Case Study of Best Buy

Case Study of Best Buy In 1966 Richard Schultze and James Wheeler saw an opportunity in opening a specialized electronics store in St. Paul, Minnesota. Soon after opening, The Sound of Music became an immediate success in the industry. By the year 1969 the company grew so fast, Schultze decided to publically trade The Sound of Music. Over the next few years, The Sound of Music was able to raise their annual revenues to over $1 million. In 1981, a tornado hit the Roseville, Minnesota store. In order to salvage what they could from the storm wreckage they held a huge storewide sale which was advertised as The Best Buy. The sale was such a huge success that Schultze decided to hold it annually. Sound of Music became widely known for this annual best buy sale, therefore in 1983, the board of directors decided to officially change the name to Best Buy Co., Inc.  [1]   Best Buy went on to become the leading consumer electronics retail store in the Nation. By 2008 they had opened their 1000th store (Lawrence being #837). Due to their success, Best Buy was able to expand their business by building additional stores throughout the nation as well as expanding internationally in countries such as UK, Canada, Mexico and China. Best Buy was able to achieve such growth because of the rapidly growing consumer electronics market. Best Buy was joined in the Industry by competitors such as GameStop, Radio Shack, hhgregg and Conns Inc. (Yahoo financial).  [2]  Other competition includes Wal-Mart, Nebraska Furniture Mart and other big super stores. By being the Industry Pioneer, Best Buy has been able to maintain positive annual revenues as well as a large market share. Business Information Best Buy is one of the International leaders in the sale of electronics. They offer a wide variety of products that are needed as well as wanted in the entertainment industry. Best Buy carries movies, games, music, computer hardware as well as software, and television entertainment equipment. They also provide many home appliances which are sought after by people throughout their market. Best Buy is successful because it provides customers with entertainment as well as equipment and the newest technology as it becomes available in the market. Geographical Reach Best Buy offers its services and products to people not just throughout our country, but in many different countries as well. Their first international venture came in 2001 with the acquisition of Future Shop. Future Shop was the leading consumer electronics retailer in Canada. Since 2001, Best Buy has expanded by establishing stores in Canada as well as the UK, China, Mexico, and they are looking to establish a position in Turkey in the future. Market Performance The market for consumer electronics is a very saturated market. Most of the electronic needs in the industry are spoken for by current businesses, therefore it is very difficult for any new competition to enter into the market and successfully compete. Best Buy has been able to capture a substantial amount of the market for electronics. Between the five main competitors for electronics, Best Buy has a $17.5 billion market capitalization, which is number one out of all 5 electronic specialists. It is hard to quantitatively compare Best Buy to businesses such as Wal-Mart, Target and Nebraska Furniture Mart because these firms sell a variety of other products to different industries. After interviewing Supervisor, Jeremy Brown he discussed the service you will receive when you shop at Best Buy. Best Buy is the place you know you will receive the best service and help from employees in searching for the item you came in to buy.  [3]  Given the data found, Best Buy has been able to pe rform as the market leader in the electronics Industry. Best Buy has the greatest Brand awareness in the Industry. They have very loyal customers because of their Geek Squad business which was opened in 2004. The Geek Squad operates to assist customers in learning how to use the products that they previously purchased from Best Buy, as well as servicing any customers equipment which is in need of repair or replacement. Jeremy Brown said, It benefits Best Buy having a complimenting business like Geek Squad because it allows us to offer the whole solution to the customer. We can repair, protect, as well as install any product the customer would need us to.  [4]  By offering a variety of products and services in the electronic industry, Best Buy can tailor to any needs of the existing market. Financial Performance In the end of the February 2010 fiscal year, Best Buy reported revenues of $49,694 million. This was a 10.3% increase from the previous year. Net profit in 2010 was $1,317 million which was a 31.31% increase from 2009. Best Buy, which is publically traded on the New York stock exchange is currently up 42.59. Best Buys revenue per share is $121.49. According to Yahoo finance the company has a strong balance sheet, with $840 billion in cash and cash equivalents as of the most recent quarter in August 2010, meaning that Best Buy has created a successful trend of positive cash flows.  [5]   Internal Analysis Since Best Buys inception in 1966, the companys top executives have used numerous strategies to keep their earnings increasing at a steady pace. Changing the way that people shop in their stores was a key internal strategy for Best Buy. In 1984, they introduced the superstore format for the first time. This allowed for sales to rise and for them to secure a 42% market share. In 1989, Best Buy introduced its Concept II stores. The new stores had a large warehouse attached to the store so that more inventory could be kept on site and thus help with inventory management. The new stores also had self-help information guides and answer centers for customers seeking personal attention. This move had both positive and negative reactions. The customers liked it so sales rose, but some suppliers thought that the lack of sales representatives would lead to lesser sales. In 1994, the Concept III stores were introduced and they had even more self-help service. Then Hitachi and Kenwood pulled their products from Best Buy stores because they believed that salespeople were key to selling their product. Despite the minor setbacks, revamping the stores to tend to the customers wants was working as sales continued to rise. Concept IV stores launched in 1998 and they implemented digital displays as well as new departments such as home theatre and digital imaging. This new store design was a tremendous success as Best Buy recorded record sales of $224 million in 1998, a 137% increase from the previous year. Then in June, Best Buy changed the way its