...The management of sporting innovation at Decathlon. Between rationality and chaos (P262) Guillaume Richard*, Yann Abdourazakou* Abstract: The point under study is the first of such a nature. We investigated the management of innovation in the company called Decathlon. In recent years, vertical integration has rarely been so much developed as in the leading company of sporting goods’ distribution in France. Based on the group’s “sporting universe” concept, it now challenges some bigger firms’ on their main segment. We interviewed the head of innovation for Decathlon’s brands in France and Europe. Since the 1990’s, Decathlon’s strategies have not taken a unique and rational way towards success. Sometimes unexpected, they do not fit the traditional and rational management model of this aspect of competition between firms. Finally, some non technological aspects of innovation play a key role in the group’s success. Now a major force in the domain of sports equipment, the company Decathlon represents today almost half the French market in the distribution of sporting articles1. From bikes to rucksacks, from hiking boots to tennis rackets, this brand has acquired a great deal of savoirfaire in the conception, the realization and the production of its “universe” brand. By way of an example, Decathlon is the biggest producer of bikes (Btwin) in the whole of France, the number 1 in the country for rucksacks and the fourth largest producer in the world of sporting goods...
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...The Avalanche: An Analysis of the Function of Speed in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. Romeo and Juliet is an avalanche. As a loose pebble in the snowcapped mountain wobbles in the wind, Romeo yodels to Juliet in the cliffs just to send it tumbling, lightly, down a vertical abyss. It does not end there, of course, for this pebble held back the rocks and boulders constituting the height of the peak, and the reaction now begins as each individual stone rolls with momentum. They pick up speed and snow, growing in velocity and size until the inevitable occurs and Romeo and Juliet are engulfed in the upheaval and finished forever. William Shakespeare’s version of the play Romeo and Juliet, taken from Arthur Brooke’s play similarly titled Romeus and Juliet, is a fast paced tragedy in which a boy and girl from two feuding families meet, fall in love, bond in matrimony, and commit suicide in a matter of four days. Compared to the nine-month romance that takes place in Brooke’s play, Shakespeare’s version is a consciously hastened piece of work during which the most significant parts of a young couple’s lives begin and end in less than one week. Speed, a well-utilized literary tool in Shakespeare’s play, serves to emphasize emotion, as opposed to reason, in the characters’ decisions. Through this device, Shakespeare demonstrates his skills as a playwright by showing control of time in the play. Perhaps the most well known episode in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, the balcony scene...
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...Patrick Süskind in 1985. This is a highly stylized film, in which Jean-Baptiste Grenouille is a very special person. He lives in a uniquely spiritual world. In other words, Grenouille is a egocentric man who arouse me have great interest about his unique personality. In order to get the development of character’s thought, I will analysis his spiritual world referring the psychoanalysis method of Sigmund Freud. Freud thinks that the unconscious component is composed of three levels: the Id is the passions and possibly all inherited human knowledge, the ego is the socially conditioned and aware reason which tries to repress the Id and from this state of affairs the superego manifests itself as a moral and critical conscience.() I am on the way of thinking Grenouille as a person whose ego becomes the dominant character which is beginning from the unbalance in personality-formation. How does his ego show in his life? Grenouille’s sense of smell is sensitive; he could recognize directions and things by smell. He was attracted by the special odor of the red-hair girl when the first time he met her; he chased her at night, in the narrow old path in Paris. He tried to smell her behind her, which caused her panic, and finally killed her by accident. Grenouille was controlled by “id” when he made all the actions to the girl. He is a person who is sensitive and longing for odors. When he was attracted by the odor, his desire and impulsion made him chase after the girl and smell...
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...Art isn’t just something that produces beauty, or provides pleasure and enjoyment. Art is a means of communication, a means of expression, of any experience, or of any aspect of the human condition. And that is what artists do. With the use of symbols and techniques, artists express their thoughts and emotions about particular views on things. But sometimes, artists tend to go further down the more serious path of activism and politics. Ai Wei Wei and Pablo Picasso are two perfect examples of these artists. Ai Wei Wei is a Chinese contemporary artist and political activist who wasn’t afraid of speaking out against the Chinese government; while Picasso is a Spanish 20th century artist whose opinion very much opposed the Spanish nationalists’. Both outstanding artists and well-known figures of their art periods, they exploit with different materials and media to utilise their artworks as a message of protest, or a political comment to inspire their audiences. Ai Wei Wei is a Chinese contemporary artist born in 1957, in Beijing. He is a social, political and cultural critic and a political activist who strongly opposes the Chinese government. Majorly interested in the issue of cultural anxiety of changes in China, Ai Wei Wei uses sculptures, installations, architecture, and photography to express his disapproval of political views in China. One of the more famous of his works is an installation entitled Sunflower Seeds (2010) exhibited in Tate Modern. This artwork consists of approximately...
