Personal insight of the film "Sullivan's Travels" Statement

Insight of the film "Sullivan's Travels" - Personal Statement Example Sturges prefers planting the camera in front of the characters or actors; or have the camera follow actors when walking, and simply observing what is witty. The film does not shy in acknowledging the Great Depression. Sullivan’s discussion, the first one, with the studio leaders through the entire film, I see a genuine conflict between his wishes to present the suffering around him and also their wish in distracting audiences via the making of escapist pictures . It is only in the end does he, Sullivan, notice that perhaps the heads at the studio may be having the right idea. The movie changes humor style and tone each a few minutes. The movie shows some paradox tone, the movie has humor and gravity existing side-by-side, the tragicomic picture or view whose objective is comedy but it premise is a serious in nature ; the movie aims at both making people laugh and think. I am in a dilemma of comfortable classifying Sullivans Travels into either the â€Å"comedy-not tragedy† or "comedy-ha-ha† modes of humor. Sullivan’s Travels is more of Sullivan’s film, and the movie is presenting exactly what the character has set out to discover. Moreover, the movie avails an integration of comedy, inspiration, and pathos that jointly reinforce and also paradoxically demean the filmmakers’ argument. The movie has various exquisite scene of gags, for example the chase scene where a trailer after Sullivan in the dirt roads and fields, the varied expressions found on the portrait at the house’s window, and a number of characters falling into the pool. The presence of verbal humor emanates in most of the encounters with the Girl’s sarcastic comments that are dry, and Sullivan’s associates. The movie Sullivan’s Travels is also ironic; Sturges criticizes the motivations and methods of the Popular Front, but at the same time, he perpetuates to give social critique of the manner and style of the Popular Front. Sturges was able to

Religion Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 2

Religion - Essay Example Christianity believes in the existence of one God, who is the Alfa and omega (Herbert 45). Christians believe that God is the one who made everything possible on earth after creating them in 6 days and resting on the 7th day. Buddhism on other hand is a religion which originated in Nepal, India. In Christianity, their place of worship includes: chapel, church, basilica, cathedral, personal dwellings and home bible studies (Herbert 22). For Christianity, God can be worshipped anywhere, weather in church or not. When it comes to Buddhism, places of worship include; monasteries, pagodas, nunneries and temples. It is estimated Buddhism to have existed since 2500 years ago whereas Christianity’s time of origin is estimated at 33AD (Herbert 53). In relation to the goal of religion, Buddhism aims at attaining Enlightment so as to be released from what they term as they cycle of death and rebirth in order to attain Nirvana (Herbert 67). When it comes to Christianity, the religion aims to loving God plus obeying his commandments, gets saved through Jesus Christ in order for one day to enter the Kingdom of heaven. According to Buddhism, human beings have the ability to possess anger, greed, ignorance, delusion, cravings and so many other qualities. Such individuals with negative abilities are referred in the religion as ‘fools† (Herbert 78). Buddhism preaches that those who would not have walked the Eightfold Path are those referred to as ordinary people. In contrast, in Christianity, they believe in the concept that man is always born by sin which was original created when Adam and Eve ignored God’s authority in the Garden of Eden. It is hence through salvation that’s one sin’s are washed away by the blood of Jesus. Those who would not have been saved by death will head to hell (Herbert 90). Buddhism has their God named as Brahma or Avalokitesvara whereas in Christianity, God has so many names: God, Yahweh, Gott, Dios, Gud, Eli,

Gatorade - Marketing Project Essay Example for Free

Gatorade Marketing Project Essay The Gatorade Company makes the world’s leading sports drink. In part, this is due to its ubiquitous marketing strategies that can be seen almost everywhere. Gatorade is the official sports drink of the NBA, WNBA, MLB, NHL and MLS. It is also the official sports drink of the NFL and has become part of a famous tradition, the â€Å"Gatorade Dunk† where the winning athletes of the Super Bowl empty the Gatorade cooler over the coach. Gatorade has also been advertised by some of the greatest athletes in history; from Serena Williams, to Peyton Manning, to Olympic gold medalist Usain Bolt, to probably the most famous endorser in NBA great Michael Jordan. Gatorade makes several products including the G series which consists of pre-game, thirst quencher and post-game beverages. There is also the G Series Pro which consists mainly of sports nutrition products. Then there is G Natural which contains more natural ingredients. The Gatorade Company also makes Propel Fitness Water. The Gatorade Company was not always such a large company nor was it created by an existing beverage corporation. It was created as a necessity by the team in which it’s named after: The University of Florida Gators. Gatorade was created in 1965 by a team of five scientists led by Dr. Robert Cade. The beverage was created to improve the athletic performance of the university’s football team. When more than a dozen of the players had fallen sick due to dehydration from the intense heat and training, the scientists researched dehydration and what the body loses during immense activity. They found out that sugars, salts and minerals were required to hydrate the human body after immense physical activity; water alone was not enough. They created an electrolyte-carbohydrate drink and supplied it to the athletes. The results were phenomenal. The Gators were able to outperform their rivals, especially in the latter half of the game where exhaustion seemed to cripple their opponents. The Gators went on to win their first Champion ship and soon after Gatorade was adopted by other sports teams. Supplying the beverage became more and more difficult for the scientists as demand increased, and after failed attempts to commercialize it, Stokely-Van Camp acquired U. S. rights to the drink and Gatorade Inc. was incorporated in Florida in 1967. After much success, the coach of the Florida Gators suggested the winning formula to the coach of the Kansas City Chiefs. The Chiefs were impressed and used throughout the entire season culminating with a Super Bowl victory. Much of the growth of the Gatorade Company occurred when it was acquired by Quaker Oats, which bought Stokely-Van Camp for $220 million in 1983. It was under Quaker Oats that Michael Jordan, who was arguably the most famous and fast rising athlete at the time, became the celebrity spokesperson for the company. Sales skyrocketed and Gatorade was once again the leader as the sports drink market grew to $1 billion by 1994. Also during its ownership by Quaker Oats, the product went global. It was and continues to be sold in numerous countries and several continents successfully. It also expanded its product line to include more flavor varieties. Towards the end of the 1990’s the sports drink market grew to $2 billion. With its consistent success, Gatorade continued to launch new products including Propel Fitness Water. In 2000, PepsiCo, a multinational corporation focusing on beverages and snacks, acquired Quaker Oats for $13 billion. It bought over Quaker Oats primarily for the Gatorade brand, which is still one of the corporation’s largest and most successful divisions. Gatorade continued to grow because it renewed its contract with Michael Jordan, campaigned its â€Å"Is it n you? † ad, and also signed a host of new celebrity athletes. Today, Gatorade has over a dozen plants where it manufactures the products it sells and is still the leader in today’s $3 billion dollar sports drink market. Target Market Description The original target market for Gatorade was sports teams. In fact, it was originally only sold to sports teams. It spread from the Gators football team to other Gators teams such as basketball. It then spread to other college sports teams until finally it reached professional teams in the NFL. It spread team to team until it became the official sports drink of the NFL in 1983 and was used by over 70 divisions and college teams. Sales trends increased with the same rapid pace. In the early 1980’s Gatorade led the $200 million sports drink market. Net sales were recorded at $90 million in 1982 and grew exponentially in the following years. By the mid 1980’s net sales were recorded at $170 million. During the latter half of the 1980’s Gatorade marketed its famous Gatorade is Thirst Aid for that deep down body thirst, this along with televised adds, strategic placing of the product on sidelines during big games and a growing sports drink market raised net sales to nearly $900 million by the end of the decade. The demographics of the Gatorade G Series target market: * Traditionally active males, aged 18 to 25. They can be students, just starting their careers, or well established. * They grew up idolizing many different sports athletes and teams, which still have an influence. * They make a very wide variety of incomes because Gatorade is inexpensive. It could be anywhere from $10,000 to $60,000. * Education could vary also, most have at least high school level education and some have college or above experiences. * These types of consumers may also be interested in other sport-related clothing and accessories. They may be interested in terms such as jerseys, hats, shoes or anything that will show off their allegiance to a team, sport or player. * The G Series core target is the 13- to 17-year-old high-school athlete, while G Series Pros target is the 16- to 24-year-old who is in the business of being athletic, whether as an elite athlete or personal trainer. A more detailed look at the MRI report gives a great glimpse into the target market for the sports drink industry. As highlighted in the index, 18-24 year olds are the core target market. With an index of 174, that means 74% of that age range are more likely to drink sports drinks. Moving further up the age range, 18-49 year adults provide a tremendous opportunity for this market. As highlighted by their percent down (which indicates the percent of those persons out of everyone that consumes a variable), 78. 2% of the total population that drank sports drinks were of that age group. Capturing the teen consumer has been identified as a priority for the brand, with the CMO of Gatorade, Ms. Robb-OHagan, conceding that teens thought the brand was dated. Last years shift to G was meant to grab their attention. With that accomplished, she said, the brand has been working with teens to test and promote the new products. Through May, a mobile locker room is making its way to high schools, showcasing the G Series products. What were focusing on this year, from a marketing standpoint, is making sure that the high-school athlete understands the G Series, understands the three-part series, Mrs. Robb-O’Hagan said. If we land that strongly with the teen consumers, we have a lot of opportunity. A Reporter Report is complete with explanations of key numbers. Please note that all the numbers are based on the 2009 Fall MRI study, and that the projected numbers (000) are expressed in thousands. (Appendix A). Market Trends and Macro Forces According to the Beverage Marketing Corporation, the sports drink industry has actually shrunk in sales by 12. 