Death of a Saleman †Happy Loman Essay

Happy shares none of the poetry that erupts from Biff and that is buried in Willy—he is the stunted incarnation of Willy’s worst traits and the embodiment of the lie of the happy American Dream. As such, Happy is a difficult character with whom to empathize. He is one-dimensional and static throughout the play. His empty vow to avenge Willy’s death by finally â€Å"beat[ing] this racket† provides evidence of his critical condition: for Happy, who has lived in the shadow of the inflated expectations of his brother, there is no escape from the Dream’s indoctrinated lies. Happy’s diseased condition is irreparable—he lacks even the tiniest spark of self-knowledge or capacity for self-analysis. He does share Willy’s capacity for self-delusion, trumpeting himself as the assistant buyer at his store, when, in reality, he is only an assistant to the assistant buyer. He does not possess a hint of the latent thirst for knowledge that prov es Biff’s salvation. Happy is a doomed, utterly duped figure, destined to be swallowed up by the force of blind ambition that fuels his insatiable sex drive. Character Analysis Happy might as well be Willy Jr., because this apple hasn’t fallen far from the tree. Though he is relatively successful in his job, he has his dad’s totally unrealistic self-confidence, and his grand dreams about getting rich quick. Like Biff, but to a lesser extent, Happy has suffered from his father’s expectations. Mostly, though, his father doesn’t pay that much attention to him. Willy was always a bigger fan of Biff. Happy, maybe because he always felt second best, has more of a desire to please his father. Despite his respectable accomplishments in business, and the many, many notches on his bedpost, Happy is extremely lonely. Happy is competitive and ambitious, but these feelings are misdirected. Unable to compete on his own terms in the business world, Happy blindly pursues women – taken women – purely for the sake of doing so. Looks like he’s taken his sense of competition to the realm of sex. Of course, this, much like the world of business, fails to satisfy him. Most disturbing for Happy is the fact that he can’t figure out why all this isn’t working. He’s followed the rules, done all the right things, yet Happy just isn’t happy. His name highlights the irony of his predicament. If you consider the fact that parents name their children, you could say that Willy foolishly bestowed the nickname on his son in yet another display of misguidance and delusion. Nice. Just as the saddest part of Willy’s suicide is his continued delusion, the saddest part of Happy’s ending is his own persistent misbelief. Still driven by what he feels he should want (money, a wife), he sticks to Willy’s foolish dreams to the bitter end. Happy Loman Hap is the Loman’s youngest son. He lives in an apartment in New York, and during the play is staying at his parent’s house to visit. Hap is of low moral character; constantly with another woman, trying to find his way in life, even though he is confident he’s on the right track. Hap has always been the â€Å"second son† to Biff and tries to be noticed by his parents by showing off. When he was young he always told Willly, â€Å"I’m losin’ weight pop, you notice?† And, now he is always saying, â€Å"I’m going to get married, just you wait and see,† in an attempt to redeem himself in his mother’s eyes. Hap also tries to be on Willy’s good side and keep him happy, even if it means perpetuating the lies and illusions that Willy lives in. In the end of the play, Hap cannot see reality. Like his father, he is destined to live a fruitless life trying for something that will not happen. â€Å"Willy Loman did not die in vain,† he says, â€Å"†¦He had a good dream, the only dream a man can have – to come out number one man. He fought it out here, and this where I’m gonna win it for him.† Death of a Salesman By Arthur Miller Character Analysis Happy Loman Happy is a young version of Willy. He incorporates his father’s habit of manipulating reality in order to create situations that are more favorable to him. Happy grew up listening to Willy embellish the truth, so it is not surprising that Happy exaggerates his position in order to create the illusion of success. Instead of admitting he is an assistant to the assistant, Happy lies and tells everyone he is the assistant buyer. This is Willy’s philosophy all over again. Happy also relishes the fact that â€Å"respectable† women cannot resist him. He has seduced the fiancà ©es of three executives just to gain a perception of pleasure and power. He thrives on sexual gratification, but even more than that, Happy savors the knowledge that he has â€Å"ruined† women engaged to men he works for and also despises. He states, â€Å"I hate myself for it. Because I don’t want the girl, and, still, I take it and — I love it!† Happy is similar to Willy in two ways. Both deny their positions and exaggerate details in order to aggrandize themselves, and sexual interludes are the defining moments of both of their lives. Willy’s life revolves around his attempt to forget his affair with the Woman, while Happy’s life revolves around an active pursuit of affairs with many women. Death of a Salesman addresses loss of identity and a man’s inability to accept change within himself and society. The play is a montage of memories, dreams, confrontations, and arguments, all of which make up the last 24 hours of Willy Loman’s life. The three major themes within the play are denial, contradiction, and order versus disorder. Each member of the Loman family is living in denial or perpetuating a cycle of denial for others. Willy Loman is incapable of accepting the fact that he is a mediocre salesman. Instead Willy strives for his version of the American dream — success and notoriety — even if he is forced to deny reality in order to achieve it. Instead of acknowledging that he is not a well-known success, Willy retreats into the past and chooses to relive past memories and events in which he is perceived as successful. For example, Willy’s favorite memory is of Biff’s last football game because Biff vows to make a touchdown just for him. In this scene in the past, Willy can hardly wait to tell the story to his buyers. He considers himself famous as a result of his son’s pride in him. Willy’s sons, Biff and Happy, adopt Willy’s habit of denying or manipulating reality and practice it all of their lives, much to their detriment. It is only at the end of the play that Biff admits he has been a â€Å"phony† too, just like Willy. Linda is the only character that recognizes the Loman family lives in denial; however, she goes along with Willy’s fantasies in order to preserve his fragile mental state. The second major theme of the play is contradiction. Throughout the play, Willy’s behavior is riddled with inconsistencies. In fact, the only thing consistent about Willy is his inconsistency. From the very beginning of Act I, Scene 1, Willy reveals this tendency. He labels Biff a â€Å"lazy bum† but then contradicts himself two lines later when he states, â€Å"And such a hard worker. There’s one thing about Biff — he’s not lazy.