Markting concept Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Markting concept - Essay Example The second stage of product life cycle is growth. During the growth stage the product gains market acceptance and firms start generating good revenues. The profitability of the company improves during this stage. Since production increases the cost per unit decreases. The sales numbers increase as advertising campaigns target mass media audience instead of specialized marketplaces (Answers). The third stage of the product life cycle is the maturity stage. The maturing stage is a period in which the sales of product slow down because the most potential buyers already purchased the product. Competition increases during this stage and profits tend to go down. The final stage of the product life cycle is the declining stage. During the declining stage products are phased out as new products with greater utility come into the marketplace. During this stage sales plummet as profits erode. Price wars are common during this stage as competing companies want to capture the remaining market sh are of the marketplace. A product that recently went through a declining stage was cathode ray television sets. These types of televisions have become obsolete as flat screen LCD television sets have gone down in prices tremendously. The use of the product life cycle has helped me as a customer and it has impacted my work life.

Story so powerful and so moving Essay Example for Free

Story so powerful and so moving Essay By what methods does Arthur Miller make Willy Lomans story so powerful and so moving? In Arthur Millers play Death of a salesman he tells the story of the frustrated Willy Loman who has spent his whole life striving for a dream which he has not made possible by the end of his never truly fulfilled career. It is a very powerful play as it gives us a direct insight into the complicated and mixed up workings of a tired, confused mind. I am going to look at the techniques Miller uses to do this so effectively. Arthur Miller has created a strong character to portray is tale. Willy Loman is a very ordinary man living out his life. Miller opens us up to his thoughts and actions and brings us into his world, and through this shows us the evils of capitalism and the shallowness of the all American dream, which was so predominantly important in so many peoples lives. The point that miller is making is that this perfect image of wealth and professional respect is so unachievable for most people and they will spend their whole lives striving for something that is so unimportant, and torturing themselves over the fact that they have not succeeded. Willy is not a heroic figure who has fallen, or a pitiful soul who has achieved greatness. He is true to life, living out tragedies and successes like every other man. He is not always admirable, he has his weaknesses as a man and especially as a husband; he is rude to his wife and unfaithful. Willy: why do you get American when I like Swiss? Linda: I just thought youd like a change Willy: I dont want a change! I want Swiss cheese, why am I always being contradicted This also demonstrates another important aspect of Willys character. He hates change, in a way he avoids it, which is another reason he is this way. He hasnt changed with the times and still has the same viewpoints about things that he did when he was young. This emphasises how confused he is, he seems lost in his own world. Willys imperfections bring us closer to him as a character as it is much easier to compare ourselves and the people we know to a flawed spirit like him. Miller is highlighting the excessive and unnecessary emphasis that is put upon wealth in modern society. A man like Willy Loman feels like a failure to his family because he hasnt become rich. He is desperate to impress his sons but wants them to fulfil his dream for him and so has missed out on building proper relationships with them and has taken their actions in life the wrong way. Such as Biffs desire to be a simple man, with no need for material possessions. Willy takes this as a failure as it is not what he sees to be a strong image of a successful man. When in fact Biff is much more admirable as he has realised the pitiful route his father has gone down and why he has ended up the way he is. Willy doesnt appreciate that he doesnt want to be part of the corporate machine that his father and brother are, striving constantly to be the best. Happy however is the opposite and is blind to the fact that his fathers business has ruined him and he is quickly heading down the same path. He has sold out to the American dream and when he realises, like his father, that he may not have all the money and glory that he expects, he may become a very dangerous and bitter man. Figure it out. Work a lifetime to pay off a house. You finally own it, and theres nobody to live in it This tells us at the beginning of the act, Willys feelings about his sons. It makes him very troubled that they have left home, his whole life since their birth has been for his sons. Arthur Miller was accused of being a communist and being against American democracy, Which is perhaps why he chooses to focus on these issues so much in his plays. It means that his feelings on the subject of capitalism come from direct experience with the American government and I think this comes across in his writing. Miller has created a very poignant character in Willy, which makes the story very powerful. It is very easy to feel sympathy for someone when they are failing in so many ways as Willy is, and has not fulfilled their potential. Arthur Miller makes Willys character very pathetic in certain scenes, in particular when he is in his boss Howards office and is begging him not to fire him. Howard: then thats that then, heh? Willy: all right, Ill go to Boston tomorrow. Howard: no, no Willy: I cant throw myself on my sons, Im not a cripple! Howard: look kid Im busy this morning Willy: (grasping Howards arm) Howard, youve got to let me go to Boston! Willy is begging this man not to fire him, not to force him to admit to the fact that he is in trouble, that things arent going, as he would wish. And most importantly to Willy, not showing himself up as a failure to his sons. It is pitiful to see a grown man begging this way and is almost heartbreaking. Willy is so proud in front of his family that he would regress to feeling like a piece of fruit in front of this man just to keep up appearances. The fact that Howard calls Willy kid is also quite significant as this is very humiliating for Willy as he is older than Howard and has been working for the company longer than he has. Willy often does this, acting differently in front of different people; this is another way in which Miller shows us how confused and insecure a man he is. He is constantly keeping up all these pretences and as the audience we know that the other characters see straight through them, while Willy thinks he has quite successfully fooled everyone and especially himself. Miller makes Willys conversations with people very strange in a way to make Willy seem completely out of it. He contradicts himself and imagines things, which really shows that he is in his own little world and terribly confused within it. Biff is a lazy bum! Theres one thing about Biff-hes not lazy. These sentences are about three lines apart and are very effective. I think another reason Willy comes across as slightly mad is because his brain is thinking on many different levels-past, present, future, and the subconscious. Miller uses the different parts and levels of the stage to represent this. Instead of thinking like this inside his head as most of us do, he thinks them very openly but has similar frustrations to us all. What he was meant to achieve, what is the point of his life. Linda is very patient and humours him always, which accentuates the desperation of the situation. Willy: why dont you open a window in here, for gods sake? Linda: (with infinite patience) theyre all open, dear.

