Qin dynasty Essay

In 247 B. C, the self-proclaimed â€Å"first emperor of china† put together an enormous army of soldiers to fight the wars that ravaged all over china. The emperor seemed undefeatable and fearless, but deep inside he had a huge fear, that is†¦ death. A few years before he sensed the ending of his life, Emperor Cheng decided to recreate his entire army out of clay to protect him in his passage to the underworld. Sacrifices had before been used for grand burials as such where the army would die along with the emperor, but in a time like such the emperor knew this would cause china to be vulnerable and did not want to sacrifice the grand empire he had created for most of his life. This thus led to the creation of the elaborate tomb of the terra cotta warriors and their king. The emperor may have seemed nice to decide not to sacrifice anyone but the truth is many died in order for his wishes to be fulfilled. When he ordered the warriors to be made they did not magically appear from the soil beneath his feet. In order for them to be made he commanded hundreds, if no thousands of skilled artisans to create them. Each soldier needed to be different and represent a certain soldier. The artisan’s lives depended on these soldiers so the work ended up being quite elaborate and detailed. Each soldier, acrobat and archer, along with the horses, was all different, each with their own story to tell. They all had different expressions, stances, outfits, etc. Because of these intricate patterns and details, we can tell that these sculptors were not any joking matter. Human lives depended on each face, and tiny detail to be absolutely perfect and this was very complicated to do since each warrior was made using coiling method (based on archeological theories). No molds were being used, or anything that could make the job easier. Another thing that the terra cotta warriors tell us about China during the Qin Dynasty is that after the emperor passed away he may have wanted to take his empire with him, thus the reason of the huge army as well as other things found in his tomb. Small scales of palaces and buildings he had ordered to be built were also found in his tomb. The reason why this may have happened may have been so that he would have something to rule over in the afterlife. In ancient China it was believed that you continued on into the afterlife as you were when you died, especially where social status was concerned. The higher status you had in life, the closer to Shang Di (the Lord of the afterlife) you would be in the afterlife. Having a complete representation of his empire and the things he commanded, including the terra cotta army, allowed Qin to enter the afterlife with a clear proof of his status that could not be challenged by the lord. The artists that used the terracotta clay were often threatened to be hurt by the king. To make it impossible to be punished for little errors on their work, they made their signatures hard to find on the soldiers. One rule was set though: The artist MUST put his name on the sculpture. Emperor Qin made it his duty to punish whoever didn’t follow this rule, and would kill or mutilate over hundreds of the sculptors every year. With that stress on their shoulders, the workers had no room for error. They had to follow all the rules and could most definitely not stand up for others and themselves. That would be a death sentence in itself. Once the emperor Qin died, the people made it their duty to seal his coffin properly so that he would remain well preserved. Despite the people not having to worry about the king, the people still feared the emperor coming back from the dead, and to the people an angry emperor’s soul would mean bad luck to all the people of the Qin dynasty.

