Blog

How would you analyze the two perspectives on the environment? What is the primary responsibility of managers in conducting external analysis...

The two environments of an organization are the internal and external environment. The internal environment refers to employees' interactions with other employees and with management, the interaction of management with managers and board members, and the structure of the organization. External analysis includes an analysis of the competition, as well as other external factors such as the industry, the national environment, and the socioeconomic environment. An external analysis will often result in changes within an...

Managers frequently participate in the process of conducting an external analysis as part of an organization's strategic plan. The manager will participate in the external analysis by sharing knowledge about his or her area, and then the manager will consider factors known as Porter's Five Forces. These forces include the suppliers the manager works with; the buyers the manager works with; the competition, including figuring out potential economic, social, or technological threats from the competition; and predicting whether competition will emerge in the future.

One benefit of conducting an external analysis is that it is an efficient way to respond to the constantly changing, competitive environment in which an organization exists. It is necessary to constantly evaluate the competition so an organization can revise its internal competencies and strategies in response. For example, an external analysis could indicate the price or availability of supplies is changing, prompting a company to revise its strategy in response.

What is a synopsis of Old Yeller by Fred Gipson?

Old Yeller is a children's book written by Fred Gipson. It involves the touching relationship between a dog named Old Yeller and a boy, Travis Coates, who grows to love him. As he says at the beginning of the book, "He made me so mad at first that I wanted to kill him. Then, later, when I had to kill him, it was like having to shoot some of my own folks" (page 1).

Travis...

Travis lives in Salt Licks, Texas, in the 1860s. His father goes on a cattle drive to Abilene, Kansas to earn money. Travis, who is 14, is left to watch over his mother and his little brother, Arliss, who is then 5. After Travis's father leaves, Old Yeller shows up, who Travis describes as a "big ugly slick-haired yeller dog." Old Yeller is a mangy, thin creature who is missing one ear and part of his tail. Travis wants to scare the dog off, but his mother makes him keep the dog as a pet for Arliss.

As the book goes on, Travis gains confidence in himself as he is able to watch over his family's farm, and Old Yeller proves himself a worthy pet. For example, he saves Little Arliss from a bear cub and catches a wild turkey that Travis nearly loses. The dog also keeps coons from attacking the corn. Old Yeller's former owner, Burn Sanderson, shows up, but he is willing to give the dog to Arliss in return for a home-cooked meal. In the end, however, Travis has to shoot Old Yeller when he fears the dog has become infected with rabies after killing a wolf. Eventually, Travis and his family take in one of Old Yeller's pups and begin to love their new pet.

What is an explanantion of the meaning of the song "Blowin in the Wind" by Bob Dylan? (What is Dylan saying with the lyrics?)

The enigmatic Bob Dylan is said to have "absorbed the spirit of his age" and, perhaps for this reason, he himself gave no explanation for the line "blowin' in the wind." An examination of the "winds" of the times may be the only way to provide an explanation.

It is well known that Dylan was an admirer of folk singer Woody Guthrie, who at one time compared his political sensitivity to newspapers that blew in...

It is well known that Dylan was an admirer of folk singer Woody Guthrie, who at one time compared his political sensitivity to newspapers that blew in the winds of New York City streets and alleys. In other words, the headlines were there one day, then gone the next day without many even knowing what was printed there. So, Dylan's line "The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind" pertains to the social instability of the 1960's, the changing political climate, and even some people's inattention to these changes. In other words, Who knows? What is today may not be tomorrow, and who is paying attention?

Here is what a twenty-one-year-old Bob Dylan himself said in response to what the phrase under question meant,

I still say it’s in the wind and just like a restless piece of paper it’s got to come down some ...But the only trouble is that no one picks up the answer when it comes down so not too many people get to see and know . . . and then it flies away.

