Analysis of Aiding Violence Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Analysis of Aiding Violence - Essay Example Any foreign investor with an African dream must look at the tragic events at Rwanda, before planning to set his foot on the African soil. People can build a country and people can break it--how the latter course takes shape-- Rwanda is the latest example. When negative forces rule the roost in a country, a host of issues crop up, some are excavated from the history, some react to the current conditions. Rwanda stood engulfed in inequality, exclusion, and humiliation and those enterprises which established themselves in Rwanda, with the hope of doing something constructive for the people, were bewildered and utterly failed, overwhelmed by the ruthless violence. They were frustrated and defeated and all developmental and welfare activities came to a dead end. Killing each other flourished as the predominant industry! What were the factors that lead to the inner-humiliation of Rwanda, and the unprecedented genocide, which the world watched as if it had no concern? Developmental activities, even in a peaceful and well-governed country, create heartburning and severe tensions. The impact of materialistic civilization make the people believe that they are in a competitive race and they must win, even if that means trampling the interests of others. Any developmental project must be preceded by a program to educate the people, through the print and electronic media and ground realities explained to them as for the intended purpose of the project and its benefits as a whole to the Nation. This was not done in Rwanda. The inexperienced rulers played in to the hands of the developmental agencies, and conflicts began to take shape. The conflicts ignored over a period, lead to the mass conflagration. In this 1994 genocide, 1,000,000 lost their lives. It was not one country attacking the other country. It was a civil-war, even though indirect support to various factions fighting could not be ruled out. But the basic question is, why this happened in the 20th

The Illiad Book 1 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

The Illiad Book 1 - Essay Example Agamemnon, who was the commander of the Achaean army, had attacked Troy in the tenth and final year. During the war, Agamemnon captured two Trojan beautiful maidens called Briseis and Chryseis. Agamemnon distributed the two women and other possessions among the Greek soldiers. Agamemnon as the leader of the army valued Chryseis and aimed at using her to amuse his army after the victory while Achilles took Briseis. Chryseis was actually the daughter of Chryses, the priest of Apollo. Chryses after realizing the capture of his daughter offers Agamemnon a mammoth payment in exchange of her only daughter. The pride of Agamemnon as an Army commander compels him to decline the priests request. Chryses gets furious and prayers dearly to Apollo the god for help and divine intervention. Apollo responds to Chryses request by sending a death plague into the Greek army camp (Johnston 10). The disease caused suffering of the Greeks soldiers and later caused their death. At the end of the suffering, Achilles quest for truth of army suffering and death enables a powerful seer reveals the source of the plague. Calchas, the seer, explains that Chryses caused the plague because of vengeance to her detained daughter. Agamemnon gets angry with Chryses and commands that he will only release Chryseis after Achilles compensates him with Briseis, who was the latter’s’ prized possession from the war. Achilles who was a respected hero, brave soldier, and commander of Myrmidons army gets humiliated and becomes furious. He threatens to abandon the Greeks soldiers in Troy to fight for the selfish Agamemnon. Agamemnon promises to invade Achilles camp and take Briseis for personal honor a thought that provokes Achilles, who raises his sword ready to kill the army commander. However, before he strikes Agamemnon, goddess Athena intervenes and calms him after command form Hera (Johnston 210). Agamemnon affirms that he will take Briseis

Pioneer Electronics Essay Example for Free

Pioneer Electronics Essay In 1975 Pioneer maintained relationships with approximately 3,500 franchise retail outlets, the retail outlets benefited from a 5% Pioneer investment in local advertising, and attractive gross margins and credit terms. However, that same year, Pioneer and three competitors were forced to sign consent decrees with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission promising not to engage in alleged anti-fair competition practices – namely requiring distributors to use suggested list prices and punishing those distributors who didn’t comply either through delayed shipments or revoked franchises. A market price war followed the signing of the consent decrees, lowering franchise’s profits while increasing revenue for Pioneer. Pioneer followed with a new marketing strategy aimed at pushing its new lower-priced hi-fi components over compacts or consoles, this further boosted Pioneer’s profit, continuing to erode the franchise distributors’ profit margins. The final outcome was a select few distributors’ shifting from supporting Pioneer component sales to pushing competitors’ products in order to make a larger profit. Central Problem Pioneer Electronics must determine how to move forward from franchise distributors’ complaints that they cannot make an adequate profit selling Pioneer components over the lesser quality, more affordable competitors’ components. The result is â€Å"dissident behavior† by the distributors– including disparaging comments about the Pioneer brand to potential consumers, poor product placement in franchise stores and â€Å"bait and switch† sales tactics. These actions reflect a possible erosion of franchise distributor support, which might force Pioneer to alter its business model. Relevant Facts With the repeal of the fair-trade laws, the market changed drastically for Pioneer, sales and market share increased significantly during this period, prices and margins dropped. As the target market for their products expanded, Pioneer changed their marketing strategy to focus on selling mid-priced hi-fi products. Pioneer’s sales continued to climb, but this strategy squeezed the dealers’ margins even more and made it difficult for them to make a profit selling Pioneer products. Pioneer decision to reposition itself from a premium-priced brand into a