† Willy’s contradictions often confuse audiences at the beginning of the play; however, they soon become a trademark of his character. Willy’s inconsistent behavior is the result of his inability to accept reality and his tendency to manipulate or re-create the past in an attempt to escape the present. For example, Willy cannot resign himself to the fact that Biff no longer respects him because of Willy’s affair. Rather than admit that their relationship is irreconcilable, Willy retreats to a pre vious time when Biff admired and respected him. As the play continues, Willy disassociates himself more and more from the present as his problems become too numerous to deal with. The third major theme of the play, which is order versus disorder, results from Willy’s retreats into the past. Each time Willy loses himself in the past, he does so in order to deny the present, especially if the present is too difficult to accept. As the play progresses, Willy spends more and more time in the past as a means of reestablishing order in his life. The more fragmented and disastrous reality becomes, the more necessary it is for Willy to create an alternative reality, even if it requires him to live solely in the past. This is demonstrated immediately after Willy is fired. Ben appears, and Willy confides â€Å"nothing’s working out. I don’t know what to do.† Ben quickly shifts the conversation to Alaska and offers Willy a job. Linda appears and convinces Willy that he should stay in sales, just like Dave Singleman. Willy’s confidence quickly resurfaces, and he is confident that he has made the right decision by turning down Ben’ s offer; he is certain he will be a success like Singleman. Thus, Willy’s memory has distracted him from the reality of losing his job. Denial, contradiction, and the quest for order versus disorder comprise the three major themes of Death of a Salesman. All three themes work together to create a dreamlike atmosphere in which the audience watches a man’s identity and mental stability slip away. The play continues to affect audiences because it allows them to hold a mirror up to themselves. Willy’s self-deprecation, sense of failure, and overwhelming regret are emotions that an audience can relate to because everyone has experienced them at one time or another. Individuals continue to react to Death of a Salesman because Willy’s situation is not unique: He made a mistake — a mistake that irrevocably changed his relationship with the people he loves most — and when all of his attempts to eradicate his mistake fail, he makes one grand attempt to correct the mistake. Willy vehemently denies Biff’s claim that they are both common, ordinary people, but ironically, it is the univers ality of the play which makes it so enduring. Biff’s statement, â€Å"I’m a dime a dozen, and so are you† is true after all. Miller often experiments with narrative style and technique. For example, Miller includes lengthy exposition pieces that read as stage directions within The Crucible. At first glance, it seems that an audience must either read the information in the program or listen to a long-winded narrator. Upon further inspection however, it becomes apparent that Miller’s inclusion of background material allows actors and directors to study character motivation and internalize the information, thereby portraying it in the performance. Miller provides audiences with a unique experience when it comes to Death of a Salesman. In many ways, the play appears traditional. In other words, there are actors who interact with one another, there is a basic plot line, and the play contains standard dramatic elements such as exposition, rising action, conflict, climax, and so forth. However, Miller’s manipulation of time and space creates a very non-traditional atmosphere that is unsettling but effective because it mirrors Willy’s mental state, thereby allowing the audience to witness his mental instability and take part in it. Stage directions call for a complete house for the Lomans. An audience will not simply watch the action take place in the kitchen but can observe several rooms within the home. This sounds as if it would be distracting since an audience can view several things at once. After all, what should the audience look at? If more than one character is on stage, whom should the audience pay attention to? Miller solves this problem through lighting. Only characters that are talking or involved in direct action are lit on stage, all other rooms, characters, and props remain in shadow. The result is a vast number of rooms and props that can be utilized immediately. The audience does not have to wait while a new set is erected or an old one torn down, but instead moves directly and instantaneously into the next scene. Such movement without the benefit of time delays or dialogue transitions produces a disjointed and fragmented sequence of events, much like a dream. In fact, the stage directions in Act I describe the house as follows: â€Å"An air of the dream clings to the place, a dream arising out of reality.† Miller does not stop there. Even though the action of the play can shift from one part of the house to another without delay, the action is still limited to the present. Willy’s dreams, memories, or recollections of past events must be revealed in a manner that is distinct from actions taking place in the present. This is important for two reasons: First, the audience must be able to differentiate between the present and the past in order to follow the action of the play; second, Willy’s increased agitation must be apparent to the audience, and there is no better way to reveal it than to have the audience observe his inability to separate the past from the reality of the present. Miller achieves this effect by manipulating the space and boundaries of the rooms. When action takes place in the present, characters observe wall boundaries and enter and exit through the doors. During Willy’s recollections of the past, characters do not observe wall boundaries, and the action generally takes place in the area at the front of the stage, rather than inside the house. As a result, the audience can distinguish present events from Willy’s memories. For example, in Act I, Scene 3, Willy pours a glass of milk in the kitchen, sits down, and begins to mumble to himself. He is in the present. He then remembers a past conversation with the teenage Biff and resumes the conversation. Since this is a past event, Willy directs his speech through the wall to a point offstage. This cues the audience that Willy is digressing in the past. Sound is also used to create a dreamlike state for both Willy and the audience. A flute melody is associated with Willy, Ben has his own music, laughter cues the Woman, and so forth. Once the sound is introduced with the appropriate character, the audience automatically associates the sound with that same character. As a result, Miller is able to prompt reactions and expectations from the audience, whether they are aware or not. For example, in Act II, Scene 14, it appears that things have finally been settled between Willy and Biff. Even though Biff is leaving in the morning, he and Willy have reconciled. This puts the audience at ease, but once Ben’s music is heard, it is evident that the play has not reached its final conclusion. In fact, Ben’s appearance may create anxiety for the audience because it suggests an alternate, more disturbing, end to the play. As the play progresses, the action shifts to the front of the stage. In other words, the audience becomes increasingly aware that the majority of the action is taking place inside Willy’s head. It is difficult enough to watch an individual lose his or her identity. It is extremely unsettling and disturbing to be forced to experience the individual’s memories, illusions, or perhaps delusions resulting in mental instability. Miller takes that into consideration and then pushes his audiences to the extreme. As Willy’s mental state declines, the audience is forced to watch and to react. As a result, the play may be called Death of a Salesman, but it is a death observed and experienced by every member of the audience.

