Global Sourcing Challenge Case Questions Essay Example for Free

Global Sourcing Challenge Case Questions Essay 1. Marianna Barner should decline the invitation for IKEA to have a representative appear on the upcoming forecast of the German video program. The producers of the documentary invited them to take part in a live discussion during the airing, and while this offer does sound beneficial for IKEA to educate the public and the producers of the current efforts taken to fight child labor, it would not be in their best interest. This is attributed to the fact that the producers refuse to let IKEA preview the video beforehand and that they are aware that the producers â€Å"planned to take a confrontational and aggressive approach† directly aimed at them. As a result, there is a very high possibility that the representative would then be blindsided with questions and then IKEA’s message of their efforts would not be portrayed accurately. Instead, IKEA should respond to the allegations by releasing their own statement allowing them to explain their efforts once they have had the opportunity to review all evidence and verify the credibility. 2. In regards to the supply contract that IKEA has with Rangan Exports, it would be best if Barner terminates the contract, should sufficient evidence prove that they do indeed use child labor. They stress the importance of taking responsibility for their suppliers, and in the IWAY (IKEA Code of Conduct), it clearly states that they do not accept Child Labourm, otherwise their contract will be terminated. The well-regarded company (Rangan) had signed an addendum that explicitly forbids the use of child labor, so it is important that IKEA upholds their standards and codes in order to maintain a fair position with their other suppliers. It would also be wise for her to then issue a statement or press release about the severed ties with the company, stating the reasons for the decision and maintaining integrity by upholding their own policies regarding child labor, so that the public and other suppliers see that they won’t tolerate unethical behavior or violations to their contra ct. 3. It is suggested that IKEA stays in India and continue operations. The long-term strategy that Barner should take regarding continued operations includes maintaining their code of conduct to uphold their image of being responsible for their suppliers and the environment, while also contributing to an improved quality of life for those in India.

The Bauhaus Essay Example for Free

The Bauhaus Essay The Bauhaus is an institute for education of German architecture, industrial art and handicraft. The architect Walter Gropius founded it in Weimar in 1919. In 1925 the Bauhaus moved to Dessau, into a radically modern building, for the time, designed by Gropius. The New Bauhaus Art Institute was opened on 4th December 1926. The building complex was made of steel and glass. It was considered an architectural masterpiece. The Bauhaus was influenced by the term Truth To Materials because one its main principal is functionality. The rejection of principles is also an important influence. The designers tried to look at design completely differently than the status quo. They tried to look at things purely and simply. The Bauhaus designers did not use extravagant materials this made their designs affordable and available to the general public. The term form follows function means that if you design something, purely thinking about the function, a form will follow that meets the original function. The Idea comes from the American architect Louis Sullivan. Most of the designs from the Bauhaus follow this idea. The teaching methods of the Bauhaus are still used today. One year is spent in the university doing a variety of subjects before the pupils spend three more years studying one of the topics that they studied the first year. Marianne Brandt is an important figure in the history of modern design. Her metal designs such as the Kandem flexible bedside light (1928) and the 1924 ashtray revolutionised the design of metal ware she is also important because she was one of the first successful women designers. Here products are still made today by the Italian giants Alessi. Marcel Breuer was a master of creating simple, light and functional furniture. He was an innovator and he introduced new technological advances to design. Designs such as the 1925 Wassily Chair and the Table Laccio demonstrate his talent. Normally a prototype was as far as a design went in the Bauhaus, this is because students didnt have much money and so they couldnt afford to fund the mass production of their designs. Another reason is that this happened is because many of the designs werent desired enough by the public, to be mass-produced. I think that the Bauhaus is a very important part in the history of art. It deserves the prestige it receives as the centre of a revolution in art and design education It has produced some of the most memorable pieces of design in history and you can see how much it has inspired the designers of today just by looking at the functionality and simplicity of their work. I am sure that the Bauhaus will continue to inspire the designers of the future. The term less is more is applied to pieces of work from the Bauhaus because of the simplicity and lack of extravagance of most of the pieces creates a bigger impact that a fancy and complicated design. This is because most of the design during the time of the Bauhaus was lavish and complicated. Modern design centres on functionality and simplicity. Minimalism has a very important role to play in modern design. For me this movement plus a lot of other ideas, such as ease of mass production, started at the Bauhaus.

