Bob Knowlton Self Concept Essay Example for Free

Bob Knowlton Self Concept Essay Analysis As part of the analysis we examine Bob’s Self-Concept and the following characteristics with regards to complexity, consistency and clarity. Bob’s locus of control is also considered and the impact this had on his relationships at work with his colleagues. Fester’s individualism is also considered. Bob’s Self Concept Bob’s Low Self-Concept Complexity Bob has a low complexity as he perceives his most important identity to be work related – he defined his self-concept by his work. The positive side of Bob’s low complexity enabled him to become a relatively successful, skilled engineering, as he invested more in his skill development and focused his attention on his work. However, the low complexity caused Bob great stress when his main self-concept, defined by his work), was threatened by the arrival of Fester, a much more brilliant, driven engineer. Bob perceived Fester’s arrival as a threat by challenging all aspects of Bob’s self-concept, not only his technical expertise, but also Bob’s leadership of the team when Fester became the informal leader by default as Bob conceded defeat and essentially abandoned his role as group leader. Bob’s Low Self-Concept Consistency Bob’s has a low self-concept consistency. Bob’s leadership style was focused on teamwork and collaboration and he prided himself on motivating his team by including them in group problem solving and decision making. However, this self-concept was inconsistent with how Bob really perceived himself and the disconnect present between his position as team leader and his ability to lead. Bob acknowledged to himself that the team’s collaborative style brought him a sense of security in that he did not actually have to lead the team. Bob focuses on the team to the exclusion of his leadership role essentially using his team to mask his insecurities with respect to his ability to lead. Another example of Bob’s low inconsistent self-concept is his accepting Dr. Jerold’s praising of Fester, when he clearly did not agree. Bob’s Low Self-Concept Clarity Bob has low self-concept clarity; he does not have a clear, confidently defined, stable self-concept. This is apparent early in the case as evidenced by his belief that his â€Å"stumbling upon† a significant breakthrough led to what he considered his â€Å"miraculous† promotion to team leader of the Photon Unit rather than it being based on his skills and abilities. Bob lacks the confidence to deal with Fester, who he perceives as more brilliant and driven. As the case progresses and Fester brings group conflict and openly challenges Bob’s leadership, we see Bob become inconsistent with his behavior. Fester challenges Bob’s collaborative approach with the team and Bob’s lack of confidence meant that he in essence surrendering his leadership by agreeing to re-examine how the team works together and make it about individual updates. Bob’s Locus of Control and Self-Evaluation Given Bob’s behaviors and reaction to Fester, Bob has a low locus of control and is externally motivated. Bob didn’t feel in control of his environment and was unwilling or unable to take steps to control the environment. We have seen that Bob already believes he received the promotion because of external â€Å"miraculous† forces. Although initially, he does feel he has control as team leader, his underlying external focus of control becomes more apparent when Fester is introduced to the group. Fester’s group interactions and individuality presents a new situation for Bob. Bob internalizes the conflict with Fester and openly wonders if he is there to replace him, causing Bob a great deal of stress as he feels he does not have control over the situation. The situation quickly deteriorates as Bob visibility and relevance to the team are diminished and Fester’s increases. Bob’s Self-Concept Conclusion Bob’s low or negative Self-Concept (low complexity, consistency and clarity) greatly influenced Bob’s behaviour and ultimately his decision to resign. Bob’s low self-concept created a great deal of stress and he experienced immense amount of internal-intra personal conflict and tension. Bob’s low Self-Concept meant that Bob could not adapt to what he perceived as threats outside his control. His perceived inadequacies meant that he was not able to face the issues and overwhelming internal conflict he was experiencing. He consistently avoided confronting any of the issues and thus the only action he could take to release himself of this conflict was to resign. Fester’s Individuality and Group Norms Fester is introduced to the group unexpectedly and although initially helps the team solve a problem previously thought to be unsolvable; he goes against established group norms and almost immediately creates conflict. Fester is clearly â€Å"more brilliant† than any of the team members and his individual approach is in direct contrast to the team –based, collaborative approach establish by Bob. He challenges the group norms directly, suggesting the team meetings are a waste of time and is openly dismissive of others. Fester is very confident in his abilities but lacked the social skills to integrate successfully into the group. Although Fester individuality isolated him from the rest of the group, he dominated the leadership of the group to the point of essentially forcing Bob to change the structure of team meetings, from teamwork based to individual updates. This reinforced Fester’s individual approach. Fester’s individuality influenced the group, and particularly his negative influence on Bob grew and went unchallenged, and the conflict it brought ultimately had a negative impact on the Photon team and Simmons. Recommendations 1. Jerrold should meet with Bob and find out the true reasons for Bob’s resignation. Jerrold should ask Bob to return to Simmons by telling him of the plan to increase Bob’s team and offer Bob a substantial raise to return to Simmons. 2. Jerrold should consider undergoing leadership and communication skills training to help him develop the prerequisite skills to manage his teams effectively. 3. Jerrold should become more involved with the teams under his leadership, through developing a clear and compelling direction for the team and ensure his articulates that directly to this team. 4. Jerrold should strive to increase communication and participate in regular team meetings and incorporate individual meetings to ensure his is aware of and understands any issues or concerns. 5. In the future, the team leader (Bob’s replacement) is included in the recruitment and selection of new team members. 6. Dr. Jerold should meet with the Photon team members individually to gain an understanding of how the situation affected the team and get their feedback on what their needs. Team building and intergroup communication skills should then be introduced to ensure team members have the tools to work effectively together.

What Makes Shakespeares Hamlet Popular?

What Makes Shakespeares Hamlet Popular? The Enduring Popularity of Shakespeares Hamlet Why is Hamlet so popular? Shakespeare wrote countless masterpieces, many of which are debatably more exciting (The Tempest), momentous (Macbeth), intriguing (Othello), romantic (Romeo and Juliet) and profound (King Lear). But not only has Hamlet been produced more by the Royal Shakespeare company than any other work, it is a favourite of troupes (and audiences) around the world. From the play’s inception in 1602, up until the National Theatre’s acclaimed production in 2000 (and beyond), Hamlet has captured the imagination. A close examination of the play, along with a careful focus on its themes, will shed some light on Hamlet’s 400 year old enthrall, with a special emphasis on its relevance to a modern British audience. Hamlet is a tale of revenge, murder and existential and spiritual angst. The title character is a young prince whose father, the King of Denmark, has unexpectedly passed away. His brother, Claudius, has inherited the throne and taken the former king’s wife as his own. Hamlet is visited by his father’s ghost, who informs him that he was murdered by Claudius, and that his death needs to be avenged. Instead of instantly doing so, Hamlet attempts to first confirm his uncle’s guilt by feigning madness, and later by staging a play of the murder, to which Claudius’ reaction essentially confirms his guilt. But even with the evidence in hand, Hamlet is still unable to enact his revenge. After accidentally killing the king’s councilor Polonius, he is deported to England, and upon his return enters into a duel with Polonius’ son, Laertes. However, the fight is a setup; Laertes’s blade is poisoned, as is the wine in a goblet from which Hamlet is t o drink. While Hamlet wins the duel and ends up killing Claudius, he too succumbs to the poison and dies. In the play, Hamlet is by far the major presence: his problem is central to the plot, and his public and private exultations and speculations dominate the action (Hoy, 1991). Furthermore, the role of Hamlet is far larger than any other in all of Shakespeare’s works. While the play is filled with ambiguities, the biggest of all have to do with Hamlet’s motivations and actions (Levin, 1959). There is always more to him than the other characters in the play can figure out. Part of this has to do with the way Shakespeare crafted him – his intense pensiveness, his uncertainness, the vagaries of his actions – but part of it is Hamlet himself, who actually tells other characters that there is more to him than meets the eye, notably his mother and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. In addition, when he speaks, he sounds as if there’s something important he’s not saying, maybe something even he is not aware of (Hoy, 1991). What separates Hamlet from other revenge plays is that the action we expect to see is continually postponed (Wilson, 1951). Instead of being based on activity, the play is all about character, and really only the character of Hamlet. Many people regard Hamlet as a play about indecisiveness, but more than this, it can be seen as an examination of action itself; that is, the conditions necessary for such, and the appropriate amount required, depending on the circumstances. The question of how to act is affected not only by Hamlet’s need for certainty, but by emotional and psychological factors (Halliday, 1964). Hamlet himself appears to distrust the idea that it’s even possible to act in a controlled, rational way. For when he does act, he does so swiftly and recklessly. This extreme shift from paralysis to impulsiveness further adds to his enigmatic nature. Without action to sustain the play, the plot instead revolves around Hamlet contemplating various questions, among them: Is the ghost what it appears to be, or is it really trying to deceive him? How can the facts about a crime be known without there being any witnesses? Can Hamlet know the intricacies of Claudius’s soul by studying his behaviour? Can we ever really know whether our actions will have the consequences we want