Anabaptists

Digging deeper will bring to light many groups coming together under the belief that the state church was no longer leading and teaching biblical theology. There were groups that popped up all across Europe in the wake of reformation lead by Martin Luther, John Calvin, and Lurch Zinging. Even before the time of the Anabaptist movement there was a high level of persecution for those who stood against the state church and the pope. There was a difference between what the reformers were doing and what the Anabaptists were doing. The Reformers aimed to reform the old Church by the Bible; the Radicals attempted to build a new Church from the Bible. † There are also many great leaders from this radical group of Christians that need to be studied to know where this group was coming from. There is much more to this radical group known as the Anabaptists than meets the eye. Looking at the roller of the Anabaptist faith It Is seen as diverse and persecuted across Europe, seeking to build a biblical church and freedom from religious persecution. Anabaptist Beginnings look unto their origin.Anabaptist with the most literal definition means re-baptizes â€Å"from Go. ;v; and Paint(w). † ;v; meaning each or in the midst and meaning to â€Å"make whelmed (I. E. Fully wet)† Ultimately they received their name because they were Baptizing their converts even if they were already baptized as Children in the state church. Cornelius Dock breaks down the way each country at the time defined Anabaptists as he states â€Å"Anabaptist, which means re-baptizes, was a sixteenth-century spiritual, moral, and social renewal movement in Western Europe.In German-speaking lands its adherents were referred to as Taffeta– meaning Baptists or baptizes because they practiced believers' baptism. In The Netherlands they were called Depositing– baptism-minded† Dock goes on to point out that while the Anabaptists were beginning to pop up at the tail end of the reformation hey are generally connected with the Radical Reformation because the Anabaptists didn't think there was a way to reform the state church from within. They wanted to start from the foundation that the apostles used when building the church from the New Testament.Second we will have to look at the theological beliefs of the Anabaptists. The Anabaptist movement really followed in the footsteps and work of the great Protestant Reformers, biblical studies conducted by humanism leaders of the day, social and political fighting, the exploitation of people conducted by the state church, ND a deep urge to be spiritually fulfilled by the church. Bag shows how much influence their church model was able to gain in a short amount of time during their beginning.He states â€Å"the course of the Anabaptists was so swift, that their doctrines soon overspread the whole land and they obtained much following, baptized thousands and drew many good hearts to them; for they taught as it see med naught but love, faith and endurance, showing themselves in much tribulation patient and humble. † Most of the people that fell into the Anabaptist group also believed that the end of the world was coming to an end in the near future. Denny Weaver claims that theology of the Anabaptists is not unique to the Anabaptists that surfaced in the sixteenth-century.He believes at the root of all the theological beliefs sits a set of beliefs that can be found throughout the ages. He points out, â€Å"The central themes from the description of the Anabaptist-Mennonite tradition do not belong to Anabaptists and Mennonites alone. Rather, they depict an outlook running thought the entire history of Christianity sometimes as a motif within the dominant church, sometimes gaining expression though the structural alternative to the established church. So in the eyes of the Anabaptists at the time they were not coming up with new theologies, they were bringing the church back to its origin als roots.The state church has gone so far away from the Biblical teachings they saw no way to fix the church from the inside and sought reform through starting anew. Shining a light on the basic theological views of the Anabaptists we find any of the main staples you would find common in most protestant theologies from the time period. â€Å"When it comes to the tenets of Protestant theology, most Anabaptist groups adhered to sound teaching on the Scriptures, the Trinity, Justification by faith, and he atonement of Jesus Christ. They found Christ to be the center of their salvation Catholic Church had been presenting for such a long time. They also believed in the infallibility and inherently of scripture. This allowed them to build the rest of their theological beliefs from the Word of God placing a firm foundation for most of their core beliefs. The Anabaptist did not share all the same beliefs and basic tenets with the Protestants, which placed a target on their back for both C atholics and Protestants to aim at. They faced persecution from both religious groups because of some key preferences in core theology.The first major difference in beliefs comes in when talking about believer's baptism. They outright rejected infant baptism, as they saw no evidence in scripture of this practice. Both Catholics and Protestants practiced infant baptism and Catholics were under the belief that without being baptized you couldn't enter into heaven even as a child. â€Å"Their denial that infant baptism was true baptism led to the nickname. † Bag shows that the Anabaptist took their rejection of infant baptism a step further claiming the Anabaptist taught â€Å"that infant baptism is of the Pope and the Devil†The second major difference was their belief in the separation of Church and State. They wanted no part in any state church; instead they were made up of small individual churches much of what we see today in many churches. They wanted the community t o be involved in what they were doing and the government to stay out, keeping the politics separate as well. The first person to push for separation from the Church of England was Robert Browne and many feel that his Separatist group had many common beliefs with the Anabaptists that were forced to meet in secret or not formally meet at all in England.The key difference seems to be that the separation from the state was meant to be temporary in order to allow the church to get back on the right path and then have the state come back in. This was not the case in the Anabaptists view; they wanted permanent separation, as