Portrayal Of Vampires In Contemporary Media

Portrayal Of Vampires In Contemporary Media The original concept of vampires was penned down by Bram Stoker, in his book, Dracula. In this classic novel, Dracula is the main antagonist, the most dangerous predator on earth, whose survival depends on the blood of human beings. Thus, the concept of vampires became popular and they were seen as blood thirsty predators, the creatures of the night. Stoker depicted them as the living dead, who had the power to control human minds and ability to shape-shift. Their weaknesses included fear of the cross and the inability to withstand the sun. Since then, the concept of vampires has become popular in media and has changed to a significant level. The present day representation of vampires is different as compared to the concept that was introduced by Bram Stoker. The elements of romanticism and humanism have shaped the concept of vampires and they are now depicted as immortals, living in isolation and seclusion. In contemporary media, vampires are seen as soulless individuals, struggling for their survival based on different perspectives. This dissertation would concentrate on analyzing the modern concept of vampires in the lights of broad and diverse academic resources. Case study analysis has been selected as the research methodology, which would concentrate on reviewing and analyzing the concepts of modern vampires in six different Cult TV series related to vampires. LITERATURE REVIEW Classical Concept of Vampires Early literary renditions of vampires did not necessarily present the creature in an actual human form, for example they would have conspicuous pointed teeth, pointed ears or grotesquely hairy hands (Bartlet Idriceanu, 2006, 105). As the concept of vampires grew in the seventeenth and eighteenth century, vampires emerged as evil creatures, looking like human beings. They were depicted as charming and attractive creatures, making them convenient for them to attack their victims. In the film Nosferatu, which was released in the year 1922, the vampire looked like a ferocious and inhuman monster, with sharp talons (Bartlet Idriceanu, 2006, 111). In Hollywood, Dracula was seen as a charming and handsome vampire, dressed in suits and capes. In order to study the modern concept of vampires, it is essential to understand the primary classical concepts. Classical vampires have been portrayed in several movies and television. One of the classical vampires can be seen in the film Interview with a Vampire and Bram Stokers Dracula (Bartlet Idriceanu, 2006, 125). The classicals have been represented as those vampires, who have a pale, scrawny and pallid appearance. Gordon (2004, 89) asserts that it was once believed a Classical had to drink blood, not only for nourishment but to replenish his blood supply, which he did not have because he was believed to be dead. The concept of classical vampires has been derived from the historical Carpathian texts, which talk about Vlad Tepes as well as the research and analysis of Bram Stokers Dracula (Jennings, 2004, 295). The concept of classical vampires did exist before Bram Stoker penned his original masterpiece, however, Dracula, is the most popular and well known classical vampire of all times. It should be noted that the characteristics of classical vampires have been derived from those of Dracula. A classical vampire is considered to be weak and gaunt in appearance. Once it feeds on the victim, it gains its human form. However, as the blood dissipates, it again returns to its former state. They have the ability to change into animals. True classical can only become vampires after becoming the victim. This indicates that the victim loses his or her blood and dies. The infected victim revives as the undead. Literature also reveals that newly born undead need to feed on blood as soon as they awake. They cannot withstand sun. Bram Stokers Dracula lived in isolated, dark castle, which was found in the deep forest (Jennings, 2004, 299). Furthermore, they need to sleep in a coffin in order to restore and revive their strength. Literature also suggests that classical vampires are predators and it is in their nature to kill human beings. They see human beings as food, which provides them the nourishment to survive. Feeding on blood is necessary for their survival (Summers, 2009, 115). Modern Representation of Vampires in Media: History There is no doubt that the classical concept of vampires has been changed by the contemporary media. The new, modern vampires have been romanticized. As mentioned earlier, the concept of vampires gained immense popularity after the publication of Bram Stokers classic novel, Dracula. The success of this novel led to the development of vampires and thus, it gained the attention of media. Since the introduction of Dracula, people from all over the world have become interested on the subject of vampires. The film Nosferatu, a German film, which was based on Dracula, is the first ever film as it was the first time anyone could truly witness the rising of the undead from its coffin (Bartlet Idriceanu, 2006, 205). In the thirties, Todd Browning brought Dracula to life in Hollywood. Unlike its German counterpart, Brownings