Voyage and Psychological Development in Homers Odyssey Essay example -

The Voyage and Psychological Development in Homer's Odyssey      Ã‚  Ã‚   Homer's Odyssey arguably stands out head and shoulders above any other piece of epic literature produced by Western civilization for nearly three millennia. Most remarkable is the extent to which the Western hero archetype is to this day still a result of the molding that occurred upon the character of Odysseus so long ago. In imagining a police lineup of the most profoundly influencing protagonists of Western epic poetry, surely Odysseus would impress in stature and roguish airs far beyond the others for is not the gray-eyed Athena, daughter of rain-bringing Zeus himself, bound in devotion to this mortal hero? It is she who repeatedly enhances Odysseus' appearance so as to impress upon others his god-like qualities: And Athene, she who was born from Zeus, made him Bigger to look at and stouter, and on his head Made his hair flow in curls, like the hyacinth flower . . . So she poured grace upon his head and shoulders. (6.229-35) In anointing Odysseus in similar fashion throughout the tale of his arduous journey homeward, the ancient as well as modern reader cannot help but look to Odysseus as a role model. Implicit in this behavioral model is one of Homer's many subtexts, namely that having one or more of the gods on one's side is not enough to guarantee even a partial success in one's endeavors. The god Poseidon stands in direct opposition to Odysseus' goal of reaching Ithaca, yet his attacks upon the hero always fall just short of actually killing him. Instead, with each calamity that befalls Odysseus at Poseidon's hand, the hero is faced with a parallel inward struggle. Surviving the physical realm at first seems to be the test when actually it ... ...side of the woman (the animus) and the passive, feminine side of the man (the anima). Although the two figures are always tempting the ego to identify itself with them, a real understanding even on the personal level is possible only if the identification is refused. (Jung 16: 469) Perhaps The Odyssey, when seen from the perspective of Jungian and post-Jungian psychology, offers the reader a rich model for their own psychological development and an opportunity to re-examine the hero archetype in Western civilization. Works Cited Cirlot, J.E., A Dictionary of Symbols. New York: Barnes & Noble, 1971. Hillman, James. Anima: An Anatomy of a Personified Notion. Dallas: Spring Publications, 1985. Homer. The Odyssey. Trans., Ed. Albert Cook. New York: W.W. Norton, 1993. Jung, C.G. Collected Works. 20 vols. Trans. R.F.C. Hull. Princeton: Princeton U P, 1954.    Voyage and Psychological Development in Homer's Odyssey Essay example - The Voyage and Psychological Development in Homer's Odyssey      Ã‚  Ã‚   Homer's Odyssey arguably stands out head and shoulders above any other piece of epic literature produced by Western civilization for nearly three millennia. Most remarkable is the extent to which the Western hero archetype is to this day still a result of the molding that occurred upon the character of Odysseus so long ago. In imagining a police lineup of the most profoundly influencing protagonists of Western epic poetry, surely Odysseus would impress in stature and roguish airs far beyond the others for is not the gray-eyed Athena, daughter of rain-bringing Zeus himself, bound in devotion to this mortal hero? It is she who repeatedly enhances Odysseus' appearance so as to impress upon others his god-like qualities: And Athene, she who was born from Zeus, made him Bigger to look at and stouter, and on his head Made his hair flow in curls, like the hyacinth flower . . . So she poured grace upon his head and shoulders. (6.229-35) In anointing Odysseus in similar fashion throughout the tale of his arduous journey homeward, the ancient as well as modern reader cannot help but look to Odysseus as a role model. Implicit in this behavioral model is one of Homer's many subtexts, namely that having one or more of the gods on one's side is not enough to guarantee even a partial success in one's endeavors. The god Poseidon stands in direct opposition to Odysseus' goal of reaching Ithaca, yet his attacks upon the hero always fall just short of actually killing him. Instead, with each calamity that befalls Odysseus at Poseidon's hand, the hero is faced with a parallel inward struggle. Surviving the physical realm at first seems to be the test when actually it ... ...side of the woman (the animus) and the passive, feminine side of the man (the anima). Although the two figures are always tempting the ego to identify itself with them, a real understanding even on the personal level is possible only if the identification is refused. (Jung 16: 469) Perhaps The Odyssey, when seen from the perspective of Jungian and post-Jungian psychology, offers the reader a rich model for their own psychological development and an opportunity to re-examine the hero archetype in Western civilization. Works Cited Cirlot, J.E., A Dictionary of Symbols. New York: Barnes & Noble, 1971. Hillman, James. Anima: An Anatomy of a Personified Notion. Dallas: Spring Publications, 1985. Homer. The Odyssey. Trans., Ed. Albert Cook. New York: W.W. Norton, 1993. Jung, C.G. Collected Works. 20 vols. Trans. R.F.C. Hull. Princeton: Princeton U P, 1954.   

Strategic Management report for Breadtalk

IntroductionFounded in July 2000, Breadtalk Ltd started off as a bakery that is based in Singapore and was listed in the Singapore Stock Exchange three years later in 2003. Breadtalk Ltd aims to endeavor for modernism and creating idiosyncratic flavors to the civic and a dream of being a global brand name. With these goals at hand, Breadtalk Ltd began to initiate a new food tradition that allows it to have a unique aggressive advantage, which has led to the growth of the bakery business, to food atrium and restaurant outlets. To date, they have more than 300 bakery outlets across 13 countries and territories, which include franchises and 25 retail bakery outlets in Singapore. In addition, it also has 33 food courts and 8 restaurants which are supported by over 5000 staff worldwide (Bamburg, 2006)SWOT ANALYSISThe Swot analysis refers to strength, weaknesses, opportunities and threats, and will determine the challenges in the external environment which the firm has less control and str engths that need to address by the company.StrengthsBreadtalk is able to have some internal strengths in which are beneficial to the company that includes: Strong â€Å"Breadtalk.† brand name, ability to obtain economies of scale, strong human resource, strong R&D team to add innovation to product offerings and strong franchise relationships.WeaknessesBreadtalk faces some minor weaknesses like, over-reliance on the bakery sector, over-reliance on the Singapore region; their product offerings are easily imitated, there is limited control of flour since it is obtained from third party sources (Coyle, 2012). In addition, the franchise division requires high cost involvement, and a constant need for the renewal of the franchise license to be franchising other brands. This is not a long term solution in terms of company expansion.OpportunitiesBreadtalk Ltd oppose its main weaknesses by expanding and merge its market in china, Asian and other Vietnam countries with its low-priced h igh volume breads and affordability.Threats Existing bread related firms and bakery shops will affect the revenue of Breadtalk.PESTEL ANALYSISPestel analysis is an important tool to help Breadtalk Ltd to assist monitor and detect all weak signals to recognize the fractures to shape the environment or discontinuities.Political /Legal factorsPolitical factor constitutes all legal fundamentals like taxation, legislation, deregulation philosophies and labor training (Anthony, 2008). Increasing trade barriers has created an opportunity and challenge to Breadtalk as it can penetrate the market by emerging companies in political stable countries to explore the new market especially where bread could be luxury, and at the same time Breadtalk will have to challenge all types of sources to source for low cost high quality from world over.Economic factorsThe growth of a financial structure will accrue advantage to industries, but its cause will differ according to which factors that are affect ed the most. (Anthony, 2008). Price fluctuations of commodity and raw material and rise in world fuel prices cause the rise of purchasing costs for Breadtalk and the extra cost has to pass over the consumers by increasing the price of their products.Social factorsSocial factors include traditions, lifestyles, values, beliefs, tastes, attitudes and workforce diversity and will greatly influence the consumer spending patterns within the environment or a country. Breadtalk penetrates into the markets of other Asian continent countries, societal factors come into consideration. Indian and Chinese customers have different culture in lifestyle, and have different opinions and needs on the current products offered.Technological factorsTechnological factors include product innovation, technologies in communication and application of knowledge. The rapid change in technology has allowed new entrants to enter the market at a low cost base. Current processes and equipment with many infrastruct ural strategies can be utilized by Breadtalk to ensure the cost of labor and manufacture and orders to  process faster due to globalization and shifts in technical factors.Environment factorsAt Breadtalk, they know that they need to blend into any type of environment in order to be successful. They make use of resources that the environment can provide, and delivered the desired goods in return. Sometime the environment may pose a threat in which may challenge Breadtalk or may also create fresh opportunities.PORTER 5 ANALYSISPorter five forces analysis was