Analysis of Wal-Mart Managerial Accounting Process

Analysis of Wal-Mart Managerial Accounting Process Table of Contents Company Description of Wal-Mart Page 3 Budgeting Process Page 3 Management Accounting System Page 4 Costing System Page 5 Capital Decision Making Process Page 6 Capital Structure Page 6 Project Conclusion Page 7 Information Sources and Methodology Page 8 References Page 8 Company Description For the final project of managing finance Wal-Mart Stores Inc is chosen as the discussion target. Being one of the grocery retail shop leaders in the world, Wal-Mart (WM) operates business with 10,000 retail units in 27 countries with about USD444 million of sales in 2012 (Wal-Mart homepage 2012).†¦show more content†¦The accounting information from MAS of WM helps in planning, controlling and other managerial activities. Their system also able to come up all kind of alternatives with integrated accounting information which assist management to find out the best strategy for organizational effectiveness improvement (Wal-Mart homepage 2012). WM disseminate managerial accounting information through budgets for all departments which help all departments to facilitate proper integration in all kind of activities within the company. WM currently uses Vision Suite accounting software that includes different aspects of finance like AR/AP, general ledger, check writing and external accounting integration. This software is faster and relatively cheaper and generates accounting documents automatically. Through this, many types of useful reports can be generated for management to make decisions. On the other side, it can be susceptible for computer viruses and hackers. In absence of proper control and security, it can create problems for the confidentiality of the company (Gilbertson Lehman, 2008, p. 6, 437 ). Costing System In term of costing process, WM is focus on inventory control since that is the most important part of their business to determine its profitability. To determine the cost of inventory, WM uses several costing method. In order to reduce inventory cost as well as determining accurate cost ofShow MoreRelatedDesperately Seeking Synergy and Competing on Capabilities Reaction Paper1052 Words   |  5 Pagesthe writer included in his article about the four managerial biases because it’s true that all too often, the managers are the ones being blamed for the failure of a synergy program, when the ones who really are to blame are the corporate executives themselves. These four biases will help corporate executives evaluate better the managers and themselves, be more aware of the situation, and be able to make more successful synergy programs. 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Portrayal Of A Patient With Borderline Personality Disorder

Kathryn Merteuil, the primary antagonist in Cruel Intentions, is the master at manipulating both men and women. She is the most popular girl at her school and bases the entirety of her self-worth on her perception that everyone either wants her or wants to be her. In order to maintain her appearance, Kathryn binges and purges and has a heavy cocaine addiction. Although well liked and popular, Kathryn holds no stable relationships and is easily upset and irritated when things do not go her way. Although this film’s focus is not Kathryn’s mental health diagnosis, Kathryn’s actions and unstable emotions are arguably that of a patient with Borderline Personality Disorder. In order to be diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD), a patient must show â€Å"impairments in personality (self and interpersonal) functioning and the presence of pathological personality traits†, all of which are listed in the fifth edition of the American Psychiatric Ass ociation’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders (2013). According to the DSM V, a patient must have an identity disorder which includes having â€Å"unstable self-image, often associated with excessive self-criticism† (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). A patient must also demonstrate impairments in empathy, which involves a â€Å"compromised ability to recognize the feelings and needs of others associated with interpersonal hypersensitivity† (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). 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Strategic Management and Stakeholder Significance Grid Free Essays

Business Strategy- ASSIGNMENT #1. Outcome| Evidence for the criteria| Detail criteria| Check| Understand the process of strategic planningLO1| 1. 1. We will write a custom essay sample on Strategic Management and Stakeholder Significance Grid or any similar topic only for you Order Now Explain strategic contexts and terminology – missions, visions, objectives, goals, core competenciesChapter 1| Role of strategy | | | | Missions | | | | Visions | | | | Strategic intent | | | | Objectives goals | | | | Core competencies | | | | Strategic architecture | | | | Strategic control| | | 1. 2. Review the issues involved in strategic planningChapter 6| Impact on managers | | | | Targets | | | When to plan | | | | Who should be involved | | | | Role of planning| | | 1. 3. Explain different planning techniquesChapter 6| BCG growth-share matrix| | | | Directional policy matrices| | | | Space| | | | PIMS| | Be able to formulate a new strategyLO2| 2. 1. Produce an organisational audit for a given organisationChapter 3| Benchmarking | | | | Swot analysis | | | | Product positions | | | | Value-chain analysis | | | | Demographic influences | | | | Scenario planning | | | | Synergy culture and values. | | | 2. 2. Carry out an environmental audit for a given organisationChapter 2| PESTEL| | | Political | | | | Economic | | | | Socio-cultural | | | | Technological | | | | Environmental | | | | Legal | | | | Porter’s 5 force| | | The threat of new entrants | | | | The power of buyers | | | | The power of suppliers | | | | The threat of substitutes | | | | Competitive rivalry | | | | Collaboration| | | 2. 3. Explain the significance of stakeholder analysisChapter 1| Stakeholder significance grid | | | | Stakeholder mapping| | Merit and Distinction: Criteria 1. : future direction of the competition, needs of customers, gaining and maintaining competitive advantage, Ansoffs growth-vector matrix, portfolio analysis. Criteria 1. 2: informal planning, top-down planning, bottom-up planning, behavioural approaches. Criteria 2. 1: the Ansoff matrix, growth, stability, profitability, efficiency, market leadership, survival, mergers and acquisitions, expansion into the global market place. Business Strategy- ASSIGNMENT #1 (S04) Outcome| Evidence for the criteria| Detail criteria| Check| Analyze how the business environment is considered in strategy formulationLO1| 1. . Define the context of business strategyChapter 1| Role of strategy | | | | Missions | | | | Visions | | | | Strategic intent | | | | Objectives goals | | | | Core competencies | | | | Strategic architecture | | | | Strategic control| | | 1. 2. Explain the significance of stakeholder analysisChapter 1| Stakeholder significance grid | | | | Stakeholder mapping | | | 1. 3. Conduct an environmental and organizational audit of a given organizationChapter 2Chapter 3+4+5| Political | | | | Economic | | | | Socio-cultural | | | | Technological | | | Environmental | | | | Legal | | | | The threat of new entrants | | | | The power of buyers | | | | The power of suppliers | | | | The threat of substitutes | | | | Competitive rivalry | | | | Collaboration| | | | Benchmarking | | | | Swot analysis | | | | Product positions | | | | Value-chain analysis | | | | Demographic influences | | | | Scenario planning | | | | Synergy culture and values. | | | 1. 4. Apply strategic positioning techniques to the analysis of a given organizationChapter 4+5+6| BCG growth-share matrix| | | | Directional policy matrices| | | Space| | | | PIMS| | Understand the process of strategic planningLO2| 2. 1. Demonstrate an ability to think strategicallyChapter 6| Futuredirection of the competition| | | | Needs of customers| | | | Gaining ; maintaining competitive advantage| | | | Ansoffs growth-vector matrix| | | | Portfolio analysis| | | 2. 2. Prepare a strategic plan for a given organisation, based on previous analysisChapter 6+7| Impact on managers | | | | Targets | | | | When to plan | | | | Who should be involved | | | | Role of planning| | | | Planning systems| | How to cite Strategic Management and Stakeholder Significance Grid, Essay examples

Value of Marriott Corporation Business Plan

Question: Discuss about theValue of Marriott Corporation Business Plan. Answer: Introduction The excellent business plan for Marriott will enable the company to enter into contract services and lodging businesses quickly and thus make the company be the most valued employer and services provider in the market. The use of divisional hurdle rates by Marriott will in the long term impact on the economic productivity of the company. The financial strategy of Marriot to invest in projects that maximise shareholders wealth would in return build confidence on the operations of the company to the outsiders. Further, with repurchasing of undervalued share prices, the company will be able to regularly repurchase its leased stock whenever the market price goes substantially lower than its equity cost of capital. Also, with the optimisation of the utilisation of debt in Marriott's capital structure will enable the company to assess its overall capability of servicing the outstanding debts[1]. This business plan requires that the projects for the company get audited as used so as to maintain preferable checks and updates in the most standardised manner. The proper auditing of the projects lives, macro data, and margins will assist all divisional managers to have discretion over unit specific assumptions which conform to the operations and capital of Marriott. Further, Marriot will be able to build confidence in the policies it has put in effect as stated in the business plan about the warrant value than it could have been if based on the daily analysis of the market price of its hotel inventory. Furthermore, this program of activities has a significant value in assisting Marriot to accurately measure the opportunity cost of capital as well as risks accompanying the market value of the debt and equity capital. This helps the manager's design approaches for measuring and controlling the financial and market risks[2]. References Kaplan, R., Anthony, A. (2015). Advanced management accounting. PHL Learning. Marriott Corporation: The Cost of Capital (Abridged), 9-289-047 (April 1, 1998).

