Changinng Life Style Essay

Indian Culture is time tested and represented the progressively refined way of life, that had unfortunately suffered a set back, a sub culture process as it were, drifting from its salutary ways of living. Did not Lord Mecaulay say in the UK parliament how the Indians had such a perfect social harmony and faith in their way of life, that they can not be subdued unless they were weaned from their prestige and made to adore the alien way of life, to feel subordinated to a †superior culture†, wherefore they could be easily subdued and dominated for the best advantage of the colonial rule! That was perfectly achieved and Indians forgot their own merits in a strange infatuation with alien culture! Foreign culture was best for them, unique to them, deserved respect, but not fit for absorption into our own way of life! Apart from an initiation into new unfolding findings of secular science and technology – which was absent in our nation under colonial subjugation – we had gained least in other spheres, particularly in the social and ethical qualities. We became divided, in the names of religion and castes losing the force of harmony that united us under the princely states! The increasing divorce culture, night clubs and pub culture, promiscuity and desertions etc among youth, the divide and rule policy among the politicians, the aggressive conversions (against more benign missionary activities a century ago) are the only major impacts in the social domain. So except the technological inputs, even economic exploitations under free trade or repressive regimentation under socialist govts that came from the west, have least served the society to achieve equality. Social impacts have been worse. The break down of joint family system due to new life styles, uncontrolled deviancies in the name of liberty etc have made youth defy control of society and family in a big way. In a chapter on †Consequences of Innovations† in the book by Rogers and Shoemaker entitled, †Diffusion and  Adoption of Innovations†, it is discussed how any change made in any aspect of social sphere – agriculture or medicine or arts or whatever – may end up in unexpected †side effects† as well. The chaos in the aborigins of Australia after replacement of traditional stone tool etc make interesting reading! In India itself, the introduction of rural TV programme for education of people in modern agricultre, health care etc was studied in UP state when Indiraji was Minister of Broadcasting, in 100 villages. The study revealed significant increase in knowledge and attitude of people in modern techniques and the project was cleared for large scale introdcution across the country. After govt project was ended, many behavioural scientists took up studies in change of life pattern in the villages. They came across many critical adverse changes traceable to exposure of untreated †entertainment† programmes given by TV apart from the educatinal inputs! Like that our adoration for the modern knowledge gained from the west, had made us adopt their other life styles as well to the detriment of society. So the demerits have been devastating as we see from the increase of family courts to deal with increasing divorce cases, the skewed development of trade and industy at the cost of other primary enterprises, policy of social divide by politicians for vote bank advantage etc! In my opinion, we had paid a heavy price for all the technological good we received from the west, by our own unwise emulation of their social perceptions and political strategies as well! have a good day! TRADITIONAL CULTURE AND MODERNIZATION R. BALASUBRAMANIAN BACKGROUND This paper focuses upon three issues. First, I want to show that the perennial elements in traditional cultures like those of India and China are  relevant even today as they play an important role in the achievement, on the one hand, of harmony between the individual and society at the social level, and, on the other hand, of harmony of spirit, mind, and body at the individual level. Second, we should not lose sight of the distinction between knowledge and information, between wisdom and knowledge, and more importantly between life and living. The perennial elements in the traditional culture have helped us to care for life, knowledge, and wisdom, which are essential for spiritual development. Third, modernization as interpreted by the West has a narrow connotation and is, therefore, a distorted concept. Through science, it brings in the colonial attitude, the imperialism of the West. It is possible for one to be modern without accepting all that is implied by modernization. Culture, which comprises philosophy and religion, art and literature, science and technology, social organization and political administration, is the mirror of the theory and practice of a people. It is originated, developed and sustained by the people over a period of time. In turn, the perennial elements which constitute its core inspire and sustain the posterity to whom it is transmitted from time to time. Traditional cultures like those of China and India are undoubtedly ancient, but not antiquated; their ideals and practices, which are relevant in any situation, help the people to meet the new challenges which surface from time to time. As a result they not only survive, but are admired, adored, and accepted by the people. There cannot be a better explanation of the way a culture is able to hold the people and sustain them than the one given by Sri Aurobindo: The culture of a people may be roughly described as the expression of a consciousness of life which formulates itself in three aspects. There is a side of thought, of ideal, of upward will and the soul’s aspiration; there is a side of creative self-expression and appreciative aesthesis, intelligence, and imagination; and there is a side of practical and outward formulation. A people’s philosophy and higher thinking give us its mind’s purest, largest, and most general formulation of its consciousness of life and its dynamic view of existence. Its religion formulates the most intense form of its upward will and the soul’s aspirations towards the fulfillment of its highest ideal and impulse. Its art, poetry, literature provide for us the creative expression and impression of its intuition, imagination, vital turn and creative  intelligence. Its society and politics provide in their forms an outward frame in which the more external life works out what it can of its inspiring ideal and of its special character and nature under the difficulties of the environment. We can see how much it has taken of the crude material of living, what it has done with it, how it has shaped as much of it as possible into some reflection of its guarding consciousness and deeper spirit. None of them express the whole spirit behind, but they derive from it their main ideas and their cultural character. Together they make up its soul, mind, and body.1 Of the various components of culture the role of philosophy and religion is significant. Philosophy and religion can never be separated though they can be distinguished. It may be that in a particular culture, philosophy is in the forefront and religion in the background. It can also be the other way with religion at the surface and philosophy in the background. The point to be noted here is that philosophy and religion interact with, and influence each other. Philosophy is made dynamic by religion, and religion is enlightened by philosophy. If it is admitted that there is the need for a unity of theory and practice, p hilosophy cannot remain merely as a view of life; it must also be a way of life. In other words, philosophy has to become religious if it is to mold, organize and regulate life. Religion is not an untouchable; its need for life can neither be ignored nor underestimated. It will be helpful to contrast the pursuit of philosophy in Europe with that in India and China. Unlike the Europe of the Enlightenment where philosophy did not touch life at all, there was a tremendous impact of philosophy on life both in India and China. In the words of Sri Aurobindo: Philosophy has been pursued in Europe with great and noble intellectual results by the highest minds, but very much as a pursuit apart from life, a thing high and splendid, but ineffective. It is remarkable that, while in India and China philosophy has seized hold on life, has had an enormous practical effect on the civilization and got into the very bones of current thought and action, it has never at all succeeded in achieving this importance in Europe. In the days of the Stoics and Epicureans it got a grip, but only among the highly cultured; at the present day, too, we have some renewed tendency of the kind. Nietzsche has had his influence, certain French thinkers also in France, the philosophies of James and Bergson have attracted some amount of public interest; but it is a mere  nothing compared with the effective power of Asiatic philosophy.2 There is no doubt that the average European who draws his guidance not from the philosophic, but from positive and practical reason, puts â€Å"the philosophical treatises on the highest shelf in the library of civilization.† The situation is entirely different in India. Sri Aurobindo says: The Indian mind holds . . . that the Rishi, the thinker, the seer of spiritual truth is the best guide not only of the religious and moral, but [also of] the practical life. The seer, the Rishi is the natural director of society; to the Rishis he attributes the ideals and guiding intuitions of his civilization. Even today he is very ready to give the name to anyone who can give a spiritual truth which helps his life or a formative idea and inspiration which influences religion, ethics, society, even politics.3 The phenomenon known as modernization is a product of the one-sided pursuit of both philosophy and science — philosophy purely as an intellectual affair without any bearing on life and science as the most effective instrument for the possession of unlimited power, eliminating the sacred. I shall take up the problem of modernization later. It may be added here that what is said about the Indian mind is equally true of the Chinese mind. Confucius, Mencius, and others are the great Rishis of China, the seers who exhibited the most uncommon insight into men and matters, into the moral and social problems of human beings. Drawing a distinction between two kinds of philosophers, systematic and edifying, Richard Rorty characterizes Wittgenstein as an edifying philosopher, like Kierkegaard, Heidegger, and others. In a brief analysis of the spirit of Western civilization which is fully manifest in the industry, architecture, and music of our time, in its fascism and socialism, Wittgenstein openly admits that he has â€Å"no sympathy for the current of European civilization, that he does not understand its goals, if it has any,† and that â€Å"it is alien and uncongenial† to him.4 He goes on to say: A culture is like a big organization which assigns each of its members a place where he can work in the spirit of the whole; and it is perfectly fair for his power to be measured by the contribution he succeeds in making to the whole enterprise.5 Wittgenstein’s brief explanation of culture requires some elucidation. He says that culture is a whole, that every individual has a place in it, that every individual has to function as a member of the whole, and that what he does is significant socially as well  as morally. The two traditional cultures, Chinese and Indian, have recognized the importance of the ideas embedded in Wittgenstein’s explanation of culture. While the Indian culture appears to be predominantly spiritual and religious, the Chinese culture seems to be basically humanistic, with a clear emphasis on the moral and social dimensions of life. It must be pointed out in this connection that the difference between these two traditional cultures is only at the surface. Since the traditional culture comprehends the total life of a person, it provides a place for the different dimensions of life — spiritual, religious, moral, and social — which can be distinguished, but not separated. The spiritual and religious dimension of life presupposes the moral and social realm ; and the moral and social sphere of life points to the religious and spiritual goals. That the two realms, ethico-social and religio-spiritual, are complementary, has been recognized by both these cultures, even though the Indian culture lays emphasis on the spiritual and religious side of man while the Chinese culture focusses on the ethical and social side of man. The motif of the two cultures is the harmony of spirit, mind, and body; and it is to achieve this harmony that they take care of both realms of life. Once again what Sri Aurobindo says in this connection is worth quoting: A true happiness in this world is the right terrestrial aim of man, and true happiness lies in the finding and maintenance of a natural harmony of spirit, mind, and body. A culture is to be valued to the extent to which it has discovered the right key of this harmony and organized its expressive motives and movements. And a civilization must be judged by the manner in which all its principles, ideas, forms, ways of living work to bring that harmony out, manage its rhythmic play, and secure its continuance or the development of its motives.6 There is need to harmonize the eternal and the temporal, for the spirit works through mind and body, which belong to the temporal; and this is what every great culture has aimed at. There are four components in the traditional culture associated with India and China. They are: (1) the primal Spirit which is the source and support of the universe may be viewed both as transcendent to, and as immanent in, the universe; (2) this Spirit which is immanent in all human beings can be realized by every human being; (3) it lays down a discipline which is both moral and spiritual for realizing the Spirit; and (4) it has provided an organization of the  individual and collective life not only for the sake of the harmony between the individual and society, but also for the sake of the harmony of spirit, mind, and body. Each one of these components needs some explanation in the context of these two cultures. INDIAN CULTURE Though Indian culture as it is today is composite in character, comprising Hindu, Jaina, Buddha, Islamic, and Christian elements, it can be characterized as Vedic culture since not only Hinduism, which is predominant, but also Jainism and Buddhism, which originated in protest against Vedic ritualism, have been influenced by the Vedas, the basic and oldest scriptural text in the world. Islam and Christianity entered the Indian soil consequent on the invasion of India by the foreigners — by the Moghuls in the former case, and by the English, French, and Portuguese in the latter case. Though they try to retain their identity, the followers of these two religious traditions have been influenced by the Vedic culture. Kabir (1398-1518 AD), for example, who is a greatly respected personality in the religious history of India, is a product of both Hinduism and Islam. In recent times, Indian Christians talk about and practice inculturization, which is a new and growing phenomenon. The predominant Hindu culture which has a long and continuous history is the Vedic culture; and the Vedic culture, which has its beginning round about 2500 BC, may be characterized as primal culture, since it traces everything in the universe to the primal Spirit, which is variously called Brahman, Ä€tman, Being, and so on. Spirit or Being is the primal reality. It is that from which all beings arise; being supported by it, they exist; and all of them move towards it as their destination. In the language of T.S. Eliot, the beginning is the end. The Upanisad says: That, verily, from which these beings are born, that by which, when born, they live, that into which, when departing, they enter. That, seek to know. That is Brahman.7 Spirit or Brahman is primal in the sense that it is foundational. It is the sole reality; it is one and non-dual; and there is nothing else beside it. It is spoken of as the First Cause, Unmoved Mover, of the entire manifest universe. With a view to bring o ut the independent nature of the primal Spirit on which the manifest universe is dependent, it is referred to as the Ground. That which is independent is real; what is dependent is an appearance. The