Akira Kurosawa An Auteur Film Studies Essay

Akira Kurosawa An Auteur Film Studies Essay Since the term auteur was applied to film directors by the cahiers du cinema magazine in the 1950s,there has been much debate by film-makers and critics as to what makes an auteur and how accurate the term is when applied to some directors. Federico Fellini, in a 1966 interview, said that Akira Kurosawa was the greatest living example of what an author of cinema should be'(Cardullo,2006,p.49) and in this essay I would like to explore the accuracy of this statement based on Kurosawas period films and how meaningful the term auteur is. In his article, Notes On The Auteur Theory In 1962, Andrew Sarris (interpreting the Cahiers various articles on what became known as auteurism)describes the auteur as a director who is technically proficient, whose personal style is clear in the way a film looks and moves and who creates an interior meaning from the tension between a directors personality and his material. This last statement, Sarris admits, is ambiguous. Susan Hayward in her book Cinema Studies: The Key Concepts (1996) sheds more light on what the cahiers meant by auteur by defining the interior meaning as the mise en scene and the personality of the director. She also describes the total author'(p.33), a director who writes their screenplays. Because of the sheer amount of debate surrounding what an auteur is I will base my argument on both Sarris and to a lesser extent Haywards explanation of the term auteur. A large part of being an auteur, based on what Sarris defines as an auteur, is the ability of a director t o imprint their mark onto a film in spite of the limitations brought on by studio control. This would have had great meaning in Hollywood at the time the article was written but not necessarily in the film industries of the wider world, particularly Japan. For Kurosawa in there far fewer limitations in how he made films in comparison to his Hollywood counterparts. Kurosawa was the principle writer on the majority of his films and those which were based on other stories would be adapted by him for the screen. He would often quote his mentor, Kajiro Yamamoto, in interviews saying if you want to become a film director, first write scripts (Kurosawa, 2008, p.10). In this respect Kurosawa was quite literally the author/auteur and originator of his films and so would appear to fit into the total author mould. Where the gray area exists as far as being an auteur is in Kurosawas use of collaborators in the screenwriting process such as Shinobu Hashimoto who was involved in the writing of Seven Samurai (1954), Throne Of Blood(1957) and The Hidden Fortress (1958) to name but a few. This would arguably prevent him from being considered a total author. Another area where Kurosawa has total control is editing. In the introduction to the book Akira Kurosawa: Interviews , Bert Cardullo calls Kurosawa an auteur because he edited or closely supervised the editing of all his films (p.10). I am inclined to agree with Cardullo that this would add to the degree of authorship on a film as Kurosawa will have the final decision on exactly what the cinemagoer will see. This could be seen as technical proficiency however Sarris article bases technical proficiency on directing skills, editing skills are not even considered. Overall it seems that the level of control Kurosawa had over non-directorial aspects of his films would remove the impact of his autuerism because so much of what makes an auteur is the ability to push through industrial control to have your own voice heard. With Kurosawa it was his own voice from the beginning in the writers room and it would end as his voice in the editing room with no real struggle involved. Because Kurosawa wrote the script it was all uniquely personal to him which is one of the key elements of auteurism. In Notes On The Auteur Theory In 1962 Andrew Sarris had said that a director spends most of his life on one film. For Kurosawa that one film could be the period film, something he worked on time and time again. The backdrop of medieval Japan was the preferred setting for Kurosawa and something which was very personal to him: Kurosawas intense feelings for pre-modern Japan, his perceptions of himself and his family in these terms, disclose a view of the past as a living sensuous reality (Prince,1999,p.203) His father was of samurai descent and Kurosawa himself romanticised the past in many ways, finding solace in it where there was none in the present. The early samurai films show his youthful exuberance with films such as Seven Samurai and Yojimbo(1961)showing a positive vision of the past heroism has been transformed into acts of everyday charity (Prince,1999,p.241). In stark contrast to the positive nature of these films the later samurai films are significantly more bleak in nature. These films followed years of depression, attempted suicide and struggles to find finance. For example Ran(1985) Kurosawas last samurai epic, the title of which translates as turmoil or chaos, is a downward spiral of misery from start to finish with almost all characters having distinctly negative traits. Prince describes the period of both ran and the earlier Kagemusha(1980) as defining a period of melancholy and bitterness and a questioning of youthful idealism (p.293). Further examples of Kurosawas o wn beliefs and personality lie in the themes of the films. When asked what he felt were the common themes in his films Kurosawa replied the only theme I can think of is really a question: why cant people be happier together'(Kurosawa, 2008, p.162). In many ways the real recurring theme of Kurosawas films is humanism, he regularly explores human