them to pursue a career in sports and when they do go against the tradition to pursue their sporting dreams they are either not taken seriously or seen as less feminine than the more traditional women. Jess’ and Jules’ parents consider their interest in soccer to be a temporary phase and expect them to outgrow their “childish” pursuits and eventually get married and settle into domesticity. Both Jess and Jules are expected to spend more time on their grooming so that they may be able to attract men and eventually get married. Jules’ mother is horrified that her daughter does not dress in a more feminine manner and does not date any boys. On the other hand, Jess’ parents want her to learn cooking so that she can become a good wife. Both sets of parents are concerned that their grown up daughters may not be feminine enough to get a good husband. Irrespective of their cultural background, marriage is the ultimate destiny for women. When women dare to deviate from this path they are looked at suspiciously. And when they want to pursue a career that is predominantly male, they must be reprimanded and made to mend their ways. Sports, especially rough sports like soccer, that require athletes to sweat and bleed and can cause injuries that may render them unsuitable to carry out their marital duties are definitely off-limits for women. Some of these apprehensions against women playing sports may stem from a misguided myth that rough sports may injure a woman’s reproductive health (Daniels 335). The myth could explain, in part, why younger girls are still tolerated if they indulge in active sports, but as they grow older, they are expected to become more serious about life. For women, this invariably means getting married and settling down. Jess’ mother berates her that she is too old to be playing around with boys. Obviously, while it was alright for her to play socce
Introduction Theology has played a crucial role in the historical development of man. Theology has shaped various contemporary issues in society. Indeed, there are indications that theology is yet to transform other vital components of human life (Mueller 7). This observation may also relate to other general process within society. A critical examination of ancient theological sources reveals sensitive issues on the aspect of war. From the book of Genesis in the Old Testament, the first war is portrayed between two brothers. The eruption of hatred culminates into bloodshed. This paper examines the credibility of theology as an important contributor to war. The credibility of Theology as an Important Contribution to War Theology is credible for most significant contributions into the field of war. In the description of how man was created, theology gradually reveals the rise of hatred and suspicion amongst men. A procedural illustration is developed within every book that is theologically recognized (Noll 19). The instance in Genesis, where one brother kills the other marks the beginning of death. It is clear that the first death occurs through a physical tussle. Analytically, other causes of death, including infirmity, are not portrayed in the first instance. The second book of Exodus presents a very vivid situation in which war is practiced. The Israelites were held captives in Egypt and monitored under tight security. Slavery and protection of territorial borders emerge as pertinent practices notable within these nations. In the contemporary world, these are part of war activities. Only armed soldiers and security guards are charged with this noble responsibility. The escape of captives involved tight pursuit with armed security persons on the trail. This is typically the case noted during the crossing of the “Red Sea” by Israelites (Pickard 34). The incident entailed massive death of the Egyptian soldiers who were on the trail. From these, the evidence of supernatural power in war is revealed. This is evident from the death of these soldiers while crossing the sea. There is an obvious fundamental illustration of this occurrence. Notably, war can be used to defend oneself during critical moments. The several rituals performed by the Israelites are indicative of something important (Noll 32). War requires special preparations and at times, even rituals. Observably, these are still practiced within the contemporary world. Presently, warheads have to dialogue either with their ancestors or supernatural powers. These are common undertakings normally initiated by these