Royal Dutch Shell Free Essays

Royal Dutch Shell: Human Rights in Nigeria Case Analysis International Business April 22, 2013 The History Royal Dutch Shell is a global company. It has about 93,000 employees and is located in more than 90 countries. It is an energy and petrochemicals business. We will write a custom essay sample on Royal Dutch Shell or any similar topic only for you Order Now In the US it was founded in 1912 by the American Gasoline Company to sell gasoline along the Pacific Coast, and Roxanna Petroleum to buy oil product properties in Oklahoma (according to Shell. US website). However, it was founded in 1907 in Europe when Royal Dutch Petroleum Company and the Shell Transport and Trading Company Ltd merged. This was done to help the company compete globally. It has done several mergers and buyouts in its hundred plus years of business. Throughout the years Shell has made changes in their business to better compete in the market from becoming a global business to investing in research and development in the newest and latest energy technologies. Today it is in the top six of oil and gas companies. It produces around 3. 1 million barrels of oil equivalent per day. The Problem The Guardian News has run an article reporting on the inconsistencies of what the Royal Dutch Shell has committed to and the reality of the situation. Two hospitals that we built in the Ogoni region of Nigeria are diametrically opposite of each other in health standards and overall aesthetics. The company has reported that it is committed to the social well-being of the area, but the reality is completely different. The Situation The situation is that we have as part of the 1996 â€Å"Ogani Reconciliation† plan committed to the social and economic well-being of the local communities. There has been millions of dollars sent to the country allocated to the areas of hospitals and medical care as well as to other needs. Though resources have been sent to build hospitals for the region, the reality is that any of the improvements that was said to be done are seriously subpar to any health standard of any country. Improvements have been done with little regard to the needs of the people and were primarily done so that it can be said that the company was committed to the local region. Though millions has been sent to the country, much of this has been siphoned off to other areas of government and possible to fill the pockets of people that are in the place of authority. Also, some decisions have been made without direct input from the region itself. What to build? Where to build? How to allocate resources? These are all questions that need a comprehensive answer that involves each of the concerned parties. It is concerning that these issues have been allowed to happen. A company of their size and magnitude should not have allowed these community projects be the mockery of the press. Royal Dutch Shell is a company that has many well rounded and sound business plans. The execution and maintenance of these business plans is one of Shell’s main issues. They have the ability to create great business plans but lack the commitment to maintain them and sometime execute them in all areas. Marketing Issues The company has had a lot of negative publicity due to the companies operation in the Ogani region of Nigeria. The company is seen to be working hand-in-hand with Nigerian security personnel with little regard to the local minority people of that region. This is causing violence and unrest of the region as well sabotage of the oil pipelines causing oil spills and environmental damage. Actions For the short term, we need to consider the following objectives: * One of the first steps is to make sure the hospital consistently has the electricity and the fuel to run a backup generator. Provide backup generators with the fuel to run them when necessary. If a lavish hospital can be kept up for the employees of our company we can keep up adequate levels of care of Gokana. This will serve as big public relations improvement. * The company should use its knowledge to help out the struggling hospital and install wind and solar power technology so they can lower the cost of electricity and help improve a bad situation. * The company should consider helping and sharing their equipment, employees, ambulances, etc. with the hospital in Ogoniland. This will show the community that Shell is â€Å"being a good neighbor†, which in turn would boost the communities morale. * Making improvements on the hospital will directly affect the people of the region. * Setup a working committee with MOSOP (Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People) and Nigerian national representatives, as well as an independent group to oversee any agreements. * Work with the region to start making the improvements that will directly affect the people of the region. * Take responsibility of the oil spills due to company failure and get these cleaned up. Take responsibility for all of the pollution * Use the people of the company to reach out into the community and start community clean up days so the people can help clean up their community and also have a little ownership into the improvements. * Review the companies committees and oversight boards and make sure that the people in place are committed to working with the region. * Reach out to the community with surveys to the people to get their feelings about Shell and what they would like to see improve. * Once improvements are made hold a press conference to help with the PR of the company. It is obvious that the public relations area has suffered. Make it a point to show what is being done to help the area. The long term goals would be to: * Work with the MOSOP to get a comprehensive plan in place that will work to end the protests and sabotage of company pipelines. * Put a sustainable corporate plan in place with independent review that all policies are being adhered to by all officers pertinent to this region. * By getting these agreements, and with the investments in the local infrastructure will cause less problems that will need money allocated to them. Work to develop better company practices to promote a higher sense of ethics and their climates in the work place * Change their business approach from an egoistic approach to a principal-based approach (integrity approach based on laws) Conclusion Caution will be needed due to the political environment and instability of Nigeria. The company will always need to be aware of what is going on politically on both the national and local levels. The corporate actions taken by Royal Dutch Shell has affected and destroyed a community. The company has tried to recover and fixed what they have done but they have not succeeded in doing so. Royal Dutch Shell has to build a relationship of trust with the Nigerian community. They have to let the community be heard when they are reaching out to let the company know what they need and allow them to be part of the reconstruction and rebuilding of their community. Shell is a very lucrative company that makes millions of dollars a day; they would be very hurt to lose this business operation base in Nigeria. Shell went from an egoistic operation in Nigeria to a principle based operation. If Shell even took on a larger sense of social responsibility, they would have gained a larger competitive advantage over the competition. Though the company was acquitted of several charges in January of 2013 by the Dutch courts and made responsible for the oil spills on the last count, there will be unrest in the local region as they want to make the company responsible for all of the problems. Careful steps will need to be taken to address the concerns in such a way to help the region and to lessen the criticism of the people and media. How to cite Royal Dutch Shell, Papers