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...Negative Interest Rates Nominal interest rates are normally positive, but not always. Given the alternative of holding cash, and thus earning 0%, rather than lending it out, profit-seeking lenders will not lend below 0%, as that will guarantee a loss, and a bank offering a negative deposit rate will find few takers, as savers will instead hold cash. During the European sovereign-debt crisis, government bonds of some countries (Switzerland, Denmark, Germany, Finland, the Netherlands and Austria) have been sold at negative yields. Suggested explanations include desire for safety and protection against the Eurozone breaking up. More often, real interest rates can be negative, when nominal interest rates are below inflation. When this is done via government policy (for example, via reserve requirements), this is deemed financial repression, and was practiced by countries such as the United States and United Kingdom following World War II (1945) until the late 1970s or early 1980s (during and following the Post–World War II economic expansion). In the late 1970s, United States Treasury securities with negative real interest rates were deemed certificates of confiscation. Negative interest rates have been proposed in the past, notably in the late 19th century by Silvio Gesell. To prevent people from holding cash (and thus earning 0%), Gesell suggested issuing money for a limited duration, after which it must be exchanged for new bills; attempts to hold money thus result in...
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...Guernica does not Affect Picasso, Picasso Effects Guernica Guernica (1937) by artist Pablo Picasso is one of the most powerful and disturbing anti-war paintings ever produced. Like so many famous works of art, the meaning of Picasso's Guernica is not immediately clear and left wide open to analysis and interpretation. What is the meaning of Guernica, the mural by Pablo Picasso? Guernica is unique and unlike any other photograph or painting of a historical war scene. According to Herschel B. Chipp, historical photographs show scenes and capture moments in time, but when viewing them an intangible “wall” exists between the viewer and the photograph. The difference between photographs and original paintings is that the painting allows the viewer to break through the “wall” and actually experience the feelings and emotions expressed in the painting.[1] Guernica was a unique painting for Picasso to create because he never wanted to be influenced by the outside world. Historians argue that Guernica is the exception and Picasso allowed him-self to be influenced and expressed his views. However, after deeply known about Guernica and Picasso, you may think that Guernica does not affect Picasso, instead, Picasso effects Guernica. Guernica is a town in the province of Biscay in Basque Country. During the Spanish Civil War, it was regarded as the northern bastion of the Republican resistance movement and the epicenter of Basque culture, adding to its significance...
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...In modern society, the term Terrorism, carries with it a nebulous connotation. The term, tainted by its perception, is inherently misconstrued and demonized. In public dialogue, it is immediately sensationalized by the media, hotly discussed by the people, quickly vilified by politicians, and overly generalized by the masses. Its mention and increasing global occurrence triggers an intense negatively charged emotional response that is forever associated with the 2015 November Paris Attacks, the London Bombings, 11 September Attacks, the “War on Terror,” Jihadists, and numerous stereotypes and mischaracterizations. Yet, nowhere in the discussion is the rhetoric being examined. Nowhere in the discourse do questions arise about the roots and branches...
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...Theoretical and Applied Economics VolumeXX (2013), No. 10(587), pp 23-32 A new vision on competitiveness within the post-crisis economy. Causes, evoiutions and possibie innovative soiutions to fight against the undesirable effects of the economic crisis Laura Mariana CISMAÇ West University Timisoara laura.cismas@feaa.uvt.ro Ruxandra Ioana PITORAC West University Timiçoara ruxandrapitorac@gmail.com Abstract. The main objective of this paper is to highlight the need for promoting a new vision regarding competitiveness mostly in the context of amplifying the effects and the complexity of the nature of crisis manifested now on the international level (economic, environment, demographic, value and moral etc.). The economic thinking pays increased attention to the issues related to economic crisis, as well as the development of theories that give satisfactory answers about the causes and, especially, the solutions to the crisis. Using scientific observation and comparative case study as research methods, this paper aims to make a theoretical critical review of the theories regarding the causes of economic crisis over time and to identify and analyze some anti-crisis policies. Keywords: economic competitiveness. crisis; macroeconomic theories; anti-crisis policies; JEL Classification: E30, GOL REL Classification: 81, 8M. 24 Laura Mariana Cisma§, Ruxandra ioana Pitorac Introduction Theoretical controversy on crises has augmented over the last two decades with a special...