â€Å"mid-priced, mainstream† brand affected the profit margins of its distributors negatively. At the same time, the company’s profit margin increased dramatically. Based on 1976 data from Exhibit 13, an average retailer profit margin was about 3.4%. Pioneer had a comparable profit margin of 3.9% in 1975, based on Exhibit 14 data. This margin increased by almost 3 times in 1976 to 9.4%. This clearly shows how Pioneer benefited from its market repositioning strategy while its distributors profits declined. Although surveys showed customers were very satisfied with Pioneer products, the sales force was unhappy and felt the lower margins were unacceptable. This drove a few dealers to speak disparagingly about Pioneer products and use bait and switch tactics to create profits for themselves. Mitchell knew the dealers’ support was critical to the current distribution chain, but he couldn’t go back to the old incentives. To continue to be profitable and adapt to the new electronics market, Pioneer reconsider its current distribution network. Alternative Courses of Action †¢Alternative #1 Shift distribution to department stores: Shift retail distribution from specialty stores to department stores and catalog showrooms. 75% of U.S. Pioneer’s sales were from hi-fi specialty stores, 5% by department stores, and 7% by catalog showrooms. Advantages: Extensive credit facilities, strong consumer â€Å"pull† advertising, and lower prices. Industry sources predicts a substantial increase in the market shares of department stores and catalog showrooms. Disadvantages: Department stores and catalog showrooms do not offer the extensive customer services provided by specialty stores, including professional sales assistance, demonstration, extended store warranty, on-the-premises repair, home delivery and installation, and loaner component programs. †¢Alternative #2 Multiple Branding U.S. Pioneer would offer several product lines of varying quality and price points under separate brand names. Different product lines would be carried by different types of retail outlets. The department-store line would be of lower quality and price than the signature line. Advantages: Multiple branding had been used successfully in other industries. It would enable U.S. Pioneer to adapt most effectively to future changes in retail distribution. Pioneer already sells compacts and car stereos to discount stores under the Centrex brand name. Disadvantages: This strategy could tarnish Pioneer’s reputation for selling only top-of-the-line products. Pioneer may have trouble keeping their distribution channels distinct, and therefore be incurring too much cost on the low end products or being destroying the brand value of the high end products. †¢Alternative #3 Company-owned Stores Another alternative is to operate its own retail stores. Some retailers in the low-fi market had been selling their own house brands for some time. House brands are starting to make in-roads in the hi-fi market and the specialty stores are carrying house brands in increasing numbers. Advantages: One way to protect Pioneer from the risk of large specialty store chains promoting house brands which would impact its sales. Disadvantages: A large initial fixed investment for starting up is required. The risk of expanding into a non-familiar territory which Pioneer does not have good expertise in. †¢Alternative #4 Dealer Communication improvement Dealer support is crucial for Pioneer growth. From Table A â€Å"Factors Influencing Purchase of Hi-fi Products† in the case, it clearly shows that dealer recommendations, advertising and store displays accounts for 42% of the factors influencing consumers decisions. The company needs to hire more salespeople to increase the frequency of dealer visits, provide higher cash rebates or other incentive programs and organizing yearly dealers’ conferences at different resorts. Pioneer needs to stop forcing its dealers to prominently display low-end components and push lower-priced components. Selling lower priced components affects the retailer’s profit margin. This results in placing higher sales emphasis on house brands or competitor products. Advantages: Retailer’s salespeople are the company’s point of contact with its customers. Happy and content dealers will push Pioneer product which will increase company’s sales. Disadvantage: The brand is what sells the product. The company should not waste funds on dealer rebates and conferences. This will result in a rebate war between different manufacturers. Plan of Action: Pioneer should pursue a multiple label branding strategy to capture sales in both the high end and lost cost market segments, which will increase total revenue and profits. The company is already implementing this through its Centrex brand name in Japan. This strategy will enable Pioneer, through the Centrex brand, to target the growing department stores market with its lower price product segment. The signature Pioneer brand can still be marketed through Hi-Fi specialty stores. Under this arrangement Pioneer will need to develop a customized sales and marketing plan for each brand and have separate sales and distribution channels. Pioneer will continue to contribute a percentage of sales to local marketing campaigns to assist local specialty retailers in maintaining local recognition within the community. The Centrex brand will be distributed through the larger department stores and because of the national recognition of these stores there would not be a need to contribute a percentage of sales to assist in local marketing. These funds should be used for other promotional items in the large department stores, such as contests for the largest sales in a month or quarter or number of a specific product sold. The company should also simultaneously invest in improving its working relationship with their dealers. The first thing that Pioneer will need to do is to cease printing ads in newspapers and/or journals to communicate to dealers about unapproved behavior. These types of conversations should be conducted behind closed doors, as neither side wins when they communicate in a public forum. Pioneer will need to begin to request their feedback and input on new market trends, consumer needs and product improvement suggestions and adjust the Pioneer products accordingly. Pioneer should implement the sales program from Exhibit 12 and shift some of the funds from the marketing campaigns to have local contests to spur sales among local sales force.

