The Name Of The Father Essay Example for Free

The Name Of The Father Essay These are three paragraphs that i put together about the three main characters in the movie, being Gerry, Giuseppe and Joe McAndrew. It was put together to be worked into an end of year exam. Gerry Gerry was immature, even reckless in the way he lived as a young man in Belfast. While he stood on the rooftop of a house stealing scrap-metal he was stupid enough to make himself a target to the British soldiers by pretending to play his guitar with a stick, and started a riot. We saw him standing in the crowd, hurling stones at the British soldiers yelling, English Bastards, even though hes politically naà ¯ve. Even in London the pattern continued when he broke into the hookers house and stole her money, after playing with her toys. Gerry had a great love for his father and family, although we didnt often see him express it. He came to understand the true importance of his family at moments like when he was comforting his father holding the towel over his head in prison, remembering a childhood memory. We also saw when after his confrontation with Mc Andrew he put his hand on Giuseppes shoulder and offered to help with the campaign. When the police threaten to kill his father, he confesses to the bombing to save his dad. When hes in prison we saw his concern for his father when he says to Garreth Pierce, Why are you giving my father false hopes. Gerrys inner strength didnt show until he is in prison. He grows from becoming an immature young man to being a faithful and honest man much like his father. Standing up to Joe McAndrew, looking him in the eye he says, That was a good days work. Youre a real brave man, after he had torched the prison warden. Once released from prison Gerry vowed to fight on until his father is proven innocent. Joe Mc Andrew Joe Mc Andrew was a very important figure of the IRA. He was a man who followed orders and did what he had to do to execute his orders. It didnt bother him that the Conlons were wrongfully convicted as we see when he says to them, This is a war and youre one of the innocent victims. His  lifes work was based on politics as he was obsessed with driving out the English from Ireland. The Guilford Pub bombing was just one of his many doings. Mc Andrew approaches life in a fearless way. The day he strides into prison he makes a statement to all the others of his power by eating at the table, standing up for his rights. He is a power -focused person who even while in prison tries to keep the war going. We see his control in the prison at times like when he threatened the chief prisoner that if the other prisoners were mistreated hed bomb his house and kill his family. Mc Andrewss obsession with power made him become blinded by revenge. He was ultimately limited as a human being and this sometimes lead him into going to far. A time where we saw this happen was when he torched the prison warden so a new one would be assigned. He had no compassion at all, but he had a great hatred for the English. Giuseppe Giuseppe was a very kind, honest and compassionate man and he showed that in the way he took care of his family. He was a protective parent and went to any lengths to keep Gerry out of trouble. We see this when he sends him to England to start off fresh. His supportiveness shows when Gerry was in England, he offers him money to survive. He was a straightforward man who had simple aspirations in life, one of them being for him to have a stable job as a bookies clerk to support his family. Honesty was a number one priority to Giuseppe. His trademark clichà © was, Honest money goes further. Giuseppe was very persistent in everything that he did. We see this while in prison, where to get the story right he constantly keeps writing letters to Gareth Pierce even despite Gerrys disapproval. He prayed every night that he would be released from prison and reunited with his wife and family. His persistence finally lead to the truth being revealed. Giuseppe had great courage and wisdom which a llowed him to see the real good in people. He never turned his back on Gerry. When Gerry was put into prison he went to England to help him. Even while in prison we see his thought for others when he stands up to Mc Andrew saying, Dont be sorry for us, be sorry for the ones you killed.

The Blue Ocean Strategy

The Blue Ocean Strategy Indian bus service industry was extremely unorganized till recently before redBus emerged and took the industry by its neck and brought a sort of revolution never imagined for such an unorganized industry. This was primarily because the information flow and availability in this industry was very difficult and there was a lot of mismatch. The bus ticket industry was highly fragmented with small players active regionally. All these were small small agents competing against each other. Due to lack of any major player there was not much competition for redBus and hence it was able to create a marketspace for itself through entering the bus ticket industry online. By the time redBus entered the horizon there were settled names both in airline and railway ticket booking industry who were operating online. But even for them it was a huge task to enter bus ticketing industry due to the sheer complexity present in the industry and emulating the online model for bus ticketing industry was perc eived to be almost impossible even by these major players in e-commerce. This study deals with how a disruptive model can change the scenario of the complete industry. redBus which at the time of its inception was confined in a small flat of 2 rooms is now a 400 million company with over 400 employees and offices across India. Currently it is the only major player concentrating completely on bus ticketing industry with a market share of over 70%. In this research, I have tried to analyze the bus ticketing industry and how redBus identified the opportunities present in this segment and created a value chain which not only gave them a distinct product but also at competitive cost. It is a perfect example of Blue Ocean strategy where entry of redBus changed the entire landscape of the industry. It revolutionized the way the people buy bus tickets in India. One of the unique bus ticketing system of its kind in the entire world, competitors have leaped in this market but none has receive d success like redBus. This study further covers how redBus has sustained its competitive advantages and what are the challenges and growth opportunities going forward. CHAPTER-1 INTRODUCTION: Blue Ocean Strategy As the authors of the book Blue Ocean Strategy, W. Kim Chan and Renee Mauborgne say: Although the term blue ocean is new, their existence is not. They have been a part of business transformation in past as well as in present. If we look back in the past say a century ago, How many of todays industries were then known? The answer will be majority of todays industries were unknown in their current form. Many industries such as automobiles, aviation, health care, and management consulting were unknown or were just beginning to emerge. Now lets look at the industries 3 decades back. Again, multibillion-dollar industries like mutual funds, computers, mobile phones, smart phones, gas based power plants, discount retail, biotechnology, nanotechnology, express parcel delivery, coffee bars, video games, home videos, and CD player and many other such industries were all non-existent in a practical or popular way. Similarly, lets turn the clock forward a bit and try to look into the future. Lets say after 30 years or say 50 years how many of the now unknown industries will emerge and will exist. If history is any indicator of things to come in future, the answer is there will be many such industries that we cant even think of right now which will emerge. This is the reality; industries are dynamic. They never remain the same over a long period of time. They change continuously and evolve. The participants, the process, the market and the operations everything changes. Operations improve, markets evolve and grow, and non-customers become customers. History tells us that we have huge potential to change the existing industries and recreate them and not only that it teaches us that we underestimate our capability to create new ones. To have an idea of how dynamic things can get, the 50-year old Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) system, which was published by the U.S. Census, was substituted by the North America Industry Classification Standard (NAICS) system in 1997. The reason being the number of industry sectors that SIC covered were half the number of sectors that actually existed in 1997. The old SIC system covered only 10 industry sectors. The new NAICS system doubled it to twenty sectors to reflect the emergence of new-age industries. For example earlier the service sector included all that is now fragmented into different specialized industries