Kafka’s Metamorphosis: Transformations in Gregor’s Family Essay

While it is evident that the term metamorphosis mainly pertains to the unexplainable changes that Gregor Samsa faced, it may also be said that the other characters experienced a metamorphosis of their own. Specifically, despite Gregor’s misfortune and eventual demise, considerable changes have manifested for the benefit of Gregor’s family such as his father regaining enthusiasm in work (Mallison 15). To further explain, Gregor Samsa’s sudden change in an insect has caused his family to change their ways in order to survive. Taking into consideration that Gregor mainly provided for the needs of his family prior to his transformation, it was definitely no longer a choice for his father, mother, and sister to spend their days idly or unproductively. In addition to such changes, their manner of perception was altered throughout the progression of the story as well. In particular, a metamorphosis also occurred in how they perceived Gregor Samsa’s humanity and existence. Therefore, it is indeed irrefutable that Gregor’s father, mother, and sister all underwent a process of metamorphosis as well albeit not in appearance but rather in terms of their actions and beliefs. Gregor provided for the needs of his family entirely, as they no longer had to busy themselves with any form of toil and labor. As noted in the story, Gregor â€Å"felt a great pride that he was able to provide a life like that in such a nice home for his sister and parents† (Kafka 22). However, upon realizing that having no one to support the family due to Gregor’s unfortunate transformation into an insect, Gregor’s father knew that he had to change his ways and once again attempt to make a living. This was not an easy task though as Gregor’s father, having suffered from unsuccessful business pursuits in the past was â€Å"lacking in self confidence† (Kafka 28). Nonetheless, the father that Gregor once knew, who always acted and presented himself in a laid back manner, has undergone a considerable metamorphosis of his own. Not only did Gregor’s father acquire a job at a banking firm, hence explaining a change in aspects of clothing, a truly encompassing transformation is signified by having â€Å"piercing dark eyes, that looked out fresh and alert† (Kafka 36). With such great changes, it becomes apparent that by the end of the story Gregor’s father was no longer a man haunted by failure, but instead embodied worth and gained a renewed hunger for accomplishments. In addition to his father’s transformation, Gregor’s mother and sister underwent metamorphosis as well. First, it may seem that Gregor’s mother, being faced with a serious health condition would not be able to change her ways or to assume more responsibilities. Particularly, Gregor’s mother â€Å"suffered from asthma and it was a strain for her just to move about the home† (Kafka 28). However, as brought forth by the changes in their household, in addition to possibly seeing the noteworthy transformation of his husband, she was also able to live a more productive lifestyle. Interestingly, the task that Gregor’s mother accomplished in order to further secure the financial stability of her family required minimal physical strain; she â€Å"sew fancy underwear for a fashion shop† (Kafka 39). Grete, Gregor’s sister, on the other hand actually got a proper job, following the steps of her brother as she â€Å"had taken a sales job† (Kafka 39). Albeit previously not seeing the need to secure responsibilities of her own, her metamorphosis actually first occurred when she felt the need to care for her brother; having to accomplish the most basic chores without fail, even though she never became accustomed to his brother’s new form. Throughout the points mentioned above, it becomes clear that the other members of Gregor’s family underwent a metamorphosis in their actions or more specifically in their responsibilities and pursuits. Regardless, it transformations in terms of belief or perception should not be disregarded. To expound, the manner in which they believed or perceived Gregor as a family member, despite his abhorrent state, has also undergone a metamorphosis throughout the story. Once before, Gregor’s mother even questioned the notion of removing all furniture from Gregor’s room, claiming that â€Å"it’d be best to leave the room exactly the way it was before so that when Gregor comes back to us again he’ll find everything unchanged† (Kafka, 32). With such words, it is obvious that there is still a belief that Gregor is indeed the insect before them, only having gone through a temporary metamorphosis, a mere ordeal which would soon pass. However, as Gregor’s family soon became more self-sufficient, their perceptions regarding Gregor eventually changed. In the end, even Gregor’s most beloved sister exclaimed the following: â€Å"I don’t want to call this monster my brother, all I can say is: we have to try and get rid of it† (Kafka, 49). The metamorphosis of each member of Gregor’s family would not have been possible if his own metamorphosis has not occurred. Hence, metamorphosis in this sense may also be pertained to as an exchange or trade-off between fortune and misfortune, or between accomplishment and degradation. Particularly, such a perspective would most be most interesting to further emphasize in the context of Grete. As Hill specifically mentions in a criticism of Kafka’s work, â€Å"the story sadly implies that only false illusion can become a saving ideal, only under its grip can life blossom† (162). Even though not faced with a dire need to earn or to achieve financial success, as other members of the family have gained proper jobs, Grete still aimed to pursue similar goals. It is definitely intriguing to learn that she has acquired a similar job to that his brother once held, implying that she may be trying to complete the gap left by her brother as a gesture of respect. In conclusion, Franz Kafka’s The Metamorphosis is not merely a tale regarding particular changes experienced by an individual but most importantly tells of how such changes may bring forth a myriad of possible outcomes for others. Works Cited Hill, Stanley. â€Å"Kafka’s Metamorphosis. † Explicator 61. 3 (2003): 161 – 162. Print. Kafka, Franz. The Metamorphosis. Vista, CA: Boomer Books, 2008. Print. Mallison, Jane. Book Smart: Your Essential Reading List for Becoming a Literary Genius in 365 Days. New York, NY: McGraw Hill Companies, 2007. Print.

A regular turn in American sign language Essay

In the next example, the Professor is suggesting that the next step is to separate portions of the Student’s narrative into chunks. She explains that narrative chunks in spoken languages are detected through linguistic cues, such as rhythm, intonation, and discourse markers (Chafe 1982). She concludes by saying that she does not know if ASL has these cues or if there are other kinds of cues. Her final remark, Ð ° rhetorical question, is interpreted into ASL as Ð ° direct question: Does ASL has cues? The Student immediately responds, â€Å"YES† The Professor’s delay at hearing Ð ° response is minimal, less than Ð ° half second. The briefness of this delay accounts for the illusion that the speakers are almost talking to each other, Because the Student begins to respond in ASL by the second potential turn transition, the exchange between Professor, Student, and Interpreter occurs seemingly naturally within Ð ° brief time span and without problems. That primary speakers are responding to the Interpreter in terms of the norms of their own language is also demonstrated by their nonverbal behavior. Both speaker’s nod their heads, smile and silently laugh, and make other gestures at moments that co-occur with utterances they understand in their own languages. For example, later in the meeting when the Professor learns that the Student will be going to another city to give Ð ° speech, she smiles and nods, but these expressions occur after she hears the interpretation in English, not after the Student says it in ASL. one wonders, then, whether the Student understands, intuitively or not, that the nonverbal information he sees the Professor engage in at that moment is attached to what he said moments ago noted that when people speak the same language, they know what facial signals go with what words and so can interpret the combination of the two signals. But when we interact with people who speak another language, any speaker might observe another speaker’s body and facial cues but most likely cannot associate these cues with their exact words, sentence, or meanings. In this section І have demonstrated how the Student and the Professor take turns at potential transition moments within their own language, and thus, with the Interpreter. Regular turns occur naturally in face-to-face interaction, and they also occur naturally in interpreting. The participants, the discourse, and the moment combine (McDermott and Tylbor [1983] call this â€Å"collusion†) to create interactional harmony whereby Ð ° turn happens successfully and comfortably. In regular turns, then, the Interpreter is an active participant who constructed equivalent responses in terms of message content and also in terms of potential turn transition. Knowing when and how to signal turns or pauses is discourse knowledge and an indication of communicative competence. Creating Turns From studies of no interpreted conversations, we know that speakers do not take turns or continue their turns only because they recognize Ð ° transition moment or Ð ° specific syntactic unit that allows for exchange. Bennett (1981) suggests that the structural regularities in discourse and Ð ° participant’s understandings of the thematic flow of the discourse make turn units â€Å"considerably more flexible† (emphasis his) than the notion of turns created solely from structural surface signals. Within conversations, participants create themes which unfold, diverge, and reconverge as the talk proceeds (Bennett 1981). Themes comprised of individual and shared motives, feelings about the subject, and the meanings that are uttered direct conversational contributions Turns, then, also come about through participants’ intuitive sense of â€Å"now† being the right moment to speak, or take Ð ° turn. After playing back the videotape of the meeting once, І asked the participants to focus on turn-taking. І asked them to recall, if they could, their motives and feelings around their turns, and why, in some places, they chose to speak. Predictably, their own reasons for taking Ð ° turn or continuing Ð ° turn were based in large part on their own sense of participation in the conversation and from Ð ° sense of wanting either to contribute to Ð ° theme or, in one case, to stop Ð ° theme. These developments are not predictable but are Ð ° part of conversational behavior. Moreover, the ways in which the interlocutors contribute to the flow constitutes an emerging pattern of conversational style (Tannen 1984). For example, at one point in the meeting, the Professor began to talk even though she could hear an interpretation. During her interview, І asked the Professor about this segment. Her response was, â€Å"І probably just decided it [the Student’s talk] was enough. І didn’t especially want to hear the answer now. І just wanted to set it as Ð ° topic that would be interesting for him to think about and report on during the semester. † The Professor began to talk from her own sense of the direction of the conversation and her desire to have the Student think about the topic and not initiate Ð ° longer discussion at present. To steer the conversation in Ð ° different direction and perhaps head off Ð ° lengthy discussion, she took Ð ° turn from her own sense of needing to alter the theme of the conversation, not from Ð ° surface syntactic signal. In another example, at the beginning of the meeting, the Student was looking at the Interpreter because the Interpreter was signing, and then he turned away from the Interpreter and looked toward the Professor and the telephone and answering machine. He began to talk while the Interpreter was still interpreting, not at Ð ° potential transition moment in ASL. His turn, too, has to be motivated by reasons other than an approaching grammatical unit or paralinguistic signal. When asked why he stopped watching the Interpreter and began to speak, the Student replied, â€Å"І knew where [the Interpreter] was going; І could sense the way his sentence would end. І wanted to see what she was doing to make the phone stop ringing. † (This he had learned from what the Professor had just said. ) Discourse knowledge, real world knowledge, Ð ° sense of conversational direction, speaker intention, and many other factors motivate speakers to take turns. Although interpreters cannot always predict when Ð ° speaker will talk, they can become accustomed to the possibilities of change and that turns can occur at the least likely moments, or rather, at any moment. Primary participants are actively involved in creating and responding to turns, and, for all intents and purposes, make arbitrary decisions which must be managed by an interpreter. More significantly, these examples demonstrate that primary participants are active in the emerging nature and flow of talk as the interpreter directs and coordinates the exchange.

