Corporate Strategies Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Corporate Strategies - Assignment Example With its vision of enabling its customers to make the most of their world and possibilities though the services it offers, O2 plc (O2) accomplishes its commitment of providing mobile communication services in Europe. The business organisation also profits from its leading mobile internet portal business. Armed with its values of being bold, trusted, open, and clear, O2 continues its quest to become the telecommunication industry's market leader. The creation of O2 in the 1990s can be traced backed to the decision of British Telecommunication to "demerge its mobile phone business" in order to strengthen the financial position of the latter. From its beginning, the firm is currently a major player in the various nations where it operates including the United Kingdom, Republic of Ireland, Germany, the Isle of Man, and Asia. As the business organisation is focused on satisfying consumer needs, O2 strategic business units are classified according to their geographic locations. It should be noted that the products being offered varies in each region (O2 Plc 2006). The major products of O2 are mobile telecommunication equipments which are either paid through installment plans or pre-paid. With its thrust to provide the market with higher quality products, the company offers complementary services like third generation telephony (3G), O2 Active, I Mode, and O2 Online. O2 also ensures the satisfaction of customers by offering product features like entertainment through its sponsorship of the England Rugby Team and Arsenal FC and partnership with Anschutz Entertainment Group (O2 Plc 2006). III. Competitive Position in the Industry Environment As stated above, O2 Plc operates in different geographic locations, battling head-on with various competitors. Table 1 shows the geographical locations of firm's business activities alongside with its competitors in each region. It can be deduced that O2's direct competitors are Orange SA (Orange), T-Mobile, 3, Vodafone Group Plc (Vodafone), Virgin Mobile Ltd. (Virgin Mobile), Meteor Mobile Communications Limited (Meteor), and e-plus. Table 1. Geographical Location of O2 and its Main Competitors Geographical Region Major Competitors United Kingdom Orange, T-Mobile, 3, Vodafone Ireland Vodafone, Meteor, 3 Germany T-Mobile, Vodafone, e-plus Czech Republic T-Mobile, Vodafone Slovakia T-Mobile, Orange In order to look at the relative position of O2 Plc relative to its competitors in the United Kingdom, this report will look each business organisation in terms of market scope, number of customers, financial performance, market growth, products and services sold, and factors affecting business well-being. The main findings including the data for O2 are tabulated in Table 2. Among all the players in the global mobile communication industry, Vodafone holds the largest market share at 26.8%. The business organization is recognized as the largest mobile telecommunication company in the world with a market value of 65 billion (Vodafone 2006). It is estimated that the market leader approximately has 186.8 million subscribers in the 27 countries where it conducts its

The Major Theories of the Science of Life Essay Example for Free

The Major Theories of the Science of Life Essay The study of living things is called biology. Although biology is one of the fields of study in science, it has a broad range of concepts and principles. To the many scientists who have contributed to biology, it owes the many theories in its scope. Below are the major theories that are crucial for the study of biology.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Most famous of all the theories is the theory of natural selection proposed by Charles Darwin (Pruitt, 2005, p. 10). In the theory, different organisms living in nature change or evolve through the years. Such process of change in living things is called natural selection (Pruitt, 2005, p. 10). In connection, Mendel’s principle of inheritance is the process wherein characteristics of the parent organism are passed down to the offspring on and on through several generations. This is possible by certain factors known as genes (Pruitt, 2005, p. 10). Nevertheless, organisms are not solely composed of genes but rather organisms are composed of cells which come from previously existing cells which are the building blocks of living organisms (Pruitt, 2005, p. 11). Due to the many differences in characteristics of organisms, biological classification was employed. By the use of biological classification, the various organisms are systematized. Just like the inanimate world, life abides by the rules of energy. Such study is known as bioenergetics (Pruitt, 2005, p. 11). On the other hand, the ability of organisms to tolerate external conditions such as changes in pressure and temperature is known as homeostasis (Pruitt, 2005, p. 11). Lastly, the study of the interactions of organisms with others and the environment is known as ecology. Thus, the biological community with the non living environment is known as ecosystem (Pruitt, 2005, p. 11).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   These different theories are used in research studies. One very good example is that of inheritance. The principle that governs inheritance is used in genetic engineering where the genetic characteristic of an organism is altered to add or remove specific traits (Microsoft Encarta 2006). This method is widely used to produce more desirable products for man. References Genetic Engineering. (2006). Microsoft Encarta 2007 [CD]. Redmond, WA: Microsoft Corporation, Inc. Pruitt, N.L Underwood, L.S. (2005). BioInquiry, Making Connections in Biology. 3rd edition. Wiley and Sons, Inc.

The River Of Freedom Essay -- essays research papers

In Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn, the Mississippi River plays many roles and holds a prominent theme throughout much of the story. Huck and Jim are without a doubt the happiest and most at peace when floating down the river on their raft. The river has a deeper meaning than just water and mud, almost to the extent of having it's own ideal personality. It provides the two characters a means of escape from everything and everyone, and puts them at ease. Although quite constrained in it's capacity to provide freedom of movement, the raft offers the two a certain amount of freedom in actions, words, and emotions. Huck senses this truth when he mentions how; 'other places feel so cramped and smothery, but a raft don't. You feel mighty free and easy and comfortable on a raft.'; (Twain, 113) However, the freedom that is experienced on the raft can be deceiving. This freedom is only temporary and will not last forever. Huck and Jim cannot live on a raft traveling down the Mississippi forever and must focus on the main situation at hand, getting Jim his true freedom A freedom that stretches beyond the limiting reaches of a raft.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Huckleberry resents the objectives and beliefs of the so-called 'civilized'; people of the society around him. Huck likes to be free from the restrictions of others and just be himself, living by his own rules. He disbelieves the societal beliefs that have been embedded in his mind since birth, which is shown by his brother-lik...

A Civil Action Review

A Civil Action Essay Jay Lee 9-8-09 In the movie â€Å"A Civil Action†, the environmental problem was that trichloroethylene and silicone was placed into the water in the town of Woburn. It happened through a tanning company pouring chemicals on the hides of animals and it seeping out. The company also placed a lot of barrels with the dangerous chemicals into the ground and it seeped out into the wells of the town. The damage it caused to the environment and to the people was a huge amount. It poisoned the town and children were killed because of it. The chemicals caused the children to get Leukemia and they died. The people blamed the companies Beatrice Foods and W. R. Grace & Co for neglecting proper cleaning habits. This movie showed that humans really need to practice good habits or humans will not be able to survive. One tanning company poisoned an entire town. If everyone was like the tanning company, everyone would be dead by now. People really need to practice good habits because we cannot live in a world that is polluted by dangerous chemicals. The earth cannot become like the town of Woburn. We cannot continue to pollute the earth or we will harm ourselves and each other. People also need to know what they are dumping into the earth. People have to continually study what they are dumping into the earth or they may end up getting sued and hurting people. Jan Schlichtmann found out a lot about what happens to people and the earth after studying the harmful effects of the chemicals that were being dumped into the town of Woburn. People need to study these things because the earth cannot take the harm from the chemicals nor can the people. The earth is all connected and it was shown in the movie. The chemicals from the plant were dumped into a ditch. The chemicals traveled through the soil into the groundwater. The chemicals then reached the wells of the community. From there the people drank the water. One action can affect everybody. The earth is all connected somehow and putting something harmful in it is just hurting everyone and everything. The earth does not take a problem and just magically make it disappear, it stays within the earth and people need to find a way to do something better or everyone suffers. People alter the planet a lot. In the movie, just a tanning company polluted the ground water and killed people because of it. â€Å"A Civil Action† showed a lot of things that dealt with people hurting the planet. People should have to pay because they are responsible for more than just hurting people. The environment is important to people along with animals. It affects everything people do. In the movie people were forced to come together to do something about it. The people were sick of facing trials and watching the deaths of children because of the chemicals in the water. It really makes people do things about them and environmental problems are serious. They have to be dealt with quickly or it may hurt current generations and future generations. People may not be able to fix the problems we make today in the future. Environmental problems are serious and need to be dealt with quickly.

