HMS Warrior (1860) in the Royal Navy

HMS Warrior (1860) in the Royal Navy HMS Warrior  -  General: Nation: Great Britain Builder: Thames Ironworks Shipbuilding Co. Ltd. Laid Down: May 25, 1859 Launched: December 29, 1860 Commissioned: August 1, 1861 Decommissioned: May 31, 1883 Fate: Museum ship at Portsmouth, England Specifications: Type: Armored Frigate Displacement: 9,210 tons Length: 418 ft. Beam: 58 ft. Draft: 27 ft. Complement: 705 Power Plant: Penn Jet-Condensing, horizontal-trunk, single expansion steam engine Speed: 13 knots (sail), 14.5 knots (steam), 17 knots (combined) Armament: 26 x 68-pdr. guns (muzzle-loading)10 x 110-pdr. Armstrong guns (breech-loading)4 x 40-pdr. Armstrong guns (breech-loading) HMS Warrior  -  Background: During the early decades of the 19th century the Royal Navy began add steam power to many of its ships and was slowly introducing new innovations, such as iron hulls, into some of its smaller vessels. In 1858, the Admiralty was stunned to learn that the French had commenced construction of an ironclad warship named La Gloire. It was the desire of Emperor Napoleon III to replace all of Frances warships with iron-hulled ironclads, however French industry lacked the capacity to produce the needed plate. As a result, La Gloire was initially built of wood then clad in iron armor. HMS Warrior  - Design and Construction: Commissioned in August 1860, La Gloire became the worlds first ocean-going ironclad warship. Sensing that their naval dominance was being threatened, the Royal Navy immediately commenced construction on a vessel superior to La Gloire. Conceived by Admiral Sir Baldwin Wake-Walker and designed by Isaac Watts, HMS Warrior was laid down at Thames Ironworks Shipbuilding on May 29, 1859. Incorporating a variety of new technology, Warrior was be a composite sail/steam armored frigate. Built with an iron hull, Warriors steam engines turned a large propeller. Central to the ships design was its armored citadel. Built into the hull, the citadel contained Warriors broadside guns and possessed 4.5 iron armor which was bolted onto 9 of teak. During construction, the design of the citadel was tested against the most modern guns of the day and none were able to penetrate its armor. For further protection, innovative watertight bulkheads were added to the vessel. Though Warrior was designed to carry fewer guns than many other ships in the fleet, it compensated by mounting heavier weapons. These included 26 68-pdr guns and 10 110-pdr breech-loading Armstrong rifles. Warrior was launched at Blackwall on December 29, 1860. A particularly cold day, the ship froze to the ways and required six tugs to pull it into the water. Commissioned on August 1, 1861, Warrior cost the Admiralty  £357,291. Joining the fleet, Warrior served primarily in home waters as the only dry dock large enough to take it was in Britain. Arguably the most powerful warship afloat when it was commissioned, Warrior quickly intimidated rival nations and launched the competition to build bigger and stronger iron/steel battleships. HMS Warrior - Operational History: Upon first seeing Warriors power the French naval attachà © in London sent an urgent dispatch to his superiors in Paris stating, Should this ship meet our fleet it will be as a black snake among rabbits! Those in Britain were similarly impressed including Charles Dickens who wrote, A black vicious ugly customer as ever I saw, whale-like in size, and with as terrible a row of incisor teeth as ever closed on a French frigate. A year after Warrior was commissioned it was joined by its sister ship, HMS Black Prince. During the 1860s, Warrior saw peaceful service and had its gun battery upgraded between 1864 and 1867. Warriors routine was interrupted in 1868, following a collision with HMS Royal Oak. The following year it made one of its few trips away from Europe when it towed a floating dry dock to Bermuda. After undergoing a refit in 1871-1875, Warrior was placed in reserve status. A groundbreaking vessel, the naval arms race that it helped inspire had quickly led to it becoming obsolete. From 1875-1883, Warrior performed summer training cruises to the Mediterranean and Baltic for reservists. Laid up in 1883, the ship remained available for active duty until 1900. In 1904, Warrior was taken to Portsmouth and renamed Vernon III as part of the Royal Navys torpedo training school. Providing steam and power for the neighboring hulks that comprised the school, Warrior remained in this role until 1923. After attempts to sell the ship for scrap in the mid-1920s failed, it was converted for use a floating oil jetty at Pembroke, Wales. Designated Oil Hulk C77, Warrior humbly fulfilled this duty for half a century. In 1979, the ship was saved from the scrap yard by the Maritime Trust. Initially led by the Duke of Edinburgh, the Trust oversaw the eight-year restoration of the ship. Returned to its 1860s glory, Warrior entered its berth at Portsmouth on June 16, 1987, and began a new life as a museum ship.

Definition and Examples of Dialect Leveling

Definition and Examples of Dialect Leveling In linguistics, dialect leveling refers to the reduction or elimination of marked differences between dialects over a period of time. Dialect leveling tends to occur when speakers of different dialects come into contact with one another for extended periods. Contrary to popular belief, theres no evidence that the mass media are a significant cause of dialect leveling. In fact, say the authors of Language in the U.S.A., there is considerable evidence that social dialect variation, especially in urban areas, is increasing.   Alternate Spellings: dialect levelling (UK) See Examples and Observations below. Also, see the following related terms: AccentCodificationEstuary EnglishKoineizationLanguage StandardizationReceived Pronunciation (RP)Regional DialectSpeech AccommodationStyle-Shifting Examples and Observations [D]ialect differences are reduced as speakers acquire features from other varieties as well as avoid features from their own variety that are somehow different. This may occur over several generations until a stable compromise dialect develops. -Jeff Siegel, Mixing, Levelling and Pidgin/Creole Development. The Structure and Status of Pidgins and Creoles, ed. by Arthur Spears and Donald Winford. John Benjamins, 1997Levelling, in this sense, is closely related to (indeed, results from) the social psychological mechanism of speech accommodation (Giles Powesland 1997; Trudgill 1986a:1-4), by which (provided mutual goodwill is present) interlocutors will tend to converge linguistically. In a situation (such as in a new town) where speakers of different, but mutually intelligible dialects come together, countless individual acts of short-term accommodation over a period of time lead to long-term accommodation in those same speakers (Trudgill 1986a:1-8). -Paul Kerswill, Dialect Levelling a nd Geographical Diffusion in British English. Social Dialectology: In Honour of Peter Trudgill, ed. by David Britain and Jenny Cheshire. John Benjamins, 2003) How Dialect Leveling Works New Zealand English, which was formed more recently than North American varieties, sheds some light on how dialect leveling works. Researchers there describe a three-stage process: the original settler generations kept their home dialects, the next generation chose somewhat randomly from all the linguistic options available, and the third generation leveled out the diversity in favor of the most frequent variant in most cases. Probably something similar happened in North America, centuries before dialectologists and tape recorders were around to document it. -Gerard Van Herk, What Is Sociolinguistics? Wiley-Blackwell, 2012 The Future of Dialects [A]ccording to Auer and colleagues, it is too early yet to tell if the internationalization of economic and administrative structures and the increase in international communication in present-day Europe will strengthen or weaken the traditional dialects (Auer et al. 2005: 36). For one thing, when no other variety is part of a speakers environment, accommodation is not an option. If urbanization is accompanied by the formation of ethnic or working-class enclave neighborhoods, traditional distinctions may be enforced through dense, multiple social networks (Milroy, 1987). Similar processes in the context of residential and educational segregation are responsible for the maintenance of substantial differences between the English of some African Americans and that of nearby whites. Furthermore, speech accommodation theory, as well as more recent adaptations of it (Bell 1984, 2001), also allow for the possibility of divergence as well as convergence. -Barbara Johnstone, Indexing the Loca l. The Handbook of Language and Globalization, ed. by Nikolas Coupland. Wiley-Blackwell, 20112 Americanisms in British English A phrase which has been ubiquitous in the past week is loved ones. Even Ian McEwan used it, in the elegy he wrote in this paper last Saturday. Loved One got currency in Britain in 1948, with Evelyn Waughs novella of that name. Waugh chose to be highly satirical about the American funeral industry and the obscene euphemisms (as he saw them) of its grief therapists. Mealy-mouthed, mercenary morticians disinclination to call a corpse a corpsethats what loved one connoted. For decades after Waughs blast, no writer of McEwans stature would have used loved one unless contemptuously and with anti-American intent. It still collocates mainly with American death. But its a striking example of dialect levelling (or linguistic colonialism) that its now in non-pejorative British usage. -John Sutherland, Crazy Talk. The Guardian, Sep. 18, 2001

Minimum Wage Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Minimum Wage - Essay Example Minimum wage increases as only a short-term benefit to the poor. Prices will quickly adjust for this increase as companies raise prices to make up for the increased wages they must pay. They need to keep profits the same or raise them...so a rise in employee wages will equate to a rise in prices. Supporters of living wage laws say that the current minimum wage simply does not keep up with the cost of living. Allowing employers to pay less than a living wage is just cost-shifting to the public at large, forcing the government and private charities to fill in the gap between low pay and survival. Many economists supports that the minimum wage is a matter of social justice which helps reduce exploitation and ensures that workers can afford basic necessities of living. Supporters deny claims of causal links between the minimum wage and adverse impacts upon employment, and suggest that in any event, greater social benefit derives from the minimum wage. Raising the minimum wages of employees increases the economic efficiency of the economy where labor markets exhibit a high degree of market power on the part of employers. As Kash explains, (Montag 51) "The minimum wage goes up in one place, but doesn't change right next door.