Dracula was charming and attractive and as sinister as the vampire depicted in Nosferatu. The only difference was that Hollywoods Dracula was good-looking and attractive. Thus, Browning laid down the foundations for the concept of vampire in the American media. From here, the concept of modern vampires emerged; the creatures of the night, who were painstakingly beautiful and attractive yet they had a monster inside them. During the seventies, the concept of vampires in media changed to a significant level. Before the seventies, vampires in media were seen as physically attractive and charismatic individuals, who were the most dangerous predators on earth. The main focus was primarily on their external attributes. Their internal characteristics and personalities were unknown. They were only seen as creatures of the night, the undead, who fed on human blood(Summers, 2009, 119). Beginning in the seventies, the concept of vampires changed as the internal characteristics and personality were being explored. During the eighties, the concept of vampires changed in accordance to the culture of Hollywood(Bartlet Idriceanu, 2006, 225). The vampires of the eighties adopted a gothic lifestyle and resembled like rock stars. These vampires were dangerous and deadly and cool. The eighties witnessed a whole new concept of vampires. In the nineties, the concept of vampires in media became romanticized. The movie, In terview with a Vampire, completely changed the concept of vampires (Gordon, 2004, 125). The nineties witnessed a new and improved concept of vampires in the media (Gordon, 2004, 147). They were now viewed as the creatures of the night, whose aim is to survive in the human society, facing various obstacles and hurdles. They are now viewed as immortals, who watch as the human society grows. The concept of vampires further changes with the emergence of Television series such as Buffy, the Vampire Slayer, Angel, True Lies, the Vampire Diaries, etc(Summers, 2009, 121). In these television series, there were two types of vampires; the good ones and the evil ones(Wolf, 2007, 258). The good vampires worked collaboratively with their human alias to combat against the evil and sinister vampires. The nineties media also gave rise the possibility of love between a vampire and a human being; for instance, the love relationship between Buff and Angel in Buffy the Vampire Slayer and the love relat ionship between Stefan and Elena in the Vampire Diaries(Summers, 2009, 138). The possibility of love relationship between a human and a vampire has also been discussed in Stephanie Meyers Twilight, between Bella Swan and Edward Cullen. All of these new concepts have romanticized the concept of vampires in media and they are no longer seen as the creatures to be feared. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY For this research, the research methodology selected is the case study approach, which would review the most popular Cult television series in order to answer the questions addressed in this research. Each of the series selected needs to be discussed extensively and in terms of characters and their popularity. The overall goal of case study analysis is to analyze the modern portrayal of vampires in media. The series selected are as follows: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, True Blood, Being Human and the Vampire Diaries. Following are the aims and objectives of the study: The similarities and differences between the classic and modern concepts of vampire. To study the relationship between popular culture and the present day representation of vampires. To study the modern day presentation of vampires in Hollywood movies and to compare it to the concept found in Television series. Why modern vampires are seen as isolated, humane individuals, fighting for their survival in their own community, in order to capture and captivate the target audiences? To study whether the soft image has been used to charm the audience in order to cater emotional drama? To study the relationship between the vampire and a human character of the series. CASE STUDY ANALYSIS Buffy the Vampire Slayer In Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the creator Joss Whedon has explored the possibility that the vampire can have a soul. The soul found in the vampire Angel, who has conscious and wide ranging emotions, which makes him a good vampire. Thus, Joss Whedon has explored the fact that vampires can have a soul and therefore, they can have a conscious. Furthermore, the creator also explored the possibility of the love relationship between Buffy, the vampire slayer, and Angel, the vampire with soul. Even though, they were completely in love with another, their relation had to come to an end after realizing that Angel can give her nothing but darkness (Dundes, 2008, 98). The concept of vampires in this show is relatively new and it gave the possibility that vampires can be good. Similarities can also be found between the classical vampires and the concept of vampires created by Joss Whedon (Summers, 2009, 145). Just like classical vampires, evil vampires feed on blood. They are afraid of sunlight a s it can kill them. They are killed by stakes. However, at these modern vampires