...Minimalist contentions: Fight Club Introduction Chuck Palahniuk is one of the most influential American fiction writers who emerged in the 1990s. His debut novel, Fight Club (hereafter: FC) reached cult status after the film adaptation by David Fincher was released in 1999, and widespread and divided critical reception was soon to follow. Much of the current debate about Fight Club focuses on the political implications of the text, but most often recourse to it by way of referencing the film. These arguments usually question or celebrate the transgressive potentials of the book (Giroux; Mendieta), or address issues of masculinity brought into the fore by their literary and cinematic representations emergent in the same decade (Tuss; Friday). However, few, if any, have addressed the literary aspirations of the text and its author. Although none of the approaches to the thematic concerns of Fight Club are unjustified, in the argument that follows I will suggest that conclusions drawn and critical judgments passed have been hasty, and not only failed to take into account the formal aspects of story-telling, but that the narrative features of Palahniuk’s text have largely went unexplored, and constitute a blind spot of the reception. Critics condemning or acclaiming the novel, and, indeed, many a cultic reader of Palahniuk ignored Fight Club as a literary narrative, and have inadvertently been repeating the catchphrases of the text, either reinforcing or trying to undermine what...
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...paper is about Book publishing industry in the USA. Main analysis are done using Porter’s five forces analysis. First analysis is on industry before e-books while indentifying main levels of threats for industry from existing rivalry, new entrants, bargaining power of buyers, bargaining power of suppliers and substitutions. Also, same research is being conducted for industry after e-books emerged. Next part is looking to the future of industry and identifying main opportunities and threats looking forward. Finally paper is concluded with suggestions for suppliers how to sustain their business. Introduction Book publishing business recently has been going through lots of changes. New technologies opened doors for new competitors in industry and started to reshaping many processes. To sustain long-term profitability publishers now must respond strategically to new competition. Natural thing to do is to track your established rivals and react accordingly. However, as you scan competitive arena, are you also looking beyond your direct competitors. As Porter explains four additional forces can hurt your prospective profits. (1) * Savvy customers can force down prices by playing you and your rivals against one another. * Powerful suppliers may constrain your profits if they charge higher prices. * Aspiring entrants, armed with new capacity and hungry for market share , can ratchet up the investment up the investment required for you to stay in the game . * Substitutes...
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...Executive Summary In this report, the author vigorously focuses on giving the marketing concepts and theories and all these marketing concepts will be applicable for the Nespresso Company for which the author has just been hired as the Marketing Consultant. With a view to strengthening the marketing activities of the company as well as developing the brand for the company, the author has to have an insight into the segmentation including the customer segmentation and market segmentation that the company wants to target. In addition, the author also has to attach much importance to analyzing the microenvironment and macro environment in which the company is operating in. In addition, the author also mentions the positioning of the company in the market and suggests the application and development of a marketing mix strategy with a view to develop the company’s brand and image in the market. Introduction Nespresso Company has been considered a famous and prestigious coffee provider across the globe with the strong business presence in many countries world-wide. Nespresso has been the pioneering coffee provider in European market during the last 25 years. Nespresso aimed at expanding its market share to the American market by penetrating the market with the initiatives and changes in the coffee drinking habits, creating a premium large-cup coffee market in North America. The author has just been pooled as the Marketing Consultant of Nespresso Company. The biggest task of the...
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...January 20, 2013 Fortnightly Market Wrap -Up This week’s content: Macro Strategy – page 3 World Markets – page 9 Cautious optimism for 2013 By Swasti Gupta, Analyst, BSc Economics Eurozone – page 5 Currency wars: Is it me or is it getting hot in here? By Eliott Anderson, Co-Editor, BSc Management China – page 13 The EU: In or Out? By Christopher Viggor, Analyst, MSc Economics Eurozone – page 7 Take-off instead of hard landing? By Wodzik Kicinski, Analyst, BSc Economics Japan – page 15 Italy – is politics enough? By Andrei Damaschin, Co-Editor, BSc Accounting and Finance Challenges facing Japan By Melson Chun, Analyst, Law Warwick Investment Club Research Team 2 January 20, 2013 Fortnightly Market Wrap -Up Macro Strategy Cautious Optimism for 2013 By Swasti Gupta, Analyst, 2nd-year BSc Economics The S&P 500 closed on a 5-year high at 1,485.98 on Friday, after increasing for a third consecutive week since the New Year. The rally comes in response to strong fourth quarter earnings results, announced by banks and industrials earlier this week. Meanwhile Wall’s Street’s fear gauge, as measured by the VIX volatility index 1, closed the week at its lowest level since 2007 amidst speculation of a “great rotation”2. The CBOE VIX index is a measure of volatility perceived by investors. A forward looking measure, it is based on the pricing of options which investors use to protect their portfolios against losses in the S&P 500...