3% from 2009. Considering that Gatorade holds over a 70% market share of the entire sports drink market, they saw losses in gallons produced by 15. 5% in that same year. In a more local look at the market, from 1986 to 2009, the geometric growth of the industry in America has been 11. 62%. However, considering the great growth for the first 19 years of its existence from 1986 to 2005 of 14. 3%, this number might be misleading. A more accurate picture can be painted by using the last 5 years, letting the state of the economy be fully reflected in growth. In this new scenario, the growth is at -. 27%. Gatorade markets not only to the athlete, but to the casual drinker as well: construction workers, restaurants, and families for dinnertime. Sales records for the sports drink brands for the year 2009 and 2010 are available in the Appendix B. Market Trends Changing Needs Gatorade being a sports drink primarily focuses on the needs of the athletes. The researchers believe that the athletes are looking for pre and post workout drinks. The average consumer is already consuming during the before-and-after occasion, said Sarah Robb-OHagan, chief marketing officer at Gatorade. Different consumers have different nutritional needs on game day vs. training days. What weve seen as weve developed these products is different consumers mixing and matching their own regime to meet their needs. In addition, in order to build long term brand loyalty Gatorade is focusing on target high school students between the ages of 13-17 years. What were focusing on this year, from a marketing standpoint, is making sure that the high-school athlete understands the G Series, understands the three-part series, she said. If we land that strongly with the teen consumers, we have a lot of opportunity. What are also sparking the changing needs in this market trend are consumers increasingly focusing on their health. They are conscious about the effects of beverages on their own bodies. According to Mintel, a consumer packaged goods monitoring service, some of the product areas with the highest growth were in the sports and meal replacement categories, which place a greater emphasis on nutrition. More beverage companies are focusing their attention on adding new nutritional benefits to their new products, promoting a product’s ability to enhance sports performance. As the consumers are growing increasingly conscious about the contents of the sports drinks and the needs of the athletes are changing, so is the change in formulations of sports drinks. It is getting even more complicated. Sports nutrition companies are looking at low glycemic sugars as functional sugar systems to enhance endurance in certain products. These include newer functional sweeteners, such as isomaltulose and trehalose. Gatorade has risen to this challenge of balancing innovation with market needs. Beverage World selected Gatorade as the Winner for Brand Reinvention when it released the G-Series which includes the three products: Prime, Perform and Recover for before, during and after work out respectively. Macro Forces There are many macro forces that affect the sports drink industry. Among the most toxic is the current state of the economy. As we have discussed earlier, the poor spending power of consumers has shifted demand to less expensive alternatives, such as water or vitamin infused drinks. As the recession begins to lag into the next year, the sports drink industry can expect sales volume to remain at current levels. Given that the U6 rate (the most comprehensive form of unemployment that combines both unemployed and underemployed) is at 17%, discretionary income will continue to be a hindrance on this industry. While our competitor analysis is fully developed in the coming sections, it should be pointed out now that competition plays a significant role in this industry’s macro forces. Currently, there are two main competitors, Gatorade and Powerade, or Pepsi and Coke, respectively. Unfortunately there is no room for consolidation in this domestic saturated market, so the competitive battles that spur between the two eat away at costs and sales. A recent example comes from a lawsuit between these two companies. An article in the Beverage Industry relating to the industry issues reported a clash between Coca-Colas Powerade and Pepsi-Colas Gatorade on a lawsuit over brand advertising. At issue was a Powerade Option ad that featured a drag race between horse-drawn carts, one of which was carrying 10 bales of hay and the other 50. The message was that 10-calorie Option allowed the 10-bale horse to win the race over the 50-calorie competitor. The lawsuit argued the ad sent the message that Powerade was more effective as a sports drink, as well as containing fewer calories. The matter was resolved in a matter of days, with Coca-Cola agreeing to modify the ad. Such trivial pursuits between the two are costly to the industry and companies themselves. In addition to the direct competitors, sports drinks are facing increased competition from bottled water like Vitamin Water and coconut water and nutritional drinks like skimmed milk and chocolate milk for hydration and nutrition. Coconut water, skimmed milk and chocolate milk are easy to produce and provide natural health benefits compared to the artificial electrolytes in popular sports drinks like Gatorade. While health concerns have had positive effects on the industry, there are also some negatives as well. A new study done by researchers at The University of Iowa suggests that the sports drink Gatorade erodes teeth faster than a carbonated soft drink. I dont think everybody realizes how erosive these things are, especially Gatorade and Red Bull, Leslie A. Ehlen, a student at the University of Iowa School of Dentistry tells WebMD. People need to be aware that all sorts of beverages can be causing dental erosion. Of course, this leads right back to another macro force in regulator procedures. Although in know will health issues like this loom over the industry’s ability to sell their products, the F. D. A (food and drug administration) can certainly dampen sales volumes if need be. The F. D. A has recently banned production of Four Loko as it the combination of caffeine and alcohol mix is extremely dangerous.

Critique of Utilitarianism Theory

Critique of Utilitarianism Theory Utilitarianism as an independent ethical position only arose in the eighteenth century however fundamental utilitarian ideas can be found in the thoughts of philosophers such as Aristotle. It is a philosophical theory of morality or how one should act which has historical roots within the liberal tradition. The aim of utilitarianism is to make decisions on the basis of a calculation of consequences. As a moral theory, There are however many critiques of utilitarianism which vary as they have different reasons and different targets due to the fact utilitarianism isnt a single coherent theory but a cluster of related theories which have developed throughout the years. In this essay I will be explaining some of the problems with utilitarianism as a theory and discussing whether these problems are insurmountable, for which I think they are. As a theory, utilitarianism is usually thought to start with Jeremy Bentham, however, similar ideas were evident in the writings of David Hume in An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals (1)and Francis Hutchinson, whom David Hume studied under, in his An Inquiry into the Original of Our Ideas of Beauty and Virtue (2). Utilitarianism tells us an act is moral insofar as it creates the greatest good for the greatest number. It tells us to take the amount of happiness distributed between sentient beings and look at which distribution is going to maximise the amount of happiness. It gives a systematic answer. Throughout the past two centuries utilitarianism has been very influential within practical disciplines of politics and economics. As a result, utilitarianism has had an influence modern life, particularly public policy. What could be more important when making political deliberations than aiming to make peoples lives better and less unhappy? One of the first utilitarian theorisers, Jeremy Bentham, is famously credited for being the founder of the doctrine. Bentham defined utility as instrumental to happiness. He believes that all judgements of good and bad can be based on pleasure and pain. He is seen as an advocate of psychological hedonism. In his famous introduction of An Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation (1979), Bentham states Nature has placed man under the governance of two sovereign masters, pain and pleasure. Therefore, pain and pleasure provide the basis for his moral theory of what we ought to do. Initially, he began his career by studying law and then moved on to moral ethics in order to advise legislators. He was primarily interested in improving the law and his goal for the legislator was the utilitarian principle or the greatest happiness principle. Therefore, his advice was not initially aimed for individuals and their life choices but for the legislator. Although Bentham sees pleasu re as the key of explaining how human beings act, he relies more often on the concept of pain when constructing his legal theory. While he does endorse act-utilitarianism, his sanction-based theory of obligation is more applicable to the legal system he was so interested in improving. John Stuart Mill is also one of the most well-known utilitarian thinkers and defenders of the theory. His celebrated thoughts can be found in his famous essay: Utilitarianism. Mill observes something of a crisis in moral thinking. Philosophical thinkers have been unable to come to a consensus on the principle of what constitutes right and wrong. Mill argues that having such a foundation is necessary to legitimise morality. This is why the theory of utilitarianism is so important. Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill categorise and measure utility and pleasure in different ways. Bentham uses the hedonic calculus which decides the value of pleasure by seven measures of quantity: duration, intensity, certainty or uncertainty, remoteness or propinquity, fecundity, extent and purity. Bentham is well-known for his treating of all pleasures as of equal value. By this he means not that all pleasures are of exactly equal, but that the legislator who his work on utilitarianism is aimed at should not be valuing one pleasure above another. John Stuart Mill however saw pleasures in two categories higher and lower pleasures. A criticism of John Stuart Mills utilitarianism, and the first problem with the theory that I shall be addressing, is his categorisation of higher and lower pleasures. The difference between these pleasures is founded on sort and not degree, therefore this makes comparison of the consequence of actions far more difficult to calculate. Higher and lower pleasures cannot be measure or compared as they are of a different kind. How would Mills version of utilitarianism be applied in situations in which bother higher and lower pleasures are involved in the calculation? In relation to John Stuart Mills classification of higher and lower pleasures, a common criticism of simple versions of the theory such as Benthams utilitarianism is that they reduce the subtleties of human life to a stark calculation of animal-like pleasures, with no concern for how these pleasures are produced. This gave utilitarianism a bad name and it was often mocked as a doctrine only worthy of swine. (philosophy of the classics, mill utilitarianism). John Stuart Mill defends utilitarianism from such criticism with his version which differs from Jeremy Benthams simple version: Mills differentiation between higher and lower pleasures puts forward that intellectual pleasures are intrinsically more valuable that