Political Family

Chapter 1 Introduction to the Study Chapter 1 covers five parts: (1) Background and Theoretical Framework of the Study, (2) Statement of the Problem, (3) Significance of the Study, (4) Definition of Terms, and (5) Delimitation of the Study Part 1, Background and Theoretical Framework of the Study, presents the rationale for the choice of the problem. Part 2, Statement of the Problem, describes the major and specific questions that this study will seek to answer. Part 3, Significance of the Study, cites the benefits that could be derived from the findings of the study.Part 4, Definition of Terms, presents the conceptual and operational definitions of the key terms that will be used in the study. Part 5, Delimitation of the Study, specifies the scope of the study with regards to the variables, the participants, and the instruments that will be used to gather data. Background and Theoretical Framework of the Study â€Å"The family is the strongest unit of society, demanding the deepest loyalties of the individual and coloring all social activity with its own set of demands. † Jean Grossholtz (1964, 86-87) In the Third World, the elite family has long been a leading actor in the unfolding of the national pageant.More, specifically in the Philippines, elite families can be seen as both object and subject of history, shaping and being shaped by the processes of change. These families have provided a strong element of continuity to the country’s economic and political history over the century past (McCoy 1994, 1). In 1950s Robert Fox (1959, 6) described the Philippines as â€Å"an anarchy of families,† in which the Philippine political parties usually have acted as coalitions of powerful families. The rise of powerful political families was attributed to the Republic’s emergence as a weak, postcolonial state (McCoy 1994, 10-11).According to McCoy (1994, 13), after Spain and United States colonial rule, the Republic thus developed as a state with both substantial economic resources and weak bureaucratic capacity. It is this paradoxical pairing of wealth and weakness that opened the state to predatory rent seeking by politicians. Based on Migdal’s research (1988, 9) on Third World politics, he finds that the source of the state’s weakness—the social organizations such as â€Å"families, clans†¦tribes, patron-client dyads† continue to act as competing sources of authority.Despite the apparent influence and significant factor of the family upon wider society and its politics, most historians, both Filipino and foreign, have ignored this problem. According to Schneider (1969, 109-110), instead of studying and analyzing the Philippine political history through the paradigm of elite families, they have generally treated Philippine past and politics solely through as an interaction of state, private institutions, and popular movements.Even social scientists, despite an obligatory bow in the di rection of the family, have generally failed to incorporate substantive analysis of its dynamics into rendering of the country’s social and political processes. Social science as often happens in the study of the Philippines thus diverges from social reality, according to Alfred W. McCoy (1994, 1). At present, there is still a lacking scholarly analysis of either individual Filipino families or family-based oligarchies.While other Southeast Asian societies have produced some useful biographies and autobiographies, the Southeast Asian regions still have little nondynastic family history that can serve as a model for future Philippine research (McCoy 1994, 2). One of the provinces in the Philippines that have no study about family-based politics is Aklan. The Province of Aklan is located in the Northeast portion of Panay Island. It was the oldest province in the Philippines organized in 1213 by settlers from Borneo as the â€Å"Minuro it Akean. In 1565 Miguel Lopez de Legaspi landed in Aklan, and divided the â€Å"Minuro it Akean† five encomiendas which he distributed among his farming followers. Along with political change, the Spaniards introduced Christianity. In 1716, the area of the â€Å"Minuro it Akean† was designated as a province but it was called Capiz. After the Americans took the country from Spain in 1901, Don Natalio B. Acevedo, Aklan delegation head, presented the first memorial for the separation of Aklan from Capiz to the Junta Magna headed by Commissioner Dean C. Worcester.For the same purpose, the Aklanons in Congress filed numerous bills, including Urquiola-Alba bill in 1920, the Laserna-Suner bills in 1925 and 1930, and the Tumbokon bill in 1934. Aklan finally became an independent province when President Magsaysay signed into law the Republic Act 1414 on April 25, 1956. This was made through the efforts of Congressman Godofredo P. Ramos, and then the province was inaugurated on November 8, 1956. (Aklan Directory 2011, http://www. aklandirectory. com/aklan/, ret. 9/16/2012) Political families thrive in all but one province in the Philippines.From Batanes to Tawi-tawi, with the exception of Kalinga, members of political families hold public posts, both elective and appointive. GMA News Research has identified at least 219 political families that dominate the country’s political landscape. (2011, http;//www. gmanetwork. com, ret 9/30/2012) Like these provinces, Aklan’s history is also filled with family-based politics. In order to better understand the present political situations, studying the political history of Aklan in the lens of the familial perspective can led to discover new dimensions in our national history.The history of a political family in a particular province can be a microcosm of the kind of politics that happens in the Philippines. Thus, this study offers this perspective and understanding. Statement of the Problem This study is conducted to find out the political hi story of Aklan, through the case study in historical method of a selected political family in the province. Unlike Latin America, much more of the Philippine social research treated the country’s political history through its formal institutional structures rather than on the importance of the family and family history.However, it can be seen that in the works of several theorists and researchers like Wolf, Grossholtz, Kuznesof, Freyre, and Schneider, political families in the Philippines and around the world are found to have a more dominant force in shaping the society’s history including political, social, and economic institutions. Specifically, this study will seek to answer the following questions: 1. How the political family in Aklan emerged? 2. How do they maintain their influence in the province? 3. What are the family’s political practices to retain power? Significance of the StudyThis qualitative research may be significant primarily to historians in analyzing the centrality of family-based politics to many periods and problems in the Philippine history. For social scientists, this study will help them delve the roles of family as a primary unit of political organization; and will serve as a model for future Philippine research. For political science students, the findings of this study will help them understand the influence of political families on the course of Philippine politics. This study will also help politicians to formulate political strategies and practices based on the history of a political family.Lastly, this study can be added as a significant literature on the political history of Aklan; as well as, it can provide meaningful information for other related literatures. Definition of terms For the purpose of achieving clarity of meaning and interpretation, the following terms were defined. The Case study approach as an empirical inquiry investigates a contemporary phenomenon within its real-life context. (Yin 1984, 24) The Historical method comprises the techniques and guidelines by which historians use primary sources and other evidence to research and then to write histories in the form of accounts of the past. (2012, http://en. ikipedia. org/w/index. php, ret. 9/30/2012) A  political family  is a  family  in which several members are involved in  politics, particularly  electoral politics. Members may be related by blood or marriage; often several  generations  or multiple  siblings  may be involved. (2012, http://en. wikipedia. org/w/index. php, ret. 9/30/2012) The Province of Aklan  is located in the Northeast portion of Panay Island, and has a total land area of 1, 817. 9 km? which is composed of 17 municipalities. It has a total population of 495, 122 (NSO 2007 census), and Kalibo is the capital town. (Aklan Directory  2011, http://www. aklandirectory. om/aklan/, ret. 9/30/2012) Delimitation of the Study This study will be conducted during the first semester of the school year 2012-2013 until the second semester of the school year 2013-2014. This will be conducted among a purposively selected political family in the Province of Aklan. The case study in historical method will be used in this study to investigate the political history of the Province of Aklan. The researchers in order to collect detailed data needed in this study will employ participant observations, key informant interviews, directly interview the participants, and examine relevant records, documents, and reports.Chapter 2 Review of Related Literature Chapter 2 includes previous studies on political families which are divided into the International Context, the Philippine Context, and the Visayan Context. The International Context includes the previous studies on family-based politics and the history of elite political families around the world. The Philippine Context includes studies about the Filipino family and Philippines as a weak, postcolonial state that led to the em ergence of political families. The Visayan Context includes case studies of two political families in the Visayas — the Lopez family and the Osmena family.Political Families The International Context In almost any country in the world, there are always leading political elite families that exist. A significant number of these families can be traced in United States, Brazil, and Mexico. In the United States, the well-known Adams Family of Massachusetts has been the subject of much autobiographical and biographical research. Meanwhile, the Pessoa family is popular as leading actors in Brazilian politics, and the Sanchez-Navarros’ family of Mexico is known for both wealth and power.For several decades, Latin American historians have used detailed microstudies of elite families to discover new dimensions in their national histories. As Gilberto Freyre (1964, 155 and 161), a pioneer in this field, once argued, anyone studying a people’s past will find that historical constants are more significant than ostensibly heroic episodes and will discover that what happens within the family is far more important than often-cited events in presidential mansions, in parliaments and large factories. Applying this perspective toBrazil, Freyre found that Brazil’s most distinctive elite families emerged in the sugar districts of the northeast during the sixteenth century- fusing land, sugar, and slaves to become patriarchs of â€Å"untrammelled power† or unlimited power and â€Å"total fiat† or absolute decree. Arguing that the patriarchal family still exerts a subtle influence on the â€Å"the ethos of contemporary Brazilians,† Freyre cites the case of President Epitacio Pessoa who in the early decades of this century was known as â€Å"Tio Pita† (Uncle Pita) in recognition of his penchant for appointing male relations to key government posts.Another historian, Linda Lewin (1979, 263) has produced some of the most refined h istoriographic reflections on the connection between familial and national history in her writing on the Pessoa family of Paraiba State in Brazil. By the late 1970s the field of family history was so well developed in Latin America that another Brazilian historian Linda Lewin (1979, 263) stated that the â€Å"family-based† approach to the political history as a â€Å"commonplace in Brazilian history. Many historians had already employed the family historiography as an approach in discovering different dimensions of Brazilian political history thus making it popular around Latin America. Similarly, an essay by Felstiner (1976, 58) on the role of kinship politics in Chile’s independence movement began with the words â€Å"the importance of the family in Latin America goes unquestioned. † Many historical documents show that the leading elite families in Chile, such as the O’Higgins family, started the movements for independence against the Spanish colonizer s.A decade later, Latin American historians were still unanimous in their belief that the elite family played a uniquely important political role in their region. Introducing eight essays, Elizabeth Kuznesof and Robert Oppenheimer (1985, 215) observed that the family in Latin America is found to have been a more central and active force in shaping political, social, and economic institutions of the area than was true in Europe or United States. Indeed, they found that institutions in Latin America society make much more social sense, particularly in the nineteenth century, if viewed through the lens of family relationships.As democracy flourished in the young Latin America, elite families engaged in the political arena and started to stabilize political institutions, such as the electoral system and civil society. Charles H. Harris, a historian, (1975, 314) stated that the Sanchez-Navarros’ family is one of the oldest and most influential families of Spanish descent in Mexico since 1577. The Sanchez Navarro family's â€Å"latifundio† or an estate composed of two or more haciendas  is composed of seventeen haciendas and covers more than 16. 