The Bonds of a Language Essays -- Amy Tan Literature Authors Essays

The Bonds of a Language Amy Tan is the author of several novels including The Joy Luck Club and The Kitchen God’s Wife. She was born in the United States to parents who immigrated to California from China (Gruber 35). In her article entitled â€Å"Mother Tongue†, Tan focuses on the English shared between her mother and herself versus the English that she speaks with everyone else, and how it has affected her outlook on language. Through her examples, she presents to the audience the obstacles faced by her mother’s â€Å"limited† English. Tan demonstrates that no matter how much someone may change, the most important things lay back in their roots. Tan directs this article in a certain way to allow for several people to relate. Even though she has the heritage of a Chinese culture, she did grow up in the United States, so she knows what catches people’s interest. She bases the entire article off of experiences that she has had with her own mother and the language barriers her mother has had to put up with. Someone who may not have experienced this first hand would probably not have as strong an argument. Tan also gears the article to a wide audience. Even if someone does not care about language or the struggles to be heard by people who can’t understand you, she throws in interesting stories that catch any reader for a small moment. A good audience for this article is people who deal with those who speak â€Å"broken† English, such as those in ESL programs. Tan points out that even though her mother isn’t the best at speaking English, she still comprehends it. Many just assume that her mother’s intelligence is equivalent to her spoken English, which as Tan points out, isn’t true. That may also have been why Ta... ...when you don’t know what they want or need, which Tan probably realizes. In conclusion, Amy Tan allows the reader to see through her eyes and her mother’s eyes. Despite the obvious responsibility put on her shoulders from her mother’s English, Tan still feels a sense of intimacy in that â€Å"broken† language. It becomes more of a point that she’s showing the audience the importance of this bond between her mother and her rather than to make them feel sorry for her mother. If her mother spoke as well as Tan does now, then Tan most likely would have turned out different. She learned responsibility and it allowed her to feel passionate about helping other understand English enough to make it a career. It also was a good step in showing options for Asians outside of the engineering field. And lastly, Amy Tan’s mother appears to be very proud of her daughter.

Second Language

Here we today interviewed each other asking a few question. Seating in this class next to Amy, I interviewed and discussed about her conflict and some of happiness. China is seen variously as an ancient  civilization  extending over a large area in  East Asia which is country that Amy from. Her native language is Chinese. Even she was nine years old when she moved to U. S. A. ; she started to learn English from basic didn’t even think how hard it is. Learning a foreign language takes time and dedication.While having a clear idea of why she learning English, Amy thought it can help to motivate her in her studies. Since she noticed that most of the students in her school speak in different language, Amy felt that learning English language it will help her to communicate with them. Also she though it will give her a better understanding of their culture and way of thinking. Wherever Amy was all people around her speaks in English. So that made her finds friends who might sp eak in her primary language. Although she learned English much more than when she was in her first in U.S. A. , she transferred to Newcomer high school. Newcomer high school was for an immigrant who has a poor language level. From there she easily started to learn English by asking help from who might speak in Chinese language. Unless English she was a good at math and other school subjects. In addition, she had fun learning a foreign language by sharing an interest with her friends. When Amy learned another language, she also learned the different titles and functions of sentence parts. Learning these things made her a better student and a more articulate person.She more likely mentioned that many of the root words used in foreign vocabulary will help her later on as her struggle to comprehend or analyze new words in Amy’s native language. â€Å"I was happy to learn new language. † said Amy with her smile which was full of her face. Adding â€Å"But sometimes English was weird and complicated to me† Amy tried to show me how she learned English like her native language. â€Å"Being able to play with other kids, she stayed away from this because of poor language† sadly added Amy.Hearing all of her trouble with language I was thinking how she proudly learned English now. I am proud of her. From now on she knows two languages: Chinese and English. The end of this conversation I strongly thought one language is never enough! Noticing someone who is fascinated by languages and enjoys learning them, then one language is never enough. If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart. (Nelson Mandela)

