Anton Chekhov Essays - Anton Chekhov, Dramaturges, Modernism

Anton Chekhov Essays - Anton Chekhov, Dramaturges, Modernism Anton Chekhov Anton Chekhov Life and Influences Anton Chekhov was born on January 29, 1860 in Taganrog, Russia, the third of six children. His father, Pavel, was a grocer and his mother, Yevgeniya, was the daughter of a cloth merchant. In1875 Pavel's business failed and, threatened with imprisonment, he fled to Moscow. Yevgeniya remained behind with Anton and his younger siblings, but soon lost the house to a local bureaucrat. At this point, she joined Pavel in Moscow taking all the children, with the exception of Anton whom she left behind to attend school and support himself. After completing his early studies, Anton received a scholarship to study medicine at the Moscow University and at this point reunited with his family. During this time, the family continued to be plagued by financial hardship. In an effort to help support them, Anton began to write humorous short stories for comic magazine. As time went by, Chekhov developed a love of writing, preferring this to the practice of medicine, and devoted himself to his craft. After 1880, his work shifted toward more serious subject matter and is filled with realistic views of the suffering of the poor, no doubt in memory of the struggles his own family had endured. Comments and Concepts An Upheaval is classified as a short story, but does not follow the traditional short story structure as defined by Freytag's Triangle. The story begins in medias res as Mashenka enters a household already in turmoil. Rather than at the beginning, the exposition takes place throughout the story as Mashenka's thoughts and actions reveal her background and place within the household. At the end of the story, the reader is left without resolution. This abrupt end to the action without an resolving the conflict is known as a zero ending. The story An Upheaval is a slice-of-life narrative. Chekhov offers a dispassionate observation of life within an upper-class household. There is no deep psychological profiles within the story; all the characters are merely stereotypes. The view is naturalistic, with the socioeconomic background of the characters influencing their every action. The lady of the house believes she is well within her rights to search her servant's quarters when her brooch has gone missing. When Mashenka is upset by the search, the maidservant Liza reminds her somewhat delicately of her place by stating still you are as it were a servant. An Upheaval displays a rite of passage. At the beginning of the story, Mashenka is a simplistic child. She believes herself to be more than a mere servant within the household. Mashenka feels personally violated when she discovers a search of her room has been made without her knowledge. Mashenka leaps into adulthood when she realizes that although she is hired help and is, therefore, in a lesser position she is still a person within her own right. Rather than allow them to violate her sense of personal integrity, Mashenka decides to leave. Key Quotations Mashenka went into her room, and then, for the first time in her life, it was her lot to experience in all its acuteness the feeling that is so familiar to persons in dependent positions, who eat the bread of the rich and powerful, and cannot speak their minds. Mashenka begins to recognize her place within the household and within society. She acknowledges that her life is controlled by others. Though you are a young lady, still you areas it werea servant Liza forces Mashenka to acknowledge that she is a servant like the rest of them, nothing more. I don't say she took the brooch, but can you answer for her? To tell the truth, I haven't much confidence in these learned paupers. The lady of the house removes all humanity from her servants. They are nothing more to her than beasts of burden. Forgive me, Nikolay Sergeitch, but I cannot remain in your house. I feel deeply insulted by this search! Mashenka reveals her new sense of self and personal integrity. Half an hour later she was on her way. The story ends without any true sense of closure. Relation to Current Culture Today a search without permission or warrant is a criminal offense. Even as a hired servant living within someone else's household, a person is entitled to his own personal space and privacy.