ground-grounded  relation brings out the reality of Spirit and the appearance of the universe. Ordinarily we distinguish the material cause from the efficient cause; the one is different from the other. The wood from which a table is made is the material cause; and the carpenter who works on the wood and makes a table according to a certain design is the efficient cause. The carpenter is different from the wood. What makes the primal Spirit unique is that it is both the material and efficient cause of the universe, because it alone existed in the beginning and nothing else beside it. Like wood, it is the material cause of the world; and like a carpenter, it is the efficient cause of the world. So, the Vedic culture traces all beings, living as well as non-living, to one source, viz. Spirit or Being. It may be pointed out here that in recent times quantum physics attempts to trace everything in the manifest universe to one source which is non-material or spiritual. Einstein declared: Everyone who is seriously involved in the pursuit of science becomes convinced that a spirit is manifest in the Laws of the Universe — a Spirit vastly superior to that of man, and one in the face of which we, with our modest powers, must feel humble.8 That Spirit or Brahman is the source, support, and end of everything in the universe, is the major premise of the Vedic culture. Derived from the major premise are two minor premises, one relating to living beings called jÄ «va and the other, to non-living beings called jagat. Since Spirit or Brahman is immanent in jÄ «va and jagat, neither jÄ «va nor jagat is isolated from the primal Spirit. It means that all living beings, whatever the y may be — humans, animals, birds, reptiles, and so on — are spiritual or divine. Non-living beings which are material constitute the physical universe. They are the products of the five elements — ether, air, fire, water and earth — which are material. The divine principle is present not only in living beings, but also in non-living beings, and so they are also divine. Characterizing Brahman as the indwelling Spirit (antaryÄ min), the BrhadÄ nrayaka Upanisad says that Brahman is present in all beings — the sun, the moon, and the stars, the elements which constitute the physical universe, and the organs of the jÄ «vas. Just as our body does not know the Spirit inside it, even so the beings, whatever they may be, do not know Brahman, the indwelling Spirit in them. The following text is relevant here: He [Brahman or Spirit] who dwells in all beings, yet is within all beings, whom no beings know, whose body is  all beings, who controls all beings from within, he is your Self, the inner controller, the immortal.9 That which dwells in material objects and controls them also dwells in all living beings and contr ols them. Just as all living beings are essentially divine, even so the entire physical universe is essentially divine. Whatever may be the differences among the species and within the individual members of a species, all are essentially one, because one and the same divine Spirit is present in all of them. The message conveyed by these two minor premises of the traditional culture deserves careful consideration. First of all, if the land and the water and the sky of the physical universe are divine, then we should take care of them in the same way as we take care of our body. The claim that human beings are rational, that they are superior to the physical world, and that they are, in the words of Descartes, the â€Å"masters and possessors of nature† resulted in the unscrupulous, cruel, and destructive despoliation of nature in the name of the quest for knowledge, scientific development, and technological progress. It is not nature that is red in tooth and claw, but the human being who is unabashedly selfish and blatantly aggressive and makes nature bleed and scorch. Fortunately for us, there is a global awakening to the significance of the earth and the water and the sky as sources of sustenance and nourishment. Secondly, the application of this principle of the oneness to the human realm is of great consequence. The understanding that all human beings are essentially one and that differences of color and caste, of gender and race, of sharpness and dullness of mind, and so on are due to the mind-sense-body adjunct by which the Spirit is enclosed will help us to tackle the universally rampant problem of discrimination of all kinds — social, religious, economic, and political. VedÄ ntic philosophy, which is an important component of culture, tells us what a human being is, does, and should do in order to achieve the harmony of spirit, mind, and body. A human being (jÄ «va) is a complex entity consisting of Spirit and matter. The term used in VedÄ nta for Spirit is the Self or Ä€tman. Matter which is totally different from the Self i s referred to as not-Self, as other-than-the-Self. According to VedÄ nta, the not-Self, which is the material outfit of the human being, is made up of the mind, the senses, and the body. The Self in the human being requires a physical medium for its involvement in the day-to-day life as the subject of knowledge, the  agent of action, and the enjoyer of the consequences of action. The mind and the senses are the cognitive instruments. With the help of the mind, the five senses give us knowledge of the things of the external world. The work of the mind does not stop with the cognitive support it gives to the senses. As the internal organ (antahkaraa), the mind generates the knowledge of the subjective states such as pleasure and pain. It also does something more, which is very important from the moral and spiritual perspectives. It gives us knowledge of the right and the wrong, dharma and adharma as they are called. When chastened by the moral and spiritual discipline, it is the mind which helps us to realize the primal Spirit or Brahman. So the work of the mind is manifold. The mind is the most marvelous instrument that a human being possesses. The emergence of the mind has not only accelerated the evolutionary process in its upward movement, but also has given enormous powers to the human being, making him/her the crown of creation, unique among all living beings. In the course of his commentary on the scriptural account of the creation of the world, Sankara raises the question about the preeminence of the human being among all creatures and answers it by saying that the human being is preeminent because he alone is qualified for knowledge and the performance of prescribed duties (jnÄ na-karma-adhikÄ rah).10 Why is it that he alone has this competence? Sankara justifies the supremacy of the human on three grounds. First, he has the ability for acquiring knowledge not only of the things of the world, but also of the supreme Being, the primal reality. This is because he is equipped with the mind which, being inspired by the Self or Spirit in him is capable of comprehending everything including the highest reality. Secondly, he has the distinctive quality of desiring certain ends as a result of discrimination, deliberation, and choice. Thirdly, when he has consciously chosen an end, he is earnest about it, finds the right means for achieving the end, and persists in it till he reaches the goal. A scriptural text which is quoted by Sankara in this connection says: In man alone is the Self most manifest for he is the best endowed with knowledge. He speaks what he knows; he sees what he knows; he knows what will happen tomorrow; he knows the higher and the lower worlds; he aspires to achieve immortality through perishable things. He is thus endowed (with discrimination) while other beings have consc iousness of hunger and thirst only.11 According to  VedÄ nta, the Self in the human being is eternal, whereas his material outfit, the mind-sense-body complex, is temporal. The birth and death of a human being are connected with, and because of, the body. They are illicitly transferred to the Self with the result that we think of it as perishable and finite. The human being is caught in the cycle of birth and death because of ignorance (avidyÄ ) whose beginning is not known. The empirical journey of the Self through its association with the material adjunct is due to avidyÄ . It is avidyÄ  that pulls down the trans-empirical Self into the empirical realm, superimposes on it, which is non-relational, a relation with matter, and is thus responsible for the â€Å"fall† of the Self. What is above categorization is now categorized and made an object of knowledge; what transcends relation is now explained through the logic of relation; and what is beyond the scope of language is now brought within the grammar of language. Thus, just as a tree and a table are known through perception and other means of knowledge, even so Brahman or the Self, we claim, is known through the scriptural text called Sruti. The trans-relational reality is viewed as characterized by omniscience and other qualities and also as the cause of the world. What is trans-linguistic is now spoken of as real, knowledge, infinite, and so on. In other words, we employ the categories of substance and attribute, cause and effect, whole and parts for the purpose of understanding the highest reality. It will be of interest in this connection to refer to the views of two influential thinkers from the West — one belonging to the pre-sixth century and the other our own contemporary. Pseudo-Dionysius, who occupies an important place in the history of Western spirituality, observes: [The supreme reality] is neither perceived nor is it perceptible. It suffers neither disorder nor disturbance and is overwhelmed by no earthly passion. . . . It endures no deprivation of light. It passes through no change, decay, division, loss, no ebb and flow, nothing of which the senses may be aware. None of all this can either be identified with it nor attributed to it.12 Again, he says: It falls neither within the predicate of non-being nor of being. Existing beings do not know it as it actually is and it does not know them as they are. There is no speaking of it, nor name, nor knowledge of it. Darkness and light, error and truth — it is none of these. It is beyond assertion and  denial. We make assertions and denials of what is next to it, but never of it, for it is both beyond every assertion, being the perfect and unique cause of all things, and, by virtue of its preeminently simple and absolute nature, free of every limitation, beyond every limitation; it is also beyond every denial.13 Pseudo-Dionysius conveys in the most unambiguous terms the VedÄ ntic conception of Brahman or the Self. Instead of terms such as Brahman or the Self used by the VedÄ ntin, Wittgenstein uses terms such as the â€Å"metaphysical subject,† the â€Å"I,† the â€Å"philosophical ‘I’ † and contrasts it with the â€Å"body.† The human body, he says, is a part of the world among other parts, but the Self or the philosophical â€Å"I† is not a part of the world; it is outside the space-time-cause world. In the words of Wittgenstein: The subject does not belong to the world, but is a border of the world.14 The philosophical â€Å"I† is not the human being, not the human body, or the human soul of which psychology treats, but the metaphysical subject, the border — not a part — of the world.15 What is obvious from the foregoing account is that we have to make a distinction between two concepts, Brahman-in-itself and Brahman-in-relation-to-the-world, for the purpose of analysis. The latter concept is meaningful only on the presupposition of the fall of Brahman or the Self. When did this fall take place? No one knows, and no one can answer. Once there is the fall, the empirical journey of the Self goes on in different forms, conditioned by the space-time-cause framework. However, the promise of VedÄ nta is that the empirical journey of the lÄ «va can be put an end to, that the vicious cycle of birth and death can be broken by destroying avidyÄ  through knowledge of one’s Self. That is why there is the scriptural instruction of â€Å"Know thy Self.† Not only does scripture say that the Self should be realized or seen, but it also suggests the means for realizing it. It will be difficult to understand the full significance of the distinction between Brahman-in-itself and Brahman-in-relation-to-the-world without a reference to the principle of standpoints which is enshrined in Indian culture. There are two sets of features, perennial and temporal, in Indian culture which contribute to its continuity as well as its change. While the basic doctrines constitute its perennial dimension, religious practices covering a wide range are temporal and transitory. Decadence sets in when the temporal and transitory features gain importance almost to the point of ignoring or sidetracking the  perennial features. Historical, social, and political changes call for modification, sometimes radical, sometimes minor, in the religious practices and social norms of the people, while the basic doctrinal side remains intact. Continuity of the essentials amidst the changing flow of life helps to preserve the cultural tradition. The essential structure which has endured through the vicissitudes of time contains the basic doctrines as stated in the major premise and the two minor premises to which reference was made earlier. The three basic doctrines are: primal Being or Spirit is the source, support, and end of everything, sentient as well as non-sentient; all living beings are divine; also, the physical universe which has originated from the primal Spirit is spiritual. The monistic vision, which is pervasive in the Vedic corpus, is a notable feature of Indian culture. The doctrine of levels or standpoints skillfully adopted by Indian culture helps to reconcile monism and polytheism as well as monism and pluralism. Though each pair contains two extremes in the religio-philosophical thinking, they have been accommodated as different standpoints at different levels. They are irreconcilable only when they are placed together at the same level. For example, one of the oft-quoted hymns of the Rg-veda provides a clue for reconciling the problem of one Godhead and many gods and goddesses. It says: â€Å"What is but one, wise people call by different names — as Agni, Yama, MÄ tarisvan.†16 Reference to gods, such as, Agni and Yama may be replaced by the well known gods of the Hindu pantheon such as Siva, Visnu, Sakti, and so on. Sankara explains the distinction between the supreme Godhead and its various forms such as Siva, Visnu, and so on, as the distinction between the â€Å"unconditioned† reality, what we referred to as Brahman-in-itself, and its â€Å"conditioned† forms such as Siva and Visnu, all of which can be brought under Brahman-in-relation-to-the-world. _iva, Viu, and other gods are conditioned beings endowed with a name and a form and other qualities, whereas the One is unconditioned, devoid of name and form, specifications and qualities and is, therefore, trans-empirical, trans-relational, and trans-linguistic. This mode of drawing the distinction between the supreme Godhead and its many forms for the purpose of worship and other religious practices of the devotees, which is unheard of in other religious traditions of other cultures, is of great consequence in the religious practice of the people.  Since it is the one reality that is worshipped in many forms such as Agni, Siva, and so on, one who worships Agni or Siva, should not quarrel with one who worships Yama or Visnu, because Agni, Yama, Siva, and Visnu are the conditioned aspects of the same reality. This significant idea of the Rg-Vedic hymn was accepted, fully elaborated, and further deepened by the Upanisads. It provides a theoretical framework for religious harmony, which is one of the characteristic features of primal culture and which has received special emphasis right from the beginning till this day. What makes primal culture valid for all times and in all places is its inclusiveness. It includes everything by providing a place for it in the whole. Religious, social, economic, scientific, and political activities are necessary and meaningful; but they must be made subservient to, and must be viewed and judged in the context of the spiritual goal of life. A culture which is mainly concerned with the bare economic necessities of life, social institutions, and political organization will be neither enduring nor elevating; it may look energetic and enterprising, but it is not worth the name, if it is not geared up to the spiritual side of life. Once again, what Sri Aurobindo says is worth quoting here: A mere intellectual, ethical, and aesthetic culture does not go back to the inmost truth of the spirit; it is still an ignorance, an incomplete, outward, and superficial knowledge. To have made the discovery of our deepest being and hidden spiritual nature is the first necessity and to have erected the living of an inmost spiritual life into the aim of existence is the characteristic sign of a spiritual culture. 