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...34.Concept of Globalization Why does the concept of GLOBALIZATION excite so much interest? We are beginning to think about the world in new ways. The importance of borders between different countries is reduced, and cross-border structures are strengthened. The power of organizations operating only within the nation state is weakened. Individuals who possess the necessary skills find it easier and faster than before to implement complex interactions. By pushing computer keys a banker can almost instantaneously transfer sums of money between London and New York, between New York and Bangkok, between Bangkok and Paris, and so on. The political and legal institutions of these different countries no longer present insurmountable obstacles to doing business between them. The problems of predicting the effects of globalization in part stem from uncertainties about how the notion should be defined. These uncertainties arise because the terms are used in many different ways. Gowan (1999) reflects on this ambiguity in the introduction to his text: The 1990s have been the decade of globalization. We see its effects everywhere: in economic, social and political life, around the world. Yet the more all-pervasive are these effects, the more elusive is the animal itself. An enormous outpouring of academic literature has failed to provide an agreed view of its physiognomy or its location and some reputable academics of Right and Left even question its very existence. It is not necessary to...
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...the film has novel, innovative features in almost every aspect of cinema including shooting, editing, narrative structure, and characters. It achieves such creativity by breaking stereotyped rules of film-making. Godard’s shooting style was innovative. It was rather that of documentary. He used location shooting, which means shooting in real geographical locations, like real, uncontrolled streets in the city, not in artificial studio sets built for filming. As A bout de soufflé was filmed in famous locations in Paris such as the Champs Elysées, uncountable number of ordinary people appear in the film. They look back at Michel Poiccard (Jean-Paul Belmondo) and Patricia Franchini (Jean Seberg) with curiosity in their faces, some even stare directly at the camera, or some cut in front of the camera. All these things blur the border between the reality and the diegesis, making the latter imperfect. So, the film not only shows real city countenance of contemporary Paris—streets crowded with busy people and roads occupied with an endless cycle of cars, but also remind the audience that they are watching a film, a fictional construct, revealing its identity by itself. Natural lighting was another innovation in shooting. Godard didn’t use any artificial lighting. The only light he used was the sunlight. For that, the cameraman Raoul Coutard, who was once a still photographer, suggested using llford HPS stock, which was a still camera stock, not a movie one. So Godard and he linked...
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...AHMADU BELLO UNIVERSITY DEPARTMENT OF SOCIOLOGY DIPLOMA IN SOCIAL WORK AND DEVELOPMENT STUDIES COURSE CODE: SWD112 COURSE TITLE: INTRODUCTION TO SOCIOLOGY QUESTION PICK ANY SOCIOLOGY FOUNDING FATHER, WRITE HIS OR HER CONTRIBUTION TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF SOCIOLOGY BY HEZEKIAH KELLY .M.O. D12SG0016 DATE: JUNE 2013 EMILE DAVID DURKHEIM (1858 – 1917) BRIEF HISTORY AND EARLY LIFE STAGES OF DURKHEIM Durkheim was born in the eastern Pascoag providence of Lorraine, which at that time was part of Germany, on April 15th 1858. He came from a long line of conservative French Jews but, he decided early in his life he would not follow in his family’s footsteps. He led a completely secular lifestyle. he never completely detached himself from his family or the Jewish community. Many of his colleagues and students were either from the Jewish community or of blood relation. In 1879 Durkheim entered École Normale Supérieure, as a very promising student. That year’s class was one of the most brilliant in the nineteenth century. Many of his classmates, such as Jean Jaurès and Henri Bergson, went on to become very influential to France’s history. Very early in his career, Durkheim became interested in the scientific approach to society by reading works by social scientists, Herbert Spencer and Auguste Comte, and studying with Numa Denis Fustel de Coulanges. Thus, he found many problems with the French...
