Realism And Grotesque In Gullivers Travels English Literature Essay

Realism And Grotesque In Gullivers Travels English Literature Essay Gullivers Travels is a pivotal work in the history of the novel as it exhibits the ways the novel inherits and develops Menippean satire and grotesque aesthetics. Gullivers Travels has rarely been regarded as a proper early novel like Robinson Crusoe or Pamela largely due to two conventional understandings of genre and aesthetics. The first common understanding is that the novel and Menippean satire are mutually exclusive genres. Critics have turned to Menippean satire as if to argue that the genre of Gullivers Travels is kind of a prose fiction that is not the novel. Northrop Frye, for instance, begins his discussion of Gullivers Travels by mentioning that most people would call Gullivers Travels fiction but not a novel. It must then be another form of fiction, i.e. Menippean satire (308). In turn, critics who claim Gullivers Travels as a novel tend to ignore the Menippean tradition of the work; Maximillian Novak asserts that once we consider Gullivers Travels as a work of fiction, we cannot shunt it off into a meaningless category such as anatomy or Menippean satire, in his reading of the work as a picaresque novel(35). The second conventional idea is that the grotesque and realism are also two disparate aesthetic realms, and that grotesque aesthetics in Gullivers Travels- from its use of the fantastic, metamorphosis, or the mad man theme to its excremental vision-does not fit into the realistic aesthetic of the novel. The seeming generic instability of Gullivers Travels mostly derives from our preconceived notion of the novel as a genre of probable realism with verisimilar characters and plausible plots. In fact, even the most acute critics of Swift are not entirely free from this prevalent given notion of what the novel should be. Brean Hammond, who appropriates Bakhtins conception of novelization to explain the cultural shifts of the long eighteenth century toward a hybridization that breaks down traditionally observed generic boundaries, surprisingly turn s to a conventional notion of the novel when he argues that Gullivers Travels is not a novel like Robinson Crusoe partly because Gulliver is not a character like Crusoe, a character who is a credible approximation of a human being,-i.e. a verisimilar character-but a device that can be exploited for satiric purposes(250, 270). Hammond is right that [Gullivers Travels] is ideologically opposed to the set of attitudes and beliefs that was fuelling the development of the novel as a genre; part of the intention of the work lies in the parody of Robinson Crusoe or the stuff of 1720s romanceby Haywood, as he remarks(270). That does not mean, however, that Gullivers Travels is not a novel. Swift might have intended his Menippean work partly as a Scriblerian satire that attacks modern hack writings. Paradoxically, or according to the process of novelization, however, Gullivers Travels turned out to be a significant addition to the novelistic tradition; the novelistic energies that Swift desp ised and denigrated boomeranged and informed his satire, and transformed it into a novel. Gullivers Travels is not exhaustively explained by our conventional notion of the novel, but it does not mean that it is not a novel. Rather, Swifts work characteristically challenges our common notion of the novel, and reveals the rich tradition of Menippean satire that is absorbed in the novel. In a similar vein, the grotesque aesthetics of Gullivers Travels belies our confined notion of realism, or realistic aesthetics. It manifests that (novelistic) realism is not limited to probable realism, a mixture of empirical episteme and the modern transformation of classical mimetic aesthetics, but also involves low realism-crudely put, an antonym of idealism or classicism. At a superficial level, the grotesque and realism could look like two separate or almost opposite notions. Geoffrey Harpham and Mikhail Bakhtin, however, illustrate that the grotesque and realism are compatible notions at a fundamental level, and that the history of the grotesque is also the history of the recognition of that compatibility. Harpham provides a useful account of the shift of the notion of the relation between the grotesque and realism. According to him, while the Renaissance regarded grottesche as pure fantasy, in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries we find [the grotesque] associated with car icature in.. .Rowlandson, Hogarth, Goya, most of whom we would not associate with fantastic art, and by the beginning of the twentieth century.. .Thomas Mann commented.. .that the grotesque was properly something more than the truth, something real in the extreme.' According to this narrative, the history of the grotesque is a gradual recognition of the fundamentally realistic characteristic of the Grotesque, which is distinct from the mimetic realism of the Classical (xviii-xix). Bakhtin offers another powerful narrative on the history of the grotesque, or the intricate relation of the grotesque and realism. The grotesque and realism are almost synonymous for Bakhtin, as is epitomized in his core term of grotesque realism. Grotesque realism, which lower[s] all that is high, spiritual, ideal, abstract and is opposed to severance from the material and bodily roots of the world, is culminated in the literature of the Renaissance after the medieval culture of folk humor(19-20, 32). As starkly opposed to classical aesthetics, grotesque realism is closely linked to some other central concepts of Bakhtin, like the carnival spirit, the material bodily principle, folk humor, or the ambivalent and regenerating laughter of the people. Bakhtin also historicizes the concept of the grotesque, confining grotesque realism to the Renaissance grotesque, although he underscores the living tradition of Renaissance grotesque realism in world literature. He explains that the Renaissance grotesque is reduced and transformed in later periods, and thus the Romantic grotesque (and the modernist grotesque) is more like an individual carnival, marked by a vivid sense of isolation, losing laughters regenerating power.(37). One notable element in Bakhtins historicization of the grotesque is, however, that the eighteenth-century grotesque is almost invisible between the Renaissance grotesque and the Romantic grotesque. One reason would be, as Bakhtin implies, that the eighteenth century directly inherited the Renaissance grotesque but also embedded the elements of classicism or cold rationalism: a time that the positive bodily hyperbole of Rabelais and the bourgeois disciplined body were uncomfortably commingled and intensely struggled with each other. Thus the eighteenth-century grotesque was the space in which the Renaissance struggle between the Grotesque and the Classical was continued in a displaced form of the struggle between the lingering force of the Renaissance grotesque and now ascending bourgeois rationalism, classical bourgeois reason. The Augustan formal verse satire of Dryden, Pope, or Swift played out the unprecedentedly intense contention between the classical-rational and the grotesque through an odd mixture of refined, sophisticated forms and disorderly, brimming-over contents. Swift also embodies the bitter conflict of the classical-rational and the grotesque through (the relation of) the Houyhnhnms and the Yahoos in Gullivers Travels, a Menippean satire and a novel, which remarkably displays the peculiar characteristic of the eighteenth-century grotesque. Although critics have increasingly acknowledged that Gullivers Travels is a Menippean satire, there are few detailed readings of the work in the Menippean tradition, particularly in relation to Bakhtins concept of the genre as an authentic precursor of the novel. While scrutinizing the relation of the Houyhnhnms and the Yahoos as a privileged locus of the Swiftian grotesque, the political dimension of the grotesque will be revealed, which is embedded in the Yahoos as an allegory of the Irish, or colonial subjects, and then briefly examine the political dimension of (low) realism. The Menippean fantastic usually generates three effects, which are fully used in Gullivers Travels. First, the fantastic adventure provides a new, non-human perspective that defamiliarizes our accustomed world, or debunks our habitual, human-centered way of thinking. As Bakhtin describes, it provoke[es] and test[s] a truth by using the observation from some unusual point of view, from on high, for example, which results in a radical change in the scale of the observed phenomena of life(116). Secondly, the Menippean fantastic engages popular imagination or a comic, carnivalesque spirit; the popularity of Gullivers Travels, particularly as a classic childrens book, is considerably indebted to this folkloric imagination embedded in the fantastic. Thirdly, the fantastic offers an occasion to critique the authors (and the assumed readers) contemporary reality, usually by imagining an upside-down world or a Utopian society. In the imagined spaces of Lilliput, Brobdingnag, Laputa, or Houyhn hnmland (or Yahooland), Swift cuttingly criticizes the domestic policies of England as well as the overall imperialism of Europe. Gullivers first meal at the Brobdingnagian farmers house illustrates how the three levels of the fantastic-ultimate questions, popular laughter, and a critique of contemporary reality-are simultaneously generated in Gullivers Travels. When the farmers wife gave him something to eat and drink, Gulliver says he: made her a low bow, took out my knife and fork, and fell to eat, which gave them exceeding delight .1 took up the vessel with much difficulty in both hands, and in a most respectful manner drank to her ladyships health, expressing the words as loud as I could in English, which made the company laugh so heartily, that I was almost deafened with the noise. (85). To imagine Gulliver taking out his fork and knife from his magic pockets, in which he seems to have everything necessary wherever he is stranded, is certainly hilarious. Apart from that, why is this scene full of humor, and why does the reader participate in the Brobdingnagians delight and laughter at Gullivers actions? To use knife and fork in eating is a common custom in eighteenth-century Europe, and to drink to her ladyships health in a most respectful manner is also a well-mannered behavior. Yet from the perspective of the Brobdingnagians, to whom Gulliver is like a small dangerous animal or a strange animal at first (83, 90), his socially tailored and overly polite behaviors could look affected or ridiculous mostly because of the incongruity between a strange animal and his pretense to be a perfectly civilized man. Their giant perspective makes