Platos Cave Analysis

Platos Cave Analysis Imagine a subterranean cave in which humans are shackled by their necks to a single place. They have been held there all of their lives. Fires placed behind the group by unseen forces have left these prisoners to see their own shadows play upon a screen. Those held are not even aware that the images and shadows that they see are themselves. Yet, these shadows hold sway; the prisoners are fascinated. The illusion so effective, that the prisoners do not recognize their imprisonment and are satisfied to live their lives in this way. What would happen if one of these prisoners would be set free? The prisoner would be helpless, his eyes would be overloaded, and he could not stand up on his own. Inundated with sensory information, his mind would refuse to accept what the senses were submitting as true. It would not be surprising if anyone released from such a prison would wish to stay. Stay with the known. Stay with what is comfortable. Not for our prisoner though. Our prisoner, forced to turn away from the fire, begins a long uncomfortable journey through a tunnel toward a blinding light coaxed by the liberator toward the uncomfortable. The light is blinding. Finally emerging from the cave, eyes burning, senses raging, the prisoner soon finds a new, unimaginable world. No longer fascinated by shadow, the prisoner is free to learn about the world, and more importantly, themselves. This paper will explore how this story has been translated to modern audiences through the film, The Matrix (Wachowski Bros 1999). Platos cave myth has been a wonderful allegory for the quest for knowledge for 2,400 years. Plato published this cave myth in The Republic; the allegory of the cave is arguably the most famous section of this work. What may come as a surprise to many is that there are parallels to the cave myth in many of todays contemporary stories. One of which, is the tale of Neo in The Matrix (Wachowski Bros 1999). Who can forget the image when Neo wakes to find himself bound in a tube, he struggles free, released from his prison, he is made to grasp the truth of his life and the world. He finds that all of his life up to that point has been an elaborate illusion created for him to hide him from the fact that he been held prisoner his entire life. This paper will show that both of these stories reflect a Socratic search for knowledge and a deeper understanding of the good. The myth of the cave is an allegory in which we follow our prisoner on his quest for what Socrates, Platos teacher, referred to as the just life (Plato: The Republic). Socrates primary concern was that our souls be in the best condition possible (Plato: Phaedo). The way in which this is accomplished is through examination and questioning ones place within the world. The cave myth gives a literary account of the Socratic Method, as well an example as to the logic and approach of Socrates relentless questioning. In this way, we have a view into Socrates methodology, and furthermore, into Socrates notion for care of the soul (Plato: Phaedo). Socrates care of the soul is comprised of these four elements: beliefs in meaning, admission of ignorance, questioning of reality, and hope in an answer, or to put it another way, trust in the knowledge of the good (Plato: Phaedo). On this subject of care of the soul, there is a deep comparability between The Matrix (Wachowski Bros 1999)and Platos a llegory (Plato: The Republic). We can make a closer examination into the comparison between Neo and our prisoner on his quest for the care of the soul. Like the allegory of the Cave, The Matrix dramatically conveys the view that ordinary appearances do not depict true reality and that gaining the truth changes ones life. Using the ideas of care of the soul, we are asked to examine belief in meaning. Saying this differently we are asked to believe what we hold to be true. The prisoners can differentiate shadows and sounds, apply names to the shadows depicting things and even discern the patterns in their presentation. To this extent, they have some true beliefs and some false assumptions, but before the discussion regresses into a metaphysical exercise; whether or not a thing is a thing because we name it so, or whether or not the thing has its own inherent thingness it is safe to say that we can all hold some things to be true. However, there are things that are mysterious to all in the case of the cave and in The Matrix. In both stories, there is omnipresent image of the unseen hand at work; those who are responsible for the structure of the cave and the world in which the matrix exists. In an online posting, John Partridge, Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Wheaton College, explores the correlation between these two stories. He suggests that, Many contemporary readers recoil at the awful politics of the Cave. Who, after all, are the puppeteers? Why do they deceive their fellow cave dwellers (Partridge)? It is only through the