products were sold again by selling consumer electronics on its website. From expanding to a superstore to selling its products online, Best Buy has tweaked and changed its distribution medium to allow for its profits to keep going up. Probably the largest factor in Best Buys success is its expansion into new markets and offering of new products. The consumer electronic industry is constantly changing as technology improves and new markets are created. Best Buy stores are always stocked with the most up to date products. In 1982, they started selling VCRs and appliances. Then in 2000, Best Buy partnered with Whirlpool to start offering KitchenAid brand appliances. In 2008, they even bought a majority holding in Napster. They were also the first third party retailer to sell Apples iPhone. Now, theyve opened Apple stores inside the Best Buy megastores. In 2006, they tried the digital music market as they launched the Best Buy Digital Music Store and in 2010, they launch their web-based movie service. Best Buy is constantly looking for new markets that they could feasibly dive into and start selling new products.  [6]   Another way Best Buy tailors their stores for the customer is by purchasing another company. Magnolia Hi-Fi, one of Best Buys competitors, was bought by Best Buy in 2000 for $87 million. This allowed for Best Buy to later put Magnolia Home Theatre stores inside of hundreds of Best Buy superstores. As technology increased in the consumer electronics market, there was a growing need for technical support and assistance with different, more complicated electronics. So in 2003, Best Buy acquired Geek Squad in order to better accommodate to the customers needs. Geek Squad gives Best Buy full technical support right there in the store for all of the electronics that they sell. In 2006, Best Buy acquired Pacific Sales Kitchen and Bath, a retailer of high-end home improvement products. So, Best Buy is also looking to move to new markets via an acquisition.  [7]   Best Buy also uses a rewards program to help boost sales. Their rewards program gives the customer a $5 Best Buy gift card for every $100 that he spends at Best Buy. This gives an incentive for customers to spend more money and to buy their electronics at Best Buy since theyre getting 5% of their money spent back. Plus, giving out a free gift card will help boost sales. If someone has a $5 gift card, they are more likely to go and buy something. But there arent many things that cost $5 or less, so usually, the customer will end up spending more than $5, all because he had the gift card in the first place. The rewards program has been very successful for Best Buy and has lead to increased sales.  [8]   Best Buy is a successful consumer electronics retailer that has been around for over 40 years. Whether its changing the layout of the store, selling new products in new markets, expanding through acquisition, or implementing a rewards program, Best Buy uses many strategies and tactics to not just survive in the consumer electronics market, but to thrive, and Best Buy has been thriving for over 40 years. Comparison To Competiton Best Buy has a sizeable piece of the consumer electronics industry, but they still face heavy competition from many other retailers and online stores, just a couple of them being Wal-Mart and Amazon. Best Buy is not the price leader when it comes to consumer electronics, but they do seem to be the leader when it comes to providing extensive knowledge about products, and selling services with them. Their competitive advantage  [9]  is being able to display products in an appealing setting while providing customers with insight to their product needs. This has proven a successful strategy and has attracted a lot of traffic in their stores. One metric Best Buy seems to lead the retail industry in is in-store sales per square foot. Best Buys current sales per sq. ft is around $830, compared to Wal-Marts $680, and HHGregs $380. This an important metric because it helps track how much of their store front space is being utilized, as leasing for space usually constitutes a large share o f a companys costs. Forbes Magazine1 says that 74% of Best Buys stock price is directly proportional to its sales per sq. ft metric. This is much of the reason Best Buy has been so successful and why theyve been able to keep growing so rapidly. Best Buy has also remained successful for its ability to get products out of the store. Latest figures show Best Buy having inventory turns  [10]  of 6.1, the same as Target, much better than Sears 2.9 or Radio Shacks 3.2. Close to Best Buy was HH Greg with 5.8. Amazon and Wal-Mart both have higher turns but Amazon is all online with no store front, and Wal-Mart is a much larger company with a better supply chain and a far broader array of products while also focusing on a cost-leadership strategy. Though Best Buys differentiated strategy has been successful, it can possibly encourage consumers to come into Best Buy to become educated about products, and then turn around go buy them at Wal-Mart or off of the internet. To better differentiate themselves, Best Buy has focused on services to add to their products, of which would not be available unless otherwise purchased from Best Buy. These services include extended services plans, installations, and repairs. These services usually have high profit margins and can constitute a significant amount of revenue, while giving customer professional installations and peace of mind. Wal-Mart is also on Best Buys trail, now adding expanded electronics department in many of its stores and has added personnel to provide customer assistance, similarly to Best Buy stores. Given Wal-Marts supply chain and price leading capabilities, they remain a constant threat to Best Buy. Amazon remains a threat as their prices are usually always lower, and consumers can shop from home and never have to go to the store. Although Best Buy provides this service, they cannot match the price, and with no other way to differentiate themselves through the limited online experience, price remains the deciding factor. For these reasons Best Buy continues to try to set its self apart and take advantage of its strengths. Its recently used it large distribution network to get into the used game market. It will buy used games, send them to a center to be refurbished, and sells them at relatively low prices. This is helping the huge retailer compete directly with small retailers such as Game Stop. With their size, Best Buy has an opportunity to steal market share in this industry. External Analysis The general environment involves several external factors that would have unpredictable and dramatic effects on firms strategy, such as demography, socio culture, politics, technology, economy and globalization. However, it is difficult to monitor all aspects of the general environment, so most managers only focus on their own industry structure. As the leading consumer electronics retailer in the United States, Best Buy primarily faces the economic segment and the global segment. First of all, the economy affects all industry. During the financial crisis period from 2008 to 2009, the stock price of Best Buy, Inc hit to $16.42 in the third quarter of 2009 fiscal year, dropping approximately 65.43% in four months and touched the lowest price in past 5 years; the net income of 2009 decreased to 1.003 million, comparing with previous annual net income of $1.407 million, thus distracting the investors.  [11]  The worst situation may be that total operating cash flow reduced by 148 mi llion from 2008 to 2009, which significantly limited the companys internal operating activities. However, with the recovery of the domestic and global economy, the companys net income climbed to $1.137 million by February 2010, which is 13.36% higher than previous annual performance. Also the stock price reached about $42.83 per share recently. Secondly, for global segment, Best Buy divided its operating portion into two parts, domestic and international. The company tends to expand its market to attract multinational customers, to use lower costs of resource, and to access more opportunities to grow up. Besides the domestic market, Best Buy established 2453 stores in Europe, Canada, China, Mexico and Turkey at the end of fiscal 2010. Although the general environment inevitably affects the firms strategy, the company is usually more directly influenced by forces in the competitive environment. Through the Porters five-force model of industry competition, the company would have a deep realization of developing trend and ability of restructuring and improvement. The Threat of New Entrants There are few new major entrants in Consumer Electronics Appliances Retail because this industry is already mature in United States and the entry barriers are relatively high. Obviously, Best Buy has the advantage of economies of scale with 1069 stores across the all states. Its major competitors, Wal-Mart, target, Amazon, apple Inc also share the rest of market through the physical stores and web-based sales channel. Moreover, the capital requirement for entering the consumer electronics industry is normally huge, including the investment in negotiation with distribution channels, inventory systems, purchasing of infrastructure, employee training and so forth. Another barrier exists in the product differentiation. Since the consumer electronic retail industry is not highly innovative, customers loyalty and brand identification are difficult to change. The Bargaining Power of Buyers The Power of buyers in consumer electronic retail industry is relatively high because that the switching costs are almost close to zero. In most circumstances, customers are price sensitive. According to the firms annual report, Best buys business is most profitable in the fourth quarter because of the discounts of products in holiday season. The Bargaining Power of Suppliers Partially, Best Buys business depends on offering a broad selection of name-brand products, so establishing a long and stable relationship with suppliers is important for the firm. Since the suppliers of Best Buy are not dominated by a few companies. In fact, In fiscal 2010, our 20 largest suppliers accounted for just under 60% of the merchandise we purchased, with five suppliers Apple, Hewlett-Packard, Samsung, Sony and Toshiba -representing 35% of total merchandise purchased.  [12]  In other words, the concentration relative to buyer industry is low, thus leads to the low suppliers power. The Threat of Substitute Products and Services Best Buy offers almost the same electronic products as Wal-Mart, Target and Amazon. How can it differentiate from those competitors? The answer is Geek Squad. It is a subsidiary of the Best Buy and primary offers services in-store, on-site and also provides 24-hour telephone and emergency support, including repairing computers, adding cars navigation, transferring data, fixing personal digital products and so on. As their first pledge states: We are dedicated to giving you the best service possible and well prove it. If youre not completely satisfied, well do our best to correct the problem, Fast and Free.  [13]  This strategy is difficult to imitate and brings the firm high profits. The Intensity of Rivalry among Competitors in an Industry In order to compete with so many competitors in this industry, Best Buy needs to consider the settlement of price, to face the advertising battles, to continuously improve the customer services and warranties. In addition to low industry growth rate, low product differentiation, and low switching costs, the intensity of competitive rivalry is pretty high. After the analysis of the companys general and competitive environment, Best Buy has reached success through expanding, providing prior and high-quality service, well established relationships with customers and suppliers, and differentiation. Recommendations for the Future As the leading company in the Electronics Industry, Best Buy already has a competitive advantage over its competitors. In order to gain even more market share for their company there are steps Best Buy could take in becoming more specialized. If they kept their focus on the specific aspects of the electronics industry that the everyday consumer does not necessarily know, consumers would feel even more comfortable purchasing specific electronic products. This way they would be differentiating themselves from their main competitors and be considered as a superior business all together. An advantage that Best Buy has is the production of their own products, such as Rocketfish, Dynex, Init. This allows for Best Buy to gain higher margins on products that are sold. Therefore we feel that it is important for Best Buy to market their products strongly. By increased advertising and promotion on such products, consumers will begin purchasing Best Buys own products rather than other competing name brands such as Sony and LG. It is also important for Best Buy to continually enhance their employee relationship within the Company. A job at Best Buy is highly sought after, however it is important for them to keep their employees interests in the company high. By maintaining good employee relations they are also ensuring that their employees speak of them highly outside of work which ensures their customer relations in good order as well. It would be beneficial