17 The VedÄ nta philosophy solves the problem of monism versus pluralism on the basis of the distinction between two levels or standpoints called pÄ ramÄ rthika and vyÄ vahÄ rika, or absolute and relative respectively. The Upanisads make use of this distinction in the explanation of the epistemological, metaphysical, axiological, and soteriological problems. What is true at one level may not be so at another level. A dream-lion which is accepted as real in dream experience loses its reality at the waking level. What is accepted as a value at one time may turn out to be a disvalue at another time. The pluralistic universe which is accepted as real may cease to exist in the state of liberation following the spiritual ascent. The pÄ ramÄ rthika or absolute standpoint is higher, whereas the vyÄ vahÄ rika or the relative standpoint is lower. It must be borne in mind that the  higher standpoint which transcends the lower does not invalidate it. One who has moved from th e relative to the absolute standpoint knows the truth of the former; but one who is tied to the relative standpoint cannot understand the truth of the absolute standpoint. Consider the case of two persons who attempt to climb up a mountain in order to reach the highest peak. While one of them reaches the top, the other, due to some disability, is not able to proceed beyond the foothill. The person who has reached the summit knows what kind of experience is available to one at the foothill; but one who is at the foothill does not understand the kind of experience one has at the top. We have to apply this logic to the different kinds of experience without subverting the pÄ ramÄ rthika-vyÄ vahÄ rika hierarchy. The Upanisads describe the two levels as signifying higher wisdom and lower knowledge. Experience of plurality is quite common; it is quite natural; we have it in our daily life. No special effort or discipline is required for such an experience. But experience of oneness is uncommon. One does not get it without special effort or appropriate discipline. The transition is from the common to the uncommon. A text of the BrhadÄ rayaka Upanisad describes the two levels of experience as follows: For, where there is duality as it were, there one sees the other, one smells the other, one knows the other. . . . But, where everything has become just one’s own self, by what and whom should one smell, by what and whom should one know?18 Without disregarding the pragmatic value of day-to-day empirical knowledge, primal culture emphasizes the importance of higher wisdom. It will be of interest to quote Wittgenstein in this connection. He says: In religion every level of devoutness must have its appropriate form of expression which has no sense at a lower level. This doctrine, which means something at a higher level, is null and void for someone who is still at the lower level; he can only understand it wrongly and so these words are not valid for such a person. For instance, at my level the Pauline doctrine of predestination is ugly, nonsense, irreligiousness. Hence it is not suitable for me, since the only use I could make of the picture I am offered would be a wrong one. If it is a good and godly picture, then it is so for someone at a quite different level, who must use it in his life in a way completely different from anything that would be possible for me.19 The teaching of the VedÄ nta philosophy is positive. According to it, life in this world is meaningful  and purposive — meaningful for the reason that it serves as the training ground for one’s spiritual uplifting through the proper use of the objects of the world by the mind-sense-body equipment of which one is in possession, and purposive as one has to achieve freedom or liberation by overcoming the existential predicament. Freedom or liberation which is projected as the goal must be understood in the spiritual sense. It is true that human life is made difficult by economic constraints, political oppression, social hierarchy, and religious discrimination; and a situation of this kind points to, and calls for, freedom of different kinds so that a person can exist and function as a moral agent enjoying economic, political, social and religious freedom. However, the goal of life remains unfulfilled in spite of these different kinds of freedom. Though they are necessary, they are not sufficient. The highest freedom which is eternal and totally satisfying is spiritual freedom, which is called moksa in Indian culture. A socio-political system may ensure political freedom, social justice, economic satisfaction, and unrestricted religious practice; but still there is no guarantee of harmony of spirit, mind, and body which one can achieve only through the teaching of philosophy and religion. The socio-political machinery cannot be a substitute for religion and philosophy, though it can and should maintain a system of rights and obligations in which alone a human being can lead a moral life as formulated in religion and can pursue the goal of liberation as projected by philosophy. Sri Aurobindo says: The whole aim of a great culture is to lift man up to something which at first he is not, to lead him to knowledge though he starts from an unfathomable ignorance, to teach him to live by reason, though actually he lives much more by his unreason, by the law of good and unity, though he is now full of evil and discord, by a law of beauty and harmony, though his actual life is a repulsive muddle of ugliness and jarring barbarisms, by some law of his spirit, though at present he is egoistic, material, unspiritual, engrossed by the needs and desires of his physical being. If a civilization has not any of these aims, it can hardly at all be said to have a culture and certainly in no sense a great and noble culture. But the last of these aims, as conceived by ancient India, is the highest of all because it includes and surpasses all the others. To have made this attempt is to have ennobled the life of the race; to have failed in it is better than if it had never at all   been attempted; to have achieved even a partial success is a great contribution to the future possibilities of the human being.20 Excepting the CÄ rvÄ ka, which advocates a thoroughgoing materialism, all other philosophical systems in India accept the ideal of moksa. The Indian mind, right from the beginning, has accepted a hierarchy of values, ranging from the bodily and economic values at the bottom to the spiritual values of which liberation is at the top. The human being leads his life at two levels — organic and hyper-organic. Bodily and economic values which he pursues belong to the organic level. In so far as the pursuit of the organic values is concerned — values which are necessary for life preservation — his life and activities are in no way different from those of animals; at this level, hunger and sleep, shelter and sex are common to man and animals. Endowed as he is not only with the body, but also with the mind, he also lives at another level, pursuing higher values such as truth, beauty, goodness. The life-activity of man which is fully reflective of his cognition, desire, deliberation, and choice cannot stop short of the highest value called moksa. It is not necessary here to discuss the broad scheme of values accepted in the Indian tradition. Suffice it to say that, though artha and kÄ ma, which emphasize the importance of the material and hedonistic side of life, have been accommodated in the scheme of values, the moral and spiritual side of life has received special attention in Indian culture. That is why it has accepted two higher values, dharma and moksa, the former functioning as a moral guide, and also as a regulative principle of artha and kÄ ma pursued in our secular life, for the realization of the latter. All the philosophical systems, Vedic as well as non-Vedic, hold the view that moksa as the highest value is both ultimate and all-satisfying — ultimate since there is nothing else to which it can be the means, and all-satisfying since it comprehends all the higher values. Sankara says that one gets the feeling of the fulfillment of all values when one attains moksa.21 There are three questions that we have to consider in connection with the ultimate value. The first one is whether it can be realized at all. There is the view that the ultimate value is only an ideal to inspire and regulate our conduct and that it can never be attained. We can regulate our life so as to come nearer to it from time to time, from stage to stage; but we can never reach it. Suc h a view is untenable. Also, it goes against the spirit of Indian  culture. Realization of one’s true nature is liberation. We have already pointed out that the human being is a complex entity consisting of Spirit and matter. Spirit by its very nature is ever free and never bound. But it appears to be bound because of the material adjunct with which it is associated in the empirical life. Overwhelmed by ignorance, the human being does not realize that he is essentially Spirit and therefore free. When he attains the right knowledge and knows his real nature, he is no more under the limitation or bondage of the psycho-physical material outfit, because ignorance which conceals his real nature is removed by knowledge. It means that the ideal of moksa has a basis in the very constitution of the human being; also, the human being, not being satisfied with the material achievements, what the Upanisad calls preyas, longs for spiritual freedom, which is called Sreyas. The Upanisad says: Both the good and the pleasant approach a man. The wise man, pondering over them, discriminates. The wise chooses the good in preference to the pleasant. The simple-minded, for the sake of worldly well-being, prefers the pleasant.22 One cannot have both Sreyas and preyas. The pursuit of the former requires the renunciation of the latter. Spiritual illumination follows purgation. Speaking about the importance of the ideal and its close relation to human nature, Hiriyanna observes: Ideals are rooted in needs inherent in human nature. It is their reality that constitutes their true charm. Take this charm from them, and they reduce themselves but to pleasant fantasy. The reality of such a value may not be vouched for by common reasoning. But we should remember that neither is there any adequate proof for denying it. Not to admit the ideal would therefore be to be dogmatic in the sense that we deny it without adequate proof for the denial.23 The second question is wheth er the ideal of moksa can be realized by all. Here also the great philosophical traditions, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism, are unanimous in their affirmative answer. There is nothing in human nature which either disqualifies or incapacitates him from attaining this ideal. Whatever may be the differences among human beings at the bodily, vital, and mental levels, everyone has the right and duty to aspire for the highest value by virtue of what he/she is. As every human being is endowed with the mind, the most precious and unequalled instrument through which one can look before and after, know the things given to him, and choose from them after  discrimination and deliberation, he is not in any way incapacitated from pursuing the ultimate value. Indian culture looks down on the doctrine of the chosen few. Since ignorance is the obstacle that stands in the way of realizing one’s divine nature, realizing one’s Spirit, which is liberation, it can be removed by knowledge which anyone can acquire through moral and spi ritual discipline. The philosophy of VedÄ nta, according to which every human being is divine, is opposed to the theory of privilege — of birth, intellect, spirituality, etc. It is anti-hierarchical. In everyone there is a sleeping Buddha, a hidden Brahman, to which everyone can have access. That the doors to the spiritual realm do not remain closed to anyone is conveyed in a forthright manner by Sri Aurobindo: A wider spiritual culture must recognize that the Spirit is not only the highest and inmost thing, but all is manifestation and creation of the Spirit. It must have a wider outlook, a more embracing range of applicability and, even, a more aspiring and ambitious aim of its endeavor. Its aim must be not only to raise to inaccessible heights the few elect, but to draw all men and all life and the whole human being upward, to spiritualize life and in the end to divinize human nature. Not only must it be able to lay hold on his deepest individual being, but to inspire, too, his communal existence. It must turn, by a spiritual change, all the members of his ignorance into members of the knowledge; it must transmute all the instruments of the human into instruments of a divine living. The total movement of Indian spirituality is towards this aim. 24 The third question, whether the ultimate value can be realized here in this life or only hereafter, is answered in two different ways. Some philosophical systems maintain that the proper preparation that a person undertakes for achieving this end will help him to realize it only after death, whereas some other systems hold the view that it can be realized in this life itself, if one follows the prescribed moral and spiritual discipline. The former view is called the eschatological conception of moksa while the latter is known as lÄ «van-mukti. â€Å"LÄ «van-mukti† means liberation-in-life. The person who has attained enlightenment or wisdom is free even while he is in the embodied condition. It is not necessary to discuss these two views of moksa in detail. It may be pointed out here that the view that it is possible to overcome bondage and attain liberation here and now deepens the significance of the present life. A  lÄ «van-mukta does not run away from society. He l ives in society for the benefit of others; when he is engaged in activities, he has no sense of â€Å"I† and â€Å"mine†; his activities, that is to say, are impersonal. Also, he imparts spiritual instruction to others, for, having realized the truth, he alone is competent to do this. The life of a lÄ «van-mukta, as portrayed in the Hindu tradition, is comparable to that of a Bodhi-sattva as explained in the MahÄ yÄ na tradition. The ideal of life goes beyond self-perfection; it also includes work for the universal good. According to the Indian tradition, knowledge is different from information, and wisdom is different from knowledge. We may say that information, knowledge, and wisdom constitute a hierarchy. To know a thing is to know it in a determinate way, as such-and-such — as a substance possessing qualities, as a whole consisting of parts, as the cause or effect of something, and so on. Every object has two kinds of relations, internal and external. A lump of clay, for example, is internally related to its color, its parts of which it is made. It is also externally related to the ground on which it is placed, its immediate surroundings, and so on. No object remains isolated from other things; on the contrary, it has a network of relations with other things in such a way that it is what it is because of other things. When the poet says that, to know a flower seen in a crannied wall, one must know the plant, root and all, and also the wall, its location, and so on, he draws our attention to the fact that every object is an integral part of the cosmic system and that, to get an insight into the nature of a thing, one must know the whole of which it is an integral part. Bits of information do not constitute knowledge. Piecemeal information about the roots, the trunk, and the branches of a tree cannot be viewed as the knowledge of a tree. Just as knowledge is different from information, even so wisdom is different from knowledge. Though knowledge is superior to information, it cannot be a substitute for wisdom. The Vedic tradition draws a distinction between two kinds of knowledge, higher (parÄ ) and lower (aparÄ ).