used to study the long run projections for review. .Since it generates 45% of its revenue from the bakery industry and 49% from Singapore, heavy reliance on a single division is dangerous because the risk is heavily contained in a single segment. On the other hand, in the current time, Breadtalk tries to expand this by increasing profitability in the industry of baking.Intensity of rivalry among competitors (High)The bakery busi ness in general is driven by cut-throat competition from companies producing similar products. Breadtalk has undeviating competitors ranging from large bakery contract brands to retail bakery outlets. These competitors offer analogous products but at a highly competitive prices. Moreover, prices offered by individual bakery outlets located at neighborhoods are usually much lower than larger chains of bakeries (Cassiman and Colombo, 2004).Threat of new entrants (High)Low entry barriers resulted in a high threat of new entrants in business; a large segment still retails similar products and is able to emulate each other’s products quickly.Threat of substitutes (High)Products substitutes are usually a hazard in the bakery industry as their prices can be reasonably go down, and customers face low switch of expenditure for gaining utility of the same needs and wants. Substitutes like munchies and junk food can be an imminent threat. Substitutes may range from snack joints in the t erritory of the business.Suppliers (Low)Suppliers normally have low bargaining power in the industry as there are a number of them still in existence. The suppliers are not able to blotch up their goods radically as most of the customers more often than not, acquire in huge quantities. Furthermore, due to the fact that unprocessed resources like flour and wheat don’t vary largely in excellence and in capacity, across suppliers, this advances barriers supplying bargaining power of the suppliers.Customers (High)Customers are at liberty to enjoy huge bargaining power, as they suffer low switching costs in the bakery industry, and in addition, the demand for food is highly price elastic, which means that most of the consumers will be price sensitive to any price adjustments and they wouldn’t be hesitant to vary their tastes and preferences accordingly.  INTERNAL ENVIRONMENT ANALYSIS  ResourcesThis analysis seeks to review and summarize Breadtalk’s tangible and i ntangible resources at the end of the 2012 financial year (Halibozek, 2005).Tangible resources (assets) Breadtalk’s tangible resources (fixed assets) are land, buildings and equipment. The currents assets are current assets and inventories (raw-materials, semi-finished goods, consumables and base inventories (dining utensils and cutlery).Intangible resources (assets)Breadtalk’s intangible resources are trademarks, copyrights, and brand.Breadtalk Ltd capabilitiesBreadtalk’s future aspiration plan by 2015, is to double its revenue to $1billion and expand its outlets to 2000 by the year 2017. The targeted expansion market areas include U.S, Thailand, Japan, Korea, Singapore, India, Cambodia and Vietnam. The company is capable and has the potential because its brand name is recognized worldwide. In order to increase production, the company has pumped $10 million in mechanization and computerization. Breadtalk also built a ten storey building designed like a pastry s tructure and a central kitchen in its head quarters which has a  research lab and training colleges.CONCLUSIONStrategic management and organization, is a prerequisite to every firm or company, and it’s a collective responsibility of every employee from management to subordinate to play an active role in ensuring that the annual targets are met, this is important in determining the progress of organization on the basis of upward and downward trend in total revenue annually. Every organization uses strategic management concepts and method to enjoy elevated levels of performance.RECOMMENDATIONThe recommendations made by Breadtalk will be used as a tool for coping with the addressed challenges in the process of diversification plan. The company should implement a slower diversification strategy in order to have a good understanding of the customers and competitors’ strengths and weaknesses. By doing so, Breadtalk will be able to tackle the changes more effectively and pr ecisely. Breadtalk can also espouse a branding strategy which will be globalize to ensure reliability and manage the complexities of different consumer tastes and preferences in different markets globally.

Christabel Pankhurst Biography