Essay on Heroes of Celtic and Germanic Mythology - 3702 Words

Heroes of Celtic and Germanic Mythology Throughout the myths of the Celtic and Germanic peoples of northern Europe tales of epic heroes and their extraordinary deeds abound. These tales depict heroes performing a variety of incredible feats; many of which appear to be magical, superhuman, and, quite honestly, utterly impossible (e.g., wading across oceans, defeating armies virtually single-handedly, and other astounding exploits). Since the Celtic and Germanic tribes of antiquity inhabited neighboring lands and lived in close proximity to one another (as many of their modern descendants continue to do: i.e., in Great Britain), it is not surprising that they often established intimate relationships with each other via commerce,†¦show more content†¦Nonetheless, Beowulf displayed many characteristics, which are not unlike those exhibited by other legendary champions. Although Beowulf’s birth does not appear to have been divine or shrouded in mystery or magic, his lineage was noble since his mother was the daughter of the high Geatish king Hrethel. Furthermore, in his analysis of the Beowulf Legend Howell D. Chickering, Jr. suggests that Beowulf was a vessel, through which divine power operated. He claims that the appearance of the shining light as Beowulf decapitated Grendel’s mother was a manifestation of white magic and symbolized good triumphing over evil: The sword itself is destroyed in the process, its blade melting away in battle-icicles from the poisonous blood of the monster. Only the golden hilt remains, engraved with the legend of how God destroyed the race of giants in the Flood. This sequence suggests that Beowulf wins his underwater victory as an agent of Providence and in a manner that somehow resembles the cleansing of the earth by the Flood (274). Thus, in spite of his mortal birth and upbringing, albeit a noble and heroic upbringing, Beowulf may have eventually became an instrument of divinity. Beowulf unquestionably displayed the enhanced endurance that was so often a trait of the epic heroes of Celtic and Germanic lore. This endurance was evidenced byShow MoreRelatedSignificance And Significance Of Mythology1743 Words   |  7 PagesIn order to understand the importance and meaning of magic in mythology, it is helpful to try to understand why human cultures create myths. Mythology can refer to the collected myths of a group of people—their body of stories which they tell to explain nature, history, and customs—or to the study of such myths. As a collection of such stories, mythology is a vital feature of every culture. Various origins for myths have been proposed, ranging from personification of nature, personification of naturalRead MoreAnalysis Of The Book The Batman 1127 Words   |  5 PagesArthur Cotterell, author of The Illustrated A-Z Classic Mythology: The Legends of Ancient Greece, Rome, and the Norse and Celtic Worlds, described Loki by saying, â€Å"He was a mischief-maker, trickster, and shape-changer, and grew progressively more evil until the coming of Ragnarok, the end of the world.† Loki is only one of the many Norse gods and goddess, but he is the only one described as a trickster or evil god. In many cultures the mythologies often depict how actual people acted. Throughout history

Price and State Farm free essay sample

Defenders of Communist economic system may point out that consumers pay lower prices for certain good because the government imposes a limit on what producers may charge. Cite at least two other ways that consumers may be â€Å"paying† for these goods. * RENT CONTROL IN NEW YORK CITY: Rent control is a price ceiling on rent. When soldiers returned from World War II and started families (which increased demand for apartments), but stopped receiving military pay, many could not deal with the jumping rent. The government put in price controls, so soldiers and their families could pay the rent and keep their homes. However, this increased the quantity demanded for apartments and lowered the quantity supplied, meaning that available apartments were rapidly taken until none were left for late-comers. Price ceilings create shortages when producers are allowed to abdicate market share or go unsubsidized. * STATE FARM INSURANCE: A February  4, 2009 Wall Street Journal article stated, Last month State Farm pulled the plug on its 1. We will write a custom essay sample on Price and State Farm or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page 2  million homeowner policies in Florida, citing the states punishing price controls State Farms local subsidiary recently requested an increase of 47%, but state regulators refused. State Farm says that since 2000 it has paid $1. 21 in claims and expenses for every $1 of premium income received. 3. 1 Production opportunity cost: After reviewing the statement, company managers are concerned about the loss on version Z and are considering ceasing production of that version. Should they do so? Why or why not? In my opinion they should continue the production of Version Z, the corporate overhead is a fix cost fallacy, it means that even if they do not produce anymore Version Z cans, their overhead is not going to be lower than 180,000. On the other hand if they stop the production of version Z cans, they will be losing the opportunity to bring 22. 500 to their profit, they will break even (0. 00) just with the production of Version X and Y. 3. 5 Evaluating Performance in a Small Business: Calculate accounting profit. What are the opportunity costs for the manager of being in this business relative to returning to his old job? What is the economic profit of the business? 1. Accounting profit equals total revenue minus all explicit costs Total Sales $1,000,000. Labor Cost 900,000. Salary 40,000. Acc. Profit $60,000. 2. Economic profit equals Accounting profits minus implicit costs Acc. Profit 60. 000. Forgone wages 70. 000. Forgone earning 6. 000. Econo. Profit $-16. 000 3. Opportunity cost: By opening his own home building company, this manager is giving away $16. 000 annually. He had a salary of $70. 000 and he was receiving $6. 000 of interest from his investment account. With his business he only has and accounting profit of $60. 000.

The Tenets of Behaviorism an Example by

The Tenets of Behaviorism Behaviorism is an approach which is often attributed to John Watson (Green, 2001). The said school dominated much of Northern American psychology during the 1920s until the 1960s (Green, 2001). Need essay sample on "The Tenets of Behaviorism" topic? We will write a custom essay sample specifically for you Proceed Behaviorism can be viewed as a reaction to the prevailing views in psychology in 1913. During that time, psychology was regarded as the study of the mind. The method of introspection by a trained observer under controlled conditions was employed in order to study consciousness - then defined as the core phenomena of mind (Wozniak, 1997). Almost 25 years later, psychology shifted its focus: from being confined to the study of mental phenomena, it moved towards the study of behavior. Methods of analysis typically involved objective observations of behavioral data which varied as a result of experimental manipulation of stimulus conditions. Indeed, learning and memory were considered as the core phenomena of behavior (Woodworth, 1938 as cited from Wozniak, 1997). Although it has been instructive to view behaviorism as a singular school, nothing could be farther from the truth. In fact, behaviorism consists of different approaches. For instance, Ivan Pavlov paved the way for the development of classical conditioning while B. F. Skinner, introduced operant conditioning. These approaches provide different explanations behind the processes which account for learning (Ormrod, 2004). Despite the different approaches within the paradigm; different behaviorists agree on the following tenets behind it. First, the principles behind learning should equally operate on different animal species and on different behaviors. Using the assumption that all humans and animals learn alike; behaviorist apply to human learning the principles which they have derived from their study of nonhuman species. Second, the learning process can be studied most effectively when one focuses on the stimuli and responses involved (Ormrod, 2004). Third, mental phenomena are excluded from psychological study because they could not be objectively measured (Mayer, 2007). Fourth, learning must involve a behavior change. Indeed, some behaviorists believe that learning could only be inferred if it involved a behavior change. Fifth, behaviorists believe that organisms are born as blank slates. Different environmental experiences account for the individual differences in organisms. Sixth, learning is l argely a function of environmental factors. Most learning is therefore assumed to occur beyond the individuals control. Lastly, behaviorists emphasize the value of parsimonious theories. Parsimonious theories account for simple as well as complex behaviors using the fewest learning principles (Ormrod, 2004). The said tenets thus provide the best contrasts between the behaviorist and functionalist schools of psychology. While behaviorism focuses on overt behaviors and emphasizes the use of objective methods in measuring learning and memory; functionalism focuses on mental processes and their relation to behavior. Introspection was the primary method used in order to study mental processes and the focus was shifted in examining how the systems within the mind interacted while it was functioning (Gordon, 1995). In essence, the behaviorist and functionalist paradigms provide two ways to understand psychology. While the behaviorists are right to point out that psychology should focus on behavior and should use scientific methods in its study; it should take into consideration that mental processes within the individual are also significant avenues of study as well. For instance, the functionalist paradigm is still prevalent in mainstream psychology in that modern psychology acknowledges the importance of looking at the process rather than the structure (Gordon, 1995). In fact, no argument is better to point out that both paradigms are valid approaches to the field other than the definition of psychology itself. After all, psychology is now defined as the scientific study of mental processes and behavior (Zimmer, 1999). References Gordon, Oakley. (1995). William James and Functionalism. A Brief History of Psychology. Green, Christopher (2001).Introduction to: Psychology as the Behaviorist Views it. John B. Watson (1913). Classics in the History of Psychology. Retrieved December 8, 2007, http://psychclassics.yorku.ca/Watson/intro.htm Mayer, Ronald. (2007). Unit 7 Behaviorism. Psychology 601: Theoretical Backgrounds in Psychology Homepage. Retrieved December 8, 2007, http://online.sfsu.edu/~psych601/unit7/671.htm Ormrod, Jeanne. (2004). Human Learning, 4th Edition. New Jersey: Pearson Education,Inc. Wozniak, Robert. (1997). Commentary on Psychology as the Behaviorist View It John B. Watson (1913). Originally published as "Behaviorism," In Bringmann, W.G., Luck, H.E., Miller, R., Zimmer, Gene. (1999). The Definition of Psychology. Foundation for Truth in Reality.

