The end of the Odyssey Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

The end of the Odyssey - Essay Example There are various theories, criticisms, interpretations, and opinions on the ending of Homers epic poem, The Odyssey. Some have unique theories such as the solar eclipse theory, others are historically possible, as if the oral tradition and the lost scrolls, while some are theoretical that leave the audience with an immortal image of the text. In this easy, we will have a critical review of the ending of the epic chronicle. At the end of the chronicle of The Odyssey, the author, Homer refers to the occurrence of the total eclipse. The core phrase that by the then seer, Theoclymenus, depicts a foresight of the death of untamed and unruly men who had sought the hand in marriage of Penelope at the time Odysseus was at war. The seer makes reference the sun obliteration from the sky, with a cloud of bad luck invading the whole world (Homer & Lattimore, 1967). This idea is symbolic of the occurrence of a total eclipse, a situation where the moon blocks the sunrays. Although, this is not new it was up to the early years of the 1920 that astronomers were able to calculate the occurrence of such an eclipse over Greece. The eclipse had a possibility of occurrence in the month of April in the year 1178 BC (Homer & Lattimore, 1967). However, many individuals are convinced that the passage that has a reference of the solar eclipse is just but a mere mythical total solar eclipse. This argument supports the claims a poetic license as the Odyssey was written by Homer several centuries after the said events had taken place. On the other side, many modern scholars and critics are convinced by the possibility of the April 1178 BC solar eclipse occurrence (Bloom, 1988). This claim is supported by other passages in then poem that have a reference to other four independent astronomical events that occur independently to each other. Instead of just having a historical view of the occurrence of a solar eclipse, several astronomers have investigated the timing

United Parcel Service And Service Marketing Business Essay

United Parcel Service And Service Marketing Business Essay Services are economic activities that create and deliver great value to the consumer. It is an act that helps consumers to get things done without having to go do it themselves, and the consumers have to pay for it. Services, which can surprise a customer on the first delivery, always win over with high reputation and excellence or pass with flying colours. This report is on the services offered by UPS, mainly focusing on their call centre. UPS was found in 1907 by two people Jim Casey Claude Ryan who were teenagers at the time, also known as the American Messenger Company, whose messengers delivered packages, and carried notes, baggage and trays of food from restaurants. Most of the delivery was made either on foot or, and bicycles for longer journeys. At the time, only a few automobiles were in existence and department stores of the day still used horses and wagons for merchandise delivery. The company was soon started delivering small parcels for local department stores and changed its name from American Messenger Company to Merchants Parcel Delivery. The company expanded outside Seattle (USA) in 1919 with the acquisition of Oakland (USA) based Motor Parcel Delivery and was renamed United Parcel Service in 1930. UPS began the process of expanding its services by acquiring common carrier rights for the entire country; this took place in the 1950s. Over the past century, UPS has transformed drastically, growing from a small messenger company to a leading provider of air, ocean, ground, and electronic services. In 2003, the company introduced a brand new mark and acronym UPS showing the world that its capabilities extend beyond small package delivery but rather has a broad line of services. However, the company maintains its reputation for integrity, reliability, employee ownership, and customer service. For UPS, the future holds even greater goals to be achieved and accomplished. The UPS Culture As a company, UPS focuses its attention on: Safety: The company spends $38 million a year on safety training, which covers everything from proper body mechanics at work to proper nutrition and exercise at home. As a result, UPS has lowered the number of workdays lost due to injury by more than 50 percent since 1995. Employee education: Many UPS employees at Worldport and other sorting locations are college students. UPS encourages mentors and recruiters from nearby colleges to visit and work with its employees, and it provides additional benefits and perks for college students. Diversity: Minorities make up 35 percent of UPS U.S. employees and 30 percent of its executives. Its also recognized by Fortune magazine as one of the 50 best companies for minorities The Environment: Delivering packages all over the world and moving them between distribution centers requires an enormous amount of fuel. UPS uses several methods to reduce its fuel consumption and its environmental impact. For example, it has developed a hydraulic hybrid package car, and its drivers use route-planning software to minimize the amount of time they spend idling in traffic and making left turns. UPS pilots also fly at the most fuel-efficient speeds possible to meet their delivery deadlines and run only one engine when taxiing to conserve fuel. Current trends in the industry According to Miss Tanya Astley, Customer Representative Officer in the UPS there are no such trends in the company, only the way things are done keep changing, on busy days, like, on festivals and important occasions. ENVIRONMENTAL ANALYSIS SWOT ANALYSIS Strengths Global Brand, Strong Distribution Network Weaknesses Perception of Ground Delivery instead of Overnight Heavy Union presence Opportunities Expansion of online shopping Emergence of international middle class Threats Increasing Fuel Costs Competitive Landscape (DHL, USPS, FedEx), potentially slowing global economy. Now to use strengths to capitalize on opportunities, I would say leverage the brand online by partnering with major shopping sites. To addresses weaknesses to alleviate threats, I would say heavily market overnight capabilities to keep FedEx and DHL at bay. 3. Major competitors: Fedex DHL Speedex Aramex THE SERVICE OFFERING Determining customer requirements There is no particular way of measuring the customer requirements in the type of service done by UPS, but they tend to attract new customer through marketing and telesales. Customer loyalty is held high in UPS. Strategy There are a lot of different factors to build Competitive advantage in the Air Express Industry. The different strategies of the companies based on their core product which they are better in than other companies hence makes all the difference. When a business provides an excellent service to its customers, it gives them a positive service experience which leads to repeat purchases or usage of that specific service. As well as passing on the experience to family and friends this helps UPS build a stronger relationship with their customers. UPS believes that by achieving effective customer service they will hence achieve a competitive advantage in the market. UPS uses a differentiation strategy; it does this by creating something about its product or service that is perceived as unique in the industry. Customers must perceive the service as a unique one compared to the competition. UPS should be aware that its customers must be relatively price insensitive as adding this additional uniqueness to its services as additional costs Differentiation may be attained through many features that make the product or service appear unique. Possible strategies for achieving differentiation may include: warranties brand image technology features service quality/value dealer network Economies of scale, such as, lower costs and product differentiation were also prime sources of achieving a competitive advantage in this industry, which were used by UPS to its advantage. This helped UPS to gain a much larger domestic market share three times that of United States postal and twice of Fed Ex, UPS was very cost effective at the time and had a very good reputation in the market. It was only a matter of time when UPS realized that they were not doing as well as they did before and also realized that any competitor could do the same in terms of achieving economies of scale. UPS has been the market leader in this division for a long time. UPS as sited in our essay has always been the leader in market pricing trends. Always the first to charge premiums, and the first to give discounts to the customers. UPS strategy has always been quite different from that of Fed Ex, Aramax or even DHL. UPS is very profitable, well organized, successfully run, has low debt, and a massive ground operation that can financially support a downturn in air express operations. Because of their size and financial strength UPS is in the best position to survive a price war in the industry. The media strategy The usage of an appropriate advertising media, such as, television, press, radio, internet and key broadcast channels, leading titles and publications and strategic outdoor sites can be very influential in helping us to achieve our campaign objectives. The following media imperatives have been set for the region: Television is the key broadcast medium to drive awareness of the new UPS brand identity and offering. Radio will be used as a lead (where budgets dont allow for TV) or support medium, reinforcing primary messages and cultivating top-of-mind awareness. Outdoor will be used to communicate the primary message, ensure new logo exposure and in smaller countries, as a substitute for broadcast media. Press will be used to support the TV creative or stand alone, allowing more opportunity to explain the UPS strategy further High reach media will be used at the launch, covering all audiences, followed by one or two lower bursts ensuring longevity of the new brand message. To build customer relationship, the organization could: Keep in touch with the customer by sending emails with the offers and rates. Get regular feedback from customer who have used the service and improve with their suggestions, to make the customer feel like the king. DEMAND AND CAPACITY 1. Demand cannot be forecasted in this industry. The company can only take the initiative to maintain current sales and hope increase sales in the future by marketing. 