SAP and the Evolving Enterprise Resource Planning Software Industry

System application and product (SAP) was founded in 1972 by five German IBM computer analysts who had left Company. SAP mission is to design software programs for central coordination and processing of information on cross functional and cross divisional financial transactions in a company’s value chain.Advertising We will write a custom case study sample on SAP and the Evolving Enterprise Resource Planning Software Industry specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More It is focused on developing enterprise resource planning system (ERP); a multi module applications software that allow companies to manage set of activities and transaction necessary to manage business processes, moving of products from the input stage along the value chain to the final customer. SAP is focused on making a system that can recognize, monitor , measure, and evaluate all the transactions involved in a business process such as product planning, purchasing of input from supplier, manufacturing process, inventory and order processing, and customer self service. SAP goals are to come up with EPR system that provides companies with a standardized information technology platform giving complete information about all aspects of its business process and divisions. This is to allow business to constantly search for ways to perform these process more efficiently and lower its cost structure, improve its services and products in order to raise their value to customer. It aims at coming up with software that can provide information that allows for the design of product that match customer needs and lead to superior responsiveness to customer. It also, aims at making software that portrayed companies on the performance of their products and goods in various markets. Additionally, SAP intends to make software that can compare and measure company’s transactions in all divisions and reveal any problems a company is experiencing. For instance i t can detect company’s unwanted expenditures. SAP’s strategy led invention of R/1, its first EPR software in 1973. SAP focused on influential niche of companies and helped in developing a global base of leading companies. It strategized to create a global industry standard for EPR through providing the best business application software infrastructure.Advertising Looking for case study on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More To increase its customers, SAP switched strategies in 1980. It decided to focus primarily on outsourcing, external consulting, and implementation of services needed to install and service its software on site in a particular company. It formed alliance series with major global consulting companies like IBM, Accenture, and Cap Gemini to install R/1 system in its growing base of global customers. In its U.S subsidiary, each regional SAP division started developing its own proced ure for pricing SAP software, offering discounts, dealing with customer complaints, and even rewarding its employees and consultants. To solve problem of competition SAP sought a quick fix by releasing new R/3 solution for ERP internet enabled SCM and CRM solution which converted its internal ERP system into an externally based network platform. By providing a simpler and cheaper version of its application software coupled with the introduction of the many mySAP business solution packages, SAP broadened its offering targeted market not only to large corporation but also to small medium seized companies. To support its mySAP initiative, SAP continued to build in house training and consulting capabilities to increase its share of revenue from service side its business. It increased web software which paid off because the company was now better able to recognize the problems experienced by customer. Also, SAP was seeking to establish R/3 as new ERP market standard and lock in customer before competitors could offer viable alternatives. This strategy was vital for its future success, given the way an ERP system changes the nature of customer’s business process once it is installed and running due to high switching costs involved in moving to another ERP product, and the involved costs that customer warrants void. SAP standardized the way each subsidiary or division operated across the company, thus making it easier to transfer people and knowledge where they were needed most. It also developed a large global training function to provide the extensive ERP training that consultants needed and charged both individuals and consulting company’s high fees for attending this course so that they would be able work with the SAP platform. SAP’s strength includes developing an EPR system which can provide a company with the information needed to achieve the best industry practices across its operations. SAP earns more revenues from training consultants i n the intricacies of installing and maintaining SAP’s ERP system.Advertising We will write a custom case study sample on SAP and the Evolving Enterprise Resource Planning Software Industry specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More It depends much on consulting companies and on becoming the expert in the installation / customization. Introduction of SAP’s R/3 outperformed its competitor product in a technical sense and once again allowed it to charge premium price for its new software. SAP’s weaknesses are that its R/1 software installation process was long and complicated. For a company to adapt its information systems to fit the SAP’s software; it must use consultants to rework the way it performs and its values chain activities so that its business process and information system can become compatible with SAP’s software. SAP relying much on consulting and becoming expert in installation/customization b rought problems later since it lost first hand knowledge of its customer’ problem and an understanding of the changing needs of its customer’ especially when the internet and cross company integration became a major competitive factor in ERP industry. SAP ignored marketing and sales competency and focused on developing its technical competency. Its top managers were not experienced business managers who understood the problem of implementing a rapidly growing company’s strategy on a global basis. It lacked standardization and integration inside America and indeed between many foreign subsidiaries and their headquarters in Germany. It did not have a monitoring or coordination mechanism in place to share own best practices between its consultants and division, and organizing by region in the United States was doing little to build core competences. SAP’s R/3 was also criticized for being too standardized because it forced all companies to adapt what SAP had decided were best industry practices. Reconfiguring the software to fit certain companies’ needs took along time and sometimes did not perform as well as expected. SAP’s opportunities included updating of its basic ERP platform to accommodate the needs of companies in different kinds of industries. It registered in Frankfurt stock exchange 1988 to raise cash for its development after which it dominated ERP software sales.Advertising Looking for case study on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Because of R/3 growing popularity SAP decentralized and controlled marketing, sale, and installation of its software on global basis but its research and development remained in Germany. Developing of internet and broadband technology become important force in shaping a company’s business model and process in future. The internet was changing the way in which the company viewed its