Terry Kays To Dance With the White Dog :: To Dance With the White Dog

The Power of Love in Terry Kay's To Dance With the White Dog Terry Kay said there was a grand romance of life between his parents. (179). Kay captures his parent’s undying love and celebrates his family in his novel To Dance With the White Dog. Kay believes that his parent’s love still carried on, even after their death. Sam and Cora Peek’s love is portrayed through the white dog that Sam saw licking up grease on his back porch. Strangely, the white dog looked just like a dog that Sam and his wife had when they first were married. Another factor that makes the occurrence of the white dog even stranger is that it did not show up at Sam’s house until after Cora died. Kay said that his parents had an undying love; he uses his novel to express his parent’s love. Kay also notes that true love does not recognize the concept of time and can possibly carry on lasting for eternity. Whenever Sam Peek needed anyone, the white dog was there for him. The White dog would only show herself when she felt necessary. One night Sam Peek’s hip was bothering him very bad. Sam got out of his chair to get a pain pill but hit the floor soon after. The white dog strangely opened the door and was running around the yard. Kate, one of Sam’s daughters, saw the white dog. The white dog was trying to protect Sam and was only there for him in times of crisis. The white dog was possibly Cora’s undying love extending from heaven. Cora wanted to be there for Sam regardless of the boundaries and she was able to through the white dog. Later on in the book, Sam died from cancer. Sam’s youngest child, James, went to his parent’s grave. â€Å"James walked into the plot, between the grave mounds of his mother and father, and he knelt. Then he saw them: across the chest of sand on the grave of Robert Samuel Peek, he saw the paw prints, prints so light they could have been made by air.† (178). Cora did not have to worry about Sam since he was finally with her in heaven. So as soon as Sam died, the white dog disappeared. Terry Kay believed that there was an undying love between his parents. That was evident in the short time the white dog was with Sam.

