ZARA Fast Fashion

Table of Contents Inditex (Industria de Diseà ±o Textil) Strength of Inditex Weaknesses and challenges Coping with managing multi-chain stores Should it start up or add more chains Conclusion Reference Inditex (Industria de Diseà ±o Textil) Inditex, a global retail specialty, manufactured and sold accessories, footwear and apparel for men, women and children. These products were distributed and sold through Zara and other five chains linked to it in other parts of the world. Inditex was located in Spain and was the owner of Zara and other five apparel retailing chains and was founded by Amancio Ortega Gaona.Advertising We will write a custom report sample on ZARA: Fast Fashion specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More In 2001, as it was coming to the end of its fiscal year, it had accomplished much. For instance, it had acquired a selling space around the world including Spain, an area of about 659,400 square meters and on it operate d 1284 stores. In addition, it generated 54% of total revenue of â‚ ¬ 3,250 million in the 515 stores it had outside Spain and showed a continued trajectory of rapid and profitable growth from Zara and its other chains with a net income amounting to â‚ ¬340 million (Ghemawat Nueno, 2003). Inditex had many employers who worked both in Spain and in other retailing chains outside Spain. Its total number of employees was 26,784 and out this number, 10,919 employees worked in the retail chains located outside Spain. Over 76% of Inditex employees were women and put together with men, they had an average year of 26. Additionally, the company had split its employees to work in different departments and sections. For instance, 8.5% of the employees worked in the distribution, logistics, design and manufacturing departments while over 80% were doing retail sales in the stores. The remaining activities were carried out by the small group that worked in the headquarters. To maintain its operations, Inditex split its capital expenditure giving 80% to new store openings, 10% on maintenance or logistics and another 10% on refurbishing (Ghemawat Nueno, 2003). Its working capital was higher in some season in the year and lower in others. Therefore, to deal with these issues, it had to come up with plans to tightly manage its working capital and its capital expenditure which was â‚ ¬50-510 million.Advertising Looking for report on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Also, it ensured that it had opened 230-275 new stores with the capital across all chains. It is important to note that in 2001, Inditex operating economics had involved operating margins of 22%, operating expenses with a revenue equivalence of 30%, of which one half of the 30% were related to personnel, and a gross margin of 52% (Ghemawat Nueno, 2003). Moreover, Inditex operated six retailing chains at the beginning of 2002. The r etail chains were Zara, Oysho, Stradivarius, Bershka, Pull Bear and Massimo Dutti. These retailing chains formed 60 companies consolidated into Inditex at the group level. The remaining chains were involved in finance, real estates, logistics, manufacturing, and textile purchasing. The net income of Inditex generated 82% from internal transfer pricing and other policies. The six retailing chains were organized as separate business units together with six support areas dealing with raw materials, logistics, manufacturing plant, real estate and so on. In addition to the separate business units, Inditex had nine corporate departments each operating independently with its own strategy personnel, financial results, image, distribution, and manufacturing system. The group management was to set strategic vision of the group, provide them with administrative services and coordinate the activities of the concept. Inditex ensured that coordination had been increased particularly in the areas of expansion and real estate. Also, it formulated plans to open up other chain stores in other locations with Zara helping to accelerate the process of expansion of new chain stores in other areas. Oysho, one of Inditex’s chain stores drew 75% of its resources from other chains and within 6 months it had come to operate stores in seven markets in different parts of Europe (Ghemawat Nueno, 2003). Also, top corporate managers of Inditex came up with strategic plan to control their performances, run the chains, approve business strategic of the individual chain and control the business. Inditex had a major scope in production than the three retailers. However, the competitors of Inditex outsourced all their production. It is important to know the strength and the weaknesses of the three strong competitors of Inditex.Advertising We will write a custom report sample on ZARA: Fast Fashion specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More To be gin with, The Gap’s level of apparel production was internationalized as it outsourced 90% of its production from outside the US. It was founded in 1969 and between 1980 and 1990 it had achieved great profitability from selling smart casual work clothes and collections of jeans and T-shirts. Its major operations were based in the United States. Secondly, Inditex faced stiff competition from Hennes and Mauritz (HM). This was a high performing retailer in apparel founded in Sweden. It performed better than Zara in terms of industry standards. By 1990, it had generated more than a half its sale outside Sweden through internationalizing its operations. In addition, HM outsourced to the suppliers in Europe half the sale of all its production. It was strategic in its approach to business getting into one country at a time and starting a center that dealt with distribution focusing on the northern part of Europe. Another competitor of Inditex was Benetton. Its outsourced activities to subcontractors were labour-intensive and these earned it prominence in the 1980’s. In addition, it used its investment to control many production activities. Strength of Inditex In its operations, Inditex set up strategies to assist it in increasing its production and gain market for its products. Being a global specialty retailer, it widened its market scope by opening Zara and five other chains that sold accessories for men, women and children around the world. Basically, its ability to achieve this lied in the number of stores, the selling area, its employers and the division of labor among its workers. For instance, Inditex had 659,400 square meters of selling area around the world occupied by its 1,284 stores. In addition, these stores earned Inditex a huge amount of revenue of about â‚ ¬3,250 million (Ghemawat Nueno, 2003). A greater percentage of that revenue came from its 515 stores located in Spain. Moreover, it employed people to work in Spain as well as in t he chain stores outside Spain. Its total number of works was 26,724 with about 78% being women. Among the total population of workers, Inditex used 8.5% of them to work in distribution, design, logistics and manufacturing while over 80% were to do sales in the retail stores (Ghemawat Nueno, 2003).Advertising Looking for report on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More In addition, it organized its expenditure and operating working capital to cover the plans of opening new stores across all chains and for refurbishing and maintenance. Also, Inditex derived its strength from its structure. Its top corporate managers set out corporate and business strategies, and controlled the operations and performance of all the chain stores down to