Joseph Beuys Social Sculptures Concepts

Joseph Beuys Social Sculptures Concepts Joseph Beuys developed a new concept of art as Social Sculpture in post-war Germany after the long period of repression and lethargy. His theory advocated that every person in every situation has the ability to re-organise society and this essay discusses how he sought to realise these ideas within his own practice. Beuys (1921-1986), is one of the most prominent and influential German artists to emerge after World War II. As well as an artist, he was a teacher and activist and his theory on the ability of art to change the dynamics of society has reverberated across a generation of artists. (Electronic Arts Intermix 1997) Beuys, along with other founding members of the Fluxus movement, helped to reinvigorate a prosperous Avant-garde after the long episode of Nazi oppression. His work was highly experimental and always contentious, layered with intricate meaning and symbolism. (Moma n.d.) Throughout his career he produced thousands of conceptual works, drawings, installations, objects, performances and lectures. Maturing as an artist during the Fluxus movement, this encouraged Beuys to create progressively more anti-establishment and eccentric works.(Turner 2001) The Fluxus was an international movement which began in the early sixties and continued to thrive throughout the 1960s and 1970s. It was distinguished by a strong Dadaist approach and encouraged artistic experimentation intertwined with social and political activism that rejoiced in revolutionary change. (Delahunt 1996)The Fluxus movement also centres on the absolute connection between art and life (Durini 1997, p. 26), a theme which was central to Beuys artistic practice. It was during the war that Joseph Beuys decided to dedicate himself to art. Beuys entered the Dusseldorf Academy at the conclusion of the war. It was during his time at the Academy that he began to query academic limitations and sought to further his artistic capabilities and understanding of art through his subject matter, sculptural techniques and the use of non conventional materials. A major turning point for Beuys came during the mid 1950s when he suffered from a severe bout of depression which lasted for several years. He surfaced from this period with a renewed sense of purpose and direction. Beuys states â€Å"This was the stage at which I began systematic work on certain basic principles.† (Walker Art Centre n.d.) These principles were to later expand into his Theory of Social Sculpture. In addition to his depression, Beuys also reportedly suffered from several injuries which he sustained during the five years he served in the war. It is speculated that due to this suffering, the theme of injury and healing are ever-present throughout his work. As a survivor of World War II, Beuys saw Western society as highly traumatised, psychic, social, political and ecological, and he believed that art was a means of mending this suffering. (Walker Art Centre n.d.) During the 1960s and 1970s, Joseph Beuys helped to solidify performance arts position within the art scene. He used a collaboration of sound, time and objects in a series of â€Å"actions†, to create sculptural performances. These performances were often recorded and demonstrated the captivating manner in which the artist was able to use his physical and psychic energy in which to create scenes infused with historical, mythological and personal significance. (Moma n.d.) Beuys believed that performance art was an intuitive approach in which he could convey his belief in the artists ability to repair a damaged world. (Turner 2001) Beuys was spurred on by the ideal belief human creativity could be universal and that art could create revolutionary change. This belief is what led Beuys to advocate this theory of the concept of ‘Social Sculpture during the 1970s, when his political activism was at the forefront. This was the idea that each human being had the potential to creatively contribute to the reshaping of society, in other words ‘society as an artwork. (Tate Collection 2009) Beuys idea of everyone as an artist was very powerful, because it is an indicator of our human potential for future evolution. (Howard n.d.) He believed that this potential was oppressed by conformity, social norms and conventions (Garner n.d.), and that in order for society to reach its full potential, it needed to free itself of routine and remain unobservant to disparities and surrounding conflicts. This idea formed a large part of the intention of his work, he states â€Å"I not only want to stimulate people, I want to provoke them†. (Masters n.d.) Beuys regarded teaching as an important part of his work as an artist. (Tate Collection 2009) He produced a large number of chalkboard drawings in which to communicate the basic principles of his Theory of Social Sculpture. They were often in the form of diagrams and demonstrated the relationships between art and society. (NGV International 2008) These chalkboard drawings are viewed as artworks in their own right. Joseph Beuys selection of materials for his sculptures was notably eclectic and he believed that certain materials had significant associations and through their