boundaries; through the emergence of global ecommerce and online cross company’s business process both at the input and output sides. Developing web software was also made it easier for the company to cooperate and work with supplier and manufacturing company and to outsource activities to specialists. Oracle began its own EPR software which posed a threat to SAP since it did not develop its own database management software package; its system was designed to be compatible with Oracle’s data base management software. SAP decentralization faced a problem since it could not provide thor ough training on consultants needed to perform the installation of its software. Some of consultants would leave after training to join other company or start an industry specific SAP consulting practice. People had notion that SAP software are difficult and expensive to implement which hurt its reputation and sales. SAP was involved in disputes with other companies over the R/3 software. For instance, Chevron major creditors sued SAP in court alleging that the company had promised that R/3 would do more than it could. SAP decentralization mission to supply software that linked functions and divisions did not come true; it separated them and characteristic problem of too much decentralization of authority soon became evident in SAP. Internet development also posed a severe threat to SAP’s management who had been proud of the fact that until now they had developed every thing internally. Rivalry among major software makers in the new web based software market became more inten se and SAP had to deal with competition from large and small software companies that were breaking into the new web based ERP environment. Oracle emerged as its major competitor; it had taken its core data base management software used by large companies and overlaid it. New companies like Siebel system, Commerce one, Ariba, and Marcum which emerged as niche players in some software application such as SCM, CRM, internet, or website development and hosting also began to build and expand their product offering so that they now posed ERP modules that competed with some of SAP’s most lucrative R/3 modules. In its implementation, SAP culture was built on values and norms that emphasized technical innovation, and the development of leading ERP software. SAP invested most of its money into research and development to fund projects that would add to its platform’s capabilities. SAP was product focused company and believed research and development would produce technical advan ces that would be the source of its competitive advantage. It ventured in ERP in1973 through introducing R/1 and 1981 SAP introduced its second generation ERP software, R/2. In 1992 SAP introduced R/3 which offered seamless, real time integration for over 80% of a company’s business process. It embedded in the platform hundreds and then thousands of industry best practices solution or templates that customer could use to improve their operation and processes. In the first years SAP did not only developed EPR software but it used its own internal consultants to install it physically on site to its customers, corporation, and IT centers. It also emphasized on innovation. SAP decentralized control of its marketing, sales, and installation to its subsidiaries. Its top managers operated from the beginning by creating a flat hierarchy to create an internal environment where people could take risks and try new ideas of their own choosing. If mistakes occurred or projects did not wor k out, employees were given the freedom to try a different approach. Hard work, teamwork, openness, and speed were the norms of their culture. Required meeting were rare and offices were frequently empty because most of the employees were concentrating on research and development. SAP established human resource management in 1997 to build a more formal organization. Its goal was to standardize the way each subsidiary or division operated across the company, thus making it easier to transfer people and knowledge where they were needed most. It also developed a large global training function to provide the extensive ERP training that consultants needed and charged both individuals and consulting company’s high fees for attending this course so that they would be able work with the SAP platform. In 1998 SAP followed industry solution maps, business technology maps, and service maps, all of which were aimed at making its R/3 system dynamic and responsive to changes in industry co nditions. SAP’s business model and strategies became clear when it introduced its mySAP.com (mySAP) initiative to gain control of the web based ERP, SCM and CRM market; to extend its research into any ecommerce or internet based software application. SAP’s software would no longer force the customer to adapt to SAP’s standardized architecture; mySAP software was adapted to facilitate company’s transition into a business. MySAP provided the platform that would allow SAP’S product offering to expand broaden overtime; important feature because web based software was evolving to ever more varied application. SAP focused on making mySAP more affordable by breaking up its modules and business solutions into smaller, separate products. Customer could choose which particular solution best met their specific needs; they no longer had to buy the whole package. Given existing resources constraints and time pressure and the need to create a more profitable bus iness model, in the 2000 SAP realized that it needed to partner with companies that now dominated in various niches of the software market. By utilizing already developed best of breed software, SAP would have to deploy the capital necessary if it were to go it alone. In addition, synergies across partner companies might allow future development to be accomplished more efficiently and enable it to bring new mySAP products to the market more quickly. It also used acquisition to drive its entry into new segment of the acquisition to drive its entry into new segment of the web software. It started SAP hosting to provide hosting and web maintenance services. The recession that started in 2000 and increased competition in the ERP industry, SAP and Oracle in particular battled to protect and increase their market share. Implementing mySAP, SAP had begun to centralize authority and control in order to standardize its own business processes and manage knowledge effectively across organizati onal subunits. To respond to changing customer needs for product customization, SAP now moved to decentralize control to programmers and its sales force to manage problems where and when they arose. SAP’s managers felt that in an environment where market were saturated with ERP vendor and where customer wanted services and system that are to use, it was important to get close to the customer. SAP put in place its own application software for integrating across its operating division and subsidiaries allowing them to share best practices and new development and thus avoid problem that come with too much decentralization of authority. To speed the software development process, SAP divided its central German software development group into three teams in 2000. One team works on the development of new product and feature, the second refines and updates functions in its existing products, and third works on making SAP products easier to install. After 2001 once again to speed up t he implementation of the mySAP initiative, SAP folded the market and SAP portals subsidiaries into SAP’s other operation and split the SAP product line into distinct but related mySAP product group each of which was to be treated as an independent