live among human beings and during the day, hide in their underground hiding place. The series had made significant impact on other television shows and it has been successful in capturing wide ranging audience from all over the world. Buffy the Vampire Slayer showed the whole world, and an entire sprawling industry, that writing monsters and demons and end-of-the world is not hack-work, it can challenge the best. Joss Whedon raised the bar for every writer-not just genre/niche writers, but every single one of us (Jennings, 2004, 298). Angel Angel is another television show, which is based on vampires. The series was also created by Joss Whedon. The show is similar as that of Buffy, the Vampire Slayer. In this show, Angel is the vampire, who has soul(Wolf, 2007, 258). He had been given back his soul after he had killed one of the gypsies and therefore, he has spent more than a century to get over the guilt of killing so many innocents. The show starts off with Angel working as a private detective. He and his associates work collaboratively to help those people, who have lost their way in order to save their souls. Furthermore, they fight with demons. The concept of vampires in this television series is that a vampire is working to help others(Jennings, 2004, 299). The nature of the vampire depicted is soft, which is used to gather the attention of the audience. The concept of vampires in this show is relatively new and it gave the possibility that vampires can be good. Similarities can also be found between the classical vampires and the concept of vampires created by Joss Whedon. Just like classical vampires, evil vampires feed on blood. They are afraid of sunlight as it can kill them. They are killed by stakes(Jennings, 2004, 300). However, at these modern vampires live among human beings and during the day, hide in their underground hiding place. The series had made significant impact on other television shows and it has been successful in capturing wide ranging audience from all over the world. True Blood True blood is another American television series, which is based on vampires. In this series, vampires have gained citizens rights and they are living with humans. The series also explores the relationship between Sookie Stackhouse and Bill Compton, a vampire(Summers, 2009, 296). In this series, the vampires do not feed on human blood and thus, they are seen as citizens, who have the same rights as humans. Like other modern versions of vampires, the series concentrate on the possibility of a relationship between a human and a vampire. Being Human The concept of vampires in Being Human is same as True Blood. The story revolves around three vampires, who concentrate on adjusting themselves to the human society. Vampire Diaries The concept of vampire in Vampire Diaries revolves around the relationship between Stefan, a vampire and Elena, a human. Stefan is a good vampire and only feeds on animal blood, whereas his brother, Damon is vicious and preys on human blood. The concept of vampires in this show is relatively new and it gave the possibility that vampires can be good (Summers, 2009, 302). Just like classical vampires, evil vampires feed on blood. They are afraid of sunlight as it can kill them. They are killed by stakes (Dundes, 2008, 114). However, at these modern vampires live among human beings. At the same time, they can withstand sun rays by wearing a ring or an amulet, which protects them from sunlight. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION Bram Stokers Dracula is the main antagonist, the most dangerous predator on earth, whose survival depends on the blood of human beings. Thus, the concept of vampires became popular and they were seen as blood thirsty predators, the creatures of the night. Stoker depicted them as the living dead, who had the power to control human minds and ability to shape-shift. Their weaknesses included fear of the cross and the inability to withstand the sun. A classical vampire is considered to be weak and gaunt in appearance. Once it feeds on the victim, it gains its human form. However, as the blood dissipates, it again returns to its former state. There is no doubt that the classical concept of vampires has been changed by the contemporary media. The new, modern vampires have been romanticized. As mentioned earlier, the concept of vampires gained immense popularity after the publication of Bram Stokers classic novel, Dracula. The nineties witnessed a new and improved concept of vampires in the media. They were now viewed as the creatures of the night, whose aim is to survive in the human society, facing various obstacles and hurdles. They are now viewed as immortals, who watch as the human society grows. The concept of vampires further changes with the emergence of Television series such as Buffy, the Vampire Slayer, Angel, True Lies, the Vampire Diaries, etc. In these television series, there were two types of vampires; the good ones and the evil ones. From case analysis, it can be concluded that the soft image of vampires have been depicted in order to captivate the audience. Furthermore, the possibilities of a love relationship between a vampire and a human, makes a vampire more humane, having a consciousness.