us see Gullivers pride in his being a gentleman who acts according to the social code, and by extension, the pride of all humankind in his or her exclusive claim to high civilization. Moreover, a non-human view renders the European manner of using knife and fork or making a gallant compliment on the hostess not so much absolute social etiquette but one cultural custom among many cultural possibilities. To Brobdingnagians, it makes little difference whether a small animal like Gulliver uses knife and fork (as in Europe) or his fingers (as in some other cultures), although using fingers for food is an unequivocal sign of barbarism from a European perspective. Likewise, a humble showing of gratitude for food would be as good as a showy display of a toast for the hostess in a Brobdingnagians view. The Olympian perspective of the Brobdingnagians, which almost innocently exposes the limited view of human beings, also serves as a device of a severe attack on human folly or pride. When Gulliver finished his talking of[his] own beloved country, the Brobdingnagin king could not forbear taking [Gulliver] up in his right hand, and stroking [him] gently with the other, after an hearty fit of laughing, asked [him] whether [he was] a Whig or a Tory. Then turning to his first ministerà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ he observed how contemptible a thing was human grandeur, which could be mimicked by such diminutive insects as I (100). What makes the kings rhetorical question incisive does not derive from any political considerations but from the sheer size difference between the king and Gulliver; the kings gesture of stroking [Gulliver] gently with his left hand nullifies a pressing problem in eighteenth-century England into a trivial or meaningless one. The exorbitant pride and atrociousness of humans, w hich the king points out repeatedly, looks more preposterous in the frame where giants are human and Gulliver is a diminutive insect. We humans become the most pernicious race of little odious vermin or an impotent and groveling an insect (123, 125) from a Brobdingnagianss view. Laughter is reduced to the level of bitterness here. The fantastic convention of Menippean satire is entangled with another main convention of the genre: metamorphosis. Gullivers travels into fantastic lands are coextensive with his experiences of metamorphosis into a strange, monstrous, unnatural or grotesque being. Metamorphosis, like the fantastic, holds a formal generic significance as opposed to the classical aesthetics of high genres. It destroy[s] the epic and tragic wholeness of a person and his fate: the possibility of another person and another life are revealed in himà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ he ceases to coincide with himself, as Bakhtin notes. To compare Gullivers fantastic travels and Odysseuss epic journey around their encounter with a monster and its effect on their identities is illuminating. When Odysseus confronts a savage monster, Polyphemus, it is his fate and his character to defeat the Cyclops by using his wiles, as is evidenced in Polyphemus later recall of the prophecy. Throughout his long journey, Odysseuss identity nev er changes, despite his varied disguises, with any encounters with monsters, like Charibdis, Scylla, or Circe. The boundary between a hero and a monster, or the self and the other, cannot be blurred in Odysseus. In contrast, Gullivers encounters with giant Brobdingnagians, which he understandably regarded as monsters at first (seven monsters like himself came toward him 82), shakes his identity to the core. While the Brobdignagians regard themselves as humans, it is Gulliver who becomes a monster, or an unnatural anomaly among those humans. The scholars of Brobdingnag unanimously conclude that Gulliver is Lusus Naturae, or a freak of nature (98). Metamophorsis assumes a permeating line between a hero and a monster, and Gullivers experience of being transformed into a monster among the pigmy Lilliputians or the giant Brobdingnagians (as far as to see himself as a freak) manifests a different concept of self and the other in Menippean satire from that in high genres like The Odyssey. While Odysseus unfailingly defeats various monsters in his way home to reestablish his (social) identity, Gulliver suffers being transformed into grotesque figures in his fantastic adventures only to be mad when he is back home. Gullivers experience as a grotesque being is not only significant in the frame of the fantastic but also holds a strong social resonance-to people in the margin or periphery, a metaphoric transformation into a grotesque being is neither rare nor bizarre, anyway. Gullivers odd trials in Brobdingnag or Lilliput not only involve becoming a symbolic monster, like a diminutive insect or Man-Mountain, but also signify being thrown into a socially abject, precarious position, like a slave or a highly vulnerable courtier. In Brobdingnag, Gulliver has to go through the ignominy of being carried about for a monster, till [he is] half dead with weariness and vexation since now he is [his] masters slave (92, 93, 95). Likewise, despite the high title of Nardac in Lilliput, Gulliver is notified of his friends generous proposal to get him blind and eventually starved to death as an alternative to capital punishment, on which Gulliver says having never been designed for a courtier either by my birth or educationà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ 1 could not discover the lenity and favor of this sentence (69). Gullivers denial of his own identity, or the denial of his monstrosity among the normal inhabitants of Brobdignag, certainly anticipates his total conversion in Houyhnhnmland, his ardent wish to be like the Houyhnhnms and the insistent denial of his Yahooness. And as much as the fantastic lands are overlapped with the real world, Gullivers denial of his abject, grotesque identity so as to be like his dominant masters comes to signify the split identity of a colonial subject. In fact, Gullivers shifting and conflicting subject positions (as a colonized and a colonizer) throughout the whole narrative prepares him for his ultimate madness, a total split identity between his Yahooness and his desire to be a Houyhnhnm. The eventual madness of Gulliver, who always keep[s his] nose well stopped with rue, lavender, or tobacco leaves to avoid the [offensive] smell of a Yahoo (271), or converse[s] with [his horses] at least four hours every day to improve his virtue (266), reflects not so much Swifts stark misanthropy but a common Menippean experiment with a split self. As is typical of Menippean satire, Gullivers madness contains a comic element. Even the most serious reader would smile at the moments like as soon as I entered the house, my wife took me in her arms, and kissed me, at which having not been used to the touch of that odious animal for so many years, I fell in a swoon for almost an hour (265), or I feel my spirits revived by the smell [the groom] contracts in the stable (266). Scattered throughout Bakhtins works, we can find references to Swift as a central author in the eighteenth century, who inherited and developed the Renaissance grotesque and Menippean imagination: the contents of the carnival-grotesque elementà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ were preservedà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ in the work of Swift; this line of experimental fantasicality continuesà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ in Rabelais, Swift, Voltaire and others. Yet there seem to be some notable differences between the Renaissance or Rabelaisian grotesque (that Bakhtin stresses) and the Swiftian grotesque. A conspicuous example of this difference is the peculiar image of the body in Swift, his excremental vision, or the hallmark of his scatological imagery. Bakhtin explains that in Rabelaiss grotesque realism, the bodily element is deeply positive it is opposed to severance from the material and bodily roots of the world (19). As any reader would remark, however, the body image in Gullivers Travels is hard to be described as deeply positive. Swifts body is rather full of filthy, despicable, ugly, burdensome, obscene, or scatological images. Gullivers description of the monstrous breast of a nurse in Brobdingnag ( the hue both of [the nipple] and the dug so varified with spots, pimples and freckles, that nothing could appear more nauseous 87), or of a woman beggar in the country with a cancer in her breast, swelled to a monstrous size, full of holes (105), is only a couple of memorable examples that display negative images of the body in Gullivers Travels. Swifts body also does not involve the image of brimming-over, ambivalence, or regeneration, which Bakhtin asserts are the core principles of the material bodily lower stratum in the Renaissance grotesque. In Gullivers Travels the exaggerated bodily image becomes deplorable repletion, from which all diseases arise (233), or the ultimate culprit of bodily diseases. Human beings are sick because we eat when we were not hungry, and drank without the provocation o f thirst (233), as Gulliver mentions to his master Houhynhnm. Gullivers Travels embodies the intimate relation of the grotesque-allegorical and realism in its own peculiar manner. Gullivers Travels is a crucial work in the discussion of realism in the novel partly because it illustrates how grotesque aesthetics, a crucial part of low realism, positively invokes the authors bad contemporary reality. If realism still matters, one reason lies in that it evokes the embroiled relation between text and world, the real world in which all kinds of oppression, constraints, or injustice-i. e. the objects of Swifts satire-are still happening. It is not surprising that the definition of realism is so various as to seem nearly meaningless, for the definition of reality is so much different as that of realism, depending on each individual or each period; terms like psychological realism, fantastic realism, or historical realism, already imply what the user of the term thinks is the fundamental reality-psychology, fantasy, or history. The political dimension of realism constitutes an integral part of it since realism involves an inevitable question of whose reality is at sta ke. Houyhnhnmland is also Yahooland, according to whose reality is dominant. The Houyhnhnms have had debates for ages about the extermination of the Yahoos, but the Yahoos in turn seem to be ready to have rebellion or mutiny, given a provocation, like the inhabitants of Lindalino. Swift gives a most horrible form to the Yahoos, and even does not give a voice to them: they only howl. However, he makes the reader see that Houyhnhnmland is also Yahooland, not explicitly nevertheless, but still powerfully and disturbingly.