the local store level. This was to ensure that they have maintained a high standard in returns on capital employed, earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) margin and on sales growth. Additionally, performance metrics reports were monitored daily as well as being monitored personally by the CEO Castellano once a week. Moreover, Inditex had one of its six chains that was large, most internationalized and a source of most of its capital. This chain store was referred to as Zara. Zara operated 507 stores in Spain and in other countries around the world. Out of the total 659,400 square meters of working area, it occupie d 74% and earned Inditex â‚ ¬2,477 million which was about 76% of the total earnings (Ghemawat Nueno, 2003). Basically, Zara was the driver of the growth of Inditex through its international operations. In its operations, it had made quite tremendous achievements in terms of investments in manufacturing logistics and IT, constructing a warehouse of 130.000 square meters in Artexio close to the corporate headquarters and an advanced telecommunication system to connect production, supply and sales locations with the headquarters. Additionally, In the 1990’s Zara mandated internal development of information, merchandizing, financial, retail and logistical systems. Through Zara, Inditex was able to attract more customers’ preferences and placed with both internal and external suppliers. Compared to the 2000-4000 items produced by its key competitors like The Gap and the HM, production in Zara increased to 11,000 to several hundred thousand with variation in sizes, colo r and fabric putting consideration in time-sensitive items. Additionally, it was able to stock goods in stores within a very short time. This facilitated continuous manufacturing of new merchandise and reduced the intensity of working capital. This gave Zara and the whole of Inditex an advantage over its competitors as it could much later than its competitors commit to the bulk of its product line. This was in sharp contrast to the traditional industries that took up to three months for manufacturing and six months for cycling of new designs. Therefore, Inditex through Zara alone was able to overcome traditional retailers who restocked and designed only 0%-20% compared to Zara’s 40%-50% of the purchases of finished products from suppliers, 35% of purchase of raw material and product design and during the period when seasons started, it undertook 85% of the in-house production (Ghemawat Nueno, 2003). Also, Zara offered its customers garments and accessories like bags, jewelry , scarves, shoes and even cosmetics and toiletries that were fresh. The garments were of designer style and were being sold at relatively low prices. This was a strategy that drew fashion conscious customers and devout shoppers visited the chain 17 times a year compared to their competitors who only received such visitations three to four times a year. Weaknesses and challenges In its course of business, Inditex has faced a number of challenges and setbacks in Spain and in its other chains all over the world. The positioning of the company’s headquarters in Galacia posed a major problem to it in terms of communication links with the rest of the country. Even though Spain had a strong history of Galacians being tailors to aristocracy, their apparel workshops lacked a strong foundation upstream in textiles, demand, universities and technical institutes to facilitate training and specialized initiatives. Furthermore, they lacked association in the industries to underpin other ac tivities that were potentially cooperative. Also, most of the citizens of Spain depended on fishing and agriculture. As consumers they demanded low prices on goods. Inditex faced a challenge of stiff competition from its competitors like The Gap, HM and Benetton. For instance, The Gap had its production internationalized and so was competing with Inditex for international markets. It outsourced 90% of its production from the United States (Ghemawat Nueno, 2003). Its products like Inditex’s fresh and designer wear garments were considered to be unpretentious and fashionable in the 1980’s and 1990’s. it also had high stellar profits. These pose a great challenge to the business of Inditex as at such a time the attention of most of its customers were The Gaps products that had dominated most of the markets in and outside Spain. In addition, Hennes and Mauritz (HM) dominated most parts of the market outsourcing all of its production. Half of all its outsourced prod uction was taken to European suppliers. Due to this, HM significantly led in the market ahead of Zara for a long time. While Indited maintained its many chains style of operation, HM adopted a more focused single format approach and entering one country at a time. It had become internationalized faster than Zara by a decade and by 19190, had generated most of its sales outside Sweden, used several label in marketing its clothes and built distribution centers in each nothern Europe country it entered. Its decade of business ahead of Inditex gave it a solid foundation, popularity and dominance in some markets that would have otherwise been dominated by Inditex. Moreover, Inditex faced another competition from Benetton. It had become prominent in the 1980’s and the 1990’s. The news about its outsourced activities that were scale insensitive and labour-intensive to sub contractors that made it popular was due to its controversial advertising as a networked organization. In addition, it made heavy investments on production. Coping with managing multi-chain stores Inditex could have managed to cope with the complexity of managing multiple chain stores because it had a well established market all over the world. Its growth in terms of profit had reached â‚ ¬340. In addition, in the year 2001, it had an oversubscribed Initial Public Offering and a 50% increase in stock price (Ghemawat Nueno, 2003). Also its market valuation had rose to â‚ ¬13.4 billion. Its market projections were higher in terms of expectation and growth. Additionally, Inditex was a Global apparel retailing business system with chain stores spread all over major markets in the world. Global apparel chains are normally characterized by a unique combination of high value research, marketing, sales and financial services that allow retailers, branded manufacturers, branded marketers to act as strategic brokers. These strategic brokers link market with the overseas factories. Therefo re global apparel chain becomes a prototypical example of a buyer driven global chain. The attribute displayed by the strategic brokers distinguish other labor intensive industries from the vertical structure of the commodity chain in apparel stores. Labor intensive industries such as Toys and Footwear Chain stores, are dominated by upstream manufacturers rather than down stream intermediaries. Through the brokers, Inditex could manage to link its other chain stores with the market and even the overseas factories. Besides, Inditex was able to manage other retail chain stores because of its increased concentration of apparel retailing throughout the major markets. Having multiple chain stores would increase its dominance in shaping imports in the countries that have developed. In the 1990’s half of the apparel sales in the USA were done by the top chain stores. Therefore operating multi chain stores gives Inditex the opportunity to increase its concentration everywhere and to dominate the markets by displacing other independent stores. This does