Henry Ford Paper

This paper will go into detail about the young life, career and adult life of Henry Ford. Henry ford’s young life, in this paper will consist of his childhood. The paper will then describe all of his education and early jobs. Finally, this paper will conclude with Henry Ford’s adult life and home life (what he did when he wasn’t working), his career’s work and the impact Henry had on American History. This paper should help the reader better understand the life of Henry Ford: Who he was? Who he is? And why he was so vital to our American History.Henry Ford, born July 30, 1863, was the first of William and Mary Ford’s six children. He grew up on a prosperous family farm in what is today Dearborn, Michigan. Henry enjoyed a childhood typical of the rural nineteenth century, spending days in a one-room school and doing farm chores. At an early age he showed an interest in mechanical things and a dislike for farm work. He instead preferred to work with m echanical objects, particularly watches. He repaired his first watch when he was thirteen. Fixing watches was something he continues to do as sort of a hobby for the rest of his life.Being a farm boy and working on a farm for most of his childhood taught Ford that working hard and being responsible was of great value. Henry attended school until the age of fifteen. He had little interest in school and had poor grades as a child. He never learned to spell or read well, so when he wrote he used extremely simple words in his sentences. At the age of sixteen, Henry left home for the nearby city of Detroit to work as an apprentice machinist, although he did sometimes return to do work on the family farm. Ford eventually went back to apprentice and stayed that way for 3 years until he returned to Dearborn.As an apprentice he received 2. 50 a week. He later worked for Westinghouse, locating and repairing road engines. Henry’s dad was persistent that his son should be a farmer and of fered him forty acres of timberland, provided he would give up machinery. Henry accepted his dad’s offer, but didn’t use the acres for farming. He built a first-class machinist’s workshop on the property. His father was disappointed, but Ford did use the two years on the farm to win a bride, Clara Bryant. They had one child:  Edsel Ford  (1893–1943). Ford began to work for the Edison Illuminating Company in Detroit.In 1891 he was gone and had left the farm for good. 1n 1893, he became chief engineer at Detroit Edison Company, where he met Thomas Edison who eventually became one of Henry’s closest friends. Ford used all of his money, from the promotion to chief engineer, and spare time in experimenting on an internal combustion engine. This engine was a type of engine where a combination of fuel and air is burned inside of the engine to produce mechanical energy to perform useful work. Ford completed his first car in 1896. It was a small car dri ven by a two-cylinder, four-cycle motor and by far the lightest made at the time weighing only 500 ponds.His first car was mounted on bicycle wheels and had no reverse gear. In 1899 Henry Ford was forced with the decision of choosing between his job and automobiles by the Detroit Edison Company. Without hesitation Ford chose cars and in that same year Ford formed the Detroit Automobile Company, which collapsed after he had a disagreement with his financial helpers. After the collapse of the Detroit Automobile Company, Ford tried again in the unsuccessful Henry Ford Automobile Company. Ford only had none successful car venture and that was through his racing cars, about 999 were sold one driven by the famous Barney Oldfield.After two unsuccessful attempts to establish a company to manufacture automobiles, Henry incorporated the Henry Ford Company in 1903 with himself as Vice President and Chief Engineer. At the start of the company it only produces a few cars a day. Groups of men, ab out two or three per group, were to work on each car one at a time. Henry Ford then realized the future of transportation was his dream and destiny. He later introduced the Model T, a reliable, easy to maintain vehicle that could handle off roads and immediately became a huge success.By 1918 half of the cars in America were Model T’s. The amount of cars being sold was so high that he had to build another factory in Michigan in 1910, to supply enough Model T’s to the customers. In Michigan is where Henry Ford combines precision manufacturing, standardized and interchangeable parts, a division of labor and, in 1913 a continuous moving assembly line. The assembly line was an essential part in revolutionizing American history. The assembly line was a way of manufacturing multiple cars all at once without having groups of men working on one car all at once.Workers remained in place, adding one component to each automobile as it moved past them on the line. Delivery of parts by conveyer belt to the workers was carefully timed to keep the assembly line moving smoothly and efficiently. The assembly line significantly reduced assembly time per vehicle, thus lowering costs. Ford’s production of Model T’s made his company the largest automobile manufacturer in the world. The company began construction of the world’s largest industrial complex along the banks of the Rouge River in Dearborn, Michigan, during the late 1910s and early 1920s.This massive plant included all the elements necessary to produce automobiles: a steel mill, glass factory, and the famous automobile assembly line. By 1926, flagging sales of the Model T finally convinced Henry to make a new model. He pursued the project with a great deal of technical expertise in design of the engine, chassis, and other mechanical necessities, while leaving the body design to his son. Edsel also managed to prevail over his father's initial objections in the inclusion of a sliding-shift transmission.The result was the successful  Ford Model A, introduced in December 1927 and produced through 1931, with a total output of more than 4  million. Subsequently, the Ford Company adopted an annual model change system similar to that recently pioneered by its competitor General Motors (and still in use by automakers today). Ford, like other automobile companies, entered the aviation business during  World War I, building Liberty engines. After the war, it returned to auto manufacturing until 1925, when Ford acquired the  Stout Metal Airplane Company.Ford's most successful aircraft was the  Ford 4AT Trimotor, often called the â€Å"Tin Goose† because of its corrugated metal construction. It used a new alloy called  Alclad  that combined the corrosion resistance of aluminum with the strength of  duralumin. Ford was a pioneer of â€Å"welfare capitalism†, designed to improve the lot of his workers and especially to reduce the heavy  turnover  that had many departments hiring 300 men per year to fill 100 slots. Efficiency meant hiring and keeping the best workers. Ford astonished the world in 1914 by offering a $5 per day wage ($120 today), which more than doubled the rate of most of his workers.The move proved extremely profitable; instead of constant turnover of employees, the best mechanics in Detroit flocked to Ford, bringing their human capital and expertise, raising productivity, and lowering training costs. Ford had opposed America's entry into World War II  and continued to believe that international business could generate the prosperity that would head off wars. Ford â€Å"insisted that war was the product of greedy financiers who sought profit in human destruction†; in 1939 he went so far as to claim that the torpedoing of U.S. merchant ships by German submarines was the result of conspiratorial activities undertaken by financier war-makers. The financier to whom he was referring was Ford's code for J ews; he had also accused Jews of fomenting the First World War. Following a series of strokes in the late 1930s he became increasingly debilitated and was more of a figurehead; other people made the decisions in his name. [47]  After Edsel Ford's premature death, Henry Ford nominally resumed control of the company in 1943, but his mental ability was fading.In reality the company was controlled by a handful of senior executives led by  Charles Sorensen, an important engineer and production executive at Ford, and  Harry Bennett, the chief of Ford's Service Unit, Ford's paramilitary force that spied, and enforced discipline, on employees. As Ford became increasingly sidelined, he grew jealous of the publicity Sorensen received; Ford forced Sorensen out in 1944. Ford's philosophy was one of economic independence for the United States. His River Rouge Plant became the world's largest industrial complex, pursuing  vertical integration  to such an extent that it could produce its own steel.Ford's goal was to produce a vehicle from scratch without reliance on foreign trade. He believed in the global expansion of his company. He believed that international trade and cooperation led to international peace, and he used the assembly line process and production of the Model T to demonstrate it. In ill health, Ford ceded the presidency to his grandson  Henry Ford II  in September 1945 and went into retirement. He died in 1947 of a  cerebral hemorrhage  at age 83 in  Fair Lane, his Dearborn estate. A public viewing was held at Greenfield Village where up to 5,000 people per hour filed past the casket.Funeral services were held in Detroit's  Cathedral Church of St. Paul  and he was buried in the Ford Cemetery in Detroit. Henry Ford had at least three major impacts on society. First, he introduced the assembly line. By breaking down production into very simple tasks, he lowered the skill level needed to work in a factory (any factory not just automobile s). This allowed huge amounts of products to be created at lower prices. Second, just as importantly, he introduced the living wage concept. Before Ford, most large companies based their pay structure on immediate cost needs.They paid their employees the bare minimum they could to get workers and control costs. Third, an unpleasant impact was that he reinvigorated anti-Semitism in America. Ford deeply disliked Jews. Before WWII, Hitler actually gave Ford a medal and celebrated Ford's birthday. Until America entered the war, Ford refused to produce or sell to the British war effort. His bigotry was oddly contradictory in that he was a great patron of Detroit's black community. Still, Ford was the most high-profile anti-Semite in the country.

Free Essays on Analysis Paper

and would steal. I guess it was just the way they grew up. I began to see that my family’s values were not the same values of all families. My family was the all American family until my parents separated. I had always had the influence of two parents in my household. My family also was pretty financially secure. I never wanted for anything. I always had what ever I wanted and then some. This made me be a little unappreciative. I also was picked on by my classmates because ... Free Essays on Analysis Paper Free Essays on Analysis Paper Abstract This paper will examine and analyze my life experiences using the concepts, theories, and paradigms that I learned in this class. It will discuss how I have developed my personality through the socialization process. I will also briefly discuss the affects and my affect on the environment and cultural considerations. I will be using Conflict Theory as my main theory to discuss my life choices and my overall development. All of this will come together using the concepts of person-in-environment, culture, groups, families, communities, and other concepts. Through everyday life we are constantly developing our personality traits, morals, and standards of life through the socialization process. My mother was a single. She divorced my father when I was seven years old. From there she was my mother and my father. She taught me the different values that life has to hold. This was only the beginning. Growing up I learned that my life and family was different from others. The students in elementary school were of a whole different world from me. I was raised as the only male in my family. I had two sisters and I always felt alone. I think this is why I grew up such a quiet child. Once I was in school I quickly discovered that my upbringing was totally different that many of the other kids I was in school with. I was taught not to curse or steal, however many of the children in my first grade class were liars and used curse words and would steal. I guess it was just the way they grew up. I began to see that my family’s values were not the same values of all families. My family was the all American family until my parents separated. I had always had the influence of two parents in my household. My family also was pretty financially secure. I never wanted for anything. I always had what ever I wanted and then some. This made me be a little unappreciative. I also was picked on by my classmates because ...

Northern Rock Bank

Northern Rock Bank Introduction Northern Rock is a bank operating under the umbrella of Virgin Money in the United Kingdom. It was established in 1965 and 30 years down the line, it had acquired approximately 53 building societies in England.Advertising We will write a custom case study sample on Northern Rock Bank specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Over the years this bank was being considered as one of the top lenders in the UK, especially in relation to mortgages. Prior to 2007, Northern rock had an investment plan which was to result in securitization. This according to Milne Wood involved â€Å"borrowing heavily in the UK and international money markets, extending mortgages to customers based on this funding and then re-selling these mortgages on international capital markets† (518). This, however, failed in 2007, when, owing to the global financial crisis, the demand for credit facilities from investors went down and Northern Rock was unable to pay back the credit it had obtained from the money markets. Lender of last resort This is a facility that allows banks to survive a financial crisis. It is mostly offered by the central bank. When Northern Rock was faced with the liquidity crisis in 2007, it looked up to the Bank of England for emergency support but this was not possible since it could not provide the facility. Many scholars, including Vesala (2006), Herring (2007), and Shin (2009) blame the situation in Northern Rock to the inability of the Bank of England to act promptly indicating that had it performed its role as a lender of last resort, the bank run would have been avoided. In fact, Shin indicates that â€Å"in its role as a lender of last resort, the Bank of England had been able to exert significant moral suasion over the banking sector, and the discount office was able to obtain information from banks on a purely informal basis† (2009,p.103).Advertising Looking for case study on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Other scholars believe that the Bank of England failed to act because Northern Bank had not provided it with sufficient information concerning its discount facilities. They also argue that the management of Northern Rock failed to heed to liquidity warnings and this acted as a hindrance when they needed assistance. These claims are, however, refuted by Freixas et al (2009). He asserts that a central bank is expected to perform its role irrespective of the actions of the other party (151). He states that â€Å"even when the central bank does not have the formal statutory responsibility for banking supervision, it can still obtain the information it needs to act as lender of last resort† (2009,p.152). Kane (2008) believes that the Northern rock issues exposed the faults in the government with regard to dealing with financial crisis. These faults include â€Å"the workings of e mergency liquidity assistance, some others the workings of deposit insurance and some others the insolvency and pre-insolvency arrangements† (2008, p.50). All these boil down to the functions of the Central bank as a lender of last resort. Financial crises in banks are one of the greatest challenges in most economies, since failure of banks spells out a failure in the entire economy. Liquidity lending is therefore considered to be an important factor since it is usually the solution to most banks going through a crisis. Some of the instruments available to governments dealing with financial crises include â€Å"the central bank’s role as a lender of last resort, deposit insurance schemes, government’s policies to shield depositors’ insolvency laws, among other preventive measures† (FSA internal Audit division, 2008, p. 39). Despite all the other actions, the lender of last resort factor is the most effective since it provides the banks with the cred it facilities to continue with their operations promptly. Prior to the crisis, Northern Rock was a successful institution though not influential to the point of thinking its failure would affect the economy in any way. This issue however attracted the attention of many financial analysts since it brought out the weaknesses of the Bank of England in dealing with crises faced by the banks.Advertising We will write a custom case study sample on Northern Rock Bank specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Due to this exposure, the government made a commitment to offer the required liquidity, and this worked since the bank run in Northern Rock stopped instantly. House of Commons (2008) therefore made a conclusion from this issue that the run would have been avoided all together, if all parties had been playing their roles effectively. This can, however, not be blamed on the Bank of England since it had not dealt with such an issue in the recent pa st. The activities in relation to acting as a lender of last resort were rarely carried out, hence the policies were outdated. This explains why the situation caught all relevant bodies including Northern Rock itself by surprise (House of Commons, 2008, p. 23). Northern rock and the FSA In the view of financial analysts, the crisis that hit Northern Rock in 2007 was predictable and some even argue that the crisis was not related to the activities of Northern bank per se. It is believed that the Financial Services Authority (FSA) played a major role in this. An article by Bank of England (2007) made an observation that FSA had given Northern Rock warnings concerning â€Å"the evolving trends in the market which included; sharp asset growth, systemic underpricing of risk, and the risk shifting characteristics of new financial instruments which would not be as water tight as they appeared to be† (2007,p. 2). FSA also indicated that the strategies being used by Northern Rock were unstable since they were depending on large scale market funding; hence, placing the institution in a risky liquidity position. Besides this, FSA had also made an observation in the government’s regulatory system which it claims had a number of loopholes that exposed the financial institutions to issues similar to those of Northern Rock. These, according to FSA (2008) included â€Å"a fundamental flaw in the depository protection scheme, lack of established special bankruptcy regime for banks, lack of predictable resolution regime for handling troubled banks and the existence of an institutional structure of financial supervision that separated responsibility for systemic stability and lender of last resort from prudential supervision of individual banks† (FSA, 2008, p. 33).Advertising Looking for case study on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Owing to the financial stability that had been witnessed in the region over the years, these observations seemed not to be having any ground, until the real risk was witnessed in Northern Rock, and this acted as a wakeup call to FSA. At the beginning of 2007, FSA considered Northern Rock as one of the best performing financial institutions in the UK. What it failed to realize at that time were the mortgage risks that it was exposed to owing to the fact that the institution dealt mostly with international investors. This risk was brought about by the financial crisis that was being witnessed all over the world during that period. Observations made later on indicated that â€Å"by mid-September, it had become apparent to Northern Rock that longer term funding markets were closed to it. Rollovers were largely continuing but at shorter and shorter maturities and Northern Rock lacked the option to draw on sufficient prearranged contingency liquidity lines of credit and did not benefit f rom a third party injection of capital† (FSA, 2008,p. 34). Due to this, FSA made an endorsement indicating that the Bank of England was deemed to provide liquidity facilities to all the banks that needed this kind of support in the UK, including Northern Rock. This crisis mainly focused on three institutions, the Bank of England, the treasury and FSA, owing to their joint responsibility of ensuring stability in the financial sector. FSA is blamed for permitting Northern Rock to raise its dividends irrespective of the already messed up financial position. An article by FSA Internal Audit Division (2008) supports these allegations by indicating that, â€Å"in in their own internal audits of the experience and compilation of the lessons learned from the Northern Rock failure contained a broad list of problems within FSA which included lack of rigor in the analyses conducted and failure to devote insufficient resources to monitoring what are regarded as high impact situationsâ₠¬  (Audit Division, 2008, p. 42). This report indicates that the major issues that led to this failure included organizational shortfalls, lack of sufficient skills in the supervisors, and poor methods of supervision, especially in large institutions operating at international levels. From the discussion, it is clear that FSA was in a position to save Northern Rock from the downfall, had it acted on the early signs. In fact, financial researchers such as Milne Wood (2008), Shin (2009) and Herring (2007) indicated that FSA devoted little time to the process of checking the level of stress tolerance in Northern Rock, hence ignoring many factors that eventually worked against the institution. Shin (2009) specifically points out that â€Å"insufficient attention was given to the banks challenging governance programs and risk mitigation processes† (2009, p.110). Herring (2007) concurrently indicates that â€Å"FSA not only ignored numerous early warning signs of troubles with N orthern Rock, but also ignored a breach of required minimum capital standards early in 2007† (p.10). Besides these, it was also noted that the bank failed to inform its stakeholders of this failure, and FSA was aware of this, but failed to take action. From this, a conclusion can be drawn that despite the fact that Northern Rock was responsible for its own peril, FSA also played a major role of not intervening where it would have been and also assuming the warning signs that were so loud and clear. Failure of prudential supervision In any financial setup, there are four aspects that need to be considered to come up with a stable financial system. The Bank of England (2007) indicates that â€Å"the first aspect is prudential regulation of financial firms, second is systemic stability, third is the lender of last resort role and finally the conduct of business regulation and supervision† (Bank of England,2007,p. 6). The issue in question especially in relation to the Nort hern Rock problem is the institution responsible for prudential supervision, whether it is the bank of Europe, the treasury or FSA. Irrespective of the institution responsible, this type of supervision is mandatory in financial institutions, failure to which results in cases such as what was experienced in Northern Rock (Freixas et al, 2007, p. 12). This conflict on the question of supervision mandate led the government to redefine the roles of the institutions in the financial sector. As a result of this, it was realized that supervision lies with FSA. The crisis in 2007 created the need to develop an official set of organizations and practices for assisting in the recovery of failing banks. This led to the officiating of a memorandum of understanding between the three bodies, that is, treasury, FSA and the Bank of Europe. A report by FSA internal audit division (2008) indicated that there were five basic standards that came with this agreement and these were â€Å"the existence o f a clear division of responsibilities, appropriate accountability arrangements, the avoidance of duplication of responsibilities, exchange of relevant information and mechanisms for crisis management† (2008,p.50). The causes behind the problem of Northern rock are interrelated to the extent that it is difficult to tell exactly what the main cause of this issue was. However, it was realized that prudential supervision of the banking institution was being conducted in a poor way and this is therefore deemed to be the greatest contributor to the whole problem. According to the Bank of England (2007) â€Å"this institution had been a pioneer in risk based supervision; focusing attention where it is most important† (2007, p. 8). This credit was however withdrawn after the Northern Rock crisis which revealed the poor laid supervision strategies. Many financial analysts believe that FSA was in a position to foresee this situation, long before it occurred. From this, it is evi dent that the Northern Rock crisis depicted a high level of failure in the prudential supervision of banking institutions. These failures according to FSA (2008) include â€Å"reliance upon seriously deficient accounting and capital adequacy standards; failure to monitor institutions in a timely, effective, and on-going fashion; failure to intervene appropriately when problems were identified; and promoting the welfare of the regulated institutions and the regulatory agency rather than the insurance fund or the taxpayer† (FSA, 2008, p.43). In fact, hearings in the House of Commons – a committee responsible for establishing the cause of the problems surrounding Northern Rock, indicated that FSA failed to perform effectively. House of Commons alleged that this was by way of â€Å"failing to monitor the institution and allowing Northern Rock to increase its dividends despite its troubled financial position† (2008, p.23). The supervisory evaluations of Northern Rock conducted by FSA did not put much emphasis on liquidity issues. Conclusion From the above discussion of the issues surrounding the Northern Rock problems, it is evident that these problems could have been avoided if all the parties concerned, that is, Northern Rock bank itself, the Bank of Europe and FSA were responsible for the actions that were taken before 2007. Northern Bank was responsible for the crisis in the sense that it did not perform a long term analysis of its actions. In its operations, it failed to consider the possibility of liquidity risks in the financial market. Bank of Europe was responsible in the sense that it did not act promptly as a lender of last resort in providing the credit requested by Northern Bank when it started experiencing the liquidity challenges. References Bank of England 2007, Financial Stability Report. Web. Freixas, X, Giannini, C, Hoggarth, G Soussa, F 2009, ‘Lender of last  Resort: a review of the literature’, Financial Sta bility Review, Vol. 7, pp. 151–167. FSA (2008) ‘The supervision of Northern Rock: a lessons learned review’, Internal Audit, pp. 32 43 FSA Internal Audit Division 2008, ‘The Supervision of Northern Rock’ A Lessons Learned Review, pp. 37 56 Herring, R 2007, ‘Resolution Strategies: Challenges Posed by Systemically Important Banks’, lecture at Regional Seminar on Financial Crisis Management, pp. 5 16 House of Commons 2008, ‘The run on the Rock’, Treasury Committee, Vol. 1, pp. 23 Kane, E 2008, ‘Regulation and supervision: an ethical perspective’, Principles v Rules in Financial Regulation, Vol. 2 no. 5, pp. 48 56 Milne, A Wood, G 2008, ‘Banking Crisis Solutions: Old and New’, Review (Federal Reserve Bank of St Louis), Vol. 1 no. 2, pp. 517–530. Shin, H 2009 ‘Reflections on Northern Rock: The Bank Run that Heralded the Global Financial Crisis’, Journal of Economic Perspectives, Vol. 23, No. 1, pp. 101–119 Vesala, J 2006, ‘Which Model for Prudential Supervision in the EU’ Monetary Policy and Financial Market Stability, Vol. 10, No. 1, pp.99-105.

Big Screens Big Failure-Stephen

Case Summary Big Screen Studios is one of the largest Hollywood movies studios. Buck Knox, the president of Big Screen has established Big Screen as a studio that produced cost-efficient and profitable films. The studio also had a good reputation for being supportive of the creative side of film making. However, in the last two years Big Screen had invested in several major productions that for various reasons had all performed well below expectation. Knox heard that some of the board members were prepared to force him out of the presidency if Big Screen did not come up with a hit soon. Knox contacted Mark Frazier, the director who had made several profitable movies and had a reputation as being a maverick with a â€Å"vision†. Frazier wants the script that he’s been writing to be filmed by Big Screen, the story about two strong male lead characters, a beautiful woman the men encountered in South America whose affection they fought over, battles, sea journeys, and challenging journeys over mountains and through jungles. Knox enchanted by the script; however Knox could also see that this movie might be extremely expensive to produce. Frazier convinces Knox that it will pay off. After a serious consideration, Knox decided to produce Frazier’s movie with $50 million budget agreement. John Connor, one of Knox’s trusted vice presidents, act as the studio’s liaison with Frazier and to be executive producer on the film. Connor was a veteran of many years experienced in working with directors and budgets. The first major problem the film encountered involved casting. Frazier’s first signing was Cole Rogan, a famous actions star, to be one of the male leads. Knox and Connor felt that Rogan was an asset because he had a reputation as a star who could â€Å"open† a film (audience would come to a movie just because he was in it). However, Frazier then decided to cast Frank Monaco as the other male lead. Monaco had made only a few films to date, and those were fluffy romantic comedies. Monaco had never proved himself in an epic adventure role, and he was an accomplished enough actor that he would make the rather wooden Rogan look bad. Knox suggests recasting Rogan’s role. Unfortunately, it turned out that Frazier had signed Rogan to a â€Å"pay or play† deal, meaning that if the studio released Rogan from the project, the studio would have to pay him a considerable sum of money. Rogan was replaced by Marty Jones, an actor who had had some success in films but mostly in supporting roles. A few weeks after casting was completed, Frazier insists the majority of the production be filmed in the jungles of South America, rather than in the studio. Frazier also insists that he needed to bring along most of the crew that had worked on his previous films. This also means that the budget will be increased. Knox agreed to raise the budget to $75 million as he was afraid of Frazier would go to another studio if he was not allowed to film on location in South America. Frazier, Connor, and the cast and crew headed off to the South American jungles for a scheduled two-month shoot. After two weeks had passed, Frazier was shooting scenes several times over- not because the actors or the crew were making mistakes, or because there was something wrong with the scene, but because the output just didn’t meet his artistic standards. Also, because the filming locations were so remote, the cast and crew were spending nearly four hours of a scheduled seven hour workday traveling to and from location. The production was incurring huge overtime costs. As if that wasn’t bad enough, the progress showed that Monaco and Jones didn’t have any chemistry as a pair, and Gia Norman, the female lead characters, had such a heavy accent that most of her lines couldn’t be understood. As the troubles that come up, Knox headed to the location to meet with Frazier. Knox will put $5 million more into the movie and tell Frazier that the movie must be done within the budget. Knox thought, Connor was doing a good job of reporting, but he didn’t seem to be doing much to correct the budget problems he was observing. After three and half month Frazier came back to California and started editing the film. He refused to allow anyone associated with the studio to be in the editing room. Three weeks into the editing Frazier ask that he want to hire a ship and bring the actors and crew back to perfecting the prologue which would cost the studio another additional cost. Knox agrees after he had a discussion with the board member.

Compare and contrast the European and North American freight Case Study

Compare and contrast the European and North American freight transportation systems, globalized trade, and global policy implications - Case Study Example America and most countries in Europe boast of different kinds of freight systems, which have been instrumental in the growth of their economies. This paper makes a comparison of the global freight systems that have been established in the United States and most countries in Europe. Today’ globalization has brought about very many changes with respect to long-distance transport, as well as communication costs between and among countries of the world. In the past, it was agreed that trade costs did not hold any major impact as far as the structure and quantity of global trade were concerned. However, at present, these costs are now being considered and acknowledge ad being of great importance. Currently, the distribution systems in the global freight can be said to have been brought about by the convergence that has been necessitated by technology, modes and terminals, as well as infrastructure (Debrie & Gouvernal 2006). One of the things that have stood out significantly behind the process of standardization of these global freight systems has been containerization. This development has resulted in the emergence of strategies in supply chain management like maritime shipping. Europe and North America are among the major markets of the world; these two regions have huge notable commonalities in terms of strong and stable import functions (Rodrigue, Comtois & Slack 2009). The global functions in this perspective are made up of inbound logistics; in addition, there are many highly developed shipment distribution systems that link these two regions, necessitating their comprehensive trade flows. Different researches that have been carried out on this issue have indicated that these two regions are still walking similar paths when it comes configuration of their logistics networks and transport infrastructure. The operational decisions, as well as the establishments of regulatory frameworks are guiding and necessitating these