Merchant & A Midsummer Nights :: English Literature Essays

Merchant & A Midsummer Nights A Product of Society? It is hard to determine whether or not Shakespearean comedy is clearly a product of Elizabethan courtly society. It can be said that the answer to that question is both yes and no. It is apparent in The Merchant of Venice that Shakespeare’s writing was strongly influenced by the society surrounding him while A Midsummer Nights Dream is much less realistic and so original that one might think he came from another time period all together. In The Merchant of Venice there are countless examples of how Shakespeare’s works were a product of society. One of the main similarities is religion. The official established state religion in Shakespeare’s time was the Church of England, lucidly Protestant. Everyone was required to attend an Anglican Service once a month. The Anglican service is also called Prayer Service, Prayer Book Service, Common Prayer, or the Lord’s Supper. Although it was not expressly illegal to be of a different religion, it was not exactly legal to practice the faith of ones choice. There were even fines for not conforming to the sanctioned religion; that is, for not going to Protestant services. (Nicoll, 76) Jewish people were quite rare in England during the Elizabethan time period and they seemed to be looked down upon the most (although it was not considered a lot better to be a Catholic). Shakespeare probably never knew a Jewish person directly, but during his time the Queen’s Jewish doctor was executed for being ‘a spy’. Also, during that time it would have been considered quite normal to force someone to convert to Christianity. Shakespeare’s Venice had the same mentality about Jewish people. Anti-Semitism was overwhelmingly abundant. Although Shylock was surely a respectable businessman, it did not seem out of the ordinary for Antonio to spit on him and call him a dog whenever it took his fancy. Shylock seems to be the only one who realizes the hypocrisy of the ‘good Christians’ and makes mention of it in his famed speech in Act III: SHYLOCK†¦ Hath not a Jew hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions; fed with the same food, hurt with the same weapons, subject to the same diseases, healed by the same means, warmed and cooled by the same winter and summer as a Christian is? If you prick us do we not bleed? If you tickle us do we not laugh?

Eleven, Inc. Case

Major Differences There are many differences between the situations In Japan and the U. S. That made the Japanese 7-Eleven experience with prepared foods significantly different than that of the U. S. Stores. First, â€Å"convenience stores In Japan faced little competition from gas station mini-markets, and until the early sass they benefited from government regulation that limited the size and operating hours of large- and medium-size stores† (Bell & Hogan, 2004, p. 4). Contrary to Japan, 7-Eleven stores In the u. s. Were faced with fierce competition from a variety of convenience stores with ere similar business models.Convenience stores in Japan made a commitment to provide expediency in all aspects of daily life. Such stores sold takeaway lunch boxes, rice balls, ready-to-serve dishes, bread and various drinks (Bell & Hogan, 2004). Japanese stores based their business model on customer needs and convenience. â€Å"To ensure that customers received fresh quality products, food items were prepared continuously and delivered to the stores three times daily. The strategic locations of preparation plants combined with the high store density, required minimal travel stance and therefore facilitated the speed and ease of deliveries (Bell & Hogan, 2004, p. 7). U.S. Stores, however, failed to focus on convenience needs as they changed. According to Bell & Hogan (2004) people wanted new products and services and the company did not keep pace; instead, the company fell into the trap of defining market share in terms of number of stores, and they stopped creating value in each new store. Additionally, U. S. Stores â€Å"never paid much attention to its Japanese licensee, and therefore never realized that† 7-Eleven had reinvented the store with the fresh food concept (Bell & Hogan, 2004, p. 2). Strengths & Weaknesses Keyes shared the vision implemented in Japanese stores, concentrating on fresh food sales.He did this by adopting the fresh food concept to offer total convenience to consumers. In order to get all franchisees on board, Keyes required stoneware to buy a significant portion of their merchandise from approved vendors, and in turn allowed for more leverage of the system (Bell & Hogan, 2004). Keyes also utilized Austin, Texas as a test market (Bell & Hogan, 2004). This allowed the company to test various lines of food and pricing options. Perhaps the most Important element of the 7-Eleven overhauls In the United States was the Implementation off chain wide proprietary retail Information system.Mulching this from 7-Eleven Japan, the system was designed to enable each store to Improve Inventory management efforts (Bell & Hogan, 2004). Keyes missed the boat by not being more in touch with the customer. According to Bell & Hogan (2004) 7-Eleven's Temperamental weaknesses were Invisible Decease ten company was using ten wrong measures. The company failed to create value in each store and pay close attention to changing trends a nd customers' needs. Additionally, 7-Eleven's failure to constantly innovate and change, as convenience needs changed affected the company's the success (Bell & Hogan, 2004).Marketing Efforts In order to make the most of its new capabilities and vision, 7-Eleven U. S. Should undertake various marketing efforts. First, the company should monitor customer- buying patterns to maximize sales by staying stocked on popular items, managing product assortment and merchandising effectively. Understanding that this industry is highly competitive, 7-Eleven must create a marketing strategy that is refined by tidying consumer trends and in-store traffic. This would allow the company to affectively track buying trends.Ultimately, this would keep the organization up to date on convenience needs as they change, allowing marketing efforts to be focused in both areas of strength and weakness. Furthermore, since gasoline sales contribute to increased traffic, it is imperative that 7-Eleven stores sell gasoline at as many locations as possible. Implications Should 7-Eleven's prepared food initiative prove successful, there will be a significant increase in measurable competition in the industry. Being that this sector s already highly competitive, convenience stores need to find ways to differentiate themselves from the competition.Introducing fresh foods will be one way to do so. The success fresh foods would bring to the industry would be game changing. Typically the general image of a U. S. Convenience store encompasses â€Å"cigarettes behind the counter, nonfood items displayed on the counter, magazines in front† (Bell & Hogan, 2004, p. 17). However changing the perception of convenience would not only attract new markets but also penetrate current markets. Ultimately, competitors in this industry would need to rethink both merchandising and arresting strategies to ensure they were aligned with the likes of 7-Eleven.As society places a larger emphasis on convenience a nd freshly prepared food, the outlook for 7-Eleven's freshly prepared food offerings is promising. Specifically, recent trends indicate that while there is a push towards health conscious, yet convenient selections, consumers are favoring this option. Furthermore, the key innovation opportunity is to keep innovating with food and taste trends surrounding convenience and health (Carroll, 2011). Since convenience stores aren't typically noted for having such eating options, management must work to ensure they successfully rebind their image.