2. An increase in demand will lead to more people being employed either part time or full time depending on the tasks that need to be performed. Another important thing needed is the service vehicles, with the increased demand. 3. Customers dont have to go through the hassle of waiting in lines for their doubts to be clarified. All the customer has to do is call, which gets routed to various agents in the call centre, to answer any queries or solve any issues. SPECULATION 1).Opportunities appear to be available in the industry currently the margin for opportunities seems to be very narrow. But strategies could be altered according to the consumer needs. For example, some consumers emphasize on price and the others on the service time taken no matter what the price. Recently, UPS is planning to set up a domestic postal service in China. They plan to introduce a next day delivery service and second and third day delivery products. China is a potential for UPS to grow and offer services and products internationally and this it seems China is an emerging market which could be worth billions. 2. Technological advances In todays day and age the air express industry has become so technologically advanced that goods can be delivered overnight. It is facing intense price competition between the competitors, which exist in this market. The ability to price, route, track and deliver parcels and mail in both domestic and international markets demands a comprehensive. A significant improvement in information technology has enabled package carriers to provide to customers the ability to track their packages movement from origin to destination. Other advances included combining logistics, freight and financial services with traditional package delivery in order to offer customers full supply chain management solutions. Only the organizations that were able to achieve these effectively and efficiently were able to survive in this industry. This is how the existing companies could then make their profit. In this industry the price of the service is the main source for competing. This is the only way in achieving Competitive Success. Competitive advantage can be achieved if, the price of the service provided by competitors is similar and the approach taken to provide the service. For instance, the amount of time taken for the product to reach from point A to point B. 3. Advice to other firms who plan to enter the industry Our advice to the new firms which plan to enter this industry would be to, research the market and the industry and think about strategies that provide the new firm a big competitive advantage including low cost of service and low price charged to the customers. The relationship between the firm and the customers should be healthy. The company should be knowledgeable about everything and should see to it that they have all the information necessary. Customer Relationship Management Customers account for 95% of UPSs shipping information directly. The CRM methodology is a very core part of the UPS success story. UPS grows through engineering and re-engineering of its systems. UPSs growth was achieved slowly and methodically from the inside out. An Excellent service is what distinguishes it from other companies. Companies can use and integrate UPS Worldship hence optimizing their business processes. They can process shipments easily, respond to your customers faster, and reduce costly errors. UPS  provides businesses with  multiple ways to integrate WorldShip with their business: Batch Import/Export: Import a file containing addresses, customer orders, or other shipment information, or export shipping history to your internal systems. Keyed Import:  Allow WorldShip to recognize a customers order simply by entering or scanning a unique identifier, such as a Purchase Order number. Hands-Off Shipping:  Schedule WorldShip to pull addresses from your order entry database and automatically print shipping labels at designated times. XML Auto-Import:  Automate shipment processing using XML code. LOGISTICS Logistics is about getting things where they need to be, at the correct time as effectively and efficiently as possible. But nowadays, logistics is also a strategic way to add value to your business, better served customers, and better long term growth. The logistics provided by UPS can help you manoeuvre the intricacies of global trade with minimal effort. Manage your shipments and minimize their environmental impact. And win repeat and loyal customers by making it easy to return products or parts. The new logistics is more than just getting things to the right place at the right time at the right cost. Its about using the movement of goods as a competitive advantage. Its a whole new way of thinking. And its a powerful force for growing your business. Access to Resources through UPS Businesses dont need a large warehouse, distribution center, or global network to access this new logistics. UPS has built a massive integrated network of physical, technological, and human assets that lets you  tap into the power and passion of logistics. The new logistics from UPS levels playing fields. It lets you act locally or globally. Its for the individual entrepreneur, the small business, or the large company. Its reliable, efficient, and environmentally responsible. Long term growth in the telecommunication UPS needs to learn from other industry best practices to gain a competitive edge in and expand beyond their core markets. An increasing number of companies have redefined themselves and significantly outperformed the markets by growth through services. UPS Moved from traditional parcel services to total supply chain solutions. UPS can better differentiate themselves via services by extending relationship with existing customer base leveraging. Superior customer knowledge as key asset. Customer proximity and delivery competence. In addition, developing the necessary skills and scale by new service-specific processes being developed and service innovations to ensure fast scalability of process and time to market. UPSs evolution to Total Supply Chain Solutions started as:- Standalone development of small service operations within the organization: Worldwide Logistics unit Service Parts Logistics Worldwide dedicated Services UPS Truck Leasing UPS consulting This moved on to:- Expansion of product portfolio and consolidation of existing services resources into UPS Supply Chain Solutions. And finally Reorganization and major MA effort with 16 key acquisitions to develop scale and growth.