Cooks Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Cooks - Essay Example This brings about a further classification of cooks as recipes and various styles/techniques of food preparation will be interpreted differently and to some extent customized to suit personal tastes and preferences. Cooks will fall under different categories based on their mannerisms as they prepare various dishes in the comfort of their homes. In this case, mannerisms refer to habits such as using different cutting boards for meats and vegetables or different stirring spoons for every pot. A mother’s cooking will be affected by the fact that she is considered to be the one in charge of the family’s health. Also, one’s personality will affect their classification as a cook. For mothers, if one is a neat person they will clean up after themselves as they prepare their meals. On the contrary, there may be a cook that clutters the whole kitchen during the process of food preparation (Pope). Mothers will also be seen to measure ingredients instinctually; this means they may not follow a recipe to the letter rather they measure as they deem sufficient. Friends cooking will be determined by the reasons as to why they cook. They may fall under various categories where some cook because they simply enjoy it, some because they want to impress their peers, some because they need to try out a recipe and who better to serve as ‘guinea pigs’ than friends and lastly some cook because they are the ones that play the motherly role of taking care of everyone in the group. Finally, restaurants cooking will be determined by the industry and social standing it holds. This means that if it is a restaurant located in a five-star hotel, it will adopt technical methods of operation such as the French Brigade system that ensures effectiveness and efficiency in the kitchen (Culinary schools). On the other hand, a small-scale restaurant will share out duties among chefs who may be self-taught but under the mentorship of a trained chef. In conclusion, cooking is an art

Miss.Independent Essay Example for Free

Miss.Independent Essay Abstract We survey the phenomenon of the growth of ? rms drawing on literature from economics, management, and sociology. We begin with a review of empirical ‘stylised facts’ before discussing theoretical contributions. Firm growth is characterized by a predominant stochastic element, making it di? cult to predict. Indeed, previous empirical research into the determinants of ? rm growth has had a limited success. We also observe that theoretical propositions concerning the growth of ? rms are often amiss. We conclude that progress in this area requires solid empirical work, perhaps making use of novel statistical techniques. JEL codes: L25, L11 Keywords: Firm Growth, Size Distribution, Growth Rates Distribution, Gibrat’s Law, Theory of the Firm, Diversi? cation, ‘Stages of Growth’ models. ? I thank Giulio Bottazzi, Giovanni Dosi, Ha? da El-Younsi, Jacques Mairesse, Bernard Paulr? , Rekha Rao, e Angelo Secchi and Ulrich Witt for helpful comments. Nevertheless, I am solely responsible for any errors or confusion that may remain. This version: May 2007 †  Corresponding Author : Alex Coad, Max Planck Institute of Economics, Evolutionary Economics Group, Kahlaische Strasse 10, D-07745 Jena, Germany. Phone: +49 3641 686822. Fax : +49 3641 686868. E-mail : [emailprotected] mpg. de 1 #0703 Contents 1 Introduction 3 2 Empirical evidence on ? rm growth 2. 1 Size and growth rates distributions . . . . 2. 1. 1 Size distributions . . . . . . . . . . 2. 1. 2 Growth rates distributions . . . . . 2. 2 Gibrat’s Law . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2. 2. 1 Gibrat’s model . . . . . . . . . . . 2. 2. 2 Firm size and average growth . . . 2. 2. 3 Firm size and growth rate variance 2. 2. 4 Autocorrelation of growth rates . . 2. 3 Other determinants of ? rm growth . . . . 2. 3. 1 Age . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2. 3. 2 Innovation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2. 3. 3 Financial performance . . . . . . . 2. 3. 4 Relative productivity . . . . . . . . 2. 3. 5 Other ? rm-speci? c factors . . . . . 2. 3. 6 Industry-speci? c factors . . . . . . 2. 3. 7 Macroeconomic factors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 4 4 5 9 9 11 14 15 18 18 19 23 25 26 28 29 3 Theoretical contributions 3. 1 Neoclassical foundations – growth towards an ‘optimal size’ . . . . 3. 2 Penrose’s ‘Theory of the Growth of the Firm’ . . . . . . . . . . . 3. 3 Marris and ‘managerialism’ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3. 4 Evolutionary Economics and the principle of ‘growth of the ? tter’ 3. 5 Population ecology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 31 32 34 35 38 . . . . . . . 39 39 40 43 44 45 46 49 5 Growth of small and large ? rms 5. 1 Di? erences in growth patterns for small and large ? rms . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5. 2 Modelling the ‘stages of growth’ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 51 53 6 Conclusion 56 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Growth strategies 4. 1 Attitudes to growth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4. 1. 1 The desirability of growth . . . . . . . . . . . 4. 1. 2 Is growth intentional or does it ‘just happen’ ? 4. 2 Growth strategies – replication or diversi? cation . . . 4. 2. 1 Growth by replication . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4. 2. 2 Growth by diversi? cation . . . . . . . . . . . . 4. 3 Internal growth vs growth by acquisition . . . . . . . 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . #0703 1 Introduction The aim of this survey is to provide an overview of research into the growth of ? rms, while also highlighting areas in need of further research. It is a multidisciplinary survey, drawing on contributions made in economics, management and also sociology. There are many di? erent measures of ? rm size, some of the more usual indicators being employment, total sales, value-added, total assets, or total pro? ts; and some of the less conventional ones such as ‘acres of land’ or ‘head of cattle’ (Weiss, 1998). In this survey we consider growth in terms of a range of indicators, although we devote little attention to the growth of pro? ts (this latter being more of a ? nancial than an economic variable). There are also di? erent ways of measuring growth rates. Some authors (such as Delmar et al. , 2003) make the distinction between relative growth (i. e. the growth rate in percentage terms) and absolute growth (usually measured in the absolute increase in numbers of employees). In this vein, we can mention the ‘Birch index’ which is a weighted average of both relative and absolute growth rates (this latter being taken into account to emphasize that large ? rms, due to their large size, have the potential to create many jobs). This survey focuses on relative growth rates only. Furthermore, in our discussion of the processes of expansion we emphasize positive growth and not so much negative growth. 1 In true Simonian style,2 we begin with some empirical insights in Section 2, considering ? rst the distributions of size and growth rates, and moving on to look for determinants of growth rates. We then present some theories of ? rm growth and evaluate their performance in explaining the stylised facts that emerge from empirical work (Section 3). In Section 4 we consider the demand and supply sides of growth by discussing the attitudes of ? rms towards growth opportunities as well as investigating the processes by which ? rms actually grow (growth by ‘more of the same’, growth by diversi? cation, growth by acquisition). In Section 5 we examine the di? erences between the growth of small and large ? rms in greater depth. We also review the ‘stages of growth’ models. Section 6 concludes. 2 Empirical evidence on ? rm growth To begin with, we take a non-parametric look at the distributions of ? rm size and growth rates, before moving on to results from regressions that investigate the determinants of growth rates. 1 2 For an introduction to organizational decline, see Whetten (1987). See in particular Simon (1968). 3 #0703 2. 1 Size and growth rates distributions A suitable starting point for studies into industrial structure and dynamics is the ?rm size distribution. In fact, it was by contemplating the empirical size distribution that Robert Gibrat (1931) proposed the well-known ‘Law of Proportionate E? ect’ (also known as ‘Gibrat’s law’). We also discuss the results of research into the growth rates distribution. The regularity that ? rm growth rates are approximately exponentially distributed was discovered only recently, but o? ers unique insights into the growth patterns of ? rms. 2. 1. 1 Size distributions The observation that the ? rm-size distribution is positively skewed proved to be a useful point of entry for research into the structure of industries. (See Figures 1 and 2 for some examples of aggregate ? rm size distributions. ) Robert Gibrat (1931) considered the size of French ? rms in terms of employees and concluded that the lognormal distribution was a valid heuristic. Hart and Prais (1956) presented further evidence on the size distribution, using data on quoted UK ? rms, and also concluded in favour of a lognormal model. The lognormal distribution, however, can be viewed as just one of several candidate skew distributions. Although Simon and Bonini (1958) maintained that the â€Å"lognormal generally ? ts quite well† (1958: p611), they preferred to consider the lognormal distribution as a special case in the wider family of ‘Yule’ distributions. The advantage of the Yule family of distributions was that the phenomenon of arrival of new ? rms could be incorporated into the model. Steindl (1965) applied Austrian data to his analysis of the ? rm size distribution, and preferred the Pareto distribution to the lognormal on account of its superior performance in describing the upper tail of the distribution. Similarly, Ijiri and Simon (1964, 1971, 1974) apply the Pareto distribution to analyse the size distribution oflarge US ? rms. E? orts have been made to discriminate between the various candidate skew distributions. One problem with the Pareto distribution is that the empirical density has many more middlesized ? rms and fewer very large ? rms than would be theoretically predicted (Vining, 1976). Other research on the lognormal distribution has shown that the upper tail of the empirical size distribution of ? rms is too thin relative to the lognormal (Stanley et al. , 1995). Quandt (1966) compares the performance of the lognormal and three versions of the Pareto distribution, using data disaggregated according to industry. He reports the superiority of the lognormal over the three types of Pareto distribution, although each of the distributions produces a best-? t for at least one sample. Furthermore, it may be that some industries (e. g. the footwear industry) are not ? tted well by any distribution. More generally, Quandt’s results on disaggregated data lead us to suspect that the regu4 #0703 larities of the ? rm-size distribution observed at the aggregate level do not hold with sectoral disaggregation. Silberman (1967) also ? nds signi? cant departures from lognormality in his analysis of 90 four-digit SIC sectors. It has been suggested that, while the ? rm size distribution has a smooth regular shape at the aggregate level, this may merely be due to a statistical aggregation e? ect rather than a phenomenon bearing any deeper economic meaning (Dosi et al, 1995; Dosi, 2007). Empirical results lend support to these conjectures by showing that the regular unimodal ? rm size distributions observed at the aggregate level can be decomposed into much ‘messier’ distributions at the industry level, some of which are visibly multimodal (Bottazzi and Secchi, 2003; Bottazzi et al. , 2005). For example, Bottazzi and Secchi (2005) present evidence of signi? cant bimodality in the ? rm size distribution of the worldwide pharmaceutical industry, and relate this to a cleavage between the industry leaders and fringe competitors. Other work on the ? rm-size distribution has focused on the evolution of the shape of the distribution over time. It would appear that the initial size distribution for new ? rms is particularly right-skewed, although the log-size distribution tends to become more symmetric as time goes by. This is consistent with observations that small young ? rms grow faster than their larger counterparts. As a result, it has been suggested that the log-normal can be seen as a kind of ‘limit distribution’ to which a given cohort of ? rms will eventually converge. Lotti and Santarelli (2001) present support for this hypothesis by tracking cohorts of new ? rms in several sectors of Italian manufacturing. Cabral and Mata (2003) ? nd similar results in their analysis of cohorts of new Portuguese ? rms. However, Cabral and Mata interpret their results by referring to ? nancial constraints that restrict the scale of operations for new ? rms, but become less binding over time, thus allowing these small ?rms to grow relatively rapidly and reach their preferred size. They also argue that selection does not have a strong e? ect on the evolution of market structure. Although the skewed nature of the ? rm size distribution is a robust ? nding, there may be some other features of this distribution that are speci? c to countries. Table 1, taken from Bartelsman et al. (2005), highlights some di? erences in the structure of industries across countries. Among other things, one observes that large ? rms account for a considerable share of French industry, whereas in Italy ? rms tend to be much smaller on average. (These international di? erences cannot simply be attributed to di? erences in sectoral specialization across countries. ) 2. 1. 2 Growth rates distributions It has long been known that the distribution of ? rm growth rates is fat-tailed. In an early contribution, Ashton (1926) considers the growth patterns of British textile ? rms and observes 5 US 86. 7 69. 9 87. 9 16. 6 5. 8 Western Germany 87. 9 77. 9 90. 2 23. 6 11. 3 78. 6 73. 6 78. 8 13. 9 17. 0 France Italy 93. 1 87. 5 96. 5 34. 4 30. 3 74. 9 8. 3 UK Canada Denmark 90. 0 74. 0 90. 8 30. 2 16. 1 92. 6 84. 8 94. 5 25. 8 13. 0 Finland Netherlands 95. 8 86. 7 96. 8 31. 2 16. 9 86. 3 70. 5 92. 8 27. 7 15. 7 Portugal Source: Bartelsman et al. (2005: Tables 2 and 3). Notes: the columns labelled ‘share of employment’ refer to the employment share 6 26. 4 17. 0 33. 5 10. 5 12. 7 13. 3 13. 0 6. 5 16. 8 Total economy 80. 3 39. 1 32. 1 15. 3 40. 7 40. 5 30. 4 27. 8 18. 3 31. 0 Manufacturing 21. 4 11. 5 35. 7 6. 8 12. 0 12. 7 9. 9 5. 3 11. 4 Business services Ave. No. Employees per ? rm of ? rms with fewer than 20 employees. 20. 6 33. 8 12. 1 46. 3 33. 4 33. 0 41. 9 39. 8 Business services Total economy Manufacturing Share of employment (%) Business services Total economy. Manufacturing Absolute number (%) Table 1: The importance of small ? rms (i. e. ?rms with fewer than 20 employees) across broad sectors and countries, 1989-94 #0703 #0703 1 Pr 1998 2000 2002 0. 1 0. 01 0. 001 1e-04 -4 -2 0 s 2 4 6 Figure 1: Kernel estimates of the density of ?rm size (total sales) in 1998, 2000 and 2002, for French manufacturing ? rms with more than 20 employees. Source: Bottazzi et al. , 2005. Figure 2: Probability density function of the sizes of US manufacturing ? rms in 1997. Source: Axtell, 2001. that â€Å"In their growth they obey no one law. A few apparently undergo a steady expansion.. . With others, increase in size takes place by a sudden leap† (Ashton 1926: 572-573). Little (1962) investigates the distribution of growth rates, and also ? nds that the distribution is fat-tailed. Similarly, Geroski and Gugler (2004) compare the distribution of growth rates to the normal case and comment on the fat-tailed nature of the empirical density. Recent empirical research, from an ‘econophysics’ background, has discovered that the distribution of ? rm growth rates closely follows the parametric form of the Laplace density. Using the Compustat database of US manufacturing ? rms, Stanley et al. (1996) observe a ‘tent-shaped’ distribution on log-log plots that corresponds to the symmetric exponential, or Laplace distribution (see also Amaral et al. (1997) and Lee et al. (1998)). The quality of the ? t of the empirical distribution to the Laplace density is quite remarkable. The Laplace distribution is also found to be a rather useful representation when considering growth rates of ? rms in the worldwide pharmaceutical industry (Bottazzi et al. , 2001). Giulio Bottazzi and coauthors extend these ? ndings by considering the Laplace density in the wider context of the family of Subbotin distributions (beginning with Bottazzi et al., 2002). They ? nd that, for the Compustat database, the Laplace is indeed a suitable distribution for modelling ? rm growth rates, at both aggregate and disaggregated levels of analysis (Bottazzi and Secchi 2003a). The exponential nature of the distribution of growth rates also holds for other databases, such as Italian manufacturing (Bottazzi et al. (2007)). In addition, the exponential distribution appears to hold across a variety of ? rm growth indicators, such as Sales growth, employment growth or Value Added growth (Bottazzi et al. , 2007). The growth rates of French manufacturing ? rms have also been studied, and roughly speaking a similar shape was observed, although it must be said that the empirical density was noticeably fatter-tailed than the Laplace (see Bottazzi et al. , 2005). 