Orient Overseas Container Line (OOCL)

Orient Overseas Container Line (OOCL) ORIENT OVERSEAS CONTAINER LINE (OOCL) 01.BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF OOCL. Container shipping is most popular types of merchant shipping over the world. Due to size, use, and accessibility, it is famous and convenient for transporting from one place to another place to all customers from small trader to big trader. OOCL is the leading container main line operator in shipping industry having own information technology facilities. OOCL is a wholly-owned subsidiary company of OOIL (Orient Overseas International Limited) group which listed on Hong Kong Stock exchange as a public limited company. OOCL is one of the worlds largest integrated international container transportation, logistics and terminal companies having global brand images in container shipping (OOCL, 2010a) The founder of OOCL is CY Tung who dreamed to create Chinese merchant fleet in international shipping. In 1947, he succeeded when first ship with all Chinese crew reached in USA and Europe under the name of his company Orient Overseas Line (OOL). Due to the demand of container vessel and age of containerisation in shipping, OOL renamed to OOCL in 1962. Today, it has more than 230offices in 58 countries around the world and the present Chairman is CC Tung. OOCL Mission Statementis â€Å"To be the best and most innovative international container transport and logistics service provider; providing a Vital Link to world trade and creating value for our customers, employees, shareholders and partners† ( OOCL,2010b). The core values of OOCL for people or employee of the company, customers and wants to maintain high standard of services through community responsibilities. OCCL is a renewed container carrier who has own mother and feeder vessel, rail track, containers, trailers and terminals. In December 2008, OOCL awarded â€Å"Best of the Best† ocean career by World Trade Magazine of USA (Shister, 2008).All vessels of OOCL achieved the quality certificate of QUALSHIP 21 issued by US Coast Guard. However, recent world recession covered OOCL also and its container traffic fell 17.2 per cent compared with the first half of 2008, while revenue fell 37.2 per cent to $2.05bn and operating loss for the half of $197m, against a $216m profit in the first half of 2008 ( Lau and Wright,2009). United Nations Conference on Trade and development- UNCTAD positioned OOCL within the leading container transport operators of 20 MLO (Main Line Operators). Year Position Number Of Vessels TEU Capacity (TEU-Twenty feet Equivalent) 2008 11 90 364384 2007 09 84 351542 2006 12 71 275057 2005 11 68 236018 2004 11 63 216527 Figure 1 (Table) Performance of OOCL in world container trade 2004-2008 (UNCTAD,2010) The position of the OOCL is world container industry is fluctuating highly year by year. There is no constant improving that means growth in performance indicator by UNCTAD. However, they are increasing the number of vessel and container capacity (TEU capacity) in every year. Within 5 years they increased the number of vessels approx 50% and capacity over 68%. As a total logistics service provider, OOCLs international freight consolidation and logistics service unit, OOCL Logistics, provides its customers with innovative freight management services and leading-edge IT solutions. OOCL China Domestic Ltd. offers extensive domestic distribution services and supply-chain management to customers in China, the growing market which OOCL has been serving for over 50 years ( OOIL,2010 ) OOCL is renowned for its pioneering approach to developing intermodal connections. All means of intermodal transport are carefully integrated with trunk ocean services to offer seamless connections across continents using feeder services, barges, trucks and block trains (OOCL, 2010c) 02.STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT People have different views for understanding, developing and implementing strategy economically and timely to gain special advantages in business. Before taking any strategy, need to justify and assess the organisations present situation especially internal environment of the organisation. After that, external environment will help to set a preliminary plan for going forward. This is very important to assess the situations by marketing mix and political factors also. In a study (Johnson et all, 2005) of strategic exploration found that, there are three strategy lenses: design, experience and ideas which are useful to develop a strategy in a organisation. Model of Strategic Management (Johnson et all, 2005) The above model indicates that strategic management indicates the strategic position of a organisation depends on the environment and its capabilities to adapt also its expectations. The choice of strategy may be in business level or corporate-level; it may be internationally for the development of the organisation by following the strategic direction or methods. Furthermore, need to organise, enable the strategy into action to get competitive advantage. The research and development of the strategy based on the some environment analysis such as SWOT, PESTLE , value chain , Porters Five forces mode and etc. By applying these organisations can find the position where it placed and take effective measure to correct modify for developing the situation. 