like IT, healthcare, social assistance, etc. Given that these systems are made to ensure stability, continuity and for keeping standards, such a substitution shows the significance of growth of Blue Ocean industries. Yet the dominant emphasis of strategists has been on competitive strategies also known as red ocean strategies. Part of the explanation for this is that its roots in military strategy heavily influence corporate strategy. Strategy is about fighting different competitors over the same area of land that is constant and not unlimited. Unlike battles though, the history of industry tells us that the universe of market is unlimited and there is a place for everyone; rather, blue oceans have been always in existence. They have continuously been created. To believe and restrict oneself to red ocean is therefore to accept the constraints that are associated with war-limited piece of land and the need to fight and defeat an opponent to succeed-and to reject the unique strength of the business world: the capacity to create new market universe that is uncontested. Blue Ocean v/s Competitive Strategy (Red Ocean) Blue Ocean emphasises the importance of value innovation that can completely negate the competition replacing competitive advantage with value innovation as the firms primary goal thus highlighting the importance of creating demand and exploiting untapped maket rather than risking competition. There is a debate in the academia and research groups as to which strategy is better suited but all evidences are as case studies on different companies which is not enough to define any one of the two strategies as a clear winner. Rather the two strategies co-exist and should co-exist because a firm on the foundation of Blue Ocean strategy may ultimately have to face competition depending on the imitability of the business model and then before they have more value innovation to differentiate themselves and still remain cost competitive, they must also have a competitive strategy to ensure they do not fall behind of competition. Research results of researchers like Andrew Burke Andres van Stel and Roy Thurik suggest that the notion that blue ocean makes competition irrelevant may not be true. When combined, the two provide a more holistic and realistic depiction of economic performance. Thus, in real life the any strategy must be adopted after evaluating the business and market circumstances appropriately as these define the degree of scope for effectiveness of either Blue Ocean or competitive strategy. Furthermore, what emphasis and mix should be given to either form of strategy across short and long-term time horizons is apparent in most innovative companies competing in short term red oceans while significant time and resources are devoted to the long-term goal of developing innovation that creates consumer demand and new markets. Figure 1: Red Ocean v/s Blue Ocean Strategy Source: www.blueoceanstrategy.corporatestrategy.com Blue Ocean and White Space The term white space has been used in business parlance to mean uncharted territory or an underserved market. But as Mark W. Johnson perfectly writes in Seizing the White Space the term is the range of potential activities not defined or addressed by the companys current business model, that is, the opportunities outside its core and beyond its adjacencies that require a different business model to exploit. White space is a subjective valuation: one companys white space may be another companys core. What matters is that it describes activities that lie far outside a firms usual way of working and presents a series of unique and perplexing challenges to that organization. Its an area where, relatively speaking, assumptions are high and knowledge is low, the opposite of conditions in the companys core space. The chance to seize a piece of white space presents a tantalizing opportunity. Success here can bring the transformational growth that so many business leaders seek. Yet understandably, a play for the white space feels risky, and often the numbers dont appear to add up. The market seems too foreign, or core capabilities wont apply. Some executives, having made one unsuccessful foray, just wont risk failing again. Figure 2: White Space Source: Seizing the White Space, Mark W. Johnson Blue Ocean Strategy and Applied Concepts The Strategy Canvas The strategy canvas is the central diagnostic and action framework for building a compelling blue ocean strategy. The horizontal axis captures the range of factors that the industry competes on and invests in, while the vertical axis captures the offering level that buyers receive across these entire key competing factors. There are two purposes that are served here: It captures the current state of play in known market space, which allows users to clearly see the factors that the industry competes on and where the competition currently invests. Then, it propels users to action by reorienting focus from competitors to alternatives and from customers to non-customers of the industry. The value curve is the basic component of the strategy canvas. It is a graphic depiction of a companys relative performance across its industrys factors of competition. A strong value curve has focus, divergence as well as a compelling tagline. Figure 3: The Strategy Canvas Four Action Framework This framework can also be referred to as the Eliminate-Reduce-Raise-Create Grid. To reconstruct buyer value elements in crafting a new value curve, we use the Four Actions Framework. As shown in the diagram, to break the trade-off between differentiation and low cost and to create a new value curve, the framework poses four key questions to challenge an industrys strategic logic and business model. Which of the factors that the industry takes for granted should be eliminated? Which factors should be reduced well below the industrys standard? Which factors should be raised well above the industrys standard? Which factors should be created that the industry has never offered? Figure 4: Four Actions Framework By pursuing the first two questions managers gain insight into how to drop their cost structure vis-à  -vis competitors. Rarely do they systematically set out to eliminate and reduce their investments in factors that an industry competes on. The result is mounting cost structures and complex business models. The other questions provide insights into how to lift buyer value and create new demand. Collectively, they allow exploring how to reconstruct buyer value elements across alternative industries to offer buyers an entirely new experience, while simultaneously keeping your cost structure low. Eliminating and creating are vital as they push companies to go beyond value maximization exercises with existing factors of competition. They prompt companies to change the factors themselves, hence making the existing rules of competition irrelevant. Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA) The PDCA Cycle is a checklist of the four stages, which one must go through to get from `problem-faced to `problem solved. This concept was developed by Walter Shewhart, the pioneering statistician who developed statistical process control in the Bell Laboratories in the US during the 1930s. It was taken up and promoted very effectively from the 1950s on by the famous Quality Management authority, W. Edwards Deming. Consequently, PDCA cycle is also commonly known as `the Shewhart Cycle and the Deming wheel. This cycle diagram can be applied in team meetings to take stock of what stage improvement initiatives are at, and to choose the appropriate tools to see each stage through to successful completion. Here is what we do in each stage: Plan to improve operations first by finding out what things are going wrong (that is identify the problems faced), and come up with ideas for solving these problems. Do changes designed to solve the problems on a small scale first. This minimizes disruption to routine activity while testing whether the changes will work or not. Check whether the small scale changes are achieving the desired result or not. Also, continuously Check nominated key activities (regardless of any experimentation going on) to know what the quality of the output is at all times to identify any new problems. Act to implement changes on a larger scale if its successful on small scale. Also Act to involve other persons (other departments, suppliers, or customers) affected by the changes and whose cooperation is needed to implement them on a larger scale. If the experiment was not successful, skip the Act stage and go back to the Plan stage to come up with some new ideas for solving the problem and go through the cycle again. Plan-Do-Check-Act describes the overall stages of improvement activity, but how is each stage carried out? This is where other specific quality management, or continuous improvement, tools and techniques come into play. The diagram below lists the tools and techniques