Minimum wages

Many economic theories have been proposed to discuss the impact of minimum wages on labor market. The proceedings of the labor market is based on the exchange of resources between the employee and employer, the employee receive wages in return for their labor services to the employer. Labor market is considered to be most competitive market, where the established market price is much closer to the value of the product. Therefore, the employee is likely to receive marginal value, in the competitive market (excluding the factor of minimum wage). Therefore minimum wage laws have been introduced which foresee crisis of unemployment, if fewer employers are interested to hire labor, where as more people are willing to offer their services. Therefore, the law intends to maintain the equilibrium, to avoid social and economic turmoil. The amount of labor supplied by the workers is directly proportional to the nominal wage, a certain increase in the wage, forecast increase in the labor supply. The observation is based on the assumption that an employee hired at a low wage will prefer to consume ‘leisure and forego wages', a slight increase in the nominal range, it becomes difficult to practice leisure and avoid labor, therefore there is an increase in the number of workers wiling to offer labor. The relationship between the labor supplied and nominal wage is function of different variables including price. A substantial increase in the price level will reduce the number of workers, at all wages (Wascher, 1995). LABOR MARKET AND WAGES There exists an inverse relationship between the nominal wage, and the ‘amount of labor demanded by the organizations'. A substantial increase in the wages is likely to compel the organizations to reduce recruitment schemes. The relationship has been derived on the basis of an assumption that the organization prefers saving for increased proportion of profitability i.e. such level of production is aimed by the organization which increases the profit i.e. the difference between expenses and revenue. The revenue is based on the price of an item, and quantity of the items sold (Christopher, 2005). The expanses include the amount of wages, which is based on the labor and services. Therefore, the company will prefer to maintain a minimum threshold level to secure profit, on the basis of reduction in the wages, as more workers are employed, the labor wage increases which turn the organization less profitable. The price factor may compel the organizations to recruit the employees for all wage levels. minimum wages AND LABOR MARKET: IMPLICATIONS It has been predicted that minimum wage laws are expected to increase unemployment, if minimum wage is established above equilibrium wage. It is because, a large number of employees will be interested in offering their services in exchange for higher wages, on contrary on small and limited number of such opportunities will be available. Also, the organizations will be careful about the recruitment scheme, and ensure that only well qualified people are hired on high wages, therefore there is expected to be little scope for the least skilled and inexperienced employees, thus within the labor market the unemployment level will increase (Kane, 2007). Another factor which has the potential to deteriorate the condition and extend the unemployment crisis is monopsony within the labor market. If the employer has the authority to determine the wages for the employees, it is expected that the unemployment rate will diminish because minimum wage may boost employment. The equilibrium between the labor demand and labor supply will exist only at a point when applied wage is equal to the requirements of the labor and organizations. Wages are more than the equilibrium wage, will result in unemployment i.e. the excess supply of labor. ‘Using the matching function formulation along with Nash bargaining between workers and firms, the results of Hosios inform us that an efficient labor market equilibrium requires that the elasticity of the matching function with respect to the size of the set of searchers be equal to the share of the surplus they receive’ (Kane, 2007). CONCERNS: MINIMUM WAGE It is important to understand that minimum wage is a practice control factor applicable on the labor, which can be regarded as the captivity of the economic rights of the low-paid labors, and their prospects. The increased minimum wage limit is expected to reduce America's labor freedom index to 87 percent. In the case of free market economy, the maximum utilization of the land, information, capital goods, and labors achieved through price allocation. If the prices are kept free floating, the market is considered to be real free in launch of its economic policies and business plans, which have an impact on the labor market, and the fixture of minimum wage. ‘Estimates of the bargaining power parameter, although significantly lesser than a   percent, are significantly larger than estimates of the match function elasticity and as a result yield an optimal minimum wage rate less than the then current value of $4.25’ (Swinnerton, 1996). Considering the example of an organization, the organization has the right to increase its wages to capture the attention of the labor for the employment. Wages are considered to be suitable indication to discuss the expansion of business activities, and direct employment. ‘Freely floating prices allocate resources efficiently to places where they will take root and boost economic productivity' (Christopher, 2005). Price signals have been disturbed and distorted through implementations of labor regulations, which hamper market mechanism, and restrict economic freedom of employers and employees. Minimum wage is considered to have significant impact on economic freedom, the labor supply and demand mechanism undergo disruption due to the allocation of government specified minimum wages (Card, 1995). If the situation is not existent, the minimum wage can be regarded as ‘crude instrument' which relocate the labor market towards efficient allocation. ‘The labor market is not excused from the basic economic principle that artificially high prices cause lower demand'. The National Bureau of Economic Research observed that many analysts were of the opinion that minimum wages have negative impact on the labor market, ‘almost all point to negative employment effects’. More specifically, the study also revealed that there is, ‘relatively overwhelming evidence of stronger unemployment’ impacts on less experienced workers (Swinnerton, 1996). In the case on United States, the proposed federal minimum wage has been avoided by the Congress for more than a decade. The reviewed limit for the minimum wage is expected to raise to $7.25, however analyst are of the opinion that labor market can be served well through expansion of the Earned Income Tax Credit (or EITC, a substantial wage subsidy for low-income workers). According to 2007 Index, more than 90% of the US labor market is considered independent, and the imposition of the minimum wage will not only hamper the status of the labor market, but will reduce the labor freedom factor. IMPLICATIONS The proper approach for ensuring better income for group of workers can be achieved through imposition of minimum wage. The entrance to Labor Market can be achieved through implementation of minimum wage, and this is likely to benefit least qualified individuals. ‘Labor market flexibility refers to the ease with which workers and employers can negotiate mutually advantageous labor contracts' (Nathalie, 2006). However the implementation of minimum wage has been discouraged by economist, most of the economists are of the opinion that higher minimum wage has failed to achieved the primarily goal of poverty reduction, and is responsible for unemployment. According to a survey by Canadian authorities, 10% increase in the minimum wage was responsible for the direct unemployment of Canadian teenagers by 2.5%. In this context the labor laws play fundamental role, to counter such flaws. Researchers have concluded that, the scheme of tightening of laws about labor relations is responsible for the unemployment. It has been warned that implementation of rigid laws for the minimum wage barrier will affect the performance of the organizations. It is believed that organizations will opt for recruitment of smaller staff, and sought the replacement of workers with machines, and diminishes the performance premiums and other perks, or move switch over their operations ands move to other part. EFFECTS AND ALTERNATIVE (TAX CREDIT) The increase in the level of minimum wage is considered to be blockade for the reformed economic policies of any country; furthermore it disrupts international competitiveness, labor freedom. Labor freedom, like property rights and business freedom, a detailed study report issued by The Heritage Foundation and The Wall Street Journal have concluded that, all these factors are considered to be important parameters for the evaluation of country's overall economic freedom as measured by the Index of Economic Freedom (Kane, 2007). The labor market should be based on labor freedom to strengthen the scope of economic activities that correlates the ability of workers and businesses to interact without any surveillance or official restrictions by the government. The minimum wage is although considered to be an important measure for supporting the poor and less skilled worker, but such conditions affect the business activity and shatter the economic plans of the organizations, and consequently the labor market is affected (Wascher, 1995). ‘The minimum wage disrupts the natural interaction of supply and demand and leads to inefficient allocations of labor and, eventually, increased unemployment', on contrary the government discourage the practice of competitiveness, and transform it into level economic battlefield, with restricted scope of advents (Swinnerton, 1996). The sole objective of minimum wage is to provide higher income to low earners, but to avoid the negative fallout of labor market, the execution of such policy should be avoided, and therefore policies based on negative income tax or earned income tax credit should be introduced to favor the low wage earners. Such methodology is considered to be economic efficient. The classical analysis of minimum wage support the idea that higher wage earners should help the low earners, the restriction of higher minimum wage is likely to affect the services and jobs of the low wage earners, therefore the labor market can be strengthen by providing sufficient incentives to ‘ low wage workers at the expense of other low wage workers and businesses employing low wage workers' (Card, 1995). The alternative scheme of negative income tax or earned income tax credit support the low earners, and it is the over all society that incurs the cost, and this further stabilizes the labor market. The scheme is considered to be economically viable, ‘because, a low tax rate on the broader economy causes less deadweight loss than a high tax rate on a small section of the economy' (Wascher, 1995). It has been reported that the approved EITC has increased the level of earnings by 40 percent; the proposed $7.25 of minimum wage after taxes for a full-time worker is expected to double the EITC. It is expected that minimum wage and tax credit scheme will rekindle the hope of low earners, and re-link them directly to the benefits of growing economy. REFERENCES Tim Kane, Ph.D. and Anthony B. Kim. A Higher Minimum Wage Equals Less Economic Freedom. 2007. Prentice Hall. pp. 125 Neumark, D. and W. Wascher. Minimum-Wage Effects on School and Work Transitions of Teenagers. American Economic Review 85. 1995. pp. 244-249. Card, D. and A. Krueger. Myth and Measurement: The New Economics of the Minimum Wage. Princeton: Princeton University Press. 1995. Swinnerton, K. Minimum Wages in an Equilibrium Search Model with Diminishing Returns to Labor in Production. Journal of Labor Economics 14. 1996. pp. 340-355. Christopher J. Flinn. Minimum Wage Effects on Labor Market Outcomes under Search, Matching, and Endogenous Contact Rates. New York University Publications. 2005. pp. 45 Nathalie Elgrably. The Minimum Wage and Labor Market flexibility. December 2006.Montreal Economic Institute Publications.      

Economical and religious repression Essay

â€Å"Illustrate from Blake’s songs the ways the poet shows that the people of his time were alienated from their natural selves and from society by political, economical and religious repression† A major target of Blake’s in the conquest to correct the unnatural state of society was that of religion and the Church. Blake was an unconventional Christian. Although clearly religious, as seen in poems such as ‘The Lamb’ and ‘Night’, he abhorred the concept of organised religion and believed it to be an extremely damaging institution which was more concerned with the oppression of the lower classes and the continuance of the unequal status quo than with true religion. Blake believed the moral codes that were extolled by the Church were significantly damaging to society, making innocent concepts deviant and causing bitter unhappiness. In ‘The Garden of Love’, Blake conveys his feelings on the repressive qualities of religion. This poem is the basis for Blake’s theory on repressive religion, using ‘The Garden of Love’ as a basis for the damaging effects of religious ‘bans’, Blake then goes onto portray how the effects change with different experiences such as love and sex. In the poem, the speaker returns to ‘The Garden of Love’ where he used to ‘play’ (which seems to refer to the innocent discovery of sexuality by children) and finds that it has been transformed. Where once children used to ‘play on the green’ there are now ‘priests in black gowns’, and ‘gravestones’ where there used to be ‘flowers’. The speaker has become aware of Church law and its oppressive ‘bans’, Blake emphasises the influence of the religious morals by use of metrical technique. The power of ‘Thou shalt not’ paralyses the poem, with three successive stresses halting the regularly anapaestic rhythm. In the same way that ‘Thou shalt not’ stops the flow of the poem, the construction of the Chapel stops the innocent ‘play’ of children. In the design which accompanies the poem children are seen praying over the graves of ‘Joys & Desires’, which were murdered by the Church. Blake further expands his theory on how repressive religion alienates people of his day from their natural selves in his two poems on sexual intercourse, ‘The Blossom’ and ‘The Sick Rose’. ‘The Blossom’ is a celebration of what Blake would call completely natural sex, being free from morals and repressive religion it is a wonderful and joyous occasion, so full of emotion that it makes the robin sob with joy. ‘The Blossom’ is full of positive language, such as ‘happy’, ‘merry’ and ‘pretty’ and contains a simple and bouncing rhythm that conveys the naturalness of the act and how positive such sex is. ‘The Sick Rose’ on the other hand portrays sexual intercourse at its most depraved and shameful. The poem is a vision of sex under the influence of repressive religious morals and restricting social conventions; it portrays sexual intercourse under the influence of repressive religious morals. The poem utilises a complicated and lumpy rhythm, with a mix of anapaestic and iambic feet and a disturbing first line which is difficult to scan, the world of ‘Experience’ is clearly evoked through Blake’s metrical technique. The poem’s imagery of an ‘invisible worm’ ‘flying at night’ in a ‘howling storm’ is full of darkness, violence and depravity. The Rose hides (implied by ‘found out’) her sexual pleasure, her ‘bed of crimson joy’, which reveals the hypocrisy of female pleasure in this depraved form of sex; the Rose has sexual desire but hides it from the ‘invisible worm’. In the final two lines Blake sums up his point of the poem, that this kind of sexual intercourse, this ‘dark secret love’, ‘Does thy life destroy’. Through his portrayal of love and sex in the Songs, Blake shows the damaging effects of religious repression. Repressive religious morals and laws have led to the body becoming detached from the soul, and sex, which the Church associates with the body, has become a seedy and deviant act. In these poems, Blake has shown that the Church has alienated people from their natural selves. In ‘My Pretty Rose Tree’, Blake reveals his beliefs on the unnatural constraints of marriage. Blake repudiated any kind of binding contracts or morals, which might constrain the natural self from its freedom and marriage fell firmly within his sights. As far as Blake was concerned, marriage was a dead institution (as revealed by the ‘marriage hearse’ of ‘London’) and an unnatural social prison which severely damaged peoples’ natural selves. In the poem, a ‘flower was offered’ to the speaker, a metaphor for an extra-marital affair, by a woman which the speaker finds attractive (‘Such a flower as May never bore’). However, the unnatural constraints of marriage cause the speaker to unhappily, suggested by the slowing of the rhythm with a double stress in ‘And I passed the sweet flower o’er’, turn down the offer and return to his wife, his ‘Pretty Rose tree’. The artificial boundaries of marriage have led to the speaker giving up the chance of being happy with his ‘sweet flower’ and to being trapped with his jealous ‘Rose tree’ whose ‘thorns’ are his ‘only delight’. Blake suggests that without the constraints of marriage that the speaker would have been free to follow his heart, rather than conforming to an artificial law and becoming unhappy. In ‘London’, Blake further expresses his attitude towards marriage. In the poem, marriage is presented as a ‘hearse’, a vessel for carrying the dead, though with their bodies (their sexual selves) being dead in a loveless and institutionalised marriage which extols the virtues of the soul over the deviant and depraved body. Blake blames the unnatural state of love in society on the Church’s separation of body and soul. The separation has forced the soul to be encapsulated in marriage and the body to be forced to become deviant and turn to ‘youthful Harlots’. Sexual pleasure has only two options, either a loveless marriage or buying pleasure from seedy and diseased prostitutes. Marriage, in Blake’s eyes, has made all sexual pleasure the kind found in ‘The Sick Rose’, depraved and hidden, whereas in a world free from the unnatural constraints alienating people from themselves, people would be able to enjoy the pleasure found in ‘The Blossom’.