1984 and the Truman Show

island, where there is freedom and harmony within the community. Peter Weir in his film, The Truman Show, presented his version of utopia, a town called Seahaven. This essay will analyze the film as a critique of consumerism. The name of the city itself is, as Smicek points out, an anagram of, â€Å"as heaven,† that seems to, â€Å"replicate a saccharine of 1950 's American suburbia† (33). The main character, Truman, lives in the, â€Å"pastiche of Capra-esque small-town picket-fence America,† the suburban paradise†¦ the books such as 1984 to the recent movie Maze Runner. Many writers have brought up the heavy reliance of technology and how it can become devastating to the human race. The movie The Truman Show tackles the fear of the rise of technology, reality tv shows, and the social implications on Reality TV shows. . The rise of television in the 1950s, over half of Americans owned televisions, brought in new ways to entertain people. One of these ways being Reality Television shows. There was a spike†¦ cave and The Truman show. Allegory of the cave is a theory of Plato, who is a well-known philosopher in human perception. The theory talks about the disputable idea which many do not understand. It inquires (wrong word) readers to imagine and feel the prisoners in a cave all their life facing a blank wall where shadows are projected. The prisoners are chained up and have been there since their childhood. Whereas, in the movie The Truman show by Peter Wein. The movie is about Truman Burbank’s life†¦ The Truman Show The life of Truman Burbank has been broadcast around the world with tremendous success since the day he was born. A star for the mere fact that he exists, Truman has no idea that there are cameras in every corner of his world. he has literally been ON television from the moment of his birth. With the honor of being the first child to be formally adopted by a corporation, Truman has had every moment of his existence captured by television cameras. The Truman Show, a worldwide†¦ Fears and External Obstacles versus Freedom to Leave (The Truman Show 1998) Lauren: Yeah. I know. Look, Truman, I'm not allowed to talk to you. You know. Truman Burbank: Yeah, well, I can understand, I'm a pretty dangerous character. - When Truman met Sylvia first time Everyone in the world has different characteristics and personalities. When many different characters make harmony together, it leads to great wealth in our lives. Not necessarily money, but the quality of life. However,†¦ The Truman Show Critique NSCI 407 October 6, 2014 938077 True-Man? What makes a True-Man? This question can also be inferred as what makes a human being? As I studied in a religious class, human has a free will given by God, meaning we can make our decision based on the circumstances. Here, we should take our attention to an extraordinary life of one man whose name is ironically Truman but is having a difficulty in expressing his free will in film called â€Å"Truman Show†. Truman show represents a life†¦ I recently viewed, The Truman Show, I placed myself in protagonist Truman’s position. Truman’s entire life was public knowledge, from his secret crushes to deep, intimate conversations with friends and family. If I picture all my life being completely public knowledge in a situation where everything is exposed, but at the same time everyone surrounding me is pretending to be oblivious, It would lead to more secrets and lies towards me every day. For example, when Truman is talking to Marlon, his†¦ Adorno and Horkeimer many years ago claimed â€Å"culture today is infecting everything with sameness† (94). The Social Network and The Truman Show are films made 12 years apart focusing on different mediums one being reality television the other being social networking, yet they both contain the same ideologies regarding gender. Both films promote the same ideologies from the base of its makers to the characters within he film. Each film features and is created by white men, while women are shown as†¦ is Christof. In the movie The Truman Show Truman is living in a world where everyone knows his life is shown on worldwide television but him. He lives in a giant dome created by a man named Christof. He is also the director of the Show. He could be looked at as the god of this small world he created because he controls everything that goes on inside the set and he basically rules out Truman and the actor’s lives for them. Even though the viewers enjoy watching the show a lot of the viewers don’t really†¦ In the 1998 film, The Truman Show, featuring Jim Carrey as the main protagonist, it poses philosophical questions pertaining to Plato’s allegory of the cave found in The Republic. The main character of a fictional television show was Truman Burbank who lived in an alternate reality that was actually a television set that he perceived to be real. From his birth, to early childhood, teenage years, and adult life, Truman has been filmed 24 hours a day, seven days a week, through a television broadcast†¦

Effective teamwork Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Effective teamwork - Essay Example Organizations all over the world are looking for new work structures or forms and concepts so that they can comply with their internal and external demands, and this puts them an edge over their competitors (Rosenhauer, 2009). For this reason, teams have become an integral tool in many organizations for the purpose of management to ensure that the external and internal demands are met. Despite the fact that not all teams will work well, they are known to harness the collective energy of all members and there needs to be proper strategies to be followed to ensure that teams are effective. Teams refer to a group of individuals who have complementary skills and committed to a common goal, which they will be mutually accountable to ensure its success. Team members will come up with a distinct identity the work together by supporting each other to ensure that they achieve their set objective. Accomplishing a task is the extent, to which a team’s effectiveness is determined, and tea ms achieve this because working together and combining the different expertise goes a long way in ensuring success of any endeavor. Successful teams will be determined by the levels team spirit, which ensure trust, respect for one another, helping each other and being collaborative (West, 2004). Bringing people together does not necessarily mean that they will work effectively as a team and make the right decisions. People in a team will come from different backgrounds, and this can be a plus or a minus depending on how the team members relate, and this means that teams can either help or frustrate the emotional or social needs of members, which determines the effectiveness of the team. Team indifference results as a product of failing to enhance good teamwork, which is likely to result to poor performance. Effective teamwork will require certain measures put in place to ensure that people who are put together work collaboratively to achieve the set ends. Resources are an important success factor for a team and forming a team whose resources, task and membership matches is paramount when considering forming a team. This is because lack of resources may result to scramble of the available ones, which may cause stifles in the workforce. Good leadership is also paramount to the success of any team as the leader will coordinate the activities of the team to ensure that all members accomplish their tasks to ensure that there are no delays in delivery of the products (West, 2004). Team member commitment plays an integral part as no member will want to work more than the other members. Members should identify with their goals and ensure that they have achieved their task, which eliminates the chances of certain members feeling that they are overworked. Developing team goals plays an important role in ensuring that the members have focus on the ends that they are supposed to meet and this gives them a shared vision, which will motivate them as they want to achieve the set goal by the allocated time. Common ownership and joint responsibility is the other determining factor of an effective team as this will ensure that team members are in unison and are determined to achieve the set

Effects of Cybercrime Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Effects of Cybercrime - Essay Example E-crimes are very sophisticated and target consumers, public and private institutions (Wall). Computer crimes range from outside parties hacking the computer networks and phish in malicious programs that give users a deceitful sense of security, instigating them to disclose vital information. Some of the effects of cybercrimes are: The greatest effect of cybercrime is the loss of intellectual property as well as confidential information of the business. However, it is not easy to determine the exactly the extent of the losses. Partially, cybercrime is not a zero-game because the stolen information is not fully gone. Infiltrators steal only the company plans including the customer lists and the working strategies (Westby). Amazingly, the company may not be aware that it is no longer in control of the information flow and they are controlled outside their infrastructure. The spies take control of the company’s network and access the information that runs the institution. More often, such infiltrators are the company’s competitors who wish to make similar products and compete equally. Even though they cannot produce exactly the same product, the idea is leaked out. The spies having the intellectual information can compete in the market, and the victim company may be grounded in its operations. This is because the competitor may produce cheap products that attract many customers in the market (Brenner). Every business entity strives to be unique in its operation. This implies that every organization has to conceal its vital information to be peculiar and be attractive to the customers. Such vital information may be stored in the computers and network framework of the organization. Although it may take some time for stolen IP to appear in the competing product, there is no deferment in monetizing abducted vital business information. For

ARM, Intel and the microprocessor industry in 2014 Literature review

ARM, Intel and the microprocessor industry in 2014 - Literature review Example They had a feeling that sales favored ARM as their sales did not reflect the center of the ecosystem. Some observers felt that this would result to Intel making decisive actions. Intel was famous because it had good cash flow and upgraded technology. 40% of semiconductors are classified as microprocessors that have the circuit needed for computers. The remaining 60% are used for simple processors that have specific use such as the greeting cards. Even if they are less flexible they cannot be programmed once they have been installed (Grant & Jordan, 2012, P 15). Their shares of microprocessors have been increasing and it passed 50% in the year 2010. Microprocessors are manufactured through a complex process. The leading player is the US giant Intel that produced processors through its own architecture of x86. Their processors were used in the growing segments such as manufacturing of smart phones and tablets. This increased their sales from 12% in 2010 to 22% in 2012. They also became dominants by manufacturing gadgets at low cost and chrome book that was introduced by Google. The key selling strategy of ARM was through designing gadgets that consumed little energy. This was an important aspect of gadgets that needed to utilize energy that have limited battery capacity. This strategy seemed to be a good factor for some years to come. However the emission of low battery car was being improved. Commenters had begun to take an interest in the rivalry between Intel and ARM. These were different companies with different business models. And because of this neither of the two companies was justified to continue with the spoils with the way they have been doing. The final challenge is expected in network servers where ARM chips were being displayed. There are many processors in servers that are tightly fixed together, thus become a major challenge to keep them cool for long. Low energy chips consume low energy while operating thus cutting down costs. In the

Global Strategy College Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Global Strategy College - Essay Example Banai and Sama (2004) argue that empirical evidence indicates that MNCs who betray a preference for home country employees/managers, do not simply establish themselves as foreign entities within their host economies but, place themselves at the forefront of ethical questioning and suspicion. Rather than be regarded by host country citizens as potential employers and sources of foreign investment, they are regarded as conduits for the channeling of financial resources from the host economy to the parent one (Banai and Sama, 2004). Needless to say, this constrains the potential for constructive cooperation between the MNCs in question and the host economy. Insofar as Pfizer is concerned, it will further cast suspicion on the veracity of its publicized slogans. Judging by the stated, therefore, Pfizer should rely on host-country employees. In addition to the above stated the argument for reliance on host country employees is further fortified by the very nature of the industry within which Pfizer operates.

Sustainable factor of Norman Foster's architecture Dissertation

Sustainable factor of Norman Foster's architecture - Dissertation Example The world of architecture is concerned with planning and designing of buildings and other physical structures. The art of architecture reflects the culture of the society thus enabling historians to study ancient civilizations from the surviving architectural structures. The art of architecture extends from urban and town planning to the designing of furniture. Although the primary purpose of architecture is to provide physical structures for shelter, temples, educational institutions, commercial institutions, it also portrays the characteristics of a particular era. The development of architecture depends on human needs of shelter and security and availability of required materials and skills. The science of architecture has undergone a vast change from renaissance to post modern time in terms of designs, materials and ideas and sustainability which can be defined as â€Å"actions and decisions (made) today do not inhibit the opportunities of future generations†¦.our efforts w ork with our Earth’s ecological systems rather than in opposition to them† is becoming an intrinsic feature of modern day architecture (Sustainability and the Impacts of Building, n.d.). Every action undertaken by human beings can affect the environment and as such the challenge of sustainability is a complex matter. The challenge lays in the availability of resources, making optimum use of them to get maximum benefit, and ensuring minimum, if at all, wastage of the resources. It is the responsibility of architects to keep in mind the â€Å"complex ecological systems† before giving shape to their plans and designs. The challenge of sustainable architecture is to improve its performance in relation to the environment within the inevitable restrictions of building codes and budgets. Norman Foster is a British architect born on June 1, 1935. His inspiration to become an architect came from his interest in design and engineering. He is best known for his designs and constructions of â€Å"towering office buildings and dramatic steel and glass structures†. Along with other famous architects he is a member of a group named Renewable Energies in Architecture and Design. Foster belongs to that school of sustainable architecture that believes in using modern technology to solve the environmental problems (Gauzin-Muller & Favet, 2002: 16-17). He believes that to bring a balance in the environment it is necessary to use more and more renewable sources for construction purposes. Keeping this in view he has brought a revolutionary change in the world of designing and construction and also in the global transport sector by introducing the concept of green architecture. Before the industrial revolution there has been evolution over centuries in the construction of buildings. Vernacular traditions were used to make the buildings suitable to adjust with the place and climate of the region. Materials that were available in the local market were used a long with local workers and prevalent technologies. But these vernacular traditions â€Å"eroded during the Steam Age were finally discarded in the Age of Oil†. (Foster, 2011) In the modern world of the twenty first century a building in a warm country like Dubai can have similar facilities and comfort like a building in London with the help of technologies like the air conditioner (Foster, 2011). Foster strives towards assimilating the complicated computer systems with the basic laws of physical

Describe the evolution of military technology. What innovations are in Research Paper

Describe the evolution of military technology. What innovations are in store for the future and what will be its impact on war - Research Paper Example The arrow was also made from simple technology often requiring a straight body called shaft with the tip being made from stone while a feather was attached at the rear end of the arrow to create stability. This technology provided human beings with the ability to kill a target from a distance with a relatively higher degree of accuracy. This technology evolved with the discovery of copper, bronze and finally irons with these technologies replacing the stone tip of the arrow heads over time. Archery was military technology for armies in New Egyptian Kingdom and the Shang Dynasty as far back as 2000 BC (Woods and Woods 14-15). Archery was later used by other nations and kingdoms in Europe and Asia as they were used on the battlefields of Asia Minor with Eastern Europe, Egypt China, Japan, Mediterranean basin, Korea and Mesopotamia societies all developed their own adaptations of the composite bow. The domestication of horses was also an important occurrence for the ancient societies as they now had an effective form of transport. Transport by horse led to the discovery of the chariot which further improved transpiration and attack during war with the effectiveness of the chariot in war being one man controlling the movement of the chariot while a bowman shoot arrows at enemy soldiers (Woods and Woods 21). Another military technology that influenced the way wars were fought in the middle ages is the trebuchet. This is a machine used for throwing missiles towards the enemy soldiers or at their fortification. The working concept of a trebuchet involves long pivoted beam with one side being longer than the other. During its functioning, the short side is pulled down with the longer side of the beam being forced to rise rapidly causing the sling that is connected to the end of the long side of the beam to lash over thereby releasing itself and hurling the pellet it held. There are

Strategic Fit between HR Strategy and Business Essay

Strategic Fit between HR Strategy and Business - Essay Example Strategic fit is basically related to a review of organizational resources in consideration of the fact that the important aspect to profitability is not only achieved by industry selection and positioning, but also through a strategy that seeks to utilize resources and capabilities. Capabilities and resources, which have unique characteristics, are matched to develop a competitive advantage in the long run. Fit as Strategy Integration Fit as strategy integration provides organizations with assess criteria with which integrations transactions may be optimized for achieving production frontier before, during, and after integration. The strategy elaborates how well an organization can meet the merger criteria without compromising on performance success. Organizations under mergers process and plans need to put into consideration smooth operations in merging deals, alongside maintaining successful asset combination production through strategy. Strategy integration comes in handy to enab le organizations to effectively manage added asset combination value and leverage positioning. Strategy integration, alongside due diligence, goes a long way in maintaining an organization’s profitability during mergers (Gleich, Kierans & Hasselbach, 2010, p.5). Strategy integration allows an organization to exercise more control performance measures and value added integration, rather than mere integration that may compromise on performance. Backward strategy integration may be undertaken to enable organizations access needed raw materials from a more dependable source. On the other hand, forward integration strategy enables a manufacturing company to build a more reliable market to its products. The integration strategy also allows an organization to gather more control on how it sells products and services and pursue product differentiation to build competitive advantage. The strategy generally outlines a clear perspective on what particular activities organizations should engage in with relation to its situations and visions to achieve increased profitability and success (Tan, 2002, p.48). The processes enable an organization to evaluate viability of mergers prior to proceeding with the transactions. More so, the process seeks to establish best practices that would enable growth, improvement, and attainment of better profitability prospects, alongside possible performance success obstacle identification and elimination. Strategic fit basically enables organizations to successfully launch merger integration amidst continued present successes, value added asset combination, and long-term performance success. Through strategic fit, organizations are able to optimize available technologies, human resources, and operation systems. Fit as an Ideal Practice Strategic fit is the best practice between human resource and business, although a number of practices may still be wanting for an organization. The human resource is widely actualized for its commitmen t and competencies that need to be governed by strategic focus that forms the best practice available. Through strategy, the organization is able to actualize its potentials with regards to complexities and multiple dimensions involvement of organizational human resource capabilities matched with available resources. Considering

Green Design Essay Example for Free

Green Design Essay The notion of a responsible architecture design is something that flourished way back in 1970s. However, green designs during that time were only developed on a domestic or small scale basis (Papanek 4). It is only in the late 1980s that green commercial developments are done as an effect not only of the 1980 economic boom but also of various social, political and design factors (Beaufoy 199). At the present age, the author argues that the attempts of modern architecture to merge new trends in office design and environmental friendly features are primarily commercial in nature and not really fully environmental. Having such premise in mind, the author formulated the research question: Should interior designers encourage clients to go with green design? In order to sufficiently answer this question, the author have provided a comparative analysis of the pros and cons of the green design and then significantly deduce based from the said arguments the writer’s stance weather he will respond to the question on the affirmative or the negative manner. Arguments on the affirmative side claims that: (1) The green design will help reduce the environmental burdens that the present society brings to the aforementioned and also help man conserve energy (Winter 8); and (2) The green design will help to minimize or to an extent prevent sickness that are acquired within a particular building or house. On the other hand, the arguments on the negative side are the following: (1) The green design raises the costs in erecting buildings or houses; (2) The green design is difficult to implement on certain states, depending on the statutory laws governing a particular state. Body The body of the research elaborates on the positive and the downsides of implementing green design. Reducing Environmental Burdens and Energy Conservation The relevance of green buildings on a global level and its effect to the environment and energy conservation is one of the major arguments in terms of promoting green designs. Buildings or houses that are tailored to be such are expected to reduce carbon dioxide and CFC emissions that are brought about by airconditioning (Beaufoy 203). For instance, IBM has been creating buildings that are completely asbestos free and avoids the use of hardwoods unless the latter came from a sustainable source. They are also using low ozone-depleting chemicals and has been controlling the ozone emission of their airconditioning, and even planning in the near future to eliminate aircondition altogether. In some instances, where green buildings use glass on the exterior, such helps to lessen the need for heating, and the small amount of heat that is needed could be gas-fired. Corollary with this, one can also help to reduce the use of light bulbs of fluorescent lights, hence conserving energy (Beaufoy 203). The use of energy efficient devices such as those of modern HVAC devices helps buildings to save operating costs and could even make the former eligible for rebates offered by local energy companies. In addition with this, through designing building facilities that make use of energy through natural ventilation and daylight also reduces operating costs (Meyerson 47). Health Benefits One of the major premises why green buildings are favorable is due to the health benefits that it could bring to people. For instance if a building is designed to draw air at a high level, cooled and the filtered, the air conditioning or water system of the aforementioned could help eliminate the risk of Legionnaires Disease (Beaufoy 203). The Greenpeace building in Islington, London are also geared towards creating a more environmentally sustained building in their inclination to reduce the risks of office illnesses that result due to the chlorofluorocarbon (CFC) emissions of airconditions (Beaufoy 204). Increased Construction and Soft Costs The actual costs of building green architecture are something that is too expensive that a lot of green features can not be really accommodated by most marginalized companies (Johnston 1). As such it is often argued that green buildings are only for wealthy people (Wilson 1). The problem of first costs or the initial expenses that has to be paid prior to building a house is something that is of a growing concern for customers. For instance, the use of uncommon trades and materials could increase costs in addition to LEED commissioning (Syphers et al 8). In addition with this, higher soft costs are also most likely to be incurred in green buildings. The use of additional design analysis, computer modeling, commissioning, product research and lifecycle costs analysis for materials that could be substituted could also paved the way for up-front costs (Syphers et al 8). Legal Considerations Local conditions that are unique to every country and state cold also be one of the problems in terms of attempting to erect green buildings, for some state regulations could pose certain problems on the aforementioned. For instance, the state of California prohibits the use of water-free urinals that could have saved certain buildings a significant amount of water (Syphers et al 6). In relation with this, the use of solar panels that could have help buildings to save electricity, though highly encouraged within various states regulations; also poses some problems as the law requires buildings to locate these panels somewhere that could not be seen on public roads due to the risk of accidents. Also, local building codes have given limitations on the height windmills including its zone restrictions (Syphers et al 7). As generally known, windmills are also one of the most environmentally friendly way of generating electricity. Analysis After presenting the abovementioned arguments of the positive and the downsides of the use of the green design, it is also noteworthy to tell that amidst all of these most basic issues, the author perceived that the advocacy for the adaptation of green buildings is something that is primarily commercial in nature rather than really environmental in focus. Although it could be significantly noted that green buildings indeed helps the environment due to cutting the use of certain machines that could have harmed for instance the ozone layer, it could be implied that the primary motivation of customers is indeed on cost cutting and juxtaposed with that of course is a relatively healthy lifestyle. In this respect, it could be said that although the positive side of green architecture is emphasized most specially its environmental underpinnings, the fact couldn’t be hidden that such an endeavor is not really one hundred percent pro nature as one could see a compromise between capitalism and protecting the environment. It is with this respect that the author remembered that capitalism is indeed a necessary evil. There are a number of human endeavors that will not proceed without its aid, and such includes even the environment. In addition to these issues, the notion of the difficulty of implementing the architectural design of green buildings is something that should also be taken into consideration. The initial construction costs and soft costs could be really expensive; however, experts still argue that the life cycle costs of the building in the long run could be very cost effective (California Integrated Waste Management Board 1). The legal considerations of course are something that is imperative in order to assure order and efficiency to the society. Albeit it should be noted that the process of adopting green design is something that is still in the process of development; hence it is theoretically possible that the future technology could bring about changes that could fully actualize the fullest utility of the program. Conclusion Given the abovementioned factors, the author wishes to answer the research question: â€Å"Should interior designers encourage clients to go with green design? † in the affirmative. It could be seen that although the green design has a number of short comings, it could not be denied that these flaws are only minute in comparison to the overall utility that it could bring to man and to the environment. The short comings of green design could be solved through active collaboration of various stakeholders that are concerned to such like customers, contractors, architects, interior designers, engineers, the government, non government organizations, private corporations and the likes. Literature Cited Beaufoy, Helena. â€Å"Case Study: The Green Office in Britain A Critical Analysis†. Journal of Design History 6,3 (1993) 206. California Integrated Waste Management Board. January 2007. Sustainable (Green) Building: Project Design Cost Issues. 23 October 2007 http://www. ciwmb. ca. gov/GreenBuilding/Design/CostIssues. htm#Primers Johnston, Ritchey. Actual Costs Is Building Green Too Expensive? January 2000. Housing Zone. 23 October 2007 http://www. housingzone. com/topics/nahb/green/nhb00ca029. asp Meyerson, Andrew. â€Å"The Dollars and Cents of Green Construction: Being Environmentally Friendly Brings Financial as Well as Social Benefits†. Journal of Accountancy 199,5 (2005) 47. Papanek, Victor. Design for the Real World: Human Ecology and Social Change. London: Thames Hudson, 1985. Syphers, Geof et al. October 2003 Managing the Cost of Green Buildings K-12 Public Schools Research Laboratories Public Libraries Multi-family Affordable Housing. State of California and Almeda COunty Waste Management Authority. 23 October 2007 http://www. ciwmb. ca. gov/GreenBuilding/Design/ManagingCost. pdf Winter, Metta, â€Å"The Greening of Design: Jack Elliott Believes Interior Designers Can and Should Play a Major Role in Preventing Environmental Degradation, That Sustainability Should Be Central to All Design Decisions†. Human Ecology 30,1 (2002) 8. Wilson, Alex. Building Green on a Budget. May 1999. Building Green. com. 23 October 2007 http://www. buildinggreen. com/auth/article. cfm? fileName=080501a. xmla