5 million acres—the size of West Virginia.It is said to be the largest  Ã¢â‚¬Å"latifundio† ever to have existed, not only in Mexico but also in all of Latin America. In Harris’ discussion of the acquisition of land, the technology of ranching, labor problems, and production on the Sanchez Navarro estate, and of the family's involvement in commerce and politics, he finds that the development of the  Ã¢â‚¬Å"latifundio†Ã‚  was only one aspect in the Sanchez Navarros' rise to power. He also emphasizes the great importance of the Sanchez Navarros' widespread network of family connections in their commercial and political activities.Reflecting their rich historical traditions, America have also produced impressive family histories. Political families are not a new concept in the United States. The Adams family of Massachusetts, for example, has been the subject of autobiographical and biographical research. (Musto 1981, 40-58) The  Adams political family  is one of the most prominent political families in United States history, originating in Massachusetts and having a profound impact on the development of the nation's path from the 18th century and onwards.The family has produced numerous important New England politicians as well as two Presidents – John Adams (1797-1801) and George Adams (1851-1861) but also several ambassadors and literary figures. The children and grandchildren of the Adams family were raised with the idea that public service was expected of you. (2011, http://seattletimes. com/html/nationworld/2004164299_dynasty05. html, ret. 10/10/2012) Similarly, like other developed and developing countries around the globe, the history of Philippines is also shaped by elite families that play leading roles in the control and influence on insti tutions of the government.The Philippine Context The political families are the actors that have played in the political landscape of the Philippines and have shaped the outcome of the past and are engaged in shaping the future of the Philippines. The Philippine history should not only be viewed as the interaction of different institution of society such as the state, civil societies, the Roman Catholic Church, and the different popular movements. Instead, we should also dissect its political history through the paradigm of elite families.The importance of family-society relationship in the Philippines based on Jean Grossholtz’s description (1964, 86-870, â€Å"the strongest unit of society demanding the deepest loyalties of the individual and coloring all social activity with its own set of demands. † He then remarked that the communal values of family are often in conflict with the impersonal values of the institutions of the larger society. Many Filipino historians have been critical, and they generally disregarded the leading families and provincial elites in the Philippines on ideological grounds.Nationalistic historians have dismissed the country’s elites for being traitors and conformists to the colonizers. Teodoro Agoncillo (1960, 644-645), one the most famous historian in Philippine history, remarked that the ilustrados have betrayed the revolution. Renato Constantino (1975, 232), a contemporary of Agoncillo, called the same elites as collaborators. According to the founder of the Communist Party of the Philippines, Jose Maria Sison, the country’s elites were a small alien element – either rural feudal landholders or urban, comprador bourgeoisie as cited by Guerrero (1979, 234-249).According to McCoy (1994, 4), most Filipino biographies, the potential building blocks for elite-family studies, are more hagiography (idolizing biography) than history. Many of these biographies are funded by the family or the person that is the subject of these biographies. Biographers write as if death has cleansed what misdeeds their subject has done in society. Such accounts, McCoy added, are exoneration from the charges of their enemies, silence about their cunning or corruptions, and a celebration of their contribution to the nation.McCoy commented that the weak state and powerful political oligarchies have combined to make a familial perspective on national history relevant. The Philippines has a long history of strong families assuring social survival when the nation-state is weak. In the 20th century, the state has collapsed, partially or wholly, at least four times in the midst of war and revolution. After independence in 1946, moreover, the Philippine central government lost control over the countryside to regional politicians, some so powerful that they become known as warlords.In Philippine politics a family name is a valuable asset. A good name translates strongly to an advantage in polling. Believing that an established name carries cachet and qualification, parties often favor a promising scion of an old line when selecting candidates. Many Filipino politicians use their kinship networks (McCoy 1993, 10), to assure their ascension to power. A kinship network is a working coalition drawn from a larger group related by blood, marriage, and ritual.As elite families bring such a flexible kinship ties into the political arena, elections often assume a kaleidoscopic complexity of coalition and conflict, making Filipino politics appear volatile. It has a unique capacity to create informal political team that assigns specialized roles to its members, thereby maximizing coordination and influence. The Visayan Context Most of the well-known political families in the Philippines have political roots in their home provinces. Whether in the provinces of Luzon, Visayas, or Mindanao, there would always be certain political families that would dominate the political arena.The Lopez Family In A lfred McCoy’s essay (1994, 429-517) â€Å"Rent-Seeking Families and the Philippine State: A History of the Lopez Family† illustrates the close connection between state power and the private wealth by elite families in the Philippines. He says that in the Philippine setting, the study of a single rent-seeking family may be the most appropriate way of bridging the gap between western economic theory and the Filipino familial paradigm. Among the leading Filipino families, the Lopezes are, by virtue of their history, well suited for such a case study.Seeking knowledge of the family’s origins and early character, McCoy’s essay begins in the 1870s when the Lopezes enter the historical record as pioneer sugar planters on the plantation frontier of Negros Island. But early on 1850s, they already first appeared to be local merchants. Basilio Lopez served as one of Jaro’s cabeza-de barangay and later as a gobernadorcillo. The growth of their political and co mmercial influence paralleled the emergence of national political elite (McCoy 1994, 440-441).While the second generation consolidated property and position within a regional planter elite, their children made a successful transition to sugar milling and commerce during the 1920’s. In the five generations of the Lopezes it has a history of both skillful male and female entrepreneurs and politicians (McCoy 1994, 441-444). However, among the family’s twenty-six hundred descendants, it was Eugenio and Fernando Lopez, who initially raised the family’s position to first rank of national prominence. Backed by Eugenio’s growing wealth, Fernando Lopez was appointed as a mayor of Iloilo City for two years in September 1945.He quickly secured overall leadership of the province, relegating Jose Zulueta, his ally, to the position of perennial challenger. His career as provincial politician involved the using violence to advance their interests. In 1946 the Lopezes sh ifted their capital and residence to Manila. They traded in influence and avoided violence. No longer rooted in the land or dependent upon the social power of the provinces, the Lopezes came to depend upon the state, through the medium of presidency, for the financial and regulatory concessions that would assure the prosperity of their corporations.With the Lopez brothers’ relations with a succession of Philippine presidents, they prospered under the administration of their allies from their patron Quezon, Sergio Osme? a, Elpidio Quirino, and Manuel Roxas. In 1947, he was elected to the Senate. In 1965, the presidential candidate was Ferdinand Marcos. Fernando Lopez, despite his presidential aspirations, became Marcos' vice-presidential running mate, creating a ticket that married private wealth to populist appeal. The Lopez alliance with Marcos was a strategic blunder born of tactical necessity.To insure the defeat of incumbent President Macapagal, the Lopezes had felt compe lled to ally themselves with Marcos. Eugenio Lopez used his money, media, and machine to make Marcos president in 1965 elections. Not long after, Eugenio Lopez launched a major expansion and diversification program at Meralco. Again, with the Lopez support Marcos was reelected in 1969. In January 1971, however, a break occurred, which erupted into what may be the most public and vitriolic split in the Philippine political history.According to Marcos, the Lopezes were demanding concessions to advance their interests. According to the Lopezes, Marcos was demanding shares in their family corporations. Using the Manila Chronicle, the Lopezes began an attack, publishing exposes of graft within the administration. When a delegation of Tondo workers called upon the president at the battle’s peak, Marcos vowed: â€Å"we will crush the Lopez oligarchy to pieces. † After suffering five months of media criticism, Marcos finally sued for peace by paying a call on Eugenio at his Pa ranaque residence (McCoy 1994, 508).Sixteen months later in Marcos’s declaration of martial law, the Lopez family became the main target of his â€Å"revolution from above. † He used the same licensing powers that had built the Lopez wealth to destroy the family’s fortune and transfer their assets to a new economic elite composed of his own kin. Paul Hutchcroft (1991, 414-450), a political scientist said that, â€Å"using the state and its army, Marcos became the first president since Quezon to reduce the autonomy of provincial elites.He employed economic regulations, backed by threat of force, to pursue the main aim of his rule-changing the composition of the country’s economic elite. In Negros Occidental, for example, Marcos created a new stratum of supralocal leaders whom he financed with rents. On July 1975, Eugenio Lopez died of cancer in San Francisco while Geny Lopez remained in prison on capital charges. In the end, Marcos did not destroy the Lop ez family’s accumulated legitimacy, contacts, and skills (McCoy 1994, 518). Marcos’s fall from power in 1986 heralded the restoration of the Lopez fortunes.In the restoration of the family’s fortunes under President Aquino, it is argued that Eugenio Lopez succeeded in handing down enough of his capital and skills to perpetuate his family’s position within the national economic elite. In his essay, McCoy (1994, 431) explains the role of rents for it has a good deal about the weakness of the Philippines and the corresponding strength of Filipino political families. As defined by James Buchanan (1980, 7-8) rents appear when the state uses regulation to restrict â€Å"freedom of entry† into the market.If these restrictions create a monopoly, the economic consequences are decidedly negative—slowing growth and enriching a few favoured entrepreneurs. Competition for such monopolies, a political process called â€Å"rent-seeking,† can produce intense conflict. Anne Krueger (1980, 52-57) has argued that in many Third World countries rents are â€Å"pervasive facts of life. † In India such restricted economic activity accounted for 7. 3% of their national income in 1964, while in Turkey rents from import licenses alone represented about 15 percent of the gross national product in 1968.In the Philippines, political economists have applied this theory to explain how the Palace’s rent-seeking courtiers after Marcos era used state power to plunder the country. Manuel Montes (1989, 84-148), a Filipino economist, argues that â€Å"the economic structure of the country stimulates, encourages, and provides the greatest rewards to ‘rent-seeking’ activities. † As evidence for this provocative reconceptualization of rent-seeking, Montes offers his readers a superficial catalogue of businessmen who have served regimes from Quezon to Marcos. In the presidency of Manuel Roxas,† says Montes in a t ypical passage, â€Å"Soriano, Eugenio Lopez†¦ and Jose Yulo were influential businessmen. † The story of Eugenio Lopez illustrates that for over thirty years, he had used presidential patronage to secure subsidized government financing and dominate state-regulated industries, thereby amassing the largest private fortune in the Philippines (McCoy 1993, 429-430). In the Philippines, the succession of presidents has played partisan politics with the state’s economic powers, awarding loans and creating rents to reward the political brokers who assured their election.Underlying the executive’s partisan use of state power are political elites who fuse public office with private business. For the elites to justify the high risk of campaign investments, public office must promise extraordinary rewards. More than any other entrepreneur of the Republican era, Eugenio Lopez, Sr. , mastered the logic of political investment. The Lopez brothers, being the most successf ul rent-seekers, formed corporate conglomerates that relied in some way upon the state licenses.Since all of their major corporations were in some sense due to rent system, their commercial success involved a commingling of business and politics. Such a system leaves an ambiguous legacy (McCoy 1993, 435-437). Not only in Western Visayas had leading political families emerged as national actors but also a significant number are found in Central Visayas. The Osmena Family Another political family that has long dominated the political landscape of the Philippines for many years since the beginning of the 20th century is the Osmena family of Cebu.The Osmenas rose to prominence when Sergio Osmena, Sr. was elected governor of the Province of Cebu and then as Speaker of the Philippine National Assembly during the American colonial period. He was eclipsed only in power by the political maneuverings that Quezon made to overpowering him in the National Assembly and capturing the post as the P resident of the Philippine Commonwealth in 1935. After World War II, Sergio Osmena, Sr. went back to the Philippines as President to establish his control as head of the government in the Philippine archipelago.Osmena’s son, Serging, later became the governor of Cebu and candidate for the Presidency in the 1969 election against Ferdinand Marcos. The present generation of Osmenas is still politically active in Cebu and in national politics. The Osmenas dominated the political world of Cebu not through the usual guns, goons, and gold that are usually used by their political rival like the Sottos, Cuencas,and Duranos. The Osmenas dominated the provincial politics of Cebu because they are highly skilled in the craft of politics. (Resil, 1993, p. 316) They are wealthy, but their wealth do not equate for their capacity to coerce people to vote for them.They use their wealth skillfully, by using it for political gains. They are not as rich as their opponents who have huge haciendas but they show their prowess as politicians during elections. Elections are an exercise deeply inscribed in the Filipino political imagination. Theoretically, an election provides the occasion for society to take cognizance to itself. This is the time when citizens are most self-conscious, a season of stock-taking, when voters reflect on their collective state and history and make choices about leaders, policies, and â€Å"futures†.The â€Å"democratic space† or surface that