Behind Subsidiaries Holding Parents Liable â€Myassignmenthelp.Com

Question: Discuss About The Behind Subsidiaries Holding Parents Liable? Answer: Introduction The company form of business structure has been given the status of separate legal entity, which is amongst the key features of this form of business structure. As per the separate legal entity concept, the companies are treated as a separate person from the ones who are supposed to run the affairs of the company (French et al. 2016). There have been numerous case laws where this concept has been applied but the case where this concept was born was that of Salomon v A Salomon And Co Ltd [1897] AC 22. The Corporations Act, 2001 (Cth), which is the act which governs the affairs of the company, also contains provisions regarding this status of the companies. In the following parts, a discussion has been carried whereby this very concept, particularly in context of Australia has been elucidated. Companies as Artificial Legal Person As was stated in the introductory segment, one of the characteristics of a company form of business structure is that a company is deemed as a separate artificial legal person. This is amongst the leading reasons for the popularity of company form of business structure (Abbott, Pendlebury and Wardman, 2007). As per this concept, the company has an existence in the eye of law where it is treated separately from the members and management of such company. Also, the choice of the name of company is always restricted as one name can only be given to one company. This name helps the company in making a case against others and even to others, in making a case against the company (Latimer, 2012). Also, owing to this artificial legal person status, even though a company is deemed as a person but the artificial segment of it gives it perpetual existence. So, the death of the management or directors does not mean the end of the company, effectively giving the company, an everlasting life (Kerr, 2014). A company does end, but only through liquidation, winding up, or an order of the court. As a result of this separate status of the company, for the debts of the company, the shareholders cannot be sued. They can only be asked to pay such sum of money, which is unpaid on their shares. Hence, the personal assets of the individual cannot be claimed upon by creditors in case the company fails to repay their debts (Gibson and Fraser, 2014). In Salomon v A Salomon And Co Ltd the House of Lords affirmed the concept that once a company is incorporated, it is deemed as a legal entity and it is separate from its shareholders. In the quoted case, the company was given a corporate personality whereby the creditors of the insolvent company could not sue the shareholders of the company for paying up the pending dues of the company. In this case, Salomon had incorporated the limited company for his long standing personal business where he was a shoe manufacturer. All of the shares were held by him and he had attained debentures upon the transfer of his former business to this incorporated company (Kershaw, 2012). Upon the failure of the company, the liquidator of the company made a contention that these floating charges should not be honoured, along with the contention to hold Salomon liable for the debts of the company, which led to Salomon making a case against them. The court held that the company had been incorporated in a proper manner and so, the court was not required to speculate upon the exorbitances and motives of the companys incorporation. Just because the shares of the company were held by a single person, did not change the fact that the company was separate person in law and was distinctive from the individuals who directed its will and mind. The court stated that the corporate veil of the company could only be lifted when there was an extraordinary case (Swarb, 2017). This is not the only case where the concept of separate legal entity was upheld by the court. Another leading matter in this regard is the case of Lee v Lee's Air Farming [1961] AC 12 in which in the company, Lee held all of the issued capital save for one share which the attorney of Lee held. The affairs of the company were effectively under his control. While he was on the job, he was killed and his widow made a claim for claiming the workers compensation, based on him being a worker. However, the New Zealand Court of Appeal rejected this claim based on the notion that Lee had effective control over the company but was not its employee. Upon the appeal being made to the Privy Council, the Council made inference from the case of Salomon and stated that the individual could work in dual capacity. In short, the Privy Council stated that the company is a separate legal entity and so, the shareholder and directors who enter a contract with the company, would be deemed as an employee of the company (Bourne, 2016). The Corporations Act, 2001 affirmed the stand on company being an artificial separate person. Under section 119 of the Corporations Act, the company comes into existence, on the very day on which it is registered, as a body corporate. And upon its formation, the company is to be deemed as a separate person, which carries on the operations of the company, which includes getting into the contractual obligations (Federal Register of Legislation, 2017). Section 198A(1) of this act provides that the companys business has to be managed as per the directions of the directors of the company. Section 198A(2) of this act covers that the powers can be exercised by the directors, which relate to the company (WIPO, 2015). This shows that the directors have only been given the power to run the affairs of the company on behalf of the company and not on their free will, which shows that the affairs of the company are run as per the will and mind of the directors but for the company, as per the objec tives of the company (Cassidy, 2006). Even though the artificial legal person status has been embedded in the Australian companies, along with the companies of thee other world, with changing time, this concept has also grown. This is with particular reference to the identification of where the affairs of the company have been conducted in a manner which requires the separate legal entity concept to be upheld and where there is a need to pierce the corporate veil (Bonomelli, 2014). With the advancements of this age, and the growing minds of the individuals, the case laws where this concept is effectively used, is being manipulated and at times, the theme of holding the company as an artificial legal person proves to be a costly affair for the different stakeholders. The leading example of this is the use of this concept in an unfair manner in the different cases associated with James Hardie Industries Limited, for instance ASIC v Macdonald (No. 11) [2009] NSWSC 287 and Peter James Shafron v Australian Securities and Investments Commission (2012) HCA 18; 286 ALR 612 (Norton Rose Fulbright, 2012). Even though the key management personal associated