Azza Fahmy Jewellery

Vision, mission, objectives and strategies Azza Fahmy Jewellery, based on its inception, has a well crafted vision, enriched with its call into service, and the desire for the future prospects.Advertising We will write a custom case study sample on Azza Fahmy Jewellery specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The vision of the company is to become a leading designer who offers the world an invaluable luxury of experienced artwork made possible through the use of handcraft whose main guide is the brand’s soul (Azza Fahmy, 2012). The company, therefore, has a vision that clearly depicts its origin and its aim to steer ahead along its chosen line. The company highly regards its vision and makes sure it acts in a manner to achieve the vision. The mission of Azza Fahmy Jewelleries is to deliver its promise of profitability to its partners and to its clients; it endeavors to deliver unique products of handcrafted art. It aims to achieve this through creativity and innovations. The mission takes care of the interests of the different parties involved in the company. It ensures that the company’s clients remain its chief focus and their interests are vested at the company’s heart. The objectives of the company are: acquiring a large market share for the company’s unique handcrafted products, venturing into prospective markets, achieving efficiency in management and expanding its online marketing services as well as achieving efficiency in management. The current strategies that the company is employing in order to achieve its objectives include: change of management style, targeting of the West by focusing on the events occurring in the East and passing of the craftsmanship to the younger generation through apprenticeship.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 These strategies aim at achie ving efficiency in the running of the company, increasing the company’s market share as well facilitating the company’s future labor force. External assessment of Azza Fahmy Jewellery Azza Fahmy Jewellery, having grown bigger from a small business, was founded through Azza Fahmy’s desire for design and eventually transformed it to jewelry collections; the company commands a large market share in Egypt. The company has gone beyond Egypt and has outlets in the East as well as in the UK where it has business partners. These expansions imply that the business has its fair share of the merits and challenges that come with this expansion as analyzed here. General Environment The general environment is majorly composed of those external forces that the company experiences from its external environment. They include; economic forces, social and demographic forces, political, legal and government forces among others. These forces are adequately discussed (Hill Gareth, 2 005). Economic forces The lack of stability in Egypt has had mixed effects on the company. It led to significant fluctuations in the value of the Egyptian currency; this made the people to store their fortunes in the form of jewelry and other valuables instead of the depreciating currency. This increased the market for the jewelry. The challenge, however, is the increasing prices of the raw supplies. The raw resources used are mostly imported and the general inflation in the country has greatly been affecting the turn over (Ghandour, 2000). The presence of external markets has been a great boost to the company. Most significant is the fact that the Arabic countries have rich people who highly value jewelry and are always willing to spend a fortune on them.Advertising We will write a custom case study sample on Azza Fahmy Jewellery specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Egypt’s economy is greatly boosted by the tourism industry; the tourists, especially from the West where the company is yet to hit contribute a lot to the market of the products (Hammermesh, 1993). Social and demographic forces Statistics indicate that Egypt remains the most populated Arabic country with an estimated population of 80 million people. This large population provides a large market for products made by the company. Although one could argue that the country experiences a huge division in income between the affluent and the less endowed, the middle class constitute the economy and therefore, offer a ready market for jewelry. The products of Azza Fahmy Jewellery further target different interest groups from the social view point. The products are tailored in such a manner that the wealthy have access to what befits them and so are the youth who want elegance, but less endowed economically (Hammermesh, 1993). Political, legal and government forces Political instability that has rocked the country since the ousting of President Husse in Mubarak has had devastating effects on the economy of Egypt. It scared away tourists from the country who constitute a larger share of the country’s GDP. This in return reduced the economy’s purchasing power. The effect of this was a great reduction in the company’s local and even regional sales. This is so since the political instability witnessed in Egypt were widely spread in the Arabic countries, which account for the largest sales of the company. The government, having realized that the Egyptian jewelry industry was soon to be a talk of the past due to the mentioned challenges, is coming up with measures to strengthen it. Through the Ministry of Trade, it aims at coming up with remedies for the problems. It has formed the Jewelry Technology Center, which will facilitate the training of jewelry-makers and designers. These efforts will see the survival of the industry (Hammermesh, 1993).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 Environmental forces The environmental changes taking place around the world are a concern to all aspects of life. The global warming has not spared Egypt and other Arabic countries, which are already arid or semi arid. The climatic change being witnessed as a result of global warming has devastating effects on economic activities, more so the farming. It is undermining the purchasing power of people and therefore, making the effective demand for the company’s products to go down. Technological forces The various advances are more of a double-edged sword to the company; on one hand, the technology, through its social media presents an avenue through which the company can reach out to a large online market. It also enables the company to unveil its products to so many people within a very short time frame. However, this same technology has opened up fresh competition from new entrants who are offering low quality, but cheap products. Competing with cheap products is not easy g iven that a number of customers cannot distinguish between original and generic jewelries (Rumelt et al., 2000). Specific environment Customers The company has a strong domestic and foreign customer base for its products. The fusion of culture and modernization through innovation makes it easier for customers, all over, to easily identify the company’s jewelry brand. The affluent members of the society are given an opportunity to order their ostentatious jewelry according to their desired designs. The tourists, the wealthy Egyptians, the middle class Egyptians and the youth constitute the domestic customers. On the other hand, Standalone and distribution outlets in London, Jordan, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain and the UAE serve as the foreign customer bases. The most enchanting aspect of the jewelry offered by the company is their appeal to customers across the age and gender (Azza Fahmy, 2012). Suppliers The company is strategically located in the Khan El- Khalili, one of the const ituent districts of Cairo. This area accounts for 70% of jewelry produced in Egypt. This makes it easy for the company to access suppliers since major gold and silver suppliers are based in this district, where the raw materials are most needed by the factories. This ensures that the company does not experience any shortages in supply of the raw materials. Labor market Azza Fahmy Jewellery commands a fair share of the labor market. The company is endowed with vast human resource, owing to its culture of passing the skills from the skilled artisans to young people through apprenticeship. This culture ensures that there is no time when the company will face labor shortage. It also has an advantage given that it trains its own artisans instead of hiring from the external market. This enables the company to spend fairly on human resource as it is less affected by the overrated external market. Competition Through offering of the unique brand of luxurious jewelry, the company has curved out its own independent market share. The company’s brands represent the products of value addition through design to the pieces of gold or silver unlike the competitors who attach value to the weight of gold or silver used in making jewelry. This makes the competition from the other jewelry companies less effective (Porter, 1986). The company has mastered the use of Porters Five Forces Model in edging out competitors. Analysis indicates that Azza Fahmy Jewelry has been able to edge out its direct competitors through product differentiation. The skills used in the making of this artistic jewelry are massive. When they are combined with huge capital requirement, competitors are eventually kept at bay (Hitt, Duane Hoskisson, 2012). SWOT Analysis for Azza Fahmy Jewellery The company’s major strengths come from its brand differentiation. By offering unique-luxurious jewelry, differentiated from the rest in the market through design, the company attracts a large and classy market for its products. The initiative to pass the skills to a younger generation is also another strength enjoyed by the company. This avails the much required labor force. Thirdly, the company is under the management of people who have its interest at heart and therefore, always doing what is best to take the company ahead (Marsh, 2008). The main weaknesses of the company lie in the employees’ poor attitude to change. The business world is dictated by efficiency in management and investment in technology. These are issues that are new to most of the employees at the Azza Fahmy. The employees were used to the traditional style of working where they enjoyed stronger ties with the owner unlike the current management style. The other weakness comes from the ownership of the company. The company, being a family owned business, has a limited access to capital for expansion. The economic recession has forced so many investors out of the jewelry business. The company should capit alize on this to increase its domestic and foreign market share. This will give the company more power in the industry. It has opportunities to expand into the U.S., which research indicates that is a good market for jewelry. This should be done while putting in mind the need to increase the production of jewelry based on different culture other than the Arabic one (Ministry of Investment, 2010). Recommended strategies for the company The company needs to focus on reaching out to the youthful generation who constitute the highest population. It is this generation that has the highest affection for jewelry and has a new meaning towards it. The youth are not interested in storing value in jewelry, but rather use it as an expression of swag. This has already increased the popularity of jewels in the western countries. The company has to target this group by making affordable jewelry, which will not only give the company more popularity, but also attract a high turnover. To achieve this , the company will have to invest in technology through focusing on social media. Implementation of strategies The implementation of the suggested strategy will take into consideration two important aspects namely; marketing aspect and the brand. The company has, in the past, concentrated on the production of unique luxurious jewelry brands. In order to achieve the recommended strategies, the company will have to increase its production of jewelries, targeting the youthful population of the world. This will require more human resource; therefore, the company will have to absorb more of its trainees into the company to facilitate taking care of the surging production (Urban et al., 1986). The marketing department will aggressively make use of the social media in order to create awareness for the company’s goods. Quality of the sites used in the online marketing of the products will have to be carefully designed so as to reach out to many prospective customers. An investment in business intelligence will be very important so as to make use data analytics, for instance, to make the right decisions as pertains the social sites. The finance department of the company should embark on acquiring the additional resources that will be required in implementation of these strategies. The company’s books of account speak volumes and financial institutions will be willing to offer their hand where it is needed (Hammermesh, 1993). This will enable the company to implement the new strategy without facing financial constraints. Recommended specific annual objectives and policies The company should be in a position to roll out the proposed strategies at beginning of the coming financial year. This will facilitate the company to meet its next annual objective, which is to increase its revenue by 30% and increase the market share by 100%. This will be achieved without compromising the worth of goods offered to the customers. The company’s relationship with pa rtners should also be reinforced (Scott, 2000). Procedures for strategy review and evaluation The review and evaluation of the formulated strategy will be based on the following traits; consistency, consonance, advantage and feasibility. In regard to consistency, the strategy will be expected not to create mutually inconsistent policies and goals. For consonance, the strategy will be required to be adaptive to the various changes that will occur in the external environment as well as internal ones. Hammermesh (1993) explains that a good strategy does not overtax an organization’s resources; it efficiently uses the resources in order to achieve the objectives. Conclusion Azza Fahmy Jewelry has been experiencing significant growth over the past decade. It has beaten the economic recession and remains focused on expanding to markets and products. Diversification and expansion will facilitate increase of the customer base, and hence be able to compete at the international level. References Azza Fahmy. (2011). Company Vision, Mission and Objectives. Web. Fam, M. (2007). Mideast jewelers look westward. Retrieved from: https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB119880365971054359 Ghandour, M. (2000). Azza Fahmy: Love Made Possible. Al-Ahram Weekly Online, Web. Hammermesh, G. (1993). Making Strategy Work: How Managers Produces Results. New York, NY: John Wiley. Hill, W.L. Gareth, R.J. (2005). Strategic Management: An Integrated Approach.Connecticut: Cengage Learning. Hitt, A.M., Duane, R. Hoskisson, E.R. (2012). Strategic Management: Concepts and Cases: Competitivenes and Globalization. Connecticut: Cengage Learning. Marsh, V. (2008). Egypt’s First Lady of Jewelry.CNN. Retrieved from https://edition.cnn.com/ Ministry of Investment. (2010). Egyptian Women Enterprises. Web. Porter, M.E. (1986). Competitive Advantage. New York, NY: The Free Press. Rumelt, R.P., Abbas, A., Abdulrahman, A. (2011). Strategic Management: Concept and Cases.Arab World Edition. New Jersey: Pearson. Scott, P.R. (2000). Procedures for Strategy Review and Evaluation. New Jersey: Englewood Cliffs. Urban, G.L.,Carter, R., Gaskin, S. Mucha, Z. (1986). Market Share Rewards to Pioneering Brands. Management Science, 6(1): 645-659. This case study on Azza Fahmy Jewellery was written and submitted by user Lilianna Stevens 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.