physical pleasures. Bentham however treats all pleasures as equal to each other. So, when utilitarianism is described as a doctrine worthy only of swine, Mill argues that it is better to be a dissatisfied human being than a satisfied pig; and better to be a dissatisfied So crates than a satisfied fool. His defence is that human beings are capable of intellectual pleasures as well as physical ones, whereas pigs cannot enjoy intellectual pleasures. In his view, humans who have experienced intellectual pleasures will prefer them to lower, physical ones. Those who still are lead astray by lower physical ones are falling for immediate sensual gratification, even though they know full well that higher, intellectual pleasures are more worthwhile. John Stuart Mils idea of higher and lower pleasures has been viewed as flawed in itself. It has been criticised as a self-serving idea. For example, an intellectual will view his preferred enjoyments as a higher, more important pleasure. Therefore, as an intellectual, it could be argued that Mill himself is biased towards what constitutes as higher and lower pleasures. A further and harsh criticism of utilitarianism is that the theory would justify slavery. This is as long as the slaves were happy or the overall happiness gained by the beneficiaries of the slavery was calculated as than the slaves unhappiness. Bentham fiercely denies this to be the case, as he argues that the choices of human beings give the best inclination of what makes humans happy, and slavery by definition is never a choice and therefore slaves can never be said to be happy. Bentham is also well known for his application of utilitarianism as the greatest happiness for the greatest number. This can subsequently be translated to mean that utilitarianism sacrifices the unfortunate few the powerful many. Therefore it has been argued by some that regarding the slavery example mentioned previously; if the vast economic benefits of slavery outweighed the unhappiness of the slaves then slavery is still favoured by utilitarianism. Bentham argues against this however as he claims the greatest happiness for the greatest number should be applied in a way that the interest of the powerless many should be more important than the interests of the powerful few. Another fundamental criticism of utilitarianism is that it ignores justice. A classic example of this criticism was given by H. J. McCloskey McCloskey, H.J. (1957) An Examination of Restricted Utilitarianism in The Philosophical Review, Vol. 66, No. 4 (Oct., 1957), pp. 466-485. If framing an innocent man for a crime that would reduce the further riots and pain that looking for the real guilty person would incur, utilitarian theory would suggest that this would be the optimal choice as although an innocent man will suffer, for a greater number of people less pain will be caused, incurring in a calculation of more pleasure overall. Therefore, if the sole aim of utilitarian theory is to maximise pleasure and reduce pain for the greater number, justice will be ignored in situations such as this example. Bentham however argues that it is a serious misrepresentation to say that utilitarians would be willing to ignore justice and punish an innocent man in the name of the greater good. ADD t o benthams defence. Another problem with utilitarianism is the impracticality of calculating the utility of actions in real time. The calculation of utility is said to be self-defeating as by the time the best utilitarian course of action has been calculated and decided, the opportunity to take this action may well have passed. How can one calculate which of all possible actions will maximise the most happiness overall. What if one is in a dilemma and has a decision to make quickly? In high pressure situations, one usually does not have time to sit down and make exact calculations regarding which decision will bring about the most happiness and minimise pain. Mill deflected this objection with the response that humans learn general moral principle though experience that can later be relied on in such situations. Exact calculations are not necessary for each situation in life as this would be impractical. In chapter 2 of his essay Utilitarianism, Mill replies to such criticism: In such circumstances, one should follow common-sense moral rules, which summarize lots of human experience, and tend to guide us toward actions that promote general happiness and away from actions that tend to dampen it. Also, one can cultivate habits and train individual character, so that people become disposed to act in ways that are happiness-promoting. I feel his reply is valid as utilitarianism as a theory is still in use when making decisions in ordinary situations without exact calculations. It is logical to assume common sense moral rules as guidance when making decisions without needing to apply exact calculations. A further problem of John Stuart Mills utilitarianism is that strict application of some utilitarian principles can result in unpalatable consequences. This has been argued by many of utilitarianism critics and there are plentiful examples of scenarios where consequences of utilitarianism being applied leads to unacceptable consequences. A great difficulty with utilitarianism is that for one to truly take on a core principle such as the greatest happiness for the greatest number, is very demanding. Everything action an individual undertakes would become a moral obligation to help a greater number of people. It requires the actor to be impartial regarding his own happiness and desires and focus neutrally on the happiness of others over one sown. as between his own happiness and that of others, utilitarianism requires him to be as strictly impartial as a disinterested and benevolent spectator. (jsmill utilitarianism chapter 2) What makes this so demanding is the excessive amount of strangers in need of help and the indefinite opportunities there are to make sacrifices to maximise their happiness. This is also a problem as there is no differentiation between helping your friends and family before complete strangers. For example, choosing to work excessively and earn as much money as possible to help those in poverty wou ld be the correct utilitarian choice as it does the most good for the most people. We would become charitable cogs and ignore our human nature to have personal leisure time for example and engage with our individual wants and needs. This ties in with the criticism of utilitarianism that it ignores individuality and individual rights which is a main topic of criticism. As a theory, utilitarianism cannot respect the rights of individuals mill defends. Taking into account John Stuart Mills defence, I personally do not think that utilitarianism looks at individuals as unique and groups people together without regard for their individuality. One would become a martyr for greater happiness, disregarding ones own, apparently less important wants, needs and desires. Utilitarian thinkers argue that the world would in fact be a much better place if we did live by principle. I disagree and feel that in this sense utilitarianism is overly demanding and has a lack of respect for individual righ ts. This is a key problem with the theory that I do not believe is insurmountable as it would deter individuals from engaging with the theory. Act-utilitarianism is too demanding Therefore critics of utilitarian argue this overly demanding theory would leave one with a life of hardship and austerity. Bernard Williams is an infamous critic of utilitarian theory. He states that we need a sense of integrity and commitments to justify any morality. He effectively argues that utilitarianism misses moral agency. His example of this problem with utilitarianism is the differentiation between an act and the consequence. It is hard to justify that the action rather than a possibly terrible consequence is what makes an action immoral. Too much egoistic weight is placed on personal actions. For example, the action of shooting someone with a gun rather than the victim dying is what is wrong with such a scenario for a utilitarian. Williams argues that we do not judge actions by their consequences and this notion of utilitarianism should be rejected no matter how plausible it may seem. Williams believes this way of judgement removes what it is to be human from the scenario. Moral decision should preserve our psychological identity and integrity. John Stuart Millss proof of utilitarianism has also come under constant criticism. His answer the question why maximise happiness? is controversial. Mills claim is that happiness is pursued as an end in itself and is the aim of all human activity. If someone claims that they pursue virtue as an end in itself, Mill argues that this is just an ingredient in their life of happiness and just a means leading to the same end: happiness, pleasure and the avoidance of pain. Virtue is just part of their happiness. So for Mill, the question of why maximise happiness? is in fact a question of why happiness is desirable. His analogous answer to this is that The only way we can prove an object is visible is by demonstrating that people can actually see it. Therefore the evidence that happiness is desirable is that people desire it. This evidence of proof has come under much criticism as it is argued by Henry Sidgwick that itis based on a bad argument. First of all he criticises the comparison of what is desirable and what is visible. Visible means can be seen however desirable doesnt actually translate to can be desired. In fact it is more correctly translated to mean should be desired. This weakness of John Stuart Mills analogy makes it hard to compare what people do desire to what people should desire. Therefore, his proof of happiness being desirable is based fully on bad argument. As the fundamental aim of utilitarianism is the maximise happiness, the fact that Mill has difficulty proving that happiness is what the people desire is a fundamental problem with the theory that I do not feel can be ignored. It is also argued that if John Stuart Mill had given a correct analogy, his argument would have lead to a selfish version of utilitarianism compared to the utilitarian approach that the greatest happiness for the greatest number its aim. In Mills example, individuals wanting their own personal happiness will add up to an aggregate happiness. Therefore, it is argued he needs a far stronger argument than his given analogy to prove that general happiness is what all people should aim for. It is clear that utilitarianism, although often considered a simple theory which declares that the morally right action in any circumstances is the one which is most likely to maximise happiness, is actually a very complex cluster of related theories which have developed rapidly since the 18th century. Throughout this time many features of utilitarianism have come under constant criticism and as a normative theory it has been widely accused of being unworkable. I do believe that utilitarianism has flaws which John Stuart Mill as the theorys key defender has been unable to explain adequately. A lot of Mills utilitarianism is defendable such as how he deals with the objection that the calculations are impractical. However some of his answers to criticism do not persuade me that the problems with utilitarianism are surmountable. I sympathise with the criticism that utilitarianism is overly demanding and following rule utilitarianism strictly would lead to a life of austerity and self-de nial. As a moral basis for some decision making I think utilitarianism could have use in society today, however, as moral theory I do not think that it upholds and the problems within it are insurmountable. The criticisms I have mention in this essay are not exhaustive.

