Free Essays - A Prayer for Owen Meany :: Prayer for Owen Meany Essays

The main theme of A Prayer for Owen Meany is religious faith -- specifically, the relationship between faith and doubt in a world in which there is no obvious evidence for the existence of God.   John writes on the first page of the book that Owen Meany is the reason that he is a Christian, and ensuing story is presented as an explanation of the reason why.   Though the plot of the novel is quite complicated, the explanation for Owen's effect on Johnny's faith is extremely simple; Owen's life is a miracle -- he has supernatural visions and dreams, he believes that he acts as God's instrument, and he has divine foresight of his own death -- and offers miraculous and almost undeniable evidence of God's existence.   The basic thematic shape of the novel is that of a tension being lifted, rather than a tension being resolved; Johnny struggles throughout the book to resolve his religious faith with his skepticism and doubt, but at the novel's end he is not required to make a choice between the two extremes: Owen's miraculous death obviates the need to make a choice, because it offers evidence that banishes doubt.   Yet Johnny remains troubled, because Owen's sacrificial death (he dies to save the lives of a group of Vietnamese children) seems painfully unfair.   Johnny is left with the problem of accepting God's will.   In the end, he invests more faith in Owen himself than he invests in God -- he receives two visitations from Owen beyond the grave -- and he concludes the novel by making Owen something of a Prince of Peace, asking God to allow Owen's resurrection and return to Earth.   Of course, the thematic development of the novel is somewhat more complicated and cluttered than that.   The presentation of religion in the book is continually undercut with irony and the constant presence of sex.   Further the thematic development of the book is also inconsistent and indirect, in part because we are never able to obtain a secure view or outlook of Johnny's mind; he is such a subdued narrator that it is difficult to tell exactly where he stands during much of the novel, which often clouds our sense of his struggle with faith and doubt.   This ambiguity underscores the important point that Irving's basic intention for his novel is not to present a philosophical meditation on the nature of God, but rather to tell a clutching story.

Aloha Products Essay

Q1. Evaluate the current control systems for the manufacturing, marketing and purchasing departments of Aloha Products. Solution: From the case we can see that Aloha products is structured on a cost basis; however the control system is attempting to measure each plant on a profit basis. Thus the company have a centralized control system. This means that the main office takes all the main decisions regarding purchases, production, sales, marketing and promotions in order to save costs. However, the plant managers are responsible for their profit and loss and are evaluated on the basis of their performance despite lack of adequate control over the activities by managers of the managed plant. This type of structure is an unfair way of measuring the performance of the individual production plants. Based on the current system evaluating the three major departments of Aloha Products are described below: Evaluation of manufacturing departments: There are three production plants within AP’s manufacturing department; each plant is responsible for their own profits and losses. Unfortunately the managers have no control over any of the major activities in their respective production facilities; the vice president of the manufacturing oversees all of the roasting, grinding, and packaging processes. Production schedules are provided to each plant manager for the current and following month. The plant managers also have no control over the green beans purchase, production schedule, production mix, or the costs of their inputs, as the purchasing departing assigns the costs based on specific contract for that shipment. If the inputs exceeded plant’s requirements, they are sold at the spot rate in the market, and could very well result in a loss. Evaluation of purchasing departments: The purchasing department is responsible for obtaining the required quantities and types of green coffee to be roasted in production plants. The level of sophistication and expertise needed makes this department a necessity; proper staffing is vital based on the complexity of the green coffee market. This department relies on the relationships with growers and brokers; for smaller firms, an important feature of this department is their ability to foresee demand and required inventory and subsequently entered into forward contracts with brokers anywhere between three to twelve months in advance. The costs of each shipment are based on specific contracts for those green coffee beans, which can vary based on the various price drivers as mentioned earlier. This can create diversified and volatile costs of inventory. Required inventory demand is based on communication between marketing (sales) and the purchasing department, any discrepancies at the current date is met by the purchases through the spot market, which incurs significantly higher costs. The costs associated with running this purchasing department are charged to headquarters of AP. Currently there is no communication between purchasing and manufacturing