not compromise the excellence of individual stores because it had been the trend in the 1990’s. This trend had helped many chain stores to increase their sales and store sizes over time. Additionally, Inditex could have managed to control multi chain stores because of the set of policies and practices promoted by quick response (QR). These sets of policies and practices coordinated the roles of the manufacturers and the retailers for the purpose of increasing flexibility and speed of responses to a shift in market trends. Through QR, Inditex was likely to be able to control all the functions of its existing chain stores or others regardless of the geographic or organizational boundaries. In addition, QR would help retailers reduce inventory risks and forecast errors by planning, placing smaller initial orders and reordering more frequently, probing the market and planning assortments closer to the selling season. It is important to note that QR offered the global apparel chain stores many advantages. For instance, it led to improvement of information technology and significant compression of cycle times. It also changed the style of women dressing. This type of business strategy would have placed Inditex in a better competitive position as a way of coping with its larger number of chain stores. Managing multi chain stores would have been easy and like the individual chain, Inditex would have maintained excellence because of the availability of market and customers. In 2000, worldwide spending on apparel or clothing reached approximately â‚ ¬900 billion. According to the estimates, Asia accounted for 23%, United States for 29% and Europe for 34% (Ghemawat Nueno, 2003). The difference in per capita spending on the population level and on clothing was reflected by the differences in market size. However, an increase in per capita income tended to lower per capita spending which was also affected by price level. Another coping strategy was that Inditex had a variety of customers who had different tastes and preferences. Therefore it was important to have more chain stores in other countries to meet the demands of their customers. For instance, more shops in Britain would ensure that the needs of people in Britain were met. These individuals sought went to stores based on social affinity. Other chains would serve the needs of those in France and Italy who were fashion forward focused on quality and variety of the apparels. Additional multi chain stores would have catered for the ever growing needs of many nations to buy apparels. The British, other than seeking stores out of social affinity, bought apparels nine times a year. The French and the Spaniards also brought clothing at different times of the year. These time differences in places and by different nations reflected the great need for additional multi chain stores. In addition, both within the regions an d between regions demands for apparel increased. In japan, teenage market segment was making most demand for apparel. Therefore, managing the operations of multi chain stores would have required Inditex to arbitrage international factor price difference, minimize tangible investments, and invest in brands. Also, there was the need to emphasize partnering. Should it start up or add more chains From the perspective of meeting the growing market demands and its ability to make more products, Inditex should add more chains. The sourcing and manufacturing levels of Inditex had over the years expanded substantially. Through the help of its headquarter personnel and its purchasing office in Hong Kong and Barcelona, Inditex through Zara outsourced finished products, fabric and other inputs from the external suppliers, manufactured 40% of the finished products internally and sourced from Europe and North Africa approximately two-thirds of the items while one-third came from Asia. Zara, by it self, had enough factories to carry out this process and it also had its own centralized distribution system. More chains are needed to cater for the growing market needs. The plans that Inditex had for the year 2002 were to increase stores for Zara with 55 to 66 new stores. These stores were to be in Spain and outside Spain. Those outside Spain were to be 80% of the total added stores. These decisions to add more stores across the world would ensure more consumers are reached since Zara had accounted for a greater selling area due to such expansions. There was a need to do more significant investments in other areas North America, South America and Asia. In addition, other areas like the Middle East were profitable and worth having stores and products for consumers. In this region, expansion efforts could be made because of the higher than expected demand that would be able to cater for operating costs and it would offer the brightest prospects for a significant and sustained growt h. Also, Inditex could have added more chains through joint ventures in areas where it was difficult to obtain licenses to open a new store. Some of the difficulties in opening more stores that Inditex competitors face were solved through joint ventures. For instance, 1998 Benetton formed a joint venture to help it secure a location and obtain multiple licenses required to open a new store. Also, inditex had formed a joint venture with Percassi, an italan group specializing infashion retail and property in the year 2001 to enable it expand its stores in Italy. Conclusion To sum up, the growth and performance of Inditex was attributed to its good management team, strategies, policies and other chain stores that were performing well in Spain and in other countries around the world. Additionally, Inditex had well established international expansion strategies, a committed workforce, a good market for its products and a well established distribution system. Also, Inditex ensured that it made progress towards implementing a social strategy that involved a dialogue with local communities, non-governmental organizations, subcontractors, suppliers and employees. Reference Ghemawat, P. Nueno, L.J. (2003). Zara: Fast fashion, Harvard Business School, pp.1-35. This report on ZARA: Fast Fashion was written and submitted by user Blaze Banks to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

Paul Klee Versus Cy Twombly. Around the fish (1926) and Tiznit (1953)

Paul Klee Versus Cy Twombly. Around the fish (1926) and Tiznit (1953) Introduction â€Å"Around the fish (1926)† and â€Å"Tiznit (1953)† could not be more distinct from each other. Each work of art epitomizes what its creation is about. One painting is geometric, another is haphazard; one is rhythmic, while the other seems to be free from such coordination.Advertising We will write a custom research paper sample on Paul Klee Versus Cy Twombly. â€Å"Around the fish (1926)† and â€Å"Tiznit (1953)† specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More However, these diverge differences do not mask the similarities between the two pieces; their meanings are debatable and ambiguous to some extent. Both artists also pride themselves in the poeticism of their work. Comparisons Influences The fundamental differences between the artistic works of both artists stems from the influences in their lives. Paul Klee produced ‘Around the Fish’ during the constructivist era. Since he lived in Germ any, he was heavily influenced by perspectives of the Bauhaus (Fransciscono 255). This was an era where geometry, systemization and measurement were given the greatest precedence (Lanchner 26). It is no wonder that there are three cylindrical shapes that surround the fish. Furthermore, a crescent is placed alongside a circle. Even the very arrangement of the particles in the painting is cubical in nature. He uses lines directly and indirectly in the painting through the arrows and inside the cylinders too. The painting appears to be derived from motifs that have been placed on a plane. In fact Franciscono (247) explains that order, balance and regular progressions were some of the things that Paul Klee championed during this era. Since he was a lecturer at German University, he taught his students to start small and then combine these pieces to create a holistic picture. Conversely, Cy Twombly was classified as an abstract expressionist, although his work does not fall into any part icular movement. While Klee may have captured the prevailing sentiments of his time. His work is not as ordered as Klee’s; instead, it can be considered as some from of graffiti.Advertising Looking for research paper on art and design? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More At the time when Twombly had created the piece, mass culture has taken over various art forms. It was almost as if he would have no relevance in commercialization. While Twombly’s work is devoid of basic graphics, pictures or other bold images, Klee’s work was rich with images. It is quite difficult to place Twombly in any general movement because his work is indulgent and sensual at the same time. Therefore, while both artists are unique in their own right, Twombly’s originality is louder than Klee’s. He stood autonomously in different artistic eras (Sylvester 5). Child-like element Perhaps another factor that brings t hese two pieces of art together is their childish-like elements. Once again, Twombly’s painting has more of these elements than Klee’s. Paul Klee affirmed that his art is really â€Å"childhood captured at will† (Lanchner 26). The work is authentic and designed to capture the wild imagination of those youthful days. However, Klee adds the words â€Å"at will† in order to show that his impulsiveness, while useful, is quite controlled. When one looks at ‘Around the fish’, one sees a plate of fish surrounded by some unfamiliar and familiar objects. This may be a simple analogy of a dinner table in which one places a dish and then the surrounding silverware revolves around it. A child would not be bothered about any deeper meanings. In fact, Klee discourages audiences from trying to figure out the holistic meaning of ‘Around the fish’. He urges individuals to look at the individualistic patterns in the piece as they have more meaning . Klee wants his admirers to adopt the mind of a child, who does not concern himself or herself with hidden meanings. On the other hand, childishness has been one of the major descriptions used to talk about Twombly’s work, and this is quite clear in ‘Tiznit (1953)†. His use of crayon marks and rough lines appear to be more of scribbles than conventional art.Advertising We will write a custom research paper sample on Paul Klee Versus Cy Twombly. â€Å"Around the fish (1926)† and â€Å"Tiznit (1953)† specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More One critic compares his artistic process as child’s play rather than a game. A game has many rules and it tends to confine an individual to a particular mould. If one ignores the rules, then one is automatically removed from the game. Conversely child play has no rules; the sole aim of playing is to enjoy freedom. As one looks at the lines and markings in ‘Tizn it’ one realizes that this artist conforms to no guidelines. Sylvester (21) explains that initially, Twombly was inspired by artists such as Klee to incorporate gravity in his works. However, he decided to abandon this direction because he wanted no restrictions. The painting appears to be a fantasy or game to the artist. To some extent, it appears messy as some pain drapes off the canvas. Nonetheless, this is a welcome mess and pleasant disorder. It is almost like a piece of cloth that a boy threw away into the corner of the room. In such a situation, the cloth does not cease to have value merely because it has been thrown away; it merely reflects the indifference or laziness of the boy. Likewise, Twombly’s painting appears to be scrapped or thrown. The artist has refused to finish his piece of work because that is his nature; he wants to indulge in fantasy. Meanings The meanings to be extracted from both artistic works are also quite divergent. In ‘Around the F ish’ the artist clearly thought about the motifs before placing them on the canvas. However, one should not be satisfied by the images as artistic pieces alone.. They had certain cultural or political meanings as well. In the same year that he made the painting, Klee had visited Italy. He saw a lot of medieval art in these travels, and probably drew inspiration from some of them. Of particular relevance is the Byzantine as well as the mosaic found in St. Apollinare Nuovo; it was an illustration of the last supper with Jesus at the centre. When one critically analyses ‘Around the fish’, one can find some similarities with these Italian pieces. The fish is at the centre of the piece and may therefore represent Jesus who was surrounded by his disciples. However, the dish contains two fish, so one cannot be sure that Klee really wanted to portray Jesus in his paintings.Advertising Looking for research paper on art and design? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Alternatively, one may think of this work of art in another way. Klee loved to focus on nature during his teachings in Germany. Franciscono (259) explains that Klee sought to reconcile nature with art. He often talked about the geometry inherent in natural objects. Furthermore, he usually collected items such as shells and plants. Therefore, one may think of the fish as a literal representation of the animal. Then one may think of the surrounding as the sea or its natural setting. However, Klee joins the flowers to the fish with an arrow. This may signify fate or the inevitability of certain actions. One can never really be certain (Grohmann 180). On the other hand, Twombly ‘s meanings cannot be found literally in his piece. These meanings must be deduced from what he did prior to completion of the test. One may assert that ‘Tiznit 1953’ is obsessive and impulsive. Therefore, on can deduce that these are the messages he is trying to send across to his audience. Th e painting does not impose its meaning and is thus less aggressive than Klee’s ‘Around the Fish’ (Sylvester 39). A critic once explained that when Twombly starts to work on his piece, he is like ancient Chinese artists who never had room to correct their mistakes owing to the delicate fabrics they used. Consequently, most of them could only paint once and put up with the consequences. In Twombly’s case, he is not obligated to create mistake-free work. He deliberately chooses not to correct his work once he puts that paint or crayon to paper. This is the reason why it is impossible to imitate Twombly. He does not desire to pass any hidden messages to his audience, and this explains why he uses an off-handed approach. Klee often thought about his methods but Twombly stayed unattached to his work. Several art observers may come up with the same deduction about the significance of ‘Around the fish’, but it is likely that ‘Tiznit’ woul d elicit extremely divergent reactions. Artistic process Both artists used different processes to create their final pieces. Klee often stressed that it is the process