profit center, with the head of each product group reporting directly to SAP’s chairperson. SAP also changed the way the three German engineering groups worked with the different mySAP products groups. The software engineer at its German headquarter beside conducting basic research and development would be responsible for coordinating the efforts of different mySAP engineering groups, sharing new software developments among groups, providing expert solutions, and ensuring all different mySAP applications worked together. SAP opened the development process to its competitor and allowed them to work with SAP team to make their products compatible with SAP’s product and with the computer platform or legacy system already installed in their customers operation. The company also instituted stricter training and certification method for consultants to improve the level of quality control and protect its reputation. At global level, SAP grouped is national subsidiaries into three main world regions: Europe, the America, and Asia/Pacific. This grouping made it easier to transfer knowledge and information between countries and serve the specific demands of national market inside each region. Also this global structure made it easier to manage relationship with consulting companies and to coordinate regional marketing and training effort, both under the jurisdiction of the centralized marketing and training operations. In 2002 SAP introduced R/3 enterprise which targeted at customer not yet ready to make the leap to mySAP. It was a collection of web software that can be added easily to the R/3 platform to provide a company with the ability to network with other companies and perform many ecommerce operatio ns. They also developed a new business computing solution called SAP NetWeaver; a web based open integration and application platform that serves as foundation for enterprise serve as the foundation for enterprise service oriented architecture and allows the integration and alignment of people, information, and business processes across business and technology boundaries. To control SAP’s operations, it introduced human resource management. It developed job description and job title, and put in place a career structure that would motivate employees and keep them loyal to the company. SAP put in place reward system which included stock option to increase the loyalty of their technicians, who were being attracted away by their competitor or had started their business because SAP did not offer a future career path. It operated formally, and centralized to encourage organizational learning and promote sharing of own best implementation practices across division and subsidiaries. To improve the cost effectiveness of mySAP installation, SAP sought a better way to manage its relationship with consulting companies. It moved to a parallel sourcing policy in which several consulting firms competed for a customer’s business and it made sure a SAP consultant was always involved in the installation and service effort to monitor external consultant’s performance. This helped keep service cost under control for customers. Because customers’ needs changed so quickly in this fast paced market and SAP continually improved its products with incremental innovation and additional capabilities, it also insisted that consultants undertake continual training to update their skills, training for which it charged high fees. SAP adopted a stock option program to retain valuable employees after losing many key employees to competitor. It increasingly embraced the concept of open architecture and its mySAP offerings are compatible with the products of most othe r software makers. It had already ensured that its mySAP platform worked with operating system such as Microsoft NT, Sun’s Java, and UNIX. To reduce cost, SAP began to outsource its routine future programming development work overseas to low cost countries such as India. SAP also began to use its expanding Indian research center to develop new ERP modules to serve new customer in a more industries or vertical markets. In evaluation SAP has drastically made innovations on EPR which has made it to survive and thrive well in global software market. It has over years experienced growth in software sales, consulting, maintenance and training. Its maintenance service has provided continuous improvement, quality management, and problem solution so that client stays up to date with the best business practice that the company embeds to its software. It has continued to experience increase in net income. It has worked hard to compete with other competitor companies and build up its cus tomer base in order to increase its profit margin In recommendation SAP should search out new ways to increase growth and generate revenues because the market is getting saturated now that most large companies have adopted best practice ERP software. To generate increased revenue SAP should increase involvement in service training activities, which will put it in direct competition with IT consulting companies such as IBM and Cap Gemini. It should also broaden the range of products it offers to the SME business segment in order to compete with Oracle, Microsoft and New internet companies. To survive in future, SAP should focus on making investors believe in future growth potential of acquisition and business model. It should focus on increasing profitability by improving productivity, to better serve its users with new products and expand to new industries, help customers transition and gain benefits from enterprise SOA, which using netweaver allows customer to seamlessly integrate the software of different vendors into a whole and links it to the internet, making possible real time upgrades and improvements. SAP should continuously embark on strength in developing an EPR system which can provide a company with the information needed to achieve the best industry practices across its operations. It should work to become expert in the installation / customization and outperformed its competitor product in a technical sense. It should ensure that its R/1 software installation process brief and easy. SAP should also focus on marketing and sales competency. It should employ top managers who are experienced for them to understand the problem of implementing a rapidly growing company’s strategy on a global basis. It should have standardization and integration inside America and indeed between many foreign subsidiaries and their headquarters in Germany. It should embrace internet and broadband technology to Shape Company’s business model and process in f uture. This case study on SAP and the Evolving Enterprise Resource Planning Software Industry was written and submitted by user NicoMinoru to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

12 Research Essay Topics on Behavioral Ecology