Coach Incorporated Security Analysis Paper Essay

Abstract Coach Incorporated is a company established in 1941in Manhattan. Coach is in the fashion industry and this accessories manufacturer is one of the best known brands in North America. Coach was bought out by the Sara Lee Corporation in 1985 and started being publicly traded in 2000 on the New York Stock Exchange. Coach Incorporated prides it selves off of being one of the most dependable, unique, desirable, and fashionable brands in their industry. Coach has a disadvantage with its competition, being the only one publicly traded. It does not have access to the others financial records. Coach Incorporated likes to stick to tradition, whether it is in their designs or their Executive officers. Coach has a very diverse and experienced Executive team. Coach also just started a litigation campaign in 2009 called â€Å"Operation turnlock† to try and help with the counterfeit problem. They were recently award a large sum of money from one of the lawsuits the campaign filled for online counterfeit merchandise. Coach recently just gave $2 million to the Hurricane Sandy Relief Fund to help rebuild the community where Coach got its own start. Coach’s financial records are in order and are continuing to grow steadily even through the rough economy. Coach Incorporated (Coach) is a company that designs and manufactures leather goods as well as other accessories. It was founded in a Manhattan loft in 1941 as a family-run workshop. This family used skill passed down from each generation to create a unique style that became quite desirable to consumers. (â€Å"Coach est. 1941,† 2010) In 1985 Coach was purchased by Sara Lee Corporation. Also, in 2000, Coach as Incorporated in the state of Maryland and listed on the New York Stock Exchange for approximately 68 million shares. Their mission statement is â€Å"Coach seeks to be the leading brand of quality lifestyle accessories offering classic, modern American styling.† In today’s world, Coach is large company that still retains high standards and craftsmanship for their leather goods. They manufacture items such as purses, suit cases, wallets, watches, accessories, shoes, jewelry, sunglasses and etc. Some of these items are manufactured through their licensing partners. Such as Estee Lauder Companies Incorporated is Coach’s fragrance licensing partner. (â€Å"Reuters: Profile, coach,† 2012) The Coach brand has ‘established a signature style and distinctive identity’ (â€Å"Coach Est. 1941,† 2010) that almost everyone can recognize, which is why their prices reflect more of the name than the quality of the items. Coach is in the fashion industry and enough people are willing to pay for the name brand of Coach to keep them in business and to keep the prices high. The market the Coach is in is the fashion market, and their customers are middle to upper class men and women. Because their prices are high the market for their items has to be to a household that has extra money to spend and even though they sell mostly women related items they do sell men’s’ as well. Their competition includes Louis Vuitton, Fendi, Gucci Incorperated, Dooney and Bourke Incorporated, Katie Spade LLC, and Michael Kors Incorporated which are all privately owned companies. (â€Å"Yahoo finance,† 2012) Coach operates in two different ways, direct to customers and indirect. Indirect is where Coach sells their products to other retail stores and direct to customers is selling out of their own stores. Coach has over 500 stores in the United States and Canada as of June 30, 2012. They also have over 300 locations in Japan, China, Singapore and Taiwan. They have recently acquired new locations in Malaysia and South Korea in July and August. (â€Å"Coach est. 1941,† 2010) Coach not only has their own retail stores, but also sells their merchandise through department stores and specialty retailer locations. With these locations, Coach is also present in Europe, Asia, and Latin America. As of 1999 Coach launched their first on-line store available to customers in the United States, Canada, and Japan. They also have informational websites in twenty other countries. In the future, Coach plans to increase international distribution and target international consumers, especially in Asia. They also plan on staying one of the most popular name brand accessory companies in North America. (â€Å"Coach est. 1941,† 2010) Coach also has very high standards for their brand. Coach states that â€Å"The Coach brand represents a unique synthesis of magic and logic that stands for quality, authenticity, value and a truly aspirational, distinctive American style.† (â€Å"Coach est. 1941,† 2010) They hold accountability to their customers. They also guarantee great service and that their customers’ needs are always met. Coach seeks long term relationships with all their costumers by treating them this way. This is one reason Coach is still around and doing well as a company even with their high prices. They are dedicated to their honesty, trust, satisfaction, and fairness to their consumers, business, and community. They strive to increase consumer and shareholder value. (â€Å"Coach est. 1941,† 2010) They have a small number of executive officers with only seven. First on the list is Lew Frankfort the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. Mr. Frankfort joined the Coach company is 1979 as Vice President of New Business Development. Mr. Frankfort has appointed President of Coach in 1985 and named Chairman and CEO in 1995. When Mr. Frankfort started at Coach, Coach’s sales were about $6 million. Today Coach’s sales are $4.8 billion. He has seen many changes with this company, such as seeing it go to a publicly traded company on the New York Stock Exchange in 2000. Before joining Coach, Mr. Frankfort held positions in the public sector in New York City. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Hunter College, and a MBA in Marketing from Columbia University. He also holds a spot on the Board of Overseers of Columbia’s Business School. Mr. Frankfort was recognized by Barron’s from 2005-2008 as one of 30 â€Å"Most Respected CEO’s† globally. (â€Å"Coach est. 1941,† 2010) Having someone that has been in the same company for 33 years now running it, says wonders about Coach. Coach is a brand that sticks to what it knows and does not change something that is working for them. Just like their products, Coach’s president is what they seek in their mission of keeping everything classic. Next, is Reed Krakoff, the President, Executive Creative Director of Coach and has been employed at Coach since December 1996. He was initially hired as the Vice President and Executive Creative Director, but advanced to his current position just two and a half years later. Mr. Krakoff has a degree in Fashion Design from Parsons School of Design. Prior to Coach, Mr. Krakoff held various positions at Anne Klein, Ralph Lauren and other design houses. In 2007 Mr. Krakoff was elected vice president of the Council of Fashion Designers of America, and in 2001and 2004 he was awarded the honor of Accessories Designer of the Year. To this day Mr. Krakoff styles and photographs the campaigns for Coach. (â€Å"Coach est. 1941,† 2010) Having a man like Reed Krakoff on the Coach team ensures that they will have some of the most elegant designs in the industry today. His ability to create pieces that Coach would gladly put their name on ensures him a long career at Coach. Following is Jerry Stritzke, the President and Chief Operating Officer as of March 2008. Prior to Coach he joined Best, Sharp, Sheridan, & Shritzke in 1985 as a partner. In 1992 he practiced law at Stritzke Law Office. From 1993 to 1999 Mr. Stritzke was a consultant for Webb and Shirley. Lastly, Mr. Stritzke held several senior executive positions within limited Brand Incorporation, from 1999 to 2007. Jerry Stritzke has a Bachelors of Science from Oklahoma State University and a Juris Doctor from the University of Oklahoma. (â€Å"Coach est. 1941,† 2010) Next is Michael Tucci the President, Retail Division in North America. Mr. Tucci joined Coach in 2003 with over twenty years of experience. Before Coach, he was the Executive Vice President of Gap Incorporated and held various senior leadership positions from 1994-2002. Michael Tucci also held executive positions at R.H. Mary Corporations from 1982-1992. Mr. Tucci has a Bachelors of Arts in English from Trinity College. (â€Å"Coach est. 1941,† 2010) Next, is Todd Kahn the Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary since he joined Coach in 2008. Prior to joining Coach Todd Kahn held multiple positions for Calypso Christian Celle, Sean John, Accessory Network, InternetCash Corporation, Salant Corporation, Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver, and Jacobson. Mr. Todd has a Bachelors of Science from Touro College and a Juris Doctor from Boston University Law School. He also serves on the board of Directors of the Fashion Institute of Technology Educational Foundation the Fashion Delivers Charitable Foundation Incorporated, and the National Father’s Day Committee. (â€Å"Coach est. 1941,† 2010) Next is Sarah Dunn the Executive Vice President, Human Recourses since 2008. Previously Ms. Dunn held several executive positions with Thomson Financial, including Executive Vice President, Human Resources and Organizational Development. Ms. Dunn is also a consulting Advisory Board member of Youth, I.N.C. She also has a Bachelors of Science Degree in Human Sciences from University College, London, U.K. and a Masters Degree in Information Science from City University, London. (â€Å"Coach est. 1941,† 2010) Lastly, we have Jane Nielsen the executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer since 2011. Jane Nielsen joined Coach after working at PepsiCo, Incorporated and the Global Nutrition Group as their Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer since 2009. Prior to this Ms. Nielsen held senior positions in a financial role with PepsiCo, Incorporated, and Pepsi Bottling Group from 1996-2009. From 1990-1996 Ms. Nielsen worked for Marakon Associates and from 1986-1990 she worked at Credit Suisse First Boston. Ms. Nielsen has a BA in Economics from Smith College and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School. (â€Å"Coach est. 1941,† 2010) Coach has recently been awarded $257 million in a lawsuit against counterfeit Coach merchandise. Coach obtained a default judgment in Illinois Federal Court against individuals and businesses that operate websites selling counterfeit Coach merchandise. The judgment granted Coach 573 internet domain names from which the counterfeit merchandise was sold from. Coach started a litigation campaign called â€Å"Operation Turnlock† in May 2009. Since then, Coach has filed lawsuits to stop counterfeit items from being sold. From these lawsuits, Coach has gain a significant amount of monetary value from them. (Chaudhuri , 2012) Coach also just donated $2 million to the Hurricane Sandy relief efforts. The gift was made to the Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund for rebuilding efforts in the Tri-State area. Coach as also made its employee matching program available, so however much its employees contribute to the American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund or to other qualified funds, Coach will match the donation Lew Frankfort made a public address saying â€Å"Our hearts go out to the countless number of people affected by the storm.† Since Coach was established in Manhattan, they feel they need to help rebuild their community where they started. (â€Å"Coach est. 1941,† 2010) In 2011 Coach’s Inventory broke down to 63% handbags, 27% accessories, and 10% all other products. This is just a little change from the previous year, where the only difference is 1% moved from accessories to all other products. Currently Coach pays quarterly cash dividends of $0.225 per share. Coach’s cash flow statement shows Net Income for 2011 to be $880,800,000 and the net cash flows provided by operating activities in 2011to be $1,033,271,000. Also, the cash flow statement shows the net cash used in investing activities to be -$59,631,000 and the net cash used in financing activities to be -$875,126,000 in 2011. For the Cash and cash equivalents at end of year 2011 were $699,782,000 with the cash paid for income taxes for 2011 to be $364,493,000 and cash paid for interest for 2011 to be $1,233,000. Lastly, the cash flow statement has for 2011 is the noncash investing activity-property and equipment obligations to be $23,173,000 and $0 for the noncash financing ac tivity-mortgage debt assumed.(â€Å"http://www.annualreports.com/company/2246 ,† 2011) Coach just reported its first quarter earnings per share in 2012 to be $0.77. Compared to the previous year, same quarter, the earnings per shares was $0.73. Their sales reported for 2012 first quarter, which ended September 29, 2012, was $1.16 billion. Compared to the previous year where Coach’s sales for the same quarter was only $1.05 billion. This is an 11% increase in sales in just one year. Coach also announced that its Board of Directors has just authorized the repurchase of up to $1.5 billion of its outstanding common stock by June 30,2015. This will make Coach’s earnings per share increase since there will be less outstanding stock. Since we now know the earning per share for Coach we can calculate the price earnings ratio. Coach’s current stock price $57.87. So, Coach’s price earnings ratio is 75.156. (â€Å"Coach est. 1941,† 2010) Stockholder’s equity is total assets minus total liabilities. For Coach, in 2011 the total assets are $2,635,116,000 and the total liabilities are $1,022,547,000. So, the total stockholder’s equity for the year ended July 2, 2011 is $1,612,569,000. For the total liabilities of Coach being $1,022,547,000 only $593,017,000 are current liabilities. Of the current liabilities $118,612,000 is accounts payable, $473,610,000 is accrued liabilities, and $795,000 is current portion of the long term debt. As for the rest of the liabilities $23,360,000 is long term debt and $406,170,000 is other liabilities. (â€Å"Coach est. 1941,† 2010) These numbers first mean that Coach is a continuously growing company that would be labeled at a value company. Which means it doesn’t grow fast, but instead it grows consistently. Also, since its assets and equities make up the majority of Coach’s finances the company appears to be in good standings. Coach is a company that has been around for over 70 years and has been traded publicly for 12 years now, and it seems to have all its finances in order and look like what you would expect for a high-end retail company. There is a bright future for Coach with its experienced executives leading the company to expand its market and try to bet out the competition. The volatility of Coach stock price is reasonable. Obviously people are willing to pay for Coach products even through hard times. Coach’s stock price continues to go up and from past records it has always steadily increased. Coach has a rich history and has been around for a long time so I do not see it crashing anytime in the near future, so I would say the stock price is valid and a good steady long term investment. References Coach est. 1941. (2010, February 3). Retrieved from http://www.coach.com/online/handbags/Home-10551-10051-en?isCollapse=true Reuters: Profile, coach inc.. (2012). Retrieved from http://www.reuters.com/finance/stocks/companyProfile?symbol=COH Yahoo finance. (2012). Retrieved from http://finance.yahoo.com/q/co?s=COH Competitors Chaudhuri , S. (2012, November 02). Coach gets $257 million, 573 domain names in counterfeiting lawsuits. Dow Jones Newswires. Retrieved from http://www.foxbusiness.com/news/2012/11/02/coach-gets-257-million-573-domain-names-in-counterfeiting-lawsuit/ http://www.annualreports.com/company/2246. (2011).