Michael Manns The Insider - History Redefined :: Movie Film Essays

Michael Mann's The Insider - History Redefined [1] Growing up, I had always been a gullible child. If someone had told me the sky was falling, I would inevitably look up. As my naivety led me to be the butt of many jokes, I grew less and less trusting. I learned that if something looks too good to be true, then it probably is. I learned not to buy products from infomercials. I even had to sadly face the reality that the WWF wrestling matches I so faithfully watched each weekend were fake. My eyes had been forced open and made to look at the light. But when I looked back down at the world around me, my vision was blurred. I had become cynical. [2] In retrospect, this change was a somewhat positive one. I began questioning everything, taking nothing for granted. I watched movies and television shows with a look of disgust, knowing that the unlikely scenarios portrayed on the screen could never happen in real life. When the Reel American History project came my way, I knew it was the perfect playground for my inquisitive mind and distrustful nature. I thought about how I would be a detective, uncovering the real facts about what happened. Nothing would get by me! I imagined myself picking apart the film, scene by scene, and raking the filmmaker over the coals for daring to manipulate history. [3] After choosing to study The Insider, I sat down to watch it. For close to three hours I was riveted by the drama unfolding on the screen. I was completely swept up in the story. As the last scene faded away, I sat silently with my emotions: sadness for Jeffrey Wigand's losses, an utter hatred for the entire tobacco industry (at that point, synonymous with "evil" in my mind), and a deep sense of admiration for my new hero, Lowell Bergman. But then a new frame came up on the screen and interrupted my thoughts. I squinted to see what the small print said: "Subsequent to the events dramatized here, the tobacco industry in 1998 settled the lawsuits filed against it by Mississippi and 49 other states for $246 billion.

Insidious Film Review Essay

Insidious is terrifying in a completely different way than most horror movies. While the genre continues to creep toward exorcisms, thrill killers and the mentally deranged. It’s not out to scare viewers as much as it is to creep them out. The Lambert’s have just moved into a new house. Renai quit her job to focus on music and raise the kids, but the latter is proving to be more time-consuming than expected. There’s boxes to unpack, a baby who won’t stop crying and a husband who’s becoming increasingly distant. Josh assures her nothing’s wrong, but something feels off. She knows it. She just can’t put her finger on what. Unfortunately, that proof comes by way of a terrible accident. Oldest son Dalton goes exploring in the attic and lands on his head. Apart from a few bumps and bruises, he initially seems fine but fails to wake up the following morning. He’s rushed to the hospital where the puzzled doctors can’t figure out what’s wrong. He’s not in a coma. He just won’t wake up. Renai wakes up all the time. Anonymous eyes seem to be upon her. Something is inside the house. It’s sporadic at first, but after Dalton, still in his non-coma, is moved back home, the strange incidents start becoming more noticeable. Doors open in the middle of the night, alarms go off and there’s weird whisperings on the baby monitor. Tired, scared and fed up, the Lambert’s once again move to a new house, but their exodus only makes things worse. Bloody handprints are found on Dalton’s bed and faces appear in the windows almost nightly. After Josh’s mother witnesses a horrifying red-faced figure herself, she recommends the couple phone her old friend Elise. In preparation for her visit, Elise sends a two-man team of demon hunters to inspect the authenticity of the haunting claim. Scanning the ceilings for poisonous fumes to weed out the hallucinators and yelling at Josh for taking action figures out of their boxes, the Mutt and Jeff pair serve as a strange and wonderful precursor to their boss, who over-emphatically concludes there’s an epic problem at hand. Dalton is an astraltraveler. He leaves his body at night to voyage into the further, a sketchy realm where dead souls congregate, reliving horrors and coaxing the living into abandoning their Earthly bodies. There, he’s been taken prisoner by a devil-looking psychopath who climbs walls, listens to old wind-up music and wants to inhabit his body to embark on a murderous rampage. What makes the film work are the characters, the setting, the atmosphere and the really nice build-up of suspense and drama. Patrick Wilson is adequate as the troubled father and Rose Byrne is excellent as wife Renai. The film loses it’s edge in the second half as Wilson takes the helm, Byrne is the stronger of the two but is left with little to do or say and the weight of the film suffers as a result. The small cast works well and credit should go to Lin Shaye as the medium. Joseph Bishara’s music score is exceptionally creepy and the lighting, make-up of the ghostly faces is enough to give some nightmares. What works well is that while there are computer generated shots, they are well designed and hardly a distracting. All in all, Insidious is not for everyone, but I highly recommend you to check it out. In five years, if I’m flipping channels and see any twenty second excerpt from this film, I guarantee I won’t need the guide to tell me I’m watching Insidious. Not many movies can say that.