if Best Buy would keep enhancing their Reward and Benefit Systems for their employees. By doing so, moral and interest in the company will increase and the Company will see improvements in their performance. One example of such reward systems that Best Buy already has in place are what they call Blue Crew Bucks. This system is used to pay a bonus to stores who perform the highest and their employees. While Sarah Ballard, Vice President of Human Capital for Best Buy developed this system and thought it was a great idea employees thought differently. Thr ee months after it began, she realized that employees didnt agree. Store managers told her that some workers thought Best Buy wouldnt pay up; others just didnt understand the program. After realizing that employees were upset she was able to talk to managers of each store and clarify how the program worked. By continually receiving feedback from employees and the management team, Best Buy is able to make sure that everyone is satisfied with their work environment and with how things operate.  [14]   As new products are constantly entering the market along with rapidly developing technology it is important for Best Buy to keep up with the market and make sure they always provide the newest products for customers immediately. With the latest products such as the I-Pad and X-box Kinect consumers will only consider shopping for these at the stores they know will be the first to carry them. It is important for customers to know when they want to purchase that new item they can do so at Best Buy. Jeremy Brown stated, It is so important to have the newest items for customers when they come out. Upon the new items release we must make sure that we have enough of the product to cover the demand and place them at an appropriate location in the store to maximize the items appeal.  [15]  Making sure these new products are placed so that they can be easily identified by consumers when they enter the store is very important for the company. This will attract consumers into the store in th e first place, in hopes that upon purchasing the new item, they will also decide to purchase other items. After analyzing Best Buys competitive approach in their corporate strategies, it is apparent that they have established themselves as the leader in the consumer Electronics Industry. The resources that Best Buy has at their expense allow for them to have a remain competitive in the electronics industry as a leading electronics retailer. The process by which Best Buy utilizes their resources is a valuable asset, for the company strives to continually strengthen their competitive approach. They can continue to strengthen this by focusing on great employee relationships, keeping up with the newest technology and products in their stores and focusing on specific products where they have a competitive advantage above competition.

Management Power and Change Essay

1 Abstract The dynamics of power relations and their effects on organizational change was often underestimated by researchers. Analyses of the role played by power in organizational change are increasing in intensity, scale and impact (Munduate and Bennebroeck-Gravenhorst 2003). The appropriate and effective use of power is fundamental for managers engaged in major change processes. This report deals with the topic of management power and change. It focuses on the exercise of power and its function in organizational change. At first power and change management will be defined and then the bases or sources of power and the responses which are provoked according to the type of power being applied .how power can be used to influence and facilitate organizational change. 2 Definition of Power There are many variations to the definition of power and there are disagreements on its definition and what the best way is to measure it. The definition also depends on the context in which power is used. In this case, since the report focuses on the explanation of the use of power in the setting of organizational change, power is â€Å"the potential ability to influence behavior, to change the course of events, to overcome resistance, and to get people to do things that they would not otherwise do† (Pfeffer, 1993: 204-5). 2.1 Power and Influence In trying to understand how change is achieved, social psychologists have used the concepts of social power and influence (Raven 1999) and therefore the terms power and influence are sometimes used synonymously, but there are discrepancies between them. Social power indicates the various tools a person has to influence the environment or the other party, while influence is referring to the actual use of a specific tool in a particular situation (Munduate and Medina 2009). According to French and Raven (1959) influence is a force one person (the leader or agent) exerts on someone else (follower or target) to induce a change in the latter, including changes in behaviors, attitudes, and values. Social power was subsequently defined as the potential ability of a person to influence someone else. â€Å"Basically, influence is the effect a person’s actions have on the attitudes, values, beliefs, or behavior of others. Whereas power is the capacity to cause a change in a person, influence may be thought of as the degree of actual change† (Daft, 2006: 679-680). Boddy defines influence as the process by which one party attempts to modify the behavior of others by mobilizing power resources. Hence, in order to apprehend the function of the change agent in the promotion of change in an organization, the reactions of the targets involving a proactive disposition toward change have to be considered first and then the available tools for the change agent to influence the targets (Munduate and Medina 2009). 2.3 Types of Influence Processes There are clear differences in the way followers comply to direct and indirect social pressure from a leader and actually being convinced by him. In one case the influence may just be sufficient to exercise control over the followers’ behavior, guaranteeing a public agreement no matter if the followers are privately convinced. In another case the influence could be so strong that it changes the followers’ opinion and merely makes him committed to the leader’s request. Consequently, different types of influences have been proposed by social psychologists, whereby the most important was Kelman’s distinction (1961) between compliance, internalization, and identification. 2.4 Bases of Power For a manager to be effective, he has to possess a source of power which he can use to influence employees to take actions or carry out orders which they would not have done in the absence of that power source.