03.SWOT ANALYSIS FOR OOCL In a study Stacey (2000) stated that â€Å"SWOT analysis is the list of an organisations strengths and weaknesses indicated by an analysis of its resources and capabilities, plus a list of the opportunities and threats that an analysis of its environment identities. Strategic logic obviously requires that the future pattern of actions to be taken should match strengths with opportunities, ward off threats, and seek to overcome weaknesses.†(P-5). In addition, Strengths (Koch, 2000) can serve as a foundation for building a competitive advantage, and weaknesses may hinder it. By understanding these four aspects of its situation, a firm can better leverage its strengths, correct its weaknesses, capitalize on golden opportunities, and deter potentially devastating threats Container Shipping is the most complicated globalized industry which has to compete with internal competitors like other container operators also homogenous business like dry bulk or tanker operators. Moreover, it has a big competition with air transportation. Customer always wants to know the good and bad matters of the company before stuffing his cargo. By SWOT analysis of a company we can easily find out the negative and positives of an organisation. So, SWOT analysis is very important for developing company profile by correcting present weaknesses and aware the threats internally, externally and environmentally. OCCL has huge competition with other operators nationally and internationally and need to manage small shipper or big customer, moreover, fluctuation of international trade create the environment to forecast its all sight. Furthermore, it is a customer focused organisation. SWOT analysis will help to attract the customer for better business also develops the organisation economically and socially. 04.SWOT ANALYSIS A. STRENGTHS OF OOCL OOCL is a subsidiary of a global group of company OOIL group, Hong Kong. They can take any organizational or financial help from the group even from the government. Offering quality services in Asia, Europe, America and Australasia where container service is highly demanded as quick ocean transportation and easy access to shipper or consignee premises. Quick and speedy service, transit time is less, easy connection, global service network Pioneer in IT (Shipping).Very strong in information technology. Vendor services are performing by specialized software â€Å"Operationsmart†, â€Å"Depotsmart† and â€Å"Schedulesmart†. Vendor can easily log on and contract with OOCL from anywhere by using this facilities. Any customer can know his cargo position by this link. All vessels are handling by using information technology. Has own carriers (Mother and feeder vessels), rail track ( Owned in China and partnership in America Europe) Global brand image identification to trader, importer and exporter. Trained and skilled employees whos are really professional devoted in their jobs. Market leader in refrigerated container trade and temperature -controlled environment over ocean, rail and load line. Strong intermodal network in Asia, Europe and America. â€Å"DGsmart† which cares the dangerous goods customer. OOCL provides training for all for handling these types of cargo B. WEAKNESSES OF OOCL High competition and market fluctuation. Insignificant market growth of the line. No constant business growth in the industry. High freight costs. Peak season surcharge on service routes. Limited allocation of container in various routes and country GSA trade in maximum country. No direct trade for maximizing profit and mass customization. Imbalance of equipment. Huge lease container. Africa service is not available. C. OPPORTUNITIES OF OOCL OOCL can increase the number of vessels and container as world demand is increasing day by day. Introduction of Africa and South American services and intermodal connection there. Increase market share in Asian region by direct business. Introduction of feeder service in south Asia and investment in terminal business. More investment in port and terminal business. D. THREATS OF OOCL World recession which may be incurred huge loss which will impact to the share market and shareholders view to divert from their position or sell the share. Due to surcharge or extra payment, customer may divert to other operators. Heavy competition with national and international carrier. Globalization of the industry. May loose domestics cargo. Limited Feeder Vessel allotment from hub port to spoke port in Asian market 05.BUSINESS STRATEGY Business strategy is the key component of developing the organisation as reputed organisation of the world. In addition, it will help to establish the operational guidelines by which company can proceed step by step. This good plan may help to reach the target point for achieving the desired outputs. It will help to make plan, revision, control and implementation of the project. In a study Lasserre ( 2007) argued that a company business strategy is a set of fundamental choices which defines its long-term objectives, its value proposition to the market, how it intends to build and sustain a competitive business system and how it organises itself. He added that a business strategy will generally cover the followings for getting the maximum outcomes:- Ambition. This will help to set a long-term objectives of the company by which it is possible to create a target especially increasing the size of the organization economically, nationally and internationally. Positioning. It will add the value proposition to customer. Branding the product and service, customer