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...Executive Summary The business plan outlined in this article is a “fitness” club that will offer a variety of different exercise techniques in order to appease its members. We feel this market is very profitable because of the nearly 58 million people who go to gyms and personal fitness centers around the United States which brings in over $22 billion in revenue annually. There are also over 66,000 people living in Washington County, which ranks 3rd in population which has only increased in the state of Maryland over the last few years. According to USA Today, Hagerstown has an obesity rate of 38.3 percent which ranks 3rd in the United States. Fitness club memberships in the United States have also increased every year since 1987 and a strong market makes a strong business. Our gym, “Your Fitness Center” will offer its members quality services and benefits that no other club can offer. In most gyms, the top three most profitable programs/services are personal training, specialized classes, and beverages/protein bars. Our gym will provide all of these services and thus increase our productivity. Most gyms do not have a large selection of protein drinks; our goal is to provide products that encourage improved health such as healthy beverages. We will build a large complex that will include top brand fitness machines and weights personal training programs, different fitness rooms for Zumba and Pilates, along with extreme cycling classes and a theater room. Day care is even provided...
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...Discuss the trends in the golf equipment industry and how it may impact a company’s strategy. Ans: According to new the United States Golf Association (USGA), Golf equipment manufacturers are forced to launch the equipment within the limitation. Therefore, the product differentiation is not quite high while recreational golfers do not enjoy playing due to lack of innovational equipment. Also, the USGA states that there are various factors that result in the declining of golfers such as: - Game difficulty: Golf equipment manufacturers are forced to follow the new USGA rules, thus, recreational golfers are suffered from the limitation of golf equipments. They cannot enjoy playing golf as much as before while new golfers face the difficulty of playing. - Time consuming for practice: According to the limited innovation of golf equipment, golfers need lots of time to practice while they also have take responsibility to their job and spend time with their families. - High golf fee: Some golfers realize that golf fee is high, as a result, they cannot practice frequently. 2. Discuss the importance of innovation, brand, performance, and price in the golf equipment industry. Ans: Good reputation and image can lead to brand loyalty. That’s why many brands use lots of advertising expenditure to promote their brands. As the leading sports brand in the world, Nike has a clear marketing advantage over its competitors. Nike spends some of their annual revenues on advertising to...
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...Introduction………………………………………………………………3 Stakeholder Analysis…………………………………………………4 External Analysis………………………………………………………7 Opportunities/ Threats……………………………………………9 Industry Analysis…………………………………………………….10 Value Chain Analysis……………………………………………….13 Core Competencies…………………………………………………16 Recommendations………………………………………………….18 Conclusion……………………………………………………………….21 References………………………………………………………………22 Introduction Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (Wal-Mart) is currently ranked as, not only America’s largest, but the world’s largest company (DuBois, 2011). Wal-Mart’s three business segments, Wal-Mart Stores, Sam’s Club and Wal-Mart International, all operate in the discount variety retail industry. Currently, Wal-Mart’s strategic leaders face challenging issues including declining same-store sales, an invariable customer base, and a crumbling reputation. In analysing the company’s stakeholders, external and internal environments, its opportunities and threats, and its core competencies and competitive advantage we recommend that Wal-Mart: • Place a greater emphasis on the local communities in which it operates in order to stimulate same-store sales; • Improve their supply chain efficiency to supplement international and Internet expansion and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) efforts; and • Split underperforming Sam’s Clubs into a separate subsidiary which will offer luxury brands, in order to draw middle- and upper-income customers. Stakeholder Analysis Capital Market Stakeholders Wal-Mart...
