Finance Principles Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Peasents in Northern Renaissan Essay Example

Peasents in Northern Renaissan Essay Laborers in the Northern Renaissance In the North workers are regularly criticized and a wellspring of silliness for that affluent nobles.But sooner or later there began to rise another class, dealers and such.So families that were once laborers have been elevated.But frequently to the nobles they are still no better.Artists during this time were clearly interested with their social status.A few including: Pieter Bruegel the Elder, Lucas Cranach, and Diego Velazquez. In Cranachs The Fountain of Youth you have the old and debilitated rushing to the wellspring. It doesn't make a difference if youre honorable or a peasant.Cranach was clearly mindful of the pressures present as of now and you need to think about whether the family he tormented this for understood that he had put nobles and workers swimming in the equivalent pool.You likewise observe the old and wiped out going into the pool and rising youthful and solid, which can likewise be take as going from poor to rich. Bruegels Pe asant Wedding shows the gathering of a wedding.He frequently painted laborer scenes, maybe in light of the fact that sooner or later his family was poor and he needed to bring show these individuals in their genuine forms.Yet still with this thoughtful eye you can tell he is ridiculing these individuals. The lady of the hour has a paper crown hanging over her head on the divider and she has a dumb yet content look on her face.Everyone around her just is by all accounts worried about the food before them.They are hauling the food around on improvised platters, a wooden door.The one high society thing perceptible in the artistic creation is a peacock plume however its lying on the floor, overlooked. Velazquezs Water Carrier of Seville shows a typical man carrying out what was viewed as a respectable thing. The water bearer looks exceptionally shrewd and whenever given court dress could undoubtedly fit in at court.The little youngster is clearly respectful of his position and maybe wan ts to turn into a water carr

Kanban vs. Scrum Choosing the Right Approach for Your Team

Kanban vs. Scrum Choosing the Right Approach for Your Team Agile, Lean, Scrum, Kanban: these terms are all used to describe very similar project management approaches, and adding to the confusion, they’re often used interchangeably. People refer to Scrum ceremonies as Agile ceremonies, use Kanban boards for Scrum. If you’re new to Agile, it gets confusing quickly. If you’re struggling to understand the key differences between Scrum and Kanbanâ€"or to pick the right approach and/or tool for your teamâ€"we’ve put together this Scrum vs. Kanban comparison guide to help you get up to speed and make the right decisions. What Is Agile? Before we jump into defining Scrum and Kanban, it’s helpful to have a general understanding of Agile since Agile is at the core of both methodologies. However, unlike Scrum and Kanban, Agile is more of a philosophy than a project management methodology. Agile was developed in 2001 by a group of 17 software developers who called themselves “The Agile Alliance.” Over the course of two days, these developers wrote The Agile Manifesto, a set of guiding principles that encourage things like consistent progress and collaboration over process documentation and contract negotiation. Prior to the release of The Agile Manifesto, most software development projects followed Waterfall, a project management methodology where all of the requirements for projects were created and estimated before development began. Development teams would commit to doing a set amount of work in a set amount of time. This created several issues: If problems came up during the development process, they were difficult to address because teams had already committed to a specific scope of work. Because the requirements for projects were fully written in advance, development teams received very little input from project sponsors. Because the development team was working in a silo, project sponsors often didn’t see the outcome of any development work until development was complete, which often led to project sponsors discovering problems with the finished product. The Agile Alliance felt that a better approach to development would be for teams to work collaboratively with project sponsors over the course of the development timeline, gathering requirements and creating code using an iterative approach. An iterative approach, they felt, would give developers a way to address issues that arose during development and allow project sponsors to see what was being developed while it was being developed and weigh in with any concerns before it was too late to address them. What Is Scrum? While Agile is a philosophy that advocates for a collaborative, iterative approach to software development, Scrum is a methodology that’s commonly used to put Agile philosophy into practice. Scrum provides a framework that project sponsors and software developers can use to work together and follow Agile’s guiding principles. It was developed by Ken Schwaber and Jeff Sutherland, two members of The Agile Alliance, and described in The Scrum Guide. A Scrum team consists of three roles: Product Owner: The Product Owner is a representative of the project stakeholders who is available throughout the development process to answer questions, review completed work, and prioritize requirements. The Product Owner’s involvement with the development team helps teams adhere to Agile’s push for more collaboration. Scrum Master: The Scrum Master leads the development team, keeps everyone focused on their work, teaches others on the team about Scrum, and leads all of the Scrum meetings. He/she operates as the conductor of the team, making sure everything is running smoothly and everyone is following the rules of Scrum. Development Team: The Development Team is a group of three to nine developers who are responsible for doing the work that’s described and prioritized by the Product Owner. The Development Team works from a prioritized Product Backlog (list of project requirements) that’s composed of User Stories. User Stories are Scrum’s method of writing requirements that, instead of writing what needs to be done, explains how what the Product Owner is asking for will benefit the user of what’s being developed. User Stories always follow a specific format: As a [who], I want to [what] so that [why]. For example: As a MeisterTask user, I want to be able to drag and drop cards within lanes on my board so that I can prioritize the tasks in my lists. Development work is completed in an iteration called a Sprintâ€"a period lasting between one week and one month when the team focuses on a set, planned amount of work. That work is planned during a Scrum ceremony called Sprint Planning where teams decide on and plan the work for however many User Stories they believe can be completed during the Sprint. During the Sprint, Scrum teams have a Daily Scrum meeting at the beginning of each day where each member of the Development Team answers three questions: What did you work on yesterday? What will you work on today? Are there any impediments blocking you from completing your work? At the end of each Sprint, the team holds two meetings. The first is the Sprint Review where the Development Team demos the work completed during the Sprint to the Product Owner for sign-off. The second is the Sprint Retrospective where the team seeks to improve in future sprints by answering three questions: What went well during this Sprint? What didn’t go well? What should we do differently next Sprint? In addition to helping teams practice Agile, Scrum is designed to make sure that everyone is working at a consistent pace throughout the project, the work being completed is exactly what the project sponsors want, and teams are consistently improving over the course of a project. What Is Kanban? Kanban was originally developed by Taiichi Ohno, an industrial engineer at Toyota, to create a more efficient manufacturing process. It was later applied to software development by David J. Anderson in his 2010 book Kanban: Successful Evolutionary Change for Your Technology Business. Kanban uses an assembly-line approach to move work through a queue. Like Scrum, Kanban has a backlog of prioritized project tasks, but rather than planning work in Sprints, team members grab the highest-priority task in the backlog that’s ready to be completed. The core feature of the Kanban Method is the Kanban board. As in manufacturing where products are built in pieces in an assembly line, Kanban tasks move through a series of lanes as different pieces of work are completed. For example, if each task in your backlog requires backend development, then frontend development, then testing, then approval, your Kanban board might look like this: Tasks would move from one lane to the next as each set of work is completed. Another key feature of Kanban is Work-In-Progress (WIP) limits. Let’s say, for example, that your backend development team is working at a much faster rate than your frontend development team. The frontend team could end up with dozens of tasks in their queue while your testers sit around with nothing to do. WIP limits set a limit on the number of tasks that can be in any one lane at a time. When a team’s WIP limit is reached, it serves as a signal that there’s a blocker for that team. To remove that blocker, other members of the team could help to clear out the frontend development queue, or it might serve as a signal that your team is imbalanced: you need fewer backend developers and more frontend developers. Finally, while Kanban lacks the specific retrospective ceremonies of Scrum, a core principle of the methodology is continuous improvement. Teams need to reflect incrementally to look for ways to improve the flow of their work, remove blockers, and streamline their processes. For Kanban, Scrum, and Everything Try MeisterTask Its free! Try MeisterTask Kanban vs. Scrum As you have probably already seen, Scrum is a complex and strict methodology with a lot of rules and a highly specific framework that teams must adhere to. Kanban is a leaner approach with fewer rules and a simpler framework. Both, however, help teams adhere to the core principles of Agile: collaboration and flexibility. Choosing which methodology is right for your team requires you to consider a few different factors: How much structure does your team need? If your team works better with detailed rules and processes, Scrum is probably the better approach. Kanban is more flexible. Do you have dependencies on other teams/projects? Scrum’s detailed planning processes are more efficient when your work has lots of dependencies on individuals and teams outside of your Scrum team. Kanban works better when all of your work can be completed by your team. Do your tasks have dependencies on other tasks? Scrum’s planning works better when some items in your backlog must be completed before others can begin. Kanban works better when each task can be completed in isolation of others. Neither methodology is inherently better than the other. The “right” choice for your team depends on your organizational structure, team preferences, and the specifics of your work and project. And you don’t even necessarily have to always adhere to one or the other methodology. In fact, teams that have been working together for a while can easily switch back and forth between the two methodologies to accommodate different types of projects and sets of work. Scrum and Kanban Outside of Software Development While Scrum and Kanban have their roots in software development, the philosophies and frameworks of the methodologies are useful in lots of different industries and disciplines. For example, Kanban works really well for content marketing. Most content marketing workflows start with a backlog of ideasâ€"an editorial calendarâ€"that are planned by a content marketing manager. From there, they may go to an SEO specialist, then to a writer, then to an editor, then to a designer before they’re published. Kanban can also be a helpful approach for HR teams during the hiring process. Because different tasks need to be completed by different individuals (some by HR, some by the hiring manager) at different times, Kanban is helpful for streamlining that collaboration. Scrum could be used by a design team that’s working on redesigning a website. Say you need to release the redesign in six months, and there are lots of tasks that need to be completed as part of that project: updating site-wide elements such as navigation menus, buttons, and calls-to-action updating the images used on individual blog posts and landing pages revising the layout of all site landing pages updating your company style guide to reflect your new guidelines Due to the hard deadline and the design team’s need to work with other teams like development, sales, product, and marketing, Scrum could be a perfect fit for managing this project. Most large, dependency-heavy, and complex projectsâ€"regardless of the discipline that’s spearheading the projectâ€"can benefit from the structure Scrum provides. And most workflows that require input or attention from multiple individuals can benefit from the assembly-line approach of Kanban. Choosing the Right Scrum and Kanban Tools There are tons of tools to choose from if your team is practicing Scrum and/or Kanban. Some are specific to Scrum and have features for Scrum-specific ceremonies like Sprint Planning and Release Planning and use Scrum terminology like User Stories and Sprints. And while Scrum-specific tools work well if you think your team will only ever use Scrum, they’re less effectiveâ€"and far more cumbersomeâ€"if you want to take the leaner Kanban approach. Kanban tools offer more flexibility for teams that plan to use both methodologies at different times depending on the specifics of the work they’re doing. Obviously, Kanban tools are designed for and work well with the Kanban Method. But they work just as well for Scrum. Many teams run Scrum using a Kanban boardâ€"a practice that’s sometimes referred to as ScrumBan. A Kanban board can start with a “Product Backlog” lane where all of your incomplete User Stories live. Product Owners work in that lane, creating all of the User Stories needed for the project and prioritizing them by dragging and dropping cards in priority order from the top of the list to its bottom. When it’s time for Sprint Planning, the Development Team can pull the User Stories into the “Sprint Plan” lane to create a plan for the upcoming sprint. They can also add estimates if needed and use checklists to break User Stories down into individual tasks. When the Development Team is working on a user story, team members can move the card into an “In Progress” lane. You can also add a “Blocked” lane for user stories that cannot be completed because of a blocker that the Scrum Master needs to help remove. Finally, you can create a “Done” or “Acceptance” lane for User Stories that need to be demoed to the Product Owner for approval. And when approval is received, each card can move to a completed lane for the Sprint in which the User Story was completed. In addition to Kanban tools offering a more flexible approach to both Scrum and Kanban, they’re easy for interested parties outside of the team to understand. Project managers, project sponsors, and team managers can view the team’s board at any time to get a quick, overall view of the project’s progress. This is great for teams, too, because it usually means fewer status update meetings. Start Building More Agile Teams and Processes At its core, Agile is focused on continuous improvement. For The Agile Alliance, the improvements they sought to make were focused on collaboration, flexibility, and incremental delivery. But those may not be the improvements your team needs to make. And if so, that’s okay. Back when I worked as a Product Owner, I heard people say countless times “If you’re doing X, you’re not Agile.” But Agile itself isn’t a rules-based system; it’s a system of principles. And those principles can be applied by any team in any way that works for them as long as the goal is continuous improvement. So my advice is that as you investigate the different Agile methodologies, worry less about following the books and focus more on doing what’s needed to fix the problems that are plaguing your team and delaying your progress. The definitions and the processes are all just documentation, and as The Agile Manifesto says, working softwareâ€"or, in other words, the end resultâ€"is more important than defining how you get there. For Kanban, Scrum, and Everything Try MeisterTask Its free! Try MeisterTask Kanban vs. Scrum Choosing the Right Approach for Your Team Agile, Lean, Scrum, Kanban: these terms are all used to describe very similar project management approaches, and adding to the confusion, they’re often used interchangeably. People refer to Scrum ceremonies as Agile ceremonies, use Kanban boards for Scrum. If you’re new to Agile, it gets confusing quickly. If you’re struggling to understand the key differences between Scrum and Kanbanâ€"or to pick the right approach and/or tool for your teamâ€"we’ve put together this Scrum vs. Kanban comparison guide to help you get up to speed and make the right decisions. What Is Agile? Before we jump into defining Scrum and Kanban, it’s helpful to have a general understanding of Agile since Agile is at the core of both methodologies. However, unlike Scrum and Kanban, Agile is more of a philosophy than a project management methodology. Agile was developed in 2001 by a group of 17 software developers who called themselves “The Agile Alliance.” Over the course of two days, these developers wrote The Agile Manifesto, a set of guiding principles that encourage things like consistent progress and collaboration over process documentation and contract negotiation. Prior to the release of The Agile Manifesto, most software development projects followed Waterfall, a project management methodology where all of the requirements for projects were created and estimated before development began. Development teams would commit to doing a set amount of work in a set amount of time. This created several issues: If problems came up during the development process, they were difficult to address because teams had already committed to a specific scope of work. Because the requirements for projects were fully written in advance, development teams received very little input from project sponsors. Because the development team was working in a silo, project sponsors often didn’t see the outcome of any development work until development was complete, which often led to project sponsors discovering problems with the finished product. The Agile Alliance felt that a better approach to development would be for teams to work collaboratively with project sponsors over the course of the development timeline, gathering requirements and creating code using an iterative approach. An iterative approach, they felt, would give developers a way to address issues that arose during development and allow project sponsors to see what was being developed while it was being developed and weigh in with any concerns before it was too late to address them. What Is Scrum? While Agile is a philosophy that advocates for a collaborative, iterative approach to software development, Scrum is a methodology that’s commonly used to put Agile philosophy into practice. Scrum provides a framework that project sponsors and software developers can use to work together and follow Agile’s guiding principles. It was developed by Ken Schwaber and Jeff Sutherland, two members of The Agile Alliance, and described in The Scrum Guide. A Scrum team consists of three roles: Product Owner: The Product Owner is a representative of the project stakeholders who is available throughout the development process to answer questions, review completed work, and prioritize requirements. The Product Owner’s involvement with the development team helps teams adhere to Agile’s push for more collaboration. Scrum Master: The Scrum Master leads the development team, keeps everyone focused on their work, teaches others on the team about Scrum, and leads all of the Scrum meetings. He/she operates as the conductor of the team, making sure everything is running smoothly and everyone is following the rules of Scrum. Development Team: The Development Team is a group of three to nine developers who are responsible for doing the work that’s described and prioritized by the Product Owner. The Development Team works from a prioritized Product Backlog (list of project requirements) that’s composed of User Stories. User Stories are Scrum’s method of writing requirements that, instead of writing what needs to be done, explains how what the Product Owner is asking for will benefit the user of what’s being developed. User Stories always follow a specific format: As a [who], I want to [what] so that [why]. For example: As a MeisterTask user, I want to be able to drag and drop cards within lanes on my board so that I can prioritize the tasks in my lists. Development work is completed in an iteration called a Sprintâ€"a period lasting between one week and one month when the team focuses on a set, planned amount of work. That work is planned during a Scrum ceremony called Sprint Planning where teams decide on and plan the work for however many User Stories they believe can be completed during the Sprint. During the Sprint, Scrum teams have a Daily Scrum meeting at the beginning of each day where each member of the Development Team answers three questions: What did you work on yesterday? What will you work on today? Are there any impediments blocking you from completing your work? At the end of each Sprint, the team holds two meetings. The first is the Sprint Review where the Development Team demos the work completed during the Sprint to the Product Owner for sign-off. The second is the Sprint Retrospective where the team seeks to improve in future sprints by answering three questions: What went well during this Sprint? What didn’t go well? What should we do differently next Sprint? In addition to helping teams practice Agile, Scrum is designed to make sure that everyone is working at a consistent pace throughout the project, the work being completed is exactly what the project sponsors want, and teams are consistently improving over the course of a project. What Is Kanban? Kanban was originally developed by Taiichi Ohno, an industrial engineer at Toyota, to create a more efficient manufacturing process. It was later applied to software development by David J. Anderson in his 2010 book Kanban: Successful Evolutionary Change for Your Technology Business. Kanban uses an assembly-line approach to move work through a queue. Like Scrum, Kanban has a backlog of prioritized project tasks, but rather than planning work in Sprints, team members grab the highest-priority task in the backlog that’s ready to be completed. The core feature of the Kanban Method is the Kanban board. As in manufacturing where products are built in pieces in an assembly line, Kanban tasks move through a series of lanes as different pieces of work are completed. For example, if each task in your backlog requires backend development, then frontend development, then testing, then approval, your Kanban board might look like this: Tasks would move from one lane to the next as each set of work is completed. Another key feature of Kanban is Work-In-Progress (WIP) limits. Let’s say, for example, that your backend development team is working at a much faster rate than your frontend development team. The frontend team could end up with dozens of tasks in their queue while your testers sit around with nothing to do. WIP limits set a limit on the number of tasks that can be in any one lane at a time. When a team’s WIP limit is reached, it serves as a signal that there’s a blocker for that team. To remove that blocker, other members of the team could help to clear out the frontend development queue, or it might serve as a signal that your team is imbalanced: you need fewer backend developers and more frontend developers. Finally, while Kanban lacks the specific retrospective ceremonies of Scrum, a core principle of the methodology is continuous improvement. Teams need to reflect incrementally to look for ways to improve the flow of their work, remove blockers, and streamline their processes. For Kanban, Scrum, and Everything Try MeisterTask Its free! Try MeisterTask Kanban vs. Scrum As you have probably already seen, Scrum is a complex and strict methodology with a lot of rules and a highly specific framework that teams must adhere to. Kanban is a leaner approach with fewer rules and a simpler framework. Both, however, help teams adhere to the core principles of Agile: collaboration and flexibility. Choosing which methodology is right for your team requires you to consider a few different factors: How much structure does your team need? If your team works better with detailed rules and processes, Scrum is probably the better approach. Kanban is more flexible. Do you have dependencies on other teams/projects? Scrum’s detailed planning processes are more efficient when your work has lots of dependencies on individuals and teams outside of your Scrum team. Kanban works better when all of your work can be completed by your team. Do your tasks have dependencies on other tasks? Scrum’s planning works better when some items in your backlog must be completed before others can begin. Kanban works better when each task can be completed in isolation of others. Neither methodology is inherently better than the other. The “right” choice for your team depends on your organizational structure, team preferences, and the specifics of your work and project. And you don’t even necessarily have to always adhere to one or the other methodology. In fact, teams that have been working together for a while can easily switch back and forth between the two methodologies to accommodate different types of projects and sets of work. Scrum and Kanban Outside of Software Development While Scrum and Kanban have their roots in software development, the philosophies and frameworks of the methodologies are useful in lots of different industries and disciplines. For example, Kanban works really well for content marketing. Most content marketing workflows start with a backlog of ideasâ€"an editorial calendarâ€"that are planned by a content marketing manager. From there, they may go to an SEO specialist, then to a writer, then to an editor, then to a designer before they’re published. Kanban can also be a helpful approach for HR teams during the hiring process. Because different tasks need to be completed by different individuals (some by HR, some by the hiring manager) at different times, Kanban is helpful for streamlining that collaboration. Scrum could be used by a design team that’s working on redesigning a website. Say you need to release the redesign in six months, and there are lots of tasks that need to be completed as part of that project: updating site-wide elements such as navigation menus, buttons, and calls-to-action updating the images used on individual blog posts and landing pages revising the layout of all site landing pages updating your company style guide to reflect your new guidelines Due to the hard deadline and the design team’s need to work with other teams like development, sales, product, and marketing, Scrum could be a perfect fit for managing this project. Most large, dependency-heavy, and complex projectsâ€"regardless of the discipline that’s spearheading the projectâ€"can benefit from the structure Scrum provides. And most workflows that require input or attention from multiple individuals can benefit from the assembly-line approach of Kanban. Choosing the Right Scrum and Kanban Tools There are tons of tools to choose from if your team is practicing Scrum and/or Kanban. Some are specific to Scrum and have features for Scrum-specific ceremonies like Sprint Planning and Release Planning and use Scrum terminology like User Stories and Sprints. And while Scrum-specific tools work well if you think your team will only ever use Scrum, they’re less effectiveâ€"and far more cumbersomeâ€"if you want to take the leaner Kanban approach. Kanban tools offer more flexibility for teams that plan to use both methodologies at different times depending on the specifics of the work they’re doing. Obviously, Kanban tools are designed for and work well with the Kanban Method. But they work just as well for Scrum. Many teams run Scrum using a Kanban boardâ€"a practice that’s sometimes referred to as ScrumBan. A Kanban board can start with a “Product Backlog” lane where all of your incomplete User Stories live. Product Owners work in that lane, creating all of the User Stories needed for the project and prioritizing them by dragging and dropping cards in priority order from the top of the list to its bottom. When it’s time for Sprint Planning, the Development Team can pull the User Stories into the “Sprint Plan” lane to create a plan for the upcoming sprint. They can also add estimates if needed and use checklists to break User Stories down into individual tasks. When the Development Team is working on a user story, team members can move the card into an “In Progress” lane. You can also add a “Blocked” lane for user stories that cannot be completed because of a blocker that the Scrum Master needs to help remove. Finally, you can create a “Done” or “Acceptance” lane for User Stories that need to be demoed to the Product Owner for approval. And when approval is received, each card can move to a completed lane for the Sprint in which the User Story was completed. In addition to Kanban tools offering a more flexible approach to both Scrum and Kanban, they’re easy for interested parties outside of the team to understand. Project managers, project sponsors, and team managers can view the team’s board at any time to get a quick, overall view of the project’s progress. This is great for teams, too, because it usually means fewer status update meetings. Start Building More Agile Teams and Processes At its core, Agile is focused on continuous improvement. For The Agile Alliance, the improvements they sought to make were focused on collaboration, flexibility, and incremental delivery. But those may not be the improvements your team needs to make. And if so, that’s okay. Back when I worked as a Product Owner, I heard people say countless times “If you’re doing X, you’re not Agile.” But Agile itself isn’t a rules-based system; it’s a system of principles. And those principles can be applied by any team in any way that works for them as long as the goal is continuous improvement. So my advice is that as you investigate the different Agile methodologies, worry less about following the books and focus more on doing what’s needed to fix the problems that are plaguing your team and delaying your progress. The definitions and the processes are all just documentation, and as The Agile Manifesto says, working softwareâ€"or, in other words, the end resultâ€"is more important than defining how you get there. For Kanban, Scrum, and Everything Try MeisterTask Its free! Try MeisterTask

Diabetes Mellitus The Leading Chronic Disease - 1102 Words

Diabetes Mellitus Diabetes mellitus is one of the leading chronic diseases that can cause high rates of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Diabetes mellitus is characterized by hyperglycemia due to a lack of insulin, insulin resistance, or both. The four main types of diabetes mellitus include type 1 diabetes mellitus, type 2 diabetes mellitus, gestational diabetes mellitus, and other specific types (Darby, 2015, 824). A high rate of periodontal disease has been reported with type 1 and 2 diabetes mellitus (Al-Maskari, et al. 2011). Other manifestations are associated with diabetes mellitus and can cause discomfort for patients with diabetes. It is important for the dental hygienist to observe early identifications of diabetes mellitus and prepare a treatment plan to increase the quality of the patient’s life. Diabetes mellitus affects approximately 25.8 million Americans including adults and children (Darby, 2015, 824). 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Sex During The Civil War - 1271 Words

Sex. Was this connection nonexistent in people s lives during the civil war? When people think of war there is rarely a thought given to the adventurous fulfillment of desire through the act of fornication. In The Story the Soldiers Wouldn t Tell, the author Thomas P. Lowry exposes some truths of the different aspects of sex throughout the civil war era. Lowry accomplishes this feat through a separation of topics, introducing historical information throughout each topic, and presenting interesting evidence through quotations of letters, diaries, newspaper ads, military records and photographs. Thomas Lowry intrigues the reader with juicy information revealed of the minimally discussed aspect of sex during the civil war. The Story the Soldiers Wouldn t Tell is based on diligent investigation of primary sources rather than on ex cathedra pronouncements (Krick, Robert, ix). This book reveals a candid look at some of the less savory activities of our ancestors. He touches on all topics t o include: masturbation, prostitution, homosexuality, rape, marriage, love, sexually transmitted diseases, pornographic book and cards, women disguised as men in the Army, abortion and birth control techniques, and the sentencing of men for rape convictions. Lowry proves that in spite of the mores of the time period, the good and bad or private and covered sexual activities commencing, were all common normal sexual activity. Although the flow of the story may seem confusing at time to someShow MoreRelatedThe American Civil War : Censorship And The Passage Of Time1603 Words   |  7 Pages The American Civil War has captured the popular imagination of the world for more than a hundred and fifty years. Academic scholars and neophyte history buffs alike have published thousands of books on the subject, adding to a growing canon of Civil War literature and knowledge. 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Plantaze Free Essays

string(191) " various customer reports and trade association reviews about the company were necessary, so that an objective and closer insight to the true image of the analyzed company could be provided\." INTERNATIONALIZATION OF SEE-FIRMS Final Group Report Table of content 1 1. 1 1. 2 1. We will write a custom essay sample on Plantaze or any similar topic only for you Order Now 3 INTRODUCTION †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. 1 Background Description †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. 1 Research Purpose †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ Structure of the Report†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ 2 2 2. 1 2. 2 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. 2 Data Collection †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. 2 Data Analysis †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. 3 3. 1 3. 2 3. 3 CASE STUDY †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. 6 Company Description (www. plantaze. com) †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. 6 Internationalization Process†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. 7 Internationalization Motives †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã ¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ 4 4. 1 4. 2 ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ 11 Theoretical Background †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. 11 Application of the Uppsala Model †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â ‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. 13 5 5. 1 5. 2 IMPLICATIONS AND LIMITATIONS †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. 4 Implications of the Study †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. 14 Limitations of the Study †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. 15 6 7 8 CONCLUSION AND FUTURE RESEARCH †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚ ¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. 15 REFERENCES †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. 7 APPENDIX †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. 19 1 Introduction In this chapter the background of the case study will be presented, as well as the purpose of the study will be stated, before an overview of the structure of this report is given. 1. 1 Background Description Today, many companies take the step to establish themselves abroad. The motives for internationalization are many. Perhaps the home market is saturated, presence in a certain country grants access to strateg ic resources or there are cluster effects to be explored in a specific region. The decision makers of the companies that are becoming international have different experience, are in different situations and consider different motives before taking the step into the international market. (Masum/Fernandez 2008, 2) For the past few decades researchers have been debating over existing theories and developing new theories of international business to explain why and how companies internationalize. Internationalization theories are explaining different internationalization processes, which are taking place when companies expand across national borders. Ranges of internationalization have been discussed in various investigations with the conclusion that the majority of these frameworks fail to explain internationalization behavior of various companies, however, this doesn’t mean that they are not useful at all. (Pett 2008, 1) It is inappropriate to approach the internationalization process without formulating a strategy. Without a proper strategy the firm is about to fail in their internationalization. Formulating a strategy also involves deciding hen, how and which markets to enter. There are several market entry modes a firm can choose from, such as exporting, contractual relationships (licensing, franchising), as well as equity or ownership-based international business activities like FDI or collaborative ventures. (Masum/Fernandez 2008, 2) 1. 2 Research Purpose The purpose of this study is to gain a better understanding of the internationalization process of a SEE company, particularly the usefulness of the main theory: t he Uppsala Model. 1 1. 3 Structure of the Report The report is divided into six major parts: Introduction, Research Methodology, Case Study, Analysis and Interpretation, Implications and Limitations, and our Findings and Conclusion. The introduction part contains the background description of the general topic and the research purpose. Followed by the Research Methodology part, where the research method, data collection and data analysis is described. Then the chosen company is presented in particular and their internationalization process and their motives for internationalization are discussed. In the Analysis and Interpretation chapter the theoretical background and to which extend the company followed the theory is presented, along with a broad discussion of the gathered empirical data. There are also some implications and limitations mentioned in the next chapter. In the conclusion there is a brief presentation of the findings as well as possible further research on the topic. 2 2. 1 Research Methodology Data Collection The data collected and used in this analysis has been mainly collected from websites and online databases. This means that the method applied was Desk Research. As depicted by name Desk Research is the research technique that is mainly acquired by sitting at a desk. It involves collecting data from existing resources and, compared to Field Research, is the cheapest and quickest option. Nevertheless, there is always the problem of the validity, objectivity and credibility of the data found. There are basically two types of desk research: Internal Desk Research and External Desk Research. Whereas the former is being used only in corporations or companies that possess an internal database, the latter can be done by anyone. External Desk Research is the actual method that was used when gathering information about the company, about the market and about other countries. 2. 2 Data Analysis First of all, it has been decided to go with the company Plantaze. Afterwards, a huge amount of data about the company’s history, strategy and current situation has been gath2 ered directly from their official website, plantaze. com. Moreover, detailed information about their products and production process has been found here. Additional financial and statistical information was found on the website of the Montenegro Stock Exchange (MNSE), montenegrobreza. com, where the company is listed and traded. Normally, looking and searching for data in online databases is very expensive. Fortunately, there has been access to the WU network, where many online databases are available for the research. ‘Amadeus’, ‘Factiva’ and others have given supplementary data about the company’s foreign subsidiaries for example that were not that clear in the places looked before. Actually, the main difficulty was finding data about the company’s operations abroad. For that reason it was necessary to get in contact with the Plantaze company in order to get more accurate data on their internationalization process. The people were kind enough and shared some very important facts and dates that completed the information pool that was needed. In order to work on the Excel sheets, economic, political and geographical data on the countries in which the Plantaze company is directly or indirectly doing business were needed. For this, the official websites of the specific countries governments and other websites of some important international organization like the World Bank or the CIA World Factbook were used. Before starting to write about the company’s past, present and future situation in the company description, articles from the press about the company and its operations were read. Also a look at various customer reports and trade association reviews about the company were necessary, so that an objective and closer insight to the true image of the analyzed company could be provided. You read "Plantaze" in category "Papers" Psychic Distance Psychic distance is defined as factors such as differences in language, culture, political systems, etc. , which disturb the flow of information between the firm and the market. Psychic distance chain refers to economic, geographical and cultural distance. (Johanson/Wiedersheim-Paul 1975, 308). Hofstede’s model of cultural dimensions from 1970s as one of the first theories that could be used to explain observed differences between cultures, has become an internationally recognized standard and major resource in cross-cultural studies. The original theory identified four cultural dimensions for distinguishing cultures: †¢ Power distance dimension (PD) focuses on the degree of inequality between people with and without power in society; †¢ Individualism dimension (IDV) refers to strength of interpersonal connections and share of responsibility among people; †¢ Uncertainty Avoidance Index (UAI) measures degree of tolerance towards uncertainty and u nknown situations and †¢ Masculinity (MAS) referring to gender differentiations and inequity in society. After some more researches Hofstede added a fifth dimension – long-term orientation (LTO) which relates to how much society values long-term devotion to traditional values; and in the 2010 a sixth dimension – Indulgence versus restraint defining the attitude of society towards gratification of basic and natural human needs related enjoying life and having fun. (mindtools. com 2012) The following factors were used for this case study: The geographical distance is an important factor to calculate transportation cost from the production facility in Montenegro to the sales markets abroad. The figure was calculated by measuring the air line distance from Podgorica (Montenegrin capital) to the capital of the reference country. It is the most important figure for Plantaze as it is a mainly exporting company. So this factor was overweighed against all the other chosen factors. The cultural distance consists of the above-mentioned dimensions, power distance, uncertainty avoidance, individualism, and masculinity. Regarding to Hofstede the differences of the dimension of country A and the reference country, i. e. Montenegro, are calculated in a first step. This difference has to be squared and divided by the variance of the whole spectrum of countries. Cultural distance in exporting is important because of the sheer nature of the product. Drinking wine is something that is embed in the national culture, thus making the cultural distance a factor that needs to be taken into consideration. Furthermore for marketing and communication reasons the cultural distance between two countries can make a company change the strategy. 