segmentation, preference of customer choices will set a standard of the company and good position on the market. Investment. Business strategy will help to create the environment of investment for going very near of the customer. Also create a system that is able to deliver value to customers competitively. Organization. The profound beliefs of the organization will add value to the employee and long-term working facilities will develop a good structure of human resources management. From human resources to the production, everywhere will be a process and will maneuver the organization in a system. The business strategy of an organisation may be different in different location or region. The company business strategy may be FDI (Foreign Direct Investment), MA (Merger and acquisition), Diversification, CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) or Global Strategy or any corporate strategies that will dominate or indicate how the company will bring competitive advantages to do business. 06.DIVERSIFICATION STRATEGY OF OOCL a)Diversification Diversification (Johnson et all, 2005) is a strategy that takes the organisation into both new markets and products or services and be undertaken for a variety of reasons, value creating than others. It may gain the economies of scope by organisations existing facilities also corporate managerial capabilities. Keeping the product is the main challenge of diversification. Instead of increasing growth, it sometimes is a burden for the organisation. The growth of the core business of the organisation may create the financial or distribution channel strength to expand the business in related or unrelated function. Sometimes managers or employee motivates the owners to engage in new business. In addition, the good brand value may attract to diversify the product or introduce new product by which company can give additional customer service. Furthermore, offer from government to do business in a new area or product for protecting the national interest towards a strong position of the compa ny also financial stability in a country. In a research of diversification , Reed and Luffman ( 1986) argued that basic strategic aims can only be decided after deliberate concentration on the companys present limitation and future needs which helps to survive, growth , use of resources or adapting to customer then diversification is one alternative in several option available to the company. They also added that analysis of market; material supplies, technological development and production process are required before moving to the decision of diversification. Where the opportunity is available but risk to develop, organisation may not diversify from their core business. The assessment to expand the business in various ways can help to take a decision in what way they will look forward towards existing or new customer but offering the qualitative product or service depends on the customers desire and availability of channel by which they can promote the product or service. Otherwise, risk will be increased and core business may be hampered by the new one. Grant (2008) argued that diversification strategy or decisions by the company involves for two issues: attraction of the industry and output by competitive advantages. The economics of scope can be tangibles or intangible resources of the company even organisational capabilities can also be transferred within the diversified company. OOCL had competitive advantages by its diversified products like information systems and terminal business. The group business expanded business in related and unrelated industry for getting the logistics support for its core business ocean shipping. He prescribed that diversification motivates the organisation for growing, reducing risk and making profit to create inconsistency of shareholder view. OOCL diversified in both concentric and conglomerate to develop their organisation economically also creating brand value. But they highly focused on concentric diversification because shipping is the derived demand and highly globalized business where customer needs all kind of logistics support. Providing the logistics support they made strong information systems from the origin of transport to the final destination which one is the full version of logistics. The OOIL group diversified in container business by creating the OOCL logistics which helps to add value in their core business ocean shipping. In addition, they involved in port terminal business in Kaoshiung (China) and Long Beach (North America) which form an integral part of international containerised transport business ( OOIL,2010a). The cargo smart is the innovative software of OOCL by which they can keep relation with their clients in 24 hours. Preliminary it is developed for their own organisations but now using by most of the logistics company of the world. It ( CargoSmart,2010) is a Software as a Service (SaaS) global shipping and logistics solutions provider that enables companies to lower transportation management costs, streamline operations, and reduce the risk of late shipments. For getting the domestics cargo, they established OOCL china domestics limited for getting the domestics cargo which also add value in their business. Due to heavy industrialization in China and having competition with national and international shipping company, OOCL diversified in their product to create a good marketing approach to the local trader. Kaoshiung port