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...What is your version of the American Dream? If you’re like millions of other Americans, you’re probably living for the day your 401(k) has stored enough equity for you to enjoy a life of financial freedom. But what if everything you've been led to believe about your 401(k) retirement plan is not only untrue, but just the opposite of what you have been told? Wouldn’t you want to know immediately while there was still time to capture the American Dream? Those nearing retirement are extremely concerned, and rightly so, that a collapse of the stock market could spell possible disaster for their 401(k) and other retirement investments. The credit crunch and housing meltdown of 2007-08 are stark reminders of the dot.com debacle of 200002 that halved market values, forcing retirement for many to be postponed or scaled down in quality. Many lost their retirement, jobs, homes and lifetime savings. The information contained in this publication may well be the most important information that you have read and could affect the quality of your planned retirement for years and/or the rest of your life. In addition to learning important retirement information, you will learn the 7 S.E.C.R.E.T.S. of the Super Wealthy, how to remove your money tax-free from your company’s 401(k) plan and place it under your own control without stopping work or dropping out of your employer’s plan, and how to keep more in your estate while passing more to your family members or other designated heirs by using...
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...Walmart Strategic Analysis of Wal-Mart Fan Yang Professor Richard Linowes MGMT-458-002H May 1, 2009 Yang 2 Executive Summary Wal-Mart is the biggest retailer in U.S. and also one of the biggest multinational companies in the world. It is well-known for its low-cost structure and has been doing very well despite of the current market instability. However, it still faces threats from competitors in the retail industry and has weaknesses to be improved in the future. To help Wal-Mart achieve greater success and sustain its competency, this paper will cover an all-rounded and detailed business analysis on Wal-Mart and the industry it is currently in. The analysis will touch on different perspectives, such as Wal-Mart’s strength, opportunities, weaknesses and threats. Moreover, a brief overview of the retail industry and Wal-Mart’s history are provided to facilitate a deeper and better understanding of the analysis on Wal-Mart. To help Wal-Mart better exploit its strength and opportunities and reduce threats and weaknesses, recommendations are provided for each of the four sections. I hope the recommendations will be carefully considered for proper implementation. Yang 3 Overview of Retail Industry The overall retail industry is currently experiencing a sale slowdown due to the widely spread economic crisis in US because consumers reduce their spending during weak economic time. According to an article on BusinessWeek, the real consumer spending declined by 3.7% in the...
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...Alejandro Portugal Martin Pretorius Iona Ramió Mateu OCEAN PARK CASE STUDY INTRODUCTION Ocean Park Hong Kong is a marine animal theme park located in the Southern District of Hong Kong. It was inaugurated in 1977 by the Government with the intention to bring somewhere where Hong Kong citizens could feel some sense of space as a large part of the population lived in a crowded locality. So it was inaugurated as a nonprofit organization that aimed to provide visitors a unique experience in entertainment, education, and conservation. Firstly, in the absence of competition, Ocean Park became really popular but existed without direction and focus. When Hong Kong's officials signed an agreement to bring Disneyland to Hong Kong in 1999, the Ocean Park's viability started to be questioned. By 2005, when Disneyland Hong Kong was inaugurated, Ocean Park was unprofitable and widely expected to lose out. Nevertheless, the Park responded with a development plan and showed their abilities for adaptation and turn threats into opportunities. It expanded the number of attractions and rides, raising the number of visitors, becoming the world's 13th most visited theme park and the ...
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...Grant Still MGMT 320 Section C November 18, 2014 Consumerism: Gotta Buy ‘Em All It is the day after Thanksgiving, known colloquially to Americans as “Black Friday”. Hundreds of thousands of shoppers line up outside of department stores, anxiously waiting to get their hands on the latest of gadgets and gizmos to purchase for families, friends, and loved ones for the holiday season. Many of the retailers in America have offered attractive promotional sales on this day to attract high traffic and volume in their stores. Realizing this, consumers in America who take a part in Black Friday see this as a fight to the death. This “fight to the death” literally came true in the year 2013, as one death and fifteen injuries resulted from the madness of the shopping event, according to BlackFridayDeathCount.com. On the flip side for businesses, Americans spent an average of $407.02 from the Thursday through Sunday that bookends Black Friday, as stated by the National Retail Federation. This topsy-turvy day recognized by a vast majority of American culture has been seen by many as the yearly peak of the country’s ever-increasing trend towards consumerism. Consumerism, the belief that goods give meaning to individuals and their roles in society, has presented itself to Americans in both a positive and negative spirit. On the one hand, consumer spending drives the economy, gives consumers a vast myriad of retailers to choose from, and renders shopping as a social experience. ...