department. Furthermore, purchasing department does not need to report to head office or meet any performance measurement standards. Ultimately power resides with upper management of the purchasing unit. Evaluation of marketing (sales) departments: Under the current structure, this department is centralized. The president of AP and vice president of sales are in charge of advertising and promotion of the final products. The marketing department also determines the budgeted sales, which are then passed onto purchasing department. Q2. Considering the company’s competitive strategy, what changes, if any would you make to the control systems for the three departments? Solution: The changes to the current control systems involves establishing accountability and effective communication among the three departments and providing key measures to evaluate the manager’s performance objectively. Recommendations for the current management control systems are as follows: Recommendations for manufacturing departments The manufacturing department is currently profit centre. However, the plants do not have control over the costs of the green coffee. Thus the main concern of this department as a whole should be efficiency; how well they can control the costs to roast green coffee. As such, here the recommendation would be to make manufacturing department’s plants be accountable for the costs incurred to roast and package the green coffee. The performance measure for the manufacturing department at AP should be evaluated based solely on the roasting, grinding, and packaging of AP’s coffees. It would be unfair to evaluate manufacturing as a profit centre, when in reality it has little to no control over product costs or sales. Since control over purchasing and selling will not be transferred to the manufacturing department in this proposal, it is logical to assess based on controllable factors such as cost/pound only. Thus instead of being assessed for the performance of the purchasing and marketing departments, plant managers will now have the incentive to ensure their costs do not vary from the standard. It will still be possible to evaluate roasting plants based on gross margin as well. However to ensure the plant managers are not penalized for the fluctuations in the costs of green coffee contracts, a standard cost for green coffee would have to established and used in the computation of gross margin. Recommendations for purchasing departments The purchasing department’s costs are being charged to central office. Due to this the purchasing department is not being held accountable for the contracts it is entering into. The purchasing department’s main concern should be actual contract costs. Thus, we recommend that the purchasing department be accountable for the difference between the actual costs per signed contracts and standard costs of green coffee raw materials. The actual costs should be measured in a similar manner to the current practice. Contract costs related to buying and selling in the spot market should not be included in the computed price per bag. A reasonable standard costing for the green coffee contracts will have to be established based on discussions between management and executives in the purchasing department. The standard costs could potentially be based on the average of spot price over past 6 months. Thus, the recommendation here would be that this standard cost be updated every quar ter, in order to provide accurate standard costs of green coffee raw materials. Recommendations for marketing (sales) departments The marketing department focuses its efforts on advertising and promotion, however, it is not held responsible for the costs it incurs or how accurate their sales forecasts/budgets are. There is a large costs associated with differences between the forecasted requirements and actual requirements. The difference results in the purchases or sales at the spot price for the green coffee, which tends to costs more than the forward contract prices. It is not reasonable for the marketing department to perfectly forecasts sales and therefore there should be leniency in developing a method of accountability for this department. The goal here is not only to hold each group accountable but also to make sure managers feel they are being evaluated fairly and motivated to improve performance. In keeping with this actual sales volume should be compared to forecasted sales volume. This will not only help to keep the marketing department accountable for their activities but will also allow the forecasts methodology to be reviewed and continuously improve. Thus on an overall basis, the company needs to establish goal congruence between the three departments. This can be achieved through emphasizing communication between departments; this would encourage the forecasts of purchases/sales to be more accurate. In order to increase the goal congruence and communication, the department should also be evaluated based on the overall measure for the firm. This measure could be Economic Value added (EVA) as when it is applied, managers will not just be focussed on their own departments profitability but also that of company as a whole. The EVA approach promotes the same profit objectives across different departments. Thus by keeping the same structural organizations and only changing the way each department is evaluated, the incentive plan for each department more accurat ely reflects what each department can control.