About his own work, Bob Dylan once remarked that people should not create anything because that creation will always be misinterpreted. "And it will follow you." Called the "poet of our time" by Johnny Carson, Bob Dylan wrote songs in several genres in his efforts to not be categorized. Evidently, he found people's tendencies to label and categorize things as far too simplistic.

What examples of literary elements appear in The Catcher in the Rye?

This is a very broad question, so I'll give a few examples related to symbolism, point of view, and stream-of-consciousness narration.

Point of view

The Catcher in the Rye is told in first-person point of view from the perspective of Holden Caulfield, the story's primary character. Holden tells the story a few months after the events take place, and he seems to be in a hospital. This is shown early in the first chapter when...

This is a very broad question, so I'll give a few examples related to symbolism, point of view, and stream-of-consciousness narration.

Point of view

I'll just tell you about this madman stuff that happened to me around last Christmas just before I got pretty run-down and had to come out here and take it easy.

Additionally, Holden often slips into stream-of-consciousness narration, a technique in which a character's thoughts flow uninterrupted. An example of this occurs when he talks about his brother Allie's baseball mitt. After explaining his brother wrote poetry on his baseball mitt so "he'd have something to read when he was in the field and nobody was up to bat," Holden describes his feelings for his brother, making connection after connection. He does this several times in the novel, including his description of the museum and his thoughts about sex. A clue as to when he's using this technique is paragraph length. If the paragraph extends for more than a page, there's a good chance J.D. Salinger is employing the stream-of-consciousness technique.

Symbolism

There are many symbols throughout The Catcher in the Rye. Symbolism occurs when an object stands for something else. While there are many famous examples of symbolism in The Catcher in the Rye (including Holden's red hunting hat and the ducks in Central Park), one symbol I find particularly striking occurs early in the novel when Holden refuses to throw a snowball at a car or hydrant because both look "so nice and white." This whiteness Holden refuses to disturb symbolizes his desire not to spoil anything that seems pure. This idea runs throughout the novel.

Explain how a bill passed in 1854 could be credited with sending the nation into civil war seven years later.

The bill that was passed in 1854, and which helped cause the Civil War to begin, is called the Kansas-Nebraska Act. It was proposed by Senator Stephen A. Douglas (who opposed Abraham Lincoln in the Lincoln-Douglas Debates). Its main immediate effect was to overturn the Missouri Compromise and allow people in the territories of Kansas and Nebraska to vote for themselves as to whether their territories should allow slavery. This increased the amount of tension and hatred between the North and South and helped bring about the Civil War.

Before the Kansas-Nebraska Act, the Missouri Compromise had settled the issue of what parts of the Louisiana Purchase would allow slavery and which would not. The Missouri Compromise had drawn a line across the Purchase. Anything south of that line would have slaves and anything north of the line would be free. The area that now makes up both Kansas and Nebraska was north of this line and was therefore going to be free territory. This law was passed in 1820 and it helped keep the peace between North and South because it prevented any further conflicts over which areas would be slave and which would be free.

In 1854, Senator Douglas proposed a bill that would throw out the Missouri Compromise (follow the link below to read about why he wanted to do this). Under the Missouri Compromise, both Kansas and Nebraska were free areas. Under Douglas’s bill, this was called into question. Instead of being free areas, these two territories would be up for grabs. People in the territories would get to vote on the issue of slavery.

This helped lead to the Civil War in two main ways. First, it helped to convince the North that the South had too much power. Northerners feared the political power of the South and the Kansas-Nebraska Act did more to convince them that their fears were justified. The South, they felt, had been able to overturn the Missouri Compromise, take land that had been free, and make it possible for slavery to be introduced there. The North wondered what else the South might do with this power and it resented the idea that it had to fight again for land that had already been set aside as free soil. By making the North resent and fear the South more than it had, the Kansas-Nebraska Act helped bring on the Civil War.