3 3 The observed subbotin b parameter (the ‘shape’ parameter) is signi? cantly lower than the Laplace value of 1. This highlights the importance of following Bottazzi et al. (2002) and considering the Laplace as a special 7 #0703 1998 2000 2002 1998 2000 2002 1 prob. prob. 1 0. 1 0. 01 0. 1 0. 01 0. 001 0. 001 -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 -2 -1. 5 -1 conditional growth rate -0. 5 0 0. 5 1 1. 5 2 conditional growth rate. Figure 3: Distribution of sales growth rates of French manufacturing ? rms. Source: Bottazzi et al. , 2005. Figure 4: Distribution of employment growth rates of French manufacturing ? rms. Source: Coad, 2006b. Research into Danish manufacturing ? rms presents further evidence that the growth rate distribution is heavy-tailed, although it is suggested that the distribution for individual sectors may not be symmetric but right-skewed (Reichstein and Jensen (2005)). Generally speaking, however, it would appear that the shape of the growth rate distribution is more robust to disaggregation than the shape of the ?rm size distribution. In other words, whilst the smooth shape of the aggregate ? rm size distribution may be little more than a statistical aggregation e? ect, the ‘tent-shapes’ observed for the aggregate growth rate distribution are usually still visible even at disaggregated levels (Bottazzi and Secchi, 2003a; Bottazzi et al. , 2005). This means that extreme growth events can be expected to occur relatively frequently, and make a disproportionately large contribution to the evolution of industries. Figures 3 and 4 show plots of the distribution of sales and employment growth rates for French manufacturing ?rms with over 20 employees. Although research suggests that both the size distribution and the growth rate distribution are relatively stable over time, it should be noted that there is great persistence in ? rm size but much less persistence in growth rates on average (more on growth rate persistence is presented in Section 2. 2. 4). As a result, it is of interest to investigate how the moments of the growth rates distribution change over the business cycle. Indeed, several studies have focused on these issues and some preliminary results can be mentioned here. It has been suggested that the variance of growth rates changes over time for the employment growth of large US ? rms (Hall, 1987) and that this variance is procyclical in the case of growth of assets (Geroski et al. , 2003). This is consistent with the hypothesis that ? rms have a lot of discretion in their growth rates of assets during booms but face stricter discipline during recessions. Higson et al. (2002, 2004) consider the evolution of the ? rst four moments of distributions of the growth of sales, for large US and UK ?rms over periods of 30 years or more. They observe that higher moments of the distribution of sales growth rates have signi? cant cyclical patterns. In case in the Subbotin family of distributions. 8 #0703 particular, evidence from both US and UK ? rms suggests that the variance and skewness are countercyclical, whereas the kurtosis is pro-cyclical. Higson et al. (2002: 1551) explain the counter-cyclical movements in skewness in these words: â€Å"The central mass of the growth rate distribution responds more strongly to the aggregate shock than the tails. So a negative shock moves the central mass closer to the left of the distribution leaving the right tail behind and generates positive skewness. A positive shock shifts the central mass to the right, closer to the group of rapidly growing ? rms and away from the group of declining ? rms. So negative skewness results. † The procyclical nature of kurtosis (despite their puzzling ? nding of countercyclical variance) emphasizes that economic downturns change the shape of the growth rate distribution by reducing a key parameter of the ‘spread’ or ‘variation’ between ? rms. 2. 2 Gibrat’s Law. Gibrat’s law continues to receive a huge amount of attention in the empirical industrial organization literature, more than 75 years after Gibrat’s (1931) seminal publication. We begin by presenting the ‘Law’, and then review some of the related empirical literature. We do not attempt to provide an exhaustive survey of the literature on Gibrat’s law, because the number of relevant studies is indeed very large. (For other reviews of empirical tests of Gibrat’s Law, the reader is referred to the survey by Lotti et al (2003); for a survey of how Gibrat’s law holds for the services sector see Audretsch et al. (2004). ) Instead, we try to provide an overview of the essential results. We investigate how expected growth rates and growth rate variance are in? uenced by ? rm size, and also investigate the possible existence of patterns of serial correlation in ? rm growth. 2. 2. 1 Gibrat’s model Robert Gibrat’s (1931) theory of a ‘law of proportionate e? ect’ was hatched when he observed that the distribution of French manufacturing establishments followed a skew distribution that resembled the lognormal. Gibrat considered the emergence of the ?rm-size distribution as an outcome or explanandum and wanted to see which underlying growth process could be responsible for generating it. In its simplest form, Gibrat’s law maintains that the expected growth rate of a given ? rm is independent of its size at the beginning of the period examined. Alternatively, as Mans? eld (1962: 1030) puts it, â€Å"the probability of a given proportionate change in size during a speci? ed 9 #0703 period is the same for all ? rms in a given industry – regardless of their size at the beginning of the period. † More formally, we can explain the growth of ? rms in the following framework. Let xt be the size of a ? rm at time t, and let ? t be random variable representing an idiosyncratic, multiplicative growth shock over the period t ? 1 to t. We have xt ? xt? 1 = ? t xt? 1 (1) xt = (1 + ? t )xt? 1 = x0 (1 + ? 1 )(1 + ? 2 ) . . . (1 + ? t ) (2) which can be developed to obtain It is then possible to take logarithms in order to approximate log(1 + ? t ) by ? t to obtain4 t log(xt ) ? log(x0 ) + ? 1 + ? 2 + . . . + ? t = log(x0 ) + ?s (3) s=1 In the limit, as t becomes large, the log(x0 ) term will become insigni? cant, and we obtain t log(xt ) ? ?s (4) s=1 In this way, a ? rm’s size at time t can be explained purely in terms of its idiosyncratic history of multiplicative shocks. If we further assume that all ? rms in an industry are independent realizations of i. i. d. normally distributed growth shocks, then this stochastic process leads to the emergence of a lognormal ? rm size distribution. There are of course several serious limitations to such a simple vision of industrial dynamics. We have already seen that the distribution of growth rates is not normally distributed, but instead resembles the Laplace or ‘symmetric exponential’. Furthermore, contrary to results implied by Gibrat’s model, it is not reasonable to suppose that the variance of ? rm size tends to in? nity (Kalecki, 1945). In addition, we do not observe the secular and unlimited increase in industrial concentration that would be predicted by Gibrat’s law (Caves, 1998). Whilst a ‘weak’ version of Gibrat’s law merely supposes that expected growth rate is independent of ?rm size, stronger versions of Gibrat’s law imply a range of other issues. For example, Chesher (1979) rejects Gibrat’s law due to the existence of an autocorrelation structure in the growth shocks. Bottazzi and Secchi (2006a) reject Gibrat’s law on the basis of a negative relationship between growth rate variance and ? rm size. Reichstein and Jensen (2005) reject Gibrat’s law 4 This logarithmic approximation is only justi? ed if ? t is ‘small’ enough (i. e. close to zero), which can be reasonably assumed by taking a short time period (Sutton, 1997). 10 #0703after observing that the annual growth rate distribution is not normally distributed. 2. 2. 2 Firm size and average growth Although Gibrat’s (1931) seminal book did not provoke much of an immediate reaction, in recent decades it has spawned a ? ood of empirical work. Nowadays, Gibrat’s ‘Law of Proportionate E? ect’ constitutes a benchmark model for a broad range of investigations into industrial dynamics. Another possible reason for the popularity of research into Gibrat’s law, one could suggest quite cynically, is that it is a relatively easy paper to write. First of all, it has been argued that there is a minimalistic theoretical background behind the process (because growth is assumed to be purely random). Then, all that needs to be done is to take the IO economist’s ‘favourite’ variable (i. e. ?rm size, a variable which is easily observable and readily available) and regress the di? erence on the lagged level. In addition, few control variables are required beyond industry dummies and year dummies, because growth rates are characteristically random. Empirical investigations of Gibrat’s law rely on estimation of equations of the type: log(xt ) = ?+ ? log(xt? 1 ) + (5) where a ? rm’s ‘size’ is represented by xt , ? is a constant term (industry-wide growth trend) and is a residual error. Research into Gibrat’s law focuses on the coe? cient ?. If ? rm growth is independent of size, then ? takes the value of unity. If ? is smaller than one, then smaller ? rms grow faster than their larger counterparts, and we can speak of ‘regression to the mean’. Conversely, if ? is larger than one, then larger ? rms grow relatively rapidly and there is a tendency to concentration and monopoly. A signi?cant early contribution was made by Edwin Mans? eld’s (1962) study of the US steel, petroleum, and rubber tire industries. In particular interest here is what Mans? eld identi? ed as three di? erent renditions of Gibrat’s law. According to the ? rst, Gibrat-type regressions consist of both surviving and exiting ? rms and attribute a growth rate of -100% to exiting ? rms. However, one caveat of this approach is that smaller ? rms have a higher exit hazard which may obfuscate the relationship between size and growth. The second version, on the other hand, considers only those ?rms that survive. Research along these lines has typically shown that smaller ? rms have higher expected growth rates than larger ? rms. The third version considers only those large surviving ? rms that are already larger than the industry Minimum E? cient Scale of production (with exiting ? rms often being excluded from the analysis). Generally speaking, empirical analysis corresponding to this third approach suggests that growth rates are more or less independent from ? rm size, which lends support to Gibrat’s law. 11 #0703 The early studies focused on large ? rms only, presumably partly due to reasons of data availability. A series of papers analyzing UK manufacturing ? rms found a value of ? greater than unity, which would indicate a tendency for larger ? rms to have higher percentage growth rates (Hart (1962), Samuels (1965), Prais (1974), Singh and Whittington (1975)). However, the majority of subsequent studies using more recent datasets have found values of ? slightly lower than unity, which implies that, on average, small ? rms seem to grow faster than larger ? rms. This result is frequently labelled ‘reversion to the mean size’ or ‘mean-reversion’. 5 Among a large and growing body of research that reports a negative relationship between size and growth, we can mention here the work by Kumar (1985) and Dunne and Hughes (1994) for quoted UK manufacturing ? rms, Hall (1987), Amirkhalkhali and Mukhopadhyay (1993) and Bottazzi and Secchi (2003) for quoted US manufacturing ? rms (see also Evans (1987a, 1987b) for US manufacturing ? rms of a somewhat smaller size), Gabe and Kraybill (2002) for establishments in Ohio, and Goddard et al. (2002) for quoted Japanese manufacturing ? rms. Studies focusing on small businesses have also found a negative relationship between ? rm size and expected growth – see for example Yasuda (2005) for Japanese manufacturing ? rms, Calvo (2006) for Spanish manufacturing, McPherson (1996) for Southern African micro businesses, and Wagner (1992) and Almus and Nerlinger (2000) for German manufacturing. Dunne et al. (1989) analyse plant-level data (as opposed to ? rm-level data) and also observe that growth rates decline along size classes. Research into Gibrat’s law using data for speci? c sectors also ? nds that small ? rms grow relatively faster (see e. g. Barron et al. (1994) for New York credit unions, Weiss (1998) for Austrian farms, Liu et al. (1999) for Taiwanese electronics plants, and Bottazzi and Secchi (2005) for an analysis of the worldwide pharmaceutical sector). Indeed, there is a lot of evidence that a slight negative dependence of growth rate on size is present at various levels of industrial aggregation. Although most empirical investigations into Gibrat’s law consider only the manufacturing sector, some have focused on the services sector. The results, however, are often qualitatively similar – there appears to be a negative relationship between size and expected growth rate for services too (see Variyam and Kraybill (1992), Johnson et al. (1999)) Nevertheless, it should be mentioned that in some cases a weak version of Gibrat’s law cannot be convincingly rejected, since there appears to be no signi? cant relationship between expected growth rate and size (see the analyses provided by Bottazzi et al. (2005) for French manufacturing ? rms, Droucopoulos (1983) for the world’s largest ? rms, Hardwick and Adams (2002) for UK Life Insurance companies, and Audretsch et al. (2004) for small-scale Dutch services). Notwithstanding these latter studies, however, we acknowledge that in most cases a negative relationship between ? rm size and growth is observed. Indeed, 5 We should be aware, however, that ‘mean-reversion’ does not imply that ? rms are converging to anything resembling a common steady-state size, even within narrowly-de? ned industries (see in particular the empirical work by Geroski et al. (2003) and Ce? s et al. (2006)). 12 #0703 it is quite common for theoretically-minded authors to consider this to be a ‘stylised fact’ for the purposes of constructing and validating economic models (see for example Cooley and Quadrini (2001), Gomes (2001) and Clementi and Hopenhayn (2006)). Furthermore, John Sutton refers to this negative dependence of growth on size as a ‘statistical regularity’ in his revered survey of Gibrat’s law (Sutton, 1997: 46). A number of researchers maintain that Gibrat’s law does hold for ? rms above a certain size threshold. This corresponds to acceptance of Gibrat’s law according to Mans? eld’s third rendition, although ‘mean reversion’ leads us to reject Gibrat’s Law as described in Mans? eld’s second rendition. Mowery (1983), for example, analyzes two samples of ? rms, one of which contains small ? rms while the other contains large ? rms. Gibrat’s law is seen to hold in the latter sample, whereas mean reversion is observed in the former. Hart and Oulton (1996) consider a large sample of UK ? rms and ? nd that, whilst mean reversion is observed in the pooled data, a decomposition of the sample according to size classes reveals essentially no relation between size and growth for the larger ? rms. Lotti et al. (2003) follow a cohort of new Italian startups and ? nd that, although smaller ? rms initially grow faster, it becomes more di? cult to reject the independence of size and growth as time passes. Similarly, results reported by Becchetti and Trovato (2002) for Italian manufacturing ? rms, Geroski and Gugler (2004) for large European ? rms and Ce? s et al. (2006) for the worldwide pharmaceutical industry also ? nd that the growth of large ? rms is independent of their size, although including smaller ? rms in the analysis introduces a dependence of growth on size. It is of interest to remark that Caves (1998) concludes his survey of industrial dynamics with the ‘substantive conclusion’ that Gibrat’s law holds for ? rms above a certain size threshold, whilst for smaller ? rms growth rates decrease with size. Concern about econometric issues has often been raised. Sample selection bias, or ‘sample attrition’, is one of the main problems, because smaller ? rms have a higher probability of exit. Failure to account for the fact that exit hazards decrease with size may lead to underestimation of the regression coe? cient (i. e. ?). Hall (1987) was among the ? rst to tackle the problem of sample selection, using a Tobit model.