4 It was calculated by using the Kogut and Singh-Formula: When calculating the internationalization process of the company regarding only the subsidiaries and the joint venture the cultural distance variable gains importance. Because entering a market in this way, by greenfield investment, a company has to think and act on a long-term level. The country’s culture can be decisive in whether the own company will be successful or not. The â€Å"wine† distance measures the wine consumption per capita of a nation compared to Montenegro. This figure is relevant because it would make no sense for a wine producing company to enter a market that scores low. As already mentioned wine consumption is something that is highly linked to the nation’s culture and their drinking habits. That is why this is a relevant figure. To calculate the wine distance, the same formula as above has been used. The economic distance was not taken into account because of the fact, that it is not relevant for this type of industry. To calculate the psychic distance the above mentioned factors have been standardized to numbers between 0 and 1, while 0 stands for Montenegro respectively a country with the same figures than Montenegro and 1 for the country with the highest distance to the reference country. The factors have been weighted according to their importance. In the exporting internationalization process the geographical distance has been weighted with 60%, the cultural and the â€Å"wine† distance were weighted with 20% each. In the subsidiary and joint venture internationalization process the geographical distance has also been weighted with 60%, the cultural distance with 40% and the wine distance was not taken into consideration. 5 3 3. 1 Case Study Company Description (www. plantaze. com) ‘13jul-Plantaze’ is a wine-producing company from Montenegro. Its history takes us back more than 100 years, more specifically to 1907 when the Montenegrin wine ‘Vranac’ won its first prize in London. It was but more than 50 years later, when the government of Montenegro decided to invest in the development of agriculture, that the led to the creation of the company Plantaze as we know it today. Between 1964 and 1974, Plantaze expanded the vineyard to 377 ha and the wine cellar capacity to 26. 000 hl. In the 1977-1982 period, the company realized one of its most important projects. Transforming the arid and rocky soil of the ‘Cemovsko’ field into one of the largest green oasis of the Balkan area is not something to be overlooked. 62 million U. S. dollars cost the creation of the largest vineyard in Europe at that time, covering 2000 ha of orchards and vineyards. The geographical position makes this place so unique. Located at about 30 km from the Adriatic See, on the river Bojana, the ‘Cemovsko’ field has a microclimate of its own, suitable for quality grape production. In 1979 the main processing plant was built near the vineyard. ‘Agrougostitelj’, ‘Agrokom’, ‘Agroekonomski institut’, ‘Uvoz-izvoz’ and ‘Ribnjaci’ merged with Plantaze in 1998. 2005 was the year in which the company established a joint venture with their Italian partners and added the first sparkling wine ‘Val’ to the product range. During the years, they successfully obtained international certificates of quality such as the ISO 9001:2000; HACCAP or the ISO 14000. In 2007, Plantaze invested 2 million euros in the remarkable wine cellar ‘Sipcanik’. Located at 30 meters below the soil, covering about 7000 m2, this completely natural area has the perfect climatic and technological conditions to age over 2 million liters of wine in wooden barrels, oak barriques and bottles. In the last 10 years exports have risen by 530% to 4 million bottles in 2008. The company exports to over 30 countries situated all over the world, from the U. S. A to Canada, to the E. U. countries, Russia, China and Australia. Today, Plantaze still owns and manages Europe’s biggest vineyard at ‘Cemovsko’ field, which stands on 2310 ha and contains three wine cellars with a capacity of 310. 00 hl. They recently announced that the investments made in the period 2003-2009 were over 40 million euros. With an annual production of 22 6 million kilos per year, Plantaze is the biggest producer of wine and table grapes in Montenegro. A quick look at their company’s official website will be enough to understand that this company has something special about it. Their mission statement is to produce worldclass quality products with which they can satisfy their loyal customers and gain new ones. It must be added that the company is not just producing and selling wine and grapes. An 85ha peach plantation that averages an annual production of 1. 200 tons is one of their most prized possessions. As of 1957, Plantaze produces and sells about 100 tons of Californian trout. The ‘Mareza’ fish pond covers 6. 000 m2 and is exclusively fed by fresh spring water. The grapevines used are not being bought; they are being grown on a nursery of rootstocks that spreads over 40 ha. Two restaurants complete their portfolio. Mareza’, a restaurant with a capacity of over 400 seats, located 5 km outside of Podgorica and ‘Jezero’, with a capacity of over 300 guests, located along the main road between Podgorica and Petrovac, on the shore of the beautiful and relaxing Skadar Lake appear in every touristic guide of Montenegro. Coming back to the wine business, we can see that Plantaze offers a great variety of wines. 11 types of red wine and 6 types of white wine ar e currently in their catalogue. Furthermore, we can find a special rose wine made from red grapes applied in the white wines production. Three types of brandy complete the offer. The Plantaze company is probably one of the most successful brands and businesses in Montenegro. Their incredible attitude towards the environment and their fine attention to detail stands before every product they make. The Plantaze company must be a proud flag-bearer and ambassador of Montenegro because they managed to achieve something that many firms only dream of, and that is to produce traditional goods from your local country and culture at the highest quality possible. For this reason and others, the company Plantaze has been chosen to be analyzed and presented. 3. 2 Internationalization Process Because the company has a history of over 40 years, in which it sold goods on an international level, the need for splitting up the process into more than one period was created. Therefore, the internationalization process was divided into four different phases. 7 These phases are not equal. For example, the first period is twenty years long, whereas the second one is fifteen years long. The reason for this is that the first two periods were slower from the internationalization point of view than the last two. So, in the first period that is between 1964 and 1984, they started selling their products on the Yugoslavian market and in Albania. The argumentation for the fact that Yugoslavia has been added to the internationalization process is actually very easy to follow. Because for the company at stake the cultural distance is of great importance, it was clear that Yugoslavia had to appear on the graph. Although from a political and technical point of view, there was only one single country and one single market, taking the cultural differences into consideration, the situation changes dramatically. The seven entities that are now seven different countries have their own traditions, habits and culture. Therefore, selling products all over the ex-Yugoslavian territory makes the process an international one. Furthermore, if the Uppsala Model is the center point of this presentation, gaining knowledge about different cultures and using it into new markets, like Plantaze did, just proves out argumentation. In the second phase, from 1985 and 2000, numerous other markets were penetrated. Of course, after 1991 and the fall of ex-Yugoslavia, the products sold into these new established countries could officially be called exports. The company entered some Central European countries like the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland and Hungary. In the east, Bulgaria was chosen to start exporting to. The first countries from the European Union in 8 which the firm started internationalizing were Italy, France and the U. K. , in which they established a wholly-owned sales subsidiary in London. Russia was the first distant market they choose. In the third period, or between 2001 and 2004, the focus remained on Central and Western Europe. Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, Belgium and Sweden were the next markets they entered. The third period also meant a development of the internationalization process. Some very distant markets such as China and the United States were submitted to the process. The fourth and final phase takes place from 2005 until the present day, in 2012. Norway and Switzerland are the newest addition from the European continent, while Canada and Australia are another two distant markets to which the company started exporting. 3. 