allows an unlimited range for diverse values and commitments is most visible in incumbents submitting themselves for popular judgement and candidates presenting ideas of government, in the public exchange of contrary views, and, finally, in the voter weighing his or her options and casting a ballot in the ritual’s inner sanctum, the polling booth. (Mojares 1993, 319) The reality of Philippine politics is not tidy. Intensive exploitation of mass media and propaganda techniques crowd public spa ce during the electoral season.There are restrictions of thought and action; however, beneath the diversity and dynamism of election, these restrictions, according to Mojares (1993, 319), are an underdeveloped party system, elite dominance and ideological sameness of candidates, exclusion of those who fail to muster the considerable resources needed to mount a campaign, the subordination of issues to particularistic concerns, elaborate forms of terrorism and fraud, and the cultural baggage of traditional values of power and dependence.Elections, therefore, do not constitute a free field but are in fact, an arena in which the existing limits on participation are further exercised and enforced. In Philippine elections we have a case in which the elite or dominant class usually constructs political reality for citizens. This process may be seen in the centrality accorded to the election itself as field of action and a channel for effecting political change. In elections, obeisance is r endered to the â€Å"state† of the people are constituted or reconstituted as its â€Å"subjects†. In effect, the periodic holding of elections nourishes and renews the government’s system.In the process, it also tends to reify the existing system and deemphasize other areas of political work such as mass organizing, interest-group lobbying, and â€Å"armed struggle. †(Mojares 1993, 320) Elections, by their very nature, provide us with a concentrated expression of the process of ideological domination. This is one area in which Osmena phenomenon is important since the Osmena have built their dominance less on sheer economic power (though the use of such power was basic in their rise) or physical repression (though they were not innocent of its methods) than on their mastery of the instrumental aspects of electoral power building.From this they draw their distinctive character as Filipino kingpins. Skillful management of ideological practices takes precede nce over reliance on superior economic leverage (as in the case of the Lopez family), a system of traditional patronage (as in the Durano Family), a mix of religion and militarism (as in Ali Dimaporo), or systematic electoral fraud as what the Marcoses did. The matter of ideology both as the world of social meanings and the politician’s stance in this world is germane to achieving an understanding of the Osmenas.In electoral contest in Cebu, public discourse has been dominated by conservative politicians. Political speech gravitates around the two poles of personality and issues. The Osmena discourse skillfully combines both personality and issues. Personality is the low mode of discourse and encompasses the verbal abuse, muckraking, vulgar humor, and gossip. Issue is the high mode, consisting of the presentation of government platforms or the qualifications and social ideas of candidates. It is not however a systematic exposition of ideology but a minimalist statement of gen eral and abstract principles and a isting of specific projects. Public discourse on politics is neither wholly open nor free. Control of public channels of communication, elite construction of tradition, selective deployment of languages, and the limits of Philippine language situation-in concert with material conditions that sustain attitudes of political subjection- prosper ideological domination. The Osmenas are masters in the management of politics and are, in fact, the ones who inaugurated in Cebu politics the systematic use of modern mass media for electoral purposes.They are skilful in the selection of messages and the manipulation of symbols so effective in Philippine electoral politics, particularly in the context of the structurally undeveloped urbanism of Cebu. Theirs is an ideology of â€Å"developmentalism† and â€Å"modernity† with its promise of rational management, bureaucratic efficiency and technocratic expertise in the design and execution of public projects. It is a minimalist ideology, however, in its loose aggregation of generalities and particularities and in its avoidance of a systematic critique of structures of social and economic domination.The Osmenas have put their considerable entrepreneurial and organizational skills to good use in their electoral campaigns such as in managing finances, contracting a quality staff for media packaging and opinion surveys, and running an efficient campaign organization. They have a fund of political experience, an organizational network built up through many elections, the support of big business and the persuasive reputation of â€Å"winners. † The Osmenas have defined their electoral campaigns in terms of â€Å"crusades† that use primordial symbols of democracy, autonomy, and progress.More adept than their opponents in ceasing the ideological high ground, the Osmenas have defined political reality in advantageous terms. They appeal to both the past and the future, on o ne hand by resurrecting selective images of the past, and on the other hand, by evoking visions of a modern, progressive future in their campaign speeches. Underlying, the Osmena phenomenon is a practice of conservative politics, one that restricts the distribution of power and constructs the politics as pulitika.According to Reynaldo Ileto (1984, 10), pulitika is the perception of politics as a process of bargaining, with implicit self of factional interest involved. The interaction between the colonial power and its native wards was pulitika. At another level, it refers to the practices by which leaders cultivate ties of personal loyalty and indebtedness to them and simply attract votes. In the Philippines, pulitika is not politics (whether construed broadly as the totality of public or civic life or narrowly as democratic bargaining or consensus building). Rather, it is that field of politics largely constructed and dominated by the elites.It is in this context that families with economic resources and political skills come perpetuate themselves in power. The specific character of the Osmena dominance has been shaped by such factors as the American ethos of rational government, the personality, and temper of the Osmenas themselves, their belief in the electoral system and the characteristics of the region in which they have founded their beliefs. To a significant extent, the Osmenas are not only instrumentalists but true believers in the precepts of liberal democracy and free enterprise.Theirs, however, is a minimalist ideology subordinated to the exigencies and demands of action in the realm of pulitika. It is also an ideology that mobilizes people around their leadership does not empower them nor seriously address the structural problems of Philippine society. The Osmena dominance has been shaped as well by the practical grosser realities of power maintenance in the Philippines, which require of leaders not only ideological competence but expedience skill s in realpolitik, in the lower-oder devices of lying, bribery, horse trading, and thuggery.Political culture has constructed the families like the Osmenas, for a political family is the sum not just what its members posses or do but of how it is regarded in the community. Politicians like the Osmena’s adjust because of the altered conditions: modifying the rhetoric by adding new messages, revising their campaign style and addressing new issues. By doing so they can appropriate new symbols, coop new leaders, re-establish new borders that keep political action bounded yet pressures from the below will make it increasingly difficult to give new life or maintain the old boundaries.To the extent that these pressures build and are not meaningfully confronted, the Osmenas may find that no longer holds sway, that the terms of the struggle have shifted radically, and that the struggle for power is now taking place elsewhere. Synthesis Elite families can be seen as both object and subj ect of history, shaping and being shaped by the processes of change. In many countries all over the world, elite families engaged in politics to gain power and influence, in turn they shape the history of their country. Among these are political families from Brazil, Mexico, and United States.As the family-based approach in history was employed and developed in these countries, the interest to utilize this approach in the history of Southeast Asian countries grew. The Philippines as a weak, postcolonial state became a breeding ground for strong and influential political families that defined the history of the country. The leading family of Cebu, the Osmenas, emerged through the use of their skills in statecraft. The Osmenas have displayed their brilliance in organizing their political machinery and the employment of symbols during elections.Meanwhile, the Lopezeses of Iloilo, started as hacienderos until they became leading national actors and businessmen in 1950s. The great influe nce, wealth, and success of the Lopez brothers until today can be attributed to their rent-seeking activities. Chapter 3 Research Design and Methodology Chapter 3 has four parts: (1) Research Design, (2) Data Sources and Collection, (3) Site and Participant Selection, and (4) Data Treatment Procedures and Analysis Part 1, Research Design, discusses the structure of the study and the research approach to which the study will be anchored.Part 2, Data Sources and Collection, addresses the sources of the data and presents the research method that will be employed. Part 3, Site and Participant Selection, describes the rationale for choosing the setting of the study on how the participants will be collected. Part 4, Data Treatment Procedure and Analysis, details the specific procedures in analyzing the data that will be collected during the study. Research Design This study will follow the principles of the qualitative research.According to Holloway (1997, 2), qualitative research is a fo rm of social inquiry that focuses on the way people interpret and make sense of their experiences and the world in which they live. A number of different approaches exist within the wider framework of this type of research, but most of these have the same aim: to understand the social reality of individuals, groups and cultures. Researchers use qualitative approaches to explore the behavior, perspectives and experiences of the people they study. The basis of qualitative research lies in the interpretive approach to social reality.In line with the research design, the researchers will utilize the case study as the approach for this study. The case study approach (Yin 1980, 2) is a research strategy entailing an empirical investigation of a contemporary phenomenon within its real life context using multiple sources of evidence, and is especially valuable when the boundaries between the phenomenon and context are blurred. RESEARCH DESIGN Experiential Knowledge Preliminary Interviews Li terature Review Preliminary Conceptual Model Observation Interviews Documentary Evidence FindingsRevised & Enhanced Conceptual Model Working Hypotheses Member Checks Final Report Data Sources and Collection Historical method will be used to investigate the political history of Aklan in the lens of familial perspective. Historiography, according to Furay and Salevouris (1979, 223-224) is the study of the way history has been and is written, it is the history of historical writing. In studying historiography, there is no need to study the events of the past directly, but the changing interpretations of those events in the works of individual historians.The researchers in order to collect detailed data needed in this study will employ participant observation. Participant observation (Pearson 1995, 1) refers to a form of sociological research methodology in which the researcher takes on a role in the social situation under observation. The researchers will also directly interview the pa rticipants. Interviews (Lincoln, Y. S. , and Guba 1985, 37) provide very different data from observations: they allow the evaluation team to capture the perspectives of project participants, staff, and others associated with the project.In the hypothetical example, interviews with project staff can provide information on the early stages of the implementation and problems encountered. Key informant interviews will also be conducted. Key informant interviews (Pearson 1995, 1) are qualitative in-depth interviews with people who know what is going on in the community. The purpose of key informant interviews is to collect information from a wide range of people including community leaders, professionals, or residents who have firsthand knowledge about the community. The researchers will also conduct document studies.Existing records often provide insights into a setting and/or group of people that cannot be observed or noted in another way. This information can be found in document form . Lincoln and Guba (1985, 198) defined a document as any written or recorded material not prepared for the purposes of the evaluation or at the request of the inquirer. Documents can be divided into two major categories: public records, and personal documents (Guba and Lincoln 1981, 22). Site and Participant Selection The selection of the setting for this research will be the Province of Aklan.Two reasons were seen necessary for the researchers: first, there are several political families in the Province of Aklan, and second, the province has a rich political history. The participant for this research will be conducted among a purposively selected political family in the Province of Aklan. Data Treatment Procedure and Analysis A case study analysis consists of making a detailed description of the case and its setting. (Creswell 2007, 163) in analyzing the data, the researchers will create an organized file for data.They will then read through texts and make margin notes from its ini tial codes. After organizing and reading the data, the researchers will describe the case and its context. The researchers will then use categorical aggregation to establish themes or patterns. After establishing the themes or patterns, the researchers will use direct interpretation to interpret the case. They will then develop a naturalistic generalization. Lastly, after developing a naturalistic generalization, the researchers will present an in-depth picture of the case or cases using narrative, tables, and figures.

