Blonde Ambition How The Similar Careers Of Madonna And...

Alejandro Rodriguez Riley English Comp I – 1301- 052 October 23, 2017 Blonde Ambition: How the Similar Careers of Madonna and Britney Spears Created Two Different Pop Icons At the 2003 MTV Video Music Awards, pop icon Madonna joined two of the biggest pop stars at the time, Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera, on stage and would share a buzzworthy performance that kept the world talking and cemented the performers as some of the greatest MTV has ever seen. At the time, Spears was about to release a new album. She was still in the only years of her career, but with this performance, where the three female pop stars exchanged open mouth kisses on national television, critics began to wonder- could Britney Spears be the new Madonna of the†¦show more content†¦While both performers are singers by trade, both have been ridiculed for their vocal abilities in comparison to their contemporaries. Madonna and Spears both receive constant criticism for using a backing vocal track, a widely used tool in the music industry for performers where she sings live over a pre-recorded track, during most live performances with heavy choreography. While Madonna was being compared to Janet Jackson and Whitney Houston, Spears was competing with her contemporaries like Christina Aguilera or even Jennifer Lopez. However, in 1987 Madonna’s Who’s That Girl tour earned her $25 Million in US ticket sales in comparison to Houston’s $20.1 Million earned for her Moment of Truth tour that same year. (Thakur 168) Madonna has also sold over 300 Million records worldwide and is has generated over $1.2 Billion in sales during the first half of her career. (Kramarae Spender 459) Spears also came out on top throughout her early career as becoming the biggest female artist of the decade of the 21st century with over 150 million albums sold worldwide- heavily outselling Aguilera, Lopez, and other contemporaries. (Billboard) In fact, Guinness World Records has Spears’ debut album as the best-selling album by a teenager selling 25 Million records In 2001, Spears hadShow MoreRelatedTeaching Notes Robert Grant - Strategy 4th Edition51665 Words   |  207 PagesContents Introduction 3 1 Madonna 21 2 Laura Ashley Holdings plc: The Battle for Survival 26 3 The US Airline Industry in 2002 33 4 DaimlerChrysler and the World Automobile Industry 41 5 Wal-Mart Stores Inc., May 2002 49 6 Eastman Kodak: Meeting the Digital Challenge 62 7 Organizational Restructuring within the Royal Dutch/Shell Group 70 8 Harley-Davidson, Inc., January 2001 77 9 Online Broking Strategies: Merrill Lynch, Charles Schwab and E*Trade 83 10 11 12 Emi and the CT Scanner

China International Electronic Commerce Center - 1156 Words

Mr. Ma was born in China in 1964 and graduated in English 1988 to become a teacher. He was exposed to several opportunities for instance going to America to gain knowledge about the use of internet. Ma borrowed 2000$ from his relatives to launch China’s commercial website called China Pages. He moved to Beijing in 1998 to work for the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation as the head of International Department of the China international electronic COmmerce Center and designed their first government website for China. By gathering a total of 18 friends, he explained to them what he visioned and compensated them Rimini- which is the currency chinese use. In 1999, Alibaba was launched registered in Hong Kong with the 60000$†¦show more content†¦Creator of Yahoo! Search engine, John Wu, joined Alibaba and Jack Ma appointed him as the Chief Technology Officer of Alibaba. It became the world s largest online global trading with 2000 members and 70% was chinese . This lead to many e-commerces ventures in China based on the popularity it was receiving. Alibaba focused on SME’s and became its WTO to help small and medium Enterprises grow. Because the internet was getting well liked by the people of china, Alibaba became known to be the largest online business to business trading platform for the small businesses. Their products and services included electronics, apparel, auto and transportation s, electronic payment services, logistics operations, etc. 1688.com, was their chinese portal that offered domestic business to business trade internally in China. AliExpress.com, was their transaction based reati website that gave buyers the opportunities to buy small goods at a wholesale prices.. With their operations based in China, although it has grown to be a global organizational platform, it focused on china as their main target. 4 main challenges Competition in the eCommerce Market: 1600 employees in sales departments that helped built their supplier community. Dotcom Bubble Burst: companies filed for bankruptcy since revenues were dropping from internet advertising. By initiating the B2C strategy, Alibaba was back to business stronger than ever. The B2C involved 1) Back to China-