3 Internationalization Motives To figure out the motives for the internationalization of Plantaze a quick look at Dunning’s different categories of motives is necessary. Strategic Asset Seeking Resource Seeking Efficiency Seeking Motives for Internationalization Network Seeking Market Seeking 9 Dunning (2000) explains how market and resource seeking motives have been the two most recognized categories of motives before. These two categories still correspond to most first time internationalization by firms. Overall, efficiency seeking and strategic asset seeking motives increase in significance and are more common as motives for companies already engaged in multinational activity. He also shows that closer relations with customers and durable relations with suppliers were important motives. Furthermore, he suggests that internationalization was more driven by opportunities rather than threats. Hansson/Hedin 2007, 5) Market Seekers: Companies that invest in a particular country or region with the intention to supply goods and services are called market seekers. This category of motives focuses on demand aspects. (Hansson/Hedin 2007, 6) Plantaze’s home market is limited as Montenegro is a small country and so it brings the firm not enough revenues. This fact and also to diversify the customer base of Plantaze to reduce the dependence on the home market are reasons why they decided to go abroad. Resource Seekers: According to Dunning (1993) resource seeking means to invest abroad in order to obtain resources. This could be resources that can be acquired at a lower comparative cost, or simply does not exist at all in the home country. (Hansson/Hedin 2007, 7) Plantaze is not seen as a resource seeking company, as the conditions for producing in Montenegro are unique. Sometimes skills and capabilities are resources that can be used through collaboration with a business partner. Efficiency Seekers: The purpose is to rationalize structures of established investments in order to gain from common governance. Often those benefits come from economies of scale, but also risk diversification. Therefore, efficiency seeking is seen as gaining from the differences of factor 10 endowments, cultures, institutional arrangements, and economic systems etc. (Hansson/Hedin 2007, 7) Economies of scale and scope as well as the increase of sales and profits are issues that an efficiency seeker often focuses on, and so does Plantaze. Another motive for the company to internationalize is that Plantaze might be able to lower the tax burden. Strategic Resource Seekers: Strategic resources are for example patents, knowledge, the skills of employees, and strategic supplies necessary for developing comparative advantages. By focusing on developing strategic resources the company supports its long term strategic objectives. (Hansson/Hedin 2007, 8) Plantaze’s aim is it to create brand awareness in foreign countries and to transmit the positive image of Montenegro by producing a traditional product from the home country and selling it to other countries. Network Seekers: The network orientation reflects to what extent companies participate in alliances, cooperative ventures and other forms of similar social connections. Networks outside the organization can be very important for the companies. Companies intend to nurse, develop and expand their existing networks. (Hansson/Hedin 2007, 9) Developing useful foreign relationships is an important factor for Plantaze. Their partner have knowledge of the local markets and the necessary skills. 4 4. 1 Analysis and Interpretation Theoretical Background The Uppsala Internationalization Model The Uppsala Internationalization model is a model of a firm’s choice of market and form of entry when going abroad. It was developed by a number of Swedish researchers, Johanson, Wiedersheim-Paul and Vahlne (1975, 1977). The model was named after the business 11 chool of the Swedish city and based on the process of internationalization of four Swedish manufacturing companies with operations in more than 20 countries. The model assumes that internationalization is a progressive process made of several successive stages. The main aspects of internationalization are market knowledge and level of commitment in a particular host country. The m ajor obstacle to international operations is the lack of knowledge about foreign markets and operations, which can be overtaken gradually by actively engaging in such foreign environments (Forsgren, Hogstrom, 2004; Lakomaa, 2009). The Swedish researchers noticed that observed companies had begun to operate abroad in nearby markets and then slowly penetrated markets far away. They entered new markets through export, and after several years of exports the company could establish wholly owned or majority-owned operations. Thus, the process of progressive internationalization is built on four stages that are: sporadic export, export via independent representatives, foreign sales subsidiaries and production and manufacturing units in foreign markets. Source: Forgren and Johanson 1975, 16 12 The figure shows that additional market commitment will be made in small steps, both in the market commitment and geographical dimension. The geographical dimension means that firms enter new markets with successively greater psychic distance, defined in terms of factors like language differences, culture and political system, etc. Therefore, companies internationalize by going to those markets they can most easily understand and where the perceived market uncertainty is low. Criticism of the Uppsala Model There were several critics referring to the Uppsala model. Some of them are that the model is too deterministic (Reid, 1983; Turnbull, 1987) or that the model doses not take into account interdependencies between different country markets (Johanson and Mattson, 1986). Studies have shown that the model is not valid for service industries, situations of highly internationalized companies and industries and that the whole internationalization process has speeded up. Firms also tend to enter ‘distant’ markets in terms of psychic distance at an early stage (leap-frogging tendency), because the world has become much more homogenous and that has lead to that psychic distance has decreased. . 2 Application of the Uppsala Model Only by simply looking at the internationalization process that the Plantaze company followed over the years, it is easy to conclude that the firm followed more or less the theory that the Uppsala Model describes. In the beginning, for example, when the firm started selling their products only on the ex-Yugoslavia n territory and Albania without having the need of going to distant markets is clearly the kind of behavior that a newly founded enterprise would have in the Uppsala Model. After learning from this experience (because in from the companies point of view, since culture plays an important factor, it learned a great deal from selling on the whole territory of Yugoslavia, where seven different entities and cultures were mashed together under one flag) they could start and wonder off to other countries and cultures. In the second phase of their internationalization process, countries from Eastern Europe were chosen and some small steps to the Western part of Europe were also made. The first important milestone in the company’s history is the opening of their first sales-subsidiary in the United Kingdom. It is called Monteadria and it is located in 13 London. This particular step can be noted as the exception from the rule since the firm ventured off to a distant market directly by establishing a sales-subsidiary and not starting by exporting and then gradually develop. Nevertheless, it is quite difficult for a company that is active on the market to truly and without exceptions follow the Uppsala Model since it does not take into account other important factors such as market attractiveness, market size and others. The globalization and internationalization effect can be seen in every market and in every country. Because of that, because of the massive inflow of information and data available in a blink of an eye, companies show leapfrogging tendencies and go to more distant markets earlier. The overall psychic distance between countries has decreased. Plantaze took full advantage of the fast moving business world in which they operate. The company grew rapidly and intensified export activities worldwide. As a result, their export figure has increased by more than 550% since 2003. 5. 1 Implications and Limitations Implications of the Study The main implication of the study would surely represent if whether or not managers that handle the company use the Uppsala Model when entering the internationalization process. Just by looking at the export path explained in the Excel sheet above, it is easy to conclude that the firm applied the model. Of course, the fact that the managers specifically used the Uppsala Model or that the pattern used just randomly fits, is something that needs to be analyzed more in detail. In contrast, when it comes to the path chosen by the company for entering new markets and countries via wholly-owned or partially-owned subsidiaries or joint-venture, the situation changes. The path chosen is not similar to the Uppsala Model. One argument would be that they chose to enter the British market with a subsidiary in London before opening one in Belgrade or Sarajevo. The logical step, according to the Uppsala Model would be to start with establishment of subsidiaries in neighboring countries and afterwards spread out to other, more foreign countries. 14 5. 