Intermolecular Force Definition in Chemistry

The intermolecular force is the sum of all the forces between two neighboring molecules. The forces result from the actions of the kinetic energy of atoms and the slight positive and negative electrical charges on different parts of a molecule that affect its neighbors and any solute that may be present. The three main categories of intermolecular forces are London dispersion forces, dipole-dipole interaction, and ion-dipole interaction. Hydrogen bonding is considered a form of dipole-dipole interaction, and so contributes to the net intermolecular force. In contrast, intramolecular force is the sum of the forces that act within a molecule between its atoms. The intermolecular force is measured indirectly using measurements of various properties, including volume, temperature, pressure, and viscosity.

Essay on American Songs that Record Culture and History

American Songs that Record Culture and History As has been said many times over, songs are a reflection of society. They give insight into feelings, moods, historical changes, and the overall atmosphere of the society. Our American society is diverse and so too is our music. There are many genres of music and there were many evolutions to create those genres. Further, what happens in society, the historical changes, also effect those changes. Sex, drugs, alcohol. They are influential substance/actions by all accounts. Love, hate, sadness, desire, fear. They are strong emotions. In songs played on the radio there are many songs with references to both the good and bad of the topics mentioned above. However,†¦show more content†¦It is safe to say that a majority of American youth find underage drinking okay. This song also seems to say that the youth find nothing wrong with casual sex. And after listening to just one night of the daily news, many would agree to the above ideas. Even the song â€Å"Doo Wop (That Thing)† by Lauryn Hill suggests that American youth are casually having sex and immaturely doing so. In her song she warns today’s youth to be careful and not get caught up in the game. â€Å"Giving it up so easy you ain’t even foolin’ him†¦Showing off your ass cause you thinking it’s a trend.† The lyrics hit hard, but Lauryn Hill is giving us a glim pse into the lives of a majority of our youth. Although we, or our children, may not be of the majority, this is the truth and it does hurt. One day our songs will be history. One day someone will look at those lyrics I have listed above and see references to our culture and how we lived our lives. But for today we look at yesterday’s songs and see history. We listen for hints into how people felt and what was going on. We look for songs like â€Å"Your Dog Loves My Dog†sang by the Nashville Quartet. This song demonstrates some of the frustrations of those living during the civil rights movement. 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Eating Disorders And The Binge Eating Disorder - 1578 Words

Binge Eating â€Å"My heart beat faster, and I began taking bigger and bigger bites. In a matter of minutes, I had eaten two more pieces of pecan pie, two pieces of cherry pie, six Christmas cookies, ten chocolate candies, then a bowlful of cereal. While I was eating, I felt as though an intruder had taken over my body. But when I finished the last bowl, my senses returned a little and I felt the first agonizing twinge of guilt for what I had done. I felt like I was in a dream. I still couldn’t quite believe that I had eaten so much.† (Hansen) This was her first binge of many more to come. She is just one of the millions who suffer from binge eating disorders or BED. BED is defined as consuming large amounts of food in a discrete period of time while experiencing a sense of loss of control over eating. (#2) The cause of this particular eating disorder is a very simple concept, and the treatment has been attempted in many different ways. 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Binge eating disorder, justRead MoreBinge Eating Disorder Essay examples939 Words   |  4 PagesIntroduction According to the Merriam-Webster online dictionary, binge eating is defined as uncontrolled compulsive eating, especially as a symptom of bulimia or binge eating disorder(BED). Individuals, who suffer from a (BED), usually, consume, abnormally large amounts of food, quickly. The condition causes sufferers to eat until they are painfully full. we live in a society that accepts encourages overindulging . Therefore, there are probably several occasions on which we eat more than we shouldRead MoreCauses And Treatments Of Binge Eating Disorder922 Words   |  4 Pagessound fun to you? Life is difficult without having an eating disorder. Growing up eating everything I could get my hands on caused health problems for me now that I am older. Binge eating and anorexia are serious eating disorders that cause physical, behavioral, and psychological problems. The most common disorder is binge eating. Binge eating disorder (BED) is consuming large quantities of food in a short period of time. People find that over eating is a comfort zone for them. The problems AmericansRead MoreEight Typical Treatments For Binge Eating Disorder Essay953 Words   |  4 Pageschildren, and college students. This article gives an overview of 8 typical treatments for binge eating disorder. 1. Individual, Group, and/or Family Psychotherapy: Three Types Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) focuses on addressing a persons current thoughts and behaviors about himself. Either in group or individual settings, therapists help people learn to identify distorted or negative thinking about eating and self-image. 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Eating disorders, although stereotypically viewed as a lifestyle choice, is a serious and often fatal illness that not only cause severe eating disturbances, but adverse psychological and physiological environments for the individual (National Institute of Mental Health, 2006). These disorders typically develop in the mid-to-late teen years and often carry out into earlyRead MoreBinge Eating Disorder ( Bed )1948 Words   |  8 PagesBinge Eating disorder (BED) is another wised specified eating disorder disease, it is a serious condition characterised by uncontrollable eating, with the result of weight gain. Regular episode of binge eating are one of the most important symptoms, in fact, patient with BED usually consume a lot amount of food even if there are not hungry. Regular weight control methods or to be on diets are not typical behaviours, as well the purging by vomiting or usi ng of laxatives. The absence of these symptoms