Best Character Analysis George Wilson - The Great Gatsby

Best Character Analysis George Wilson - The Great Gatsby SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips When you think about The Great Gatsby’s major characters, George Wilson is often the last to come to mind. Compared to his voluptuous wife, Myrtle, Tom, Daisy, Jordan, and, of course, the titular Gatsby himself, pale-faced, shrinking, passive George can almost escape your memory – and perhaps he entirely would if he didn’t turn out to be one of the novel’s most crucial characters. George has the least â€Å"page time† of the seven major characters, but is important because of the crucial role he plays in the novel’s conclusion. Because of this, we don’t know quite as much about George’s personality, motivations, or characteristics as we do about other characters. This guide goes over what we do know about George and explains why he is so important. Read on to learn more about the man underneath the ash. Article Roadmap Georgeas a character Physical description George'sbackstory Actions in the novel Character Analysis Quotes about and byGeorge Tips on writing about George Common discussion topics and essay ideas Quick Note on Our Citations Our citation format in this guide is (chapter.paragraph). We're using this system since there are many editions of Gatsby, so using page numbers would only work for students with our copy of the book. To find a quotation we cite via chapter and paragraph in your book, you can either eyeball it (Paragraph 1-50: beginning of chapter; 50-100: middle of chapter; 100-on: end of chapter), or use the search function if you're using an online or eReader version of the text. George's Physical Description First things first. What does George look like? Here is Nick’s brief description: He was a blonde, spiritless man, anaemic, and faintly handsome. When he saw us a damp gleam of hope sprang into his light blue eyes. (2.8) Myrtle and George, despite being married for twelveyears, are strikingly different people. While Myrtle is outgoing and vivacious, George is shy and bland – in fact, his physical description takes just a couple of sentences while Myrtle has a paragraph-long introduction. Although there is a hint of what drew Myrtle to him all those years ago, a â€Å"faint† attractiveness, Nick emphasizes George’s weighed-down, damp, "spiritless"affect. In fact, he is explicitly tied to the Valley of Ashes, the bleak industrial part of Queens where he and Myrtle live. (Check out our article about the Valley of Ashesfor more analysis on this point.) This initial description makes it clear to the reader that George is a much less active, ambitious person than his wife, setting up his resentment and the power struggle that leads to his extreme violence at the end of the novel. George's Backstory Twelve years before the novel begins, George married Myrtle wearing a borrowed suit (2.6, 8.69). They have been living above his garage in Queens for the last years. Perhaps Myrtle was drawn to him since he owned (or would soon own) his own business, or else he somehow convinced her â€Å"he was a gentleman†¦[who] knew something about breeding,† but this faà §ade breaks down quickly, and George seems resigned to his working class life. While Myrtle claims to no longer care for George, he still seems smitten with her, as evidenced by how he â€Å"hurriedly† follows her suggestions (2.17). Tom Buchanan starts doing business with George Wilson’s garage a few months before the start of the novel, even promising to sell him a car. But unbeknownst to George, Tom Buchanan patronizes the garage since he is having an affair with Myrtle. The affair is Myrtle’s first (2.7). Perhaps this is why George Wilson remains in the dark about it until the novel’s tense climax. To see how George's background fits in with the backgrounds of the other characters, check out ourGreat Gatsby timeline. George's Actions in the Novel We first meet George in Chapter 2, when Tom drops by his garage. Tom has some kind of car-related business with George, but it'snot completely clear exactly what this transaction is. None of it is spelled out, but here is what I think is happening: George is trying to buy Tom's car in order to resell it, and Tom is stringing George along by pretending to consider George's lowball offer because Tom actually is there to set up a liaisonwith Myrtle. We don’t see George again until Chapter 7, when Tom stops by the garage in Gatsby’s yellow car to get gas on the way to Manhattan. George tells Tom that he needs money because he wants to move west with his wife. By then he’s begun to suspect his wife’s affair.Georgehas actually locked Myrtle upstairs and plans to keep her there until they have the money to move (7.3). Later that day, George and Myrtle fight. We don’t get details of the fight, except a snippet that Michaelis, a nearby cafà © owner, hears as she runs out of the house: â€Å"Throw me down and beat me, you dirty little coward!† (7.314). At that moment, Daisy and Gatsby speed by in the yellow car. Myrtle, assuming Tom is driving, rushes out into the road â€Å"waving her hands and shouting† (3.15). Daisy runs her over without stopping, leaving Myrtle dead. In Chapter 8, George, reeling from his wife’s violent death, loses whatever faith he had in God after and decides to find the owner of the yellow car. The police assume thathe goes garage to garage asking about theyellow car until he findsJay Gatsby’s name and address (8.107).Using this information, George walks the rest of the way to Gatsby’s mansion (8.107). He shoots Gatsby, who is swimming in his pool for the first time all season. He then shoots himself, and â€Å"the holocaust was complete† (8.3). In Chapter 9, the mystery of how George found Gatsby is solved. Tom confesses that George first came to Tom’s house that night. There, Tom toldhim that the yellow car was Gatsby's and insinuated that Gatsby was the one who killed Myrtle and the one who was sleeping with her (9.143). George Wilson proves the old action movie adage: never take your eyes off the guy with the gun. George Wilson Quotes Generally he was one of these worn-out men: when he wasn't working he sat on a chair in the doorway and stared at the people and the cars that passed along the road. When any one spoke to him he invariably laughed in an agreeable, colorless way. He was his wife's man and not his own. (7.312) After our first introduction to George, Nick emphasizes George’s meekness and deference to his wife, very bluntly commenting he is not his own man. Although this comment reveals a bit of Nick’s misogyny – his comment seems to think George being his â€Å"wife’s man† as opposed to his own is his primary source of weakness – it also continues to underscore George’s devotion to Myrtle. George’s apparent weakness may make him an unlikely choice for Gatsby’s murderer, until you consider how much pent-up anxiety and anger he has about Myrtle, which culminates in his two final, violent acts: Gatsby’s murder and his own suicide. His description also continues to ground him in the Valley of Ashes. Unlike all the other main characters, who move freely between Long Island and Manhattan (or, in Myrtle’s case, between Queens and Manhattan), George stays in Queens, contributing to his stuck, passive, image. This makes his final journey, on foot, to Long Island, feel especially eerie and desperate. Some man was talking to him in a low voice and attempting from time to time to lay a hand on his shoulder, but Wilson neither heard nor saw. His eyes would drop slowly from the swinging light to the laden table by the wall and then jerk back to the light again and he gave out incessantly his high horrible call. â€Å"O, my Ga-od! O, my Ga-od! Oh, Ga-od! Oh, my Ga-od!† (7.326-7) George is completely devastated by the death of his wife, to the point of being inconsolable and unaware of reality. Although we hear he treated her roughly just before this, locking her up and insisting on moving her away from the city, he is completely devastated by her loss. This sharp break with his earlier passivepersonaprefigureshis turn to violence at the end of the book. â€Å"I spoke to her,† he muttered, after a long silence. â€Å"I told her she might fool me but she couldn’t fool God. I took her to the window- â€Å" With an effort he got up and walked to the rear window and leaned with his face pressed against it, â€Å"- and I said ‘God knows what you’ve been doing, everything you’ve been doing. You may fool me but you can’t fool God!’ â€Å" Standing behind him Michaelis saw with a shock that he was looking at the eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg which had just emerged pale and enormous from the dissolving night. â€Å"God sees everything,† repeated Wilson. â€Å"That’s an advertisement,† Michaelis assured him. Something made him turn away from the window and look back into the room. But Wilson stood there a long time, his face close to the window pane, nodding into the twilight. (8.102-105) George is looking for comfort, salvation, and order where there is nothing but an advertisement.This speaks to the moral decay of New York City, the East Coast, andeven America in general during the 1920s. It also speaks to how alone and powerless George is, and how violence becomes his only recourse to seek revenge. In this moment, the reader is forced to wonder if there is any kind of morality the characters adhere to, or if the world really is cruel and utterly without justice – and with no God except the empty eyes of Dr. T.J. Eckleburg. Common Essay Topics/ Areas of Discussion First, we have a bit of advice for writing about poor Mr. Wilson. Since George has very little page time compared to the other main characters, you will most likely have to write about him in relation to Tom Buchanan, or in an essay that compares the strivers (George, Myrtle, Gatsby) with old money (Tom and Daisy, and even Nick and Jordan). You are less likely to have to write about George alone. Explore how to write a great compare and contrast essay about these or any other characters by reading our article! George’s most important scenes come in chapters 7 and 8, during Myrtle’s murder and its aftermath, so make sure to read and annotate those chapters carefully if you’re writing about George. Look closely at his interactions with Tom and Myrtle, and also consider how George interacts with one of the novel’s most famous symbols: the eyes of Doctor T.J. Eckleburg (he sees them as the eyes of God, while Michaelis tries to remind him it’s just an advertisement). That particular scene could fit in well to an essay about God and/or morality in the novel, since George seems to be the only one who searches for some kind of God or higher power. Why do the characters in the book who are striving to increase their social status (Gatsby, Myrtle, George) end up losing while the old money (Tom, Daisy, and Jordan) get to walk away relatively unscathed? The fates of Gatsby, Myrtle, and George connect back to the theme on the broken promise of the American Dream, as well as a critique of the class system in 1920s America. How so? Tom and Daisy get to hide behind their money while Gatsby, Myrtle, and George end up dead. Specifically, Myrtle is run over by Daisy, Gatsby is killed by George (who is manipulated by Tom), and then George kills himself. So despite both Tom and Daisy’s direct complicity in both murders, neither of them face any consequences for their bad behavior. This is a stark indictment of the class system in 1920s America, in that the rich literally play by different rules than the poor (or the up-and-coming). The fates of George, Myrtle, and Gatsby also shatter any illusions about the possibility of social climbing in this world, or even in the promise of the American Dream itself. Whether you manage to amass a fortune like Gatsby, or just aspire to a better life like George, you’re still powerless in the face of old money, privilege, and classism in the United States. This intense pessimism is supported by Nick’s returnto the Midwest at the end of the novel and the somber mood of the ending. Whydoes George fail to notice Myrtle and Tom’s affair? You might be wondering, â€Å"how on earth does George not notice his wife is cheating on him†? After all, we know that Tom is not making a big effort to hide Myrtle from his friends, going to popular restaurants with her, and even dragging Nick along with him to the apartment he’s rented for her in New York. Plus, Tom comes visits the garage and he and Myrtle barely hide their relationship. So it could seem odd that George really has no clue. However, when you consider that George has no access to Tom's social circles, and that he rarely leaves his garage, George hasno way to know what his wife is doing in New York and who she’s seeing (remember, this is an era long before cell phones and Facebook!). Furthermore, George is also super invested in doing business with Tom, so that's an incentive to subconsciously overlook whatever is going on. George’s failure to notice the affair for so long speaks to George’s complete isolation from the world of old money and, more broadly, the huge class divides in America in the 1920s. Tom and Daisy’s world is so separate from George’s that they can live whole lives that he is entirely unaware of. This stark separation becomes clear in George’s strange, sad walk to Long Island where he kills Gatsby and ends his life. For George, the class lines in society were impossible to safely cross. What’s Next? Still a bit confused by exactly how the climax of the novel plays out? Read our summaries of Chapter 7and Chapter 8for a clear play-by-play of what exactly goes down on the road between Manhattan and West Egg. Why does Myrtle cheat on George? What does she see in the bully Tom Buchanan? Read our analysis of Myrtle Wilsonto fully understand the complicated marriage between the Wilsons! Writing an essay about George Wilson? Then you should definitely read our analysis of the Valley of Ashesand the eyes of Doctor T.J. Eckleburg. George is closely linked to these twosymbols, so make sure you understand them! Want to improve your SAT score by 160 points or your ACT score by 4 points?We've written a guide for each test about the top 5 strategies you must be using to have a shot at improving your score. Download it for free now:

Neo-Classical Economists vs Keynesian Economists Essay Example

Neo Neo-Classical Economists vs Keynesian Economists Essay Neo-Classical Economists vs Keynesian Economists Essay Macroeconomics is the study of economics from an overall point of view. Instead of looking so much at individual people and businesses and their economic decisions, macroeconomics deals with the overall pattern of the economy. To star with, we will look at two main groups of economists: the neo Classical Economists and the Keynesian Economists. Classical economists generally think that the market, on its own, will be able to adjust while Keynesian economists believe that the government must step in to solve problems. A neoclassical economy is an approach that economics use that relates supply and demand to an individuals rationality and  his or her  ability to maximize utility or profit. Neoclassical economists argue that firms buy or rent the factor of production which they operate at the highest possible level of efficiency in order to maximize profits. However, firms have no control over the costs of these factors or of the price at which their finished goods are sold. Neoclassical economists also argue that consumers maximize utility when the ratio of marginal utility to the purchase price is the same for all the goods and services consumed. To conclude, if the marginal utility per expenditure is lower for one good than for another, it will not be bought. The whole process is governed by the forces of demand and supply. On the other hand, Keynesian economics is a theory of total spending in the economy also called the aggregate demand and its effects on output and inflation. Keynesian economics can also be define as an  economic theory stating that active government intervention in the marketplace and monetary policy is the best method of ensuring economic growth and stability. According to Keynesian theory, changes in aggregate demand have their greatest short-run effect on real output and employment and not on prices. Keynesian believe that what is true about the short run cannot necessarily be inferred from what must happen in the long run, and we live in the short run. Keynesian economists also argue that prices and wages, respond slowly to changes in supply and demand, resulting in periodic shortages and surpluses, especially of labor. Moreover, Keynesian typically see unemployment as both too high on average and too variable; also feel certain that periods of recession or depression are economic maladies, not, as in real business cycle theory, efficient market responses to unattractive opportunities. The original classical school of thought argued that a laissez faire (hands off) system, where the government intervened minimally, was the only way to maximize the efficiency of production and ensure freedom in the market place. If there are more profitable business and the freedom to choose it would provide the way to a happy society. The main difference is that in the Keynesian model the consumption is a function of current income, only a real change in the income change the consumption. However In the neo-classical model it is a function of the present value of all future labor income, plus financial wealth also an announced change in the income change the consumption. What differentiates the old philosophy from the new is their macroeconomic argument. The classical economist Jean Baptiste Say proposed a theory for how economies naturally recover: because the price level falls as spending decreases, businesses could afford to cheaply produce cheaper goods and people could afford them. This would increase employment and then spending would increase again, causing economic recovery. Were as to Neoclassical economists came around to use the fundamental classical argument (laissez faire) against a group who disproved Says law called the Keynesians. During the great depression, then classical economist John Maynard Keynes said that if an economy were to descend in activity so quickly that the inventories of businesses were never sold, then unemployment would never recover because the businesses would never be able to produce more goods without selling their current inventories. Another difference between neoclassic and Keynesian economists is that neoclassical claimed that increasing government spending would require higher taxes, which, according to the Keynesians themselves, increasing taxes discourages economic growth. There are also some differences that concern fiscal policy; for instance, when government spending (G) permanently increases output increase in both model but consumption (C) and wage (W) fall in a neoclassical model the opposite than in Keynesian models.

To what extent does the variety of capitalism prevailing in a Essay

To what extent does the variety of capitalism prevailing in a particular economy determine the choice of HR policies by organisations in that economy Give re - Essay Example Hall and David (2001) agree with this idea completely since they place the firm at the centre of economic activity in any society. HR and Business related activities like training and education of labour, bargaining with unions, capital and asset acquisitions, even interactions with other companies are connected with the flavour of capitalism used in the economy. Naturally, firms in the country would tend to move towards a system which has inherent support from the national institutions and the government. Over a long period of time, the business processes and the HR policies would become mirrors to the methods used by the political and social institutions of the country. The history of capitalism itself is quite recent since during the 1960s, the word ‘capitalism’ was not prevalent in academic discussions. In fact, it was used by Russian and Chinese Communists to describe the economies of the western nations. During those times, the Conservatives talked about ‘free enterprise while the liberals used the term ‘mixed’ economy and anyone who put forward the idea that the economics of the society is the fundamental guiding principle of production and government were seen as materialists (Block, 1999). With time, the New Left took the term capitalism and applied it to the economies which stand in America, Canada, a large part of Europe and some parts of Asia. During the 1980s and 1990s, a lot of development took place in economic theory in international terms and economists began to see varieties of capitalism itself. The neo-liberal viewpoint that there is only one system of Capitalism in the world is put in doubt when examples are seen from Germany and Japan. One can see unionists sitting on the corporate boards of German companies and Japanese companies tend to focus more on stakeholders and employees than shareholders and clients (Block, 1999). At the same time, when the term ‘capitalism’ is used,

The purpose of the study is to observe whether proper methods and Case

The purpose of the is to observe whether proper methods and techniques of Financial Statements preparations are used in Mi - Case Study Example The Board may also pay specific attention to how well management is employing information to feedback about its operations, to propose new strategies and to make decisions. Operating and financial statements of MFI will report on a quarterly / monthly basis, including a set of carefully selected indicators for identifying progress against financial goals of the MFIs social objectives and operations plans. These financial and operating reports should give the top management of MFI an exhaustive and focused portrait of MFIs progress as regards to its triple bottom line. In this study, I will be analysing in detail about whether proper methods and techniques of Financial Statements preparations are used in Microfinance Institutions in order to help the CEOs with data pertinent to day-to-day operations and decision making. (Goldberg & Palladini 30) 2. â€Å"Purpose of the study â€Å" â€Å"The purpose of the study â€Å"is to observe whether proper methods and techniques of Financia l Statements preparations are used in Microfinance Institutions in order to help the CEOs with data pertinent to day-to-day operations and in decision making. Thus, the main aim of this research study is to make recommendations for appropriate financial standards, keeping in mind the professionals in the sector who may be required to have a preface to the implications and the depth of such financial standards. 3. ... This again corroborates that MFI should pay more attention to prepare its financial statements with the above specific requirements well within the time limit. (Ledgerwood & White 313). CAMEL system was first perused by the bank regulators in North America to assess the managerial and financial soundness of the commercial financial institutions in U.S.A. MFI are using the CAMEL appraisal norms and grade five provinces of managerial and financial performance. It includes the following Asset quality Capital Adequacy Management Liquidity management Earnings Employing the original CAMEL’s conceptual framework, â€Å"ACCION international structured its own apprising strategy.† â€Å"The ACCION CAMEL model assesses the analogues five provinces but the ratings and indicators mirror the conditions and challenges of the microfinance industry. â€Å"ACCION CAMEL methodology needs the MFI to offer the following information: Cashflow and budget projections Financial statements pr epared in accordance with GAAP Portfolio aging schedules Funding sources Operations and staffing Microeconomic data With the above information from the financial statements of MFI, the ACCION CAMEL makes the following fine-tuning: 1) loan write-offs, 2) loan loss provision 3) Impacts of inflation 4) explicit and implicit studies 5) accrued interest income . Further, it rates and analyses twenty-one major pointers with every pointer accorded with a separate weighting. (Goldberg & Palladini: 13). Management Information System (MIS) is one another area that is required to be fortified in the microfinance sector and Information Technology can make a huge difference in this province. Now, there are available IT solutions,