Females In The Canadian Workplace Essay -- essays research papers

Running Head:  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  WORKPLACE ROLES OF MEN AND WOMEN COMPARED IN TODAY’S SOCIETY   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Work Place Roles Of Men and Women Compared in Today’s Society Submitted by: Steven Kopac Submitted to: Pierro Student #: 2321040 Seminar Time: Tuesday @ 11:30-12:30 Course: Sociology 1F90 Brock University Date: Thursday February 8, 2001 Work Place Roles Of Men and Women Compared in Today’s Society   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã¢â‚¬Å"Rosy cheeked and bright eyed, she would know how to darn a stocking and mend her own dress...command a regiment of pots and kettles and be a lady when required.†   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  This statement raises an interesting view on how women have been socially constructed with regard to their place in the work force. Does this also mean that men have been constructed toward a different position in the workplace? Although women have progressed, as far as occupational status is concerned, patriarchy still persists in our modern society. The subject area that will be focussed upon in this paper is the social construction of gender. The purpose of my paper is to explore how the social construction of gender has produced inequalities among men and women at work. The direction this paper will take is to discuss the differences of status, wealth and power between men and women in the work place. The sociological theory that I will apply is gender as a sociological construction. The key element of this theory is sex dimorphism where traits are conceptualized as typically male and typically female normative patterns and these as cultural norms (Hale, 1995) .   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Reskin (1993) stated that employers’ preferences for male workers, economic pressures, size of labour supply, gender-role socialization and workers’ values were some of the reasons why women and men are segregated in the workplace. Reskin concluded that there are many social and economic forces that increase and decrease sex segregation in the work force (Reskin,1993). The only way to decrease, better yet, to vanquish sex segregation in the workplace is for society to become â€Å"gender blind†. If society became â€Å"gender blind† differences in the workplace such a... ...emp, Alice Abel. (1994). Women’s Work: Degraded and Devaluated. Engelwood Cliffs, N.J. Prentice-Hall.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Lowe, Graham S. (1999). Labour Markets, Inequality, and the Future of Work. In Curtis, James, Edwards Grabb and Neil Guppy (Eds.), Social Inequality in Canada: Patterns, problems and policies. (pp 113-128). Scarborough, ON. Prentice Hall.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Mackie, M. (1990). The Fundamentals of Gender Socialization. The Sociology of Gender, 1, 5-22.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Reskin, B. (1993). Sex Segregation In The Workplace. Annual Review of Sociology, 19, 241-270.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Rich, A. (1992). Taking Women Students Seriously. The Sociology of Gender, 1, 1-5.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Richardson, John G. & Simpson, Carl H. (1990). Children, Gender and Social Structure: An Analysis of Content of Letters To Santa Claus. Child Development, 53, (429-436).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Statistics Canada. (1998c). Earnings of Men and Women, 1996. Ottawa: Ministry of Industry.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Statistics Canada. (1999a). Earnings of Men and Women, 1998. Ottawa: Ministry of Industry. Cat. No. 13-217-XPB.

Love in the Male Dominated Society of the 1800s in Hawthornes Rappaccinis Daughter :: Rappaccinis Daughter Essays

Love in the Male Dominated Society of the 1800's in Hawthorne's Rappaccini's Daughter "Rappaccini's Daughter" is a strange tale, kind of an early pseudo-scientific short story, that focuses on the life of Beatrice and her bizarre nature. The result of a twisted experiment, she must find happiness within the walls of a garden her father has created for her. Although her life depends on a fatal poison, she defines her soul as "God's creation, and craves love as its daily food" (2131). This paradox creates a powerful story as the mortal Giovanni falls in love with the deadly Beatrice. Insane love and harsh words end the story with the climactic suicide of a heartbroken girl. I saw this situation as being analogous to women's rights at the time. "Rappaccini's Daughter" was published in 1844, women couldn't vote in the USA until around 1920. This story was written in a time when women were generally victimized by the society they lived in. Rappaccini purposely introduces his only daughter to a poison filled, solitary life in the name of love. As he "spends his life in achieving a picture" (2131) Rappaccini forgets about the "miserable doom" (2132) he has inflicted upon his beloved daughter. This parallels the inflicted miseries women of the nineteenth century endured such as arranged marriages as well as many other paternalistic conditions placed in the name of love or safety. "Rappaccini's Daughter" was written two years after Hawthorne's marriage and during the same year of his first daughter's birth. The strange idea's brought forth in "Rappaccini's Daughter" are more easily seen when his position is put into perspective. As a father he knew that his daughter would be subject to the very restrictions he so skillfully illustrates in "Rappaccini's" as well as in "The Scarlet Letter". Could these stories be the imaginative musings of a frustrated father? Perhaps they were due to his own feelings after becoming a new groom. In either case both stories have a dominating theme of the oppression of women's sexuality, Beatrice's poison being that of society. Harsh consequences befall Rappaccini when he tries to control things he truly cannot, such as love and life. Would the same happen to Hawthorne is sought to exert as much control? The character of Rappaccini exemplifies perfectly the views held towards women in the

The Hunters: Moonsong Chapter Seventeen

â€Å"That was amazing! Seriously,† Bonnie said happily, skipping along with her hand in Zander's. â€Å"I am, like, the Queen of Quarters. Who knew I had this hidden talent?† Laughing, Zander threw his arm around her shoulders and pul ed her closer. â€Å"You are pretty awesome,† he agreed. â€Å"Drinking games, visions, astrology. Any other skil s I should know about?† Snuggling against him, Bonnie frowned in mock concentration. â€Å"Not that I can think of. Just be aware of my general wonderfulness.† His T-shirt was soft and worn, and Bonnie tilted her head a bit to rest her cheek against it. â€Å"I'm glad we got our friends together,† she said. â€Å"I thought Marcus and Meredith real y hit it off, didn't you? Not romantical y, at al , which is good since Meredith has a super-serious boyfriend, but it was like they shared the same secret jock language. Maybe we can al hang out in a group again sometime.† â€Å"Yeah, Meredith and Marcus real y bonded over their workouts,† Zander agreed, but there was a hesitation in his voice that made Bonnie stop walking and peer up at him sharply. â€Å"Didn't you like my friends?† she asked, hurt. She and Meredith and Elena had always had what they privately cal ed a â€Å"velociraptor sisterhood.† Cross one of them and the other two would close in to protect her. Zander had to like them. â€Å"No, I liked them a lot,† Zander assured her. He hesitated, then added, â€Å"Elena seemed kind of †¦ uncomfortable, though. Maybe we're not the kind of people she likes?† Bonnie stiffened. â€Å"Are you cal ing my best friend a snob?† she asked. Zander stroked her back appeasingly. â€Å"Sort of, I guess. I mean, nice, but just kind of a snob. The nicest kind of snob. I just want her to like me.† â€Å"She's not a snob,† Bonnie said indignantly. â€Å"And even if she was, she's got a lot to be a snob about. She's beautiful and smart and one of the best friends I've ever had. I'd do anything for her. And she'd do anything for me, too. So it doesn't matter if she's a snob,† she concluded, glaring at him. â€Å"Come here,† Zander said. They were near the music building, and he pul ed her into the lit alcove by the front door. â€Å"Sit with me?† he asked, settling on the brick steps and tugging her hand. Bonnie sat down, but she was determined not to snuggle up to him again. Instead, she kept a distance between them and stared stubbornly out at the night, her jaw firmly set. â€Å"Listen, Bonnie,† Zander said, pushing a long strawberry blonde curl out of her eyes. â€Å"I'l get to know Elena better, and I'm sure I'l like her. I'l get her to like me, too. You know why I'm going to get to know her better?† â€Å"No, why?† said Bonnie, reluctantly looking at him. â€Å"Because I want to know you better. I'm planning on spending a lot of time with you, Bonnie McCul ough.† He nudged her gently with his shoulder, and Bonnie melted. Zander's eyes were so blue, blue like morning on the very first day of summer vacation. There was intel igence and laughter with just a touch of a wild longing in them. He leaned in closer, and Bonnie was sure he was about to kiss her, their first kiss at last. She tilted her head back to meet his lips, her eyelashes fluttering closed. After a moment of waiting for a kiss that didn't come, she sat up again and opened her eyes. Zander was staring past her, out into the darkness of the campus, frowning. Bonnie cleared her throat. â€Å"Oh,† he said, â€Å"sorry, Bonnie, I got distracted for a minute.† â€Å"Distracted?† Bonnie echoed indignantly. â€Å"What do you mean you – â€Å" â€Å"Hang on a sec.† Zander put a finger to her lips, shushing her. â€Å"Do you hear something?† Bonnie asked, uneasy tingles creeping up her back. Zander got to his feet. â€Å"Sorry, I just remembered something I have to do. I'l catch up with you later, okay?† With a halfhearted wave, not even looking at Bonnie, he loped off into the darkness. Bonnie's mouth dropped open. â€Å"Wait!† she said, scrambling to her feet. â€Å"Are you just going to leave me here† – Zander was gone – â€Å"alone?† she finished in a tiny voice. Great. Bonnie walked out to the middle of the path, looked around, and waited a minute to see if there was any sign of Zander coming back. But there was no one in sight. She couldn't even hear his footsteps anymore. There were pools of light beneath the street lamps on the path, but they didn't reach very far. A breeze rustled the leaves of the trees on the quad, and Bonnie shivered. No sense in standing here, Bonnie thought, and she started walking. For the first few steps down the path toward her dorm, Bonnie was real y angry, hot and humiliated. How could Zander have been such a flake? How could he leave her al alone in the middle of the night, especial y after al the attacks and disappearances on campus? She kicked viciously at a pebble in her path. A few steps further on, Bonnie stopped being so angry. She was too scared; the fear was pushing the anger out of her. She should have headed back to the dorm when Meredith and Elena did, but she'd assured them, gaily, that Zander would walk her back. How could he have just left her? She wrapped her arms around herself tightly and went as fast as she could without actual y running, her stupid high-heeled going-out-dancing shoes pinching and making the bal s of her feet ache. It was real y late; most of the other people who lived on campus must be tucked into their beds by now. The silence was unsettling. When the footsteps began behind her, it was even worse. She wasn't sure she was real y hearing them at first. Gradual y, she became aware of a faint, quick padding in the distance, someone moving lightly and fast. She paused and listened, and the footsteps grew louder and faster stil . Someone was running toward her. Bonnie sped up, stumbling over her feet in her haste. Her shoes skidded on a loose stone in the path and she fel , catching herself on her hands and one knee. The impact stung sharply enough to bring tears to her eyes, but she kicked off her shoes, not caring that she was leaving them behind. She scrambled up and ran faster. The footsteps of her pursuer were louder now, starting to catch up. Their rhythm was strange: loud periodic footfal s with quicker, lighter beats in between. Bonnie realized with horror that there was more than one person chasing her. Her foot skidded again, and she barely caught her balance, staggering sideways a few steps to keep from fal ing, losing more ground. A heavy hand fel on Bonnie's shoulder, and she screamed and whipped around, her fists raised in a desperate bid to defend herself. â€Å"Bonnie!† Meredith gasped, clutching Bonnie's shoulders. â€Å"What are you doing out here by yourself?† Samantha came up beside them, carrying Bonnie's shoes, and doubled over, panting for breath. â€Å"You are way too fast for me, Meredith,† she said. Bonnie swal owed a sob of relief. Now that she was safe, she felt like sitting down and having hysterics. â€Å"You scared me,† she said. Meredith looked furious. â€Å"Remember how we promised to stick together?† Meredith's gray eyes were stormy. â€Å"You were supposed to stay with Zander until you got home safely.† Bonnie, about to respond heatedly that it hadn't been her choice to be out here alone, suddenly closed her mouth and nodded. If Meredith knew that Zander had left Bonnie out here by herself, she would never, never forgive him. And Bonnie was mad at Zander for leaving her, but she wasn't quite that mad, not mad enough to turn Meredith against him. Maybe he had an explanation. And she stil wanted that kiss. â€Å"I'm sorry,† Bonnie said abjectly, staring down at her feet. â€Å"You're right, I should have known better.† Mol ified, Meredith swung an arm over Bonnie's shoulders. Samantha silently handed Bonnie her shoes, and Bonnie pul ed them back on. â€Å"Let's walk Samantha back to her dorm, and then we'l go home together,† she said forgivingly. â€Å"You'l be okay with us.† Around the corner from her room, Elena sagged and leaned against the hal way wal for a moment. It had been a long, long night. There had been drinks, and dancing with the huge shaggy-haired Spencer who, as Samantha had warned her, did try to pick Elena up and swing her around. Things got loud and aggravating, and the whole time, her heart hurt. She wasn't sure she wanted to navigate the world without Stefan. It's just for now, she told herself, straightening up and plodding around the corner. â€Å"Hel o, princess,† said Damon. Elena stiffened in shock. Lounging on the floor in front of her door, Damon somehow managed to look sleek and perfectly poised in what would have been an awkward position for anyone else. As she recovered from the shock of his being there at al , Elena was surprised by the burst of joy that rose up in her chest at the sight of him. Trying to ignore that happy little hop inside her, she said flatly, â€Å"I told you I didn't want to see you for a while, Damon.† Damon shrugged and rose graceful y to his feet. â€Å"Darling, I'm not here to plead for your hand.† His eyes lingered on her mouth for a moment, but then he went on in a dry and detached tone. â€Å"I'm just checking in on you and the little redbird, making sure you haven't disappeared with whatever's gone sour on this campus.† â€Å"We're fine,† Elena said shortly. â€Å"Here I am, and Bonnie's new boyfriend is walking her home.† â€Å"New boyfriend?† Damon asked, raising one eyebrow. He'd always had – something – some connection with Bonnie, Elena knew, and she guessed his ego might not be thril ed to have her moving past the little crush she'd focused on him. â€Å"And how did you get home?† Damon asked acidly. â€Å"I notice you haven't picked up a new boyfriend to protect you. Not yet, anyway.† Elena flushed and bit her lip but refused to rise to the bait. â€Å"Meredith just left to patrol around campus. I notice you didn't ask about her. Don't you want to make sure she's safe?† Damon snorted. â€Å"I pity any ghoul that goes after that one,† he said, sounding more admiring than anything else. â€Å"Can I come in? Note that I'm being courteous again, waiting for you out here in this dingy hal way instead of comfortably on your bed.† â€Å"You can come in for a minute,† Elena said grudgingly, and opened her bag to rummage for her keys. Oh. She felt a sudden pang of heartache. At the top of her bag, rather crushed and wilted now, was the daisy she'd found outside her door at the beginning of the evening. She touched it gently, reluctant to push it aside in the hunt for her keys. â€Å"A daisy,† said Damon dryly. â€Å"Very sweet. You don't seem to be taking much care of it, though.† Purposely ignoring him, Elena grabbed her keys and snapped the bag shut. â€Å"So you think the disappearances and attacks are because of ghouls? Do you mean something supernatural?† she asked, unlocking the door. â€Å"What did you find out, Damon?† Shrugging, Damon fol owed her into the room. â€Å"Nothing,† he answered grimly. â€Å"But I certainly don't think the missing kids just freaked out and went home or to Daytona Beach or something. I think you need to be careful.† Elena sat down on her bed, drew her knees up, and rested her chin on them. â€Å"Have you used your Power to try to figure out what's going on?† she asked. â€Å"Meredith said she would ask you.† Damon sat down next to her and sighed. â€Å"Beloved, as little as I like to admit it, even my Power has limits,† he said. â€Å"If someone is much stronger than me, like Klaus was, he can hide himself. If someone is much weaker, he doesn't usual y make enough of an impression for me to find him unless I already know who he is. And for some ridiculous reason† – he scowled – â€Å"I can never sense werewolves at al .† â€Å"So you can't help?† Elena said, dismayed. â€Å"Oh, I didn't say that,† Damon said. He touched a loose strand of Elena's golden hair with one long finger. â€Å"Pretty,† he said absently. â€Å"I like your hair pul ed back like this.† She twitched away from him, and he dropped his hand. â€Å"I'm looking into it,† he went on, his eyes gleaming. â€Å"I haven't had a good hunt in far too long.† Elena wasn't sure that she ought to find this comforting, but she did, in a kind of scary way. â€Å"You'l be relentless, then?† she asked, a little chil going through her, and he nodded, his long black lashes half veiling his eyes. She was so sleepy and felt happier now that she'd seen Damon, although she knew she shouldn't have let him in. She missed him, too. â€Å"You had better go,† she said, yawning. â€Å"Let me know what you find out.† Damon stood, hesitating by the end of her bed. â€Å"I don't like leaving you alone here,† he said. â€Å"Not with everything that's been happening. Where are those friends of yours?† â€Å"They'l be here,† Elena said. Something generous in her made her add, â€Å"But if you're that worried, you can sleep here if you want.† She'd missed him, she had, and he was being a perfect gentleman. And she had to admit, she would feel safer with him there. â€Å"I can?† Damon quirked a wicked eyebrow. â€Å"On the floor,† Elena said firmly. â€Å"I'm sure Bonnie and Meredith wil be glad for your protection, too.† It was a lie. While Bonnie would be thril ed to see him, there was a decent chance Meredith would kick him on purpose as she crossed the room. She might even put on special pointy-toed boots to do it. Elena got up and pul ed down a spare blanket from her closet for him, then headed off to brush her teeth and change. When she came back, al ready for bed, he was lying on the floor, wrapped in the blanket. His eyes lingered for a minute on the curve of her neck leading down to her lacy white nightgown, but he didn't say anything. Elena climbed into bed and turned out the light. â€Å"Good night, Damon,† she said. There was a soft rush of air. Then suddenly he whispered softly in her ear, â€Å"Good night, princess.† Cool lips brushed her cheek and then were gone.

