Company background Essay

BMW (www. bmw. com) continue maintaining their strong position as one of world’s leader in premium vehicle market besides Daimler-Chrysler, Lexus, and many others. The company established in March 7, 1916 when Bayerische Flugzeug-Werke (BFW) founded. One year later, BFW was renamed to Bayerische Motoren Werke GmbH (BMW) that focused on producing cars and military aircraft at that time. Within several decades in the 20th century, the company performed several acquisitions on Rover and MINI, to name a few. However, the intense competition in automobile industry that becomes more segmented has driven BMW to focus on few brands. Under such circumstances, BMW decided to sell Rover Group in 2000 but still retaining MINI brands in the BMW Group. Therefore, BMW group (www. bmwgroup. com) now has three major brands: BMW, MINI, and Rolls-Royce Motor Cars. The three segments are all in premium cars segment, thus lessen the company’s effort in building brand awareness for their products. Figure 1 BMW Group Website Source: www. bmwgroup. com 1. Business Analysis The Automobile industry is one of the most competitive global industries in the world. This is because automobile companies are generally multinational in nature because they have the need to achieve economies of scale in their production. The automobile industry represents significant portion of GDP in US and Europe. They are considered of significant importance because their existence enables other industries to work. Most automobile markets bring possess significant influence whether in their domestic as well as global markets. Moreover, there is an indication that commencing the end of the 20th century, most of the markets in modern countries are saturated and the new trend of the industry is to find new and developing markets where they can deploy their products. Similarly, automobile manufacturers are tired of facing the cutthroat competition in their markets. The situation drives them to expand their services into Asia-Pacific regions, South East Asia and other developing regions. This strategy becomes the latest trend within the global automobile industry. This generates new trends in automobile designs and their tendencies. Cheaper and fuel-efficient cars are the design of this decade. Concerning the many facets of automobile industry, below is several business analysis tools that assess how the market behave, especially relates to development of premium markets where BMW serves. 3. 1 Strategic group: BCG Matrix As mentioned previously, BMW (Bayerische Motoren Werke) maintains three major brands in their portfolio. Each of them has somewhat similar markets, the premium cars, but the company further determines particular markets that each of the product portfolio serve. This strategy is carried out to avoid unnecessary cannibalism among their products. In order to analyze the performance of each product portfolio in BMW group, we can use BCG Matrix. The matrix is named after the founder, Boston Consulting Group, a well-known global business consulting firm. The basic philosophy of Boston Consulting Group (BCG) Matrix is to assess various Strategic Business Units (SBUs) in a company portfolio. By definition, an SBU is a business unit in a company that has its own missions and objectives. It could be departments, divisions, or subsidiaries. In case of BMW group, the SBUs can be BMW product lines such as BMW 3, 5, 7 series, MINI, and Rolls-Royce Motor Cars. The BCG Growth-Share matrix composes of four quadrants that each describe BMW product lines in relation to market share and market growth rate. The BCG matrix helps BMW to understand each of their product’s life cycle and position in the market better by charting each product in one of the four quadrants. Figure 1 shows the BCG Matrix of an organization: Figure 1 BCG Matrix Source: Tutor2U, 2007 The upper left quadrants in the matrix are stars. Stars are business units or product lines within BMW Group that undergo high growth or have strong position in the market. In other words, stars are business units that have large market shares in a fast growing industry (‘Boston Consulting Box’, 2005). The characteristics of stars are they generate cash and thus revenue for a company. However, as the market for the products grows rapidly, they require extensive investment to maintain their lead. If the strategy is successful, a star will soon become a cash cow when its industry matures. In case of BMW, the stars are their USA division since the marker experience fast growth. In 2003 alone, the USA division records a history since it become the Group’s strongest market with 8. 0% growth or represents the sales of 277,037 units in the 2003. In terms of product line, the stars are BMW 7 series as they continue achieving a growing pattern of sales. In 2003, the sales of BMW 7 series rose 8. 2% compared to previous year. Another star is BMW X5 that record a 4. 6% of growth or represents the sales of 105,554 units. The second quadrant in the lower left is cash cows. It is similar to main sources of revenues/income for a company where it represents a product line(s) that continue exhibiting low-growth businesses or they have a relatively high market share (‘Boston Consulting Box’, 2005). Cash Cow is a business unit that has a large market share in a mature, slow growing industry. Due to the slowing down of market growth, cash cows only need little investment and generate cash that can be used to invest in other business units. In BMW case, the cash cow is the home market, Germany. In the home country, BMW experiences declining trend in which in 2003, it recorded -0. 9% of growth compared to the previous year. Meanwhile, concerning the product lines, the cash cows are BMW 3 series and 5 series. The BMW 3 series, for example, have many models that all of them continue showing declining sales volume. The sales of BMW 3 series Limousine, for instances, decline by 5. 9% compared to 2002. Similarly, the sales of BMW 5 series also plummets by -23. 5% compared to the previous year sales volume. In the upper right of the matrix lie question marks. It represents BMW product line(s) that exhibit low market share but operate in higher growth markets (‘Boston Consulting Box’, 2005). These business units require resources to grow market share, but whether they will succeed and become stars is unknown or potentially less likely. The last quadrant is Dogs. They are BMW’s products lines that have low relative market share in unattractive, low-growth markets (‘Boston Consulting Box’, 2005). It means that dog is a business unit that has a small market shares in a matured industry. A dog may not require substantial cash, but it ties up capital that could better be deployed elsewhere. If a dog has no other strategic purpose, it had better to liquidate the product lines since the product lines have little opportunities to gain market share. Based on the above analysis, we can decide which BMW brands belongs to quadrants in BCG Matrix as following.

Improving Our Public Schools Essay

Being educated is a right, not a privilege. Whether it be in a public or private learning institution, to be educated is still what matters most. In choosing the right school for students is one of the critical decisions to arrive at a settlement. Children growing while learning are the next runners of the economy, the government, the entertainment. With their innate, infinite potentials, the quality towards learning experience is something that cannot be deprived of. Shaping them is shaping the future. But, before anything else, how can these students achieve the satisfaction of real-learning? In reality, global economy is not stable. Thus, not everyone is capable of affording their children on sending to good schools or the students themselves who work to sustain their studies can steadily stand with it. Reason why public schools are established. Student education is vital. It edifies information obtainment, organization and presentation to its receivers. If public schools are not well-maintained, its quality is degraded. A degraded quality means failure to imply proper education among its learners. Improving public schools enables its constituents to advance in education symmetry to those of in private schools. From the Comprehensive School Improvement Program (CSIP) which is a decade-long initiative to improve public schools under the Ford Foundation, it created independent observers who evaluate education initiatives. With this, suggestions from other individuals arose which are focused on improving public schools. The project started to gain donors who support the improvements. Not all public schools are lucky enough to have CSIP behind. That is why solutions are mandatory upon planning to develop a public school. Hiring qualified teachers, improving buildings to a modernized ambiance, ample funding, comprehensive program of study and efficient leadership are components of a successful improved school (Petrovich 8). Teachers are the primary persons responsible for the students. Although in some cases, teachers are hired even without passing the qualifications or, they may have passed but the quality they pass onto students does not suffice the standards of a proper education. Facility renovations are costly, which become hindrance in providing both teachers and students comfort. This is linked to the funding for a school. More so, the designed curriculum must be updated and extensive teaching methods are used. Sadly, what breaks the objective of improving public schools is the negligence to essentially impose it. Normally, these public schools cater the poor ones. And sustaining such, even from the government, is not always much reliable specifically among the third world countries. Advocacies will be of help in promoting aiding the schools. With the conviction of participation in assisting programs for public learning facilities improvement, it would at least lessen the burden of pushing the school on providing quality education despite its lax. Being a part of a project to progress public school is not easy. It will always, in a way or another, encounter financial problems; and should the allocated budget dries up, the project halts. Still, there are strategies to support in order to fulfill goals. Building constituency and coalition to minimize future financial and human dilemmas are important. Also, establishing communications and expanding networks increase participants. Public schools are still schools. It is a building that teaches how to form a better society. Regardless of the class it serves, it deserves the right to be respected and recognized. ? Works Cited Petrovich, J. Strategies for Improving Public Education. New York: Ford Foundation, 2008.

Black Fly Beverage Company Essay Example for Free

Black Fly Beverage Company Essay Black Fly Beverage Company is a small beverage company based in London Ontario. The company has achieved recent success in the selling and promoting of their first alcoholic beverage, the cranberry/blueberry vodka cooler. The immediate success of this product presents two critical issues that the company must address. These critical issues are: †¢Black fly must expand its product mix in order to capture a larger market share in order to compete with larger established brands within the market place †¢Black Fly must also address capacity issues that will arise with an increase in demand or introduction of a new flavor Analysis. Current Situation Black Fly’s cranberry-blueberry vodka cooler has been well received by consumers due to its natural tasting ingredients and no chemical sweeteners producing a premium product different than existing similar beverages. The company now must take this opportunity to give their consumers another product to further explore the brand. Attempting to penetrate deeper within their current product will not allow its customers to further explore their favorite brand of vodka cooler. This will cause Black Fly to begin to lose their customers to other competing companies that offer multiple products and flavors (see exhibit 9). Black Fly also must also address the company’s capacity issues in order to allow them to meet the LCBO’s average order lead-time of seven days. At full capacity Black Fly is meeting the required lead time with minimal margin of error to account for delays, however, during the holiday season, which will occur as early as next month, the company will not be able to keep up with the increase in demand and will fail fulfill the LCBO’s order in time (see exhibit 7). Options The first option available to Black Fly would be to expand its product mix with the addition of a new flavor to compliment their existing cooler. The company will be able to take advantage of economies of scale through the current production; therefore a minimal cost of $30,000 will only be needed to cover development and merchandising fees. To cover this initial cost Black Fly will have to sell an additional 127 cases a month to break even, an increase of 10. 58% (see exhibit 2). It has been projected that adding another flavor to the product line could increase sales by 50 to 75 percent. This projected increase in sales would produce an annual expected ROI of 373% and 609% respectively (see exhibit 5). If however sales increased by only 10% due to the risk of cannibalization of their original recipe then the expected ROI would be -5% (see exhibit 5). This increase in sales however will put additional strain on the company’s current capacity (see exhibit 8). A second option to Black Fly would be the addition of a new specialty spirit-based product called â€Å"Spiked Ice†. This packaged ready to freeze cooler would be a non-competing product to the already successful cranberry-blueberry vodka. An advantage to this product is that there is no other product similar to it out in the marketplace. The LCBO has also committed to sell 8,000 cases of the product over the four summer months, which would produce revenues of $277,200 (see exhibit 3). Over this four month period this option will produce an ROI of 15% (see exhibit 6). To produce â€Å"Spiked Ice† the company however will have to purchase expensive machinery costing $500,000 and spend an additional $40,000 on merchandising and product development. To cover these costs Black Fly would have to sell an additional 7,585 cases of â€Å"Spiked Ice† (see exhibit 4). This may prove difficult as this new product is very seasonal producing higher sales in the summer months and potentially smaller sales in the fall and winter months, a time in which the LCBO has not committed to sell this product at this time. Another disadvantage to this option is the space that this new machinery would occupy in the already small warehouse. Black Fly’s current facilities cannot produce â€Å"Spiked Ice† and the original vodka simultaneously which would result in Black Fly loosing monthly revenues of $23,641 (see exhibit 1). Recommendation It is apparent that Black Fly must attempt to offer a variety of products to enhance its product mix and to keep current customers from trying other flavors offered by other competitors. At this time the best way to proceed with this will be to launch a new flavored vodka to compliment the already successful cranberry-blueberry vodka. The low initial costs and economies of scale gained through this option will allow Black Fly to introduce this new flavor quickly and efficiently to capitalize sales during the upcoming holiday season. To help address the concern of future capacity issues it would be recommended that Black Fly hire two more part-time workers and to run the production process seven days a week. This will be possible due to the expected high ROI associated with this option. This increase in production will allow the company to complete six full runs amounting to 3000 cases within the seven day lead time required by the LCBO ( see exhibit 10). In the future it will become necessary to upgrade to a larger facility and at that time it would be beneficial to begin producing â€Å"Spiked Ice†, however at this current time, given the company’s limited time in the market, it is suggested that Black Fly only pursue the launching of a new flavor. After the company has received sales from the holiday season the company will then be able to better address the possibility of relocating to a new warehouse and address their plans for â€Å"Spiked Ice† for the upcoming summer months. Black Fly Beverage Company. (2017, Feb 27).

Islam Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 3

Islam - Essay Example Being the youngest of world’s great few religions, Islam has gained huge significance and is followed by a very large population. People from very diverse backgrounds follow Islam. The day of Hajj when all these people irrespective of their identity, caste, creed, color, race, nationality, sect and ethnicity unite to recite Kalima, offer prayers and stand in one row shoulder to shoulder with each other. It is generally thought that Islam begins with the birth of Holy Prophet (P.B.U.H), which is not the case. Islam existed way before the birth of Holy soul. The Holy Quran testifies this fact with the following verse Anyone who opposes Gabriel should know that he has brought down this (the Quran) into your heart, in accordance with Gods will, confirming previous scriptures, and providing guidance and good news for the believers (Surah 2:97).(Origin of Islam—Quranic Revelation, 2002). There is not a distinct difference between the spiritual and luxurious factors of lifesty le in Islam; all factors of a Muslims lifestyle are to be focused to providing Allah. Islam extended almost instantly beyond its homeland in the Arabian Peninsula, and now has considerable impact in African-American, throughout Japan, European countries, and America. (Patheos Library, 2008). In the course of almost six hundreds of years, from VII to XIII AD, Islamic society has shown its visibility in a continuous conversation with other societies and societies. In the last example, this visibility was marketed by the soul of religious and social patience existing in the Oikumene of the Arab-Muslim Caliphate, which expanded from the Indus to Gibraltar. The Nearby knowledge and Ancient purpose became element areas of the Islamic religious lifestyle. In circumstances of political, legal and religious pluralism within the structure of Islam, the designers of the traditional lifestyle of the Arab-Muslim ancient were not only

DISCUSSION QUESTION RESPONSE Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 11

DISCUSSION QUESTION RESPONSE - Essay Example They learned how to be competent experts on the job and according to them, real life education based on actual work experience will always trump academic competency because academics cannot prepare you to think on your feet and avoid non-textbook pitfalls on the job. Simply put, academic competence is what is expected of you once you enter the workforce as a rank and file employee. As you gain work experience, you earn points towards on the job competence. Maybe, you will even come to realize that some or most of the theories taught in classes will have to be thrown out the door on the job because it does not apply to the actual work. Thus, there will be times when theoretical competency will make you look like you do not know your job. Therefore, professional competence could be best defined by knowing when you throw out what you learned in school in order to achieve a higher competency skill on the

Analyze the passage Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 2

Analyze the passage - Essay Example If we regard our action first from the point of subjective inclination and then from the perspective of conformity to reason, we do not find a contradiction; we are led to realize the validity of the categorical imperative. The writer concludes that if duty has to be a practical and unconditional necessity of action and account for the legislative authority it can only be expressed in terms of categorical imperatives. If there is any such thing as an a priori notion of duty which is absolute, it must cover the willing and inclination of all human beings. They should conform to reason. Such duty is intrinsic and sublime and its validity gets diminished if it is dictated by subjective inclinations or natural dispositions. The reasons that the writer gives do support his point to a great extent. The writer’s views are important because everyone has certain duties and obligations in life. Our duties must conform to reason and we should not be liberal and compromising regarding our personal

Sales Proposal Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Sales Proposal - Essay Example The brochures containing information about the different models of air conditioners are with me. All I need to do is make a concise proposal and hand it to the customer along with the prices and the brochure. The proposal must be made in a letter that is not more than two pages in length. The proposal begins with the reference to the customer’s verbal enquiry, and goes on to thank him for the same. The range of the air conditioners is divided into three categories, as top class, medium level, and the regular air conditioners. I arm myself with all the information and brochures of the top class air conditioners. I also take with me a few brochures of the medium and the regular ranges. The literature containing my proposal and the brochures are packed into my brief case. I neatly place two ball pens at the slots provided inside the brief case. The proposal provides the main features of the air conditioners and requests the customer to refer to the brochures for more details. The proposal is careful to mention the advantages of the company’s air conditioners compared to the other air conditioners available in the market. I take a blank proforma invoice with me so that when the order is placed the customer gets the proforma invoice against which he can make the payment. I will send him the regular bill with the air conditioner. It is 4.00 pm and I am at the customer’s residence. I politely introduce myself and enter the residence. I open my brief case and hand him my proposal and the brochures. The customer goes through the proposal in silence. Then he asks me how much time it would take for the air conditioner to be fitted in his bedroom. I tell him it would take about an hour. He asks me some more routine questions and I answer them politely. I then convince him about the benefits of the air conditioner and the changes he can expect in his residence with the new air conditioner.

Hospitality and Tourism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Hospitality and Tourism - Essay Example is evident that the business world comes with many uncertainties and therefore, gaining knowledge and information is a way of creating a competitive advantage. In this way, an important feature in the modern hospitality and tourism industry is the understanding of new techniques and procedures through staff training. Training and orientation is the work of the Human Resource Management (HRM) as a way of enhancing employee performance, while putting their expertise to good use as well as specialization in their job. It is therefore, important to understand the significant of personnel training as well as orientation in hospitality and tourism industry in a bid to enhance performance (Barrows and Powers, 2008). The drastic changing world of business requires making use of human capital to enhance performance in order to achieve the organizational goals. The human resource manager in the hospitality industry should understand the various changes in globalization, technological advances, staff diversity, shortage of labour, and employee involvement among others (Gonzà ¡lez and Tacorante, 2004). Training and nurturing employees is a concept that cannot be undermined by the human resource because it adds knowledge and power to become successful. New employees in hospitality and tourism sector need training to understand their duties and the existing employees need more knowledge to comprehend the changes in this sector. It is evident that thorough training exposes an employee’s competencies and behaviours to perform better (Ahammad, 2013). The many changes in technology, complex business systems, and uncertainty in the business world, call for more knowledge and new skills. In essence, (Gazija, 2011) argues that the hospitality and tourism industry witness mass production and generation of different products or services and customers are especially selective when purchasing them. In this way, this new demands in the hospitality industry need new solutions and wide

How the pen is Important Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

How the pen is Important - Research Paper Example It acts as a filter, blocking the processing of extraneous information. Writing letters with a pen or pencil on paper, we concentrate better and make the brain to pay attention to what we write. Virginia Berninger, a psychologist from the University of Washington, explains the differences between the handwriting and the keyboard, so that with handwriting a person commits more movements, because each letter has its own set of elements, and work on the computer is monotone, you need only to press a key (Berninger 72). Many famous writers preferred to write novels and plays by hand, even when their colleagues have chosen the keyboard. In 2009 psychologists of the University of Washington have found that students who wrote essays by hand, got the text which was richer and more diversified, they used more sophisticated phrases and coped with the tasks faster than their peers, who were typing on a computer (â€Å"Learning Disabilities Research & Practice†). Working at a computer overloads our sensory system. Staring of the screen, cursor movement, the temptation availability of any information in a single click – here are the factors which dull our creativity. On the contrary, when you have just a piece of paper and a pen in front of you, the brain does not receive any additional stimulation and focuses its resources on a specific task. Many professors believe that computers serve as distractions, detracting from class discussion and student learning (Yamamoto 56). Habit to record the experiences and thoughts on paper can reduce their severity. (Pennebaker 43) Natalie Rogers, an author of expressive psychotherapy techniques, considered diaries as an important way of self-expression and the awakening of creative energy. The more often we write by hand – the more frequently we express our individuality, is Rogers`s opinion. It is expressed in the shape and size of letters, handwriting fluency, and location of the text on the page. In the process of writing we