Free Essays on Jet Blue Vs. The Rest

Jet BlueVs. The Rest Tim Beran BA 311 Marketing If you’re looking for a shaky industry these days, and throughout history for that matter, you really need look no further than the airlines. Since September 11th, we have seen two of the Major Airlines in this country file for bankruptcy, and a third came extremely close. Respectively these would be United, USAIR, and American. The remainder of the major airlines are struggling as well. In the midst of this there are two airlines that seem to be making gains off of others losses. These would be Southwest, and Jet Blue. Since Southwest is off limits, the focus of this paper will be on Jet Blue. How is it that this young airline can do so well while the veterans of the industry are struggling to survive? There are many reasons, but let’s focus on Marketing. Let’s begin with the four P’s of the Marketing Mix. Product, price, place, and promotion. What do airlines do? The basic function from the beginning has been to get people from point A to point B. Of course all of the airlines do this, but it is how they do it that sets Jet Blue apart from the rest. It has become the â€Å"norm† lately that most of the time that you get on a flight you can count on being cramped in a small seat with little room to move, poor and/or unfriendly service, and a bag of pretzels for nourishment. This unfortunately is the â€Å"product† that most airlines are offering to their customers. To me, I’ve always felt that this would be one of the easier things to deal with, and that is exactly what Jet Blue has tried to do from the start. The airline operates a brand new fleet of Airbus A320’s. Here is their fleet information from jetblue.com: 57 Airbus A320 aircraft , all powered by International Aero Engines (IAE) V2500 engines Jetblue has orders with Airbus for a fleet of as many as 202 A320 aircraft and has placed an order with Embraer for a fleet of up to 200 EM... Free Essays on Jet Blue Vs. The Rest Free Essays on Jet Blue Vs. The Rest Jet BlueVs. The Rest Tim Beran BA 311 Marketing If you’re looking for a shaky industry these days, and throughout history for that matter, you really need look no further than the airlines. Since September 11th, we have seen two of the Major Airlines in this country file for bankruptcy, and a third came extremely close. Respectively these would be United, USAIR, and American. The remainder of the major airlines are struggling as well. In the midst of this there are two airlines that seem to be making gains off of others losses. These would be Southwest, and Jet Blue. Since Southwest is off limits, the focus of this paper will be on Jet Blue. How is it that this young airline can do so well while the veterans of the industry are struggling to survive? There are many reasons, but let’s focus on Marketing. Let’s begin with the four P’s of the Marketing Mix. Product, price, place, and promotion. What do airlines do? The basic function from the beginning has been to get people from point A to point B. Of course all of the airlines do this, but it is how they do it that sets Jet Blue apart from the rest. It has become the â€Å"norm† lately that most of the time that you get on a flight you can count on being cramped in a small seat with little room to move, poor and/or unfriendly service, and a bag of pretzels for nourishment. This unfortunately is the â€Å"product† that most airlines are offering to their customers. To me, I’ve always felt that this would be one of the easier things to deal with, and that is exactly what Jet Blue has tried to do from the start. The airline operates a brand new fleet of Airbus A320’s. Here is their fleet information from jetblue.com: 57 Airbus A320 aircraft , all powered by International Aero Engines (IAE) V2500 engines Jetblue has orders with Airbus for a fleet of as many as 202 A320 aircraft and has placed an order with Embraer for a fleet of up to 200 EM...