Free Essays on I Witnessed

I witnessed a miracle About six years ago my parents and I realized how hard it is to nearly lose an immediate family member, someone we truly love. November 29, 1998 was a cold and rainy day in the small town of Splendora, Texas, my hometown. I was at my friend Amanda’s house that day watching movies when I first heard some terrible news. The telephone rang and it was for me. I thought to myself, â€Å"who could be calling me.† I knew that my mom was grocery shopping and my dad was at work, so I did not think it would be either of them. When I answered the phone I realized it was my mother, she sounded horrified, I knew something bad had happened. That was the moment I found out my older brother, Wade, had a deadly disease called bacterial meningitis. Earlier that morning my brother went to his friend Shaun’s house to go play video games. Later that afternoon my mom was grocery shopping when Wade called her and said he was not feeling well. So, my mom rushing through the store quickly finished her grocery shopping and immediately drove to Shaun’s house to go get my brother. When she arrived Wade slowly walked outside on the old wooden porch. At that moment mom realized how bad the situation really was. He looked as if were a walking zombie; he was so weak and stiff. He had large dark circles around his eyes that made him look very tired and restless. With all his might, he slid his feet one by one across the old porch trying to get to the car. My mom looking as terrified as any other mother would, she got out of the car to help him make it down the stairs safely. Wade struggling to walk down the stairs looked at my mom with his dark brown eyes and said in a soft sickly voice, â€Å"take me to the hospitalâ₠¬ . Raging through all the traffic, they rushed to the emergency room at Kingwood hospital. As soon as he arrived the nurses took his temperature, it was 106.2 degrees. They immediately took him in the back on a str... Free Essays on I Witnessed Free Essays on I Witnessed I witnessed a miracle About six years ago my parents and I realized how hard it is to nearly lose an immediate family member, someone we truly love. November 29, 1998 was a cold and rainy day in the small town of Splendora, Texas, my hometown. I was at my friend Amanda’s house that day watching movies when I first heard some terrible news. The telephone rang and it was for me. I thought to myself, â€Å"who could be calling me.† I knew that my mom was grocery shopping and my dad was at work, so I did not think it would be either of them. When I answered the phone I realized it was my mother, she sounded horrified, I knew something bad had happened. That was the moment I found out my older brother, Wade, had a deadly disease called bacterial meningitis. Earlier that morning my brother went to his friend Shaun’s house to go play video games. Later that afternoon my mom was grocery shopping when Wade called her and said he was not feeling well. So, my mom rushing through the store quickly finished her grocery shopping and immediately drove to Shaun’s house to go get my brother. When she arrived Wade slowly walked outside on the old wooden porch. At that moment mom realized how bad the situation really was. He looked as if were a walking zombie; he was so weak and stiff. He had large dark circles around his eyes that made him look very tired and restless. With all his might, he slid his feet one by one across the old porch trying to get to the car. My mom looking as terrified as any other mother would, she got out of the car to help him make it down the stairs safely. Wade struggling to walk down the stairs looked at my mom with his dark brown eyes and said in a soft sickly voice, â€Å"take me to the hospitalâ₠¬ . Raging through all the traffic, they rushed to the emergency room at Kingwood hospital. As soon as he arrived the nurses took his temperature, it was 106.2 degrees. They immediately took him in the back on a str...