that can be used to complete each stage of the PDCA Cycle. Figure 5: PDCA Cycle VRIO Framework VRIO is an acronym for Value, Rarity, Imitability and Organization. This is also a 4 questions framework where one asks about a resource or capability to ascertain its competitive potential: the question of Value, the question of Rarity, the question of Imitability (Ease/Difficulty to Imitate), and the question of Organization (ability to exploit the resource or capability). The Question of Value: Is the firm able to exploit an opportunity or neutralize an external threat with the resource/capability? The Question of Rarity: Is control of the resource/capability in the hands of a relative few? The Question of Imitability: Is it difficult to imitate, and will there be significant cost disadvantage to a firm trying to obtain, develop, or duplicate the resource/capability? The Question of Organization: Is the firm organized, ready, and able to exploit the resource/capability? The VRIO framework, in a wider scope, is part of a much larger strategic scheme of a firm. The basic strategic process that any firm goes through begins with a vision statement, and continues on through objectives, internal external analysis, strategic choices (both business-level and corporate-level), and strategic implementation. The firm will hope that this process results in a competitive advantage in the marketplace they operate in. VRIO falls into the internal analysis step of these procedures, but is used as a framework in evaluating just about all resources and capabilities of a firm, regardless of what phase of the strategic model it falls under. CHAPTER-2 LITERATURE REVIEW Paper 1: Blue Ocean Strategy versus Competitive Strategy: Theory and Evidence. Burke, Andrew, Andrà © van Stel, and Roy Thurik. ERIM Report Series Research in Management (May 2009) Theme: Empirical analysis of blue ocean strategy versus competitive strategies based on data assembled from 655 retail shops through 41 shop types in the retail industry in Holland. Summary: This paper addresses the debate surrounding Red Ocean (competitive strategy) v/s Blue Ocean (New Market) strategy. The authors note that Blue Ocean seeks to emphasise the importance of value innovation that can completely negate the competition replacing competitive advantage with value innovation as the firms primary goal thus highlighting the importance of creating demand and exploiting untapped maket rather than risking competition. This results in increased profitability in the industry. There is a debate in the academia and research groups as to which strategy is better suited but all evidences are as case studies on different companies which is not enough to define any one of the two strategies as a clear winner. Rather the two strategies co-exist and should co-exist because a firm on the foundation of Blue Ocean strategy may ultimately have to face competition depending on the imitability of the business model and then before they have more value innovation to differentiate themselves and still remain cost competitive, they must also have a competitive strategy to ensure they do not fall behind of competition. Research results in this paper suggest that the notion that blue ocean makes competition irrelevant may not be true. To test the superiority of either tools the authors looks at the two strategies from both long term and short term perspectives and outline a theoretical model which suggests that every market will experience new vendors arriving to share the profits that are there on the offering in the industry. Thus the composition of the pie chart of market share will continuously exhibit different set of players with some fading off while others entering the market but only until the saturation point is reached where everyone will break even. Looking at the industry an its players over a period of time in this manner will give us an understanding about whether the new market strategy or the competitive strategy is more viable for the industry. If companies succeed over a long period of time by creating value innovation (new market strategy) as the new companies entered, both the i ndustry profits as well as the firms profit will grow steadily and so will the number of vendors in the strategy. On the other hand, if the profitability of the blue ocean firm went down with increasing number of vendors in the industry, it would be an indication of the dominance of the firms that followed competitive strategy over the firms that followed new market (blue ocean) strategy. After studying the complete data from 1982-2000 of 655 retail shops over 41 shop types in the Dutch retail industry and after testing and analyzing the premise the authors concluded for half the shop types, the firm profits were directly proportional to the number of firms while the blue ocean strategy was dominant over a long term with number of vendors and firm profitability rising/falling together over all shop types in the whole period under consideration. The authors also concluded that in short term Red Ocean strategies were at work. The study highlights that the two strategies co-exist and cross each other throughout the industry life and there is no particular choice that any manager prefers. Paper 2: Synthesizing a Blue Ocean. Master Thesis. Vester, Daniel. Aalto University, 2012. Theme: Applicability of New Market strategy frameworks and techniques in the electronic musical instruments industry for innovating new products. Summary: In this paper, the author targets to show how value innovation could be used in case of an electronic musical instrument company to add value to their product and create new market space. To explain this, he choses to compare the traditional strategies like competitive strategy, Porters 5 forces strategy to the blue ocean strategy. Blue ocean strategy is eventually selected for the process of product development of ArturiaMiniBrute, an analogue synthesizer reason being 1) Its attention on constructing new uncontested market space and at the same time targeting lower cost and product differentiation as well; and 2) The ease with which the analytical tools and frameworks in a Blue Ocean strategy could be blended into the product development process and usability of the instrument thus developed. Blue ocean strategy tools such as the Strategy Canvas, Four Action Framework, Buyer Utility Map and Three Tiers of Noncustomers are applied after quantitative analysis of sales figures in the electronic musical instrument industry for identifying Arturias closest competitors in various synthesizer markets and to design the strategy for ArturiaMiniBrute. The authors observations and interpretations show that the Blue Ocean Strategy techniques and frameworks can aid electronic musical instrument firms add value to their instruments/products/offerings and create new market space. Subsequently, the author advocates that companies should shift focus from technical features of the musical instrument to the emotional appeal of the musical instrument, and urges that companies should get out of the traditional mindset, challenge established rules of the industry by eliminating factors that have been ignored and not given due importance but which may be of great value to the customer. Paper 3: The Impact of Blue Ocean Strategy in Low-cost Transport. Ã…Â  tverkovà ¡, Hana, Michal ÄŒervinka, and Vlasta Humlovà ¡. In 2012 International Conference on Traffic and Transportation Engineering. Belgrade, November 29-30, 2012. Theme: Applicability of blue ocean strategy theory to Ryanair (air transport industry) Summary: This paper illustrates how blue ocean strategy can be vital and have an important influence in the low cost aviation sector. The authors chose to analyze the low-cost air transport industry in the European Union. They report that the market is highly competitive and the regional players fight amongst themselves on the base of cost competitiveness. The authors show that a cordial relationship between regional airports and any carrier firm can enable budget airlines to provide distinguished value for airline passengers at a low cost to the companies. The authors also suggests using the case of Ryanair that infrastructure improvement for non-core activities at the smaller airports might be essential to facilitate such relationships between budget airlines and small regional airports. CHAPTER-3 EXAMPLES OF BLUE OCEAN STRATEGY Air Asia One of the major developments that the airline has experienced has been the evolution of the budget airlines. For instance, emergence of Air Asia in Malaysia is a classic example. Air Asia have avoided the competitive strategy or the red Ocean (competition against Malaysia Airline and other airlines like Tiger Air, Jet Air and other regional airlines) by considering factors that are important to customers but easily taken for granted by most of the other airlines. With the Four Actions Framework proposed by W. Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne, Air Asia have ensured they make Malaysia Airline, Tiger Air, Jet air and regional players irrelevant by implementing many important strategic moves explained below. STRATEGY Eliminate: 1) OTC booking 2) Seating Class booking arrangement 3) Free breakfast/lunch/dinner on the plane Reduce: 1) Number of attendants serving on the plane 2) Luxury facilities delivered 3) Quality of the seats Raise: 1) Increased flight hours for their aircrafts: frequency of flight 2) Selected key endpoints/destinations catered frequently Create: 1) Booking system became online 2) Travel system: point-to-point Through these strategic moves, Air Asia has been able to concentrate on factors that really matter for the customers like better booking channel, point-to-point travel system, etc. that makes customers lives simpler and adds value to them. This is a perfect example of Value Innovation, as not only does this help Air Asia increase the value to the customers but at the same time reduces cost for Air Asia significantly Value Innovation. This also allows Air Asia towards customers who were not traditionally target thus creating a new market space and targeting non-customers in the traditional airline industry. Current Airline Customers: 1) Corporates and business fraternity in Malaysia or ASEAN region. 2) Those individuals who can afford to buy expensive airline tickets from airlines like Malaysia Airline and other regional players. Non-Customers: 1) Officers from the government and other government staff 2) Those individuals who cannot afford to buy expensive tickets such as students or recent graduates or lower middle class and rural people. With effective execution of Blue Ocean strategy, Air Asia has furthered expanded their gamut and has ventured into other businesses like they started Tune Hotel and Tune Money. The model is again towards creating Blue Ocean market space. Crocs Inc. Company Snapshot Crocs Inc. is one of the major players in shoe industry who have been very successful. It designs, fabricates and markets bright-colored, comfy-branded footwear and accessories for all segments men, women and children. Blue Ocean Strategic Move Crocs Inc. with its distinctive lightweight clogs created a blue ocean market space in the shoe industry. These types of shoes gave customers a perfect combination of comfort and fashion at an affordable price point. Crocs shoes have mass appeal because not only are they branded but also in a way they are refreshing, they are different from traditional sandals and casual shoes and add a fun element as well as they come in a wide array of bright colors which provide a funky look. Combined with their new crocodile logo on their shoes it also gives them a bold look. Crocs have been a run-away success also because they provide customer what they never even thought of, they satisfy their customers by adding value to their customers usage by giving features like lightweight, waterproof, ergonomic comfort and anti-microbial and anti-skid. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¨Success Founded in 2002 as a new type of boat shoemaker initially, the company has grown into a global sensation in casual footwear industry with sales across the globe in over 90 countries and reaching 1 billion US dollars in 2011. Figure 6: Crocs Four Actions to create Value Innovation Source: Frontier Strategy, LLC Nintendos Wii The video game business has a huge market and is a multi-billion dollar industry. Video consoles, which form a big portion of this market, were very recently in the past controlled by two major players: PlayStations (PS12 and soon PS3) from Sony and Xbox (Xbox and Xbox360) from Microsoft. Nintendo, however, a distant third player created ripples in the market space with its launch of the Wii. This is an especially interesting case study from a strategy perspective since its a brilliant example of the so-called blue ocean strategy. The graphic below demonstrates Nintendos Wii strategy with the help of the strategy canvas and is quite clear. Figure 7: The Strategy Canvas of Nintendo Wii On giving a closer glance to the above graphic, one will notice that Nintendo is competing on a completely different strategic landscape as the attributes are completely differently focused for Nintendo in comparison with Sony and Microsoft. The Wii is not only affordable for general public, it has no Hard Disk, no DVD, no Dolby 5.1, weak connectivity and comparatively low processor speed, but enthralls the user by its innovative motion control stick. The stick is designed such that it integrates the movements of a player directly into the console of the video game, The user gets an interface where he gets a live feel of himself playing in the screen. With this feature Nintendo not only won the existing customers in the video game world but also brought in a completely new set of customers to the business. We can again think of the Four Actions Framework in all of the above descriptions of features. I will explain here with a couple of those features: Reduction in cost through elimination of some features like Hard Drive, DVD, Dolby 5.1 and low processor speed A raise in demand by creation of motion stick: strong value innovation for new gamers/customers. These 2 features disregard the traditional belief in competitive strategy of either going for cost leadership or product differentiation and not simultaneously for both. In other words, through this example we see that while Sony and Microsoft are fighting in the same old bloody Red Ocean of existent market, Nintendo created a new market space for itself in the form of Wii and is now sailing calmly in this Blue Ocean that it created for itself. CHAPTER-4 BOS: A Case Study on redBus Story of redBus One fine evening an electrical engineer in Bangalore planned to travel to Hyderabad to celebrate Diwali with his family but the answer he got from the agents when he reached at bus stands was that all tickets were sold out and he could inquire about the availability from some other agents. Although the person got frustrated but an appalling question was making rounds in his minds; why werent there other methods to get bus tickets booked rather than moving from one agent to another? He questioned why cant bus tickets be booked online like airlines and railway tickets? The person was Phanindra Sama and his frustration lead way to a revolution in Indian bus industry and redBus was born. Phani discussed the idea with his friends (Sudhakar Pasupunuri and Charan Padmaraju) and they started working on the idea. Initially they decided to develop an IT based inventory system for bus operators but the idea was dismissed by the operators and agents as the task seemed huge to them. Meanwhile they came in contact with the Bangalore chapter of TIE (The Indus Entrepreneurs) which accepted their venture and mentored the team and guided them with various assignments pertaining to market surveys and market research. The TIE mentorship enabled redBus to get venture capitalist interested in them and a VC named Seedfund funded them with $500000. This is how redBus was born on 18th August 2006, Indias first online bus ticketing website, a concept which was in use for airline and railway booking but no one had realized that it could be feasible enough for the bus travel also. Exhibit 1 gives company details. Exhibit 1 The Team Major Milestones Exhibit 2 Company Details Bus Ticket Industry- Overview in India The Indian bus travel industry was highly fragmented with a large number of small operators and agents having very little orientation towards technology. Most of the operators were regional players having small fleets of ten buses where few were long route players having 100 or more fleets of buses. Exhibit 2 gives the details of the industry structure. Long route buses were known as contract carriages and their tickets were to be bought in advance whereas short haul buses known as stage carriers and their tickets were sold in the coach itself. The booking system was agent driven in which each agent had contract with three of four operators and tickets were allocated to them on the basis of quota system by the operators. Each agent used to sell its quota of tickets and all the unsold tickets were informed to the operator before some fixed time of bus departure. No centralized inventory was maintained by either the agents or by operators

The Difference Between Truth And Belief