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...Since the amnesty Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 IRCS (USCIS 1986) signed by the President Ronald Regal, which provided amnesty for 3 million illegal immigrants, in returns for increased border security and penalties for companies “knowingly” hiring illegal immigrants. Aside from creating the H-2A visa seasonal employment, IRCA failed to create new avenue for legal immigration. The combination of amnesty and inadequate avenue for legal immigration exacerbated the problem for illegal immigration. The law was supposed to be a comprehensive solution with provision intended to clamp down on border security but those provision were never enforced and the subsequent explosion in illegal crossing has resulted in more than 11 illegal immigrants living in the United States now. Texas is the state with most illegal immigrants with an estimated of 1.8 million illegal immigrant living in Texas now, compared to 1.1 million in 2000 (???). In ten years, that represents increase of 54 percent or 70,000.00 persons each year coming to the State illegally. The amnesty of 1986 brought many benefits to the illegal immigrants but also the immediate family members such as spouses, children and parents were also benefited because they could join the family member in the United States later on. I was personally one of the benefited with this amnesty because I could immigrate to the United States in the late 1990’s. During the last 20 years the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) called...
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...Baltiysky, Finlyandsky, Ladozhsky, Moskovsky and Vitebsky – within its borders. St. Petersburg features an extensive public transportation system consisting of an underground metro, trams and buses. The underground metro system, the most efficient of the options, opened in 1955 and features five color-coded lines. The fare for the underground transport system is always the same, no matter the distance traveled, and can be paid by token or metro pass. 2. Recent foreign investment: In 2009, the top five countries investing in St. Petersburg (categorized by percentage of total investment volume) were Belarus (15.8 percent), Switzerland (14.7 percent), Germany (10.1 percent), Cyprus (10.1 percent) and Great Britain (9.5 percent). Investment from the United States accounted for 3% of total investment volume. During the first quarter of 2010, foreign investment in the nonfinancial sector of St. Petersburg economy was equal to $1.1 billion. During that time, 90.3 percent of the foreign investment was for manufacturing. 3....
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...Downloaded by [University of Ottawa] at 14:44 24 March 2014 Football, Violence and Social Identity Downloaded by [University of Ottawa] at 14:44 24 March 2014 As the 1994 World Cup competition in the USA again demonstrates, football is one of the most popular participant and spectator sports around the world. The fortunes of teams can have great significance for the communities they represent at both local and national levels. Social and cultural analysts have only recently started to investigate the wide variety of customs, values and social patterns that surround the game in different societies. This volume contributes to the widening focus of research by presenting new data and explanations of football-related violence. Episodes of violence associated with football are relatively infrequent, but the occasional violent events which attract great media attention have their roots in the rituals of the matches, the loyalties and identities of players and crowds and the wider cultures and politics of the host societies. This book provides a unique cross-national examination of patterns of order and conflict surrounding football matches from this perspective with examples provided by expert contributors from Scotland, England, Norway, the Netherlands, Italy, Argentina and the USA. This book will be of interest to an international readership of informed soccer and sport enthusiasts and students of sport, leisure, society, deviance and culture. Richard Giulianotti, Norman...
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...Case Study #2 Cola Wars Management 5650 Fall 1 October, 17, 2013 Introduction There has been stiff competition between companies that produce similar goods. This competition is alive and well, especially in situations where there is need for a multiple of companies that offer similar goods and services to counter monopoly. However, these wars can take a different turn and bring changes to general operations of some firms (Long & Harding, 1998). Coca Cola and Pepsi are such companies that produce soft beverages, and the wars between these cola firms are far from over. In the recent past, Pepsi has made essential changes in its line of production, and this decision has enabled the beverage firm earn more revenue than Coca Cola. This case study will look at the strategies that both Coca Cola and Pepsi have adopted in their recent operations and the effects of these policies on the two beverage firms’ operations. Pepsi has made use of the application of the Pearce and Robinson Strategic Management Model to outplay Coca Cola in most of its internal strategic operations. This strategic management model has eleven components, and each component plays an important role toward the full implementation of the model as a system (Pearce-Robinson, 2010). Indra Nooyi, the boss at the Pepsi Co. has made several steps to counter Coca Cola’s high quality products. One of her major concern has been to produce less sugary goods at fairly pocket friendly prices. She has applied the eleven...
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