Barriers Of Entering A Foreign Market

Going abroad with our business has been the talk of the globalization age. In this global society, there are growing reasons of why we should expand our business to foreign markets. First, companies are like continuously growing organisms. It cannot exist without the search of growth or of potentials of growth.This is why mangers cannot afford to live in the illusion that their local markets will be sufficient to sustain the need for continuous growth (Khan, 2005). Second, having an established business overseas will strengthen companies’ financial safety significantly by offsetting domestic seasonal fluctuations.Third, expanding to foreign markets is an excellent choice for enhancing companies’ market shares. Fourth, with the extensive promotion of globalization and US’ effort to combat trade protections, there are significantly more enhanced facilities to support foreign investments today compare to a decade ago. In short, entering foreign markets is an importa nt and contemporary discussion subject (Zacharakis, 1996). However, managers have also realized that the decision to internationalize market shares contains considerable amount of risks and barriers.Some of the most recognizable barriers are cultural and language barriers, environmental issues, political issues, etc. In this paper, we are detailing those barriers and providing case examples to strengthen the arguments. II. Barriers of Entering a Foreign Market II. 1. Cultural and Language Barriers In this discussion, we will start with what is probably the strongest factor that influences expansion to foreign markets. Managers have long accepted that in internationalization considerations, differences between home culture and the culture of foreign countries are significant.Culture is a complex term. It consists of various factors like languages, religions, social norms etc. Thus, companies generally spend considerable portion of their time learning about the culture of the foreign target markets. This is also true whether managers decided to establish new firms in foreign markets or collaborating with foreign partners. Studies also indicated that cultural issues influence the manner in which companies perform their international expansion. Firms generally increase their commitment in investing to a particular foreign target market in predictable stages.First, they will use export agents to learn about the country’s culture. This type of foreign investment will change along with time and enhanced knowledge about local culture of the target market. II. 2. Business Environment Barriers The local business environment has also been an influential factor that strongly affects foreign expansion activities. For instance, companies can have the problem of not having the sufficient good image in a society that has local preferences. Reputation is the issue resulted from the local business environment condition of several markets with local preferences.Some consu mers have more confidence or tendency to purchase local products rather than foreign made. Despite the extensive marketing efforts performed by foreign companies to take away local market share, they still lagged behind local products, even ones with less marketing budget. II. 3. Political and Government Regulations Barriers Other barriers are political in nature. Governmental policies can create enormous effect on company’s success or failure in entering foreign markets. China is the most apparent example of this premise.The Chinese markets have been closed from foreign investors for decades before a massive governmental revolution created opportunities for foreign investment. The government opens chances for FDI inflow. Furthermore, supports foreign investment by means of incentives, property rights protections, etc. Afterwards, economic records indicated that the country has been experiencing one of the most rapid growths in the world, with an average annual GDP growth per centage of 10% for the last decade. In short, governmental policies have significant importance in international expansion.III. Several Cases from 2001-2006 In this paper, I will provide several examples of cases involving foreign entry barriers mentioned above. Despite the similar nature of barriers in each cases, each country has their own tendency of foreign trade barriers. III. 1. Entering Indonesian Markets Indonesian is seen as one of the most economically potential markets in Asia today. Its abundant amount of human resources and cheap labor has been considerable attractions for international investors since the country recovered from its economic crisis.Nevertheless, the country is recorded to have several issues that might hamper international investment toward local markets. First, in terms of governmental policies, the country is still enacting several import and export restrictions to protect local consumers and to ensure that local necessities are fulfilled before forei gn investors could take a share of the market. This could mean higher tariffs, longer bureaucracy, etc. Second, the country has a unique set of culture.Cultural analysts and foreign managers operating in local markets described the country as being comfortable in doing things their own way and refuse to have it challenged (Forrest, 2001). The importance of physical presence of superiors, the lack appreciation toward punctuality and the respect for age and seniority is several of many things that must be learned about Indonesian culture before entering local markets. Learning informal business etiquettes are often as important as learning formal ones, or sometimes more important.For example, there is a significant cultural practice in Indonesia when commonly, Indonesian managers tend to hire their relatives and friends regardless their competences. This situation is inappropriate for Australian or American companies since they consider it as nepotism (Dowling & De Cieri, 1989). III. 2. Japanese Firms Entering US Markets In the case of Japan companies’ expansion to US markets, the case lies in condition of US’ business environment. Most US consumers prefer national products rather than foreign ones. This creates significant challenges for Japanese companies targeting US markets.Some Japan companies perform large marketing effort to facilitate their presence in US local markets. However, as mentioned previously, some of these efforts did not work as planned. Locals could still easily take control of the market share. This is identified as the barrier of reputation. The study of Japanese companies who enters US market revealed that some Japan companies chose collaboration with local brands in order to win local preferences rather than performing endless marketing campaigns that could have weak effects (Chen, 2003).Concerning the decision making, for example, Japanese managers tend explore the roots of problem before making a particular decision. In c ontrast, American managers are likely to adopt straightforward approach (judgmental behavior) that is much efficient than Japanese approach but less effective. Following link, inform the practice of Japanese culture in terms of big typhoon etc (http://www. brovision. com/) and http://www. mccombs. utexas. edu/research/ciber/executivevideotapes. asp. sssIn foreign countries, for instances, Japanese companies like Toyota and Honda that realize their HR practices are unacceptable by non-Japanese culture may come up with an unfortunate solution by hiring employees under distinct employment categories that lack of job security (Hersey, 1972). III. 3. United States and China In the recent case of United State’s commerce department and the government of China, another foreign trade issues caused by local business environment appear. US Department of Commerce’s assistant secretary stated that China has been using technical regulations as a barrier of trade barriers.This is don e by imposing certain quality standards that would effectively band certain products from entering the Chinese local markets. US department of commerce are currently fighting to oppose this type of trade barriers using diplomatic means (‘United States’, 2005). Bibliography Chen, Shih-Fen. Zeng Ming. 2003. ‘Japanese Investor’s Choice of Acquisition vs Startup in the US: The Role of Reputation Barriers and Advertising Outlays’. International Journal of Research in Marketing. Retrieved February 14, 2007 from brandeis. edu/ibs/faculty_publications/chen/japanese_acquisitions.pdf Dowling, P. J. , Welch, D. E. & De Cieri, H. 1989, ‘International joint ventures: a new challenge for human management’, Proceedings of the fifteenth conference of the European international business association. Helsinki, December, 1989 Forrest, W. , Bidgood, M. 2001. Cultural Aspects of Business. American Indonesia Chamber of Commerce. www. aiccusa. org Fiedler, Fre d E. 1965. Engineer the Job to Fit the Manager. Harvard Business Review. