The Border DisputeWar Between Umma and Lagash Essay

The Border DisputeWar Between Umma and Lagash - Essay Example The border dispute and war between Umma and Lagash has a prominent place in the history of mankind as this marked the only recorded dispute between two city states over the issue of water and agriculture. "The only recorded incident of an outright war over water was 4,500 years ago between two Mesopotamian city-states, Lagash and Umma, in the region we now call southern Iraq." (Postel and Wolf, 60) Umma is greatly famous for the important wars that it fought against Lagash and the chief motivation of these wars was to free itself from paying tributes to the other city state. Competition for the open areas in the Near East followed the expansion of the city state's zone of influence and the border dispute and war between Umma and Lagash is one of the finest illustrations of the intercity wars over agricultural land. In fact, the increased competition over land among these city states is explicit as demonstrated in the series of documents found in the southern state of Lagash. "Over a period of 150 years, from about 2500 to 2350, the kings of Lagash provided their accounts of a border conflict with their northern neighbor Umma. The war was described in terms of a dispute between Ningirsu, patron deity of Lagash, and Shara, god of Umma, over an area of fields called Gu'edena, 'edge of the plain'." (Mieroop, 45) This paper undertakes an analysis of the events that caused the dispute and war between Umma and Lagash which has got immense significance to the historians. The city states of Sumerian civilization began to build upin ancient Mesopotamia around the year 4000 BC and one of the most significant outcomes of these developments was the emergence of several conflicts among them. Following such crucial wars among the city states, the relevance of warfare also increased and factors such as wealth, the availability of transportation, irrigation, luxury goods such as timber, stone and metals etc determined the warfare of the city states. The importance of the conflict between Umma and Lagash is that it was the earliest recorded war between any city states. The city states of Lagash and Umma were on the competition the possession and agricultural usufruct of the fertile region of Guendena for several generations. The war was caused by the violation of an earlier boundary treaty by Umma and Lagash began the war with Umma. The king of Umma was defeated by Eannatum of Lagash in this war which is important for a commemorative stele known as The Stele o f Vultures. "Although it is not the earliest conflict, the first war for which there is any detailed evidence occurred between Lagash and Umma in 2525 B.C., two Sumerian cities located eighteen miles apart The importance of this war to the military historian lies in a commemorative stele that Eannatum erected to celebrate his victory." (Early Sumerian Warfare) The historical importance of The Stele of Vultures was that it corresponds to the first important pictorial of war in the Sumerian period and, thus, there are significant pictorial evidences of the border conflict between Umma and Lagash. The most important document illustrating the border conflict and war between the city states of Umma and Lagash is the account given by King Enmetena and the beginning of Early Dynastic III marks the best documented period for military history. The series of martial inscriptions by the warrior kings of Lagash (2495-2345 BC) provide a clear picture of the war history

Early Childhood Learning Through Songs Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Early Childhood Learning Through Songs - Essay Example Their understanding grows as they grow because as an infant, they can only learn through senses and as they grow they begin to learn how to reason and think differently. Young children learn better when given examples that relate to them. Age is a determining factor when learning because children understand differently depending on how old they are (MacBlain, 2014). As children grow, they reach an age whereby they have to start attending school and learn more. Most children enjoy learning songs because they are fun and usually easy. A child is more likely to remember something they learned through a song than something they were taught through simple verbal communication. They are moreover more liable to remember something they were taught through a story or a game. This is because, at their young age, they can only reason and think to a certain level (Ostroff, 2012). Children are taught different things at different stages of their academic life. Some of the things they learn as beginners are how to write their names, letters and sounds, shapes, numbers and simple songs. Songs are a good way to learn since most of the children’s songs have simple actions that go with them. Children love singing along to songs and listening or watching kid’s songs. There are different strategies that can be used in helping dual language children learn the name of shapes through songs (Priddy, 2011). One of the strategies is creating a welcoming environment in the classroom and playing area. These may include pictures, posters and books that have children’s languages and cultures. The second strategy may be inquiring from the child’s family about their interests in order to incorporate them into the learning. The third strategy is providing opportunities for the children to share stories and information in English.

Christian Dior: History and Analysis

Christian Dior: History and Analysis I chose the topic of Christian Dior and John Galliano because fashion has always interested me. Dior is one of the most well known luxury fashion brands in the world. I was really interested to see what effect the influence of a new designer had on the fashion house. I was interested to see how the designs had changed from the Christian Dior era of 1947-1957 to the present day, this will be addressed in the second and third chapters of this dissertation. I feel that this is a good topic for a dissertation because I have not been able to find an example of this study before. This means that I will compile information into a new study. The first chapter will address the history of Christian Dior, where he came from, how he started life as a designer, how he managed to get a backer for his fashion house and how well his house was managed up until his death. The second chapter will address the New Look and the branding and marketing of that era. It will focus on the reaction of the new look, how it was branded and who it was marketed to. Also this chapter will look at the typical client of Dior at the time of his success. The third chapter will address the history of John Galliano and his time at Dior, from when he was first appointed head designer to the present day. It will look at his background, his design history and how he has changed the way Dior is perceived. The fourth chapter will look at how Galliano has changed the branding and marketing of the Dior house. It will focus on how Dior has remained one of the worlds top fashion houses, who Dior is marketed to and how it is branded. All of this will show how Galliano has changed Dior. I have decided to organise my dissertation into two halves. The first two chapters will discuss the house of Dior when Christian Dior was alive. The third and fourth chapters will analyse the house of Dior with John Galliano as head designer. My aims and objectives for this dissertation are as follows; To compare how designs have changed from the New Look to the present day How Galliano has affected the house of Dior How the branding and marketing of the fashion house has changed from when Dior was alive to the present day All of these points will be kept in mind when writing the dissertation, to make sure that the research used is relevant to the topic. Chapter 1: A History of Dior Christian Dior was born on 31st January 1905 in the Normandy town Granville. At the age of five, Dior and his family moved to Paris (Design Museum n.d). To please his father he enrolled in the world renowned school, Ecole des Sciences Politiques, in hope that he would go on to have a career in politics. However he wanted to pursue a career in art or design (Design Museum n.d). In 1927, after his obligatory military service Dior decided to open an art gallery and with the help of his father he succeeded in doing so (Stegemeyer 1980:22). In 1935, after a one year stay in the south of France to recover from illness, he returned to Paris and tried to find a job but to no avail (Stegemeyer 1980:22). He started to create design sketches in his spare time and eventually he managed to find employment with Le Figaro working on fashion illustrations (Stegemeyer 1980:22). He was able to sell some of his designs to fashion houses. The most popular designs turned out to be his hat designs, although his dream was to sell dress designs (Stegemeyer 1980:22). He perfected his designs and was able to sell some of them to renowned designer Robert Piguet (Stegemeyer 1980:22). Piguet was impressed with his work and commissioned Dior to make a number of his dresses for one of his upcoming shows (Stegemeyer 1980:22). He was later hired as a designer. However, his job was to be put on hold when he was called back to the military when the Second World War began (Stegemeyer 1980:22). Robert Piguet asked Dior to come back and work for him af ter the fall of Paris (Stegemeyer 1980:22). Dior declined the offer and stayed in the south of France until the end of 1941. This turned out to be a bad decision because when he returned to Paris there was already a new designer in his place (Stegemeyer 1980:22). Once he learnt of this he found employment with the larger fashion house of Lucien Lelong (Stegemeyer 1980:22). He was still with the Lelong house when Paris was liberated in 1944 (Stegemeyer 1980:22). Christian Dior was introduced to a financier called Marcel Boussac in 1945 (Stegemeyer 1980:22). Boussac was a very powerful man who owned a number of textile mills, newspapers and racing stables (Design Museum n.d.). Boussac also owned the couture house, Philippe et Gaston, which was failing (Design Museum n.d). He was looking for someone to take control of the fashion house and thought that Dior would be the right person to do this (Stegemeyer 1980:22). However, Dior had other ideas; he wanted to start his own fashion house and decided that Boussac was the right person to help him achieve this goal (Stegemeyer 1980:22). Once Boussac had heard of Diors ambitions he decided to back him and Dior left Lelong in 1946 (Stegemeyer 1980:22). It made sense for Dior to work with Boussac, whose nickname was the King of Cotton, because the ideas that Dior had been discussing meant that he needed access to a large amount of fabric. The new fashion house was opened with a budget of 60 million Francs (Design Museum n.d). A civil servant called, Jacques Rouà «t was given the job of administrator of the fashion house (Design Museum n.d). Christian Dior presented his first collection, Corolla, in 1947 (Cawthorne 1996:109). The collection was a much more successful than anyone had thought. It was a revolutionary collection that will be discussed further on in this dissertation. At the time that the collection was presented there were a number of strikes occurring in the French newspaper and magazine industry (Cawthorne 1996:109). This lack of opportunity for publicity made it more difficult for Dior to become recognised as a top designer. Another problem that Dior encountered was that the majority of American buyers and journalists had already returned to the United States after seeing the designers that they wanted to see (Cawthorne 1996:109). One American editor remained, Carmel Snow of Harpers Bazaar and went to see Diors fashion show. She declared that Corolla was revolutionary with a New Look. She is known to have said to Dior Its quite a revolution, dear Christian. Your dresses have such a new look. (Cawthorne 1996:109) A worker from Life magazine overheard what Snow had said and published work about the New Look. This name stuck and has been know as this since then. After the success of Diors first collection Jacques Rouà «t started to look into other ways of making money. He found that other fashion houses, such as Chanel, had branched out into other areas of fashion, for example, perfume and hosiery (Design Museum n.d). He realised that in order to become more successful and world renowned, Dior needed to make products that could be sold around the world. He opened a shop on New Yorks Fifth Avenue, which was a fur subsidiary and a ready to wear boutique (Design Museum). He also launched Diors first perfume, Miss Dior, with the American market in mind (Design Museum n.d). When Dior saw what Rouà «t was doing, it brought his commercial aptitude to light (Design Museum n.d). This was evident when an American company wanted to buy the rights to manufacture Diors stockings. They offered Rouà «t $10 000, but Dior did not want this (Design Museum n.d). He said that he would rather have a percentage of the sales of the stockings and in turn he would waive the fee for the rights (Design Museum n.d). The Dior couture house was probably the best run house in Paris at that time; the only other competitors were Pierre Balmain and Cristobà ¡l Balenciaga (Design Museum n.d). The reason that Diors house was so well run was due to the people that worked for him (Design Museum n.d). There were five very important people who worked for Dior, the person who ran his studio, Raymonde Zehnmacker, his chief stylist and hat designer, Mitza Bricard and the person who was in charge of the workrooms, Marguerite Carrà © (Design Museum n.d). These people along with Jacques Rouà «t and Suzanne Luling enabled the Dior brand to be run efficiently (Design Museum n.d). This shows that the people behind the scenes are just as important as the designer (Design Museum n.d). Without them the Dior brand would have struggled to get the acclaim that it has today. Twice a year Dior would put on a haute-couture show, one in January and one in August, and every time he showed his new collection over 2,500 people would turn up to see what the new designs looked like (Design Museum n.d). His biggest clients were from North America, where a select number of shops bought the rights to certain designs for the clothes, which were then made by their own seamstresses (Design Museum n.d). There was a large amount of clothing stores that wanted to be able to sell Diors clothes but as they were discount stores they would not be able to sell them to their clientele as the price was so high (Design Museum n.d). So Dior said to them that if they attended his fashion shows and bought a range of his clothes and outfits they could copy them and sell them at cheaper prices (Design Museum n.d). This was the start of the knock-off range of his designs (Design Museum n.d). The reason that he was so popular in North America was due to Harpers Bazaar editor, Carmel Snow. If she had not attended his first fashion show and written about him then it would have taken him a lot longer to reach the American and Canadian market (Cawthorne 1996:109). The house of Dior was very important to France and particularly Paris at that time; in some respects it put France to the foreground of fashion once again. Chapter 2: The New Look; Branding and Marketing On the 12th of February 1947 Dior presented his first collection from his fashion house to French society. It was called Corolla, after a coil of leaves and petals on a flower. It has always been Diors aim to make women feminine and more flower like, and his first collection epitomised this (Cawthorne 1996:109). At the time, just three years after Paris was liberated, women were still wearing unflattering, practical and sometimes even masculine clothing. This was to save money and fabric during this hard time when most of Europe was still using rationing. At the time of production the New Look was a completely radical clothing range. It was made to make women look and feel more feminine and curvy. Christian Dior wanted women to look like women and give them back their natural shape (Cawthorne 1996:111). The New Look was an exaggeration on the number eight, with accentuated hips, small, narrow waist and an underlined bust. A typical skirt in this line required on average 25 yards of fabric and around 200 hours of labour to complete (Cawthorne 1996:111). At a time when France was nearly bankrupt it was seen as outrageous that Dior would use such large amounts of material. The Americans in particular thought that it was unpatriotic to use large amounts of material for dresses when it could be used for other things (Cawthorne 1996:110). There were, however, people who liked the fact that Dior was being extravagant as it showed the French people that the war was really over and that people could start living again(Cawthorne 1996:110). His clothes were everything that women wanted. Men thought that women should start dressing more feminine, they were fed up with seeing them wearing mens clothing or military uniforms. They thought that Diors designs were ideal for making women look like wo men (Cawthorne 1996). Appendix one is evidence of the exaggerated number eight. This is a picture of the Bar Suit from the Corolla range. The fact that Diors range of clothes were so feminine made them stand out from the rest of the clothes that were on offer at the time, the added curves made women feel special and more womanly. Along with this feeling the Dior house took the opportunity to express the feeling of happiness and freedom after the war; people were able to start living again. This became a crucial part of the Christian Dior brand. The way that Dior designed his clothes took a lot of hidden expertise (Cawthorne 1996:111). To get the very womanly, curvy figure that he wanted to give women there were hidden pieces of material within the dresses (Cawthorne 1996:111). Some people criticised Dior. They claimed that he was giving a false interpretation of women, that without the added padding in the dresses they would not look like they should; women did not generally have the figure that these dresses created (Cawthorne 1996:111). To create the look, Dior designed the dresses to have a corset made from whale bones. The reason for the boning in the corset was that it needed to be moulded to the customers shape (Cawthorne 1996:111). It was also necessary to wear padding for the hips and a padded bra when wearing these clothes (Cawthorne 1996:111). It would take two or three fittings for the outfit to be completed but when it was done, it would fit like a glove (Cawthorne 1996:111) It could have turned out to be a big problem in that women might not want to buy clothes where you have to wear a lot of extra padding, but as it turned out the need for feminine clothing was so great that people bought them, no matter what they had to endure to achieve this (Cawthorne 1996:111). At this time you could not buy a ready to wear Dior piece, you had to have it made for you, similar to Haute Couture today. There were a lot of protests about the New Look; one of the biggest protests in France was in Paris where the protesters were shouting 40 000 francs for a dress and our children have no milk (Cawthorne 1996:115). This attitude was adopted in other parts of the world. In Britain, designers were asked to ignore the style; this was due to the amount of clothes that could be made from the extra fabric that would have been used (Cawthorne 1996:115). If British designers had adopted the New Look then there would have been close to a million items of clothing not made (Cawthorne 1996:115). The government nearly created a new law on the length of skirts to make sure that they would not be long, like the style of Dior where some of the skirts would reach the ankles (Cawthorne 1996:115). The reaction was so strong that when Dior went to America people shouted at him, down with the New Look and burn Christian Dior (Cawthorne 1996:117). He was not surprised and stuck to his feelings that women should be able to dress femininely if they wanted. He even said that he loved to see his dresses being copied so that women who did not have a lot of money could have a dress that had been designed by Dior (Cawthorne 1996:117). Despite all the protests and complaints the New Look was an incredible success. It accounted for 75 percent of fashion exports from France in 1947, which was a big achievement considering the conditions of the world at the time (Cawthorne 1996). As soon as the New Look was presented to society it was automatically branded as luxury. The main reasons for this were the price, clientele and the amount of work that went into producing the clothes. As time went on the Christian Dior house decided to branch out into other brands. There was the Christian Dior Femme line, a hosiery line, a fur subsidiary and a perfume line (Design Museum n.d). Diors range of products were out of the price range of the working class public. You had to be either rich or a member of aristocracy to be able to afford products from any Dior range. The only affordable products would have been a bottle of perfume or a pair of stockings or tights. However these would have been difficult to afford during the times of rationing. During the forties and fifties not many shops outside Paris stocked Diors products which made it difficult for people to easily buy Diors merchandise. If you lived outside of Paris travel would have been long and arduous so you would have had to go with the mentality that you were going to buy something, not just to browse. When the advertising for this brand began it was quite difficult for Dior to rely on the articles in newspapers and magazines, due to the strikes (Cawthorne 1996:109). He also had to wait for the word of mouth in America; the editor of Harpers Bazaar could only do so much. At the time of the New Look the perception of women was that they did not work and that their job was to stay at home, raise the children and make sure that the house was run properly. However the women in the aristocracy did not have to worry about these things, they did not have to clean their houses or cook, as they would normally have had a maid and a cook to do these things for them. This is why Dior and his team aimed and marketed the clothes from the New Look at these women. They could wear them without having to worry about the practicalities of them, they would not have to worry about getting them marked when they were cleaning or cooking. In 1947 the protests in Paris and other countries were reported on the news, bringing the name of Dior and his designs to the attention of people whom it would have taken a lot longer to reach through advertising alone. In some ways the people who were protesting may have been better if they had not protested because then the rest of the world would probably not have heard as much about the designs or about Dior himself. Letting people produce his designs at cheaper prices or making knock-offs showed that this was Diors way of reaching the rest of the public (Design Museum n.d). He liked and sometimes encouraged people to make cheaper versions of his clothes; this was a way of making him happy, just like he wanted the people that were wearing them to be happy about their choice and their shape (Design Museum n.d). The haute couture side of Dior was important for the label. It brought in a lot of revenue as the dresses and other clothes that were made in that line were very expensive and took a lot of time to create. Once again you would not be able to buy these clothes if you did not have a lot of money as they were expensive, even by higher societys standards. It was important for Dior to be able to prove that the times were changing and that clothes needed to change with them. He accomplished this with his range of clothes from the New Look. The branding and marketing were quite simplistic in those days. However they always managed to put across the point that they wanted to prove. Chapter 3: John Galliano and His Influence on Christian Dior John Galliano was born in Gibraltar in 1960. His real name is Juan Carlos Antonio Galliano Guillen and he moved to London when he was six (Design Museum n.d). After leaving school he attended the prestigious art school in London, Central Saint Martins (Design Museum n.d). His first collection was inspired by a play, for which he was a dresser and when Joan Burstein, the owner of fashion boutique Browns saw this she stocked his collection, which quickly sold out (Design Museum n.d). Even though he had attracted publicity and hype, when he tried to start his own business two backers pulled out (Design Museum n.d). Due to this in the 1990s he moved to Paris, where he met American Vogue Editor-in-Chief, Anna Wintour, who used her influence to introduce him to a sound financial backer, and she also found him a venue for his first show (Design Museum n.d). He managed to assemble 17 outfits, all of which were in black because bolts of black fabric were all that he could afford, and he secured the services of top international models, such as, Kate Moss and Naomi Campbell, who modelled his designs as a favour to him rather than being paid (Design Museum n.d). His show was a success and it proved to the fashion world that he was a great and very influential designer. Galliano was grateful to Anna Wintour for the opportunities that she created and she was influential in launching his designs in America. After the success of his latest fashion show, Chairman of the conglomerate LVMH (Moà «t Hennessy -Louis Vuitton) Bernard Arnault, had noticed the brilliance of Galliano and in 1995 very daringly decided to appoint Galliano as head designer for Givenchy (Design Museum n.d). However a year later Alexander McQueen took his place. This gave Galliano the opportunity to move onto the bigger fashion house of Dior. Dior was an internationally renowned company (Design Museum n.d). In 1996 when John Galliano was appointed the head designer of the Christian Dior fashion house the designs took on a new direction. Galliano is quoted as saying I wanted to turn couture on its head (Galliano n.d). This is evident throughout his collections. Appendix two is an example of this. The dress in this picture is the dress that he was talking about when he said that he wanted to change couture (Dior n.d.). When Galliano first started working for Dior after Giancarlo Ferre the previous designer, left, it was almost as if the fashion house was starting to stagnate. It was mainly concentrating on the womens clothing range and there was not much emphasis put on the advertising of perfumes and other products. It needed to be brought into modern times. Arnault had made the right decision in hiring Galliano for this role because he was a younger designer. He was fifteen years younger than Ferre and six years younger than Dior when he presented his first collection. This brought lots of positive aspects to Dior. Having a younger designer enabled him to know what the target group desired. However he had to be careful not to alienate the traditional clientele. Instead of having the designs that they were used to they would have found that he was a designer who had very different ideas from that of his predecessor. This gave the brand of Dior the wakeup call that it needed so that once again Dior became a leading fashion house. Galliano is famous for his radical and sometimes over the top creations and designs, and this was what was needed at the time. When he arrived at the fashion house he breathed new life and inspiration into the company. It appears that he takes inspiration from a lot of his surroundings and especially from the surrealist works of the artists Salvador Dali and Jean Cocteau (Frankel 2001:172). This is an important fact. Instead of being very conservative he has brought an aspect of surrealism to the designs. The clothing no longer has the curvy aspects to the designs, although in later designs there are a few influences from the New Look with very small waists and long skirts. There are a lot of colours that are used in the new designs. They are a lot more vivid than before and they stand out from the rest of the designers in the fashion industry. Gallianos first dress he designed for Dior is a perfect example of this. It is a bright pink dress cut on the bias and therefore very close to the body. This just shows how different Galliano is in comparison with Diors early work (Dior n.d). The amount of detailing that goes into a Galliano couture piece is very intricate; Dior employees are very skilled and talented. They hand stitch, hand bead or embroider a large number of the dresses (Dior n.d). Some might say that he has created a new New Look (Dior n.d). It shows how much more energy there is in the fashion house now. The fashion shows are a very important part of any designers collections. Gallianos always appear to have a theme running through them and are normally quite theatrical. For example in his Autumn/Winter haute couture collection for 2010 there is a definite equestrian theme and the fashion show is made more dramatic by the music that is being played, at the beginning there are sounds of horses hooves (Dior n.d). This is typical of the Galliano influence on the shows (Dior n.d). Once again it emphasises how much Galliano has brought to Dior. The fashion house of Dior had never had shows like it before. There are many positive views to this; free publicity is the main benefit. When people start talking about the shows it intrigues others to find out more about the new Dior collection. However Galliano has been careful to find a fine balance between the theatrics, drawing the attention away from what the show is all about the new designs. It has come to be expected of a Galliano for Dior fashion show, the eccentric shows match the eccentric designs and designer. In Gallianos Spring/Summer collection in 1999 the main theme running through the clothes and fashion shows was surrealism (Frankel 2001:172). He is quoted as saying as Dali and Cocteau understood it, with wit but always romantic (Frankel 2001:172). The clothes definitely have a romantic style to them, but there is also an element of fun in the clothes and in the way photos from the collection have been taken. Although this one collection has been centred around surrealism there always seems to be an aspect of it in all the work he has created. The ready-to-wear clothing line has been emphasised a lot since Galliano has been head designer. It is an important change for Dior, most customers are unwilling to wait to buy their clothes anymore and will not spend the time to have the clothes fitted and made for them. They want to buy the clothes and take them home with them. Galliano has picked up on this and made the collection a very big part of the house of Dior. These clothes may not be as exclusive as the clothes in the haute couture lines but the Galliano influence is very easy for people to see. Since he started at Dior he has been creating designs that have, on occasion, shocked the fashion industry. When there is a new collection at his flagship store in Paris the queues of people waiting to view it normally stretch down the Avenue Montaigne (Design Museum n.d.). He has an ambition to go down in history as one of the best designers in the world, and it seems he will succeed in his mission. Chapter 4: Branding and Marketing in the Present Day Even after Galliano joined Christian Dior, it was still perceived as a luxury brand. The products however are much more diverse than before. Although Diors products are still classed as luxury there are now more items that can be afforded by a wider range of people. These lines include; sunglasses, watches, perfume and purses. The Dior products are likely to be more expensive than the equivalent high street items. However, the fact that they have Diors brand on them appeals to more people. When you buy a product with a brand name on the general thought is that you are purchasing products perceived to be of a much higher quality than the general high street ranges. The fact that they are not normally found in all high street chains and are produced to a higher quality makes people think that the product they are buying is worth spending the extra money on. When Galliano was appointed head designer it was evident to him that the whole brand needed to be brought up to date. Until then the Christian Dior fashion house had always been known as Christian Dior. When it was rebranded it became known as just Dior (Okonkwo 2007:109). This was done to make the brand as a whole more modern and to keep up with the new direction that Galliano was taking the brand. However the company name remains unchanged, it is still known as Christian Dior Couture (Okonkwo 2007:109). With a new brand name the range of products needed to be modernised. The house of Dior did not want to be associated with old fashioned designs and products. There was a need for the Dior brand to reach a larger number of the public. For example the Dior perfumes are available in most beauty stores and are around the same price as other luxury branded fragrances. The beauty range is a very popular segment in the new brand but it can still be sold at a premium price against other makeup ranges. However if people believe in the quality of the product they will be prepared to pay higher prices. It is very important for a luxury brand such as Dior, to be able to produce a range of products that do not ignore other market segments. Producing the beauty line along with watches and eyewear enable them to reach a wider spectrum of customers. The beauty products are an extremely important line because they enable everyone to have the chance to buy a designer product and therefore Dior is capturing a larger share of the market. This is reflected in the fact that LVMHs perfume and beauty products sell to a larger share of the market because this year in their first quarter they have increased their sales by 12%. In perfume, where LVMH sells Christian Dior and Guerlain fragrances, sales were up 12% (The Guardian 2010) LVMH have put a lot of time and resources into re-launching the Dior fragrance range which has led to an improvement in sales. This proves how much Dior relies on the sales of their mass market products, as shown in figure 1. In Perfumes Cosmetics, organic revenue growth stood at 12% in the first quarter of 2010. Christian Dior benefited from the strong dynamic of its perfumes with, in particular, the growth of Fahrenheit and of Miss Dior Chà ©rie. A new skincare product, Capture Totale One Essential, had an immense success, while the new mascara, DiorShow Extase is having a very promising start. Guerlain successfully rolled out its new Idylle perfume and Givenchy saw strong growth thanks to the progress of its Play line. Benefit and Make Up For Ever continued their international development. Taking into account the uncertainty of the strength of the economic recovery, LVMH will continue to concentrate all of its efforts on the development of its formidable brands while maintaining strict cost management and selective investments. The Group will rely on the strength of its brands, the responsiveness of its organization, the diversification of its businesses and the good geographical balance of its revenue to increase, once again in 2010, its leadership of the global luxury industry. These two tables are evidence of the increased growth of the perfume and cosmetics of Dior. It has contributed to a 12% increase in sales, even throughout the economic crisis. In the present day most luxury brands have five common lines of their products (Okonkwo 2007:130). They are fashion, perfume and cosmetics, watches and jewellery, eyewear and other. The fashion line includes haute couture, ready-to-wear and leather goods. The first four lines are very standard for all luxury brands, Dior included (Okonkwo 2007:130). The other section is the only section to have been added in the past few years. The products under this section include stationery, gift items, products to decorate your house and hair accessories (Okonkwo 2007:130). Not all luxury brands have the other section under their brand name. Dior does not produce all of these products in their other section. The one main change that the majority of luxury brands have gone through is the introduction of online retailing (Okonkwo 2007:211). This was not necessarily Galliano who decided to do this, it was more due to the changing times, but it was necessary to show that Dior is an easily accessible brand and that people from all over the world could buy a product from the Dior.com website. According to Uche Okonk

Accomplish Victory Essay examples -- Economy, Economic Downturn, Reces

What is a recession? A recession is declared once the GDP is negative for two consecutive quarters or more, a few quarters before is actually the start of an economic downturn. GDP is defined as gross domestic product and that basically means the total value of goods the United States has produced, for the year. The first few signs of a recession are negative growth followed by a miniature positive growth. Because American citizens don’t have the money to spend they don’t spend and the consumer spending aspect of the economy takes a drastic downfall. Unemployment rates also have play in determining a recession (22). Proper money management and finances could bring an economy out of a recession. There are major flaws in the way we live that people are doing nothing to fix. Most people are in debt, in late 2005 â€Å"wage growth was shortchanged because 46 percent of the growth of total income in the corporate sector was distributed as corporate profits, far more than 20 percent in previous periods.†(24) Household income had fallen five years in a row and was 4 percent lower. The average wages of Americans are low. The growth of the American population is expanding very rapidly; the job count compared to population growth is almost unrealistic. Only one point nine percent more jobs have come up since the beginning of the last recession. The unemployment rate is four point six percent That means that a lot of people do not have jobs; the percent of people that have a job was one point three percent, So that means that more people are not working than people with a job. (24) Poverty was sky rocketing in two thousand; the rate was eleven point three percent and rose in four years to twelve point seven percent; that is approximat... ...spend then how is making goods and services more expensive going to help? Obama is a very good man with what I believe to be good intentions. But his money managing skills could use a lot of work. I do not see what does not make sense to him if the United States is in debt then does he continually spend money on things that we do not need such as, visiting other countries, flying first class on Air Force One. Instead of trying to make peace treaties with other countries we need to increase education in schools and supply them with the money and resources that they need to educate children and make them able to run a country. Children are our future and if we don’t do a good job at making the future the best it can be then will end up in the same spot we are in today. This should turn this country’s finances around and soon enough we will be living in prosperity.

Impact Of Renewable Energy Usage Environmental Sciences Essay

The intent of this literature reappraisal is to supply the reader with a general overview of the impact made by the use of renewable energy in universe on the development of engineering and on the environment. Recently there is an urge demand of utilizing renewable energy in the industries and other of import sectors around the universe since the current chief fuel resource which is crude oil and natural gas is consuming twelvemonth by twelvemonth. Thus in recent old ages, many research and trials have been done to use the renewable energies true possible to its upper limit. The first portion of this chapter will give brief penetration of the advantages that is brought by utilizing renewable energy on our planet. Next will be the comparism between renewable energy and non renewable energy. Finally the alterations of utilizing renewable energy brings to the universe at an planetary degree. 2.2 The advantages of renewable energy Well, for a start renewable energy will ne'er be depleted, hence every bit long as there is a demand for electricity and heat there will be adequate energy to provide it.There are several renewable energy which would non consume and go on to be around for many years.Solar energy is one of the most common continuously renewable energy since its reprieved from the Sun s ray.Furthermore streamlined H2O which run through the turbine in the hydroelectric dike produce hydro energy.The windmills blades which is turned by the sheer power of the air current produces air current energy.Hot liquefied lava beneath the Earth s crust heats the stones above therefore bring forthing hot spots which produces geothermic energy.The pile of refuse, rubbish and other organic stuffs produces biomass energy ( Matthew Hick n.d ) . As you can see, there are assorted renewable energy beginnings available to us as an option to fossil fuels. There are many advantages to them among the most popular being that they will non consume in supply, intending they will be around everlastingly. Renewable energy beginnings are non new. They have been utilized in some manner for many old ages. Unfortunately, low dodo fuel monetary values have stunted renewable energy s popularity and growing in the United States. But an increasing consciousness of homo and environmental concerns, every bit good as, a demand to happen non-exhaustible energy beginnings, will maintain it as a pillar for the hereafter. ( Matthew Hick n.d ) Renewable energy will assist in salvaging the environment merely in the simple sense that by utilizing renewable energy, the production of green house gas will b reduced therefore assisting in the bar planetary warming.Furthermore the O produced by the trees are much more fitter because of the fact that there are less pollutants in the air which can cut down the quality of the air ( Michel Jeen.2008 ) . Furthermore, the use of environmental free energy as a renewable energy hike its opportunities of going more safer than conventional fossil fuels.The use of fossil fuels causes the release of toxic gases and harmful substances, therefore heightening the opportunities of pollution or other natural bad lucks to go on such as acid rains and planetary warming.Renewable energy is environmentally friendly therefore it reduces the opportunities of pollution from go oning and the air produced in the surrounding besides is much more cleansing agent and reduces the hazard in acquiring diseases such as asthma n etc ( Michel Jeen.2008 ) . Since renewable energy is an extremely beforehand field to research about, therefore it needs extremely specialised equipment and a batch of research to be done, therefore it will make a batch of occupation chance and occupation sectors ( Michel Jeen.2008 ) . Harmonizing to the analysis, renewable energy and energy efficiency deployment costs would be gross impersonal or better, as the costs associated with energy efficiency stop up salvaging the state more money than the costs associated with deploying renewable energy engineerings and 4.5 million occupations will be created all the piece. ( Jennifer Runyon.2009 ) 2.3 The comparing between renewable energy and non renewable energy Renewable energy is a energy that can be replaced from clip to clip because it does non hold finite addendum energy, therefore it can be used for many old ages but still it would non complete. Examples of renewable energy is solar energy, weave energy, wave energy, biomass energy and geothermic energy.Meanwhile, non renewable energy is an energy that has finite addendum of energy therefore it would be used up as clip advancements by. Example of such energy are crude oil and natural gas ( Renewable energy.2003 ) . Renewable energy and non-renewable energy have important differences. Renewable energy would non consume whereas non-renewable energy someday will consume from our planet since the resources that is needed for the energy will somehow deplete from our planet. Non-renewable energy such as rough oil, coal, natural gas and etc are completing fast because the demands are higher than the supply of the natural stuff. ( Difference Between Non-Renewable and Renewable Energy Sources.2009 ) There is a universe power crisis whether we choose to acknowledge it or non. We are utilizing our non- renewable energy beginnings at a rapid rate, a rate that increases daily. Our non-renewable energy beginnings include, fossil fuels ( rough oil ) , coal, natural gas, atomic power, and yes even H2O, H2O is used to drive turbines to make electricity. Once we have exhausted these non-renewable energy beginnings we will no longer be able to drive the turbines that produce our electricity. ( Difference Between Non-Renewable and Renewable Energy Sources.2009 ) Furthermore, non-renewable energy which uses volatile natural stuff such as atomic energy can do lay waste toing effects to the environment if there is a escape in the atomic works. Example of such annihilating accident is the Chernobyl atomic works accident ( Nuclear Energy Benefits Debate: Safe or Not.2009 ) .Meanwhile renewable energy has a positive consequence towards the environment. Renewable energy can cut down the emanation of pollutants such as C dioxide and C monoxide which may harm the environment ( Union of Concerned Scientists ) . Non-renewable energy besides causes distability in the economic system, since it s a non sustainable energy therefore the monetary value of the fuel ever beads and hikings harmonizing to the handiness of the fuel in the universe interim renewable energy brings more stableness to the economic system since it s a sustainable energy beginning therefore it provides an stable energy beginning to the universe so it would non impact economically. The usage of fossil fuels makes the U.S. vulnerable to political instabilities, trade differences, trade stoppages and a assortment of other impacts. ( pier55.2009 ) 2.4 The alterations of utilizing renewable energy brings to the universe at an planetary degree Renewable energy such as solar energy can convey a batch alterations to the universe in footings of a new fuel beginning. Since solar power is obtained from the Sun so it will be available throughout the twelvemonth therefore continuously being renewed. Furthermore solar energy is a clean power therefore it s a really good option for current fuel beginning. Alot of new undertakings are being introduced to tackle the power of solar energy, such grandscale undertaking is being carried out in Hong Kong. Hongkong Electric Holdings Ltd. , the public-service corporation controlled by billionaire Li Ka-shing, officially started up the metropolis s biggest solar-power undertaking today as portion of attempts to assist cut pollution ( John Duce.2010 ) . Another illustration of renewable energy which revolutionizes the universe is wind energy. Wind energy is produced from the turbines which are connected to the blades which are turned by the force of wind.Since air current is a free beginning of energy therefore it can salvage a batch of cost and it produces clean energy excessively. The United States are earnestly sing weave energy as a alternate beginning of energy, which can been seen from the planning of a air current farm in Mojave Desert North of Los Angeles. It ‘s being called the largest air current power undertaking in the state, with programs for 1000s of estates of looming turbines in the Mojave Desert foothills bring forthing electricity for 600,000 places in Southern California. ( Tiffany Hsu.2010 ) Furthermore, geothermic energy is another beginning of renewable energy that can convey a whole alteration to the universe, it s an energy that is generated from the Earth s nucleus which is heated by the molten stone ( magma ) .Geothermal is a free energy since the beginning of the energy itself from our Earth. It s already being utilized in states such as Iceland and in Philippines. Philippiness authorities are seeking to utilize the full potency of geothermic energy in its state. ( Intermediate Energy Infobook.pg12 ) ENERGY DEVELOPMENT Corp. , the state s biggest manufacturer of geothermic energy, plans to put some $ 1 billion over the following five old ages in greenfield power workss. ( Amy R. Remo.2010 )

LOGO case study Essay

Introduction The essay is a strategic analysis for LEGO Group. LEGO Group is a famous toy company in the world, which established in Denmark. LEGO Brand is not only the familiar logo, but also the expectation. LEGO acts as a guarantee of quality and originality. LEGO’s core values are imagination, creativity, fun, learning, caring and quality. The essay will show strategic analysis by identifying the industry, analyzing general and industry environment, listing resources and capabilities, analyzing the company’s core competency, SWOT, current strategies. Then, giving the key issues. Finally, the essay will recommend the business-level strategy. Identifying The Industry Toy retail market increase 4 per cent per year in a moderate pace in 2010, but the demand for the specific fashion toy may surge or collapse rapidly. Thousands of toy manufacturers serve the global market, but the few lead industry. Mattel is the world’s leading toy manufacturer in revenue. LEGO is the world’s the third largest toy manufacturer. There are more and more toy manufactures in Asia because its labor is cheap and many subcontractors are ready to produce goods in behalf of their manufacture. Toy makers sell products through various retail channels, including chain stores, discount stores, independent toy specialists, department stores and online stores. There are three points, which need to pay attention to. Firstly, fad toys are more popular and the product life cycle decrease. Additional, children have more after-school activities. Finally, more kids choose online activities more than toys. The substitute product for toys is electronic games. Analysis of the general environments Economic element Generally, the word’s economy is still unoptimistic in the recent. Although European debt crisis has been lightened conditionally, its negative effect to global economy still last for a certain time. Labor cost is increasing. Because of multiple factors, the total cost of toy improves significantly, while its profit rate falling sharply. Socio-culture â€Å"Multiculturalism† is source of innovation and creativity. LEGO design department has more than 100 designers from more than 10 countries, satellite support team scattered all over the continents. LEGO design team maintains deliberately the diversity of designers from a variety of educational and professional background. People with any qualifications and background has the potential to become a member of this great design team. LEGO takes part in many public welfare activities for children, for example, encouraging children to joining in environment protection. LEGO has good relationship and trust. LEGO CEO Knudstrop makes a psychoanalyst to train the management team to support the good relationship. The peak of LEGO sale is during the school holidays, especially in Christmas (Yi 2009). Global element LEGO’ come products are made by plastic and chemical resource, that the price of these is influenced by the price of international crude oil. For global market, Knudstrop said that Asia market would be the company’s largest strategic area in the future and LEGO was discussing the possibility of establishing production bases. LEGO Group has not shared a strong market position in BRIC. The market in BRIC will develop strongly in the future and LEGO Groups tries to invest in the markets. For outsourcing, LEGO chooses service provider Flextrinics, which has factories in Korea, Denmark, the USA and Switzerland. Technology element In 1999, LEGO had the online shop. This decision help LEGO get more consumers. Bases on the most adept building blocks, Lego developed some braining games based on personal computer and the Internet, such as LEGO Loco, Bionicle, Lego Creator, etc. These innovations have satisfied consumer group growing in the virtual age. LEGO interact with consumers through Internet. In 2009, LEGO Children Clubs has members about 3.2 million and a dedicated website. Many adult fans of LEGO share experience, videos and pictures on the Internet. Political/legal element Global political environment is stable in general in the current. International relation between main political powers in the world has gotten a balance after strong competition, which is relative stable. To creating a favorable atmosphere for economic development and encouraging a positive development of the toy industry, most countries seek a stable, peaceful and develop international environment. Analysis of the industry Environment Bargaining power of buyers There are a few large buyers, which are large retail chains such as Kmart, Target and Big W in Australia. They buy products from many different brands. Buyers bargain for higher quality, lower price and great level of service. Bargaining power of suppliers For toy industry, there is no bargaining power of suppliers because there are many different suppliers in this industry. Risk of new entrants For toy industry, new companies are easy to entry the industry because toy industry has fewer berries. The products are similar, which is easy to copy. Toy industry does not need new firms to invest a lot and switching costs are low because most consumers so not have the loyalty. If the products are more attractive, consumers will buy, especially major target people are children. It is easy to access to distribution channels, but it is hard to cover the market because many retail ways about toys, including online stores, department stores and so on. Threat of substitute products Substitute products perform the similar function as toys, which are electronic games. As technology has improved rapidly, more children prefer to use iPod or iPad to play electronic games. Threat of substitute products is very high, which is very important. Intensity of rivalry For toy industry, there are many competitors. The rate of industry growth is  slow, so companies try to use resources to expanding consumers effectively. Because product differentiation is lower, the switching cost is low. More companies enter the industry, which promoting competition. To sum up, for toy industry, threat of new entrants is low, supplier power is low, buyer power is moderately high, threat of substitute products is very high and competition is very fierce. It observes that the toy industry is still an attractive industry. There are nearly no barriers to entry the industry. As technology improves rapidly, new scientific research and manufacturing technology apply to the toy industry continually which due to more and more new toys with high technology. If new companies have wonderful ideas or design teams, it is easy to share the market. However intensity of rivalry is high, companies still can get consumer base by catering to the demand of consumers. Because buyer power is high, new entrants do not worry about their sale ways. Analysis of Resources and Capabilities Tangible resources Tangible resources refer to assets that can be observed and quantified, including financial resources, organizational resources, physical resources and technological resources. LEGO has total assets for 10972 million DKK in 2010, 871 million DKK in cash flows and 5473 million DKK in equity. LEGO has a strong operating system to deal with earlier supply chain problems. The company developed systems to evaluating all manufacturing cost as well. The optimization of