with this company were penalized and even disqualified, it does raise a question on the time delay which is taken from an incident occurring, to the relevant individuals being punished. The future of company law thus has to change to cope up with this misuse of the company being an artificial legal person, where they use this artificial legal person to their benefit and where the piercing of corporate veil takes a lot of time to be effective. This makes it very clear that the present day law, even though punishes the ones who are responsible for misusing this status, need to be more stringent and stricte r so that the wrongdoers think twice about misusing the artificial legal person status. Particularly, the penalties which can be imparted to the wrongdoers need to be raised as these were formed years ago. Hence, there is a need to raise the maximum amount of pecuniary penalty which can be awarded in such cases so that the individuals have to face a higher penalty which actually puts a hole in their pocket as the present penalties are just not sufficient in this regard. Conclusion To conclude the discussion carried above, the companies are deemed as artificial legal person as a result of which, the companies are treated separately from the director and the other key personnel who run the business of the company on the behalf of the company. There have been not one, but different case laws in which this concept has been upheld but Salomon was the key case where this concept was upheld and which have been quoted time and again. The Corporations Act also upholds this status of the companies and the companies are deemed as artificial separate legal person upon the registration of the company. However, the present day corporate law falls short of stopping the individuals from misusing the corporate status of the companies for their own personal use. This highlights the need for a change to be brought in the corporate law so as to raise the maximum limits of pecuniary penalty which can be awarded to the wrongdoer. References Abbott, K., Pendlebury, N., and Wardman, K. (2007) Business Law. 8th ed. London: Thomson. Bonomelli, M. (2014) Wholly-owned subsidiaries: same same but different. [Online] Lexology. Available from: https://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=90cc6c72-de1a-4ba7-91d0-7cd7a798c5ed [Accessed on: 25/09/17] Bourne, N. (2012) Bourne on Company Law. 7th ed. Oxon: Routledge. Cassidy, J. (2006) Concise Corporations Law. 5th ed. NSW: The Federation Press. Federal Register of Legislation. (2017) Corporations Act 2001. [Online] Federal Register of Legislation. Available from: https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2013C00605 [Accessed on: 25/09/17] French, D., Mayson, S., and Ryan, C. (2014) Mayson, French Ryan on Company Law. 31st ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Gibson, A., and Fraser, D. (2014) Business Law 2014. 8th ed. Melbourne: Pearson Education Australia. Kerr, D. (2014) Hiding Behind Subsidiaries: Holding Parents Liable. [Online] The GULS Law Review. Available from: https://www.gulawreview.org/entries/commercial/hiding-behind-subsidiaries-holding-parents-liable [Accessed on: 25/09/17] Kershaw, D. (2012) Company Law in Context: Text and Materials. 2nd ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Latimer, P. (2012) Australian Business Law 2012. 31st ed. Sydney, NSW: CCH Australia Limited. Norton Rose Fulbright. (2012) The James Hardie Decisions: Australian Securities Investments Commission v Hellicar Ors [2012] HCA17; Shafron v Australian Securities Investments Commission [2012] HCA 18. [Online] Norton Rose Fulbright. Available from: https://www.nortonrosefulbright.com/knowledge/publications/66582/the-james-hardie-decisions-australian-securities-investments-commission-v-hellicar-ors-hca17-shaf [Accessed on: 25/09/17] Swarb. (2017) Salomon v A Salomon and Company Ltd: HL 16 Nov 1896. [Online] Swarb. Available from: https://swarb.co.uk/salomon-v-a-salomon-and-company-ltd-hl-16-nov-1896/ [Accessed on: 25/09/17] WIPO. (2015) Corporations Act 2001. [Online] WIPO. Available from: https://www.wipo.int/wipolex/en/text.jsp?file_id=370817 [Accessed on: 25/09/17]

Victimization of Women in Society with Regard to Anita Nair, S Ladiescoupe Essay Example

Victimization of Women in Society with Regard to Anita Nair, S Ladiescoupe Essay The undeserved dilemma of modern woman is a recurrent theme of the novels of Bharati, a widely acclaimed author and winner of the National Book critics’ award. She considered her works, a celebration of her emotion that she brings out of her heart. She has depicted very minutely the condition of Asian immigrants in North America, with particular attention to the changes taking place in South Asian women in a new world. She presents all her characters a survivors against the brutalities and violence that surrounded them. A threat that runs through all the novels of Mukherjee is of religious, racial, sexual and economic class difference. Bharati expresses the â€Å"the inner expropriation of cultural identity. Pre-natal reminiscence is the fountain head of the Indian tradition. Encounter between India, England and USA ends in an inter cultural accommodation. The two integral parts of reality are fixity and change. The blending of being and becoming attracts the attention of novelists. Nativity and nationality meet face to face challenging immigrant sensibility and expatriate predicament. Monolithic cultural identity is dissolved in the process of cultural mutation. Thus this is evident in the novel against the background of Tara Lata’s recollection of childhood memory of previous birth and cross cultural pollination. A British becoming an Indian is a matter of attention while at the same time an Indian turning a snobbish British is equally an important subject matter for our concern. The philosophical import of the title, â€Å"From Being to Becoming,† is actually gleaned from the ritual incidents and personages. We will write a custom essay sample on Victimization of Women in Society with Regard to Anita Nair, S Ladiescoupe specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Victimization of Women in Society with Regard to Anita Nair, S Ladiescoupe specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Victimization of Women in Society with Regard to Anita Nair, S Ladiescoupe specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer Heraclitus, the Greek philosopher stated that nothing remains static and so everything is in a state of change or constant transition. This phenomenon is nothing but a movement across cultures. The troublesome question is about the possibility of the life of the mind which transcends space and time. What is native becomes alien and what is alien becomes native. The issue is not so much connected with external space-time framework. But it has lot to do with our inner life. For example, Mishtigunj and Mist Mahal are the creations of John Mist. These places had become the home of ecumenical accommodation. It has turned in to a place which supports Christian unity. The Shoonder Bon village worshipped John Mist as an avatar. Helping the poor, feeding the hungry ones, elevating the life of the depressed, creating schools, building houses, hospitals, supplying the money, the necessary wherewithal, and shaping the body and soul of Shoonder Bon Home are the admirable heroic activities. All his heroic activities had endowed John Mist