BBQ Fun Case Study

Title Page It is all about analysis figures of market trends and developments in order to determine their influence on the business. The statistical analysis will take you to valuable analysis of comparative market information. It will show us the overview of sampling methods, quantitve research methods etc. Besides this it will tell you that how to understand the market trends and how to find them. Executive Summary BBQ fun is leading to that products which are we use in outdoor lifestyle . It is catering to growing need for furnishing new and renovated dwelling in the Brisbane area.It produces the different verities of BBQs, outdoor furniture and BBQ accessories will position BBQ fun as best in class for outdoor lifestyle retailing. In other section we learnt that use statistical analysis of market trends and developments to determine their potential impact on the business. Apart from that we looked that how to perform qualitative analysis of comparative market information to revie w organisation performance, opportunities or threats . we discussed market research techniques and sampling. Introduction BBQ fun is well known company in Australia.It is also one of the best companies which are producing outdoor living products. This company started since 1950 in Brisbane. First of all BBQ fun’s owner started his business from a little shop and he started his business with the making of charcoal ovens. That became very lovable in the people of Brisbane. However time has passed. BBQ fun started producing more outdoor living products and they became famous in all over Australia. In upcoming time the management of BBQ fun thing to take this company in all over the world. We hope that with our hard work and good quality of products we will be on number 1 in the world.Strengths. Excellent staff that are highly skilled and knowledgeable about outdoor lifestyles.. Retail space that is bright, functional for a commercial urban district.. High customer loyalty among customers. | Weaknesses. A limited marketing budget to develop brand awareness due to the lack of critical mass and store cover.. The struggle to continually fund the growing long-term repayment plans taken out by our customers| Opportunities. A growing market in a high growth area with significant percentage of the target market still not aware of BBQ fun’s offer..Increasing sales opportunities outside of our target area-greater Brisbane. | Threats. Competition from local independents that can reduce price as owner operators lower than our staff-run stores.. competition from national chains moving into the Brisbane market. A slump in the economy reducing customer’s disposable income spent on outdoor lifstyles. | Finding and discussion In the initial phases of the markrting plan development,several focus groups were held to get insight into a different types of patrons of outdoor lifestyle stores.These type of groups provided useful insight into the decisions and decis ion-making processes,of custmors . An additional source of market research that is dynamic is a feedback mechanism based on a suggestion card system in store. Last thing of market research is reasonable appreciation. For two reasons the management of BBQ will come on the stores. The first one is competitve analysis. The second one is that local business owners are often part of an informal fraternal organisation where the support each other’s business.Brisbane city (BC) vs Sunshine city (SC) Customer number| BC:HouseholdIncome $| BC:OutdoorHome warespend $| CustomerNumber| SC:HouseholdIncome $| SC:Outdoor home ware spend $| 1| 141917. 4| 17030. 09| 1| 99724. 51| 5983. 47| 2| 132476. 7| 15897. 21| 2| 73762. 43| 4425. 74| 3| 120251. 5| 14430. 18| 3| 67561. 46| 4053. 68| 4| 119381. 9| 14325. 83| 4| 109280. 6| 6556. 83| 5| 126690. 5| 15529. 86| 5| 60555. 51| 3633. 33| 6| 129411. 7| 15529. 40| 6| 80996. 57| 4859. 79| Recommendations If we want to build up our company in other coun tries then we should know bout the people of that country like about their customs, religion, habits and soon. Apart this quality of stuff is very important to build up any business. If we provide the good quality product to the consumer in reasonable price then he will come back again and he will recommend to others as well to buy the things from our shop. The very important thing is area. Before start the business we should chose a good area that what kind of people are living there. How good their income is. Will they able to buy our product. These are the main tips which we keep in eye to start the business.

The Downside Risk of Going to School in America from Uk Essay Topics That No One Is Talking About

The Downside Risk of Going to School in America from Uk Essay Topics That No One Is Talking About Social networking comments should be safeguarded by free speech. School was generally an enjoyable place to attend for everybody. Fantastic letter of complaints will be inclined to generate decent result or outcome. Public prayer shouldn't be allowed in schools. Nobody really wishes to compose an essay. Quite frequently, the ideal topic is one which you truly care about, but you also will need to get well prepared to research it. Therefore, it's important to settle on a topic that wouldn't be challenging to study. Selecting a great topic can be difficult. Things You Should Know About Going to School in America from Uk Essay Topics If you're not content with your essay, you're guaranteed to have a complete refund! Homework needs to be banned. Receive a passport in case you don't have one already. In truth, it requires a lot of hard work and dedication to do this. Pay close attention to all things electronic, and you will be certain to find something debatable of what you see. When you're picking your topic, remember that it's much simpler to write about something which you presently have interest ineven in case you don't know a great deal about