Nicholas: The Last Tsar :: essays research papers

In his book, The Last Tsar, Edvard Radzinsky describes a very interesting viewpoint of the life and death of Nicholas Alexandrovich, the last Russian Tsar. Radzinsky's illustration of this ill-fated monarch follows the diaries of Nicholas from their beginning on March 1, 1881, to the final entry on July 16, 1918.1 Radzinsky mainly goes over pre-marital relationship between Nicholas and Alexandra, the medical condition of Nicholas' son, Alexei, and the imprisonment and execution of Nicholas and his family. The relationship between Nicholas II and Alexandra began in 1884. Alexandra, the daughter of Louis IV, the Grand Duke of Hesse-Darmstadt, a tiny state in Germany, was born in 1872.2 Her grandmother was Queen Victoria of England, her oldest sister married an English prince, her second sister married a Russian Grand Duke and her third sister married a German prince. Nicholas and Alexandra met during the wedding of her second sister, Ella, to Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich. Alexandra was only twelve and Nicholas was only sixteen, but he stated in his diary that he fell in love with her a first sight. Nicholas' father, Tsar Alexander III, did not approve of Alexandra, because of the fact that she was the granddaughter of the English Queen. Instead, he suggested that Nicholas marry a princess from the House of Orleans. His decision was basely mainly on politics, as he was striving for an alliance between Russia and France. Alexander's suggestion did not have any effect on Nicholas, as he seemed certain to marry his childhood sweetheart, Alexandra. That day came in 1894, when Alexander was on his deathbed, suffering from a kidney disease that he had contracted in a train wreck six years earlier. On April 8, 1894, at the wedding of Alexandra's brother, her and Nicholas were engaged.3 On November 14, 1894, a month after the death of his father Nicholas married Alexandra and officially became the tsar of Russia.Alexei Nikolaevich, the first son of Nicholas and Alexandra was born on July 30, 1904, following the births of four daughters. The problem of who would rule Russia in case of an accident to Nicholas was solved. However, there was a new problem, as Alexei was diagnosed with hemophilia. Hemophilia is a disease that weakened the walls of the arteries so that "any blow or intense pressure can cause the blood vessels to burst and can mean the end."4 Rumours of a holy man, named Grigory Rasputin, however, living in the backwoods of Siberia gave rise to Alexander's hopes that her son's hemophilia could be cured.

The History of the Corset Essay -- History Women Feminism

Throughout history, a person’s economic and social rank could be shown through what clothes they wore. In ancient Egypt, a person of upper class was permitted by law to wear sandals on the harsh, desert floor. Because of these laws, female-confining ideals arose. For example, the Greeks and Romans controlled the type, color, and number of undergarments worn by women and the kind of fabric dà ©cor used on them. The torso became the sculpting block of feminine beauty. This was the beginning of the corset, a restraining, essential item in the women’s attire through the 19th century. During the Renaissance period, the corset resembled a cone, as it was small at the waist and uplifting at the bosom. It extended from the underarm to just below the waist. The typical female’s corset was made stiff with metal or wood. Again, a woman of higher economical or social standing would have one made special with whalebone. During this time and through the Romantic period, a woman was put to shame if she was found absent of a corset or her waist size was not small enough. At that period in time, a 15 to 18 inch waist was acceptable. Anything exceeding those measurements was thought to be absurd. Thusly, restricting corsets were the norm and often resulted in physical deformities. For example, rib cages were often cracked or grew warped due to constricting corsets. The corset was found rigid and compressing in the 1700s. Early 1800s brought some enlightening change: Mantua dresses were m...

Walmart Security Issues

Review our  cookies information  for more details Special report:  Managing information A different game Information is transforming traditional businesses Feb 25th 2010 | from the print edition * * IN 1879 James Ritty, a saloon-keeper in Dayton, Ohio, received a patent for a wooden contraption that he dubbed the â€Å"incorruptible cashier†. With a set of buttons and a loud bell, the device, sold by National Cash Register (NCR), was little more than a simple adding machine. Yet as an early form of managing information flows in American business the cash register had a huge impact.It not only reduced pilferage by alerting the shopkeeper when the till was opened; by recording every transaction, it also provided an instant overview of what was happening in the business. Sales data remain one of a company's most important assets. In 2004 Wal-Mart peered into its mammoth databases and noticed that before a hurricane struck, there was a run on flashlights and batteries, as mi ght be expected; but also on Pop-Tarts, a sugary American breakfast snack. On reflection it is clear that the snack would be a handy thing to eat in a blackout, but the retailer would not have thought to stock up on it before a storm.The company whose system crunched Wal-Mart's numbers was none other than NCR and its data-warehousing unit, Teradata, now an independent firm. A few years ago such technologies, called â€Å"business intelligence†, were available only to the world's biggest companies. But as the price of computing and storage has fallen and the software systems have got better and cheaper, the technology has moved into the mainstream. Companies are collecting more data than ever before. In the past they were kept in different systems that were unable to talk to each other, such as finance, human resources or customer management.Now the systems are being linked, and companies are using data-mining techniques to get a complete picture of their operations—â⠂¬Å"a single version of the truth†, as the industry likes to call it. That allows firms to operate more efficiently, pick out trends and improve their forecasting. In this special report * Data, data everywhere * All too much *  »A different game * Clicking for gold * The open society * Show me * Needle in a haystack * New rules for big data * Handling the cornucopia Sources & acknowledgementsReprints Related topics * China * Nestle * IBM * Royal Shakespeare Company * WalmartConsider Cablecom, a Swiss telecoms operator. It has reduced customer defections from one-fifth of subscribers a year to under 5% by crunching its numbers. Its software spotted that although customer defections peaked in the 13th month, the decision to leave was made much earlier, around the ninth month (as indicated by things like the number of calls to customer support services). So Cablecom offered certain customers special deals seven months into their subscription and reaped the rewards. Agony and t orture Such data-mining has a dubious reputation. â€Å"Torture the data long enough and they will confess to anything,† statisticians quip.But it has become far more effective as more companies have started to use the technology. Best Buy, a retailer, found that 7% of its customers accounted for 43% of its sales, so it reorganised its stores to concentrate on those customers' needs. Airline yield management improved because analytical techniques uncovered the best predictor that a passenger would actually catch a flight he had booked: that he had ordered a vegetarian meal. The IT industry is piling into business intelligence, seeing it as a natural successor of services such as accountancy and computing in the first and second half of the 20th century respectively.Accenture, PricewaterhouseCoopers, IBM and SAP are investing heavily in their consulting practices. Technology vendors such as Oracle, Informatica, TIBCO, SAS and EMC have benefited. IBM believes business intellige nce will be a pillar of its growth as sensors are used to manage things from a city's traffic flow to a patient's blood flow. It has invested $12 billion in the past four years and is opening six analytics centres with 4,000 employees worldwide. Analytics—performing statistical operations for forecasting or uncovering correlations such as between Pop-Tarts and hurricanes—can have a big pay-off.In Britain the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) sifted through seven years of sales data for a marketing campaign that increased regular visitors by 70%. By examining more than 2m transaction records, the RSC discovered a lot more about its best customers: not just income, but things like occupation and family status, which allowed it to target its marketing more precisely. That was of crucial importance, says the RSC's Mary Butlin, because it substantially boosted membership as well as fund-raising revenue. Yet making the most of data is not easy. The first step is to improve the accuracy of the information.Nestle, for example, sells more than 100,000 products in 200 countries, using 550,000 suppliers, but it was not using its huge buying power effectively because its databases were a mess. On examination, it found that of its 9m records of vendors, customers and materials around half were obsolete or duplicated, and of the remainder about one-third were inaccurate or incomplete. The name of a vendor might be abbreviated in one record but spelled out in another, leading to double-counting. Plainer vanilla Over the past ten years Nestle has been overhauling its IT system, using SAP software, and improving the quality of its data.This enabled the firm to become more efficient, says Chris Johnson, who led the initiative. For just one ingredient, vanilla, its American operation was able to reduce the number of specifications and use fewer suppliers, saving $30m a year. Overall, such operational improvements save more than $1 billion annually. Nestle is not alon e in having problems with its database. Most CIOs admit that their data are of poor quality. In a study by IBM half the managers quizzed did not trust the information on which they had to base decisions. Many say that the technology meant