What’s Gone Wrong with the Third Italy

Msc BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS CONTENT Introduction p. 3 Early glitches of the SMEs within the industrial districts p. 5 Analysis of two of the regional clusters at stake p. 6 What went wrong? p. 7 Concluding remarks p. 9 References p. 10 Introduction The purpose of this paper is to determine to which extent the economic areas known as ’Third Italy’ have not managed to achieve the well-desired status. The local development model has been presented as the perfect small-scale flexible capitalist type that has adopted a post-Fordist mode of production (Grancelli, 2007).The economic cluster referred to as Third Italy, was founded in the post-war period (1950s and 1960s) when the global economy was going through hard times of recovery. In the north-east part of Italy a new type of firms was developed. The question may be put why didn’t the other two important industrialized districts known as First Italy (the industrial heartland of the North) and the Second Italy (the backward South) have become the regions of wealth and economic growth.The answer lies primarily in the cultural values: the local culture of entrepreneurship and cooperation (Boschma, 1998) that to some extent doesn’t apply for other Italian regions. The following figure displays accurately the industrial zone of Italy: According to Bagnasco (1977) from a economic point of view Italy was divided into the ’Three Italies’: the North-west, the big companies, was tagged as ’central economy’, the shallow regions of the South seen as ’marginal economy’ and the central-North-eastern regions- known as Third Italy- haracterized by the presence of small firms that are defined as ’peripheral economy’. Nonetheless, the way in which the Third Italy region was defined didn’t hide the real facts; when compared to the North-west typology, productivity per worker and work unit-costs were sensibly lower. But t his didn’t disable the central-north-east cluster to have a significant development process that is confirmed by: a reduction of agricultural employees, an increase in manufacturing workers, growth in resident population, and an upward trend in Italy’s industrial national product (Bianchi, 1998).The â€Å"Third Italy† region, also referred to as Emilia-Romagna, forms a north-eastern group of counties that propelled themselves to a position of prosperity between the relatively wealthy north-western triangle of Italy and the relatively impoverished Mezzagiorno region south of Rome (Walcott, 2007). Localized production centres utilize export-oriented niche specializations to create place-based economies supporting local firms. Related residents supply both low labour costs and endogenously accumulated capital.Light industrial products include foods, clothing, shoes, furniture, and metal work for a craft-based market. Building on a textiles and leather goods special ization, that demands rapid responses to a notoriously fickle fashion market, familial and other locally forged trust-based ties enabled local star â€Å"Benetton† to become an international fashion retail chain. Knowledge of the local market was so finely tuned that offerings were famously differentiated even within the same city (Walcott, 2007).External economies of place propelled tightly organized local regions to maximize returns based on clearly defined sectoral specialization. In one example clearly defying physical topography, Silicon Valley imitators sprang up around the globe as hopeful high technology havens. A real estate set-aside does not an industrial district make, however (Walcott, 2007). Early glitches of the SMEs within the industrial districts In the early 1990s the one of the menacing forces against the Italian industrial clusters was the post-industrial transition.The internationalization of the economy endangers the developing process of small-scale fir ms. One good argument is the external market that provides expanded multinational, multi-product, multi-market companies (Holland, 1987). Even if the European Union is trying to help out these businesses by adopting policies and programmes the structural problems are not accurately aimed (Dastoli and Vilella, 1992: 179). Firms part of the Italian industrial district were running short of breath confirming that the market by its self regulation has launched an attack to the ’small is beautiful’ saying.Innovation plays a key part in the life of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) from the industrial clusters. It is noticed a decline in the importance of factors sources of external economies) that empowered the initial outset of the firms. The long used external sources were starting to lose grip in the face of the needed environmental efficiency (Bianchi, 1998). The changes that had to be performed weren’t a walk in the park. According to Bianchi (1990): the local entrepreneurs’ social culture and the past history successes disable the belief of urgent innovation investment.Also, economic barriers have prohibited small firms to access the large scale research and development, marketing and etc. (Regini and Sabel, 1989). Furthermore, two additional problems sprung up from the innovation process that need to be taken into consideration: ’product innovation’ in those zone of production with a highly design content that subtracts the formal innovation side rather than the technological innovation, because the first one includes creativity, imagination and taste, factors that are not easily obtained in business-set like this.The other difficulty is process innovation meaning that adopting a higher technological labour focused system would both increase productivity and decrease costs (Bianchi, 1998). Hadjimicalis (Hadjimicalis, 2006) introduces a set of arguments that could nevertheless be the real ones behind Third Italyâ₠¬â„¢s downturn. ’The lack of attention to the role of state’ implies the obsolete focus on different direct and indirect protectionist measures and regulations as in the work of radicals Stoper (1997) and Scott (1988).The most important protectionist measures as the Multi-Fibre Agreement that went in favour for Italy’s blooming manufacturing industries. The regulatory decisions have protected Italy along with other countries from ’unlimited competition’ in garments and textiles from the menacing low waged countries in the Eastern part of the world. Another governmental intervention was the fiscal regulation which consisted the hedging the exchange rates