The personal computer industry

These latter two, comprised the most valuable component of a PC, as they were protected by repository rights of their manufacturers, whereas the various components produced by PC manufacturers were vulnerable to copying. This situation created a high competition environment of â€Å"IBM clones†, and drastically reduced the profit margins that PC manufacturers were able to achieve and maintain. The common distribution and sales strategies among PC manufacturers did little to alleviate the problem of increasingly slim margins.At the time, PC's were sold through distributors, wholesalers and resellers, who preformed additional functions (such as advising lay customers and servicing them), yet ultimately lengthened the Value Chain and thus Harlan the manufacturers' marginal profit. Vigorous price wars between competing manufacturers further diminished profit margins. Hardware components could be purchased from a multitude of worldwide suppliers in an increasingly competitive globa l market, whereas microprocessors were supplied by a handful of companies, dominated by Intel.To make matters worse, as a given generation of processor aged, the price of the computer containing it declined rapidly. This meant that PC margins were typically highest during the early days of a microprocessor generation. In addition, widespread policies such as inventory buybacks of outdated products and rice protection offered to retailers against devaluation, consumed 2. 5 cents on every dollar of revenue. Managing these policies, together with the costs of advertising to resellers and funding for market development, generated costs of 2. 5 cents more on every dollar of revenue.Question 2 Why has Dell been so successful despite the low average profitability In the PC industry? Dell's Direct Model of marketing to end customers, which was established early in the company's history, was to become the driving force behind its wild success. This Is easily demonstrated by the company's bri ef departure from Its Direct Model, In favor of the standard retail store based marketing. Resulting In a loss on products sold through retailers, this strategy was quickly abandoned and the company returned to its tried and proven direct approach.Dell had recognized that the PC industry (as described above) was inflicted with rampant inefficiency in the distribution and marketing chain. The ensuing effect was a price point for a PC unit far in excess of the value of its parts. By the time a PC reached the end client, so much time had passed and so many extra costs had been added, that a $3000 PC old. By assembling the hardware components himself and marketing the finished product directly to the end customer, Dell would eliminate the middlemen, creating added value for both himself and the customer by splitting the middleman's profit between them.The fundamental logic of Dell's position is as follows: for a certain set of customer described below, Dell manages to achieve very low c osts without sacrificing a great deal of buyer willingness-to-pay. On the end-customer dimension, Dell has focused on knowledgeable customers who want product stability, high-end performance and low total lifetime costs. On the product dimension, Dell avoids the low end of the price spectrum (sub-$1 ,OHO) and focuses on stable product lines. On the geographic dimension, Dell is more focused on the US than all of its rivals except Gateway.Question 3 Prior to the recent efforts by competitors to match Dell (1997-1998), how big was Dell's competitive advantage? Specifically, calculate Dell's advantage over the team of Compact and a reseller in serving a corporate customer. How big was Dell's competitive advantage? In a word – Big. In addition to the Direct Model, Dell pursued competitive advantages in other areas as well. Of these, several are particularly notable: ; Customer Segmentation – As the company grew it began to employ increasingly complex customer segmentations in order to maximize its marketing and customer service efficiency.Thus, a humble twofold segmentation model (large clients and small clients), evolved within a few years into a mammoth multi category model. ; Sales – As dell had grown, it subdivided its sales effort by region, and into countries within each region. In this way, Dell was able to take advantage of unique local advantages as well as improve its managerial efficiency. ; It is important to toe, that the above actions taken by Dell, while clearly improvements of service and efficiency, can truly be considered advantages only so far as they differentiate Dell from its competitors (this is not clear from the case study).If, however, these actions simply put Dell on par (not to mention sub-par) with the rest of the industry, its success cannot be attributed to them in any significant way. ; Online Services – Dells expanded its online services tremendously in 1996 with the launch of its improved website. The w ebsite offered the ability to obtain product information, configure a imputer system, check pricing, place an order and track orders of products. In addition the website allowed access to Dell's complete catalogue of service.For thousands of premiere corporate customers, Dell had designed dedicated secure pages within the website, containing pertinent information and personalized service. By 1998, sales originating from Dell's website reached a whopping 10 million dollars per day. ; Dell also ventured tentatively back into the reseller market – selling its older systems to a limited number of resellers at a 15-20% markdown from its listed price. However, Dell did not offer price protection or buybacks, thus avoiding the added costs related to these common practices, while disposing of its devaluing inventory.This activity, though limited at first, would eventually come to encompass 5% of Dell's total sales. ; Production, logistics and procurement – Dell's PC's we for b ased on actual orders, so that the company need not hold any finished goods inventory of standardized machines. Yet despite this â€Å"a la carte† ordering and manufacturing, Dell was able to produce a product, from order entry to shipping in about a day and a half!. Thanks to a streamlined assembly line production process, Dell was able to supply its products markedly faster than the competition while still holding far less inventory.In addition, Dell has found that this system leads to less defective products. Dell also leverages this system to cater to corporate customers, incorporating the loading of customers' proprietary software on the PC into the production process. The ability to quickly supply emergency rush orders as well as extremely high volume orders to corporate customers, is another advantage of Dell's superb production system. Last, but hardly least, the quality of Dell's products and customer service were of superior quality, ranking highly in most surveys r elative to its competitors.Compared to this, Compact was at a serious disadvantage in many ways, pertaining to both private and corporate customers. To begin with, Compact did not market its products directly to the end customer, but instead distributed to customers mostly through retail stores and resellers. This meant Compact would have had to share part of its profit margin with a reseller, as well as incur the significant costs of buybacks and price protection. Compact PC's were also significantly less customizable and its production process far less sophisticated. Consumer PC's were manufactured as standard units, distributed mainly through retailers.Attempts at direct distribution via a toll-free telephone number failed to take off, mainly since Compact kept its prices high in order to avoid angering its supply chain. Likewise, efforts to establish a functional website for direct distribution were abandoned in the face of objections by the distribution chain. As for corporate customers – Compact built its corporate PC's according to demand forecasts made by its supply chain. Although this allowed Compact to hold its inventory for only 30 days (still much more than Dell), reseller inventory holding periods, meant the product still took about 65 days to arrive at the customer.Question 4 How effective have competitors been in responding to the challenge posed by Dell's advantage? How big is Dell's remaining advantage? Initial measures by Compact aimed at challenging Dell's advantage, were a limited success. In 1997, Compact initiated an Optimized Distribution Model (EDM): a coordinated effort with its distributors and resellers. Under this model, private customer units were manufactured subsequent to ordering. More customized units as well as corporate orders, required a two-step assembly, shipping a striped-down PC to its distribution channel, which would complete the last 20% of assembly.Additionally, price protection was reduced to only two weeks. In spite of these extensive measures, delivery time remained in the 45-50 days range, although this was expected to eventually be reduced to as little as 25 days. This time frame, though improved, posed no significant challenge to Dell's superiority. In late 1998, Compact initiated its Directress program, selling customized units to small and midsized companies wrought the telephone and internet, at a lower price than those charged by retailers. Days on average.This last development represents a significant bite into Dells advantage, with the shipping time being equal or less. However, it is important to note that Dell still maintains a significant lead in several respects. First, the line of products sold in the Directress program is limited. Second, this program caters to small and midsized businesses, lending no improvement to Compass's big-business and private customer operations. Compact also lacked an operational website for private customer purchases and dedicated corporate customer service. IBM was among the first to recognize and respond to Dell's advantage.The company moved to an Authorized Assembly Program (PAP), shipping striped-down â€Å"model O† PC's to its distribution channel, which would finish the assembly process according to order. This allowed for greater customizable and a less depreciable inventory, alongside an improved inventory turnover rate. Despite this improvement, IBM continued to produce model Co's according to its own demand forecasts, thus maintaining a significant inventory. In 1994, IBM launched a website which allowed customers to purchase PC's directly from the company.Although a step towards combating Dells advantage, Vim's website was geared toward private customers only and was not available for corporate customers. In addition, the site did not offer the range of services available on Dell's website, nor did it enable the customer to customize the PC. A later addition of a service geared toward corporate custom ers, which allowed them to by directly from the company, further improved IBM position. Yet the limited line of products offered, together with the persistent lack of a dedicated customer service website for corporate customers marred this success.In 1997, shortly after Compact launched its EDM program, HP unveiled a similar program by the name of Extended Solutions Partnership Program (ESP.). HP would ship orders to resellers as usual, or to the end customer if the reseller so requested. The program was similar to ‘Mob's model O, with the members of the distribution channel completing the final stages of assembly. Despite this similarity, Haps attitude to direct distribution was quite different. They believed that circumventing the resellers would cause antagonism and lower sales. Thus, HP avoided selling directly to end customers initially.When the company eventually established a website in 1998, it was not based on direct sale but on delivery being done through resellers. The website was anticipated to allow the reduction of price protection to 2 weeks, reduce defects and shave 5-15% off the price. Later, HP introduced direct sale through its website, however this service was only available to private customers, while corporate customers were still confined to purchasing through resellers. These improvements, as stated above, are still a far cry from the services and products available on Dell's website.Dell also maintains its production and inventory advantages relative to HP. To combat declining operations in 1997, Gateway opened 144 Gateway stores across the United States, which served as showrooms for the company's products and where customers could order PC's. However these stores held no inventory. In tandem, Gateway abandoned their efforts to obtain large corporate customers and began focusing on small businesses. Finally, â€Å"Gateway Partner† was established as a subdivision dedicated to reseller business. As is easily apparent, Gate way made some measure of improvement in the direction Dell has dictated.However, Gateways seems destined to occupy an ever diminishing place in the PC market, targeting small businesses and private customers. As is evidenced above, Dell maintains advantages in the areas of production efficiency and customizable, inventory management, direct distribution and online service (especially as concerns corporate customers). It has no doubt lost some part of its once vast advantages (for example Compass's reduced delivery time), yet it undoubtedly still holds a superior position to its competition. Question 5 What should each of Dell's major rivals (MOM, Compact, HP, and Gateway) do now? Attempting to be more responsive to customer's needs. For example: Soliciting customer feedback, Creating a forum for customers to suggest and rate improvements to products, Co-creating products with customers. 2. Match or exceed Dells website. Create a viable platform to cater to both private and corporate customers and implement a personalized online customer service for high end customers (similar to Dell's). 3. Developing new markets in emerging economies, such as China India and Brazil. The saturation of the PC industry in developed economies has engendered ever intensifying competition.Customers have become far easier as well as demanding. Emerging economies represent a huge opportunity to take advantage of an as of yet untapped market, where Dell's advantages may not prove to be so significant. 4. Enter new technological markets, such as laptops, smart-phones etc. Where Dell's production and supply schemes do not present a particular advantage. 5. Differentiate products in terms of quality and/or design. For example designs by contemporary artists. The main question is why has it been so hard for rivals to match Dell.The Dell story illustrates a wide range of barriers to imitation: tradeoffs; complexity/FLT; preemption; organizational resistance to choice. Based on these diffic ulties, you should have provided the rivals with prescriptions, and proposed an appropriate course of action. The answer should have discussed the question should the company go wholly to a direct sales model? Would the company be better off split into focused pieces, or at least largely independent units? Grade: 15 out of 17 points Question 6 Apply the VIRGIN model to Dell and its competitors. Demonstrate your understanding of this model.Resource based view of business and strategic management, stipulates hat a company's success is determined by its unique collection of resources and competencies. Hence, strategic decisions involve creating and sustaining competitive advantages through the company's core competencies. Resource-based analysis according to the VIRGIN model dictates that a resource must have four key attributes in order to constitute a sustainable competitive advantage: ; Valuable: Creates value for the firm by taking advantage of opportunities, eliminating threats or allowing the firm to differentiate products / services. Rare: Few or no competitors posses the resource. Imperfectly Imitable: Competitors cannot easily copy or reproduce the resource. ; Non-Substitutable: Equivalent resources that may create similar value are not readily Dells chief advantage, from which most of its other strengths ensue, is its production and supply schemes. As instructed, in the final part of this paper, we shall attempt to implement the VIRGIN model characteristics on these schemes, comparing them to the parallel attributes of Dell's competitors, with the hope of determining whether or not they constitute a sustainable competitive advantage. Valuable: Dell's supply chain is valuable, but not as valuable as it used to be. Computer technology as gotten increasingly cheaper over the years, so that even under the assumption that Dell maintains its historical profit margins, thanks to its superior production and supply schemes, this margin is now taken from a lower priced product, thus decreasing the company's nominal profits. O Due to decreasing prices, Dell may be forced to make difficult compromises in other areas, such as service and product quality, in order to maintain its profitability.Putting cost before quality is a move that may prove detrimental to Dell's long term interests. O As computing power has gotten grater, he standard PC is sufficient for supplying the needs of most average users. As such, the value of Dell PC's superior customizable has decreased significantly. ; Rare: In the past, Dell's unique production scheme and streamlined direct distribution model allowed for a highly customizable product, unrivaled by its competition. Recent developments, however, have put a dent in this unique advantage.Vim's â€Å"Model O† approach (and its subsequent equivalents in Compact and HP) as well as other advances such as Compass's Directress, have offered customers added customizable. However, no other company offers either the extent or the ease of sustainability as offered by Dell through its website. ; Imperfectly Imitable: Dell's production and supply schemes are difficult, though not impossible, to copy. For the companies historically working with distributors it is quite difficult to achieve disintermediation due to supply chain conflicts.Manufacturers cannot afford to do without their distributors in the short term, and the distributors will not allow them to move gradually towards disintermediation in the long term. However, in light of Dell's staggering success, the competition is slowly but surely, converging to Dells approach. If Dell does not begin to innovate in order to counter competitors, it may prove to be a â€Å"one-trick-pony† unable to continually maintain its once vast competitive advantage. It is noteworthy however, that Dell has maintained this particular competitive advantage for a significant period of time.This may well alleviate most concerns regarding competitors' abilit y to effectively copy Dell's model. Non-Substitutable: Dell's production and supply schemes are not readily substitutable with regard to the desktop PC market. It has proven to be the by far most efficient model conceived, almost simplemindedly creating and maintaining Dell's dominance of the PC market. However, recent years have seen the rapid decline of desktop PC's as the dominant form of private and corporate computing product.Laptops, game consoles and smart-phones now occupy an ever growing portion of the computer market. With regard to these emerging products, the advantages of Dell's production and supply schemes, versus its competitors, are virtually nonexistent. Therefore, Dell's approach is not now as irreplaceable as it once was. ;Well implementation of the VIRGIN model on Dell's production and supply conclusion is that such capabilities would not provide Dell with a competitive advantage)