Archibald MacLeish essays

Archibald MacLeish essays Twentieth century nonfiction was mostly written about the changes America was going through. Archibald MacLeish, a well-known poet,laywright, and public official, wrote about the social and political issues of the time. He argued that the personality of the poet should be independent from the integrity of the poem's existence. His public service work and concern for the social problems through his writing, make him a true all-American. Archibald MacLeish was born in 1892 in glencoe, Illinois. He served in World War I before studying law and earning a degree at Harvard. He was determined to concentrate on his writing so he joined the colony of famous writers in Paris. He wrote verses that reflected the many artistic and social concerns of the day. He wrote the volumes The Happy Marriage, The Pot of Earth, Streets on the Moon, and The Hamlet of a MacLeish during that time also. When he returned to his Massachusetts farm in 1928 he became editor of Fortune. He still continued to write poems and dramatic verse. His sense of socila concern was combined with his art. MacLeish's best poems are morally sensitive explorations of the human perdicament. Influences for his poetry were myth and literary tradition. Other influences were Ezra Pound and T.S. Eliot. He also used biblical stories. A verse play J.B. was based on the book of Job. He won a Pulitzer prize for that play. MacLeish was successful in his lifetime winning a total of three Pulitzer prizes. the other were for Conquistador, about the spanish conquest, and Collected Poems. In the essay "the Unimagined America", from A Continuing Journey, Archibald MacLeish writes about the power of imagination and how it built America today. He calls upon Americans to be more imaginative and have faith in the future. His purpoes for writing the essay was to make readers aware of the fact that America took alot of creativity to be what it is today. ...