them to have? Can we know what happens in the afterlife? (Levin, 1959). This last question is one of the most powerful throughout the play. There are times when Hamlet seems to feel that death itself may bring the answers to his deepest concerns (Wilson, 1951). The question of his own death plagues him, and he more than once contemplates whether or not suicide is a legitimate choice in an unbearably painful world. Hamlet’s grief is such that he frequently longs for death to end his suffering, but worries that if he commits suicide, he will be suffer eternally in hell. In his famous â€Å"To be or not to be† soliloquy, Hamlet concludes that no one would choose to endure the pain of life if they were not afraid of what will come after death, and that it is this fear which causes morality to interfere with action (Levin, 1959). In sum, Hamlet, is ambiguous, vague and mysterious, uncertain, indecisive and pensive, self-loathing and self-reflexive, simultaneously afraid to live and afraid to die. Is it any wonder then that people can relate to him? People enjoy Hamlet because he evokes their sympathy. His character is flesh and blood. He doesn’t just act; he thinks, he questions, he feels. Hamlet is extremely philosophical and contemplative, and takes the time to analyze difficult questions that cannot be answered with any certainty. His melancholy is in many ways endearing. Though his actual age is debatable, in essence he is the quintessential teenager, afraid to grow up and take on burdens and responsibility he knows he must and yet is not ready for. His urgency is contagious. Beyond this, there are the questions he deals with, primarily those of death and the afterlife, that haunt us all. It is extremely rare to not only hear such questions so well articulated, but to hear them articulated at all. These conversations are largely relegated to our own heads. They are intimate and personal, and are seldom expressed. To see them on stage is to bear witness to our own souls. But this only explains why the character of Hamlet is so popular. Though he dominates the course of the action (or lack thereof), there is another reason why the play itself has been so successful and so resonant, which has to do with the famous line: â€Å"Something is rotten in the state of Denmark† (Hamlet, I, iv, 90). Everything is related in Hamlet, including the health of the ruling royal family and that of the nation as a whole (Hoy, 1991). Throughout the play, there are explicit connections drawn between the two. Denmark is often described as a physical body made ill by the moral corruption of Claudius. While the dead King Hamlet is portrayed as a strong, noble ruler under whose guard the state was in good health, Claudius, is regarded as wicked, corrupt and out to satisfy only his own appetites (Wilson, 1951). Throughout history, similar correlations have been made, from Stalin and Hitler to Blair and Bush. While the latter pair are perhaps far less sinister, their po litical decisions have similarly shaped the perceptions of the citizens of the nations they lead, as well as the perceptions of those on the outside. Our leaders are responsible for the overall â€Å"health† of the state, and the war in Iraq and other actions are doing little at the moment to paint a picture of good health. Close observers of Hamlet, no matter of what time period, sense this parallel instantly. Modern society, specifically the UK, is still in Hamlet’s thrall. In today’s world, with so many problems and too few solutions, it is easy to feel powerless and paralyzed. There are choices to be made, and actions to take, but 1) which ones should be carried out and 2) will they even do any good? The modern person is at a crossroads, and in some ways Hamlet personifies this better than anyone else. Throw in the play’s description of the state as being deceased, and the work comes across almost as the poster child for modern malaise. This is evidenced in the 2000 production by the National Theatre, which is only one of many recent and successful incarnations of the play. The title role was played by Russell Beale, who prepared for the part by looking into himself in an attempt to bring out the â€Å"everyman quality† of Hamlet, along with his intense self-reflection and (albeit feigned) madness. To do justice to Shakespeare’s words, in this case gra vitating between wit, wryness and self-reflection, Beale decided not to force emotion, but to instead â€Å"get there slowly, to get the emotional arc right, and not find too many moments of crisis† (Beale, 2000). The actor, in perhaps a bit of method, decided to try and capture Hamlet’s grief by using his own, in this case the fact that his mother died a few weeks before the performance. He also used his frustration over â€Å"not being able to feel enough† to further cement and perfect his interpretation (Beale, 2000). By all accounts he didn’t disappoint. The Independent declared Beale’s Hamlet â€Å"not at all ‘Hamlet-like,’ and his performance â€Å"moving and crystal clear,† characterized by â€Å"an aching regret for the world that might have been rather than a seething contempt for the world that exists† (Taylor, 2000). When Hamlet returned from England, the reviewer found him emanating a â€Å"shyly gracious acceptance of the mystery of life and fate,† and in dying â€Å"moved towards the audience as if painfully and belatedly conscious of their presence, imparting an even more shattering sense of the waste of a noble life† (Taylor, 2000). The Evening Standard wrote that the performances illuminated the text in ways that made it fresh and accessible, and Beale’s performance of â€Å"clarity, humanity and humility held the audience spellbound†¦they could only suffer with his confusion, grief self-loathing and doubt† (de Jongh, 2000). The Guardian complimented Beale for being â€Å"everything one could hope for: witty, ironic, intelligent, ‘a Henry James who is also a swordsman’ to borrow Harold Bloom’s phrase,† and: â€Å"bookish, inward, reflective and intensely capable of self-scrutiny† (Billington, 2000). Furthermore, the paper admired his â€Å"capacity for surprise, moral sensitivity and parodic wit† and his ability to convey â€Å"the paralysis of the intellectual caught up in a world of realpolitik,† resulting in a â€Å"first-rate, deeply intellectual Hamlet whose weapons are primarily verbal and who understands that revenge cannot offer meaningful redress† (Billington, 2000). In the National Theatre’s production, along with countless others over four centuries, a central theme is constantly repeated: Hamlet’s self-loathing, specifically in regards to his lack of feeling, which, as much as his lack of action, makes him guilty. This aspect of his character is perhaps more relevant today than ever. The theme of powerlessness, along with the tangible frustration and guilt that comes with it, can easily find a home in the mind of a modern audience member. In addition, Hamlet’s intensely relatable â€Å"human all too human† qualities, his probing thoughts on the afterlife and the theme of the â€Å"nation as diseased body† are so universal and timeless that they shed much light on the play’s appeal. Perhaps there will come by a day when Hamlet fails to strike a chord with audiences. But for now, Shakespeare’s masterful creation and revolutionary character study is safely ingrained in our consciousness. Bibliography Beale, Russell. The Readiness is All. National Theatre, 2000. http://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/?lid=2485 Billington, Michael. The Guardian, September 6, 2000. Crystal, David, and Crystal, Ben. The Shakespeare Miscellany. Penguin: New York, 2005. de Jongh, Nicholas. The Evening Standard, September 6, 2000. Halliday, F. E. A Shakespeare Companion 1564-1964. New York: Penguin, 1964. Hoy, Cyrus. Hamlet: An Authoritative Text, Intellectual Backgrounds, Extracts from the Sources, Essays in Criticism. New York: W. W. Norton and Company, 1991. Levin, Harry. The Question of Hamlet. New York: Oxford University Press, 1959. Shakespeare, William. Hamlet. Braunmuller, A.R., Orgel, Stephen (Eds.). New York: Penguin Classics, 2001. Taylor, Paul. The Independent, September 6, 2000. Wilson, John. What Happens in Hamlet. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1951.