they didn't believe the church could be fixed with the state attached to it at all. Many of the Anabaptists fled the country moving across Europe to avoid religious persecution. The Third was a push for Christians to live in community with one another sharing material possessions with all others within the community.As most Anabaptists thought the end was coming soon t here was not real need to hoard material things for any length of time. Bag states that â€Å"Their repudiation of all personal property was emphatic; they preached barefooted and in coarse garments, wherever they went. † At times they would only travel with their clothing, a staff, and money to fulfill their calling to preach the Word of God to the elect. It should also be noted that in the early days of the Anabaptist in Switzerland they did not set out to be radically sectarian, but this was something they slowly moved to.They were pushed to this addict ideology because of the political hostility and a strong leadership from the sectarian movement. There is a general agreement among scholars today is that the communities of Anabaptists were small simple communities of re-baptized believers. The sign of brotherhood was a commitment to the community and being baptized into the body of Christ. Each community had a lead known as a shepherd and was typically chosen by the broth erhood of believers.His Job was teaching, exhortation and prayer for the it such as breaking of bread, community bible reading, and helping the community in alluding and upkeep. Anyone outside of these communities were considered to be heathen and an abomination. There were many small groups that had different beliefs on what the community should focus on and different rules the community was to follow. There were groups like the Silent Brothers that held to the belief that preaching was no longer needed and abolished it. They believed that the Apostle Paul taught there would be a time to be silent and they were in that time.They wouldn't answer any religious questions even if pulled aside and asked specific questions, â€Å"they would be silent and give him owe answer†. There was also a group called the Separate Spiritual Baptists that tried to take themselves out of the world and become monks. This group made all kinds of rules, from eat and drinking to standing and walking . They would scold anyone that was happy in the name of the Gospel. Many more groups existed under the title of Anabaptists that held to weird and quirky beliefs that never caught on in the larger groups.One group in particular has stretched the Word of God so far from its original meaning they appeared to be Just as far gone as the state run church. They were now as the Free Brothers and they held on to their Christian liberties and they took the freedom in Christ in the most literal sense. They thought it to be unchristian to tithe to the church and did away with the concept of debts. They also persuaded women to believe that it was impossible for them to enter into heaven without giving up their virtue.They taught that God would only let those who were willing to sacrifice everything they held dear into the gate of Heaven. Further they taught they shame and disgrace must be taken on for Chrism's sake, â€Å"for has not Christ said that he publicans and the harlots should enter f irst into the kingdom of heaven, before the righteous, by which was plainly meant that women should become harlots†. They taught that sin as impossible for those who were baptized as adults and having intercourse with the other members of the community was not sinful because of the spiritual bond they shared.This brings us to what Denny Weaver tells us about the group as a whole, â€Å"Because of the variety of backgrounds, sixteenth century Anabaptist could not, and did not, develop as an entirely homogeneous movement. † So because of all these different sects they were unable to fully connect all the groups united in faith and doctrine. Fourth many of the Anabaptists groups preached both pacifism and strict forms of Church discipline. Internal pressures to conform to the rules that the group had set up ruled many of these smaller sects or communities. Their pacifism also played a role in the conformity that was seen in the Anabaptist faith.This has stood the test of t ime and remained a key part in the Mennonite faith. Each of these key parts of the Anabaptist faith shows the major distinctions between Anabaptists and other Christian groups. The Founders of the Anabaptist Movement Because the Anabaptist movement was so diverse and wide spread across Europe there are a multitude of influential leaders that spanned across Europe. Weaver backs up with this point saying, â€Å"The Original cast of Anabaptist players included a noblemen- who reflected an equal variety of religious backgrounds and came from a variety of regions of Western and Middle Europe. With knowing there are so many influential leaders in the Anabaptist movement there needs to be a focus on what lead to the persecution of the Anabaptists Just a few to remain focused. Starting with the radical Swiss reformer Conrad Grebes who helped found the Anabaptist movement. Grebes was a well-educated man who was working in Zurich Switzerland looking forward to Zinging coming to town. He was able to Join up with Felix Mans and Zinging in studying the Greek New Testament, with the plan to bring the reformation to the city. He began to grow impatient as Zinging slowed on the issue of infant baptism.At this point he was already to give up on the state church and begin again, this made him wonder if anyone would really follow him. Jumping over to Mans, one will find another well-educated man who Joined Zinging n 1519. Mans quickly came to reject Zinging as the ultimate authority in the reformation of the church. â€Å"He believed that the church must be made up of only those who have true faith in Jesus Christ as Savior. † He threw his support in favor from Grebes and they began to work together towards re-baptism of true believers in Christ.Grebes and Mans gather his followers up in January 1525 and took the first step in separating from the state run church by baptizing their first convert. The state run church did not take kindly to this as one might expect and th ey tried to stop this event before it got out of Zurich. They did slow the spread in Zurich but they didn't stop it from spreading to other parts of the country. Three days after he gave his sermon on refusal of infant baptism many