leading to the art that counts rather than the actual piece. As such, he always sought to distant himself from the meaning of his work. Paul Klee firmly believed in the importance of remaining vague during artistic creation (Franciscono 256). Nonetheless, Klee has imposed upon himself certain restrictions. He was economical with his forms and sought to stay away from excessiveness. Even mathematical processes were used in his work. However, this piece reveals that geometry was a means to an end; it did not establish order; it was a mechanism for getting there. There was still a high level of ambiguity in his work. This is the reason why one can find so many interpretations from ‘Around the fish’. The uncertainty he gave to this piece contributes to its authenticity. While Twombly never said this verbally, his painting says it for him. His work has eliminated the connection between the eye and the hand. All he wants one to encounter is the feeling of creating. The greatest emphasis should not be on the trace but the activity of tracing. One may equate this to the same thing that takes places when children play. They rarely think about who will win; all the want it to do is spend time with each other (Sylvester 37). Color The two artists also differ with regard to the use of color. Paul Klee had travelled to Tunisia in 1914. At that time, he realized that a painter must always utilize the beauty of color because each one is unique. Tunisia was laden with wonderfully colored mosaics that caused Klee to incorporate them into his work. These influences come out exceptionally well in ‘Around the fish’. The artist meant to create a sort of rhythmic unity in his work. His patterns and symbols would not have come out so clearly if the artist had not utilized colors in the manner that he did. Klee always prefers to use pale or darker backgrounds in order to focus all the attention on the motifs. However, color works best when used on a divergent material. The piece is a collage, and this utilized time and space as explained very clearly by Lachner (27). One may claim that Surealism grew right around the time when Klee made his piece. He captured this essence of color through collaging. To Klee, color provides a context to the rest of his work and this enforces his abstract motifs, which are always his centre of focus in his pieces. Conversely, Twombly used color in a totally different light. He appears to use it sparingly as if he is trying to flatter with the pieces. Additionally, he seems to enjoy the surprise that color creates when crayons meet paper (Sylvester 33). Klee puts a lot of thought into combining the right colors. However, Twombly does not appear to be bothered by this concern, he is not apprehensive about ruining his canvas because he has no goals to begin with. In ‘Tiznit (1953)’ he preferred to use a white canvas. Nonetheless, he appears to embrace the qualities of these seemingly plain color, every canvas has its own characteristics and patterns; therefore; when one accepts these differences and uses them in order to send his message, then one might create very intriguing work. Conclusion The most fundamental difference between these two pieces is that there appears to be an objective system of knowledge or rationalization in Klee’s work, but this is absent in Twombly’s painting. Additionally, Klee’s piece is highly structured and full of self-imposed restrictions. The opposite is true for Twombly; he appears to be interested in freedom rather than adhering to any sort of standard. Tiznit appears to be unfinished and disordered while ‘Around the fish’ is ordered or even geometric. Consequently, Twombly’s painting gives an illusion of fantasy and indulgence while Klee’s piece gives an illusion of cultural and symbolism Franciscono, Marcel. Paul Klee: His Work and Thought, Chicago: University of Chicago Press,1991. Print. Grohmann, William. Paul Klee. NY: Harry Abrams Inc, 1977. Print. Lanchner, Carolyn. Paul Klee, NY: MoMA, 1987. Print. Sylvester, Julie, Schama Simon Barthes Ronald. Cy Twombly: Fifty years of works on paper. London: Distributed Art Publishers, 1980. Print.

Compare and contrast Cortez and Ricci in their attitudes towards Essay

Compare and contrast Cortez and Ricci in their attitudes towards non-Christian cultures. Should they be regarded as part of the - Essay Example During this period, Cortes was primarily an explorer and intermediary that facilitated communications between the New World and King Charles V. Conversion of foreign natives to Christianity was an outcome of primary ambitions for improving the economic and political strength of the Spanish Empire. On the contrary, Matteo Ricci hailed from Italy, a nation that prescribed strongly to traditional Catholic values and where the papacy maintained considerable influence in the establishment of cultural rules and legislation. Ricci’s primary goal was not enhancing the political and economic might of Italy but to serve God through Catholic missionary activities around the world. Fundamentally, Ricci and Cortes maintained radically different views on the importance of adhering to religious doctrine and the existing spiritual foundations of foreign cultures. Though both condemned non-Christian value systems, they should not be regarded as being part of the same missionary project, as Ric ci was a devout believer in attaining rewards through Christ while Cortes sought empowerment, first and foremost, for Spain. In Cortes’ letter to Charles V in 1520, Cortes describes the majesty of the Aztec Empire, recurrently expressing the tangibles of architecture, resource availability, and the engineering prowess of this region. In great detail, Cortes highlights the amazing plethora of animals, vegetables, precious metals, and various commodities found in Temixtitlan. As if presenting a well-inventoried catalog, Cortes reinforces the potential economic benefits that this Empire holds for Charles V, as if to embolden action to ensure that these resources and talents are procured for the throne. It is not until all dimensions of economic benefits are found in Temixtitlan that Cortes begins to describe his condemnation of idolatry and the other non-Christian religious practices and ceremonies he has observed and attempted to thwart. Matteo Ricci, however, is far less defam ing non-Christian cultures, attempting to convert and educate various international citizens to the Catholic doctrine when he recognizes potential cultural interest in God and Christ. Ricci finds commonalities to religious beliefs similar to Roman Catholicism in China, but discovers Japanese cultural and religious behaviors simply too strange to fulfill conversion and incorporation into this doctrine. Rather than acting hostile toward these cultures, he focuses more intently on converting regions that are more conducive to Christian beliefs, and illustrate interest in its concepts. Ricci does not seek out exploitation of resources or economic benefits for Italy, having taken a vow not to seek individual wealth but use cooperative resources to adhere to Jesuit missionary agenda. Cortes is much more aggressive about converting Aztec citizens to the Christian doctrine, one that rejects idolatry and advocates respect for human life offered by Christian values. After having observed the places of worship, Cortes is sickened by the practice of human sacrifice, with special dismay placed on idols â€Å"all polluted with human blood† (Cortes 3), thus reacting with hostility by destroying the idols. Cortes is not withdrawn or inhibited in his public presentation of consternation and shock over recurring idolatry and the faith that Aztec citizens maintained in serving what he referred to as false gods. Ricci, unlike Cortes, works hard to incorporate Jesuit beliefs into the foreign