it. Sometimes you'll get a chance to set your creativity free and just take pleasure in the process as you're participating in a debate on funny or merely intriguing debate topics. You're a true topic enthusiast! Selecting a topic is a critical issue that partly estimates final success of the job. Researching the topic permits you to find out more about what fascinates you, and should you pick something you truly like, writing the essay will be more enjoyable. Also, bear in mind your discussion topics must fit the other students' level some of them is able to be not able to deal with the topic that has too many facets to take into account. While you might not get the opportunity for attempting all of them, select the field which interests you, choose any topic and get started writing. You don't need to acquire super technical with legal argumentative essays, but make sure you do your homework on what the recent laws about your favorite topic actually say. Besides academic degree, you should also think about the sort of debate format to select and a suitable topic. Inform them the incorrect consequence of the item you bought and how are they going to resolve the issue. The Going to School in America from Uk Essay Topics Cover Up Then, student loans might be a good way to help students by giving them an opportunity to still have the ability to attend college without the assistance of financial aid but there's also a downfall to student loans too. Since universities in britain focus on specialized study, determine what your interests are and locate a university that enable you to concentrate on them. In todays soci ety there are a number of reasons that someone ought to have an education or a degree in some profession. In the event the education in the united states isn't thought of one of the majority of serious issues we face, our nation for a whole will fall. If you've got the will there is a manner. In this manner, even at the youthful age there are a great deal of things they can do. Even though a job necessitates accountability, the main problem is responsibility at home. A great deal of the other students are from various areas so their understanding of particular things differs from others. The 5-Minute Rule for Going to School in America from Uk Essay Topics Schools should not have a thing to do with ads. Textbooks are obsolete and must be replaced by iPads. Teachers should not be permitted to contact students through social networking. Inspiration to make your own advertising or media argumentative essay topics isn't really hard to discover. Persuasive essays share a good deal of resemblance with argumentative essays. It's important to select debatable argumentative essay topics since you need opposing points you may counter to your own points. Moral argumentative essay topics are a few of the simplest to get carried away with. Within the next pages there are a few advice on ways to earn a letter of complaints and sample of it. Your suggestions and very good relationship with them will resolve the issue simpler. Figure out which of the topics, you presently have a fairly good background on which will make it possible for you to have a relative edge. With these strategies, you can develop interesting and exclusive topics in almost no time in any way.

Analysis Of The Movie The Video - 857 Words

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The National Target Program For Sustainable Poverty...

Analysis of the National Target Program for Sustainable Poverty Reduction (NTP-PR) The NTP-PR has contributed substantially to the reduction of poverty in Vietnam. Between 2006-2010 the program gave out 6.2 million preferential loans, and between 2007-2009 the program provided vocational training to roughly 100,000 poor workers, resulting in roughly 60 percent of those trained gaining employment or becoming self-employed. Between 2006-2010, 10 million students received total exemption of tuition, and 2.8 million impoverished ethnic minority children received free textbooks for school. What is more, an estimated 62 million individuals, 90 percent of whom were poor, received free health insurance cards in the same five-year period. The†¦show more content†¦The rationale of focusing on education is that, as demonstrated by Banerjee and Duflo’s work, improving education tends to create numerous positive externalities manifest both in health outcomes and in national economic growth. Policy 1: Implement a CCT program to increase school attendance among the rural poor. You should implement a CCT program, based on Columbia’s successful Familias en Accià ³n, in towns with fewer than 100,000 people, with strict conditions placed on both participating towns and families. First, towns must contain educational and health infrastructure to support individuals to meet the conditions of the program detailed. Towns also must include a bank, and an official with whom the central government can communicate. Second, parents must bring participating children to regular development check-ups, enabled by the health infrastructure mentioned above. Moreover, school-aged children must attend 80 percent of classes for the household to receive an additional monthly transfer. Transfers should be based on estimates of basic nutritional costs per person in each of the qualifying towns. Additional education transfers should be based on a fraction of this initial nutritional transfer, commensurate with the costs of living in each town. Under this program, household consumption will increase, school attendance will increase, and healthcare check-ups will

Bronze Age Mesopotamia Leadership Free Essays

