The Applicability of the Porter Diamonds Framework Essay Example for Free

The Applicability of the Porter Diamonds Framework Essay The car industry contributes for 40% of German exports. Germany is the third world car producer and approximately 6 million cars are produced every year. Among these firms are the luxury firms such as BMW, Mercedes, Porsche and Audi. Let’s consider, first of all, the factors conditions in relation to the car industry. These factors express the Nation’s position in factors of production such as unskilled labor, skilled labor, infrastructure, natural resources†¦ * The industries are based on a high technological region, in the center of a zone of economic development. * Germany has always considered very important the transmission of scientific and technical knowledge: from the mid XIX century, a huge net of technical schools has been created (the Gewerbeschulen). Those schools became later engineers school and technical universities. Today, Germany sustain this effort in favor of a â€Å"knowledge society† by taking measures such as the â€Å"Exzellenzinitiative† which is backed by Angela Merkel and allocate 1,9 billions in order to maintain German research among the top 3 in the world. This initiative wishes also to sustain the creation of clusters. * In Germany, approximately one job out of seven is linked (directly or indirectly) to the car industry. The labor is very skilled. * Germany’s position is also an advantage: the country is in the heart of Europe and shares borders with many countries. * The transport infrastructure is optimal (railway, important harbors, road infrastructure†¦) The Demand conditions are another factor of the Porter’s diamond: * The local consumer is demanding: quality is very important * Huge population. * The wage level is high among the population * Increase of revenue levels in emerging countries. The demand abroad is high. The Related and supporting industries (clusters of industries) factors: * Presence of competitive suppliers * Presence of clusters (and government incentives in order to develop them) * Presence of a labor market that develops specific skills relevant for the cluster Firm strategy, structure and rivalry factors: * The four luxury brands are based in the same region. Therefore there is a strong competitiveness among them. However, each brand has a specific positioning. * The local context favors investments and constant improvements. Government: * There are no speed limits in Germany therefore sport cars can be used to their full potential. * Incentives to sustain scientific development and the creation of clusters. [ 1 ]. http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%89conomie_de_l%27Allemagne.

Collegiate Gladiator in the Gauntlet of Education :: Personal Narrative Papers

Collegiate Gladiator in the Gauntlet of Education I felt the presence of early morning dew against my skin as I marched through a grass field on a brisk October day. My classmates exuded enthusiasm; this excursion was reason to escape the confines of our bleak high school. There was abundant conversation with the occasional youthful act of animation, like sprinting downfield or throwing a rock. The world seems just a bit different when a student is taken from a classroom setting into a non-academic one. Opportunity and freedom appear to be ever so present. Perhaps, that was reason for our class being outside during my regularly scheduled English period. In all honesty I was quite skeptical. I have never been a morning person and can be a silent cynic when it comes to group events. I staggered behind the group, hands in pocket, submerged in totally unrelated thought. My teacher led the way stammering uphill and clenching his worn black book, almost appearing as if he was Moses carrying the Ten Commandments up Mount Sinai. After trekking through the endless barren of soccer and lacrosse fields, we came upon the overgrown pathway that led into the woods. Many of us were familiar to this area, coaches often made their teams run through these wild trails. Others seemed puzzled. Stepping into the wild that day we crossed the threshold on many levels: not just escaping into nature but escaping from ordinary thinking. For me, the change in location would also mark a change in philosophy. Some distance I have covered. The start of my journey seems like a lifetime ago. Blinded by innocence and burdened with little responsibility, being eight years old had its perks. Sure I had to attend school, but what exactly was school at that echelon? A day spent singing songs, playing dodge ball, paper macheing cardboard figurines, with the occasional napping and recess break. Almost like summer camp. To my surprise, second grade was far from what I imagined. My year revolved daily lessons on reading and writing... in hopes of achieving basic literacy. With the occasional dip into the kiddy pool of arithmetic, second grade was a year of hard work. I was lucky to have an incredible teacher like Mrs. Perdiz. She pushed me so hard, so hard that at times I disliked her. Music, math, and art took a definite backseat to reading.

Literary Merit in Bram Stoker’s Dracula Essay

Although it is rather a subjective concept, â€Å"literary merit† essentially means the worth, quality, or excellence of a writing relative to other well-renowned literary masterpieces. In a Constitutional framework, the absence or presence of literary merit would determine the government’s limits to freedom of expression. To possess literary merit would mean that the work is not obscene. The landmark case of Miller vs. California enumerates key guidelines to ascertain the literary merit of a particular text, to wit: 1) Whether the average person, applying contemporary community standards would find that the work, taken as a whole, appeals to the prurient interest†¦ 2)   Whether the work depicts or describes, in a patently offensive way, sexual conduct specifically defined by the applicable state law , and 3)   Whether the work, taken as a whole lacks serious literary, artistic, political or scientific value. (Miller vs. California, 37 L. Ed. 2nd 419, 431 (1973)) Fundamentally speaking, in any framework, to have literary merit is to have value. The popularity of Bram Stoker’s novel Dracula has reached such endemic proportions that it has been claimed to be the most recognized book next to the Bible. A Victorian novel with the distinctive gothic appeal toward the macabre, Dracula has undeniably become a classic milestone in horror fiction. Establishing its literary merit however, is a different matter. A review from The Athenaeum, an influential periodical in Victorian England described the novel as â€Å"sensational.† The review further states: Dracula is highly sensational, but it is wanting in the constructive art as well as in the higher literary sense. It reads at times like a mere series of grotesquely incredible events; but there are better moments that show more power, though even these are never productive of the tremor such subjects evoke under the hand of a master. (The Athenaeum, 26 June 1897). Emphasis supplied. The unremitting succession of the bizarre, the gross and the fantastic, as explained in the review, would seem tantamount to a lack of refinement in the â€Å"higher literary sense.† This observation was supplemented by another review of the same sentiment: The plot is too complicated for reproduction, but it says no little for the author’s power that in spite of its absurdities the reader can follow the story with interest to the end. It is, however, an artistic mistake to fill a whole volume with horrors. A touch of the mysterious, the terrible, or the supernatural is infinitely more effective and credible. (Manchester Guardian, 15 June 1897). Emphasis supplied. As interpreted, instead of relying on the intelligence of the reader to grasp on their own the significance of subtle nuances and take in the various shifts and twists in the story as it evolves, Stoker instantly and unceasingly bombards the reader with an onslaught of palpable and shocking horrific scenes as if the reader is too untrustworthy and unsophisticated to deal with subtleties. If there seems to be little literary merit in the intellectual or scholarly sense, Dracula is still credited for its universal allure. The Pall Mall Gazette, in a commentary of Dracula states: †¦the story deals with the Vampire King, and it is horrid and creepy to the last degree. It is also excellent, and one of the best things in the supernatural line that we have been lucky enough to hit upon. (Pall Mall Gazette, 1 June 1897). Emphasis supplied. The universal allure of Dracula is probably in its resurrection of the vampire lore in a straightforward, practical and illustrative fashion. A vivid and uncomplicated quote from the novel confirms this:   â€Å"I shall cut off her head and fill her mouth with garlic, and I shall drive a stake through her body† (Stoker, 261). The novel’s refreshing simplicity is also evidenced in the following review:   Here, for the latest example, is Mr. Bram Stoker taking in hand the old-world legend of the Were-wolf or vampire, with all its weird and exciting associations of blood-sucking and human flesh devouring, and interweaving it with the threads of a long story with an earnestness, a directness, and a simple good faith which ought to go far to induce readers of fiction to surrender their imaginations into the novelist’s hands. (The Daily News, 27 May 1897). Emphasis supplied. While Bram Stoker’s Dracula is deficient in literary refinement, it nonetheless is considered to have literary merit by virtue of the fact that it captures man’s imagination. It certainly has value for having the extraordinary capacity to fascinate multitudes across time. Ultimately, its worth, quality or excellence is confirmed by its ceaseless popularity. Works Cited Books Miller, Elizabeth. Bram Stoker’s Dracula: A Documentary Volume. Detroit: Gale, 2004. Stoker, Bram. Dracula. London: Penguin Books, 1994. Articles â€Å"Dracula.† The Athenaeum 26 June 1897: 235. â€Å"Dracula.† The Daily News 27 May 1897. â€Å"Dracula, by Bram Stoker.† Manchester Guardian 15 June 1897. â€Å"For Midnight Reading.† Pall Mall Gazette 1 June 1897. Jurisprudence Miller vs. California, 37 L. Ed. 2nd 419, 431 (1973).

Analytical Report of Flinders.Edu.Au Essay - 1112 Words

Analyitical Report of website: www.flinders.edu.au Student name: Garth Trickett Student number: 3068276 Tutor Name: Carol Drew Table of contents 1. Executive summary 2. Introduction 3.1 How easy is it to choose a course and apply for the university it using the website? 3.2 Website Template Layout 3.3 Homepage Layout 3.4 Colour Scheme 4.1 Conclusion 4.2 Recommendations 5. References Executive summary Introduction The aim of this report is to critically analyse the architecture of the website www.flinders.ed.au. The information gathered from the analysis will be used to devise solutions to problems with the website. The technique of examination for the website was to thoroughly†¦show more content†¦Upon opening the universities homepage a quick glance was all that was needed to find the â€Å"for† tab and then the prospective students tab on the website. After clicking on â€Å"prospective students† a new page opened up with a prospective students navigational bar cascading down the left side of the page. The â€Å"choosing what to study† tab was the first heading and under that was a â€Å"course options at flinders† link. Clicking on this revealed a new page which had a number of ways to browse the different course options available. There was a browse heading filled with relevant options relating to the type of student you are as well as a Search bar an d additional â€Å"Explore† help section. This analyst found this section of the prospective student page to have extensive options for accessing the needed material all shown in an easy to understand manner. One thing that could improve the page would be a course category page where each course area e.g. law, science and IT could be accessed to quickly narrow down the search. After minimal effort the analyst found a course and then proceeded to the easily found â€Å"how to apply† section of the prospective students page. This section was nowhere near as easily understandable as the course search page. And although this analyst was still able to successfully