understanding and realization that there is an unseen hand, or truths with which we had been oblivious, that we can fully come to learn the truth. For the prisoner, it is through his release that he comes to realize that his notion of truth is skewed. For Neo, he had been suspicious of his reality for some time and seeks understanding. The fascinating thing for Neo is that when his situation comes to a head and he finally meets Morpheus, his liberator and teacher, he is informed that he cannot be told what is untrue, he must be shown. Interestingly, Neo is afforded a choice, the path of ignorance in the form of a blue pill or the path of knowledge in the form of a red pill. The taking of the red pill is an admission of ignorance. In this way, the notion of admission of ignorance is forced on him in the form of a choice. The prisoner and Neo are similar, they must be brought into the light of knowledge, and into the admission of their own ignorance. The similari ties continue, they both share a common path to understanding that their notions of truth have been given to them and that reality itself is not what it seems. Conversely, there are some differences between the two stories by way of the coming to admission of ignorance and the understanding of truth. Neos path to understanding truth is one that starts out with him living comfortably with the sneaking suspicion that there is a something not quite right with the world. His quest to understand what is wrong with the world leads him inexorably into a very dark and dystopian reality filled with conflict and misery. Their only purpose is as food for the machines. Furthermore, it is a world with people forced underground. His quest literally leads him into the cave. By contrast, we have the story of the prisoner. The prisoner is released from bondage. He/She did not actively seek to understand their world or acquire new knowledge. He/She would have been just as happy watching shadows on the screen. The path to understanding may have been difficult and uncomfortable, but in the end, the prisoner is lead to the light of knowledge, a utopian world wi thin which the prisoner is now truly free. Neo, knowing what being a prisoner means, has his greatest fears realized when he discovers that he has always been a slave and is now relegated to a fearful existence. The prisoner, on the other hand, comes to the realization of what being a prisoner means, and is delighted with his/her new life. Thus, we have the juxtaposition of the objective versus the subjective. The next tenet of understanding Socrates care of the soul is the questioning of reality. Released from the illusory world, our prisoner is lead down the path of understanding. Socrates states, and then conceive some one saying to him, that what he saw before was an illusion, but that now, when he is approaching nearer to being and his eye is turned towards more real existence, he has a clearer vision, what will be his reply (Plato: The Republic)? What would his reply be? He would be drawn into questioning everything after he now believes that he had been mystified all this time. This is where we would find Neo brought back into the matrix for training by Morpheus, again we have an inverse of realities but the aims are the same. The prisoner is coming to question and understand the real world. Neo is coming to question and understand the unreal world of the matrix. Now we are diving into the world of the metaphysical. Discerning whether we can determine reality in either of these two worlds is a real problem. Partridge states, Since the real world and the simulated world are worlds in which the senses receive information, the practical problem is not that they are discontinuous, but that they are indiscernible (Partridge). This is a real problem for Neo; as we find after his kung fu training with Morpheus, when his teacher questions Neos understanding of reality, You believe your really breathing? He is later told, coming upon a child bending spoons with his mind in Yuri Gellar fashion, that he will only come to understand the real nature of the matrix once he comes to understand that in the matrix, there is no spoon (The Matrix). It seems as though the differences between the two tales on a metaphysical level does not inhibit them from sending a similar message. They both send the message of the unreliability of the epistemological information gathered through the senses. They stress a need to disconnect from the senses in order to attain genuine knowledge. The stories also wonderfully illustrate the psychological hardship that is placed on the characters having to do so. Thus, the question, by what means does Neo come to discover hope in an answer or trust in his knowledge of the good. For our prisoner, the question is answered very succinctly, Last of he will be able to see the sun, and not mere reflections of him in the water, but he will see him in his own proper place, and not in another; and he will contemplate him as he is