to make sense of it often just produces more data.Instead of finding a needle in the haystack, they are making more hay. Still, as analytical techniques become more widespread, business decisions will increasingly be made, or at least corroborated, on the basis of computer algorithms rather than individual hunches. This creates a need for managers who are comfortable with data, but statistics courses in business schools are not popular. Many new business insights come from â€Å"dead data†: stored information about past transactions that are examined to reveal hidden correlations. But now companies are increasingly moving to analysing real-time information flows.Wal-Mart is a good example. The retailer operates 8,400 stores worldwide, has mo re than 2m employees and handles over 200m customer transactions each week. Its revenue last year, around $400 billion, is more than the GDP of many entire countries. The sheer scale of the data is a challenge, admits Rollin Ford, the CIO at Wal-Mart's headquarters in Bentonville, Arkansas. â€Å"We keep a healthy paranoia. † Not a sparrow falls Wal-Mart's inventory-management system, called Retail Link, enables suppliers to see the exact number of their products on every shelf of every store at that precise moment.The system shows the rate of sales by the hour, by the day, over the past year and more. Begun in the 1990s, Retail Link gives suppliers a complete overview of when and how their products are selling, and with what other products in the shopping cart. This lets suppliers manage their stocks better. The technology enabled Wal-Mart to change the business model of retailing. In some cases it leaves stock management in the hands of its suppliers and does not take owner ship of the products until the moment they are sold. This allows it to shed inventory risk and reduce its costs.In essence, the shelves in its shops are a highly efficiently managed depot. Another company that capitalises on real-time information flows is Li & Fung, one of the world's biggest supply-chain operators. Founded in Guangzhou in southern China a century ago, it does not own any factories or equipment but orchestrates a network of 12,000 suppliers in 40 countries, sourcing goods for brands ranging from Kate Spade to Walt Disney. Its turnover in 2008 was $14 billion. Li ; Fung used to deal with its clients mostly by phone and fax, with e-mail counting as high technology.But thanks to a new web-services platform, its processes have speeded up. Orders flow through a web portal and bids can be solicited from pre-qualified suppliers. Agents now audit factories in real time with hand-held computers. Clients are able to monitor the details of every stage of an order, from the ini tial production run to shipping. One of the most important technologies has turned out to be videoconferencing. It allows buyers and manufacturers to examine the colour of a material or the stitching on a garment. â€Å"Before, we weren't able to send a 500MB image—we'd post a DVD.Now we can stream it to show vendors in our offices. With real-time images we can make changes quicker,† says Manuel Fernandez, Li ; Fung's chief technology officer. Data flowing through its network soared from 100 gigabytes a day only 18 months ago to 1 terabyte. The information system also allows Li & Fung to look across its operations to identify trends. In southern China, for instance, a shortage of workers and new legislation raised labour costs, so production moved north. â€Å"We saw that before it actually happened,† says Mr Fernandez.The company also got advance warning of the economic crisis, and later the recovery, from retailers' orders before these trends became apparent. Investment analysts use country information provided by Li ; Fung to gain insights into macroeconomic patterns. Now that they are able to process information flows in real time, organisations are collecting more data than ever. One use for such information is to forecast when machines will break down. This hardly ever happens out of the blue: there are usually warning signs such as noise, vibration or heat. Capturing such data enables firms to act before a breakdown.Similarly, the use of â€Å"predictive analytics† on the basis of large data sets may transform health care. Dr Carolyn McGregor of the University of Ontario, working with IBM, conducts research to spot potentially fatal infections in premature babies. The system monitors subtle changes in seven streams of real-time data, such as respiration, heart rate and blood pressure. The electrocardiogram alone generates 1,000 readings per second. This kind of information is turned out by all medical equipment, but it used t o be recorded on paper and examined perhaps once an hour.By feeding the data into a computer, Dr McGregor has been able to detect the onset of an infection before obvious symptoms emerge. â€Å"You can't see it with the naked eye, but a computer can,† she says. Open sesame Two technology trends are helping to fuel these new uses of data: cloud computing and open-source software. Cloud computing—in which the internet is used as a platform to collect, store and process data—allows businesses to lease computing power as and when they need it, rather than having to buy expensive equipment.Amazon, Google and Microsoft are the most prominent firms to make their massive computing infrastructure available to clients. As more corporate functions, such as human resources or sales, are managed over a network, companies can see patterns across the whole of the business and share their information more easily. A free programming language called R lets companies examine and p resent big data sets, and free software called Hadoop now allows ordinary PCs to analyse huge quantities of data that previously required a supercomputer. It does this by parcelling out the tasks to numerous computers at once. This saves time and money.For example, the  New York Times  a few years ago used cloud computing and Hadoop to convert over 400,000 scanned images from its archives, from 1851 to 1922. By harnessing the power of hundreds of computers, it was able to do the job in 36 hours. Visa, a credit-card company, in a recent trial with Hadoop crunched two years of test records, or 73 billion transactions, amounting to 36 terabytes of data. The processing time fell from one month with traditional methods to a mere 13 minutes. It is a striking successor of Ritty's incorruptible cashier for a data-driven age. from the print edition | Special report Recommend 140 * * * Submit to reddit * inShare2 * View all comments (4) Related items TOPIC:  China  Ã‚ » * Recommended economics writing: Link exchange * Trade: Mexico rising * The Economist: Digital highlights, November 24th 2012 TOPIC:  Nestle  Ã‚ » * Consumer goods in Africa: A continent goes shopping * Schumpeter: Pretty profitable parrots * Nestle buys Pfizer Nutrition: Feeding little emperors TOPIC:  IBM  Ã‚ » * Schumpeter: Taking the long view * IBM's mainframes: Old dog, new tricks * Phase-change memory: Altered states TOPIC:  Royal Shakespeare Company  Ã‚ » * William Shakespeare: A digital reinvention Culture: Going for gold * Green architecture: The retrofit revolution More related topics: * Walmart Want more? Subscribe to  The Economist  and get the week's most relevant news and analysis. * Print edition X Feb 27th 2010 Feb 20th 2010 Feb 13th 2010 Feb 6th 2010 * Next in The world this week X Politics this week * Next in The world this week X Business this week * Next in The world this week X KAL's cartoon * Next in Leaders X Technology The data deluge Businesses, governmen ts and society are only starting to tap its vast potential * Next in Leaders X Argentina and the Falklands The beef in Buenos AiresThe Kirchners could have more oil if they stopped bullying Argentine business * Next in Leaders X Japan's frustrating politics Nagasaki fallout Japan’s prime minister, Yukio Hatoyama, should jettison his Svengali, Ichiro Ozawa * Next in Leaders X India Ending the red terror It is time India got serious about the Maoist insurgency in its eastern states * Next in Leaders X Genetically modified food Attack of the really quite likeable tomatoes The success of genetically modified crops provides opportunities to win over their critics * Next in Letters X Letters On Spain, al-Qaeda, Yemen, torture, Britain, juries, stereotypes, Benjamin Disraeli Next in Briefing X Argentina under the Kirchners Socialism for foes, capitalism for friends While some private businesses in Argentina have faced harassment or even nationalisation, others†¦ * Next in Brief ing X The first family's businesses Welcome to the Hotel Kirchner Such a lovely little earner * Next in United States X Health reform Seizing the reins, at long last After leaving Congress in charge for too long, Barack Obama unveils his own plan * Next in United States X Mitt Romney and the Republicans Fired up, ready to go Mitt Romney takes centre-stage * Next in United States X The administration's economistsGrading the dismal scientists How good is the Council of Economic Advisers? * Next in United States X The economy Back to the crash The American economy has just had its worst decade since the 1930s * Next in United States X Arkansas politics Democrats beware A spirited scramble for suddenly open Democratic seats * Next in United States X Schools and testing The finger of suspicion Is too much weight given to testing? * Next in United States X California's prison-guards' union Fading are the peacemakers One of California’s most powerful political forces may have peaked * Next in United States X America's childrenProtecting the weakest The recession may hurt America’s vulnerable children * Next in United States X Lexington Is Barack Obama tough enough? Conservatives call him too weak to be a warrior. Tell that to the Taliban * Next in The Americas X Corruption in Brazil The money trail Many corruption scandals stem from the high cost of politics, and unrealistically tight†¦ * Next in The Americas X Presidential ambitions in Peru Political satire Jaime Bayly’s breath of fresh air * Next in The Americas X Latin American summitry In ever-closer union, divided we stand * Next in The Americas X Canada's Mohawks Get out of our canoeWhen a Canadian is not a Canadian * Next in Asia X Tackling Japan's bureaucracy Floundering in the foggy