Midsummer Nights Dream Essays (992 words) - Operas,

Midsummer Night's Dream Does Shakespeare make any serious points in ?A midsummer night's dream', or is it just a comedy? Shakespeare's play, ?A midsummer night's dream' is a comedy which also deals with some serious issues. The play was written in Shakespearean times as a comedy. The play was written to entertain two very different groups of people. The upper class, and the lower class citizens, Two different levels of theater had to be written to entertain them both. An entertaining and comical part, for both groups, would have been the use of fairies and mystical magic in the play. In those days most grown adults were very superstitious and believed in such things. The fairies and magic brought comedy to the play because, although the people were superstitious, they also knew the spirit characters in the play were fanciful and fictional. Shakespeare used these characters to bring mischief to the story which caused many of the comical incidents that happened through the play. The most mischievous and there for the most comical and entertaining spirit was Oberon's servant Puck. Puck was quick tongued and meddling. He was also quite famous for being so. Puck created a great deal of trouble when, trying to follow Oberon's orders, he mistakes Lysander for Demetrius. It is comical that this simple mistake, which was hardly his fault, causes such a mess of all the relationships in the play. "What hast thou done? Thou hast mistaken quite. And laid the love juice on some true love's sight." Oberon An event in the play, which was written as comedy appealing to the lower class, was the happenings which lead the fairy queen, Titania, to fall in love with a man that has been enchanted and looks all the world like an ass. Oberon drops love potion into Titania's eyes which makes her fall for a man that Puck has prepared. "My mistress with a monster is in love" "When in that moment it came to pass, Titania waked and straightway loved an ass" Act 3, scene 2. The scene where the fairy queen takes the ass to bed is most entertaining to the lower class because they were a little less educated and most of the clever humor went straight over their heads. It was also comical because the ass was so ugly and the queen was so beautiful, and as everyone knows, only the charming, handsome men get the beautiful women. "My Oberon! What visions have I seen! Methought I was enamoured of an ass!" Titania. The man didn't realize that the queen was charmed, and was vain enough to believe all the wonderful things she said about him. This was funny because everyone always like to have a laugh at people who think so highly of themselves. In the play there are a group of actors that greatly contribute to the comedy of this play. We laugh at things that appear hopeless. And these poor town's folk come actors, are just that. One of the actors is shy, the other is a man trying to play a woman and another is a hopeless over actor who wants to steal the spot light. They all make fools of them selves in order to impress Theseus and his court at his wedding banquet. The over simplicity of their production makes to be very entertaining. Despite the humor in ?A midsummer night's dream', Shakespeare also deals with many serious issues in this play. One of these is that love is blind. This is evident in many of the relationships between the characters in the play. Both Hermia and Helena fall in love blindly, that is that they fall in love with the least logical person. Hermia is in love with Lysander despite the fact that her father would rather her die than to marry him. It would be most logical for her to love Demetrius and live happily ever after, but that is rarely the way love goes. Helena fell in love with Demetruis who was so in love with Hermia, he barely even noticed that Helena existed. If it wasn't for the magical happening in the forest that night, it would have been unlikely that these characters would have ended up as happy as they did. "hings base and vile, holding no quantity, Love can transpose to form and dignity. Love looks not with the eyes but with the mind; And therefore is winged Cupid painted blind." Helena, Act 1, scene 1 A instance in Shakespeare's play where the theme ?love

Compare and contrast the records of one of Debussy 24 preludes WEST WIND

Compare and contrast the records of one of Debussy 24 preludes WEST WIND Introduction Claude Debussy (1862-1918) was a French pianist and composer whose exceptional work in technical composition made him one of the most prominent composers of his era.Advertising We will write a custom assessment sample on Compare and contrast the records of one of Debussy 24 preludes WEST WIND specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More He is considered to be the founder of modern sensualist compositions, creating a new trend in musical performance by use of contemporary scales and a diversity of tonal arrangements, greatly influenced by Russian compositions and Eastern cultures. He had the unique ability of collectively assimilating different tonal variations simultaneously to form a richer unified reminiscent resonance which earned him the title of a musical impressionist. His mastery in solo piano saw the addition of Preludes to his repertoire, which until his contribution were not regarded as important in musical composition. Deb ussy composed the entire collection of preludes over a period of three years (1910-1913) and divided them into two separate books, each book containing twelve preludes. Preludes The 24 