Compare and Contrast Gatsby’s and Myrtles Parties Free Essays

At the end of Chapter 2 and at the beginning of Chapter 3, we find Nick describing two different parties, the first one Myrtle’s, the second Gatsby’s. The parties are very different themselves; they contain two completely contrasting settings, at opposite ends of the spectrum. Myrtle’s party is at the lower end of the spectrum, and seems to be the ‘wannabe party’, where most of the people there are the people who wish to become the people who attend Gatsby’s party, who are the rich and famous. We will write a custom essay sample on Compare and Contrast Gatsby’s and Myrtles Parties or any similar topic only for you Order Now This contrast of attendees to the parties is very interesting, and in my view, portrays how society in 1920’s America was. People wanted to be rich, and followed how the people who were rich to as close as they possibly could. Myrtle’s party is a very interesting scenario, in all of its forms. Myrtles apartment even shows how she is determined to live the upper class lifestyle. The description of the apartment (â€Å"a small living room, a small dining room, a small bedroom, and a bath. â€Å") Shows how poor it really is, and may also show how poor Myrtle is. The apartment also shows Myrtle’s undying desperation and need to be seen as rich, mostly shown in the items inside the apartment. † tapistried furniture entirely too large for it (the apartment) † The furniture is symbolic of Myrtle in many ways, it can be seen that she is desperate to be seen as rich, and so she buys items that are too large for her own restrictions on life. It could also be seen that the ‘furniture entirely too large for it’ shows that Myrtle’s desires for life are too large for what she can manage, and so they seem to become cumbersome, and become intrusive in everything that she does. ladies swinging in the gardens of Versailles† is showing the type of lifestyle Myrtle wants to have, and it is the lifestyle that Daisy and Jordan have achieved. This continues to show the desperation of Myrtle, as she is trying to gain the ‘touch of class’ wherever she can, and this desperation is amplified when we see how much of a following she has on celebrities lives (â€Å"several old copies of Town Tattle†) it seems she is hoping that if she reads and learns how celebrities live, she will pick up that lifestyle and become one also. The people who go to the party help show what the party is trying to portray. Catherine, Myrtle’s sister, is exactly the same as Myrtle in many ways. She is portrayed by Nick as very fake, and possibly a ‘Gold digger’, but the reality is that she is just trying to gain security, and the best way to do that in the 1920’s was to find a rich husband. Mr. McKee is a photographer, and we can tell by the way he asks enthusiastically to Tom about possibly photographing his family, that he also desperate and trying to ‘make it big’. This is further reinforced at the end of the chapter, where McKee is drunk, half naked and still showing his portfolio to people, in this case, Nick. This shows the perseverance people at this time had to become rich, and how much they needed to force their particular medium on people to get a chance to become rich, but also to preserve their dreams. Tom, at this time, is at the party to escape his life with Daisy, and it is interesting how differently he treats Myrtle and Daisy, but also the similarities. Tom seems to be more willing to spend on Myrtle, for example, the apartment itself and the dog. It is obvious that Tom only wishes to use Myrtle, and thus the apartment, for sex, which is why he has spent so little on it, as it only contains what he requires. However, there are similarities in how he treats Daisy and Myrtle. For example, he will not allow either of them to have their own says if they are not the same as his, and how brutally he treats them if they do not . We see this in plain view when he breaks Myrtle’s nose. This shows how he believes in a patriarchal society, and shows how he can bring he back down to reality with one deft blow. Gatsby’s party is so much different from Myrtle’s it is unrecognizable. Gatsby’s party is extremely extravagant, and everything Myrtle wants hers to be. His vastness of wealth is shown in many ways, such as â€Å"‘his Rolls Royce became an omnibus’, ‘five crates of oranges and lemons’, ‘enough coloured lights to make a Christmas tree’, ‘pitful of oboes and trombones'† All of these show off how much wealth Gatsby has, and it is even more amplified with the knowledge that these parties are common occurrences. The descriptions given also seem to be very biblical, such as â€Å"pyramid of pulpless halves†. This imagery may show the fact that the pyramid is made of ‘pulpless halves’ shows the people who go to these parties are the kind of people that are in the magazines that Myrtle reads, which are known to be very superficial. The fact that Gatsby is still mainly called â€Å"my neighbour† shows that he is still very mysterious, even though he continuously throws these large parties. This is an interesting contrast, we expect people who throw such parties to be the type of people who show off, or who are celebrities. In other words, the type of people Myrtle aspires to be like. However, Gatsby is not like this, we know he throws parties with such exuberance and enthusiasm, and yet we have only seen a glimpse of the character himself, and we have not as of yet heard a piece of dialogue from him. This is probably why Nick is so interested in him, as he does not fit into the mould that people expect him to. There is no specific people mentioned who go to Gatsby’s party, apart from Catherine in the previous chapter. The other people are only described as â€Å"enthusiastic meetings between women who never knew each other’s names† This description shows who the type of people go to Gatsby’s parties, they seem to be very superficial, and the stereotypical ‘rich person’ we can compare this with Myrtle’s party, where almost everyone there, excluding Tom, wants to become rich, but they do not think about the consequences of such a thing and will