of the leaders received notice to leave their position in the church within the next week.By taking on believer's baptism and entering into this new community, Grebes, Mans and their followers were cutting themselves off from the rest of Christianity. Zinging was not ready to Jump off the deep end with them but he did understand their position much better than Luther or Calvin did. While in modern time this doesn't seem like a huge undertaking at the time it put this small group against the rest of the world. Bag show how big of a deal this really was when he says, â€Å"The change, slight as it seems to us, has an electrical effect. Their message was something original as no other party was suggesting getting rid of infant baptism and people really seem ed to connect with this new doctrine. The people of Zurich who jumped into the Anabaptist camp saw their city much like Nineveh, which was lost and broken city that would not listen to the Prophet Joana. Seeing their city Just as cost and broken aided in the spread of this doctrine in the city and beyond. This electric response to this new sect of Christianity is what lead to the persecution beginning.While it seemed to the state church that going after these new converts would silence the Anabaptist it had quite the opposite effect. The most persecution that was faces the more followers seemed to get behind their cause. Persecution of the Anabaptists Throughout history we see different level of persecution within the Christian faith. Many of the original disciples were killed for their faith so persecution is not something new to Christianity. What as new was how much internal persecution new group of radical reformers and at least up to this point reformers like Luther wanted to c hange the church from within.This allowed Luther to avoid such server persecution that the Anabaptists faced. Even before this time we know that re- baptizing someone or being re-baptized was punishable by death. According to Erwin Flashbulbs Beginning in â€Å"the 5th century, repainting could be punished by death, and the code of Justinian (527-65), which was still in effect in much of Europe as late as the 16th century, demanded for conviction only that the fact of repainting e proved. † The state run church did not quickly Jump to killing the Anabaptist but they did swiftly kick them out of Zurich, which lead to them forming the small communities covered previously.The state run church did not remain peaceful for long and Anabaptist began dying for their faith. While what the state run church was doing was wrong they were well within their legal rights to go after the Anabaptists with everything they had. In the sad reality of life they did give it all they had, â€Å"By 1 539, in German-speaking territories alone, the Anabaptists had recorded 780 arts. † It did not start out they harsh, it started most notably in the church of SST. Laurent. Both Grebes and Zinging went to debate their respective sides on infant baptism and ultimately they sided on Single's side.This was only after openly hearing from both sides and allowing each side to present their arguments and counter arguments. They agreed to forbid re-baptism, making it punishable by imprisonment and banishment for those who were baptizing and a large fine for those who were re- baptized. Banishing these pastors and leaders within the church only furthered their each as a church as they wouldn't stop preaching as they were sent to a different country. This helped lay the foundation for all of the small sects of Anabaptists that were popping up across Europe.It took a couple of years to really get things moving but as Bag points out, â€Å"By the end of 1527 the new propaganda has done its work. The process or absorption was complete, and the great Anabaptist movement had entered upon its changeable and exchequer career. † 1527 really kicked off a server level of persecution for the Anabaptists. Bag provides a vast amount of detailed accounts of death because people would not recant their actions. In Salisbury in 1527 there was a plan to kill all of the priests monks and ex-priests.Over 40 people were caught and of those that were caught three priests refused to recant and were burned alive. A group of five others were killed by the sword. Two women wouldn't recant and they were drowned in the local horse pound and burned afterwards. A nobleman wouldn't recant shortly after and he was burned. The strongest showing was when they burned a girdle-maker and a shoe-latched maker in the public square to make an example out of them. Yet time after time there would be those who wouldn't recant their decision to be re-baptized. They knew what was coming and were wil ling to die for their convictions.The number of Anabaptist Martyrs in the five years spanning 1 525 to 1 530 is estimated to be around a thousand in Tyro and the territories surrounding the area. Six hundred is the number slain in the southern area of Austria and the peak being sixty-six being killed in a six week time period. There were leaders such as Duke Wilhelm of Bavaria who â€Å"gave the order that all those who recanted should be beheaded, whilst those Pockets of reformed territories like Gangling and Lutheran began popping up and hill the persecution did not start out as sever there were the same number of Anabaptist facing persecution.There was a certain level of tolerance that could be found in the early stages of the Anabaptist movement in these areas but that quickly gave away to prison time and executions. Felix Mans was still in Zurich, which fell under Single's teachings when he was put to death by drowning. â€Å"He was bound, carried to a boat, and thrown into t he river Limit near the lake, Jan. 5, 1527. He praised God that he was about to die for the truth, and prayed with a loud voice, â€Å"Into thy hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit! Much like Mans, Grebes faced persecution on many level because of his faith.He was â€Å"rearrested, and charged with communistic and revolutionary teaching. † Grebes was sure to use his time in prison to his advantage as he sought to carve more detail into his personal beliefs and defenses for baptism. He was one of the few leaders of the Anabaptist movement that did not die a martyr's death. He was able to escape from prison and went to go live with his sister where he died shortly there after in 1526. With their deaths more and more converts were accepting believer's baptism and the Anabaptist faith was spreading.