nature whether its an individual taking up arms against the corrupt (Yojimbo), people working together for the greater good (Seven Samurai) or the hopelessness of war (Ran). All suggest that the world would be a better place if we all got along. These films show the personality, thoughts and feelings of the director during their production which I would argue is a prime example of what an auteur is, someone whos films reflect them. Kurosawa was a highly visual film-maker. In his youth he had wanted to be an artist and its clear from the composition of many of his shots that he retained the sensibilities of an artist. From the interviews conducted over the years in Kurosawa: The Interviews it is clear that Kurosawa maintains as much control over every shot as possible from composition to choice of camera. Stephen Prince describes the technical knowledge of Kurosawa and his reliance upon telephoto lens and techniques of multi-camera filming'(p.18) as well as his use of anamorphic frame in later films such as Kagemusha. Kurosawa knew how to get the best images out of every scene even if it meant using unconventional techniques and new technology. He lives up to the level of technical expertise Sarris had believed was vital for a true auteur. This did not however mean that Kurosawa was his own camera operator, indeed he couldnt be because from Seven Samurai onwards he stuck to using multi-cameras no matter what kin d of scene was being filmed. He believed this meant that actors would be less conscious of acting to a camera and instead would have to put on a good performance that could be seen at all angles. Kurosawa did his utmost to ensure that his vision was achieved and would regularly take control of his own camera however he described the process of getting others to achieve shots: I explain the desired image in detail not only to the cameraman but also every member of staff and have them do their utmost to produce the best possible likeness to it (Kurosawa,2008,p. 27) So even with his knowledge of camera lenses there was still a collaborative issue as far as using a cinematographer and indeed Kurosawa had several regular cinematographers such as Asakazu Nakai who worked on films such as Seven Samurai and Ran. Kurosawas technical proficiency is also very clear in his framing decisions. For example in Seven Samurai Kikuchiyo is clearly the outsider of the group which Kurosawa emphasizes by how the framing consistently isolates him from the rest of the samurai who are clustered together as a group'(prince,1999,p.214). The way battle scenes are shot in Kagemusha with huge amounts of troops at either end of the screen is a sight to behold, all the more so in the way Kurosawa manages to retain a sense of beauty in the battle. Francis Ford Coppola on the making of Kagemusha described the way Kurosawa presented fight scenes and violence as almost poeticstunning and dramatic and embodying the moment that was supposed to be expressed. The stylistic nature of the battle scenes became a trademark for the director from Seven Samurai onwards. His ability to use camera and edit techniques to portray violence in a thrilling, heroic way were part of the style and something that could be recognised as part of a distinctly Kurosawa film. Not only that but the introduction of colour only to improve his vision of battle with Kurasawa frequently choosing drab backgrounds'(Ebert,online) to show of the colourful costumes which effectively stand out from the background and clash together in battle. Another noticeable K urosawa technique is the use of cutting between similar shots to emphasize drama,Kurosawa loved to intercut two or three shots whose compositions were exactly aligned with the axis of view established in the initial camera position (Prince,1999,p.299). Examples of this exist in various Kurosawa films. In Seven Samurai it is used on the flame engulfed house following the initial bandit attack and the broken lock in Yojimbo which is used by Sanjuro to avoid the kidnappers. This technique focuses the viewer on the dramatic or emotional element and creates a tension. With so many more stylistic calling cards than could possibly be named in a single essay, Kurosawa has a clear style and so fits into the auteur theory. The auteur theory however clearly has many failings even when applied to someone who appears to cover all the bases (writing, directing, editing) of what makes a film-maker an auteur. Many of these failings have already been discussed but in essence they all come down to one thing, film is a collaborative work. Would Kurosawa be able to achieve the shots he did without the work of some of the worlds best cinematographers? Its highly unlikely. Did he write all of his screenplays alone? Certainly not. Would many of his films have been as enjoyable without some great acting from the cast, particularly frequent collaborator Toshiro Mifune? No. In an interview Kurosawa discusses the collaborative nature of his work with Mifune, particularly the distinct walk Mifune has in Yojimbo,Mifunes walk is his own invention. In order to stress it, I carefully selected camera framings and lenses. This seemingly insignificant example is a snapshot of all that is wrong with the auteur theory. The secon d a director claims a film is all theirs they are disrespecting the great people they have worked with. As for Kurosawa being an auteur,even ignoring the flaws in that theory, Mutsuhiro Yoshimoto in his book Kurosawa: Film Studies and Japanese Cinema says: Kurosawas films are too worldly and historical to be approached as mere aesthetic objects where his personal vision is inscribed or as a structure or textual system that reveals his unconscious desire (p.239)