12 Research Essay Topics on Behavioral Ecology Research essays must be factual, interesting and informative. That way, they can show a student’s ability to think critically about the topic. If you are assigned with a research essay on animal behavioral ecology, these 12 interesting facts will inspire you to come up with an exciting topic and complement your research with cold, hard facts that will guarantee you a good grade. There is a handy list of direct reference sources at the end, so check them out for more materials for your research essay. Animals have to navigate through complex living environments throughout their entire lives. This is a challenging task, especially for group-living animals. Effective navigation and response to environmental variables requires the transmission of vital information within the group. The transmission of the information follows a certain pattern. This pattern or network is based on the relative spatial position of each individual. The interactions, which are mapped from the perspective of the spatial range of one individual, can be categorized by the definition of range: Metric Range: Interaction with all individuals present within a fixed distance Topological Range: Interaction with a set number of neighbors Voronoi Range: Interaction with neighbors located in a shell or plane Potential mates are also considered a resource in the animal kingdom. Animals compete for mates among other resources such as food and territory. To maximize their chances of producing offspring, animals will try to distribute themselves across the available mating pool. The mating strategies of the males within a species differ widely. This is because the specific tactics used for obtaining mates are very different within a specific specie as well as among same species living in different environments. Animal migrations are a fascinating and ecologically significant phenomenon. Species migrate from one trophic level to another to seek food and better breeding grounds. Fluctuating resources can be better exploited in this manner. Fast moving species such as birds benefit the most from this strategy and travel hundreds of miles when winter sets in and habitats become inhospitable. Animal social behaviors and the underlying neural processes are affected by specific attributes. Within animal groups, traits such as rank in the hierarchy, physical strength, ability to effectively defend resources, age, and participation in cooperative activities are major factors which come into play. Highly altruistic behaviors, such as cooperative foraging, are observed in some species. This seems to go against the classical ideas of natural selection. Animals will make use of signaling to direct members of their own species and create a shared food source. The reason for this behavior is that animals in groups realize that incurring a little cost to their individual selves is offset by the advantages offered by a highly-fit cooperative group. Patterns of parental care differ vastly amongst animal species. Factors that affect parental patterns can be ecological or physiological. Among invertebrates, there is a pattern of no parental care. This allows the parents to produce a large number of eggs, the fate of which is left to chance. On the other hand, the female of the bee species, L. figueresi, will stock its larvae cells with nectar and pollen and then die before the offspring would hatch. Some animals are brood parasites. They do not take care of their offspring. Instead they essentially trick an animal belonging to another specie into becoming a parenting-proxy for them. When the offspring is born, it monopolizes the host’s resources and competes with the other â€Å"siblings†. The most common example of a brood parasite is the common cuckoo. The cuckoo hatchling is quite an aggressive brood parasite because it ejects all the other host’s hatchlings out of the nest. Cowbirds, large blue butterfly and honeyguides are also brood parasites. Animals are known to cooperate with each other and have even learned to show highly altruistic behaviors in some cases. The main reason for this is that the individual can maximize its own fitness levels by cooperating with other animals. In order to understand animal behavior, Niko Tinbergen, one of the pioneers of the field says that one must consider the four main factors connected to the behavior. These factors can be posed in terms of ‘why’ questions. The phenomenon is adequately explained if all these four factors are understood. The cause of the behavior The developmental aspect The adaptive function or the advantage it serves The connection with the evolutionary history The parental care pattern of most birds is centered on desertion. In cases where food sources are plenty, one partner will remain to take care of the offspring. Sometimes populational and environmental factors also play a role in desertion. For instance, if a partner has a significant chance to gain another mate, they will abandon their offspring. A major concept in behavioral ecology is economic defendability. The term is used in scenarios where an animal is defending currently held resources, but for a cost. This cost is in terms of energy expended and risk of injury. There is a definite benefit connected to it as well: having quick access to the resource. An imbalance in the costs and benefits is the root cause of territorial behavior observed in animals. Male lions sometimes practice infanticide. When a new male lion takes over a pride, they will sometimes kill the cubs already present. This is a curious behavior that is explained from an evolutionary perspective. Behavioral ecologists assume that killing the cubs ensures that the females regain their reproductive condition much faster. If the cubs are allowed to live, lionesses will come into oestrus after 25 months. Killing the cubs shortens this time to about 9 months. As the reproductive life of a male is short, this behavior does give them an advantage. These facts should be enough to get your academic paper going. If you find this article helpful then you may also check our 20 topics and 1 sample essay on behavioral ecology as well as our guide on writing a research essay on this subject. References: Strandburg-Peshkin, A., Twomey, C.R., Bode, N.W., Kao, A.B., Katz, Y., Ioannou, C.C., Rosenthal, S.B., Torney, C.J., Wu, H., Levin, S.A. Couzin, I.D. (2013) Visual sensory networks and effective information transfer in animal groups, Current Biology 23(17), R709-711. [PDF] Dominey, Wallace (1984). Alternative Mating Tactics and Evolutionarily Stable Strategies. American Zoology 24 (2): 385–396. doi:10.1093/icb/24.2.385. Dorst, J. (2015). migration | animal. Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 8 March 2016, from britannica.com/science/migration-animal 63 Hamilton, I.M. et al. (2005) Size differences within a dominance hierarchy influence conflict and help in a cooperatively breeding cichlid. Behaviour 142, 1591–1613 64 Clutton-Brock, T. (2002) Breeding together: kin selection and mutualism in cooperative vertebrates. Science 296, 69–72 Torney, C., Berdahl, A., Couzin, I. (2011). Signalling and the Evolution of Cooperative Foraging in Dynamic Environments. Plos Comput Biol, 7(9), e1002194. http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1002194 Parker, G. (1979). Sexual selection and sexual conflict. In: Sexual Selection and Reproductive Competition in Insects (eds. M.S. Blum and N.A. Blum). Academic Press, New York: pp123-166. Chapman, T.; et al. (2003). Sexual Selection. Trends in Ecology and Evolution 18: 41–47.doi:10.1016/s0169-5347(02)00004-6. Payne, R. B. 1997. Avian brood parasitism. In D. H. Clayton and J. Moore (eds.), Host-parasite evolution: General principles and avian models, 338–369. Oxford University Press, Oxford. Davies, Krebs, West, Nicholas B., John R., Stuart A. (2012). An Introduction to Behavioral Ecology. West Sussex, UK: Wiley-Blackwell. pp. 307–333. ISBN 978-1-4051-1416-5. Davies, N., Krebs, J., West, S. (2012). An introduction to behavioural ecology. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell. Beissinger, S.R.; Snyder, N.F.R. (1987). Mate desertion in the snail kite. Animal Behaviour 35: 477–487.doi:10.1016/s0003-3472(87)80273-7. Brown, Jerram (June 1964). The evolution of diversity in avian territorial systems. The Wilson Bulletin 76 (2): 160–169. JSTOR 4159278. Davies, N., Krebs, J., West, S. (2012). An introduction to behavioural ecology. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell.

