Symbols and Symbolism in To Kill A Mockingbird - Symbols, Themes and Characters :: Kill Mockingbird essays

   To Kill A Mockingbird - Symbols, Themes and Characters       Now, you're probably wondering what is To Kill A Mockingbird all about? Well that is what I am going to be telling you about in this paper. You will find out that To Kill A Mockingbird is full of different themes, symbols, conflicts and many different characters.    There is a theme of a coexistence of good and evil in this novel. Harper dramatizes Scout and Jem's transition from a perspective of childhood innocence. Many of the characters assume that people are good because they have never seen evil. So in result to this Tom Robinson and Boo Radley are not fully prepared for the evil that they meet up with, and as a result of that they are destroyed.    There are a lot of different social classes in this story. The Finches are on the top of the social list in Maycomb. And then the farmers are underneath them. Then whom they call the white trash is underneath the farmers. Even though the blacks are much more gifted than some of those people they are still underneath those white trash people. This is the main topic of the whole story. A black man gets accused of attacking a white lady...but he probably wouldn't even be in the position that he was in if he was white. To Kill A Mockingbird shows the destructive attitude that whites have against blacks. Not so much the period we live in but it still exists.    There is also theme of an education of children. The children are taught to move from innocence to adulthood. At the end of the book which only scans through about two years of Scout's life. He knows almost everything about algebra. This theme is explored by the relationship between Atticus and his kids. Unsympathetic teachers confront Scout a lot through the story. The most important lessons are those of sympathy and understanding. Miss Caroline's commitment to the educational techniques that she has learned in college and it makes her ineffective and dangerous.    Also, there are some symbols in this story that are very important to the overall story itself. Throughout To Kill A Mockingbird, one will observe that nearly every character is a mockingbird.

The Class Struggles of 18th and 19th Centuries in Europe Essay

The Class Struggles of 18th and 19th Centuries in Europe Karl Marx wrote the Communist Manifesto in order to give a voice to the struggling classes in Europe. In the document he expressed the frustrations of the lower class. As Marx began his document with "the history of all hitherto societies has been the history of class struggles" he gave power to the lower classes and sparked a destruction of their opressors.1 He argued that during the nineteenth century Europe was divided into two main classes: the wealthy upper class, the bourgeoisie, and the lower working class, the proletariat. After years of suffering oppression the proletariats decided to use their autonomy and make a choice to gain power. During the eighteenth and nineteenth century the proletariats were controlled and oppressed by the bourgeoisie until they took on the responsibility of acquiring equality through the Communist Manifesto. First it is important to understand the French economy during the eighteenth and nineteenth century. The working class people were struggling with their need to get by in life and feed their family and the internal call to make a choice and gain equality. The problem was that the proletariats did not have much of a choice at the time because if they did not work then they did not survive. The struggling class had to agree to what all the owners said and â€Å"whatever their status, the peasants continued to pay to their lord feudal dues on such land as they held on his estates." 2 It was clear that a social change was needed since the workers were being so abused and getting no reward for their efforts. The European society during the eighteenth and nineteenth century consisted of ... ...equality. WEB LINKS http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1850-csf/csf.htm http://eh.net/Clio/Conferences/ASSA/Jan_99/hadeishi.shtml http://mars.wnec.edu/~grempel/courses/wc2/lectures/towns.html http://gwis2.circ.gwu.edu/~yamashir/History.htm End Notes 1. Karl Marx, Manifesto of the Communist Party, 1848 (France), 1. 2. John Lough, An Introduction to Eighteenth Century France (New York: David McKay Company Inc., 1960), 18. 3. Craig Calhoun, Habermas and the Public Sphere (London: The MIT Press, 1992), 187. 4. Lough, 53. 5. Gerhard Grempel, "The Eighteenth Century Town" The Eighteenth Century Town, <http://mars.wnec.edu/~grempel/courses/wc2/lectures/towns.html> (October 1 2001). 6. Herbert Wilson, The Old Regime in France. (New York: Howard Fertig, 1970), 278.