Management of change Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4250 words

Management of change - Essay Example The rationale for this study, as well as the summary of the literature findings shall also be set forth. The change proposal shall then be laid out and the steps in the implementation process shall also be explained based on the change management framework developed by Lewin. Based on the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC, 2008), a nurse is obligated to deliver the best and the highest standard of care at all times. More specifically, they are called on to deliver care, according to the best available evidence and best practice; and they must also ensure that the advice they are giving to their patient, in terms of healthcare products and services, is based on evidence (NMC, 2008). There are numerous evidences which are often made available to nurses for use in their practice. For which reason, it is important for nurses to be knowledgeable and skilled in the critical evaluation of evidence and ensure that the evidence they would choose to support and apply in their practice would b e the best (Spector, 2007, p. 1). For the purpose of this essay, the definition of evidence-based practice by Sackett, Straus, Richardson, Rosenberg, and Haynes shall be adapted. They define the practice as â€Å"the integration of best research evidence with clinical expertise and patient values† (Sackett, Straus, Richardson, Rosenberg, and Haynes, 2000, p. 71). ... based practice therefore considers the role of the patient in the planning and conceptualisation of their care (Pipe, Wellik, Buchda, Hansen, and Martin, 2005). The nurses have to include and consider patient preferences in relation to the best evidence available and apply such to the planning process. Critics like Mullen and Streiner, however, are not supportive of EBP, contending that it prevents the application of the most effective treatment for the patient. They point out that EBP does not â€Å"fit the realities of individualised, contextualized practice, especially nonmedical practice wherein problems are less well defined (Mullen and Streiner, 2004, p. 133). They also emphasised that there are often many limitations in the methods of research in the systematic reviews and meta-analysis. Moreover, concern has been expressed on how evidence-based research can be conceptualised when competing elements like public opinion and resource limitations affect policy-making (Mullen and Streiner, 2004, p. 133). On the other hand, health practitioners are quick to point out that EBP is about being guided by the best available evidence. This means that absent available randomised controlled trials without design flaws, trials which have limitations can be used instead (Mullen and Streiner, 2004, p. 133). In effect, health practitioners and users of health services must be cautious about the risks and benefits when the evidence for decisions are made apparent, even if this would mean that there is not much evidence supporting the different choices (Mullen and Streiner, 2004, p. 133). Proponents of EBP also point out that even as the realities of practice may be far removed from the behaviour and practical aspects of the clinical practice, there is merit in considering the

Haydn in Public and Private Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Haydn in Public and Private - Essay Example The audience were quite generous with their praise and always when Haydn performs, they received him with applause. Haydn`s string quartets were composed around 1797 and was dedicated to Hungarian Count Joseph. The six quartets are the final complete set which Haydn composed. These quartets are amongst Haydns highly ambitious chamber works, diverging more than prior quartets from expected sonata form, but emphasizing thematic continuity, seamlessly as well as continually passing motives from a particular instrument to another (Wright, 26-29). During his tour to London, he exulted in his local celebrity, the turnout at his concert, the recurrent dinner invitations, and impressive concert receipts. Among the works he performed at concerts during his visit to London, were 12 new symphonies, this was the last one Haydn wrote. It also included the widely known Symphony NO.94 in G Major. This gained fame when the composer, while conducting, altered the dynamics of the second movement. There were speculations behind the change. This is due to the reality that, Haydn had previously given the downbeat to commence movement when the gentle of his music had a sense of humour. This was tremendous being that his musicians forged with the little theme until reaching his final chord, whereby Haydn produced music with loud tone bringing the drowsy patron to his feet. Following his musical and colourful performance at every concert, the four movement symphony follows a structure that was, at the time, still considering novel: it all began with a lively movement that offers several outstanding and contrasting melodies, the second proceeds at a gentle pace, and the third was dance-flavoured. This resembles the popular minuet. The last movement was fabulous bringing the music to its climax accompanied with energetic conclusion. In essence, every concert was presented and attended with anxious hopes, the first musical genius during that reign was

Personal Ethic Statement Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Personal Ethic Statement - Essay Example I affirm Leopold correctly states â€Å"land should be both respected and loved† (Nelson 1). Respecting land means avoiding the use of pesticides because pesticides produce poisoned food. I feel that loving the land means understanding which plants will grow on the land. Respecting and loving the land will bring health benefits. Furthermore, I feel Leopold correctly states the â€Å"land ethics concept affects the people’s health† (Nelson 1). Pesticide-induced food products are unhealthy. Pesticide food is poisoned. Land ethics requires using non-pesticide inputs. Health-based management of the land will increase economic benefits. Moreover, I confirm Leopold’s land ethics ensures higher economic benefits. Leopold correct insisted that â€Å"people must take care of the land’s health† (Nelson 1). Most health-conscious persons will not buy the pesticide-induced food products. The same individuals will patronize pesticide-absent grown food. Consequently, selling pesticide-absent food generates high food sales. Concluding, I personally affirm Leopold’s land ethics concept of compulsory ethics-based healthy land management. I propose the right future land management requires planting foods that will thrive best on the land. Likewise, I insist that right future land management requires avoidance of poison-based pesticides inputs. I adhere to Leopold’s espousing the healthy management of the land will result to a healthy environment. Evidently, I affirm land-inclusive ethics rightfully governs the actions of human

The Socio-Economic Status of Cities in Michigan State Case Study

The Socio-Economic Status of Cities in Michigan State - Case Study Example Washtenaw County is one of the oldest counties in Michigan State having been initially founded in 1822 then later organized as a county in 1826. This county has an area of 1870 square kilometer. In this area, 1829 square kilometer island and 41 square kilometers is water. The population of Washtenaw County, according to the 2010 census done by the U.S Census Bureau is about 344791 people. As a county, Washtenaw comprises of places such as MI Metropolitan Statistical Area and Ann Arbor. There are different educational institutions in this county such as Eastern Michigan University, University of Michigan, Concordia University Ann Arbor, the Ann Arbor campus of Thomas M. Cooley Law School and Washtenaw Community College. This county is surrounded by other different counties, including Livingston County in the North, Wayne County on the East, Monroe County at the southeast, Jackson County at the West, Lenawee County in the Southwest and Ingham County at the Northwest(U.S. Department of Commerce, 35). Ann Arbor is a city found in Washtenaw County. It has a total area of 74.33 square Kilometers. In this, 72.08 square kilometers island while the remaining 2.25 square kilometers is water. The main water source in this city is Huron River. This city is a home to 113934 people going by the 2010 census. The city was founded in 1824 and its steady rise is attributed to the establishment of the University of Michigan in 1837. This university has shaped and is continuing to shape the economy of Ann Arbor by employing about thirty thousand workers, twelve thousand of them working at the medical center. The University of Michigan has also attracted a lot of researchers and companies to conduct their research here thus making it a center of technology.

Finance and Accounting Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Finance and Accounting - Research Paper Example It is without doubt that table salt had developed into a well-rounded and mature enterprise but Sea Shore Salt had grown gradually over the years however, on the peril of its competitors that were not well known in the business. The company had developed a legacy with its brand name that was ideally known and recognized in the area giving the company a competitive advantage despite it being very difficult to pronounce the name quickly (Sages & Grable 57). Bernice reported to work on January 2, 2006 and everything was seen to be going smoothly until Mr. Brinepool sent her a memo on the company’s cost of capital, giving her the task of explain to all the other managers the company’s weighted average cost of capital. Bernice had not expected such a task so soon and hence, she stayed at the office late that night to prepare for any questions that may be shot at her during the meeting that was scheduled to be held the following day. Bernice at first analyzed and summarized t he company’s recent balance sheet to and later on wrote down some points she had discovered: (Sages & Grable 58). The bank where the company had taken a loan charged an interest that was similar to the existing market rate bearing in mind that the long- term debt had previously been issued not so long ago. This meant that the book as well as the market values of the debt could not have a great difference in margin. The company had issued stock about 35 years ago at the time when the interest rates were significantly lower than they are now. The stock were expected to rise by a large margin over the years and eventually become very lucrative in future though this did not happen. The current stock which was initially preferred was now trading at only $70 per share contrary to what the management expected the share price to stand at by this time. Common stock was expected to trade at $40 per share by this time. Earnings for the subsequent year were projected to be at about $4 an d the dividends shareholders were going to receive at the end of the fiscal year was probably expected to be around $2 per share. Sea Shore Salt had a tradition of using 50% of her earnings to pay dividends to its shareholders and the rest would be retained by the company for future expansion and growth. Fig 12. 2 Mr. Brinepool’s cost of capital memo Sea Shore Salt Company Spring Vacation Beach, Florida CONFIDENTIAL MEMORANDUM DATE: January 15, 2006 TO: S.S.S. Management FROM: Joe- Bob Brinepool, president SUBJECT: Cost of capital This memo gives and insight and understanding about the company’s long- term policy concerning rates to be considered in terms of making decisions involving capital investment. Recently, many people have started to raise questions and there has been an air of confusion with regards to this disturbing matter. Sea Shore Salt analyses investment by discounted a cash flow that is discounted. The problem in discount rate is the weighted average co st of capital experienced by the company after tax. The weighted average cost of capital is the combination of the amount of returns that investor expect a company to generate at the end of each fiscal year. These investors include persons or institutions such as banks, bond holders or even stock investors; this is on top of the already present stock owners. Sea Salt financings are summarized in the following table Amount (in millions) percent of total rate of return Bank loan 120 20% 8% Bond issue 80 13.3