possibly fall into this stereotype, or see it as the right way to be. We can see contrasts between the two parties in many areas, such as the fact Myrtle’s party feels very cramped, whereas Gatsby’s is very open. This shows the value of life and wealth these two people have, as well as their ambitions. Myrtle’s overwhelming ambition to be rich and famous controls as to what she does, which is to do anything she can and nothing else to get her dream. Gatsby’s position in life means that he can do what with his life, making his party personify his freedoms. Overall, we are shown two different sides of 1920’s America. We see the Hollywood-style America, with Gatsby’s party, where everyone is having a fantastic time, even if it is all very hollow. But we are also seen the underbelly of America, with all the opportunists in one place trying to use the wealthiest person there to boost themselves upwards. This, could be said, to be the reality of the American Dream. To make it big, you need to use every chance you can get and make all of the risks you can chance to make it, and if you don’t, you fall down the ladder and have to start again. How to cite Compare and Contrast Gatsby’s and Myrtles Parties, Papers

History Of The Computer Industry In America America And The Computer I Essay Example For Students

History Of The Computer Industry In America America And The Computer I Essay ndustryOnly once in a lifetime will a new invention come about to touch every aspect of our lives. Such a device that changes the way we work, live, and play is a special one, indeed. A machine that has done all this and more now exists in nearly every business in the U.S. and one out of every two households (Hall, 156). This incredible invention is the computer. The electronic computer has been around for over a half-century, but its ancestors have been around for 2000 years.However, only in the last 40 years has it changed the American society.From the first wooden abacus to the latest high-speed microprocessor, the computer has changed nearly every aspect of people?s lives for the better.The very earliest existence of the modern day computer?s ancestor is the abacus. These date back to almost 2000 years ago. It is simply a wooden rack holding parallel wires on which beads are strung. When these beads are moved along the wire according to programming rules that the user must memorize, all ordinary arithmetic operations can be performed (Soma, 14). The next innovation in computers took place in 1694 when Blaise Pascal invented the first ?digital calculating machine?. It could only add numbers and they had to be entered by turning dials. It was designed to help Pascal?s father who was a tax collector (Soma, 32).In the early 1800?s, a mathematics professor named Charles Babbage designed an automatic calculation machine. It was steam powered and could store up to 1000 50-digit numbers. Built in to his machine were operations that included everything a modern general-purpose computer would need. It was programmed byand stored data oncards with holes punched in them, appropriately called ?punchcards?. His inventions were failures for the most part because of the lack of precision machining techniques used at the time and the lack of demand for such a device (Soma, 46).After Babbage, people began to lose interest in computers. However, between 1850 and 1900 there were great advances in mathematics and physics that began to rekindle the interest (Osborne, 45). Many of these new advances involved complex calculations and formulas that were very time consuming for human calculation. The first major use for a computer in the U.S. was during the 1890 census. Two men, Herman Hollerith and James Powers, developed a new punched-card system that could automatically read information on cards without human intervention (Gulliver, 82). Since the population of the U.S. was increasing so fast, the computer was an essential tool in tabulating the totals.These advantages were noted by commercial industries and soon led to the development of improved punch-card business-machine systems by International Business Machines (IBM), Remington-Rand, Burroughs, and other corporations. By modern standards the punched-card machines were slow, typically processing from 50 to 250 cards per minute, with each card holding up to 80 digits. At the time, however, punched cards were an enormous step forward; they provided a means of input, output, and memory storage on a massive scale. For more than 50 years following their first use, punched-card machines did the bulk of the worlds business computing and a good portion of the computing work in science (Chposky, 73).By the late 1930s punched-card machine techniques had become so well established and reliable that Howard Hathaway Aiken, in collaboration with engineers at IBM, undertook construction of a large automatic digital computer based on standard IBM electromechanical parts. Aikens machine, called the Harvard Mark I, handled 23-digit numbers and could perform all four arithmetic operations. Also, it had special built-in programs to handle logarithms and trigonometric functions. The Mark I was controlled from prepunched paper tape.Output was by card punch and electric typewriter. It was slow, requiring 3 to 5 seconds for a multiplication, but it was fully automatic and could complete long computations without human intervention (Chposky, 103).The outbreak of World War II produced a desperate need for computing capability, especially for the military. New weapons systems were produced which needed trajectory tables and other essential data.In 1942, John P. Eckert, John W. Mauchley, and their associates at the University of Pennsylvania decided to build a high-speed electronic computer to do the job. This machine became known as ENIAC, for Electrical Numerical Integrator And Calculator. It could multiply two numbers at the rate of 300 products per second, by finding the value of each product from a multiplication table stored in its memory. ENIAC was thus about 1,000 times faster than the previous generation of computers (Dolotta, 47).ENIAC used 18,000 standard vacuum tubes, occupied 1800 square feet of floor space, and used about 180,000 watts of electricity. It used punched-card input and output. The ENIAC was very difficult to program because one had to essentially re-wire it to perform whatever task he wanted the computer to do. It