George Orwell’s Animal Farm Conflicts Essay

In this controlled assessment I am going to explain in my own words and by using quotes from the book how George Orwell refers to at least three conflicts in the fable Animal Farm. George Orwell wrote the controversial book Animal Farm, and very nearly didn’t get it published. But in 1945 Secker and Warburg published the book and has since become one of the most read and talked about books of our time. Orwell tells his story which refers to the Russian revolution by using an allegory form of text. Orwell’s book can be read and interpreted on at least two different levels of understanding. 1) Being a fable, which children would hear how animals have taken over the farm and are all living, working and singing together ect. Or the 2nd) in which adults would read it and in most cases, working class family’s would be able to relate to the theme of the book. In the book George Orwell explains to the reader how one of the main characters Old Major (who represents in rea l life Vladimir lenin and karl marx.) who is â€Å"the prize middle white boar† and the most respected and knowledgeable animal on the farm has had a dream. Old Major organises a meeting with all the other farm animals in the barn that night. He explains to all the animals the dream he has had and how they would all be better off without the humans (Mr Jones) Old Major goes on to say â€Å"man is the only real enemy we have. Remove man from the scene, and the root cause of hunger and overwork is abolished forever† Three nights later Old Major dies and we are introduced to the pigs! â€Å"who were generally recognised as being the cleverest of the animals† the pigs took over the running of the farm animals which soon started to show signs of tension between the two main characters Napoleon and Snowball who are portraying Stalin and Trotsky. Orwell shows us several different conflicts between the two pigs, regardless of the fact that they are both working on getting a better kind of life for themselves and the other animals. Or so they make out to be. However soon after the rebellion had formed and â€Å"jones was expelled† the relationship between Napoleon and Snowball begins to worsen. Consequently the two farm dogs had just had a litter of pups which Napoleon had taken away soon after they had been born, to secretly train them to become his own private guard dogs. After constantly feeling like he is losing his role as leader, Napoleon sets the â€Å"fierce dogs† on Snowball who chase him of the farm and is never to be seen again. Orwell uses the adjective word â€Å"fierce† in this part of the story to emphasize to the reader just how much tension there has been between the two pigs, He uses connotations and adjectives such as â€Å"enormous dogs wearing brass studded collars† to describe the size and look of the dogs chasing Snowball, Therefor leaving Napoleon solely in charge. Soon after this the animals begin to build a windmill which Snowball had originally planned, but with Snowball being gone N apoleon took it upon himself to portray it as his own. Here Orwell tells us of another form of conflict beginning by using connotations such as â€Å"slaves† to describe how hard the Animals have been working instead of using words like hard or more than usual! The animals work hard all year and often go with not nearly enough food but yet still do not complain. The winter that year is hard and Orwell uses short and simple sentences such as â€Å"November came with raging south west winds† to build an atmosphere before using verbs such as â€Å"violent† to describe the winds before the reader goes on to read that there was a terrible storm and the windmill is blown down while only half way built. Napoleon automatically blames this on Snowball and additionally everything else that goes wrong too. Napoleon constantly goes on about things that are going wrong so that the other animals also start to believe that Snowball is the one doing it. Further to this, another less tangible conflict is that between appearances and the reality all throughout the book the pigs manipulate the commandments to justify Napoleon’s behaviour. For example, Squealer (who represents propaganda) persuades the other animals that Snowball actually lead the humans to the farm to have what is now named the â€Å"battle of the cowshed†. The â€Å"battle of the cowshed† was fought and won by the animals at the side of the barn where the commandments are written on, and have over time gradually been winded down to one â€Å"all animals are equal, but some are more equal than others† The animals can never quiet remember if or when they have been changed so just assume that they have not and they have always been this was from the beginning.

Fast food marketing to children Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Fast food marketing to children - Essay Example Multinational corporations like McDonald’s serve millions of fast food daily, but some of their marketing strategies are unethical since they target children. Fast food marketing is unethical since it leads to future social problems such as unhealthy nation and high medical costs. In this case, the fast food companies and the entire country will lack healthy employees who can contribute to the economic development of the country (Boone & Kurtz, 2015). Â  The proponents of fast food marketing towards children assert that companies must meet their business objectives of ensuring high return to investors and thus it is possible to ensure responsible marketing towards children. Fast food marketing is thus ethical if it creates a balance between the commercial interests of the company and need to promote positive behaviour (Boone & Kurtz, 2015). In this case, fast food retail outlets such as McDonald’s have incorporated the meal components and need for physical exercise in their latest advertisements thus promoting healthy living. Â  The proponents of fast food marketing claim that there is high competition in the market and thus businesses should use aggressive marketing tactics to increase their revenues. In this case, fast food marketing is ethical as long as it adheres to the business regulatory framework regarding food advertisement (Boone & Kurtz, 2015). Fast food marketing to children is unethical since children lack the cognitive skills to understand the nutritional content and the healthy dangers of consuming such foods.

Tourism, Leisure and Society Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Tourism, Leisure and Society - Essay Example In order to find better understand in the potential contribution of the definitions of leisure and tourism, it would be necessary to present the key approaches, that were used for defining the above two concepts. This essay uses the critical comparison of these definitions, that would reveal whether there is such relationship or not and which are its key characteristics. In this essay different approaches are identified by the researcher, regarding the definition of leisure. It seems that the criteria used by theorists and presented in the essay in order to decide on the elements and the scope of leisure are differentiated are being influenced by a series of factors – referring to both the personal perceptions of the researchers and the trends or ethics of the social environment in which each of these definitions has been developed. At this point, author divides the approaches used into four major categories. First one is related to a time period, second one is related to a particular activity, third one is related to the state of mind and the last one is related to a particular mode of action. To conclude this essay, the researcher sums up definitions of tourism and leisure and reveal the points at which these two concepts interact. At the same time, these definitions reveal the following fact: the understanding of the relationship between tourism and leisure requires the reference to the characteristics of each of these concepts and these characteristics, as explained in this essay, can vary.