Porsche Changes Track Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Porsche Changes Track - Essay Example Dr. Wendelin Wiedeking (CEO, Porsche) while outlining the priorities of the company stated, "Yes, of course we have heard of shareholder value. But that does not change the fact that we put customers first, then workers, then business partners, suppliers and dealers, and then shareholders." This statement signifies the priorities accorded by Porsche to all its stakeholders in the business. That certainly doesn't mean that Porsche is not giving due importance to its shareholders, what it actually signifies is that, Porsche always believes in customer driven policies and keeping the employees happy. Satisfied customers and happy employees provide the company a distinct identity and edge over its competitors. At times Porsche appeared somewhat stubborn in its attitude owing to postures like non-listing on the NY stock exchange and non-disclosures of quarterly results. There's some confusion in the market place owing to the differences of opinion regarding the stated policy of 'keeping c ustomer's interest on top' and rewarding its own set people with huge dividends, as the company remains a closely held business entity. Porsche has been a closely held company as far as shareholding is concerned. That effectively means, despite its being listed on the bourses, majority of the stake is being held by limited number of people. The earnings growth too has been good enough during this decade despite a global slowdown in economies owing to reasons like t

The history of the alphabet Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

The history of the alphabet - Essay Example The Latin alphabets are regarded as the most widely used alphabets of the world. These alphabets are derived from the Greek that provided the concept of consonants and vowels (Stephen, p98) The Greek alphabets are rooted from the Phoenician alphabets that basically donate a system that proposed the use of symbols for every consonant. It implies that all the alphabets used in the present world have their roots deeply embedded in to the Phoenician alphabets (Joseph, p65). There are two main scripts that provide the hints for the history of alphabets. These scripts were created somewhere before the end of the fourth millennium BCE known as Mesopotamian cuneiform and Egyptian hieroglyphs. These scripts provide the base for the production of Phoenician alphabets and were widely used in the Middle East region. Many of the languages used in the regions are developed from the based provided by the Phoenician alphabets and the two mentioned scripts. The set of 22 hieroglyphs was created by th e ancient Egyptians in 2700 BCE. These hieroglyphs basically represent the individual consonants of their language. In addition to the consonant, the 23rd hieroglyph presented the concept of word initial or word final vowel for the first time (Stephen, p98).

Cartoon Entertainment Is Not Only For Kid Media Essay

Cartoon Entertainment Is Not Only For Kid Media Essay Nowadays, there are many entertaining programs developed for kid, these programs are more and more plentiful and they increase incessantly. One of the most popular programs is cartoon. Now, cartoon is not only for kid, it is also an entertaining program for adults. How long do you/ your kids use for watching cartoon? Which are age groups who usually watch cartoon? What is the purpose of their watching cartoon? These researches, which give some detail summarizing the whole report, may help anyone who wants to understand more clearly and care about Cartoon. Introduction Cartoon or animated movie is a form which uses optical illusion and movements of consecutive performing of many still images. The first cartoon in the world was Fantasmagorie which was made by a France artist, Emile Cohl in 1908. Produced in over 100 years ago, this film had no sound and was called silent film. With white stroke on a black board in class table the film about the adventure of the cartoon character called Stick figure. All are represented by dots and simple strokes. Traditional animated cartoon, developed in early 1900s, was practiced by Ubbe Ert Iwwerks, Walt Disney and others. They had used 24 different pictures for each second of their animated movie. The first complete cartoon was produced in 1991. However, cartoon was not recognized by worldwide audience until 1914 via category animation film Gertie the Dinosaur by producer John Bray. Early 30s of twentieth century, manufactures began to enhance color elements and sound in animation. The most representative works are maximum use of such elements as Snow white and the Seven Dwarfs (1973), this is the long animated the first episode in the history of the genre. Frequently, people think cartoons are made by many simple drawing and just put them on order. In most peoples opinion, cartoons are several pictures describing consecutive actions. In fact, the second thought is true. However, nowadays, in order to bring out a perfect product; producers have to make a lot of specific things. Base on http://www.hdvietnam.com/diendan/37-che-tac-phim-hd/66866-quy-trinh-lam-phim-hoat-hinh.html (user Chip, 2008), we have a brief proceed about how to make a short cartoon movie. A cartoon movie, even just 30 or 80 minutes also needs a number of producers and amount of time to make it completely. Everything starts from the idea, as soon as the script has been done; a group of artists begin to develop many storyboards which include brief conversations and the sound in the movie. After director checks the storyboard out, they move on to sound recording. Many people whose voice suit with characters in the movie will be invited to dub. The sound will be dealt with and provided on the number of frame on the movie and written called paper the dope sheet. Next to this step, the layout will be drawn first; artist just only use the pencil for perspective, arrangement and movements of characters. Then, they add more colors and theme on movie and move it to computer in order to join the sc enes with the sounds. Finally, they check it out again to fix the problems and public. The cartoon making takes a lot of time. It usually takes them, on average, 6 to 12 months or maybe more just only to make a half hour cartoon. It is truly a difficult job. Furthermore, on the link http://vnexpress.net/gl/doi-song/chia-se/2009/10/3ba14231/, base on doctor Phà ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ ¡m Ngà ¡Ã‚ »Ã‚ c Thanh in Kids Hospital, watching cartoon had many bad effects on children. According to her, even in cartoon, children are affected by violence across the screen kicking, killing each other with frequency of about 20 times an hour. Children, who watch violence images on television many hours a week there, will have many violence actions as hitting, punching, biting his parents, sibling and friends. For advertising of food and alcohol, the young tend to think the food in advertisements is good for health and not interested in the importance of vegetable in their diet. In addition, kids who watch more cartoon are less physically active, easy weight gain, which leading to obesity while in young ages, children need to play creatively to social development. Finally, cartoon or television also influences childrens eyesight if they focus on looking at the scree n for prolonged periods. Method I. Participants: The researcher chose 100 people from many areas in Hanoi who have different jobs and ages. The participants in this study are: 20 students are working in Banking Academy, Hanoi, Vietnam. 