Econ 1500 Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Econ 1500 - Assignment Example It originated from the classical economists, but later adopted by modern Marxist economics, i.e. Karl Marx. Value exists in three different concepts i.e. utility, use value, and exchange value. In classical economist’s viewpoint, labor input determines the value of a good or service. On the other hand, marginalists believe that a buyer of a good determines its utility, and this fluctuates with consumption patterns. Therefore, the major transition involves labor as the cornerstone of valuation of a product to utility as the form of valuation of a product (Hartwick and Peet 1). Which economists/philosophers derived economic information and theories on â€Å"utility†, the â€Å"equi-marginal principle†, and â€Å"opportunity cost† principles in economics that we use in today’s economic analysis? Identify the concepts and economists, and then briefly explain these three economic principles. Paul Samuelson derived the theory of utility. The concept of utility describes the tastes and preferences associated with consumer’s consumption patterns. This comes from the dual side analysis of value and price i.e. demand and supply sides. Herbert Simon invented the concept of opportunity cost. This is the cost of an activity measured against the foregone value of the next best alternative, i.e. the sacrifice in relation to the next best choice taken among mutually exclusive choices. The principle of equi-marginal utility was the brainchild of Hermann Heinrich Gossen. This concept is an extension of diminishing marginal utility law as it explains how a consumer behaves while distributing his or her limited income between various services and goods. This law dictates that a consumer will allocate his money income among several goods in order to derive maximum

Fatigue Essay Example for Free

Fatigue Essay This is a summary of Jane Brodys article, Fatigue. Fatigue is one of peoples most common complaints. Even though there is new technology that saves people from doing everything by hand people still complain about being tired. Brody stated that physicians reported people who tend to keep themselves busy with work tend to not be as fatigued. Tiredness mainly comes from not doing much rather than wearing yourself down. Overall, there are diverse reasons for people being tired. Being physically active seems to be the cure for fatigue. There are three kinds of fatigue. One is physical fatigue the second type is pathological fatigue and the third is psychological fatigue. These all have causes and cures for fatigue. Physical fatigue is caused by over working ones body. Another cause can be carbon dioxide and lactic acid that collects in the body which weakens the muscles. This prevents them from functioning effectively. Physicians recommend that rest is way to cure physical fatigue. Another type of fatigue is pathological fatigue. Pathological fatigue is a warning sign of a cold or disease such as cancer. After being ill or over worked one must give their body time to fully recover. A physical check-up is highly recommended to check if something is wrong with one self. Many times the cause for fatigue can be undetected or over looked. The third type of fatigue is psychological fatigue. Emotional problems like depression and anxiety are the cause of prolonged fatigue. Prolonged fatigue can cause ones denial of depression and the cause of it. Mainly when feelings arent expressed openly, the outcome is normally fatigue. One common fatigue syndrome is the Tired Housewife Syndrome in which young mothers stay home all day and have nothing to look forward to. The mothers soon develop resentment and envy towards their husband. The cure for this fatigue is professional counseling.

Google Core Values Essay Example for Free

Google Core Values Essay Google’s mission has always been â€Å"To organise the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful. † Google has intended to be the good guys of the corporate world. It sees great as not being an endpoint but a start point for new things. By the means of innovation which is its lifeblood, it aims to improve upon in unexpected ways. For example, when it saw that search worked well for properly spelled works, it also made the search easier for typos by introducing the spell checker. It also thrives on the motto of making money without doing evil. It follows honesty and integrity in the things it does. It does not allow ads to be displayed on results page if they are irrelevant. Advertising is also identified as â€Å"Sponsored Link†, so it does not compromise the integrity. Google supports a style of marketing called â€Å"marketing asset management† through which advertising resources and budget are constantly monitored. It wants advertising to be treated like an asset depending on market conditions. It never takes success for granted. Always thinks like an underdog and wants its employees to be humble with success. It aims at earning customer and user loyalty and also respect to maintain great products and services every day. It expects employees to honor commitments and enjoy each other’s company celebrating both professional and personal accomplishments. Sustainable long-term growth and profitability is the key to its success. It rides on doing things that matter and doing it efficiently. It focusses on doing one thing really, really well. Through continuous iteration on difficult problems it has been able to solve complex issues and provide continuous improvements to make finding information a fast and seamless experience for billions of people. It works towards providing people with access to information wherever they are and whenever they need it. Google’s goal is to reach as many people as possible on the Web- whether by PC or by phone. Hence globally Google held a dominant lead with 89 percent of the market share versus Yahoo’s 5 percent and MSN’s 3 percent.