for the lira due to the devaluations throughout the 20th century and one of them when Euro currency was adopted in 2001.An interesting fact is that all those authors that supported the theories behind Third Italy industrial clusters as (Asheim 1999, Becattini 1990, Cooke 1988) haven’t seen th e harsh reality of such a business type: poor working conditions and safety conditions, longer work hours and low paid working hours. All the other specific characteristics of the small-scale enterprises from the region as: flexibility, innovation and embbededness of small firms (Hadjimichalis, 2006). Another term that was used to explain the success of Italian IDs is ’social capital’.It is the theoretical concept that has been used by various authors. A good perspective is seen through the lenses of Hadjimichalis: ’From individuals to communities, from firms to families, from cooperation to competition, from working conditions to unions, from trust and reciprocity to corruption and from the success to the failure of a place, all are called social capital’, this explaining clearly the real trend of firms within the Italian industrial clusters. Analysis of two of the regional clusters at stakeThe most remarkable evolution oscillations can be outlined in Em ilia-Romagna and Veneto provinces, where ’industrialisation without breaks’ (Fua,1983) was followed by a third party strategy ’without breaks’ which means that the regions have gained the prestige of stability organisms within the frontier of national development. The Piedmont and Lombardy are also good examples for the comparative advantage of their early launch and the lasting predominance of their industries provided the solid foundations for a strong post-industrial transition (Bianchi, 1998).Tuscany, on the other hand, has badly faced up to the need to restructure during the 1980s. Its historical memory describes best the anti-industrial attitude of its ruling class. Differences between the two provinces within the Third Italy are clear. The Emilia-Romagna’s type of industrial development is seen as unique and deeply rooted in the region’s culture and entrepreneurial activity (Heidenreich, 1996) and when compared to Tuscany’s ina bility to cope with a model of development that seems inapplicable to the case.Table 1 underlines the two differences in between the two regions described above. What went wrong? The industrial district of Third Italy (IDs) have suffered severe changes during the early 1990s because of the demand fall for Made in Italy products along with the emergence of new lower waged Eastern Europe companies and developing countries (Grancelli,2006). The active devaluation of the lira due to the euro introduction had a significant impact on the upward trend of Italian exports.The small-scale enterprises that have set a foothold into the creation of the so-called Third Italy region, were basically family businesses which put all into a network bowl had formed the leading industrial area of Italy and a model to follow on by the emerging countries. Following the same idea it could be said that the demographic decline has started a process of ’social construction of the market’ (Bagnas co ;amp; Triglia 1984; Dei Ottati 1995; Provasi 2002).The financial global crisis has put its fingerprint on the actual Italian industrial districts, but those enterprises that could jump incremental innovation and ensure a competitive position globally had somewhat survived the impact (Whitford, 2001). The latter example of firms shows that they have created vertically integrated organizational blueprints, and made foreign direct investments in contrast to the swept out firms that have just relocated part of their production (Grancelli, 2006) to low pay working force or to attract foreign workers in the home production facilities.According to Hadjimichailis (2006) : The erosion of the Italian industrial clusters was made through: ’ Relocation of production in Eastern Europe in search of low labour costs’ and this gave birth to: a severe increase in unemployment percentages and adding the hiring of immigrant workers within the Italian borders. Hadjimichailis (2006) als o introduces the ’bloody Taylorism’ term which is used in relation to the destination markets of the Italian entrepeneurs, Eastern Europe countries.This is used in connection to the SMEs of Veneto which were thought to re-establish Fordist factories due to delocalization processes. One example is the relocated production quotas abroad which ranged from 23% to 45% that resulted in a decrease of 28% of employment, 38% of production units in the region. This being said, the following concluding remarks could be made: ’Fordism is not only alive and well at the global scale, but it also returns as a solution to Italian firms’ from the industrial clusters, which were the models of flexibility and industrial district mythology (Hadjimichailis, 2006 : 95).The eastern slide of some of the sub-contractors from the Third Italy confirms the ideology that coordination between subsidiaries abroad and the parent company could not be only made through tacit knowledge of skilled workers and technicians remains an important factor even in a globally set value chain (Biggero, 2006). Those actors that have relocated their business into the Eastern part of Europe, Romania or other Balkan countries are seen as ’extroverted actors’ that also maintained relations within the home country district (Tappy, 2005).An important technological disequilibrium was introduced in the late 1960s – plastic materials for ski boots – by the lively research of external knowledge through some of leading firms. Another challenge of the north-eastern industrial clusters is the superior technological level of the products and putting a foot in the door of appealing mergers and acquisitions. Old, traditional and family driven businesses that are identified within the Third Italy areas need to see the ever changing strategy patterns as to going from a production to design phase which could attract cost diminishing (Cooke, 1998).It must not be neglecte d the power created by the tight bonded social network that has nurtured its roots for more than 50 years and before de ’90s has raised economic analysts’ eye browses throughout the world. Concluding remarks In order to survive, Italian industrial districts need to be fulfilling the following two conditions: their social and geographical division of labour remains globally competitive as compared to similar areas, sectors and