International trade theory and policy Term Paper

International trade theory and policy - Term Paper Example Before the end of World War II, countries had their own protectionist measures in place in terms of tariffs to safeguard their domestic manufacturers and businesses since a long time. The high tariffs were becoming a great hindrance to global trade. The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) in first six rounds from 1948 through 1967 provided the basic framework for tariff reductions. All first six rounds were mainly devoted on reducing tariffs and other barriers to trade and eliminate or lessen discriminatory treatment to promote global growth in trade (World Trade Organization). While there were only 23 participating countries in the first round of discussion, this numbers increased to 62 during the sixth Kennedy Round of negotiation. The 23 founding members of the GATT were also part of a group who were negotiating the ITO Charter as a specialized body of the United Nations. The ITO Charter was quite ambitious as it covered rules on employment, international investment, res trictive business practices, and commodity agreements. Early provisions of GATT did mention about accepting some of the trade rules of the ITO draft; however, the ITO Charter could not be ratified due to serious opposition within the US Congress. This resulted into the early death of the ITO charter and GATT remained only instrument that governed international trade (World Trade Organization). Through intensive talk and deliberations right from the first to the sixth round of negotiations, the participating countries could arrive at the consensus to reduce effective tariff rates from 38% in 1947 to just 9 percent by year 1972. Apart tariff reduction, the major turnaround came in the sixth round of negotiation when anti-dumping agreement came into effect. It should be noted that first five rounds were focused on item-by-item negotiation for the reduction of tariffs while the sixth round took some bold approach reducing tariff across the board; however, it is important to keep in mind that these rounds had little success in achieving non-tariff trade relations among the nation. The sixth round also called the Kennedy Round lasted over 3 years and provided tariff concessions to the tune of $40 billion. In view of the strong global protectionism prevailed at that time, achievements in the Kennedy Round were noteworthy. The Kennedy Round was the first of its kind that went beyond tariff reduction discussions and advanced the idea of non-tariff barriers besides highlighting the concerns of the developing world; however, trade in services, intellectual property rights were never discussed in the first six rounds of negotiation (World Trade Organization). Q: Discuss the global economic conditions in the mid-70s, and the anti-trade policies that became common despite the GATT. Motivate by worry about these policies, the 7th (Tokyo) Round was called to start in 1973. How can this Round be simultaneously considered a â€Å"success† (by the GATT Secretariat) and a â€Å"failure† by most international economists. Answer Those were the tumultuous years in mid-‘70s when Bretton Woods system based on fixed exchange rate collapsed. The system failed because the US dollar came under tremendous pressure to devalue. In the process of financing the Vietnam War and implementing public welfare programs during those years, the US government had increased its spending substantially that eventually resulted into increased money

The Lady Gaga Empire Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

The Lady Gaga Empire - Essay Example It also includes mediums through which messages can be spread, such as radio, television, magazines, recorded music, associated media, newspapers, and movies (Rothenbuhler).  It can be said that Lady Gaga’s mass communication approach is unique in the sense she seemingly uses her status to initiate and propel positive ideas. Rarely do celebrities act with virtuous motive in the interest of those who put them on their pedestals. However, a perfect example of another artist who does illustrate similar characteristics is the actor, Academy-Award winning director, philanthropist, and "supporter of uncompromised creative expression," Robert Redford (qt. in Saunders).   While true, selfless actions by few other public figures have been promoted in the media, it is difficult to recognize authenticity and sincerity comparable to those of Lady Gaga’s.USING MEDIA FOR GOOD The Look to the Stars Website identifies several of Lady Gaga’s public recognitions of her work wi th various organizations. The author states, â€Å"Lady Gaga is a creative ‘win-win’ philanthropist, who throws the weight of her popularity behind donation projects† (â€Å"Look to the Stars: The World of Celebrity Giving†). Teaming with Virgin Mobile, Gaga gave free VIP tickets to Little Monsters who dedicated a specific amount of time and/or offered monetary donations to help homeless youth, which raised more than $80,000 and produced upwards of 30,000 community service hours. Her idea to have a â€Å"Gaga for Haiti† day on January 24, 2010, in the midst of the devastating earthquake, generated more than $500,000 for the small country of Haiti.4 By joining forces with former pop culture icon, Cyndi Lauper, and MAC Cosmetics, for the VIVA Glam Campaign,5 the group raised more than 160 million dollars to globally spread information and awareness about HIV/AIDS to women (â€Å"Look to the Stars: The World of Celebrity Giving†). In addition to Gaga’s many charitable projects, she was also at the forefront of

The Management and Operation of Food Services Essay

The Management and Operation of Food Services - Essay Example As tourists become more mobile, so does the food they eat. Food, culinary styles and the increasing differentiation of dishes and cuisines in tourism destinations have developed. Global drinks and foods are emerging, such as Coca-Cola and McDonald's, and local and regional food is thriving, and new 'fusion foods' are also being created to feed the 'global soul' (Iyer 2000). Tourists themselves are contributing to gastronomic mobility, by creating a demand in their own countries for foods they have encountered abroad. Gastronomy has developed considerably through the years. Gastronomy is not only extremely difficult to define, but the term, just like 'culture', has become more heavily laden over time. As Scarpato shows, the original definition of gastronomy has broadened in recent years. The Encyclopdia Britannica (2000) defines gastronomy as: 'the art of selecting, preparing, serving, and enjoying fine food'. Gastronomy was for the nobility, but over time the concept included the 'peasant food' typical of regional and local cuisine. The serving and consumption of food has become a global industry, of which tourism is an important part. Mass tourist resorts can often be divided spatially on the basis of cuisine. One can spot English tourists in English pubs, German tourists in the Bierkeller. Some tourists still engage in the habit of taking their own food with them on holiday.Food is a means of forging and supporting identities, principally because what we eat and the way we eat are such basic a spects of our culture. Given the strong relationship between food and identity, it is not surprising that food becomes an important place marker in tourism promotion. One of the basic reasons for this is the strong relationship between certain localities and certain types of food. As Hughes (1995:114) points out there is a 'notion of a natural relationship between a region's land, its climatic conditions and the character of food it produces. It is this geographical diversity which provides for the regional distinctiveness in culinary traditions and the evolution of a characteristic heritage.' This link between location and gastronomy has been used in a number of ways in tourism, including promotional efforts based on distinctive or 'typical' regional or national foods.In a gastronomic landscape, the forces of globalization and localization are both exerting pressures on our eating habits. The rise of fast food has come to characterize the globalization of culture and economy encaps ulated in the term 'McDonaldization' (Ritzer 1993). McDonald's franchises more than 25,000 outlets in 120 countries worldwide. The Big Mac has become a culinary product that it is used to measure the purchasing power parity of national currencies (Ong 1997). The cultural capital that we develop on holiday regarding foreign food is utilized in our leisure time to develop our identity. The fact that many people seek the comfort of the familiar on holiday is one factor that helps to support the spread of global foods. At the same time, however, there is a countervailing force towards more localization in what Castells call the 'space of places' - the local environments in which the bulk of the world's population live their everyday lives. A resurgence of the local is also being stimulated by growing

General procedure for transfer of shares Essay Example for Free

General procedure for transfer of shares Essay 1. The transferor and transferee are required to execute a share transfer form under their common seals (if they are corporations) in accordance with their respective Constitution/Articles of Association. 2. The transfer is subject to ad valorem duty payable to the Commissioner of Stamp Duties (â€Å"Commissioner†). The current stamp duty payable on the transfer of shares is 20 cents for every S$100/- or part thereof of the consideration for the sale of the shares or the net asset value (â€Å"NAV†) of the shares, whichever is higher, based on the latest audited accounts of the companies. The stamp duty is normally borne by the transferee. 3. For the purposes of computing the NAV and the stamp duty payable, the following documents will have to be submitted to the Commissioner: duly executed transfer form IRAS E-stamping Duty on share transfer (to be signed by a director of the company) latest audited accounts In addition, the Commissioner may request for further information and/or documents as he deems necessary for the purposes of the assessment of stamp duty. If the transfer form is executed outside Singapore, it will have to be submitted for stamping within 30 days from the date of receipt in Singapore, otherwise a late penalty would be imposed by the Stamp Office. If the transfer form is executed in Singapore, it will have to be submitted for stamping within 14 days from the date of execution. 4. After the transfer form is duly executed and stamped, it is to be presented to the company for registration. Normally, the stamping date will be the registration date. At the same time, the old share certificate issued in the name of the transferor will have to be submitted to the company for cancellation. 5. The directors of the company may approve the transfer of shares by way of directors resolutions in writing or at a directors meeting. 6. New share certificate will be issued in the name of the transferee and the Register of Members of the company will be updated accordingly. 7. The company will have to notify the ACRA (the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority) of the change in shareholder. We will attend to ACRA on the company’s behalf.