A response to a book called the emergence of the church By A Patzia Essay

A response to a book called the emergence of the church By A Patzia - Essay Example As part of that background he describes Judaism as it was in first-century Palestine as well as describing what life was like in the rest the Roman empire in general with a well presented exposition of what the Bible says about the growth of Christianity. The early church gained new recruits and spread over a greater geographical despite official persecution after Rome was burnt down, and Nero blamed the Christians for doing so. The books sources are pretty strictly biblical: the Didache is dated at or beyond 100 (p.99), and discussed only at the fringe, and the clearly first-century ROTAS square. In terms of evidence about the development and the eventual emergence of the early church as a distinct religion that was able to spread throughout the Roman Empire not mentioning the ROTAS square is arguably a serious omission. The ROTAS stone was actually found buried in the remains of Pompeii, being buried under the vast amount of waste products produced by the disastrous volcanic eruption of AD 79, and does not figure in this book. The ROTAS stone gives details of the early Christian presence in Pompeii, though of course nobody actually survived the volcanic eruption. Even if not mentioned anywhere else in his book, Patzia does not go into detail about the stone when discussing whether or not there were first-century churches in the Italian peninsula outside of Rome. Although it is not surprising that Patzia would want to concentrate upon the early church’s beginnings in Rome given its later importance for the Christian religion.1 If description and discussion of what the Bible says about the early Church is what youre looking for, this is as good a book to choose as any other. If you want too find out about the emergence and also the development of the early church from non-biblical sources then buy, or burrow another book on the early church.2 The ambience is distinctly Fuller, and here and there this brings up

A paper which explores one particular issues or dimension of legal Essay

A paper which explores one particular issues or dimension of legal environment which directly impacts business - Essay Example The tax systems determine the competitiveness of any given business with similar businesses all over the world. There are numerous taxes that impact the business either directly or indirectly. These include income taxes, employment taxes (National insurance), corporation tax, capital gains tax, value added tax (VAT) (sales tax), excise duty, import duties, specialist taxes, and property taxes as well as business rates (Simister). The politicians all over the world have colluded to tinker the tax policies. This implies that as globalization is taking place and businesses expanding, the tax policies get complicated and there are more loopholes that impacts businesses both directly and indirectly. This paper discusses the taxes and the impacts they have accustomed on businesses either at local or global levels. The first impact of tax is on the profits of the business. At the federal level gains and profits are taxed. This affects the business’ overall profit since part of the profits is submitted to the government in the form of taxes. The businesses cannot expand because the businesses cannot expand or employ more people so as to improve on their outputs. For example, if a company makes a profit of one hundred thousand dollars and the tax rate is thirty percent then it means that three thousand dollars will go to the government as tax (Djankov, Ganser, McLiesh, Ramalho, and Shleifer 246). This cost, therefore, will be transferred to the product and services prices for the company to meet its objectives; as a result the business might fail to perform well due to reduced consumers demand. If tax rates are unfavorable in a given area or country, most businesses may fail to invest in the location thus reducing their abilities to expand (Yoshov and Brumbaugh 40) Secondly, tax rates affect the structure of a given business. A

Enterprise Strategy Essay Example for Free

Enterprise Strategy Essay This type of business structure that is E-business is more common in the developed countries than in third class countries; to sell products customers in the comfort of their homes is widespread in these countries, so Forejustin Passman the founder and general manager plans to make widespread this type of business even in a developing country, Botswana. 1. 0 THE entrepreneur 1. 1 The motivation for starting the business Pull factors are exploiting opportunity and a financial incentive whilst the push factor that led him to open the business was threat of unemployment. The pull factors He was pulled into this business because he wanted to exploit an opportunity to sell gadgets such as tablets i. e. Apple’s Ipads, Amazon’s Kindle and Barnes amp;Nobles’ the nook. Consequently he decided to open Group Little, a predominantly virtual company, having little physical presence and high internet presence. After a market research he realised that most gadget stores in Botswana undermine internet trading and he decided to exploit this opportunity. Citing most gadget stores are set up according to a strategy and are purposely designed to make customer experience as pleasant as possible but their websites normally do not have a similar strategy applied to them, as the sites are normally a glorified business card that does not engage visitors and in some cases even harm the business image. Mr Passman was also pulled to gain financial incentive he paid meticulous attention to primary research in order to weigh the benefits, the cost and opportunities of his approach. The push factors The threat of unemployment is the only push factor that influenced Forejustin to start his business. At age 18 he performed poorly in his A-level results which caused him to fail to pursue a business degree at university, other than compromising and pursuing other degree programmes that he lacked interest in he decided to re-sit some examinations. Whilst in wait for examination results he did not want to be considered to be part of the unemployed so he started his company Group Little. 1. 2 Forejustin Passman’s character traits Proactive- he is one of the few people who do not believe in luck, he seeks after opportunities other than wait for them to present themselves to him. He is also quick and decisive, when faced with the dilemma of whether to go into just conventional retailing he decided and to have the virtual retailing, where he has limited physical presence and a fully-fledged internet presence. His logic behind such a decision being that the internet is a necessary portal for success in the 21st century business and beyond. He is regarded by some a restless while he considers himself easily bored because as he says he is easily diverted to the most recent market opportunity. He is especially known as a man who acts and then learns from the outcomes of his action, and thus far his upbeat approach has worked positively to advance the company. Visionary- Mr Passman has and had a clear vision for Group Little; for it to become a household name in virtual companies of Africa and to be an expert in Africa’s virtual market space. He wants Group Little to be benchmarked by any international company exploring to invest in the virtual market place of Africa. Now this visionary flair has positioned him to be always at the right place at the right time and being able snatch opportunities within his vision. 1. MR Passman’s personality type Mr Forejustin Passman is certainly spontaneous. Spontaneous because most of the things he does, he does instinctively. This matches positively with his proactive character trait mentioned previously in section 1. 2. He is a creative, lively and open-minded person. His humorous nature disposes a contagious zest for lif e. Forejustin’s enthusiasm and sparkling energy inspires the team to work harder, his strengths therefore are creative problem solutions, discovering new ways and opportunities, the conceptualization of new ideas on one hand, but not so much his concrete implementation on the other. To compensate for this weakness he has staff of capable colleagues that takes over his concepts and runs with them. Spontaneous is the best classification of Mr Passman, other than classifying him as an introvert or extrovert which is a widely used approach of personality type definition, which in some cases is limiting to define peculiar individuals as Mr Forejustin Passman. 1. 4 Decision making and leadership style Decision making style Forejustin Passman’s decision making style is conceptual. He has high tolerance for ambiguity in that even when he was not sure how Batswana will respond to an e-business he still went on decided to do what he planned. He has a broad outlook in business, with the resident of truth being not enough Batswana are connected to internet currently, he deemed it fit to go ahead because most industries around the world are adopting e-business and even though Botswana is still lagging behind the time is eminent for her as well to join in. His conceptual decision making style is also evident in that he has found a creative way to solve the local problem of segregated demand and supply. Where people in difficult to reach areas have a high quantity demand of some products from businesses yet they cannot reach those businesses to be supplied with what they demand, so he decided the customers will shop in the comfort of their own far away home and he will deliver the products to them. 1. 5 Leadership style Laissez-faire style, he is a leader who has consciously made a decision to pass focus of power to the outsourced employees. He considered since the workforce is already talented and qualified to do the job they must be able to positively exercise judgement to respond to issues. Mr Passman simply sets out the targets and deadlines afterwards he charges the taskforce to do the work that is at hand, he is not very interested in how they do the job he just wants the work to be done in due time. Some have criticised his type of leadership saying he is risking the success of his business by delegating power the employees but according to him this type of environment breeds creativity, and that is what he wants from his team, creative ways to solve problems, which is a direct match to his decision making style he wants them to think like him. 1. 6 Mr Forejustin Passman’s role within the business Forejustin oversees the review of Group Little’s corporate strategy, looks for market opportunities, acquires strategic assets and protects Group Little’s existing competencies. As this organisation is relatively small, Forejustin has adopted this multidisciplinary role. His acquisition of strategic assets is done in order to solidify their position in the market, he cites sometimes organic growth is too slow for the company’s vision therefore acquisition of some assets provides an impetus to desired growth. The staff The majority of his staff is outsourced, the employees are highly knowledgeable about internet business. Being a cheerful entrepreneur he advocates for a cheerful workforce because he believes if employees are happy that drives up productivity which in turn brings healthier profit margins. 1. 7 Entrepreneurial networking Forejustin’s decision to effectively network sprung up in the beginning stages of his business, he wanted a trademark for Group Little and he just happened to remember months earlier he sent his broken computer to some young technicians; one of them named Kabelo had recently graduated from a creative arts university of Limkokwing where he studied graphic designing. He had saved his contacts in case he needed computer help but his contact wound up birthing more than just computer solutions but also a trademark for his business. This was a highlight to Forejustin that networking especially informal networking is a tool for success, his response; * He strikes conversations with strangers, to get any bit of information he can, exchanges contacts with such an individual and then regularly contact that individual until they establish a network that can provide him relevant business information, advice and support services. Chats with movers and shakers of different industries in order to get some referrals and leads. Mr Passman’s formal networks In this the entrepreneur is lacking. He has not signed up to any formal network which means his chances for collaborative opportunities with others are diminished. It is highly unlikely for him to form new business relationships and lastly it is slow to solve problems because there is no access to a si gnificant number of possible solution providers as emphasised by Kay (2010). His professed inhibitors to formal networking are high membership fees of some formal arrangements. He also attributed inflexible structured timetable for some of these formal networks as a major impediment for him join as he prefers groups that are open where he can come on casual ‘drop in’ basis. But considerations are still being made to join the Diamond Trading Company (DTC) network an outlet that informs and organizes exhibitions for small enterprises. 1. 8 Innovation There a certain drivers of innovation that prompted Forejustin Passman to pursue e-business and figure a, is quite very useful in illustrating that. Source: Sheth and Ram (1987) Figure a Because of technological advances, after the internet boom he realised he needed to adopt an approach in business which matches the changes in technology. The change in technology alters the business environment. This then means that threshold competencies and basic resources are redefined, he implication to Forejustin’s company is, whatever used to be basic necessities of successful trading is now redefined to fit the current robust and continually changing business environment. Group Little’s business environment is no longer just about having the right gadgets, it is also about close interaction with customers and widespread, effective marketing therefore Mr Passman had to approach service delivery differently. Competition for selling gadgets has intensified, with Incredible Connecti ons, Hi-Fi, Game and other gadgets stores exerting pressure, Group Little had to distinguish itself by going online. Understanding that service delivery is directly related to the customer’s psyche he found it fit to offer technological products in a technological platform such as the internet which sends a message to customers of technological proficiency. He also had to innovate since customer needs are frequently changing consequently he had to effectively address them. The weakness of his innovative approach Even though innovation is commendable and obtaining ideas from the international front is encouraged it is evident Forejustin Passman has failed to address the contextualization of this worldwide trend. His payment outlets for instance should have been modified to fit the traditional payment outlets other than just adopting the internationally proclaimed payment system PayPal. 2. 0 The enterprise 2. 