Professional Development Plan Essay

In order to develop a plan that will address the characteristics of my group and me as a leader; a thorough review of the completed DISC assessments much be completed on an individual basis and an overall plan can be derived thereafter. The individual analyses are as follows: Individual Assessments Jeremy Conner, Jessica Mills, and Brian Tuck are all predominately categorized as cautious in style. Their tendencies include: being tense with themselves and others when under pressure, having a natural curiosity about people, being concerned about what people think, feel, and expect, having strong attachments to their personal interests, underestimating the time required to complete tasks, being intuitive and observant about situations and people, associating their self-worth with their work, and being intrigued by concepts, ideas and processes. They are known as the assessors and tend to have strong opinions about people and groups with whom you do not identify or agree. Robert Mills was predominately categorized as interactive in style. This style’s strengths include: enthusiasm, charm, persuasiveness, and warmth. The cautious style is gifted in people skills and communication skills with individuals as well as groups. They are great influencer’s. They are idea-people and dreamers who excel at getting others excited about their vision. They are optimist with an abundance of charisma. All of these qualities help them influence people and build alliances to accomplish their goals. I was predominately categorized as a dominance style. My primary motivation is accomplishing bigger and better goals according to an internal timetable. I prefer to be involved in my chosen activities from start to finish, and I  resist people who are obstacles to my achievements. My tendencies include: disliking being told what to do, or when and how to do something, being reluctant to change what I think or how I feel, delegating tasks only if absolutely necessary, acting competitively, especially when pushing myself to new levels or in new directions, making sure that production is completed on schedule, depending on plans for action and follow-up routines, and becoming tenacious and focused when under pressure. Team Development Plan Based on the analysis of the DISC assessments, I would put myself in a leadership role on the team with Robert as my supervisor, and Jeremy, Jessica, and Brian as subordinates. My style is more fit to a leadership role due to my desire to accomplish bigger and better goals. This desire allows me to look bigger picture which must be done from an upper management perspective in order to keep the company ahead of the curve in all aspects of business to avoid pitfalls. Robert’s natural charisma and persuasiveness would make him great at motivating the rest of the team. This does not mean that Jeremy, Jessica, and Bryan aren’t just as important to the team success. All workers from top to bottom are needed for a business to be successful. I strongly believe in the phrase â€Å"you are only as good as your weakest member†. For this reason, I would make sure that they were given a chance to air their grievances and make suggestions on changes that should be made. I must make sure to allow every team member to have a say in the business processes because this is a weak point of my particular style. Flexibility on my part must be a focal point to ensure that all team members feel heard and feel like they hold value in the company. Conclusion All of the information in the above plan will be closely monitored and periodic meetings will take place to allow time for all employees to voice their grievances or concerns to ensure that full compliance is being achieved. It is very important that regular monitoring is performed to ensure that the company stays on track and will help ensure the long-term success of the company. Realizing each individual’s style as well as their strengths and weaknesses will allow a more personal and individualized  approach to be taken in regards to team dynamics and goal attainment. References University of Phoenix. (2014). DISC Assessments [Multimedia]. Retrieved from University of Phoenix, LDR531 website. DISC Test and DISC Assessment: Explained. (2013). Retrieved from https://www.discinsights.com/whatisdisc#.VBMXGGOEzSg