other forms of industrial production, and their internal system of social reproduction remains unchallenged. Hadjimichalis, 2006) Mergers and acquisitions with famous brand names could be live threats for the small business embedded firms from the industrial zones of Italy. The power of Fordism has not dawned; in fact there is an increase of business deployment using this theory mainly in the Eastern countries. De-localization breaks the mesmerizing effect of small-scale flexible companies and builds up the multinational company picture having ver tical integrated characteristics.The presence of a huge wave of non-EU immigrants also changes the parameters of the Third Italy’s rather stable local social structure, with a cap on immigrations that could preserve craft traditions and the reproduction of skills. Even though ’Third Italy’ concept is turning ethereal, the back stage offers the resources, specific capabilities and core competencies developed throughout the years by the district firms to achieve competitive advantage in their markets but also to allow their sub-parts within the industrial system (Schiavone, 2004).As theories claim Third Italy revolves around the social capital theories that also could be a driver for economic performance (Granato et al. , 1996). In addition to too little social capital, too much social capital could have a negative impact on economic performance (Boschma and Lambooy, 2002). Finally, it could be assumed that the process of rethinking and reorienting of Third Italyà ¢â‚¬â„¢s entrepreneurial and family based firms has done a significant change to whole industrial aggregate. References Asheim B. (1999), â€Å" Interactive learning and localized knowledge in globalising learning economies†.Geojournal 49(4):345–352 Bagnasco, A. ,Trigilia, C. (eds) (1984), â€Å" Societa e politica nelle aree di piccola impresa: Il caso di Bassano, Venezia: Arsenale Editrice. agnasco†, A. ,Trigilia, C. (eds) (1984), Societa e politica nelle aree di piccola impresa: Il caso di Bassano, Venezia: Arsenale Editrice. Becattini G. , (1990) â€Å"The Marchallian industrial district as a socio-economic notion. In F Pyke, G Becattini and W Sengerberger (eds) Industrial Districts and the Interfirm Co-operation in Italy† (pp 132–142). Geneva: ILO Bianchi, G. (1998), â€Å"Requiem for the Third Italy?Rise and fall of a too successful concept†, Entrepeneurship;amp; Regional Development, 10 (1998), 93-116. Biggero, L. (2006), â€Å"Indus trial and knowledge delocation strategies under the challenges of globalization and digitalization: the move of small and medium enterprises among territorial systems† , Entrepreneurship and Regional Development, 18: 443-471 Boschma, R. A. , and Lambooy, J. G. 2002. â€Å" Knowledge, market structure and economic co-ordination: the dynamics of industrial districts. Growth and Change† 33 (3): 291-311. Boschma, Ron A. , Kloosterman R.C. (1998), â€Å"Learning from Clusters: A Critical Assessment†,  © 2005 Springer. Printed in the Netherlands. 139–168. Cooke P. , (1988) â€Å" Flexible integration, scope economies and strategic alliances: Social and spatial mediation†. Society and Space 6:281–300 Cooke P. , Morgan, K. (1998), â€Å" The Associational Economy†, Oxford: O. U. P. Dastoli, P. V. and Viclla, G. 1992â€Å" La Nuova Europa. Dalla Comunita all' Unione (Bologna: II Mulino) † Dei Ottati, G. (1995), â€Å"Tra mercato e com unita: Aspetti concettuali e ricerche empiriche sul distretto industriale†, Milano: F.Angeli. Fua, G. and C. Zacchia (1983) (a cura di), â€Å" Industrializzazione senza fratture, Bologna: Il Mulino†. Granato, J. , Inglehart, R. , and Leblang, D. (1996). â€Å"The effect of cultural values on economic development. Theory, hypotheses, and some empirical testsâ€Å". American Journal of Political Sciences 40 (3): 607-631 Grancelli, B. , Chiesi A. M. (2006), â€Å"Elites-in-the-making and their organizational behaviour: Cases in Russia and the Balkans†, in B. Dallago (ed. ), Transformation and European Integration. The Local Dimension, London: Palgrave. Holland, S. 1987), â€Å"The Market Economy, From Micro- To Meso-Economics† ( London: Weidenfeld ;amp; Nicholson). Hadjimichalis, C. (2006), â€Å"The End of Third Italy as we knew it ? â€Å", Editorial Board of Antipode. Published by Blackwell Publishing, 9600 Garsington Road, Oxford OX4 2DQ, UK and 350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148, USA Heidenreich, M. 1996 â€Å"Beyond flexible specialization: the rearrangement of regional production orders in Emilia-Romagna and Baden-Wurttemberg†, European Planning Studies, 4: 401-420 Makdisi S. , Casarino C. , Karl R. E. , â€Å"Marxism Beyond Marxism† Routledge, London, 1996, pg. 155Provasi, G. (2002) (Ed. ), â€Å"Le istituzioni dello sviluppo, Roma: Donzelli Regini, M. and Sabel†, C. 1989 Strategic di riaggiustamento industriale (Bologna: II Mulino). Schiavone ,F. , Dezi L. (2004), â€Å"Managerial Styles within an Italian Industrial District:Two different successful storiesâ€Å" Scott A and Storper M (1988) â€Å"The geographical foundations and social regulation offlexible production complexes†. In J Wolch and M Dear (eds) The Power of Geography (pp 21–40). London: Allen and Unwin Storper M (1997) â€Å"The Regional World: Territorial Development in a Global Economy†. New York: Guilford Tappi, D . 2005) â€Å"Cluster, adaptation and extroversion. A cognitive and entrepreneurial analysis of the Marche music cluster†, European Urban and Regional Studies, 12/3: 289- 307. Walcott, Susan M. (2007) â€Å"Wenzhou and the Third Italy: Entrepreneurial Model Regions†, Journal of Asia-Pacific Business, 8: 3, 23 — 35 Whitford, J. (2001), â€Å"The decline of a model? Challenge and response in the Italian industrial districts†, Economy and Society, 30/1: 38-65. ——————————————– [ 1 ]. Theory that appeared after the ‘Fordism’ period in which a mass consumer was targeted, products standardized and costs lowered. Post-Fordism’ is characterized by ‘flexible specialization’ based on dense networks of flexible, strongly related, mostly small and medium-sized firms in mainly craft-based industries that are concentrated in specialis ed industrial districts(Boschma,1998). [ 2 ]. Copyright 2010 privileges set. [ 3 ]. SME-small and medium enterprises [ 4 ]. Putnam’s work on Italy (1993), Porter’s on clusters (1998) [ 5 ]. (Casarino, 1996) – After the Industrial Revolution, a mechanical engineer called Frederick W. Taylor proposed a new way to organize factories and shop floors with what he called the â€Å"Scientific Management†.