Solomon Barney Project :: essays research papers

SOLOMON BARNEY PROJECT Political Website and Online Book Store Project Charter PROJECT MANAGEMENT FRAMEWORK Solomon Barney Project Document Revision History V 1.1 11/15/04 2nd Draft produced containing updated "project definition" work from 11/08/04 worksession 1.2 11/22/04 Contribution and work flow planning finalized. Roles and Responsibilities finalized. 1.3 11/29/04 Initial project steps defined and waypoints defined with customer. 1.4 12/02/04 Revised final draft containing work from 11/29/04 work session and accepted previous changes 1.5 12/05/04 Final Draft accepted. Table of Contents PREFACE 1 PROJECT STATEMENT 2 PROJECT PLAN PURPOSE 2 PROJECT OBJECTIVES 3 GENERAL OVERVIEW OF PROJECT 3 CURRENT ENVIRONMENT 3 PREVIOUS ACTIVITIES 4 WORK BREAKDOWN STRUCTURE 5 TIMELINE 8 RESOURCE ALLOCATION 9 BUDGET 10 COMMUNICATION PLAN 11 PROJECT RISK/CONTINGENCY PLAN 12 Preface Document Version Control: Questions regarding updates and currency of the subject document should be directed to the owner of this document, or the project manager. This plan was generated by the WSC Project Team. WSC will be implemented and deployed for the Office of Solomon Barney Associates. Project Stage: WSC will be based on the commercial-off-the-shelf application titled vBulletin. The project is currently in the Development stage of the life cycle. Approval: A completed stage exit will constitute approval of this plan. Document Owner: The primary contact for questions regarding this document is: Dale Gribble, Project Manager/Planner WSC Project Team Phone: (555) 555-5555 Internet: bsm@Dalecom.com Document Change History: (Nature and date of each change are recorded here) November 15, 2004 – Document Creation. Privacy Information This document may contain information of a sensitive nature. In particular, staff names and phone numbers, and E-mail addresses. This document should not be distributed outside of the Project Team. 1. Project Statement Create a user friendly, customer oriented website for political debate and a digital store front for the sale of political merchandise. 2. Project Plan Purpose This document provides an orientation on how the Web Site Creation (WSC) project will be managed. It also defines the deliverables, schedules, risks, dependencies, assumptions, estimates, and change management philosophy. This plan will: †¢ Provide a general product description and overview. †¢ Provide a project plan purpose and objectives †¢ Identify a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS). †¢ Identify a timeline through schedules and activities to be performed. †¢ Identify required resources through a resource allocation plan. †¢ Identify a risk analysis and contingency plan. †¢ Give a detailed budget. †¢ Establish a communication plan. †¢ Provide a basis for management tracking and control. This plan is an active document and may be formally revised at the end of each of the following stages of implementation: †¢ Research and Testing †¢ Planning †¢ System Integration †¢ Pilot Installation and Testing †¢ Pilot Deployment and Acceptance †¢ Pilot Post-Implementation Assessment †¢ Host wide Implementation 3. Project Objectives †¢ Refine requirements from customer. †¢ Develop an overall plan for project waypoints. †¢ Assign subtasks to the waypoints. †¢ Develop a timeline for completion of each task. †¢ Allow for rework at each waypoint. †¢ Create a preliminary budget for the product, and get customer approval. †¢ Refine the budget. 4.