repeated use they achieved personal representation. (Tate Collection 2009) He spent a substantial amount of time ensuring that his choice of aesthetic materials expressed his intentions. (Garner n.d.) Fat is a material that Beuys frequently used within his sculptures. He often used it to provoke discussion and believed it a material which was very basic to life. Its flexibility in changing from solid into liquid form made it a compelling symbol of spiritual transcendence. Felt is also a material that features frequently in Beuys work, and it became somewhat of a personal signature. He believed its often mundane nature could be transformed into objects with multi-layered significance; he also liked the manner in which it absorbs any liquid that it comes into contact with. Felt also appealed to him because of its ability to act as an insulator, it became a symbol of warmth and the way in which it could act as a muffler, for example when he wrapped a piano and a loudspeaker in it. (Tate Collection 2009) There is widespread belief that he had a strong preference towards these two materials because when he was injured in the war, fat and felt were used upon his wounds to help mend them . Beuys began to use fat in the 1960s with his installations ‘Fat Corners (1968) and a sculpture entitled ‘Fat Chair (1964). Beuys reasoning behind these pieces is that they began an almost chemical process that would not have been so potent if he had only spoken theoretically about them. (Walker Art Centre n.d.) In ‘Felt Suit (1970), Beuys uses felt in the idea that it is a protective and magical material. It is modern day armour made out of modest cloth. Hanging on the wall, an empty shell with no human presence it is not a suit at all, instead it becomes merely a piece of art. Beuys states that the suit represents warmth and a means in which to protect an individual from the world. Beuys states â€Å"Not even physical warmth is meant, namely spiritual or evolutionary warmth at the beginning of an evolution† (Turner 2001). The suit is also reminiscent of the solitude of human beings. Such suits were often worn by prisoners, particularly those in Nazi concentration camps. (Turner 2001) ‘Rose for Direct Democracy (1973), is one of Beuys most famous multiples, it consists of a rose in a transparent cylinder. For Beuys the rose is a simple example of the evolutionary process with its revolutionary goal, which is to gradually blossom. In contrast to the organic nature of the rose is a manmade cylinder with measurements on the side, capable of determining the volume of the matter inside. This piece symbolises the transition from an unyielding and artificial system into an organic and flourishing one. In one clear image it communicates the importance of love and knowledge and passion and science. (Arithmeum 2000) In ‘How to Explain Pictures to a Dead Hare (1965), Beuys cradled a dead hare for three hours whilst walking around and showing it his drawings while at the same time explaining each drawing to the hare in a whisper. The hare is symbolic of birth for Beuys, as the hare is born and burrows underneath the Earth, later to re-emerge from it. Whilst in this action, he also covered his head in honey and affixed fifty dollars worth of gold leaf to it. His reasoning behind this was that by covering his head in honey he was evidently doing something involved with thinking. Since it is bees who are the source of honey, its use represents the goodwill and affection that societies of bees are recognised for. (Ordinary Finds n.d.) Beuys stated that he would prefer to explain his pictures to a dead animal rather than to a person because this way his words were not taken too literally. Beuyss most well known action occurred during 1974 ‘I like America and America Likes Me, when he spent three days alone in a room with a coyote. For this performance, he was flown into New York and immediately upon landing he was enveloped in felt and loaded into an ambulance. He was then taken to the gallery where the action took place, without once setting foot on American soil. He explained that his wish was to isolate himself, see nothing of America other than the coyote. Native Americans held the coyote in god-like regard and after the settlers came they merely saw it as a pest which needed to be ridded. Beuys saw the disparagement of the coyote similar to the damage in which white men had imposed upon America and its native people. This action was an attempt to heal some of those wounds. He reasons, â€Å"You could say that a reckoning has to be made with the coyote, and only then can this trauma be lifted†. (Tate Collection 2009) In conclusion, Beuys served as a remedy to the needs of the population at the time, which was awakening from the shock of their economic, social and cultural sluggishness after the war. He demonstrated a way in which to rise from the ashes which was entertaining, wholesome and spiritually challenging. (Chicago Art n.d.) Within his works and teachings, he strived for a complete revamp of the system in which art is merely a consumer product. â€Å"Art is, he said, â€Å"a revolutionary change in the sense of completing the transformation from a sick world to a healthy one.† (Masters n.d.)