with the status of divine incarnation. By temperament he was Vedantic and by outlook he was Vedic. Experiences are always universal and they tend to move on in a parallel line. A man born in England getting fully rooted and absorbed in the life of Shoonder Bon village in East can be described as a phenomenon continent. Though the inhabitation is in a specific culture modern like cross-cultural pollination and acculturation are not sufficient to psychoanalyze the life of a soul. The Tree Bride is a powerful depiction of pre-independence India bringing two continents into contact with each other. East and West are traditionally conceived as terms of contrast, but this novel differs from this time-honored way of treating East and West. Shattering and solidifying of cultural boundaries are the two sub-conscious streams pervading the novel. John Mist serves as an example for the first category while Virgil Treadwell is shown as an instance for second category as he happens to be an East India Company official and a commissioner with an Anglophile and Edwardian bent of mind looking to formal, external decorum and spectability as norms of good behavior. But the novelist is preoccupied with mysticism and transformation of consciousness. Therefore anectodes, precedents and succeedents are only matter of chronology, history and geography. Human beings are irrespective of time, place and age. Anti-British and pro-British elements are attitudes which are incidental and largely history. The novelist does not spare her satirical pen where the British rule in India is concerned. Brahmo Samaj, a revival Indian Renaissance Movement, comes under severe scrutiny in the novelist’s hands. It can be clearly seen that the artist shows her inward respect over Jaikrishna Gangooly, the great grandfather of Tara, and his daughter, the Tree Bride. They also respected the Gangooly family for it is more attached to Arya Samaj which came as a corrective to Brahmo Samaj. The first movement endorses the philosophy of liberal, scientific Westernization while the second accepts the same phenomenon with a great deal of reservation. The business of Bharati Mukherjee is to be true to the facts of life. She acknowledges the fact that the British lifted India from the deep slumber of decadence. At the same time the novelist mounts a frontal attack on the British strategy of perpetrating the foreign rule through religious divisions. â€Å"It is easy for an English-educated, middle-class Indian (or Pakistani or Bangladesh) to fall in line with colonial prejudice. Thirty thousand British bureaucrats and â€Å"factors† were able to rule ten thousand times more Indians by dividing Muslims from Hindus, Persian Zoroastrians from Muslims, Sikhs from Hindus, and nearly everyone, including Hindus, from castes like lazy Brahmins and money-grubbing banias†. 44) It shows that the need of the British empire could be better fulfilled by the Indians than by the English men. Macaulay’s limited psychoanalysis of the situation was right as far as his administrative framework was involved. But he failed to see the spontaneous mystical influence of each culture over the other. The novel contains two layers of unfolding its theme. One layer is obviously concerned with the co nsequences resulting from the setting up of the East India Company. To a historian, the other layer remains obscure and somewhat non-logical. But the novelist takes immense care to distribute the emphasis in an equable manner for the purpose of achieving cultural comprehensiveness in the historical-cum-artist portrayal of personages. Macaulay saw culture and civilization in the mass as a consolidated unified framework. That is after all a nineteenth-century Benthamite utilitarian rationale. It is the justification or rationalization of relating to the utilitarian philosophy of Jeremy Bentham. A mass tendency validates an individual wishing after some cultural fallback. Man in the mass is metaphorically dead. Only the individual who does not align himself with the mass tendency is alive. Every culture is in a state of being and becoming and what is far more important is that one emerges into the other. There is always an interplay between the two. The reason is that every society is subject to mutation and change. No culture has come to stay like a consolidated stone. History events and the march of time leave no society and culture untouched. The richness of any antiquity is never lost in the exposure of any historical, social and cultural metamorphosis. The novel brings out this idea of absorption and assimilation: In my mind, the history of the British in India is a story of adventure gone bad, where the thrill of new encounters, the lure of transformation†¦started drying up†¦Maybe there is a limit to the human capacity for wonder or the ability to absorb the truly alien without trying to reduce its dimensions and tame its excess. (48) It is clear that the stand of outside time is true and enduring . Simultaneously some other mysterious element enters time to put life through a process of transmutation. Frequently at such moments cultural upheavals occur. One such movement is the encounter between England and India in the wake of the setting up of the East India Company as the nucleus and the wing of the British Empire. The powerful depiction of the scenes and a comprehensive portrayal of significant characters enables us to come to terms with the psycho-social implications of what they stand for and where the repercussions lead to. A head-on collision between the sociology of the society and the psychology of the individuals is perceptible. Demonstrably Eliot’s theory of past influencing the present and the present equally modifying the past is at work in the novel. A discussion taking place in San Francisco among Tara and Bish,Yash Khanna and Victoria Khanna is related to a memorable historical event in Shoonder Bon village (in East Bengal). The information so secured about this past is more by coincidence. The restlessnes of Tara’s spirit and the probability involved in her rumbling upon some material link the present with the past. It is the matter of sheer chance. Nevertheless it has value. Victoria Khanna’s grandfather was Virgil Treadwell. As he was in Indian Civil Service, he was posted as a district commissioner in Bengal in 1930. The Six containing old ledgers of grandfather is a historical record about him. Victoria Khanna informs Tara about these materials. An impetus from the research into the past history Tara Lat Gangooly is the outcome of Tara’s inner prompting of her reminiscent prevision of a remote historical record of Mishtigunj which presents a parallel equivalent to an idealist view of a world of unalloyed joy and bliss. The random availability of record by sheer coincidence or accident from the hand of Victoria Khanna leads to the fulfillment of such a goal of study and investigation. Mist Nama is a powerful poetic depiction of a rich rewriting of the ancient Indian Vedic history by a British-turned Hindoo, John Mist. The question, â€Å"Who contributes† is as much important as the question â€Å"What is contributed. † John Mist is the creator of an ideal social order. Mist-Nama is a practical rendering of a life-vision. A British Hindu stood for the Hindu-Moslem unity. His governing philosophy in the language of the novelist was the harmonious combination of the ‘two’ of everything and it meant occupation and employment