Letter of complain Essay

Wong Kah Yee Secretary, 28, Jalan Jati, Taman Bahagia, 56000 Kuala Lumpur Michael Chan Manager, Kuala Lumpur Town Council, 56000 Kuala Lumpur. 7th JANUARY 2014 Dear Sir, Dissatisfaction With The Condition Of The Apartment As the secretary of the Residents’ Association of Taman Bahagia, I would like to make a complaint on behalf of the residents of Taman Bahagia about the poor condition of the block of apartment . 2. One of the main problem of the apartment is the lifts are vandalised. There are many leaflets on the walls of the lift. Some of the buttons are also missing. Moreover, the corridors are littered with rubbish. Initially, rubbish was collected three times a week. However, since December last year the garbage collectors have only been coming once a week. Our litter bins are always full of rubbish and we have no choice so we leave the bags of rubbish next to the bins. This causes a terrible stench in our housing area. Furthermore, stray cats and dogs scatter the rubbish in searching for food. This brings very unhealthy environment in the neighbourhood. 3. Furthermore, the drains around our apartment are block and always clogged with rubbish resulting the water becoming stagnant. It is n ot uncommon to see bottles, dry leaves and plastic bags in these drains. These drains need to be clear as the stagnant water is an ideal breeding ground for mosquitoes. The residents are worried as there had been a sharp increase in dengue cases in the last two months. Besides, there are also limited parking space for residents. This causes cars congesting our streets and a less stressful parking situation. 4. I have some suggestion to solve this problems. You should plan to install security cameras in the lifts. So, we can guard the lifts from being vandalism. The security guard should always patrol around the apartment to avoid this problem happen. The council should also do some surprise checks  on cleanliness. So our apartment can maintain the cleanness. Additionally, you should always send officer workers to our apartment to ensure the drains are cleaned regularly. The council should also prepare more parking lot in our apartment for the visitor, so our street outside wouldnà ¢â‚¬â„¢t be so congested. I hope the council will look into our complaints and take prompt and immediately action to solve our problems. Thank you. Yours faithfully, Kahyan (WONG KAH YAN)