Conventional Plastic Films vs Sustainable Films Essay -- Environment,

Sustainability has become and important issue in the world as the Green Movement continues to gain popularity. One area where research is being conducted to find a more sustainable production process is plastic films. Plastic films are defined as a packaging material, usually less than ten mils (a mil is 0.001 inch) in thickness, with an average of 0.7–1.5 mils, that can be used as a bag or wrapper. They are composed of a broad range of materials, which can be simple or complex depending on what a particular product or package demands (Osborn & Jenkins, 1992). There are two main categories of films used in packaging, conventional films and sustainable films. Conventional plastic films are much more widely used and have a larger market than sustainable films. The film can be made with different resins, each of which have unique structures and are ideal for specific applications. The films can be clear or colored, printed or plain, single- or multilayered and are often combined with other materials such as aluminum and paper. Examples of plastic films usages include Ziploc bags, trash bags, grocery sacks, drycleaner bags, and plastic wrap. The only common characteristic of all plastic conventional film is that it is flexible in nature. The most common resin used to create these plastic film packages is low-density polyethylene (LDPE). As a film LDPE has decent clarity, is a good moisture and gas barrier, and it can be heat sealed while retaining its strength and flexibility. Polypropylene (PP) is also a common resin used to create plastic film. It has an excellent moisture barrier, good transparency, gloss, and tensile strength. The PP resin also has a high melting point, which makes it appropriate for packages that need to be st... ...petroleum, which has been around for significantly longer and has a strong hold on the market. As sustainability continues to become an emerging concern for consumers bio-plastics will grow in importance in the packaging industry. Similar to auto companies who are searching for alternative sources of energy for automobiles, chemical companies are searching for alternatives to manufacture of plastic materials (Perkins & Lindsay, 2011). We have a limited supply of fossil fuels and ate the rate plastic products such as film are being produced and consumed each year, it is hard to say how long they will last. Bio-plastics currently represent only a small fraction of the emerging area of sustainable development, but their usage is growing. There is great potential for bio-plastics as replacements for the less-sustainable fossil fuel based plastics used in plastic film.

Office Visit Essay

DHL is known for its reputation and service throughout the world. Major online vendors like Amazon. com and Barnes & Nobles as well as several other industries employ DHL speed post service to deliver their items and couriers to their clients. It has been an immense pleasure to visit one of their branch offices and the layout of their work as well as their office has certainly been impressive. As time becomes more and more precious in the world of today, people are willing to invest into time-saving services. DHL has undoubtedly been one of them. Several industries involved in marketing and sales on a global basis employ their services due to the reputation it holds in the industry. From receiving express packages and couriers to sending express packages and couriers, DHL has been well-known for its reputation in the express mail and courier facility and its reliability for quality service. Though its major task has most commonly been linked with the express mail task, the DHL industry spreads itself into various other industrial sectors as well such as audio visual and telecommunications, electronics telecom, enterprise computer systems, fashion and fashion solutions, global automotive solutions, pharma/healthcare and semiconductors. DHL presents an amazing work history. Founded by Adrian Dalsey, Larry Hillbolm and Robert Lynn from their last names (DHL), DHL was established in the year 1969 via first express route that started from San Francisco to Honolulu, the success of DHL didn’t just stop there. Serving as a foundation for innovative ideas, DHL was the first in its industry to provide documentation prior to the arrival of the cargoes that rushed the route of importing of goods. Due to its reliable express service, it began to gain its recognition in the industry and this also initiated to expand its routes from Hawaii and Far East to as far as the Middle East. By 1988, DHL could be found in more than 170 countries and employing more than 16,000 employees in its firm. DHL offers a lucrative career for those involved in the sales and marketing field. The career options are many, including part-time as well as freelance. While the current estimate of the number of people hired is difficult; as of 2005 statistics, DHL had employed more than 110,000 employees in more than 200 countries (DHL, 2007). In the current office visit, there were around 50 employees assisting in the tasks involved in delivery and customer service, the head of whom. It mainly dealt with dealing calls from customers and answering several queries with respect to the orders placed by their company. The office layout is impressive. Designed into several cubicles, this structure ensured proper space for each employee to work in giving them their privacy (Martin, 2001). However, there are a few disadvantages linked with such kind of architecture. I’d prefer the DHL team to work without walls. The recent article on office cubicles and the joy of employees related to the demise of the cubicles is a proof enough to show that though cubicles grants privacy, it is not the best structure for offices to work effectively (Lotozo, 2006) In cubicles, we have walls separating one employee from another thereby giving privacy but in today’s management, the best way to work is to work in teams. This requires the employees to work together and of course, without the presence of walls. As Marilyn S. Burroughs in her article entitled, â€Å"Work spaces that work: designing high performance offices† states, â€Å"The future will see more teams that function as amoebae – expanding and contracting, blurring both the center and the boundaries. Teams will be disposable, sometimes lasting only several hours; they’ll be wholly elastic, coming in all sizes, and people will slip in and out of them instantly. And office designs will accommodate these ever changing teams: Flexibility, spontaneity, and the need to be fluid applies to the physical environment as well as to work processes†¦ The growth of teams is helping to eliminate functional silos and to flatten organizations because teams require faster, clearer, more direct, and more spontaneous communication. Teaming requires a less-structured atmosphere, one that is much more informal, participatory, and flexible† (Burroughs, 1996). The other section of the DHL department contained the packages that were delivered by trucks to the office (the office visited was one of the DHL branch present in my city) and the packages were neatly arranged according to their localities in the storage room. Each package was handled carefully by each employee as they are responsible for the proper delivery of the package and any harm to the courier package would mean refunds from the customer from the firm responsible for the courier. The type of workload that DHL handles varies from customer service (attending calls, queries and even e-mailing that involves the use of computers) to handling courier packages. An attendant is always ready at hand to answer any queries for visitors and the work space ensures that the customer is comfortable. Though the office is divided into cubicles, a comfortable space for the customers has been designed. The space has sofas and is moderately lit. The marketing strategies of DHL have been extremely successful in yielding business on a global basis and its success has been evident since its inception. As of recent, DHL won the contract from RE/Max network. It was a multimillion dollar agreement with the company that has a network from over 60 countries with 119,000 franchises. The company will now employ DHL services for express and international shipping (Business Wire, 2007). The winning of the multimillion contracts itself is a proof of its successful marketing and contract strategies. The business has been successful since the year of its inception. DHL, of recent, employs more than 300,000 employees throughout the world. The online tool that helps in the shipping tracking on an every-day basis has been extremely useful for many customers who wish to monitor their packages. Furthermore, the DHL merged with the Deutsche Post Euro Express (that is the leading postal provider in Germany and Europe) thereby giving DHL the access to an extensive reliable road network through Europe for business and private clients (Business Wire, 2006). Therefore, the kind of offices that DHL requires is the one that assists with the needs of the employees and the customers. Since there are many vendors and merchants who have partnered with DHL, an office specifically addressing the company inquiries plays a vital role. The future plans of the DHL are many, one of which has been stated by the Deutsche Post Euro Express is the employment of robots. Hermann Franck, the DHL master mind calls this as the â€Å"Cinderella feature† where he states, â€Å"Developers also plan to integrate RFID technology into the parcel robot. The idea is simple. With transponders placed on parcels and the robot being equipped with a reading device, the machine could identify the contents of the parcel during the gripping process. â€Å"The robot would be able to pick through the parcels, just like Cinderella picking through the ashes to find the lentils,† explains DHL’s mastermind Hermann Franck. The idea is not to put â€Å"the bad into the crop†, as the fairytale goes, but to sort the parcels according to specific destination criteria, for instance† (Deutsche Post World Net, 2007). As DHL continues to expand itself in various areas, it comes with new ideas as well. The DHL Company has an innovation center that addresses the needs of customers and becoming their first choice as well. DHL has been continuously involved in evolving itself technologically and keeps itself in pace with the current events and machines that would facilitate in the development of the company in every way. The modern architecture of today plays a vital role in the successes of such companies. While the DHL office visit truly gave an insight into a company’s goals, aspirations and statuses, the business architecture is worth appraising. A business architecture, as stated by the BPM institute is, â€Å"comprehensive framework used to manage and align an organization’s business processes, Information Technology (IT) software and hardware, local and wide area networks, people, operations and projects with the organization’s overall strategy† (BPMinstitute. org, 2007). The DHL office is equipped with the latest tracking software with internet availability. The company has also been rigorous in performing regular checks on technology where it employs the latest to aid in the innovative express service that it offers to its customers. The business has been steadily growing and every year, it has marked a progress by improving its technology on a yearly basis. Today, the trend of information architecture plays a vital role in the businesses and thus, the successes of the businesses mainly rely on what kind of information architecture has been or is being used by the business. As Judith Lamont in her article, â€Å"Setting the stage for success- information architecture earns performance kudos from customers† states, â€Å"Information architecture is the process of organizing and structuring information so that it is logical in design and presentation. It establishes categories and relationships among different pieces of information. It defines metadata schemes, navigation and search interfaces. Good architecture not only helps users find information, but also facilitates updating content by having clear rules for adding new information. And its effects show tip on the bottom line with surprising speed when users can get what they need in just a few clicks† (Lamont, 2003). The basic structure that DHL uses is the information architecture. However, it also implements the enterprise architectural strategy in order to expand its business further. Every business’s architecture plays a vital role in its success as it acts like a blue print for transformation and technology modernization. In the current office visit, I found that due to the high success rates, the employees are happy to serve their satisfied clients in every way they can. Therefore, they create a premise that works efficiently in creating a comfortable and good office environment for workers as well as customers. The DHL Company has been found to work with good working ethics and therefore, if there were any further improvements that could be suggested to this company, it could be on the basis of the enterprise architecture where it can satisfy the workers and the clients to a greater extent than it does today. The DHL incorporates seven cultures in its company where it believes that employing highly talented people in its office actually boosts the status of being a responsible global corporate. Furthermore, it strives to deliver excellent quality and fosters openness. The company also acknowledges its social responsibility as well as strives to act in an entrepreneurial manner. This makes the company look professional and therefore, is the key success to all its ventures. Since it abides by the seven corporate cultures identified, the employees abide by it acknowledging its essence in the industry. Regular training and rewards are given to employees who perform well in their work. The DHL Company also believes that it is through its seven corporate cultures that it poses a stiff competition for its competitors. The benefits of enterprise architecture have been proved efficient in the world of today. If DHL wants to pursue its interests and expansions further, it should acknowledge the essence of enterprise architecture and therefore, as R. Suter in his article entitled, â€Å"Securing strategic benefit from enterprise architecture† states, â€Å"Enterprise architecture enables the transformation of organizations into efficient users of capital, be it human/intellectual, organizational, or technical. It does so by identifying capability and resource requirements of the agency mission before resources are committed to development, thereby minimizing the risk of costly rework and schedule overruns; identifying reuse; and streamlining opportunities for technologies, processes, procedures, and information assets. During subsequent development, architecture also enables the management of out-of-scope changes which, however meritorious, would derail subsequent