Discussion Topic Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 2

Discussion Topic - Essay Example Homobatrachotoxinin is a member of the family of steroidal alkaloids called Batrachotoxinins (Fig 1). These compounds have a molecular formula of C31H42N2O6, with a molar mass of 538.67g/mol and a density of 1.304g/ml. It is highly toxic and the median lethal dose (LD50) is 0.002 to 0.007 mg/kg depending upon species to species (Daly, 1965). The mechanism of its toxicity is related to its action is on the voltage gated sodium channels present in the cell membrane. Since it is a steroidal alkaloid it can easily access the cell membrane of the predators, and binds to the voltage gated sodium channels and keeps them in a state of depolarization. These compounds bind irreversibly to the sodium channels creating a conformational change in them, that keeps the channels always in a open state. Further they also reduces conductance of these channels leading them to be in a state of less excitability. This impacts the nervous system because the membrane cannot become stabilized to its resting level (generation of resting membrane potential is hampered) which leads to impairment of neuromuscular transmission in the predator leading them into a state of paralysis. Apart from neurotoxicity they are also cardiotoxic as these compounds reduces cardiac conduction, cause arrhythmias and ventricular fibrillation. These compounds are tem perature dependant and are effective at an optimum temperature of 37 degree centigrade and also work best in the alkaline pH range to exert its neurotoxic and cardiotoxic effects (Wang, 2007). Conclusion: My hypothesis was supported by the research that Batrachotoxinins are effective avian chemicals tat are potent against predators however when the environmental temperature or core body temperature of predators increases beyond 37 degree centigrade, this molecule might not impact them and may not act as a chemical defense mechanism of the genus