The Difference Between Truth And Belief The word truth can have a variety of meanings, from honesty and faith to a verified fact in particular.[1] The term has no single definition about which a majority of professional philosophers and scholars agree, and various theories of truth continue to be debated. There are differing claims on the roles that revealed and acquired knowledge play; and whether truth is subjective, objective, or absolute. Though truth is generally believed to be both subjective and objective, belief is assumed to be objective which means it differs from person to person. For example, I believe that the sky is blue entails that I think that this proposition is true. The ways by which we acquire knowledge, can be differentiated into four broad categories, sense perception, language, emotion and reasoning. The four ways of knowing help us to identify and differentiate between subjective and objective truths. It is generally assumed language gives us access to subjective truths while reason gives us access to objective truths. For example, the various mathematical proofs, theories and formulae that are in use today are in practice because of they have been proved by reason and are considered as objective mathematical truths. However, some theories and formulas are axiomatic truths. Axiomatic truths are self evident truths or basic facts which are accepted without any proof. On the contrary, perception and emotion are believed to result in subjective truths. From past experiences, I have generalized that objects left out in the rain get wet. Through reasoning I apply this understanding to tonights rainfall, and conclude that my own bicycle will get wet if it is left out in the backyard. Reason can help us to identify both subjective and objective truths. For example, reason can help to distinguish between objective mathematical truths and subjective artistic truths. Thus, from the above examples it can be seen that the various ways of knowing , alone can help to identify truths. But, the ways of knowing may also work together to give us the truth. For example, in science the way of knowing of reason and sense perception may work collaboratively to give us the objective truths. Some examples are objects falling on the ground with an acceleration of 9.8 m/s2. However, if reason helps us to identify and distinguish between objective mathematical truths such as the sum of the angles of a triangle is 180 and subjective artistic truths such as Beethovens 9th symphony is his best, it does not mean that reason is superior to the other ways of knowing because each of the ways of knowing has its own limitations and may not necessarily g ive us the absolute truth. The way of classical inductive reasoning can lead to false claims. Consider this example, I saw a duck and it was black. I saw a second duck and it was black. I saw a third duck and it was black. I saw an Nth duck and it was black. A general statement becomes the conclusion All ducks must be black. After tens of thousands of instances of black ducks in Africa, Asia and North America I go to the UK and see a white duck, right in the middle of a lake. One false instance is enough to topple over the general conclusion I had painstakingly reached. In the wake of the development in sciences and the extensive use of reason in daily life, a question is raised Is reason the most superior way of knowing?. Reason has give rise to many scientific explanations and theories such as the formulae of mathematics and the laws of physics. In the AOK of science, the various laws of gravity in physics have been defined after reason and research. For example, if I observe that the gravity is always same when I undertake an experiment, by inductive reasoning I will assume that this will always be the case if I measure gravity on any X place in the world. The general statement becomes the conclusion The acceleration due to gravity is 9.8 m/s2. But, if I were to conduct the same experiment at the North or the South pole I would find that the value of gravity is more than what I had found before, as the earth is elliptical and the poles are closer to the earths core. Also, the value of gravity would be quite different if I were to conduct the same experiment at the equatorial regions .Thus, as we can see, the reasoned assumption can sometimes lead to a paradigm shift i.e. true in specific environments so not a universal truth. Even if the experiment is conducted hundreds of times, there is always a possibility that an exception will be found and the theory would be falsified like in the case of the white duck. Thus, it is suggested that a hypothetical deductive method should be used, which is a continual interplay between deductive and inductive reasoning, mediated by testing done in the real world, whereby false hypotheses are discarded through trial and disproof. However, there is a possibility that somebody may stumble upon a case that falsifies the conclusion. The other knowledge issue raised is How far do our cultural beliefs distort our attempts to distinguish between subjective and objective theories?. For example, a recent case in India, where cultural beliefs are followed on a large extent, the idols of Lord Ganesha in temples all over the country were believed to be drinking milk from the offerings by visitors and followers. Thus, the subjective truth of all the followers was that the idol of Lord Ganesha was drinking milk. However, scientists conducted various experiments on the idols thereafter and came out with an objective explanation whereby the subjective truth of the followers was falsified. The rationalists and the scientists proved that the result was because of the surface tension and the absorption capabilities of the materials of which the idols were made .Thus, the cultural belief in India that the offerings by devotees are consumed by the god , gave rise to the subjective truth and distorted the objective truth. Also , another knowledge issue which is raised is How to do we get from our subjective beliefs to our objective truths ? . Darwins theory of evolution was based on his observations and is believed to be true especially by most of todays scientists. Darwins subjective belief in evolutionary theory was transformed into an objective truth. He proposed that all of the millions of species of organisms present today, including humans, evolved slowly over billions of years, from a common ancestor by way of natural selection  [1]  . However, certain counter-claims make us believe that the theory of evolution is false. According to the theory of natural selection birds could never evolve to fly  [2]  while this is certainly not the case. Though subjective beliefs can be and have been transformed into objective truths by repeated experimentation, it is possible that a single counter-claim could forge the conclusion and prove the theory to be wrong. The distinction between subjective and objective truths also raises the knowledge issue Is emotion an effective way of distinguishing between subjective and objective truths ? . For example, in Ethics we may use reason effectively to distinguish between the reasons why we should switch off a life-support machine on a family member and why we shouldnt, but reason may not take into account the emotional pressures we feel in the moment of flicking the switch, or emotion may even over-rule reason to some extent. The ongoing debate between subjective and objective truths also raises the knowledge issue Are there any absolutely certain objective truths independent of what we believe to be true? . This knowledge issue takes into account absolute truths. An absolute truth, sometimes called a universal truth, is an unalterable and permanent fact  [3]  . Many religions contain absolute truths. For example, a Christian might believe Lord Jesus to be his savior. To the Christian this may be an absolute truth. While many may agree that the Christian believes absolutely that Jesus is his Lord, they are unlikely to agree that Jesus is everyones Lord is an absolute truth. Centuries of missionary work is evidence of the human sense of infallibility in this area and is shown by the movie the mission in which a Spanish jesuist travels to the south American wilderness in the hope of converting the Indians into Christians . When a persons absolute truth is extended to all other people, it can be viewed as a philosophical statement of exclusion. Those who do not endorse the absolute truth of another are either pitied or attacked  [4]  and results in war and oppression. The method of the natural sciences involves perception as part of the collection of data to prove or disprove theories about the natural world for example , the development of the big bang theory by Edwin Hubble was based on his investigation of mysterious masses of stars called Nebulae. However, the problem is that a scientists observations may be limited by the instruments they use to make their observations. However, several of these theories are considered as absolute truths today inspite of what we believe. Again, Historians might provide primary sources to represent the absolute objective truth of the horrors of Stalins reign of terror, but the problem is this: how do we know that those sources havent been tampered with if Stalins regime was capable of doctoring evidence during his rule, isnt this even more rife in an age where everyone has access to Photoshop?