Clearly, he said, he would first see the sun and then reason about him (Plato: The Republic). For Neo hope in answer comes in a much more personal form. After many trials, the film climaxes with Neo coming to grips with the fact that he has been The One all along. Coaxed into questioning his reality by Morpheus, he is left to follow the path of self-realization on his own. In this way, he can develop his own care of the soul. He overcame the introduction of self-doubt in the form of the oracle. He overcame the overpowering force of the agents to become reborn, phoenix like, to the understanding of himself. This revelation would prove to be extremely transformative. Clearly, he has come to grips with his knowledge and belief in the good. Partridge claims, There is a single item the knowledge of which makes the knower more integrated and more powerful, and for Neo it is self-knowledge. The same message holds true for our prisoner. It is through the knowing of the true self, which causes the prisoner to become productive, a savior of himself and others. After the prisoners revel ation of the good, his first thoughts are of the others in the cave. They both have come to know of Socrates primary concern of care of the soul, trust in the knowledge of the good. Finally, we look to ourselves concerning what these stories tell us. It is the path of knowledge that is placed before us and the stakes are for the care of the soul. For Neo, his quest was to take him through the trials and hardships of self-realization that he would have to endure so that he might come to know for himself that he was indeed The One. Our prisoners quest mirrors this. Ultimately, we are drawn to Socratic questions; in what ways are we living diminished lives? Are we resting on our own ideas of knowledge? Are we even asking the right questions? It is through the stinging realization of our own ignorance that we are finally able to start our own paths toward the understanding of the good. Plato makes it plain when he uses Socrates to tell us that we are all prisoners in the cave. If any doubt this, recall the position we are in when go to see movies such as The Matrix itself. Imagine a dark world filled with people watching shadows on a screenà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦

The Name Of The Rose :: essays research papers

In the title of the novel, The name of the Rose, by Umberto Eco, the 'rose' can signify many ideas. By making this the title of the book, Eco has attracted the attention of a reader because it suggests a number of things. A rose can be all of nature, the most beautiful of it, a girl, etc. Just as the title suggests several answers, so can the implications in the novel.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The rose can be the Church, the richest and most powerful organization in the entire world. As each of its most devoted die, a little bit of the doctrine is forgotten until the 'name becomes bare', it can no longer be understood as its whole. In return, the most learned abbey in Europe burns to the ground, much like the martyrs it exalted.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Instead of seeing the deaths for what they are (just random acts, committed by several people, not one depraved person, but individual curious ones) William goes on wild goose chases, i.e. trying to find Adelmo's murderer before realizing that it was a suicide. He looks for evidence that simply is not there, then finding the next real clue, usually a body, searches in vain for what he wants to be the truth. Blinded by what he thinks is true, instead of what is right in front of his face, he searches and searches not judging by 'names' so much as placing the wrong meaning on them.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Near the end of the novel, William gives Adso the following advise ' Fear prophets, Adso, and those prepared to die for the truth…he loved his truth so lewdly that he dared do anything to destroy falsehood…the truth lies in learning to free ourselves from insane passion for truth' (491). Thus, the theme of the novel is the truth. William searches for it and searches for it, and finally finds it when, infuriated, he sees the clues for what they really mean, instead of what they desired them to mean.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Semiotics teaches that each element is meaningless until it is differentiated from the other elements. This can be applied several places in the novel, first as each death cannot be solved on it own, but only in conjunction with the other murders. In addition, William singles out the library as the common denominating factor not, for example, sleeping quarters or the Church.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The title 'The Name of the Rose' can apply in this fashion: William comes across a bud, as he searches for clues, the petals continue falling off, as the rose dies, when enough petals have dropped, he can see what makes the flower.