Cruelty of Society in Frankenstein, Master Harold, and An Enemy of the

Cruelty of Society in Frankenstein, Master Harold, and An Enemy of the People â€Å"Master Harold†Ã¢â‚¬ ¦and the Boys, St. Joan, and An Enemy of the People show that society shows hate and cruelty to people who are different or who do not share similar ideas as other people do. For example, in â€Å"Master Harold†Ã¢â‚¬ ¦and the Boys, Hally’s racist attitude toward Sam and Willie is a result of his experiences in society. In Frankenstein, society is cruel and hateful to the monster because he looks different than other people. In An Enemy of the People, society persecutes Dr. Stockman because he attempts to gain support for the repair of the Baths. The stories that are presented here illustrate the cruelty and hatefulness of society. In â€Å"Master Harold†Ã¢â‚¬ ¦and the Boys, the cruelty of society is depicted in the form of racism. The story takes place in South Africa, a place where racism is prevalent. Hally is a seventeen-year-old white person whose mother owns a restaurant. Their two employees, or â€Å"servants†, are uneducated black men. During the story, Hally acts as though he is superior to Sam...

Teen Suicide

Teen suicide is â€Å"the third-leading cause of death for young people age 15 to 24. (American Psychological Association) According to the research of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention(CDC), nearly 1,700 teenagers in the US commit suicide annually because emotional, social and family pressures. Teenagers are in the gray area between childhood and adulthood, and on the way to find out their own sexual identity and relationships with others. Also, they are under great pressure to be independence and responsible for their lives.Suicidal risk factors among teens are: * Family crisis- family loss, parents separation or divorce * Psychological problems- anxiety, depression, bipolar disorder, insomnia, or alcohol/drug use. * Family history of depression or suicide * Being victims of bullying * A previous suicide attempt * Feelings of isolation from others, family or peers; hopelessness. * Emotional, physical, or sexual abuse. Teen suicide is preventable, so being aware of the warning signs is important. (American Psychological Association) Taking about Dying – any mention of dying, shooting oneself, or other types of self harm *Recent Loss – through death, divorce, broken relationship, loss of interest in friends and hobbies. *Change in personality – sad, withdrawn, irritable, anxious, tired, or indecisive. *Change in sleep Patterns – Change in Eating Patterns – insomnia, early waking or oversleeping, nightmares. *Change in Eating Habits – loss of appetite and weight, or overeating. Low Self Esteem – Feeling worthless, shame, overwhelming guilt, self-hatred. Indication of a suicidal plan((Teen Suicide): *Actually says about committing suicide. *Giving away or throwing away favorite belongings. * Shows signs of extreme cheerfulness following periods of depression. * Creates suicide notes. *Expresses bizarre or unsettling thoughts on occasion. The role of the nurse as a healthcare professional is important t o educate parents, teachers and community members about the warning signs to prevent a teen suicide.The nurse can help parents recognize who is at risk for suicide, and what they can do is essential. Keeping relations with the teen who are at risk, and asking questions about the thoughts of hopelessness or suicide can be an important step to prevent. Moreover, inform the parents how they can get help from health professionals. The parents can help in case of emergency by calling (800)SUICIDE for help. Suicidal thoughts do tend to come and go, so the nurse should encourage the parents to keep the scheduled appointment with a mental health professional, even though the teen refuses.Nearly 60% of all suicides in the US are committed with a gun, therefore inform the parents that any gun should be unloaded, locked, and kept out of the reach of teens. Furthermore, overdose using over0the-counter, prescription, and non-prescription medicine is another method for teens for suicide. Therefor e, the nurse needs to educate the parents to monitor carefully all medications in their homes. ( Kids Health) Losing a child from suicide is a painful tragedy for the patents, and the teen who is a survivor of suicide need help from a health care professional to recover from the tragedy.Advise them to maintain contact with others, remember that other family members are grieving, too, expect that any anniversaries, birthdays, and holidays may be difficult, understand that it’s normal to feel guilty, counseling and support groups. **New Jersey Regional Crisis Hotline: Bergen County (all areas)? (201) 262-HELP, 262-4357: Bergen Regional Hospital, Hotline, Psychiatric Emergency Room, Mobile Screening **New Jersey’s Hotline Local hotline number: 908-232-2880, or Text â€Å"CWC† to 839863 M,W,F 4:00pm -10:00pm References 1. New Jersey Regional Crisis Hotline: http://www. njit. edu/counseling/gethelp/crisis. php 2. New Jersey’s Caring and Crisis Hotline, Contact We Care: http://www. contactwecare. org/ 3. Teen Suicide: http://www. teensuicide. us/articles2. htm 4. About Teen Suicide. Kids Health. http://kidshealth. org/parent/emotions/behavior/suicide. html# 5. Teen Suicide is Preventable. American Psychological Association. http://www. apa. org/research/action/suicide. aspx