Personal Learning Profile of a Student Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 1

Personal Learning Profile of a Student - Essay Example Before carrying out the assessment, I had a different version of my profile. However, after the entire analysis, I found out that I have a very different kind of personal learning profile than what I had taken it to be. One of the beliefs I had in myself before this course is listening skills. All along, I had assumed that I possess excellent listening skills. I thought that it is my good communication skills that have put in the right path for establishing good interpersonal relations with my colleagues, teachers, parents and anyone else with whom I have been interacting on my day to day basis. It was not so, I would not have learned to communicate with them (Knapp & Daly, 2002). After all, I was once taught that no one can listen to you if you do not lend them your ears. The other thing I knew about myself is that I am a good time manager. This is another trait that in my opinion, I believed would make me be a good student. Time is a very important resource that should be properly managed at all times. Being that I would adhere to the school routine and accomplish all my tasks in time, I thought that I was a good time manager. Since I joined this institution, I had never had cases of absenteeism or lateness. Meaning, rather than being punctual in all my activities, I have never skipped classes. The daily attendance of all my classes made me excel in my curricular and extra-curricular activities. At the same time, being organized gave me enough time to use for accomplishing all my activities. Thus, I could describe myself as a responsible student who had excellent time management and interpersonal skills. Meanwhile, I had taken myself as an honest student who has been so sincere in most of my deals. As a religious person, I always believe that I should be truthful at all times.

Human wk 11 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Human wk 11 - Essay Example When I say this, I mean that the teacher helps them learn through their learning style and keeps them excited about learning. As a scholar practitioner, I think it is important to understand those things or issues that motivate a client to do or not do something. As an example, money may be a motivator for some people, but it is not always the most important issue in someone's life. When thinking about social change, I think that many people are motivated by different issues in society and they stand behind those that are most important to them. As an example, I believe that teens must have support to get through some of the tough times that they go through with their friends and we must help them deal with these problems or they become larger. I also think that as a scholar-practitioner, it is our duty to make sure that we understand the influences and/or motivations that our clients have in order to help serve them more accurately. References Reeve, J.M. (2009). Understanding motiv ation and emotion. Fifth Edition. NJ: John Wiley & Sons Assignment 3 I think that it was very important to understand those things that motivate us in order for us to move towards a goal. In this course, I stated in the beginning that I had the goal of making a success of my life through getting my Masters degree.

Analysis The lady with the petdog Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Analysis The lady with the petdog - Essay Example Their love is under the test of rationality and the lens of morality. Chekhov’s â€Å"The Lady with the Pet Dog† uses ambiguity, setting, characterization, and realism to suggest that love has no logic, explanation, and morality, but people continue to fight for it because it is the only thing that makes them truly happy. Love has no logic. Chekhov uses ambiguity in language to show that love does not make any sense. Gurov does not find his affairs satisfying in the long run. He just knows that he attracts women enough for them to â€Å"favor† him, including sexually favoring him (Chekhov par.5). These sexual favors are short and sweet, until his heart chooses to favor someone forever. Favor is an ambiguous word, whose final interests are unclear. In the story, favor motivates two married people to prioritize their self-interests, to the risk of breaking the laws of God and man. One more example shows ambiguity. After making love, Anna feels sorry for the affair. Chekhov describes her as a â€Å"Magdalene†¦by an old master† (par.39), perhaps even worse because she is not a prostitute, but she has given her married body to another married person. Her monologue, however, bores Gurov: â€Å"†¦he was irritated by her naive tone, by her repentance, so unexpected and out of place†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Chekhov par.36). ... Aside from language, characterization enables Chekhov to demonstrate that people may be opposite in many ways, but love can still bind them. Gurov is old and a self-confessed womanizer, while Anna is young and inexperienced with affairs. They seem an unlikely pair, especially when they have some sense of â€Å"fear† for their spouses (Chekhov par.4). They fear them because they are with them, despite the absence of love. Furthermore, Gurov thinks that there is nothing special about him, while Anna finds him as the best kind of man. For Gurov, he is only an old man â€Å"almost twice her age,† but Anna sees him as â€Å"kind, exceptional, high-minded† (Chekhov par.58). Evidently, love has skewed their assessment of true identities. Their love blinded them of the ability to see each other’s worst faults. One of the greatest sources of the irrationality of their love is its depravity. Their affair is wrong but they want to continue anyway, even when at first, they are unsure of what they have. Anna becomes restless and cannot sleep (Chekhov par.52). These are signs of guilt. They are both married, but they are in love with each other, not their spouses. In addition, they are hesitant of what they have, until Anna leaves Gurov. When Anna sees â€Å"dew on the grass† (Chekhov par.49), it represents something new, the dawn of love. The dew is fresh and refreshing. Their love awakens their old grass. But the dew will evaporate at the light of day. The sun is their morality. Their dew is against this morality, and it is illogical to continue it. They are struggling to hide their love, when they can always end it to conclude their miseries (Chekhov par.52). They feel â€Å"dread† (Chekhov par.52) of being caught, being judged. Why suffer these complications? They