modernization efforts† (Suter, 2007). The proper framework of any organization helps in the building of a successful business and therefore, only a proper architecture that updates and aligns itself with the business policies of today can assure that the business can be successful. Management itself is considered a part of architecture that ensures that there is a continuous development. DHL’s business plans have been consistent and successes have been evident. The fact that it provides excellent client and customer service is the reason why many companies prefer to deal with DHL though some of its prices may seem high compared to its competitors. DHL maintains itself by sustaining its ties through its sustaining program where it helps sustain environment (which is a social responsibility), economic performance (by promoting sustainable economic development), people and communities (by providing employment opportunities) and many more. It helps in the continuous development of talents for its employees by offering employment training and development programs. Thus, an employee working with DHL is continuously updated and its corporate values help in maintaining a fair attitude towards its employees. The ethical understanding of the DHL Company is evident through its sustaining programs that highlight on equal opportunities and also promotes general health promotion campaigns followed by providing an ideal management program that rewards the efficient and hardworking employees (DHL International, 2007). Maintaining such a network has helped DHL to advance further and I believe the management style of DHL is absolutely efficient in delivering success to its members and thus, is well managed. As DHL further undergoes expansion, it is evident that there is a scope for further additions to its offices throughout the world and if any recommendation is to be offered, I believe it would be asking the DHL to comprehend the significance of software architecture in the world of today. Basically, it is just a blue print for constructing new products and therefore, as DHL aims to be innovative in its methods (thereby providing satisfactory service to its clients and customers); an expansion into the software architectural strategy would be a wonderful addition. The easy part about the software architecture would be that it wouldn’t require any installations but would products based on software architecture are installed. The role of software architectural strategy is to account for the entire development of the product that is normally done by various sectors such as building and configuring. Since several sectors of DHL deal with several aspects of technology, the software architectural strategy would provide a fundamental base for the development of new products with innovative ideas (Sanders, 1992). This is the IBM’s Distributed Data Management Architecture and is meant for distributed application a service which is similar to the one we encounter in DHL Company. This would only serve as an innovative step for the DHL to proceed further in order to satisfy the clients and customers it sustains in its database.

Ap Us History American Colonies Essay

Hello and welcome to the exciting world that is Advanced Placement United States History. You are now a member of an elite group: students who dare to take on an exceptionally challenging course. The risks are great, but then so are the potential gains. We will take on this challenge together and when you are done, you will be justifiably proud of yourself. This course is a one-year class designed to allow the student a head start on college level work, improve writing skills, sharpen problem solving techniques, and develop study habits necessary for rigorous course work. This course is equivalent to a one semester introductory (freshman) level college U.S. history. This summer’s assignment comes as a result of the time constraints placed on us all in covering the immense content in APUSH over nine months. To allow for more an in depth study of the various periods of American History, it is necessary to cover the first 350 years of history during the summer, individually, with some exceptionally readable non-fiction histories. You will be tested over the material covered in American Colonies when you return to school in August. The assigned reading is: †¢ Taylor, Alan, † American Colonies: The Settling of North America†, Part I Encounters: CH 1-5 pp. 3-113, Part II Colonies: CH 6-12, pp. 117-272, and Part III Empires: CH 13 – 19 pp. 275 – 480. THE â€Å"AMERICAN COLONIES† BOOK SHOULD BE PICKED UP FROM MY CLASSROOM (#20) BY WEDNESDAY, MAY 19TH. THE COST OF THE BOOK WILL BE BILLED TO YOU. Read the book carefully. As you read, follow the instructions for the book analysis on pages 3-7 of this document. AMERICAN COLONIES: THE SETTLING OF NORTH AMERICA Alan Taylor READING & NOTE-TAKING GUIDE As you read, you will take notes of crucial information to be described below. You are encouraged to highlight and/or underline key passages in the book and to annotate the text for your future reference. The first unit  that we will investigate in the fall semester is about the American Colonies. This corresponds to Chapters 1 – 6 in the textbook, Out of Many. You will find this book, American Colonies, by Alan Taylor, a helpful supplement to the textbook. And, as you study the textbook in the fall semester, you will identify some conflicting ideas regarding the historical significance of some events. This can serve as food for, and illustrations of, the thought processes that will help you to be successful in your study of this course. As you read Part II, identify and take notes about the following information for each colony and colonial group: †¢ The name of the colony †¢ The founding country †¢ The date on which it was founded †¢ The name(s) of the founder(s) †¢ Why it was founded †¢ The type of colony it was (royal, proprietary, etc.) †¢ Difficulties after founding: both in the short- and long-term. This includes conflicts within the colony as well as outside of the colony. †¢ Any changes in type (self-rule to royal, etc.) Also, as you read, write down any words that you do not know and, periodically, look up their definitions or meanings in a dictionary. A successful AP US History student will always have a good collegiate dictionary at his/her disposal. During thesecond week of school you will be tested on this material. Focus Questions: As you read, consider the following focus questions to help guide your reading. In thinking about colonial development, consider the political, economic, and social structure of each colonial region. Further, consider the factors that influenced the relations with the Native Americans in each colonial region. 1. How did religion shape the development of the New England colonies? 2. What role did geography and tobacco play in the development of the Chesapeake? 3. Analyze and compare and contrast family life in New England. Pay attention to the role of women. 4. Why did the first major slave rebellion, the Stono Rebellion, take place in the Carolinas? 5. How did the fur trade and religion shape the development of New France? 6. In what ways did conquest, religion, and geography interact in the Spanish colonies of the American Southwest? Directions: Students are to read carefully both books. Each chapter will have a set of questions/list of topics for which short answer responses will be asked to probe for understanding. Since this assignment is done on MICROSOFT WORD, the student need only to load the file on the computer and then bring it up on the computer screen where they can provide answers based upon what is asked for in the question. The goal is not to fish for a specific answer(s), but to ask the student probing questions for a critical understanding of what the questions are asking. Short analytical quotes are permissible; however, we do not want the student to copy the material directly from the book. It should be written in the student’s own voice as a summary of understanding. Chapter 1: Natives: 1. Pre-Columbian America is â€Å"fraught with controversy.† What were these conflicts? Some writers depict Pre-Columbian Americans as ecological and social saints that lived in harmony with each other and nature. However due to the mythology of European colonizers, some writers believe that the Indians were warlike savages with a primitive culture. 2. What are Taylor’s three ideas which he argues about migration? North and South America were the last continents occupied by people. Siberia to Alaska offered the readiest passage from the Old World to the New World. The period from 15,000 and 12,000 years ago was an ideal time from crossing into North America. 3. In the New World, Old world explorers encountered complex and diverse peoples. Who were these New World people? Where were they? What was left of the Hohokam was encountered by Spanish explores in the sixteenth century. These Natives lived in the hills and along the rivers in what is now southern Arizona. 4. How did some natives’ culture demand less of the environment than that of other natives? Some Natives stayed in one area which depleted the soil and wild game. Other Natives moved from place to place following their food supply. Chapter 2: Colonizers: 1. Why does Taylor makes a big issue over environmentalism? The environment worked to the European’s benefit because it gave them a whole new supply of natural resources. However, the environmental revolution worked against the native peoples and caused their population to decrease. 2. What caused the expansion of Europe—and why? The expansion of Europe was caused by the population explosion in the seventeenth and eighteenth century that was made possible by imported food plants developed by the Indians. The increase in population traveled to settle the Americas. 3. What were the two major religions of the age of expansion? How do they come to impact the new world? The two major religions were European Christianity and those of the Muslim faith. The competition between the Muslims and the Christians was about trade to Asia. By trying to find and alternate route to Asia, the Christians explored the Atlantic which ultimately led them to the discovery of the New World. 4. Why is the Atlantic Ocean such a central vital environmental concern for the colonizers? The Atlantic Ocean was much stormier and harder to navigate than the shallow seas that the Europeans were accustomed to. 5. Once across the Ocean, what were contributions of the colonizers to the New England area? The colonizers cleared the land for planting and grazing, but the biggest impact was the epidemics they brought to the native peoples that caused them to die in great numbers. 6. What does Taylor say about slavery in the new world? The colonists enslaved the people to work on sugar plantations, and the colonists justified their actions by saying that slavery would ultimately save the Indians’ souls from hell. 7. How significant was Renaissance science and technology for the colonizers? The discoveries of the New World launched new interest in science and technology which the colonists later benefitted from. Chapter 3: New Spain. Using short paragraphs, summarize Taylor’s assessment of the following: 1. Conquests: In the sixteenth century, the Spanish colonized parts of the North and South America and the Caribbean. Due to their fear of the Spanish Empire, the French, Portuguese, English, and the Dutch attempted to take some of the colonized land from the Spanish. The Spanish also raided Central America where they took slaves who told them about the riches of the Aztec Empire. The greatest advantage that the Spanish had in their conquests was the various diseases that they unintentionally passed on to the Indians. 2. Conquistadores: Conquistador expeditions were private and led by independent military contractors for profit. They usually had a license from the crown which gave the country a portion of any treasure claimed by the conquistador. The overriding trait for a conquistador was greed. Also,  conquistadores believed that anything they did was acceptable because they forced pagans to accept Christianity and Spanish rule. 3. Consolidation: The Spanish crown feared the conquistadores had too much power to rule New Spain. The crown also thought that they killed or enslaved too many Indians who might have become Christians and tax paying subjects. Eventually, many leading conquistadores died fighting each other or were forced into retirement by the crown. 4. Colonists: During the sixteenth century, about 250,000 Spanish immigrated to the Americas. People from all social classes went, but the middle classes skilled artisans dominated. Women rarely emigrated which resulted in the men taking wives among the Indians. This mixing resulted in a castas social system. 5. Empire: The center of the Spanish Empire consisted of Mexico and Peru. The American Empire was divided into two large administrative regions called viceroyalties. They were governed by a viceroy that was appointed by the king. The viceroyalty of New Spain was made of Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean islands. Peru included all of South America except Portuguese Brazil. 6. Gold & Silver: Mexico and Peru produced a large amount of gold and silver. Between 1500 and 1650, the Spanish shipped about 181 tons of gold and 16,000 tons of silver from America to Europe. While this seemed like a good idea at first, it actually led to economic inflation. This eventually led to the decline of the Spanish military and economy during the seventeenth century. Chapter 4: â€Å"The Spanish Frontier†: 1. How and why does Florida became the focus of Spain? Florida becomes the focus of Spain because so many Spanish ships hauling royal revenue were attacked off of Florida’s coast. To combat this, the Spanish crown established a fortified colony along the Atlantic coast of Florida. 2. Spain reaches west to New Mexico—use of the Adelanto system. Who was Onate? He was the viceroy who was given the job of founding the colony of New Mexico. He founded New Mexico among the Pueblo people who he greatly exploited and eventually massacred, maimed, and enslaved. He was eventually found guilty of adultery and abusing Indians and colonists. 3. What significance can be attached to New Mexico Missions? Franciscans. By 1628, the friars had fifty missions in the Rio Grande Valley. These churches had thousands of converts. 4. What was the Pueblo Revolt, how did it begin and what happen to cause the fanaticism? After years of on and off conflict with the governors and the Franciscans, the Pueblo vented their rage by destroying missions, farms, and ranches. The Pueblos in the uprising made a special point to desecrate churches and mutilate the corpses of priests. Chapter 5: Canada & Iroquoia [a shift in geography, a new culture, and very different group of Native Americans] 1. What were the two major Native American cultural groups? How were they distinct? Algonquian and Iroquian. These two groups of Indians were distinct because of their cultures and languages. 