The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz :: The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz

The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz Duddy's obsession with land lies within his grandfather, Simcha. When Duddy was small, he spoke those unforgettable words to him, "A man without land is nobody." When it seemed as if nobody cared or respected him, Simcha did. Duddy did not receive the same kind of love from his father or uncle as Lennie did.   When Duddy comes back from work at, he asks, "Why [Max] didn't answer any of [his] letters?"   He replies he wasn't "one for letters." "But Duddy remembered that when Lennie had worked as a camp counsellor one summer his father had written every week.   He had driven out to visit him twice."(pp. 104 & 105) Duddy did not have the same kind of affection and devotion Lennie and Max shared.   The same situation came from his uncle, Benjy. At first sight, Benjy described him as having a "thin crafty face, the quick black eyes and the restlessness_the grain so shrewd and knowing, all made a bad impression on Uncle Benjy." (p. 61)   Benjy supported Lennie, giving him money for his education.   With the exception of Simcha, he had no other parental support which is the reason why Simcha words had such a great effect on him. Duddy gains what he had wanted in its acquisition, respect. Everyone except Simcha, Mr. MacPherson, and Uncle Benjy thought he was going to be a nobody.   He wanted so much to prove them wrong and he has.   We may say he has gained self assurance, restating the fact he was a somebody important.   Since his days at Fletcher's Field High School, he ran a gang based on respect, not friendship.   Things do not change when he becomes an adult. Virgil is just one of the people Duddy uses to get money for his land.   He feels no grief for hurting his so called friends because he has never experienced true friendship.   His purchasing of land would push him into higher step in society.   What he gains is nothing compared to what he loses. Duddy has lost his innocence.   No longer is he the pure and na†¹ve

College Admissions Essay: Making the Connections :: College Admissions Essays

Making the Connections    The human race is immortal.   There is nothing that forces us to decay into old age and die, this is merely our body destroying itself once our purpose ( reproduction ) is complete.   Evolution not only did not bother to select against genes that kill off people past 40, but to some degree selected for such genes: the faster we go through generations, the faster we evolve.   If the genes that cause the changes we associate with old age were suppressed in some chemical way, we would be capable of eternal life.   Another way to immortality would involve the building of a biomechanical body of some sort, something right out of a Terminator movie, that would support the brain with only the chemicals necessary to survival ( if we could determine which those are ) and thus avoid the effect of aging genes.   All of this genetic, biochemical and hydraulic research would be based on knowledge gained in college.   One other thing: we've all heard of cults that claim they have disco vered immortality in some way, which supposedly have members who've lived 200 years.   If there's even a shred of truth in any of that, my guess is that these 200 year veterans have managed to order their minds in some way ( through some arcane style of thinking perhaps ) that erased the biological clock.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   All in all, immortality is only one small thing that humans might be capable of.   The strange abilities seen in autistic people, like incredible number crunching speed, really are not unique to autistic people.   These abilities are buried deep in everyone's subconscious, and it is just a matter of our minds letting us use them or not.   In fact, I think that along with those mathematical abilities are buried many more abilities.   I feel sure that among them is perfect coordination, and there might be some really strange psychic or time-related abilities as well.   The subconscious is driven by its creator, evolution.   It is only concerned with reproduction.   Evolution has erected a barrier between ourselves and our potential, and lets ability seep through to those who have desirable traits and are intended to reproduce. College Admissions Essay: Making the Connections :: College Admissions Essays Making the Connections    The human race is immortal.   There is nothing that forces us to decay into old age and die, this is merely our body destroying itself once our purpose ( reproduction ) is complete.   Evolution not only did not bother to select against genes that kill off people past 40, but to some degree selected for such genes: the faster we go through generations, the faster we evolve.   If the genes that cause the changes we associate with old age were suppressed in some chemical way, we would be capable of eternal life.   Another way to immortality would involve the building of a biomechanical body of some sort, something right out of a Terminator movie, that would support the brain with only the chemicals necessary to survival ( if we could determine which those are ) and thus avoid the effect of aging genes.   All of this genetic, biochemical and hydraulic research would be based on knowledge gained in college.   One other thing: we've all heard of cults that claim they have disco vered immortality in some way, which supposedly have members who've lived 200 years.   If there's even a shred of truth in any of that, my guess is that these 200 year veterans have managed to order their minds in some way ( through some arcane style of thinking perhaps ) that erased the biological clock.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   All in all, immortality is only one small thing that humans might be capable of.   The strange abilities seen in autistic people, like incredible number crunching speed, really are not unique to autistic people.   These abilities are buried deep in everyone's subconscious, and it is just a matter of our minds letting us use them or not.   In fact, I think that along with those mathematical abilities are buried many more abilities.   I feel sure that among them is perfect coordination, and there might be some really strange psychic or time-related abilities as well.   The subconscious is driven by its creator, evolution.   It is only concerned with reproduction.   Evolution has erected a barrier between ourselves and our potential, and lets ability seep through to those who have desirable traits and are intended to reproduce.

Centura Health Overview

Centura Health is considered Colorado's largest healthcare organization, inclusive of a 12-hospital system. The company's mission includes celebrating the value inherent in each individuals life and working collaboratively to â€Å"lift the burdens of others† by offering comprehensive and loving care to all customers and patients served by Centura (Centura, 2005). The mission statement of the organization is to â€Å"extend the healing ministry of Christ my caring for those who are ill and nurturing the health of people in our communities† (Centura, 2005). The vision includes fulfilling the organizations covenant that guarantees excellence and integrity of service, creating partnerships with community members and patients for life (Centura, 2005). The organization has identified multiple core values which include: integrity, stewardship, spirituality, imagination, respect, excellence and compassion† (Centura, 2005). Current Centura operates as a non-profit agency and structures key decision making using what they refer to as a â€Å"Values Impact Analysis† (Centura, 2005). This tool helps organizational representatives weight the costs to benefits of selected decisions as applied to the organizations core values. The process adopted by the organization is considered â€Å"dynamic and rigorous† with the intent of enabling â€Å"conscientious decisions respectful of stakeholders needs† but also in line with the values and needs of patients (Centura, 2005). The organizational model includes a hierarchical system with the following: President/CEO, Executive Vice President and COO, Sr. Vice President, CFO, Chief Medical Officer and supporting management staff (Centura, 2005). Key to the governance model includes collaboration with other medical providers and health agencies throughout the state of Colorado. The decision making model adopted by Centura involves use of the Values Impact Analysis process that helps key management staff make decisions that are not only fiscally sound but also reflect the organizations core values and perspectives of patients that may be impacted by decisions. The organization makes use of an on site Mission and Ministry whose role includes providing â€Å"reflections, a prayer chain† and various other resources for employees and associates of the organization (Centura, 2005). In addition the organization utilizes a SHARE program that resembles a rewards and recognition program to highlight outstanding achievements among employees, customers and co-workers (Centura, 2005). Centura has also adopted a collaborative environment where communication is promoted through a â€Å"Mastery Development Plan† (Centura, 2005). This plan provides team members within the organization a method of facilitating personal and professional development and communication by providing