Tax Compliance

A sound tax system should identify surpluses in the economy and should tax in such a fashion as to cause minimal damage to productive activity. Tax collection should act as a catalyst for economic growth, Ideally a tax system should be neutral with respect to its effect on economic behavior. In the real world, however, it is impossible to achieve neutrality.Administrative feasibility and practicability are two important constraints on tax policy. These are also matters of convenience to varying egress. A tax policy is administratively feasible when its enforcement does not cost too much. At the same time administrative feasibility should not be an excuse to compromise the original objective. Further a tax structure should treat equally those individuals who are approximately in the same situation and account for differences among people who are in dissimilar situations.Finally, every tax should be collected at the time or in the manner in which it is the most convenient for the contr ibutor to pay it, and every tax should be contrived s both to take out and keep out of the sockets of people as little as possible over and above what it brings to the public treasury (Davies, 1986). However, the tax administrators of developing countries face many challenges in the massive task of tax collection. Nevertheless the problem of tax evasion bothers tax administrators of developing countries and developed countries alike.In the real world, those who wish to reduce their tax liability have more choices than Just tax evasion. Smarter and more sophisticated taxpayers, who find the cost/risk of evasion greater than the benefit, practice risk free legal ways of on-payment of taxes rather than blatant tax evasion, which is popularly known as tax avoidance. In many countries, there are perfectly legal tax avoidance strategies for minimizing tax liabilities. For the government, the results of tax evasion and tax avoidance are the same; for the taxpayer, however, tax avoidance is preferable because there are less or no chances of getting caught and prosecuted.Its is also believed the relatively less wealthy and consequently less well-advised people engage in tax evasion whereas relatively more wealthy and better-advised people practice tax avoidance. Therefore, the lost to government revenue on account tax avoidance is much greater compared to tax evasion. For effective revenue collection, governments need to curb not only the tax evasion but also the tax avoidance becomes difficult to the taxpayer. BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY: Tax have always been the traditional source of government revenue.But while the government has the authority and right to impose taxes on its sovereign, there is a limit to what it can compulsory collect from the people. Besides, taxpayers usually view taxes as additional burden specially in times of economic difficulty. Almost every year, the revenues generated by the government are far short of expected expenditures. The ever increasin g budget deficit brought about by the increasing public expenditure is a big problem faced by the government which has compelled national leaders to impose higher collection goals upon revenue generating agencies in the hope of coping up with the big deficiency in funds.The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIRR), the Bureau of Customs (BOCA) and the land transformation Office (L TO) are the main agencies mandated to collect tax revenues. Among the revenue generating agencies, the Bureau Of Internal Revenue's share in he national revenue is about (80%). Making the BIRR the national government's foremost revenue-generating agency. It likewise plays an important role in implementing the policy of the State to promote sustainable economic growth through the rationalization of the Philippine Internal Revenue tax system including tax administration.The BIRR also aims to provide , as much as possible, an equitable relief to a greater number of taxpayers in order to improve levels of disposable income and increase economic activity; and to create a robust business environment to enable firms to be competitive in regional as well as et global market, at the same mime that the State ensures that government is able to provide for the needs of those under its Jurisdiction and care (Sec. 2 of the Tax Reform Act of 1997).The BIRR is currently undergoing a process of transformation to make the agency taxpayer-focused. This is being undertaken through implementation of change initiatives that are directed to: 1) reform the tax system to make it simpler and suit the Philippine culture; 2) reengineering the tax processes to make them simpler; more efficient and transparent; 3) restructure the BIRR to give it financial and administrative legibility; and 4) redesign the human resource policies, systems and procedures to transform the workforce to be more responsive to taxpayers' needs.Measures to enhance the Bureau's revenue-generating capacity are also being implemented. Foremost of these measures are the implementation of the Voluntary Assessment Program and Compromise Settlement Program and expansion of coverage/scope of the creditable withholding tax system. A technology-based system that promotes the paperless filling of ax returns and payment of taxes was also adopted through the Electronic Filing and Payment System (peps).To enhance the collection performance of the Bureau, three basic strategies were initially adopted, and these are: 1) intensify the use of new systems (e. G. The Reconciliation of Listings for Enforcement or RELIEF System) and Tax Reconciliation System; 2) enhance the security of tax payments through the use of electronic broadcasting system and expansion of implementation of the peps; and 3) tap non- traditional sources of revenues for additional collection.Toward these the Bureau has been implementing several work programs which are directed towards: 1) more effective taxpayer compliance control systems; 2) effective detection and elim ination of revenue leakages; 3) intensified enforcement of tax laws; 4) implementation of BIRR-private sector good and honest governance programs; 5) organizational adjustments; 6) active support to legislative revenue measures; and 7) deployment of productivity and effectiveness enhancement technology.Another program of the BIRR that is aimed to increase revenue collection is the expansion of external linkages which has benefited the government in terms of eliminating the cost of physical transmittal of documents and making information exchange between agencies easier. The BIRR has already implemented an external tie- up with government agencies such as the Bureau of Customs, to monitor the transmission of import transactions and to identify potential registrants and the Securities and Exchange Commission to identify unregistered corporate taxpayers.A memorandum of Agreement was also signed with the Department of Interior and Local Government so as to facilitate the updated remitta nce of Lugs. With all the programs initiated by the Bureau of Internal Revenue to meet the demands for higher tax collection, it cannot be argued that a well-run Bureau is radical to the effective implementation of these programs. Hence, high performance management practices must be in place within the organization in order to improve organizational performance, in particular, actual tax collection.In this regard, Brewer and Selene (2000) showed that the most important variables among the factors that influenced organizational performance were efficacy, teamwork, building human capital, structure of task, protection of employees, concern for the public interest, and task motivation. In conclusion, they perceived that these variables have one thing in moon: They are elements of a high-involvement workplace strategy. Performance is higher in agencies that empower employees, clients, and other stakeholders.In line with the above discussion, this study is conducted to examine the relati onship of performance management practices to the implementation of the tax collection programs and level of taxpayers' satisfaction on the performance of BIRR Revenue 39 south, Guenon City. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK This study primarily premised on the mandate of the Bureau of Internal Revenue to assess and collect all national internal revenue taxes, fees and charges, and to enforce all forfeitures, penalties and fines connected therewith, including the execution of Judgments in all cases decided in its favor by the Court of Tax Appeals and the ordinary courts (Sec. Of the National Internal Revenue Code of 1997). Acquire (2000) further states that collection of taxes remains to be one of the primary undertakings of any government, in order to provide sufficient funds with which the nation's economy may be sustained or developed. In this light, it has become the enduring goal of every tax authority, be it one that serves a developed or developing nation, to seek and implement strategie s and technologies that support the continuing improvement of their collection systems. Employee Empowerment.One way to assist with pushing the operational decisions down through the organization is by empowering the employees (Howard, 1997). This can be achieved by giving employees information about organization performance; providing rewards based on action using that information, giving employees knowledge that enables them to understand and effectively use this information, and finally allowing employees the power to make the decisions that will actually influence organizational erection and performance (Wall et. Al. , 2002).This needs to be extended right down to the lowest levels of the organization. With participative climates it is important that employees are allowed, encouraged and have the opportunity to participate in problem solving teams. It is hopes that this participation will have a cascading effect of employee involvement support† (Tussle et. Al. , 2000). Par ticipative work environments need a ‘systems approach' (Bowen & Castoff, 2004). Participation needs to be reinforced with the appropriate supporting systems to assist the organization o be both effective and sufficient.For a participative environment to be successful there needs to be formal training in problem solving and communications (Tussle et. Al. , 2000). â€Å"Appropriate ongoing training enables employees to develop the knowledge required for effective performance† (Ordain et. Al. , 2005). Information Sharing. Information sharing and dissemination appears to be a critical component of HISS. There are three components as way to involve employees. These are ‘participative decision making, ‘suggestion meetings' and the more generic ‘information sharing.Effective HISS give employees all the information required to be involved and participate, without overloading them with information and details that they are either not interested in, don't need, or are unable to process (White et. Al. , 2003). I t should not simply be a system which management uses to ‘offload' information onto employees. The depth and detail of the information needs to be carefully balanced and assessed. Too much information can make the employees feel overwhelmed and undervalue (Bowen et. Al. , 2004).Not enough information can make employees fell that management is ‘holding out', and potentially cause satisfaction and mistrust as employees question why information is being withheld. There needs to be support within the organization that encourages employees to participate fully in the process of involvement. Many of the definitions of HISS fail to acknowledge that the system needs various organizational supports in the forms of appropriate rewards, communication practices, and training and selection procedures (Leotard Jar. , & Lealer, 1994). Rewards.Remuneration should be reflective of the desire to encourage employees to continue training. T he remuneration needs to be clearly linked to goals and individually tailored to acknowledge differences in intrinsic motivations (Glutamine et. Al. , 2008). Many authors feel that financial participation (gain sharing/profit sharing/employee ownership schemes) is an essential part of high involvement management (Hustled & Becker, 2006; Cochin & Steersman, 2004; MacDougal, 2005; Prefer, 2006). Employees also need to feel that they are to be compensated for effective use of power, information and knowledge (Vandenberg et. L. , 2008). It is important that it does really involve actual power transference to all staff and through to lower level (Hardy Alibi O' Sullivan, 2008). Financial participation, a form of indirect employee involvement, has been associated with improved economic performance (Addison & Bellied, 2000). Skill based pay encourages functional flexibility through cross training and teamwork, although ‘pay for Job' is the most equitable way for employees to be paid because it removes individual differences, is more transparent and less subjective (Long & Shields, 2005).However, high involvement management firms are more likely to use ‘person-based' pay rather than ‘Job-based' pay (Long & Shields, 2005). Person-based' pay fits a highly educated workforce, and HISS are likely to demand cognitive and interpersonal skills, such as problem solving, teamwork and communication (Flatted & Gillie, 2004). HISS are more likely to have team-based rewards, variable pay programs (skill-based, gain sharing, employee ownership) and flexible benefits (Richards, 2006).These schemes actively encourage employee participation in the organization. If organizations do not have any form of payment that actively invests the employee in the success of the system and the effect on organizational turnover. Employees need to be fully involved – this needs to include compensation policies to properly motivate employees to fully participate in HISS (Luau & May, 2008). â€Å"Pay should be clearly linked† to HISS (Glutamine et. Al. , 2008). Another component of HISS has been performance appraisals.However, performance appraisals often fail to improve the performance of the employees, instead creating an atmosphere of distrust amongst the employees, who see performance appraisal as solely a means of control and accountability (Lee, 2006). Juneau (2002) believes that â€Å"appraisals invariably fail†¦ Because leaders at the top lace is supported in the literature by the lack of ongoing training that is available to managers to administer the process correctly. Knowledge: Training, Skill Development and Decision Making.Many of the current practices involve workers taking on a higher level of skill and becoming skilled problem solvers, which helps to increase involvement in decision making with the aim of increasing flexibility and multi-killing (Guthrie, 2001). â€Å"High performance workplace practices convey an intention by employers to attain competitive advantage based on high involvement, flexible assignment, and/or enhanced team working† (Whitfield, 2000). Wilson & Western (2001) also identified training as an area where companies failed to fully enhance their organization's potential, and