terminal is supporting them by giving logistics centre facilities to the shipper and consignee in China. Furthermore, road and rail transportation also help to attract the customer as it is the multimodal facilities for transporting the cargo at carriers risk. Enhance, they structured intermodal service in China, Europe and North America In conglomerate diversification, they established property business in two countries ( China and USA) as OODL which helps to increase the shareholder value and future of the company for any crisis or recovery of their core business. b) Vertical Integration in OOCL There is a vertical integration in OOCL diversification as they set a list of product and service in front of their clients. The core business of OOCL is ocean shipping that means selling the vessel space to the customer and providing the facilities of instrument container for caring the cargo. Along with this business they integrated the services by backward and forward integration. The backward facilities are the information facilities by which customer can log on from any place of the world. In addition, Logistics Company like OOCL logistics, intermodal systems also added in backward integration. The forward facilities are port and terminal business which added value to attract the customer for clearing the cargo easily and economically. C) Performance and Outcomes. Diversification and performance are correlated in their potential activities but depends on the acceptance of the customer. Grant (2008) believes that diversification has the potential to create value for shareholders where it exploits economics of scope and where transaction costs in the market for resources make it inefficient to exploit these economics of scope through market contracts. The shipping market depends on its cycles from the ship building to scrapping and mid times using facilities. Moreover, its perishable service where customization is very important to use its all cycles. As a container service main line operator, it is very difficult to run the business by only its vessel performance but also need connecting facilities to keep the customer. Diversification in OOCl helps to create logistics products or service like Cargo Smart, Intermodal, Port Terminal and catalyst their core business ocean shipping. The conglomerate diversification of OOCL in property business he lped to survive in recession. Due ( Reuters,2010) to global economic downturn and company huge loss in this downturn , OOIL group has sold $2.2 billion in Chinese property to raise cash and focus on its core shipping business. 07. CRITICAL ANALYSIS The diversification strategy of OOCL is partially failure. Due to economic downturn, group is unable to sustain and sold their unrelated property business OODL. It will be impacted to their core business because shareholder will not be influenced to keep their share. In addition, they had opportunity for developing their business in port terminals but sold two terminals out of four. Port terminals are big access of a shipping company. However, their present terminal is using by their own and grand alliance vessels. The best option for container shipping in strategic management may be in global strategy because this is the highly globalised industry. They can choose the strategy for increasing their services in all over the world. Some companies are very successful in MA like MAERSK. They merged with Sealand firstly and finally acquired PO Nedlloyd which one is the great and highly capitalized acquisition in shipping industry. OOCL has great opportunity to merge with some African or South American container line to diversify their business in these regions. It will bring more customers. In addition, their core competence of HR policy indicated that CSR may be the best strategy to develop the business. The Grand Alliance ( Hapag-lloyd,2009) formed in 1998 is the leading integrated consortium in global container shipping by the leading main line operator in container shipping Hapag-Lloyd (Germany), MISC Berhad (Malaysia), NYK (Japan) and OOCL (Hong Kong). Jointly they are introducing shipping rout es and new services day by day to extend the container shipping. 08.CONCLUSION Lasserre (2007) stated that managers, politicians, journalists and academics are commonly using the concept of globalization along with global industries, competition, or corporation or strategies to globalize or die. Container shipping industry is highly globalised as it is the derived demand of world trade. Moreover, it has to fight with same line industry like dry bulk or tanker shipping. The business rivalry among the main line container operators is very high. In addition, world alliance by some companies that making groups and start consolidated business is the new dimension to minimize the loss or maximizing the profit. Strategic alliance between two or more firms like the grand alliance of OOCL with other operators brought competitive advantages in business. OOCL is the family business organisation and featured the core competency of human resources. SWOT analysis of the organisation and diversification strategy may show the ways to face the global economic downturn and be mo re strategic in their business.

Jewish American Literature Essay