Rob Parsons -Promote Not Promote

This report presents an independent analysis addressing the insights for important management issues associated with performance appraisal and performance management in the Capital Market Services of Morgan Stanley. The analysis will be focused on identifying the major problems, analyzing the situations, and making feasible and thorough recommendations for the board of Morgan Stanley to improve the existing situations. 2. Problem Statements. Rob Parson was a star producer in the Capital Market Services Department who had been recruited from a competitor two years ago and had generated substantial revenues since joining the firm.I would like to address more specific and surface problems for this situation as follows: 2. 1 Problem 1 -Rob Parson's Performing Issues. Parson's success at generating business was offset by performance reviews from internal co-workers that painted him as a poor fit in the firm's collaborative culture. Parson's performance issues had been making his two immed iate supervisors, Paul Nasr, the senior managing director in early 1996 and Gary Stuart, the just promoted managing director in early 1997 faced the dilemma whether to promote Rob Parson as managing director. 2. Problem 2 -Rob as Irreplaceable Staff. Stuart felt certain that Parson would leave the firm if he was not promoted in 1997. This would mean losing a valuable employee and a star producer and creating an empty seat in an area important for the firm's business. Morgan Stanley needed Parson to attain the firm's strategic business objectives and even Stuart felt strongly that Parson would be impossible to replace. 2. 3 Problem 3 – Little consensus for the 360-degree evaluation process The purpose of 360-degree evaluation is to emphasize teamwork, cooperation, and cross selling.However, there was little consensus on what the 360-degree evaluation actually meant in practice since its implementation in 1993. 3 Issues / Problem Analysis. It is doubt that the 360 degree perfor mance evaluation process at Morgan Stanley yield data that were valid and reliable. It is critical to figure out whether the 360 degree performance management system well aligned with Morgan Stanley's strategic objectives. It is also important to verify the two performance evaluation results and bjectively induce the implications so that Gary or the board could effectively manage the situation. 3. 1 Not a real 360 degree performance review @ Nasr's time. The performance comment â€Å"raw data† including the quantitative, qualitative, and anecdotal — none of which is perfectly consistent from the 360 process. It is doubt that raters knew how to effectively participate in the process and the Paul knew how to use the data. There was no indication of rater's interaction with Parson and how each rater's rating contributed to the average scores shown on Summary of Performance Ratings.The arithmetic average for the collage average score is 3. 6, how ever the overall rate is a t 2. 8. It seems that quiet a number of Parson's supervisor and colleagues were admiring his cross-selling skill but it was hard to tie to the result of Downward Average 3. 0 and colleague Average of 3. 7. What were the criteria to evaluate item 4A in the Summary of Performance Ratings. -Team Player Skill and how the comments from Parson's supervisors and colleague tied to the average rating.Rater Parson E's comments in the â€Å"Development Recommendation† sections did not include concrete example but just stating rather subjective observations and feelings. The rates were not interpretable and there was no scale identification for the rates. What a 2. 0 different was from a 4. 0 average score? What were the benchmarks? There was no explicit indication of management's expectations for Parson, such as specific sales target and customer satisfaction index that are measurable and be able to described in concrete terms.It seems that there was no prior communication of the expect ations of the key performance indicators with specific values to Parson. There was no attempt to think deep the unique qualities of Parson that bring him to achieve excellent business sales. There were no indications of key success factors for Parsons that would link to the performance evaluation process. There was inherited bias from Nasr that he treated Parson harsher because he wanted to show to everybody in Morgan Stanley that he would not treat a subordinate who was hired from his previous life better. . 2 Improved 360 degree performance review @ Gary's time In early 1997 during Gary Stuart's time – A â€Å"revised† performance review â€Å"raw data† including the quantitative, qualitative, and anecdotal was come up in different ways. The process had been improved when compared with the last year exercise in the following ways: Indication of involvement from each rater and excludes the ratings from evaluators who had limited interaction with Parson when com ing up with average score in every performance criteria to ensure fair evaluation.Indication of rating scale from 1-6 and with interpretations for each rating. However, there is no in-depth explanation on how to define Top 10%, Top 20% and Top 50% etc. Each rater provided a rating with corresponding comments and valid examples for each performance requirements category Elimination of the â€Å"Team Player† rating which was previous seen as a subjective and board term. However, the review showed an extraordinary amount of Parson's progress on the team player front by examples. The overall rating from downward and colleague at 5 and 5. respectively which is in the category of Outstanding -Top 20% It was mentioned by Stuart that he need to deal with the politics in the firm, it is time to think of whether Parson was confronting the culture or he a gear to help the firm to change some of the rooted culture. 3. 3 What are the alternatives? After illustrating the underlying causes of the problems, we have to consider whether the efforts Parson had made were sufficient to be promoted, promoting Parson would mobilizing a lot of support from within the firm. The main alternatives are as follows: * Be prepared to search Parson # 2 for replacement and fire Parson. No to promote and increase payment for Parson and let him tender his resignation. * Promote Parson to the managing director and further motivate and develop his weak area. 4 ;Solutions and Recommendations. Morgan Stanley changed its corporate strategy to focus on being a â€Å"one-firm† firm, the use of the 360 degree performance evaluation procedures at Morgan Stanley has been designed to reinforce the change in culture which is now emphasizing teamwork, corporation, and cross selling. The firm should reward those who acting in accordance with the mention notions as well as great business generators.The main purposes of carrying out an efficient 360 degree performance assessment in Morgan Stanley are to develop, to manage and to pay ;amp; promote. The effectiveness of the performance assessment did affect the job satisfaction of Parson and the organization effectiveness. Therefore, it is critical to come up with a fair judgment for Parson, review and improve for any loop holes in the existing performance assessment process. I would like to recommend promoting Parson to the managing director, further motivating, rewarding and developing his weak areas.It was hard to compare the results from 2 consecutive years because it is meaningless to use some misleading or ill-defined rates from @ Nasr's time and compare to a more representative set of result this year. However, the revised process in the recent year provided more sensible data, it is worthwhile to focus on the review result of this year as decision making base. The Summary of Performance Ratings and Distribution showed that nearly all (except 33% of his supervisor rate 3 for leadership and management skills) Parson's s upervisors rated 4 to 6 for all 4 perspectives include the Overall Downward.These implied most of the Parson's higher up did recognize Parson's contributions. It should be easier to mobilize a consensus on Parson Promotion this year. The management needed to reconsider the motivation elements and to come up with a through career development plan for Parson rather than just focus on using the review result as a promotion justifications. Actions Plans: * A constructive and through feedback session to be held by Stuart with Parson and mentioned that he will be promoted to the managing director on condition that Parson need to further improvement on certain areas from leadership and management skills.Quote concrete example for his weak areas. * Make sure a detail job specifications (expectations) and key performance index for the managing director position be in placed. To communicate management's expectation to Parson clearly. * To carry out after promotion review with Parson in three months time and make sure he will still be in good shape after his promotion. * Stuart has to tender a promotion recommendations report to the management with support and firm tone that Parson is ready to promote based on this year's performance assessment results. * To involve those being rated in the development of the rating scheme.Continuous to carry out performance appraisals training to make sure all the staff understands the logic behind. To fine tune the process with more specific definition for each of the ratings. In conclusion, with proper implementations, a 360 degree performance assessment process can provide a more accurate assessment of an employee's performance and help eliminate accusations of favoritism. It will definitely lead to continuous learning, team building, growing self-confidence and improved productivity. I look forward seeing a more constructive and productive team lead by Parson in the coming future.