The Epic of Gilgamesh Bronze Age Mesopotamia had a distinct culture and tradition; their rich cultural heritage was passed down by some incredible fictitious and non-fictitious writings like the ‘Epic of Gilgamesh’. There are many inferences that can be made about Bronze Age Mesopotamia by reading the ‘Epic of Gilgamesh’. It’s clear from this document that the dichotomy between a tyrannical and a just leader existed in the society where the leaders were expected to be courageous, bold and adventurous. We will write a custom essay sample on Bronze Age Mesopotamia Leadership or any similar topic only for you Order Now The importance of the role of religion on leadership cannot be overlooked and religion seemed to mingle with and govern the lives of the leaders. One of the most powerful deductions that can be made about Bronze Age Mesopotamia is the constant struggle between a tyrannical ruler and a just ruler. In fact one can go as far as claiming that the entire document highlights the need for a leader who rules well over his people. In the end of the tale we see Gilgamesh, a tyrannical barbaric ruler, repent by pledging to become someone who loves the people he rules (Kovacs). This shows that perhaps corrupt tyrants who thrived at the expense of the common people marred the Bronze Age Mesopotamia. Similarly another key deduction on leadership is the apparent divine mandate to rule. The Persian Empire is known to have solidified the ‘divine mandate to rule’ and it seems that the Bronze Age Mesopotamia wasn’t too far off from the same notion. In the story we see Gilgamesh as a ‘hero’ mandated by the Gods to rule and after he displeases the Gods we see the birth of another ‘hero’ once again mandated by Gods to challenge Gilgamesh (Kovacs). This intricate relationship between heroes and Gods is something that seems to be a key feature of leadership as no ordinary person could simply become a leader. The Bronze Age Mesopotamian society had somewhat unique expectation from their leaders. The most important expectation dealt with courage and strength, which is to clear from the numerous incidents during the ‘Woe unto Gilgamesh who slandered me and killed the Bull of Heaven! † We see Enikdu and Gilgamesh fight off ‘the bull of heaven’ as well as fight each other with courage, passion and determination. A leader who did not ave the courage to fight and the strength to win was considered no leader at all during the Bronze Age Mesopotamia (Kovacs). Similarly, the leaders were also expected to have a sense of adventure to test out their courage. During the ‘Epic of Gilgamesh’ we see Gilgamesh and Enikdu travel to the dark cedar forest to fight the great monster called Humbaba. There seemed to be no reason for both these leaders to fight this monster but in order to prove their worth and win over the love of their people they had to embark upon this journey and prove their courage as seen in this quote, â€Å"I am Gilgamesh, I killed the Guardian! I destroyed Humbaba who lived in the Cedar Forest†¦ I slew lions in the mountain passes! † (Kovacs) . During the course of the ‘Epic of Gilgamesh’ we also find out about interesting and intricate relationship between Gods and leadership. The Bronze Age Mesopotamian notion of God was very different from our modern notion and God’s often had physical form and interacted with men and other beings. Its clear from the tale that Gods were deeply concerned about who rules and it what manner. As seen in tablet VI, after Gilgamesh rejected Ishtar’s proposal to her father, â€Å"the god of creation, brings about a curse upon the city of Uruk (Kovacs). Even though the Gods do not have complete control over how the leaders behave they seem to be the ones who ultimately decide their fate as is evident from the death Enkidu. The Gods also seem to decide the creation of leaders and their qualities. The leaders can be seen as ‘appointed officials’ and whenever a leader is doing what the Gods would have him do the God’s can create a new one to bring about balance and harmony. To conclude, the ‘Epic of Gilgamesh’, one of the few surviving works of the ancient literature, provides with wonderful insights into the hidden world of leadership in the Bronze Age Mesopotamia. From this tale we find out that the Mesopotamian society had experienced tyrannical rule but at the same time people seemed to have realized a way forward where rulers needed to be just. We also find out that Bronze Age Mesopotamian culture recognized courage, passion and a sense of adventure as important virtues in their leaders. Similarly a lot can be said about the close connection between leaders, Gods and the ultimate power of the Gods over the leaders. Works Cited Kovacs, Maureen. The Epic of Gilgamesh. N. p. , n. d. Web. 14 Sep 2012. http://www. ishtartemple. org/epic. htm. How to cite Bronze Age Mesopotamia Leadership, Essay examples

LiFung free essay sample

Fung, which is a long-standing Hong Kong based company, has evolved from an export trading company to a coordinator of value-added services across the whole supply chain in a global, open manufacturing circumstance. Its corporate culture has enabled it to keep pace with the current trend of global business. The successful acquisitions and the venture capital make the company grows stably and rapidly. However, the company now faces some challenges coming from Asian financial environment and related policies. High sensitive of the change in macro environment is essential for the company to success. At the same time, keeping Asia in an important position could take long time competitive advantages. Finally, the update of information and technology may bring more efficiency and effective within the organization. Introduction Li amp; Fung was the first export company that solely funded by Chinese capital in Chinese trade history. Fung Yiu-hing and Li To-ming founded it in 1906 in Guangzhou, China. We will write a custom essay sample on LiFung or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page The firm grew to be a limited company in Hong Kong on December 28, 1937. The company expanded quickly to globalize by the leading of the second generation from the Fung family. The high-speed growth