Kurt Vonnegut Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Kurt Vonnegut - Essay Example We were out all the time around the clock and every time we came across a really juicy murder or scandal or whatever, they’d send the big time reporters and photographers, otherwise, they’d run our stories. So that’s what I was doing, and I was going to university at the same time."[15] Vonnegut admitted that he was a poor anthropology student, with one professor remarking that some of the students were going to be professional anthropologists and he was not one of them.[citation needed] According to Vonnegut in Bagombo Snuff Box, the university rejected his first thesis on the necessity of accounting for the similarities between Cubist painters and the leaders of late 19th Century Native American uprisings, saying it was "unprofessional." He left Chicago to work in Schenectady, New York, in public relations for General Electric, where his brother Bernard worked in the research department. Vonnegut was a technical writer but was also known for writing well past h is typical hours while working. While in Schenectady, Vonnegut lived in the tiny hamlet of Alplaus, located within the town of Glenville, just across the Mohawk River from the city of Schenectady. Kurt rented an upstairs apartment located along Alplaus Creek across the street from the Alplaus Volunteer Fire Department, where he was an active Volunteer Fire-Fighter for a few years. To this day, the apartment where Vonnegut lived for a brief time still has a desk at which he wrote many of his short stories; Vonnegut carved his name on its underside.

Prius automatically switches Essay Example for Free

Prius automatically switches Essay There are many reasons why people want a revolutionary car. Some enthusiasts enthuse about scientific and technological advances and want the latest gizmos. Others rebel against fuel price increases, even though fuel is cheaper than it has been for decades. Finally, people are ‘concerned about the environment’. Hoping that all the above was true and looking to grab a technological advantage over other car manufacturers; in 2000 Toyota introduced Prius, their first hybrid car. Prius means ‘to go before’, so is a name that may be very prophetic. The Prius and the Honda Insight are the first in a wave of hybrid family cars coming out ahead of similar vehicles from GM, Ford and Daimler Chrysler. At first glance, the Prius seems to have a lot going for it. It combines a 1. 5 litre, four cylinder petrol engine and a 33-kilowatt electric motor. It comfortably seats five, if the three in the back aren’t too tall or too big and has 0,34 cubic meters of luggage space. The electric motor starts the car and operates at low speeds, using a nickel metal-hydride battery.   Under normal motorway conditions, it should get 28 km per liter. The downside is that the Prius is no muscle car. It also costs about 4,000 euros more than the Toyota Echo, although they are nearly the same car. Of course, getting twice as many kilometers per liter of petrol will help to offset the price differential. Assuming the range and a typical 2002 price of one euro per liter, the Prius owner would have to buy 4,000 liters of petrol, enough fuel for 112,000 km, which could take years. Of course, if prices were to rise drastically, that could change. But even if prices doubled-which is not likely-you’d have to drive more than 50,000 km to make up the initial price difference. The picture gets even gloomier when you realize that no one is going to get the estimated fuel consumption anyway. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has admitted that its testing procedure overstates petrol mileage by as much as 15 per cent. It tests cars on a chassis dynamometer, where the driven wheels turn freely on a set of rotating drums-far from normal driving conditions. In addition, hybrids use regenerative braking to recharge their batteries, with the result that braking during the EPA driving cycle is feeding more energy back into the system, boosting estimated petrol mileage. Although this offers a fuel saving, the overall cost of ownership looks less attractive. Compared with the family ‘Car of the Year 2004’, the conventionally powered Toyota Avensis 1. 8 T3-S, the Prius looks poor value. Although the Prius saves on fuel, its overall running cost comes out higher than that of the equivalent Avensis. The reason is its 25 per cent higher service or contract hire cost. On the brighter side, Toyota and its competitors believe that costs will decrease once production of hybrids begins to yield economies of scale. The benefits of scale would not stop with the producer. For example, a major part of the cost of the car is the nickel metal-hydride batteries. A company such as Panasonic could reduce the cost of producing batteries through research and development, it the market merited such an investment and could further reduce the price of batteries through its own economies of scale. However, realizing that cost reductions are a way off that fuel savings aren’t going to be the key to convincing people to purchase the Prius, car manufacturers have asked for tax incentives to stimulate purchase of clean-fuel and high-mileage cars. Several governments are providing incentives to people to buy hybrid cars. The US government offers $ 2,000 federal income-reduction and the UK government offers reduced car tax on initial purchase. Electric car drivers can also avoid London’s GBP 5 per day Congestion Charge. Are consumers ready for hybrids? Do improved gas mileage and emissions standards affect their buying decision? A glance at car sales in the last 10 years would suggest not. The biggest sales growth was in gas-guzzling 4 x 4s. After all, we rarely saw Range Rovers 10 years ago, now they’re a fairly common sight. People, it seems, think it’s a good idea for their neighbors to drive green machines, not themselves. Actually, when the Prius was introduced, it flew out of dealer’s showrooms. Between July and October 2000, Toyota sold 2,610 Priuses and had difficulty keeping up with demand. By the end of October 2000, the cars were waitlisted until January. Of course, much of that sales success is attributable to Toyota’s clever marketing. Two years before introduction, Toyota began educating consumers about the Prius. The company established a website to distribute information and also sent e-brochures to 40,000 likely buyers just before the introduction. Within two weeks. Toyota sold 1,800 cars based on the email message. In all, Toyota spent â‚ ¬15 million in 2002 promoting the Prius. There were print ads in magazines, but the bulk of the campaign was in television advertising. Ads running before the actual introduction used the tag line ‘A car that sometimes runs on gas power and sometimes runs on electric power, from a company that always runs on brain power. These ads helped to position Toyota as an ‘environmentally concerned’ company and more subtly stressed the technology aspect of the car. After introduction, the ads appealed more to emotion, with tag lines such as ‘ When it sees red, it charges’ – a reference to the car’s recharging at traffic lights. The headline captured the consumer’s attention through ambiguity. Only through focusing on the ad could the consumer learn why the headline was accurate. Again, the appeal is based on the technology of the car. Finally, Toyota took advantage of Earth Day to send out green seed cards shaped like Toyota’s logo to prospective buyers, wrapped some Priuses in green, and gave away cars at Earth Day events. Of course, â‚ ¬15 million is just a drop in the ocean compared to Toyota’s overall marketing budget of â‚ ¬ 200 million in 2002, but Toyota was satisfied with the effectiveness of the campaign, given the ‘newness’ of the car and the need to explain its technology. Much of this success can also be attributed to the narrow targeting of the ads. The company expected the first hybrid car buyers to be ‘techies’ and early adopters (people who are highly likely to buy something new). They were right. Many Prius owners are immersed in thee technology. They flood chat rooms with discussion of the car. The Priusenvy. com website urges owners to ‘Kick some gas’. Owners immediately began tinkering with the car’s computer system. One owner was able to add cruise control (an option not offered by Toyota) by wiring in a few switches in the car’s computer system. The founder of priusenvy. com worked out how to use the car’s dashboard display screen to show files from his laptop, play video games, and took at rear-view images from a video camera pointed out of the back of the car. One Austrian consumer installed a sniffer – a device on the car’s computer network that monitors messages. With the sniffer, he will be able to hook up add- ons such as a MiniDisc Player, an MP3 player, a laptop computer and a TV tuner. In the past, owners using mechanical skills customized cars with paint, lowered bodies, and souped – up engines. In the future, customization may rely on being computer savvy. Even though the Internet was a major part of the Prius launch, Toyota does not sell the car from its website. Buyers go to prius. toyota. com online to pick a color and decide whether they want a CD player and floor mats- the only options available from Toyota. After that, the dealers get involved, but it takes specially trained salespeople to explain and promote the Prius. Consequently, only 75 per cent of Toyota dealers handle the car. Many of them are not happy about the need to train salespeople. And why should they be? Margins are higher on gas-guzzlers, which are also easier to sell. Given dealer reluctance and consumer resistance, why have Toyota and Honda spent so much on their hybrids? While part of the answer is government regulations, a bigger part of the answer is competition. All car manufacturers concede that they will eventually have to move to hybrids to raise petrol mileage and lower emissions, and all of them have plans to do so. Ford, for example, plans to introduce an Escape SUV that will get 17 km/litre. Daimler Chrysler says that 15 per cent of its sport-utility vehicles will be hybrids that will get 20 per cent better fuel efficiency than conventional vehicles. General Motors is betting on hybrid buses and trucks. Toyota hopes, however, that its early entry will be the basis for a system of hybrids from ultra compact ‘minicars’ to luxury saloons, sport-utility vehicles, and even commercial trucks,. The mass market, however, values space, comfort, and power. Although hybrids may have space and comfort, power would appear to be elusive. Without greater power, it will be interesting to see whether consumers, who like speed on those open autobahns and acceleration on alpine roads, will settle for a hybrid. Questions 1. Outline the major macroenvironmental factors-demographic, economic, natural, technological, political and cultural-that have affected the introduction and sales of the Toyota Prius. How has Toyota dealt with each of these factors? 2. Evaluate Toyota’s marketing strategy so far. What has Toyota done well? How might it improve its strategy? 3. In your opinion, what are the advantages of Toyota’s early entry into the hybrid market? What are the disadvantages? Should Toyota have waited- like Ford, GM and Daimler Chrysler? 4. What needs and reasons would drive someone to purchase a â€Å"green† car?

Privatizing a State Run Natural Monopoly Essay -- Economics Economy Pa

A Natural Monopoly In Economics, a natural monopoly can be defined as an industry where the fixed cost of the capital goods is so high that it is not profitable for a second firm to enter and compete. The reason is that the nature of that product or service makes a single supplier more efficient than multiple, competing ones. The purpose of this essay is to discuss that the economic arguments for and against on privatizing a state run natural monopoly. You will find out on following contents. Main body --------- Natural monopolies are typically utilities such as water, electricity, and natural gas. It would be very expensive to build a second set of water and sewerage pipes in a city. Because this sort of service has a high fixed cost and a low variable cost. To prevent utilities from exploiting their monopolies with high prices, they are regulated by government sometime. Typically, they are allowed a fixed percentage of profit above cost. But this type of regulation can lead to inefficient high costs, since the monopoly is guaranteed a profit. To get around this problem, the government districts own the local utility and provide the service at cost. Another way to handle the natural monopoly is a significant shift of resources out of the state sector and into the private sector. Many governments around the world have followed this policy. For State owned monopolies across the world have proven themselves unable to invest properly in infrastructure, they provide relatively expensive and inefficient services and have poor labour re... ...ises such water supply, electricity, and telecommunications will always remain monopolistic in nature. It may not matter whether they are public or private. It is only in very large markets where there are sufficient economies of scale allowing for serious competition among privately owned utilities. Conclusion ---------- In conclusion, the arguments for privatising natural monopoly businesses are the same as for privatising any business. These monopolies usually dominate any nation's national economic efficiency, access to investment capital, innovative technology and effective management is even more important. Even after this kind of concern, we have to continue searching, through learning by doing, in order to reduce the power of monopolies on the daily lives.

“Divergent” by Veronica Roth Essay

Your decision in life all comes down to you and the path you choose, but just one choice can transform you. Veronica Roth created a strange dystopian world that morally depends on the choices people make in life, because their choices define who they are as people. Her futuristic world is divided into five factions that each represents something different; Abnegation (the selfless), Candor (the honest), Erudite (the intelligent), Amity (the peaceful) and Dauntless (the brave). These five factions were made up to prevent war and bring peace to the world and when they turn sixteen they get the chance to choose to leave their family, to transfer into a new faction or stay with them, but the choice all came down to them. THESIS: In the novel Divergent Veronica Roth examines how the theme of choice leads to bravery, betrayal, and greed. Body Paragraph 1: Topic sentence- Firstly the theme of choice leads to bravery, because of Tris selfish choice to leave abnegation and go into dauntless. Point:  Tris bravery in becoming a part of the dauntless is a foil to her own character, because Tris is a person of action, who has courage and is brave, but Beatrice, is the complete opposite. If Tris never made the choice to leave her faction, she would have never learned to be brave enough to overcome her fears and turn from the underdog into a hero. Bravery is represented in this book as being selfish and foolish, because the characters of the dauntless conception of bravery is acting in ridiculous life threatening situations to prove who is most daring to participate. However, bravery is truly presented as Tris goes through initiation. Not only has her choice to transfer into a different faction show her braveness but it also brought out her inner abnegation and taught her how to be selfless as well: â€Å"I believe in ordinary acts of bravery, in the coura ge that drives one person to stand up for another.† (Roth 207) Analysis: The significance of this quote is to show how Tris resembles bravery itself. Tris showed people that bravery is not just about being strong and committing acts of ruthlessness; it is about standing up for what you believe is right and being the big person in a situation when no one else is. Her choice to be brave and stand up for other people is what made her the hero in the end. Through bravery Tris was able to channel other traits in her from other factions and create a new her. Because of her willingness to be brave she was able to change herself and the way she thought. She was no longer the old Beatrice of abnegation. She turned in to the brave, courageous, strong, smart and selfless Tris of the dauntless. Any obstacle that came in her way she was able to overcome it and beat it and because of the one choice she made to decide to be brave, it made all the difference. Point 2: In addition to the above, Tris is a foil to her own character because if she had never joined the dauntless, she would have never been able to be on her way to saving the world: â€Å"I feel like someone breathed new air in my lungs. I am not abnegation. I am not dauntless. I am Divergent. And I can’t be controlled. (Roth 442) Analysis: The significance of this quote is that it shows how much Tris character changed from when she was in Abnegation to now. Being a part of the dauntless gave Tris the strength, the bravery, and the determination to get out there in the midst of it all as the world is crumbling to stand up for her own kind. If she never made the choice to change factions, she would have never had the chance to completely find herself and who she truly is, make the friends she did, and learn how to face her fears. Conclusion: In conclusion Tris bravery and strength Therefore Victoria Roth shows that through choice leads bravery, because bravery isn’t just something that happens on its own. It is the choice and the act of bravery that only you can decide to commit to and play a factor on your life. Body Paragraph: Topic sentence: Secondly the theme of choice leads to betrayal because of Tris and her brother, Caleb, choice to leave their family Point: Tris and Caleb’s betrayal is an example of pathos. Before Tris and Caleb are chosen to go up and decide on whether they will stay with their old faction or leave, their parents go to congratulate them: â€Å" My father kisses me on the head and clap Caleb on the shoulder grinning. See you soon, he says. Without a trace of doubt† (Roth 40-41) Analysis: The significance of this quote is that it shows how much hurt and betrayal they cause their father, especially, at the time. The one value that is most important about being a part of abnegation is not being selfish and to think about others. In this case Beatrice and Caleb’s choice to leave their family behind was not an act of selfishness, because they only considered themselves and not how their parents would feel. Thinking that his kids would choose to come home and stay with him and their mother, the father made a comment about how he would see them soon before the choosing ceremony started only to know minutes later that neither of his kids is coming home, and one of his kids (Caleb) are going home with the enemy- the erudite. The one choice they made that they thought would benefit them more in life ended up leading to their dishonour and betrayal of not only their family but their ex- faction. Point 2: Another act of betrayal was when one of Tris friends, Al, almost killed her out of jealousy, and insecurity. Al was supposed to be someone Tris thought she could depend on to keep her safe, trust, and ensure her that everything would be â€Å"okay† when the antagonist of the story and his crew would pick on her; but in the end he betrays her: â€Å"The soap smell is familiar. Lemon grass and sage. The same smell around Al’s bunk. A weight drops in my stomach†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"I suggest you rely on your transfer friends to protect you from now on,† he says â€Å"I thought I was†¦ I feel Al’s hands against my mouth, and a sob jolts my body forward†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"He wanted you to be the small quiet girl from Abnegation†¦ He hurt you because your strength made him feel week. No other reason† (Roth 278, 295) Analysis: The significance of this quote is that it shows you how one minute you can trust someone and the next they can easily make the choice to betray and  hurt you. Veronica Roth creates pathos for Tris, because Tris knows that she can no longer trust Al again even though they were such good friends. Al’s one choice not only hurt Tris but it also ruined their friendship, and this is one of the ways Veronica Roth shows how your one choice can define who you are as a person. Tris’ strength and ability was what caused Al to be jealous and in the end his jealousy cost him. Conclusion: Therefore, Veronica Roth created a sense of betrayal through the theme of choice, because it is another way of her showing how a specific choice can not only affect you but the other people around you. Body Paragraph 3: Topic Sentence: The theme of choice leads to war as the leader of the Erudite chooses to start a war over her own selfish reason. The factions were divided into five to prevent war and destruction from occurring in the world; but because the people of abnegation are divergent she chooses to take away many people physical and mental control to start a war and take them down: The theme of choice leads to greed because those who have power live in fear of loosing it.

Company Analysis of General Electric Essay

Running a company often centers on the idea of considering both positive and negative factors in order to then hand down executive decisions accordingly. To best understand the strengths and weakness of any given company, one must understand its base operations and the scope of industry in which the firm exists. In doing so, one would have a bigger picture of how the company operates and how success has been fostered in, as well as highlight in areas in which the organization could stand to see improvement. In this vein, a full analysis of General Electric was conducted, which includes an overview of the company including background and position in the manufacturing industry, as well as insight into the company’s management structure. Additionally, the company’s financials will be examined so that a recommendation can be made. Overview of Company According to the company website (2014) General Electric’s slogan is â€Å"Imagination at Work† and to this extent, the organization has been fostering in imagination for quite some time. According to the research, the company was founded in 1878 by Thomas Edison in Menlo Park. Edison is most notable for inventing the light bulb, and as such, this corporation is one of the largest companies on Earth more than a hundred years later (General Electric, 2014). After getting its start in the 1800s the company, being a leader in the industry of manufacturing and resting solely on the idea of innovation and inventions, began to manufacture different items across a wide variety of industries. According to the GE company website (2014) these inventions were primarily Edison’s own, and by the early 1900s the company, even against the Great Depression, the organization continued to make appliances for the home, delved into aviation technology, and began to further expand into new markets. As the research notes, because of this the company began to break up into several subdivisions such as GE Consumer Finance or GE energy in order to fully control its wide scope of offerings (General Electric, 2014). By the 2000s, the corporate website notes that the company further expanded into new markets, both online and for various infrastructures and industries around the world. Today, the company has  also delved into clean energy technology and pulls in an estimated $2 billion for electronics and home appliance sales alone (General Electric, 2014). Management Structure Looking to research conducted by Abetti (2011) one can see that the organization has one of the most complex management structures of all major conglomerates. In addition, as the company website (2014) points out, this structure has been in effect since the 1920s and instead of reevaluating this system; the company has only expanded upon it. According to Abetti (2011) at the top of the management structure, governing all areas is the Chairman and CEO, as well as the board of directors. Next, according to the research are two specific divisions: external and internal company functions. Internally, the company has global research, human resources, and its finance department, while externally; the company has commercial and public relations, business development, and its legal department. As noted by the company website (2014) next the company has its specific divisions or sectors, which this breakup is most notable for. These are as followed: Global Growth and Operations, Energy, Capital, home and Business Solutions, Healthcare, Aviation, and Transportation. It should be noted that each of these organizations exist as their own subdivision and entity, following the GE name. For instance, there is GE Energy, GE Home & Business Solutions, and so forth. This kind of management structure is beneficial to the company in two different ways. To start, it allows the organization to have each subdivision hand down its own division and be more or less contained within its own scope of industry, however, it also ensures that a high level of guidance will still ensure that upper-management is still well aware of what kind of decisions and operations these subdivisions will invest into. In this vein, according to research that has been conducted by Souraj (2010) each of these divisions utilize a lean manufacturing type of approach in order to ensure that all waste is eliminated and the sectors are utilizing the resources to the fullest. This ensures that the company is being cost effective in its approach and it allows the company to be innovative, without creating the potential problem of being extremely wasteful, which would then cut back on the organization’s profitability (Souraj, 2010). Moreover, each division also utilizes a six sigma approach in order to achieve near perfection. Essentially, this process rests on considering how each sector is doing in its own industry. For instance, despite the fact that GE Energy has seen slowed economic growth, this does not mean that GE Home & Business Solutions has as well. As such, utilizing a six sigma approach will allow the organization to consider the needs and goals of GE Energy before planning for solutions accordingly. Financial Overview According to research that has been drafted by Abetti (2011) by the year 2000 â€Å"General Electric was the world’s most valuable company with a market capitalization of $520 billion.† However, as the research points out, by 2008, after the U.S. recession led to a national economic downtown this figure had fallen 69% percent to $163 billion (Abetti, 2011). In addition, the global financial system has been equally a cause of concern and if one can consider the U.S. economic downturn the cause of the decrease in market capitalization, the world’s economy is the factor that has kept the company’s overall financial state lower than usual (Abetti, 2011). Although, the research points out that the organization has began to see a small increase, and thus, the company has hopes that these numbers will turn around, growth and expansion has not been seen as it had prior to 2008 (Abetti, 2011). This is largely attributed to the belief that the world’s financial system will see an upwards swing as a natural flow and with the idea that expansion can be considered a way for the company to cut back losses in some areas, while gaining them in others. According to research conducted by Abetti (2011) this line of thinking will not lead to the company to success and instead the company should â€Å"go back to GE’s traditional core competencies and divest non-core businesses.† Moreover, the company should also expand its globalization efforts, rebuild trust between employees and the company, strengthen financial and auditing function authority, and continue to invest in R & D. Although, many of these considerations are subjective, they bear a great deal of consideration when examining the company’s financials going forward. Conclusion General Electric remains one of the largest companies in the world, despite some of the misgivings mentioned previously. The company has a number of strengths including a diverse portfolio, existing in a wide range of industries, and its ability to be industry-leaders when it comes to innovation and gauging what products will be a success in the future. With this in mind, however, one recommendation that can be made to the company, based on the available research is for the organization to focus on current offerings, rather than continue to seek after non-traditional competencies. Moreover, the company must consider R & D efforts in order to continue to be the forbearers in innovation and creativity. Doing so will open the company to new markets, rather than the company attempting to slip into them and then compete with others in the market as a smaller entrant. If the company commits to these factors than there remains little doubt that General Electric will go back to being one of the world’s most valuable and innovative companies. References Abetti, P.A. (2011). General Electric at the crossroads: the end of the last US conglomerate? International Journal of Technology Management, 54(4), 345-368. General Electric. (2014). From Inspiration to Industry. Retrieved from http://www.ge.com/about-us/history/1878-1904. Souraj, S. (2010). The integration of Six Sigma and Lean Management. International Journal of Lean Six Sigma, 2040-4166.