The Failure of Crace’s Quarantine :: Quarantine Essays

The Failure of Crace’s Quarantine Quarantine is the latest installment in a sub-genre of literature where the central conceit is to tell a story from the point of view of the minor characters in a famous tale, with the more renowned stars of the originals taking in subordinate roles. Quarantine he tells the story of Christ's forty days in the wilderness, but with Jesus shunted to the periphery, in favor of several other pilgrims. In particular, the novel focuses on a trader, Musa--dishonest, loutish, and brutal--whom Jesus almost incidentally brings back to life from an apparently fatal illness. In turn it is only Musa, despicable as he is, who realizes that there is something extraordinary about this young man from Galillee. The novel is only partially successful, in large measure because this structural technique falls flat. While Crace succeeds brilliantly in evoking the harsh atmosphere in which the quarantine takes place, the narrative comes to a screeching halt whenever Jesus is absent. Musa is simply too unpleasant a character for us to care what happens to him and none of the others really grab our attention. Nor can their stories hope to compete with the action we know to be taking place away from center stage. Crace's demystification of Jesus is not very effective either. On the one hand he portrays Jesus as merely an overly pious youth, estranged from his family because of his bizarre behavior, and says of those who undertake this desert ordeal : This was the season of the lunatics: the first new moon of spring was summoning those men--for lunatics are mostly men. They have the time and opportunity--to exorcize that part of them which sent them mad. Mad with grief, that is. Or shame. Or love. Or illness and visions. Mad enough to think that everything they did, no matter how vain or trivial, was of interest to their god. Mad enough to think that forty days of discomfort could put their world in order. The fact that Musa turns out to be such an unsuitable candidate for resurrection, defrauding his fellow travelers and finally even raping one young woman, is probably intended to be an ironic comment on the nature of "miracles." And the torments sent by Satan to test Jesus are revealed to be nothing but petty annoyances foisted upon him by Musa.

Essay --

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly An Analysis on the lives of the Upper, Middle, and Lower classes during the Industrial Revolution I have fully upheld Delbarton’s Honor Code in letter and spirit. Signature: Anthony Farinacci Anthony Farinacci Feb. 12, 2014 European History Mr. Gentine Delbarton School Before the Industrial Revolution, Great Britain made minuscule changes to society and the economy was slow. Once 1750 began, Britain was on the verge of having an Industrial Revolution. The Industrial Revolution shifted Britain from an agricultural society to an industrial society. Many other countries tried to follow Britain and have their own Industrial Revolution, but some were not as successful. Even though the peasants had a rough life during the Industrial Revolution, it did benefit the middle and upper classes. The Industrial Revolution had an everlasting effect on European society because some of the advancements that were made are still used today. During the Indu... ...onized the manufacturing of cotton and opened up new industries. Arthur Young who lived during the Industrial Revolution had a very powerful quote about Watt. He said, â€Å" In what path of life can a man be found that will not animate his pursuit from seeing the steam-engine of Watt?" James Watt changed the course of the Industrial Revolution with his invention of the Steam Engine. The upper class gained much revenue from the Industrial Revolution. The Industrial Revolution in Great Britain truly effected Europe in different ways. The peasants worked long hours and lived in poor conditions. The middle class lived modest lives and sometimes were promoted to the upper class. The upper class greatly benefited with the new advancements in technology. The Industrial Revolution helped make Europe a more advanced place, even though it did have some flaws.

Internship with Credit Analysis

Met people from different departments, asked on the Job they perform. I and another trainee passing internship in ORBS had an Introductory meeting, where our supervisors explained Bank structure, its goals and objectives. . During the whole period of internship in Retail Unit, I have learned a lot about the RAM, about Bank products, on how to find potential customers, how to keep them loyal to the Bank, what procedures and legal documentation to set the deal. I was introduced to Asset Sales and RAM work. Worked under the supervision of Senior Relationship Manager, observed the working processes of other units: Customer Service Unit (CSS), Sales Department and Retail Transfer Operations.Assisted on indoor meeting, as well as on meetings with clients, worked on client base, learned how managers evaluate credit risk RAM – is a relationship Manager, who's main responsibilities are client search and client support. Now I have realized that in any organization, as well as in the ban k, customer relationship is very important, as I would like to say, RAM is the first step of all major banking operations. 3. Remained time I conducted in Corporate Department. Assisted on evaluation of the credit risk analysis of the company, under the supervision of employees. Learned how to make a credit risk analysis: consolidated balance sheet analysis with all ratios required, market analysis.Benefits to the Student: great opportunity to learn and practice in the sphere of finance and banking business ; learn how to use financial modeling in practice ; life experience of working with real financial documents ; work in the real business environment, under the time pressure The colleagues showed high cooperation in sharing their experience and deep knowledge in the operations of ORBS. The skills and theoretical knowledge acquired on the finance courses in SKIMP was of great value, and I found them very effective in performing my duties and responsibilities. The main difficulty f aced during the internship process was the Iterance AT languages AT study (Engel's) Ana ten language AT ten company's documents and operations (Russian).However, this was not a big obstacle because my colleagues helped me to understand and learn the translations and meanings of Russian financial and accounting terms. This internship gave me such benefits as real life banking experience, new skills. I have seen the operations of the bank from different points, I've been in different departments during the internship, get accustomed to the variety of Jobs in the Bank, learned the structure, the culture, the goals and objectives. I learned how to evaluate credit risk of both private and corporate customers. Recommendations and suggestions: I would recommend students to take an internship instead research projects or substitute courses, in order to have a working experience before the graduation that will help them more easily get into gear.