Reactions to Death in Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying :: Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying

Reactions to Death in Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying Eventhough As I lay Dying is a story revolved around the death of a mother, Addie Bundren, the true content of the story develops from information given to the audience through a multitude of narrators. The relationship between each family member and their association with Addie's death differentiates from person to person. Through her husband, Anse, we are introduced to his philosophy that man should keep stationary. Anse explains, "The lord put roads for travelling; why he laid them down flat on the Earth. When he aims for something to be always a-moving, he makes it long ways, like a road or a horse or a wagon, but when he aims for something to stay put, He makes it up and down ways, like a tree or a man" (24). In comparing a tree to a man, Anse feels that eventhough alive, man was not created to move about. This idea exhibits a lack of suspense within Anse, which may or may not have been Annie's desire to have an affair which lead to the birth of her child Jewel. Interestingly, A nse contradicts his own beliefs to fullfill his wife's wishes to be layed to rest next to her own family. This act can also be seen as selfish when Anse really desires a new set of teeth. Other narrators's ideas on life are presented through the death of Annie. For example, DArl represents seperation from the rest of the world. Riding with Jewel, DArl suggests that, "It takes two people to make you, and one people to die. That's how the world is going to end" (27). In this thought, Darl explains that even though a person is created by the life of two people, in the end, that life will die on its own. The fact that Darl is so open to talk about his surety of Annie's approaching death, distinguishes him from Jewel or Dewy Dell, who cannot speak about it. Darl therefore is an outcast of the family, which is later explained by his participation in the war. By writing As I Lay Dying through the thoughts of a variety of narrators, William

Corporate Responsibility and Marketing Strategies Essay

I believe Apple Inc. [mostly referred as â€Å"Apple† in this document] has met the ethical and social responsibility towards general public, employees, customers and shareholders/investors. Apple positions itself to be very environment conscious and continuously working to reduce the foot print of the company and its products on the planet (Apple Inc.). Apple has a recycling program for its used products; it sends gift cards to customers in return for the used products, if the products do not have any monetary value they recycle them responsibly. Apple reports the environmental foot-print of each of its product on their website to show how much energy efficient they are and how Apple is choosing more biodegradable elements in its products, packaging and facilities. Apple has multiple offices and datacenters in United States and as of March 2013 seventy five percent of them are fully powered through renewable energy sources (Kastrenakes, 2013). Apple is continuously trying to improve the situation and aiming to rely entirely on renewable energy sources in future. To improve ethical awareness within its employees, Apple has a business code of conduct published and easily available via intranet website within the company and to its investors via shareholder website (Business code, 2012) which explains in detail on various topics including its well known secretive way of releasing its products. Apple also has a Business conduct helpline available for its employees to resolve ethical dilemmas, report conflicts of interest and seek direction in making ethical decision. Recently Tim Cook, Apple CEO has reminded all employees to review Apple’s business conduct policy via corporate email (Marie, 2013) which shows the  importance Apple gives to Ethics within the company. Apple treats its employees very well; pays pretty good salaries to employees and rates to contractors, Apple’s has a very good benefit program for its employees, even the part-time employees are entitled to benefits at apple (Fiegerman, 2012), it provides shuttle servi ce to many locations from many places in Bay area to campus. Apple products are very safe compared to many other competitor products, Apple pays attention to details, e.g.: To avoid tripping over a charging cable, Mac book charger has a magnet instead of a hard stick in plug as we observe in many Windows PCs. All of its products are well thought and provide lot of convenience and consider customer health and safety, as we see in the case of latest ear phones from Apple, they have the speakers going sideways instead of directly in to ears as most of the conventional ear plugs do, this restricts music directly hitting the ear drum and long term exposure may have adverse impact on the ears. Apple products are well sealed and static resistant, the materials used in production are not cheap and low quality parts, which improves the durability of its products. Apple provides lot of variations in products to choose, to a customer which attracts customers at all levels. There are about ten to twelve flavors of latest iPhone based on color, size of memory and external material. Apple has a very good refund policy, items can be returned online or returned in store, there is about 14-30 days to return items, Apple provides full refund instead of charging for re-stocking fee. If there is a part malfunction, apple product can be exchanged for a new one within one year of purchase for nominal or zero price. Apple considers customer’s complaints and response rapidly by multiple means and aims to delight the customers (Denning, 2011). Apple listens to customers at the stores, online and also via telephone and improvises on its services, customer support and also their products. It is very obvious that Apple takes good care of its shareholders; we can clearly observe that from Apple’s revenues and profits from past several quarters, Apple’s share has gone up five times within past five years. Apple provides all of its quarterly, annual reports along with financial statements and exhibits with SEC and complies with SEC policies. Question 2: Publications of ethics and social responsibility violations of its suppliers, mainly at Hon Hoi Precision, also known as FoxConn had impact on Apple’s reputation and mainly no impact on sales and share value. In 2011 there were fourteen suicides at FoxConn and later on there were many riots, suicide protests by workers against the very long working hours, lack of insurance, workplace safety, horrible facility maintenance , incidents of using Child labor, lack of injured workers compensation, army camp style management and others (McGrath, 2012). Apple has handled things very carefully and assigned right people and started remediation methods, published supplier code of conduct, increased audits in its supplier firms, provided training, to improve situation and reputation; Tim Cook, the CEO of Apple talked about Foxconn and how his company is trying to improve the working conditions for employees and workers in its suppliers’ factories and how seriously Apple is taking t he allegations (Knibbs). Apple’s reputation had an impact during the time of events, created a buzz in media world; Apple got a bad name within its investors and stake holders. Later on, Apple was able to manage out of the situation very well. Overall there is no impact to sales or revenue or Apple’s share value. Apple shares might have taken a small hit for few days when there were publications by media, but overall share value was growing in 2010 and 2011 when all of reports were being published. Apple is still considered the most admired company in the whole world as per Fortunes World’s most Admired companies for 2008-2013; six years in row (Shaughnessy, 2013). Apple products are very well received in the market; there are no aversions or hatred towards Apple’s products based on the allegations. We usually see the drop in sales when there are negative allegations on companies, we have seen this in case of Paula Deen based on her racial comments and also with Duck Dynasty and i ts products when Phil Robertson has made anti-gay comments and cause big dent in their reputation, we have not seen this with Apple. When iPhone 5s was released in September of 2013, stores reported people standing in long lines at Apple and its partner stores to get the first piece. Today there are hardcore fans to Apple products than for any other company. Apple products are growing popularity even in China where the allegations of horrible working conditions have been  reported. Based on my personal observation, Apple stores are among the most crowded stores at local malls. Even with heavy competition for Samsung, LG, Nokia (now Microsoft) and Motorola, Apple iPhones are still most commonly used smart phones in United States. Apple’s App store has more than a Billion applications available to end users. By observing the Apple’s growth pattern, it is safe to say that the impact of supplier violations is minor. Question 3: To improve the working conditions and abide to Fair Law Association (FLA) policies Apple has come up with and published â€Å"supplier code of conduct† (â€Å"Apple supplier,† 2012) for all its suppliers to adhere who provide parts to its products. To ensure that its suppliers adhere to wage and benefits standards going forward, Apple has to strictly enforce the â€Å"supplier code of conduct† and also increase the supervision and auditing of the supplier factories, HR and pay roll systems up to allowed by the local and international laws. Many of the rules and regulations which are illegal in US are acceptable in other countries. As Apple’s suppliers are mainly in other countries than US, Apple can set up strict rules and guidelines more close to US laws in addition to local government policies and Fair Law Association (FLA) laws, as most of its products are used by consumers in US. Apple can also open up complaint/suggestion boxes (online, in factory and via phone) from workers in supplier factories to understand and closely monitor the working conditions and get feedback on wages and benefits. Apple can restrict the number of hours a worker can work in its supplier factories. Apple can create guidelines in its code to have onsite help to talk with workers and understand their problems and work with supplier factories to solve them. Apple can guide its suppliers to setup onsite and close to campus medical facilities for workers working in its supplier factories. Apple can work with local media and government to do surveys from general public about their supplier practices at factory facilities. Apple should request the ethics code of conduct as one of the primary pre-requisite from their suppliers as part of the initial RFP – Request for proposal. Apple should get feedback suppliers’ employees to understand how well the code is  followed by its upper management in the company and should enforce supplier to improve it before renewal of contracts. Apple should stop buying parts from suppliers with tainted reputation, or suppliers with weak or no ethical code of conduct. Apple should compare the working conditions and wages of workers in its supplier factories to competitor factories in the area and pass regulations to improve the wages to meet market standards. Question 4: Apple customers would be willing to pay more for its products to provider better wages and benefits to suppliers’ workers. Apple can make this happen by showing the reasons behind increase in prices, and how additional money will be utilized for worker compensation and benefits. Apple should advertize in TV, publish articles on its website and provide information to Media on how the additional money will be utilized. This is much similar to Ms. Lee Rhodes and her Glassybaby in the case study, Glassybaby gives 10% of its revenues for cancer treatment. Another suggestion that I can make is that, some percentage of increase in salaries for workers should also come from Apple’s profits to show consumers that Apple is not only charging more for products but also taking a cut in their profits to provide better working conditions for workers. Apple and its main founder Steve Jobs do not have very good name as Philanthropist, there is no public record that Steve Jobs has donate d any money (Sorkin, 2011). After Tim Cook took over Apple’s