How modern society changed women’s lives Essay

The position of women is often considered to have improved during the last few decades. There is, however, considerable debate as to the extent of change and the reasons for it. This essay will look at how women’s lives have changed in terms of employment, pay, education, household, sexuality and the state. I will conclude that the most important changes for women are in education, but that the basic pattern of inequality remains in most aspects of the social structure, from paid work to the household divisions of labour, from sexuality to violence. Ann Oakley (1981) has traced the changing status of women in British society from the eve of the Industrial Revolution to the 1970s. She claims that ‘the most important and enduring consequence of industrialization for women has been the emergence of the modern role of housewife as ‘the dominant mature feminine role’ Thus a combination of factors which included ideology, the banning of child labour, and restrictions of the employment of women, locked the majority of married women into the mother housewife role. This led to the idea of a ‘cornflake packet family’ where the male was the breadwinner, the wife was the housewife, and the family consisted of two children – a boy and a girl. The mother had an expressive role, while the father had an instrumental role of going out to work. The inequality, and the extent to which the different aspects of this are interconnected, mean that is some use the concept of patriarchy to describe this set of social relations. Patriarchy is a social system through which men dominate, exploit and oppress women. However, in recent decades, changes in the economy and society have altered the situation – several of these changes will be outlined below. One of the most important areas to look at for the changes in women’s lives is in terms of pay and employment relative to men. Women are less likely than men to be in paid employment, but the gap has closed steadily over recent decades. The proportion of those in employment who are women rose from 38.1% in 1971 to 49.6% in 1995. However, most of the increase in women’s employment has been in part time work. The proportion of women working part time has increased steadily, from 34% in 1971 to 47% in 1995. Women workers are concentrated within a very narrow range of occupational groups, although there have been some significant changes in this recently. Over 40% of full time women workers are to be found in clerical employment. In contrast, men are spread through a much wider range of occupations. Women are confined both to lower grade jobs (vertical segregations) and to different jobs (horizontal segregation). The pattern of segregation however has changed significantly over recent years. At the top end of the hierarchy the number and proportion of women in the managerial and professional grades have substantially increased. However, in the most powerful positions in public life, women continue to be seriously under-represented. Walby notes that in 1992 only 9.2 per cent of MPs were women, there were no women Chief Constables until the 1990s, and in 1994 only one in 25 High Court judges was a woman. In 1996, there was only one woman among 50 British ambassadors or heads of overseas mi ssions. Linda McDowell uses the theory of post-Fordism to understand changes in the labour market. This theory argues that businesses have moved away from mass production towards the flexible production of small batches of specialized products. In doing so, they employ a core of highly skilled workers who are capable of using their skills to produce a wide variety of products. Other work is carried out by part-time workers, or workers on short-term contracts, or is contracted out to other firms. McDowell argues that these changes are reflected in the increased use of part-time female labour and the reduction in the employment of males in full-time permanent jobs. But while it is clearly important to take account of changes in the labour market and the economy as a whole in order to understand the changing patterns of gender inequality, it is necessary to be cautious about basing an analysis on the theory of post foridsm. This theory has been heavily criticized on a number of grounds, and the work of Lovering and others suggests that post Fordism cannot be seen as a general trend that has affected all employers. A different explanation for the changing nature and pattern of women’s employment in countries such as Scandinavia has been the shift to state  policy. Talcott Parsons had proposed a functionalist explanation of women’s disadvantaged position in the labour market, which focused on the impact of the household. He argued that men get paid more because women’s domestic responsibilities adversely affect their involvement in paid work. However, in Scandinavia, there is a much greater public provision of childcare together with higher rates of female employment and a smaller wages gap between women and men. Thus changes to state policy can improve the nature and pattern of women’s employment. But has there been any change in women’s pay relative to men’s? The implementation of the Equal Pay Act between 1970 and 1975 reduced the wages gap a little. In 1970 women earned only 63% on men’s hourly rates, and only 55% of men’s gross weekly pay. In 1997, women working full time earned 81% of men’s hourly rate, but those women working part time only earned 59% of men’s hourly rates. Thus the size of the gap has been closing steadily for those working full time, but not for those working part time. It does seem therefore that the position of women in employment has transformed itself in recent years, though there remains considerable inequality and the picture is not one of simple progress. One area where there have been considerable changes for women’s lives has been in education. Education has seen a transformation of the position of girls and young women. In schools, not only has the traditional gender gap in examination performance been closed but girls