Financial Performance of BRALIRWA

Financial Performance of BRALIRWA This chapter presents the theoretical framework used to evaluate the financial performance of BRALIRWA and the influence of corporate governance on the firm performance; and the research methodology followed throughout the research basing on the different aspects discussed in literature review. 3.1 INTRODUCTION As discussed in chapter one, the main focus for many companies is to create the best possible value for their owners and to secure excellent financial performance. The sound financial health of a company is one of its major goals and to maintain it, companies at one point of time have to look at the past and current performance to plan for future prospect. The most objective way to evaluate the financial performance of a company is through financial statement analysis. Financial analysis involves the assessment of a firms liquidity, its operating performance, its risk profile and its growth potential using financial ratios. Ratio analysis is an important and powerful analytical tool used for measuring the performance of a business entity (Van et Al., 2003). It helps stakeholders (shareholders, investors, creditors, managers, government etc) to make an evaluation about the profitability and financial soundness of the business entity (Bardia, 2008). Different types of investors expect different types of returns, if you are a stockholder, you expect an increase in the value of the stock you hold; if you have invested in a company with a history of paying dividends, you also expect a dividend; if you have loaned the firm money, you expect to receive interest and the return of loan principal. Although the types of returns they expect are different, equity investors and creditors both risk not receiving those returns. Therefore, both stockholders and creditors use financial statement analysis to predict their expected returns and assess the risks associated with those returns (Hongren, Sundem, Elliot and Phil brick, 2003). Analysis of financial performance allows comparison of practice performance from one year to the next, benchmarking of a practice against industry standards, and preparation of financial information for lending institutions or directors (Stallwood, 1996). The financial performance of a company can be influenced by many different aspects or factors and for the purpose of this study, corporate governance was taken into consideration and specifically the aspect of board characteristics. The board of directors is an important entity in a company creating a link between shareholders and managers and therefore playing an important role in the governance of the firm (Dehaene et al., 2007). Therefore, boards of directors are charged with the task of monitoring the performance and activities of top management to ensure that the latter acts in the best interests of the owners (Jensen and Meckling, 1976; quoted by OConnell and Cramer, 2010) 3.2 PROBLEM DEFINITION After the 1994 genocide many companies in Rwanda were destroyed and some of them have not recovered up to today. Among the companies affected by the genocide include manufacturing companies out of which some tried to recover and restart their activities progressively and the country is providing a good environment for business but this does not guarantee good performance on behalf of companies. Standard financial reports provide basic information on the current profit level of investment in assets but do not give information on whether profit is adequate, how efficiently the assets are being used to generate sales, how efficient the overall operation is, and whether there are short-term financial problems facing the business. Ratio analysis provides some answers to these questions by calculating the relationships between various figures on the balance sheet and the income statement and comparing the movements in these ratios over time and against industry averages can provide additional information about whether the organization is performing well or whether remedial action is needed (Stallwood, 1996). Ratio analysis is an important and powerful analytical tool for measuring the performance of a business entity. It helps stakeholders to make an evaluation about the profitability and financial soundness of the business entity (Van et al., 2003). Some key companies in the manufacturing sector do not have thorough financial analysis which makes it difficult for stakeholders to know how these companies are performing; BRALIRWA will be used as representative case study to exemplify the financial performance of companies in the sector and the way this performance is influenced by corporate governance. The way companies are directed and controlled can influence their performance (Berle Means, 1932), in some companies there is lack of consistency in reporting operating and financial activities as well as governance activities to shareholders in a fair, accurate, timely, reliable, relevant, complete and verifiable manner. Manufacturing companies in Rwanda contribute to the economic development of the country and hence a need to evaluate their performance in other to detect their likely future and take appropriate measures accordingly, as well as the influence of corporate governance on their performance. 3.3 RESEARCH OBJECTIVES This study has one general objective and five specific objectives. 3.3.1 General objective The general objective of this study is to assess the financial performance of BRALIRWA s.a (2005-2008) and the influence of its corporate governance on the performance 3.3.2 Specific objectives To analyze the operating efficiency and profitability of BRALIRWA to know its level of operating performance. To analyze the sales and earnings variability in order to measure the risk that BRALIRWA may be exposed to. To analyze the internal liquidity of BRALIRWA in order to measure its ability to meet financial obligations in the short-term. To assess the impact if any of BRALIRWA governance on its performance. To analyze the sustainable growth potential of BRALIRWA. 3.4 THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK The theoretical framework adopted in this study was developed based on different literature on the analysis and evaluation of financial performance and literature on corporate governance and firm performance. 3.4.1 Dependent variable According to Jones, Wahba and Heijden (2007), the dependent variable is the one main research issue you are studying, on which other variables in theoretical framework are assumed to have an impact. Creswell (2002), defines dependent variables as the outcomes or results of the influence of the independent variables. For this study, financial performance stands for the dependent variable. Financial performance is usually measured by ROE and ROA, for this study financial analysis is used to analyze the financial performance of BRALIRWA and the analysis is conducted in three categories; the analysis of internal liquidity, operating performance and risk. When analyzing internal liquidity, the intention is to indicate the firms ability to meet its future short-term financial obligations, this may be an indication over a certain period of the likely performance of a company because if a firm is not able to meet its short-term financial obligations for a long period, definitely this will affect its performance but the analysis of this may help the organization take necessary actions. The analysis here is based on current ratio, quick ratio, cash ratio, receivables turnover and inventory turnover. The analysis of operating performance, examines how management uses its assets and capital by measuring the sales generated by various categories of assets or capital and analyzes the profits as a percentage of sales and as a percentage of the assets and capital employed (Brown and Reilly, 2009). The ratios used are the asset turnover, equity turnover, profit margins, return on equity and return on assets. Concerning the risk analysis, both business and financial risks are measured and analyzed, here the emphasis is on the sales variability, operating leverage which consists of the variability of a firms operating earnings and then the debt-equity ratio to measure the financial risk. 3.4.2 Independent variables Independent variables are the variables impacting on your main research problem. They are called independent in a sense that those variables are affecting the amount of dependent variables and do not affect each other, so they are independent of each other (Jones, Wahba and Heijden, 2007). Corporate governance stands for the independent variable for this study. Corporate governance is the mechanism by which a corporation is managed and monitored. It determines a power-sharing relationship between corporation executives and investors by providing structure through which the objectives are defined; policies and procedures are established to ensure achievement of these objectives; and activities, affairs, and performance are monitored (Rezaee, 2004). Based on this definition and other definitions of corporate governance, it can positively or negatively influence the performance of a company and for the purpose of this study, the influence will be analyzed based on board characteristics which are treated as the moderating variables in this study and considered as one of the aspects of corporate governance. 3.4.3 Moderating variables Moderating variables are included in the theoretical model to modify the way that the independent variables will affect the dependent variable. They might act as a catalyst of these relationships and strengthen them or perhaps they just inhibit the relationship and weaken it (Jones, Wahba and Heijden, 2007). For this study the moderating variables are the board characteristics, and the following characteristics were taken into consideration the board size, board composition, CEO duality, board diversity and frequency of board meetings. The board size is the number of members on the board and as boards are considered to be large decision-making groups, size can affect the decision-making process and effectiveness of the board (Dwivedi and Jain, 2005). Talking about the board composition, the board may be composed of directors who may be executive meaning that they are employees of the firm, or non-executive meaning they are not employees of the company; and this may have an effect on firm performance. CEO duality consists of having the same person holding both the board chairman and CEO positions or having the CEO and board chair positions separate, this also may have an impact on firm performance. When it comes to board diversity, the consideration is that there may be some diversification in the board members which may or may not have an influence on firm performance; diversity for this study is seen as gender diversity, racial diversity and experience/background diversity. Board meeting frequency consists of how frequently the board meetings are scheduled and the board activity is measured by the frequency of board meeting, this frequency may impact on the performance of the firm. Figure 3.1: Theoretical Framework Source: Research, 2010 3.4.4 Research assumptions Based on the various corporate scandals due to the manipulation of financial statements, the researcher made an assumption that the information provided in the audited financial statements of BRALIRWA for the period 2005-2008 are true and accurate. It was assumed that the respondents would be willing to fill the questionnaires and that the staff in the finance department of BRALIRWA would cooperate in providing any necessary information regarding the financial statements. 3.4.5 Research limitations The study uses BRALIRWA as a case study, which may provide little basis for generalization on the performance of other manufacturing companies The study only use a time-series analysis because there are no competitors in the industry to compare with The financial statements analyzed were the balance sheet and income statement because the company does not prepare cash flow statement The study only used board characteristics as the aspects of corporate governance due to time and logistics constraints the researcher could not use other aspects. The study was limited to a period of four years from 2005 to 2008 3.5 RESEARCH QUESTIONs To achieve the research objectives of this study; the study has to answer the following major and minor research questions. 3.5.1 Major research questions How is BRALIRWA financially performing for the period under study and what is the implication for future performance? How is BRALIRWA governance influencing its performance? 3.5.2 Minor research questions How well is the management of BRALIRWA doing to generate operating profits on companys assets? How well is BRALIRWA management using the capital invested? How is BRALIRWA financing its assets and how variable its earnings are? How well is BRALIRWA doing to meet its maturing financial obligations? The above mentioned research questions will help in analyzing the financial performance of BRALIRWA and the influence of its corporate governance on performance. 3.6 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 3.6.1 Research type This study is basically quantitative with a small portion of qualitative and descriptive in nature and is using a case study method. The study is using the computation of different ratios to analyze the financial performance of BRALIRWA and statistical measure like mean, standard deviation and correlation are also used; and it is also qualitative in the sense that it is looking at the perceptions of staff on the influence of corporate governance on the performance. The purpose of quantitative research is to determine the quantity or extent of some phenomenon in the form of numbers (Zikmund, 1994). 3.6.1.1 Case study methodology This study is using BRALIRWA as a case study representing other manufacturing companies in Rwanda. BRALIRWA was chosen as a case study because of its long stay in the business and as being one of the manufacturing companies that were operating before the 1994 Rwandan genocide and which has continued operating and the major motivation for the researcher to take it as a representative case study is that the manufacturing sector in Rwanda is mostly made of food and beverages companies where BRALIRWA is dominating. According to Robson (2002:178) cited by Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill (2007), a case study is a strategy for doing research which involves an empirical investigation of a particular contemporary phenomenon within its real life context using multiple sources of evidence. Yin (2009) defines a case study as an empirical inquiry that investigates a contemporary phenomenon in depth and within its real life context, especially when the boundaries between phenomenon and context are not clearly evident. According to Yin (2009), the case study inquiry copes with the technically distinctive situation in which there will be many more variables of interest than data points, and one result; relies on multiple source of evidence, with data needing to converge in a triangulating fashion, and as another result; and benefits from the prior development of theoretical propositions to guide data collection and analysis. 3.6.1.2 Descriptive research This study is descriptive as it is describing and evaluating systematically how BRALIRWA has been performing for the period under study. According to Kumar (2005), a descriptive research attempts to describe systematically a situation, problem, phenomenon, service or program, or provides information about something or describes attitudes towards an issue. 3.6.1.3 Quantitative and qualitative research As discussed early, this study is a mix of quantitative and qualitative, it is evaluating the performance of BRALIRWA by quantifying it through different ratios to analyze the internal liquidity, operating performance and risk and most of the information is gathered using quantitative variables (through financial statements). On the other hand, the study is qualitative in the way that it has some variables which were analyzed without being quantified. The study is qualified as quantitative if one wants to quantify the variation in a phenomenon, situation, problem, or issue; if information gathered using predominantly quantitative variables; and if the analysis is geared to ascertain the magnitude of the variation. On the other hand, a study is qualified as qualitative if the purpose of the study is primary to describe a situation, phenomenon, problem or event; the information is gathered through the use of variables measured on nominal or ordinal scales; and if analysis is done to establish the variation in the situation, phenomenon or problem without quantifying it (Kumar, 2005). 3.6.2 Data collection instrument and source For the purpose of this study, both primary and secondary data were collected. To collect primary data questionnaires were distributed to the staff of BRALIRWA to know and analyze their perceptions on the influence of board characteristics on firm performance, the questionnaires were given to different staff but the most targeted were the managers and directors (management team) and heads of department and then some of the officers in different departments; interviews were also used with the staff in the finance department to get some clarifications on the content of the financial statements. And to collect secondary data, different literature on the evaluation of financial performance and those on the relationship between corporate governance (board characteristics) were reviewed through books, journals, articles and websites; and the financial statements of BRALIRWA for a period of 2005-2008 were consulted and analyzed through financial ratios. 3.6.3 Sampling methods Sampling is the process of selecting a few (a sample) from a bigger group (the sampling population) to become the basis for estimating or predicting the prevalence of an unknown piece of information, situation or outcome regarding the bigger group; a sample is a subgroup of the population one is interested in (Kumar, 2005). For the purpose of this study, judgmental sampling technique has been used to select the sample in order to collect primary data. Purposive or judgmental sampling enables you to use your judgment to select cases that will best enable you to answer your research question(s) and to meet your objectives. This form of sample is often used when working with very small samples such as in case study research and when you wish to select cases that are particularly informative (Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, 2007 quoting Neuman, 2000). According to Kumar (2005), the primary consideration in purposive sampling is the judgment of the researcher as to who can provide the best information to achieve the objectives of the study; the researcher only goes to those people who in his/her opinion are likely to have the required information and be willing to share it. For the respondents to fill the questionnaire it required a certain degree of information about the board of directors and the judgmental sampling is the appropriate technique to this study. 3.6.4 Sample size A sample of 25 respondents was selected from the staff of BRALIRWA which is the population of the study; as stated early the sample was selected using judgmental sampling. The respondents were selected from different departments of the company and from top management to senior officers and the sample is the representative of the population. 3.6.4 Data analysis methods The study is based more on the secondary data as the evaluation of financial performance is based on the financial statements of the case company (BRALIRWA) and on primary data which were collected using a questionnaire to analyze the influence of the board characteristics on the financial performance of the company as perceived by the company employees. In the process of data analysis, the information from the financial statement were first presented according to the research objectives and research questions and based on the theoretical framework and literature review; then they were analyzed using appropriate ratios and the analysis was based on time series analysis, some statistics were used such as mean and standard deviation for the researcher to analyze the data and come up with conclusions and recommendations. To analyze the data collected from questionnaires, the following process was followed; first the data were edited, then coded and frequency distribution were used. To analyze, the open-ended questions, content analysis was used whereby different themes were identified from the answers given by the respondents and then verbatim responses were examined and discussed with reference to literature to come up with research findings, conclusion and recommendations. 3.7 CHAPTER SUMMARY This chapter discussed the research problem by highlighting that in Rwanda some key companies do not have thorough financial analysis and that the performance of companies may be influenced by the way they are managed and monitored where this may depend on the characteristics of the board. The chapter also discussed the theoretical framework that was used for this study and the dependent, independent and moderating variables were identified; financial performance is the dependent variable which is determined through the analysis of internal liquidity, operating performance and risk and the summarizing indicators of financial performance for the purpose of this study were identified as ROE and ROA. The chapter goes on discussing the research objectives, research questions, the assumptions and limitations of study. Then the chapter concludes with the discussion of the research methodology that was used to conduct the research and to achieve the research objectives and to answer the research questions that were put forward; the study is a mix of quantitative and qualitative, both secondary and primary were used and financial statements and other sources were used to collect secondary data and the questionnaire was used to collect primary and the questionnaires were sent to a sample of 25 respondents, the sample was selected using judgmental sampling.