A cross cultural comparison into the significance of personal Dissertation

A cross cultural comparison into the significance of personal familiarity and respect within business arrangements in Romania and the United Kingdom - Dissertation Example The globalization has created an acute need to expand the business internationally. The cultural factor is one of the most influential factors in the accomplishment of business aims. Culture is the sentimental factor of every country. The business manners and etiquettes vary in every culture. So it is very important to be familiar with the culture of the country. Approach: The study is held with the comparative analysis of the corporate culture between the two European nations. Britain and Romania have been taken for the culture study on corporate scenario. The paper aims at finding out the cultural differences between Britain and Romania. Despite being European country, there is a vast difference between the cultures of these two different countries. The paper first focuses on the international business relationship between Britain and Romania with recent statistic. Further the paper discusses Romania’s corporate culture and Britain’s culture. Scope to the study: Thoug h it is a management and business related research paper, the paper focuses on the cultural issues in business world. Awareness, respect, and honour to the other cultures has become one of the major prerequisites of the corporate leaders Practical implication: The study includes the following corporate cultural aspects of Britain and Romania: Languages/ religious orientation Cultural Values Etiquettes and manners Behaviour Symbols Body language and their meaning Key words: Comparative analysis, Britain Romania, Cultural factors, corporate world. INTRODUCTION Due to globalization the business has crossed its local and national peripheries. ‘Globalization is rapidly breaking down our vision of a world with well-defined national, cultural and linguistic boundaries.’ (Irina Budrina 2011) For its growth and expansion, the businesses have to rely on international dealings. Mergers, acquisition, joint ventures are the common phenomena in today’s globalized corporate env ironment. The corporate tasks are majorly performed by the employees from different cultural background. Culture has an influence on the way people operate and manage their businesses. It also plays a significant role in the way managers negotiate and interact with other business people, organisations and consumers. ‘It is important that you adapt your management style to reflect the market in which you are working.’ (International Marketing Challenges, Smart Biz Connect) New strategies related to multiculturalism have been dominating in the organizations. Knowledge and well understanding and benefitting from cultural differences has become one of the major challenges to the organizations that are operating on global level. ‘Each nation has a distinctive culture and different beliefs about what business activities are acceptable or unethical.’ (Ferrell, Fraedrich 2009 p.150) Consequently it has become crucial to consider cultural aspects while designing the strategies. Intercultural competency has become one of the most important prerequisites in the increasingly global business. The term intercultural competency is associated with the ability communicate effectively with the people of different cultures. While training and orienting people who are going to be the leaders, they have been given the training of cultural knowledge needed for a successful business. It is essential for the manager to understand and respect the cultural aspects of the country in which they want to establish their business. ‘Failure to place marketing strategy in the cross-cultural context of the countries where a company is doing business will work to the detriment of brands and business relationships.’ (Emery and Tian, 2003, 2002; Tian 2000) The cultural factors include language, behavioural pattern, their

Networking is the most important skill a new manager needs to develop Essay

Networking is the most important skill a new manager needs to develop if they are to be successful in their sector - Essay Example Today in fact every business faces fast changes and new opportunities constantly. That requires from managers to keep trace on the recent developments in terms of products, customers, employees, and so on, and that makes one of the most critical managerial skill to be networking (Pfeffer, J. 2009). Every successful manager has a priori several traits, which help him to network. He or she can certainly do well such things as: talk, listen and hear, remember names of people, keep in mind the news related to the company’s products, industry news, staff changes, etc. Such a manager knows his or her colleagues good, has good relations with them, knows what is going on in the organization and outside. All that gives additional advantages, for example, to apply for a position, which have just become vacant, or to get involved in an interesting project, about which not many people know, etc. Such a manager values his or her connections, tries to keep and develop them. He or she never burns bridges, for example when leaves some place in a bad situation, he or she will try his or her best to save good relations with people, because there is a very big chance to meet them in life later, may be in other roles. Networking assumes the ability to speak good. In order to develop speaking skills a person needs to practice them. Toastmasters’ clubs exist to become a great speaker and to find new acquaintances. In order to find new acquaintances a person needs to have deep knowledge in at least several general topics to be able to talk about, say football, music, and politics. In this case there is a very big probability that a person will be able to keep communication with somebody whom he or she sees the first time in life. Knowing other cultures and other languages increases the networking opportunities greatly. In case you know a foreign language you may