1 Business strategy According to Meyer (2010) strategy is the direction and scope of an organisation over the long-term. General enterprise strategy Emergent strategy is Group Little’s adopted strategy. Having considered the high turbulence in the industry he trades in Mr Passman decided to use this approach to guide his business. This strategy has been adopted since this industry is uncertainty and innovation based. It allows frequent feedback on the business environment which in turn permits reallocation of resources to address any information that is received about any changes in the business’ external environment. Operations strategy Figure b Source:ibbusinessandmanagement. com(2012) Using Michael Porter’s generic model figure b above, Forejustin has opted differentiation operational strategy. In this strategy unique attributes that are valued by customers and which are perceived to be better than the gadgets of the competition are intensively adopted by Group Little. This company has the following internal strengths to make this differentiation strategy successful; * Highly skilled and creative development team. * Strong sales team with the ability to successfully communicate the perceived strengths of the gadgets The risks linked with this strategy include imitation by competitors and changes in customer tastes. In addition, a range of firms pursuing focus strategies may be able to achieve even greater differentiation in their market segments. 2. 2 E-business As Group Little is a typical example of an e-business it is quite instructive to use the SWOT model to analyse the strengths, weaknesses, opportunity and threats this organisation it has; Strengths Global reach to marketing. Since the web is an international platform Group Little’s marketing is not just limited to local media and advertising opportunities it spreads out to other regions. There is improved customer interaction. The customer and the enterprise meet in the comfort zone of the customer, therefore the customer can openly offer ideas, orders and even complaints all this will better Group Little’s service delivery. Weaknesses Security; customers are always concerned with the integrity of their payments, most shy away from revealing confidential bank information in the web, which costs Group Little significantly. The other weakness is the customer has no idea of the quality and physical condition of the gadgets; it is very common for discrepancies to exist between what sites advertise and the actual product. Opportunities New technologies surfacing could open up internet accessibility in Botswana which will be advantageous to Forejustin’s company since the critics’ argument pivots around this matter. Group Little also has prospects on cutting down local competition. As local competition has not adequately used the online trading space which can give Group Little an online competitive advantage if Forejustin Passman chooses to invest significantly to develop this area. Threats Fraud; given that there are some individuals that are out to deceive for financial gain are always Mr Passman’s concern, they may fake Group Little’s website and deceive the customers. Changes in law and regulation are always a threat. Regulatory authorities to protect customers from fraud they may place laws and regulations that will stifle Group Little’s competitiveness. 2. 3 Organisational culture This has been defined as, a system of shared actions, values and beliefs that develop within an organisation and guides the behaviour. This is as cited by Uhl-Bien et al. (2010). Forejustin Passman has directed Group Little culture, one of the shared values is the ‘no Sunday policy. ’ In this Forejustin has reflected his Christian beliefs and his philosophy of people before profit into the corporation’s culture. His belief in God prompts him to keep the Sabbath which to him is Sunday and his people before profits philosophy leads him to protect their wellbeing by giving them rest on Sunday. Any order placed on Sunday is attended on Monday by rejuvenated and more productive employees. This has its obvious disadvantages such as foregone sales but Mr Passman believes his policy is beneficial to all parties involved. When work is on between Monday to Saturday the team is relaxed and open, this as Forejustin says allows for conception of creative ideas. Any facet that stifles creativity is minimized be it the tangible such as tables or chairs or the intangible aspect like a mental attitude that stigmatizes mistakes. This culture solves two important issues external adaptation, which deals with reaching goals; how to reach those goals and if members have developed this freedom to make mistakes they can effectively guide their day-to-day activities. It also solves the issue of internal integration, members can easily merge and share ideas when mistakes are not stigmatized and this leads to greater productivity. . 4 Critical success factors of his business Branding Forejustin’s Group Little has to create a brand that appeals to the African technologically adept. Now as asserted by Perry (2009) a brand is more than just a corporate symbol it is an intangible asset that provokes emotional responses from individuals which presents a sustainable competitive advantage. This entrepreneur must position his company’s brand to be able to leverage from being one of Botswana’s few companies that are committed to successful internet trading. Little is known of Group Little but this is an incentive not a deterrent because the brand can be driven in any direction that Forejustin sees proper to execute his vision. Even though his company was registered with the Registrar of Companies and Intellectual Property in 2009, not long ago every product and or service he introduces must