Introduction to Communication-Artifacts Assignment

Introduction to Communication-Artifacts - Assignment Example But when I saw his bracelet, I understood that he is probably a good and religious person. As this wristband is mentioned to remind the people how they should act in any situation, I was sure that whatever happens, my friend will never do something bad on purpose and will be eager to help me. Thus, this artifact helped me to perceive my friend as a good person, before we really made friends, and I found out that he is really a good man. 2. Both, in my home and my working place I have several pictures of my girlfriend. The framework with a photo of my girlfriend stands at a visible place, and everyone who enters the cabinet, can see this picture. This display definitely says to other people that I am in love with my girlfriend, most probably I am engaged (or plan to do so or am already married), and that my relationship with her is the one that I cherish and take care of (otherwise I would put the picture in a place, which is not visible to other people, especially women). I like to look at the picture when I have time, and dream about our future, so this artifact definitely conveys the image that I would choose to present to other people. The pictures at home identify me as the same loving and caring person to my guests. Besides those, who see me at home and at work, understand that I am truly in love, if I display the picture of my girlfriend

Leveson Inquiry - Risk management analysis Coursework

Leveson Inquiry - Risk management analysis - Coursework Example The existence of the new entity was to be sanctioned by state, through the creation and ratification new laws. Conversely, the relevance of the DCMS in the recommendations that the Leveson Inquiry made is premised on the very nature, existence and functions of the DCMS. The DCMS is a department of the United Kingdom government, bearing the responsibility for sports and culture in England, and aspects of the media throughout the entire UK, with these aspects being primarily, broadcasting and the Internet. The aspect of a close relationship is seen in the fact that not only did the recommendations by Lord Justice Leveson qualify the future of press regulation, but the same also looked into the relationship between the press and the public, police and politicians, apart from just making a proscription on phone-hacking and other forms of illegal behaviour. This means that DCMS’s jurisdiction is wide enough to include creative industries (and thereby joining DCMS’s operation s with the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills), leisure and tourism. Since sports is also included in DCMS’s sphere of responsibility, the 2012 Olympic Games, the Paralympics Games and the building of the Digital Economy have fallen within this rubric. In respect to the foregoing, it is important to take to stock, the changes that the recommendations the Leveson Inquiry made, in order to determine the new framework that the DCMS will use to discharge its duties. One of the recommendations that the Leveson Inquiry made is that newspapers should continue to be self-regulated and that the government should have no power to determine what newspapers or newspaper outlets publish. Another recommendation that the Leveson Inquiry made is that there should be a new body taking charge over press standards and that this new body should be a creation of the media industry and that the industry in turn should have a new code of conduct. The Leveson Inquiry also made recommenda tion to the effect that the existence and operations of the newly contrived body or entity should be enshrined in the constitution (legislation). Lord Justice Leveson explained this recommendation as being necessitated by the need to have an independent and effective regulation on the newly formed body. The need for this overhaul according to Lord Justice Leveson is that the current system in which the press is voluntarily self-regulated through the Press Complaints Commission (PCC) has proved to be moribund. It is for this reason that the PCC itself readily agreed to enter a transitional phase, to pave way for the long-term replacement. As the Chairman of PCC, Lord Hunt himself conceded to the fact that there was a dire need for a stronger, tougher and more independent regulator with teeth. Lord Hunt had made it clear before the Leveson Inquiry on the willingness among publications for a new body and a fresh start which would ensue from a legally enforceable contract between the ne w body and publishers. In a closely related wavelength, the aspect of independence which the new regulatory body should have is underscored by the Free Speech Network (FSN) as a representation of editors

Criminal Law & The Canadian Criminal Code Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Criminal Law & The Canadian Criminal Code - Essay Example Being found in a bawdy house is a summary offence and the offender faces a maximum term of six months in prison and/or a $2000 fine (sections 210 (2) and 211). Simply stated, prostitution crimes are mainly focused on those acts committed in public. This includes but is not limited by a prostitute stopping a car in traffic or approaching a prospective client in the street and offering sexual services. (section 213(1)). 2. Under the Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Act in Canada, a person commits an offence under section 4, when he fails, to exercise control properly over a person under their effective command and control or fails to effectuate authority and control over their watch and as a result that person who is supposed to be under their watch commits an offence under section 6;(b), and further, the military commander knows, or is criminally negligent in failing to know, that the person is about to commit or is committing such an offence. Thus the two elements that must be present are first that there is an active war and second that the person during this time, a person under the control or dominion of the soldier is committing a crime. 3. "Conduct is negligen

Decision of the High Court of Australia in Dasreef Pty Ltd v Hawchar Essay

Decision of the High Court of Australia in Dasreef Pty Ltd v Hawchar - Essay Example Sections76-80 of the Evidence Act 1995 NSW deal with opinion evidence (Evidence Act 1995). Section 79 provides for expert evidence as opinion based on specialised knowledge although there is no expression of the term ‘expert’ (Ying, 2005, p 76). Section 177 of the Act provides for an expert evidence to be given in the form of certificate with the expert’s name and address and his signature affirming that he possesses specialised knowledge acquired through study, training or experience as mentioned in the certificate. The certificate should claim that his expert opinion contained therein is based on such knowledge through study, experience or training. This could serve as admissible evidence without the expert attending the court unless the opposing party requires him to tender evidence in person at the court and be subjected to cross-examination. If , after tendering of the evidence by the expert in person , the court feels that there was no need for his personal appearance to tender evidence, costs may be imposed on the party who made such a request for being awarded to the expert (Ying,2005,p78). In fact, the expert evidence is one of the exceptions to the opinion rule as evinced by the section 76. Evidence law does not allow opinion of a witness unless he/ she is an expert in the relevant field. Other witnesses may only testify to the facts as to their existence without being qualified by their opinion. It is for the court to form an opinion based on the facts testified. This is the position with common law as well (Ying, 2005, p78). According to Phipson (2000), common law rule is that no opinions, inferences or beliefs of individuals are admissible in evidence as proof of material facts. Cross (2004) says that the purpose was to exclude â€Å"uncertain and unreliable knowledge†. Apart from section 79, sections 77 and 78 permit lay opinions of witnesses. The decision in Dasreef Pty Ltd v Hawchar (LegalOnline, 2011) questioned the admissibility of what was claimed to be expert evidence under section 79. Although the so called expert was allowed to tender evidence, he did not meet the criteria laid down in section 79 and 177 stated above. Nawaf Hawchar, with a history of employment as stonemason for five and half years from 1999 to 2005 with Dasreef Pty Ltd, claimed to have developed silicosis due to the nature of his job having risk of exposure to silica dust. He was under si milar employment in Lebanon earlier to 1996 for one year. In addition, he did private stonemasonry work during the period from 2002 to 2005. Since in May 2006 Hawchar was diagnosed with early stage silicosis and earlier in 2004 for Sclereroderma, he filed claim for damages for injury of contracting scleroderma and silicosis against his employer Dasreef in Dust Diseases Tribunal of New South Wales (LegalOnline, 2011). Alleging that his employer Dasareef had exposed him to unsafe levels of silica dust whist under his employment, Hawchar produced during the trial, an expert evidence of Dr Kenneth Basden as a competent person to give an expert opinion about his Silicosis condition by virtue of his qualifications as a chartered chemist,

Internet and Political Interactions Globally Essay

Internet and Political Interactions Globally - Essay Example This is achieved by organizing online donating stages where supporters and donors provide monetary assistance to a candidate. The funds play a crucial role in ensuring efficient running of campaigns. The availability of the internet creates connectivity among different persons, which encourages decentralization of power and resources. Therefore, the political front can efficiently distribute task different professionals to review policies with public participation. The internet provides the political scene with a wide audience who, in turn, become willing participants in current affairs. Citizens can effectively engage in public debates and forums, which seek to express their views regarding political policies as they are and how they affect them. Participation in political debates can serve as a way to petition policymakers into establishing better policies to the public as they wish. This encourages public participation in democracy as their right is exercised as guaranteed by the constitution. In addition, the internet provides a platform for constructive criticism, which may present itself as an anonymous comment thus protecting against victimization. The internet increases public access to information regarding events that shape the day’s political scene. This is facilitated by the availability of a wide audience over the internet through social sites and political blogs. This ensures an open flow of information and transparency in the political arena. With an adequate flow of information, the public becomes a political watchdog over brewing scandals and malpractices. This has played a significant role in ensuring accountability within politics to avoid public and negative publicity. Political blogs over the internet can serve as whistleblowers concerning ills among the political elite.  

The Association of International Publishers Essay Example for Free

The Association of International Publishers Essay Billy Curtis Clark was born on 29 December 1928 in Catlettsburg, Kentucky. Clark was the seventh child of Mason and Martha Clark (Foster, 1997). Clark was born in the bridge between Kenova, West Virginia and Catlettsburg, Kentucky because her mother had experienced labor pains during the time she was in West Virginia to buy something. Her mother was in a hurry to get home because he doesn’t want Billy to be born in West Virginia for nationality purposes. Catlettsburg is a town where poverty prevails and because Billy had aimed to get away of this town, he had worked hard to finished his secondary education. Billy Clark was the only child of Mason and Martha Clark who had finished secondary education. Clark had many struggles in his early adult life because at the age of eleven, he left his home and had lived in the city office building. To support his studies, he had been able to experience cleaning the jail and being a volunteer fireman. He had endured this kind of life for almost five years (Foster, 1997). After staying in the city office building for five years, he joined the Korean War. This was the time when he finished high school and because of the urge to continue to college he joined the Korean War. He was granted benefits from the G. I Bill and was able to continue college because of the grant. He chose to enroll in the Kentucky University. His first publications were rooted at the Kentucky University and these publications were produced while he was still studying at the university. His first magazine publications were entitled Boy’s Life, Coronet and Nugget (Kelly). The struggles that were experienced by Billy Clark continued even during the times he was pursuing college. He had to work then because he also had helped his mother and father in order for the poverty burden to be lessened. His father had several strokes those times and his mother had to take laundry to support the family’s needs. Because of the poverty experienced by his family, he left the university and worked in the Ashland Oil. It is in Ashland Oil were he met his wife Ruth Bocock (Foster, 1997). The Billy C. Clark Bridge that connects Kentucky and West Virginia was named in honor of Billy Clark. This is maybe because he was born on that the same river. There were several awards that had been given to Billy C. Clark because of the numerous and enormous contributions he had done in the field of literature and poetry. He was considered an award winning writer of eleven books. Among the books that he had published is the â€Å"A Long Hoe Row† that is now used by most of the universities in the United States of America in order to study the field of Appalachia. It was also awarded by the Time Magazine as the one of the Best Books in 1960. Moreover, the book entitled the â€Å"Hunter’s Horn† had received and was included and selected as one of the Crowell-Collier Classic. This was in year 1964 (The Association of International Publishers). Billy C. Clark was also the founder and editor of the Virginia writing. Clark is also a writer-in-residence at the Longwood University. Billy C. Clark had also been a writer-in-residence at his former college school at the Kentucky University. He was in service to the University for almost eighteen years. He became a full professor and at the same time being a writer-in-residence at the Longwood University in Kentucky. Another interesting thing about the famous author Billy C. Clark is that he had written a book at the age of fourteen but he was not able to publish it until he married Ruth Bocock. Ruth was the one who discovered that he had written the â€Å"Song of River†. He had written the book at the age of fourteen and the book was published exactly fourteen years after it was written with the help of Ruth Bocock, his wife. Ruth was the one who discovered the book at the back of his car after they got married (The Association of International Publishers). Works Cited: Booty, Kent. News Release from Longwood College. 28 August 1992. Foster, Kelly. (2007) Billy C. Clark. KYLIT, A site devoted for Kentucky writer 11 September 2007 http://www. english. eku. edu/SERVICES/KYLIT/clark. htm Peyton, Dave. Billy Clarks stories hewn from log of rough childhood. The Herald-Dispatch. 31 August 1992. Peyton, Dave. Unlike Thomas Wolfe, he can go home again. The Herald-Dispatch. Sept. 1992. Shaffer, Cathie. Long road leads Billy Clark back to Catlettsburg. The Daily Independent. 19 July 1992. The Association of International Publishers (2007). Past Honorees; Billy C. Clark. 10 September 2007 http://www. aepweb. org/fame/bclark. htm

Medea Greek Mythology Essay Example for Free

Medea Greek Mythology Essay When Medea decides to take matters in to her own hands, about punishing the people who have done wrong to her, she is accused of wanting not justice—vengeance. Because I am not a native of neither Corinth nor Colchis, I have my own view about her motives. However, I would agree with the Corinthian Women, Medea is seeking vengeance; not justice. Some people might argue that Medea is seeking justice. When in actuality, Medea wants vengeance. The opposition would say justice took place because the Gods allowed Medea the time to perform her various acts. Although these things happened Medea turned to vengeance when she took it upon herself to kill Creon and his daughter Creusa. Even the chorus, the â€Å"ideal spectators†, implies that Creon is a poor king when, after he banishes Medea, the First Corinthian Woman sympathizes, â€Å"I am of Corinth and I say that Corinth is not well ruled. †(1. 214-216). This quote gives us proof that Medea has some sort of reason to seek revenge on Creon. However she lets her hatred exceed its boundaries and allows herself to take the lives of the King of Corinth and its Princess all because they chose Jason over her. In addition, her actions all prove that she wants Jason to do more than pay for hurting her. She wants him to suffer at the fate of her own children. Her revenge was selfish. Medea involved the two things she knew would hurt Jason the most—her own children. According to the First Corinthian Woman, â€Å"It would be better for you, Medea if the earth opened her jaws and took you down into darkness. But one thing you will not do, for you cannot, you will not hurt your own children, though wrath like plague-boils aches, your mind in a fire-haze bites the purple apples of pain. No blood-lapping beast of the field, she-bear nor lioness, nor the lean wolf-bitch, hurts her own tender whelps; nor the yellow-eyed, seythe-beaked, and storm shouldered eagle that tears the lambs has ever made prey of the fruit of her own tree. †(2. 115-126). Keep in mind that the Corinthian Women are the conscious of Corinth. Through this quote the First Corinthian Women has stated that Medea could not harm her own children. She even gives examples of the most dangerous predators that don’t even harm their own young. This is evidence that Medea went beyond the state of justice; but she went well into the state of vengeance. Medea knew what she was doing and quite frankly she could care less about anything other than what she thought of what was seeking revenge on Jason. In conclusion, vengeance was sought by Medea. She went above the fact of teaching Jason a lesson; she even stated she hated Jason more than she loved her children. Answer this question is what Medea has done entertaining or morally instructive?

