ShantanuT01/DACTYL-Pretraining huggingface dataset:
What are the primary motivating factors behind Electrolux’s decision to expand aggressively into Asia, Eastern Europe, and Latin America in the 1990s? There are myriad factors that are motivating Electrolux to expand into the foreign markets. First, the company boasts of high quality in its line of products and that is why its household goods are competing effectively in the market. Electrolux is confident enough that it can meet the needs of its consumers and therefore daring to tap into dormant foreign markets. Second, the growing population in the developing world is another driving force and a motivating factor for Electrolux. One of the most important elements in its production is the availability of markets. While other companies are also scrambling for the very overseas markets, Electrolux is motivated by the fact that the growing population will always lead to a rise in demand for its products. Finally, the company is ambitious to emerge among the top three market leaders supplying household goods. This motivates the management at Electrolux since it is a higher goal that has been set and must be achieved. Why do you think Electrolux required Lehel in Hungary but opted for green-field investment to enter many other eastern European countries? Electrolux acquired Green-fields investments to experience expansion in Eastern Europe faster than relying on Lehel. One important benefit was the economies of scale associated with such mergers as well as the availability of complementary resources. Besides, Electrolux would benefit from tax advantages which would go a long way in improving operational efficiencies. Electrolux also forecasted growth because the company would contain proprietary rights in its production line as well as the ability to penetrate new marketing points. Green-fields investments offered the right opportunity for Electrolux to engage in a joint venture. Although the company had already acquired Lehel, it would be more profitable, less risky, and more profitable to run a joint venture rather than enter the market as an individual. Besides, there were several hindrances brought about by local business regulations making it harder to operate singly. The company has generally preferred FDI to exports as a way of entry into foreign markets. Why do you think this is the case? Engaging in FDI has a cost advantage. For instance, there are lower sunk costs when goods are exported but this translates into higher costs per unit qualifying exporting as a rather expensive way of doing business compared to costs associated with local subsidiary sales in a host country. Furthermore, Electrolux considers itself a productive firm and it is only through FDI (which is more profitable though requires huge investments) that the firm can experience growth and profitability at a faster rate. FDI is more suitable for firms that are well est
Byzantine civilisation is a major part of world history and culture. ‘Byzantium’ is the name describing both the state as well as the culture of the Eastern Roman Empire in the middle Ages. It was an extension of the Roman Empire in the east, being called ‘Eastern Roman Empire’ because it governed over the eastern part of the empire. Being a large multi-ethnic Christian state founded on a system of urban centres and protected by a strong and skilled mobile army, the Byzantine Empire preserved the most important foundations of the Late Roman Mediterranean civic culture. Historians are nearly unanimous in claiming it began in the year 330 A.D when then Roman emperor Constantine the Great decreed that the Roman capital be shifted from Rome to Byzantium, which he renamed as Constantinople. The Byzantine Empire lasted until the year 1453 A.D, its end coming when the Turks conquered Constantinople. The Turks went on to rename Constantinople as Istanbul. Byzantine art was the peculiar style of Eastern Orthodox Christian art that developed and sustained steady growth during the period of the Byzantine Empire. Although the empire historically began in 330 A.D, Byzantine art became distinctly apparent only in 500 A.D during the rule of emperor Justinian. Byzantine works of art were created with basically two aims – to serve the Eastern Orthodox Christian religion, and to work for the imperial court. Byzantine artists were unnamed and unnoticed, either employed in the court or as members of the Orthodox Christian church. The artists were not permitted to indulge in personal fancies but had to follow strict guidelines that controlled and influenced the content and pattern of all artistic works. The overall director of Byzantine art was the emperor in his role as the head of the government and the head of the national church. Two cognitive artistic traditions had a pronounced effect on Byzantine art: Early Christian and Classical traditions. Early Christian tradition, heavily influenced as it was spiritually, favoured art forms that had flat, two-bodily form or proportion figures created from patterns existing only in the mind and separated from embodiment, mainly to stress on their holy nature. Classical tradition was totally founded on early art of the Romans and Greeks. It was based on tangible and earthly reality; this emphasis was apparent in the art creations that featured fully modelled, natural looking lifelike images drawn as a result of measured and objective assessment. The Byzantine Empire is famous for its unique churches, magnificent structures, some of whom still survive. Byzantine churches were constructed out of brick and mortar. The façade was plain and exposed, meant to symbolise the outside world. The interiors were grandly decorated with magnificent colourful murals depicting religious figures and scenes meant to symbolise the ideal or spiritual world. The outstanding feature of Early Byzantine churches was the square central bay overlooked by a majestic dome that was sustained by massive arches built on four pillars.