align to the strategy of the company; he has to monitor Group Little’s identity, as the perception portrayed to customers over these few years is the one that affords the company to leverage on the brand premium. Realising that the company’s brand was its critical success factor efforts to protect his brand symbol from infringement were undertook; he decided to copyright the brand symbol. Distribution Comprehending their need for effective systems, Group Little has rationalized their distribution systems to enhance performance of their products. As an attempt to enhance the logistics execution and capabilities Mr Passman decided to form a synergy with Botswana Couriers. This he decided to do in order to quicken delivery of the gadgets sold, in contrast to sending the orders via Botswana Post with their renowned incompetence he decided to solidify his distribution by having an exclusive agreement with Couriers. As Meyer (2010) asserts exclusive distributor agreements will constitute a major impediment to the distributors if the distributor wants to switch from the commitment. In this synergy Group Little is offered discounts because of the volume of gadgets it trades around the country and basic efficiency in the distribution of the products is greatly enhanced. Technology It seems obvious yet still noteworthy that Group Little has technology as their trading platform has to remain on vigilant and aware of new technology developments. Most gadgets they sell use mobile applications, applications are pieces of software that are designed to fulfil a particular purpose, for Group Little that purpose simply is to make easy access to its website’s content and increase sales, therefore Group Little is in the process of having their own application. The entrepreneur has looked at engaging a company named Bright labs which operates in Tlokweng for the development of Group Little’s very own mobile application this will enable those who have bought these gadgets to also download the application and then browse for more products from Mr Forejustin Passman’s Group Little. 2. 5 Conclusion Forejustin Passman’s Group Little’s performance has been average, but if he can put measures in place to direct its strategy the company will realise its potential to become a benchmark e-business in Botswana and even in Africa. He simply needs to re-assess who he is and what Group Little is, a point of focus (the target market to approach, how he is going to approach that market). In addition he is required to solidify his networks as this is one business competence he has ignored and it will ultimately cost him and his business from growing from being a small medium enterprise to being the envisioned benchmark multinational. Contextualisation of Group Little’s business model also can provide an impetus its success as well, Mr Passman shall consider adopting traditional transaction means in order not to inhibit his business from reaching every possible customer. Bibliography Books 1. Meyer, R, Wit, B, (2010), Strategy-process, content, context an international perspective, 4ed, Hampshire: Cengage learning EMEA 2. Perry, B, (2009), Enterprise operations, Oxford: Cima publishing 3. Uhl-Bien. M, Schermerhorn J. R. , Hunt . J G, Osborn R. N, (2010), Organisational behaviour, Hoboken: John Wiley amp; Sons 4. Kay. F, (2010), Successful networks, London: Kogan Page 5. Yves, L, Goz, G. H, (1998), Alliance Advantage-The art of creating value through partners, Boston: Harvard business School Press. 6. Sugars. B, (2012), Super Size your sales, the entrepreneur, August, p. 2 7. Bessant J, Tidd J,(2011), innovation and entrepreneurship, 2ed, Sussex: John Wiley and sons 8. Moon. R, Gee. S, (2012), Creating business opportunity, Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan 9. Mullins L. J, (2010), management amp; organisational behaviour, 9ed, Essex: Prentice Hall Websites 10. Multiply (2012): Spontaneous idealist [online] Available from: http://mirau. multiply. com/jour nal/item/116/My-Personality-Type-Spontaneous ,[ accessed 14 December 2012] Appendix Personal reflection Studying real entrepreneurs and real companies always equips I as the student beyond lecture content. The study of this enterprise and Mr Forejustin Passman was a delight because I got to know interesting real aspects about business, I have learnt when in real business some academic theories will have to be set aside and suspended to deal with the challenges of real business. The more I researched I understood what differentiates successful entrepreneurs and unsuccessful entrepreneurs and that content I learnt were not part of the assignment requisite but I did learn This module lectures are also noteworthy, I figured this was a reiteration of Enterprise anagement I did in my second year, so lectures consisted of emphasis of year two material. Even though the material is more or less the same as of second year the assessment was interestingly structured, it was strategic rather than operational that seems like an obvious comment but this has really marked the difference in our approach. We were no longer just reporting facts, concepts and academic theories we had to apply and use our groomed understanding to critically analyse the business case.