2. The key for economic development was the fur trade of New France. Why was that so? Fur trading by the Europeans and Natives made them mutually dependent on each other. 3. How and why did trade develop? Discuss. The French traders developed alliances with the Northern Algonquians and later the Hurons of the Iroquian culture. 4. How did the fur trade operate in its widest applications Fur trading with the Indians began when the Indians exchanged furs with the colonists fishing at Newfoundland. The Indians desired shiny beads and copper, while the colonists highly valued furs. Due to overhunting in Europe, furs were scarce and very expensive. 5. Analyze and characterize The Five Nations. Who were they? The Five Nations Iroquois lived in large, fortified hilltop villages. The women farmed large fields that fed the young men so that they could go to war. They could travel long distances to launch raids against many enemies. 6. What impact did old world disease have upon new world natives? Between 1633 and 1635, smallpox and measles killed half of the Iroquois population. 7. How important was the formation and development of Dutch trade system & involvement? It led to a situation in which the Iroquois and the French needed each other as enemies in order to maintain the Dutch traders at Fort Orange. 8. In the new world the French brought the militant Jesuits to catholicize the new world. Did it work? It did not work. The Iroquois eventually killed or ran off all of the Jesuit priests and their converts. Chapter 6: Virginia: 1570-1650 1. How did English colonization differ from that of the Spanish and French? What was a later outcome of this difference? English colonization was different from the colonization of the Spanish and the French because the English colonized the mid-Atlantic seaboard. The French and Spanish believed that this area was too cool for tropical crops but too warm for the best furs. This colonization led the colonists to the discovery of the prime commodity of tobacco in 1616. Tobacco permitted an explosive growth in population, territory, and wealth. 2. How did Sir Walter Raleigh characterize the relationship between trade and power? Ralegh believed that whoever commanded trade was the lord of the world’s wealth. 3. What was the role of Roanoke? Roanoke was established because the island was buffered by dangerous shoals and long sandbanks. Because of the island’s location, the English believed that Roanoke promised obscurity from Spanish discovery and attack. 5. Who were the â€Å"sturdy beggars†? Sturdy beggars were English peasants who had been made homeless and unemployed by increased agricultural productivity and national wealth. This occurred because of a loss of common lands formally worked by the peasants. 6. Who was Powhatan? What is the character of the Native Americans in the area? Powhatan was the paramount chief of about 24,000 Indians that were divided into thirty tribes. These Indians were united by an Algonquian language. These Native Americans were distinct because of the mobile way of life and the way that they divided tasks along gender lines. 7. What was the importance of tobacco cultivation? Tobacco allowed the colonists to produce a commodity that consumers would pay high prices for in England. 7. What was the â€Å"headright† system? If a man could pay his way over on a ship to Virginia, he would be given fifty acres of land and another fifty acres for every servant or relative whose way he also paid on the ship. Chapter 7: Chesapeake Colonies: 1650-1750 1. Who were the leaders of the Chesapeake colonies? Hard-driving merchants and planters of the middle class claimed the highest offices in the Chesapeake colonies. 2. Who were the workers in the Chesapeake colonies prior to 1676? The workers in the colonies were indentured servants who were now planters  and their families. The successful planters consolidated to form large plantations which forced newly freed servants to become tenant farmers or move to the frontier. 3. What were the frustrations of freedmen, and to where did they move? The freedmen either had to become tenant farmers, or they had to move to the frontier where they later had problems with Indians. 4. Characterize Governor Berkeley. He spoke against Virginia’s economic addiction to tobacco. He felt that the people under his rule were so desperately poor that they might decide to team up with the Indians to raid the colony to better themselves. Berkeley was well liked by the wealthiest colonists, and he gave the wealthy well paying public offices as well as other perks. 5. What was his policy toward Indians? Berkeley opposed killing off the Indians because it would end the profitable deer skin trade that he and his friends enjoyed. 6. Describe the rebellion led by Nathanial Bacon. Bacon led a group of elite planters who were upset with Berkeley and a rival group of planters who resented their lack of offices and other rewards. They gained support among the common planters and servants by promising to help them. They attacked the governor and his supporters and ran them out of Jamestown in September 1676. 7. How did the British Crown respond, and what happened to Governor Berkeley? The king said the Berkeley was â€Å"an old fool†, so he sent an army to restore order in Jamestown. Governor Berkeley and his supporters were run out of Jamestown in September 1676 by the attackers. 8. How did the Chesapeake planters respond to the declining supply of white laborers? Chesapeake planters turned to African slaves to replenish servants who had become too scarce and expensive to keep. 9. What, then, did the planters do in order to keep the slaves intimidated? How did they, then, treat the common white man? The planters formed a colonial militia made up of common white men to keep the slaves from rebelling. The planters no longer feared the common white man. 9. What colonies comprised the Chesapeake group? Virginia and Maryland. Chapter 8: New England: 1600-1700 1. Compare and contrast the settlers in New England with those in the Chesapeake colonies. Both colonies were generated due to the social and economic pressures within England. Unlike the Chesapeake colonists, the New England colonists were â€Å"middling sorts†. However, the Chesapeake colonists were poor and short-lived indentured servants. 2. What colonies comprised New England? New England was compromised of Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and New Hampshire. 3. What was the topography of New England? New England was very cold and rocky. There were also many seaports in the New England area. 4. Who were the principal early settlers in New England? The Puritans were the first people to settle in New England. They decided to leave the Church of England and have their own way of worshipping because they did not like the monarch’s religious aspects. They also came to share and preach the gospel to those who were lost. 5. Contrast labor and land ownership in New England with that in the Chesapeake colonies. The New England colonies granted land to mean who banded together to found a town, but the Chesapeake colonies’ leaders allocated land directly to wealthy individuals. In New England, the town was a local government which was fundamental to its politics. However, the Chesapeake colonies relied of the larger county. 6. Characterize the Puritans. What was their motivation in coming to the New World? What were the principal tenets of their religion? Faith and economics aspired the Puritans to come to the New World. The Puritans were angry with their Anglican rulers, and they thought that in New England they could purify their churches, supervise one another, and enact a code of laws derived from the Bible. The Puritans also believed that New England would allow them to have a fresh economic start. 7. Describe the Great Migration. John Winthrop was the promoter of the Great Migration. It was the most significant emigration of Puritans to the New England area. The colonists in the New England territory fared much better than the Virginia colonists. 8. How did the Puritans reconcile their religion with the profit motive? The Puritans first tried to make some money. To help in keeping the people calm, the Puritans started supervising one another, purifying their churches, and making many laws. They maintained peace and order throughout their towns. 9. Why were the Puritans concerned with a: Theocracy? Education? Morality? Where they as bad as contemporary writers have alleged? The Puritans wanted a theocracy because it was the study of God and religion. They wanted to spread the word of God throughout the entire world and having a theocracy would help them in that goal. Because the Puritans always wanted growth in their towns, they always sent their children to school to learn about their colony. 9. What were the principal trades in New England? (How did the people make their money?) New England used the fishing industries as their principal trade because their soil made it hard to grow crops. The Puritans learned to  tolerate the fishermen because they made large sums of money, even though they had no morals. Timber was also a good business for the Puritans. 9. What was the economic relationship between New England and the West Indies? The New England colonists took their timber and fish to the West Indies. They would in return get molasses, tobacco, and rum for their colony. They would sometimes also get servants to work on small plantations. 11. Characterize the Bible Commonwealth. The Bible Commonwealth believed that if they did good deeds for others that in return they would receive salvation and save others. They were against worshipping idols, breaking the Sabbath, practicing magic, and blaspheming. They also believed that they were the only people that were right. 12. What was the influence of Harvard University graduates on the Puritan hierarchy? The graduates were usually very important men that influenced their society in a positive manner. These men were also ministers of England. 13. Characterize Rhode Island. How did it influence Massachusetts and Connecticut? Rhode Island did not judge people by their looks or their background. They kept their state ideas and problems completely away from their church ideas and problems. Connecticut and Massachusetts did not look highly upon Rhode Island, but they were thankful for them when M&C had problematic people. 14. Why did New England ultimately fail as a â€Å"City upon a Hill?† New England ultimately failed because the English showed no interest in their colonies. To most people in England, the Puritan experiment seemed at best strange. New England also appeared irrelevant after the triumphant restoration of the monarchy in 1660. 15. Why was there such a flap over the Witchcraft Issue? Where did it  occur? People were frequently accused of witchcraft because most people did not feel safe with strange events that occurred around them. They believed that the strange things that happened had a supernatural meaning. Witchcraft took place in almost the entire New England area, but it mainly happened in Salem, Massachusetts and Virginia. Chapter 9: Puritans and Indians 1. List several concerns Taylor discusses in this chapter about the culture and contributions of the Natives The Natives did not waste their land at all. They planted only what was necessary for them to get through the winter and summer months. While the men would be out hunting animals, the women would tend to the fields. Colonists soon took over and took the Natives’ land away. However, the Natives supplied the colonists with tools in order to make a high profit. 2. What was the issue of property? What was meant by tribute? Were the natives exploited? Why? The colonists did not like that the Natives were wasting their land. The colonists made the Natives mad by clearing out the forests which made all of their game leave. Tribute was opportunities with trade between the Indians and the colonists. Yes, because the colonists took advantage of the Natives and gave them less than what they deserved. 3. Discuss the Pequot War. What were the important elements, and what was the result? The Pequot War was the first major battle between the Indians and the English. The Pequot War started in 1636. The war occurred because the colonists wanted more land, so they told the Indians to pay them in wampum. The colonists also wanted the Native children held as hostages. Only five natives were able to survive the war because the colonists set fire to the village. 4. Discuss King Philip’s War. What were the important elements, and what was the result? What type of war did it eventually become? King Philip’s War began because the colonists hung three Natives because they had allegedly killed a praying town Indian. A civil war soon broke out with Indians due to this. Since the Indian rebels ran out of food, they either had to join to other Indians or were killed. 5. What was the deal about â€Å"praying towns?† What did it purport to do? The purpose of praying towns was to do missionary work in a safer environment. Praying towns also kept the Indians under close supervision and pressured them to change religions. The main components of Praying towns were weak and small bands of Indians. The Indians had to give up their culture to become English. 6. What ultimate end came as victory, and yet, end in defeat? The Indians destroyed the colonist’s fields and towns. They made French raids throughout the years which caused much havoc for the English. As a result, the English came back taking all their towns and bringing new people with them. Chapter 10: The West Indies 1. What is Taylor’s motivation to have us explore the West Indies in this chapter? In order for colonists to be rich, every colony had to have a good export crop to support them. The leading export crop in the West Indies was sugar. Because of the price of sugar, many men became rich off of it. Slaves were often used in sugar plantations. 2. What significance doe Taylor attach to Barbados? Discuss. The unusual thing about Barbados is that there were pigs all over the island. They estimated that thousands of wild pigs roamed around the entire island. The pigs also supported the early colonists until they destroyed their herds by wasting them. 3. What is revealing to the reader from the map of the West Indies? Today, the West Indies are still predominately English speaking countries. However, many islands were discovered by the English Empire because they controlled trade. 4. Discuss the major demand for the use of slavery, from whence did it come and who benefited? Slaves were mainly used to work in the sugar plantations. A large number of workers were needed to cultivate all of the crops. Eventually convicts and criminals were sent to work as slaves on the plantations. This was the period that African American slaves began to come to the Americas. The English tradesmen benefited from slavery. 5. Taylor boldly declares that sugar was a rich man’s crop. Why? What demand did it have outside the western hemisphere? Why the need for commercialization and hence colonization? Although there was a big profit from sugar, it cost a lot of money to grow. Many rich men started sugar plantations because they required expensive machinery, technical knowledge, precise timing, and strenuous labor. Many colonists came to the West Indies to make a profit off of sugar because the English used it to sweeten their tea. 6. Discuss the planter aristocracy. Analyze the social strata for the West Indies population. The planters aristocracy was an elite group of gentlemen that made a large amount of money off of the plantations in the West Indies. Corporations that could not make it alone were often bought out by the aristocracy, who gave them more land. The social hierocracy was divided into three parts: the planter elite, the middle class planters, and the slaves. 7. Finally, what does Taylor have to say about the importance of Jamaica? What is his central argument? The Jamaicans welcomed the people that left Barbados. The new colonists eventually produced more sugar than ever before on the island of Barbados. Jamaica also held many refugee camps for maroons who in turn helped catch runaway slaves. Chapter 11: Carolina: 1670-1760 1. Who were the initial settlers of Carolina? The initial settlers of Carolina were a group of West Indies planters. They named Carolina after King Charles II, and they formed the colony during the 1670s. The colony was later governed by eight proprietors. 2. What was the purpose for the settlement of Carolina? The purpose of the settlement of Carolina was to become a big plantation settlement. It offered many possibilities for the farmers because the land in the Carolina was very fertile. 3. Characterize the topography of Carolina. Carolina had many coastal plains that had good fertile soil. It also had rivers that provided irrigation for the crops. The swamps in the Carolina area also helped the colonists in various ways. 4. Characterize the climate of Carolina. The summers in Carolina were very long and were hot and humid. Unlike the summers, the winters were short and cold. Because the Englishmen could not stand the hot summers, they usually went away for the humid summers. 5. What was the concern about interaction between the Indians and the slaves? The colonists were worried that the slaves and Indians would join together and team up against the colonists. The colonists knew that they would be defeated because their numbers could not compare to that of the slaves and Indians. 6. How did the leadership of Carolina go about keeping the Indians and the slaves separate? If the Indians caught a runaway slave, they were promised to be given a large amount of goods by the colonists. Therefore, the Indians were constantly looking for runaway slaves to get guns, ammunition, and clothes. 7. Where was rice grown in Carolina? Rice was planted in the wet lowlands of Carolina. The colonists attempted to plant the rice in a climate that was identical to west Africa. 8. Who taught the planters how to grow rice? The slaves from west Africa taught the colonists how to grow rice. 9. How much rice was grown in the first half of the 1700s? What was the effect of this rice on the economy? During the first half of the 1700s, there was forty-five million pounds of rice grown. Rice became the second largest exported plant in Europe . 9. What was a second valuable plantation crop? The second most valuable crop was indigo. Indigo was used as blue dye in the clothing factories in England. 10. How much did this crop increase in growth between 1750 and 1760? The crop increased approximately 437,000 pounds between 1750 and 1760. 11. What was the effect of working conditions and climate on slave mortality? Many slaves were worked to death. The mortality rate increased in Carolina because the climate was much hotter than that of the West Indies. 13. What else did the imported Africans introduce to Carolina? Who was affected by this disease? The Africans brought many diseases to Carolina that the Indians had never been exposed to. Malaria was by far the worst disease that was introduced to the Indians. Carolina planters were the main people that were affected by the diseases, but the Indians were also greatly affected. 14. What was the growing fear of the planters? Since the black slaves outnumbered the white planters, they were afraid that their slaves would team up against them and make a rebellion against the whole planter elite. 15. What actions did the planters take in response to this fear? Due to this fear, the planters kept the slaves as busy as possible. The planters also adopted the West Indies slave system, so the slaves were constantly watched and had cruel punishments. 16. What became a reality near Charles Town on the Stono River, and when? A real slave rebellion began on September 9, 1739. Seven plantations were burned, and their owners were killed. 17. Who were the founders of Georgia? British imperialists and Carolina officials. 18. What role does Oglethorpe play? He led the first group of colonists to Savannah, Georgia, and he was also the leader of the Georgia Trustees who was a group of social reformers interested in Georgia. He could have been known as the leader of Georgia. 19. How was the colony financed, and what was the significance of that? The colony was primarily funded by the crown and parliament. However, charitable donations were also made by various people. Georgia was the first colony funded by British taxpayers. 20. Compare and contrast land ownership in Georgia with the other Southern colonies, especially for the purpose of increasing the number of whites willing to work and capable of bearing guns. Georgia did not accept slavery at first and rejected using black men as slaves. However, the white ethnicity was still dominated. 21. Why does Taylor have a section in which he discusses the gun trade? Indians would listen and help the white settlers control their slaves, if the white men would trade them their guns. This made it easier on the settlers. 22. Who were the Raiders and what is revealed about these groups? The Raiders were Westo Indians who spoke the Iroquoian language. They originated from the Indians around Lake Erie. The Westo Indians eventually destroyed all of the Cusabo people. 23. What good reasons does Taylor have for discussing â€Å"terror† in the territory? Many white planters were scared that the slaves would rebel and kill all of them throughout all of the colonies. The European countries would be put in debt if all of the white planters were killed. Destruction was horrible when the slaves rebelled. 24. What were the main points of Georgia governing? The main governing power of Georgia was the Georgia Trustees. The crown and parliament also governed Georgia by funding every expense they had. 25. What characteristic did the low country of Georgia and South Carolina replicate? Georgia and Carolina replicated the West Indies plantation system. They also relied on slaves to work for them in their large agricultural businesses. 26. What is Taylor’s final conclusion about this area during this century? Georgia and Carolina provided many opportunities for the settlers, whether it was a settler that got a big piece of land or a small piece of land. Chapter 12: Middle Colonies: 1600 – 1700 1. What region did the English neglect during the early 17th Century? The English neglected the area between the New England colonies and the Chesapeake Bay colonies. 2. Describe the topography and climate of the mid-Atlantic region. Compare and contrast with New England and the Chesapeake. The land in the mid-Atlantic region was fertile, unlike the rock soil of New England. There were three major rivers that provided irrigation and fish. The Chesapeake colonies were also much more sickly than the mid-Atlantic regions. 3. Who took advantage of this neglect? The Swedes and the Dutch took advantage of the neglect, and this also led them to build small colonies in the Delaware and Hudson valleys. 4. How did England react to those who took advantage? At first, the English starting protesting, but later they could do nothing about it because they were very weak compared to the Dutch. The English became very jealous of the Dutch because the Dutch were becoming very wealthy. The English rose up in power and started trying to take back the middle colonies. 5. What was the progression of colonial types (royal, proprietary, etc.)? At first, they were propriety colonies because England had lacked dues when they were established. Once the crown grew back in wealth, they were able to turn back into royal colonies 6. Describe the event and result of the English naval squadron in 1664. The English wanted respect from the colonists, so they wanted to take the New Netherlands away from the Dutch. In the end the English were successful because the Dutch had to thin their population to save both the Delaware and Hudson valleys. 7. Characterize the Dutch Empire. The people from the Dutch Empire were very smart and tactful of doing things. Most of their profits came from the sugar industry unlike the other European nations. They always took care of what they had and took care of it precisely. 8. Make a list of Dutch ( New Netherland ) contributions to the area. The Dutch built New Amsterdam which became a large seaport for trading ships. They also founded the first colonies in the middle colonies. 9. Who did the Dutch welcome that were not welcome in most European realms? The Dutch welcomed the Jews into their realm. They also welcomed many different religions that weren’t looked upon from the European people. They were the most diverse in the religious outlooks. 10. What is the significance of the phenomenon of Dutch trading companies losing money? The Dutch trading companies losing money helped them get a bigger profit than before. It also helped establish the Dutch West Indies trading company. 11. What economic advantage did Dutch shippers enjoy? Who took advantage of this? The Dutch shippers received more profit then the English ships because the Dutch charged thirty-three percent less. The English took advantage of it. 12. Describe the Navigation Acts. What was the significance of these acts? The Navigation Acts were documents that stated only English exports could sell English ships. They were also not allowed to trade or sell with any European countries. The acts began because the Dutch was charging less, so they all sold stuff to them which made the Dutch Empire more rich than the English. 13. Highlight the events between the English and New Netherlands in 1664 and 1667. English people sent war ships to conquer the New Netherlands because the Dutch were getting too powerful. After the Dutch surrendered, the English gave the garrison to Virginia. A peace treaty was then made in 1667 where the Dutch gave the New Netherlands to the English. 14. What resulted from these events with regard to the Indian nations? The English traded with the Mohawk and Iroquoian Indians, instead of the Dutch. They also increased the prices of their goods in order to make the Indians pay more. When other Indians started to attach the Mohawk and Iroquoian Indians, the English refused to help. 15. What action did the Duke of York take in 1664? What resulted from this action? The Duke of York gave the lands between the Delaware and Hudson valleys to two men. Then they sold it to two other men which were English and Scottish Quakers. The colony of New Jersey was then split in half. The Scottish Quakers ruled the east part of Jersey, while the English Quakers ruled the west part. 16. What situation was New Jersey left in? The crown reunited New Jersey in 1702 because it was not doing well. New Jersey was also not nearly as powerful economically and agriculturally as its two powerful neighboring colonies. This left New Jersey in the shadows of their great strength and achievements. 17. Who founded Pennsylvania , and why? William Penn founded Pennsylvania because he had always wanted a large colony of his own. 18. Explain the factional divide that set the older, non-Quaker settlements against the more numerous and mostly Quaker newcomers. The Non-Quakers thought the Quakers ere not a real religion and they had no right to be known as a religion. The Quakers also did not support slavery. 19. What action did Penn take when he was unable to reconcile these two regions? Penn thought that it would be best to make the Quakers a real religion by the King of England. The king made the Quakers a true religion and the non-Quakers started accepting them better. 20. What is the status of religion in the Middle Colonies? What is the status of religious dissenters? The religion in the Middle Colonies was very diverse. They also accepted every type of religion, and they did not persecute anyone who thought differently. As you read Part III, identify and take notes about the following specific details: Chapter 13: Revolutions: 1685-1730 1. Who succeeded King Charles I? Characterize his dealings with the American colonies. King James II, often known as the Duke of York, succeeded King Charles I. he often called the American colonies, â€Å"cash cows.† King James II only worried about the money the people made and not the people themselves. He thought the people should do as he said and respect the crown. 2. What action did Massachusetts take in 1678? Massachusetts stated that they thought the English laws did not reach the American colonies. The king did not like this, so he revoked their charter. He also made up all the governors in the surrounding colonies in order to have complete control. 3. Who was the governor-general? Explain what he did. The governor-general was Sir Edmund Andros. He levied taxes which made the mother country receive more money than the needy colonies. He replaced puritan officers with Anglican officers and he also made sure the Puritan clergy did not receive a salary from the crown. 4. What significant claim did the Reverend John Wise make in 1678? What was the importance of this claim? What response did Andros make to this claim? Reverend John Wise rallied a group of people to oppose the new taxes enforced by Andros. He stated since they had the same rights as Englishmen then they could not have levied taxes against them. Andros’ response was they had left English rights behind when they crossed the Atlantic Ocean. 5. What action did the Dominion take to enforce the Navigation Acts? Why was this a particular hardship on the colonists? The Dominion established a vice-admiralty court that condemned at least six merchant ships. This made some of their money useless because they could only trade with Englishmen. 6. By what name were the supporters of William, the Dutch Prince of Orange known? What did they call for? The supporters were known as Whigs. The Whigs wanted a Glorious Revolution, which meant a united group of English people had to come together. Later, the Glorious Revolution happened. Chapter 14: The Atlantic : 1700 – 1780 1. What effect did the Navigation Acts have on the Chesapeake and the West Indies ? The Navigation Act ordered that the Chesapeake and West Indies export their sugar to England. They were given bills of exchange that allowed them not to have any debt, since they exported more than they imported. 