fortress The DPJ is finding that it needs to befriend its bureaucrats, as well as bash them * Next in Asia X India's Naxalite insurgency Not a dinner party India’s Maoist guerrillas carry out two slaughters, then offer a truce * Next in Asia X Western aims in Afghanistan Played for fools Hamid Karzai’s shenanigans make the going even harder for NATO * Next in Asia X Migrant workers in Thailand Inhospitality Life gets harder for Thailand’s guest-workers * Next in Asia X China's National People's CongressDemocracy in action Making sure that China’s supreme legislative body is toothless * Next in Asia X Animal welfare in China Off the menu The right to eat cats and dogs is under threat * Next in Asia X Banyan The mother of all dictatorships To understand North Korea, look not to Confucius or the Soviet Union, but to fascist 1930s Japan * Next in Asia X Clarification: Maratha * Next in Middle East and Africa X Israel's controversial intelligence service Does Mossad really make Israel safer? In the wake of the assassination of a Hamas leader in Dubai, presumably by Mossad, the agency’s†¦ * Next in Middle East and AfricaX Israeli spies in Lebanon N ot such a success A round-up of Israeli spies * Next in Middle East and Africa X Senegal's politics Statuesque or grotesque? An outsize statue symbolises the defects of the president and his family * Next in Middle East and Africa X South Africa's economy Steady as she goes A budget that gives little to the left * Next in Middle East and Africa X Somalia's civil war Jihadists on the march The strongest Islamist militia is now formally linked to al-Qaeda * Next in Middle East and Africa X Niger's coup It seems popular, so far The African Union tut-tuts but the people appear to welcome a coup Next in Middle East and Africa X Nigeria's president A sudden return There’s still a vacuum * Next in Middle East and Africa X Correction: Najib Balala * Next in Europe X Ukraine's new president Yanukovich's mixed blessing A triumphant Viktor Yanukovich is inaugurated in Kiev, but his political problems have only just†¦ * Next in Europe X Germany's fractious government Westerwelle's w oes A liberal at odds with some of his coalition partners * Next in Europe X Latvia and Greece Baltic thaw, Aegean freeze Latvia’s economic free fall has halted, and it may now do better than Greece * Next in Europe X Turkey's coup plottersLies and whispers More arrests stoke the battle between the army and the government * Next in Europe X The Dutch government falls Wild things The far right promises to do disturbingly well on June 9th * Next in Europe X France's Socialist Party Fresh troubles A scandal in the south-west shows up the metropolitan party’s weaknesses * Next in Europe X Charlemagne Europe's bear problem The trouble with the European Union’s attempts to woo Russia * Next in Britain X Britain’s prime minister Hero, villain or victim of the global age? Gordon Brown’s pitch for a fourth Labour term—and his critique of the Tories Next in Britain X The Conservatives' mini-malaise Tory blues The opposition is failing to capitalise on the government’s troubles * Next in Britain X Media and the law Publish, perish, protest Bad news for dodgy journalism—and for libel tourists * Next in Britain X Pensions and tax If it says ARF, then it's a dog Pensions rules get complex again * Next in Britain X Assisted suicide The latest chapter New rules on helping those who wish to end their lives but are unable to do so * Next in Britain X Construction jitters Survival tactics Building firms are struggling to emerge from the recession * Next in BritainX Bagehot All too human How much does a prime minister's character matter? * Next in Britain X Internship * Next in International X Sanctions on Iran And the price of nuclear power? America is rallying its friends to concentrate minds in the Islamic Republic * Next in International X A poll on trust What's good for General Motors A new pattern in opinions about bureaucrats, business and charity * Next in Special report X Data, data everywhere Information has gone f rom scarce to superabundant. That brings huge new benefits, says Kenneth†¦ * Next in Special report X All too much Monstrous amounts of data Next in Special report X Clicking for gold How internet companies profit from data on the web * Next in Special report X The open society Governments are letting in the light * Next in Special report X Show me New ways of visualising data * Next in Special report X Needle in a haystack The uses of information about information * Next in Special report X New rules for big data Regulators are having to rethink their brief * Next in Special report X Handling the cornucopia The best way to deal with all that information is to use machines. But they need watching * Next in Business X Recruitment firms Joining the queueThe recession has accelerated big changes for firms that help people find jobs * Next in Business X The spread of GM crops Taking root The developing world embraces a controversial technology * Next in Business X The boom in print ing on demand Just press print New technology promises to prolong the life of the book * Next in Business X Hype about fuel cells Flower power A clean-tech start-up generates lots of excitement and a little electricity * Next in Business X A boardroom row at Repsol Adding fuel A policy shift in Spain heralds more upheaval at its biggest oil firm * Next in Business X Toyota's overstretched supply chainThe machine that ran too hot The woes of the world’s biggest carmaker are a warning for rivals * Next in Business X Schumpeter The emperor's clothes Like other bosses, media moguls are recovering their poise. But that's no reason to start making†¦ * Next in Briefing X Reviving Royal Bank of Scotland Scots on the rocks What really went wrong at RBS? And how can it be put right? * Next in Finance and economics X The balance of economic power East or famine Asia’s economic weight in the world has risen, but by less than commonly assumed * Next in Finance and economics X Emerging-market sovereign debt Risk redefinedThe new problem with Asian sovereign debt—scarcity * Next in Finance and economics X Secondary buy-outs Circular logic Private-equity companies look to each other to solve their problems * Next in Finance and economics X Interest-rate risk Surf's up Banks’ next big problem appears on the horizon * Next in Finance and economics X Buttonwood The very long view For investors, much depends on when you put your money in * Next in Finance and economics X Chinese banks Hole sale Capital calls by Chinese financial institutions elicit questions * Next in Finance and economics X Short-selling rules Shackling the scapegoatsAmerican regulators approve long-awaited restrictions on short-selling * Next in Finance and economics X Economics focus Low definition Trustbusters want to put less emphasis on market definition when assessing mergers * Next in Finance and economics X Correction: Financial risk * Next in Science and technology X Cli mate and combustion Fired up This year’s meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science looked at, among†¦ * Next in Science and technology X How siestas help memory Sleepy heads Researchers say an afternoon nap prepares the brain to learn * Next in Science and technology XLooking for ET Signs of life As the search for alien life turns 50, its practitioners find new methods * Next in Science and technology X Nuclear forensics A weighty matter How to analyse smuggled uranium * Next in Books and arts X China's roads A voyage of discovery A reporter who explored China’s bigger and lesser roads and found treasure * Next in Books and arts X How East Timor became Timor-Leste A country's agonising birth An authoritative account of Timor-Leste's birth * Next in Books and arts X New York low life Bottoms up Essays on New York by St Clair McKelway, taken from the New Yorker * Next in Books and artsX University education in America Professionalising the p rofessor The difficulties of an American doctoral student * Next in Books and arts X A biography of Arthur Koestler Intellectual fireworks A serial fornicator with a powerful, paradoxical intellect * Next in Books and arts X A Japanese silversmith Making waves Pounding flat pieces of silver into beautiful vessels * Next in Books and arts X Old men of the theatre The two Peters A couple of productions that make a compelling case against ageism * Next in Obituary X Alexander Haig Alexander Meigs Haig, soldier and public servant, died on February 20th, aged 85 Next in Economic and financial indicators X Overview * Next in Economic and financial indicators X Output, prices and jobs * Next in Economic and financial indicators X The Economist commodity-price index * Next in Economic and financial indicators X FDIC-insured â€Å"problem† institutions * Next in Economic and financial indicators X Trade, exchange rates, budget balances and interest rates * Next in Economic and financi al indicators X Markets * Next in Economic and financial indicators X Wall Street bonuses * Print edition X Feb 27th 2010 Mar 6th 2010 Mar 13th 2010 Mar 20th 2010 From the print edition  Feb 27th 2010 Comment (4) * Print * E-mail * Reprints ; permissions * Most popular * Recommended * Commented Recommended * 1Mexico and the United StatesThe rise of Mexico * 2International: The lottery of life * 3Atheists and Islam: No God, not even Allah * 4European economy guide: Polarised prospects * 5Egypt: Going up in flames Commented * 1Atheists and IslamNo God, not even Allah * 2France and the euro: The time-bomb at the heart of Europe * 3Secession and elections: Let’s stay together * 4Higher education: Not what it used to be * 5Economist debate: Opening Latest blog posts  Ã¢â‚¬â€œ All times are GMTChristmas countdown: The 2012 Daily chart Advent calendar Graphic detail  Ã¢â‚¬â€œ Dec 1st, 06:54 Environmental policy: Trent Lott outs himself as the owner of a titchy,†¦ Lexingto n's notebook  Ã¢â‚¬â€œ Dec 1st, 03:45 Mexico's new cabinet: Out with the old, in with the†¦ old Americas view  Ã¢â‚¬â€œ Dec 1st, 03:06 Recommended economics writing: Link exchange Free exchange  Ã¢â‚¬â€œ Nov 30th, 22:11 The Securities and Exchange Commission: Merger talks Schumpeter  Ã¢â‚¬â€œ Nov 30th, 21:50 Defending Grover Norquist: Nice try, John Democracy in America  Ã¢â‚¬â€œ Nov 30th, 20:45 Czech