30 kids from Katies living place. (Mage = 15.6 years, age range: 8 18 years) 20 younger parents who have kids (Mage = 27.3 years, age range: 23 35 years) 30 adults live around Hoan Kiem Lake (Mage = 36,3 from 19 45 years) In those participants, researcher chose 3 people to ask them a lot of special question. All of them have kid on school-age: Nguyà ¡Ã‚ »Ã¢â‚¬ ¦n Ngà ¡Ã‚ »Ã‚ c Hoa, 29 years old, lives in Hanoi and she is a business woman. She has two children, one kid is 7 years old and the other one is 10 years old. Nguyà ¡Ã‚ »Ã¢â‚¬ ¦n Phà ºc Là ¢m, 32 years old, lives in Hanoi and works as a director in a Japan Company. He has a son whom is 9 years old. Là ² A Pà ¡o, 27 years old and lives in Hanoi. He works as sale manager on a company. He has a son on school age. I choose participants of different age living in different area to be objective and results of comprehensive. I focus on those who are kids by age group most influenced by this art. As young adults age is less influenced. II. Procedure First, the researcher collected the information from some source such as: newspaper, books, Internet and so on. Then, basing on it, the researcher made some relevant questions for adults and people who care about Cartoon. Thirdly, the researcher met them in persons and interviewed to get more information. With the adults, the researcher asked them filling questionnaire or ask and the researcher filled the question list for children. After that, some quotation were cited, analyzed and compared. Finally, the researcher showed the conclusion from studies. Results Previously, there are many reports have mentioned and researches about the using of people about media, including cartoon, and its affect to the peoples life. Figure 1: Media Multitasking Among 5- to 8- Year-Olds (%) I have found a study which research about children in America with multimedia and built it up to a bar chart. Base on the above chart, we can easily see that there is up to 23 percent kids of age from 5 to 8 years old use media several hours per day. Besides that, the study also point out 16 percent of 0- to 8- year-old use more than one media most or some of the time; among 5- to 8-year-old, 23 percent do. In addition, among the 79 percent of 5- to 8-year-olds who have homework, 21 percent usually or sometime have the TV on while they do it Stevie Hossler  (August, 2011) said that typically, children begin watching cartoon on television at an early age of six month, and by age two or three, children become enthusiastic audience. This has become a problem because there are too many children are watching TV too much and these programs (even cartoon) become violent and addictive. Children watch cartoon too much on TV are more likely to have mental problems and feelings, along with brain and eyes injuries and unexpectedly the risk of a physical problem increase. Furthermore, because of seeing violent on TV, children become less sensitive to hurting and affliction of others, they are not afraid of violent and easily become aggressive or use harmful action towards other people. Besides above results that I found in references, I also had a survey with 100 people have different ages (from 6 to over 45 years old and come from many different areas around Hanoi) on the question: Do you watch cartoon movie? and if yes: How old are you?. Then, I build on one pie chart that shows us Which are age groups who usually watch cartoon? Figure 2: Which are age groups who usually watch cartoon? ( % ) Nowadays, cartoon movies are very popular and improve very quickly. Variety of cartoon movies were built for every age. From this chart we can see easily that at the period of age from 28 35, the percentage of people watch cartoon is 6 percent, makes up the smallest part of the pie chart. In that period of age, people usually too busy with their job and have no time to watching television, relaxing, even playing with their kids. A few of them spend the weekend to do those things, however it is just a short time. While, children on school age are the ones who watch cartoon the most. On the research, all kids watch cartoon every days; they watch it at home, at school and spend at least 3 hours per day for looking at television screen. It is really a huge number. Moreover, we had a survey of a number of people who watch cartoon to find answers of the question: What kind of cartoon movie do you watch? Figure 3: What kind of cartoon movie do you watch? The chart above shows us that violent cartoon is the kind that be watched the most at the age of 19 to 27, it is 5 percent. Besides that, the proportion of watching funny or education cartoon is a significant little than the violent one. The highest percentage of watching funny movie is just only 40 percent at the age of 28 to 35 years old. It the working-age and they use main animated movie for relaxing and entertaining. Whereas, the number of kids within the age of 6 to 10 years old watching funny movie is very low; there is just 20 percent of them watch this kind of cartoon and as half as this proportion on violent film. Most children will watch a movie comes across on television which tells stories about fighting between superman and monster or human and aliens. These cartoons will attract the kid by many attractive pictures and dynamic techniques. However, there are many violent fighting scene can effect directly on child brain. Discussion When I did the research about cartoon with many people, there are two opposite opinions. Nobody can deny that cartoons have many surface advantages. First, watching cartoon movie is a useful entertainment activity for children and adults. A child can lie down quietly on sofa and just watch his favorite cartoon, instead of running around or screaming when his parents are working so they can play with their kid. Moreover, cartoons also have important effect on adults, especially the couples whose young children. After several busy working hours, parents can sit next to their kids and watch cartoon together. Thank to this film, they can relax completely and have a chance to stay their children nearer. These things are better than plunging into job immediately after arriving home and do not spend any time talking to the children. Nguyà ¡Ã‚ »Ã¢â‚¬ ¦n Ngà ¡Ã‚ »Ã‚ c Hoa (29 years old, Hanoi) said that: When my daughter was younger than she is now, after working time, I arrived home and just focused on housework such as cleaning, washing, cooking and so on. Because of my job, I did not have enough time to play with my child and usually took her play by herself or with her friends next door. Recently, I realize that when I watching cartoons with my daughter, the conversation between me and my kid become closer than ever. Now, I understand my honey more clearly, know what she wants, what she thinks, and how she grows day by day. As a mother, I really feel very happy and so glad to understand her. J.Wolffe, an animation researcher wrote in an article on April, 23, 2012 that the animation is where kids learn how the hero is really, when she was a child, she could learn to pronounce quickly difficult words which make people confusing when listen to them. Smart will help you get almost everything and there is always anybody is more intelligent than you, animation teaches