Oppurtunity analysis report Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Oppurtunity analysis report - Essay Example For instance, domestic customers also tightened their belt in 2008 – 2009 amid unemployment, inflation and low real incomes, thereby reducing the money spent on luxury and budget trips for relaxation, honeymoon, sightseeing, entertainment, adventure and casual visits to attractive places across the world. In other words, the demand for air travel followed by demand of foreign and domestic trips reduced significantly in last 2 years that resulted in either complete or partial closures of many travel agencies in USA. However, the US economy is now observing growth and coming out of recession; hence new business and investment opportunities have been created in tourism and hospitality industry. The demand of budget and luxury foreign and domestic leisure trips has increased after sharp decline in preceding years because of improvement in employment prospects and purchasing power. The author, being a business executive, has planned to enter aforementioned industry by establishing his own Travel Agency named â€Å"The Trips Organizers† in New York and Washington Cities. The company will target middle-middle, upper - middle and elite social classes and offer its premium quality products such as budget and luxury tours to potential US travelers and tourists who wish to enjoy numerous exquisite places, resorts, beaches and wonders outside USA. In addition, the company will also market its products to non-US travelers who wish to visit USA for tourism and who are fascinated with its natural beau ty, resorts, backpackers, beaches etc. This opportunity could prove to be highly lucrative because the world is coming out of recession and the demand for foreign and domestic leisure trips is expected to increase at a rate of 5% in upcoming years worldwide. Hence, there is greater probability that our business would remain successful if we offer outstanding, well-differentiated and distinctive services at

Performance Management at Vitality Health Enterprises, Inc Case Study

Performance Management at Vitality Health Enterprises, Inc - Case Study Example Vitality Health Enterprises, Inc was founded by Hikaru Fred Kikuchi in Ames, Iowa in 1987. Within the first three months, Kikuchi’s achieved sales revenue of more than $15,000 from the business. In late 1989, the firm established its own manufacturing facility in order to minimize the firm’s dependency on Japanese products. By 1991, Vitality’s revenues grew to $3 million per year and the company stopped depending upon Japanese finished-goods suppliers. Over the next few years, Vitality strived to spread its business across United States and Canada and moved its head quarters to Des Moines with intent to take advantages of better expansion opportunities. By 1995, the company gained a strong global presence by launching its products in countries like China, Japan, and Taiwan. In 1997, Vitality increased the size of its business notably with the acquisition of HerbaPure Nutraceuticals, and a decade later the company grew to nearly 7,000 employees. In order to address the stagnation caused by the 2008 global financial crisis and to deal with rising material costs, the Vitality recruited a new CEO, Beth Williams. As part of implementing the new business strategy developed, Williams organized the Performance Management Evaluation Team (PMET) to evaluate whether performance management goals were met. The PMET discovered that the many of the employees had not been satisfied with the current performance management system because it often failed to appreciate top performers adequately. Williams identified that rewarding top performers adequately and retaining them with the company for a long time were essential to accelerate the company growth. She also observed that a well planned restructuring of Vitality’s compensation practices would be inevitable to bring the change identified and to attract new top talent. As a result, Williams implemented the new performance management system in June 2009. To be specific, the problem wi th the firm was that the new performance management system characterized with a forced distribution model of performance rankings, ‘moving from an absolute ranking system to a relative one’ (Bingham & Beer, 2012). The company continued this system for the next two years. James Hoffman, the newly appointed vice president of human resources at Vitality, found that the new performance management system was not really helpful to motivate top performers despite six straight quarters of strong revenue growth. Evidently, the new system also underappreciated the efficiency of top performers and assisted poor performers to survive, because many of the managers had not been effectively abiding by this system. Some shortcomings of the new system also contributed to this problem. Section 2 2. Effectiveness of Vitality’s Performance Management System While analyzing the corporate history of Vitality Health Enterprises, it seems that the firm’s performance management sy stem has not been effective. The firm’s previous performance management system posed numerous problems to its professional staff including scientists, engineers, and product

Edcaution Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Edcaution - Assignment Example Secondly, designers of norm-referenced tests should pick the content taught in the many schools, in the country. This is especially in the case of nationwide or district-wide examinations. Essay questions, true or false tests, matching questions, definition and open-ended questions are examples of criterion-referenced tests. They measure a student’s level of competence based on a preset standard without comparing him or her with peers. The objectives of the course and the curriculum inform the setting of criterion-referenced tests. These tests are most helpful when they measure students’ ability in given areas. There exists a need to ensure high validity and reliability of these tests. Firstly, designers of these tests should ensure that they pick the content matching the objectives of the course and the standards of the curriculum (Popham, 2008). A big cluster around the high end of the grading system shows many students met the standards. Secondly, the designers of these tests should suspend their biases. Bias-free tests are fair to all students regardless of gender, ethnic background, race and socio-economic status. High-stakes tests are another group of tests besides norm-referenced tests. The outcomes of these tests serve to make important decisions in people’s lives. A licensure examination is an example of a high-stakes test. This is because the results of the examination help decide the possibility of an examinee getting a permit to practice as a professional nurse (Kubiszyn & Borich, 2007). Because the results of high-stakes tests determine whether individuals get permits to do something or not, they need high reliability and validity. Speed tests measure the rate at which individuals can perform a given task. The test measures the speed of performance only and not the knowledge of individuals. There is a possibility of misusing