Solomon Asch’s experiments revealing the phenomenon of social conformity show us how dramatically the group pressure can change our judgments and decisions. In this classic experiment, the real participants succumbed to the influence of “fake” participants who deliberately gave wrong answers to a simple question. That happened just because the “fake” participants constituted a majority. Like any student, I often experienced peer pressure during my school years. This is the time when you try to fit into the team and often think that someone is cleverer than you are. I remember the situation in the 6th grade when I was forced to join the class in their decision to skip the last boring Geography lesson. In spite of being strongly opposed to playing truant, I had to agree because otherwise I would remain a scapegoat for the whole year for not receiving punishment from the teacher along with other students. The situation is a bit different from the one in Asch’s experiment but reflects the same psychological phenomenon.
The basic element of ancient civilization in Egypt besides its geography is religion. The government, literature, astronomy, medicine and arts formed their basis on religion. It is therefore justified to say that religion was integral to the Egyptians way of life. Since the earliest beginnings of religion in Egypt, changes in religious themes, way of worship and how the worship was conducted have been observed as will be explored in this essay. People in ancient Egypt ranging from the peasants, merchants, priests, workers, to individual kings worshipped their own gods formulated in the pre-dynastic Egypt and expressed in pictures. Initially, animals were included in the Egyptian religious cults. That is perhaps why archeologist found preserved graves where cats, gazelles, bulls and sheep were carefully buried (Patricia 112). The worship of pictures did not last for long as they were turned into human portraits. This, also referred to as anthropomorphism, was unique in the sense that the pictures took human form but retained an animal’s body or head. The Egyptians believed that these gods had human emotions, drank, ate, gave birth, went into battle, lived among people and died. The reigns of these gods were believed to merge at times and in other instances overlap. In fact, their reign during this time in ancient Egypt did not have an organized hierarchy structure. The power of their gods relied on the power of the reigning king. A powerful king would imply a powerful god and so it was also with the name, location and dominance of the kings (Rosalie 1803). Additionally, religious names were believed to be very powerful and full of mystery. For instance, in the normal society, people would die or get afflicted when certain traditional rituals were done to their names. In the same respect, certain names were used to express or describe phenomenon that were good and beneficial. In religion, the Egyptians gave to their gods’ names that were descriptive or qualities such as majestic, virile or strong. Each god had five names and as aforementioned, was worshipped at different times, for different purposes and in different locations depending on the myth. Examples of gods who were worshipped at that time included Ptah and Osiris the earth gods, Horus, Bat and Hathor were gods of the heaven and Amaunet, amon and Antaios were examples of gods that were worshipped depending on the location (Patricia 111). In ancient Egypt, the kings played an integral part in religion by connecting the gods and Egyptians. Until around the third dynasty, the kings were believed to be a bridge crossing over the chasm that divided gods and men. Besides, the priests’ roles were equally important in ancient Egypt and included reading scrolls before religious events, preparing images and statutes, caring for the image gods, and acting as voice of the oracles, stewards of granaries and temple riches and being pinnacles of decisions of their gods. Furthermore, the ancient religion allowed the use of magic that was commonplace. Warding of evil was done through wearing of amulets, magical texts, spells, concoctions and rituals were used and their successes and their failure
The subject of this reading log is the article How We Listen To Music by Aaron Copeland. Copeland sets out to analyze the way we listen to music. In order to do so, he deconstructs music listening into three distinct categories. These categories are the sensuous plane, the expressive plane and the sheerly musical plane. He claims that this mechanical and hypothetical division of the listening process will provide readers with a clear deconstruction of how people listen to music. Then, he proceeds to define these artificial-hypothetical planes and applies them to the realities of actual music listening. Finally, he admits that his hypothetical analysis is difficult to grasp and so he applies his analysis by way of example to a play so that it might be better understood by the readers. The only advantage to be gained from mechanically splitting up the listening process into these hypothetical planes is the clearer view to be had of the way in which we listen (Copeland 2) In this sentence he admits that his division of the listening experience is for the purpose of better understanding the music listening process. For lack of better terminology, one might name these: (1) the sensuous plane, (2) the expressive plane, (3) the sheerly musical plane. (Copeland 2) These are the major categories that he uses to divide the music listening