The United Nations Organization Essay Example for Free

The United Nations Organization Essay The United Nations Organization emerged out of the ashes of the Second World War. Its predecessor, the League of Nations which was created out of the crises of the World War I, obviously failed to prevent the occurrence of another worldwide military crisis. In the preamble to the Charter of the United Nations, its first stated objective is to â€Å"to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war, which twice in our lifetime has brought untold sorrow to mankind †¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Charter). Surprisingly, the word â€Å"peacekeeping† does not appear anywhere in the Charter of new organization. It, however, became very apparent that in order for the United Natons to carry out its first objective of saving humanity from the scourge of war, peacekeeping would be necessary. Since its first peacekeeping mission in 1948, the objectives of peackeeping have evolved and have sometimes been defined by the conflicts (Peacekeeping). â€Å"Although the military remain the backbone of most peacekeeping operations, the many faces of peacekeeping now include administrators and economists, police officers and legal experts, de-miners and electoral observers, human rights monitors and specialists in civil affairs and governance, humanitarian workers and experts in communications and public information† (Peacekeeping). Given the conceptual diversity of peacekeeping, any measurement of operational success must go back to the Charter to see if the activities of the United Nations Peacekeeping Mission has contributed to the prevention of the scouge of war and its collateral effects. In this paper, two cases of the the U. N. Peackeeing activities, one each in Europe and Africa, would be examined with reference to the first stated objective in the preamble to determine the failure or success of peacekeeping operations. First of all, the very important distinction between peace-making and peacekeeping has to be made. Peace-making is the process of resolving armed conflicts between nations or within a nation. The United Nations limited in its ability to act because of the principle of territorial sovereignty. â€Å"During much of the cold war †¦ most non-Western countries raised the banner of state sovereignity to protect themselves from the unwanted interference of larger states, and the United Nations repeatedly upheld this principle in Security Council resolution† (Holmes, 1993). This preventing the United Nations from getting involved in internal conflicts. On the other hand, the United Nationns only peace-making efforts were limited to diplomacy, a process that did not appy in intra-nation conflicts. Most importantly, the United Nations does not have a standing military to enforce peace. As a a consequence, the United Nations Peacekeeping Force did not get involved in conflict resolutions or making peace. This was left to the Security Council. When, through diplomtic efforts, participants in an armed conflict reach terms of peace, then the United Nations Peacekeeping Force moves in to monitor and not enforce the peace. Even with the end of the Cold War and the U. N. getting involved in resolving intra-nation conflicts, its Peackeeping Force is still a monitoring force. â€Å"The end of the Cold War has brought many changes to the field of United Nations peacekeeping. However, most of the changes have been changes in size and quantitymore operations and bigger operationsrather than different types of operations† (Gibson, 1998). Any measure of the success of the United Nations Peacekeeping Forces must be interpreted in light of its limitations and objectives. As the Soviet Union dissolved, old ethnic rivalries were revived as nation-states began to form along ethnic lines in Eastern Europe. This was certainly the case in the dissolution of Yugoslavia. The uniqueness of the Yugoslavian situation was that Yugoslavia had ceased to exist as a nation. So the issue of territorial sovereignty could not be claimed since there was no government with a recognized territory. In 1991, Croatia and Slovenia broke away from the rest of the country and declared independence. The dissolution of Yugoslavia had begun. The Serbian-controlled government supported the Serbs in Croatia who opposed Croatia’s independence. This resulted in a civil war which was also a war of independence. Sanctions and diplomacy brought about a cease fire. The United Nations sent in a peacekeeping force with the mandate to ensure that the society did not move into total anarchy and that the conditions for peace were in place. The United Nations Protection Force or UNROFOR, as the peacekeeping force was called, was sent into Croatia in 1992. While UNPROFOR was in Croatia, several massacres occurred. UNPROFOR was stationed in Croatia because the Croats were at a disadvantage against the Serbian controlled military of the former Yugoslavia. Yet, the Serbian military killed many Croat civilians and prevented humanitarian aid to Croatia in 1993. Deaths were increased by inhumane conditions created by the Serbs (UNROFOR, 1996). United Nations passed Resolution 819 which made Srebrenica a United Nations â€Å"Sate Area†. This meant that any attack on Srebrenica would be an attack on the United Nations. The Security Council passed another resolution, Resolution 836, to extend this mandate to UNROFOR itself. Unfortunately, UNROFOR was poorly equipped and its non-combat mandate did not allow it to prevent the Bosnian forces from using Srebrenica as the staging grounds for anti-Serbian attacks. The attacks from Srebrenica angered the Serbs and they responded by attacking UNPROFOR and obstructing humanitarian aid into Srebrenica. When the United Nations forces cannot protect themselves, how can they protect even less unarmed civilians? The situation deteriorated in 1993 when war broke out between the Bosnians and the Croats. Serbs and Bosnians were in Ahmici were massacred (UNROFOR, 1996). The situation had deteriorated to the point where one group’s atrocities were met by atrocities by from the other group. The United Nations Peacekeeping Forces in the former Yugoslavia were completely ineffective to the point where their operations were limited to United Nations Save Areas. It took a threat from the Croatian Government to get the Security Council to change the mandate of UNPROFOR to include military action (UNROFOR, 1996). In 1994, more atrocities occurred while UNROFOR was present. The Serbs attacked Gorazde, a United Nations Safe Area, and hundreds of civilians were killed. NATO bombed Serb positions and the Serbs captured UNPROFOR personnel and used them as human shields, placing them in locations that they NATO could possibly bomb. No matter what standard of measurement is used, it can be said that the United Nations peacekeeping efforts in the former Yugoslavia was a dismal failure. UNPROFOR failed in its mission to protect the Serbs, Bosnians, and Croats from the scourge of war. As a matter of fact, UNROFOR could not even protect itself from the scourge of war. In this situation, peacekeeping failed by any metric. Consider another case in Africa. Genocide in Rwanda has been dramatized in the movie Hotel Rwanda. Many of the worst mass murders occurred while the United Nations had peacekeepers on the ground. First, let us get some background information. Civil war broke out in Rwanda in 1990. The parties were the Hut-dominated government and the opposition Tutsi-led Rwandese Patriotic Front or the RPF (Rwanda, 2001). The United Nations got involved in this arena about three years after the war began. At the request of the governments of Rwanda and Uganda, the United Nations sent military observers in the border area between the two countries. The force was called United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda or UNAMIR. According to the United Nations own web site, â€Å"UNAMIRs mandate was: to assist in ensuring the security of the capital city of Kigali; monitor the ceasefire agreement, including establishment of an expanded demilitarized zone and demobilization procedures; monitor the security situation during the final period of the transitional Governments mandate leading up to elections; assist with mine-clearance; and assist in the coordination of humanitarian assistance activities in conjunction with relief operations† (Rwanda, 2001). The United Nations forces were in Rwanda when nearly one million people were massacred by the government supported Hutu forces. The deaths are estimated to be between 500,000 to one million (Des Forges, 1999). All this occurred within a very brief period, April to July. How did this happen? The catalyst for the genocide was the deaths of the presidents of Rwanda and Burundi in a plane that was shot down as it about to land in Kigali, the Rwandan capital. The crash was blamed on Tutsi-led RPF (Des Forges, 1999). The next day, the wife of the Rwandan president was assassinated and the ten UNAMIR soldiers that were protecting were found dead. Hutu militias and the military went on a murder binge, killing every Tutsi that could found regardless of age, gender, or political affiliation. The world could not have been ignorant about these atrocities. As the situation deteriorated in Kigali, western countries evacuated their citizens and left the Tutsi to fend for themselves. Mass rapes, mutilations, and murders quickly spread nationwide. UNAMIR was ineffective to respond at the onset of the genocide because of resistance by members of the Security Council. UNAMIR failed in every respect to meet its own mandate. There was no capital to secure, no peace agreement to monitor, and no security situation at all. The western nations did not want to get involved in Rwanda mainly because it was not popular with their governments for their citizens to placed in harms way in Africa. United Nations Peacekeeping activities have to be measure in terms of the objectives of the United Nations Charter and the mandates given by the United Nations. If these objectives and mandates cannot be met, then the United Nations ought not to be involved at all. False peacekeeping is just as bad as no peacekeeping. References Charter of the United Nations. An Internet publication retrieved on May 8, 2009 from: http://www. un. org/aboutun/charter/preamble. shtml Des Forges, Alison (1999). Leave None to Tell the Story: Genocide in Rwanda. Human Rights Watch. Retrieved on May 8, 2009 from. http://www. hrw. org/reports/1999/rwanda. Gibson, Susan S. (1998). The Misplaced Reliance on Free and Fair Elections in Nation Building: The Role of Constitutional Democracy and the Rule of Law. Houston Journal of International Law. Volume: 21. Issue: 1. Page 1 Holmes, Kim R. (1993). New world disorder: a critique of the United States. Journal of International Affairs, Vol. 46, 1993 Peacekeeping. United Nations Peackeeping. An Internet publication retrieved on May 8, 2009 from http://www. un. org/Depts/dpko/dpko/ Rwanda (2001). Rwanda: United Nations Assistance Mission For Rwanda –UNAMIR- October 1993- March 1996. UNPROFOR (1996) – United Nations Protection Force. Former Yugoslavia UNPROFOR. Prepared by the Department of Public Information, United Nations as of September 1996. An Internet publication retrieved on May 8, 2009 from http://www. un. org/Depts/dpko/dpko/co_mission/unprof_b. htm