China’s Economic Problems and Slow Growth Rate †Free Samples

Question: Why is Chinas Growth Rate Slowing Down? Answer: After experiencing an extraordinary rapideconomic growth for more than a decade, China is currently experiencing an excruciating slowdown, thus shifting from state investment led to consumption and service driven economy. Itseconomic growth weakens as the GDP further slows down in 2016Q4 (6.8% y/y against 6.9%y/y in Q3; lowest since 2009) as the retail sales weakens (10.7%y/y in Apr-17 against 10.9%y/y in Mar-17), fixed asset investment edges down (8.9% y/y in Apr-17 against 9.2%y/y in Mar-17), while industrial output reflects the major disappointment in Mar-17 (6.5% y/y against 7.6% y/y in Mar-17),albeit a moderation in auto sales industry is noted. Key industrial commodity such as iron ore prices have also slowed down as a result of the waning demand (Acton, 2017). Corporate debt increased from 60% to 165% of GDP in 2017, thus forming a largest share in Chinas total debt structure, following business defaulters and bankruptcies, low profits and returns on investment and the likelihood of yet another slowdown in real estate sector (Minnich, 2016). In fact, IMF has to revise their growth rate cut which has further created fear among policymakers, investors and consumers thus shaken their confidence. The outlook for the year 2017 suggests that the growth would further reduce to 6.5% following the hike in the interest rates by the central Bank (Jacob, 2017). Cheap labor, high level of investment and global demand for Chinese goods are some of the highlights of the economys high level of performance. Chinas unusual investment level had led to fall in the returns and very much have challenged its financial system as they finance such investments. So, as the demand for cheap export fall while consumption expenditure continues to decrease, investment has been the Chinas engine of growth financed by loans, bonds and informal lending (McGrath,2016). While US and Japan used government spending to stimulate growth, China controlled banking sector and have a policy of easy access to credit to stimulate the slowing economy. Moreover, it has followed accommodative monetary policy reducing the interest rate and slashing it thrice since Nov. However, China is reliant on foreign cash inflows for monetary growth so it is very unlikely that this policy is going to help (Minnich, 2016). Hence, to revive the investors confidence across globe, there is an urgent need to reduce investment level in order to make returns to capital attractive. At the same time, consumption expenditure should be increased by the same amount in order to balance out so that the overall aggregate demand isnt adversely impacted. This implies transfer of purchasing power from bourgeois class to the workers, thus causing a rift between the two classes. It has become prominent that china needs to reformulate its social andeconomic reform and align them as per the need of an hour, thus enable them to achieve stability in the economy. Thus, current capitalist model is likely to fall apart in coming years as crises- economic, social and ecological converges in China(Li, 2012). References Jacobs, S. (2017). China's industrial production slows down. [online] Business Insider. Available at: https://www.businessinsider.com/china-industrial-production-april-2017-2017-5?IR=T [Accessed 15 May 2017]. Jacobs, S. (2017). China's industrial production slows down. [online] Business Insider. Available at: https://www.businessinsider.com/china-industrial-production-april-2017-2017-5?IR=T [Accessed 15 May 2017]. Janda, M. (2017). 'Meaningful slowdown' for Chinese economy. [online] ABC News. Available at: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-05-15/china-economic-data-retail-sales-investment/8527022 [Accessed 15 May 2017]. Li, D. (2012). A Dying Model: Chinese Capitalism. [online] The Diplomat. Available at: https://thediplomat.com/2012/11/a-dying-model-chinese-capitalism/ [Accessed 15 May 2017]. McGrath, P. (2017). China posts slowest economic growth in 25 years. [online] Abc.net.au. Available at: https://www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2015/s4391078.htm [Accessed 15 May 2017]. Minnich, J. (2017). Chinas economic problems will come to a head in 2017. [online] MarketWatch. Available at: https://www.marketwatch.com/story/chinas-economic-problems-will-come-to-a-head-in-2017-2016-11-23 [Accessed 15 May 2017].