An Analysis of Financial and Business Performance of Indus...

Oxford Brookes University Research and Analysis Report [pic] An analysis of financial and business performance of Indus Motor Company Limited Prepared by: Murtaza Yunus Marvi (1270201) Dated: 26 Sep 2008 Word Count: 6496 Table of Contents CONTENTS PAGE NUMBERS PART 1: Project objectives and overall research approach Reason for choosing the topic 1 Reasons for choosing the company 1 Automobile Industry in Pakistan 1 The Company 2 Objectives of the Project 3 Research Questions 3 Overall research approach 3 PART 2: Information gathering and†¦show more content†¦It will also help me improve my analytical skills needed in performing audit of different clients. Reasons for choosing the company Amongst various industries of the country, I chose the automobile industry for the research purpose as it has grown tremendously during the last few years. The government attaches great importance to the growth and development of the industry, as it is a key driver of economic growth, technology transfer and a creator of jobs. Having made the decision regarding choice of the industry, I selected Indus Motor Company Limited (IMC) due to the reason that in 2007 it had become the major automobile manufacturer as well as a significant contributor to the economy of Pakistan. The company has good reputation in the market and owns the highest market share in the high segment (1300cc and above) of the industry. Obtaining information for this company was comparatively easier than its competitors. Automobile Industry in Pakistan The automotive industry rightly prides itself on being recognized as the â€Å"mother of all industries.† It is the industry that is involved in the design, development, manufacture, marketing, and sale of motor vehicles. The roots of the automobile industry in Pakistan dates back to the post independence days (1949) when General Motors (USA) first exported 500 cars and 600 trucks to Pakistan, and later on setting up an assembly plant at Karachi in 1953 for Bedford trucks and Vauxhall cars.Show MoreRelatedThe Market Plan: Indus Motor Company Limited 5659 Words   |  23 Pages The Market Plan Indus Motor Company Ltd. Indus Motor Company Ltd. Azeem Danish Student ID: A4042710 Azeem Danish Student ID: A4042710 Table of Contents 1. Executive Summary 2 2. Introduction 2 3. Business Mission 2 4. External Marketing Audit Macro Environment 3 4.1 PEEST ANALYSIS 4 4.2 Micro Environment 6 4.2.1 Overall Market 6 5. Internal Marketing Audit 8 5.1 Operating results 8 5.2 Strategic issues analysis 8 5.3 Marketing mix effectiveness 9 5.4 MarketingRead MoreTata Motors Swot Analysis7302 Words   |  30 PagesMANAGEMENT PROJECT SWOT AND STEEPLED ANALYSIS OF TATA MOTORS BY: Kosuru Sai Malleswar (SC09B093) Dhruti Ranjan Gaan (SC09B017) Kshitiz Sinha (SC09B125) Kumar Harshit (SC09B144) L. Deepak (SC09B074) 1|Page TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT.................................................................................................................................................. 3 INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................Read MoreOBU ACCA BSC Hons RAP on Topic 8 - The Business and Financial Performance of an Organization over a three year period8767 Words   |  36 PagesResearch and Analysis Project 1 Were committed to providing 100% plagiarism free academic assignments i.e. Course work, Homework assignments, thesis, dissertations, HND/HNC Business assignments, Oxford Brookes (OBU) BSC Hons Applied Accounting ACCA Thesis (RAP, SLS, PPT), Essays and Term/Research papers etc. Pay in instalments and that too after you receive the first draft. Please visit and like our Facebook page www.facebook.com/assignmentwritingservices/ to avail our special discount packagesRead MoreThesis on Pakistan Railways6300 Words   |  26 PagesEXECUTIVE SUMMARY The current study remains limited in its scope as it looks at the problems faced by Pakistan Railways and there solutions not at the organization as a whole. The research is mainly made by collecting data from Peshawar amp; Nowshera railway stations and conclusions are drawn on the basis of that data. To undertake the task we went through the existing literature on Pakistan Railways and reviewed the current state of affairs through available  data. Pakistan Railways have been runningRead MoreEssay about Hold Up Problem19245 Words   |  77 PagesFISHER–GENERAL MOTORS AND THE NATURE OF THE FIRM* BENJAMIN KLEIN University of California, Los Angeles Abstract After working well for more than 5 years, the Fisher Body–General Motors (GM) contract for the supply of automobile bodies broke down when GM’s demand for Fisher’s bodies unexpectedly increased dramatically. This pushed the imperfect contractual arrangement between the parties outside the self-enforcing range and led Fisher to take advantage of the fact that GM was contractually obligatedRead MoreAuto Industry Analysis in Pakistan8638 Words   |  35 PagesAutomobile Industry and the Allied industries o Workshops o Spare parts markets ïÆ'Ëœ Impact on economy ïÆ'Ëœ Contribution to the GDP ïÆ'Ëœ Impacts o Positive impacts ï‚ § Economic impacts ï‚ § Social impacts o Negative impacts ï‚ § Economic impacts ï‚ § Social impacts ïÆ'Ëœ SWOT Analysis ïÆ'Ëœ Conclusion ïÆ'Ëœ Bibliography Introduction Since ages man is trying hard to cover the distances between different places in the shortest possible time. In order to fulfill this dream man invented the automobile and within years the automobiles becameRead Moreventure capital Essays16329 Words   |  66 Pagesï » ¿ CHAPTER -1 INTRODUCTION 1.1 INTRODUCTION Venture capital, a financial innovation of the twentieth century, is a long-term liquid investment, which can be in the form of equity, quasi-equity and sometimes debt in new and high-risk ventures. Venture capital became better known after the famous legend of Apple Computers, which started out in the US in 1977 with the capital firm, Arthur Rock Co. Apple Computers then made it to the Fortune 500 and Arthur Rock Co. attained heightRead MoreManagement Challenges for the 21st Century.Pdf60639 Words   |  243 Pagesnew realities and their demands require a REVERSAL of policies that have worked well for the last century and, even more, a change in the MINDSET of organizations as well as of individuals. This is a MANAGEMENT BOOK. It intentionally leaves out BUSINESS CHALLENGES—even very important ones such as the question of whether the EURO will displace the U.S. dollar as the world’s key currency, or what will SUCCEED the 19th century’s most successful economic inventions, the commercial bank and the investmentRead MoreGlobalization Is The Process Of International Integration6873 Words   |  28 Pagespeople, and the dissemination of knowledge. Further, environmental challenges such as global warming, cross-boundary water and air pollution, and over-fishing of the ocean are linked with globalization. Globalizing processes affect and are affected by business and work organization, economics, socio-cultural resources, and the natural environment. Overview Humans have interacted over long distances for thousands of years. The overland Silk Road that connected Asia, Africa, and Europe is a good exampleRead MoreReport on Oil and Gas Industry in Pakistan81517 Words   |  327 Pages Kashmir Attock Refinery Limited Cost and Freight Canadian International Development Agency Cost, Insurance, and Freight Central Inspectorate of Mines Compressed Natural Gas Cost of Service Directorate General Gas Directorate General Oil Directorate General Petroleum Concession Dead Weight Tons Exploration and Production Environmental Impact Assessment Environmental Protection Agency Federally Administered Tribal Areas Fuel Oil Freight on Board Fauji Oil Terminal Company Former Soviet Union Gas Development