Preludes composed by Debussy in book 1 and 2 are short musical pieces that are meant to put across a specific atmosphere or feeling which is pointed out by the title of each piece. The titles are placed at the foot of each peace to allow the pianist and the audience to inwardly interpret the music before they get to understand the composer’s perspective (Harpole 1986). The Preludes are considered to be among the epitome of the composer’s keyboard mastery, but even Debussy himself admitted that not all the preludes received the commendation he had hoped for. West wind What the West wind saw (Ce qu’a vu le vent douest) is the seventh of the twelve preludes in Claude Debussys first book of preludes. The piece begins with tension preceded by a metrical build up of the bass which eleva tes the tension present in the music (Roberts 1996). The build up of the bass is gradual and then rapidly explodes with two tonal variations the high pitched tones in the registry giving out a howling sound while a growling sound emanates from the lower pitch tones to give a cumulative effect of rage and destruction (Harpole 1986).Advertising Looking for assessment on art and design? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Like most of the other preludes, Debussy withholds from the latent use of imagery and instead bases What the West wind saw entirely on musical and harmonic texture. He creatively replicates the natural sound of wind to produce the wailing, loud and moving sounds of a powerful wind (Muller, nd). This three minute prelude is supposed to induce the violent and overwhelming power of an aggressive wind. The piece is also particularly potent in tritones and whole-tone motifs which can be found in all of the aggr essive chords and fast comprehensive arpeggios (Roberts 1996). Debussys virtuosity is evident in the rapidly alternating tonal variations and the low range tremolos (Weiss 2003). Book 1 is made up of 12 preludes, What the West wind saw being one of them. Most of the preludes in book one are of a light texture though there are some preludes that come close to What the West wind saw (Park 1967). The first prelude, Danseuses de Delphes (Dancers of Delphi) sharply differs from West Wind in melody and harmony. The harmonies are of a lighter tone and the melody is more prominent and much closer to the accompanying chords. It also bears percussion accents which are not present in the west wind. However, the technique used is similar to that of west wind in terms of layered texture and modal scales. Voiles (Veils or sails) uniquely lacks the half-step and bears a prominent B-flat tone through out. The melody is intermittent projecting sonorously whole tone scale. This prelude bears no simil arity to west wind both in character and color (Lockspeiser 1978). Le vent dans la plaine (The Wind in the Plain) suggests the presence of wind and is similar to west wind in content (Harpole 1986). The prelude is however different from west wind in that it suggests a calmer and more bearable wind in form of a breeze. Whole tone scale only appears in the middle, the rest of the prelude being dominated by pentatonic scale (Weiss 2003). Les sons et les parfums tournent dans lair du soir (The sounds and fragrances swirl through the evening air) just like west wind, this piece is rich in harmonic content (Lockspeiser 1978).Advertising We will write a custom assessment sample on Compare and contrast the records of one of Debussy 24 preludes WEST WIND specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The melody is however different from west wind, and this prelude bears two thematic melodies that are layered over and interchanged through out the prelude. L es collines dAnacapri (The Hills of Anacapri) is similar to west wind in that it is richly embodied with energy. The difference is that the energy present in The Hills of Anacapri is thematic to a party mood whereas the energy of west wind is more of a destructive nature (Park 1967). Des pas sur la neige (Footsteps in the Snow) precedes west wind in book 1 and is a sharp contrast to the latter prelude. The perelude has a slow sad melody of the minor keys and ends with staccato bass. La fille aux cheveux de lin (The Girl with the Flaxen Hair) follows west wind and the use of simple harmonies make this prelude openly different from west wind. The melody is pentatonic, a stark contrast to the previous prelude (Roberts 1996). The layered harmony of melody and diatonic chords gives this prelude an impressionist aura. La sà ©rà ©nade interrompue (Interrupted Serenade) unlike the west wind is unique in attempting to imitate a guitarist as he attempts to serenade a maiden (Harpole 1986). This prelude is full of imagination and unlike west wind bears a legato melody together with a concise cadenza. La cathà ©drale engloutie (The engulfed cathedral or the sunken cathedral) is distinctively rich with Impressionist technique. Similar to west wind, this prelude uses of modal scales but differs from west wind due to the presence of pentatonic scales, bell-tones, and pedal-points that are used to sustain specific notes or chords. The prelude La danse de Puck (Dance of Puck) is a light and comical examination of an imaginary world and is Scherzos in nature (Weiss 2003). Unlike west wind, this prelude is presented as a sonata which begins with three F flat keys (Muller, nd). Chromatic scale, thematic rhythms and bitonal melodies are constantly used to magnify the comical effect of the prelude. Minstrels is the final prelude of the first book and like the previous prelude, it is dotted with humor. A dominant G-major totonic pedals holds this prelude together and acts the con stant through out the prelude. Banjo and drum themes make a number of appearances through out the prelude to give it an animated feel (Weiss 2003). Conclusion Debussy’s mastery on the solo piano is evident by the uniqueness and richness of all 24 preludes that he composed. Even though his initial work was not widely recognized or appreciated by accomplished solo pianists and composers, Debussy deeply understood that music was not about physical learning rather it was a form of suggestive expression. His attitude led him to produce some of the greatest works in the early 20th century that set the trend for other pianists and composers.Advertising Looking for assessment on art and design? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More The prelude What the West wind saw can be said to be one of Debussy’s greatest accomplishments due to the fact that no other composer had ever successfully attempted to imitate the sounds of nature as he did. A captivated audience would easily get a mental picture of a strong wind clashing with sea water as it made its way to the shore. This makes What the West wind saw unique in many ways, both in composition and in content. There are however other preludes that are similar to west wind in terms of tonal composition and harmonic structure. Preludes such as The Wind in the Plain and The sounds and fragrances swirl through the evening air bear a slight semblance to the west wind but the difference is much greater. A closer examination of Debussy’s book 1 of preludes reveals the overwhelming difference the west wind has from other preludes. The west wind is inanely violent and loud and the detailed technique requires a pianist’s full attention when playing it. The layered tonal pattern found in the west wind and also in some of the other preludes is what caused Debussy to be referred to as an impressionist. All in all, Debussy’s work is indeed truly unique and light years ahead of other pianists of his generation. References Harpole, W. (1986) Debussy and the Javanese Gamelan. 3rd edition. London: Heinemann. Lockspeiser, E. (1978) Debussy: His Life and Mind. 1st edition. New York: Cambridge University Press, Muller, N. (n.d) Preludes. Piano Society Web. Available from:  pianosociety.com/ Park, R. (1967) The Later Style of Claude Debussy. 1st edition. Michigan: The University of Michigan. Roberts, P. (1996) The Piano Music of Claude Debussy. 2nd edition. Portland: Amadeus Press. Weiss, C. (2003) Debussy’s preludes book 1 and 2. Ohio: ivory classics [E-book]. Available from:  ivoryclassics.com/releases/73004/pdf/booklet.pdf

Reason for Wishing & Expectation in being a Police Constable In The Essay

Reason for Wishing & Expectation in being a Police Constable In The Bermuda Police Service - Essay Example During the last two years, I have been training police recruits at a regional level and successful completed this assignment at the Regional Police Training Centre in Barbados. During the course of this training, I was able to gain more insight about the workings in the police service as well as gather self-discipline as I was not only a trainer but a role model to the recruits as well. Working in the police service has made a tough person inside and outside and I am now able to handle complex situations in the work place, work well with other people in team, work under pressure and above all I have attained a job satisfaction as well as good skills proving to be an invaluable asset within the police department and to the community of Bermuda at large. Being a police constable will place me in a better position to exercise my experience to better the community at large and also the Bermuda police service based on my expansive academic and field

The current and future role of localised charitable organisations in Essay

The current and future role of localised charitable organisations in Birmingham - Essay Example This paper focuses on the current health of the three localised charitable organisations in the city of Birmingham who deliver housing support and care services and how they are responding to the current business climate. It explores their experiences from the historic grant funding arrangements to the current contracting culture. It compares each organisation using a detailed analysis process with emphasis on examining the rational where the qualitative data highlights similarities and disparity. The key research components of the dissertation are: how each organisation has changed financially and whether this has impacted on structure and size; and whether this has seen a change in direction in relation to business planning and strategic management. It also measures how far each organisation has diversified within their service provision in order to remain viable and goes some way in answering whether such diversification is perpetuating a move away from their traditional roots and charitable aims. It also observes and provides comment on how the organisations are planning and preparing for the future using their abilities to assess and respond to the perceived threats and opportunities within an open social care market and what they perceive will be their futures and that of the charitable sector in Birmingham. The dissertation analyses the impact marketisation and business-like approaches being adopted by the three organisations and whether such changes are an inevitable consequence of having to remain competitive and strengthen the sector.