for both Hindus and Moslems in an equitable proportion. He conducted hectic commerce and business enterprises and whatever he earned, he shared with all. A profit-making East India Company British ship dropped a legacy making sailor-turned savior, John Mist. There were many Indians who became pseudo-British by their outward forms of Westernization like Virgil Treadwell. At the same time there were many British like John Mist, David Llewellyn and Coughlin Nigel who became true Indian Hindoos by their inner transformation of being. Imitation must contain an element of creative transformation; otherwise it can turn into mere form and decorum ending in an emptiness of being. The context for the discussion of the relationship between ‘being’ and ‘becoming’ is demonstrably evident here. The truth to be established is that’ being’ and’ becoming’ are not the usual dichotomies but they are two indivisible sides of the same coin. Tara and John Mist appear as immigrants. Immigrancy is equated with loss of something and a search for true â€Å"something. † Tradition and convention describe nativity as something which is independent upon space, time, history and geography. This is a monolithic vision of culture and nativity. Nativity is therefore defined as a belonging to a culture and sharing oneness with it. But Bharati Mukherjee establishes another view that nativity is independent of all factors and it is more connected with inner being and less with spontaneous factors. A search for realization of inner being is conserved by the novelist as nativity. The idea of birthplace being conserved as nativity is different from the idea of describing nativity as sharing oneness with the inner being which is independent of spacing the framework. The drama is that being turns into becoming and being from becoming turns into being. The novelist holds two views which are not contradictory as each other. John Mist says: â€Å"having come nowhere, he had everywhere to go. Having had nothing, he has had everything and anything at his disposal. † (27) Elsewhere the novelist says that where one inherits nothing, he is entitled to everything. Freedom of immigrancy and liberty of any form of absorption put the being and the becoming in a process of creative interplay. Mukherjee acknowledges the fact that life is an unpredictable mystery:â€Å"We have been trained to think of Mishtigunj as home in ways that our adopted homes, Calcutta and California, must never be. Ancestors come and to, but one’s native village, one’s desh, is immutable. (29)† Tara realizes her native home as Mishtigunj in a state of immigrancy. But the home of John Mist is the same Indian village. Tara and John Mist realized their nativity in different ways where ‘being’ and’ becoming’ move and merge into each other. John Mist is the creator of Indian Mishtigunj and he is a British who discovers his sweet home in this village. Tara, an Indian immigrant in San Francisco, discovers home in the British created legendary village, Who is an immigrant? Who is a native? These questions get simultaneously juxtaposed. Home if therefore or it needs to be defined where one’s being is. In comparison with Tara and John Mist, Virgil Treadwell is less a better human being in spite of his being absorbed in the new phenomenon called Eurasianism. He could plot along with the British and spy on Tara Lata Gangooly’s house. These facts have deprived him of his inner being. His Eurasianism corrupted his nobility, introducing falsity. He sold his soul and made his profit whereas John Mist gave away his profit to people and he discovered his soul in his sacrifice. Bharati Mukherjee says that when the British like Virgil Treadwell spoke of profit John Mist thought in terms of leaving legacy. Therefore the concept of total objectivity of culture dies-down in the birth of polyvalent cultural subjectivity. Tara, Virgil Treadwell and John Mist are varying examples of the new proposition. With John Mist loss of objectivity (British culture) ends in discovery of subjectivity. Here the words’ loss’ and ‘gain’ and ‘objectivity’ and ‘subjectivity’ and’ being’ and ‘becoming’ are more connected with subconscious realization of one’s inner being. In the case of Virgil Treadwell, British gain meant Indian loss whereas conversely in the case of John Mist’s British loss meant Indian gain. The novelist uses very sensational generalizations to illustrate this truth:â€Å"All the could-have-beens and should-have-beens of history, the best of the East meeting the best of the West, etc. , etc. , shrink from grandeur to petty profit-taking. (48) The question ‘Who conquered whom’ melts into insignificance: â€Å"history is written by victors, but in the case of India, it’s not always clear who won, is it? 90) It is that both the victor (West) and the vanquished (East) mutually enriched the sensibility of the two cultures. It is a strange divine coincidence that John Mist’s creation of the â€Å"Mist-Nama† and â€Å"Mishtigunj† is along a line which the ancient tradition of India endorses. The discovery of such a wonderful treasure is made possible by the research work of an Indian immig rant in America, Tara. Both John Mist and Tara are in a way immigrants. The philosophical axiom is that cultures are not fixed entities like â€Å"quantity. Naturally ‘being’ and’ becoming’ are not static. The mutations have repercussions. Though the word ‘being’ created a misleading picture of fixity and permanence, it has the character of fabric. The British conquest of India forms the context of the new in which these issues are raised indirectly. The history of Mishtigunj created by British Hindu John Mist puts obstacles in the way of glibly accepting the two categories ‘being’ and ‘becoming’. What determines history is not its concern with outward form but the ‘inner implications’ is which it unconsciously creates. It is this history which has created a martyr, John Mist. Tara Lata Gangooly represents the best of the East and her predecessor John Mist represents both the best of the East and the best of the West. Characters like Virgil Treadwell are more concerned with the British form and decorum than with the essence of life. Both John Mist and Tara Lata Gangooly live at a deeper level while men like Virgil Treadwell move on a superficial plane. There are many places where Virgil Treadwell is compared to Churchill and Nixon and he is satirized subtly. Both John Mist and Tara Lata died a martyr’s death. The former was hanged in 1880 on a charge of disobedience of the British Colonial venture and the latter died in a prison in 1943 on the same charges of treason, sedition and disobedience. These events and situations by themselves are utterly insignificant. But the effect and impact they leave have a lasting value. It is this fact which enable the readers arrives at a philosophical link between being and becoming both is that the reality of life permits a movement between being and becoming. Liking John Mist, Tara Lata, Virgil and their life styles lead the leader draw an intelligent interference events and circumstances keeps them in a state of transition and transformation. It is a great achievement on the part of the novelist to aim at an imaginative-historical reconstruction of Mishtigunj. Bharathi Mukherjee is not a thoughless immigrant. Her loyalty to the essence of life gives her a new responsibility to rephrase the issue of the contact and correlation between being and becoming.