A Not So-Perfect Pancake Essay -- Personal Narrative Family Essays

Not So-Perfect Pancake The form of the pancake my mother made for me every morning was always unpredictable. Sometimes, they would come out perfectly, smooth and round with sprinkles of love blended in. Other times, they would be mushy, uneven shapes that seemed to pile onto the plate. It was just like life, sometimes things would go as planned without any wrinkles, smooth, and other times I would need a steamy iron to get rid of the bunching wrinkles. Overall though, the pancakes symbolized my mother's loyalty to me and served as a bonding tool. Waking up at 6:00 was never something I enjoyed. In fact, it was more of a wrestling match between my alarm clock and me. Staggering out of bed, I would somehow manage to drag myself into the shower and progress to drying my hair and finding clothes, on a good day they would even match. Then, I would routinely plop down onto the red and white-checkered cushion that covered my favorite stool, and eat the breakfast my mother made for me. It was always the same, a single chocolate chip pancake with whip cream on top. Why I chose a chocolate chip pancake and not something else like poached eggs with biscuits, I'm not sure. Perhaps it was because I loved how the chocolate chips would melt into the rest of the pancake adding a semi sweet taste to a normally bland breakfast, or it could be blamed on my pickiness as an eater. Once I found something I liked, I rarely strayed from it. More practically though, it was because my mother could prepare the batter the night before making it quicker and easier to cook in the morning. During the times I was on schedule, a rarity for me in the morning, I would slowly savor each bite and talk to my half asleep mother about little things: the fight... ...help of my family and the return of my sister it was able to transform into a perfect delectable and delicious pancake. And why did my mother wake up to make me one every morning? I heard her talking on the phone to my brother. Living in Alaska, there is a five-hour time change, and he called one morning expecting to leave a message on the answering machine. Instead he got my mothers dreary voice. I could assume what he was saying on the other line, "Mom, why are you up so early?" She replied with "making Helena breakfast". He obviously questioned the importance of that because the next words out of her mouth were "if I have to sacrifice an hour and a half of sleep to make sure she eats and starts the day off right then I will". It had been five years since I overcame my eating disorder and still my mother proved to me that she never breaks her promises.

Free Essays: The World is Far From Perfect in Candide :: Candide essays

The World is Far From Perfect in Candide Candide is a great man that has encountered and accomplished many things. Candide has traveled far and wide through out his quest. He has encountered many things. He has been treated poorly by the government by being flogged multiple times by a two thousand-man army. To have his teacher lynched in front of his very eyes. He has met many people in his quest some nice and some not nice. Over all he was reunited with his friends and his true love. Voltaire's illustrate disenchantment of the old order though Candide's dealings with the church, government and the people. Voltaire's illustrates his disenchantment of the old order through Candide's dealing with the church. As an old man states,"Religion! Why of course we have a religion" (Voltaire 79). He states that he believes in one religion. He strongly stresses that there is only one religion that he and his people believe in and no others are accepted. The old man also states, "We never pray, we have nothing to ask of god, since he has given us everything we need" (Voltaire 79). They the people of Eldorado are optimistic because they have all they need, but you will never have all you need. You will always need something; you will never be complete. Some people through out his quests believed in one way of life and no other. Voltaire's disenchantment of the old order through Candide's dealings with the government. As Candide states "He was an admiral, but why execute the admiral because he did not have enough deaths to his credit." (Voltaire 111) They expect their soldiers to live up to their expectations by killing a certain amount of people. It should not be determined on the amount of people you kill, but by the way you use your power to conquer other countries. Cunegonde's brother states "The rulers of Paraguay accept as few Spanish Jesuit as they can." (Voltaire 66) The government is not in the right by choosing certain people to enter their country. Their government is racially selective, they do not want people entering their country that are not the same race or religion. Through out Candide's quests the government has caused him many hardships.

Immigrants Do NOT Increase Crime Rates Essay -- Undocumented Immagrant

The thought of arriving immigrants in any host country has been accompanied by reactions of exclusion, and continues to expand throughout the years. During any social illness, immigrants tend to be the first to be held responsible by their recipient societies. Most crimes are associated with immigrants due to the fact that they may not posses the same socio-economics status as natives. Another contributing factor is the media that conducts numerous stories that highlight the image of immigrant crimes to recall the alleged difference between native and foreign born. Undoubtedly, the correlation between immigration and crime has become one of the most controversial discussions in current society. As we enter a new era, immigrants will have more impact on society than ever before (Feldmeyer, 2009). There can be numerous reasons to believe immigrants are more prone to commit crimes, for example, they have to learn to adapt into the cultural traits and social patterns of the harboring country, as natives do not (Desmond & Kubrin, 2009). However, despite such claims, empirical studies have revealed that immigrants are understated in criminal statistics. Throughout the years many texts and scholarly articles have been published further analyzing and proving that immigrants are less prone to committing crimes than their native peers. Furthermore, researchers examine the reason as to why immigrants are weighed as a whole even though ethnic groups among immigrants have different rates of crime. For example, Hispanic immigrants are far more prone to commit crimes than a Japanese immigrant. This makes it unfair to consider that because a Japanese is an immigrant, they are also more prone to commit crimes. Much like in the past, the publ... ...untries. International Journal of Comparative Sociology, 52,115-131 http://cos.sagepub.com.libaccess.lib.mcmaster.ca/content/52/1-2/114 Desmond, S. A., & Kubrin, C. E. (2009). THE POWER OF PLACE: Immigrant communities and adolescent violence, The Sociological Quarterly, 50, 581-607 http://www.gwu.edu/~soc/docs/Kubrin/Immig_Communities.pdf Feldmeyer, B. (2009). Immigration and violence: The offsetting effects of immigrant concentration on Latino violence. Social Science Research, 38, 717-731 http://journals2.scholarsportal.info.libaccess.lib.mcmaster.ca/tmp/9506051508484483171.pdf Nielsen, A. L., & Martinez, R. (2011). Nationality, immigrant groups, and arrest: Examining the diversity of arrestees for urban violent crime. Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice, 27, 343-360 http://ccj.sagepub.com.libaccess.lib.mcmaster.ca/content/27/3/342

Motivational Factors of Themed Park: an Edge to Guest’s Satisfaction and Loyalty Essay