was, however, efficient in handling the particular programs for which it had been designed. ENIAC is generally accepted as the first successful high-speed electronic digital computer and was used in many applications from 1946 to 1955 (Dolotta, 50). Mathematician John von Neumann was very interested in the ENIAC.In 1945 he undertook a theoretical study of computation that demonstrated that a computer could have a very simple and yet be able to execute any kind of computation effectively by means of proper programmed control without the need for any changes in hardware. Von Neumann came up with incredible ideas for methods of building and organizing practical, fast computers. These ideas, which came to be referred to as the stored-program technique, became fundamental for future generations of high-speed digital computers and were universally adopted (Hall, 73). An Analysis Of ' The Kite Runner ' Essay Then it became possible to build resistors and capacitors into the circuitry by photographic means (Rogers, 142). In the 1970s entire assemblies, such as adders, shifting registers, and counters, became available on tiny chips of silicon. In the 1980s very large scale integration (VLSI), in which hundreds of thousands of transistors are placed on a single chip, became increasingly common.Many companies, some new to the computer field, introduced in the 1970s programmable minicomputers supplied with software packages. The size-reduction trend continued with the introduction of personal computers, which are programmable machines small enough and inexpensive enough to be purchased and used by individuals (Rogers, 153).One of the first of such machines was introduced in January 1975. Popular Electronics magazine provided plans that would allow any electronics wizard to build his own small, programmable computer for about $380 (Rose, 32). The computer was called the ?Altair 8800?. Its programming involved pushing buttons and flipping switches on the front of the box. It didn?t include a monitor or keyboard, and its applications were very limited (Jacobs, 53). Even though, many orders came in for it and several famous owners of computer and software manufacturing companies got their start in computing through the Altair.For example, Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak, founders of Apple Computer, built a much cheaper, yet more productive version of the Altair and turned their hobby into a business (Fluegelman, 16). After the introduction of the Altair 8800, the personal computer industry became a fierce battleground of competition. IBM had been the computer industry standard for well over a half-century. They held their position as the standard when they introduced their first personal computer, the IBM Model 60 in 1975 (Chposky, 156). However, the newly formed Apple Computer company was releasing its own personal computer, the Apple II (The Apple I was the first computer designed by Jobs and Wozniak in Wozniak?s garage, which was not produced on a wide scale). Software was needed to run the computers as well. Microsoft developed a Disk Operating System (MS-DOS) for the IBM computer while Apple developed its own software system (Rose, 37). Because Microsoft had now set the software standard for IBMs, every software manufacturer had to make their software compatible with Microsoft?s. This would lead to huge profits for Microsoft (Cringley, 163). The main goal of the computer manufacturers was to make the computer as affordable as possible while increasing speed, reliability, and capacity. Nearly every computer manufacturer accomplished this and computers popped up everywhere. Computers were in businesses keeping track of inventories. Computers were in colleges aiding students in research. Computers were in laboratories making complex calculations at high speeds for scientists and physicists. The computer had made its mark everywhere in society and built up a huge industry (Cringley, 174).The future is promising for the computer industry and its technology. The speed of processors is expected to double every year and a half in the coming years. As manufacturing techniques are further perfected the prices of computer systems are expected to steadily fall.However, since the microprocessor technology will be increasing, it?s higher costs will offset the drop in price of older processors. In other words, the price of a new computer will stay about the same from year to year, but technology will steadily increase (Zachary, 42)Since the end of World War II, the computer industry has grown from a standing start into one of the biggest and most profitable industries in the United States. It now comprises thousands of companies, making everything from multi-million dollar high-speed supercomputers to printout paper and floppy disks. It employs millions of people and generates tens of billions of dollars in sales each year (Malone, 192). Surely, the computer has impacted every aspect of people?s lives. It has affected the way people work and play. It has made everyone?s life easier by doing difficult work for people. The computer truly is one of the most incredible inventions in history. Works Cited Chposky, James. Blue Magic. New York: Facts on File Publishing. 1988. Cringley, Robert X. Accidental Empires. Reading, MA: Addison Wesley Publishing, 1992. Dolotta, T.A. Data Processing: 1940-1985. New York: John Wiley Sons, 1985. Fluegelman, Andrew. ?A New World?, MacWorld. San Jose, Ca: MacWorld Publishing, February, 1984 (Premire Issue). Hall, Peter. Silicon Landscapes. Boston: Allen Irwin, 1985 Gulliver, David. Silicon Valey and Beyond. Berkeley, Ca: Berkeley Area Government Press, 1981. Hazewindus, Nico. The U.S. Microelectronics Industry. New York: Pergamon Press, 1988. Jacobs, Christopher W. ?The Altair 8800?, Popular Electronics. New York: Popular Electronics Publishing, January 1975. Malone, Michael S. The Big Scare: The U.S. Coputer Industry. Garden City, NY: Doubleday Co., 1985. Osborne, Adam. Hypergrowth. Berkeley, Ca: Idthekkethan Publishing Company, 1984. Rogers, Everett M. Silicon Valey Fever. New York: Basic Books, Inc. Publishing, 1984. Rose, Frank. West of Eden. New York: Viking Publishing, 1989. Shallis, Michael. The Silicon Idol. New York: Shocken Books, 1984. Soma, John T. The History of the Computer. Toronto: Lexington Books, 1976. Zachary, William. ?The Future of Computing?, Byte. Boston: Byte Publishing, August 1994.