therefore fail to optimize the effect of systems such as HISS.They listed many components that are lacking in current training systems, such as: training and development plans remaining unchanged from year to year, initial enthusiasm replaced by lethargy, and the training an development need bearing no relation to the actual nature of the business. Finally, White et. Al. , (2003) emphasized that high involvement work practices must be part of a system, in order to be successful. Guy (2003) found that high involvement work practices work because they allow employees tm make decisions that make a difference to the organization.Decision-making by lower level employees improves performance for various reason s. For example it allows employee to use tacit knowledge that may not necessarily be available to higher-level managers. The freedom to make these decisions (alone or associated with performance pay) provides motivation for greater effort. This study also finds support in the New Public Administration (PM) paradigm. PM was advocated as a means to achieve greater governmental responsiveness to public demands. Under PM, governmental agencies seek to become effective and responsive to constituents.Baggy and Franken (2001) observed that PM views the science of â€Å"public administration† more as â€Å"public management. ,† Often an â€Å"attitude of customer service† is seen as an appeal o this â€Å"liberation management model. † Tendered and Tendered (2000) observed that governance involves a ‘ complex set of interactions† and â€Å"complex value conflicts. † They advocate viewing the general public as citizens, not as customers. They co ntend that while PM is the â€Å"dominant paradigm,† it needs to have a broader and longer- term perspective.Frederickson (2006) argued that PM was the work of â€Å"scholars, theorist, and researchers† and a potential risk was the decreased ability to â€Å"implement policy' Hater (2009) observed the results and efficiency were key attributes of agency performance under PM. Wise (2002) observed that three competing drivers within PM are: social equity (fair treatment); demagnification (engaging citizens in bureaucracy) and humiliation (employee focus). HISTORICAL BACKGROUND In the Philippines, the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIRR) is the leading agency tasked assess and collect all national internal revenue taxes, fees and charges, and toThe power, authority and functions of the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIRR) have been outlined in the Administrative Code of 1987. The BIRR, which shall be headed by and subject to the supervision and control of the Commissioner of I nternal Revenue, who shall be appointed by the President upon the recommendation of the Secretary, shall have the following functions: 1. Assess and collect all taxes, fees and charges and account for all revenues collected; 2. Exercise duly delegated police powers for the proper performance of its functions and duties; 3.Prevent and prosecute tax evasions and all other illegal economic activities; 4. Exercise supervision and control over its constituent and subordinate units; and 5. Perform such other functions as may be provided by law. Pursuant to the provisions of Sec. 21 of R. A. 8424, the sources of revenue that are deemed to be national internal revenue taxes and administered by the BIRR are income tax, estate and donor's taxes, value-added tax, other percentage taxes, excise tax, documentary stamp taxes, and such other taxes as are or hereafter may be imposed and collected by the Bureau of Internal Revenue.The Bureau, being the country premier tax administrative agency, has a significant role in the achievement f economic development objectives Through its revenue performance, it is able to provide the financial resources needed to support programs and projects for development. The revenue performance accounts for at least 80% of the government's entire revenue target (Annual Report, 2001). The BIRR is currently undergoing a process of transformation to make the agency taxpayer-focused.This is being undertaken through implementation of change initiatives that are directed to: 1) reform the tax system to make it simpler and suit the Philippine culture; 2) reengineering the tax processes to make them simpler, more efficient and transparent; ) restructure the BIRR to give it financial and administrative flexibility; and 4) redesign the human resource policies, systems and procedures to transform the workforce to be more responsive to taxpayers' needs (De Ass's, 2009).Measures to enhance the Bureau's revenue-generating capability are also being implemented . Foremost of these measures are the implementation of the Voluntary Assessment Program and Compromise Settlement Program and expansion of coverage/scope of the creditable withholding tax system. A technology-based system that promotes the paperless ailing of tax returns and payment of taxes was also adopted through the Electronic Filling and Payment System (peps).Toward these the Bureau has been implementing work programs which are directed towards: 1) more effective taxpayer compliance control systems; 2) effective detection and elimination of revenue leakages; 3) intensified enforcement of tax laws; 4) implementation of BIRR-private sector good and honest governance programs; 5) organizational adjustments; 6) active support to legislative revenue measures; and 7) deployment of productivity and effectiveness enhancement technology.Some venue programs initiated to improve tax collection include the following: Monitoring of Taxpayers, Enhancement of the Enforcement System, Collectio n Enforcement and Assessment, Taxpayer Information and Education, Legal, the so- called Integrated Tax System and the Expansion of External Linkages. The Monitoring of Taxpayers is a BIRR program which seeks to strengthen control over taxpayers especially those considered as large taxpayers. This aims to promote taxpayer compliance through extensive monitoring.Under the enforcement program initiatives to improve the investigation of tax fraud and policy cases are undertaken. The purpose of this program is to audit large taxpayers, issue assessment notices, recommend tax fraud cases, and to conduct surveillance activities. These activities are undertaken not only to increase revenue collection but also to gather and process data for tax policy analysis and revenue projection. CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK The research paradigm of this study is shown in Figure 1 .The input of the study is in the implementation of Tax Compliance Program of BIRR Revenue 39 South, Guenon City are the Basis of Let ter Notice Issuance and Guidelines and Procedures in handling LEN. A discussion of the performance management raciest in terms of teamwork, customer service practice and process improvement. The process is the comparative assessment of the groups of respondents through survey questionnaire, interview, documentary analysis and statistical treatment.The output is the efficient and effective implementation of Letter Notice Issuance, improved services, and satisfied taxpayer. Input Figure I FIGURE 1 Implementation of Tax Compliance Program Covering the Letter Notice Issuance on the Performance Process Output of Internal Revenue Office OR 39 Statement of the problem: This study primarily aim to examine the implementation of tax compliance program n the Basis of Letter Notice Issuance on the performance of the Bureau of Internal Revenue Region 39 South, Guenon City.Specifically, the study seek to answer the following questions: 1. To what extent are the respondents officers and tax payers respondents implement the Tax Compliance Program on the Letter Notices Issuance in terms of the following: 1. 1 Basis of LEN issuance and 1. 2 Guidelines and Procedures in handling LEN 2. How significant is the difference on the assessment of the revenue officers and tax payers as to the implementation of Tax Collection Program of Revenue Region 39 South, Guenon City cited in problem no. 3. As assessed by the groups of respondents, to what extent the following performance management practices observed in BIRR Revenue Region 39 South, Guenon City? 3. 1 Team work 3. 2 Customer service practices 3. 3 Process improvement 4. How significant is the difference in the assessment of the groups of respondents as to the extent the performance management practices cited in problem no. 3 is observed in BIRR Revenue Region 39 South, Guenon City? 5.How significant is the relationship between performance management practices and the implementation of Letter Notice Issuance with regards to the over all reference of Region 39 South, Guenon City? Hypothesis The study will test the following hypothesis at . 05 level of significance. 1. There is no significant difference on the assessment of the groups of respondents with regards to letter notice issuance when their respective companies are grouped in terms of the following. 1. 1 Basis of LEN Issuance 1. 2 Guidelines and Procedures I Handling LEN 2.There is no significant difference in the assessment of the groups of respondents with the performance management practices observed in Region No. 39 South, Guenon City. 2. 1 Teamwork 2. Service Customer Service 2. 3 Process improvement Significance of the Study This study is beneficial to the following: Bureau of Internal Revenue. The findings of this study will provide useful inputs and credible evidence to help inform policy-makers in the agency in formulating some policies relevant to the use of sending tax letters to taxpayers to enhance voluntary compliance and more broadly, in an y enforcement policy.BIRR Revenue Region No. 39 South, Guenon City. This study may positively influence the future reporting behavior of taxpayers in BIRR Revenue Region No. 39 South, Guenon City in ERM of accurate reporting of â€Å"true tax liability. † This study may also raise the awareness and knowledge of taxpayers in the research locale about their tax obligations as well as their privileges. BIRR Employees. This study will serve as an eye opener for BIRR employees of their respective roles in enhancing voluntary tax compliance among taxpayers.They will be more mindful of observing procedures described by law and existing internal rules in enforcing the use of Lens to verify tax deficiencies in case of discrepancies. Taxpayers. Through this study, taxpayers will have a broader knowledge and peer understanding of their obligations and rights as well as the appropriate sanctions imposed on delinquent taxpayers and evaders. Further, this study will serve as a feedback mec hanism for taxpayers of BIRR Revenue Region No. 39 South, Guenon City. Feedback from taxpayers, if addressed appropriately, will engage taxpayers to improved tax compliance.Public. Since the expected outcome of this study is an increased revenue collection, the public will benefit the most since additional revenue to the government will mean better public service through its programs and projects particularly for poverty alleviation. Researcher. This study will contribute to the intellectual foundation and technical know-how of the researcher in the field of tax collection schemes and strategies, enforcement or monitoring mechanisms, policy formulation and decision-making.Other Researchers. The findings of this study will provide useful reference for future researchers on the topic about factors and drivers of voluntary tax compliance. SCOPE AND DELIMITATION OF THE STUDY The scope of this study will be limited to the use of Letter Notice (LEN) issuance in enhancing voluntary complia nce of taxpayers of BIRR Revenue Region No. 9 South, Guenon City and the performance practices of the Bureau of Customs personnel.To address this objective, this study focuses only o the knowledge level of the taxpayer respondents about Lens their assessment on the extent to which Lens enhance their tax compliance. An assessment of the knowledge level of the taxpayer respondents about the Lens will cover only the basis of LEN issuance and guidelines and procedures in handling Lens. Differentiating factors in the taxpayer respondents' knowledge about Lens will be confined to the following (management performance practices of BOCA such asTeamwork, Customer Service practices and process improvements). The respondents of the study will cover 100 registered business taxpayers and 50 BIRR officers and employees in Guenon City. The study covered the year 2013. Definition of terms For a better understanding of this study, the following terms are conceptually and operationally defined: Basis of LEN Issuance. This is one aspect used in this study to measure the knowledge of the respondents about Lens.Sample indicators include: LEN informs a taxpayer of discrepancy of sales/purchases for a particular taxable period; LEN gives detailed information as to the source or basis of the discrepancy in the amount of sales/purchases; and LEN is an issue-based assessment which means that it will cover only specific discrepancies discovered under the third-party information matching system. Corporation. This refers to a form of business organization which that has shareholders and a board of directors that govern how the organization will be run.The shareholders are the owners. A corporation will continue to exist even after a shareholder dies. Form of Business Organization. This refers to how a business is structured. The common forms of business organization are sole proprietorship, partnership and corporation. Guidelines and Procedures in Handling Lens. This is one aspect used in this study to measure the knowledge of the respondents about Lens. Sample indicators include: an LEN recipient is given the opportunity to refute the discrepancy raised by the LEN usually within 10 days; when the customers.Suppliers fail or refuse to cooperate with the request, the BIRR officer may consider the LEN as true and correct; and installment payment is allowed in cases where the tax liabilities exceeds five endured thousand pesos (IPPP,OHO. O). Customer Service Practices. These refer to the following practices, routinely seeking input from the taxpayers about services of BIRR, easy filing of complaints about services by the taxpayers use of inputs from the taxpayers to improve services to resolve complaints from taxpayers in timely fashion.Letters. This refers to a broad intervention category of any written communication between revenue the tax authority and any type of taxpayer. Such letters can take the form of general messages of personal notifications, reminders, noti ces, warnings or final warnings – forever collectively they all aim to generate or enhance compliance levels, from the general public or know tax offenders. Letter Notice Issuance (Lens).This serves as a notice to a taxpayer that it will be subjected to audit or investigation with specific reference to the result of information obtained from third party sources. Partnership. This refers to a form of business organization where two or more individuals utilize their money, talent and labor to build a company. All partners personally share in the profit and loss of the company.