Introduction When we hear the words themed park, the first thing that comes to our mind is enjoyment. The themed park is for people who love adventures those who crave for fun and excitement and also for people who want to unwind from their work. It can be avenue to relax and a place where our social skills are enhanced. The fun, laughter, experience and enjoyment one would get from this place can replenish one’s drive for work and study. It will give people a positive feeling that results to positive outlook towards life, work and family. In order to get good and healthy disposition, having fun is essential not only to the body but also to the soul. On top of all these, the safety of the guests is the top priority. The guests will enjoy more if they know that the rides that they will be riding are safe. Securing the safety of the guests is one of the many ways to make a good impression and to make them feel important that they are being taking cared of. When the guests enjoy their stay in the theme park, and they feel seemed, and they feel that it’s worth their money, this is an indication of customer satisfaction. Customer’s satisfaction can only be attained with quality services and unforgettable experiences. When there is met, customers will increase and they will become loyal. In this study, the researchers would like to know what are the strategies or gimmicks used by theme parks to attract customers. The researchers would also like to study the safety procedures practiced in making the rides safe and secure. Background of the study People at the Brgy. Sto Cristo, San Isidro, Nueva Ecija is delighted to have the newest themed park in the province. Carron Dream Park is the biggest themed park in the North of Luzon. The themed park opened it doors to the public just recently, November 2012, yet has been already getting its own loyal customers. The name itself is derived from the owner’s children, Carylle who is the Vice President for design and Ronil from the Finance Department. Carron was a realization of Mr. Ramon Santos dream. From being a former janitor, Mr. Santos climbed the ladder of success and he currently owns the only manufacturing company who is making different amusement rides in the Philippines. Carron Dreampark is a showcase of different rides made by Westech. Westech is the manufacturing company owned by Mr. Santos, it is the makers of some of the popular rides seen in the Philippines, to name a few of their satisfied clients are the popular MOA Eye, SM Malls, Robinsons Malls, Worlds of Fun and Timezone. Westech created their own welding school to train welders from Nueva Ecija. Initially having 17 rides and 4 attractions on their first phase, it is expected to pick up more customers in the addition of rides and attractions this year. Currently, a lot of neighboring provinces have already discovered the theme park, Including: Tarlac, Bulacan, Nueva Vizcaya and of course the people of Nueva Ecija who are their primary target customers. Next on their list are the 10 million people of their secondary target market which is Metro Manila. Making the visitors happy is their primary objective. One thing that guides them and tells them that their marketing strategy has been very effective is that first, they have encouraged the customers to visit their place, second is when they see the satisfaction and enjoyment of the customers. Part of their brand wide paper is the safety and security of the customers. Carron Dreampark wants to tell the public that the place is safe and secure. The rides have pass the standards of South korea, as well as other countries. Carron Dreampark is also guided by the International Standards of Imagining Another Future For Asia. The two-hectares theme park is still on its expansion, so expect to find more and exciting rides next year. Statement of the Problem The researchers would like to know the motivational factors of Themed Park as an edge to guest satisfaction. Specifically, it seeks to answer the following questions: 1. What is the demographic profile of the respondents in terms of: 1. 1 Age 1. 2 Gender 1. 3 Civil Status 1. 4 Educational Background 1. 5 Occupation 1. 6 Monthly Income 2. What are the Motivational Factors of Themed Parks that are enjoyed by the guests according to: 2. 1 Promotional Materials 2. 2 Pricing 2. 3 Staff Service 2. 4 Participatives in exhibits 2. 5 T. V Exposures 2. 6 Radio Announcement 3. How do these Motivational Factors influence the guests? 4. Based from the findings of the study what recommendations can be made? Hypothesis The motivational factors of Themed Park has no impact on the satisfaction and loyalty of guest. Theoretical Framework This study is adopted based on Maslow’s Heirarchy of needs, which states It is a theory in psychology proposed by Abraham Maslow in his 1943 paper â€Å"A Theory of Human Motivation†. Maslow subsequently extended the idea to include his observations of humans’ innate curiosity. His theories parallel many other theories of human developmental psychology, some of which focus on describing the stages of growth in humans. Maslow used the terms physiological, safety, belongingness, esteem, self-actualization, and push and pull model needs to describe the pattern that human motivations generally move through. (Principles of Tourims 1 by Buen Santos and Ronald g. Manzano) In relation to the study, it can also identify the personalities of the guest and now they can be satisfied and will eventually become loyal customers. This study can help the management of the themed park in making a promos, constructing amenities, and creating services that will cater to the different personalities and needs of the guests. (http://ph. images. search. yahoo. com/images/view) Conceptual Framework INPUT| PROCESS| OUTPUT| – Profile of the respondent: †¢ age †¢ gender †¢ civil status †¢educational background †¢ occupation †¢ monthly income | – Assesment of the motivational factors of themed park as an edge to guest satisfaction and loyalty:†¢ Promotional material†¢Pricing†¢Staff Service†¢ Participatives in exhibits†¢T. V Exposures†¢Radio Announcement| – Awareness of guest of the theme park. – curiosity of guest results to visiting the park. – increased profit for the theme park management| This research paradigm will be patterned on the input – process – output modeling wherein the motivational factors of theme park will be revealed. Importance of the Study The following will benefit from the results of the study: Theme Park Visitors. Based on the results of the study, the management will have a data that will serve as a basis to improve their theme park to increase the level of customer satisfaction and will result to more loyal customers. Other Theme Park Establishments. They may use the results gathered as a basis for improvement of their theme park. Researchers. The relevant data gathered would help the researchers to better understand the Hospitality Management in terms of managing a business and handling difficulties in a business. Students of College of International Hospitality Management. This will provide them with knowledge on how marketing strategies work on the Hospitality Industry. Scope and Delimitation The study will concentrate on the motivational factors of themed park. The respondents of the study will be the guests who visited the Carron Dream Park. The study will be conducted at Carron Dream Park at Brgy. Santo Cristo, San Isidro, Nueva Ecija on the second semester of the Academic Year 2013-2014. Definition of terms: The following terms are operationally defined for clearer understanding. Amusement park. This is a place wherein people go for enjoyment and relaxation. Amenities. Available in the themed park for customers consumption. Customers. These are the people who visits themed parks. Entrance Fee. This refers to the monetary equivalent to which the guest can enter the premises. Perception. This is how the guests interpret the place, the sceneries and amenities present. Price. This refers to the changes of the different amenities. Promotion. This refers to the building image of theme park. Rides. This refers to Carron Dream Liner (roller coaster) , Carron Dream Wheel, Voyager, Gear Shifter Bump n’ Splash Safety. This refers to the situation wherein there is what you call a hazard free zone. Services. These are the things that the guest can avail in a theme park. VIP Pass. This refers to â€Å"Ride All You Can† at theme park.