#8220;Compare and Contrast Essay Sample on Canada Vs the USA #8220;

#8220;Compare and Contrast Essay Sample on Canada Vs the USA #8220; Both Canada and the USA have governments that seem to work quite well, amidst their differences. While the USA is a republic, Canada is a constitutional monarchy, and both are based on the ideas of democracy. However, they are different in many ways, and each government has it’s share of better methods than the other. For example, the USA has a definite term of office set for the president, 4 years, so that the president will know when he is done, and elections do not come as a surprise to the citizens. In Canada, the Prime Minister may sit for up to 5 years, calling an election any time he/she wants, from his/her first day in office, until the day before their last day in office. This can come as a surprise to the public, leaving them unprepared for an election. This is one of the ways that makes the USA system seem better than the Canadian. However, with the exact date known well in advance, campaigns in the USA start over a year ahead of the election, which can be quite ann oying to many people. Canadian campaigns last for only 50 days. The Canadian system does have it’s strong points, as well. In the USA, presidents may only be in office for a maximum of 10 years with the rare possibility that their predecessor is no longer able to run the country, during a term. In most cases, the maximum is 8 years per president, in 2 terms. This is not a very good system, if a president that is liked by all and makes decisions well is kept in office for 8 years, he is no longer allowed to be the president, no matter how much he’s liked. In Canada, there is no limit on how much a leader may be Prime Minister. If the Prime Minister proves himself to be a very good leader, he will be kept in office for as long as needed. If the Prime minister proves to be a bad leader, they will not be re-elected. The parties keep or replace leaders as they see fit, and the voters have the final word. The Americans have the better model for choosing government representatives, however. In an American election, the voters will vote on both the president and vice president, to ensure that they are who the people want. In Canada, we only indirectly vote for our prime minister, who then chooses his own staff all by himself, most likely all will be members of his own party. Canadians also have a better separation system between the highest levels of government, as well. When the voters in America elect a head of government, they are also electing the head of state. This one person is the president, who occupies both titles. In Canada, the head of state is the Queen and the Governor General, who are above the differences between the parties. They are there just to be the monarch, not to get involved with all the different ideologies of the political parties. In the USA, the president will be either republican or democratic, which does not bode well for the patriotic symbol of head of state. If there’s blame to be had, the American’s don’t know who did what, there are different parties in the different branches, and each branch blames the other. In Canada, it will always be the government party, so that the voters know for certain who did it. I can’t say for certain which government system I believe is better. Each country has different strengths and weaknesses, which balance each other out quite nicely. Canadian voters are more involved in government decisions, but lack the involvement in who is running the government, the Prime Minister appoints his staff. America lets their voters get more involved in choosing their leaders, but they cannot determine who to blame when something goes wrong. If I had to choose between them for sure, I believe I would choose Canada as the better government. Canada has a few poor qualities, such as the prime minister having immense power, but they can be made up for simply, such as choosing a prime minister that everyone can trust. You can order custom essays, term papers, research papers, dissertations and thesis papers on Canada and the USA from our professional custom writing service. Here is a list of the most popular essay writing topics on Canada: French Immigration in Canada with special view to the 17th century Canada should allow more foreigners to become Canadians The Gap Between the Rich and Poor in Canada The Four Most Significant individuals in Canadian History The place of Quebec in Canada is at the heart of the debate on constitutional reform but is not the only source of discontent within the Canadian federal system Should Canada strengthen its ties with America Multiculturalism in Canada Canadas political system Legislatures in Canada and the United States Refugee children in Canada: Searching for Identity SHOULD CANADA HAVE DEATH PENALTY Gun control in Canada Japanese Canadians in Canada Copyright Laws In Canada Renewable Resource Research in Canada Canadas great depression Terrorism in canada Marijuana: Should it be legalized in Canada? Social Issues in Canada