Anthropomorphism and Animal Rights

Anthropomorphism and Animal Rights So you’ve just arrived home to find your couch shredded, the cupboard ransacked and your cat’s dinner dish lying empty in your bedroom. Your dog, you note with certainty, has a â€Å"guilty look on his face because he knows hes done something wrong. This is a perfect example of anthropomorphism. Dictionary.Com defines anthropomorphism as â€Å"ascribing human form or attributes to a being †¦.not human.† Most people who live with dogs know their dogs so well that any nuance of a change in the dogs facade is quickly recognized and labeled. But really, if we dont use the word guilty, how else would we describe that look? Some dog trainers dismiss these claims of guilty looks on a dog as nothing more than conditioned behavior.The dog only looks that way because he remembers the way you reacted the last time you came home to a similar scene. Hes not looking guilty, but rather he knows you  will react badly and its this expectation of punishment that causes the look on his face. Animal rights activists are dismissed as being anthropomorphic when we claim that animals feel emotions much like humans do. It’s an easy way for people who want to profit off the suffering of animals to dismiss their own evil behavior. It’s OK to say an animal is breathing, no one will charge us with anthropomorphism because no one doubts that animals breathe. But if we say the animal is happy, sad, depressed, grieving, in mourning or afraid, we’re dismissed as being anthropomorphic. In dismissing claims that animals emote, those who want to exploit them rationalize their actions. Anthropomorphism v. Personification Personification is the giving of human-like qualities to an inanimate object, while anthropomorphism usually applies to animals and deities. More importantly, personification is considered a  valuable literary device, with positive connotations. Anthropomorphism has negative connotations and is usually used to describe an inaccurate view of the world, prompting PsychCentral.com to ask, Why Do We Anthropomorphize? In other words, its OK for Sylvia Plath to give voice to a mirror and a lake, giving inanimate objects human-like qualities in order to entertain and move her audience, but its not OK for animal rights activists to say that a dog in a laboratory is suffering for the purpose of changing the way the dog is treated. Do Animal Rights Activists Anthropomorphize? When an animal rights activist says that an elephant suffers and feels pain when hit with a bullhook; or a mouse suffers from being blinded with hairspray, and chickens feel  pain when their feet develop sores from standing on the wire floor of a battery cage; that is not anthropomorphism. Since these animals have a central nervous system much like ours, it’s not much of a leap to deduce that their pain receptors work much like ours. Non-human animals may not have the exact same experience as humans, but identical thoughts or feelings are not required for moral consideration. Furthermore, not all humans have emotions in the same way - some are sensitive, insensitive, or overly sensitive - yet all are entitled to the same basic human rights. Accusations of Anthropomorphism Animal rights  activists are accused of anthropomorphism when we talk about animals suffering or having emotions, even though, through studies and observation, biologists agree that animals can feel emotions. In July, 2016, National Geographic published an article entitled â€Å"Look Into This Dolphin’s Eyes and Tell Me That’s Not Grief! by Maddalena Bearzi for the Ocean Conservation Society’s â€Å"Ocean News.† Bearzi writes of her experience on June 9, 2016 while she was working on a research boat with a team of Marine Biology students from Texas AM University. Leading the team was Dr. Bernd Wursig, a well-respected cetologist and head of the Texas AM Marine Biology Group. The team came upon a dolphin who was keeping vigil with a dead dolphin, presumably a pod-mate. The dolphin was circling the corpse, moving it up and down and from side to side,  clearly grieving. Dr. Wursig noted â€Å"For a pelagic creature like this is so highly unusual (to be alone with a dead one, and away from its group)†¦because they are scared to be alone†¦ they are just not lone creatures and the animal was obviously suffering.† The team described the scene with much sadness as it was obvious the dolphin knew his friend was dead but refused to accept that fact. Dr. Wursig cannot be easily dismissed as a sentimental animal rights activist  who anthropomorphizes animals carelessly. His report clearly described the dolphin as being in mourning†¦..a very human condition. Though this particular dolphin was holding vigil over a dead animal, many non-human animals have been observed helping  others of their species in need, a behavior scientists call epimeletic. If they cant care, why do they do it? Animal activists are calling people out who hurt animals, and their use of anthropomorphism is justified when  seeking justice and social change. Change can be scary and difficult, so people consciously or subconsciously seek ways to resist change. Rejecting the fact that animals suffer and have emotions can make it easier for people to continue exploiting animals without worrying about the ethical implications. One way of rejecting that fact is to call it anthropomorphism even though it is the result of direct scientific evidence. There may be some who truly do not believe that animals are capable of suffering or emotions, as French philosopher/mathematician  Rene Descartes  claimed he did, but Descartes  was himself a vivisector  and had reason to deny the obvious. Current scientific information contradicts Descartes 17th century view. Biology and research into the sentience of non-human animals has come a long way since Descartes time, and will continue to evolve as we learn more about the non-human animals with whom we share this planet.   Edited by  Michelle A. Rivera.