International strategic alliances

International strategic alliances ADDED VALUE AND SUCCESS FACTORS IN INTERNATIONAL STRATEGIC ALLIANCES IN THE FASHION BUSINESS ABSTRACT In the main, this study aims to determine whether there was value added in the merger between Samsung and Georgio Armani. It also intends to identify the key success factors of business partnerships and international strategic alliances of these companies in the fashion world. As such, the following research questions will be answered: 1. What are the key factors that are responsible for their success in the fashion industry? 2. What is the history of international strategic alliances in the fashion industry? and 3. What are the trends for international strategic alliances in the fashion industry? The results of the interview and investigations on the historical data and secondary materials and literature would confirm the following conclusions that international strategic alliances such as Samsung-Armani have the following key factors that made them successful: Mutual trust. Ensure that trust exists between the IJV and its parent organizations; Common understanding. Attain a common understanding of each parent organizations contribution to the IJV agreement; Empowerment. Persuade workers that they are empowered. Mutual long-term commitment. Ensure that both parent organizations are involved in the IJV for the long term. Having both parent organizations committed to the IJV for the long-term decreases the risk of shirking responsibility and increases the likelihood of mutual forbearance between the IJV and its parent firms. It can be concluded that the international strategic alliance between Samsung-Armani has added value to their respective firms through the contributions and synergies of the marketing and distribution expertise of Armani in the fashion industry. Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION Context of the Problem Firms and industries in the current global business scenario are constantly changing due to globalization. The development of strategic management can no longer be confined to local settings but it is imperative that it should be prevalent in the international business and markets.. Business partnerships among firms and companies were lately made through mergers, acquisitions and consolidations which have been generally utilized by organizations to remain competitive in the global economy. Thus, many companies have been going into joint ventures in order to have joint alliances with them so that operations and marketing will be synergized.. A joint venture would consists of two or more firms which agree to go into shared capital as well as sharing their technology, and human resources in order to develop into a new company. It is a strategy whereby both companies intend to expand its operations and markets and intending to minimize its risk as well maximize the strengths of both firms in approaching the market as well as operations (Hewitt Associates, 2008). The joint venture between Samsung and Georgio Armani have been formed as the strengths and technology of the former merged with the excellence in fashion of the latter. This study seeks to evaluate whether partnerships have added value to both companies and also to analyze whether were successful in harnessing their strengths in approaching the market as well as operations in the global market. Thus this study will explore the case study of these companies going into joint venture and evaluate the success factors that were responsible for the success of the joint ventures in the fashion industry. Statement of the Problem In the main, this study aims to determine whether there was value added in the merger between Samsung and Georgio Armani. It also intends to identify the key success factors of business partnerships and international strategic alliances of these companies in the fashion world. As such, the following research questions will be answered: 4. What are the key factors that are responsible for their success in the fashion industry? 5. What is the history of international strategic alliances in the fashion industry? and 6. What are the trends for international strategic alliances in the fashion industry? Aims and Objectives of the Study The main objective of this study is to verify whether or not the alliances provide significant value to the companies involved as well as identify the key success factors that ensure the success of international joint ventures in the fashion industry. In order to achieve this main objective, the study aims to examine the shared assets, risks, liabilities and management responsibilities among the firms involved the international joint ventures utilizing the case study of Samsung and Georgio Armani. Significance of the Study This study is significant in the sense that the success factors for partnerships and international joint ventures will be evaluated so as to identify these factors that are important for joint ventures in the fashion industry. As such, the rate of success in the industry will be much higher if these factors are identified and investments in joint venture will be encouraged because of the confirmation of these findings in this study. Structure of the Study This study is organized into five chapters. The first chapter discusses the introduction which comprises of the background of the study; statement of the problem; significance of the study; and the structure of the study. Chapter two presents the review of literature which takes into consideration the theoretical basis of the study. Chapter three explains the methodology of the study and Chapter four presents the data and analysis of the study. Finally, Chapter five presents the conclusion and recommendations of the study. Chapter 2 REVIEW OF LITERATURE In this section, the literature pertaining to this study will be reviewed. The chapter will mainly discuss the key concepts and main authors of the study and the research gap in the review of literature. Why Strategic Alliance? Partnerships that are meaningful are important for success. Many companies go into partnerships in order to improve themselves in mutual undertakings. By sharing their resources, these companies can enjoy benefits and add value to their resources. As Vadim Kotelnikov (2010) writes: â€Å"In the new economy, strategic alliances enable business to gain competitive advantage through access to a partners resources, including markets, technologies, capital and people. Teaming up with other adds complementary resources and capabilities enabling participants to grow and expand more quickly and efficiently. Especially fast growing companies rely heavily on alliances to extend their technical and operational resources. In the process, they save time and boost productivity by not having to develop their own, from scratch. They are thus freed to concentrate on innovation and their core business.† (http://www.1000ventures.com/business_guide/partnerships_main.html) Thus, strategic alliances and partnerships among firms are important to create synergy and competence between the resources of the firms. This is really the case for fast growing companies which needs to rely on the technical expertise created from partnerships. According to Brad Sugars (2008): â€Å"From powerhouse financiers like Kohlberg Kravis Roberts to retailers like Baskin-Robbins to IT pioneers like Hewlett-Packard, business partnerships have been an important part of entrepreneurship and startup success. The reasons are simple: complementary skill sets, shared equipment or expenses, and the idea that one person with hard money capital can create synergy with the intellectual capital of another person so both can profit from their venture.† (http://www.entrepreneur.com/startingabusiness/startupbasics/startupbasicscolumnistbradsugars/article196912.html) As such, according to Sugars (2008), it is really important for firms to go into business partnerships as in the case of Kohlberg Kravis Roberts which is big financier and also in the case of Hewlett Packard which is an Information Technology pioneer. As have been discussed earlier, strategic alliances through partnerships are important in the success of many business and many cases of alliances had resulted to more value and profits for their respective firms. According to Baine and Company (2010): â€Å"Strategic Alliances are agreements among firms in which each commits resources to achieve a common set of objectives. Companies may form Strategic Alliances with a wide variety of players: customers, suppliers, competitors, universities or divisions of government. Through Strategic Alliances, companies can improve competitive positioning, gain entry to new markets, supplement critical skills and share the risk or cost of major development projects.† http://www.bain.com/management_tools/tools_alliances.asp?groupCode=2 In a similar study, Vaidya (2006) also highlights the importance of IJVs in order to stay competitive in an increasingly globalized business environment. According to Vaidya (2006), â€Å"organizations in developed countries have realized that they need to pursue opportunities aggressively in other countries in order to remain competitive in this fast-paced global market† (p. 188). Vaidya (2006) cites strategic alliances as the most common forms of partnerships between companies. These alliances can range from licensing agreements to fully blown IJVs. An IJV can be defined as â€Å"a separate legal organizational entity representing the partial holdings of two or more parent firms in which the headquarters of at least one is located outside the country of operation of the joint venture. This entity is subject to the joint control of its parent firms of each of which is economically and legally independent of the other† (Shenkar Zeira, 1987, p. 9). Kinds of Partnerships or Alliances Joint Venture is the creation of an independent company by the two or more parent organizations who are the parties to the business agreement. These Joint Ventures (JVs) may be one of two types: * Equity strategic alliances, This kind of alliance involves two or more partners who have various relative shares of ownership in the new alliance. For example, in a joint venture which is composed of three parent companies, one may have 50% equity, while the remaining two may have 25% equity each. These are also called equity joint ventures. * Non-equity strategic alliances, This kind of alliance involves agreements which are carried out through contract rather than ownership sharing. These are also called contractual joint ventures. Motives of Alliance Formation According to Blanchard (2006) there are four major challenges in the implementation of strategic alliances. In the first place, while alliances present a speedy and less risky means to internationalization, it is also very complex and there are many global linkages and interconnections that must be considered and many alliances resulted to failure because on partner could swallow the other partner. Secondly, the kind of organization structure that the alliance would form is also crucial since this influences their success especially in technologically intensive fields such as in computers, pharmaceuticals, and semiconductors (Blanchard, 2006). Thirdly, cross-border allies often encounter difficulty in collaborating effectively, especially in competitively sensitive areas. This breeds mistrust and secrecy, which undermines the very purpose of the alliance. The difficulty that these organizations deal with is the dual nature of strategic alliances the benefits of cooperation versus the dangers of introducing new competition through sharing their knowledge and technological skills about their mutual product or manufacturing process (Blanchard, 2006). According to Vaidya (2006), the motives behind alliance formation can be divided into three categories: * Internal benefits. International Strategic Alliances are usually formed in order to develop internal strengths. These benefits usually include cost and risk sharing and obtaining resources that are scarce. These also includes financing, information, managerial knowledge and expertise (Vaidya, 2006). * Competitive benefits. Strengths that are competitive can be made through vertical integration and these can include the bargaining power in the industry structure, preempting competitors, response to globalization, and creation of more effective competitors (Vaidya, 2006). * Strategic benefits. International Strategic Alliances can also be formed to assist firms in change implementation of their strategic positions which could include the creation and exploitation of synergies, technology transfer, and diversification (Vaidya, 2006). Makino and Beamish (1999) also concluded similarly regarding the motives forming strategic alliances as discussed above and according to them. In their study, Ainuddin et al. (2007) identified four major resource characteristics that can affect the successful performance of 96 IJVs in Malaysia. The study determined the extent to which four resources product reputation, technical expertise, local business network and marketing skills exhibited the following attributes: 1) value; 2) rarity; 3) imperfect imitability; and 4) non-sustainability. The results of their studies showed that value, rarity and non-sustainability were significant drivers of performance for IJV assets, while value, rarity and non-imitability were key attributes for organizational capabilities. According to Beamish and Berdrow (2003), it is not generally true that strategic alliances can be just motivated for the sake of organizational learning but also to provide opportunity for both of the partners to gain and develop new knowledge. The findings of their study proved that international strategic alliances that are production-based were no usually motivated by learning outcomes, and there is no conclusive evidence of a direct relationship between learning performance. The authors assert that only a minority of the firms showed strong indirect learning outcomes, especially with regard to partnering and market knowledge (Beamish Berdrow, 2003). The organizations may be driven by any or all of the motives enumerated by Blanchard (2006), and Vaidya (2006) in their studies, as discussed in this chapter. It is important that a company conducts a Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT) analysis before entering into an international strategic alliance. The results of the study of Beamish and Inkpen (1995) showed that although International Strategic Alliances are inherently unstable organizational forms, the successful ones survive because the foreign partner firm is prepared with thorough knowledge of the local economic, political, and cultural environments of the partner alliance and the partner organization (Beamish Inkpen, 1995). Economies of Scale The dual nature of strategic alliances (see Table 1) are composed of the cooperative and competitive nature of these alliances. The economies of scale in tangible assets through sharing plants and equipments is a cooperative endeavor in these alliances as well as sharing the overhead cost, production expenses, etc. http://www.slideshare.net/Annie05/global-alliances-and-strategy-implementation-presentation-701036 Technology Exchange and Minimization of Risk Another factor is technology exchange wherein (see Figure 1) the partners would have the opportunity to learn new tangible skills from the partners. Another factor is the partners