complex operating model is successful, which helps LEGO save cost and time. Additionally, LEGO’s trademark is the significant resource. Intangible resources Intangible resources are a superior source of capabilities and core competencies. Creativity is the ability to come up with ideas that is valuable. Staffs are important resource because they have employee experience and the ability of innovation. LEGO Group has the great reputation from excellence quality. LEGO has the fantastic relationship with suppliers and distributors, which can reduce unnecessary problem and makes  operating system more successful. LEGO has huge loyal consumer bases, Capabilities LEGO has a fantastic innovating system. Developers have to follow strict process and use market research insights, which can satisfy the market demand and avoid design mistakes. In marketing area, LEGO has great connections with consumers. The company has a specific website for customer club, which interact with consumers by games, stories and activities. The club has the member about 320 million. In manufacturing areas, the company has competitive advantage, which is high automation technology. For supply chain management, the company’s production planning comes from sales incentives’ exact forecasts. In distribution areas, the company builds distribution channels in order to reducing the emphasis on the expansion of the distribution costs. Innovating system is valuable, because this capability promotes the sales levels. The innovation must cover the fashion and make consumers satisfied. Each company knows this concept well, so it is not closely to imitate. The company informs customer preferences by interaction with customers and builds relationship with children and their parents, who are end users. The company also keeps in touch with retail consumers to ensuring that these links operate well, because they can provide a steady stream of information. This process needs long time and much money to build the relationship, so it is costly to imitate. Lego building distribution channels in order to reducing the emphasis on the expansion of the distribution costs. Firstly, the company reduces the number of logistics providers to satisfying the flexibility and encouraging suppliers to competing. At the same time, the company assesses to economies of scale. Redesign the distribution system of the company has the ability to surpass rival. This is rare and valuable. To do this action, the company cost a lot, so it is costly to imitate. The high automation technology is rare and valuable, which reduces labor cost and producing time. This technology needs a long time to researching and developing, which is hard to imitate. SWOT Analysis Strengths Closely after the changes of the times perhaps is the most significant feature of LEGO. In 2002, LEGO launches new products, a new Star Wars film, which is very popular. LEGO began to taking advantages of internet in designing and researching. Currently, LEGO has a large number of fans, including children and kids. The company pays more attention to reflection of consumers. The company expands the market in many countries. Weaknesses The price is higher than other toys and the company does not have enough  hypostatic stores to satisfy the consumers. Most LEGO products sell in department stores and retail stores. It is not convenience for consumers to purchase products. The high cost of manufacturing products. Opportunities LEGO products sale is concerned about seasons. The peak of sales in one year is during school holidays, especially Christmas (Yi 2009). The consumers are no concerned about ages. LEGO products are no age-limited toys and anyone can collect LEGO products. The Asia market has the great potential. Threats The substitute is the threat, which are online games. Online games affect the LEGO sales, however, LEGO has the solutions. For example, improve products to make it technological. Analysis of current strategies Currently, LEGO redesign the distribution channel to reducing the inflating distribution cost. As for this, LEGO closed 5 distribution centers in Denmark, France and Germany, establishes an only new distribution center in Czech, which is operated by DHL (walwenfanyi, 2012). Lego keep interacting with consumers to get more information the about market needs, which takes the strength of the company. Now the company develops computer games based on the LEGO products by cooperating with game firms. The company cooperates with film organizations to making movies as well (walwenfanyi, 2012). These cooperation has bee a part of LEGO Group that has long history. These actions take the strength and are the solutions to face threats. Articulation of key issues and/or problem How to reduce the manufacturing cost? Although LEGO Group grows up continually and rapidly, its consumers can not follow the increasing rate? What should the company do? How to expand the Asia market? Recommendations Cost leadership strategy Cost leadership strategy forces on reducing cost to maintain competitive advantages and relative to standardized products. To achieving cost leadership, the company must strictly control costs in the management, will reduce costs as much as possible. Considered the Asia market, Cost  leadership strategic is a good choice. There are more developing countries in Asia, so the life standard is lower than Europe. If LEGO can reduce the price, there are consumers will purchase goods. However, manufacture area is the weakness of the company and the company has redesigned the distribution channels. There are no more space to reducing the cost. Differentiation strategy Differentiation strategy refers to a strategy to make their products and competitors’ products have obvious differences. The core of this strategy is to acquire some unique value to customers. For LEGO Group, this strategy’s benefits are that the firm’s innovation system that pays more attention to consumers demand can be appeared. LEGO’s consumers have brand loyalty and there are millions of fans in the LEGO Club. There are some risks about differentiation strategy. When the company enters the Asia market, the firm will face the lower-cost imitation. Focus strategy Focus strategy gets the balance between cost leadership strategy and differentiation strategy. Firms can serve a specific segment of an industry more effectively than industry-wide competitors. This strategy fits the toy industry a lot, because the major target consumers of this industry are children. However, for LEGO, the focus strategy is hard to reach. The reason is that LEGO’s target consumers are no age-limited people, which is its strength. In Conclusion, differentiation strategy is the best choice for LEGO Group. LEGO products were different from other products when it launched in the beginning. LEGO has the great brand loyalty, so that a differentiated product tends to reduce the chances for consumers to testing new products or other brands. Currently, the manufacturing cost is a problem. However, LEGO Group cannot use low cost instead of good quality. The firm can produce well-differentiated products to reduce consumer sensitivity to price increase. Using the better quality products to cover the high producing cost. The firm should use its strengths that are brand loyalty and innovation to expand the markets. The differentiation strategy also can  defend against new entrants, because if new entrants want to share the market from LEGO, they must produce the same quality products at lower price, which is really difficult to reach. Conclusion The above paragraphs recommend differentiation strategy by analyzing the industry, general environment, industry environment and the company’s resources, capabilities, core competency, SWOT and current strategies. LEGO can use differentiation strategy as the solutions to current issues. Using the features of differentiation to taking strengths to covering weaknesses and getting up the opportunities and avoid threats. Reference Jan, WR, Stefan, HT & Daniela, B, 2012. ‘LEGO’, Harvard Business School [7 September 2014] Waiwenfanyi, LEGO competency analysis, 2013. Available from: < http://www.waiwenfanyi.com/fanyi-1492.html> [9 September 2014] Yi, FL 2009, â€Å"LEGO sales strategic plan†, Dongding. Available from: [9 September 2014]