Biography of James Watt, Modern Steam Engine Inventor

Biography of James Watt, Modern Steam Engine Inventor James Watt (January 19, 1736–August 25, 1819) was a Scottish inventor, engineer, and chemist. He developed a workable steam engine that utilized a separate condenser; this innovation made the steam engine a useful tool for a vast range of uses. In many ways, Watts invention- or rather, his improvement on an earlier invention, the Newcomen steam engine- was the technological impetus behind the Industrial Revolution. Fast Facts: James Watt Known For: Invention of the steam engineBorn: January 19, 1736 in Greenock,  Renfrewshire, Scotland, United KingdomParents: Thomas Watt, Agnes MuirheadDied: August 25, 1819 in  Handsworth, Birmingham, England, United KingdomEducation: Home educatedPublished Works:  A System of Mechanical PhilosophyAwards and Honors: Many streets and schools carry his name; statues of his likeness in Picadilly Gardens and St. Pauls CathedralSpouse(s): Margaret (Peggy) Miller, Ann MacGregorChildren: James Jr., Margaret, Gregory, Janet, AnnNotable Quote: I had gone to take a walk on a fine Sabbath afternoon. I had entered the Green by the gate at the foot of Charlotte  Street and had passed the old washing house. I was thinking upon the engine at the time, and had gone as far as the herds house, when the idea came into my mind...I had not walked  farther  than the Golf  house when the whole thing was arranged in my mind. Early Life James Watt was born on January 19, 1736, in Greenock, Scotland, as the only surviving child of four of James Watt (1699–1737) and Agnes Muirhead (1901–1754). Greenock was a fishing village that during Watts lifetime became a busy town with a fleet of steamships. James Jr.s grandfather Thomas Watt (1642–1734) was a well-known mathematician and local schoolmaster. James Sr. was a prominent citizen of Greenock and a successful carpenter and ships chandler who worked at outfitting ships and working on their instruments, compasses, and quadrants. At various times, James Sr. was also the chief magistrate and treasurer of the town. Education James Watt was intelligent, but because of poor health he was unable to attend school regularly. Instead, he gained the skills he would later need in engineering and tooling by working with his father on carpentry projects. By age 6, James Watt was solving geometrical problems and conducting his earliest investigation into the nature of steam, which involved experimenting with his mothers tea kettle. In boyhood, Watt was an avid reader and found something to interest him in every book that came into his hands. When Watt was finally sent to the village school, his ill health prevented his making rapid progress; it was only when he was 13 or 14 that he began to exhibit his abilities, particularly in mathematics. His spare time was spent sketching with his pencil, carving, and working at the tool bench with wood and metal. He made many ingenious mechanical works and some beautiful models, and enjoyed repairing nautical instruments. Apprenticeship After his mother died in 1754, the 18-year-old Watt was sent to Glasgow to train as a merchant with his uncle John Muirhead. One of his mothers relatives was the chair of the Oriental Languages and Humanities department at Glasgow College, and Watt became a member of the literary society there. He also met other scholars at Glasgow who would prove influential and supportive of his career: Robert Dick, professor of natural philosophy, Robert Simpson in mathematics, and William Cullen in medicine and chemistry. It was Dick who suggested that Watt go to London to get training as a mathematics instrument maker. With a letter of introduction, Watt left for London in 1755 and began working with the instrument maker John Morgan. Watt was not officially an apprentice, but he did work on mechanical instrumentation: Morgan thought he was talented but took too long to complete his work. The job with Morgan ended in June 1756 and Dick got him a short-term position to work on an astronomical clock, reflecting telescopes, and transit instruments. Watt returned to Greenock at the end of the year, but he soon went back to Glasgow where he began a small business in quadrant-making. He was appointed mathematical instrument-maker at Glasgow College, supported by Dicks replacement John Anderson, and by Cullens replacement and chemist Joseph Black (1728–1799). Black is best known for his work on latent and specific heats and for his discovery of carbon dioxide, and he was to become a staunch supporter of Watt. Early Experimentation In 1759, John Robison, a student at Glasgow, showed Watt a model of the Newcomen steam engine and suggested it might be used to propel carriages. The Newcomen was invented and patented in 1703 by Thomas Newcomen (1664–1729), and Watt began building miniature models using tin steam cylinders and pistons attached to driving wheels by a system of gears. In his own experiments he used, at first, apothecaries trials and hollow canes for steam reservoirs and pipes, and later a Papins digester and a common syringe. The latter combination made a noncondensing engine, in which he used steam at a pressure of 15 pounds per square inch. The valve was worked by hand, and James Watt saw that an automatic valve gear was needed to make a working machine. This experiment, however, led to no practical result and for the next several years, he abandoned this research. Watt stayed with the college until the 1760s, when he took up a partnership with a merchant named John Craig, financed partly with Black. One venture of theirs was producing alkali from salt- in the 18th century, alkali could only be produced from plants. Craig and Watt were one of several people looking for a way to create it chemically, an effort not achieved until 1820. Watt and Craig also worked on pottery kilns and glazes for making tin-glazed delftware. Marriage and Family In 1764, Watt married Margaret Millar, known as Peggy, a cousin he had known since they were children. They were to have five children, only two of which lived to adulthood: Margaret, born in 1767, and James III, born in 1769, who as an adult would become his fathers main support and business partner. The Newcomen Steam Engine Over the winter of 1763–1764, John Anderson at Glasgow asked Watt to repair a model of the Newcomen engine. He was able to get it running, but he was curious as to why the machine consumed so much steam and condensing water. Watts began studying the history of the steam engine and conducted experimental research into the properties of steam. The Newcomen steam engine model had a boiler that was made to scale and was incapable of furnishing enough steam to power an engine. It was about nine inches in diameter; the steam cylinder was two inches in  diameter and had a  six-inch  piston stroke. Watt made a new boiler that could measure the quantity of water evaporated and the steam condensed at every stroke of the engine. Watt soon discovered that the engine required a very small quantity of steam to heat a very large quantity of water. He immediately started to determine with precision the relative weights of steam and water in the steam cylinder when condensation took place at the down stroke of the engine. James Watt independently proved the existence of latent heat, which had been discovered by his mentor and supporter Joseph Black. Watt went to Black with his research, who shared his knowledge with Watt. Watt found that, at the boiling point, his condensing steam was capable of heating six times its weight of water used for producing condensation. Watts Separate Condenser Realizing that steam weight for weight was a vastly greater absorbent and reservoir of heat than water, Watt saw the importance of taking greater care to economize it than had previously been attempted. At first, he economized in the boiler and made boilers with wooden shells in order to prevent losses by conduction and radiation. He also used a larger number of flues than Newcomen had to secure  more complete  absorption of the heat from the furnace gases. He also covered his steam pipes with  non-conducting  materials and took every precaution to secure the complete utilization of the heat of combustion. He soon discovered that the sources of heat loss in the Newcomen engine ­ were: The dissipation of heat by the cylinder itself, which was of brass and was both a good conductor and a good radiator.The loss of heat consequent upon the necessity of cooling down the cylinder at every stroke in producing the vacuum.The loss of power due to the pressure of vapor beneath the piston, which was a consequence of the imperfect method of condensation. His first attempt at a cylinder of  non-conducting  material was made of  ­wood soaked in oil and then baked, which did increase the economy of steam. He then conducted a series of very accurate experiments upon the temperature and pressure of steam by measuring the amount of steam used at each stroke of the engine. He was able to confirm his previous conclusion that three-fourths of the heat supplied to the engine was wasted. Further Improvements After his scientific investigations, James Watt worked on improving the steam engine with an intelligent understanding of its existing defects and a knowledge of their cause. Watt soon saw that in order to reduce the losses in the working of the steam in the steam cylinder, it would be necessary to find a way to constantly keep the cylinder as hot as the steam that entered it. According to James Watt: The idea came into my mind that, as steam was an elastic body, it would rush into a vacuum, and, if a communication were made between the cylinder and an exhausted vessel, it would rush into it, and might be there condensed without cooling the cylinder. I then saw that I must get rid of the condensed steam and injection water if I used a jet, as in Newcomens engine. Two ways of doing this occurred to me: First, the water might be run off by a descending pipe, if an off jet could be got at the depth of 35 or 36 feet, and any air might be extracted by a small pump. The second was, to make the pump large enough to extract both water and air. He continued, When analyzed, the invention would not appear so great as it seemed to be. In the state in which I found the steam engine, it was no great effort of mind to observe that the quantity of fuel necessary to make it work would forever prevent its extensive utility. The next step in my progress was equally easy- to inquire what was the cause of the great consumption of fuel. This, too, was readily suggested, viz., the waste of fuel which was necessary to bring the whole cylinder, piston, and adjacent parts from the coldness of water to the heat of steam, no fewer than from 15 to 20 times in a minute. James Watt had invented his all-important separate condenser. He proceeded to make an experimental test of his new invention. His little model worked very well, and the perfection of the vacuum was such that the machine lifted an 18-pound weight suspended from the piston rod. He then constructed a larger model, and the result of its test confirmed the results of his first experiments. Watt Builds His Own Steam Engine It took years for Watt to figure out the details of the new steam engine. To start with, Watt had to find a way to prevent the condenser from filling with water. He tried several approaches, including an air pump, which relieved the condenser of the water and air which collected in the  condenser and lessened the vacuum. He next substituted oil and tallow for the water used to lubricate the piston, keeping the steam tight and preventing the cooling of the cylinder. Another cause of refrigeration of the cylinder and consequent waste of power in its  operation was the entrance of air, which followed the piston down the cylinder at each stroke, cooling its interior by its contact. The inventor prevented this from happening by covering the top of the cylinder and surrounding the whole cylinder with an external casing, or steam jacket, that allowed the steam from the boiler to pass around the steam cylinder and press on the upper surface of the piston. After building his larger experimental engine, Watt rented a room in an old deserted cottage. There, he worked with mechanic Folm Gardiner. Watt had just met John Roebuck, a wealthy physician, who had, with other Scotch capitalists, recently founded the celebrated Carron Iron Works. Roebuck began to support Watts efforts financially and Watt frequently wrote to Roebuck  describing  his progress. In  August 1765, he tried the small  engine and wrote Roebuck that he had good success, although the machine was very imperfect, and informed Roebuck that he was starting to make the larger model. In  October 1765, he finished the large steam engine. The engine, while ready for trial, was still far from perfect. It nevertheless did good work for such a crude machine. Financial and Personal Setbacks Unfortunately, by 1765, James Watt was reduced to poverty, and, after borrowing considerable sums from friends, he finally had to seek employment in order to provide for his family. During a span of about two  years, he supported himself as a civil engineer, surveying and managing the building of several canals in Scotland and exploring coal fields in the neighborhood of Glasgow for the magistrates of the city. He did not, however, entirely give up his invention. In 1767, Roebuck assumed Watts liabilities to the amount of  1,000 British pounds and agreed to provide more capital in exchange for  two-thirds  of Watts patent. Another engine was built with a steam cylinder seven or eight inches in diameter, which was finished in 1768. This worked sufficiently well to induce the partners to ask for a patent, and the specifications and drawings were completed and presented in 1769. Watt also built and set up several Newcomen engines, partly, perhaps, to make himself more thoroughly familiar with the practical details of engine building. Meantime, he prepared plans for and built a moderately large engine of his own new type. Its steam cylinder was 18 inches in diameter, and the stroke of the piston  was 5 feet. This engine was built at  Kinneil and was finished in  September 1769. It was not all satisfactory in either its construction or its operation. The condenser was a surface condenser composed of pipes somewhat like those used in his first little  model and did not prove to be satisfactorily tight. The steam piston leaked seriously, and repeated trials only served to make its imperfections more evident. He was assisted with financial and moral support by both Joseph Black and John  Roebuck, but  he felt strongly about the risks he ran of involving his friends in serious losses and became very despondent. Writing to Black, Watt said: Of all things in life, there is nothing more foolish than inventing; and probably the majority of inventors have been led to the same opinion by their own experiences. Partnership With Matthew Boulton In 1768, James Watt traveled to London to get his patent submitted, and on the way he met Matthew Boulton. Boulton was the owner of a Birmingham manufacturing company known as the Soho Manufactory, which made small metal goods. He  had inherited his fathers business and built it up considerably. He and his business were very well known in the mid-18th century English enlightenment movement. Boulton was a good scholar,  with a considerable knowledge of languages and science- particularly mathematics- despite having left school as a boy to go to work in his fathers shop. In the  shop, he soon introduced a number of valuable improvements and he was always on the lookout for other ideas that might be introduced into his business. He was also a member of the famous Lunar Society of Birmingham, a group of men who met to discuss natural philosophy, engineering, and industrial development together: other members included the discoverer of oxygen Joseph Priestley, Erasmus Darwin (grandfather of Charles Darwin), and the experimental potter Josiah Wedgewood. Watt joined the group after he became Boultons partner. A flamboyant and energetic scholar, Boulton made the acquaintance of Benjamin Franklin in 1758, who then visited Soho. By 1766, these distinguished men were corresponding, discussing among other things the applicability of steam power to various useful purposes. They designed a new steam engine and Boulton built a model, which was sent to Franklin and exhibited by him in London. They had yet to become aware of the existence of James Watt. When Boulton met Watt in 1768, he liked his engine and decided to buy an interest in the patent. With Roebucks consent, Watt offered Boulton a  one-third  interest. Although there were several complications, eventually Roebuck proposed to transfer to Matthew Boulton  one-half  of his proprietorship in Watts inventions for the sum of 1,000 pounds. This proposal was accepted in  November 1769. Working Steam Engines In  November 1774, Watt finally announced to his old partner Roebuck that he had made a successful trial of the Kilmeil engine. He did not write with his usual enthusiasm and extravagance; instead, he simply wrote: The fire engine I have invented is now going, and answers much better than any other that has yet been made, and I expect that the invention will be very beneficial to me. One reason for his lack of enthusiasm was that his wife had died during childbirth the previous year, in September 1773. Heartsick, Watt buried himself in work. From mid-February 1774 he was working on thermometers and barometers. He ended his civil engineering business in Scotland (in part because of a financial crisis in Scotland) and in May he journeyed south to Birmingham, where he joined the Lunar Society. In 1775, he went into a full-time partnership with Matthew Boulton. From that point forward, the firm of Boulton and Watt was able to produce a range of working engines with real-world applications. New innovations and patents were taken out for machines that could be used for grinding, weaving, and milling. Steam engines were put into use for transportation on both land and water. Nearly every successful and important invention that marked the history of steam power for many years originated in the Boulton and Watt workshops. Retirement and Death Watts work with Boulton transformed him into a figure of international stature among men of letters. His 25-year-long patent brought him wealth; and he and Boulton became leaders in the technological Enlightenment in England, with a solid reputation for innovative engineering. Watt married Ann Macgregor in 1776 and they had two children (Gregory and Jessy), both of whom would die young. James Watt Jr., his son from his first wife, survived his father and went on to have a role in the continuing English Enlightenment. As a result of his partnership with Matthew Boulton, James Watt became a very wealthy man, building an elegant mansion known as Heathfield House in Handsworth,  Staffordshire. He retired in 1800 and spent the rest of his life in leisure and traveling to visit friends and family. He died on August 25, 1819, at Heathfield. He was buried in the graveyard of  St Marys Church in Handsworth. Legacy In a very meaningful way, Watts inventions spurred on the Industrial Revolution and innovations of the modern age, ranging from automobiles and trains to factories and the social issues that evolved as a result. In addition, Watts name has been attached to streets, museums, and schools. His story has inspired books, movies, and works of art, including statues in Piccadilly Gardens and St. Pauls Cathedral. On the statue at St. Pauls are engraved the words: James Watt...enlarged the resources of his country, increased the power of man, and rose to an eminent place among the most illustrious followers of science and the real benefactors of the world. Sources Jones, Peter M. Living the Enlightenment and the French Revolution: James Watt, Matthew Boulton, and Their Sons. The Historical Journal 42.1 (1999): 157–82. Print.Hills, Richard L. Power from Steam: A History of the Stationary Steam Engine. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993.Miller, David Philip. Puffing Jamie: The Commercial and Ideological Importance of Being a ‘Philosopher’ in the Case of the Reputation of James Watt (1736–1819). History of Science 38.1 (2000): 1–24. Print.The Life and Legend of James Watt: Collaboration, Natural Philosophy, and the Improvement of the Steam Engine. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2019.  Pugh, Jennifer S., and John Hudson. The Chemical Work of James Watt, F.R.S. Notes and Records of the Royal Society of London 40.1 (1985): 41–52. Print.Russell, Ben. James Watt: Making the World Anew. London: Science Museum, 2014.  Wright, Michael. James Watt: Musical Instrument Maker. The Galpin Soci ety Journal 55 (2002): 104–29. Print.