Battle of Iwo Jima in World War II

Battle of Iwo Jima in World War II The Battle of Iwo Jima was fought from February 19 to March 26, 1945, during World War II (1939-1945). The American invasion of Iwo Jima came after Allied forces had island-hopped across the Pacific and had conducted successful campaigns in the Solomon, Gilbert, Marshall, and Mariana Islands. Landing on Iwo Jima, American forces encountered much fiercer resistance than expected and the battle became one of the bloodiest of the war in the Pacific.    Forces Commanders Allies Admiral Raymond A. SpruanceMajor General Harry SchmidtVice Admiral Marc Mitscherup to 110,000 men Japanese Lieutenant General Tadamichi KuribayashiColonel Baron Takeichi Nishi23,000 men Background During 1944, the Allies achieved a series of successes as they island-hopped across the Pacific. Driving through the Marshall Islands, American forces captured Kwajalein and Eniwetok before pushing on to the Marianas. Following a victory at the Battle of the Philippine Sea in late June, troops landed on Saipan and Guam and wrested them from the Japanese. That fall saw a decisive victory at the Battle of Leyte Gulf and the opening of a campaign in the Philippines. As a next step, Allied leaders began developing plans for the invasion of Okinawa. Since this operation was intended for April 1945, Allied forces were faced with a brief lull in offensive movements. To fill this, plans were developed for the invasion of Iwo Jima in the Volcano Islands. Located approximately mid-way between the Marianas and the Japanese Home Islands, Iwo Jima served as an early warning station for Allied bombing raids and provided a base for Japanese fighters to intercept approaching bombers. Additionally, the island offered a launching point for Japanese air attacks against the new American bases in the Marianas. In assessing the island, American planners also envisioned using it as a forward base for the anticipated invasion of Japan. Planning Dubbed Operation Detachment, planning for capturing Iwo Jima moved forward with Major General Harry Schmidts V Amphibious Corps selected for the landings. Overall command of the invasion was given to Admiral Raymond A. Spruance and the carriers Vice Admiral Marc A. Mitschers Task Force 58 were directed to provide air support. Naval transport and direct support for Schmidts men would be given by Vice Admiral Richmond K. Turners Task Force 51. Allied air attacks and naval bombardments on the island had commenced in June 1944 and had continued through the remainder of the year. It was also scouted by Underwater Demolition Team 15 on June 17, 1944. In early 1945, intelligence indicated that Iwo Jima was relatively lightly defended and given the repeated strikes against it, planners thought it could be captured within a week of the landings (Map). These assessments led Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz to comment,  Well, this will be easy. The Japanese will surrender Iwo Jima without a fight. Japanese Defenses The believed state of Iwo Jimas defenses was a misconception that the islands commander, Lieutenant General Tadamichi Kuribayashi had worked to encourage. Arriving in June 1944, Kuribayashi utilized  lessons learned during the Battle of Peleliu and focused his attention on building multiple layers of defenses that centered on strong points and bunkers. These featured heavy machine guns and artillery as well as held supplies to allow each strong point to hold out for an extended period. One bunker near Airfield #2 possessed sufficient ammunition, food, and water to resist for three months. Additionally, he elected to employ his limited number of tanks as mobile, camouflaged artillery positions. This overall approach broke from Japanese doctrine which called for establishing defensive lines on the beaches to combat invading troops before they could land in force. As Iwo Jima increasingly came under aerial attack, Kuribayashi commenced focusing on the construction of an elaborate system of interconnected tunnels and bunkers. Connecting the islands strong points, these tunnels were not visible from the air and came as a surprise to the Americans after they landed. Understanding that the battered Imperial Japanese Navy would not be able to offer support during an invasion of the island and that air support would be nonexistent, Kuribayashis goal was to inflict as many casualties as possible before the island fell. To this end, he encouraged his men to kill ten Americans each before dying themselves. Through this he hoped to discourage the Allies from attempting an invasion of Japan. Focusing his efforts on the northern end of the island, over eleven miles of tunnels were constructed, while a separate system honeycombed Mt. Suribachi at the southern end. The Marines Land As a prelude to Operation Detachment, B-24 Liberators from the Marianas pounded Iwo Jima for 74 days. Due to the nature of the Japanese defenses, these air attacks had little effect. Arriving off the island in mid-February, the invasion force took up positions. The American planned called for the 4th and 5th Marine Divisions to go ashore on Iwo Jimas southeastern beaches with the goal of capturing Mt. Suribachi and the southern airfield on the first day. At 2:00 AM on February 19, the pre-invasion bombardment commenced, supported by bombers. Heading towards the beach, the first wave of Marines landed at 8:59 AM and initially met little resistance. Sending patrols off the beach, they soon encountered Kuribayashis bunker system. Quickly coming under heavy fire from the bunkers and gun emplacements on Mt. Suribachi, the Marines began to take heavy losses. The situation was further complicated by the islands volcanic ash soil which prevented the digging of foxholes. Pushing Inland The Marines also found that clearing a bunker did not put it out of action as Japanese soldiers would use the tunnel network to make it operational again. This practice would be common during the battle and led to many casualties when Marines believed they were in a secure area. Utilizing naval gunfire, close air support, and arriving armored units, the Marines were slowly able to fight their way off the beach though losses remained high. Among those killed was Gunnery Sergeant John Basilone who had won the Medal of Honor three years earlier at Guadalcanal.   Around 10:35 AM, a force of Marines led by Colonel  Harry B. Liversedge succeeded in reaching the islands western shore and cutting off Mt. Suribachi. Under heavy fire from from the heights, efforts were made over the next few days to neutralize the Japanese on the mountain. This culminated with American forces reaching the summit on February 23 and the raising of the flag atop the summit. Grinding on to Victory As fighting raged for the mountain, other Marine units battled their way north past the southern airfield. Easily shifting troops through the tunnel network, Kuribayashi inflicted increasingly severe losses on the attackers. As American forces advanced, a key weapon proved to be flamethrower-equipped M4A3R3 Sherman tanks which were difficult to destroy and efficient at clearing bunkers. Efforts were also supported by the liberal use of close air support. This was initially provided by the Mitschers carriers and later transitioned to the P-51 Mustangs of the 15th Fighter Group after their arrival on March 6. Fighting to the last man, the Japanese made superb use of the terrain and their tunnel network, constantly popping out to