Competition in the Movie Rental Industry in 2008

Competition in the Movie Rental Industry in 2008: Netflix and Blockbuster Battle for Market Leadership Although the corporate strategies implemented by Netflix and Blockbuster have allowed them to become leaders of competitive advantage in the movie rental industry, they sometimes encounter strategic issues that slow down their product and services process. My research of Netflix and Blockbuster will enable me to present a SWOT analysis and recommendations for each company. Netflix, founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings, has achieved its goal of becoming the largest online movie rental service in the world. By the end of 2007, Netflix recorded revenues of $1. 2 billion. With a library of 100,000 movie titles and a subscriber base of over seven million, they had become the leaders of the movie rental industry (Gamble & Thompson, 2011). Netflix’s business model of internet subscription enabled them to compete in the movie industry. Consumers love going to the movies, but with increasing theatre prices found it too expensive to attend public viewings. Netflix provided an inexpensive way to view movies which could be done from the comforts of home. According to the text, (Essentials of Strategic Management, 2010), â€Å"Netflix’s success is due to its six-pronged strategy of providing comprehensive selection of DVDs, easy way to choose movies, fast delivery, no return due dates, and convenient drop in mail movie returns† (Gamble & Thompson, 2010). In an online survey by Nielsen Online, Netflix was rated number one for three years and for nine consecutive periods by Forsee/FGI Research (Netflix, 2009). Netflix Strategic Issues Blockbuster, Netflix’s fiercest competitor, experience many rental issues until 2007 when they regained market shares forcing Netflix to reduce subscription prices. Not only did Blockbuster gain presence, other competitors like Redbox also gained presence in the market due to new technologies (VOD & DVR) that are influencing the business environment. The business model used by Netflix caused a stir in the market industry. However, the damage control strategies of competitors and competitor recapture of market shares is threatening Netflix’s competitive advantage. Netflix has to change with the times. Competitive Forces Netflix and Blockbuster are affected by the five forces of competition which are potential new entrants, bargaining power of buyers, bargaining power of suppliers, threat of substitutes, and rivalry among existing competitors (Gamble & Thompson, 2010). The companies must understand how these forces work and affect their operation. Threats of New Entrants -In the home video/game industries, new entrants must own large amounts of movies/games for rental or sale to fulfill customers' demands. Meanwhile they have to build up various distribution channels for products to reach customers in a very quick way (Xie & Lin, 2008). Bargaining Power of Suppliers -The inputs of suppliers in the home video/game industries are very important and since there are only a few qualified suppliers in the industry, their bargaining power is high. Netflix acquires its movies from movie studios and distributors, buying DVDs on a fee-per-DVD basis, paying license content fees, and signing revenue sharing agreements. Blockbuster also has revenue sharing agreements with its suppliers. To some extent, these agreements reduce the bargaining power of suppliers. In terms of the computer system, Blockbuster is using Provia's Viaware warehouse management system (packaging, sorting, and distributing rental products) in its supply chain management to keep costs down (Xie & Lin, 2008). Threats of substitutes -Substitutes include movie theaters, satellite TV, and cable TV. Customers can go to movie theaters and enjoy the vivid atmosphere. Alternatively, they can order â€Å"pay-per-view† or subscribe â€Å"on-demand† from satellite TV and/or cable TV providers to watch movies at home. Users can watch anytime they want. Satellite and cable TV offer sufficient selections of new releases and are is easy to watch with just click on remote. Netflix and Blockbuster compete for customers by offering various kinds of movies and internet access (Xie & Lin, 2008). Rivalry among industry competitors – Netflix and Blockbuster are in a highly competitive industry. Competitors include merchant retailers, such as Wal-Mart, Best Buy, and Target; video and game store like Hollywood Video, Movie Gallery, and Game Stop; supermarkets, convenient stores such as Publix, and McDonald's. The significant rival is Hollywood Video which offers movie and game rentals (Xie & Lin, 2008). Bargaining power of buyers -Buyers are not in concentrated groups and do not buy in large amounts. However, within the entertainment industry, customers have a lot of alternatives and have no switching cost. However the introduction of DVDs, influenced customers to purchase DVDs since the cost is almost the same cost of rentals. This makes buyer power moderate (Xie & Lin, 2008). The five forces of competition of the movie rental industry presents little force against a competitor’s market position based on buyer power, supplier power, and new entrant threats. However, threat of substitutes and rivalry among competitors can affect the amount of profits a company will gain and retain. Netflix SWOT Analysis The presence of Netflix and Blockbuster in the movie rental industry has assisted me in developing this analysis of each corporation’s strength, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats as followed: Netflix’s strengths are: Good reputation, unlimited movie rental subscription, no due dates or late fees, easy website access, and large movie selection. Netflix’s weaknesses are: Limited to internet rental access, and long waiting period for new releases. Netflix’s opportunities are: To provide Video on Demand media access, music and movie download, and acquire partnership with gaming industry. Netflix’s threats are: Low DVD rentals, government regulation of rental distribution, high level of competition, and new movie media technology. Blockbuster SWOT Analysis Blockbuster’s strengths are: national and international recognition provides movie and game rentals, various vices for rental access (i. e. stores, kiosk, and internet), offers snacks and beverages for purchase in stores, and accommodates all customer types. Blockbuster’s weaknesses are: Poor distribution process, increased operating expense, decreased reputation, limited new released video games, unable to compete with game distributors (i. e. GameStop), and constant rental policy changes. Blockbuster opportunities are: Unlimited access to downloadable media libraries, increased production of brand movie rentals, and partnership with gaming system industry. Blockbuster’s threats are: New video formats, decreased DVD movie rentals, increased competition, and government regulation of movie rentals. The SWOT analysis shows that Netflix and Blockbuster have strong strengths and opportunities, however in order to Netflix to maintain its competitive advantage there needs to be an upgrade in innovation and technology that will strengthen their reputation and reliability. Blockbuster’s loss in reputation will continually plague their ability to remain competitive and maintain the customer base that they have. Blockbuster will continually face challenges until they upgrade their innovation and technology to level where they will enter into recovery mode. As I studied the financial information presented in the text, it appears that Netflix has been able to offer customers the benefit of low rental fees because they have been able to maintain a low level of expenses. The benefits offered to customers have increased the amounts of net income and movie rentals. Netflix prides itself on promoting customer satisfaction and meeting demands of its internet base. According to the numbers presented by Internet World Stats, the percentage of internet penetration by the North American population was 74. 2 percent in 2009, which was a 134 percent increase from 2000. At this rate, Netflix could secure an internet rental customer base of 74. 2 percent which would strengthen its success (Miniwatts Marketing Group, 2009) Blockbuster’s biggest challenge is development of a viable strategic approach to price setting. When Netflix entered the game, Blockbuster began to lose profits. In an attempt to recoup some of its losses, Blockbuster presented campaign where the rental policy constantly changed leaving customers confused and unsure of the rental process. Although Blockbuster has a large selection of movie titles and global presence, its reputation of dissatisfied customers and inefficient distribution has caused its overall cost to rise significantly. Blockbuster’s competitive advantage is that it offers various channels by which customers can access entertainment media. According to Blockbuster, â€Å"The same customer can choose different ways to access media entertainment on different nights† (Blockbuster, 2010). Recommendations In order for Netflix to maintain its competitive advantage there must be an adjustment of their strategy. Customer satisfaction should be a key factor of its strategy. I recommend that they base their marketing promotions on increasing customer awareness of the variety of accessible content offered. They should also implement the availability of music content and digital media to their library. The development of an award program for customers with lengthy memberships would influence word of mouth recommendations. Most of all, Netflix must continue to offer their customers the benefit of more titles at modest cost subscription memberships. In order for Blockbuster to regain its competitive advantage and reputation there must be the development of a strategy that will increase their profit. They have to become more innovation in internet and in-store rental process. There should be monitoring devices placed on scanner registers and mailed movie rentals to better track returns in order to keep their cost at a minimum. Staff should be trained and monitored on a constant basis to ensure that customer satisfaction is the key priority. Blockbuster must implement policies that will be enforced and understood by customers. They should also team up with gaming system producers to ensure that they will be supplied with current games and possibly offer gaming system rentals. Most of all they should find their own niche market which will provide them with a specialized competitive advantage. The information researched on Netflix and Blockbuster has enabled me to conclude that competition in the movie rental industry is highly competitive. There are new companies entering the market that have a competitive advantage whether it consist of internet rental, vending machine rental access, or in-store rental access. Netflix and Blockbuster have taken the lead in providing thousands of movie title to be viewed in the comfort of our own homes without the expense of movie theatres. Although both companies have a competitive advantage, they each have a following of dedicated customers who will stay with them because of familiarity. Through my research I have learned that consumers are the controllers in the movie rental industry. If consumers dislike the way they are serviced or the cost of movie rentals they will most certainly move on to a company which will cater to their movie wants and needs. However, the movie rental industry must stay up on new innovations and technologies in order to remain competitive, profitable, and maintain modest levels of overall costs.