Superflat

Bijutsu Fine stratagem Kindai Bijutsu Modern non textbookual matter Manga Manga be cockeyeds and s nerve center c maneuveroons, in Nipp peerlessse and con dramatis personaeing to the bolt unquestionable in lacquer in the previous(a) 20th atomic number 6. Otaku Kn hold as a mass media product presenting Nipponese Culture, gum gum anime, has gained an increasing exposure and acceptance overseas during the nineties.The term otaku, which was coined in 1982 and came into popular exercise by 1989, is usu whollyy trans lated as oddball or aficionado, and refers to a group of community who take refuge in a domain of fantasy, drinking in the images supplied by the juvenile media usually from television, magazines and comic books, however in any case computer images or television set games (Baral 1999 22). The etymology of otaku was pinched upon the work of Volker Grassmuck in his originative otaku-studies dodgeicle Im alone, but non alone(p) Nipponese Otaku-K ids colonize the Realm of cultivation and Media, A Tale of Sex and curse from a fara panache Place. top nonch tight finesse The world of the incoming might be want lacquer is today Superflat. Society, customs, maneuver, shade all atomic number 18 extremely prostrate. It is per centumicularly sheer in the ruses that this sensibility has been current steadily beneath the come along of Nipponese history Superflat is an reliable idea that colligate the past with the present and the future. (Murakami, 2000 9)Superflat is a design and theory of trick maked by the upstart-day Nipponese fine artist, Takashi Murakami. The Superflat (2000) sight in cap of lacquer marked the launch of this hot esthetical which took coetaneous Nipponese art and personal individuality into a worldwideised milieu of critical thought. The order, which was curated by Murakami and subsequently travelled to the unify States, throw the work of a range of schematic and emergi ng artists drawn from art and technical genres in japan. As an essential infr suffice of Murakamis political scheme, Superflat was al ways designed to travel worldwidely.An elaborate, bilingual sort out Super Flat (Murakami, 2000), which included Murakamis manifesto, A Theory of Super Flat lacquerese ar dickensrk, accompanied the exhibition. In this manifesto Murakami affirm that the Superflat exhibitions were created to provide a pagan-historical circumstance for the recent form of art that he was proposing, and which was itemally exported for westbound audiences. Superflat art, as a heathenish text, is intricately enmeshed in the tensions amid(prenominal) the location and representation of local/global pagan identities.These identities, while pr moroseering fortress done the argument of difference, argon in addition organise as collapse of the goes of globalisation instead than in strict opposition to it (Robertson, 1995). In producing Superflat for ho rse opera art foodstuffs and Nipponese art worlds, Murakami addresses existing discursive knowledge of lacquerese art, history and popular subtlety, while simultaneously presenting a new variant of those identities. In this way, Superflat is part of the politics of commodification and expression of heathen difference generated in global consumption.Murakamis Superflat construct identifies a new artistical emerging from the creative expressions produced in japanese contemporary art, anime ( Nipponese animation), manga (graphic novels), video games, expression and graphic design. Superflat is presented as a altercate to the institutions and practices of bijutsu (fine art), which Murakami argues be an incomplete import of Hesperian concepts. Murakami is specifically referring to the modern institutions of kindai bijutsu (modern art) that were adopted during the Meiji menstruum (18681912) as part of japans solve of modernization and westboundernization.To Murakami, the in novation and originality of post-1945 forms of technical culture represent a continuance of the innovations of the capital of Japan (16001867) optical culture. Murakami problematically argues that capital of Japan culture represents a more original cultural tradition, because it was a cartridge holder of curb external contact. At the same time, Murakami self-consciously uses tungstenern art markets and the popular allurement of Nipponese consumer culture to propose the Superflat alternative. That is, Murakami utilizes the westbound popular imaginings of Japanese culture as a hyper-consumeristic, postmodern layhouse (Morley & Robins, 1995 147173) in constructing Superflat. SUPERFLATNESS GLOBALIZING STRATEGIES IN ART MARKET As the fundamental inter participatingness in the midst of social groups has engender more and more globalized, the nub-making and expressivities associated with art have withal fetch progressively more engaged by means of subject and trans matt er gradients (Papastergiadis & machinationspace, 2003). In fussy, the defining of identity operator and expressive modes in a case genealogy becomes problematic deep down a globalizing cultural sphere.many artists struggle to follow the binary position of balancing eastern hemisphere and West cultures, while Takashi Murakami, contemporary Japanese artist, with his theory of Superflat art, worked out his way in this dilemma. He provides a useful geek study of the strategies artists squeeze out employ to negociate cultural and artistic identities in amid this binary. This paper investigates the Superflat concept and analyses Murakamis art plant life to expose the tensions and dialogues regarding cultural identity and commodification that atomic number 18 produced by their global circulation.The starting line plane section maps Murakamis strategy in constructing Superflat and contextualizes this in relation to communions of Japanese subject field-cultural identity. T he plunk for section applies this theorization by analyzing the opthalmic codes of Murakamis figure sculpture My lonely(a) Cow male child. This figure sculpture is part of a series in which Murakami have the artistic codes and markers of otaku culture, specially the prominence of anime and manga faces, with various(a) art historical references.This piece demonstrates the sundry(a) local/global codes and cultures that Superflat art engages. world(a) Flows and the Soy Sauce Strategy globalization creates spaces in which mobile elements interact with twain(prenominal) positive and negative effects. Three account issues emerge in contemporary theorizations of globalization that are relevant to this discussion firstly, the problem of how to retain the concept of local/national cultural particularity and to concurrently do it the onvergences and overlaps amid cultures in a global context (Robertson, 1995) secondly, how to signalise the value in cultural difference as a tool of critical (oppositional) agency (Fisher, 2003) and blockage out that difference chiffonier also become a commodity in the global market place (Hall, 1991) and thirdly, to acknowledge the authorization of occidental cultural, political and economic imperatives in globalization (Hardt & Negri, 2000), but also to recognize that it keisternot be reduced to this condition (Held et al. , 1999).Consequently, concerns and celebrations are generated by the increasing fragmentation of national and cultural identities (Morley&Robins, 1995). In reception to this process of deterritorializing identity, impulses arise to re assert local and national identities in a form of rampart (Hall, 1995). This resistance is compound because it is formed in relation to the transnational imaginings of the Self and the Other, ablaze by the constant circulation of people and intercede images through globalizations (Appadurai, 1996).These are irresolvable struggles and they demonstrate how globaliz ation contributes to quite a than eliminates incommensurability (Ang, 2003). Thus, while cultural identities gutter become territorialized and demarcated, for instance as Japanese, they are also repugnd by the processes of deterritorialization trip through interaction and exchange. The meaning of Japanese is in that respectfore open to re-articulation by both global and local forces allowing new strategical identities to emerge.These processes are evident in Murakamis soya bean act strategy. Murakami demarcates the identity of Superflat as Japanese by proposing it as an affidavit of a Pop Art aesthetical that is born from Japan and hard-hitting from western sandwich art a geek of post-Pop (Murakami, 2005 152153). Murakami asserts Superflat as an example of the current forge of Japanese culture globally and as a fabric for a future aesthetic, thereby identifying the Otherness of Superflat in a positive way.Even though Murakami acknowledges that this sensibility emerges from the trans institutions arising from the influences of western sandwich culture, he simultaneously reaffirms the originality of Superflat as a Japanese sensibility. This is what he refers to as his soy sauce strategy. Japanese contemporary art has a long history of nerve-wracking to hide the soy sauce. Perhaps they exit streng so the flavor to please the foreign palette, or perhaps theyll simply piddle the soy sauce out the window and unconditionally embrace the sense of tastes of French or Italian cuisine, nice the western sandwichers whose model of contemporary art they follow I gain vigor the need to create a oecumenic taste a common applauder without cheating myself and my Japanese core I hold to blend seasonings I may have mixed in the universal forms and presentations of French, Italian, Chinese, or an separate(prenominal) ethnic cuisines and I am vigilant in my front for their best points but the central axis vertebra of my creation is persistent at its core, my mensuration of beauty is one cultivated by the Japan that has been my home since my birth in 1962. (Kaikaikiki Co.Ltd & Museum of modern-day Art Tokyo, 2001 130) This essential Japanese identity of Superflat is reinforced by the ways in which Murakami connects (visually and ideologically) the kawaii (cute) forms of anime and manga with the playful aesthetic of capital of Japan period artists and the two-dimensional established properties of Japanese screen painting. This foundation is then used to propose Superflat as an flip-flop lineage of Japanese visual culture, one that breaks away from the provokeon of kindai bijutsu and Western art history.Edo functions in Superflat as the determinant of its cultural authenticity that is, as the DNA of Superflat (Murakami, 2000 25). Edo is presented as the web site of Japans cultural tradition and subsequently as a symbol of its Japaneseness. This is a crowd from modern Japanese addresss in which Edo becomes the reposit ory of nostalgic yearnings for a pre-modern, conventional Japan (Ivy, 1995).In the late 1980s and ahead of time 1990s this was extended to become part of the debates on Japans (post) contemporaneity postmodern cultural expressions in Japan were considered to be a revival of Edo concepts and practices and thence particularly indigenous to Japan (Karatani, 1997). However, as Gluck (1998) points out, the definition of authentic and traditional Japanese expression in relation to a fixed point of origin in Edo culture has been heavily challenged. Therefore, Murakamis use of Edo to mark the culturally authentic transmission of the Superflat aesthetic should be treated with caution.At the same time, Murakami has punctuate that he is not presenting Superflat as the definitive exposition of Japanese art nor does he claim a incorporated identity for Japan Unfortunately, I posterior never retrovert Japan a fixed shape. I cannot meet my real self. Nor can I discern what art rightfully i s I thought I could go the problem by lining up a series of images in a mightful procession that words could not clarify. (Murakami, 2000 9) Even this position can be critiqued.Murakami self-consciously demonstrates his awareness of the historical interaction amid Japan and the West and stresses the crown of thorns history of Superflat. However, he also tends to mention Japans skill in assimilating and domesticating foreign influences, phoneing other discourses on Japans hybridity as a national-cultural trait (Tobin, 1992), which paradoxically reconstructs Japans hybridity as an essential identity. Murakamis intention to create an epistemological context for Superflat is explicitly part of his aim to move work in international art markets First, gain recognition on site ( immature York). Furthermore, adjust the flavoring to meet the of necessity of the venue. 2 With this recognition as my parachute, I will remove my landing butt in Japan. Slightly adjust the flavorings unt il they are Japanese. Or perhaps entirely characterise the works to meet Japanese tastes. 3 Back overseas, into the fray. This time, I will make a presentation that doesnt start away from my true soy sauce nature, but is understandable to my audience. (Kaikaikiki Co. Ltd & Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo, 2001131)The impulse in Superflat towards the affirmation of a national-cultural aesthetic can be considered as a form of self- easternism an identity formation that is constructed in relation to the Western Oriental gaze (Said, 1995). musical composition self-Orientalism has been considered (although not specifically in relation to Superflat) as an charge strategy, because it appropriates the Wests gaze of Japan and re-packages it for the same audience (Mitchell, 2000), others have considered it calculative to Orientalism and a continuation of the Japan/West binary construction (Iwabuchi, 1994).This self-Oriental identity is complicated by a number of factors. First, Superfla t does echo conventional discursive constructions of a Japan/West binary, which obscures the connections and antecedent relations in this structure. In particular, Superflat can also be interpreted as being part of the discourses on Japanese identity, particularly the ontogeny of nihonjinron and postmodernism post-1970s in relation to Japans economic and technological influences (Befu, 2001). There was a tendency in both these strains of discourse to emphasize Japans national identity as singular and divergent from the West and the East.Secondly, while Murakami acknowledges the Western influences on the Superflat aesthetic, his simultaneous transposing of this hybrid identity into a reinforcement of a Japanese identity, characterized by cultural assimilation and hybridization, reinforces a unified national-cultural identity. This identity is supported by the references surrounded by Superflat and already existing discursive constructions of Japanese culture as post-modern and t he version of the two-dimensional properties of Japanese art, which will be discussed subsequent in the paper.Thirdly, Superflat is also part of ongoing trade relations and cross-fertilizations of visual culture forms surrounded by Japan and the West particularly since the late nineteenth century. These include the word sense of bijutsu in the Meiji period, the popular consumption of Japanese visual culture in the West (in late nineteenth century Japonisme and since the 1990s with the consumption of anime and manga), and the post-1945 influx of technical culture from the fall in States and its subsequent push on the development of the anime and manga industries (Kinsella, 2000).In just about ways, the self-Orientalism