CEO position, he has made some donations but compared with other companies with high revenues and profits; the donations made by Apple are very negligible compared to its revenues and profits (Emerson, 2012). Apple can improve its image and reputation in the world by giving some percentage of profits to suppliers’ workers through multiple programs and incentives. Today Apple’s products are most popular in the market; iPhone is the best selling smart phone out there in market. Apple and its products have huge fan base and many of the competitor smart phones from Samsung or Microsoft are not comparable to iPhone. With such a popularity, increasing a minor percentage E.g.: 3-5% of price will not have any impact on product sales. Most of the Apple products are sold with network connection also known as data plan, the minimum data plan is very expensive and costs up to $40 per month for many carriers. Some of Apple’s iPhone customers take data plan because they are intrigued with iPhone and Apple products. When customers  are willing to pay additional money for seldom used data plan as they stay home mostly where there is Wi-Fi connection as an alternative to data plan. Customers should be willing to spend a bit more money to improve working conditions and salaries for suppliers’ workers. Question 5: Apple has excellent market strategy for its products; Everyone remembers those PC and Mac comparison commercials, which used to portray Apple’ Mac computers as cool and trendy for Generations X and Y and for everyone at home where as Microsoft PC was shown as business computer with bugs. In reality, Microsoft operating system is more flexible and customers can customize and make modifications and create applications relatively easy, where as you need to go to App Store for installing/upgrading any iOS applications. Microsoft or Samsung devices allow users to copy MP3 files, and play them without any intermediary software such as iTunes, a mandatory application for Apple to copy songs in to iOS applications. Even with less flexibility Apple’s products are highly sold in market today due to its design and performance of its products and mainly it’s Marketing strategy. Apple does not really advertize new versions of iPhone releases, rather it keeps it secret, there are no beta releases, and there are no pictures or commercials in the market before a new version iPhone is released. It creates buzz in the market which generates mystery about its product. In addition to its own marketing, Apple’s iPhones are also advertized by other companies such as network providers such as AT&T, Verizon and other companies which make protective cases and other accessories for iPhones. Apple maintains such secrecy before releasing its iPhone products; it has worked greatly for them. Another way Apple products are advertized is by word of mouth. Today many of smart phones in the market from Samsung, LG and Microsoft have similar functions as iPhone, but in my view the secrecy/mystery and word of mouth advertizing for iPhone has helped to maintain its leadership in the market. To improve competitive advantage over global market place, Apple should sell its products more in other countries; expand its base out of US. The usage  of smart phones is at verge of getting saturation in United States, consumers in US are tied to data and voice plans from network providers in US. Until latest generations of iPhones, iphones were sold at a later release dates in Europe, India and China than in United States. There is a lot of fan base for Apple in China and India, Apple should en cash that by making products affordable in those countries. Customers in US do not replace their phones until their contract ends with he network provider, which is usually two years from the contract start date. Most of the countries outside of US are not bound to network/data plans for the phones as they use GSM technology; this provides flexibility to consumers to buy more than one phone in two years. Smart phones are getting more popular in India and china where the population is very high. Population of India and China combined is more than six times the population of United States (CIA World Factbook); if Apple can capture a small percentage of the market in those countries it will have more customer base than it does in whole US which bring higher revenues. Apple should start customizing their products and make them consumer friendly in other countries, such as make menus in native languages, create local custom applications etc. As word of mouth advertizing has proven working for Apple, they should start giving some samples of their products to celebrities in India where the common public trend is to follow the celebrities and mimic their product usage. It has worked for other companies and products; it should also work for Apple. Apple should start thinking about making their products more flexible and easy to customize, Apple is very popular among brand, but more savvy users with computer background started to lean more towards Google Android based phones from Samsung and LG as they have more flexibility and customization options. With computer skills and techniques being very common to kids in Generation Y and Z, Apple should think about concentrating on them and their tastes and Apple products more flexible. Apple should innovate more, there have been some improvements and modifications to its products in past 3 years but there has not been a â€Å"WOW†Ã‚  product release. They should enter new markets, start coming up with new products such as long awaited Apple TV or they should get in to wearable gadgets such as wrist watches, glasses, motion controlled devices, devices with flexible screens and devices which look cool but monitor human body’s current health such as temperature, sugar levels, blood pressure etc. Last but not least, Apple should improve its philanthropist image; they should start donating more to needy and charitable foundations. That usually helps in both ways; it improves the reputation and also works as advertisement. References Apple Inc. (n.d.). Apple and the environment. Retrieved from http://www.apple.com/environment/ Apple supplier code of conduct. (2012, JANUARY). 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