Jewish American Literature holds an essential place in the literary history of the United States. It encompasses traditions of writing in English, primarily, as well as in other languages, the most important of which has been Yiddish. While critics and authors generally acknowledge the notion of a distinctive corpus and practice of writing about Jewishness in America, many writers resist being pigeonholed as ‘Jewish voices’. Also, many nominally Jewish writers cannot be considered representative of Jewish American literature, one example being Isaac Asimov. Beginning with the memoirs and petitions composed by the Sephardic immigrants who arrived in America during the mid 17th century, Jewish American writing grew over the subsequent centuries to flourish in other genres as well, including fiction, poetry, and drama. The first notable voice in Jewish- American literature was Emma Lazarus whose poem ‘The New Colossus’ on the Statue of Liberty became the great hymnal of American immigration. Gertrude Stein became one of the most influential prose-stylists of the early 20th century. The early twentieth century saw the appearance of two pioneering American Jewish novels: Abraham Cahan’s ‘The Rise of David Levinsky’ and Henry Roth’s ‘Call it Sleep’. It reached some of its most mature expression in the 20th century ‘Jewish American novels’ by Saul Bellow, J. D. Salinger, Norman Mailer, Bernard Malamud, Chaim Potok, and Philip Roth. Their work explored the conflicting pulls between secular society and Jewish tradition which were acutely felt by the immigrants who passed through Ellis Island and by their children and grandchildren. More recent authors like Nicole Krauss, Paul Auster, Michael Chabon, Jonathan Safran Foer andArt Spiegelman have continued to examine dilemmas of identity in their work, turning their attention especially to the Holocaust and the trends of both ongoing assimilation and cultural rediscovery exhibited by younger generations of American Jews. Arguably the most influential of all American- Jewish novels was Leon Uris’ ‘Exodus’. Its story of the struggle to create the modern state of Israel translated into Russian became the inspiration for hundreds of thousands of Russian immigrants to Israel. Modern Jewish American novels often contain (a few or many) Jewish characters and address issues and themes of importance to Jewish American society such as assimilation, Zionism/Israel, and Anti-Semitism, along with the recent phenomenon known as â€Å"New Anti-Semitism. † Two Jewish- American writers have won the Nobel Prize, Isaac Bashevis Singer and Saul Bellow. Bernard Malamud is considered one of the most prominent figures in Jewish –American literature. BERNARD MALAMUD ( 1914-1986). Malamud’s stories and novels, in which reality and fantasy are frequently interfaced have been compared to parables, myths and analogies and often illustrate the importance of moral obligation. Although he draws upon his Jewish heritage to address the themes of sins, suffering, and redemption, Malamud emphasizes human contact and compassion over orthodox religious dogma. Malamud’s characters, while often awkward and isolated from society, evoke both pity and humor through their attempts at survival and salvation. Sheldon J. Hershinow observed: â€Å"Out of the everyday defeats and indignities of ordinary people, Malamud creates beautiful parables that capture the joy as well as the pain of life; he expresses the dignity of the human spirit searching for freedom and moral growth in the face for hardship, injustice, and the existential anguish of life. BIOGRAPHY Malamud was born on April 28, 1914, in Brooklyn, New York, to Russian Jewish immigrants. His parents, whom he described as â€Å"gentle, honest, kindly people,† were not highly educated and knew very little about literature of the arts: â€Å"There were no books in the house, no records, music, pictures on the wall. † Malamud attended high school in Brooklyn and received his bachelor’s degree from the City College of New York in 1936. After graduation, he worked in a factory and as a clerk at the central bureau in Washington, D. C. Although he wrote in his spare time, Malamud did not begin writing seriously until the advent of the Second World War and the subsequent horrors of the Holocausts. He questioned his religious identity and started reading about Jewish tradition and history . He explained: â€Å"I was concerned with what Jews stood for, with their getting down to the bare  bones of things. I was concerned with their ethnically –how Jews felt for they had to live order to go on living. † In 1949, he began teaching at Oregan State University; he left this post in 1961 to teach creative writing at Bennington College in Vermont. He remained there until shortly before his death in 1986. Starting in 1949, Malamud taught four sections of freshman composition each semester at Oregon State University (OSU), an experience fictionalized in his 1961 novel ‘A New Life’. Because he lacked the Ph. D., he was not allowed to teach literature courses, and for a number of years his rank was that of instructor. In those days, OSU, a land grant university, placed little emphasis on the teaching of humanities or the writing of fiction. While at OSU, he devoted 3 days out of every week to his writing, and gradually emerged as a major American author. In 1961, he left OSU to teach creative writing at Bennington College, a position he held until retirement. In 1967, he was made a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. In 1942, Malamud met Ann De Chiara (November 1, 1917 – March 20, 2007), an Italian-American Roman Catholic, and a 1939 Cornell University graduate. They married on November 6, 