2. What effect did a growing economy have on free colonists? The free colonists were taxed less than the English and obtained a better income than those in England. They were also allowed to have a higher standard of living that their counterparts in Europe. 3. Explain the effect that a larger disposable income had on free colonists. They were able to but farms and raise livestock to support themselves. It also enabled them to build houses at a cheaper price. Since they made a little bit of extra money, they were able to live a healthier life style. 4. How many slaves did the British colonies import during the 18th Century? One and a half million slaves were imported during the eighteenth century. 5. What was the mortality rate among new slaves in the Chesapeake colonies during the early 18th Century? Since the Chesapeake colonies were fed much better and healthier than those in the West Indies, they survived longer. 6. How did the number of African-born slaves compare to the number of American-born by the mid-18th Century? The African born were still overpowering the numbers of the American born. Chapter 15: Awakenings: 1700 – 1775 1. Identify 10 facts about religion and religious establishments in the colonies 1700 – 1775. The colonist were required to attend and pay a tax to an established church in the colonies. Congregationalist sustained an especially impressive establishment in New England, except for Rhode Island, the Congregationalist had the largest denomination. Also, the New English owns enforced a Sabbath that restricted activity to the home and church, if you got caught working, playing or traveling, you got fined. 2. Describe the results of denominational reconciliation between the late 1740s and 1772. When they attracted more listeners and training ministers, they got together to celebrate their victory. They also did not care about the religious radical, so they got together. 3. Who was George Whitfield? What is his contributions? George Whitfield, a young Anglican minister, helped develop an evangelical style of preaching at differences with the church of England. He also became the first celebrity seen and heard by many colonists. He traveled and told many people about God. He helped the printing press get revolutionized by getting his stories printed. 4. Discuss Old Lights vs. New Lights—who was what? The New Lights were those people who believed in the divine grace and the Old Light were those who were against the evangelical style of preaching. The Old Lights believes in structural spiritual preaching with completely no emotions, while the New Lights believed in Whitefield’s preaching methods. Chapters 16 – 19 using the following topics Taylor discusses, outline why they are historically significant and what impact they had on colonial development. Chapter 16—French in America [1650-1750] 1. Emigrants Started going to Canada, the fur trading company district for the French. In 1673, the government wanted to save money, so they stopped which caused emigrants to stop coming. The emigrants helped develop many new towns that enriched France. 2. Geography The winters in French America were extremely long and cold. The river they had was the ST. Lawrence, which was frozen a lot of the time, so voyages were much longer. The emigrants were usually very few because of these harsh conditions. 3. Opportunity When the French lived in France, they were poor, but if they stayed in Canada, they had a higher standard of living. They would hunt game for food. The wives were treated mush better in Canada than in England. The women were able to own land or even live as nuns in convents. 4. Authority Louis XIV ruled over everyone at his house without and parliament rulers. He appointed three rival officials, a governor, a general, a civil administrator and a Catholic bishop. Although they sometimes fought, they always performed a decent job of keeping the French colonies orderly. 5. The Upper Country The Upper Country was a land full of forests and lakes. They also das a middle ground solutions that states that neither Indians nor colonists could dominate each other. They set up small refugee camps, so when the Indians were in trouble they could find a place of refuge 6. Louisiana Sieur de La Salle established Louisiana for King Louis XIV. They traded guns, ammunition and furs with the Indians. He geography of Louisiana was a very wet, swampy area with very hot summers. Colonists who lived there cared more about their slaves because they cost more than the soldiers. 7. Rebels and Allies Louisiana was split into two distinctive settlements. The first was a small plantation with settlers. The second was an immense hinterland dominated by Indians. The Natchez people decided to kill many of the settlers because they went into their territory. 8. Dependence The crown pulled upper country posts because they were so tired of losing money. The Indians depended on the French for trade, so the French got stuck with them. The French sold goods for less than the English, so they did not help the English Empire. Chapter 17—The Great Plains [1680-1800] 1. Villagers and Nomads The Villagers lived along the rivers of the southern plains. One group of villagers spoke Siouan which consisted of the Mandan, Hidatsa, Omaha and Ponca. The others were Caddoan speakers. The villagers would walk far out into the plain twice a year to hunt buffalo. The Nomads also hunted buffalo, but when they ran out they would kill their dogs and eat them. 2. The Bread Basket of the World The Bread Basket of the World was when the Villagers and Nomads would plant different foods. They would sometimes plant rice, wheat, potatoes, manioc or maire to feed themselves. They would plant a lot at one time and save it for the winter months. 3. Genizaros Genizaros were captives that worked for New Mexicans or were sent to work in the silver mines. Whenever they were taken captive, they were usually children and usually never returned home. The children worked on ranches and often suffered sexual exploitation. After 1740, the free Genizaros got together and formed small communities. Later, they obtained land and served New Mexico as border guards. 4. Horses and guns Horses first evolved in North America before spreading eastward. They became extinct in North America for some time, but they then returned to North America as domesticated animals kept by Hispanic colonists. As the Great Plains people obtained horses, they also obtained firearms. The primary reason they wanted guns were to defend their villages and raid their enemies. However, they still used bows for hunting their buffalo. 5. Texas The French traders traveled the Great Plains during the eighteenth century to seek people to trade items with. The Wichita Pawnee villagers got better firearms than the mission Indians and raided the Apache and Pueblo for captives to sell. In 1716, the Spanish built new missions in east Texas, where the Caddo people lived. 6. Comanche and Apache The Comanche were the big winners, but the Apache were aggressively catching up to the Comanche. The Comanche soon acquired horses as they moved southeast onto the southern plains. The Comanche would often raid the Apache for horses, women, children and buffalo territory. 7. Bourbon Reforms New Mexico was saved by Spanish officials during the 1770s and 1780s. The reform was very slow at first, but it progressed very quickly under the leadership of Teodoro de Croix, military commander of the northern frontier, Bernardo de Galvez, viceroy of New Spain and Juan Bautista de Anza, governor of New Mexico. 8. The Northern Plains The Northern Plains completion was between the British and French traders. It cost the British much less to get across the Northern Plains than it did the French. London merchants set up fortified trading posts on the bay’s western shore. The traders were more of a help than a threat to the colonists. Chapter 18—Imperial Wars and Crisis [1739-1775]: 1. Renewed War The British began to realize the increasing wealth and power of France. The French Empire began to grow in the West Indies because of their sugar plantations. Instead of directly attacking the French, the British attacked France’s ally, the Spanish. The British attacked Spanish shipping, ports, and islands around the Caribbean in hopes of restoring British predominance. 2. Balance of Power Both English and French imperialists recognized in North America that the Indians determined the balance of military power. Because the Indians dominated the forests between the two empires, they could obstruct the advance of their colonial enemy and destroy settlements. The Indians held the ultimate power position between the French and British. 3. Seven Years War Peace did not last long in the New World. In Nova Scotia, the British built a navy base at Halifax in 1749 to counter nearby Louisburg. Alarmed, the French built two new forts at the Bay of Fundy, which the British resented as an intrusion on their colony. The Seven Years War formed because of the French and British overacting to local aggressions. 4. Indian Rebellions The collapse of New France began a series of problems for the Indians. They could no longer play the French and the British off against one another to maintain their own independence, maximize their presents, and ensure trade competition. Most colonial traders cheated and abused Indians in pursuit of immediate profit, which ultimately led to many rebellions. 5. Imperial Crisis The Imperial Crisis was primarily about the colonists not wishing to pay taxes levied by a parliament in England in which they were not represented. This happened even though they were already taxed far less than Britain that lived in England. The tax demands of the British also happened at the same time the economy of the colonists was in a postwar depression. 6. Empire of liberty At first, the colonists wanted to remain a part of the Empire of Great Britain because they had such a good deal. Only after Great Britain began to insist on new taxes did they consider independence. The colonists did not want a war, and they thought that Great Britain would back down. After winning independence, the new Americans spread across the continent to the west as their military pushed the Indians and the Hispanics out of the way. Chapter 19—The Pacific [1760- 1820] 1. Russians The Russians came eastward across Siberia because of hunting. They traded in western Europe and eventually China in exchange for porcelain, tea, and silk. The Russian traders, known as promyshlenniki, were well armed and came in large number to intimidate the Siberian native people. The Russians also exposed the Siberians to diseases and alcohol which caused their population to be devastated. 2. Transcontinentalism The Russians continued this system of terror and forcing natives to produce skins in the Aleutians and Alaska. They wanted to set up something like the Hudson’s Bay Company in Canada, but they were not able to do so. 3. Alta California By the 1760s, the Spanish learned about the Russians being in the Aleutians Islands and were worried that they would go further south and west. They were also worried that the British would cross the Great Plains to the Pacific Ocean. Therefore, they ordered the colonization of California. 4. Crossings The Spanish failed to colonize the Alta California area to much extent because they lacked horticulture, precious metals, and adobe towns that the Spanish considered necessary for conquests and missions. The mountainous coast also provided few well-sheltered harbors for shipping. 5. Missions The Spanish thought that the California Indian cultures were stupid and insensible. They thought of the Indians as children who needed to be rescued, baptized, and converted to Catholicism. 6. Islands The Pacific Islands were not explored by the Spanish until the early sixteenth century when Magellan discovered a western route into the Pacific through the strait named for him. After this, the Spanish established a colony at Manila in the Philippines. 7. Nootka During 1778, Captain Cook sailed along the northwest coast of North America while going between Hawaii and Vancouver Island. During this time, Cook spent a month at an inlet on Vancouver Island’s west coast. This was mistakenly called Nootka by Cook. The Natives actually named this place Yuquot. This place and people were referred to as Nootka from that time on. 8. Kamehameha During the 1780s and the 1790s, Chief Kamehameha became the dominant chief of the Hawaiian islands. He defeated the chiefs of the other islands and unified Hawaii under one ruler. 9. Conclusions: What are they The Spanish lost out in North America because they were more interested in Catholic converts than establishing economic strongholds. The dominant power on the Pacific Rim became the United States. The United States also dominated from the Atlantic west to California, bought Alaska from the Russian, and absorbed Hawaii in 1898. Grading of the written assignments 1. The responses to the questions will be graded on: clarity, comprehension and understanding of the material. Each answer to the questions must be in your own words. DO NOT COPY WORD FOR WORD FROM THE READINGS!!! . 2. This assignment is worth 100 points So, there it is: Your summer assignment for AP United States History. Due Date and Submission Requirements: This assignment is due on Monday, August 8, 2011. (Of course you may submit it earlier, which I strongly suggest. Don’t wait until the last minute!!!) You MUST submit this summer assignment to Mr. Porter via email. Make sure you send the assignment as an attachment. SAVE A COPY OF YOUR EMAIL IN YOUR EMAIL SENT ITEMS FOLDER. The attachment must be in â€Å"Microsoft Word† or â€Å"PDF† format in order for me to read your work. SAVE A COPY OF THIS ASSIGNMENT ON YOUR COMPUTER!!!!! You may submit this assignment to one of two email addresses: 1. mimlog@hotmail.com (preferred) 2. tjrules1743@hotmail.com (only if first address does not work) I will reply to your email informing you it was received. If you do not hear from me within 24 hours, email me again to ensure I received your assignment. Make sure your name is stated on the email. If for some reason you are unable to email this assignment, then you may bring it to school by August 9th and a member of the office staff will put it in my mailbox (only as a last resort). Any work received without your name on it will NOT be graded and will receive in a grade of zero!!!!!! If you have any questions regarding this assignment, please email me and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can. (DON’T WAIT UNTIL AUGUST 8th!!!). I will be out of town from 6/19-6/22 and 7/07-7/18, so plan accordingly if you have any questions. FAILURE TO SUBMIT THIS ASSIGNMENT BY THE DUE DATE WILL RESULT IN A ZERO GRADE (not a good way to start off the year!) Looking forward to seeing all of you on Friday August 12th !!!!!!!! Mr. Porter