Qualitative Research Methods in Organisations

Qualitative Research Methods in Organisations Provide a justification for qualitative research in organisations Qualitative research is a field of inquiry in its own right. It crosscuts disciplines, fields and subject matters. A complex, interconnected family of terms, concepts, and assumptions surround the term qualitative research. These include the traditions associated with foundationalism, positivism, postfoundationalism, postpositivism, poststructuralism, and the many qualitative research perspectives, and/or methods connected to cultural and interpretive studies. (Denzin and Lincoln, 2000:2) qualitative researchers can access fascinating data by observing mundane settings or by finding everyday features in extraordinary settings. (Silverman, 2007:37) This essay provides a justification for the use of qualitative research methods in organisations. In the past, qualitative research methods have always been sidelined and quantitative research methods have been preferred for undertaking organisational research. One of the reasons for this is that qualitative research is always influenced by the researchers personal disposition. According to Creswell, Qualitative Research is a form of interpretive inquiry in which researchers make an interpretation of what they see, hear, and understand. Their interpretations cannot be separated from their own backgrounds, history, contexts, and prior understandings. (Creswell, 2009:176) Another reason for this is given by Silverman when he says that Policy makers and managers have been pushed away from ethnographic research because it takes a relatively long time to complete and appears to use unrepresentative samples. Even though some ethnographers are able to produce powerful arguments about what c an be read from a single, well researched, case, others muddy the waters by political posturing and by suggesting that they want no truck with conventional scientific standards. (Silverman, 2007:86) The pull of quantitative research for organisations is that it tends to define its research problems in a way that makes immediate sense to practitioners and administrators. (Silverman, 2007:86) More recently many organisations have started recognising the merits of using qualitative research methods to undertake research in the organisation. Qualitative research methods enable a thorough scrutiny of the researched topic which is not possible in quantitative research. Even within qualitative research, the researcher is provided with a vast range of options and opportunities for exploring diverse issues within the area of organisational research. What are the different methods used to adopt qualitative research? The most commonly known and most used method of qualitative research is ethnography which had its origins in social anthropology, with particular reference to the study of the culture of social groups and societies. The culture of a social group is made up of these complex networks of meaning and the key task of ethnography is to develop an interpretation and understanding of culture. (Thorpe and Holt, 2008) Ethnography can be described as a longitudinal research method that is often associated with participant observation, but can also draw on other research approaches such as contextual and historic analysis of secondary data published by or on the group being studied. The ethnographic approach to developing an in-depth understanding of peoples behaviour makes it well suited to studying organisations. (Marshan-Piekkari and Welch, 2004) But It bends reality considerably to imply that ethnography is today the main method of qualitative research and that observational material is the main data source. This is hardly surprising given the plethora of materials that invite our attention. These extend beyond what we can observe with our own eyes to what we can hear and see on recordings, what we can read in paper documents and electronically download on the internet, to what we can derive by asking questions in interviews or by providing various stimuli to focus groups. (Silverman, 2007:37) Grounded theory research, discourse analysis, deconstruction, content analysis, narrative method, action research (Humphreys, 2006), participatory enquiry, participant observation (Denzin and Lincoln, 2000), autoethnography, interviewing are just a few of the current approaches to qualitative data collection and analysis. All these methods are appropriately used in different forms of organisational research. I will be looking at autoethnography, grounded theory research, critical discourse analysis and the narrative approach towards qualitative research and will study the use of these methods in conducting organisational research. Autoethnography Ethnographers have started undertaking the observation of participation where they reflect on and critically engage with their own participation within the ethnographic frame thus giving birth to autoethnography. (Denzin and Lincoln, 2005:467) Karra and Philips have defined autoethnography as, the generation of theoretically relevant descriptions of a group to which one belongs based on a structured analysis of ones experiences and the experiences of others from ones groupIt is an attempt to produce sense from ones experience of a group that can be set down in a text and shared with interested others. It does not mean that the researcher studies only himself or herself, but that the researcher is an insider who can draw upon personal experience, cultural competence, and linguistic resources to frame and shape research in a way that an outsider cannot. (Karra and Phillips, 2008:547) Autoethnography has been very efficiently used by Karra and Phillips, in their article about internatio nal management researchers conducting studies in their own cultural context. They say that, autoethnography provides a methodological frame for understanding and managing their research. Even more importantly, it acts to sensitize the researcher to the importance of carefully managing the complex dynamics of this form of cross-cultural research including questions of authorial voice, role conflict, and power. (Karra and Phillips, 2008:543) Autoethnographic approaches have four important strengths- ease of access, reduced resource requirements, ease of establishing trust and rapport, and reduced problems with translation- but at the same time pose three important challenges- lack of critical distance, role conflict, and the limits of serendipity. (Karra and Phillips, 2008:541) The strengths of this mode of research are considerable and despite all the criticisms this method of qualitative research has acquired it can be used very successfully in organisational research where the need is to draw upon personal experiences. One of the uses of autoethnography is to allow another persons world of experience to inspire critical reflection on your own. (Ellis and Bochner, 1996:22) Experience is given a lot of importance in organisations and autoethnography enables the researcher and the organisation to use this experience in a positive manner and in a way which can be very beneficial to the organisation and its employees. Grounded Theory Grounded theory, developed by Glaser and Strauss, is a kind of theory generated from the data collected. The methodology refers to a style of conducting qualitative data analysis whose aim is to discover what kinds of concepts and hypotheses are relevant to the area one wishes to understand. Grounded theory, therefore, provides new insights into the understanding of social processes emerging from the context in which they occur, without forcing and adjusting the data to previous theoretical frameworks. (Cassell and Symon, 2004:242) Grounded theory is a method that is more appropriate for some questions than others. It is most suited to efforts to understand the process by which actors construct meaning out of intersubjective experience. Grounded theory should be used in a way that is logically consistent with key assumptions about social reality and how the reality is known. It is less appropriate to use grounded theory when you seek to make knowledge claims about an objective realit y, and more appropriate to do so when you want to make knowledge claims about how individuals interpret reality. (Suddaby, 2006:634) While the grounded theory approach appeared at a time when methods discourse was decidedly modernist, forty years of development reflect he paradigmatic plurality of current qualitative research. (Thorpe and Holt, 2008) The application of grounded theory in organisational research has been gaining popularity in recent times. This is because organisational psychology has been marked by a trend of moving from an individualistic point of view towards a more collective view. Grounded theory has been applied in studies focusing on organisational culture, organisational growth, change and innovation, team work and company survival to name a few. Grounded theory produces descriptions of organisational reality which elicit positive discussions around important themes in the organisation among the employees and, thus, form a basis for positive organisational development trends. (Cassell and Symon, 2004) Critical Discourse Analysis According to Cunliffe, Discourse analysis is a term covering a number of approaches to research that analyze language use. These approaches range from a focus on language itself, to a broader examination of the relationship between language use, social action and social theory. (Thorpe and Holt, 2008:81) Discourse analysis provides a theoretical and methodological framework for exploring the social production of organizational and interorganizational phenomena. (Phillips, Sewell and Jaynes, 2008:1) As a methodology, critical discourse analysis allows for the use of different kinds of methods in specific research projects. However, this kind of research in particular demands the ability to make sense of the linkages between specific textual characteristics and particular discourses on the one hand, and between the discourses and the relevant socio-cultural practices and historical developments on the other. This means that research of this type generally tends to favour in-depth scrut iny of and reflection on specific texts. (Marschan-Piekkari and Welch, 2004) Discourse analysis has become an increasingly popular method for examining the linguistic elements in the construction of social phenomena. It has been increasingly adopted by organization and management scholars interested in the social construction of specific organizational ideas or practices. (Varra, Kleymann and Seristo, 2004:3) There are three important problems facing researchers wishing to adopt a critical discourse perspective in their work. First, like ethnography, discourse analysis results in quite lengthy analyses that are often a poor fit with the requirements of journal editors. Second, discourse analysis often involves major data-management issues because of the volume of data that is often available. Finally, as this is a fairly new are of activity, there are few standard models available to follow. Developing