Black Men and Public Space Essay

In Brent Staples’ personal essay â€Å"Black Men and Public Space†, he tells the readers what happen to a young black man in an urban setting. He pinpointed that people often stereotype you because of color, race, gender, culture or appearance. In addition, the author expresses to us that he notices the space between him and other people, such as women on the street. Some people may disagree that women set a certain amount of space when walking by a black man on the street. This statement is not true and public space is not about race, gender, color, culture, or appearance. Do we as a people stereotype other people because of race or gender? I believe that race plays a big role when viewing other people, either if were walking down the street or walking into the store. We have a specific view of people from other races and even their own. For example, a black businesswoman might stereotype another woman from her own race because she may not have the same attire as her or grew up in a different area. A white businesswoman might look down on another white women who make less money than her like she is no one, which is not true. But back to Staples’, he once said that a woman cast worried glance at Staples when she saw him walking down the street. Staples found this to be a little strange as he walks too close to the women she seems to pick up her pace of speed after a few glimpses of Staples. In this part of the essay, Staples had a sense that a woman who barely knows him was probably stereotyping him. In addition, he stated that when he would walk in front of a car when people were at a stoplight, men and women would lock their car doors. In recent news in the put exact month it happened year 2013, there was a famous story about a young boy named Trayvon Martin. Trayvon’s story can relate well with the author personal essay. Just like Staples, Travyon was a young African American boy who was stereotyped by the way he looked by someone of another race. The person that speculated young Trayvon to be dangerous was a Latino man, name George Zimmerman who was well over Trayvon’s age, and thought the young boy had a gun in his pocket and was going to shoot him. Zimmerman perceived Trayvon to be a dangerous threat to the person of a different race but in reality he was a young boy with a hoodie over his head and skittles in his pocket. Staples personal essay relates to this story because when he walks into a store or down the street people would look at him in a different light. Just because he is young African American man walking down the street or into the store doesn’t mean he will steal, kill, or rape someone. Instead looking down on people of other races than our own, we other need to be optimistic because not everyone is the same. People shouldn’t have to change their demeanor for other people not to be scared of them because of what they look like or their race. Brent Staples believed that the woman in his personal essay thought he was a rapist, mugger, or worse, he noted that there was a certain amount distance between him and women especially at night. This proves to show that when people are being stereotyped they pay close attention to gender as well as race. You’re less likely to be afraid of a black woman, or any woman, walking down the street at night. When the woman saw a black man it seemed as if she felt trapped and that the narrator closing in on her only made her more anxious and ready to run. Would the situation be the same if a black woman were walking behind her? I believe the situation would be nothing similar to what the narrator experienced. Most people see women as less intimidating than a man. I know if a woman was wearing a hoodie and walking behind me I would be less scared and intimidated than if a man was walking behind me. I think part of that is our perception of the opposite sex. I perceive men as stronger than women, no matter what their race is. It’s just the image that we get from the media, our parents, and our surroundings. Either way people are stereotyped everyday, it doesn’t matter if you are black/white or a man/woman. As a whole we need to stop labeling people by the way they look because one day we might mistake the wrong person that appears to be a good a person but in reality they are the rapist or mugger. So before you decide to give off any perception of anyone by the way they look, you should be optimistic and have an open mind towards other people, but still have guard up.

Kentucky Fried Chicken Essay

The report is mainly focusing on Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) company and has been divided into three categories at the aim of identifying the leadership and management issues in the company and suggest appropriate solutions to it. The tool that will be used in the first phase is the SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) analysis which is used to point out the strengths and weaknesses of the company and also to identifying the leadership and management issues that exist within the organization. The second part of the report consists of the evaluation and rationalization of the management and leaderships issues identified in part 1 by using the McKinsey 7S Model to help to identify what types of changes that should be made and implemented in order to help the company to improve. In the last phase of the report, an overview of the company situation will be presented followed by suggested sets of recommendation and actions for KFC in order to overcome the key issues identified. Company Backgroup  Kentucky Corporation (KFC), also known as Kentucky Fried Chicken, is a chain of fast food restaurants based in Louisville, Kentucky, in the United States which was started in the 1930 by Colonel Harland Sanders as a small franchise operation. Kentucky Fried Chicken is a very well-known restaurant in the world. It is rated at number 60 as the world most well-known brand by the BusinessWeek, while McDonald at number 9 and Nestle at number 23 (Badrishah, 2007). KFC remained the largest chicken restaurant chain and third largest fast-food chain. It held over 50 percent of U.  S market in terms of the sales number and ended the year 1995 with over 9,000 restaurants worldwide. By end of the 1995, KFC have opened 234 new restaurants and is operated in 68 countries. In the year of 1997, the company has become a brand of YUM! Brands Inc. which is the world largest fast food chain who also operates Taco Bell, Long John Silver and Pizza Hut. Currently, the company owns and franchises more than 16,200 outlets in about 100countries and have employees of more than 24,000. KFC was the first fast-food chains to enter international market and has now developed one of the world’s most recognizable brands. KFC’s early entry into the fast food industry allowed the company to gain a strong brand name in the industry and dominate the chicken industry. KFC’s nearest competitor – Boston Market (formerly Boston Chicken) and Popeye’s held market share of 12. 3 and 10. 2 percent respectively while KFC held a market share of 58 percent in the chicken segment (KFC. com, 2007). KFC’s global success is credited to its quality management which is the: Quality, Service and Cleanliness (QSC) program to review the quality of the service offered to the customers and to evaluate the company performance. Other than that, the understanding of the customers and satisfying their needs also contributed to KFC’s global success (Reynolds, 2001). Not only so, KFC also has also uses a special marketing tools to promote its product by means of combining PepsiCo product which is the beverage and the products of KFC itself, with these marketing idea, both company KFC and PepsiCo are both generating profits and it is an advantage for KFC since they no longer purchase beverages from outside company. KFC primarily sells chicken pieces, wraps, salads and sandwiches. While its primary focus is fried chicken, KFC also offers a line of grilled and roasted chicken products, side dishes such as mashed potato, sweet corn, coleslaw and desserts. KFC also uses the localization strategy while designing the menu in KFC as a way to adapt to the local taste and culture by also offering beef based products such as hamburgers or kebabs, pork based products such as ribs and other regional fare. On the other