How the microhistories work against and within the apparatus of society

Michel de Certeau, focuses on how practical means remain unconsumed by consumer society; Luce Giard delves into the tactics of resistance and private practices that turn living into a subversive art. Both two theorize the idea of â€Å"making do†, emphasizing on how the microhistories work against and within the apparatus of society. Influenced by Sigmund Freud and Jacques Lacan, Michel de Certeau tends to integrate the theories of conscious and unconscious with his notion of everyday practice, focusing on the interrelation, interaction, interreiteration between the force of strategy and the power of tactic. Certeau’s concept strongly echoes to Foucault’s notion of disciplinary system in modern society, further nourishing it with plebeian energy. In chapter III â€Å"’Making Do’: Uses and Tactics†, he theorizes the productive practice and consumptive activity inherent in repetitive and unconscious everyday life. A strategy, which is linked to institutions and structures of power( producer), according to Certeau, is called â€Å"the calculation( or manipulation) of power relationships that becomes possible as soon as a subject with will and power†¦can be isolated†(35-36), whereas â€Å"a tactic is a calculated action determined by the absence of a proper locus†(36-37), and is used by individuals( consumers) to resist to the dominant order in environment defined by strategies. In chapter VII, â€Å"Walking in the City†, Certeau contends that the city, described as a unified whole by maps is generated by the strategies of governments, corporations, and other institutions. Certeau argues that, everyday life, which works by a process of poaching on the territory of others, though, using the principles, rules, constructions, products established in th... ...ody technique, they ways in which from society to society men know how to use their bodies†(203). Superimposed invention, tradition, and education give the gesture â€Å"a form of efficacy that suits the physical makeup and practical intelligence†(203). Gestures lasts only as long as its utility function, when they die out, â€Å"words sometimes still subsist, in the memory of the bygone past†(208). By examining the new market habits, Giard points out that the gestures and practice of the buying woman have had to be transformed into a new killed ability in order to negotiate with those habits, which construct â€Å"a collective scientific knowledge†(209). Giard concludes that in the age of overmodernization, â€Å"room remains for microinventions†, for people working on their physical activities to make choice among the tools and commodities produced within the social apparatus.