of Li amp; Fung Limited started when the third generation of Fung’s family took over the organization. The core parts of the company’s business are foreign trade, logistic, distribution and retail. Victor and William tried to restructure the company, use the modem human resource management, and utilized professional management skills to control the company without eliminating the Chinese style management. Li amp; Fung Limited made use of acquisition to take over the competitors and expanded their suppliers and clients all over the world. The most famous and successful one is the acquisition of Inchcape Buying Services (IBS), which helped Li amp; Fung Limited to open the European market. At the same time, the brothers establish a venture capital corporation to accompany the suppliers and stable its supply chain. According to one anonymous (1999), Li amp; Fung is the world’s largest trade sourcing company and it pioneers a new model for multinationals. By now, William and Victor want to expand the company from Asia based company into a region closer to their target market. With the new trend of the global economy, Li amp; Fung Limited will encounter more challenges and find a way out of a difficulty. Since its foundation, the company has establishes a culture that incorporates pragmatism and innovation. According to Msmith (2008), the progressive corporate culture, which blends traditional pragmatic reasoning with entrepreneurial innovation, has enabled adaptability and growth in a dynamic market. Additionally, it combines the Chinese business culture (â€Å"Chineseness†) with the foreign operations. Not only is it expects loyalty and reward diligent, but it also has a reasonable and transparent bonus system, where bonuses were based solely on profit performance. Generally, the company is employee-concerned, where the workers and managers are treated as family. As is the vision of the corporation, they strive to use resources efficiently; to add business value for our customers and their suppliers; to focus on the health and wellbeing of our colleagues; and to positively impact our communities and societies (2013). Analysis of Li amp; Fung Li amp; Fung’s outsourcing matrix suits particularly well to its global position and activity: To begin with, outsourcing teams are firstly divided into two main product categories: soft and hard goods. Since they â€Å"specialized† in a certain kind of good, they develop a certain expertise, which is an asset in their discussions with external agents. Besides, inside each category, the teams are divided depending on their geographical market. This organization displays an advantage in satisfying specific local needs. Furthermore, connection and communication is established and fostered between the divisions, which know exactly whom to contact for each particular issue. Finally, Li amp; Fung is able to efficiently master the â€Å"4Cs† (connections, communications, control of quality, and consolidation of shipments), and obtain a competitive advantage because of their organizational chart. In terms of Li amp; Fung’s business model, it is â€Å"a virtual factory† or â€Å"private label manufacturing program†. This means that it specializes in providing product itself, not brand or promotion. Although there is big scale merit in production of textile industry, it is difficult that each company has a big factory as there are lots of competitors and fashion of the clothes are always changing, as is thought by Swan (2008). As to company which has a talent of designing or marketing, it is better not to have its manufacturing and outsourcing. Maybe this is why Li amp; Fung is always required from many customers. Also, Li amp; Fung has developed the relationship through its network so that it can get such soft goods as textiles at high speed and excellent quality with the lowest cost. Successful acquisition Li amp; Fung’s mergers have been the main way of expending their business. Among all the mergers, the biggest merger during 1994 to 1997, which is acquiring IBS, is the most successful and famous one even in the global range. The main reason why Li amp; Fung can get so many benefits from merger is based on the following reasons. The first reason is that, Li amp; Fung knows which company to merge. When Li amp; Fung choose companies, they will look for what the company is having at that time, the sourcing, the customers and the employees. In this way, Li amp; Fung can complement the blank its current business. For example, although the margin of IBS was only 0. 8% and the combined average was 2. 2%, the sourcing supplement brought by IBS has make up the blank of Li amp; Fung’s South Asia, Europe, the Mediterranean and Latin America. The second reason is that Li amp; Fung knows how to merge. At that time Li amp; Fung is the largest world’s supplier of retailers and IBS was the second largest. So the merge was very difficult and was treat as an elephant eat elephant merger. Especially for the huge difference between the two companies, Li amp; Fung was a U. S. style Chinese-family business, While IBS was a British company. There would be a lot of unaccustomed and conflicts as expected. So Li amp; Fung created a transition team to review organizational processes and implement a unit-by-unit transition. Instead of doing the transition after the merger, Li amp; Fung did it ahead of the merger, in order of saving accustoming time. When the scale of the company increases, the operational mode of the company has to keep changing as well. After the merger, Li amp; Fung’s scale is twice as big. Li amp; Fung changed its mode into a more efficient and suitable one. It assigned managers to customer groups and not countries. This has made the management to be more professional and make the production more efficient. The merger has made the sourcing matrix of Li amp; Fung more mature. The margin of Li amp; Fung was higher than those of other companies