Sexuality In North By Northwest

Sexuality In North By Northwest While the Cold War conjured diverse anxieties, I will center my presentation on the idea of Domestic Containment, specifically the containment of homosexuality in America (Cohan). I came across this concept in Elaine Tyler Mays Homeward Bound. It deals with the political and ideological reasons 1950s America insisted on promoting rigid heterosexuality and capitalist drives, ridding itself of backward men and Communist traitors, something completely in line with Hitchcocks mission in the film Moreover, by invoking the homophobic categories of Cold War political discourse, in particular the construction of the homosexual as a national security risk, N by NW virtually guaranteed that gender and nationality functioned as mutually reinforcing categories of identity. In this presentation, I will discuss sexuality as related to ideas of nation-hood and argue that there is a mini cold war being waged in North by Northwest, one that deals specifically with advancing the American heterosexual couple over the Soviet homosexual one coded throughout the film. With the American, heterosexual couples triumph on screen comes an ideological victory for America in 1959. SLIDE Before I analyze clips and stills from North By Northwest that deal with currents of sexuality and nationality, I wanted to show this clip from the latter half of the film to show that Hitchcock makes it abundantly clear that we are supposed to read North by Northwest as a Cold War film concerned with sexuality. CLICK!!! I want you to take away from this clip the obvious language of the cold war as well as how sexuality or bedding down is wrapped up in this international struggle. In this way, North by Northwest presents in biting form America immersed in Cold War ambiguity in which people on both sides were served up as sacrificial lambs. N by NW was made and released during the latter phase of the second term of President Dwight D. Eisenhower, a time when the Cold War was in full force, with the US and rival Soviet Union utilizing the most sophisticated spy techniques. This new kind of war required constant vigilance and readiness to fight on a moments notice. The Cold War lasted longer than any other war in our countrys history, starting when the United States introduced nuclear terror to the world by dropping its first atomic bomb on Japan on August 6, 1945, and lasting into our lifetime with the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991. Although the Cold War shaped and distorted virtually every aspect of American life, perhaps more than anything else, nuclear weapons changed the world. With them, an element of vulnerability existed unlike anything in history. Nuclear threat escalated during the 1950s, the decade were concerned with today. In August 1949 the Soviets had their first successful nuclear bomb test. Both the US and the Soviet Union held hydrogen bomb tests in 1952 and 53 and in October 1957 the Soviets launched Sputnik. Americas nuclear buildup, global mobilization, and interventionism during the Cold War were justified in the name of stopping Soviet communism, a foe policymakers deemed so diabolical that its defeat warranted the risk of destroying civilization itself. The fact that the Soviet Union was not just a military, economic, and geopolitical but an ideological foe, posed a unique kind of challenge to a resolutely capitalistic nation. This ideological antagonism between socialism and capitalism polarized the world along new lines. And it is against this backdrop that Hitchcock gave birth to his suspense thriller North by Northwest. SLIDE Certain historical trends and demographics are crucial to understand before analyzing the films comments on sexuality. During the late 1940s and throughout the 1950s, an amazing rise in the birth rate, a declining age of marriage, a growth in the marriage rate, and low divorce rate all converged in the midst of the most intense years of nuclear fear and ideological and surrogate warfare. Since family formation and fertility respond to both positive and negative economic and cultural stimuli, it is not surprising that this era of comparatively good times brought increased marriage and fertility. At the same time, however, increased sexual activity at younger and younger ages, especially for women in the late 1950s and beyond, problematically, included increasing instances of pre-marital sex Thus the history of sexuality in postwar America is the story of increasing liberalization Men, too, participated. The rebellion of men against marriage and the increasingly permissive fantasy life associated with the playboy lifestyle of the late 1950s, appears to be the kind of life our protagonist and hero, Cary Grants character Roger Thornhill, ascribes to. And, in terms of female rebellion, perhaps even more dismantling is the sexual promiscuity of Eve Kendall, played by Eva Marie Saint. Thornhill is typed as a womanizer, with two failed marriages to boast of, and Eve, as if completely aware of the expectations of her 1950s culture, introduces herself to Thornhill curtly stating that shes 26 and unmarried, and thats all he needs to know. SLIDE Examining domestic containment in relation to national identity has multiple advantages. It allows us to see that what we have heretofore regarded as a unique Cold War phenomenon was in fact part of the larger, ongoing process of defining America. The very meaning of America had become greatly problematized in the 1950s. Perhaps this instability of American identity is why Hitchcock constantly reasserted distinctly American values and American locations throughout North by Northwest, on screen are just a few of the most memorable sites Hitchcock takes us. AD-LIB I will present many facets of North by Northwest that deal specifically with America and American life in order to further ground the containment of homosexuality as a Cold War strategy in the film. I first want to discuss the opening credits of the film. Understanding Hitchcocks brilliant beginning gives us-the viewers and our class today-a lens through which to understand Hitchcocks understanding of Cold War America, homophobia, heterosexuality and communism. SLIDE Designed by American graphic designer and Academy award winning filmmaker Saul Bass, the credits provide a kind of map meant to locate or orient the spectator. A series of intersecting lines, clearly intended to invoke a map or graph, traverse a blank screen placed at an angle to the camera. They eventually dissolve into a shot of an office building whose glass and steel faà §ade reflects the moving traffic on the busy street below. The mirror like surface of the faà §ade that emerges from the intersecting lines functions as a screen on which the images of the busy street below are not so much reflected as projected. Consequently, according to Robert Corber in his book In the Name of National Security: Hitchcock, Homophobia, and the Political Construction of Gender the opening titles seem to suggest that, as a semiotic practice, the film has the ability to organize and define reality, to construct a map of it that fixes its meaning for the spectator. In this way, they call attention to the artificiality or constructed-ness of the films representation of reality. It provides the spectator with coordinates that enable him/her to locate and define his/her position in the world and thereby make sense of it-a concept integral to audience reception that we have discussed at length this semester, and that I will touch on in greater depth shortly. By beginning in this way, according to Corber, the film demonstrates its ability to conjure reality, to construct a representation of the world that the spectator does not question but assumes accurately reflects contemporary society b/c of its perceptual intensity or so-called impression of reality à   thus, from the beginning, we are meant to assume that Hitchcock s representation of America in 1959 is how it really was. Another important element of the films beginning is that our protagonist Roger Thornhill appears as if plucked from the crowd at random, as he is initially shown emerging from an elevator jammed with office workers. He is completely typical of New Yorks crowded people, lacking direction. Indeed, purely by accident, he is kidnapped shortly after he arrives at the hotel by two of Vandamms men, who mistake him for the fictitious American agent George Kaplan. Thus, Hitchcock makes us think that anyone of us, too, could have been sucked into this crazy plot. One other interesting thing to glean from the title sequence is that it alludes to the traps in which the protagonists find themselves throughout the film as well as frames the films trajectory This grid recurs throughout the film, in railway cars, deserted prairie crossroads, and national monuments. From the very beginning, moreover, I want you to note that the film is an exploration of Cold War AMERICA, as seen in the vertical top shots of the Madison Avenue skyscraper, UN headquarters and Mount Rushmore and the horizontal shots of the railway car and of the empty Midwestern plane I will now show a hilarious trailer for North by Northwest from 1959, which gives a brief but comprehensive geographical tour of Hitchcocks locations, which I wont have time to flesh out on my own in this presentation, but are extremely important. SHOW TRAILER HERE! SLIDE Having recently discussed how the opening credits situate and control the spectators view of the film, and, by extension, portray the Cold War climate according to Hitchcocks construction, I want to specifically link this form of control with the viewers sexual identification. Hitchcocks films contributed indirectly to the pathologizing of same-sex eroticism by suggesting that in order for the individual to achieve a relatively stable heterosexual identity she/he had to successfully negotiate the Oedipus complex Because Hitchcocks films occupied the subject position, the spectator became complicit with her/his own Oedipalization, which, in the 1950s, was tantamount to accepting the terms of the postwar settlement. By examining N by NW in the context of the postwar settlement, I want show to that Hitchcocks films participated in a regime of pleasure that helped to consolidate the emergence of the national security state. His representational practices were complicit with the dominant construction of social reality during the Cold War era. Hitchcocks tendency to subjectivize the individual spectators experience constitutes one of the principal links b/w his films and the anti-Stalinist project of American Cold War officials. Thus, in N by NW, Hitchcock demonstrated how the discourses of national security produced fantasies that brought the individual spectators desire into alignment with the nations security interests. SLIDE Now I will move into the meat of my presentation: the politicization of sexuality. The Cold War persuaded millions of Americans to interpret their world in terms of insidious enemies who threatened them with nuclear and other forms of annihilation. McCarthyism contributed heavily to viewing the world through this dark, distorting lens and setting global and domestic policies to counter these threats. According to the Federal Government, if homosexuals felt alienated from mainstream American society, that was b/c they were maladjusted, their problems were not political but personal and were best remedied in a doctors office. On the other hand, however, the dominant discourse of same sex eroticism tried to show that homosexuality promoted communism and therefore politicized gay identities. The gay community, which had emerged with new cohesion and visibility in the wake of World War II, found itself a prime target for anticommunist crusaders. It was believed that they were especially vulnerable to blackmail by Soviet agents eager to recruit intelligence sources As a result, the early 1950s witnessed widespread purging of homosexuals from the State Department, the military, and other federal agencies. However, more than just a greater risk of blackmail was involved. Homosexuals were seen as deficient in character, moral integrity, and real masculinity. Unfit as Cold Warriors, they were thus undesirable citizens. This stigmatization, as historian John DEmilio points out in his study of Cold War sexual politics, was carried still further by conservative politicians who linked homosexuality directly to communism, re-conceptualizing homosexuality as a contagious disease spread by communists to weaken the nation from within. A single homosexual, officials maintained, could easily contaminate an entire government office. The oppression of homosexuals at all levels became yet another act of containment in the fight against communism. Homosexuals, further, were seen as especially dangerous to the extent that a gay male character was virtually indistinguishable from straight male ones, thereby demonstrating that homosexuals, like communists, could dangerously escape detection. During its highly publicized hearings in the 1940s and early 1950s, the House UnAmerican Activities Committee did not limit its investigation to the Communists who had supposedly infiltrated the federal Government, but extended it to include homosexuals who passed as heterosexual. On the basis of testimony from psychiatrists and other medical experts who testified that they were susceptible to blackmail by Soviet agents b/c they were emotionally unstable, thus officially pinning homosexuals as national-security risks. The publication of the Kinsey reports on male and female sexual behavior, in 1948 and 53 respectively, only reinforced the politicization of homosexuality. The reports provided scientific evidence suggesting that sexual identities were fluid and unstable rather than exclusively and permanently heterosexual or homosexual. In recognizing the fluidity of sexuality, hindering the attempts of gays to define themselves as members of an oppressed minority The pervasive allusions to homosexuality in North by Northwest enables me to stress the centrality of the politicization of same-sex eroticism to post-war American culture and to show that containment of homosexuality was necessary to conditions of the Cold War. Thus, North by Northwest epitomizes this tight bond between sexuality and national security in the Cold War era. SLIDE Now I will begin my analysis of sexuality in the film with what I call a montage of references to homosexuality. When looking at these stills from the movie, keep in mind how Cary Grant, our dashing American protagonist, too, can be wrapped up with homosexuality, speaking to the pervasiveness and dangers of homosexuality infiltrating American lives. SLIDE The films drama basically begins with Roger Thornhill going to an all-mens bar in the Plaza Hotel. Although he has a date for that evening, it is with his mother no less, a problem I will discuss shortly! SLIDE The theme of the kidnapping of the hero, Thornhill, by two sinister men, with the hero often seated in a car, tightly between them, recurs throughout the film in myriad forms. Pictured above are just a few examples that represent this theme of Thornhills encounters with