surprise the Marines. Continuing to push north, the Marines encountered fierce resistance at the Motoyama Plateau and nearby Hill 382 during which the fighting bogged down. A similar situation developed to the west at Hill 362 which was riddled with tunnels. With the advance halted and casualties mounting, Marine commanders began changing tactics to combat the nature of the Japanese defenses. These include assaulting without preliminary bombardments and night attacks. Final Efforts By March 16, after weeks of brutal fighting, the island was declared secure. Despite this proclamation, the 5th Marine Division was still fighting to take Kuribayashis final stronghold at the northwest tip of the island. On March 21, they succeeded in destroying the Japanese command post and three days later closed the remaining tunnel entrances in the area. Though it appeared that the island was fully secured, 300 Japanese launched a final assault near Airfield No. 2 in the middle of the island on the night of March 25. Appearing behind the American lines, this force was ultimately contained and defeated by a mixed group of Army pilots, Seabees, engineers, and Marines. There is some speculation that Kuribayashi personally led this final attack. Aftermath Japanese losses in the fighting for Iwo Jima are subject to debate with numbers ranging from 17,845 killed to as high as 21,570. During the fighting only 216 Japanese soldiers were captured. When the island was declared secured again on March 26, approximately 3,000 Japanese remained alive in the tunnel system. While some carried on limited resistance or committed ritual suicide, others emerged to scavenge for food. US Army forces reported in June that they had captured an additional 867 prisoners and killed 1,602. The final two Japanese soldiers to surrender were Yamakage Kufuku and Matsudo Linsoki who lasted until 1951. American losses for Operation Detachment were a staggering 6,821 killed/missing and 19,217 wounded. The fighting for Iwo Jima was the one battle in which American forces sustained a greater number of total casualties than the Japanese. In the course of the struggle for the island, twenty-seven Medals of Honor were awarded, fourteen posthumously. A bloody victory, Iwo Jima provided valuable lessons for the upcoming Okinawa campaign. In addition, the island fulfilled its role as a waypoint to Japan for American bombers. During the final months of the war, 2,251 B-29 Superfortress landings occurred on the island. Due to heavy cost to take the island, the campaign was immediately subjected to intense scrutiny in the military and press.

Slp4 599 Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Slp4 599 - Coursework Example Through an effective understanding of the two, it becomes easier to develop a brand positioning tool that appeals to every segment of the market. Understanding the product The Clipboard tablets are diverse and built with the understanding of the shoppers. For the three years, the company has produced three serial products each having unique features but better than the previous. The X5 tablet is the most basic of the three. Its features are basic tablet features and possibly target the low income earners. Its buyers are not motivated by the performance of the product but by its relatively cheap price. Among its features are the 2G internet capabilities, a three megapixel camera and a 30 Gigabyte internal hard disk memory. For these three features and its target market, the product stays active in the market for three years, the longest in the history of Clipboard tablets. An upgrade version of the X5 tablet is the X6. This is performance oriented and has better features than those pr esented by its predecessor. With the 4G internet speed, Wi fi and one hundred and eighty gigabyte storage space, the machine is ideal for the modern day business person. The product targets the rich and wealthy members of the society. It stays active for two years, a feature attributable to the gullible nature of its target market. Infusing price and performance is not always easy. The notion shared by most shoppers is that an expensive product is always of the best quality. It thus became hard to produce a good quality product and sell it at a relatively low price. The X7 tried this resulting in the shortest market time in the history of the company products. It infuses a number of features of the X6 and has a better sleeker look. Understanding the market The market is easier to understand; tablet users prefer convenience and will always be on the move. They thus require a mobile device that offers longevity and extreme convenience. However, just like the rest of the market it is d ivided into two with every group having its own uniqueness and motivations to purchasing. The two groups are the price motivated shoppers and the quality motivated shoppers (Gilbreth & Lillian, 1978). The price motivated shoppers always buy the basics at the most competitive market value. They asses the products based on their prices and the basic features it promises. This market segment constitute of people from the lower and a bigger percentage of the middle social class, their revenue is constrained and they therefore account for every penny, over spending may result in severe inconveniencies in other aspects of their lives. They thus stick to the basics and would rather accommodate the little inconveniencies of a basic product than spend a penny more than they had budgeted for. Coincidentally this class of shoppers is always a majority in every market. The second category of shoppers is quality oriented. These people will always change gadgets with every newer and improved vers ion of the very product that enters the market. This group constitutes of the rich and the wealth members of the society, it may also include members of lower social classes but compelled by other preexisting circumstances to purchase the very products prescribed by either their employers or service providers. They are not scared of the rice of the product provided it

Apples Business Strategy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Apples Business Strategy - Essay Example It continually invests in research and development, marketing and advertising. However, its main strategic advantage is the integration of its various hardware and software products, allowing customers to discover and download applications and books through either Mac or Windows-based computers or iOS mobile devices, allowing for ease of access and thus more frequent sales. Apple offers strong support for third-party hardware and software products and digital content that complement its offerings, thereby broadening its customer base and enhancing brand loyalty (Annual Report 2012). Â  Table 1 is the Apple competitor and industry profile provided by Yahoo Finance for investors in the stock market. Apple dominates the PC Industry in market capitalization, revenues, earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortizations, operating margin, net income, and earnings per share. It has an advantage over Google in its price to earnings ratio, being only half as expensive for every dollar of earnings (11.33 times for Apple compared to 22.08 times for Google). Apple’s stock price has some upward leeway, because its earnings per share growth rate are high compared to its price, yielding a low price to earnings growth ratio (PEG). An investor would, therefore, be interested in Apple for its stock value appreciation. Â