Israel Essays - Anthrozoology, Fish, Oily Fish, Scombridae

Israel Essays - Anthrozoology, Fish, Oily Fish, Scombridae Israel Teams of archaeologists were excavating in Israel when they came upon a cave. Written across the wall of the cave were the following symbols, in this order of appearance: A woman, a donkey, a shovel, a fish and a Star of David. They decided that this was a unique find and the writings were at least three thousand years old. They chopped out the piece of stone and had it brought to the museum, where archeologists from all over the world came to study the ancient symbols. They held a huge meeting after months of conferences to discuss the meaning of the markings. The president of the society stood up and pointed to the first drawing and said: This looks like a woman. We can, therefore, judge that this race was family oriented and held women in high esteem. You can also tell that they were intelligent, industrious, inventive, and resourceful. The next symbol resembles a donkey, so, they were smart enough to have animals help them till the soil. The following pictograph, the image of what appears to be a shovel of some sort, which indicates that they had tools at their disposal to make their work more efficient and purposeful. Even further proof of their high intelligence is the next picture, that of a fish, which clearly means that if a famine had hit the earth, whereby food did not grow, they would take to the sea for food. And finally, the last symbol, evidently a Star of David, although somewhat primitive in design, indicates that these early inhabitants were indeed Hebrews. The audience of archaeologists applauded enthusiastically. Suddenly, an old man stood up in the back of the room and said, Idiots! Hebrew is read from right to left! It says: Holy Mackerel! Dig the Ass on that Woman!

Economics and Figure Essays

Economics and Figure Essays Economics and Figure Paper Economics and Figure Paper Essay Topic: Economics |1. |The total product curve: | |B) |will become flatter as output increases, if there are diminishing returns to the variable input. | Use the following to answer questions 2-3: [pic] |2. |(Table: Total Product and Marginal Product) The marginal product of the second worker is: | |C) |20. | |3. |(Table: Total Product and Marginal Product) The average product of the fourth worker is ________ units. | |B) |22. | Use the following to answer question 4: Figure: Total Product [pic] |4. |(Figure: Total Product) As units of labor are hired between quantities L1 and L2, ________ is ________ and ________ is ________. | |A) |total product; rising; marginal product; positive | [pic] |1. |(Table: Output and Costs) Using the information in the table, when quantity equals three, average total cost equals: | |D) |17. | |2. Cindy operates Birds-R-Us, a small store manufacturing and selling 100 bird feeders per month. Cindys monthly total fixed costs| | |are $500, and her monthly total variable costs are $2,500. If for some reason Cindys fixed cost fell to $400, then her: | |B) |average total costs would decrease. | |3. |Rebecca knows that Becca Furnitures marginal cost curve is above the average total cost curve. This means Becca Furnitures | | |average total cost curve: | |A) |must be rising. Use the following to answer question 4: Figure: Short-Run Costs II [pic] |4. |(Figure: Short-Run Costs II) At six units of output, average total cost is approximately: | |C) |$170. | Use the following to answer questions 1-2: Figure: Cost Curves [pic] |1. |(Figure: Cost Curves) If a firm faced a long-run average total cost curve as shown in the figure, and it expected to produce | | |100,000 units of the good in the long run, the firm should build the plant associated with: | |B) |ATC2. |2. |(Figure: Cost Curves) If a firm currently was producing at point C on the ATC2 in the figure but anticipates increasing output | | |to 225,000 units in the long run, the f irm will build a ________ plant and experience ________. | |D) |larger; diseconomies of scale | |3. |A manufacturing company that benefits from lower costs per unit as it grows is an example of a firm experiencing: | |A) |increasing returns to scale. |1. |A decrease in demand and a decrease in supply will lead to a(n) ________ in equilibrium quantity and a(n) ________ in | | |equilibrium price. | |A) |decrease; indeterminate change | Figure: Average Total Cost Curve [pic] |10. |(Figure: Average Total Cost Curve) In the figure, the total cost of producing five pairs of boots is approximately: | |A) |$408. | Figure: A Perfectly Competitive Firm in the Short Run pic] |17. |(Figure: A Perfectly Competitive Firm in the Short Run) The firm will shut down in the short run if the price falls below: | |D) |P. | |18. |(Figure: A Perfectly Competitive Firm in the Short Run) The firms total revenue from the sale of its most profitable level of | | |output is: | |A) |0GLD. | Use the following to answer question 20: [pic] |20. (Table: Marginal Benefit, Cost, and Consumer Surplus) The table shows six consumers willingness to pay (his or her individual | | |marginal benefit) for one iTunes download of a Jack Johnson song. If the marginal social cost is constant at $0, then the | | |efficient price is ________ and consumer surplus would be ________. | |A) |$0; $37 | Figure: The Restaurant Market [pic] |25. |(Figure: The Restaurant Market) The figure shows curves facing a typical restaurant in a community. Assume that many firms, | | |differentiated products, and easy entry and easy exit characterize the market. If the restaurant shown here is typical of others| | |in the community, then in the long run, we would expect to observe: | |B) |new restaurants entering the market. | |26. |The kinked demand curve model assumes that: | |B) |rivals will follow a price decrease but not a price increase. | Next exam 11/16 |1. Suppose that the market for haircuts in a community is perfectly competitive and that the market is initially in long-run | | |equilibrium. Subsequently, an increase in population increases the demand for haircuts. In the short run, we expect that the | | |market price will ________ and the output of a typical firm will ________. | |A) |rise; rise | Use the following to answer questions 2: Figure: Profit Maximizing [pic] |2. |(Figure: Profit Maximizing) The figure shows cost curves for a firm operating in a perfectly competitive market. If the market | | |price is P4, the firm will produce quantity ________ and ________ in the short run. | |B) |q3; make a profit | |3. |In the perfectly competitive guidebook industry, the market price is $35. A firm is currently producing 10,000 guidebooks; | |(Figure: Profit Maximizing) The figure shows cost curves for a firm operating in a perfectly competitive market. If the market | | |average total cost is $38, marginal cost is $30, and average variable cost is $30. The firm should: | |price is P3, the firm will produce quantity ________ and ________ in the short