could minimize risks by limiting investment risk when entering new markets or uncertain technological fields via shared resources. http://www.slideshare.net/Annie05/global-alliances-and-strategy-implementation-presentation-701036 Also, another motivation is the acceleration of diffusion of industry standards and new technologies in order increase barriers to entry. The creation of â€Å"critical mass† to learn and develop new technologies to protect domestic, strategic industries is another objective of firms who strived to go into strategic alliances. http://www.slideshare.net/Annie05/global-alliances-and-strategy-implementation-presentation-701036 Convergences and Other Advantages Other advantage in strategic alliances is in the up streaming or down streaming the division of labor among partners. Another is to deny the technological and learning initiative to partner via out-sourcing and long-term supply arrangements. Another advantage and converge is to fill out product line with components or end products provided by supplier. Furthermore, the advantage of converging into strategic alliances is to encircle existing competitors and preempt the rise of new competitors with alliance partners in â€Å"proxy wars† to control market access, distribution, and access to new technologies. The alliance also serve to assist short-term corporate restructuring by lowering exit barriers in mature or declining industries. According to Blanchard (2006) â€Å"alliances serve as experimental platforms to â€Å"demature† and transform existing mature industries via new components, technologies, or skills to enhance the value of future growth options. http://www.slideshare.net/Annie05/global-alliances-and-strategy-implementation-presentation-701036 Table 1. The Dual Nature of Global Strategic Alliances Cooperative Competitive Economies of scale in tangible assets (ex. Plant and equipment). Opportunity to learn new intangible skills from partner, often tacit or organization embedded. Upstream-downstream division of labor among partners. Accelerate diffusion of industry standards and new technologies to erect barriers to entry. Fill out product line with components or end products provided by supplier. Deny technological and learning initiative to partner via out-sourcing and long-term supply arrangements. Limit investment risk when entering new markets or uncertain technological fields via shared resources. Encircle existing competitors and preempt the rise of new competitors with alliance partners in â€Å"proxy wars† to control market access, distribution, and access to new technologies. Create a â€Å"critical mass† to learn and develop new technologies to protect domestic, strategic industries. Form clusters of learning among suppliers and related firms to avoid or reduce foreign dependence for critical inputs and skills. Assist short-term corporate restructuring by lowering exit barriers in mature or declining industries. Alliances serve as experimental platforms to â€Å"demature† and transform existing mature industries via new components, technologies, or skills to enhance the value of future growth options. (Source: Blanchard, 2006, p. 7-15). http://www.slideshare.net/Annie05/global-alliances-and-strategy-implementation-presentation-701036 Disadvantages and Pitfalls of Alliances Blanchard (2006) in his research concluded benefits of international strategic alliances often have also many pitfalls. These advantages of alliances can be in terms of potential loss of technology and knowledge-skill base. Also, other areas of incompatibility can usually occur like conflicting strategic goals and objectives. Conflicts can also arise in terms of cultural differences and in relation to disputes over who will make the decisions in management as well as in control. Blanchard (2006) also provides for four guidelines for successful alliances in his presentation: * Choose an alliance partner who has compatibility with the strategy as well as the objectives of the firm. * Find alliances where their skills are complementary and that their products and markets also complements with the company. * Seek partner alliances with partners and thresh out how you will each deal with proprietary technology or sensitive data and information. * Recognize that many partnerships could last only a few years and could break up once an alliance partner had already absorbed the skills and information it needs to be independent by itself (p. 7-16). Partner Selection Blanchard (2006) recognized the significance of selecting a partner with compatible strategic goals and objectives before fully entering into an international strategic alliance. It is crucial that the alliance sought will be with an organization or organizations with skills, products, and markets with synergies with each other. According to Cullen et al. (1995), the choice of a partner alliance is the most crucial strategic decision that firms make before actually developing a joint venture. According to Vaidya (2006) the reasons why international strategic alliances failed were due the wrong selection of partners because of their incompatibility; partners which did not fulfill their promises; and the difficulty of managers working together for their partnership (Vaidya, 2006). Before selecting a partner for an IJV, the organization must first identify its needs. In his research, Beamish (1994) provided for five different classifications of partners needs and these are: 1) capitalized items that are capitalized such as capital, raw materials, or new technology or equipment; 2) human resource needs such as local labor including local managers; 3) market access needs for a local market for products that can be produced locally or to foreign markets for products produced in the local markets; 4) government needs such as present laws or regulations may require a foreign company to go into a joint venture with a local partner in order to penetrate the local market; 5) knowledge needs such as that the company may require local information and knowledge about the market, production and government regulations, marketing system, domestic culture and traditions, etc. Partners may have different cultures and could have difficulty adjusting to each others ways or customs (Arino et al., 1997). These differences in cultural orientation in the long term can cause conflicts and could affect the performance of the international strategic alliance (Barkema Vermeulen, 1997). It is a really a problem for partners to trust each other if they are in conflict in the various areas of the business operations. Unfortunately, sometimes these differences are too deeply rooted, especially when they are based on each organizations cultural values. The research by Fey and Beamish (2001) evaluated how organizational climate incompatibility between parent organizations and the partner alliance affects performance. Compatible organizational climates will provide more chances of success since inter-party conflicts can be minimized (Fey Beamish, 2000). Managing Strategic Alliances and Success Factors It is important to note that in international joint ventures, trust and commitment is important among the partners and it is crucial in their success (Beamish, 1994; Cullen et al., 1995). It is also proposed by Fey (1996) that attaining a mutual understanding of each parent organizations contribution to their partnership agreement should be clear. Both companies doing the strategic alliance must also ensure that they have long-term commitment. Finally, it is also significant that employees and managers of the strategic alliances must be empowered (Fey, 1996). In his research presentation, Blanchard (2006) outlines the following motivations for global strategic alliances, as executed through strategic alliances such as avoidance of import barriers, licensing requirements, and other legislation that protects local companies. Moreover, another motivation is in the sharing of the costs and risks of the research and development of new products as well as services. Also, another factor is to have access to particular markets as well as in reducing the political risk in penetrating the domestic market of the partner firm. Some firms also went into strategic alliances in order to take advantage of synergies and to earn fast entry into a new industry. Examples of Successful Partnerships The Finest Accessories (TFA) Another example of a company in the fashion business is The Finest Accessories (TFA). This is a firm involved in offering luxury hair accessory products with big clients such as Nordstrom, Bloomingdales, and Macys. Value-basis at TFA Laurie and other designers of the firm developed designs that are unique utilizing Italian, French and other fabric styles and integrated these into the hair accessory clip design. They set these fashion trends and customized their partners in manufacturing. The partnership strategy of the company and to its partners is that they would deliver the products ordered to their partners in manufacturing which are exclusive for them and they would have primary right to refuse potential clients which can become their competitors. They formed partnerships and alliances with eight France based manufacturers with the conditions discussed above. (http://www.evancarmichael.com/Marketing/552/Partnership-Success-Story-a-High-Fashion-Entrepreneur-Goes-Global.html) Joint development and manufacturing with eight Oyannax, France based manufacturing companies. It is considered â€Å"joint development† in addition to manufacturing because TFA These value added effect of TFA to the eight manufacturing partners resulted to their success and both partners benefitted from the advantages of the arrangement. In terms of investment cost, TFA did not have to put up large amount of money for land, machineries and equipments since these are all being provided by the manufacturing partners while the manufacturing partners also enjoyed higher markets sales because of the big orders for the unique market developed by TFA. (http://www.evancarmichael.com/Marketing/552/Partnership-Success-Story-a-High-Fashion-Entrepreneur-Goes-Global.html) Electro The IJV Electro is composed of the following three parent organizations: a large international consumer electronics company based in North American, with 63 percent ownership, and two Russian factories, with 37 percent ownership combined. This is an example of a global strategic allegiance between a foreign organization and a local organization. The IJV is one of four facilities in the world which produces circuit boards for one of the North American parent organizations major consumer electronics devices. One factor that contributes to the success of Electro is that it reports to a special venture-capital type division of its North American parent organization, which has profit and loss responsibility for the IJV. The IJV also hires managers originally from the US who either lived in Russia for a long period of time, or have Russian heritage, or both (Fey, 1996). Electro has also been able to develop a trusting relationship with its parent organizations through mutual forbearance (Fey, 1996) which has contributed greatly to the success of the IJV. Electro and its parent organizations have maintained open communication channels to obtain agreement on the parent organizations roles in the IJV, and constantly spend a significant amount of time in discussing, clarifying, and reclarifying these roles (Fey, 1996). Another key success factor (KSF) for Electro is that its parent organizations have pledged long-term commitment to the IJV. Electros parent organizations have not limited their contributions to providing starting capital to their IJV, but continue to be actively involved. For instance, its Russian parents continue to manufacture an input product specifically designed for the IJV, and devote a significant amount of its specialized resources to this production. Electros dominant parent is also its American parent organization, and by delegating many of the operating decisions to the American parent for which the IJV needs approval gains efficiency since having both the Russian and American parent organizations make a joint decision takes up more time, is more difficult, and increases the risk of conflict. This creates long-term commitment to, and need for, the IJV which has been beneficial for both Electro and its parent organizations (Fey, 1996). Research Gap The success factors and valued added theory of forming strategic alliances were validated by various authors in this review. However, in terms of strategic alliances no formal study yet have been conducted so as to validate the success factors of international joint venture formation in the fashion business as well as its value added proposition. As such, this study is being conducted to fill the research gaps in the literature of strategic alliances. Chapter 3 METHODOLOGY Qualitative Research This research study utilized the qualitative research method, which involves the analysis of data such as words, pictures or objects. This research method was selected because it makes use of the exploratory approach in describing complex phenomena, tracking unique or unexpected events, understanding the experience and interpretation of events by actors or players with different stakes and roles, and is useful for conducting initial explorations to develop theories (Yin, 1989). The qualitative research methodology was particularly useful for purposes of this thesis because it was characterized by an emphasis on describing, understanding, and explaining complex phenomena. The phenomena this study seeks to understand were factors that led to the success of international joint ventures (IJVs) in the fashion business. The qualitative research methodology was also the appropriate research tool to use for studying the relationships, patterns, and configurations among factors, and the context in which activities occur (Creswell Plano-Clark, 2006). This methodology was selected over the quantitative research method, which seeks to draw conclusions by making use of random sampling techniques to draw inferences from sample populations. These samples populations were typically made up of a large number of respondents. With this research methodology, surveys and questionnaires were the most common types of tools used for gathering data and information (Creswell Plano-Clark, 2006). The problem with using the quantitative research methodology was that it often involves controlling a variable to determine how other variables were influenced (Wolcott, 2001). Such an approach was not applicable to this thesis because there was no control variable to begin with, which renders it useless to determine how this control variable will influence other variables. The purpose of this thesis was to identify the whether there was value added in the partnerships and identify the key success factors that lead to the success of international joint ventures in the fashion business. As such, an exploratory approach, through the qualitative research methodology was deemed more appropriate. Case Study The exploratory approach was a component of the case study methodology, which in turn is one of the most common research strategies under the qualitative research methodology. The case study research strategy was used to identify value added and success factors for international joint ventures in the fashion business. The case study approach was selected as the research strategy for this thesis