Vulnerability Assessment

The first thing that must be done to protect a home is to conduct a risk assessment to figure out the potential for threat in the designated neighborhood, vulnerability, and the possibility of consequences of risk occurrence. Three tools that are normally addressed when planning security for any home are: 1. What home security and safety risks are the most typical of the neighborhood for which the assessment is working and what would families be more exposed to? 2. How exposed are the neighborhood residents? Have they taken the necessary precautions to prevent a disaster and to deter all threats? 3. How much could be lost if these precautions have been ignored? To answer the first question it is important to discover the types of crimes that have been committed in the neighborhood most recently. By asking fellow neighbors and local police crime prevention officers, statistics on most common crimes and how that particular neighborhood stacks up to others in the rest of the county can be found. Once a list of possible threats has been established, checking the home for vulnerabilities that would leave it susceptible to a crime or an accident would be the next step in the process. After identifying the vulnerability to these potential threats, a vulnerability assessment on a residence may be conducted. A vulnerability assessment of a home as well as a list of countermeasures and their costs’ is what is required next. Focus on the different directions that potential threats may use and the avenues of approach that they will likely take to threaten property or the area surrounding property. There is a neighborhood watch program that is counted on to support additional observation and early warning. The signal for such a warning is slamming metal object to metal object in a series of three to alert the neighbors as a code to indicate direction and threat. You can better observe your surroundings from your roof or second story. Establishing an observation post/listening post (LP/OP) can be an effective way to gain a superior advantage gaining an elevated advantage in addition to limited access for potential attackers. If your LP/OP has a covered and concealed approach and withdrawal route back to your house, then this would be an ideal location looking out for one another. You probably do not want to open your home to too many family or friends in case of disaster or attack because of the supply of food, ammunition, clean water, and toiletries. There are not many avenues of approach that threats can use in order for them to see straight into the neighborhood or directly to the house so the focus of mitigating this risk is centered around the front and back yards. Place your landscaping like boulders, rock, gravel, trees, and vegetation as well as blinds or curtains can limit the amount of visibility that a threat has to see into your home. Loose gravel placed under the windows, broken windows, and doors will make noise and could possibly spook anyone from attempting a break in. There are not any covered or concealed routes for attackers on foot to approach your house undetected from, so if they did not use a frontal assault they would have to jump the fence in the backyard to try to gain entry through the back door. The visibility from all windows downstairs is limited due to the landscape, but the upstairs has one hundred percent visibility 360 degrees around the entire house. Many dead zones (areas that you cannot see) due to the house being in a sub-division, but no brush will have to be cut down. Windows are easily broken, so keep yourself prepared for Hurricanes, tornadoes, other bad storms with ? to ? inch plywood cut for all windows with mounting hardware. The lighting that you have surrounding your house can have many uses. Illuminating the areas of approach to your house can force intruders to look for a softer target, and it can also give you and your neighbors a better opportunity to give a more detailed description to police when they flee. Mounting your lights with easily re-moveable hardware like wing nuts will assist you if you ever have to relocate them to a more vulnerable part of your residence. Ballistic breaching is the act of using a shotgun to remove the deadbolts from doors, making it possible for attackers to breach the security of your home. Think about installing manmade levers that can latch from the bottom of the door to the floor and the top of the door to the ceiling. This creates a major problem for any intruder because it forces them to stay in the fatal funnel for a longer period before entering your home. The fatal funnel is the area most dangerous for anyone trying to breach a room because it is the smallest area of any room. This creates a better opportunity for the homeowner to defend him or herself by being able to fire a weapons system into a smaller area, reducing the risk of missing the target. The ability to defend your home with small arms does not come cheap. Probably the most expensive cost of any home security tool used is the money you will spend, not only on the fire arm itself, but also the ammunition as well. However, being able to shoot from your home is not as near important as it is for your home to withstand small arms fire. Most homes provide terrible cover (protection) from small arms fire. Aside from sand bagging or laying sheet steel on the walls around your windows, any containers that hold dirt would also do. Wargaming† is a term often used by the U. S. Army before every mission they conduct overseas. The best vulnerability assessment would come from you â€Å"wargaming† various situations based on the environment you live in, then develop countermeasures to mitigate the threats and weaknesses you have determined. Again, call it â€Å"wargaming† or whatever you will, but it is an effective way to look at contingencies and resources nee ded to implement better plans and countermeasures.

The Great Depression and the New Deal Essays

The Great Depression and the New Deal Essays The Great Depression and the New Deal Essay The Great Depression and the New Deal Essay Question 1 To fight the Depression, Hoover took a standard Republican route and Roosevelt claimed the American people needed a New Deal. Use specific ideas and programs to compare and contrast Hoovers and Roosevelts approached and evaluate the success. During the Roaring Twenties, the American people seemed to live in a fantasy world of wealth and luxury. The economy was booming due to little government interference and workers were receiving higher wages and began to receive welfare from their employers. Citizens could choose from new consumer products, such as refrigerators, washing machines, and the automobile, which revolutionized the way people traveled in the United States. However, this newfound prosperity would be short lived. At the end of the Roaring Twenties, the American people witnessed the worst economic depression in history and they were apart of it. Unemployment rates skyrocketed through the roof and people were losing millions of dollars after the stock market cr ash in 1929. After having little regulation of the economy during the 1920s, the American people were in desperate need of government assistance. Current President Hoover followed his conservative approach that he had used throughout his term and chose to do little or nothing about the depression, thinking that it would end shortly. The Great Depression did not end quickly and the American people were in need of a strong leader who was willing to take drastic action. The United States chose Franklin Delano Roosevelt to lead America away from depression and his New Deals would return America to its prosperous times. To being with, Herbert Hoover and the majority of the American people thought that the depression would pass in a short period of time. The United States had a few depressions during the 1800s and only two of them lasted longer than a year. However, this depression would last from October of 1929 to the entrance of World War II b