Analysis of The Merchant of Venice

Antonio invested all his money on merchant ship’s. But, Antonio’s plan failed – the merchant ship’s were wrecked and now he didn’t have the money to re-pay Shylock. When Shylock didn’t receive his money, he and Antonio both agreed that Shylock would receive a pound of flesh from Antonio’s body. The married couple Bassanio and Portia, are friends with Antonio and they realized they had to help him. Portia offered Shylock triple the amount of what the money was really worth. Shylock rejected the offer but Portia had a plan to solve the dilemma – Disguise as a male judge to save her friend and also be more extreme by making Shylock worthless. Analysis. In the movie there are several motives such as good vs. evil, kindness and cruelty, religion dilemmas (Christian vs. Jew), tragedy etc. These opposites are all common with Shakespeare’s writings. Among the main character’s, Antonio is the one who is unselfish because he wants to help his friend, he represents goodness. Shylock isn’t actually the â€Å"evil-one†, he’s more of a vindictive individual because he lives in a society full of anti-Semitism and with a daughter who left him for a Christian man. I think Shylock has full right to receive a pound of flesh from Antonio’s body because both parties signed a contract (they both agreed on this) The movie is also about destiny and power. Whatever happened to the merchant ships is nothing Antonio, or any other human, can do about it. When Antonio borrows money of Shylock, he gives the Jewish businessman all the power. During the final scene when they’re all gathered in court, Shakespeare clearly shows he wants to maintain the Christian morality and make Shylock â€Å"clean† by converting to Christianity. Because Shylock is a Jew, he’s featured as an evil person. From the film’s and Shakespeare’s perspective, there is only one religion that is acceptable. This could be a symbol for the fights between the two religions and the main characters. Revenge is one of the main parts in this movie. Shylock uses his work and abundance to pursue his revenge. If the loan never had occurred Shylock would never had been able to take the evenge to another level. Though Shylock never succeeded his revenge, his main goal was vengeance and never hesitated to stop his work. Tragedy occurs when Shylock looses everything in court and has to beg for mercy. He has to give all his abundance to his daughter, convert to Christianity. He didn’t do anything wrong, lived in a anti-semi tism society. Above all, he had a signed contract of the deal. But, Portia’s rhetorical skills turned the situation around when she argued that no blood, not more than the weight of a pound was allowed when cutting the flesh. This was impossible to accomplish. Analysis of The Merchant of Venice Antonio invested all his money on merchant ship’s. But, Antonio’s plan failed – the merchant ship’s were wrecked and now he didn’t have the money to re-pay Shylock. When Shylock didn’t receive his money, he and Antonio both agreed that Shylock would receive a pound of flesh from Antonio’s body. The married couple Bassanio and Portia, are friends with Antonio and they realized they had to help him. Portia offered Shylock triple the amount of what the money was really worth. Shylock rejected the offer but Portia had a plan to solve the dilemma – Disguise as a male judge to save her friend and also be more extreme by making Shylock worthless. Analysis. In the movie there are several motives such as good vs. evil, kindness and cruelty, religion dilemmas (Christian vs. Jew), tragedy etc. These opposites are all common with Shakespeare’s writings. Among the main character’s, Antonio is the one who is unselfish because he wants to help his friend, he represents goodness. Shylock isn’t actually the â€Å"evil-one†, he’s more of a vindictive individual because he lives in a society full of anti-Semitism and with a daughter who left him for a Christian man. I think Shylock has full right to receive a pound of flesh from Antonio’s body because both parties signed a contract (they both agreed on this) The movie is also about destiny and power. Whatever happened to the merchant ships is nothing Antonio, or any other human, can do about it. When Antonio borrows money of Shylock, he gives the Jewish businessman all the power. During the final scene when they’re all gathered in court, Shakespeare clearly shows he wants to maintain the Christian morality and make Shylock â€Å"clean† by converting to Christianity. Because Shylock is a Jew, he’s featured as an evil person. From the film’s and Shakespeare’s perspective, there is only one religion that is acceptable. This could be a symbol for the fights between the two religions and the main characters. Revenge is one of the main parts in this movie. Shylock uses his work and abundance to pursue his revenge. If the loan never had occurred Shylock would never had been able to take the evenge to another level. Though Shylock never succeeded his revenge, his main goal was vengeance and never hesitated to stop his work. Tragedy occurs when Shylock looses everything in court and has to beg for mercy. He has to give all his abundance to his daughter, convert to Christianity. He didn’t do anything wrong, lived in a anti-semi tism society. Above all, he had a signed contract of the deal. But, Portia’s rhetorical skills turned the situation around when she argued that no blood, not more than the weight of a pound was allowed when cutting the flesh. This was impossible to accomplish.

Religion in the Medieval Europe Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Religion in the Medieval Europe - Essay Example These were practiced in various ways including, divination that comprised of astrology, palm reading, interpretation of dream and reading of omens. Medical magic was also part of magical practice. It involved the use of charms, medical astrology, prayers and use of medical herbs. Other forms of practicing magic included the use of protective amulets alchemy and sorcery, which was the use of magic with an intention to harm. However, it faced opposition from the Christian religion, which viewed the use of magic as idolatry. Magic can be viewed as a religion from Etic and Emic perspectives. The initial refers to its perception from outside tradition while the latter refers to perception from within the religion. Christians, on the other hand, defined magic from what it is not. The definition was magic is neither a religion nor a science. Various groups blamed each other of practicing magic due to their varied beliefs. The church distinguished magic as not being a religion by believing t hat the church was a true religion while magic was demonic. Religion was associated with god while magic was associated with demons besides; magic was viewed to be a manipulation while prayer was viewed to be supplication (Hamilton 39). The theory of magic has an evolutionary model, which described the process to begin from magic to religion, then Christian religion that was to be taken over by science. This, however, was criticised by scholars who claimed that it was outdated, unsubstantial, unscholarly and bias. Magic was practiced in the pre modern Europe across the demographic boundaries as pagans adapted to Christianity, which accommodated them. This was due to the influence of the Arabs and scientific inventions. However, the Christians viewed magic as a cult. Magic became increasingly identifiable as definite phenomena in the medieval Europe. Until the conversion period of 300CE to 1100CE, this had acculturation characteristics including paganism coming to terms with Christia nity, beliefs adapting to new religious views. In addition, at this point, the rulers of pagan societies got themselves aligned with the church (Louise, Edward & Raudvere 10). The Christians dominated the region and introduced its own view on culture to the local community. Tension arose between the locals who were pagans and the Christians who were the intruders. The church distinguished between magic and miracles. They viewed magic as an illusion that was created by demons while miracle was real actual and non-illusory. This was more evident on the Christian writings which included book IV of Isidore of Seville’s etymology, which is against divination and demonic behaviour and practices. Belief was one important thing at this time of conversion. The church believed that magic was conducted by demons and highly condemned it. It was believed by the pagans that there were women who were capable of cutting fingerprints of the foot and performs rituals with them. In addition, so me women were dedicated to killing people through devil powers. Bishop Buchan of worms (950-1025) discouraged this. St. Benedict’s and St. Gregory the great (540-604) gave a description of how St. Benedict saw through an illusion a fire that consumed the monks which he perceived that was caused by a heath idol buried under the building. Strigae was a roman term used by pagans to refer to vampire creatures and witches. The penal code in medieval condemned the belief in the Striga who were claimed to steal children. The belief that a certain woman had experienced a nocturnal flight with the pagan gods Diana who was recognised as a Striga was