hand, judging by the current market growth in China, KFC have absorbed the Chinese cultural elements into its western management style, hence forming an inter-cultural management mode. China’s rapid economic development has opened its door for the fast-food industry and enable KFC to use localization strategy to let Chinese to have the chance to experience western lifestyle with traditional Chinese cultural embedded in it (China Daily, 2004). At present, there are more than 1,000 restaurants in China and they are now increasing at the rate of average 200 stores per year. In 2010, Yum! Brand, the parent company of KFC Corporation expects 36% of their global $2 billion operating profits from 3700 restaurants in China. The success of KFC in China has lead Yum! Brand Inc to be the most successful foreign company in China with 40% market share outstripping competitors like McDonalds (Turner, 2011). Such management mode by KFC has proved that the company has the flexibility to adapt to different cultural and environmental changes. SWOP Analysis SWOT is a tool for auditing the strategies and the environment of an organization for decision making. And it can be classified as Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities and Threats. (Pahl & Richter, 2007) Strengths KFC is recognize as the second largest fast food chains in the world, the first which being took by its main competitor, McDonalds * Holding over half of the market shares in the fast food industry. * Occupied the china market, KFC defeat McDonald and become the largest fast food chain in China market which contain 1. 3 billion population. * It have been globally recognized and experienced and having strong market in Mexico, Middle East and Asia such as China, Japan, Korea, Thailand and Malaysia. * Earn huge revenue from the franchises and licensing fees. The most major strength of the company is their Brand Equity. * Its secret recipe allowed KFC to set itself apart in the industry and maintained supremacy in the fast food market. * Every year, the profits of the company increases. * KFC have a quality management which called â€Å"Quality, Service and Cleanliness (QSC) program† use to judge the quality of its service offered to the customers and to measure the company performance. Weaknesses * Least focus about their product research and development, they more concerned about their branches expending. Inconsistent quality of services in many outlets by few of its franchises had damaging the brand name and company reputation. * Inflexibility of prices makes it unaffordable to middle class people. * Imbalanced entrance of the franchises to different markets at one time especially too concern the Chinese market has extremely decreased its global growth rate. Opportunities * Besides expanded its target market focus to family and friends of all age brackets, KFC also targeting and tempting the young customer which age between 18 to 24 years old. Dependability of the chicken meat used as the people are scared of infections from eating beef globally. * Focus in Chinese market which known as the world’s faster growing market. * Increased and effective services specially home delivery and drive though services * Induction of new products other than chicken including fish and vegetable in most of its menu in reality the whole menu is balanced and healthy which aim to attract the customers considerably. * Position itself strongly in the global markets, with a vision of increasing market value and market share. Threats * Customer began to demand more healthy and fresh food but KFC was faced with a limited menu and majority consist of fried foods * Faced by slowed sales growth in the fast-food industry, other segments of the industry have turned to new menu offerings, as they have very few products other than their selection† Fried chicken†. * Customer shift to other brand that offering the same products which in lower rates on the prices. * Less economical deals are being offered compare to its biggest competitor McDonalds who offer more cost-effective products. KFC’s Key Challenges KFC Corporation, being one of the largest fast-food chains in the world usually will have challenges that the company will have to overcome in order to retain their market share and reputations. But however, KFC restaurants around the world have various complaints regarding its services provided. It has been reported in United States that a customer was offended by the manner in which she was served. Customers complained that the employees were rude, lazy and negligent to her family and other customers. In the eye of management, a good services will help for t he long term customer relationships. But however, KFC in USA failed to realize the importance of it as employees were not given a proper training regarding good customer services (Eisenback et. al, 2008). According to some of the staff in KFC, there is a lack of communication between the marketing department and the operation of KFC. Marketing department may not give accurate details on the new promotions and new products to the KFC operation nor clearly explain to them about the campaign. This lead to many problems for the operation team as they may be confused about the promotion or coupon and hence might not be able to explain the details to customers with enquiries. In addition, it could affect the efficiency and effectiveness of operation as crewmembers may not be familiar with the new marketing strategies and may not be able to sell the products as the corporate wanted them to be (Lan & Mahmood, 1995). Additionally, KFC in China has also been reported that some KFC restaurants have failed to change their frying oil for four days and also failed to provide fresh soybean milk for customers. The restaurants has been caught for changing the dates for replacing the oil for the purpose of passing examination by district inspectors from the company, and what’s more, the employees also ignore and changed the time on unsold items to make customers believe that they were eating freshly prepared products. The condition of kitchen is also reported to be very unclean and the employees did not follow the food safety regulation such as wearing caps when preparing foods. (China Times, 2009). Despite of the corporate rules on standard operation and regulations, employees at KFC often ignore them. Such incident in KFC would destroy the company’s brand reputation although KFC Corporation claimed that they did provide training booklets which include questions on cross-contamination of food, but because of the lack of supervision, the employees would act whatever they want and ignoring the rules set by the management. The mission of KFC is â€Å"people be the first, customers be the focus† (Yum! Restaurant International, 2003) but however, it is found that KFC did not take proactive approach on listening to customers and employees. There is no systematic customer survey for its products and services. It relies on the branch managers and public relation officers to get the customers’ opinion. Although the website of KFC has a customer service comment box for customers to send suggestion, but KFC ignore those customers who are not computer savvy. Many customers were complaining that customer did not have access to a customer service number and those who were able to reach customer service often received no response. The failure of KFC to deliver efficient service proved that the management does not show concern to their customers and did not make any improvement to take care of the customer’s complaints and thought. Customers are viewed as an important asset of a company and therefore any complaints or opinions from them should be valued by the company (Eisenback et. al, 2008) Other than that, even though KFC has adequate human resources but they are lacking the capabilities. Its mother ompany, PepsiCo, makes wrong decision in its corporate level strategy. They centralize and tightens the control over existing KFC managers and such actions causes the drop of the employee morale. In addition, PepsiCo also limits the rights and powers of the franchisees’ right and power and intents to compete and acquire the franchisees’ units. Such incident has caused a dispute which last for 7 years until 1966. This also make the company performance to drop and drive down KFC’s market shares (Chu, 2003).