homosexuality. CLICK FOUR TIMES. SLIDE Now we arrive at the Villain Phillip Vandamms home who is played by George Mason. I want you to keep this seemingly benign image on screen in mind throughout the remainder of my presentation. While no scholar has mentioned the significance of the cars pulling into Vandamms gate, I think this action is importantly mirrored in the iconic ending of the film that I will show later. For now, however, just keep in mind that a car driven by a man and with our protagonist squished tightly b/w two other men in the backseat, penetrates the gate to a Soviet home. SLIDE Vandamm, the lead villain, unsurprisingly is connected with homosexuality. His masculinity should be suspect because of his relationship with his sadistic, overtly homosexual associate, Leonard, played by Martin Landau, who Hitchcock notes in the screenplay should be read as gay. The slide above features Leonard, with the help of two male henchmen, forcing the neck of a liquor bottle between Thornhills lips, making him drink its full contents-an obviously phallic reference of homosexual rape SLIDE As I noted a few minutes ago, a central facet of the politicization of sexuality in the 1950s, came with associating homosexuality with communism. While Hitchcock doesnt specifically mention the country of origin of the foreigners in the film, he locates Vandamms home importantly in Glen Cove, New York. This location directly implies that Vandamm and his associates are from the Soviet Union, who at the time had a mission in that town on northern Long Island. This fact sheds particular light on the stills of homosexuality I am showing, as they are directly linked with communism. Further, later in the film, the Professor describes Vandamm as an importer exporter of government secrets, thereby coding him as a Soviet agent involved in the Cold War. SLIDE Before I move on to show and discuss the famous crop-dusting scene-the scene I regard as the most compelling, and famous, visual representation of the threat of homosexuality to our protagonist-I must first discuss another aspect of Thornhills unsuitable sexuality: his unhealthy relationship with his mother. In order to Contain Thornhill and set him on the proper sexual path, his relationship with his mother needs to severely change. The basic mother-son story line goes as follows: the film opens with an ageless male, Thornhill, identifying himself first of all as a son. He speaks of his efforts to keep the smell of liquor on his breath from the watchful nose of his mother, and he comes to the attention of his enemies because of an unresolved anxiety about getting a message to his mother, whereupon he is taken captive. (Cavell) Hitchcock suggests that Thornhills involvement in the Communist underworld, an underworld marked by sexual as well as political deviance, is not purely coincidental but is indirectly related to his devotion to his mother. The film tries to show that b/c he has failed to internalize the Law of the Father and remains emotionally dependent on his mother, there is a sense in which his irresponsible behavior is complicit with the Communist infiltration of the American government. The discourses that linked communism and homosexuality actually warned against the potentially pernicious effects of motherhood specifically and point to a reaction against the emergence of the feminine mystique of the 1950s. On the one hand, as we have seen throughout seminar, post-war American culture experienced a proliferation of glorified representations of motherhood designed to lure women back into the home following the war. On the other hand, many Americans resented the glorification of motherhood b/c it gave women supposedly too much power in the domestic sphere. With the outbreak of the Cold War, Mom-ism too became linked to the spread of communism and led to the creation of a demonology of motherhood. Suddenly, mothers risked making their sons susceptible to Communist propaganda. The discourses of mom-ism limited womens empowerment in the domestic sphere and ensured that their child-rearing practices conformed to the nations security interests. For, if women disregarded the expert advice of psychiatrists and other trained professionals, they risked producing children who were Communists as well as homosexuals. In N by NW this aspect of the demonization of motherhood is obvious in Thornhills relationship with his mother. Thornhills sexual immaturity thus is incompatible with the nations security interest. In the postwar period, the nations political stability and economic prosperity were thought to depend upon the production of subjects who had internalized the rules and regulations governing Oedipal desire. Thus Thornhill was not so different from the films Communists and homosexuals. ADLIB-mom younger than Grant, problematic. SLIDE To close this section on homosexuality, I want to look at the famous scene where Thornhill is attacked by a crop-dusting plane. This iconic sequence of events is both the central image of Thornhills victimization and surprisingly, or unsurprisingly as my presentation is attempting to prove, a powerful instance of homosexual attack. The night before this scene takes place Thornhill and Eve violate a taboo. We know that Thornhill spent the night with Eve, boldly and obviously suggesting pre-marital intercourse. I understand the attack Im about to show, which once again occurs the very next day, to be a powerful visualization of punishment for intercourse CLICK SHOW CLIP!!! CLICK AFTER! The linkage of this scene with sexuality is evident in Hitchcocks filming. The association of the prairie with the sexual landscape of the train compartment where Thornhill and Eve had sex the night before is signaled by his camera shots. Right before the clip I just showed, a close-up of Eves face at the train station dissolved into an aerial shot of the road and fields of the plane attack, explicitly linking these scenes. This shot transition begs for an allegorical identification of the woman and this stretch of land, the very land where Thornhill undergoes his attack. To discuss this scene I will rely on the analysis of Theodore Price from his book Hitchcock and Homosexuality. He notes that firstly, we must note the phallic symbolism associated with birds and of flying objects in general. According to Price, aside from the birds shape, and its darting, pecking beak, a bird is, to everyones unconscious, a phallic symbol because it flies. Flying also is a symbol for getting an erection, for potency, and for sexual intercourse in general according to Ernest Jones. Thus, in a way, the crop-dusting plane scene can conjure undertones of homosexual rape from above. There are several meanings that arise when looking at this scene from this angle. 1) This scene could represent a fear on the part of Thornhill of homosexual rape-and/or fear in his strange attraction to homosexual rape. This connection is clear especially when considering the homosexual rape still I showed earlier of Leonard forcing liquor down Thornhills mouth. The phallic bird-plane then may be interpreted as Grants fear of his former attraction to homosexuality as he starts out on still another new love affair with a woman. 2) The plane could also stand for the avenging phallus of the father figure in the film, here Vandamm, who is understandably angry at the son figure, Thornhill, for making time with the mother figure, Eve. 3) Additionally, the sequence could mean that the plane represents the Castrator, Eve, who set him up in the cornfield to begin with. For, from the psychoanalytic view, birds can be woman or vagina symbols too. SLIDE Regardless of which way we read this scene, a powerful avenging phallus, sent by Communists, launches its bullets-take this fact as an allusion to ejaculation-at our male hero. Luckily for Thornhill, he finds safety in the cornfields of America-which, in my opinion, represents finding protection from this Communist phallus in the heartland of America. SLIDE Having catalogued countless instances of the presence and associated dangers of homosexuality in the film, I now need to show how these dangers were contained by the insistence on heterosexual couple. To do so, I will use Mays analysis of 1950s Domesticity in Homeward bound. In this work, May linked the exaggerated domesticity that characterized the long fifties-from 1945-1965-that weve discussed at length in seminar to homosexuality and anticommunist imperatives. May readily acknowledged the extraordinary stresses placed upon the American family by the Great Depression and World War II. Postwar Americans, finding additional threats to traditional family life in rising rates of out-of-wedlock pregnancy and sexual promiscuity, as I discussed before, juvenile delinquency, as Willi discussed two weeks ago, and the ultimate threat of nuclear war, Americans understandably sought normalcy in marital sex, pro-natalism, and suburban domesticity during this time. Further, just as anticommunism required the containment of Sino-Soviet expansion abroad, so, too, May argued, gender revolution and deviant expression of sexual desire had to be effectively contained at home, hence domestic containment. Promotion of family values, policymakers believed, would ensure not only a place for men to return to the workforce, but also the stable family life necessary for personal and national security, a kind of Cold War victory on the domestic front. Hitchcock too received the memo, as he promoted the heterosexual couple throughout the film. Hitchcock, by associating homosexuality with the soviets coded as communists, both comments on its pervasiveness of both groups in America at that time and establishes it as the inferior sexual bond that must be checked and contained by the heterosexual couple. Thus, no mere exercise in nostalgia, domestic containment was part of a new Cold War consensus about the meaning of America and deeply embedded in the plot of North by Northwest. Now Im going to show you a series of slides that blatantly show the heterosexual couple of Thornhill and Eve. CLICK AND ADLIB SLIDE When contextualized within the domestic politics of marriage during the cold war, heterosexuality and Re-Marriage take on great importance. We come to see that Thornhill and Eves adventures throughout the film serve as trials for their suitability to get married. Eve is sexually immature before she becomes an agent for the American government, according to the terms of the postwar settlement. Although she is partially redeemed by acting as an American agent-showing her willingness to perform her patriotic duty-she nevertheless continues to occupy a position outside the law. This is so because to perform her patriotic duty she must violate the rules that govern female sexuality in the 1950s, making her only partly rehabilitated. She is a treacherous little tramp and uses sex like a fly swatter according to the movie so she remains a marked woman throughout. However, when Thornhill rescues her from Vandamm, he enables her to do something genuinely worthwhile for the nation: become a proper wife and mother The relationship b/w gender and nationality suggests that Thornhills activities as an American agent also need to be reconstructed according to the post-war settlement. His activities as an American agent create a scenario that puts an end to his womanizing. Thornhills mix-up within the CIAs efforts to combat communism actually increases his desire for marriage and domesticity. To Thornhill, the domestic sphere not only provides a refuge from the government which has recklessly endangered his and eves lives, but also constantly restages his pre-Oedipal attachment to his mother. In this way, his espionage activities ensure that the organization of sexuality and his identity as a citizen are mutually reinforcing. Thus, Hitchcock stresses the ability of the American government to regulate and control the construction of the individuals subjectivity-as it is only once he is involved in its activities that he is redeemed. According to the discourses of national security then, Thornhills resistance to his role as a husband is un-American, and his activities as an American reorganize him as a proper citizen. This scene shows how the series of events that have unfolded have transformed both protagonists views of marriage, and suggest that re-marriage in the name of national security is on the horizon. CLICK SHOW CLIP As you just saw Thornhill uses the loaded word proposal that explicitly suggests marriage. Also, they discuss his former failed marriages, alerting the viewer that we are dealing with re-marriage here. Also, Cary Grants sly wit about leading too dull a life suggests that as a result of his involvement in matters of state, he has achieved a level of excitement suitable for marriage and can now enter into a proper relationship. SLIDE I want to show you a series of images and a clip from the end of the film that pit homosexuality explicitly against heterosexuality. With their placement at the end of the film they attain great significance, suggesting that the winner of this sexual battle is the victor in a mini cold war. In addition, I show images with men and women, homosexuals and heterosexuals, in these clips, to show both strains of sexuality at odds within a single frame. SLIDE Before I show these stills and clips, I need to discuss the importance of the Vandamm house itself, where the majority of these clips take place. Situated in a fictitious forested plateau atop the Mount Rushmore, Vandamms house dominates a devotional shrine of American democracy-its positioning alone reveals how even Americas most iconic monuments are endangered by Soviet penetration. Further, the houses Midwestern location-in the Black Hills region, near Keystone, South Dakota, is also important. The move toward the west, evoked by the films title, brings the protagonists to the American heartland, the spine of the continent. Additionally, the houses placement atop a mountain has wider implications. It expresses visual domination and panoptic control. The fact that blatant homosexuality pervades a site that serves simultaneously as a great threat to an iconic American monument and exerts intense control, suggests how dangerous the threats of homosexuality and communism have at once become at the end of the film. CLICK THROUGH CLIPS and ad-lib CLICK, SHOW CLIP! In this clip, we see Leonard using phrases like his womans intuition aligning himself with homosexuality, or femininity at the least and Vandamm noting that hes touched by jealousy. SLIDE Now I would like to move into the final phase of my discussion: a comprehensive discussion of Mount Rushmore, and the battle between the US and Soviet Union that occurs atop its democratic faces. First and foremost, we must understand Mount Rushmore to be a place so definitely and undeniably American. Using a carved rock containing the gigantic granite portraits of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln as a backdrop, Hitchcock suggests that what happens there is of NATIONAL IMPORTANCE. After a few savvy moves, Thornhill and Eve leave Vandamms house and find themselves atop monument being chased by Vandamm, Leonard and their henchmen.