innovative data analysis techniques for each study thus remains a final challenge facing researchers. (Phillips, Sewell and Jaynes, 2008) Narrative Approach According to Oswick, Narratives are an inevitable and unavoidable aspect of social life and, as such, are integral to the processes of managing and organizing. (Thorpe and Holt, 2008:141) Although the narrative approach is one with many merits which are being acknowledged by researchers, it is still a field in the making and is not very commonly used. Researchers new to this field will find a rich but diffuse tradition, multiple methodologies in various stages of development, and plenty of opportunities for exploring new ideas, methods and questions. (Denzin and Lincoln, 2005:651) A recognition that discourse is the principle means by which organization members create a coherent social reality that frames their sense of who they are has led to an increased interest in narrative approaches in organization studies. A narrative approach explicitly recognizes that, in organizations, language is the primary medium of social control and power, and that the analysis of linguistic practices is key to an understanding of how existing social and power relations are reproduced or transformed. (Humphreys and Brown, 2007) In the article, An Analysis of Corporate Social Responsibility at Credit Line: A Narrative Approach by Humphreys and Brown (2008), the authors adopted a narrative approach to the analysis of organizational processes in a bank, Credit Line, in order to explore how individuals in a financial institution dealt with relatively novel issues of corporate social responsibility. The authors used narratives to successfully draw attention to the plurivocity of orga nisational life. Use of qualitative research methods to undertake organisational research in a public sector organisation Public sector organisations are those organisations which are managed by the government. The main aim of these organisations is not to make a profit but to provide a service to the people under the government. Some example of public sector organisations are airports, public hospitals, railway stations, government run schools and colleges. Governments nowadays are looking to privatize most of the public sector organisations in order to increase their efficiency and effectiveness. Thus most of the above given examples have now been partially or completely privatised in most countries. Public sector organisations are common grounds for research amongst qualitative researchers. This could be due to the fact that public sector organisations are more easily accessible than the private sector organisations. Many public sector organisations have also started coming up with their own research and development department which undertakes the organisational research. In my opinion participant observation and interviewing together make an ideal combination to undertake organisational research within a public sector organisation or for that matter any organisation. The shortcomings of participant observations are covered by interviewing and vice versa. Thus, the two methods complement each other perfectly. Participant Observation The methodology of participant observation is appropriate for studies of almost every aspect of human existence. Through participant observation, it is possible to describe what goes on, who or what is involved, when and where things happen, how they occur, and why at least from the standpoint of participants things happen as they do in particular situations. (Jorgensen, 1989) Participant observation is one of the most popular ways of conducting fieldwork in an organisation. This is because through observation of the participants going through their daily routine researchers pick up information which they might not have access to in a more formal setting, an example of which is interviews. Participant observation can be of two types. In the first, the identity of the researcher is known to all and the researcher has a choice of forming relationships with the participants or to stand back and eavesdrop. This form of participant observation is ethically correct but the researchers pe rsonal disposition and identity may influence the participants behaviour and this may have an effect on the research material gathered. The second type of participant observation is covert participant observation where the identity of the researcher is hidden. This form of participant observation raises many ethical questions and is just another form of deception. Thus, covert participant observation should be avoided. The researchers ability to build relationships and develop rapport with subjects is crucial in participant observation. The danger here is that the researcher may feel so embedded and sympathetic to the group being studied that interpreting events objectively becomes difficult. Another demerit of participant observation is the time-consuming and open-ended nature of this kind of research which means it often doesnt get done. In a cost-conscious research climate in which specific and often short-term, definitive objectives are required to secure funding, sustained part icipation is a risky strategy. (Thorpe and Holt, 2008) Interviews The qualitative interview can be seen as a conversation with a purpose, where the interviewers aim is to obtain knowledge about the respondents world. (Thorpe and Holt, 2008:118) The goal of any qualitative research interview is to see the research topic from the perspective of the interviewee and to understand how and why they came to have this particular perspective. (Cassell and Symon, 2004) Interviewing is the most popular method of conducting organisational research. The method has three important advantages. Firstly, interviewers allow the researcher to discover new relationships or situations not previously conceived. Secondly, interview based research may be optimal when there is a small population of possible respondents as interviewers offer an opportunity to acquire a richness of information from each respondent. Finally, interviews may allow researchers to develop a deeper rapport with informants which is necessary to gain honest and accurate responses and to add insights that lay the groundwork for larger or follow-up studies. (Marschan-Piekkari and Welch, 2004) But the interviewing method also suffers from three disadvantages. Firstly, developing an interview guide, carrying out interviews and analysing their transcripts, are all highly time-consuming activities for the researchers. Secondly, qualitative interviews are also tiring to carry out as they involve considerable concentration from the interviewer. Thus, no more than three interviews, each of the duration of one hour, should be carried out in a day. Finally, interviews are also time-consuming for the interviewees and this may cause problems in recruiting participants in some organizations and occupations. The latest trends in interviewing have come some distance from structured questions; we have reached the point of the interview as negotiated text. Researchers are not invisible neutral entities; they are a part of the interaction we seek to study. Interviewers are increasingly seen as active participants in an interaction with respondents, and interviewers are seen as negotiated accomplishments of both interviewers and respondents that are shaped by the contexts and situations in which they take place. (Denzin and Lincoln, 2005) Depending on the type of organisational research which the public sector organisation needs to carry out and its goals and aims, either participant observation or interviewing or a combination of both the methods can be used appropriately in acquiring the required research material. Conclusion Thus, I conclude by saying that qualitative research methods have formed a niche for themselves in organisational research. The importance of organisational research is growing day by day and qualitative research methods are now an important part of organisational research. Although many forms of qualitative research make the use of figures and numbers to support a point of discussion, thus incorporating a characteristic of quantitative research methods, they also provide an in depth analysis on the topic of research and use one or more of the methodologies of qualitative research which include participant observation, interviewing, autoethnography, use of secondary data, grounded theory, ethnography, discourse analysis, narratives and rhetorical analysis. In this essay I introduced qualitative research and outlined its increasing importance in organisational research. I followed this up by describing approaches to qualitative research specifically concentrating on autoethnography, grounded theory, critical discourse analysis and the narrative approach, and critically analysing their use in organisational research. Finally, I concentrated on public sector organisations and why I think that participant observation and interviews are the best methods of qualitative research to undertake organisational research in public sector organisations. In doing this I feel that I have justified the use of qualitative research in organisations. References Cassell, C. Symon, G. (2004) Essential Guide to Qualitative Methods in Organizational Research. London: Sage Creswell, J.W. (2009) Research Design: Qualitative, Quantitative and Mixed Methods Approaches (Third Edition) Thousand Oaks: Sage Denzin, N.K. Lincoln, Y.S. (2000) Handbook of Qualitative Research (Second Edition). Thousand Oaks: Sage Denzin, N.K. Lincoln, Y.S. (2005) The SAGE Handbook of Qualitative Research (Third Edition). Thousand Oaks: Sage Ellis, C. and Bochner, A.P. (1996) Composing Ethnography: Alternative Forms of Qualitative Writing. Walnut Creek: Altamira Humphreys, M. (2006) Teaching qualitative research methods: Im beginning to see the light. Qualitative Research in Organisations and Management: An International Journal Vol. 1(3) 173-188 Humphreys, M. and Brown A.D. (2008) An Analysis of Corporate Social Responsibility at Credit Line: A Narrative Approach. Journal of Business Ethics Vol. 80 403-418 Jorgensen, D.L. (1989) Participant Observation: A Methodology for Human Studies London: Sage Karra, N. Phillips, N. (2008) Researching Back Home: International Management Research as Autoethnography. Organizational Research Methods Vol. 11(3) 541-561 Marschan-Piekkari, R. and Welch, C. (2004) Handbook of Qualitative Research Methods for International Business. Cheltenham:Edward Elgar Phillips, N., Sewell, G., and Jaynes S., (2008) Applying Critical Discourse Analysis in Strategic Management Research. Organizational Research Methods 1-30 Silverman, D (2007) A Very Short, Fairly Interesting and Reasonably Cheap Book about Qualitative Research. London: Sage Suddaby, R (2006) From the Editors: What Grounded Theory is Not. Academy of Management Journal Vol. 49(4) 633-642 Thorpe, R. Holt, R. (2008) The Sage Dictionary of Qualitative Management Research. London: Sage Varaa, E., Kleymann, B., Seristo, H. (2004) Strategies as discursive constructions: The case of the airline alliances. Journal of Management Studies Vol. 41(1) 1-35