Reflective analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Reflective analysis - Essay Example I believe that this ability to identify one’s mistakes, learning perfection and the ability to rectify them rather than ignoring the fact of being imperfect, makes me a better person and professional having the ability to improve with every step and instance. The learning outcome I really wanted to pursue is the development of â€Å"understanding that grammatical and mechanical errors detract from achieving their communication purposes†. The grammatical mistakes I made in my earlier writings made the content I wrote awkward and confusing for the reader. For instance, the use of punctuation could make this sentence taken from my January 18 submission, better by replacing â€Å"These celebrities all have thousands if not millions of followers on their social media profiles† with â€Å"These celebrities all have thousands, if not millions, of followers on their social media profiles†. Similarly, a sentence in my January 15 submission read â€Å"I think Toulmin model is the most effective for the evaluative rhetorical analysis I am composing, because my theis is "drug free"†; here the word ‘theis’ makes the reader confused and perplexed as to the meaning of it. The correction needed here was with the spelling of ‘thesis’ and it makes the entire message clear for the reader with proper sense. At times, wrong use of writing structures and mechanics make the work incomprehensible for the reader. I have learnt it from a review of my submissions during the course. For instance, my January 21 submission includes that â€Å"Everyone has one partner, then we read draft each other to find somewhere need to improve, like grammar, etc. ,I think this is a great method for revise draft.† The sentence could make more sense and deliver better meanings by an amendment in the structure and formation of it. It could have been better to say â€Å"Everyone has a partner to work with. After writing the draft, we read each other’s work to identify areas for improvement

Ethics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 7

Ethics - Essay Example Most would not think cheating Uncle Sam out of such a small amount as ‘unethical.’ These types of behavior illustrate both how conditioning and association function to determine our course in life. While we are influenced by how we were taught regarding what is right and wrong within a given situation and we make decisions based upon our association with these rules, ethics can ultimately only be quantified on a personal level. Slavery was just as wrong then as now and cheating is always wrong even if it’s the government that is the victim. During the days of slavery, many knew it to be wrong and it bothers some to exceed the speed limit or dodge taxes even to the smallest extent but why the disparity? The discrepancy lies within the experiences of the individual, what they witnessed as acceptable behavior and were taught as children. Whether or not a society progresses in a positive, productive manner ultimately depends upon how ethical it collectively decides to be, a reflection of the importance it gives to educating its citizens on understanding their own personal ethical conduct. Because society is, at its most basic level, a collection of individuals, it is necessary to define one’s own philosophy of proper business ethics before moving out into the field. For me, proper business ethics should include an individual’s constant attention to the common good and justice, which includes issues of sustainability and eco-efficiency as well as leading by example at the individual and organizational level. Ethical business practices give customers, employees, partners and shareholders reassurance that they will not be cheated. The ethical approach that favors the common good suggests that a corporation’s actions should benefit, ultimately, all of a community or society. According to Socrates, knowledge of oneself

European Sovereign Debt Crisis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

European Sovereign Debt Crisis - Essay Example In addition, the crisis led to a downtown in the equity market and increased demand for gold because of loss of confidence in the Euro by investors. The states within the European market should learn from the consequences of sovereign default so that their economic condition is kept at check. To prevent debt crises, various financial institutions and policy makers in countries have used policies and strategies of stabilizing the economy, which include regulation of financial credit and national balance sheet management. Introduction The world economy is controlled by various financial and political forces, which should be regulated to avoid sovereign debt crises and defaults. The European Sovereign Debt Crisis illustrates the failure of financial institutions, which stretched across the world. Governments, which face such crises, may announce sovereign default leading to economic consequences. This paper gives a critical discussion of the European Foreign Debt Crisis of 2010/2011, it s impact in the bond market and the lessons, which the Eurozone states would learn, from sovereign defaulters such as Russia and Argentina. A critical analysis of the effectiveness of economic policies and the impact of sovereign debt crises on the financial landscape is also provided in this paper. Part A: European Sovereign Debt Crisis The recent European Sovereign Debt Crisis of 2010/2011 has many features in common with the financial stresses experienced in the early 1990s in the world economy. The features of the sovereign debt crises such as low risk on premiums, long duration of credit growth, abundant liquidity, high asset prices, strong leveraging, and real estate bubbles are experienced in the European Sovereign Debt Crisis which began in 2008 with the collapse of the banking system of Iceland. As a result, there is a lot of uncertainty of banks on the creditworthiness of the institutions in which they had heavily invested. As a result, there is reduced investments by bank s in various institutions in the United Kingdom as demonstrated by Brearley (2010, p. 36). Moreover the recent European Sovereign Debt Crisis has caused a big liquidity problem among the European banks. Because of the liquidity problem, the European banks are failing to rollover their debts. The European Sovereign Debt Crisis may be viewed as a mere liquidity problem by policy makers and financial institutions like the previous crises which would cause eventual collapse of the financial institutions. Estenssoro (2010, p. 4), explains the beginning of the recent European Foreign Debt Crisis by showing that the emergency concerned with the solvency of various financial institutions in Europe demonstrated a serious economic problem policy makers thought that it was unlikely for the financial systems in Europe to fail. From the point of view of Blundell-Wignall and Slovik (2010, p. 12), the European economy was believed to be immune to the financial turbulences because it was considered to be thriving through the good financial positions of businesses and households in addition to the growth in export. In September 2008 when the recent crisis began, these perceptions changed drastically with evaporation of valuations of the financial firms, which caused panic within the stock markets. At this point, the collapse of the financial institutions became a real threat to the stakeholders of the financial and manufacturing sectors. The sovereign debt

Ethics in Financial Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Ethics in Financial Management - Essay Example In today's world, organisations and workplaces have become extremely diversified and have adopted varied stance s in terms of job processes and the general outlook. What is striking in such a scenario, is the prevalence of organizational or work ethics. Ethics has evolved to become an important aspect of organizational functioning, since it deals with the self-esteem and the very importance attached to employees in an organisation. Is it but well known, that an employee is the building block of an organisation and the importance attached to ethics in today's organisations are a reflection of the same. Financial Code of Ethics is important for the smooth functioning of any organisation. One of the important aspects of financial code of ethics, is to maintain integrity in the generation of accounts. One must ensure the hierarchal accountability and must also adhere to strict confidentiality and secrecy. It is also important to make use of the independence given and to maintain high levels of honesty and transparency. The Enron scandal was something that rocked the business world and also inspired books and movies based on it.

Case analysis--- intercultural communication Essay

Case analysis--- intercultural communication - Essay Example The term globalization can be defined on the basis of four elements such as network extensity that facilitates connecting with different organizations, countries and people located across the globe, interaction intensity in such networks, speed of movement of such people, products, information across the globe, and the impact that is caused on various communities due to such a trend. In the context of globalization there often exists dilemma amongst the companies as to follow the ethical standards that are set in their home country or to adapt to the cultures and ethics of the local country so as to sustain its business operations (Varner & Beamer, 2011).One of the most renowned companies in the technology sector that faced such a dilemma was Google. It is the largest search engine across the globe with a total market of 70% in United States as identified in the year 2010. The company has not only been able to achieve high performance standards and success but also have set an image of being highly ethical by nature. The company performs all its operations based on the philosophy that money can be made even without doing any such thing that is evil. The major turmoil that the company noticed was in the year 2006 with the launch of a search engine that was China based. The company’s major motive was to gain market share in China and to make the Chinese pop ulation easily access all forms of information through its search engine (Human Rights Watch, 2010). However the company in order to be aligned with the censorship laws of the Chinese government agreed on the aspect of filtering certain words and information that would violate the law. Such words majorly were those that were politically sensitive such as democracy, etc. However the company faced major challenge through this initiative as many personnel engaged in human

