Wednesday, August 14, 2019

Performing arts Essay

Art, culture, and society; these three elements are closely linked. These three elements affect one another in one way or another. There is often a conflict of interest between the artist, the audience, and the government body. The artist’s aim is to express art freely. The audience’s aim is to view art in forms that are not offensive to them. The government’s aim is to mitigate the conflict of interest between the two parties by implementing policies and restrictions to art pieces that are produced and viewed. Controversy is an issue to take into consideration by the government when funding art and censoring art. This is due to art pieces being widely reached through the advances of technology. Audiences of art are thus easily accessible to art that could influence or offend. However, art is innately challenging and often provocative. Creativity would be stifled if the government funded only art so bland that it offended no one. Creativity would also be stifled if the government creates censorship to limit art that challenges the strongly held beliefs of the society. These concerns raise a few questions to Art in the society. Firstly, how much restriction should the government restrict the type of art forms that could have an adverse effect on the society? Or rather what limitations on censorship and funding should be made for the sake of artist value, or more broadly freedom of expression? Secondly, should it be the responsibility for the artist to take into consideration the effect on the viewer when creating art pieces that may seem controversial to others? In Singapore, Art is increasingly promoted. The promotion of Art in Singapore can be seen from the provision of arts institution that provides full time programmes for the performing arts, the implementation of the yearly Singapore Art Festival which provides a platform for artist to express their talent and for the community to appreciate and to understand Art better, and the funding from the government to arts companies, the opening of the Art Science Museum in February 2012, etc. Although Art is increasingly promoted in Singapore, artistic freedom is being under assaulted. Freedom is threatened by pressures from the government. The society only accepts art that is socially acceptable; one that does not break the law and does not offend any individual. The recent works of a student of an art institution in Singapore is one example that provides evidence for freedom of artistic expression being restricted. The artist printed stickers with captions and pasted them on a pavement and on road traffic signs an act of a guerrilla art scene. She also painted â€Å"My Grandfather Road. † along certain roads in Singapore. While her works portrays certain value of the Singaporean Culture, where singlish and certain forms of lingos are being used in her stickers and paintings, they are then being deemed by the law as vandalism. This specific act of art creation has roared a debate among netizens in Singapore, with many fighting for freedom for creative expression, while the others stating that what she did was merely seeking attention, vandalism, or creating art of no value. In 1994, a performing artist was fined for committing an obscene act. In his performance, he snipped his pubic hair before a small audience as a symbolic protest against police entrapment of gays, punishment by flogging, jail sentences for â€Å"victimless† crimes, and news media exposure of those convicted. He was also prohibited from future public performances. While the artist did this for the love of art and in the interest of expanding the general outlook of art in Singapore, The National Arts Council branded the acts â€Å"vulgar† and â€Å"extremely distasteful. If the government funds and allows only art that is has no controversial value, then wouldn’t creativity be buried in our society? Also, if art works is created to conform to the norm of the society, is art still art? Art is a form of freedom, expression, creativity, and life. However, from the above two examples, it can be seen that there is a constraint place on freedom of artistic expression and the value of art. Artists can express art only with lawful restrictions. Artists who are daring enough to oppose to such norms are either being punish, or their art works are being restricted from the audience. The rest restricts their work to those that conforms to the societal norms. With these restrictions, art can never be expressed in its original form; audience can never be exposed to some brilliant art works which may be vulgar to some but artistic to others. By total restriction of art works that lack redeeming social values, we will be exposed to only art that conforms. This would cause depreciation in the value of art in our society. Despite the fact that art should be freely expressed to preserve its value of creativity, it is important to take into consideration what effect some art works may have on our society. It can be seen that the two artists go against cultural norms to showcase art works that breaks away from the norm and set themselves different from others. By breaking away from the cultural norm, viewers with his or her set of cultural values may be offended. However, by silencing art pieces that the majority considers offensive, we may be oppressing the minority and preventing the society from learning the message that the artist conveys. Thus it is important for an artist to recognize how far he or she should go in order to create art works that do not offend some individuals. It is widely believed that Singapore, being a Cosmopolitan city, has to be very careful when expressing our thoughts on sensitive issues. In our society, censorship is necessary to protect its community from artistic content that lack redeeming social values. It can be argued that artistic content that oppose social values should be restricted. It is stated by our minister that artists can express themselves through many other areas without crossing any red tape. This shows that total freedom of artistic expression is indeed not present in our society. In conclusion, while artists should be able freely express as much as possible, it is only fair for them to consider whether their work would cause harms to others. In both examples, from the artists’ point of view, they are merely creating art freely and creatively. Yet their works did not take into consideration the effects it has on the environment, community, and individuals. Also, although the government has the responsibility and the right to protect its community from inappropriate message and content, individuals should be given certain rights to choose what they deemed suitable for themselves. The definition of obscenity differs among different individuals. What seems obscene to one may not be obscene to others. Thus it is important to have a clear line on what the rights does the government has on implementing policies and guidelines to restrict art works from the audience.