run. | | | | | |C) | |produce more guidebooks, because the next guidebook produced increases profit by $5. | | | |4. |Consider the following data for a perfectly competitive firm: price is $9, output is 30 units, and average total cost is $7. The| | |firms profits are equal to: | |A) |$60. | |5. |A perfectly competitive firms marginal cost curve above the average variable cost curve is its: | |B) |short-run supply curve. Use the following to answer question 6: [pic] |6. |(Table: Variable Costs for Lots) During the winter, Alexa runs a snow-clearing service, and snow-clearing is a perfectly | | |competitive industry. Her only fixed cost is $1,000 for a tractor. Her variable costs per cleared lot, shown in the table, | | |include fuel and hot coffee. What is Alexas shut-down price in the short run? | |B) |$15 | |1. |The city bus system charges lower fares to senior citizens than to other passengers. Assuming that this pricing strategy | | |increases the profits of the bus system, we can conclude that senior citizens must have a ________ for bus service than other | | |passengers. | |C) |more elastic demand | |2. |Kaile Cakes is currently producing 10 cakes per day. The marginal cost of the tenth cake is $24, and average total cost of 10 | | |cakes is $6. The average total cost of 9 cakes is: | |A) |$4. | |3. |Many furniture stores run â€Å"Going out of Business† sales but never go out of business. In order for the shut-down decision to be | | |the appropriate one, the price of furniture must be ________ than the ________ average variable cost. | |B) |lower; minimum | Use the following to answer question 4: Figure and Table: Variable, Fixed, and Total Costs [pic] [pic] |4. |(Figure and Table: Variable, Fixed, and Total Costs) In the figure, the marginal cost of increasing production from 19 to 36 | | |bushels of wheat is: | |B) |$11. 76. | Use the following to answer question 5: [pic] |5. |(Table: Demand for Lennys Coffee) Lennys Cafe is the only source of coffee for hundreds of miles in any direction. The demand | | |schedule for Lennys coffee is given by the table. If Lennys marginal cost of selling coffee is a constant $2, his | | |profit-maximizing level of output is ________ cups at a price of ________ per cup. | |A) |four; $6 | |6. |At 76 units of labor, a firm finds that average product of labor equals 39. 6 and marginal product of labor equals 42. 9. We can | | |conclude that the average product curve at 76 units of labor is: | |A) |upward-sloping. | 7. |The slope of a long-run average total cost curve exhibiting diseconomies of scale is: | |C) |positive. | Use the following to answer question 8: Figure: Revenues, Costs, and Profits III [pic] |8. |(Figure: Revenues, Costs, and Profits III) In the figure, if the market price is $8, the profit-maximizing quantity of output | | |is: | |A) |0. | |9. One government policy for dealing with a natural monopoly is to: | |B) |impose a price ceiling to eliminate any economic profit. | Figure: Revenues, Costs, and Profits [pic] |10. |(Figure: Revenues, Costs, and Profits) At the profit-maximizing qu antity of output in the figure, total revenue is $________, | | |total cost is $________, and profit is $________. | |B) |90; 70; 20 | |1. |A farm can produce 1,000 bushels of wheat per year with two workers and 1,300 bushels of wheat per year with four workers. The | | |marginal product of the fourth worker is: | |D) |150 bushels. | |2. |Suppose that the market for candy canes operates under conditions of perfect competition, that it is initially in long-run | | |equilibrium, and that the price of each candy cane is $0. 10. Now suppose that the price of sugar rises, increasing the marginal | | |and average total cost of producing candy canes by $0. 05; there are no other changes in production costs. Based on the | | |information given, we can conclude that in the long run we will observe: | |A) |firms leaving the industry. | Use the following to answer question 3: [pic] |3. |(Table: Production of Cabinets) The table shows how many cabinets your firm can make with a variable quantity of labor hired. | | |After which worker does the firm begin to experience diminishing returns to labor? | |B) |second | Use the following to answer question 8: [pic] |8. (Table: Costs of Producing Bagels) Average total cost reaches its minimum value for the ________ bagel. | |C) |fourth | Use the following to answer question 13: [pic] |13. |(Table: Soybean Cost) The costs of production of a perfectly competitive soybean farmer are given in the table. If the market | | |price of a bushel of soybeans is $15, how many bushels will the farmer produce to maximize short-run profit? | |B) |5 | Use the following to answer question 14: Figure: A Firms Cost Curves [pic] |14. |(Figure: A Firms Cost Curves) The curve labeled V represents the firms ________ curve. | |C) |marginal cost | Use the following to answer question 17: Figure: Profit Maximizing [pic] |17. |(Figure: Profit Maximizing) The figure shows cost curves for a firm operating in a perfectly competitive market. Which of the | | |following statements is true? | |B) |AFC is represented in this figure by the vertical distance between Curve N and Curve O at any level of output. |

PERSUASIVE WRITING Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

PERSUASIVE WRITING - Essay Example Among such organizations is the one called â€Å"Feed the Children, Inc.†. It was founded in 1979 in Oklahoma City, and today it works all over the world. As it is mentioned on the official website of â€Å"Feed the Children†, the organization â€Å"exists to end child hunger† and has the mission of â€Å"providing hope and resources for those without life essentials† (Feed the Children, Inc., 2014). Overall, the focus of the organization is to deliver food, drugs, clothes and other necessities to children and their families who lack them all over the globe. Every person can lend a helpful hand and support children in need as the organization presents a range of unique opportunities for those who wish to help out, such as sponsoring a child, volunteering, and organizing special projects (â€Å"Feed the Children, Inc., 2014). The first unique way every person can help a kid in need presented by â€Å"Feed the Children† is called â€Å"Sponsor a Child†. The essence of this option is that the organization gives the opportunity for those who want to be engaged in a program to change a life of a particular child. As the website goes, â€Å"for only $30 a month, you can have a powerful impact in one child’s life; you’ll stop her stomach from growling, give her clean water and send her to school† (Feed the Children, Inc., 2014). For children who live in the developing countries, even thirty dollars can be of a great support and can â€Å"help rescue a boy or a girl from the enemies of childhood – hunger, disease and poverty† (Feed the Children, Inc., 2014). This option allows searching and choosing a child one wants to help; by this, one’s support becomes not only more personalized but more controlled as well because a sponsor has an opportunity to commun icate with the kid he/she decides to help through letters, photos and important information as well as regular updates on the child’s health and well-being. In a course of one month,