Balanced Scorecard versus Bottom

Balanced Scorecard versus Bottom In recent years, managers within the hospitality industry have witnessed a proliferation of expectations that must be met for businesses to remain relevant in the current competitive environment (Jones Lockwood 2002). Hotel and resort managers, in particular, are often called upon to balance between the service expectations of customers and the financial expectations of the hotel owners.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Balanced Scorecard versus Bottom-line Approach in Resort Hotel Operations specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The balancing of priorities has led managers to adopt a plethora of performance measurement models, including the balanced scorecard and the bottom-line approach (Phillips 2007). The present paper purposes to demonstrate the suitability of the balanced scorecard in assisting hotel and resort managers to balance their priorities, hence refuting the claim that adopting the bottom-line approach is the way to go for these managers in balancing service quality expectations and financial demands of the owners. Extant management literature shows that the balanced scorecard evaluates an organisation’s performance through four perspectives namely â€Å"financial, customer, internal operating processes and learning and growth, and lays emphasis on the comprehensiveness and integrity of evaluation† (Wang et al 2013, p. 25). The bottom-line approach focuses more on an organisation’s net income and financial reports to determine its strengths and weaknesses (Jones Lockwood 2002). Owing to the increasing competitive phenomenon of the hotel and resort industry (Lau et al 2005), an effective and efficient measurement tool must draw on both qualitative and quantitative perspectives (Phillips 2007). More importantly, such a measurement tool must have the capacity to expressively assess service quality attributes (Namkung Jang 2008), as well as the financial performanc e based on the fact that financial management is the backbone of any business (Tsai et al 2011).Advertising Looking for essay on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More In this light, the balanced scorecard is better placed to assist hotel and resort managers balance the service expectations of their customers and the financial expectations of hotel owners as it employs multiple perspectives not only to measure organisational success but also to assist in the implementation of effective strategies for future success (O’Fallon Rutherford 2010). Unlike in the bottom-line approach which deals with a single indicator to measure operational success (Jones Lockwood 2002), all the four perspectives of the balanced scorecard can be used to assist hotel and resort managers deal with the conflicting priorities that are largely predicated upon customer service expectations and the financial expectations of hotel owners. For instance, under the financial dimension of the balanced scorecard model, hotel and resort managers should be able to know what types of financial performance they should provide to hotel owners and other stakeholders so as to be successful financially (Evans 2005). Under the customer perspective, managers should be able to develop customer and service quality standards that enhance the vision and strategy of their respective service organisations (Cruz 2007). Again, under the internal business perspective of the balanced scorecard model, managers must have the capacity to develop and implement business processes that will enhance customer satisfaction and service quality. Lastly, under the innovation and learning perspective, managers must develop strategies that will not only ensure the organisation’s ability to change and improve, but also its capacity to enhance service quality offerings and the attainment of financial expectations set by stakeholders (E vans 2005). Available management literature demonstrates that excellent service quality within the hospitality industry not only enables an organisation to differentiate itself from its competitors in the marketplace, but also to achieve a sustainable competitive advantage and promote customer repeat intentions (Ladhari 2009). Arguably, therefore, the bottom-line approach cannot be used by firms within the hotel and resort industry to evaluate these qualitative values since it concerns itself with measuring quantitative (financial) attributes at the expense of service quality attributes (Jones Lockwood 2002).Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Balanced Scorecard versus Bottom-line Approach in Resort Hotel Operations specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Although the measurement tool has received praise for capturing the financial performance of an organisation, hence effectively serving the interests of owners (Tsai et al 2011), it is one-dimensional and backward-looking for its lack to include other performance indicators such as service quality and customer satisfaction (Evans 2005). In the hotel and resort industry, it is imperative for any performance measurement tool to effectively illuminate the service quality and expectations of customers. Available literature demonstrates that â€Å"the benefits of service quality include increased customer satisfaction, improved customer retention, positive word of mouth, reduced staff turnover, decreased operating costs, enlarged market share, increased profitability, and improved financial performance† (Ladhari 2009, p. 308). The customer dimension of the balanced scorecard effectively measures five core variables that are intrinsically related to service quality, namely â€Å"customer satisfaction, customer winning, customer retention, customer profitability, and market and customer shares in the target segmentation† (Wang et al 2013, p. 2 6). In contrast, the bottom-line approach has no capacity to measure service quality attributes despite the fact that they are immensely important in the hotel and resort industry, especially with regard to the factors and benefits mentioned above. To conclude, it is important to underline the argument that the balanced scorecard is a more suitable measurement tool for hotel and resort managers, hence this paper refutes the claim that the hotel and resort industry is becoming increasingly bottom-line focussed. While the bottom-line approach is only able to fulfil the financial expectations of the owners through its financial measures, the balanced scorecard takes into account the financial expectations as well as a host of other qualitative indicators, including service quality and customer satisfaction.Advertising Looking for essay on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Reference List Cruz, I 2007, ‘How might hospitality organisations optimise their performance measurement systems?’ International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, vol. 19 no. 7, pp. 574-588. Evans, N 2005, ‘Assessing the balanced scorecard as a management tool for hotels’, International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, vol. 17 no. 5, pp. 376-390. Jones, P Lockwood, A 2002, The management of hotel operations, Cengage Learning, Stamford, CT. Ladhari, R 2009, ‘Service quality, emotional satisfaction, and behavioural intentions: A study in the hotel industry’, Managing Service Quality, vol. 19 no. 3, pp. 308-331. Lau, PM, Akbar, AK, Fie, DYG 2005, ‘Service quality: A study of the luxury hotels in Malaysia’, Journal of American Academy of Business, Cambridge, vol. 7 no. 2, pp. 46-55. Namkung, Y Jang, S 2008, ‘Are highly satisfied restaurant customers really different? A quality perception perspectiv e’, International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, vol. 20 no. 2, pp. 142-155. O’Fallon, MJ Rutherford, DG 2010, Hotel management and operations, John Wiley Sons, Hoboken, NJ. Phillips, PA 2007, ‘The balanced scorecard and strategic control: A hotel case study analysis’, The Service Industries Journal, vol. 27 no. 6, pp. 731-746. Tsai, H, Pan, S Lee, J 2011, ‘Recent research in hospitality financial management’, International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, vol. 23 no. 7, pp. 941-971. Wang, YG, Li, YM, Jan, CL Chang, KW 2013, ‘Evaluating firm performance with balanced scorecard and data envelopment analysis’, WSEAS Transactions on Business Economics, vol. 10 no. 1, pp. 24-39.

The Benefits of using Social Network to improve sales for Century 21 Essay

The Benefits of using Social Network to improve sales for Century 21 - Essay Example Century 21 is one of the major companies that has created significant shift in marketing strategies through internet function and design. It has been listed as the biggest real estate agency that operates across national borders in the world. The US Company has been compelled by fast changing technologies in competitive environment to adopt marketing strategies that are focused on social networking sites in order to increase sales (Charlene & Bernoff, 2008). This research study analyses Century 21’s marketing strategies and coordination efforts for the next three years. It is an international company and it is one of the most reputed Real Estate Agent Franchise Companies operating across national borders. Its inception dates back in 1971 in California but it was privatized until 1977 when the co-founders decided to make the company public. During its early stages, the company offered products and services that satisfied the needs of real estate owners. The company has expanded rapidly and has established more than 8000 offices and large number of sales professionals all over the world (Parsipanny, 2009). The company started its operations in United States but it has gained strong foothold and its presence has been felt in more than 60 countries. It is the leading marketer of real estate services and it has spent a great deal of time in improving online display advertisements, search engine marketing and real estate listing sites. In general, Century 21 can been regarded as the world leading provider of real estate services in comparison with other competitive real estate companies since it possesses the world’s largest network and geographical coverage. The company continues to take lead in the industry as evidenced by the increased online ads which offer substantial benefits to brokers, agents and customers. The company is very