1945, despite the opposition of their respective parents. Ann typed his manuscripts and reviewed his writing. Ann and Bernard had two children, Paul (b. 1947) and Janna (b. 1952). Janna Malamud Smith is the author of a memoir about her father, titled My Father is a Book. Malamud died in Manhattan in 1986, at the age of 71. WORKS OF MALAMUD Malamud’s first novel, ‘The Natural’ (1952 ) ,is considered one of his most symbolic works . While the novel ostensibly traces the life of Roy Hobbs, an American baseball player , the work has underlying mythic elements and explores such themes as initiation and isolation. For instance, some reviewers cited evidence of the Arthurian legend of the Holy Grail; others applied T. S. Eliot’s ‘wasteland’ myth in their analyses ‘The Natural’ also foreshadows what would become Malamud’s predominant narrative focus: a suffering protagonist struggling to reconcile moral dilemmas, to act according to what is right, and to accept the complexities and hardships of existence. Malamud‘s second novel, ‘The Assistant’ (1957), portrays the life of Morris Bober, a Jewish immigrant who owns a grocery store in Brooklyn. Although he is struggling to survive financially, Bober hires a cynical anti-semitic youth, Frank Aloine after learning that the man is homeless and on the verge of starvation. Through this contact Frank learns to find grace and dignity in his own identity. Described as naturalistic fable, this novel affirms the redemptive value of maintaining faith in the goodness of the human soul. Malamud’s first collection of short stories, ‘The Magic Barrel’, (1958) was awarded the National Book award in 1959. Like ‘The Assistant’, most of the stories in this collection depict the search for hope and meaning within the grim entrapment of poor urban settings and were influenced by Yiddish folktales and Hasidic traditions. Many of Malamud’s best known short stories, including ‘The Last Mohican’, ‘Angel Levine’, and ‘Idiots First’, were republished in ‘The Stories of Bernard Malamud’ in 1983. ‘A New Life’ (1961), considered one of Malamud’s most true-to-life novels, is based in part on Malamud’s teaching career at Oregon State University. This work focuses on an ex-alcoholic Jew from New York City who becomes a professor at a college in the Pacific Northwest. It examines the main character’s search for self-respect, while poking fun at life at a learning institution. Malamud’s next novel, ‘The Fixer’ (1966), is one of his most powerful works. The winner of both the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award, this book is based on the historical account of Mendel Beiliss, a Russian Jew who was accused of murdering a Christian child. With ‘The Tenants’ (1971), Malamud returns to a New York City setting in a contrast between two writers—one Jewish and the other African American—struggling to survive in an urban ghetto. Malamud further addresses the nature of literature and the role of the artist in ‘Dublin’s Lives’ (1979). In this work, the protagonist, William Dublin, attempts to create a sense of worth for himself, both as a man and as a writer. Malamud’s last finished novel, ‘God’s Grace’ (1982), studies both the original Holocaust and a new, imagined Holocaust of the future. The novel is a wild, at times brilliant, at times confusing, description of a flood similar to that in the Bible story of Noah’s ark. Malamud continued to place stories in top American magazines. Mervyn Rothstein reported in the New York Times that Malamud said at the end of his life, â€Å"With me, its story, story, story. † In Malamud’s next-to-last collection, ‘Rembrandt’s Hat’, only one story, ‘The Silver Crown’, deals with Jewish themes. Malamud is also renowned for his short stories, often oblique allegories set in a dreamlike urban ghetto of immigrant Jews. Of Malamud the short story writer, Flannery O’Connor wrote: â€Å"I have discovered a short-story writer who is better than any of them, including myself. † He published his first stories in 1943, ‘Benefit Performance’ in Threshold and ‘The Place Is Different Now’ in American Preface. In the early 1950s, his stories began appearing in Harper’s Bazaar, Partisan Review, and Commentary. ‘The Magic Barrel’ was his first published collection of short stories (1958) and his first winner of his first National Book Award for Fiction. Most of the stories depict the search for hope and meaning within the bleak enclosures of poor urban settings. The title story focuses on the unlikely relationship of Leo Finkle, an unmarried rabbinical student, and Pinye Salzman, a colorful marriage broker. Finkle has spent most of life with his nose buried in books and therefore isn’t well-educated in life itself. However, Finkle has a greater interest – the art of romance. He engages the services of Salzman, who shows Finkle a number of potential brides from his â€Å"magic barrel† but with each picture Finkle grows more uninterested. After Salzman convinces him to meet Lily Hirschorn, Finkle realizes his life is truly empty and lacking the passion to love God or humanity. When Finkle discovers a picture of Salzman’s daughter and sees her suffering, he sets out on a new mission to save her. Other well-known stories included in the collection are: ‘The Last Mohican’, ‘Angel Levine’, ‘Idiots First’, and ‘The Mourners’. This last story focuses on Kessler, the defiant old man in need of â€Å"social security† and Gruber, the belligerent landlord who doesn’t want Kessler in the tenement