have overtaken boys; while in higher education the gender gap is closing steadily. One reason for the change is the discrimination against women in education was made illegal in the 1875 Sex Discrimination Act. A further reason was the increase in the opportunities for women in the world after education as the labour market gradually opened up. These changes in education have potential implications for other aspects of gender relations – since access to good jobs as some relationship to educational qualifications, women might anticipate taking a higher proportion of top jobs. It may also have an impact on wages, in so far as lack of qualifications, rather than discrimination, was a reason for women†™s poor rates of pay. However, while girls are learning in new areas,  boys are not learning those subjects traditionally learned by women eg at present, only 15% of all boys do home economics. A further important issue to look at when considering the changing lives of women, is in the area of the household. The most striking change is the increased likelihood of families being formed of only mothers and children, which reflects to a large degree the large increase in divorce rates. The number of lone parents increased from 8% in 1981 to 21% in 1996, and the vast majority of these are women. One of the most significant features of one-parent families is their tendency to live in poverty, leading to many forms of social exclusion. The poverty largely results from the lack of a male income into the household, but is compounded by the lower propensity of lone mothers to be in employment as compared with married mothers. Changes in the welfare state are also important in that they have disproportionately affected women because more of them head single parent households and more live to pensionable age. Women in old age are thus particularly vulnerable to the risk of poverty. A further change in the household has been in attitudes towards housework. Men are now more likely to accept that women should not be responsible for all the housework. However, it does seem that while there has been a change in attitudes, this is not to a great degree played out in action. The UK is in contrast to some countries such as Sweden where there is more shared parenting and childcare is part of education for boys and girls. Changes in sexuality have been a further impact upon women’s lives. Giddens argued that there has been a ‘transformation of intimacy’ in recent years. It is widely suggested that women have made great advance towards equality with men in the area of sexuality. The sexual double standard, whereby non-marital sex was acceptable for men and not for women has reduced. Other changes include the much greater availability of contraception and safe abortion, which has made unwanted children much less likely. Furthermore, there has been greater acceptance of a wider range of sexual practices, such as gay and lesbian relationships. Feminist movements have also helped to change and shape women’s lives. The  1970s was the second wave of feminism in the twentieth century, the early one being instrumental in winning political citizenship for women. Many of the feminist ideas of the 1970s which had been considered outrageously radical when first expressed are now widely accepted. For instance, male violence is now recognized as a significant problem and the subject of serious discussion by the police as well as feminists. Equal pay is also an early feminist demand now accepted into mainstream policy initiatives such as Opportunity 2000. In Gender Transformations(1997), Walby reviews changes in patriarchy in the 1990s. Although she discovers plenty of evidence that patriarchal structures remain in place in Britain, she also finds evidence of important changes. In particular, she claims that there is evidence of a generational difference between older and younger women. Older women tend to be restricted by the constrains of private patriarchy, which was the dominant form of patriarchy in their early lives. They are likely to have few qualifications and therefore have limited opportunities in the labour market. Younger women, on the other hand, have benefited from some of the changes that have taken place. They are likely to benefit from increased qualifications and improved labour market opportunities. Walby thus points to polarization between the younger and older women, while convergence between younger women and men. In conclusion, there have been many changes in the transition to modernity, which have shaped women’s lives. While some of these changes have reduced gender inequality n recent years, especially in the field of education, the basic pattern of inequality remains in most aspects of the social structure, from paid work to the household divisions of labour, from sexuality to violence. This essay has pointed to many changes in women’s lives, but whether their lives have improved has been a matter of debate: Liberal feminists tend to see these changes as progress, while radical feminists tend to argue that little has changed and patriarchal domination remains firmly intact. Marxists usually claim that industrialization and the advent of capitalism led to a deterioration in the position of women and since the Industrial Revolution little has improved. Bibliography Mcdowell L ‘Father and Ford revisited: gender, class and employment change in the new millennium’ Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers 2001 Walby Gender Transformations Abercrombie, Warde et al, ‘Contemporary British Society’ Haralambos and Holborn ‘Sociology’

The advantages and disadvantages of a business plan