of Superflat can be interpreted as a post-colonial defensive reaction. Superflat is presented by Murakami as a localized expression of cultural preposterousness resisting the global hegemony of Western art and transcending the imported colonialist history of b ijutsu by presenting icons of unjustified otherness (Matsui, 2001 48). This resistance, in turn, strategically uses identity as a commodity in Western art markets.By explicitly stress the differences of Superflat, and Superflat as Japanese, Murakami becomes open to criticism that he is merely providing a futuristic Orientalist spectacle for Western audiences (Shimada, 2002 188189). Furthermore, the ever-present danger with this position is that the centrality of the joined States and Europe is re-asserted rather than challenged. Murakami explicitly reinforces this centrality through his statements regarding the importance of his visibility in New York, London and Paris (Kelmachter, 2002 76).Murakamis strategy of merging artistic expression and the commercial imperatives of Orientalism also echoes the export art of the late nineteenth century in which new works were created for foreign markets, according to the dictates of those markets (Conant, 1991 8284). Export purposes were de liberately constructed to appeal to the taste for Japonisme that was fashionable in Europe and the United States at the time. Murakamis affirmation of Superflat as a Japanese-made model for the future also reiterates the recent rhetoric on Japans global cultural power in relation to the export of anime and manga (McGray, 2002).These discourses emphasize the symbolic (and subsequent economic) capital of the Japaneseness of anime and manga texts and they deliberately emphasize the commodity potentials of self- Orientalism. Murakami draws attention to these politics in the Superflat exhibition Coloriage (Coloring) at the Foundation Cartier by referring to it as post-Japonisme (Kelmachter, 2002 103104), thereby both connecting with the past market in Japanese art and suggesting a new contemporary context for the consumption of Superflat art.However, to reduce Superflat to a collusive Orientalism, or to see it as just a commodification of identity in a uncomplimentary sense, misinterpre ts the dynamics in play. Murakami is both proffering resistance as rise as marketing his work strategically. Firstly, Murakami articulates his identity through the exhibition structures of the West as well as through conventional signifiers of Japanese esthetics in order to establish his profile and to sell his work.Yet he also acknowledges the ambivalences of his own position and the playfulness of this global soy sauce flavoring In the worldview that holds exquisite flavoring as the only concept of beauty with any value, heavy flavourer is taboo, and too much stimulation is definitely problematic In order to create something that is understandable both to the West and Japan, what is requisite is an ambivalent flavor and presentation . (Kaikaikiki Co. Ltd & Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo, 2001 131)Furthermore, dominant scholarly arguments on the popular consumption of anime and manga alfresco Japan hold that these forms express plural form cultural identities and, as All ison (2000) shows, are uninvolved from specific representations of space and place. This suggests that the consumption of Superflat, cash in ones chipsle that of anime and manga, is not simply establish on a desire for reflected images of Japaneseness as a cultural Other rather, it offers audiences a flexibility of alternate identities, free from specific geo-cultural connections.It can also be argued that a critical factor in the reaction of Murakamis works in the United States and Europe has been the familiarity of the Superflat aesthetic to anime and manga as part of a common rather than Orientalised visual vocabulary. Superflat echoes the paradox of affirming the non-nationality of texts, while also presenting them as expressions of national-cultural identity. However, there is another way to explain this contradiction of Superflat between the affirmation of non-national and specific cultural identities.The critical theorizer Yoda Tomiko (2000) presents contemporary anime fo rms as a useful example of a coterminous liquid state between local codes that are interchangeable and coexistent with non-local elements. Elements in the text can be swapped around and satisfactory for different audiences, and these elements are simultaneously collated with non-specific elements drawn from a wide variety of sources therefore, the overall form remains transportable as well as expressing cultural proximity.While this process of adaptation is not new, what Yoda indicates is that it is increasingly becoming a normative process deep down the logic of postmodern consumer society. The local identity expressed in Superflat utilizes the connections with Edo and anime and manga culture to articulate its cultural specificity and til now it also expresses a postmodern silverity and self-reflexivity that enables it to be globally circulated. The following section demonstrates the multifarious local/global codes and cultures in Murakamis figure sculpture My lonesome(a) c ow man. Superflat IdentityTakashi Murakami may have been the happiest at Sothebys Auction on May 14th. My unfrequented punch, his larger-than-life sculpture of a boy waving an scream lariat, brought in $15. 2 million quintupling the artists previous participate at auction. Just like what Alexandra rice beer has written, Murakami does not merely appropriate the manga and anime based worlds of otaku subculture he operates within them. His lushly bright, variation characters, all of which have names, act covet by convenience store consumers as much as they are seek after by international art community. Murakamis works always act in the six-fold spaces in and between Japan and the West, referencing there intertwined relations. My solitary Cowboy can be linked to a number of familiar aesthetic forms from both Western and Japanese art history, therefrom it is a field of knowledge run both within and between the social, cultural and aesthetic conditions of East and West. My only (a) Cowboy is characterized by a large lasso of ejaculate resonant of Jackson pollocks splash paintings in the late 1940s.The confident masturbatory pose of the figure can be interpreted as a parodic and sexualized reference to the phallo-centric ideology of Western Modernism, in which the autonomy and expressive subjectiveness (as well as the masculinity) of artists such as pollack was famous. The title itself, My Lonesome Cowboy, also references the heroism and romanticism of the iconic image of the cowboy, which was celebrated in relation to the New York consider Expressionist painters, and was parodied in the homo-erotica of Andy Warhols rent Lonesome Cowboys (1969).The stream of ejaculation placid is both an exaggerated and grotesque dupery of otaku (hard-core anime and manga fans) imaginings and masturbatory activities and a parody of the unique stroke of the brush of the artist. The overt and wry decorativeness of the fiberglass splash subverts the modernist ideology of the unique mark of the artists hand as an expression of interior subjectivity in a manner that is reminiscent of Roy Lichtensteins series of screen-prints, Brushstrokes, created in the mid to late 1960s.These references are then combined with recognizable Japanese aesthetic markers. For example, the calculus Ball Z character Goku is the model for the head of the cowboy the splash of ejaculate is also reminiscent of the static pizzazz of Hokusais ukiyo-e print View of depend upon Fuji through High Waves off Kanagawa (ca. 18291833). The standing pose of the figure with the power and energy concentrated in the hips pressure forward, accentuated by the expulsion of liquid from the penis, is something that has also been specifically linked to the style of character pose developed in anime (Kaikaikiki Co.Ltd & Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo, 2001 96). This is stocked to the Western comic hero pose in which the ducking of power and muscular strength is emphasized in the pectoral muscles (96). The sense of desirability between stasis and movement in My Lonesome Cowboy can also be linked to various forms of compositional structures in Japanese screen-paintings and anime. One of the key features of archaean Japanese television animation is an aesthetic based on the frozen pose, in which a figure can startle in the air and freeze the pose, detached from gravity.Part of the rationality behind the frozen sec in animation was a response to budget constraints and efficient production processes by freezing the frame and allowing the dialogue to continue fewer frames of animated movement were requisite for the narrative (Lamarre, 2002 335). As a stylistic tendency, the technique of freezing the action in animation relies on selecting the most prominent or aesthetic moment to freeze, creating a dramatic pause before the action (2002 335336).Therefore, what is evident is that Murakami simultaneously articulates Japanese and Western aesthetic markers in My Loneso me Cowboy. While these references can be individually demarcated and identified, there is also an interchangeable flexibility that is addressed. more than specifically, what this means is that the splash of semen can simultaneously reference Pollock, Lichtenstein, Hokusai and Kanada. Thus, it becomes a fluid and slippery signifier. This can be explained as one of the reasons for the global prominence and popularity of Superflat and Murakami.Furthermore, the art historical and popular cultural references would be considered relatively conventional markers for audiences conversant with these texts. Many of the Japanese works in the Superflat catalogue are held in Western collections, including Hokusais Great Wave. Murakamis works are therefore characterized by a particular inter-determinacy, which enables him to manipulate the Japanese identity of the works while also utilizing the familiarity of the visual references for Western audiences. This trategy is further complicated by the co-occur historical aesthetic relationship between Japan and the West. First, the concept of Super matting, as an aesthetic of two-dimensionality, reinforces the Western image of Japan as a culture of come near. The development of the flat cake, which has been interpreted by Clement Greenberg as the underpinning aesthetic realization of Western modern painting, was influenced by Japanese art, particularly ukiyo-e prints, in the nineteenth century (Evett, 1982 ixx).In particular, an aesthetic of two-dimensionality was identified as a distinctive feature of Japanese art in late nineteenth century Europe (1982 30). 13 In blood line to the Western discursive construct of Japanese art as inherently two-dimensional, Western practices of linear perspective by this time had already influenced Japanese art. 14 Secondly, because anime and manga are increasingly familiar to consumers exterior of Japan, particularly since their export in the 1990s, they have become part of the database of visual esthetics of artists and fans outside of Japan (Craig, 2000 7).The complex visual cultural relationships between Japan, United States and European art are more politically intertwined than these explicit and obvious references imply because they are influenced by ideologies and constructions of national identity. The image of Japan as a culture of surface continued into the twentieth century and was translated from the mid-1980s into the proof of Japans post modernity Japan as a culture of surface was now celebrated (Barthes, 1982 Field, 1997) and it was constructed (arguably) as the epitome of post-modernity (Miyoshi and Harootunian). 5 This was contrasted to Western modernist discourse of the surface as a verbal expression of interior subjectivity. Postmodernism presented a challenge to this concept of originality and interior/exterior distinctions through theories of simulacrum, miscellany and the collapsing of surface/depth models as developed by Baudrillard (1983), Ja meson (1991), and Virilio (1991). Even the discourses that emphasized Japans creative skill in domesticating foreign imports (Tobin, 1992) as a contrast to the earlier pejorative concept of travesty reinforced the image of Japan as an appropriator of different styles or surfaces.While the distinction between surface and depth is not murder in Japan, the duality between surface and depth in Western modern epistemology (and even in subsequent discourses that challenge it) is not necessarily expressed utilize those dichotomous terms in Japanese culture rather, the surface is considered to be pregnant and creative. For example, the art historian Tsuji Nobuo (2002 18) identifies the decorative surface as providing a link between the ordinary and everyday sphere and the bizarre metaphysical realm.In this way, the decorative surface does not lack meaning but is progressive as an intermediary expression and aesthetic. Hendry (1993) also identifies the importance of neglige in Japanes e culture, in which the external layers, whether they be clothing, architecture or gifts, form the critical meaning structure. Wrapping operates as a rule of accumulating layers of meaning that are not ordinarily present in the unwrapped object (1993 17). This process inverts the Western philosophical privileging of the core (the object inside the wrapping) as the simple site of meaning and the external wrapping as obscuring the object.In fact Hendry argues that the meaning of the enfold object and the layers of wrapping are conceptually embedded in each other and cannot be separated (1993 17). While flatness and the emphasis on surface reference and decoration in Superflat art can thus be considered an exploitation of the Western construct of Japan as a culture of surface aesthetics, it can also be interpreted as an assertion of the creative value of the surface in Japanese culture. In this latter interpretation Superflatness becomes a unique aesthetic form that articulates m ultiple and active spaces, not the expunging or reduction of meaning.The concept of active flatness and continual transformation is a useful approach to understanding the Superflat aesthetic. It is heavy to differentiate a singular point of origin or a stable and unified subject in the multiple cultural identities embedded in My Lonesome Cowboy. Such is the shared history and cross-fertilization of aesthetic forms that these multiple layers of references and aesthetic histories of Japan and the United States/Europe present a significant complexity to the explicit designation of these references as Japanese or Western.Furthermore, to anticipate that they will even be decoded as signifying geo-cultural aesthetic territories is equally problematic. It is evident that Murakamis explicitly playful references act as heterogeneous and malleable signifiers of identity, and thus can be readily interpreted as a postmodern expression of multiplicity. Furthermore, the inter-textual reference s to Japanese art history, Western art history, and imagined constructions of Japanese identity, play to the knowingness of audiences. The Westernization of Superflat and its Japaneseness articulate two forms that can be accessed by Murakami from his database of codes.