The brand strategies which Toyota May Adopt to improve tarnished brand Essay - 1

The brand strategies which Toyota May Adopt to improve tarnished brand image - Essay Example In the end the individuals were asked about their opinions and views regarding Toyota’s recall process and the reasons associated with this critical situation. According to them their perceived quality of Toyota as a brand has decreased and they are unhappy to pay the same amount of money which Toyota is actually asking because they should be aware that their brand quality has been tarnished and needs improvement. Most of the security concerned individuals stated that they will altogether stop buying Toyota’s products as they are outsourcing most of their automobile manufacturing. Hence it is evident that the higher management must put more effort in building up to quality and service to reposition their tarnished image in the minds of their customers. 69 Chapter 5 70 Recommendations 70 Conclusion 75 Appendix 90 Introduction The modern age of business can be defined as age of competition. The competition within an industry is gradually increasing with the expansion of b usiness as many new players are entering into the market. There are several reasons behind this intensifying competition. Firstly, globalisation is one of the primary reasons for expansion of trade and business that lead to increase competition. Many business organisations have found greater opportunities in overseas market, and free trade policies and agreements between multiple countries facilitated their market expansion programs. The domestic markets have turned into global markets that heightened competition rivalry among existing domestic and new multinational enterprises. Since last two decades, the society has been experiencing a rapid technological improvement. The technological advancements have led to change the structure of entire trade and business. The management tasks and operational process are now backed with technology like e-commerce and e-business. A better grip of technological advancement helps a business organisation to gain an upper hand position. Finally, en hancing economic condition of consumers and increasing their disposable income have strengthened their purchasing power. This has also changed their consumer buying behaviours and they have developed their specific brand preferences (Vashisht, 2005, p.68). In the modern and competitive business world, business organisations always try to position itself in market for avoiding unnecessary competitions. In this process they aim to achieve strong competitive advantages and core competencies that enable them to gain upper hand position in the market. There are multiple ways to achieve competitive advantages; however, brand development is the most preferred way for creating high business value (John R. Schermerhorn, Jr, 2010). The American Marketing Association (AMA) describes a brand as a "name, term, sign, symbol or design, or a combination of them intended to identify the goods and services of one seller or group of sellers and to differentiate them from those of other sellers. About. com Marketing Guide further explains that the objective of branding is not just to project yourself as being better than your

The National Health Service and How it Provides Service to the Public Literature review

The National Health Service and How it Provides Service to the Public - Literature review Example This paper analyses the performance of the National Health Service and makes recommendations on how it can improve on service delivery. It reviews literature on the quality of service offered by the National Health Service and proposes new ways of service delivery. With regards to this, the paper will define performance management, how it is measured and then proceeds to the current health status of Britons before delving into the challenges being faced and how best to fix them. Introduction The British National Health Service before the internal market reforms of the 1990s was a snarl-up of vicious incentives which made it very inefficient. Increased efficiency was achieved through the introduction of market incentives which in turn stimulated innovation in primary practice care. The improvement in service delivery followed because the medical practitioners had devised better ways of delivering quality service to the patients (Enthoven, 2000). This paper will review literature on al l the attempts made by the government to ensure that the citizens get quality healthcare and enumerate the reasons why some of them flopped as others succeeded. The current performance level of the British National Health Service will also be carefully analysed. ... This restricted the free flow of performance of the system because the government retained most of the control powers. The other reason for the dismal performance was because the experiment itself was based on an inadequate comprehension of both professional and managerial motivations. The importance of decentralisation in large corporations in terms international development cannot be overemphasised at this level. This is not limited to the private sector as the public sector has equally benefitted from this. The self governing trusts were introduced in the British National Health Service in the 1990s to serve as a paradigm case for the decentralisation of the public sector (Arrowsmith & Sisson, 2002). The progressive introduction of activity based funding in the National Health Service has been done progressively since the year 2003 under the name payment by results. This is representative of a major shift from the previous funding arrangements that were based on annual block payme nts for large bundles of services to what is being practiced at the moment (Sussex, & Farrar, 2009). The results from an interview done by Sussex and Farra (2009) indicated that there is a high degree of solidarity among the employees of National Health Service and the competition among the NHS hospitals was greatly curtailed. The problem however is that the payment by results initiative was introduced against a background of many other efficiency incentives. The managers did not detect any further specific boost effect of the initiative which was a major cause of concern for the policy makers. The fact that no impact on care quality was reported raises concerns on the appropriateness of the initiative itself. Perverse Bureaucratic