The Career Of Ray Charles Music Essay

The Career Of Ray Charles Music Essay Ray Charles has been described by many of his contemporaries, Such as Frank Sinatra, who said, Ray Charles is the only genius in the business. I am going to discuss to what extent Ray Charles contributed to popular music. Ray grew up alongside both gospel and country music and was heavily influenced by these two genres. I am going to discuss how through his integration of gospel and rhythm and blues in releases such as I Got a Woman helped Ray create his own musical identity but ultimately helped to create a whole new musical style Soul. Finally I will discuss how his fusion of white country music through Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music helped to break barriers and introduced country music to a mainstream audience. Nat King Cole and pianist-singer Charles Brown, much to similar style of Cole had a great effect on Ray Charles. Ray closely imitated these artists as a teenager and during his time with Swing Time Records, headed by Jack Lauderdale. However, for Ray too be more successful he would have develop his own musical identity. During the 1950s Ray Charles would begin to blend RB and secularise gospel styles, which would ultimately lead to birth of Soul. He would begin to incorporate the chord changes, song structures, call and response techniques, and vocal screams of gospel. The influence gospel had on Ray is present from an early age. Ray grew alongside church music and would listen to Wings Over Jordan and the Golden Gate Quartet. During his time at school he would regularly sing in a choir and also organise his own informal singing group, which would sing rhythmic gospel music. In 1953 Whilst recording for singer Tommy Ridgeley at the JM Studio, New Orleans, Ray would play a couple of tunes after the session. He performed Feeling Sad funeral march and Guitar Slims and Rays I Wonder Who. His performance is characteristically blues, as ray weeps his way through the lyrics as horns drone sombre chords. However as Micheal Lydon states that after re-listening, Ray opens his voice in baby steps, exploring how to shade his vocal textures. This recording shows that Ray would need to push himself further with his emotional range. Around his birthday after Ray begins to widen his emotional range his friends in New Orleans would notice a change he began to sound like a gospel singer. Trumpeter Wallace Davenport recalls The first time I heard him I thought he was Charles Brown, then he started getting into that church thing. As Ray began to incorporate gospel into his music he would listen to gospel radio and read the Braille bible he carried. Renald Richard explained how Ray loves the blues singers like Joe Turner, but most of all he loved gospel singersà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦He used to talk about Archie Browne, the lead singer with the Five Blind Boys of Mississippi, how much he liked them. He would then begin to sound like them by turning and playing around with his notes, which would be much to the enjoyment of the audience. Later on in December 1953 whilst with Atlantic Records, Armet Ertegun and Jerry Wexler would listen to four arrangements Ray had made on radio station, WDSU. In this you can hear three distinct elements: Jazz, Deep Blues and fervid Gospel, coming together in an early stage, not a sound which is fully refined but one that sounds like Ray Charles. If there was a single turning point in the career of Ray Charles, it probably occurred on November the 18th 1954 at a radio station in Atlanta. It was here Ray and his recently formed band would record I Got a Woman. This was his first hit Ray had with a gospel influence. In October 1954, Ray was touring with his first band toward Indianna. Whilst searching the radio stations he would stop when he found a gospel station. Renald Richard remembered vividly a gospel tune that came on with a good groove and started singing. Ray sang something like I got a woman and I answered yeh she lives cross town then shes good to me. Renald then wrote the song for the next morning to the satisfaction of Ray. I Got a Woman is an archetypal 16 bar secularisation of My Jesus is all the World to me. Others have seen it as a straight rewrite of I Got a Saviour. The songs Ray had performed before like The Suns Gonna Shine had the hortatory tones of a preacher in the pulpit. I Got a Woman was a preacher a t a picnic. Light heartened gospel spiritual joy into sexual delight. It would lift the listener with each of its 4 bar chord change, confirming his optimistic lyrics. Just as the church would joyfully celebrate the glory of God. I got a woman was a record for every happy couple in America, black, white and in-between. The band first performed I Got a Woman for Ahmet and Jerry as they arrived at the Peacock club in Atlanta. Ahmet described how the power and precision had stunned Jerry. Jerry stated that something fantastic had happened, Ray had hatched, ready for fame. Through blending gospel with blues, Ray had the first time fused two strict idioms. In the African-American community the blues and gospel are both part of their culture. However a blues singer didnt sing gospel and a gospel singer didnt sing the blue. It was taboo. Many people believed that it was sacrilegious to mix blues with spirituals says Big Bill Broonzy and American blues singer. However, it quickly rose to the top of the charts in early 1955, the success of I got a woman being down to good attention from both white and black markets. Before, Ray had recorded songs like Mess Around by Ahmet Ertegà ¼n, which were big in the RB charts but not the white charts. A year after its first recording, Elvis Presley would confirm the impression it made by his own cover of I Got a Woman at RCA. In Jan 1955 Billboard quotes as I Got a Woman as one of the most infectious blues sides to come out since the summer. At the following recording session for Atlantic in Miami. Rays defining sound would be clearly and precisely heard. Ray recorded four charts, two straight blues and two gospel charts. The gospel songs This Little Girl of Mine and A Fool For You would reiterate Rays push of his gospel influence. This Little Girl of Mine is an up tempo shouter with a rhythmic Latin feel based on the gospel song This Little Light of Mine. A Fool For You is a 6/8 double time waltz with Rays sanctified singing but without the heavenly lyrics, accompanied by piano gospel licks and preaching horns. Although, like I Got a Woman these two gospel and RB charts was seen as sacrilegious, the mix Ray had created appealed to so many audiences across the nation, and introduced a new music that would have a lasting effect, which would be later labelled as Soul music. As the 1950s progressed vocal groups following Ray Charles, began to add a sense of urgency and meaning- Soul, to their style of music resulting in the groups of Motown and others, including groups like the Chicago based family band called the Staple Singers who had hit songs which were centred around Gospel and RB. Their success followed on into the 1970s. In the late 1950s into the 1960s girl groups joined male Doo-Wop and RR groups, which resulted in groups like The Shirelles, Marveletess and The Supremes. Their material was largely written by the Brill Building writers and received hit records but never usually lasted. As Ray Charles added the gospel influence to his music, such as the call and response backing vocal groups like the Raylettes so too did Aretha Franklin. She reinfused her female backing groups with a gospel influence, which are present in her mid 1960s Atlantic recordings. Other artists like James Brown, who started his career as a singer with the Gospel Starlighters, following the style of Reverends Julius Cheeks and Claude Jeter added RB to their style. The vocal urgency and syncopated dance rhythms of gospel along with top notch RB house bands came together most clearly in the music of James Brown. Combining a Little Richard- style act with other theatrics from Joe Tex and a pleading version of Ray Charles gospel/soul. He then recorded his hit Please, Please, Please. In 1959 Ray released Whatd I Say, a song that became a top ten pop hit and would be one of his last singles with Atlantic before his move to ABC. There are clear gospel influences combined with the sexual innuendo in the song made it not only widely popular but very controversial to both white and black audiences. In the middle of the song. Charles indicated that The Raelettes should repeat what he was doing, and the song transformed into a call and response between Charles, The Raelettes, and the horn section in the orchestra as they called out to each other in ecstatic shouts and moans and blasts from the horns. This improvised interchange between himself and the Raylettes and between the band and audience is much like that of a Preacher and his congregation. Ray also uses gospel dialouge with unuh-uhnnh over charles moans and cries. He also uses phrases like shake that thing and I feel alright, and expression for the body instead of the lord. During Rays early life the influence of country and western music is ever present. When Ray Charles was growing up, the south was full of Country or Hillbilly music. Ray explains how there wasnt a single Saturday night that he wouldnt listen to the Grand Ole Opry on the radio. I loved Grandpa Jones and other characters. I could hear what they were doing and appreciate the feeling behind it. Ray would listen to Jimmie Rodgers, Roy Acuff, Hank Snow, Hank Williams and later Eddie Arnold. I listened to them all the time, I certainly dug it and paid it some mind. In 1948 Ray joined a Hillbilly band called the Florida Playboys. It took just one audition to convince the Playboys that Ray could play country music with genuine flavour, and they hired him, no questions asked about race. For seven months he gigged with the band, playing current country hits of the day like Kentucky Waltz and Anytime in white honky-tonks in and around Tampa, learning to yodel and singing, Waiting All for You. Even as black, blind man, Ray was accepted and applauded just like anyone else by the audience. I could play the music right and I could do country music with as much feeling as any other southernerà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦. I had been hearing it since I was a baby. Long before the birth of his own country music, Charles looked back with pride on his stint with the Playboys.Lydon. In an outtake of a 1950s recording, Ray plays a limpid country lick. The producer chuckles over the studio intercom and says that he didnt know Ray could play Nashville. Ray then replies Man, Didnt you know I gigged with the Florida Playboys His time with the Florida Playboys, though brief would plant a seed in his mind that would rise during the 1960s. After leaving Atlantic Records in 1959, Ray joined ABC and at the end of 1961. He asked Sid Feller to get together 40 country hits from the last twenty years with the idea to record a country album. Sid Feller had not know at the time that Ray liked County and Samuel Clark and Larry Newton the executives at ABC Records were adamantly opposed to the idea that Charles brought to them. The ABC executives said, You cant do no country-western things.Youre gonna lose all your fans! However Feller believed that Ray understood Country music. He describes how Ray loved the simple plaintive lyrics, and he felt that giving the music a lush treatment would make it different Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music is a dozen tunes that runs the whole scope of Nashville from the traditional Careless Love to the rock and roll Bye Bye Love and from Hank Williams to the B-side fail of I Cant Stop Loving You. The tracks alternate from big band to string and voice. However regardless of all the jazz and symphonic effects present, the heart of every arrangement is a simple strummed guitar. Rays bluesy melismas wring every tear out of the country weepers, all the poetry out of their monosyllabic lyrics. I Cant Stop Loving You has a folk song strength, major scale melody, marching up and down over 3 chords and operatic grandeur created by his baritone voice and orchestra. He also uses his trademark letting the chorus lead the lyric with his voice following. Ray sings County in his own way, expanding the country sounds without distorting its colour. Rays own blend obscures the fact that Modern Sounds was his boldest album, which breaks many barriers. Invading white country music in the 1960s was something black pop-jazz singers didnt do. You had to be Country in 1962. After Modern Sounds it became a major player in Rays repertoire and on popular music. His unique blend of Country, Pop, Jazz and RB introduced country music to people of the city and showed to record companies and producers how to arrange their music to reach a much wider audience. Ray Charles played a pivotal role in shaping the course of a seemingly very different genre of popular music. In the words of his good friend and sometimes collaborator, Willie Nelson, speaking before Charles death in 2004, Ray Charles the RB legend did more for country music than any other living human being. The landmark album that earned Ray Charles that praise was Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music, which held at number 1 for 14 weeks and stayed in the charts for 2 years. His single release I Cant Stop Loving You ruled at number 1 on RB and Easy Listening charts for weeks in the summer of 1962 dipping to 3rd in July and beginning to fall in august. As Charles told Rolling Stone magazine a decad e later, But Charles recognized the quality of songs like I Cant Stop Loving You by Don Gibson and You Dont Know Me, by Eddy Arnold and Cindy Walker, and the fact that his version of both of those country songs landed in the Top 5 on both the pop and RB charts was vindication of Charless long-held belief that Theres only two kinds of music as far as Im concerned: good and bad. Following the massive commercial success and notice of Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music, country music experienced an immediate increase in popularity. According to music writer Daniel Cooper, the album raised the genres profile, specifically Nashville sound, of which Charles had covered. Benefiting from this were songwriters, music publishers and country singers who covered the subgenres material. As noted by Cooper, by the end of 1962, Nashville country publishers were being held as the hottest source of music material in the record business these days. Ray Charless success with the stylistic fusion of country and soul on Modern Sounds later lead to country soul efforts from performers, such as Candi Staton and Solomon Burke who were both greatly influenced by Charless Modern Sounds recordings. Many country music artists, such as Willie Nelson and Buck Owens, have cited Charless take on country music and Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music as their major influences. In an interview for Country Music Television, Nelson said of Modern Soundss influence that the album did more for country music than any one artist has ever done. Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music has also been perceived by many critics and writers as a landmark album in American music, as the record was the first to blend the two racially distinct genres of country and soul. Ray Charles all-embracing attitude toward music was one that he developed during his childhood and early career. Ray was immersed in the sounds of jazz, blues, gospel and country in his youth, playing in RB bands and a Country Hillbilly band. Ray Charles pioneered soul music, which had a great effect on popular music. In secularising certain aspects of gospel music with RB, Ray received his first gospel and RB hit I Got a Woman, which received attention from both black and white audiences. Subsequently, further releases like Whatd I Say and the Hallelujah I Lover Her So album attracted a large mainstream audience. His fusion of white country music earned Ray mainstream and crossover success, with his album Modern Sound in Country and Western Music which broke racial stereotypes and exposed country music to city dwellers. It also helped other country artists; particularly them orientated around the Nashville sound, reach a wider audience, raising the genres profile. To him, the bounda ries between those styles of music were made to be crossed, and he made a career out of doing just that having a great effect on popular music.

With Regret and Hope :: Love Letters Dating Email Relationships

Dear Anthony, It has taken me awhile to write this letter. Please read it with care and understand that much thought went into it. I miss the way we used to be. I wish with all my heart that there was some way we could go back to the days where your eyes beheld me as the most beautiful woman you had ever seen, when your heart felt more alive in my presence, when the thought of me kept you warm on a cold night. I still feel that way about you. I know that I am the one to blame for letting us die and for letting you down. I know that I messed up, the things that I did were wrong, and I wish that there were something that I could do to go back in time and undo them. I know what it's like to be hurt the way that I hurt you. It hurt me to see the pain that I caused you and not be able to do anything to make it better. Now here we are, together again, but it doesn't feel the same. I know you still care for me, and love me, but I wonder if you are ever going to forgive me. How do we get past the hurt? What can I do for you to forgive me, to let me into your heart again, to earn back your trust and once again feel the fullness of your love? I look back on all that I took for granted, and I wish that I had appreciated everything you offered me, and I know that if I had that back, I would work to keep it for forever. I wouldn't push it away like I did then. I would bask in every moment of your love. I want a chance to love you the right way, but I need you to let me in. The distance between us pulls at my heart. It is there even when I am in your arms. Yes, I have suffered for my sins, the greatest suffering I have ever known: feeling as if I have lost you and your love. I am asking that you forgive me. I remember a time when we kissed and touched each other for the sheer pleasure of it. How we loved to be next to each other and had to be next to each other. We couldn't wait until we could be together again.