training for technical and support staff and providing communications training to all staff to encourage greater collaboration and community connections among employees (Centura, 2005). Centura has also adopted quality improvement measures focusing on patient populations, physician and clinician teams to help promote â€Å"excellence in care† (Centura, 2005). The organization to this effect has created what they refer to as a â€Å"Quality, Safety and Outcomes Management department† whose sole role includes supporting a solid communications infrastructure and commitment to quality improvement (Centura, 2005). Centura's approach to quality involves defining ‘value directed' services and providing value directed management to customers both internal and external. This is a solid approach to instilling quality within the organization. Arogyaswamy & Simmons (1993) point to the important of using value-directed management approaches to ensure the best possible service to customers. Further the authors suggest that organizations must approach total quality and empowerment of staff through articulated measures to achieve â€Å"stronger market positions† by establishing â€Å"an unquenchable thirst for improvement† (Arogyaswamy & Simmons, 3). Ways to do this include through integration and shared vision (Lambert, Hylander & Sandoval, 2003). Barusch, Merkman & Maramaldi (2005) note that within the health care organization standardized measures are necessary to ensure control and power are properly delegated and that quality is ensured in all patient interactions and outcomes. Care benchmarks, satisfaction tools and quality assessors currently adopted by Centura fall in line with recent studies suggesting that routine attention to performance measurement via various standardized methods help improve organizational efficiency and continuous improvement (Holzer & Julnes, 2001). Further risk management is best assessed by gathering quality data from standardized reporting systems that provide detailed summaries of the industry, characteristics of service and help regulate distribution of services and procedures within the healthcare organization (Blankmeyer, Knox & Stutzman, 2001). Centura uses multiple benchmarks to currently reap information regarding quality and service protocols, including the Values Impact Analysis and the Master Development Plan. The values impact survey acts as a standardized reporting system providing mangers and staff with detailed cues regarding employee and organizational performance. The Master Development Plan serves as a tool that can enhance performance management and train various staff members including nursing staff members to achieve their highest potential within the organization. Key issues a nursing staff coordinator may address within this organizational context is whether incumbents are consistently reporting on their progress and achievements using the values impact analysis and master development program. These programs do offer detailed information regarding potential areas of weakness and improvement within the organization. At present the strongest elements of Centura's organizational structure include its commitment to shared knowledge and communication among staff members. Additionally the organization is committed to empowering employees to excel in their job functions and dedicated to continuous training. The organization may benefit from an overhaul of the performance measurement protocols adopted for individual employees. Most organizations fall short of identifying to as great an extent possible the level of staff satisfaction with performance measurement protocols. Turnover within the organization at present is relatively low suggesting that employees are however receiving the feedback they need to excel on the job. At this point in time when problem areas are identified using the quality assessment tools in place management turns to focused committees to resolve issues. The organization would benefit by involving more primary care nurses and other direct staff involved in decision making processes that involve improving quality improvement. Because Centura is a hierarchical organization, most decisions are made from the top down. Recent studies suggest however that continuous quality improvement and risk management efforts are enhanced significantly when organizations adopt a flat approach to knowledge management and quality improvement. This means that employees at all levels of the organization must be empowered to help make decisions and share information regarding continuous improvement measures. One way to adopt this philosophy at Centura may be to establish various committees designed to help solve specific problems within their scope of expertise or knowledge. Overall Centura Health provides a superb foundation for providing quality care and direction for staff and the patients and community it serves. The organization is committed to quality improvements, knowledge sharing and partnerships within the community to reduce any risk associated with delivering care and to improve its knowledge sharing ability within the community. At present the organization has adopted various standardized instruments, which consistently provide accurate measurements of quality benchmarks within the organization. The top down management approach may be the sole factor limiting consistent knowledge sharing and hence risk management reduction or continuous improvement within the organization.

Global Media and Cultural Homogenisation Essay

In the 21st century, economic globalization has finally become an irresistible reality. Information, technology, goods, people, especially monetary capital are frequently exchanging worldwide unprecedentedly. The development and expansion of markets have effectively broken through the national, ethnic, cultural customs and ideological boundaries (Fairweather & Rogerson 2003). From multinationals, satellite TV, Internet to McDonald’s, Mercedes-Benz cars, cartoons, various cultures are now crossing huge distance and national borders, more densely implanted in different countries, and finally resulting in the phenomenon of cultural homogenisation. This essay is going to discuss whether globalisation implies cultural homogenisation, which will mainly focus on the role that global media has played in causing this phenomenon. To better understanding whether globalisation could lead to cultural homogenisation, this essay is about to define globalisation first. More specifically, globalisation is a terminology in economics, and scholars have three main kinds of explanation for globalisation: the first is that globalisation is Westernisation or Americanisation (Appadurai 2001), the second is that globalisation is the worldwide optimising allocation of economic and technical resources (McChesney 2001); and the third is that globalisation is to solve global problems such as environmental pollution, population explosion, drugs proliferation and transnational crimes, etc. (Mehlika 2013). In this essay, the meaning of globalisation is referred to the second explanation. When it comes to the effects of globalisation, it could be seen in various aspects, and living space of people has been associated with the world as a whole. For instance, London’s stock market or the European Football League is not a regional event, shockwave of these events quickly spread to every corner of the globe (Mehlika 2013). â€Å"Global village† is a more realistic word to describe the current world (Appadurai 2001). No matter international relations, political interests, social wealth distribution, cultural homogenisation or everyday life, globalisation has shown their significant role in those fields, and has contributed to profound consequences. Cultural homogenisation, which could be expressed as one of the significant impacts  of cultural globalization, that is local unique cultures all over the local culture will tend to become a single global culture, contributing to different lifestyles, values and beliefs of differing ethnics and communities are becoming increasingly similar (Mihailidis & Moeller 2010,). According to the view of Marxist (Mehlika 2013), the economic base determines the superstructure; economic and cultural globalization inextricably has linked and influenced each other. With the impact of the trend of globalisation, previously diversified culture has been influenced by the stronger culture and fashionable trend which are normally propagated by global commercial media system (McChesney 2001). In addition, McChesney (2001) holds the view that economic and cultural globalization arguably would be impossible without a global commercial media system to promote global markets and to encourage consumer values. Therefore, this essay believe that global media has played a crucial role in the development of globalisation and cultural homogenisation, and the following part of this article will mainly focus on the how global media has impacts on cultural homogenisation. At present, when reading newspapers or magazines, or turning on the TV, a confusing phenomenon could be the hom ogenisation of media culture, and sometimes similar entertaining programs could be seen in dozens of TV channels. Homogenization of media culture is very fast, often like a plague epidemic (Jan 2009). For example, a popular talent show called American Idol in the U.S. had a new name in China called Chinese Idol, which completely copied the main contents of American Idol. In