Macy’s Inc

There is not an iota of doubt that Macy’s Inc. is still the leading retail store in the United States.   Nevertheless, this business and marketing achievement of the firm is on for a tough competition given the evolving realities in the retail industry. Basing alone from the financial report of the company as of February 2008, the big store’s net income was down by 10.2% or $893 million compared with the previous fiscal year (Mammarella, 2008). The company has to shape up to parry the business strategies thrown before its doors by rivals in the business. One of the business strategies that the firm has an option to embrace is the lucrative and attractive opportunity given by expanding internationally. Since this business maneuver has been applied by the company several years ago, it can exploit this well-proven strategic move by furthering its presence in the international retail arena. Given that Macy’s Inc. has already set up stores in different countries, adding additional stores in several well-placed territory around the globe can boost its sales and opportunity to increase its financial portfolio. The countries where Macy’s Inc. can apply this strategy are the countries of China and Russia. These two countries basically hold a huge number of population which promises bigger consumer market for the big store. In China alone, there are already several cities that are economically growing at an exponential rate. The company can grab this opportunity by setting up stores in these cities considering that in the dynamics of a healthy economic state the purchasing power and surplus cash of the population is certainly high. As a second alternative for the company, it can pursue a joint venture with rival competitor in the market to consolidate its strength in the industry, both at its home base in United States and internationally. The advantage of negotiating for a partnership with another player in the retail market is the promise of higher percentage of cornering the large portion of the sales in the market. In regards to the company’s dominance at its home base, United States, one business strategies that is being employed right now, through the leadership of the firm’s Chief Marketing Officer Peter Sachse, is to give more focus and attention on the local market (Zmuda, 2008). Since the company is already a Goliath in the industry, it has somehow alienated most of its consumer based. As a reaction to this observation, Macy’s Inc. makes the strategic business move of re-connecting with the local consumers. This deft business maneuver from the perspective of marketing strategy, will guide the company in making a program that ensures advertising campaigns closely reflect the local tastes and needs. A good example of this initiative to focus on local consumers is the marketing and selling of coats. Macy’s can create a sale more of this kind of product in Minneapolis than, say, in Miami. If the high school prom is approaching, the company in turn can run an ad tailored according to this situation. If the local cheerleading squad for example wins the championship, the firm can place ads on TV, newspapers, magazines, and Internet congratulating them (Znuda, 2008). In the end, the big store can reinforced its brand name in the local community. Another alternative for the company is to slow down on its program of building new stores (Ryan, 2008). This business move will enable the company to speed-up â€Å"same-store sales growth.† At the same time, this will reduce the operational expenses of the company since the strategy will free up 2,550 positions. Moreover, this strategy will give a savings of several million dollars from unnecessary expenses. The alternatives business strategies therefore that are open for Macy’s Inc. are to exploit the opportunity of expanding globally, merging with a rival competitor, a more focus on the local market to reinforce its brand name at its home base and the strategy to slow down on setting up stores in order to free it from unnecessary expenses and at the same time give existing stores the opportunity to boost their sales. Bibliography Mammarella, J. (2008). Macy's to Slow Store Growth, Boost Interaction. Home Textiles Today.   Vol. 29 (8), p20-20 Ryan, F. (2008). Macy's P.R. not affected by cutbacks. Caribbean Business. Vol. 36 (6), 10-10, Zmuda, N. (2008). Now a Goliath, Macy's seeks localized focus. Advertising Age. Vol. 79 (12), 3-29