Multilingual learners in Primary classrooms Essay

Multilingual learners in Primary classrooms - Essay Example The result is one which creates a disadvantage to students that are bilingual and in a specific environmental setting. Analyzing the policies, practices and educational needs of students that are in a bilingual setting helps to establish a stronger relationship to what it takes to work within this setting. Observations of the Bilingual Classroom The first concept approached is one which comes from observations of the classroom and the way in which students interact in a bilingual setting. When observing the classroom, I found that there were welcome signs and procedures used to guide students. These were in different languages, which showed a specific level of assistance and ability to embrace diversity. The signs extended to different learning materials, such as body parts and days of the week, all which were established in different languages. The next representation was of the teachers and staff. There was no background languages of staff employed outside of English. The first lan guage was used all of the time in all instances. It was also noted that there were not books in other languages, with the expectation that students should be able to read in English. To try to keep with the diversity of the classroom, students were placed in groups named by planets, all which were based on the evaluation of learning. This allowed students who did not speak English as a first language to have he ability to work at their own pace. This shows that there is an embracing of diversity and culture in the classroom. However, the teacher competence and ability to meet the needs is one that is currently not being met. Policies for Bilingual Children The diversity in classrooms follows with policies which are expected for bilingual children. The policies that have been used for the education of bilingual children are based on the observations created through meeting standards and statistics which have been observed within this. Through a recent analysis, it was noted that bili ngual children who had already advanced in the language had stronger results and improvements than other children. More important, schools which were advancing into higher numbers in terms of performance were able to meet more of the needs of bilingual children while creating mainstream results within the needs for students. The study conducted by the Department of Education also indicated that the gap with bilingual students came from the ability for teachers to have a sense of confidence and expertise with the students. This particular aspect would begin to close the gaps of learning while creating more possibilities with the learning initiatives for bilingual learners. Similar to observations in the classroom, this shows that the gap is with teacher diversity, lack of learning materials and substitute materials that lead to the learning gaps (Department of Education, 2007). The creation under the Primary National Strategy in 2004 has tried to alter the gaps with policies and prog rams which are required by region. The strategies have combined with finding different ways to work with teachers while offering new programs for students who are bilingual to learn the needed materials. The policies are based on strategically finding new solutions that don’t allow children to be left behind within the school system while setting standards and requirements for children of diverse backgrounds to have the same achievements. The concept used is based on

Turkey-country analysis Essay Example for Free

Turkey-country analysis Essay Turkey is a dynamic promising market due to its geographical and strategic importance. Further more, it has a complex of developed infrastructure and an internationally competitive work force. Its geographical closeness to the emerging energy generating states in the Caspian and Central Asia are other reasons that further elevate its stature economically. Turkey is trying to align its economic policy with the commercial policy measures of European Union and creating free trade zones, signing new Free Trade accords with prospective countries. In addition to implementing Common Customs Tariff, Turkey is further putting into practice the preferential trade regime especially with third world countries i.e. Islamic and Balkans. In order to fulfill the EU measures and to look after its commercial concerns, it is executing this Free Trade accords on priority basis. Until now Turkey concluded 19 preferential trade agreements but only 9 of these preferential agreements are in force: EFTA, Israel, Bulgaria, Romania, Macedonia, Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina Palestine and Tunisia. This preferential trade regime was first put into practice by signing a Free Trade Agreement between Turkey and the EFTA States that was implemented in April 1992. After this Turkey reinforced its policy of preferential trade with European countries of non-EFTA members and signed FTAs with Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia, Poland Hungary, Estonia, Slovenia and Czech Republic. After their membership of European Union, these accords came to an end. So in this context, Turkey Located new preferential states and entered into accord with Israel, Romania and Bulgaria entered into force in May 1997, February 1998 and January 1999 respectively. Turkey has also created free trade zones. Turkish Free Zones are tax free zones. In order to lure the trade and investment, all the commercial and trade activities in these zones are tax-exempted. Furthermore, Free Zones earnings and revenues can be shifted to any country, without any official restraint or any prior permission and are not subject to any kind of taxes, duties and fees. Currencies used in the zone are convertible foreign currencies accepted by the Central Bank. Turkey is trying to integrate with international markets and enhancing the cooperation with trading partners worldwide. Despite various complexities and impediments, Turkey has almost achieved all goals in its global integration process started in 1980s. The stable liberalization of the economy and assimilation with the global economy begun by former President Ãâ€"zal has sustained itself without disruptions. Although it was full of vicissitudes but Turkeys trade sector manifest a mounting proportion of GDP, and foreign funds are a prime source of investment. [1] Despite economic catastrophe of mid-1994 such as the devaluation of the currency, bank failures, stock market crash, Turkey has been labeled a chief emerging market by the main international financial institutes. Turkey recognized its interest in closer multilateral cooperation with Islamic countries, particularly with rich Middle Eastern states and Turkeys augmented its presence in Middle Eastern markets and supplied supplementary sources of foreign direct investment and commercial financing. References Foreign Economic Relations Board ofTurkey. http://www.deik.org/ [1] For further details check Foreign Economic Relations Board of Turkey (DEIK) website that is established with prime purpose is to pave the way for Turkey’s economic, commercial, industrial and financial relations with foreign.

History †MapQuest Chapters Essay Example for Free

History – MapQuest Chapters Essay WebQuest Chapter 19: The Pullman Strike 1. ) George Pullman explained that the benefits of having his workers living in his company town was that he believed that the surroundings would remove the workers from the â€Å"Feeling of discontent† which â€Å"Characterized the American Workman†. This would protect his company from the economic loss that the discontented worker would suffer if he was living under bad conditions. He also took the rent that was due directly out of the paychecks of his employees. 2. ) The readings do not state a dollar amount for the hourly wage. The Parable of Pullman states that the workers wages were close to subsistence level. The amount of the pay cut averaged 25% 3. ) Eugene Deb was a Locomotive Fireman. It was under him that the American Railway Union was organized in June of 1893. He was the president of the ARU. It was a single organization that represented all types of railroad employees. In August of 1893 they had had success over the Great Northern Railway in a wage cut dispute. The Pullman workers also joined the ARU. When they went on strike in May of 1894, the ARU supported the strike and it became a nationwide strike between railroads and the American Railway Union. After the strike was broken by federal intervention, Debs was jailed for six months for his role in the strike,, specifically for violating a federal injunction and interfering with the mail. 4. ) The strike ended because the ARU members had refused to work any train that had Pullman’s cars included in it. The companies purposefully attached Pullman cars to mail trains. This caused the mail to be delayed. The result was the Federal Government issuing an injunction and President Cleveland sending Federal troops to enforce it, in order to stop the mail delay. A â€Å"yellow dog† contract is a contract that a worker signs promising not to join a labor union while he is an employee of the company who holds the contract. 5. ) The appellants had been refused employment, had no viable way to leave the Town of Pullman, and their families were starving. Instead of employing these individuals, Pullman had brought in substitute workers. Governor Altgeld wrote Pullman a letter basically stating that he should bear some responsibility for the plight of those in his town. He also stated that he was going to conduct a personal investigation. He made good on his word for the investigation. 6. ) The investigations found that the letter of complaint was indeed valid. There were 1600 families that were without the basic necessities of life, such as food. The investigators also found that there were 600 new workers but 1600 old workers that were still unemployed. HISTORY PAGE 2 of 3 7. ) Pullman blamed the workers for their plight, stating that if they had not gone on strike, they would not be suffering. WebQuest Chapter 20: The Triangle Shirtwaist Fire 1. ) The workforce was mainly made up of young immigrant women. There were also men employed, and boys as elevator attendants. There were other boys and girls present during the fire. 2. ) There were a total of 146 people who died in the fire. Most of these were young women. The readings do not break out the deaths by gender. There were also men and boys who died in the fire. About a third jumped from the ledges to avoid burning to death. The rest died of burns, some at their sewing machines. 3. ) The exit doors on the ninth floor were locked, ostensibly to prevent employee theft. The one fire exit that was available was inadequate for the number of workers. The conditions existed because fire inspections and precautions were inadequate. The workers feared that if they spoke out about the conditions, that they would lose their job. Economics also played a role in why the conditions were not corrected. 4. ) The citizens of New York, from every physical and economic part of the City, demanded justice. Workers offered testimony and support. There were protests in the streets. They demanded a safer work environment. 5. ) The unions became strong after this tragedy. Many workers saw the benefit in having an organization speak on their behalf. The other legacy is the building codes and worker safety legislation that was passed after the fire. WebQuest Chapter 22: The Platt Amendment 1. ) The Platt Amendment was attached to the Cuban Constitution. The Cuban Government, with reluctance, included the amendment in their constitution. The United States was already occupying Cuba. The United States was not going to relinquish any control without the amendment in place. 2. ) The Platt Amendment was drafted by Secretary of War Elihu Root, and presented by Senator Orville Platt. It was attached as a rider to the Army Appropriations Bill of 1901. The intent was to protect Cuba from foreign intervention and allow the United States to exercise authority in Cuba if the situation warranted it. It was passed by the Senate HISTORY PAGE 3 of 3 3. ) The Platt Amendment barred Cuba from going into debt, making treaties with other nations that gave those nations any power over Cuban affairs, or stopping the US from creating a sanitation system. It restricted Cuban Sovereignty by giving the United States broad latitude of power over the domestic and foreign relations of Cuba. 4. ) The Platt Amendment was used by the United States as an excuse for intervention in Cuba in 1906, 1912, 1917, and 1920. The Platt Amendment was also used for the creation of the base at Guantanamo Bay. 5. ) The Cubans were reluctant to attach it to their Constitution. They feared rampant US intervention. Widespread criticism of the amendment and rising nationalism in Cuba resulted in President Franklin Roosevelt’s repeal of the Amendment in 1934, except for the lease of Guantanamo Bay. 6. ) Whereas the Platt Amendment specifically provided causes for the intervention in Cuba by the United States, the Teller Amendment stated that the United States disclaims sovereign claims to Cuba, and will leave control of the island to the Cubans, and will not claim jurisdiction. The two documents are in sharp contrast to one another.