Post Structuralism Phenomenology Concepts in Architecture

Post Structuralism Phenomenology Concepts in Architecture 1. Post-structuralism Post-structuralism is a progression of earlier movement resulted by the work of a Swiss linguist, Ferdinand De Saussure in the 1910s and 1920s called Structuralism. The latter was influenced by semiotics (a study of signs). According to Saussure, a language is a system of signs made up of a signifier (an acoustic-image) and a signified (a concept).[1] Structuralism is understood as how the system works to structure their individual elements to imply a meaning. Post-structuralism is often interchangeably linked with postmodernism and deconstruction in general, as all these movements respond to structuralisms philosophy of language but they apply those insights to a wider range of topics and radicalize some of the structuralisms premises. [2] The consideration of architecture as communication while recognizing its functionality came during the Modernism era, which revolves around the universal form and the principle of form follows function phrased by American architect, Louis Sullivan. Modern architects believed the functions of diagrammatic objects would be transparent, or obvious to everyone.[3] However, the text, The Lesson of the Toilet Bowl, has taught us that it is through learning that human knows how to use a form. Charles Jencks and Peter Eisenman both opposed the former movement in post-modernism and deconstruction respectively. Jencks sees communication as the main problem of modernism as modern architects abandoned the traditional language of architecture and tried to design functional buildings. Post-modernism is characterized as double-coding[4], highlighting multivalent, unlike modern architecture which was criticized as univalent in terms of form. While modern architecture strives to create new, independent works of art, postmodern architecture embraced diversity with the merge of ideas, styles, and characters to promote parody, humor and irony. Deconstruction, on the other hand, challenges the values of harmony, unity, and stability, and proposing instead a different view of a structure that the flaws are intrinsic to the structure.[5]   Deconstructivist rejects the presence of metaphysics, as well as the function, scale, and context. [6] In terms of design process within the discipline of architecture, structuralism revolves around the idea of binary, hierarchical, and structural thinking for example, black cannot be white and vice versa. Whereas in poststructuralism, French philosopher, Gilles Deleuze (1925-95) collaborated with the psychoanalyst, Fà ©lix Guattari (1930-92) introduced the concept of rhizome in  A Thousand Plateaus (1980). A rhizome has no beginning or end; it is always in the middle, between things, interbeing, intermezzo.[7] The term rhizome promotes connective thinking in which post-structuralists criticized the reductive and that phenomena actually occurs in a more multifarious manner. There are in betweens and tangents and ambiguous non-binary associations. Post-structuralists approach argues that to understand an object, it is necessary to study both the object itself and the systems of knowledge that produced the object. 2. Phenomenology Phenomenology is a philosophical movement or approach which was inaugurated by a German philosopher, Edmund Husserl (1859-1938) during the 1800s.   In architecture, the term phenomenology is the study of the essence of human consciousness through the subjective experience of phenomena. Architectural phenomenology acknowledged the importance of human experience as part of architecture; also referred as a return of lived experience.[8] This theory promotes the integration of human sensory and perception as part of built form to create an architectural and experiential space that is beyond tangible, but rather abstract, observed and perceived. One of the key approaches in phenomenology discourse was shaped by the thought of Martin Heidegger where he defines the meaning of Bauen (building) as to dwell, the latter simply means creating a sense of quality space within the building, providing the sense of feeling being at home to build is in itself already to dwell. However, dwelling does not necessarily occur in every building or typologies.[9] It was later then, the Heideggers philosophy becomes influential among a number of architectural theorists, namely, Christian Norberg-Schulz, a Norwegian architectural theorist, who was among the first to attempt to translate phenomenological approach into architecture. Schulz argues that the perception is inseparable from our preexisting knowledge about the things we perceive. Our perception is actually a result of our previous experiences.   This infers that every individuals perception is very subjective to their experiences and thus, asserted as a limiting factor to the phenomenological approach. In the architecture of today, people give too much of attention on the visual image (appearance) that the reality of how a building an experience has been neglected as mentioned by Finnish architect, Juhani Pallasmaa, who explored this notion in his work titled, The Geometry of Feeling (1985). Pallasmaa phrases that, the artistic dimension of a work of art does not lie in the actual physical thing; it exists only in the consciousness of the person experiencing it.