Molecular Docking: Experimental Techniques

Molecular Docking: Experimental Techniques Experimental techniques for the determination of three-dimensional structure proteins crystallographic and magnetic resonance protocols have contributed for the deposition of over 12,000 protein structures in the Protein Data Bank. Although the number of available experimental protocols is large and improving rapidly, the determination of the structure of all detected protein-molecule interactions experimentally at high resolution is still an impossible task. Hence, reliable computational methods are of increasing importance. Protein docking involves the calculation of the three-dimensional structure of a protein-molecule complex. The molecule can be another protein, a small peptide or other small molecule (e. g. ligand). Ligand docking is nowadays of great importance in the drug discovery area, with great scientific and commercial interest. The main goal of protein docking is to predict how a pair of molecules interact, predicting accurate ligand poses and evaluating the main existi ng interactions. It should be able to adequately search the conformational available space and calculate the free energy of each conformation to identify the minimum energy conformation. Goals and Steps Protein docking requires the structures of the elements that form the complex and aims to predict correctly the binding site on the target, the orientation of the ligand and the conformation of both. At the end, a rank of possible docking poses based on estimated binding affinities or estimated free energies of binding is given. To successfully predict a target/ligand complex three steps are needed: (1) have accurate structures of the molecules involved in the interaction, (2) location of the binding site, and (3) determination of the binding mode and evaluation. According to Gray, the best docking targets are single-domain small proteins with known monomer structures, with experimentally-determined micromolar or better binding affinity, and minimal backbone conformational change after binding. The docking problem becomes more complicated when one of the structures undergoes significant conformational changes upon binding , for proteins whose structure was solves by homology modeling or for molecules with high degrees of freedom. However there have been reported successful docking results with modeled targets. The second step depends on the algorithm behind the docking software. Some of the used algorithms will be described further on. The hypothesis behind docking predictions is that the structure of a complex is the lowest free energy state that is accessible to the system. In Nature a protein-molecule complex change their conformations to become more compatible to one another, shifting two equilibriums progressively from less compatible to most compatible conformations for both, located at the local minimum of their potential energy surfaces. However ligands do not always adopt their lowest potential energy conformations when binding to their protein targets. Combining these two facts, the results can be influenced by the previous knowledge of the system. If a ligand has to explore a large area of the protein surface to find an adequate docking location, there is a lower probability of find the energy minimum than in the case of docking to a well-defined binding site on the protein. If a putative interaction region has been experimentally determined, this information can be used as useful input to guide the docking algorithm. Several new techniques to locate putative binding sites based on physicochemical properties or evolutionary conservation have been developed in recent years and are reviewed elsewhere. However, a good docking algorithm has to be able to predict realistically the docking site and distinguish it from nonspecific and/or energetically unfavorable ones even when performing a blind docking calculation. The third step is the determination of the binding mode and it mainly depends on the atoms surrounding the docking site and the distance between suitable interacting pairs, as well as the specific conformation and orientation of the molecules of the complex. The resulting conformation is ranked according to its evaluation by the used scoring function. Docking Approaches The speed and accuracy of the docking results depends on the used docking approach. Two major docking approaches are used by the available docking softwares. Shape Complementarity/Matching Methods This is the most common docking technique. The molecules are described in terms of descriptors, which may include structural complementarity terms (solvent-accessible area, overall shape and geometric constraints) and binding complementarity terms (hydrogen binding interactions, hydrophobic contacts and van der Waals interactions). Taking these terms into account, a given molecule is docked into the protein target by matching features. A combination of different descriptors is found to be able to enrich the number of near-native solutions in the set of best ranked docking solutions. This is a fast and robust technique that has been used successfully to screen large compound databases. Its main disadvantage is based on the incapacity of modeling accurately large protein motions and dynamic changes in the conformations. Simulation Methods The second approach simulates the real molecular recognition mechanism, a more complicated and detailed process. According to this method, the two molecules from the complex are distanced by a physical distance and the ligand explores its conformational space and finds its docking site after a finite number of moves. These moves can be translations, rotations, torsion angle rotations or others, and each have a different contribution to the final total energy of the system. The advantages of this approach include a better incorporation of ligand flexibility and a physically closer approach to what happens in reality. However, as the ligand has to explore a large energy landscape, this approach takes longer to evaluate the best docking site. Grid-based techniques and fast optimization methods are being developed to overcome this disadvantage. Mechanics of Docking The success of a docking software depends on two components: (1) the search algorithm, and (2) the scoring function. The combination of these two components will dictate the overall results of the docking task. Search Algorithm All possible rotational and translational orientations, distortions, backbone and side chain flexibility and various degrees of freedom make it impossible to perform an exhautive sampling. To lower the possibilities, most docking programs account only for ligand flexibility (e.g. representing it as a ensemble of structures), maintaining the target rigid. Others attempt to insert some target flexibility by using rotamer libraries, or some degree of side-chain flexibility by using soft interfaces and scaling sterical interactions, or a further side-chain refinement stage. Some of the most used search algorithms are described below. Systematic or stochastic torsional searches about rotatable bonds Rigid body methods This searching method is based on a simplified rigid body representation of the protein onto a regular 3D Cartesian grid. Then it distinguishes grid cells according to whether the two molecules are near or intersect the protein surface, or are deeply buried into the protein core and the degree of overlap is scored. This method generates a large number of docked conformations with favorable surface complementarity. The disadvantages of this searching method are that it maintains the target protein rigid and it cannot find binding modes with a high degree of accuracy due to its inherent simplification of the complex. However, most rigid-body procedures result in good docked conformation if the used structure of the target protein used is obtained by experimental data. Molecular dynamics simulations In this approach the protein is kept rigid while the ligand explores freely the conformational space, obtaining a ensemble of states accessible to the complex. The generated conformations are docked and a determined number of minimization steps are performed, followed by an overall ranking. This is a computational complex method, although it does not need a specialized scoring function and it provides a useful tool to generate ligand conformations. In principle, it allows for full atomic flexibility or flexibility restricted to relevant parts of the complex during the docking task. Genetic algorithms These searching algorithms perform global conformational searches particularly well. Based on the language of natural genetics and biological evolution, their goal is to evolve previous conformations into new low energy conformations. Each spatial arrangement of the pair is represented as a gene with a particular energy and the entire genome is a representation of the complete energy landscape which will be explored. Similar to biological evolution, random pairs of individuals are mated using a process of crossover and there is also the possibility of a random mutation in the offspring. During each iteration, high-scoring features in the current generation are preserved in the next cycle. This approach permits exploring of large conformational spaces. The main disadvantages include requiring the target protein to remain fixed during the docking task and multiple runs to obtain reliable results, which makes it a poor candidate to perform large databases screening. Limiting the conform ational space to explore and the explorations of conformational changes at sites of interest can largely increase the performance of the docking task using this algorithm. Scoring Function In docking, the goal of a scoring function is to serve as a mathematical method to predict the strength of the non-covalent interaction between the two molecules. Usually, this value is represented as the binding affinity, and indicates how favorable the binding interaction is. An ideal scoring function should be able to recognize favorable native contacts and discriminate non-native contacts with lower scores, and rank a set of molecules, predicting the correct modes of binding. These scoring functions can be parameterized (trained) against a set of experimental data for combinations of binding affinities, buried surface areas, desolvatation and electrostatic interation energies and hydrophobicity scores of molecular species similar to the species in study. There are four classes of scoring functions, which are described below. Choosing a scoring function should always be based on the resolution of the search method. Most scoring functions are physics-based molecular mechanics force fields that estimate the nonbonded interaction energy of the docking pose. Affinities are estimated based on the total internal energy, which is estimated taking into account the strength of intramolecular van der Waals and electrostatic interactions and the desolvation energy. It is know that the free energy of binding is higly dependent on the system and it is often dominated by desolvation or electrostatic contributions. Other software also take into account the torsional free energy and the unbound systems energy as penalizing terms. At the end, a low (negative) energy indicates a stable complex, with a likely binding interaction. Empirical scoring functions define simple functional forms for interactions between the two molecules of the complex. Some examples include the number atoms in contact between ligand and receptor, change in the solvent accessible surface area, number of hydrogen bonds, conformational entropy, and hydrophobic and hydrophilic contacts. These provide a fast method to rank potential inhibitory candidates. Knowledge-based scoring functions are based on statistical analysis on intermolecular interactions and interactions distances extracted from large databases of protein-ligand complexes (e.g. PDB). This method is based on the assumption that there are intramolecular interactions between certain atoms that occur more frequently, which will be energetically favorable. If detected these interaction will contributed more to a favorable binding affinity. Hybrid scoring functions combined one or more features from the ones described above. There has is always a focus on the scoring function when developing a new docking program. Newly developed scoring functions are evaluated based on their ability to reproduce known ligand-binding patters for well-studied receptors. Despite the development of new and improved scoring functions, there is still a difficulty in identifying the best docking solutions from a list of false positives or decoys. Disadvantages of Molecular Docking Docking calculations can be hampered by a number of reasons: (1) the ligand binds to deep specific pockets of the protein structure; (2) does not consider the presence of solvent, which can be crucial to allow hydrogen bond interactions to occur; (3) if there is an attachment of the ligand to a solid surface (e.g. resin) via a spacer arm; (4) ligands with high flexibility; (5) weak interactions between the ligand and the protein; (6) large-scale motions of the peptide backbone. However, new optimizations and extensions are being developed into existing programs to overcome these drawbacks. AutoDock Autodock (version 4.0.1) was the program package that was used for the docking task in this work. It is used for automated docking of small molecules (e.g. peptides, enzyme inihibitors and drugs) to macromolecules (e.g. proteins, antibodies, DNA and RNA). It is a very complete software package, allowing a robust and accurate procedure and a reasonable computational demand. AutoDock which allows the use of ligand with fixed and flexible degrees of freedom. The searching function used by AutoDock is the Lemarkian Genetic Algorithm (LGA), throughly described by Morris et al. LGA is a hybrid searching algorithm that combines the advantages of the global search of the common genetic algorithms and the advantages of a local search method to perform energy minimization, enhancing the performance relative to genetic algorithms. The local search does not require gradient information about the local energy landscape, facilitating torsional space search and allowing to handle more degrees of freedom. The AutoDock scoring function (described by Huey et al is a semi-empirical free energy force field scoring function that evaluates conformations and calculates the ligand-receptor binding affinity. The force field was parameterized using a large set of complexes with known inhibition constants (Ki), structure and binding energies. It evaluates enthalpic contributions (e.g. repulsion, hydrogen bonding) using a molecular mechanics approach and evaluates de changes in solvation and conformational mobility through an empirical approach. At the end of the docking task, Autodock returns a set of the top ranked answers according to the input system and parameters. Each is accompanied by the information regarding the estimated Ki and estimated free energy of binding, which is decomposed into (1) final intramolecular energy (van der Waals, hydrogen bond, desolvation and electrostatic energy), (2) final total internal energy, (3) torsional free energy, and (4) unbound systems energy and estimated as: (1)+(2)+(3)-(4). Due to its technical characteristics, automated docking with AutoDock is not widely used to screen a large number of compounds. However, Park et al performed a benchmarking which showed the potentialities of this software for database screening, with a overall better average docking time and performance than other tested docking software. The vast conformational sampling, degrees of freedom, complicated steric and chemical complementarity still offer a challenge for the computational approach to molecular docking. The inclusion of all possible conformational changes during docking searches is still impossible, and it would be of particular importance where only homology modeled structures