Effective Dementia Care Essay -- Health, Diseases

Dementia care offers support and services to an individual affected by the disease itself, which is dementia. It addresses the right and needs of the person with dementia and their families. Improving quality of life and changing attitudes towards dementia is the main goal of dementia care. Dementia care also provides quality of care, maintain dignity and promote health, security and comfort in consideration with the standard of care and ethical guidelines (Adams & Manthorpe, 2003). Understanding dementia care is necessary for those health care providers who are planning to handle dementia patients. Care worker should know their duties and responsibilities and have the required knowledge and skills to establish quality care. To find relevant information regarding dementia care the author is planning to build effective search strategy that will fabricates this essay. In fact, the author plans to use voyager at studynet to find relevant electronic books and journals using the â€Å"dementia care† as keywords. Furthermore, the author also plan to use PubMed, CINAHL, Google Scholar, Nursing Times, and British Medical Journal using dementia and dementia care as keywords, and the limitations set was Humans, Journal Article, English, Core clinical journals, nursing journals and must be published in the last ten years up to present. Dementia is now becoming a universal issue that really concerns developed and developing countries due to the increasing rate of dementia cases throughout the world. In terms of its prevalence and incidence worldwide, there is about 24 million people having dementia and this number will be double in 20 years time to an estimated number of 42 million by 2020 and 81.1 million by 2040 if mortality, preventi... ...emory impaired due to the disease process, their ability to feel and perceive emotions are still intact. They may not be able to complain it but they can feel it and it will contribute to make their physical, intellectual and emotional condition worse. Furthermore, care should not be base on the exchange of money it would be better if it is base on the responsibilities of the provider and rights of the recipient. Altogether, competent and compassionate dementia care requires knowledge, skills, positive attitude and values that will makes dementia sufferer feels that they are love, valued and worth by others. It can also help them become used to their condition. Additionally, successful dementia care demands effective leadership, developed quality care, adequate resources, competent staff and proper training, supervision and support for health care provider.

Comparing Changes in The Metamorphosis and A Doll’s House :: comparison compare contrast essays

The Times are a Changing in The Metamorphosis and A Doll’s House    Circumstance is a powerful thing; it causes evolution in characters far beyond what they would normally experience. In Franz Kafka's The Metamorphosis Kafka develops the attitude towards this situation through the use of his protagonist Gregor. In the character Gregor we see that an individual will cling to their ideals and fail to adapt to circumstance. Inversely we see Henrik Ibsen in A Doll’s House that Nora, normally shy, possessing many doll-like qualities can adapt to her situation and ultmately come out on top.    Gregor, in The Metamorphosis goes through a transformation. He has changed into a giant insect, thus beginning a new physical life. But Gregor clings to his ideals, his strongly held beliefs of family that root themselves from his own insecurity. This causes Gregor much greif as the physical body; starts to wear its impression onto his mind. Although it didn't take long for Gregor to adapt in the physical sense, he never really adopt the true reality of the situation. He held onto his illusion of humanity because he clung to his idealism. This lack of mental adaptation caused Gregor's ultimate downfall, but as he saw it, it was a noble sacrifice. So for Gregor not to adapt to this situation with a fundamental change in ideology, was a fatal flaw in Gregor's personality. Sure enough, we are all Gregors' in a sense, we all believe in something, be it a religion, or the perpetual love of our parents. In this short story Kafka mirrors the effect of faith and morals into Grego r, suggesting that the static nature of these ideals will, in the right context lead to a person's ultimate demise.    Nora, the doll-like mother from Henrik Ibsen's A Doll's House shows the human capacity for adaptation, and the effect these changes have on various aspects of an individual. In the beginning of the play, Nora was a very doll-like character, more plastic than human. Nora showed very little sign of having an original thought of her own, and dumbly fondled her way along life to the condescending comments of her arrogant husband, Helmer. When confronted with the possibility of Helmer's death due to his own stubborn nature, she had taken a leap of faith into a loan of money, one that she would seemingly never pay back.