due to their regionally coordinated sourcing services. Small Venture Capital Arm In 1986, Li amp; Fung established a small venture capital group in order to improve and perfect the whole supply chain. LFI invested in companies, which could assist the Li amp; Fung’s sourcing services. Magretta (1998) indicates that Victor said â€Å"A big piece of our corporate development is plugging those holes-the phrase we use is filling in the mosaic and we use venture capital to do it. † LFI pay the same attention on the companies’ management system as the product when they were choosing the company to invest. Biers (2000) said, â€Å"Its venture activity has remained modest by industry standards, with just two or three new investments a year, each typically of just a few million dollars or less. The CEO of LFI mentioned that they only invested in companies that had at least $3 million profit, lack of resource and kept the control of the company. At the same time, they were looking for the young and creative companies that owned by people with design and marketing talent. The most successful capital injection is the investment to a promotional company; Cyrk Inc. LFI spe nt $200,000 in order to take 30% shares in Cyrk Inc. during 1990. At the very start, Cyrk Inc. provided service of T-shirt print. Three year after the capital injection, the sales volume raised 20 times more than before through capitalized on its logo and promotional design capabilities. In this case, they made contract with Philip Morris to produce a full line of promotional clothing. Five years later, LFI sold their shares of Cyrk Inc. for about $65 million. After spending a great deal of investment in America, LFI transferred their sight to the European market. As a result of diverse culture and language, it was more difficult to invest in several companies to cover the whole European market. The complex situation required the managers in European have more experience and different strategies for different countries. During the process of helping these companies, they gain experience about the selection of the collaborate companies and create more opportunities to broaden their business fields. At the same time, Li amp; Fung can gain high reputations among the growing companies, because the goal of the LFI is not acquire these companies. In this case, these companies could unconstrained develop themselves. And Li amp; Fung could not only maintain the good relationship with both potential partners and current partners. Challenges amp; Recommendations For Li amp; Fung, although it is already the largest export company in the world, it is still facing a lot of challenges. According to the trend of international Economics, Asian Financial Crisis will be gone. By then, the labor cost of Li amp; Fung will not be as low as now. So margin will be lower in the coming future. But even if the Asian market has recovered, its labor cost is still lower than other countries; also the gap between the wealthy and poor is huge. Most of people are living under average level, which will bring a low cost of labor. Also Asian has a large population, which will involve a large number of rich people, whose price sensitivity is low and needs are high. They can purchase the products, which have been produced in Asian. So Li amp; Fung could give more attention to Asian Market, instead of giving it up. Policies of trade protection, which have been published by governments in different countries, will also be a huge challenge to Li amp; Fung. Under this circumstance, all that Li amp; Fung can do is to prevent before it or actively adjust after the coming of policies. Li amp; Fung should do market research and macroeconomics analysis regularly in order to choose the very best sourcing places. Also, it ought to try to find outstanding suppliers in different economic regions and different fields, so that the risk will be shared. Thereby, Li amp; Fung should closely monitor the changes of economics and adjust it in time. With the development of technology, information system is playing an important role in supply chain management. In this case, Li amp; Fung could establish a proprietary information network that enabled clients to view the status of an order. This will improve their customer relationship management. At the same time, they could set up a powerful database to do data mining, which could collect the data of suppliers and consumers, in order to calculate the shortest time and distance and lowest cost in operation. Also they can collect the data of customers, so that they can know better of market needs and offer better service. Overall, for Li amp; Fung, challenges and chances are coexisting. If it could continue to reflect, to improve, it would keep up with the trend of world economics and update information and technology timely. References 1. Biers, D. (2000). Thinking small. Far Eastern Economic Review, 163(46), 48-48. Retrieved from http://search. proquest. com/docview/208225120? accountid=9744 2. Li amp; fung pioneers a new model for multinationals. (1999). Strategic Direction, 15(6), 24-25. Retrieved from http://search. proquest. com/docview/218626878? accountid=9744 3. Li amp; Fung: Beyond â€Å"Filling in the Mosaic†, 1998-1998(HBS Case 9-398-092). 4. Magretta, J. (1998), Fast, global, and entrepreneurial: Supply chain management, hong kong style: An interview with victor fung. Harvard Business Review, 76(5), 102-114. Retrieved from http://search. proquest. com/docview/227758445? accountid=9744 5. Mismith068 (2008, 12). Li and Fung Case Analysis. StudyMode. com. Retrieved 12, 2008, from http://www. studymode. com/essays/Li-Fung-Case-Analysis-185365. html 6. Swan (2008, 9). Agri-Future; trendspotting amp; future thinking. Retrieved 9, 2008, from http://swan-futurethinking. blogspot. ca/2008_09_01_archive. html 7. Sustainability (2013, 3). Retrieved March 14, 2013 from http://www. lifung. com/eng/csr/csr1. php