The Significance of Philosophical Scepticism Essay -- Philosophy Philo

The Significance of Philosophical Scepticism In answer to the question 'What can we know?' anyone who gives a pessimistic answer is labelled a sceptic. Scepticism is associated with incredulity. A sceptic is someone who questions things (particularly received opinions) and also practices suspension of judgement. This questioning outlook has been labelled by some as practical scepticism. However, philosophical scepticism involves more than this. Its essential element is a general view about human knowledge. In the broadest terms, philosophical scepticism holds, or at least finds irrefutable, the view that knowledge is impossible. There are two features of philosophical scepticism which differentiate it from everyday 'sceptical' outlooks. The first has to do with its strength. The more challenging sceptical arguments do not depend on imposing high standards for knowledge or justification. Rather, the scepticism they imply is radical. It is not just the case that we can have all kinds of good reasons for what we believe, though those reasons do not quite measure up to the standards required by genuine knowledge. The radical sceptic questions whether we ever have the slightest reason for believing one thing rather than another, so we can never even get to the point of justified belief, never mind whether our justifications are sufficient for knowledge, in some more restricted sense. The second crucial feature of philosophical scepticism concerns its scope. The philosophical sceptic's negative verdict on human knowledge is highly general. This generality explains why philosophical scepticism formulates its challenge in terms of the possibility of knowledge. it is not merely the case that we in fact know a good deal less t... ...sophy. Penguin Reference.(1996). pp. 502-503. Morton, Adam. Philosophy in Practice %#151; An Introduction to the Main Questions. Blackwell.(1996). Chapter 1. pp. 3-35. Moser, Paul. The Blackwell Guide to Epistemology. (Eds. Greco, J. and Sosa, E.). Blackwell.(1999). Chapter 2. pp. 70-91. Scruton, Roger.Modern Philosophy — An Introduction and Survey. Mandarin.(1994). Chapter 2. pp. 16-22. Shermer, Michael. A Skeptical Manifesto. The Skeptic, vol. 11, Spring 1992. pp. 15-21.http://www.skeptic.com Warburton, Nigel. Philosophy — The Basics. Routledge.(1992). Chapter 4. pp. 93-111. Williams, Michael. The Blackwell Guide to Epistemology. (Eds. Greco, J. and Sosa, E.). Blackwell.(1999). Chapter 1. pp. 35-69. Wittgenstein, Ludwig. Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus. (Translated by Pears, D.F. and McGuinness, B.F.). Routledge. (1961). Section 6.51, p73.