anymore. Malamud’s fiction touches lightly upon mythic elements and explores themes like isolation, class, and the conflict between bourgeois and artistic values. His prose, like his settings, is an artful pastiche of Yiddish-English locutions, punctuated by sudden lyricism. Writing in the second half of the twentieth century, Malamud was well aware of the social problems of his day: rootlessness, infidelity, abuse, divorce, and more. But he also depicted love as redemptive and sacrifice as uplifting. In his writings, success often depends on cooperation between antagonists. For example, in The Mourners landlord and tenant learn from each other’s anguish. In ‘The Magic Barrel’, the matchmaker worries about his â€Å"fallen† daughter, while the daughter and the rabbinic student are drawn together by their need for love and salvation. Malamud’s third story ‘Rembrandt’s Hat’ collection is noteworthy for its consistently pessimistic tone and theme of failed communication in stories such as ‘My Son the Murderer’, ‘The Silver Crown’, and ‘The Letter’. ‘The volume The People’, and ‘Uncollected Stories’ contains an unfinished novel about a Russian Jewish peddler in the American West who becomes a marshal and is kidnapped by Indians. It also includes fourteen stories written between 1943 and 1985. LIST OF OTHER NOTABLE JEWISH AMERICAN WRITERS †¢ Aimee Bender — novelist and short story writer, known for her often fantastic and surreal plots and characters †¢ Saul Bellow, novelist that won the Pulitzer Prize, the Nobel Prize for Literature, and the National Medal of Arts †¢ Bernard Cooper, novelist, short story writer †¢ E. L. Doctorow, novelist †¢ Richard Ellmann, literary critic, won National Book Award for Nonfiction †¢ Barthold Fles, literary agent and non-fiction writer †¢ Emma Goldman, anarchist writer †¢ Joseph Heller, author of Catch-22 †¢ Christopher Hitchens, literary critic and political activist †¢ Irving Howe, literary critic †¢ Roger Kahn. â€Å"The Boys of Summer† 1972 †¢ Jerzy Kosinski, author of The Painted Bird †¢ Emma Lazarus, poet and novelist †¢ Fran Lebowitz, author, known for her sardonic social commentary on American life through her New York sensibilities †¢ Seymour Martin Lipset, political sociologist. †¢ Reggie Nadelson, novelist known particularly for her mystery works †¢ Mark Obama Ndesandjo, author, half-brother of President Barack Obama †¢ Cynthia Ozick, short story writer, novelist, and essayist †¢ Jodi Picoult, novelist †¢ Ayn Rand, novelist and founder of Objectivism †¢ Lea Bayers Rapp, non-fiction and children’s fiction writer †¢ Philip Roth, known for autobiographical fiction that explored Jewish and American identity. †¢ Norman Rosten, novelist †¢ J. D. Salinger, author of The Catcher in the Rye †¢ Gary Shteyngart (born 1972) Russian-born writer †¢ Isaac Bashevis Singer, leading figure in Yiddish literature, won Nobel Prize †¢ George Steiner (born 1929) literary critic †¢ Daniel Stern, novelist] †¢ Leopold Tyrmand, writer †¢ Judith Viorst (born 1932) author, known for her children’s literature †¢ Elie Wiesel, Holocaust survivor and author of 57 books CONCLUSION The situation and the position of the Jewish-American writer have always been different from that of the other ethnicities in America and still remain so until today. One difference is highlighted by a comparison with the African-American writers. The â€Å"marginal† position of black authors has disappeared on the book market in the United States, but the themes of alienation and anger will not vanish as readily from their works. Instead of integration into the Literary and artistic mainstream, black writers and artists wanted, especially since the Black Arts Movement of the 1960s, to arrive at their â€Å"own† forms of literary expression which would have direct relevance for their lives. They wished to answer the question of their relationship to white mainstream culture by implementing a multicultural strategy: their literature is not that of assimilation, but in many ways that of establishing difference, separatism, and cultural resistance. While with the African-American writers there is no sense of the success or even desirability of social and cultural integration into the predominantly white mainstream of American society, many Jewish-American authors felt it as necessary and desirable, and as a result even managed to acquire it. Indeed, a great number of contemporary Jewish-American writers such as Norman Mailer, Saul Bellow, Joseph Heller, Bernard Malamud, Arthur Miller, Philip Roth and others have had literary success. The language employed by these writers is standard American English, they are socially accepted, and their works are read by a wide Jewish and non-Jewish audience. For this reason it is widely considered that their texts form part of a recognized literary canon, and belong to the American literary â€Å"center† or â€Å"mainstream,† as far as this may still be defined today. As much as we agreed to this idea we cannot ignore several facts which underline the necessity to view Jewish American literary productions as shaped by strong ethnic forces, and Jewish American literature as both belonging to and standing out in the multicultural American landscape. BIBLOGRAPHY Books Sanford, Sternlicht Masterpieces of Jewish American Literature Cristina, Nilsson Jewish American Literature: Bernard Malamud, Philip Roth and Cynthia Ozick Websites http://en. wikipedia. org http://www. swiftpapers. com http:// Top of Form.