Secondly, the act brought about a period of violence in Kansas that we now call “Bleeding Kansas.” Both North and South wanted to win when the people of Kansas voted on whether to allow slavery. Therefore, both sides sent settlers into the area. In addition, people within Kansas started to fight one another, hoping to drive the opposition out of the territory before the vote. Terrible atrocities were committed by both sides. This was the first really serious violence over the issue of slavery. Of course, having people killing each other over this issue made both the North and the South hate each other more.

In these ways, the Kansas-Nebraska Act helped bring on the Civil War. It did not cause it to happen immediately, but it increased the amount of hatred and distrust between the two regions of the country. This is how a bill passed in 1854 could help lead to the start of the war seven years later.

In The Catcher in the Rye by Salinger, what is the illness or disorder that Holden suffers from that makes him push away from social interactions?...

In the story, Holden appears to suffer from clinical depression; this disorder is characterized by a lack of interest in life and a tendency towards low self-esteem. You will notice that Holden talks a lot about being depressed in the short novel. He is also saddened by seemingly mundane things, another symptom of clinical depression. Sometimes, Holden is also depressed when he thinks about the kind of person he is.

In Chapter 13, he talks about being depressed because of his cowardice. He thinks that, if he had the ability to beat up someone when he felt like it, he would be less "yellow."

What you should be is not yellow at all. If you're supposed to sock somebody in the jaw, and you sort of feel like doing it, you should do it. I'm just no good at it, though...The more I thought about my gloves and my yellowness, the more depressed I got, and I decided, while I was walking and all, to stop off and have a drink somewhere.

Later in the chapter, Holden has an opportunity to sleep with a prostitute, but he can't bring himself to do the deed. Privately, he's embarrassed that he's still a virgin and thinks that, if he could be a little more assertive, he would be more successful with women. However, he argues that, since something always happens when he's on the verge of losing his virginity, it's hard not to get depressed about the whole affair. Even when the opportunity presents itself to him, he still feels awkward and unsophisticated. In this chapter, he lies to the prostitute so that he won't have to lay bare his sexual inexperience before her. He tells her that he's just had an operation on his "clavichord." A clavichord, of course, is a keyboard instrument, popular in the 15th through the 19th centuries.

The trouble was, I just didn't want to do it. I felt more depressed than sexy, if you want to know the truth. She was depressing. Her green dress hanging in the closet and all. And besides, I don't think I could ever do it with somebody that sits in a stupid movie all day long. I really don't think I could.

Notice that he makes an excuse to rationalize his inaction to himself. Basically, Holden is depressed because of his low self-esteem, due to his inability to perform what he believes are the acts of a man.

In Chapter 14, he tells us that he talks out loud to himself when he feels depressed. For example, when he remembers Allie, he remembers his part in excluding Allie from a BB game he and Bobby had planned to have. Since Allie's death, Holden has never been the same. When he gets very depressed, he remembers how Allie never made a fuss about being excluded from the BB game. In order to mitigate his feelings of sadness, he then tries imagining that he did give his brother permission, and this comforts him somewhat.

So once in a while, now, when I get very depressed, I keep saying to him, "Okay. Go home and get your bike and meet me in front of Bobby's house. Hurry up." It wasn't that I didn't use to take him with me when I went somewhere. I did. But that one day, I didn't. He didn't get sore about it--he never got sore about anything-- but I keep thinking about it anyway, when I get very depressed.

What would happen to the life of a cell if there was no Golgi apparatus?

The golgi apparatus contains vesicles and folded membranes and is involved in cellular transport. It is a packaging organelle. The golgi apparatus packages proteins into vesicles inside of the cell before sending them to their destinations. The golgi apparatus processes proteins for secretions that contain enzymes that attach sugar monomers to proteins. If the golgi apparatus is not present the packaging and transport of materials would cease to happen. So, various substances such as sugar monomers would not be able to be transformed into proper forms for further use. The secretory activities of the cell would also cease to occur. Also, if there is no golgi apparatus, the plasma membrane would be affected because it needs to be able to grow larger for cell division.