Entering the world of business is not that easy. When starting a new venture, one should never come unprepared. If you started a new venture without planning anything first, chances are, you will end up going wherever the wind takes you. That is why a business plan is a necessity for someone who is interested in starting a new venture. In the world of business, a business plan is treated like a bible for it lets investors and lenders know about the business you are trying to put up. It also serves as a manual for suppliers and other stakeholders of the business. A business plan may have its advantages but it also have its disadvantages. In this part of the paper, we shall look at the strong and weak points of developing a business plan for a new venture. However, a business plan is supposed to be an advantage to the business that is why the advantages, as expected, outnumber the disadvantages. Advantages One advantage of developing a business plan for a new venture is that it identifies what the consumer really wants. Of course, a business plan is all about making your target market patronize the product or service you are offering in your new business. Before you can make profits, you must first identify your target market and know what they really need or want. This is one important advantage of a business plan especially for those who are new in the business scenario. Once you identify what your target market really wants, you are most probably headed to indentifying the demand for the service or product you intend to offer. Identifying the demand for the product is also very important in launching a new venture because from this, you will know whether the service or product you are to offer is needed by the people. Of course, you cannot just think about your supplies and your suppliers. Those things will come after you determine the demand for your product. Aside from identifying the target market and the demand for the product or service, the advantages of a business plan also include assistance in designing your product that are appealing to the senses of the consumers. Since your purpose in developing a new venture is to make profit, the consumers’ senses are your main target. Designing your product is very important. It includes the packaging of the product and other advertising tools to make the people buy the product. This is also an important aspect of the business plan for it contributes a lot to the success of the business. Of course, if you are developing a â€Å"for-profit† business, making profit and paying debts will have to be included in your business plan. Aside from paying debts, your plan should also include measures on how to generate daily income. In this aspect, a business plan is very helpful because you already have your plans on how to manage the financial aspects of the business (which is one of the most important aspects). If you know exactly the financial path of what you are venturing, you are most likely to succeed in terms of profit. Another advantage of a business plan is that it makes the proprietor identify his competitors. When you have the knowledge about your competitors, you will be able to identify your competitive advantage over the competitor’s firm. Since you are developing a new business, it is important that you know exactly your edge in the business scenario over the others. If you have planned beforehand about your competitive advantage over the competitors, chances are, there will be product differentiation in the market. That is actually a good thing because it lessens competition within simi8lar firms. By analyzing your competitors, you will be able to create strategies that are effective even if there are many competitors in the market. A business plan is also advantageous because it enables us to indentify new product and service areas, and new or potential customers. In business, it is not only important to find the customers for some of them will not be loyal to your firm. It is hard to find new customers when you are just developing a new venture but it is much harder to retain them. The good thing about a business plan is that it helps the owner of the firm to identify potential customers. If it is hard for the owner to retain his customers, it would be very helpful to identify new or potential customers. In that way, at least, you will have your next resort. Lastly, an advantage of a business plan is that it allows the business owner to evaluate his business strategies and if his strategies are giving the desired results. What is good about a business plan is that it enables the owner to assess whether his strategies are effective or not. If he found out that his strategies are not effective enough to make the business succeed, he can immediately formulate new strategies to make the business succeed. As we all know, business strategies are very important, be it human resource, financial, etc. The business plan serves as a test for the formulated strategies and also serves as way to make room for improvement. If the owner finds out that there is something wrong with his first strategies, he will be able to change it right away and save his business from falling apart or incurring losses. Disadvantages Although we mentioned a lot of advantages in making business plans, it also has its drawbacks. If the owner is new in the world of business, he may not have all the business skills that a new venture requires. If he happens to be the one making his business plans, the business plan can be one way of identifying his weaknesses in dealing with business. If the owner is not used to making business plans, people who will look to it will find out the weaknesses of his business skills. Suppliers, investors, and lenders will most likely not to participate in the business when they find out that the person they are dealing with is not that skilled in business. Also, if the other stakeholders of the business find out that the person they are making arrangements with is not as skilled as they thought, they might not trust him with the success of the business. They might even plan to use his weaknesses or his business plan against him since they know that he is not a skillful businessman. Another disadvantage of a business plan is when it is not properly thought of. If the data in a business plan is not properly analyze, it may result to improper marketing decisions which will eventually have a bad effect on the business itself. Although a business plan helps a lot in making the