Tuesday, August 13, 2019

International Marketing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words - 1

International Marketing - Essay Example Spain is the principal olive oil manufacturer in the world. Therefore, the companies producing olive oil in Spain will diversify their markets by exploiting market opportunities. Over the past 20 years, there has been an augment in olive oil consumption in United Kingdom where in 2010; half of the households were consuming olive oil. United Kingdom is the main importer of olive oil in the world (Food & Drink Innovation Network 2010, p. 1). The company will, therefore, expand its market by selling olive oil surplus in United Kingdom. The other objective of the company will be to increase the awareness of its olive oil brands among customers in United Kingdom. United Kingdom is the largest consumer of olive oil in Europe. There are various uses of olive oil as a salads condiment or a cooking ingredient (Harwood & Aparicio 2000, p. 15). The company will seek to inform olive oil consumers concerning the various dietary benefits and outstanding culinary traits of consuming olive oil. The company has to inform consumers about their product, first whether it is extra virgin olive oil, which is utilized principally for dressing salads, for preparing sauces and as a dip for bread. Mixed oil and olive oil are utilized for cooking and preparing tender sauces. Assessment of the Market Over the last twenty years, the consumption of olive oil in the United Kingdom has been increasing constantly. From 1990 to 2009, the United Kingdom share of the global consumption of olive oil increased from 1.9% to 2.9%. All the quantity of olive oil consumed in the United Kingdom is imported. Spain is the leading exporter of olive oil in the United Kingdom. In 2009, half of the United Kingdom households were... This paper stresses that the company has to assess the size of the potential market, the type and level of competition, promotional variations, price, product variations and barriers to trade. The company has also to analyze the cost effectiveness of various modes of transport. The company has to identify marketing objectives, marketing strategies and marketing budget of this market. The company has also to identify the potential customers of olive oil in United Kingdom, identify the critical issues and develop a system of monitoring and evaluating the marketing activities. This essay makes a conclusion that while preparing an initial market plan, the company first identifies the target market. The company will then conduct a market analysis to evaluate the viability of the market. Secondly, the company set objectives it seeks to achieve in the new market. The analysis of the company comprises of the assessment of the market environment. The assessment will identify the prevailing economic conditions, challenges and the level of competition. The company decides the best marketing mix for its products. The company will offer a broad variety of products with different brand names, which will attract new customers. The company will adopt advertising activities, which will persuade consumers to buy its products. The pricing strategy of the company will influence the amount of sales in the target market. The company has to develop distribution channels, which will deliver products to the target customers.