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Entrepreneurial Management and Leadership - Essay Example nternal efforts to sustain competitive advantages through the process of innovation which serves to change the balance of competitive dominance in an established industry. This report aims to identify the corporate entrepreneurship behaviours at the Sony Corporation, a multi-national firm operating in the consumer electronics industry; a highly saturated competitive environment. Utilising a mixed methodology of secondary and primary research, this study undertakes a qualitative analysis of CE activities (or lack thereof) at the identified corporation to determine entrepreneurial behavioural impact on strategic initiatives, innovation, organisational structure and culture at the firm. A general qualitative analysis of the firm’s current competitive advantages and competitive market position is inclusive in the research. It is assumed that Sony Corporation, a company with a rich history of operations established in 1946, maintains significant entrepreneurial behaviour internally. Upon Sony’s establishment, the business only maintained $530 in available capital and maintained a workforce of only eight employees (Abiko 1966). With such a limited volume of available resources, Sony was able to convince Bell Labs to license the new innovation, the transistor, which ultimately led to Sony being a pioneering market entrant for launch of the first transistor radio. It is unlikely that Sony maintained limited entrepreneurial behaviours in its long history, an assumption based on a rich history of being a market innovator in many different product categories. This assumption will be tested utilising research on the firm. During the 1970s, Sony’s most important market, the United States, maintained a very negative perception regarding the quality of Japanese-made products. However, Sony continued to outperform many American-produced products in the consumer electronics industry which radically changed U.S. consumer perceptions of the made in Japan label (Lohr 1983).

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(Q2.The Government states that 'the adoption of the NEC3 2005 Engineering and Construction contract suits the needs of a modern construction industry'. Provide an appraisal in response to such a statement - Essay Example It is also been used in countries around the world like South Africa. Its use implies that it suits the requirements of the modern construction and engineering industry. However, opponents beg to differ (Gould, 2007). The Government Commerce in the United Kingdom has validated NEC3 for utilisation in the construction projects that are funded by the public. NEC3 also meets the requirements of the Achieving Excellence in Construction (Rowlinson, 2011). In the validation by the office of the Government Commerce, it is noted that NEC3 satisfies the principles set out by AEC, whose aim is to boost performance in the construction industry. It is also noted NEC3 is an up to date group of contracts that enhances the enactment of the right principles in construction projects. NEC3 is made up of three main elements. These key elements are the risk management, the settings of the contract, and the management of the project. Thus, under the three components, NEC3 looks at the type of regulations, the compensation, what and when of the project, and identifies people in charge of the project like the supervisor and the contractor (Construction Industry Development Board, 2005). In spite of the opposition from different sectors, an evaluation of the facts surrounding NEC3 can determine if it suits the requirements of the modern construction industry. NEC3 is composed of a group of two clauses, optional and key. Just to name but a few, the key clauses include time, general, payment, title, and compensation; while the optional ones include options A to F, which is the management contract. The beneficial aspects associated with NEC3 include fruitful approval by contractors and customers. It is not rigid in terms of the designs; hence, permitting any form of association between the contractors and the employers. It is characterised by brevity and simplicity in

Research on the composer Handel Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

On the composer Handel - Research Paper Example Not only the uniqueness of his music but peoples attitude and his popularity made him an important figure of the Baroque period. In fact, this period left a significant imprint on his life as well as career, and it can be traced both in his biography and works. First of all, it is Handels biography that shows he is a representative of a period in which he was living. During the Baroque period, there were two main factors that influenced composers and their music: location and money, with the latter being, perhaps, the most important one. In order to be able to compose music and be heard, composers needed patrons who could support and put them forward as well as sponsor them. In life and work of Handel, such sponsors performed a very important role. The first person who influenced Handels future was the Duke of Saxe-Weisenfels. Despite the fact that he did not support the future composer materially, it was he who recognized the fact that music was Handels true mission even though Handels father felt like his son becoming a lawyer. The Duke once said to the composers father, â€Å"for his own part, he could not but consider it is a sort of a crime against the public to rob the world of such a Genius!† (Kivy 40). It was after Handels v isit to the court of Saxe-Weisenfels that he started taking lessons in playing the organ at Friedrich Wilhelm Zachow (Kivy 40-41). Handel traveled a lot and during his traveling he met quite a significant number of influential people, many of whom were charmed by the composers talent. He spent about four years in Italy (1706-1710) as he was invited there by Prince Ferdinando de Medici of Florence. In Italy, Handel enjoyed great attention of music-loving prelates, such as Cardinal Pamphili and Cardinal Ottoboni. Not only they but other representatives of both aristocracy and clergy were eager to invite Handel to perform music at their palaces for they recognized his talent. Among such people were the Hanoverian Prince Ernst

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