The Creolization of Old Calabar free essay sample

The business and social interactions of the African and English slave traders created a very different Old Calabar. As the slave trade grew the society quickly started to reflect not only the traditions and values of the Africans but of the English as well. Old Calabar became a New Creolized Calabar†. Was this the direct result of the slave trading? The evidence says yes? The creolization of the African Society of Calabar can clearly be associated with the slave trade by analyzing their language changes, life style changes and political changes as the slave trading became more competitive and economically beneficial. Creolization usually brings to mind the decedents in Louisiana born to the Spanish, French and Haitians before the Civil War. Randy Sparks introduces the idea of creolization as being a way to explain what happened in Old Calabar, but interestingly, he poses the thought that it had little to do with the origin or birth of those involved. Sparks instead introduces historian Ira Berlins idea of the Robin Johns being a kind of Atlantic Creole not because of blood lines but by experiences. Ira Berlins quote is as follows: Familiar with the commerce of the Atlantic, fluent in its new languages, and intimate with its trade and cultures, they were cosmopolitan in the fullest sense. (pg. 4) The Robin Johns were not only fluent in the English language but also in trade language alluded to by Ira Berlin. These various languages developed in areas from Gambia to Cameron and developed as a result of the constant exposure of slave traders to each others languages. The variations spread around the Atlantic Ocean to areas where slave trade was popular from Africa to the Americas to Europe. Sparks describes the languages as a combination of mostly English words having African Grammatical structures. The African leaders in Old Calabar were responsible for the cosmopolitan† like essence of the Robin Robins. The leaders knew that by being more European understanding the European customs and practicing the lifestyle. It gave them the competitive edge over the other African competitors who did not. Joining with the Europeans in the lucrative slave business was an economic gold mine. So, the smart African transformed himself into an image of what they believed made them more appealing to the Europeans. An example of this would be that they ordered and used extravagant products such as English razors, pewter piss pots and mirrors six feet tall. The degree of their creolization is very apparent on pages 11 and 12 of the first chapter. Sparks description of Grandy King George, who was originally known as Ephraim, is filled with the pageantry of both Royal English and African fused together. Sparks describes Grandy King George as he boards the Royal Canoe the day before The Massacre of 1767. Sparks indicates that Grandy King George wore a multicolored robe and red coat trimmed in gold lace, a silk sash thrown over his shoulders. He carried a gold skull headed cane in one hand and a fine ceremonial sword in the other. Under one arm he carried a gold trimmed cocked hat and the ensigns that, as Sparks describes them, blew in the wind, engraved with Grandy King Georges name written in English letters. The Kings name being written in English letters emphasizes the point that the African Slave traders not only spoke the English language, but also had the ability to read and write it. The unique combination of The Kings attire and accessories powerfully displayed his desire to indicate his appreciation for both cultures. The red coat trimmed in gold clearly reflected his admiration of the English Royals, while the skull headed cane, on the other hand, indicated his pride in his African heritage. Sparks seems to save his last description of the King and his surroundings that day as the most obvious fusion of the two cultures. He describes that behind the King, in the center of the canoe, there was a small house painted in bright colors, and on top of the house there were two men loudly playing the drums. There was a canon in the bow of the canoe, and in front of the canon was a man who shook a large bundle of reeds to symbolically ward off obstacles. Again, one could say that the mixing of cultures is self-evident. The canon would have been something purchased from the English, while the spirit man and the men beating the drums would have reflected his African faith. African Politics in the area of Efiks experienced significant change after the slave trade with the English escalated. The economy had been predominantly based on agricultural trade and there was no strong centralized government. Small groups of population approximately 1200 were divided up into Wards and Houses lead by town council Elders and House Elders. As the economy grew, the criteria for qualification as head of house changed from lineage to wealth. Houses became larger, Wards and Towns as well. A stronger governing system was created. The â€Å"Grand Council† was introduced to govern the â€Å"Council of Elders†. The â€Å"Ekpe Society† was created to set standards and create laws for the entire system. Entry into the system was open to all men even slaves as long as the entry fees were paid. The Society had many levels of membership determined by the wealth of the man. The Ekpe Society controlled all trading regulations both slave and agricultural. In addition they controlled the economy. They set prices for goods, enforced debt collection, payment submissions and kept track of inventory. The Ekpe Society even controlled who was responsible for sweeping the streets. The crealization is seen in the change of the African Society governing style from a lineage system to a system influenced more by wealth and requiring strong central government. In conclusion it is clear that the relationship with the English and the huge amounts of capital to be made created a creolized African Society. It changed how they thought about status. They wanted English clothes, razors, mirrors and pewter piss pots. The government became more about money than lineage and last but not least their language changed. An entire language was created around the slave trade.