Imagined community

Imagined community According to Benedict Anderson, what is an ‘Imagined Community? How does this relate to the contemporary world? â€Å"I am of the opinion that my life belongs to the community, and as long as I live it is my privilege to do for it whatever I can† George Bernard Shaw (Wisdom Quotes, 2009). Such views demonstrate that communities are an integral part of day-to-day life within the contemporary world, be this in a tiny, remote village in rural India or the thriving capital city of Beijing, China. This essay examines communities within the international sphere, focusing primarily on Benedict Andersons theory of ‘Imagined Communities. The first section of this essay examines Anderson as an academic scholar and his views towards nationalism, including of course a detailed understanding of his theory of ‘Imagined Communities. The second section then goes on to explore other political theorists take on Andersons work, focusing on three such theorists: Ernest Gellner, Anthony D. Smith and Eric Hobsbawm. This theory and reasoning behind Andersons and these three other theorists work, is then used as the foundation on which to build when looking at the contemporary world, focusing on the case study of Great Britain and how this study is of relevance to contemporary political issues. Communities within Britain are examined in terms of the imagination Anderson refers to, namely the Ukrainian community and also the Sikh community, both within multicultural British society. Andersons background is that of anthropology and when assessed, it is clear that he falls within the Modernist school of thought, arguing that nations are simply a product of modernity, in existence to cater to political, economic and military needs. Andersons theory of ‘Imagined Communities has been widely spread and applied to the field of international relations and political science, a theory which has been influential in carefully examining the politics of identity and the formation of communities across the globe, also known as nationalism. Anderson explores the modern nation in terms of its development throughout history, aiming to understand the emergence of these nations and how they have remained as nations in terms of status (Higson, 1998, p.355). Nationalism took form and began as an ideology during the eighteenth century, and more recently has undergone a global movement across the varying borders and boundaries of nations. It has three generic goals: â€Å"natio nal autonomy, national unity and national identity, and for nationalists, a nation cannot survive without a sufficient degree of all three† (Smith, 2001, p.9). National identity in particular is fundamental to the order of the contemporary international sphere. According to Anderson (1991) therefore, the building and construction of nation states is an imitative action in that it follows similar patterns and trends as used by fellow nation states. Nationalism, in Andersons (1991) eyes is thus an instrument and product of such social constructions and all of this was in actual fact an American construction. Additionally, he contends that nation building is consistent of and on a par with fictional narratives, a point which agrees which Smith (2001), discussed later on in this essay. With such a clear focus on nationalism, Anderson (1991) studies the idea of membership of a community, the idea of membership as boundaries defining ‘us and ‘them, and the idea of the community as an equal comradeship, thus collectively leading to the creation of an identity. Under the umbrella of nationalist thought therefore, Anderson is largely interested in the formation and preservation of political identities. His key argument is as follows: communities are in fact imagined ones as, in truth, individuals residing in one particular place i.e. Britain, will never know, see, meet, converse or have any sort of relationship with all other residents, yet this ideological concept of a ‘British community still exists. Anderson thus is focusing on nationalism, in particular nations and their identity building processes, a nation being â€Å"an imagined political communityimagined as both inherently limited and sovereign† (Anderson, 1991, p.7). In his argument, the a nation is imagined as limited in that, even the one holding the greatest number of human beings, each community has finite boundaries, beyond which are other nations (Anderson, 1991, p.7). The nation is imagined as sovereign as the concept emerged during a time in which â€Å"Enlightenment and Revolution were destroying the legitimacy of the divinely-ordained hierarchical dynastic realm† (Anderson, 1991, p.7). Finally, the nation is imagined as a community as despite inequality and exploitative behaviour that may occur, the nation remains a â€Å"deep, horizontal comradeship† (Anderson, 1991, p.7). Such ‘imagined communities are in actual fact socially constructed entities, consisting of individuals who have similar, if not identical, interests, these interests forming the basis for their grouping choices and decisions, and allowing the individuals to identify with one another. Andersons theory therefore comes from the location of individuals within specific ordered communities, as members of bounded communities whose members have common traits and concerns. His idea of this type of a community existing emerges from how the general public, according to him, identifies and understands themselves with respect to the community of their nation. As a result, all individuals have a horizontal relationship with all other members of their supposed ‘imagined community and this creates identity. Such identity provides safety and security to members of the imagined community, providing a sense of belonging to a group of people who are on the same wavelength and have similar i nterests and motivations (Anderson, 1991). This is of course, opposed to the previous identification which was wholly concerned with pre-existing religious systems and dynasties, which have now collapsed. Anderson (1991) then goes on to examine the fall in access to privileged scripts and discourse such as Latin, the movement to eradicate ideas and commands of the monarchy and divine rules of power and finally the emergence of print capitalism in terms of the media and how this is related to the concept of nations. The final point here is of greatest relevance to this essays discussion. From first thought, it is common to think that no real relationship exists between media and communities, yet on closer inspection, it becomes clear that this is not the case. Anderson (1991) argues that the media is the key group creating these ‘imagined communities through their mass audience targeting procedures. The media often makes generalisations to the ‘public and when thought about, is most definitely an ‘imagined community in itself. Anderson (1991) therefore argues that national media and education systems have a critical role in ensuring a nation imagines itself as  "a coherent, meaningful and homogenous community† (Higson, 1998, p.355). His primary concentration however lies with newspapers, which he argues are a fundamental part of print-capitalism, this being the key commodity