are available. Slight modeling inaccuracies can result in false negatives, weak binding or even wrong docking poses. Better insights into the nature of protein folding and binding, protein dynamics and biomolecular energetics will allow the development of better docking algorithms. Unilever Case Study Analysis: SWOT Unilever Case Study Analysis: SWOT INTRODUCTION: There are many kinds of business everywhere; where there are many issues related to the growth of the company and Different strategies will enable different companies to reach those goals. Unilever is a company started in 1930 formed of Dutch Margarine Company and British based lever brothers. Unilever holds a wide range of products which include food, personal care, beverages, canned foods, ice creams and many more which are worlds best consumer brands. The case study describes a lot of information regarding Unilevers business strategies, key elements of Unilevers path to growth, how they rejuvenated and restructured the companies slow moving performance to wide range of brands across the world. BRIEF CASE STUDY: Unilever was created in 1930 as an outcome of merger with dual chairpersons and headquarters one in Netherlands and other in United Kingdom. This is of one the giant and best competitors in the industry which holds wide range of products. The two chairpersons have launched a strategy in early 2000 to recover the companys performance which was said to be lackluster. With the new strategies the company showed a significant progress and has gone through many dealings over the next years, this made the company to open 20 new acquisitions worldwide and increased the sales of the company. Thus the companys business was restructured, renovated and improved through its acquisitions. Then their came companies likes nestle which effecting the growth of Unilever. Unilever then started efforts to attract and motivate young, talented and innovative managers from outside its company. TASK 1: SWOT : A planning technique which is used for summarizing the key issues and evaluates the Strengths (S), Weaknesses (W), Opportunities (O) and Threats (T) in any business is called an SWOT analysis. Analysis is the brief study of any case how they are going to be obtained, who are responsible for causing it and solving it by planning which involves internal and external factors of a business or an organization; internal factors are classified as strengths(S) or weaknesses (W) and external factors are classified as Opportunities (O) or Threats (T). Strengths are those characteristics of a person or a company that are useful to achieve the goals. Weaknesses are the characteristics of a person or a company that is destructive to achieve the objective. Opportunities and threats are the external factors that are helpful in achieving and damaging the business performance respectively. The figure1 show the illustrative diagram of SWOT analysis. The internal factors include personal, finance, manufacturing capabilities, etc and the external factors may include technological changes which may cause changes in products and processes that is inventing a new product or making the product better which include quality of the product and the consumer desire, market influences due to unemployment rates effect the company and price factors is one of the important thing to keep in mind , market place is one more thing which is very important that is the company or a business should be located in a convenient environment to the consumers to attract and the product should be user friendly. Another important factor is that its external appearance the packing and the name of the products should be eye catchy. At last he customer relations should be friendly and consumer satisfaction is very necessary. Other than these there are some more factors which may be changing due to econ omic and social factors and competitive positions which may create new opportunities or threats. SWOT analysis is useful in decision making when most wanted these include nonprofit organizations, individuals. It is the only method for classification and has its own weaknesses. A SWOT which produces no strategies is of no use whereas which generates important strategies is useful. Unilever had a very tough competition during that time when it was bringing about the changes it was probably at this stage that these companies had moved forward with there various strategies. Skills, assets, finance, facilities are the resources which are used in any business to compete in the industry. In the same way Unilever used their own resources to grow as giant company. They have implemented SWOT analysis and implemented new business strategies and rejuvenated their company from lack lust to significant progress in sales. It has concentrated on marketing and advertising its business and gained increased pricing with supermarket vendors. Unilever was lagging in sales when compared with nestle, Procter Gamble, Kelloggs etc its path of growth strategy which met considerable uncertainty which made Unilever to undertake a series of actions by cutting the companies profile to reach corporate goals and introduced 20 new acquisitions worldwide and restructured the company into two divisions one includes all food products and other household and personal care. Then started other two new businesses across the world. The external market factors such as technological changes, social factors, and other companies growth made a very big impact on the consumer preferences and Unilever had to cut its revenue growth. Later it continued to obtain more products across the world and these products gave managers to make their own decision making to set priorities by introducing new initiatives. Unilever has even motivated and attracted young talented managers from outside the company to join their company. According to Unilevers SWOT analysis the strengths of the company are recognized as it is a global company with strong brand profile with worlds best brands and maintains strong relation with its retailers. But coming to its weaknesses it has insufficient management of brands and doesnt not connect with customers. And inability to maximize acquisitions has reduced spending for R D. Thought it has got many opportunities by introducing many products by changing customer preferences and increase in productio n of quality goods. There are threats equally which cause decrease in revenues with high market competition, increasing the number brands and exchange rates. There are many growth expectations, risks, profit margins in food and house hold industry which is composed of many sectors and sub sectors by challenging the change of customers preferences with challenging rival firms to gain market shares. Then with competitive achievement by creating attractive products through acquisitions and with capability of growing sales of the brands which existed and improve margins. For all this the many key to success was advertising the products. By improving the profits of the company not only included shifting sales of the products but also boosting efficiency and unit costs. There were three factors which worried in 2000, the consolidation pressures in food industry which bothered were slower growth rates in food industries, rapid consolidation among grocery markets that is between branded manufactures and private manufactures for good self space in the grocery stores. In the United States for several years the food industry was miserable and was expected to continue for few more years due to more women working and decreasing house hold sizes, single parents and singles. But the food industry in Europe, Asia, Africa and other less developed countries were attractive. Thought the competition between branded and private manufactures was a never ending issue, private manufactures improved their quality of products by growing market shares. Then there came many giant super markets and gave an opportunity for private brands with attractive prices below branded products and even provided checkout scanners to help the customers know price difference which tempt them to BRIEF SWOT ANALYSIS OF UNILEVERS CASE STUDY STRENGHTS WEAKNESSESS Global company. Reduced spending for R D. Best Brands. Inability to maximize acquisitions. Strong relation with retailers. Insufficient management of brands. Dual Leadership. OPPURTUNITIES THREATS Increasing in need of quality products. Decrease in revenues. Changing customer preferences. Strong competition. Increase in brands. shift to the private brands. Due to the heavy competition among them manufactures had to cut down the costs of the products, number of versions of the products and weed out weak brands and concentrate on those brands which were popular among the customers and those could develop into global brands. Introducing dual headquarters by dividing the food industry which consisted of 6 categories and household industry which consisted of 8 categories there were many benefits such as improving food and household industry by focusing more on them regionally and globally. Accelerating decision making and successful integration of R D though there were some critics that Unilever has been paying more for some of its acquisitions such as acquire Amora Maille. Unilever as of then in 2003 had been seen as a growing organization which probably had all the necessary requirements to make it a force to recon with, during the Path to Growth strategy many aspects of the company had come out some of them included the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. Strengths, probably the biggest strength that the company had at that time was the correct selection of the brands and the products it had in store unilever had done many researches and had to make many decisions to get the right combinations products that where to be sold it also had the right ideas to increase the sales and all the leading brands to help its cause. Unilever was very good at that time even if the financial aspect was taken into consideration it could experiment with various aspects of its store cause had the financial backup which was required at that time to help it implement various ideas and deal with the market pressures, for any company to improve its sales marke ting always plays a very important role this was probably there biggest strength as the marketing strategy applied by them managed to grab peoples attention as they easy to be connected to and much more simplistic and realistic. Unilever did manage all its clients very well considering that during a phase when they where cutting on the brands it would have been a risk to out anything at that time but it was very well managed by the company. Mainly the fact that unilever was now looking to make the higher range or the brands which where more famous as there core brands which made it much easier for them to advertise considering that it is much easier to promote a very well known and a trusted brand rather than a normal or new brand to increase the sales. Weaknesses, though unilever had a very good policy and all the right objectives to make a difference in the industry it couldnt happen basically due to the lack of proper organization, it was actually much like a bureaucratic organization where things where divided between too many people and it had become difficult to get the ideas moving due to the lack of proper organization, it probably all started with the fact that the company had to deal with too many brands in the first place it would obviously have the impact when the Path to Growth strategy came up cause of the then 1600 brands only 400 brands where retained and rest all where either removed or replaced, that shows that due the lack of proper organization and too many brands being part of it didnt help it in making the changes it wanted to in a better and quickest way. The organization was probably one field in which the company was lacking because it was felt that at the top of the company as there were too many people mak ing decisions and these decisions had to be put forward and this delayed the process of improvement for the company. Opportunities, during this phase of development and renewing it content and upgrading of the stock it turned out to be very fruitful as it provided many working opportunities for people it was at that time that many people where starting to get full time work, during this phase a lot of acquisition also took place with the major brands which resulted in some alterations in plans to that which were planned. SlimFast which is a private company is another acquisition of Unilever after implementing path to growth strategy in 2000 the company bargained an agreement to purchase slimfast diet foods. It had strong sales and network and has a special space in every super market and drugstores these products were made from natural ingredients and added vitamins and minerals to provide good nutritional profile. It also maintained a very good relationship with Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and other agencies. Unilever has concentrated more on this Slimfast since the company was growing fast and attracted the customers to buy more of it for healthier and long living life .Management of Unilever utilized the opportunity to globalize the product in other countries like Europe, Australia due to increase in the percent of obese. According to the world health organization percent of the obese was increasing gradually. UNILEVERS TOP COMPETITORS ? Figure: Competitors Performance Comparison http://finance.aol.com/company/unilever-plc-amer/ul/nys/top-competitors Ben Jerrys acquisitions which produces one of the finest ice creams anywhere in pint cartons and wholesale at groceries. Their sales slogan was Vermont finest All Natural Ice cream. They never use any artificial flavors thought the cost is little more it is worth the price. According to the time magazine Vermont makes the best ice cream in the world with 29 flavors in pint cartons and 45 flavors in bulk cartons. There products were distributed throughout the world. On demand Ben jerry operated three manufacturing plants where Vermont plant produces super premier ice cream and frozen yogurts where as spring field produces ice cream, lot fat ice creams in bulk, pint cartons and half gallons. Dreyers and Haagen-Dazs were the two major competitors of Ben jerry and other competitors were Colombo frozen yogurts, Kemps ice cream and star bucks. Ben Jerry produces a wide range of ice creams products like sticks, bars, frozen yogurt pops etc. Though Haagen- Dazs was the global market leader followed by Ben jerry it had an insignificant market share in United States where as Haagen- Dazs was more significantly sold in foreign markets. Both Ben jerry and Haagen-Dazs produced ice creams with cookies and candies in it. Bestfoods was a global company across the world almost in 60 countries which was busy in manufacturing and marketing the food products. Bestfoods profits are almost from outside of the United States that is almost 60 percent of its profits. It is one of the best managed food companies among United States who has much number of employees working with in their company in which half of them were at non US locations. The company increased payments for 14 successive years has its revenues grow by7.8 percent annual rate and suddenly slow downed during the period of 1997 and 1999. Then the company introduced a strategy with four core elements. Globalization of the companys core consumers: Products which are new in the market are needed to be globalized that is the products which are less popular among the consumers, are needed to be advertised and market those products to increase its sales and profits of those products. Few such products are knorr product line, salad dressing and food service operations. The advertising of such kind of products was done very well in order to get those products globally recognized and be accepted among many big brands and soon they became household names. Improvement in cost effectiveness: With