[10] This statement enables us to think thoroughly that we do not only design a building as its physical form, and it is the images and feelings in other words, the design aims to achieve emotions/ experiences. A phenomenological concept in architectural design strategies to develop a unique experience by taking account of phenomena factors like space, light, and form. Architecture aims to provide to human needs and therefore, it is essential that a great design considers the relation of human senses with built form in order to create a rich experience that unfolds over time and gives a memorable impact for users.[11] 3. Theory and Practice Every now and then, we see theories overlap and developed from criticism, judgment, descriptive or interpretation on specific existing works. Consequently, this provides alternative solutions based on observations of the current state of the discipline, or offers new thought paradigms for approaching the issues.[12] The discourse of architectural theory and practice began after the Renaissance period when the Art of Building in Ten Books, which closely modeled Vitruviuswork was published by Alberti.[13] According to Korydon Smith in Introducing Architectural Theory, he defined architectural theory as: the evolution of the objective principles and subjective values that guide individual and collective decisions about, and assessments of ones own and othersarchitectural works.[14] Based on the definition, we can infer theories in architecture appear to be subjective and rather more individualistic and collective paradigms as everyone relatively do not share the same opinions or visual languages. His work also introduced the concept of the dialectic in particular, a dialogue. It arises as a dichotomy, a debate between two opposing positions, ideas, or theories (thesis and antithesis) but, through the desire to reconcile (synthesis) the debate, results in proposition. The dialectic, as such, is popularly known as Fichtean dialectics by Kants philosophies. The idea of dialectic is to be said a process using reasoning to ascertain what the truth could be. The discourse of theoretical within the discipline of architecture focuses on the relationship between theory and practice with two very distinct views revolving on the necessity of theory to practice effectively. For Bernard Tschumi, he argues that Architecture is not an illustrative art; it does not illustrate theories whereas, Vittorio Gregotti insists on theoretical research as a direct foundation of action in architectural design.[15] Theory within the practice is resolved to be inevitable as quoted by Iain Borden, Theory is indispensable. It is how we make sense of the world.[16] The Oxford philosophy professor John Alexander Smith phrased: The real gain from studying philosophy is not in learning about the views of great philosophers but in understanding their arguments and in acquiring confidence in ones ability to think critically, by thinking through these arguments.[17] From this statement inferences the relation of theory and practice where two have to evolve simultaneously. Dialectics are often present within the discipline of architecture design and practice, as a process of making incremental, though interrelated, decisions.[18] The theoretical dissertation has hugely contributed a number of architectural works today which helps to stimulate people to apply critical thinking in theory and practice and thus, the cycle repeats. Bibliography 1) Book Bibliography.  Macey, David. The Penguin Dictionary of Critical Theory London: Penguin Group, 2000. 2) Book Chapter Bibliography.  L. Fastiggi, Robert. Post-Structuralism. In New Catholic Encyclopedia Supplement 2012-13: Ethic and Philosophy, Volume 3. Detroit: Gale Cengage Learning in association with the Catholic University of America, 2013. 3) Book Chapter Bibliography.  Jencks, Charles. The Architectural Sign. In Signs, Symbols, and Architecture. New York: Wiley, 1980. 4) Book Chapter Bibliography.  Jencks, Charles. The Paradoxical World of Post-Modernism. In Movements in Twentieth Century Architecture, Ed. Michael J. Ostwald. Sydney; Arcadia Press / University of Newcastle, Faculty of Architecture, Building and Design, 2000. 5) Book Chapter Bibliography.  Wigley, Mark. Deconstructivist Architecture. In Movements in Twentieth Century Architecture, Ed. Michael J. Ostwald. Sydney; Arcadia Press / University of Newcastle, Faculty of Architecture, Building and Design, 2000. 5) Book Bibliography.  MitroviĆ¡, Branko. Philosophy for Architects. New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 2011. 6) Book Chapter Bibliography.  Deleuze, Gilles, and Guattari, Felix.Introduction: Rhizome. In A Thousand Plateaus. London: Continuum, 2010. 7) Book Chapter Bibliography.  Heidegger, Martin. Building Dwelling, Thinking: Part One. In Rethinking Architecture; A Reader in Cultural Theory, Ed. Neil Leach. London: Routledge, 1997. 8) Book Chapter Bibliography.  Pallasmaa, Juhani. The Geometry of Feeling: A Look at the Phenomenology of Architecture. In Theorizing A New Agenda for Architecture: An Anthology of Architectural Theory 1965-1995, Ed. Kate Nesbitt: New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 1996. 9)  Peter Zumthor. The Hard Core of Beauty. In Thinking Architecture, Second, expanded edition. Basel à ¢-  Boston à ¢-  Berlin: Birkhà ¤user Publishers for Architecture. 10) Book Chapter Bibliography.  Nesbitt, Kate. Introduction. In Theorizing A New Agenda for Architecture: An Anthology of Architectural Theory 1965-1995, Ed. Kate Nesbitt. New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 1996. 11) Book Bibliography.  Smith, Korydon. Introducing Architectural Theory, Ed. Korydon Smith. New York: Routledge, 2012. 12) Book Chapter Bibliography.  