all that. Why? Because, via animation kids can learn and understand quickly when they are entertaining, which is one of the reason why children have difficulty learning from teachers, the pressure makes them liable to remember vocabulary as fast as sing a song in animation. At home, I always buy CD or open a cartoon channel to watch many funny movies with my son. In the past, my brood was very active; he always run around house, from a room to another room and never sits quietly on a place within thirty minutes. However, since he has watched cartoon, he can sit on chair with concentration to television without saying any word. Furthermore, he also often draws the characters on cartoon scene, training every day and improves it day by day. I am so proud of my little boy said Nguyà ¡Ã‚ »Ã¢â‚¬ ¦n Phà ºc Là ¢m (32 years old, Hanoi). Not only does cartoon bring happy time for parents with their children, but it also is a special teacher for kids, who is closest and most friendly with younger generation. Nowadays, there are many cartoon series which including educative programs. It teaches children arithmetic, drawing by using beautiful and attractive shape and funny situation. Besides that, via a lot of movies, kids can learn about some knowledge around them, improving their grasp and learning. Some programs teach 7- and 8- years old a little of a foreign language, such as English an international language. Learning English from young is an important step for language ability for children in the future. In addition, animated films have a lot of funny and eye-catching picture which attract the kids so these points will help develop and enrich the childrens imagination. A vast number of people think that watching cartoon is totally good and it does not have any bad influence on children and adults. In fact that opinion is not absolute true. Cartoon is a kind of movie which causes addiction easily. More and more kids have trend toward sitting on room and they prefer watching cartoon to going out and playing with other kids, doing exercise or other activities. Sitting and watching animated movies several hours like that can make the kids sink into the world of many imaginary characters, they can use that time to do more useful work, instead of wasting it only on watching cartoon. Cartoon is just a program used to relax and improve kids brain; it cannot replace healthy activities which will train childrens body. Moreover, base on an unpublished study perform by Mary Fenway, watching cartoon on several hours cause autism for 46% of children who usually do this work and they will find difficult on opening relationship. This is really an unexpected disadvantage of watching cartoon, which nobody is looking forward to. Besides that, nowadays, appeared many animated companies just care about their profit and are insensitive to their products affection for younger generation. Là ² A Pà ¡o (27 years old, Hanoi) said that: I usually let my son watching cartoon himself because he is very interested in this funny programs. However, recently, I feel that my son got mad more often than he had been, lazy to eat and sometime he beat his classmate in kindergarten. A few day later, I found that a cartoon channel that my child usually watch for, project an animated movie whose a lot of violent scene. Immediately, I delete that channel because it made much bad influent on my kid. Instead, I let my son watch a lot of educative cartoon and care more about what he watches. In modern life, many parents are busy with their jobs and do not notice what their child watch. Bad animated movies bring a lot of evil effect on young people, teach them things and make them have the wrong view about the lives around. Furthermore, a few animated movies which are made for adults, has unsuitable content with kids and effect on the childrens souls if they watch those movies accidentally.   On the latest study, American of Child Psychiatry and adolescents (AACAP) point out that television does not affect the behavior of children as young an age. From  their research, the AACAP countries, Kids watch shows in which violence is very realistic, frequently repeated or unpunished, are more likely to imitate what they see. They also said that childrens parents need to keep a close eye on what their kids watch, and explain for children that the cartoon character was shot was not hurt, but really would be seriously injuries or die in real life. They should tell their kids that violence is not the best ways to deal with a conflict. In conclusion, because of a lot of cartoons affections on childrens life and character in future, choosing a best cartoon for kids is an important work with who are mothers and fathers. In addition, there is an alarm for the industry for kids; they need block the commercial cartoon, give back the innocent, pure and suitable animated movies for the future generation of the world.

I Am A Hunter Essay example -- Personal Narrative Writing

One cold and bleak December day, I set off into the woods with the sole intention of shooting a grouse for dinner. There would be no sport today; no explosive flushes, no finely crafted double barreled shotguns, no spectacular wing shots. They have their place but not today. A semester at college had made me hungry for fresh, clean, unprocessed meat. I would shoot the bird in the head, on the ground, with a .22 rifle. I was unashamedly out to kill. It was getting dark when I glanced up into the dark boughs of the spruce. I had searched every alder thicket, brush pile, and apple tree that I knew of and here, not one hundred yards from my back door, was the dark, unmistakable, silhouette of a grouse. I slowly raised my rifle, took careful aim, and slowly pulled the trigger. With the snap of the shot, it somersaulted to the ground. My heartbeat quickened as I rushed over to where the bird had fallen . . . Man is a predator and therefore by nature, a hunter. Do not doubt this. While we do not possess the speed of the cheetah, the rapier-like talons of the falcon, nor the strength of the bear, we do have the greatest weapon of all- our superior ability to think. It was the great equalizer that brought us the club, the spear, and the 30.06. For over ninety-nine percent of our history we have utilized weapons as hunter-gather societies (Caras 7), with males traditionally doing the bulk of the hunting. Certainly the remaining one percent is too short a time in our evolutionary history to lose complete touch with our instincts. True, today's "civilized," sedentary world has rid us of our original need to hunt but it has not completely rid us of the urge to hunt in all of us. There are still those of us, for what ever reason, maybe ... ...id. Walden and On the Duty of Civil Disobedience. Macmillan Publishing Co. New York. 1962. U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S Fish and Wildlife Service. 1985 National Survey of Hunting, Fishing, and Wildlife Associated Recreation. Washington, D.C. 1988. Works Referenced Casada, Jim (editor). Tales of Whitetails. South Carolina University Press. 1992. Chatwin, Bruce. The Songlines. Viking Penguin. 1987. Hemingway, Ernest. The Green Hills of Africa. Charles Scribner's Sons. New York. 1935. Johnson, Roger. Aggression- In Man and Animals. W.B. Company. Philadelphia. 1972. Leopold, Aldo. A Sand County Almanac. Oxford University Press. London. 1949. Marsh, Peter. Aggro- The Illusions of Violence. J.M. Dent. London. 1978. Robinson William and Eric G. Bolen. Wildlife Ecology and Management. Macmillan Publishing Co. New York. 1984.