Conscious Awareness and Brain Processes Essay Example for Free

Conscious Awareness and Brain Processes Essay A number of scholarly studies on human consciousness identify a close relationship between human consciousness and the brain processes of a human being. This study is an examination of the literature existing on these two areas with an aim of establishing whether there exists a relationship. To achieve this, the study will evaluate consciousness and its functions in a human being, evaluate brain processes and their functions and from the two analyses, make efforts at establishing either a similarity or a distinction exist between them. An evaluation of consciousness Questions about consciousness have been with humans for a long time. According to Pearson (1999), traces of the questioning on the nature of human consciousness were there as early as during the Neolithic period, when burial practices expressed some spiritual belief which had some connotations on some reflections or thought on the nature and existence of human consciousness. The earliest forms of cultures and intimation into human consciousness are therefore only available through historical connotations on the then existing people’s reflection on some aspects of human consciousness. There are those scholars who argue that consciousness, as it is known today’ is a phenomena that arose much later in the development of humans, as late as after the Homeric era as postulated by Jaynes (1974). In this view of the development of consciousness knowledge, earlier humans acted without necessarily correlating their actions and thoughts. As such, they were unconscious of their actions and acted primarily on a response to physical threats as opposed to awareness of need. Earlier scholars who attempted to define consciousness included Rene Descartes in the 17th century and John Locke, in the period of late 17th century (Stanford Encyclopedia, 2006). Their efforts to define consciousness have formed a basis upon which modern human consciousness is constructed from. In Descartes, ‘Principles of Philosophy’, written in 1640, he defined human consciousness as self-awareness. Locke, in 1988 correlated consciousness to both thought and personal identity (Stanford Encyclopedia, 2006). Modern attempts to define consciousness have been attempted by scholars (Gennaro, 1995 and Carruthers, 2000) who postulate that the word consciousness is a broad umbrella term covering a broad range of metal phenomena. In its wide range, consciousness can refer to a state of an organism in its wholeness, also referred to as creature consciousness or to a certain mental process or state also referred to as state consciousness. Since consciousness is a broad term, this section will highlight the meaning of consciousness in different contexts. A person, or a cognitive system, may can be said to be conscious in a number of ways; the first sense is what Armstrong (1981) referred to as sentience. A sentient creature is one that is able to sense its environment and respond to it. In this sense, the ability to sense and respond to an environmental stimulus is equivalent to being conscious. The challenge in this definition lies in making a distinction between the responsiveness portrayed by living and animate creatures such as animals and humans and the responsiveness inherent in inanimate objects such as flowers and trees. This is because a flower responds to physical environmental as evident in withering during the dry season. The other sense of defining consciousness is wakefulness (Cole, 2002). In this sense, an organism is considered conscious not only by possessing inherent ability to respond to the environment but by being in a state or a disposition to actually respond to it. Consciousness in this sense refers to being normally alert or awake. In this definition, an organism would be considered unconscious if it were in a deep state of comma or sleep. In this definition too, there also lies some blurred explanation since by defining consciousness as so, one may need to define it further in terms of levels of consciousness. For instance, it is possible for a creature to be half-asleep, implying that it requires a slight arousal for it to be conscious, as in the definition. Another form of consciousness, identified by Carruthers (2000) is self-consciousness. This is a high level order of consciousness in which the creature is not only aware but also having the correct understanding of the state of its awareness. Among humans, self-consciousness may denote ones ability to differentiate himself from others, in aspects such as language, hierarchy, status etc. One who is unable to make such a distinction would invariably be referred to as self-unconscious. In philosophy, self consciousness is equivalent to