Online Game Defense Of The Ancients Media Essay

Online Game Defense Of The Ancients Media Essay Nowadays, game are well known by people around the world. Many people play games for many reason. Some of them play games for the sake of entertainment but there are also some people who make game as a work field. Furthermore, games give an activity besides reading a book, sport activities, and hang out. The tremendous popularity of game can be attributed, in part, to characteristic elements of games that fulfill certain societal and personal needs. Some of these elements are real-time interaction goal and stages. Increasing audience and expanding demographic point to the further evolution of video game in their ability to incorporate these elements in way that fulfills players needs. Different game elements appeal differently to people. Culture and society have a major impact on the success of game because of this ability (rabin, 2010, p 55) There are so many games which are play by poeple, it starts with nintendo, playstation, and online game. Online game already spread out over the world, because of the globalization era that use the high technology such as internet. The player of the game, also known as gamers are actually children until adults, and most of them are male. The contunuing intense interest in computer game may be een from a number of factors. The entertainment software association repotted on the popularity of computer games. The average game lplayer was found to be 35 years old and had been playing games for 12 years, furthermore, 40% of game players were found to be female. (tobias and fletcher, 2011. P. 5) One of the online game is DotA ( Defense of the ancient ) the popularity of dota is also well known for gamers in indonesia. The indonesian gamers are basically children and adults. There number is growing over time and will still increase in the next two until five years (www.ligagame.com). Dota is a short for defense of the ancient, this game can be played on-lined and offline with using LAN ( local area network). Dota is strategy game were players can choose sides and heroes. There are two sides in this game, the sentinel and the scrouge. There are 108 choice of heroes that we can choose, it is defided in 57 heroes in sentinel sides and 51 heroes in the scrouge sides, because there are alot choice of heroes, the team can created their own combos and strategy to make a powerfull line ups and beat the opponent. The purpose of this game is to destroy the opponent base. Heroes started in a level 1 and can leveled up until 25 times, hero gain level up during this game by killing oppone nt creature called creep and opponent heros. Hero gained new skill when they leveled up. This game can bey played starting one versus one up to five versus five. Dota was originally developed by map maker named eul. There was a various kind of map dota, the one whose most popular is dota allstars. Guinsoo is the dota allstars map developer, when he was retired, he substituted by icefrog until now Although this came can be played in one versus one mode, but this game can be more interesting and challenging if played in five versus five mode. The player should ncan be cooperate with the team and together create the strategy to win the game. The popularity of DotA has increase over time and got many attention from many people in the world. In June 2008, Michael Walbridge, writing for Gamasutra, stated thet DotA is likely the most popular and most-discussed free. Non-supported game mod in the world. In pointing to the strong community built around the game, Walbridge stated that DotA shows it is much easier for a community game to be maintained by the community, and this is one of the maps greatest strengths (blog dota, 2011,p2) In this paper the writer wants to observe the phenomenon of on-line game, in this case the writer will focus to discuss about the phenomenon game DotA(Defence Of The Ancients) In Sedes Sapientiae senior high school. C. FIELD OF THE STUDY The field of the study is focused on literature, especially Pop culture D. SCOPE OF THE STUDY In this case, the writer used online game Defense of the Ancient all stars (DotA) as his reasearch. Popular culture are the approaches which his choose to know how the popular of this game in Sedes Sapientiae high school. E. PROBLEM FORMULATION The writer has two major problems in this research: What makes DotA popular for students in Sedes Sapiantiae high school? What makes student in Sedes Sapiantiae start to play DotA? F. OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY From the problem formulation above, the writer has two objectives to answer that problems formulation: To find the aspects/elements that make DotA is popular in Sedes Sapiantiae To find the reason that makes student play DotA G. SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY This research is intended to increase the knowledge about popular culture and to discuss and prove the phenomenon of the popularv culture of games Defense of the Ancient in the Sedes Sapiantiae high school student. H. DEFINITION OF TERMS In this reasearch, there arev two terms that need explanation in order to avoid confusion from the readers. Those terms are the words popular culture and on-line game. H. 1 Popular culture Popular culture is the shared knowledge and practices of a specific group a specific time. Because of its commonality, pop culture both reflects and influences the peoples way of life; because it is linked to a specific time and places, pop culture is transitory, subject to change, and often an initiator of change (EKA =salah) An obvious starting point in any attempt to define popular culture is to say that popular culture is simply culture that is widely favoured or well liked by many people (Storey, 2010, p.5) H.2 Online Game According to Gamemile.com/dictionary, online game is a game that can be run from an internet browser and requires the I-net connection. In most cases online games are freeware programs that can be used for an unlimited time and are available for free. H. 3 Phenomenon According to the American Heritage Dictionari Of The English Language, phenomenon is an accuirance, circumstance, or fact that is perceptible by the senses. H. 4 Sedes Sapientiae A senior high school in Semarang that located in Letjen MT. Hariyono street, number 908, peterongan, Semarang. REVIEW OF LITERATURE I.1 History of Game Game is of the popular culture product in the world. The first concept of games was discovered by Beaur since 1949. In 1949, a young engineer named Ralph Baer was given an assignment to build a television set. He was not suppoused to build just any television set, but one thet would be the absolute best of all television. This was not a problem for Baer, but he wanted to go beyond his original assignmet and in corporate some kind of game into the set. He didnt know excatly what kind of game he had in mind, but it didnt really matter because his manager mixed the idea. It would take another 18 years for his idea to become a reality, and by the time there would be other people to share in the glory, like Willy Higinbotham, who dwesigned an interactive tennis game played on an oscilloscoope, and Steve Russell, who programed a rudimentary space game on a DEC PDP-1 mineframe computer. And then there was also nolan bushnell, who played that space game, and dreamed of a time when fairground midweast would be field with games powered by computers. (Herman, Horwitz, Kent, and Miller, 2002. P 1 ) Through the research and some development in game, there was a bunch of variety of game such as : offline game and on-line game. The writer focusing to discuss about on-line game based on Borko Furth in 2008 online game is fairness in online games is concerned with the problem of ansuring that players perceive the game evolution in the same movement, despite different network latencies ( Furth, 2008. P. 2008) I.2 History of DotA One of the online games is dota. Dota concept and its gameplay is adopting a lot from aeon of strife. Aeon of strife also known as AOS, is a modified map that pioneered the concept of players choosing a single hero for the collective objective of destroying the opposing teams base. Defense of the ancient was originally created for warcraft III: Reign of chaos by lead progammer Eul up until the release of warcraft III: The Frozen Throne. Eul did not continue the development onto the frozen Throne; and instead, made the map open source before officially shutting down development. DotA all-stars became the most popular version, and it still the most widely plyaed map today. Dota All Stars DotA all-stars is a custom map and it was development from the current version Defense of the Ancientsm or DotA for short, is a modification of warcraft 3 Frozen Throne. The current version that is a modification by the mainstream group of gamers is version 5.84c, also know as DotA Allstars ( Aziz, 2005. P 16) The Guinsoo While the true origins of DotA All-stars still remains in question today, many DotA players and community members attribute the creation of DotA All-Stars with its first mainstream developer, Guinsoo, who built a majority of the systems that make it popular today. While tbhe concept of using single heroes to accomplish an objective had previously existed (See AoS), Guinsoo created a large number of interesting and unique heroes in addition to uniquely fun item- crafting system, much of which still exist today. (Chart of Heroes) Guinsoo is atributtet to creating and running DotA smost well known clan, Clan TDA (Theme DotA All Stars). Some controversy remins to this day regarding the creation of DotA All-Stars wirth avoid players of the original DotA presenting Guinsoo for supposedly stealing the game concept, action scripts, and ideas of the original DotA. Guinsoo, for his part, maintains that the map was created from scratch (besides the map layout and based only spiritually on Euls work. While, the real reason is still in question, there are some rumors linking Guinsoos departure from the DotA community for world of Warcraft. Guinsoos last official version was version 6.01 The Icefrog Upon Guinsoos departurev shortly after the release of version 6.01 on February 28th, 2005, players. Icefrog and Neichus took over development. Neichushas since dropped from view, and Icefrog is now thec primary point for DotA All-Stars development. While the development of new heroes and items have slowed since Guinsoos development, Icefrog is primarily attributed with bug fixes, tweaks, and balances. In DotA there was a complicated game play that contain of job, role in playing game and also building item, what makes interesting. Every game is different. You buy different items, you lane against different opponents, you have different combod, you pick different heroes, you plan different attacks, etc. Variation is important to stay addicted on something. Nobody would want to do same things over and over again. (Rodriguez, 2011. P14) Role of playing game DotA is a strategy game with a bunch of development by many people in case of playing it. In this game there are some role that you must choose and suitable for your team, each role have a different job. There are Five role in playing DotA : Ganker A hero that usually had decent stunt ability, has slow, or disable, is perfect to ganking a hero. Ganker usually ganks with groups, they never gank alone. The ganker job is to mobile and gank any enemy carry (if it is possible). Carry : Sometimes called as a Hitter because their primary job is auto attack. But dont be surprised, not only Agility or Strength heroes that can be carry, intelligence heroes has some few carries like Tinker and Storm Spirit. But they dont do the auto-attack, they cast spam spells, spells, spells, and much spells. The carry job is to farm a lot. Killing, and juggling. Support An hero that helps the team, supports usually have heaking abikities, protection skills, and some supporting abilities. Support usually known as Baby Sitter, they usually laning with a carry, to let them farm meanwhile the support is covering them. Support job is to Let carry farm, Support team, and Mobile. Initiator A unique rolr. Initiator are divided into 2 more roles, they are tanker, and Nuker. Tanker job is to tank everytime war happen and to block creeps Nuker job is to spam every single spell that you can on every war and stay behind when war, the longer you can survive, the more damage you can dealt. So, the main point of initiator is, they are the war heroes. Pusher A hero that has abilities to destroy a waves of creeps in instant, or even destroying a tower in seconds. Pusher job is to mobile pushing and prevent being ganked when pushing. Build up item Playing this game is not always depend on the team, you must support your own hero with a suitable and effective equip. The equipment in this game basically has the function for : improve attack, improve defence, regeneration, supporting aura, and get special ability. Team Work Game This game need a team work. First you playing this game, is hard to blend with your team yet, when you get the chemistry you will enjoy playing this game with your team. Playing with team mates is more addicting than playing alone. J. Method of data collection and analysis J.1 Method of data collection The writer would do library reasearch book, internet, and article that related to the topic. J.2 Participant The studebts of sedes Saptentiae senior high school grade I III J.3 Procudure Firstly the writer make a questionare about the popularity of DotA of studebts in Sedes Sapiantiae senior high school. After thet the writer give it to the students, and after that the writer analyze it, and make the data. J.4 Method of analysis Analysis the game by searching in internet and search the theory in and then Calculate the answer from questionnaire and make the conclusion from that questionnaire.