Monday, August 12, 2019

Training Evaluation Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Training Evaluation Paper - Essay Example ded outcomes are higher productivity, improved quality of work, improved communication across horizontal and vertical lines, higher worker morale, greater job satisfaction, increased output and sales, reduced turnover, reduced scrap rate, and lower absenteeism etc. In order to determine these outcomes in our evaluation, we intend to measure the effectiveness of the program both before and after the training. We will allow a certain time elapse after the training program in order for the results to be achieved. Also, our evaluation design does not only cater to over optimistic results, because one of the most important factors of our evaluation is to find out how, if at all, the training program could be improved. In the first level of our evaluation design, we will record the participants’ reaction to the overall program immediately after the training program, by using instruments such as a questionnaire with both open-ended and closed-ended items (including rating scales etc.) in order to determine whether or not participants have a positive attitude towards all components and sub-components of the program. From this we would be able to evaluate the most important strengths and weaknesses of the program. We will respect the confidentiality of participants’ responses by keeping our instruments anonymous; this would produce more honest answers. Level two of our design is more imperative to our evaluation design. In this, we will gauge the learning of participants. We will match their learning outcomes with the trainer’s learning objectives mentioned in the beginning of the program. The assessment will be done across three areas, namely: knowledge, skills, and attitudes. For example, if the training program is on computer systems, we will evaluate after the training program whether the participants know the difference between Windows 95 and Windows ME (knowledge); whether they can upload a new operating system to a computer (skill); and whether their

Sunday, August 11, 2019

Effects of Accounting, Taxes and Regulations on Merger and Research Paper

Effects of Accounting, Taxes and Regulations on Merger and Acquisitions - Research Paper Example It is the objective of numerous medium and small-sized organizations, as they look to reduce the cost per unit through the enhancement of economies of scale. It makes simpler for the companies to enter and gain access to cheaper markets when they look for purchase in bulk as their requirement is also enhanced. The main factor that leads to a merger and acquisition is the motivation for revenue enhancement. The expectation to sell the product to a larger base of consumers by an increase in the distribution channels of the combined entity. (Schubert) Some companies also embark the use of product diversifications as they merge with other organizations in different geographical locations where they have no access previously such that their market becomes available in other places as well. It is also argued that the revenue enhancement is a more difficult aspect to realize compared to that of cost reduction as only a few firms are able to expand in a new market and procure further distribution channels. Companies in quest of mergers and acquisitions are always looking to reduce the risk that they bear in the market environment by adding up further capital, means of expansion and steady growth which could secure their place in the market. There is a great impact of risk management on the merger and acquisition transaction as the firms that are looking to merge share the burden of each other and can put forward more capital input together, therefore sharing the risk of capital exhaustion. Since the companies together have a better strength of payback, they are able to acquire more loans in time of need as their payback capacity also enhances through their combination. The mitigation of risk is the prime factor of merger and acquisition as entities that merge or acquire other entities have access to more resources where they can handle more pressure at a difficult time.

Is English Intellectual Property Law Incapable of Protecting Essay

Is English Intellectual Property Law Incapable of Protecting Internet's Growth - Essay Example Thus, the question arises that are the existing English Intellectual Property Right Laws adequate and capable of protecting the intellectual property on the Internet from the unlimited means of infringing ways intellectual property thieves can think of? The roots of English Law of Intellectual Property can be traced back to 1709 when Statute of Anne recognized the copyrights of artists, musicians, painters and writers in their respective creative and original works. Later on, the Bern Convention in 1886 obligated all its Member States to amend their local laws to give due consideration to the copyrights of their local authors as well as to respect and provide adequate protection to the copyrighted works of foreign authors. Similarly, the Rome Convention in 1980 recognized the industrial rights of the inventors, designers and trademark owners obligating its Member States to provide protection to novel inventions, designs and marks that have the ability to distinguish the goods and ser vice from another person’s goods and service. However, the Internet was created in 1989 and its potential to disseminate information from one person to another was revealed after a long time after its creation. The intellectual property law, thus, was unaware about the legal implications which will arise once the Internet will become a social necessity of every person around the world. Most importantly, the Internet has become the virtual platform for the businesses, entrepreneurs, individual inventors, and intellectual property stakeholders to sell their products and services online without the need for spending substantial amounts on the physical assets, expenditures and human resources. The Internet allows the musicians, authors and artists to publish their work online for the viewers and readers from around the world to admire and purchase the work without waiting for years to get the music CD or the hardcover book. Thus, Internet has categorically contributed to the succ ess and popularity of the intellectual property owners around the world. On the other hand, Internet has also been criticized to become the ultimate haven for the intellectual property thieves to establish their black practices like illegal downloading of music, peer-to-peer file sharing, counterfeiting of original books, illegal copying of copyrighted pictures, illegally entering into private online databases, copying of software program codes, creation of multiple domain names using popular business trademark, passing-off one’s intellectual property as one’s own, stealing the trade secrets by hacking one’s computer and illegally infringing upon the patented inventions of the inventor and the scientists. The existing English Law of Intellectual Property comprises of Patents Act of 1977, Copyright, Designs and Patents Act of 1988, Trademarks Act of 1994 and Registered Designs Act of 1949 amended by Community Designs Regulation of 2001. These laws protect the cop yrights, designs, patents and trademarks from any use, copying, selling, importing and exporting, licensing and assigning. Moreover, the protection granted to trademarks, patents and designs is territorial in nature. Thus, if one country has granted a patent for an invention in one country, it does not guarantee similar protection in other countries too. Trade Related Intellectual Prop