self-knowledge, which is used to commonly refer one’s knowledge of particular mental states including beliefs, sensations and desires (Stanford, 2003). A challenge that lies in this definition is that it disregards conscious forms of life, which may still be undergoing growth and development. For instance, a young child may be unaware of his status or privileges and as such, when consciousness is defined in this manner, it may assume that such is not conscious. Features of consciousness As mentioned earlier, consciousness is an umbrella term enveloping a broad range of issues. To distinguish consciousness, it becomes imperative to assess the features that combine to bring out the conscious phenomena. By analyzing these features and later analyzing the features of the brain processes, it will be possible to assess the existence of a relation between the two. The characters of consciousness as identified in literature include; A qualitative character- Siewert (1998) had suggested that there exist some experienced desires or thoughts in all forms of consciousness. These are the ones that form the qualitative character of consciousness but they do not necessarily refer to sensory states. In essence, consciousness embodies some kind of feelings, though it is itself higher than normal physical feeling. When an individual is conscious of something, there is a ‘feel’ attached to it, which happens beyond the physical human feelings. Phenomenal structure- phenomena as applied in both psychology and philosophy denotes how things in the world or the world in general appear to an individual. For consciousness to be complete, this feature ought to be present, that is, there should be an effort deep within oneself that attempts to interpret a certain event or knowledge of the world around an individual. The phenomenal structure of consciousness, as portrayed in theory shows that consciousness is made up not only of sensory ideas but also by complex representations of space, time, body, self and the world (Siewert, 1998). Representational theories of consciousness as published in the Stanford philosophy encyclopedia shows that representation of the world as it is has evolved slowly to become an important theme in the study of consciousness (Stanford Encyclopedia, 2006). Subjectivity- Consciousness is subjective in the sense that what is conscious can only be experienced by that creature in the prevailing condition. Creatures with similar capabilities are the only ones that can understand the’ what-it is like’, a common phrase used to define consciousness (Nagel, 1974). In this sense, consciousness is subjective, that is, it is understood from the creature’s point of view as opposed to being objective where facts would be understandable based on available evidence. Self perspective- According to Searle (1992), conscious experiences exist not as isolated events but as states or modes of a conscious subject to self. For instance, the consciousness of pain is a happening experienced by a conscious subject. The appearance of the sky as blue is a phenomena that appears as so to a subject. This implies that for consciousness to exist, the ‘self’ subject which can be identified by, ‘I think’ needs to be there. The self perspective is a crucial feature in consciousness since for any event to be reflected to the level of awareness; there is need for the intellectual participation of the self through past experience. The requirement for this intellectual part in the subject is an important aspect of this study since intelligence forms one of the brain processes and therefore serves to suggest that there is a close link between consciousness and brain processes. Unity- a conscious system involves some form of unity. Cleeremans (2003) postulate that consciousness has a unity characteristic; this unity is that which arises from the subject’s ability to connect varied information’s and representations and make a coherent judgment. It is this unity in consciousness that can enable an individual to make a relation between past and present interpretations and therefore direct consciousness in a focused direction. Other features that are associated with consciousness include intentionality and transparency, a feature that recognizes the arousal of consciousness about an event due to an individual’s intent to do so (Cole, 2002). For instance, one’s consciousness about the 9/11 attack comes to an individual through an intentional thought. Once the intention matures, the inner self becomes conscious of the event and the individual is said to be ‘aware’. There is also a dynamic flow of information in the conscious state. This dynamic flow is also referred to as a stream of consciousness in which the subject conscious state is active and visualizes events in a dynamic manner, just as in real