Telecommuting and Human Resources Essay -- GCSE Business Marketing Cou

Telecommuting and Human Resources Introduction On September 20, 1994, some 32,000 AT&T employees stayed home. They weren’t sick or on strike. They were telecommuting. Employees ranging from the CEO to phone operators were part of an experiment that involved 100,000 people. It’s purpose? To explore how far a vast organization could go in transforming the workplace by moving the work to the worker instead of the worker to work. Today AT&T is just one of many organizations pioneering the alternative workplace (AW-also known as telecommuting) – the combination of nontraditional work practices, settings, and locations that is beginning to supplement traditional offices (Apgar, 121). According to IDC/Link Resources, New York, approximately 8 million Americans currently telecommute. A survey conducted by Olsten Corp., Melville, N.Y., reports that 62 percent of North American companies encourage telecommuting (Riggs, 46). In addition, research shows about 50% of all employees either have a job that lends itself to telecommuting or want to get involved in telecommuting. Most researchers agree that telecommuting growth is fastest in companies employing more than 1,000 and in those with under 10 employees (Harler, 26). Current Situation Telecommuting came into existence out of necessity. First, increasing global competition has brought pressures and opportunities to businesses, consultants, and service vendors. As a result, the Yankee Group predicts that as many as 80 percent of all employers will have to adopt remote work in order to compete in world markets by mid-to late nineties (Manire, 51). Second, the Information Age necessitates that companies move faster and thus act and react to business conditions sooner. Third, telecommuting has been increasingly enforced at state and federal levels due to the Clean Air Act (CAA) of 1970, as amended in 1990. The CAA affects any firm with over 100 employees in areas with â€Å"severe ozone attainment levels†, which covers every good-sized city in the nation (Harler, 27). The Impact of the Internet on Telecommuting The Internet is widely becoming part of the plan when implementing and integrating telecommuting solutions. The Internet can add a powerful dimension to the management of both internal and external information functions and strengthen the organization’s human resource management informa... ...ivity remains an objective for management as we approach 2000. But we realize today that significant gains in productivity may not be achieved not through division of labor but by creating mechanisms for people to communicate more effectively and to manage information more efficiently. Bibliography: Apgar IV, Mahlon. (May/Jun 1998). â€Å"The alternative workplace: Changing where and how people work†, Harvard Business Review, pp-121-130. Berhard, Frank. (March 15, 1998). â€Å"Upside economics of telecommuting†, America’s Network, pp20-23. Harler, Curt. (March 15, 1998). â€Å"The good, the bad and the fattening†, America’s Network, pp26-28. Hein, Kenneth. (May 1997). â€Å"Virtually always at work†, Incentive, p9. Kuzmits, Frank and Santos, Brian. (Spring 1997). â€Å"The Internet: A key tool for today’s human resource professional†, S.A.M Advanced Management Journal, pp33-39. Manire, Ross W. (January 1997). â€Å"Remote access: The â€Å"drive to work† in the information age†, Telecommunications, pp50-55. Riggs, Lynn. (June 1997). â€Å"New approaches to management†, Credit Union Management, pp46-48. Thompson, Courtenay. (October 1998). â€Å"Telecommuting exposures†, The Internal Auditor, p67.

Corrections Accreditation and Privatization Essay

Accreditation means to meet requirements. Corrections are a system of agencies likes jails and prisons. So corrections accreditation is just that. Correction systems need to meet requirements all the time to maintain accreditation to hold a higher standard. Corrections accreditation has a positive effect on the professional develop of corrections officers. Because the standards for accreditation change every year, this means that the officers have to go through more things to become credible. By learning new things they set higher standards. Accreditation improves the management of the facility, raises accountability and credibility for the staff and administration, and makes for a safer environment for everyone. To plan for better correctional officer professionalization and accreditation the industry leaders can make it harder to get that position. They can make the training harder and make them go through new training or refresher courses every so often. Most times these officers let things slide they should not, which leads to lower credibility for the institute if they are caught because such things need to be reported. A correctional officer job is not one to take lightly because they are not glorified babysitters. They need the extra training and they should have to meet certain physical criteria so if in a position they need to get out of they have the smarts and ability to do so. Privatization is basically the private operations of prisons and jails. This affects state and federal because privatized systems do not have to follow the same guidelines as the others. The privatized systems can also go for profit, non-profit or charitable organizations whereas state and federal prisons depend on tax money to operate. Privatized prisons are held accountable and this is measured and monitored just as in state and federal prisons. They do not cut corners so in many ways they are more secure and safe compared to state and federal prisons. The privatized prisons offer effective inmate programs just as do the state and federal prisons. They also hold to the safety standards that state and federal prisons do.