Stenden Hots Part C

SCM HOTEL| MODULE ASSIGNMENT PDO PART C| SCM HOTEL| MODULE ASSIGNMENT PDO PART C| Other Operating Expenses at the company which makes a high turnover and a bad staff satibout . e in the HOTS game. Year: 2011-2012 Module: 3 Team 8 Other Operating Expenses at the company which makes a high turnover and a bad staff satibout . e in the HOTS game. Year: 2011-2012 Module: 3 Class: 2PDOd Team 8 Inhalt 1 Performance dashboard year 2 & 3:3 Total turnover4 Figure 1; Total revenue. 4 Figure 2; Net income5 Figure 3; Total rooms sold6 Figure 4; Room occupancy %7 Figure 5; The average room rate (ARR)8Figure 6; Revenue per available room (RevPAR)9 Figure; 7 Public awareness10 Figure 8; Staff turnover (annual %)11 Benchmark Internal year 2 & 3 using variance analysis12 Sales13 Cost of sales13 Payroll and Related13 Gross profit less wages13 Other direct costs13 Total fixed costs14 Income before taxes IT14 3. 3 Benchmark Internal year 2&3 using DuPont analysis15 3. 4 Benchmark Best in comp etitive set:17 3. 5 Benchmark with the industry19 Conclusion21 Performance dashboard year 2 & 3: In the chapter performance dashboard of year 2 & 3 an analysis of important figures in relation to the business SMC will be given.The figures entail every month from every year this means 4 years are shown, year 0 until year 3. A total of 9 figures is used and will be individually explained. Total turnover Figure 1; Total revenue. The total revenue of hotel SCM can be found in figure 1 which is shown above. The last two years the hotel made a lot more revenue than previous years, this can be explained by the investment of the entrepreneurs. In the last two year more revenue can be made because of the investment in year zero and one. Due to investment the facilities and comfort of hotel SCM expanded which results in higher revenue.Figure 2; Net income The net income over the 4 years that SCM exists are shown in figure 2. There is a lot fluctuation within one year especially when l ooking at January and December year one. In year one and a little less in year two the tables shows that the figures are low and even negative. Year 2 and 3 are a bit more constant but with a remarkable negative figure in September year 2. These negative figures is due to the investments that are made. Implementation of services, refurbishment and investing in marketing makes the total direct costs high which influences the net income negatively.After year one the average net income increased enormously. There were no big investments anymore and therefore no high cost which would influence the net income in a negative way. Figure 3; Total rooms sold In figure 3 an overview of the total rooms sold is shown. The hotel opened in year zero and from that moment on the line is progressive which means on average a growth in total rooms sold can be concluded. In year 1 on average 2797 rooms were sold on monthly basis, in year 2 this number was 4196. The last year the total rooms sols increa sed again to 4699 rooms average sold on monthly basis.On average hotel still improved itself every year with number of rooms sold because the total increased every year. Figure 4; Room occupancy % In figure 4 the room occupancy in percentages is shown for the 4 years that hotel SCM exists. In year zero the occupancy percentage was the lowest and the highest for year three because of the progressive line which was also shown in total rooms sold. On yearly basis a stable line is shown with in April a high percentage and a decrease in occupancy percentage at the end of the year, this is related to the high and low season so is totally understandable.The low occupancy percentage in year zero can be explained due to the fact that the rooms weren`t done so couldn`t be sold. Figure 5; The average room rate (ARR) The average room rate of hotel SCM is related to figure 5. The average room rate is pretty stable and is close to the line of 100. Year one is on average around 10 $ dollars lower and year 2 shows relatively unstable line . The average room rate for year zero was 100. 10,for year one this is the lowest with a rate of 95. 38, year two shows an average room rate of 98. 32 and for the last year which is year three it is the highest with 103. 5. Figure 6; Revenue per available room (RevPAR) Figure 6 gives an inside in the revenue per available room (RevPAR) of hotel SCM. The figure shows the influence of the high and low season again January and December are low season and show a lower RevPAR, where July, August and September which are high season show the highest RevPAR. When comparing January year 3 40. 74 to August year 3 93. 92 this is a difference of 53. 18 in RevPAR all due to the influence of the high and low season. The RevPAR increased every year of existents of hotel SCM. Figure; 7 Public awarenessPublic arwareness which can be found in figure 7 was something that was very important for hotel SCM that’s why a lot investments were made in marketin g. It shows how aware the public is of the existents of hotel SCM. In Year zero the hotel started with a very high public awareness, in Year 3 the public awareness was the highest which is very positive because after 4 years people are still aware of the hotel. The high public awareness can be explained by the high investment in marketing, but is shows that its contributing and has a positive effect. The average public awareness for year zero 37. 65, for year 1 28. 65, for year 2 38. 07 and for the last year which is year 3 it was 48. 08. Figure 8; Staff turnover (annual %) Figure 8 shows the staff turnover in annual % over the 4 years. The figure shows that only year 1 is relatively stable year 1 and 3 are very unstable and fluctuated every month. In year zero the staff turnover was the lowest with an average of 27. 53%, in year 1 it increased to the percentage of 43. 44%, in year 2 it increased again while the average was 64. 13% and in year 3 this was the highest with an average of 70. 34%. Benchmark Internal year 2 & 3 using variance analysisIn this chapter the differences between the budget and the actual results from year 2 and 3 will be given. A table with the estimated budget which were made in HOTS assignment part B will be shown and explanation for the actual results will be given. The budget in assignment B was based on the results of year 1. | Year 1| Budget y2| Budget y3| Sales| Â  | Â  | Â  | Rooms| 3. 834. 606,00| 6. 820. 937,50| 9. 695. 312,50| Food| 1. 943. 338,00| 2. 332. 005,60| 2. 681. 806,44| Beverage| 887. 156,00| 505. 689,20| 581. 542,58| Other| 328. 258,00| 393. 909,60| 452. 996,04| | 6. 993. 358,00| 10. 052. 541,90| 13. 411. 57,56| | Â  | Â  | Â  | Cost of Sales| Â  | Â  | Â  | Room| 18. 321,00| 32. 589,11| 82. 397,41| Food & Bev| 1. 182. 670,00| 1. 185. 678,72| 1. 366. 999,36| Other| 62. 957,00| 75. 548,40| 104. 256,79| | 1. 263. 948,00| 1. 293. 816,23| 1. 553. 653,57| | Â  | Â  | Â  | Payroll & Related| Â  | Â  | Â  | Front office| 203. 371,00| 166. 799,36| 208. 499,20| House keeping| 289. 856,00| 166. 799,36| 208. 499,20| Food & Bev| 423. 309,00| 416. 998,40| 500. 398,08| Other| 52. 594,00| 109. 527,60| 153. 338,64| | 969. 130,00| 860. 124,72| 1. 070. 735,12| | Â  | Â  | Â  | Gross Profit less Wages| Â  | Â  | Â  | Room| 3. 323. 058,00| 6. 54. 749,67| 9. 195. 916,69| Food & Bev| 1. 224. 515,00| 1. 235. 017,68| 1. 395. 951,58| Other| 212. 707,00| 208. 833,60| 195. 400,61| | 4. 760. 280,00| 7. 898. 600,95| 10. 787. 268,87| | Â  | Â  | Â  | central adm. Payroll| 320. 224,00| 250. 000,00| 240. 000,00| Total Other Direct Costs| 2. 347. 026,00| 1. 200. 000,00| 1. 150. 000,00| Income before FC| 2. 093. 030,00| 6. 448. 600,95| 9. 397. 268,87| Â  | Â  | Â  | Â  | Total Fixed Costs| 1. 180. 850,00| 750. 000,00| 850. 000,00| Â  | Â  | Â  | Â  | Income before IT| 912. 180,00| 5. 698. 600,95| 8. 547. 268,87| | | | | Table 1; estimated budget year 2 +3 SalesFor sales in ye ar one the total amount 6. 993. 358,00 the hotel expected an amount of 10. 052. 541,90 based on the findings in table 1 out of assignment b. The actual sales income for year 2 is 12. 504. 685,00 so the actual result is better than expected. In year 3 the entrepreneurs expected an amount of 13. 411. 657,56 which was actually 14. 227. 255,00 again the result is better than expected. These result can be explained because of the ARR that increased where in year 1 the figure ARR was around 90 in the 3 year it is around the 105/110. Cost of sales In year 2 hotel SCM expected a total of 1. 293. 16,2 in cost of sales but results in 2. 428. 178,00 which is almost 2 times that high. For year the 2 estimated amount was1. 553. 653,57 this was actually 2. 631. 055,00. The big difference in the estimated budget and the actual figures can be explained due to the high marketing costs which were made as mentioned in chapter 1 figure 7. High costs in marketing resulted in a high public awareness whic h was good for the company.Payroll and Related 1. 362. 446,00 is the actual total amount for year 2 for payroll and related while the estimated amount was 860. 124,72, for year 3 the expectations were an amount of 1. 70. 735,12 which was finally 1. 556. 499,00. These amounts are a lot higher due to the trainings and employee costs which are made, hotel SCM had a high occupancy so all employees were needed and training was necessary to remain customer satisfaction and quality. Of course the training and salaries influence employee satisfaction and the entrepreneurs believe that happy employees do their job better. Gross profit less wages In year 2 a decrease in gross profit less wages is estimated to the amount of 7. 898. 600,95 and resulted in 8. 797. 635,00 which is a bit higher, for year 3 10. 787. 68,87 was expected where 10. 134. 228,00 which is a bit lower. The budget is very close to the estimated budget in year 2 the gross profit is 70,4% and in year 3 even 71,2% on the incom e statement. Other direct costs 3. 692. 438,00 instead of 1. 200. 000,00 for other direct costs in year 2, 4. 687. 714,00 instead of 1. 150. 