addition, the successfulness of open copy experience has immediately provoked a chain reaction, almost all the local TV stations are following this trend, for a time, from national TV station (CCTV) to the local ones, and more than ten similar talent shows hurriedly came out. Another example is the Quiz Millionaire, this TV show has numerous versions in China, such as Happy Dictionary, Lucky 52, and so on. And there are various other TV programs in China are just Chinese version of famous TV programs around the world. In terms of the homogenisation of media culture, what most people may consider first is to criticize the lack of creativity of TV people or media workers. However, to explore further, more problems will involve in this problem. That is the globalisation of commercial media will unavoidably lead to the homogenisation of different cultures (McChesney 2001). A problem that may  be ignored is the convergent environment of media. More specifically, people tend to accept the fact of the homogenization of economic life; however, it is difficult to accept the homogenization of culture. The majority people still hold the view that different cultures should own their unique national, ethnic, and local characteristics (Fairweather, & Rogerson 2003). In other words, individuals could drive multinational or foreign designed automobiles, wear foreign produced perfume, but should remain vigilant when enjoy foreign films and television programs or other cultural products (Dumas, et al. 2010). However, little do these people know that the production mode of the media culture determines the globalisation of it, especially since the mid-twentieth century , new media and new media culture comes along with it, are emerging and developing in the international environment with relatively frequent exchanges (Appadurai 2000). That is to say, what we call the media culture of today is not entirely follow the traditional method that brought to the global market after its completion in certain developed countries, but gradually generated in the broader context of international exchanges which are contributed by the modern commercial media system (McChesney 2001). Taking the Hollywood films as an example, it is totally different form what it was half a century ago. Today’s Hollywood has a broader global context; its creators and performers are white, black or yellow from Europe, Asia or Oceania and other regions around the world. Additionally, technical means or electronic producing technologies of Hollywood films are also the most advanced, regardless of the technology are coming from the United States or from other countries. Another example could be the footboard culture, before the Western football culture was introduced to China, China does not have similar local cultural phenomenon about football. Because there is no similar local media environment of football in China, the popularity of football media culture in China is not resulting from the public choosing the Western media culture in the competition with local media culture (just like choose the team which that is liked best), but the decision has been make before individuals have the right to choose, or that the decision is made by the convergent media environment (Jan 2009). For the football culture in china, it is either existing or not existing; and once it exists, it would be derived from western culture. Here, the most difficult to imagine is the development of  China’s own local football culture. The development of culture cannot be delimited and designated by people in a relatively closed space (Bredin 2009). In other words, culture is not static, but dynamic, and acquiring development in the exchanges and communication with other cultures. Ethnic and local cultural could be regarded as closed culture in certain degree, but only with respect to the degree of globalisation and internationalisation (Bredin 2009). In fact any so-called ethnically local culture cannot grow in a completely closed environment, just like running water is never stale, any viable culture must obtain nutrients and support in the exchanges and communications with other cultures (Bredin 2009). For example, Chinese culture, which originated in the Yellow River Basin, but in the long years later, it is in contact with the south Chu culture and western culture it becomes vibrant. People may be sceptical for the single origin of Chinese culture, but they will not deny that the development and prosperity of Chinese culture is owing to the time after time collision and exchanges with other cultures. Cultural homogenisation may emerge during the exchanges and collision, which contains various types of convergence of this case (Fairweather, B & Rogerson, S 2003). For instance, some cultures could be complementing each other’s advantages. Additionally, there are weak cultures naturalised by the dominant culture, as well as the repression of strong cultural to weak culture. Besides, there are also new cultures created in the collision and interaction of differing cultures. All these situations discussed above exist in the development of today’s media culture; however, the convergence of media culture is obvious more than ever of any age. Here, admirations should be given to McLuhan’s prophecy of â€Å"earth village†, his conclusion was drawn from â€Å"media is the message†, rather than deduced from the globalisation of capital and markets (Jan 2009). Moreover, perhaps another deduction could be made that the globalisation of capital and markets are also a result caused by the modern media system in some degree. Besides, as what has been discussed above, global media will also contribute to cultural homogenisation. In fact, media culture reflect the conformity or group psychology of individu als, it could absorb essence and advantages from other cultures, and then turn into a form of global media culture. Therefore, from what has been discussed above, in order to find out whether the globalisation implies cultural homogenisation,  this essay has made the following discussions. On the one hand, the globalisation is an economic term which is promoted by global commercial media system. On the other hand, various studies has found out that it is the global media commercial media system that promoted the convergence of the media culture, and influence the national, ethnic and local culture through media values. Nowadays, individuals are deeply influenced by the wide broadcasted media systems, thus, more and more people have the tendency to pursue the latest fashionable elements, or other items to keep up with the time. Moreover, According to Appadurai (2001), the globalisation of culture is no the same as its homogenisation, however, globalisation involves the use of a variety of instruments of homogenisation. This also indicates that it is not the globalisation that completely leads to the cultural homogenisation. Cultural homogenisation is more likely to be regarded as a coexistence with the globalisation, which are caused by the increasingly homogeneous comm ercial media system. In conclusion, in order to investigate the relationship between globalisation and cultural homogenisation, and get a better understanding of both these items. This essay has defined the meaning globalisation and cultural homogenisation based on the previous studies. Moreover, this article has discussed the emergency and development of cultural homogenisation, and then finds out that the global commercial media system has played a vital role in causing this phenomenon. The following parts of the essay discussed the how the global media culture is formed and its impacts on the result of cultural homogenisation. Finally, this essay hold the view that, the fact of globalisation does not completely imply the emergency of cultural homogenisation, however, it is the increasingly homogeneous global commercial media system that plays a more important role in both causing the globalisation and cultural homogenisation. Reference list Appadurai, A 2000, ‘Disjuncture and Difference in the Global Cultural Economy’, in Frank Lecchner and John Boli (eds), The Globalization Reader, Blackwell, Oxford, pp. 322-330. Dobewall, H & Strack, M 2011, ‘Cultural Value Differences, Value Stereotypes, and Diverging Identities in Intergroup Conflicts: The Estonian Example’, International Journal of Conflict and Violence, vol.5, no.1, pp. 212-223. Dumas, G, Madel, J, Soussignan, R, Martinerie, J & Garnero, L 2010, ‘Inter-brain synchronization during social interaction’, Plos one, vol. 5, no.8, e12166 Mihailidis, P & Moeller, S 2010, ‘New Frontiers in Global Media Education’, Communication Today, vol. 2, pp.6-13. Fairweather, B & Rogerson, S 2003,‘The problems of global cultural homogenisation in a technologically dependant world’, Journal of Information, Communication & Ethics in Society, vol. 1, no. 1, pp. 7-12, viewed 27 April 2014, < http://search.proq uest.com.ezproxy.utas.edu.au/docview/1011920977/C47C3B1C2CD642E3PQ/4?accountid=14245>. Bredin, M 2009, ‘Global Indigenous Media: Cultures, Poetics, Politics’, Canadian Journal of Communication, vol. 34, no. 4, pp. 765-767. Jan, M 2009, ‘Globalization of media: Key issues and dimensions’, European Journal of scientific research, vol. 29, no.1, pp. 66-75. McChesney, RW 2001, â⠂¬ËœGlobal Media, Neoliberalism, and Imperialism’, Monthly Review, vol. 52, no.10, pp.1-19. Mehlika, F 2013, ‘Globalization and its social-cultural-political and economic impacts’, viewed 26 April 2014, .