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...Chaotic Growth with the Logistic Model of P.-F. Verhulst Hugo Pastijn Department of Mathematics, Royal Military Academy B-1000 Brussels, Belgium Hugo.Pastijn@rma.ac.be Summary. Pierre-Fran¸ois Verhulst was born 200 years ago. After a short biograc phy of P.-F. Verhulst in which the link with the Royal Military Academy in Brussels is emphasized, the early history of the so-called “Logistic Model” is described. The relationship with older growth models is discussed, and the motivation of Verhulst to introduce different kinds of limited growth models is presented. The (re-)discovery of the chaotic behaviour of the discrete version of this logistic model in the late previous century is reminded. We conclude by referring to some generalizations of the logistic model, which were used to describe growth and diffusion processes in the context of technological innovation, and for which the author studied the chaotic behaviour by means of a series of computer experiments, performed in the eighties of last century by means of the then emerging “micro-computer” technology. 1 P.-F. Verhulst and the Royal Military Academy in Brussels In the year 1844, at the age of 40, when Pierre-Fran¸ois Verhulst on November c 30 presented his contribution to the “M´moires de l’Acad´mie” of the young e e Belgian nation, a paper which was published the next year in “tome XVIII” with the title: “Recherches math´matiques sur la loi d’accroissement de la e population” (mathematical investigations of the law of...
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...ROMEO & JULIET Prologue (ACT 1) As a prologue to the play, the Chorus enters. In a fourteen-line sonnet, the Chorus describes two noble households (called “houses”) in the city of Verona. The houses hold an “ancient grudge” (Prologue.2) against each other that remains a source of violent and bloody conflict. The Chorus states that from these two houses, two “star-crossed” (Prologue.6) lovers will appear. These lovers will mend the quarrel between their families by dying. The story of these two lovers, and of the terrible strife between their families, will be the topic of this play. ANALYSIS This opening speech by the Chorus serves as an introduction to Romeo and Juliet. We are provided with information about where the play takes place, and given some background information about its principal characters. The obvious function of the Prologue as introduction to the Verona of Romeo and Juliet can obscure its deeper, more important function. The Prologue does not merely set the scene of Romeo and Juliet, it tells the audience exactly what is going to happen in the play. The Prologue refers to an ill-fated couple with its use of the word “star-crossed,” which means, literally, against the stars. Stars were thought to control people’s destinies. But the Prologue itself creates this sense of fate by providing the audience with the knowledge that Romeo and Juliet will die even before the play has begun. The audience therefore watches the play with the expectation that it must...
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...Fiction, Between Inner Life and Collective Memory. A Methodological Reflection. François-Xavier Lavenne, Virginie Renard, François Tollet1 Introduction In the writing of their fictional works, novelists often have to reflect on the functioning of memory, for memory lies at the heart both of inner life and of human experience in general. It is indeed in the works of writers such as Marcel Proust or Jorge Luis Borges that the best exemplifications of the subjective experience of memory are to be found. However, from a strictly mnemonic point of view, literature provides more than a means of reflecting on memory: it is also the site of the rebirth and construction of individual and collective memories, which can then serve as a foundation for the writing of fictional works. Creative writing has a meiotic function and is as such a powerful tool capable of rescuing memories from oblivion and bringing them back to life, thus reconciling the past with the present. The present article seeks to bring to bear new perspectives on the relationship between a novelist’s personal memories, collective memory, and the fictional narratives partially inspired by these two types of memory. In the first section we briefly examine the distinction traditionally made between individual memory and collective memory, which we then try to reconcile so as to arrive at an approach to the mnemonic phenomenon that best fits the needs of literary scholars. In the second section we challenge the conventional...
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...main-stream among global and rich customer base. By the 1950's Gucci's worldwide vicinity was built up with its first store in the US. Before long Gucci's items snatched the consideration of numerous capable superstars including Jackie Kennedy, Grace Kelly and Audrey Hepburn. Gucci went so far as to name a sack in its range the "Jackie O", after the previous first woman Jackie Kennedy. These ladies spoke to polish and style, which improved the prestigious quality of Gucci. The faction of famous people had started, through film, TV and magazines. By the 1970's stores were opened in London, Paris, Palm Beach, Hong Kong and Tokyo. It has turned into a genuinely worldwide extravagance brand. This report would give a brief account on the background of Gucci, growth of Gucci and then state various activities the brand has engaged in, which have helped it to stay so relevant. The report would then show a pestle analysis of the company, the porter’s five...
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