live (Stanford Encyclopedia, 2003). Through these features, consciousness in a subject performs some functions/ processes, most of which may borrow from both sensory and cognitive aspects. Consciousness plays the first role of flexible control of the physical actions of a subject (Anderson, 1983). When consciousness is defined as self-awareness, it implies that an individual measures and weighs options concerning an issue and as such, all actions are controlled in a state of awareness. In addition, consciousness enhances capacity for social coordination. Humphreys (1982) argues that a subject that is conscious is not only aware of itself and therefore its immediate needs but is also able to extend the awareness to other similar creatures. In a human context, being conscious therefore enables an individual to be conscious of others surrounding him which results to responsiveness to the events occurring in the social arena. Participation and responsiveness to the social environment leads to an integration of the like-subjects so that the social system develops values, beliefs, structures, intentions and perceptions. In addition to social coordination, consciousness presents a subject with an integrated representation of reality. By combining experiential organization and dynamism inherent in consciousness, it presents the world in an easy to understand frame. According to Campbell (1994), the features of consciousness help to constitute a meaningful structure of the world. Additionally, consciousness plays the following functions, all of which are additions, either to physical or cognitive processes; it enhances informational access, enhances freedom of will and intrinsic motivation (Wegner, 2002). Going by these explanations, it is evident that the realm of consciousness is made up of both sensory functions and intellectual processes, implying that a significant part of consciousness is dependent on brain processes. In the section below, a brief outline will be made of what constitutes brain processes and make efforts to establish a correlation between them and the features and functions of consciousness discussed above.

The Sun and Its Features Essay -- Science Essays Scientific

The Sun and Its Features Changes in the magnetic field of the sun affect us here on earth in a number of interesting ways. This magnetic field is caused by the flow of electrically charged ions and electrons on the sun, and if it didn't exist, the sun would be a much more boring star. The 11-year cycle of the sun's magnetic field accounts for many of the cool features of the sun: sunspots, solar flares, and aurora borealis. At the beginning of the cycle, the magnetic field is weak and there are very few sunspots; later, at the peak of the cycle, the magnetic field is strong, and there are many sunspots. Sunspots are relatively cool areas that appear as dark patches on the face of the sun. They occur where magnetic field lines are twisted below the surface. The period of time when the magnetic field is strong and there are many sunspots is called a solar maximum. The sun approached one of its solar maximums in the year 2000, and this maximum affected the conditions on earth. For example, the aurora borealis, or "Northern Lights" we see in the sky are much brighter during a solar maximum. They are also more spread out over the sky. In normal years the northern lights can only be seen over the poles, but during a solar maximum they are visible to much of the northern United States and Europe. Aurora borealis is caused by the solar wind that blows off the corona of the sun. The temperature of the corona is so high that the gravity of the sun cannot hold on to it, so hot charged particles from the corona regularly fly off the sun at millions of miles per hour. When these particles collide with atoms in the earth's atmosphere, they excite their electrons, causing them to "jump" to a higher energy level. When electrons jump to a h... ...solar maximum), less cosmic rays strike the earth, and when it is weak (during a solar minimum), many cosmic rays strike the earth. Trees record in their rings how much carbon 14 is in the atmosphere, and during the Maunder Minimum tree rings had very high levels of Carbon 14. Thus, there seems to be a link between the sunspot cycle and the climate of the earth, with solar minimum bringing cooler temperatures and solar maximum bringing warmer ones. This, plus the beautiful displays of northern lights, and the threatening danger of solar flares, are just three ways we are effected by the solar cycle of the sun. References: Solar Physics. Hathaway, David H. NASA. March 17, 2000. Sunspots as Predictors. Younce, Matthew Wiley. The Sun-Earth Connection. NASA/GSFC. USB/S Introducing the Aurora. Terry, Kathee and Anderson, Hugh. July 12, 1999.