in the generation of new ideas and concepts (Anderson, 1991, p.37). Print-capitalism contributed greatly to the imagined communities that exist within nations and will continue to do so in the future. He argues that newspapers allow shared experiences of resenting authority to take form, this not being beneficial as this gives rise to the marketplace, where print-capitalism is produced and invoked within consumer society in terms of profitability. Print-capitalism is, in Andersons opinion a commodity which is vital to current and forthcoming generations of completely new ideas and concepts (Anderson, 1991, p.37). His argument focuses primarily on the impact of the Reformation, this being: â€Å"the coalition between Protestantism and print-capitalism, exploiting cheap popular editions, quickly created large new reading publicsand simultaneously mobilized them for politico-religious purposes† (Anderson, 1991, p.40). He posits that much of the success of the Reformation is as a result due to print-capitalism itself (Anderson, 1991, p.39). Thus in Andersons critique with regards to the promise of the media in the public sphere and whether or not they invoke public debate, his answer is yes i.e. it was a vehicle for the American war of independence. The key example however given in his work is that relating to the Protestant and print-capitalism coalition, which he argues, was detrimental through the exploitation of cheap popular print-works (Anderson, 1991, p.40). Such â€Å"administrative vernaculars† (Anderson, 1991, p.41) led to religious and printing upheaval during the sixteenth century, and is regarded by himself as an â€Å"independent factor in the erosion of the sacred imagined community† (Anderson, 1991, p.41). In terms of ‘imagined communities and its relationship with the media, film and cinema are good areas to explore. Film is often indicative of â€Å"consensual images of communities† (Higson, 1998, p.355) and is keen to show individuals from varying backgrounds coming together in shared interests. The British musical Sing As We Go (1934) (cited in Higson, 1998, p.355) for example deals with this same image as explained above and ends with the ‘imagined community being explicitly â€Å"nationalized† (Higson, 1995, cited in Higson, 1998, p.356) in the final scene. It is important to distinguish though that not all of the ‘imagined communities Anderson refers to are united. Particularly within the contemporary multicultural location that is Great Britain, nations can be presented and represented as being in disarray (Higson, 1998, p.356). Higson (1998) refers to the British film named The Beautiful Laundrette and how this is demonstrative of such a thing, providing images of â€Å"social and cultural disturbance and fragmentation† (Higson, 1998, p.356) as opposed to images of consensual imagined communities. This is therefore raises questions of what it is like to be British and to hold such an identity. Films like this consequently oppose what Anderson claims to be the truth, displaying that national identity in contexts like this one are not â€Å"as consensual but as hybrid, not as pure but as variegated† (Higson, 1998, p.356) and so this challenges Andersons point. This theory of ‘imagined communities has often led to various branches of thought, one of the key ones with relation to this topic being that of ‘imagined geographies, a concept which has emerged from Edward Saids work on ‘Orientalism a theoretical framework which argues that Europeans define themselves against their cultural contestants i.e. people from the Orient and as a result define themselves against this. Back to ‘Imagined geographies though, this is a form of social constructivism, referring to the perception of space and boundaries within texts, illustrations and of course, discourse. Arguably, there is no real geography and that imagined geographies can be compared with, thus posing problems of comparative analysis. So the argument lies that such imagined geographies must not be taken as given, but rather they should be deconstructed in order to display the various power sources which have been embedded in them. Ultimately, although Anderson is sceptical of the general public in their decision to be part of ‘imagined communities, he acknowledges that in the current day and age, nationalism and the idea of community has taken to other extremes i.e. projecting fear and hatred towards the ‘Other, being deeply affiliated with racist and discriminative behaviour (Anderson, 1991, p.141.) He critiques this though by reinforcing how such communities are supposed to bring individuals together as opposed to dividing them further, and thus communities need to be reminded that â€Å"nations inspire love, and often profoundly self-sacrificing love† (Anderson, 1991, p.141). Other theorists however conflict with what Anderson (1991) poses as the function of nation building, namely Ernest Gellner, Anthony D. Smith and Eric Hobsbawm. Their proposals of national identity vary with respect to one another. Firstly, anthropologist and philosopher Gellner (1983) argues that nationalism is ultimately political in that it acts as the foundation for politics and nations as being on an equal footing. In his critique, nationalism only emerged within the modern sphere very recently, becoming a necessity in sociological terms, and thus has not been embedded within history. Smith (2001) was a student of Gellner yet did not completely agree with the argument made by his teacher. His argument therefore depends on his creation of an approach to nationalism termed ‘ethnosymbolism, this being a combination of traditional as well as modern views toward the theory and practice of national identities (Smith, 2001, p.13). Smith (2001) distinguishes between the concept of the term ‘nation and another word he terms ‘ethnie, this being: â€Å"a named human community connected to a homeland, possessing common myths of ancestry, shared memories, one or more elements of shared culture, and a measure of solidarity at least among the elites† (Smith, 2001, p.13). Thus in his critique, the imagined communities Anderson speaks of do have a cultural and historical background to them, and so they arent completely imagined but have some substance behind them. Smith (2001) on the other hand, studies nationalism in terms of ethnic groupings. To him, the concept of the nation is: â€Å"a named human community occupying a homeland, and having common myths and a shared history, a common culture, and a measure of solidarity at least among the elites† (Smith, 2001, p.13). Within this though he narrows down further his understanding of nations, consisting of what he terms â€Å"ethnie† (Smith, 2001, p.13): â€Å"a named human community connected to a homeland, possessing common myths of ancestry, shared memories, one or more elements of shared culture, and a measure of solidarity at least among the elites†(Smith, 2001, p.13). Hobsbawm (1992) too examines nationalism, a concept which he refers to as the same as defined by Gellner: â€Å"primarily a principle which holds that the political and national unit should be congruent† (Gellner, 1983, p.1, cited in Hobsbawm, 1992, p.9). He contends that imagined communities act