Consumer Preception Towards Online Shoping

Council for Innovative Research www. cirworld. com International Journal of Management & Information Technology Volume 1, No 1, May, 2012 CONSUMER’S PERCEPTION TOWARDS ONLINE SHOPPING- THE CASE OF PUNJAB Pawan Singh Rathour ABSTRACT India has more than 100 million internet users out of which one half opt for online purchases and the number is rising sharply every year. The growth in the number of online shoppers is greater than the growth in Internet users, indicating that more Internet users are becoming comfortable to shop online.The capability of purchasing without leaving your place is of great interest to many consumers. Not only does online shopping offer really good deals, but also brings optimum convenience to the consumers. Moreover, the use of Internet tools for price searching and comparison provides an additional advantage in consumers’ final decision, as they can purchase their desired products in the lowest available price. This paper focuses on the unders tanding of demographic profiles of adopters and non-adopters of online shopping.For this purpose the data from 400 respondents was collected in the form of questionnaires. The study has been conducted in 3 cities of Punjab, a sample of urban respondents were selected from the Jalandhar, Ludhiana and Amritsar The paper also analyses the various reasons for adoption and non-adoption of online shopping. KEYWORDS: Online Shopping, Consumer Perception, Factor analysis, Adopters and Non-Adopters of online shopping REVIEW OF LITERATURE Bellman et al (1999) investigated various predictors for whether an individual will purchase online.These authors concluded that demographic variables, such as income, education and age, have a modest impact on the decision of whether to buy online, whereas the most important determinant of online shopping was previous behaviour, such as earlier online purchases. Standing (1999) stated that traditionally retail travel agencies have acted as intermediaries be tween airline companies and wholesale travel companies and the consumer. The Internet and the World Wide Web provide a whole new set of challenges and opportunities for this business sector.The major threat stems from airlines and wholesale travel companies offering their products and services directly to the customer without the assistance of travel agencies. Large online agencies have gained significant attention in the travel industry and provide some evidence of a restructuring of the travel industry sector. Leong (2001) examined the marketing strategies adopted by local hotel establishments in the competitive hospitality industry. It also analyses the adoption and role of information technology in strategic marketing.It was found that most hotels seemed to have embraced the marketing concept, given the existence of extensive marketing plans. Although most hotels appeared to have successfully incorporated information technology into their marketing campaigns, the level of commit ment seemed to be insignificant. Following a brief comparison with a similar US study, the paper concludes that there are only minor differences between US and Singapore hotels in terms of their marketing practices. Parasuraman (2002) stated that the motivations for this special issue and propose a conceptual framework pertaining to the issue’s theme.Using this frameworks a backdrop, they then offer an overview of the remaining articles by segmenting them into categories and discussing their relationship to the framework. They conclude by highlighting research avenues for augmenting our understanding of marketing to and serving customers through the Internet. Sigala (2003) stated that despite the exponential growth of e-commerce on the Internet, little is still known on how the new medium is transforming marketing concepts/practices and their effectiveness.This empirical study aims to fill in this gap. This article first analyzes the Internet's capabilities and features as we ll as the new virtual market space that Internet advances have fostered. After reviewing models and strategies for Internet marketing, an Internet marketing mix is proposed based on the Internet strategies of hotels in Greece that were investigated. Know and Lee (2003) explored consumers’ concerns about payment security and its relationship to online shopping attitude and actual purchases.They observed a negative relationship between attitude towards online shopping and concerns about online payment security. Consumers with a positive attitude seem to be less concerned about payment security. Bechrer (2004) stated that Internet marketing is a field that is continuing to grow, and the online auction concept may be defining a totally new and unique distribution alternative. Very few studies have examined auction sellers and their INTRODUCTION With nearly half of the Indian population being young and net savvy, there has been an extra ordinary rise in the numbers of online shopp ers.The recent growth in the mall culture in the country has in fact made consumers more aware about different options and encouraged them to search and eventually purchase online. India has more than 100 million internet users out of which one half opt for online purchases and the number is rising sharply every year. The growth in the number of online shoppers is greater than the growth in Internet users, indicating that more Internet users are becoming comfortable to shop online.Until recently, the consumers generally visit online to reserve hotel rooms and buy air, rail or movie tickets, books and gadgets and gizmos, but now more and more offline product like clothes – saris, kurtis, T-shirts – shoes, and designer lingerie, consumer durables are being purchased online. At present the market is estimated at Rs. 46000 crore and is growing at 100 percent per year. The two most commonly cited reasons for online shopping have been convenience and price. The capability of purchasing without leaving your place is of great interest to many consumers.Not only does online shopping offer really good deals, but also brings optimum convenience to the consumers. Moreover, the use of Internet tools for price searching and comparison provides an additional advantage in consumers’ final decision, as they can purchase their desired products in the lowest available price . On the contrary, privacy and security have been the great concerns, resulting many people to browse the Internet for informational matters than for buying online. 1|Page www. ijmit. com Council for Innovative Research www. cirworld. om International Journal of Management & Information Technology Volume 1, No 1, May, 2012 internet marketing strategies. This research examines the internet auction phenomenon as it relates to the marketing mix of online auction sellers. The data in this study indicate that, whilst there is great diversity among businesses that utilize online auctions, disti nct cost leadership and differentiation marketing strategies are both evident. These two approaches are further distinguished in terms of the internet usage strategies employed by each group.Ryan (2004) conducted a research on the mosaic of institutional issues associated with gaining credibility for internet marketing standards. Strong claims for a predominantly self-regulatory approach are reviewed in conjunction with other factors that inhibit credibility, namely: competing internet worldviews, weak moral coherency and offline ambiguity about respective institutional roles, especially as regards moral dimensions of notions of regulation and self-regulation. Wang (2006) conducted a research to examine the current use and predict future Web-based marketing activities of U. S. onvention and visitor bureaus. A survey was sent to 600 randomly selected American convention and visitor bureaus with a focus on assessing the applications included in the bureaus’ Web sites, their Web site promotion techniques, and customer relationship management programs in relation to these Web sites. The results indicate that most bureaus’ Internet marketing activities are relatively limited, focusing on providing travel information to prospective visitors. Bengtsson (2007) stated that adopting the Internet for advanced marketing operations opens up challenging opportunities for firms of all sizes.However, such adoption might destroy investments in present market channels and thus has the characteristics of radical innovation. The results of analysis show that composition of factors on which firms base their decision to adopt advanced Internet-based marketing operations varies significantly with firm size. Chin ting (2010) stated that few school or educational studies have simultaneously explored both internet marketing and organizational commitment, and of those that have, only direct effects were examined. This study clarifies the relationship between school organiz ation’s internet arketing and teachers’ organizational commitment by examining the mediating role of teachers’ job involvement and job satisfaction. RESEARCH OBJECTIVES The study has been conducted to identify the consumer’s perception towards online shopping in Punjab. The specific objectives of the study are: ? ? To identify the demographic profile of adopters and non-adopters of online shopping in Punjab. To identify the various reasons for adoption and non-adoption of online shopping by the consumers of Punjab DATABASE AND METHODOLOGY The research is primarily descriptive in nature.The data was collected in the form of questionnaires. The study has been conducted in 3 cities of Punjab, a sample of urban respondents were selected from the Jalandhar, Ludhiana and Amritsar. The survey was carried out on 450 respondents. However, 31 Questionnaires were found to be incorrect or irrelevant, so a total of 50 questionnaires were deliberately rejected. Hence, the study sample was reduced to 400 respondents. The data was collected personally (and via emails) in the months of January 2012 to March 2012. The questionnaire was pretested in order to identify possible problems in terms of clarity and accuracy.Thus, several changes were made in order to improve the presentation of the items, based on comments and feedback. Apart from demographic-related questions, fivepoint Likert scale was used for all the questions concerning consumers’ expectations and perceptions about the online shopping. Most of the Respondents of the age group 36-45 years (44. 6%) were found to be adopters of online shopping (Table 1). Most of the Males (55. 3%) were the adopters as compared to females, where 53. 7% were non-adopters. The adopters were mostly post graduates (48. 9%) with monthly income in the range of Rs. 0000-Rs. 30000. The respondents those who use internet from 5 to 7 hours a day were found to be adopters of online shopping. The consumer respon ses ranked the retail websites at Number 1 with Electronics and comparison shopping websites at Number 2 and 3 respectively. Home items were ranked at Number 10 by the Punjab consumers (Table 2) Table 1 : Demographic profile of Adopters and Non Adopters Demographics Adopters No. Age: 15-25 26-35 36-45 Above 46 Gender: Female Male 84 104 44. 6% 55. 3% 114 98 53. 7% 46. 2% df=1 chi-square=53. 892 p=0. 000 34 67 84 03 18. 0% 35. 6% 44. % 1. 5% 45 72 91 04 21. 2% 33. 9% 42. 9% 1. 8% df=3 chi-square=48. 241 p=0. 000 % Non Adopters No. % Chi – square 2|Page www. ijmit. com Council for Innovative Research www. cirworld. com Education: Under Graduate Graduate Post Graduate Any Other Monthly Income: Under Rs. 10000 Rs. 10000-Rs. 20000 Rs. 20000-Rs. 30000 More than Rs. 30000 Not Employed Daily usage of the Internet 1 hour and below 1-3 hours 3. 1-5 hours 5. 1-7 hours 7 hours and above 21 38 56 65 08 18 37 78 55 00 31 43 92 20 International Journal of Management & Information Technology Volume 1, No 1, May, 2012 6. 4% 22. 8% 48. 9% 10. 6% 56 62 86 08 26. 4% 29. 2% 40. 5% 3. 7% df=3 chi-square=72. 452 p=0. 000 9. 5% 19. 6% 41. 4% 29. 2% 0. 0% 42 51 69 45 05 19. 8% 24. 0% 32. 5% 21. 2% 2. 3% df=4 chi-square=67. 453 p=0. 000 11. 1% 20. 2% 29. 7% 34. 5% 4. 2% 47 53 71 39 02 22. 1% 25. 0% 33. 4% 18. 3% 0. 94% df=4 chi-square=77. 344 p=0. 000 Table 2: Most visited category of websites: Category of Websites Retail Consumer Electronics Comparison Shopping Computer Hardware Apparel Movies Books Flowers/Gifts/Greetings Jewelry/Luxury Goods/Accessories Home itemsRank 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Mean 3. 45 3. 12 2. 98 2. 87 2. 64 2. 55 2. 03 1. 76 1. 46 1. 55 Reasons for adoption or non-adoption of online shopping The factor analysis was applied on the responses provided by respondents. Factor analysis is a good way of identifying latent or underlying factors from an array of seemingly important variables. In a more general way, factor analysis is a set of techniques, which, by anal yzing correlations between variables, reduces their number into fewer factors, which explain much of the original data, more economically. (Malhotra,2002).In the present study, the factor analysis was applied in order to identify the various reasons for online shopping by the consumers, the responses obtain were put to factor analysis and the result so obtain were Table 3 : KMO and Bartlett’s test subject to Kaiser- Meyer- Olkin (KMO) measure of sampling adequacy and Bartlett’s Test of Sphericity. The approximate chi-square value is 621. 103 with df 290, which is significant at 0. 000 level. (Table 3). The value of KMO statistics (0. 783) is also large (; 0. 5). Hence, all factors are not considered equally important for Television viewing.From table 4, it is evident that the first four variables represent the 62. 092 % of variance. Therefore, only these four factors with the variance greater than 1. 0 are retained and the other factors are not included in the model. T hus, from eigen values in table 3, we extract only 4 factors from the 13 variables. 3|Page www. ijmit. com Council for Innovative Research www. cirworld. com International Journal of Management & Information Technology Volume 1, No 1, May, 2012 Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin Measure of Sampling Adequacy. Bartlett's Test of Sphericity Approx.Chi-Square Degree of Freedom Significance .783 621. 103 290 . 000 Table 4: Total Variance explained Initial Eigenvalues Component 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Total 4. 150 3. 144 2. 718 1. 411 0. 892 0. 789 0. 618 0. 601 0. 590 0. 449 0. 332 0. 217 0. 189 % of Variance 27. 823 14. 230 10. 783 9. 256 6. 068 5. 130 5. 003 4. 781 4. 350 4. 263 2. 963 2. 788 2. 562 Cumulative % 27. 823 42. 053 52. 836 62. 092 68. 160 73. 290 78. 293 83. 074 87. 424 91. 687 94. 650 97. 438 100. 00 Extraction Sums of Squared Loadings Total 4. 150 3. 144 2. 718 1. 411 % of Variance 27. 823 14. 230 10. 783 9. 56 Cumulative % 27. 823 42. 053 52. 836 62. 092 Rotation Sums of Squared Loadings Total 3. 921 3. 101 2. 318 1. 290 % of Variance 27. 823 14. 230 10. 783 9. 256 Cumulative % 27. 823 42. 053 52. 836 62. 092 Extraction Method: Principal Component Analysis Factor loadings are simple correlations between the variables and factors. The most commonly used method is the Varimax Table 5:Rotated Component Matrix rotation procedure. This is an orthogonal method of rotation that minimizes the number of variables with high loadings of a factor, thereby enhancing the interpretability of the factors.Orthogonal rotations results in factors that are uncorrelated. Component S. No. Statements 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 5 I prefer to purchase online due to heavy discounts available online It is easier to buy online rather than going on to shop at store Shopping online gives you larger options to choose from It is easier to pay online through credit card or direct bank transfer The quality of products purchased online from trusted sites is very good and are available at economical pri ces Shopping online saves my time and money as I don’t have to go through heavy traffic besides saving fuel 609 . 361 . 212 . 341 . 425 . 380 .427 . 521 . 517 . 489 . 336 .379 . 389 . 412 . 656 . 316 .235 . 260 . 352 . 419 . 296 6 .552 .272 .461 4|Page www. ijmit. com Council for Innovative Research www. cirworld. com 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 International Journal of Management & Information Technology Volume 1, No 1, May, 2012 . 402 . 642 . 285 . 403 . 502 . 325 . 580 . 326 . 561 . 223 . 326 . 346 . 436 . 352 . 561 . 452 . 311 . 262 . 663 . 516 . 431 . 613 . 497 . 591 . 570 . 371 . 696 . 280I am a bit concerned about the security and privacy of my payments online I cannot buy all the products on discount but some selected products only There are some shipping delays in getting the product I do not use the credit card so I cannot often shop online I prefer to purchase online due to easement of online buying procedures I physically need to check the products before purchasing it I ca n read the reviews also before purchasing online which helps me to select the right product at economical pricesPrincipal Component Analysis under the rotation method (Varimax with Kaiser Normalization), rotation converged in 15 iterations. The following four components (Table 6) may be extracted: Component 1: Factor 1,5,8,13 (Price Consciousness) Component 2:Factor 2,3,6 (Convenience and Variety) Component 3:Factor 4,11 (Easy payment options) Component shopping) 4:Factor 7,9,10,12 (Challenges of online The rotated component matrix suggests presence of the four interrelated factors.Table 6: Naming of Factors Factor No. F1 Name of Dimension Price Consciousness Item No. 1 I prefer to purchase online due to heavy discounts available online Variables Factor loading . 609 5 8 13 F2 Convenience and Variety 2 3 6 F3 Easy payment options 4 11 F4 Challenges of online shopping 7 9 10 12 The quality of products purchased online from trusted sites is very good and are available at economical pr ices I cannot buy all the products on discount but some selected products only.I can read the reviews also before purchasing online which helps me to select the right product at economical prices It is easier to buy online rather than going on to shop at store Shopping online gives you larger options to choose from Shopping online saves my time and money as I don’t have to go through heavy traffic besides saving fuel It is easier to pay online through credit card or direct bank transfer I prefer to purchase online due to easement of online buying procedures. I am a bit concerned about the security and privacy of my payments online There are some shipping delays in getting the product.I do not use the credit card so I cannot often shop online I physically need to check the products before purchasing it .425 . 642 . 580 . 521 . 517 . 552 . 656 . 663 . 613 . 591 . 570 . 696 Price Consciousness: It is the most significant factor with 27. 823 percent of total variance explained. T his explains the intent of Punjab Consumers being price sensitive. Most of the consumers prefer to buy some selected products online because they will get heavy discounts in comparison to store purchases. Also, the consumers feels that there are good websites available which can be trusted for purchases. |Page www. ijmit. com Council for Innovative Research www. cirworld. com International Journal of Management & Information Technology Volume 1, No 1, May, 2012 Convenience and Variety: It is the second most significant factor with 14. 230 percent of total variance explained. The consumers perceive that shopping online gives them larger options to choose from. Shopping online is very convenient as one has to just open a laptop or PC to shop rather then getting ready and pass through rush hour traffics. Easy Payment options: It is the third most significant factor with 10. 83 percent of total variance explained. Consumers feel that carrying cash or credit cards all the way to the stor e is meaning less if one can purchase the same product from their home. Challenges of Online Shopping: It is the fourth most significant factor with 9. 256 percent of total variance explained. The only worry of consumers is regarding the trustworthiness of some websites, since they have to give their credit card details to shop online. REFERENCES ? Bechrer C. (2004). Characteristics and internet marketing strategies of online auction sellers.International Journal of Internet Marketing and Advertising. 24(1), 24-37 Bellman, S. , Lohse, G. and Johnson, E. (1999) ‘Predictors of online buying behaviour,’ Communications of the ACM, 42 (12), 32-38. Bengtsson M. (2007). Integrating the Internet and Marketing Operations: A Study of Antecedents in Firms of Different Size. International Small Business Journal. 25(1), 27-48 Chin ting S. (2010). The Effect of Internal Marketing on Organizational Commitment: Job Involvement and Job Satisfaction as Mediators. Educational Administrati on Quarterly. 9(4), 65-74 Know, K. and Lee, J. (2003) ‘Concerns about payment security of Internet purchases: a perspective on current on-line shoppers,’ Clothing and Textiles Research Journal, 21 (4), 174-184. Leong C. (2001). Marketing practices and Internet marketing: A study of hotels in Singapore. Journal of Vacation Marketing. 7(2), 179-187 Parsuraman A. (2002). Marketing to and Serving Customers through the Internet: An Overview and Research Agenda. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science. 30(4), 96-105 Ryan P. (2004).Internet marketing standards: institutional coherence issues. International Journal of Internet Marketing and Advertising. 15(4), 84103 Schiffman L. (2007) Consumer Behavior , New Delhi: Prentice Hall India Sigalla M. (2003). Developing and Benchmarking Internet Marketing Strategies in the Hotel Sector in Greece. Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Research. 27(4), 375-401 Standing C. (1999). Internet marketing strategies used by travel agencies in Australia. Journal of Vacation Marketing. 6(1), 36-42 Wang Y. (2006).Futuring Internet Marketing Activities Using Change Propensity Analysis. Journal of Travel Research. 45(2), 158-166 ? ? ? CONCLUSIONS It was seen from the study that most of the Respondents of the age group 36-45 years were found to be adopters of online shopping. Most of the Males were the adopters as compared to females, where 53. 7% were non-adopters. The adopters were mostly post graduates with monthly income in the range of Rs. 20000-Rs. 30000. The respondents those who use internet from 5 to 7 hours a day were found to be adopters of online shopping.Further, the factor analysis was applied to understand the various reasons for adoption and non-adoption of online shopping by the respondents. The following four factors were found to be significant Price Consciousness, Convenience and Variety, Easy Payment options and Challenges of Online Shopping. Most of the consumers prefer to buy some selected products onli ne because they will get heavy discounts in comparison to store purchases. Also, the consumers feels that there are good websites available which can be trusted for purchases.The consumers perceive that shopping online gives them larger options to choose from. Shopping online is very convenient as one has to just open a laptop or PC to shop rather then getting ready and pass through rush hour traffics. Shopping online saves time and money along with lesser effort is required in comparison to store purchases. Consumers feel that carrying cash or credit cards all the way to the store is meaning less if one can purchase the same product from their home. The educated consumers are aware of the buying procedures online which they feel are pretty simple.The only worry of consumers is regarding the trustworthiness of some websites, since they have to give their credit card details to shop online. Many of the consumers are aware of the various online scams due to which they are very concern ed and reluctant while providing their credit card information online. Also the online purchases take a longer time in shipments and deliveries. The psychology of an Indian consumer is still the same of checking the product physically before purchasing it, which creates a mental hurdle for online shopping. ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? 6|Page www. ijmit. com