Better Business Bureau Essay

In the business world there must be certain checks and balances in place that ensure that the open marketplace maintains its integrity. One of these mechanisms that directly relate to my chosen field of business is a nonprofit organization called the Better Business Bureau. The Better Business Bureau was founded in 1912 and consists of over one-hundred and twenty independently incorporated local organizations throughout the United States and Canada. The purpose of this organization is to ensure that the marketplace remains ethical so that consumers and sellers of consumer goods and services can establish trust. The Better Business Bureau collects data on a particular business’s reliability, alerts the buying public to potential fraud, provides invaluable insight into a business’s ethical business practices, and acts as arbitrators between consumers and business disputes. Companies that meet and maintain the Better Business Bureau’s ethical standards may be invited to obtain membership with the organization. Becoming a member of the Better Business Bureau has the benefit of having an additional selling point to advertise to potential consumers because the Better Business Bureau is revered for honesty and trustworthiness. A high rating from the Better Business Bureau could potentially be the force needed to induce a consumer to purchase your products or services. Companies become members with the Better Business Bureau because the marketplace has more potential to flourish if the consumers trust the businesses that want to serve them. Also, alignment with the Better Business Bureau has the benefit of demonstrating to consumers a business’s commitment to a conducting business in a trustworthy marketplace. Third, members of the Better Business Bureau have the opportunity to network with those in industries similar to their own and attract people from all over the United States. Finally, members get absolute access to any and all of this organization’s services and information. Members get all of the latest news and information about the Better Business Bureau as well as industry specific insider information. As a potential marketer, it would be imperative for someone to recommend that businesses seek to obtain Better Business Bureau membership status.

Software Developers, Market Researchers and Financial Analysts Are Our Future

General idea of success in the past was choosing a future vocation carefully, going to a prestigious college, getting a stable job and then sticking to it for the majority of your life, relentlessly climbing up the career ladder and, probably, switching to a larger company a couple of times in the process. But we live in the information age – however trite this remark may sound by now, it is still true. This means that situation in the job market may change considerably in just a couple of years, and the world you meet graduating from college may be quite different from what the world was like when you applied for admission. This, in the long run, means that your current college degree shouldn’t define what you will do for the rest of your life. If you see a better venture, don’t be afraid to retrain and move over there. It is not unheard-of for social science grads to leap to accounting or something else. So, what is our future looking like right now, in terms of jobs? A well-respected tool to help you out here is the Hot Careers Report by University of California, San Diego Extension. As it has been for quite a while, software developers, computer network architects and marketing analysts head the list of the hottest jobs. And it is likely that this tendency is going to remain strong. After all, every year brings us new breakthroughs in the areas of big data, cloud computing, mobile devices and so on. The mobile market alone simply exploded over the last few years, creating enormous demand for new applications and, therefore, exceptional demand for new professionals in the area. However, digital world isn’t the only hot thing right now. Surprisingly for some (and all too expectedly for others) today we see a noticeable upsurge in demand for such professions as financial analysts and advisors, elementary school teachers, nurses, physical therapists, accountants, auditors and so on. The reason for it is all too simple. We have recently reached the stage at which massive population of Baby Boomers started to go into retirement. This, on the one hand, leads to decrease in pensions and, on the other hand, to growing demand in specialists who would help aging people prepare to their retirements and those already retired manage their finances and affairs in general. They demand healthcare as well, hence the demand for nurses and physical therapists. In addition to that, numerous representatives of some professions, like elementary school teachers, are retiring as well, which leads to growing demand for their services that isn’t going to be rectified for some years. In other words, professions dealing with all things digital are still leading the way – the area keeps expanding and demands more and more professionals. But it doesn’t mean that other walks of life are to be ignored – there are numerous ways of building excellent careers for those who are not inclined to this kind of work.