as a shield for and to religious-based nation states, which in turn allows individuals from a vast array of backgrounds to come together through the notion of compromise (Hobsbawm, 1992, p.14). One of his key arguments is that nations are: â€Å"dual phenomena† (Hobsbawm, 1992, p.10), by which he means that they are socially constructed from both above and below, with regards to the â€Å"assumptions, hopes, needs, longings and interests of ordinary people† (Hobsbawm, 1992, p.10). Thus he reinforces the central and underlying importance of nationalism throughout history in relation to political evolution. With respect to this, we identify that no real national conscienc e is forged within his text, and later on he makes clear the number of incited mass movements of nations i.e. he refers to the liberalisation of countries like Italy. National identity has a huge role to play within countries across the globe. In particular, it is focused on and can be identified during sporting games i.e. football or cricket, avid fans supporting their nation to be successful and triumphant. National identity can however also be associated with negativity and can create tensions, as demonstrated politically within international relations more generally. This section focuses on Britain as its key contemporary example but compares and contrasts the experiences within Britain with those of other countries too. Britain, quite clearly, consists of a multicultural society, one which is made up of a variety of community groupings. Community-World (2009) provides examples of many of the community groupings that are existent in modern day Britain, i.e.: regional, ethnic, religious, charity/voluntary and finally miscellaneous ones which include vegetarianism and so on. In many cases, such communities are reflective of Andersons thought of ‘imagined communities. An example of this can be seen with respect to the South-Asian community in Britain, formed of Indians, Pakistanis, Bangladeshis, Sri Lankans and many more, yet all come together under the umbrella term of South-Asian community even though it is most definitely likely that not all of these community members know each other nor have they seen each other nor, in reality, will they ever really do so. Such a community, although to be congratulated in bringing people of similar backgrounds together, is in actual fact a socially construct ed entity according to Anderson. In my critique of this however, such groupings are embedded in human nature in that terms like this have not been created as a product of society and societal views but rather because of religious, cultural and historical backgrounds. Thus they are not socially constructed. Andersons concentration of the media too is useful here when looking at Britain in that, in the contemporary world, his point that the print media, namely newspapers, is largely to blame for the creation of communities is only somewhat true. This is due to the rise of other media forms, particularly the internet, which has led to newspaper sales and general success of them falling over recent years. Greenslade (2009) in review of 2009 and the past decade identifies the spectacular decline of this once thriving industry: the Daily Mail recorded a fall from 2,777,501 to 1,260,019, a decline of 55%, whilst the Daily Express experienced sale plunges of 33.7%, the Daily Telegraph losses of nearly 27% and the Guardian a fall of just over 23%. Although newspapers are now widely available online, combining the previous paper form with the recent phenomenon of the internet, this does contradict with Andersons core argument. As sales of print newspapers have fallen, this suggests that readers hip too has declined and thus communities are less likely today to identify with communities within such media. Fisk (2010) makes an interesting point though in his work, arguing that many human communities within Great Britain have been abandoned since the Middle-Ages and so he works to commemorate such communities and identify their reasons for abandonment. Contrastingly, Hall (2004) examines the process of immigrants becoming citizens, with a particular focus on the Sikh community within Britain, namely second-generation ones. Her argument is that cultural politics have a huge role to play and in terms of the formation of nations, yet many more cultural processes are also at work: the role the media has in circulating religious, national and ethnic illustrations and political imaginaries; youth movement between cultural worlds in the home, at school and professionally; the frequently contradictory nature of the schooling system; and the cultural matters which flow across transnational and diaspora networks and communities (Hall, 2004, p.118). Thus Hall (2004) is suggesting that although this Sikh community may live and reside in Britain, this does not instantaneously make them a fundamental part of the imagined ‘British community, but rather due to their heritage and ancestral roots, many British Sikhs often find themselves to b e torn between identifying with Britain and identifying with their parents country of origin. Hence individuals can be part of a series of imagined communities as opposed to simply one as posed by Anderson (1991). Hall (2004) does however agree with Anderson (1991) to the extent that the media is incredibly influential in the contagion of national and cultural identities across various borders and boundaries. Similarly, Smith and Jackson (1999) studied ‘imagined communities with respect to Ukrainian communities living in Bradford, UK. Their argument was one of this sense of community, being shaped by Ukrainian history and the ever-changing global political climate (Smith and Jackson, 1999, p.367). For many Ukrainians living in Bradford, Ukraines independence in 1991 was symbolic of de-stabling an unsettled, often imaginary, sense of â€Å"Ukrainianness† (Smith and Jackson, 1999, p.384). Furthermore, they propose that recent cultural and historical change has led to an over-complication of the way in which the Ukrainian community within Bradford, UK is imagined and thus poses problems in terms of narratives and discourse. In my critique, although cultural influences are considered by all of the previously discussed political theorists, economics in terms of social status and inequality is not considered. It is no surprise that the creation and preservation of ‘imagined communities as discussed by Anderson (1991) leads to â€Å"fractionalization† (Alesina et al, 2003, p.155). My argument contends that such fractionalization is the cause of the observed rise in cross-country inequalities, Britain included, and Anderson (1991) fails to account for this. A broad view of heterogeneity demonstrates that anything that generates groups, as Andersons theory does, has both political and economic consequences, ultimately leading to greater inequality. In Britain for example, we can see that Central London, in most cases, is a highly affluent area. The outskirts of Greater London though vary in affluence such that groups are formed and located according to these same groups. Research has proved such theses to be correct i.e. Alesina et al (2003) examined approximately one