Saturday, August 10, 2019

Multi-Cultural Law Enforcement Definition Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Multi-Cultural Law Enforcement Definition - Essay Example For instance, an African man who moves to live in Europe starts to acquire the characteristics of Europeans. Bias refers to ‘unfair’ judgment. A biased person acts in favor of one side. It is therefore a tendency of a person to depict inclination, usually towards the unexpected side. E.g. a European employer gives a job to a fellow European at the expense of people from other nationalities, not by merit but origin. Culture refers to the standards associated with a given society, and which has distinct attributes which can help in uniquely identifying the members of the society. E.g. the African culture, which identifies people of African origin. The dominant culture refers to the culture that has highest number of members, as compared to the other culture. Thus, a dominant culture is the one that forms the highest population percentage. E.g. the dominant culture in America is that of the whites. Ethnocentrism refers to the belief that, one’s ethnic group is better than the others. For this reason, the person judges the other ethnic groups on basis of his own ethnic group. For example, an American judges African culture based on the standards of his ethnic group. It refers to a preconceived opinion by a person who doesn’t base on any reasoning. The person has a negative feel against the other. E.g. a negative comment from a lecturer to an African student, whereby the lecturer has a perception that Africans can never have anything worthwhile. It is a behavior, through which a group or a person is singled out from a group for unmerited negative treatment (Stafford, 1977). For example, a black person is isolated from whites and beaten up for no reasons. Zagefka, H., Gonzà ¡lez, R., & Brown, R. (2011). How minority members perceptions of majority members acculturation preferences shape minority members own acculturation preferences: Evidence from Chile.  British Journal Of Social Psychology,  50(2), 216-233. doi:10.1348/014466610x512211 There exist

Friday, August 9, 2019

Healthcare Marketing Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Healthcare Marketing - Research Paper Example The Affordable healthcare Act however does not just look at the issue of affordability, it looks on so many factors. The factors that the Affordable healthcare Act has addressed are so many that they could not have been implemented all at once without causing some disruption in the market. As a result, it is being implemented in steps, with the last bit expected to be implemented in 2022, over twenty years after the first bit was implemented in 2012. One of the biggest problem that have faced the American healthcare in the last few decades was not just the inability by millions of Americans to afford health insurance, but the fact that insurance companies have been seen to not be faithful to their promise after a patient who has been paying them premiums gets sick (Selker & Wasser, 2013). This has been a challenge and many Americans have suffered in the past because they would hope to be covered when they were sick only for the insurance company they had insured themselves through coming up with excuses as to why they cannot be compensated. The affordable care act is very useful in making sure that the insurance firms will have to be accountable in making sure that they cover the patients when they get sick (Zuniga, Marks, & Gostin, 2013). This is going to bring in a new paradigm in the healthcare market. Definitely, the fact that most people were losing hope with insurance firms meant that they were choosing to not buy health i nsurance. This meant that even those who could afford healthcare insurance were becoming suspicious and refusing to buy it, thus increasing the number of people who have not been covered. The other issue that the affordable healthcare act seeks to solve is the issue of insurance companies refusing to pay out when an applicant makes an honest mistake on their application. This is one issue that has stained the American healthcare insurance and needs to be addressed. The affordable