P&G Japan: The SK-II Globalization Project Essay

SK-II’s success is not only prestige skin care product or advanced technology but also its marketing approach to build the new brand. P&G succeeded to connect between the core technology or product concept and local market. Through Japanese market among the world’s toughest competitors, P&G developed potential source of innovations. In addition, SK-II’s marketing strategy built a new approach, Market research, Concept, Packaging, Positioning, Communications strategy. It was a big challenge that P&G shifted from Mass marketing, such as Olay brand, to Class marketing. SK-II’s marketing strategy. The primary issue concerning the case is the transformation of â€Å"SK-II† from a local brand to a global brand. This case allows us to evaluate how companies can â€Å"internationalize† their brands, and the obstacles and issues that they face while addressing this issue. Until now, SK-II can be characterized as local product in Japan with a sizable r egional customer base in Taiwan and Hong Kong. SK-II brand is positioned at the high- end of skin care and provides high margins for the P&G. To adopt Japanese independent sales style for skin-care, they were sold through special stores by well- trained beauty counselors. At first, to examine the underlying reasons behind the difference between Japanese and other corporate management, I sum up the significant reasons why P&G’s Japanese operation was a failure until 1984 as follows: 1. P&G did not take the time to determine the local needs based on the culture and common practices among Japanese customer. The product development was based on Western markets and it was assumed that it would streamline itself to other areas of the world. 2. Stagnation in innovation is a failure for almost any business. With technology always moving forward at a fast rate, it is imperative for all retail products to constantly put forth effort in  research and development. R&D is one of P&G’s strong points, yet the mismanagement of the division led to complacency in the development work. Due to the lack of improvements and the time lost, it allowed other competitors to release superior products quickly and efficiently. This ultimately led to a significant decrease in market share for P&G. 3. The Japanese distribution system is complex and difficult to assimilate to. P&G did not research and strategize to form new efforts in distributing the products efficiently and take advantage of the benefits of the distribution system commonly used. Instead of fixing the problem, P&G turned towards reduced pricing which drove the distributors away and caused sales to drop. Corporate management methods and the actual managers at headquarters in US and EU have certainly won many achievements in the US and Europe and elsewhere. In many cases, however, Western managers and Western management teams are ill prepared to succeed in Japan. In many cases, like P&G, drastic changes in thinking and management methods and personal changes at headquarters would be necessary to succeed in Japan. However, there are not many Western companies, which act on this knowledge. In this case, there were two major changes that P&G implemented to improve its operations to increase its profitability. Firstly, P&G increased R&D budget and secondly, they restructured with a plan called Organization 2005. Organization 2005 dealt with corporate cultural changes in becoming less risk averse and more productive with use of time. They encouraged innovation and creative high risk decisions with new products at a rate of more than once a month. Process changes included compensation reform with greater incentives based on performance, stock options to all employees, streamlined administrative aspects of marketing, payroll, and budgets on a more global/regional level. Structural changes included changing from 4 regional units to 7 global business units (GBUs) that were responsible for executing the global strategies of the company. Each GBU were tasked with creating a uniform production process for all their regional products so that they can be more cost effective and more open in new product rollouts. They also reduced the number of brands and only kept the ones with high sales and global potential. More power was given to lower level managers and the levels of bureaucracy were reduced by eliminating the amount of steps to the top. Among the human resources organization corporate cultures that have  changed Japan, foreign companies such as P&G has been the most influential. In fact, deregulation of labor aimed at strengthening international competitiveness and increasing the fluidity of employment has steadily eroded the traditional system of lifetime employment, seniority-based wages, and enterprise welfare at Japanese businesses. Many Japanese companies are now moving more toward a performance- based system when it comes to rewarding and promoting employee to be global company. In order to figure out whether SK-II is a product that can be global brand, we need to identify reasons for SK-II’s success in the Japanese market. First, by based on research of Japanese market, P&G made clear targeting and positioning, and developed new