2 Limitations of the Study The main limitation of this study would be that it revolves around the Uppsala Model and thus making its criticism point, the major liability of the study. The model is old and was not updated to the current economic situation. For example, in today’s business world, companies have the tendency to leapfrog some entry modes and to go directly to more physically distant markets. The world today has become more homogenous because of the globalization process that has been going on in the last decades and the psychic distance has also decreased. The company described and used in the study, Plantaze, is not the perfect fit to the Uppsala Model. The point that the company posses enough financial resources leads to the fact that consequences of their commitments won’t have a huge impact on their balance sheets. Moreover, the company is not obliged to go abroad to gain new market knowledge and gain experience because today they can call on other sources for additional information and know-how. Universities, government databases and institutions or other companies from the branch can provide this kind of data. Regarding the limitations of the research, the fact that the findings are closely linked to a specific context is underlying. This research has been confined to a few countries in the European Union. This may not be sufficient to generalize our findings in this paper. However, this paper points out the direction and may act as an indicator how our company internationalized. Thus, we believe that our findings are useful to better understand the driving forces of the internationalization of Plantaze. 6 Conclusion and Future Research The path chosen by the Plantaze company follows to a certain degree the theory of internationalization that the Uppsala Model presents. No one knows for sure if the higher management of the company intentionally acted in this manner or if the match is just a random one. To better understand their internationalization process, in future studies, interviews with the persons responsible and who took the decisions must be conducted. Only then, only with that data, the study can truly show how the company reacted to the internationalization process and how they proceeded. Nevertheless, without having that data available to be 15 used, and only through analyzing ex-post the steps taken in the past, the Uppsala Model provides a possible framework for companies to follow. In addition to future research possibilities arising directly from the limitations, it should be recommended that future research may explore longitudinal research design for further contribution to international business in this context. 16 7 References Publications Birn, Robin J. 2001. The Handbook of International Market Research Techniques, London 2001 Hansson, Anders and Hedin, Kim. 2007. Motives for internationalization. Small companies in Swedish incubators and science parks, Uppsala Hofstede, Geert. 2001. Culture’s Consequences: Comparing Values, Behaviors, Institutions, and Organizations Across Nations. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Johanson, Jan and Wiedersheim-Paul, Finn. 1975. The Internationalization of the Firm – Four Swedish Cases, in: The Journal of Management Studies, 1975, 305-322 Kent, Raymond A. 1993. Marketing Research in Action, New York Kogut, B. and H. Singh. 1988. The Effect of National Culture on the Choice of Entry Mode, in: Journal of International Business Studies, 19(3): 411–432. Masum, Mohibul Islam and Fernandez Alejandra. 2008. Internationalization-Process of SMEs: Strategies and Methods, Vasteras. Pett, Timothy L. 2008. Examining SME Internationalization Motives as an Extension of Competitive Strategy, in: Journal of Business and Entrepreneurship, 2008, 1-13. Internet CIA Factbook n. a. : Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions. Understanding Workplace Values Around the World http://www. mindtools. com/pages/article/newLDR_66. htm, accessed October 15, 2012. 17 Plantaze www. plantaze. com , accessed October 15, 2012. WHO http://www. who. int/substance_abuse/publications/global_alcohol_report/msbgsruprofiles. pdf, accessed October 15, 2012. Worldbank http://data. worldbank. org/indicator/NY. GDP. PCAP. CD, accessed October 15, 2012. 18 8 Appendix 19 How to cite Plantaze, Papers

Like a Father free essay sample

The Saturday night air blows through the field, the cold breeze just grazing across my face. Chills jolt down my spine, raising the hair on my arms as the crowd continues to cheer. A voice is heard over the loud speaker, Drum major, is your band ready? signaling our cue to salute. The salute is crisp, clean, like a well oiled machine. I climb the podium ladder, each step feeling miles apart. This is the time. The next 8 minutes of my life will represent everything; 7 years, countless hours of practice, and the success of 250 others riding under my wing. I make eye contact with my director. He looks on confidently, yet with great understanding. He knows Im ready, he believes in me. Before I know it, were off. 56. 5 6 7 8. Ive never really been a head strong kind of kid. For as long as I remember, its been play now, work later. We will write a custom essay sample on Like a Father or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Life was a treat. Coasting through school classes on c average grades seemed to be the norm by the time I hit high school. By then, I was your typical ready-to-drop-out freshman, who was, well, ready to drop out. The only things keeping me were friends, parents, and the law. Along with the bare minimum classes on my schedule, I had elected to take band, mainly because I expected it to be an easy, blow-off class. But what I didnt know about the Westlake high school band was that it was notorious for being one of the best marching bands in the state of Texas. It was understood that in order achieve that reputation, long arduous work had to be put in from every member of the band. Understandably, I was terrified. I had coasted through school on the basis that the work I did didnt affect anyone other than me. Knowing that band was a cohesive unit, and that each member contributed to the overall success of the organization, I was going to have to change. Despite my determination to avoid the personal conversations with the directors concerning my lack of initiative to fight for the team, it proved itself unavoidable. The fruitless talks and deteriorating class grades didnt do the trick. I continued to trudge on, and on, and on, through the eternity that was two years of high school marching band. Though frowned upon, my inherent laziness worked, at least before. The upper class-men who had carried us through victory after victory for the past two years were now gone, and I suddenly found myself straining under the weight of all the high expectations. Despite the immense pressure, it wasnt enough to break the deeply embedded laziness that I had come to know and hate. To me, it wasnt worth fighting for. There was no reason in my mind that would justify my going above and beyond what was needed. I needed something more. I needed something that I couldnt find within myself. It was a Thursday morning. The frigid November air felt almost as dull as the morning marching routine that we somehow managed to call a rehearsal. We had just returned to the band hall where the melancholy atmosphere was finally beginning to lift as frozen fingers were melting back to life. Mr. Taylor stepped out of his office, pointed his arm in my direction, and drew me into his office with a stern curling of his index finger, the kind of motion that says you, here, now. Having never been in his office without leaving on the verge of tears, I began mentally preparing myself for the worst. The conversation began the same way as always. Though there was a different feel to it all. A sense of desperation began to appear in his voice, something Ive never heard before. He lectured me on the situation at hand before telling me exactly what I needed to hear. He told me that I will never know the true extent of my influence. He said I could be the difference between the well known and we ll hated 11th place finish at Bands of America, and a long desired first place title. I had the power to change lives, and he knew it. I walked out of that office not with tears, but with desire; desire to be what no one expected me to be. I wanted to be the change that the band needed, so that I could leave high school knowing that I not only changed those around me, but that I changed myself. We ended my junior year with our worst result yet. There was an irreparable gloom hanging over the band after receiving our 26th place result at BOA far worse than the 11th place that was previously considered unacceptable. The pain and frustration I felt was superseded only by the emptiness felt by the senior class. They had to face the fact that all the hard work they put into band culminated into embarrassment and disappointment. That would not be my fate. My legacy wasnt going to be 26th place. My legacy would be here, now, on this Saturday night. It would be all those years of hard work flashing before the eyes of the 250 others riding under my wing while the results are being announced. It would be 7 years of dedication paying off in the last eight minutes. It would be doing what no one thought I could do. My legacy would be my director knowing he made the right choice as I step down from the podium at UIL State Finals.