000,00. These figures are tremendously higher than were estimated, this is due to investment in facilities. The strategy of hotel SCM was not to spend that much on refurbishment but to remain quality the hotel had to do it to be able to compete with the other hotels.Therefore no hotel shop was built because otherwise the other direct costs would be even higher. Total fixed costs In year 1 the Total fixed costs percentage was 16. 9% which meant 1. 180. 850,00$, for year 2 and estimation of 750. 000,00 was made and resulted in 1. 159. 593,00 (9,3%). In year 3 estimated budget was 850. 000,00 which was finally 1. 053. 443,00 (7,4%). The estimated budget was actually very low when looking at the percentage. The percentage for the fixed costs has decreased which is good and are relatively low, which is positive for hotel SCM. |Income before taxes IT The income before IT year 2 was 3. 509. 143,00 which is lower than the expected amount of 5. 698. 600,95. 3. 913. 793,00 was the income before taxes in year 3 which is a lot lower than the estimated amount of 8. 547. 268,87. The income before taxes are a lot lower than expected which is unfortunate. 3. 3 Benchmark Internal year 2&3 using DuPont analysis In the following Text is explained which progress the Hotel SCM did based on the DuPont analysis. As one can see in the DuPont analysis year 2 related to year 3 the net profit and total revenue increased.That is positive but looking at the ratios like net profit margin, asset turnover, return on asset, financial leverage multiplier and return on equity it can be considered that SMC performed in year 2 better even the net profit is lower. The Profit margin is an indicator for profitability in a company. It shows how much money is made out of the total revenue in percentage. In both years it was made around 20% which Is very good but in year 3 it was a bit lower. The reason was more costs which lowered the net profit. In both years is the asset turnover around 0. 9.That is all right because when the profit margin is high then in the most cases the asset turnover is low. That doesn? t mean that SCM performed bad, is just a unspoken rule in finance, because of that you have to take more than one ration in consideration to decide which company is healthy or not. Return on assets is in year 3 17,03% and in year 2 18,07%. It can be conclude that the ROA decreased just 1%. It is interesting for new investors. A high ROA means that the company generates a lot of money out of a lower investment. So actually it can be assumed that investing more money can generate more profit.Furthermore the financial leverage multiplier is very important. In both years it is 1,21, that is for investors a good indicator to judge on the healthiness of an company. A high leverage means that a Company covers the investments with foreign money. A low number means that the company uses the gained money to reinvest. The reason because SMC has a low leverage is because it was no need to invest a higher amount of money like to build more rooms so SMC had not taken a higher loan or need to sale mire share which is not possible in the HOTS game.Moreover the last and one of the most important ratios is Return on equity. A high ROE is necessary for a company to attract more shareholders which invest in the company. It decreased in year 3 but it is still more than 20 %. SMC performed in both years very good just in year 3 it was worse. 3. 4 Benchmark Best in competitive set: SMC had an end ranking of the 3rd place. We are going to compare ourselves to Lilihotel which won the game. Operations SMC had the highest RevPar so it is not necessary to compare it. The gross operating Profit was 34,91 % and lilihotel had 43,79%.That means lilihotel gained more money with less costs. Moreover lilihotel had a higher rooms market share. The reason is that lilihotel built more rooms so it could be sold more as well and it was sold 7 more in average compared to SMC. Owner SMC had 29,35% ROCE and lilihotel 40. 85%. That ratio shows how much the companies gained back out of the investment. The Hotel SMC did not invest so much in year 2 and 3 so the performing was worse. It was no Hotel shop and no more rooms were built even that SMC had no loan anymore. Looked at the balance sheet of the company SCM, there were more the 3 million $ on the ccount. On one hand it is positive to have saved money but so much is wrong to safe because the money could be invested to generated more. Guest SMC is better than lilihotel so it should not be compared. But SMC was not as good as Team 7 which reached 100% guest satisfaction. It can be explained because the company’s image index was 109,81 compared to SMC which just had 74,76. The reason can be the missing Hotel shop. Staff Of both Hotels is the Staff satisfaction the same wit h 70%. SMC got the lower ranking because the staff turnover was lower than at lilihotel.The winner in that part was Team 7. They had the lowest staff turnover. That mean the company had a better planning in staff hiring in busy times. Overall it can be concluded that in every part were little differences, so it cannot be told that SMC performed so much less than lilihotel. 3. 5 Benchmark with the industry | Hotel SMC Year 3| Hosta 2011>250 rooms| Differences| Revenue| | | | Rooms| 50,7%| 58%| -7,3%| Food| 30,67%| 24%| 6,67%| Beverage| 12,33%| 8%| 4,33%| Other income| 6,3%| 10%| -3,7%| Total Revenues| 100%| 100%| | Cost of Sales| | | |Food| 12,1%| 7%| 5,1%| Beverage| 5,0%| 2%| 3,0%| Other Departments| 0,7%| 1%| -0,3%| Total Cost of Sales| 17,8%| 10%| 7,8%| Payroll & Related| | | | Rooms| 5,3%| 10%| -4,7%| Food & Beverage| 5,0%| 14%| -9,0%| Central Administration| 2,7%| 4%| -1,3%| Other departments| 0,7%| 3%| -2,3%| Total Payroll & Related| 13,7| 31%| -17,3%| Other Oper ating Expenses| | | | Rooms| 6,9%| 5%| 1,9%| Food & Beverage| 1,3%| 2%| -0,7%| Other departments| 0,6%| 2%| -1,4%| Total Other Operating Expenses| 8,8%| 9%| -0,2%| Undistributed Operating Expenses| | | |Administration & General| 2,6%| 3%| -0,4%| Marketing| 13,5%| 3%| 10,5%| Energy Cost| 0,3%| 3%| -2,7%| Property Operating| 1,9%| 2%| -0,1%| Total Undistributed Expenses| 18,3%| 11%| 7,3%| Total Expenses| 58,6%| 61,2%| -2,6%| Income Before Fixed Charges| 34,9%| 38,8%| -3,9%| In the following the company SMC is compared to the Hosta report 2011 which is a report about the industrial averages in the hospitality industry. In that case we are just focusing on hotels with more than 250 rooms. Revenue In Food & Beverage the Hotel SMC performed better than the industrial average.In Food 6,67% better and in Beverage 4,33% better. Moreover the company is worse in rooms and in the account other income that can be because it was not implemented a Hotel shop. As well SMC did not build more rooms. It can be concluded that SMC need more time to run the business properly to reach the industrial average in Rooms to gain more revenue. Cost of Sales In total SMC had 7,8% more cost of sales than the average. That shows that a lot of improvement is necessary. The right balance between marketing, suppliers, extra services and the total revenue.Sometimes should SMC lower the standard to gain more net profit because the cost a lower than as well. Payroll & Related Take the Hosta report in consideration than it shows that the hotel SCM is 17,3% lower in Payrolls as the average. First it looks positive because that means less costs on the other hand when the employees now that there are underpaid related to the average then the will not work anymore at the company which makes a high turnover and a bad staff satisfaction. Other Operating Expenses The company SCM had 1,9% more expenses the in the hosta report. Moreover the total is 0,2% lower than the average.It can be conc lude that the expenses a relative high because the hosta report is for hotels with more than 250 rooms. SMC has exactly 250 rooms which means that the expenses are to high. In the next year It should be figured out how to lower it. Undistributed Operating Expenses SMC is spending too much on marketing, 10,5% more than the average. But overall the total expenses are 2. 6 lower the industrial average which means that SMC do a good performance in that part. But on the long term the Hotel has to increase the income because it is 3,9% lower than in the hosta report mentioned. ConclusionFinancial Based on the findings showed in chapter 3. 3 the conclusion is drawn that the hotel is very healthy. The ROA decreased 1% which basically means when there will be more investment, the profit will increase and the financial leverage multiplier staid the same with 1,21. Operations What we have seen before, the operations on building new facilities was not that important in year 2 & 3. The hotel did not build extra rooms or hotel show, but did, again, a lot of refurbishments. Technology and maintenance Like said before, there were some refurbishments done in rooms, front office and restaurant.This was done because of the lower guest ranking. HRM The costs of staff training was very high. This caused mayor ‘other costs’ and the company did not really create a very constant amount of staff turnover. Marketing SCM hotel spent a lot of money on marketing, far more than its competitors. This resulted in very high costs, but also in a very high, constant public awareness. Next year Next year the hotel should try to sell more rooms. This cannot be done with spending more money on advertising, but in positive experiences and mouth to mouth.In addition the staff need to be well trained, although it would be recommended not to higher the staff training costs. This needs to be done with improved planning skills and a better schedule In addition, because of the opportunit ies in the Return on Assets, it would be wise to make some investments during year 4. There is no loan to take care of, so it could be a very big one which requires a lot of money. Moreover there should be a good guest and staff survey, what they think about the company and what needs some attention, so the hotel can provide better service to the needs of its employees and the guests. Appendixa