Borden, Iain and Rendall, Jane. Introduction. In Intersections: Architectural Histories and Critical Theories. London: Routledge, 2000. [1] David Macey, structuralism, in The Penguin Dictionary of Critical Theory (London: Penguin Group, 2000): 364. [2] Robert L. Fastiggi, Post-Structuralism., in New Catholic Encyclopedia Supplement 2012-13: Ethic and Philosophy, Volume 3 (Detroit: Gale Cengage Learning in association with the Catholic University of America, 2013): 1245. [3] Charles Jencks, The Architectural Sign, in Broadbent, Bunt, and Jencks (eds.) Signs, Symbols, and Architecture (New York: Wiley, 1980): 83-85. [4] Charles Jencks, The Paradoxical World of Post-Modernism, in Movements in Twentieth Century Architecture, ed. Michael J. Ostwald (Sydney: Arcadia Press / University of Newcastle, Faculty of Architecture, Building and Design, 2000): 116-118. [5] Mark Wigley, Deconstructivist Architecture, in Movements in Twentieth Century Architecture, ed. Michael J. Ostwald (Sydney; Arcadia Press / University of Newcastle, Faculty of Architecture, Building and Design, 2000): 182-187 [6] Branko MitroviĆ¡, Architecture and Deconstruction, in Philosophy for Architects (New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 2011): 162-163 [7] Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari, Introduction: Rhizome, in A Thousand Plateaus (London: Continuum, 2010): 23-24; 27-28. [8] David Macey, phenomenology, in The Penguin Dictionary of Critical Theory (London: Penguin Group, 2000): 297-299. [9] Martin Heidegger, Building Dwelling, Thinking: Part One, in Rethinking Architecture; A Reader in Cultural Theory, ed. Neil Leach (London: Routledge, 1997): 100-103. [10] Juhani Pallasmaa. The Geometry of Feeling: A Look at the Phenomenology of Architecture, in Theorizing A New Agenda for Architecture: An Anthology of Architectural Theory 1965-1995, ed. Kate Nesbitt (New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 1996): 448-453 [11] Peter Zumthor, The Hard Core of Beauty, in Thinking Architecture, Second, expanded edition (Basel à ¢-  Boston à ¢-  Berlin: Birkhà ¤user Publishers for Architecture): 7-8 [12] Kate Nesbitt, Introduction, in Theorizing A New Agenda for Architecture: An Anthology of Architectural Theory 1965-1995, ed. Kate Nesbitt (New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 1996): 16 [13] Korydon Smith, Introduction: To Students: Why Architectural Theory is Vital, in Introducing Architectural Theory, ed. Korydon Smith (New York: Routledge, 2012): 5. [14] Korydon Smith, Introduction: To Students: Why Architectural Theory is Vital, in Introducing Architectural Theory, ed. Korydon Smith (New York: Routledge, 2012): 6. [15] Nesbitt, Introduction, in Theorizing A New Agenda for Architecture (New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 1996): 19 [16] Iain Borden and Jane Rendall, Introduction in Intersections: Architectural Histories and Critical Theories (London: Routledge, 2000): 6. [17] Branko Mitrovic, Preface, in Philosophy for Architects. (New York: Princeton Architectural Press,  2011): 12. [18] Smith, Debating a Discipline: Architecture, Argument, and the Concept of the Dialectic, in Introducing Architectural Theory (New York: Routledge, 2012): 10.

Louis XIV :: essays research papers

LOUIS XIV   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Louis XIV was one of four leaders, (along with Charles V, Napoleon, and Adolf Hitler) who had an opportunity to establish their hegemony over much of Europe in the time period after 1500. Although Louis XIV failed in his attempt to dominate Europe politically, it was during this time span that Europe was very strongly influenced by French culture and civilization.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Louis XIV is a paradigm of European monarchs. He was known as Louis the Great, The Grand Monarch, and the Sun King. Louis lived from 1638 until 1715. He reigned as king of France from 1643 until 1715. He was actually in power from 1661 until 1715.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  His legacy is somewhat unusual. Some historians believe that Louis' wars and heavy taxation policies led eventually to the outbreak of the French Revolution. He repeatedly tried to move France's eastern boundary to the Rhine river. Two hundred and fifty years after Louis XIV, a leader would emerge in Germany who would claim all that he was trying to do was to reverse the outcome of the wars fought between Louis XIV's France and the Germans.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Louis' father was Louis XIII and his mother was Anne of Austria. There is some dispute as to who actually fathered Louis XIV because his father was mentally unstable and did not like Anne of Austria. Whatever the reality, Louis was born on September 5, 1638. By all accounts Louis' childhood was not very happy. He was reared primarily by servants. At one point he almost drowned in a pond because no one was watching him.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  His father died on May 14, 1643, when Louis was four and one-half years old. The regent who ruled France during the youth of Louis was Cardinal Mazarin from Italy. Mazarin's policies were clever, complex and successful.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Mazarin played a major role in bringing about the Peace of Westphalia in 1648. Mazarin basically wanted to end the conflict among the Catholic powers of Europe, and to use the power of France to oppose the Hapsburgs (Austria and Spain). Internally, in France, he wanted to continue the policies of Louis XIII and Richelieu who wanted to curb the powers of the French nobility and strengthen the power of the monarchy.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In 1648, when Louis was 10 years old, certain nobles in France and the Paris Parlement (a court of law) began a civil war against Mazarin and the young king.