politics: The Czech Republic's first presidential debate Eastern approaches  Ã¢â‚¬â€œ Nov 30th, 20:23More from our blogs  » Products & events Stay informed today and every day Get e-mail newsletters Subscribe to  The Economist's  free e-mail newsletters and alerts. Follow  The Economist  on Twitter Subscribe to  The Economist's  latest article postings on Twitter Follow  The Economist  on Facebook See a selection of  The Economist's  articles, events, topical videos and debates on Facebook. * About The Economist * Media directory * Advertising inf o * Staff books * Career opportunities * Subscribe * Contact us * Site index * [+] Site Feedback * Copyright  © The Economist Newspaper Limited 2012.All rights reserved. * Accessibility * Privacy policy * Cookies info * Terms of use * Help * Log in * Register * Subscribe * Digital ; mobile * Events * Topics A-Z * Newsletters * Jobs * * * * Top of Form Bottom of Form * World politics * ————————————————- United States * ————————————————- Britain * ————————————————- Europe * ————————————————- China * —————â₠¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€- Asia * ————————————————- Americas ————————————————- Middle East & Africa * Business & finance * ————————————————- All Business & finance * ————————————————- Which MBA? * ————————————————- Business Books Quarterly * Economics * ———————————————â₠¬â€- All Economics * ————————————————- Economics by invitation * ————————————————- Economics A-Z * ————————————————- Markets & data Science & technology * ————————————————- All Science & technology * ————————————————- Technology Quarterly * Culture * ————————————————- All Culture * —————à ¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€- More Intelligent Life * ————————————————- Style guide * ————————————————- The Economist Quiz * ————————————————- Book reviews * Blogs * ————————————————- Latest blog posts ————————————————- Feast and famine * ————————————————- Analects * ————————————————- Free exchange * ————————————————- Americas view * ————————————————- Game theory * ————————————————- Babbage * ————————————————- Graphic detail * ————————————————- Banyan * ————————————————- Gul liver * ————————————————- Baobab ————————————————- Johnson * ————————————————- Blighty * ————————————————- Lexington's notebook * ————————————————- Buttonwood's notebook * ————————————————- Newsbook * ———————————————â₠¬â€- Cassandra * ————————————————- Pomegranate * ————————————————- Charlemagne * ————————————————- Prospero * ————————————————-Democracy in America * ————————————————- Schumpeter * ————————————————- Eastern approaches * Debate * ——————————— Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€- Economist debates * ————————————————- What the world thinks * ————————————————- Economics by invitation * ————————————————- Letters to the editor * ————————————————- Ideas arena: Women & work * The World in 2013 * Multimedia * ————————————————-World * ————————————————- Business & economics * ————————————————- Science & technology * ————————————————- Culture * ————————————————- Events * ————————————————- The Economist in audio * Print edition * Current issue * Previous issues * Special reports * Politics this week * Business this week * Leaders * KAL's cartoon * Obituary This site uses cookies. By continuing to browse the site you are agreeing to our use of cookies.Review our  cookies information  for more details Special report:  Managing information A different game Information is transforming traditional businesses Feb 25th 2010 | from the print edition * * IN 1879 James Ritty, a saloon-keeper in Dayton, Ohio, received a patent for a wooden contraption that he dubbed the â€Å"incorruptible cashier†. With a set of buttons and a loud bell, the device, sold by National Cash Register (NCR), was little more than a simple adding machine. Yet as an early form of managing information flows in American business the cash register had a huge impact.It not only reduced pilferage by alerting the shopkeeper when the till was opened; by recording every transaction, it also provided an instant overview of what was happening in the business. Sales data remain one of a company's most important assets. In 2004 Wal-Mart peered into its mammoth databases and noticed that before a hurricane struck, there was a run on flashlights and batteries, as might be expected; but also on Pop-Tarts, a sugary American breakfast snack. On reflection it is clear that the snack would be a handy thing to eat in a blackout, but the retailer would not have thought to stock up on it before a storm.The company whose system crunched Wal-Mart's numbers was none other than NCR and its data-warehousing unit, Teradata, now an independent firm. A few years ago such technologies, called â€Å"business intelligence†, were available only to the world's biggest companies. But as the price of computing and storage has fallen and the software systems have got better and cheaper, the technology has moved into the mainstream. Companies are collecting more data than ever before. In the past they were kept in different systems that were unable to talk to each other, such as finance, human resources or customer management.Now the systems are being linked, and companies are using data-mining techniques to get a complete picture of their operations—â€Å"a single version of the truth†, as the industry likes to call it. That allows firms to operate more efficiently, pick out trends and improve their forecast ing. In this special report * Data, data everywhere * All too much *  »A different game * Clicking for gold * The open society * Show me * Needle in a haystack * New rules for big data * Handling the cornucopia Sources & acknowledgementsReprints Related topics * China * Nestle * IBM * Royal Shakespeare Company * WalmartConsider Cablecom, a Swiss telecoms operator. It has reduced customer defections from one-fifth of subscribers a year to under 5% by crunching its numbers. Its software spotted that although customer defections peaked in the 13th month, the decision to leave was made much earlier, around the ninth month (as indicated by things like the number of calls to customer support services). So Cablecom offered certain customers special deals seven months into their subscription and reaped the rewards. Agony and torture Such data-mining has a dubious reputation. â€Å"Torture the data long enough and they will confess to anything,† statisticians quip.But it has become far more effective as more companies have started to use the technology. Best Buy, a retailer, found that 7% of its customers accounted for 43% of its sales, so it reorganised its stores to concentrate on those customers' needs. Airline yield management improved because analytical techniques uncovered the best predictor that a passenger would actually catch a flight he had booked: that he had ordered a vegetarian meal. The IT industry is piling into business intelligence, seeing it as a natural successor of services such as accountancy and computing in the first and second half of the 20th century respectively.Accenture, PricewaterhouseCoopers, IBM and SAP are investing heavily in their consulting practices. Technology vendors such as Oracle, Informatica, TIBCO, SAS and EMC have benefited. IBM believes business intelligence will be a pillar of its growth as sensors are used to manage things from a city's traffic flow to a patient's blood flow. It has invested $12 billion in the past four years and is opening six analytics centres with 4,000 employees worldwide. Analytics—performing statistical operations for forecasting or uncovering correlations such as between Pop-Tarts and hurricanes—can have a big pay-off.In Britain the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) sifted through seven years of sales data for a marketing campaign that increased regular visitors by 70%. By examining more than 2m transaction records, the RSC discovered a lot more about its best customers: not just income, but things like occupation and family status, which allowed it to target its marketing more precisely. That was of crucial importance, says the RSC's Mary Butlin, because it substantially boosted membership as well as fund-raising revenue. Yet making the most of data is not easy. The first step is to improve the accuracy of the information.Nestle, for example, sells more than 100,000 products in 200 countries, using 550,000 suppliers, but it was not using its huge buying po wer effectively because its databases were a mess. On examination, it found that of its 9m records of vendors, customers and materials around half were obsolete or duplicated, and of the remainder about one-third were inaccurate or incomplete. The name of a vendor might be abbreviated in one record but spelled out in another, leading to double-counting. Plainer vanilla Over the past ten years Nestle has been overhauling its IT system, using SAP software, and improving the quality of its data.This enabled the firm to become more efficient, says Chris Johnson, who led the initiative. For just one ingredient, vanilla, its American operation was able to reduce the number of specifications and use fewer suppliers, saving $30m a year. Overall, such operational improvements save more than $1 billion annually. Nestle is not alone in having problems with its database. Most CIOs admit that their data are of poor quality. In a study by IBM half the managers quizzed did not trust the informatio n on which they had to base decisions. Many say that the technology meant to make sense of it often just produces more data.Instead of finding a needle in the haystack, they are making more hay. Still, as analytical techniques become more widespread, business decisions will increasingly be made, or at least corroborated, on the basis of computer algorithms rather than individual hunches. This creates a need for managers who are comfortable with data, but statistics courses in business schools are not popular. Many new business insights come from â€Å"dead data†: stored information about past transactions that are examined to reveal hidden correlations. But now companies are increasingly moving to analysing real-time information flows.Wal-Mart is a good example. The retailer operates 8,400 stores worldwide, has more than 2m employees and handles over 200m customer transactions each week. Its revenue last year, around $400 