changing customer preference the quality of the products must be improved and therefore there should also be improvement in cost effectiveness as the quality improves cost increases. Cost effectiveness is nothing but it is a way by which you show to a customer that a certain is product is worth using or is better than other product or the money u spend on it is worth it. Cost effectiveness in simple would be defined as showing the worth of the product. Looking for new market opportunities: Extending the product sales all over the world via new product introductions and extending sales of the products which are existed in the market. It is very important for any company to be always alert and look for opportunities to extend the business to a large scale and see it in a bigger picture based on the opportunities it gets. Using free cash to make new acquisition: With expanding the products and brands company has created 60 acquisitions in the global market. After struggling a lot in June 2000 best foods agreed to be acquired by Unilever. Best foods were the largest acquisition undertaken by Unilever by as far as concerned and which makes a largest combination of food companies in 12 years. Management of Unilever believed that combining and assimilating bestfoods would result in pre tax cost saving, better efficiencies in business process, synergy in distribution marketing, reformation of general and administrative functions and improved economies of scale. By creating robust business in United States market, increasing strengths of Unilever and best foods in Europe, building of best foods in Latin America to speed up the growth of Unilever brands, by distributing strengths in Asia- pacific to grow and sped up Bestfoods brands and increasing the sales of Unilever products by food service channel of Bestfoods. The work culture was so casual to make the atmosphere fun and lively with communication between the management and employees. The company respected the employees suggestions and respected them even paid the employees a reasonable salary Finally Unilever has announced sale of Bestfoods Backing Company to Canadian food and super market group known as George Weston for $ 1.76billion though Unilever declared to divest Bestfoods Baking Company and Unilever other products and bakery products does not exit any more at Unilever. Bestfoods has 19plans across the United States with a strong management team and was entirely US based. It was one of the best distributing for delivering the baked products which are really baked fresh and sent directly to the retail stores. With its dedication and hard work Bestfoods sales has increased its profit margins by 8 percent. Later again Unilever announced to sell 19 Bestfood brands across North America to ACH food companies which is a supplementary of Associated British Food. By successfully combining the operations of bestfoods with Unilever by the year end of 2003 the two companies had been merged in 63countries across the world TASK 2: Path to Growth: Path to growth strategy was initiated in 2000 and was restructured for several years for better and significant results. The key elements of this Unilevers path to growth strategy were cutting down its brands from 1600 brands to 400core brands to achieve top line sales and increase profits by advertising the brands which are more popular and leading brands across the world and concentrating on R D. Another important key element was divesting underperforming brands and theirs companies and introducing more innovated things to enhance the internal development of the organization and making new acquisitions. Unilevers years of slow performance and its lack of corporate strategy in the competition industry with low number of brands and ordinary performance in growing markets with a little global presence made to create a path to growth strategy which was a 5 year growth plan which made them to concentrate on more brands and product innovations for internal and external growth of the company. And made the company to grow with acquisitions. According to FitzGerald and Bergmans path to growth strategy they predicted to manufacture double digit wages per share growth and superior positions. Focusing on the key brands by advertising and marketing made business grow higher and build brand value and increased brands prices. The case study shows Unilever as a global company according to SOWT analysis after introducing the path to growth strategy the company had really increased its sales and with introducing more number of acquisitions and cutting down the cost of revenues. As the acquisitions like Slimfast, Ben jerry and best foods were rapidly growing their market across the world building a very strong profile and providing customers attractive products and offers. Slim fast has 20%anual growth rate with strong sales and distribution all over the world and also maintained good customer relation. Where Ben jerry was worlds giant ice cream products and yogurt maker with strong brand equity. Bestfoods was USs 10 largest foo d products company with a strong global position. The two key elements of the Unilevers new business strategy was to cut down on the number of brands that were being sold or being marketed by the company, at that time Unilever was operating with as many as 1600 brands and much more products due to this the cut down on the number of products and brands was considered, the 1600 brands that where part of the company were cut down to as many as 400 core brands, the core brands mostly included all the famous and popular brands which are generally very popular among people, this idea came up as to make sure that the products where sold and by doing this it would not be much of a problem for the marketi8ng of these products as most of these brands where already day to day and very famous brands which people would generally prefer buying, which would mean that it would take much less an effort to connect to the people and more over the marketing was also done in such a way that people where able to connect to it very easily, the other key e lement of the unilevers strategy was to remove all the underperforming companies or brands and introduce some other new brands or companies in order to enhance the internal development of the organization and make new acquisitions which would enhance the sales of the company and make it more likable for the people this strategy was designed to increase the sales of the company and get rid of the companies which where not much in demand . Weaknesses according to SWOT analysis showed the company has dual leadership, insufficient management of brands and reduced R D after all this slow performance and small global presence the management has introduced path to growth strategy, which increased the company sales with cutting down it costs and introducing more acquisitions resulted in globalizing the company. As a result there were few expectations to achieve a double digit growth and securing a better position in global market for food and household products by increasing the quality of the product to gain pricing power and attract more customers. But according to the strategy plan the targets which were set was really high that is top line sales growth of 5-6 percent annually, increasing profits, and plan to complete by the end of 2004. If we look and analyze the path to growth strategy we can tell whether the strategy is working or not, we can say that it is working by its success rates and increase in profits and increase in brands and acquisitions that is the consumer preferences have changed due to which the products quality has changed and prices have changed the leading brands sales have increased from 75 percent to 93 percent. Food and personal care industry have increased its profits consistently. Operating assets have also improved by 9 percent. Acquisitions like slim fast, Ben jerry and best foods have gradually improved its growth and established its acquisitions all over the world. But the other side it is completely not yes, Unilever was gaining profits significantly after introducing new strategies but it was losing too yes it reported a net loss of $318M as the competitions was increasing and new brands were coming in to the market and rivals were introducing new strategies to compete Unilever. In th e year 2004 sales grew only by .4 percent leading brands by .9 percent so this proves that Unilever was lagging behind competitors in terms of innovation and advertising. Unilevers lack of advertising and marketing failed to improve sales. The company was small and not globalized. In this case Unilever attracted the new young talented manages to join their company with innovated ideas to increase its company profits by new methods of advertising and marketing. To justify Unilever strategies it maintained dual headquarters and dual chairpersons which reduced effective thinking and slow downed the decision making. Unilever is divided into Unilever Plc and Unilever NV. This made Unilever to focus on the needs of the customers and increase its sales profits in various industries like food, personal case, and household industries all over the world. As customers demand the products which are of the best quality and branded but at the same time convenient, cheap and attractive. The market for household products have been decreased its profits as the numbers of single parents have been increased and the rate of females working out have been increased and the demand for the healthy and high quality food has been increased. The consumers preference of the products such as its look, quality of the product and nutritional values has been increased by providing a strong competition against its giant competitors and private manufactures. This allows Unilever to focus on the need of its customers by increasing its sales. In 2003 Unilever executing its path to growth strategy by increasing its operating margins to over 15percent, but the sales of the leading brands growth as slowdown and raised questions among the investors and retailers that whether company brands could deliver some 5-6 percent of growth in revenues in the next coming years. TASK 3: Unilevers current business Strategies: Ever since the ‘Path to Growth strategy ended in 2005 there has been a 15% increase in the sales and development in the overall progress of Unilever. After the ‘Path to Growth came to an end a new process was developed by Unilever called as the Brand Imprint which helped the marketing teams in understanding how the business could face risks as well as opportunities from the social, economic and environmental issues. In this process each brand was scrutinized by a team looking into various aspects of it such as the direct as well the indirect impacts of the product, it also checked how the brand would go ahead in the future looking at the products possibilities of growth both from a customer and a stakeholders point of view. The outcome of the Brand Imprint is that the process has helped in making important decisions for the company keeping the future in perspective it also developed in addressing social missions, social and environmental issues. The Brand Imprint provided a perfect experience to find some systematic and measurable ways to explore different brands and improve the brands by addressing social issues, helping people the product well and reducing the environmental issues. When the S.W.O.T analysis was done on the ‘Path to Growth strategy many different aspects of the strategy where scrutinized using the SWOT analysis in which it dealt with many aspects such as the strength, weakness, opportunities and the threats that are being faced. After the analysis it came out that it had been very useful to determine the various aspects attached to it. Unilever for years had been a slow developing company, though the company had the right infrastructure and the capital but it couldnt utilize it properly that was basically the reason why the path to growth and various other strategies where starting to come up to help the company to increase the sales of the products and improve the business. Path to growth played a major part in the development of the company. The Path to Growth strategy did prove to be quite a useful thing considering the fact that during this period almost all of the unsuccessful brands where removed or replaced and the brands which where trusted and kept managed to increase the sales by 75% to 93%. Unilevers growth was considerably slow during this phase because the company was at that stage making very drastic changes and for these changes to come up and make a difference was something unexpected but the companys growth was obvious in certain fields thanks to the new strategies that had come in to improve the sales of the company so as to improve the business of the company. It was due to the fact that the company probably took way too much time u started and implement its plans that it caused the success to be not as higher as expected. Many business analysts and commentators felt that most of the strategies of the path to growth where working fine but there was always a speculation that what ever progress was talking place was happening too slow considering the competition the market was in with at that time, it was also felt that as the basic functionality of the business was spread among way too many people made the management way to complex and it would have been better off if it was simpler. It did work out fine when it came to the advertising of the product and getting it known to the people as it was more public oriented and it used the sources to the full extent to connect to the people. It did experience a drastic growth during that period as the analysis had proved that the company had the highest growth percentage as compared to any other company during that period it did bring in high profits to the company but looking at the whole picture it did prove to be a huge loss for the company considering the fa ct that they faced a countable loss in the revenue margin and that proved to be the difference, though it did have the right amount of sales and customers due to the slowness of there analysis to sort out and remove or replace the stuff did make a difference to analysis in the larger picture. But the company did grow during that time which might as well have effected the revenue cause many new store where started and large number of employees where starting to be employed on a full time basis. It did do quite well on the international market as well. By looking at the way the company had grown during this stage is quite remarkable many business analysts and commentators had felt that they probably had the right scheme of action because during that time they where handling 1600 brands and which was way too much and among those were quit few brands which hardly made any diff to the company so then the whole idea of brands cut based on the market outlook and sales reports was looked into to classify as to which of the products or brands where fast selling and which had the scope to sell more. It was that idea to cut down on the number of brands and start promoting only few brands which where much easier to be marketed and which where more likable by the people by which it would increase the sales and also make the marketing of these products easier cause when you are promoting bigger brands which are often very well known to public would mean that u don have to spend much on the marketing. Did the company experience growth during this period? Yes, would be the right thing to say voiding the minor things which might effect the outcome but it did see the light of success though slowly and there process and ideas where starting to get implemented in a better way and in a more successful way to deal with the growth of the company, the process of cutting down on the under selling companies was probably the decision that started to turn the tide for the company as it was when the losses where starting to be covered and it was mor