Elements of Fiction in Danielle Steel’s Mixed Blessings :: Danielle Steel Mixed Blessings Essays

Elements of Fiction in Danielle Steel’s Mixed Blessings Danielle Steel, in her work of fiction, Mixed Blessings, has effectively used plot, setting, and theme as she weaves a powerful tale of three couples who face decisions about having children that will test, in unexpected ways, the ties that bind them as lovers, partners, and friends. Steel has used these elements to emphasize that there are people who have such a great need and love for children. In Mixed Blessings, she represents women radically and optimistically as shown by Diana Goode, Barbie Mason, and Pilar Graham, unlike the negative representation of womanhood in the movie version of her other novel, The Ring, where Kassandra feels that taking her own life would save her children and her husband from the shame of her unfaithfulness. First, there is a major plot structure in Mixed Blessings, the plot of complications. Right from the beginning, Steel portrays the female characters in terms of their dreams, careers, and their curiosity about having a family. For instance, Diana is the middle child amongst three sisters; her goal is to classically strive to be better, smarter, and more successful. She feels that she has to achieve something more than her sisters have done. Gayle, Diana’s older sister has a dream of attending medical school, but she happily succumbs to marriage temptation. In fact, in Steel’s own words Gayle’s situation is described as: Her oldest sister, Gayle, had been set on going to medical school until she met her husband in her first year of premed, married him that June, and instantly got pregnant. . . . Gayle never looked back at a career in medicine once. She was happily married, and satisfied to stay home with her girls and keep busy with them and her husband. She was the perfect doctor’s wife, intelligent, informed, and completely understanding about his hours as an obstetrician. (6) As the plot progresses, Diana has her own complications from the Intrauterine Device (IUD) she has been using for the past eighteen years. The IUD delayed her from having a child immediately after her marriage. Another aspect of plot that Steel has used in this novel is the reversal of fortune, where Diana, the young elegant looking woman, who knows where she is going and what she wants out of life, ends up being frustrated about inability to have a child.

business ethics :: essays research papers

â€Å"Eli, The Fanatic† is a short story about a young lawyer dealing with ethical issues in his community. He is torn apart in his decision of choosing between a ‘man in a lawyer’s suit’ and his neighborhood. We find that Eli is trapped in between two conflicting cultures. He, himself has assimilated with his Protestant neighbors and wishes that the Jewish man in the old, black suit would do the same. Eli is driven to the extreme by trying to get the poor, unfortunate man to change his attire consequently his identity. In the beginning Eli seems focused and put together. Yet, we find that Eli is disoriented because of his wife, career and surroundings. He urges the ‘man in the suit’ to take off his black one and put on Eli’s green, lawyer suit. The Black suit makes Eli crazy because it represents old, traditional, European ways. By changing suits, Eli is making the man change his culture. The Black suit shows that the ‘man’ is not assimilated, especially since all the Jewish, traditional, males wear them. It represents their isolationism from the world. The men that wear the Black suits have their own attire, language and culture. Eli is persistent on getting the man a new suit. Mr. Tzuref responds to Eli, â€Å"The suit the gentleman wears is all he’s got.† Now logically speaking the man can get a new suit but by giving it up, he is developing a whole new identity. The Jews that have come to Woodenton are survivors of the Holocaust. The Black signifie s the morbid colors of pain and anguish that these men suffered. They have been deprived of their freedom, religion and family; all they have left are these suits. The community is quite disturbed that some strange individual comes to glance through and shop in their town. The town’s people don’t like change. They want to avoid it all costs. They are afraid of what could happen if their community changes. â€Å"Next thing they’ll be after our daughters.† (302) Eli’s wife, Miriam agrees with the rest of her neighbors that the ‘man in the suit’ should just leave their community. Eli is the only one that feels that justice should be served. He is just a â€Å"man in a suit† she would say. Yet, Eli knows that this man has potential to be like the rest of them, modern so he changes him into a green suit.

Classical Theory: Cesane Beccaria and Jeremy Bentham Essay -- feudalis

Crime have existed over many centuries, different eras affect the flow of crime and within those eras. Furthermore amongst individuals, there was different way of thinking into how to reduce and eliminate occurred. The act of crime cannot be eliminated, as different individuals have different perspectives of crime and for theses reasons, have different methods of advocating and eliminating crime. This essay will firstly explore the views of Classical Theory, by looking at Cesane Beccaria, the father of Classical theory and Jeremy Bentham, the founder of Utilitarian and explore how there influences are incorporated into laws and regulations, around the world. Secondly, Positivism theory explores the biological, psychological and environment understanding of what causes the crime, thus having a different understand and method into solving and eliminating crime. By looking at these overarching theories, we can come to understand how they both are beneficial and incorporated into the law s within our society, however does now have the power to rid it of crime. Classical theory explores the idea that crime is the intent to commit, rather than a reaction to an unfavorable situation. This theory believes that a committed crime was intended to gain ‘self-seeking and self interest’ and because of this belief this theory believe that the criminals have to take full responsibility of there actions. Two known advocates of Classical theories are Cesane Beccaria and Jeremy Bentham. Their ideologies revolve around classical theory and have greatly influenced, through the creation of laws, rules and regulations, which have impacted society today. The development and influence of Classical theory happened during the transition from the feudalism... ...conferences/criminality/benier.pdf http://www.justice.govt.nz/justice-sector/drivers-of-crime/publications-and-background-information/documents/spb-theories-on-the-causes-of-crime http://www.criminology.fsu.edu/crimtheory/beccaria.htm http://www.iep.utm.edu/beccaria/ http://www.sagepub.com/upm-data/19631_Section_8___Biosocial_Approaches.pdf http://www.bunker8.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/history/panopticon.htm https://sentencingcouncil.vic.gov.au/sites/sentencingcouncil.vic.gov.au/files/how_much_does_imprisonment_protect_the_community_through_incapacitation_0.pdf http://www.jstor.org/stable/2709127?__redirected http://www.sagepub.com/hanserintro/study/materials/reference/ref8.1.pdf http://www.ashgate.com/pdf/SamplePages/Ashgate_Research_Companion_to_Biosocial_Theories_of_Crime_Intro.pdf http://whatworks.uwex.edu/attachment/FamilyBasedPreventionProgramschapterdraft6-10-10.pdf

Iris By the Goo Goi dolls

And I'd give up forever to touch you ‘Cause I know that you feel me somehow You're the closest to heaven that I'll ever be And I don't want go home right now And all I can taste is this moment And all I can breathe is your life When sooner or later it's over I Just don't want miss you tonight And I don't want the world to see me ‘Cause I don't think that they'd understand When everything made to be broken I Just want you to know who I am And you can't fight the tears that mint coming Or the moment of truth in your lies When everything feels like the moviesIris was written by the and John Organize. John Organize was approached to write a song for the movie City of Angels soundtrack, and so he wrote â€Å"Iris†. This song propelled the band to stardom, as it stayed on top of Billboard Hot 100 Airplay charts for a record-breaking 18 weeks, and was nominated for three Grammas that year.According to several Interviews with Rezoned, he was experiencing serious sessions o f writer's block when he was asked to write , and was about to quit the band Just days before he wrote the song that would launch the band to worldwide fame-The song was released on April 7, 1998. Consider the song to be a part of the genre pop rock. It is slow in the verses but speeds up in the chorus. It has strong guitar and drum sounds which give it the rock feel.I think he wrote it from the perspective of an angel in love p in which the angel is completely gaga over the woman and feeling things he's never felt before but at the same time wanting to keep it private because he's afraid that if it becomes of the material world then it will lose it's purity. It's a love song about the conflict between what your heart is urging you to do and what your head is telling you is the mart thing to do. I watched the Go Go dolls on VHF talking about this song and what it meant.They said they watched the film ‘City of Angels† and that the song is about an angel who falls for a mo rtal woman. Which is why it says â€Å"I'd give up forever to touch you†, â€Å"you're the closest to heaven that I've ever been† â€Å"and to bleed Just to know you're alive†. He wants to be with her and gives up an eternity in heaven Just to spend a moment with a woman he fell in love with.Like the song because it helps me through through hard times sometimes Just slightly easing the pain and Just let me ponder about things. I do have a particular connection to it because it explains some of my feelings like â€Å"you bleed Just to know you're alive† and â€Å"when everything meant to be broken† sometimes people go through hardships in life, sometimes very small and stupid things that change your perspective in the way you see and experience things. It makes me feel sad moieties.It makes me feel like I'm not the only person that is going through hard times. I actually mostly listen to the cover of this song that is played and sung by Sleeping Wit h Sirens. Keeling (the guy who is from Sleeping With Sirens that sings it) has a very sweet voice that kind of lulls you to sleep when you listen to him. It makes me think of things going on in my life and how it relates to the lyrics. I would choose to listen to this song when I'm feeling down. Like I said before makes me think like I'm not the only person in the world who is going through hardships.