billion, is more than the GDP of many entire countries . The sheer scale of the data is a challenge, admits Rollin Ford, the CIO at Wal-Mart's headquarters in Bentonville, Arkansas. â€Å"We keep a healthy paranoia. † Not a sparrow falls Wal-Mart's inventory-management system, called Retail Link, enables suppliers to see the exact number of their products on every shelf of every store at that precise moment.The system shows the rate of sales by the hour, by the day, over the past year and more. Begun in the 1990s, Retail Link gives suppliers a complete overview of when and how their products are selling, and with what other products in the shopping cart. This lets suppliers manage their stocks better. The technology enabled Wal-Mart to change the business model of retailing. In some cases it leaves stock management in the hands of its suppliers and does not take ownership of the products until the moment they are sold. This allows it to shed inventory risk and reduce its costs.In essence, the shelves in its shops are a highly eff iciently managed depot. Another company that capitalises on real-time information flows is Li & Fung, one of the world's biggest supply-chain operators. Founded in Guangzhou in southern China a century ago, it does not own any factories or equipment but orchestrates a network of 12,000 suppliers in 40 countries, sourcing goods for brands ranging from Kate Spade to Walt Disney. Its turnover in 2008 was $14 billion. Li ; Fung used to deal with its clients mostly by phone and fax, with e-mail counting as high technology.But thanks to a new web-services platform, its processes have speeded up. Orders flow through a web portal and bids can be solicited from pre-qualified suppliers. Agents now audit factories in real time with hand-held computers. Clients are able to monitor the details of every stage of an order, from the initial production run to shipping. One of the most important technologies has turned out to be videoconferencing. It allows buyers and manufacturers to examine the col our of a material or the stitching on a garment. â€Å"Before, we weren't able to send a 500MB image—we'd post a DVD.Now we can stream it to show vendors in our offices. With real-time images we can make changes quicker,† says Manuel Fernandez, Li ; Fung's chief technology officer. Data flowing through its network soared from 100 gigabytes a day only 18 months ago to 1 terabyte. The information system also allows Li & Fung to look across its operations to identify trends. In southern China, for instance, a shortage of workers and new legislation raised labour costs, so production moved north. â€Å"We saw that before it actually happened,† says Mr Fernandez.The company also got advance warning of the economic crisis, and later the recovery, from retailers' orders before these trends became apparent. Investment analysts use country information provided by Li ; Fung to gain insights into macroeconomic patterns. Now that they are able to process information flows i n real time, organisations are collecting more data than ever. One use for such information is to forecast when machines will break down. This hardly ever happens out of the blue: there are usually warning signs such as noise, vibration or heat. Capturing such data enables firms to act before a breakdown.Similarly, the use of â€Å"predictive analytics† on the basis of large data sets may transform health care. Dr Carolyn McGregor of the University of Ontario, working with IBM, conducts research to spot potentially fatal infections in premature babies. The system monitors subtle changes in seven streams of real-time data, such as respiration, heart rate and blood pressure. The electrocardiogram alone generates 1,000 readings per second. This kind of information is turned out by all medical equipment, but it used to be recorded on paper and examined perhaps once an hour.By feeding the data into a computer, Dr McGregor has been able to detect the onset of an infection before ob vious symptoms emerge. â€Å"You can't see it with the naked eye, but a computer can,† she says. Open sesame Two technology trends are helping to fuel these new uses of data: cloud computing and open-source software. Cloud computing—in which the internet is used as a platform to collect, store and process data—allows businesses to lease computing power as and when they need it, rather than having to buy expensive equipment.Amazon, Google and Microsoft are the most prominent firms to make their massive computing infrastructure available to clients. As more corporate functions, such as human resources or sales, are managed over a network, companies can see patterns across the whole of the business and share their information more easily. A free programming language called R lets companies examine and present big data sets, and free software called Hadoop now allows ordinary PCs to analyse huge quantities of data that previously required a supercomputer. It does th is by parcelling out the tasks to numerous computers at once.This saves time and money. For example, the  New York Times  a few years ago used cloud computing and Hadoop to convert over 400,000 scanned images from its archives, from 1851 to 1922. By harnessing the power of hundreds of computers, it was able to do the job in 36 hours. Visa, a credit-card company, in a recent trial with Hadoop crunched two years of test records, or 73 billion transactions, amounting to 36 terabytes of data. The processing time fell from one month with traditional methods to a mere 13 minutes. It is a striking successor of Ritty's incorruptible cashier for a data-driven age. rom the print edition | Special report * Recommend 140 * * * Submit to reddit * inShare2 * View all comments (4) Related items TOPIC:  China  Ã‚ » * Recommended economics writing: Link exchange * Trade: Mexico rising * The Economist: Digital highlights, November 24th 2012 TOPIC:  Nestle  Ã‚ » * Consumer goods in Africa: A continent goes shopping * Schumpeter: Pretty profitable parrots * Nestle buys Pfizer Nutrition: Feeding little emperors TOPIC:  IBM  Ã‚ » * Schumpeter: Taking the long view * IBM's mainframes: Old dog, new tricks * Phase-change memory: Altered states TOPIC:  Royal Shakespeare Company  Ã‚ » William Shakespeare: A digital reinvention * Culture: Going for gold * Green architecture: The retrofit revolution More related topics: * Walmart Want more? Subscribe to  The Economist  and get the week's most relevant news and analysis. * Print edition X Feb 27th 2010 Feb 20th 2010 Feb 13th 2010 Feb 6th 2010 * Next in The world this week X Politics this week * Next in The world this week X Business this week * Next in The world this week X KAL's cartoon * Next in Leaders X Technology The data deluge Businesses, governments and society are only starting to tap its vast potential * Next in LeadersX Argentina and the Falklands The beef in Buenos Aires The Kirchners could have more oil if they stopped bullying Argentine business * Next in Leaders X Japan's frustrating politics Nagasaki fallout Japan’s prime minister, Yukio Hatoyama, should jettison his Svengali, Ichiro Ozawa * Next in Leaders X India Ending the red terror It is time India got serious about the Maoist insurgency in its eastern states * Next in Leaders X Genetically modified food Attack of the really quite likeable tomatoes The success of genetically modified crops provides opportunities to win over their critics Next in Letters X Letters On Spain, al-Qaeda, Yemen, torture, Britain, juries, stereotypes, Benjamin Disraeli * Next in Briefing X Argentina under the Kirchners Socialism for foes, capitalism for friends While some private businesses in Argentina have faced harassment or even nationalisation, others†¦ * Next in Briefing X The first family's businesses Welcome to the Hotel Kirchner Such a lovely little earner * Next in United States X Health reform Seizing the reins, at long las t After leaving Congress in charge for too long, Barack Obama unveils his own plan * Next in United StatesX Mitt Romney and the Republicans Fired up, ready to go Mitt Romney takes centre-stage * Next in United States X The administration's economists Grading the dismal scientists How good is the Council of Economic Advisers? * Next in United States X The economy Back to the crash The American economy has just had its worst decade since the 1930s * Next in United States X Arkansas politics Democrats beware A spirited scramble for suddenly open Democratic seats * Next in United States X Schools and testing The finger of suspicion Is too much weight given to testing? * Next in United States XCalifornia's prison-guards' union Fading are the peacemakers One of California’s most powerful political forces may have peaked * Next in United States X America's children Protecting the weakest The recession may hurt America’s vulnerable children * Next in United States X Lexington Is Barack Obama tough enough? Conservatives call him too weak to be a warrior. Tell that to the Taliban * Next in The Americas X Corruption in Brazil The money trail Many corruption scandals stem from the high cost of politics, and unrealistically tight†¦ * Next in The Americas X Presidential ambitions in PeruPolitical satire Jaime Bayly’s breath of fresh air * Next in The Americas X Latin American summitry In ever-closer union, divided we stand * Next in The Americas X Canada's Mohawks Get out of our canoe When a Canadian is not a Canadian * Next in Asia X Tackling Japan's bureaucracy Floundering in the foggy fortress The DPJ is finding that it needs to befriend its bureaucrats, as well as bash them * Next in Asia X India's Naxalite insurgency Not a dinner party India’s Maoist guerrillas carry out two slaughters, then offer a truce * Next in Asia X Western aims in AfghanistanPlayed for fools Hamid Karzai’s shenanigans make the going even harder for NATO * Next in Asia X Migrant workers in Thailand Inhospitality Life gets harder for Thailand’s guest-workers * Next in Asia X China's National People's Congress Democracy in action Making sure that China’s supreme legislative body is toothless * Next in Asia X Animal welfare in China Off the menu The right to eat cats and dogs is under threat * Next in Asia X Banyan The mother of all dictatorships To understand North Korea, look not to Confucius or the Soviet Union, but to fascist 1930s Japan * Next in Asia X