business successful, it may also make the business fail if not done correctly. What makes it hard for a business to succeed is the impulsiveness of the business owners when it comes to decision making. Sometimes, the data in business plans are not analyzed properly that is why decisions are also made incorrectly. If the one who made the business plan is not a professional business consultant or is not really familiar with making a business plan, information can be interpreted incorrectly. The faulty interpretation of information can result to unrealistic financial projections. In a business, financial matters are very important that is why if financial statements are understated or overstated, it could greatly affect the business. If the information in the business plan is interpreted incorrectly, wrong decisions can be made. The owner can also make unrealistic projections about the financial aspects of the business which can cause further problems. This would greatly affect the future of the business. Since the business plan somewhat includes the mission and vision of the business, it would be a great problem if the business plan fails to make correct projections for the firm. If the business owner is not familiar with making business plans, he may opt to hire a business plan consultant. It is very advantageous actually since they offer quality service and they have been making business plans for many successful businesses. The disadvantage is that the service of these consultants is very expensive. Although they offer good service, it would cost you a lot. The money that can be added to your investment in the business will just go to the payment for the business consultant. If the business owner happens to be saving up for his new venture, he can resort to hiring an inexpensive business consultant which is not always good for the business. Sometimes, inexpensive consultants are not as good as the expensive ones. There are also some which uses software that makes business plans. They will just ask the owner of the business certain questions and then enter the information in the software they use. This will eventually lead to improper analysis of data and information in the business plan which will not do the business any good. Assessment of the Biz Air Plan Just by taking a look at the business plan’s executive summary, we can already have an idea that the financial projections are overstated. With only 6 aircrafts, their projected revenues were  £17.4 million. What I am trying to point out here is that what they are trying to build is an airline company and not just a convenient store or a clothing company. There were statements in the executive summary that seem to understate the losses in the first year. They even projected that there would be a 12% improvement in profits in the company’s second year and a long term 16% of sales in the third, fourth, and fifth year. Aside from wrong financial projections, I find the business plan full of assumptions.   For example, in the part where in they conducted customer analysis, they chose to conduct the study during lunchtime and interviewed people who dress like a business person. In other words, they just assumed that if a person is in corporate attire, he or she could be a potential customer since they assumed that he or she is a businessperson. There is also a part in the paper in which it is stated that â€Å"as long as the flights are not delayed, the post experience evaluation should be favourable.† I find this very assuming because it is not only the delay of the flight that affects on whether the customer will or will not like the new airline company. The satisfaction of the customer does not rest solely on the factor that their flight is on time. Factors such as cleanliness, safety, or the friendliness of the staff also affect the satisfaction of the customer. It is also mentioned in the business plan that through satisfying customers (that is in terms of not delaying their flights), they will serve as salesmen for the airline company who will try to suggest the company’s service to other people. I find this a little idealistic for business does not just go that way. Business does not only succeed through word of mouth. When they said that the customers will serve as the salesmen for the airline company, it gave me the impression that they were already assuming that the delay of the flight solely determines customer satisfaction which would later on result to advertising the company. It is very idealistic since they were sort of assuming that all the satisfied customers will endorse their company. Another thing that I found very disturbing about the paper is its being overconfident about the services it offers. Of course it is very important that you have confidence in the business that you are putting up but not to the point that you will sound boasting about your business that has not even tried by the people. You can see this in the part where in they discuss the advertising of the service. They mentioned that they are just going to advertise through newspapers and billboards near airports. I have nothing against that idea, actually. But you don’t have to say that you do not have to advertise in televisions because you are sure that once the news broke, there would be much television publicity that will come out. I think it will seem very unprofessional for those who will take a look at the business plan. Potential investors will have the impression that they are dealing with unprofessional people. Lastly, there are several faulty analysis and incorrect financial projections which can be the main cause of the failure of the business. Reference: 2004. Creating Your Business Plan. [Online]. Available: http://www.nvbdi.org/howto/biz_plan.php.   [29 July 2007] BELLIS, M. 2007. Creating A Marketing Plan for the Independent Inventor. [Online]. Available: http://inventors.about.com/od/licensingmarketing/a/tutor_marketing.htm. [29 July 2007] 2001. Approaches to Writing A Business Plan. [Online]. Available: http://www.caycon.com/plan_options.php. [28