The Connection between 9/11 and the Need for Foreign Oil...

September 11th, 2001 will always be a day that will be remembered. It was a day in history where time it seemed stood still, and one that became a moment of pronounced transformation. Today the United States and other parts of the world are still plagued by the viscosity of this tragedy; both through the wars that were established towards Iraq and Afghanistan over a decade ago, and by the continuous conflict in terms of who and why created the events that occurred on that fateful day. This analysis will argue that the United States’ government used a propagandistic approach towards terrorism in order to support the demand for foreign oil as our dependence for petroleum increases with our population and ecological footprint. Directly†¦show more content†¦Senate and U.S. House on Intelligence, 2002).† All of these ideas demonstrate that the Middle East was not a direct threat to the United States due to the evidence which refutes the reasoning behind the terroris t attacks of September 11th. This means that there must have been an anterior motive towards the events that took place, the greatest being the United States’ high dependence on foreign oil. According to Noam Chomsky, a propagandistic approach interprets â€Å"the concept of terrorism as a weapon to be exploited in the service of some system of power (Chomsky, 1991).† In terms of the terrorist attacks of September 11th, this notion depicts how the United States’ government used the media and false accusations upon the Middle East in order to secure petroleum markets that would support our nation’s high dependence upon petroleum oil. This is because there is a deep stemming connection between the world oil market and the United States monetary system. In terms of oil dependence, most of the general public believes that the world has enough oil to support us for the next hundred years; in truth we are rapidly depleting our petroleum sources due to the increasing population and demand. In fact, as was initially theorized by the Hubbert Peak Theory in 1950, Earth peaked in oil supplies in 1973 and the largest oil resources that have been discovered since then have been in Venezuela and Saudi Arabia. Here it must beShow MoreRelatedConnection of Terrorism and the Middle East Essay702 Words   |  3 PagesInstantly, flashes of the 9/11 attacks come rushing in your mind as you confronted the man about his nervousness. The man explained that his flight was arriving soon and that his friend is running a little late. You still wanted to pry the man more, but then the man’s friend came and they were on their way. 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