Steve Jobs, a Modern Hero Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Steve Jobs, a Modern Hero - Essay Example He was among the most influential persons in the globe for the last four decades. So influential he was, but not without authority. He assembled a team that was accordingly competent and conformed to his commands with total fealty. Not just his death, his resignation as Apple’s Chief Executive Officer was a total anguish to the world. The public response to the tremendous death was that only seen in cases involving tales about epic heroes. Like a modern hero, he accepted assistance from his fellows as well as subordinates. In addition, he inspired those he worked with to be better. Fearless to dream, he invented technologies that extremely fulfilled the lives of countless people. This paper focuses on the life of Steve Jobs as a modern hero, triumphing via initiative, technology, and will power, who looks at things from a global perspective. Born on February 24, 1955 to an unmarried Joanne Simpson and Abdufattah Jandari in San Francisco , Steven was given up to adoption and adopted by Clara and Paul Jobs of California who brought him up . His adoptive parents cherished and nurtured his curiosity in electronics. He dropped out of college in 1972 when he felt his parents were struggling too much to educate him and he was still not sure of what he wanted. He foremost saw a computer terminal at NASA’s Ames Research Center. ... His engineers at Apple tailored the idea to come up with two great computers, the pricier Lisa and Macintosh (Iwatani & Fowler Web). After this, one invention came after another, from the ‘graphical’ PC of 1984 to Pixer, Apple completely changed the world of computers. It kept building new and better innovations under the guidance of the competent Jobs. He was once pushed out of Apple for eleven years due to discrepancy with Sculley. Even when out of Apple his dream remained sentient, and he opened another company ‘NEXT’. He later rejoined Apples, to find it struggling to remain in the picture but he invigorated the company (Robertson Web). Most fancied of his inventions is the launch of iPod in 2001, a pocket garget that could lug up to 1000 songs. Next came the touch screen iPhone in 2007 coupled by Apple’s App Store in the subsequent year. In 2010, arrived the iPad. These and other innovations ranked Apples as the second biggest company by 2011 in United States. Though most felt that creation of iPad was unimportant, Steve wizardly convinced the world to accept and buy the tablet sized all touch computer. Jobs ideas resulted not only in Apple’s success but also fashioned everything, from Hollywood to music industry. They changed PC as well as digital media industries (Robertson Web). Jobs unreservedly transformed the field of technology, completely revolutionizing the word. He had an entirely diverse way of envisaging things, always believed in himself and brilliant enough to implement what he contemplated. No hero lacks rivals, and Steve did have some, Bill Gates a computer intellect like Jobs was one of them. The difficult path full of the setbacks and disappointments he had to follow to be triumphant as well as the challenges he came across but

Litigation and Midwifery Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Litigation and Midwifery - Essay Example Knowledge on which persons are allowed to file a claim, which places can the claims be filed, the time that the claim has to be filed, and how the claim is to be filed is also necessary. There exist several types of litigation. These include business litigation, commercial litigation, public interest litigation, personal injury litigation, mesothelioma litigation, civil litigation, and patent litigation (Laws.com, 2011). Business litigation refers to a particular field of law that handles disputes that arise between businesses and individuals or between two businesses. The law states that all businesses ought to operate under a specified code of ethics while at the same time carry out practices that are legal. A business may fail to operate legally and in the process result in the loss of finances by a client or harming the client. Such a client has the legal right to file for business litigation. In many instances, such cases essentially seek financial settlement. A criminal sentenc e may be awarded in some cases for the immoral conduct by the business entity (Laws.com, 2011). Commercial litigation refers to an area of law that is concerned with disputes that involve commercial companies or businesses. In most cases, the legal disputes that fall under this category are usually with regard to disagreements between the companies. This type of litigation focuses on legal disputes that may be emanating from drafting of contracts, mergers between companies, and real estate laws. The companies may disagree on management of property and finances. In most of the cases an out of the court solution is sought by the litigators and litigants (Laws.com, 2012). Public litigation refers to an area of law to covers all wrong-doings, incidents, and /or legal situations that affect the community’s well being. Interestingly this type of litigation is initiated by the court. The court system is responsible for initiating this legal proceeding. Although many view it as a rel atively new type of litigation, it has featured prominently in environmental law practice. Any action taken by an individual or by a corporation that results in inhibiting a particular society’s progress or damages a necessity is punishable under this type of litigation. Public Interest Litigation is an attempt to fulfill the guarantee of fundamental rights that citizens have been guaranteed (Kirpal, et al, 2000). In certain cases that involve injury to persons, legal processes may be initiated in order to realize the dispute. These legal proceedings are referred to as Personal Injury Litigations. In a typical case, an individual filing for this type of a case seeks to be compensated for injuries. This type of litigation arises from the deliberate or negligent action by a given party that precipitates to the physical injury of another party. Many clients are advised to seek the advice of the PIAB (Personal Injuries Assessment Board) as a first step towards seeking compensatio n. The PIAB provides an assessment for victims of personal injury and are seeking compensation. It assesses victims of injury at the workplace, public liability accidents and motor accidents (Malcomson Law, 2008). Mesothelioma litigations are common litigations that focus on companies that expose their employees to asbestos without protecting them against it or without even warning them.