products which fulfilled customers’ needs, built the effective distribution. As a result, P&G could establish differentiation advantages for the following. †¢ Product: â€Å"Foaming massage cloth†, Elegant dispensing box â€Å"Foaming massage cloth† increase skin circulation through a massage while boosting skin clarity due to the microfibers’ ability to clean pores and trap dirt. †¢ Price: Premium price †¢ Place: Luxury and counter at department store †¢ Promotion: Counseling by beauty counselor, TV advertising, Beauty magazines P&G utilized and rebuilt its distribution channels of using trained personnel at beauty counters throughout Japan. SK-II’s success had been achieved in a culture where the customers, distribution channels, and competitors were different from in other countries. For example, Japanese customers more educated, average Japanese women spent 4.5 minutes on her face cleansing, and most sophisticated users of beauty products in the world. On the other hand, in China customers due to Olay’s education recently moved from a one-step skin care process to a three-step cleansing and moisturizing process. However, unlike China, Europe had a large and sophisticated group of beauty-conscious customers who is already practiced a multistep regimen. As we see it is model is transferable but they have to modify some of models characteristic depending on customers behavior, competitors and market factor. P&G Japan’s competitive advantage is firm-specific but SK-II’s advantage is country-specific. I would suggest that de Cesare would be to expand SK-II brand within Japan. The company should continue to build on SK-II’s success in Japan. By building on brand’s  success in the proven domestic market, Procter & Gamble would be able to fully utilize the company’s competitive advantages. In this case, the company has achieved only 3% of the market share of the $10 billion beauty product market, and in addition the Japanese skin care market is forecasted to grow at 28% two-year growth rate. Given these opportunities, de Cesare is well advised to strongly expand SK-II brand within Japan. There are other attributes that make Japanese market attractive; these include brand name recognition and development of new products such as anti-aging and skin whitening that could expand the SK-II product line. Since the Japanese market is highly competitive and requires constant innovation, the Japanese division need to constantly introducing new products that could possibly be introduced to other markets as well. Increased market share and profitability of SK-II brand would also increase the brand’s standing among various Procter & Gamble brands; this increased awareness of SK-II brand could potentially pave the way for brand’s internationalization later on. The Japanese market is also one of the biggest markets for prestige skin care products, not only that, the country is also expected to see the skin care market (both main and prestige) grow by 28% over the next 2 years. However, there are some risks if the de Cesare chooses to only expand into the Japanese mark et. This could potentially make P&G Japan isolated from the rest of the world markets. P&G Japan could be oblivious to changes in the world market, and miss opportunities that could have allowed collaboration in R&D with other divisions that could have led to introduction of new and innovative products. To remain a major market player, P&G needs to keep expanding its products at a global level. I do not believe that the choices between expansion into China or Europe or increasing sales in Japan are all mutually exclusive with each other. All three of the markets can be critical to the successful globalization of P&G and its brands. The European market will probably prove to be the most difficult to penetrate, yet by concentrating on specific cities and markets, there is still potential for P&G’s superior product to prevail. This option would be the lowest priority of the three. P&G will need to keep up with technology and continue with new developments if they want to remain a leader in the prestige market in Japan. In terms of short term profitability, the Japanese market is unmatched. Cesare has forecasted an  earnings growth potential of 200% in 6 or 7 years based off a $150 million sales level. However, the focus should be on the Chinese market based on the long term potential for growth and profitability. All the other major market players are already present in the market so P&G don’t want to fall too behind with their competitors. Although China has a relatively small subset of their population that can afford the expensive SK-II product, it also has the highest growth rate of skin care use at an astounding 28%. With China’s economy and GDP growing at a fast rate, the potential for more able consumers of the 1.2 billion residents is seemingly limitless. In my conclusion, the first priority is they would be to expand SK-II brand within Japan to keep expanding its products at a global level. The next, they should be focus on the Chinese market based on the long term potential for growth. As the lowest priority, the European market will probably prove by concentrating on specific cities and markets.