process. There is no need to digress further on the sensuous plane (Copeland 2) . The sensuous plane is the easiest to understand because it deals principally with the senses. It is simply how a person feels listening to music. Somewhat more complex is the expressive plain according to Copeland “ My own belief is that all music has an expressive power, some more and some less, but that all music has a certain meaning behind the notes and that the meaning behind the notes constitutes, after all, what the piece is saying, what the piece is about (Copeland 3)” . This section is debatable because many musicians hold that music exists for itself and does not necessarily have to evoke any hidden message. Finally the sheerly musical plane. If the expressive plane was hard to define, it is even harder to define the sheerly musical plane. This plane involves the interplay of notes and themes to form a kind of story behind the music. To better understand these planes he applies them to a theater. In theater, the sensuous stage is the stage and the actual physical trappings of the play. The expressive plane is the feeling that the play evokes and finally the sheerly musical plane for a play would be the plot. Copeland has an amusing and deep understanding of what music is. Understanding his themes is a good way to improve the intelligence of the listener. However, I find it technical and abstract as I tend to stick to the sensuous and sheerly musical planes when I listen to music. Perhaps to better appreciate the music I should delve into the expressive plane. After all, music is a window into the soul of the compose and the message that he intended to impart upon the listener and it would be a pity if my own treatment of music was limited to merely that of one who listens to noise.
Introduction It is crucial for every new company to examine the industry to figure out its strengths and weaknesses. Such investigation is needed to analyze competitors, see if there are available positions on the market, and how hard it is to gain customers. Based on the results of the research, a company may develop a list of needed resources that are necessary for the success of chosen strategy. This kind of investigation allows a company to research technologies and methods that are being used by the competitors, and their effectiveness. The travel industry is as a set of various enterprises and organizations that provide numerous services. Competitive Environment The growth rate of the travel industry in the last few years has been extremely rapid. Currently, The United States and China are two leading countries in this business. The travel industry has directly contributed $2,364.8B to the world’s GDP, and its total contribution was $7,580.9B in 2014 (Ali, 2015). These numbers are enormous and make travel business play a huge role in the global economy. This industry has supported 105,408,000 job spots, and it has invested $814,4B in 2014 (Ali, 2015). It is necessary for the industry to keep developing, so new jobs are created. Travel contributes to total GDP through such commodities as transportation and entertainment (Ali, 2015). This business is impacted by seasonality, and it is one of the core issues of this industry. There are so called high season and low season. Travel companies gain the most profit during the high season, and tickets are rarely bought during the low season. This happens because travelling is extremely dependent on changes in climate. Summer is often the most profitable season because of holidays and vacations. Some customers prefer to visit certain countries during a particular time of year. The economic situation is also crucial because this industry is extremely sensitive to economic changes. Schoinas and O’Connell (2011) state that “the global economic recession has had a severe impact on the air transport industry” (p. 354). This claim signifies that this industry still suffers from the consequences of the recession just like the others. There are sub-industries such as hotel chains, trade and transportation companies, travel agencies and others. The hospitality industry is one of the biggest sub-industries. It provides transportation, lodging, and other services. Some enterprises in the travel business develop technologies, some provide services, and some offer support to other companies. Alliances and partnerships are often formed on beneficial terms to provide each other with a range of services. Overall, this industry is developing at an extremely fast rate, and it should not stop anytime soon. Expedia is the leader of this industry in the United States. Currently, it holds about 26% of the market share thanks to the acquisition of an innovative search engine (Trefis Team, 2014). The biggest competitor for Expedia is Orbitz World
Executive Summary: Movie Streaming and Movie Rental Industry A myriad of technological advances accomplished over the last three decades have become incredibly integrated within the daily lives of people. The advances have made technology become part of lifestyles of people. This situation has also resulted in the changing of the whole idea of movie renting. The way people could access movies in the past has significantly changed based on the availability of technology-driven strategies that enable them to access them (the movies) at the comfort of their houses. In a free way, people can choose from a myriad of sources and services to view TV shows and movies today. With the current internet technology, people can watch movies on mobile tablets, gaming consoles, mobile phones, and even personal computers. These devices require facilitating linkages. For this purpose, 3G and now 4G, and WiFi are availed. This development has taken a process besides calling for a shift of technological knowhow