hundred and ninety countries, concluding that â€Å"ethnic, religious and linguistic fractionalization† (Alesina et al, 2003, p.155) increases corruption, infant mortality and illiteracy, and reduces democracy and political rights indexes. Thus this supports my point of critique, that although ‘imagined communities bring people together from similar backgrounds and who have shared interests, the creation of such groupings leads to divisions and ultimately, in many cases, such divisions are indicative of social status, welfare and affluence. Hence Anderson (1991), along with Gellner (1983), Smith (2001) and Hobsbawm (1992), did not investigate this. Theorists in future should therefore research this area, building on the work mentioned above. In an age where it is extremely common for â€Å"progressive, cosmopolitan intellectuals to sit on the near-pathological character of nationalism, its roots in fear and hatred of the Other, and its affinities with racism† (Anderson, 1991, p.141), it is crucial to remember at all times that â€Å"nations transpire love, and often profoundly self-sacrificing love† (Anderson, 1991, p.141). Hence whether communities within these nations are imagined or not, which Anderson (1991) would say they are, they act as the fundamental foundation for society to communicate, evolve, exchange information and knowledge and ultimately to progress. Thus communities are incredibly important in multicultural Britain but also on a transnational scale too. To conclude, Andersons work on ‘Imagined Communities is one which has been used largely within the realm of political science and international studies. It does provide the reasoning as to why people commune together in the majority of instances yet at the same time, is rather broad in its explanation and thus has limited generalisation and applicability to the modern world that is the twenty-first century. The theory of ‘Imagined Communities is rather useful though in terms of understanding community and group formation with regards to historical, religious and cultural contexts across the world. This essay has examined what Anderson terms to be an ‘Imagined Community and how this has been used within the Social Sciences, in particular International Relations and Political Science. It has then later gone on to look at Britain as a contemporary example of how a series of ‘Imagined Communities have been formed i.e. the Sikh community and the Ukrainian communit y. Thus it is important to recall that nationalism is not simply a â€Å"sociological or cultural phenomena: it is also a powerful political instrument which†¦has played an important part in both the creation and the reform of modern states throughout the world† (Jackson, 2003, p.610). Bibliography Alesina, A.et al (2003) â€Å"Fractionalization† in Journal of Economic Growth, Vol.8, No.2, pp.155-194. Anderson, B.R. (1991) Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism (Revised ed.), London: Verso. Community-World (2009) Community-World UK [online] Available from: http://www.community-world.co.uk/ (2001) in Durham, M.G. and Kellner, D.M. (eds.) Media and Cultural Studies: Keyworks, Oxford: Blackwell Publishing Fisk, A. (2010) Abandoned Communities [online] Available from: http://www.abandonedcommunities.co.uk/ [Accessed 14th March 2010] Gellner, E. (1983) Nations and Nationalism, Oxford: Blackwell. Greenslade, R. (2009) Newspaper sales plunge over the decade [online] Available from: http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/dec/14/national-newspapers-sales-decade [Accessed 14th March 2010] Habermas, J. (1989) The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere: An Inquiry into a Category of Bourgeois Society, Cambridge: Polity. Hall, K.D. (2004) â€Å"The Ethnography of Imagined Communities: The Cultural Production of Sikh Ethnicity in Britain† in Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, Vol. 595, pp.108-121 Higson, A. (1998) â€Å"Nationality: National Identity and the Media† in Briggs, A. and Cobley, P. (eds.) The Media: An Introduction, Harlow: Longman, pp. 354-364 Hobsbawm, E.J. (1992) Nations and Nationalism since 1780: Programme, Myth, Reality (2nd ed.), Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Inglis, F. (1993) Cultural Studies, Oxford: Blackwell. Jackson, J. (2003) â€Å"Book Review Nationalism and the state: John Brueilly, 2nd edition (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1993), pp. 474,  £40.00 H.B.,  £14.99 P.B.† in History of European Ideas, Vol.21, No.4, pp.608-610. Smith, A.D. (2001) Nationalism: Theory, Ideology, History, Cambridge: Polity. Smith, G. and Jackson, P. (1999) â€Å"Narrating the nation: the ‘imagined community of Ukrainians in Bradford† in Journal of Historical Geography, Vol.25, No.3, pp.367-387 Wisdom Quotes (2009) Community Quotes [online] Available from: http://www.wisdomquotes.com/cat_community.html

He wont let us freak-dance :: essays research papers

Saturday night, May 15, 2004, was Lemoore High School's prom. As Lemoore principal Jim Bennett looked around the dance floor, he saw most of the guys dancing behind their dates, grinding their hips against the girls as the girls gyrated back against them. They were freak-dancing, which is how most people dance to hip-hop, but Mr. Bennett had always felt it was too sexual for a school event. "It's [the same as] foreplay," he says. During the last song of the night, a girl got on all fours and rubbed her butt against her date's groin. Mr. Bennett was horrified: That's it, he thought to himself, I have to stop this! So at the start of the next school year, he announced that freak dancing would be banned at all future dances. SELF-EXPRESSION At 9 P.M. on Saturday, December 11, Lemoore seniors Kelley Castadio and her best friend, KayDe Naylon, both 17, walked into their winter formal with their dates. All fall, Kelley and KayDe had been looking forward to their first senior formal. "Lemoore is a small town, and there's not much to do on Saturday nights," says Kelley. "So it's a big thing to have a dance." And dances, KayDe adds, are "one of our school's only traditions." At 9:30, the DJ put on Nelly's "Hot in Herre." Almost all of the 400 students on the dance floor immediately began freak-dancing—and Mr. Bennett walked right over to the DJ. "Stop the music," he said as he took the mic. "Ladies, gentlemen," he announced sternly, "if you continue freak-dancing, there will be no more dances." Some of the students booed Mr Bennett as he gave the mic back to the DJ, who turned the music up. But since KayDe, Kelley, and their friends had always danced that way to hip-hop music, they couldn't believe Mr. Bennett would carry out his threat—so they kept on freak-dancing. SCHOOL RULE On Monday morning, KayDe was at her school's career center when she noticed the weekly newsletter for the staff. "Freak dancing is ... obscene!" she read in Mr. Bennett's column. All dances were going to be called off, he had written, unless students came up with a plan to stop the freak dancing. "I couldn't believe that he was serious," KayDe says. "That's just how we dance—like my parents used to do the twist!" She and Kelley had been elected to plan the Sadie Hawkins dance in February, and if Mr.