Federal properties should be subject to the same rules as the private properties for several reasons. One of the reasons is so that there is a set of rules that can be followed by everyone, and no double standards for the federal and private properties. As a result, people will have more trust in the system as they would come to know that since there are no double standards in the system, there will be a surety of one law and a fair justice treatment to both. Apart from that, this will also allow the private properties and the federal properties to be more competitive. Thus, the federal property will have competition from the private properties and will have to provide equal standards as the private property. This will also benefit the people as they would have a choice of between the federal and private properties, thus they have to make the final choice. This will of course result in a positive outcome. Apart from that, there will also be uniformity in the rules. As a result, there won’t be a hassle of blaming the other party, either the federal or private as the rules are the same for both. This will also discourage most of the bribes between the both parties as they won’t have a choice but to face equal punishments if they go against the law, thus there won’t be an upper hand for the federal property. In the long run, this will also minimize the number of cases that go in to court almost everyd
Introduction The multiple crises in China at the beginning of the twentieth century were predetermined with overlapping of traditional Chinese and Western capitalist-industrial ideologies. The decline of the Quing dynasty resulted in rapid growth of Western capitalism and required courage of common people for adapting to this pressure and ongoing changes. Focusing on Chinese history between 1890s and 1980s, Jonathan Spence in his The Gate of Heavenly Peace described biographies of Chinese writers and philosophers for examining wider context of historical situation in the country, using particular examples. Lu Hsun in his The True Story of Ah Q and Pa Chin in his The Family used life stories of their contemporaries for shedding light upon the political, cultural and social aspects of the multiple crises in China at the beginning of the twentieth century. The Social Pressure of the Feudalist Order The social pressure and controversies as depicted by Lu Hsun and Pa Chin in their stories were rooted in the disillusionment with traditional Chinese principles, criticism of Confucian philosophy and growing popularity of Western standards. However, the views of the Chinese community concerning the future path of the country’s development divided. There was a group of writers and historians supporting the traditional Confucian principles and criticizing the influence of the Western standards. “The new institutional and scientific elements being introduced by the Western powers could be seen as having antecedents in the Chinese tradition, and thus need to be simply rejected out of hand in an attempt to preserve Chinese ‘purity’” (Spence 33). The two thousand year dominance of feudalist order carved the whole generations of Chinese people with a set of characteristic features, including their desire to save face and complete obedience to injustice imposed by authorities. For example, Ah Q, the main character of The True Story of Ah Q by Lu Hsun tries to maintain his face and look as a victor in any situation. He is a caricature of a national hero and the author uses comic effect for criticizing his features. Lu Hsun reduces some of the scenes to an absurdity for expressing his attitude towards Ah Q’s blindness and narrow-mindedness. In the situation when the main character is beaten and robbed, he still tries to preserve his face by all means. Ah Q slaps himself so that to look as a victor because it is he who does the slapping. Being beaten by Mr. Zhao, an honored landlord, the main character does not question the reasonability of this punishment but is proud of this minor association with such a person. This episode is the criticism of the tradition of group punishment which was popular in China. The plot line which shows how Ah Q arrives into a new town and criticizes the traditions of another community can be associated with the unwillingness of some of the Chinese people to accept the Western standards. The Family by Pa Chin shows the coexistence of four generations of the Kao family for exploring the conflict between the age and youth
Having visited the exhibition in the museum I was attracted by two great pictures. The first I would like to tell of is the picture by Jackson Pollock named The Guardian of the Secret, 1943 . This work, which Pollock exhibited on his first personal exhibition carried out in November 1943, attracted special attention of critics. According to the memories of Clement Greenberg “there were other more gifted and more successful artists at that time, but none of them managed to express themselves in their pictures so sincerely and impressively, as Pollock managed” 1 . Pollock depicted two abstract bodies of “guardians”: female body is on the left, her face is covered with the mask of horse and on the right he depicted male body. The “guardians” look attentively at the fragment covered with symbols.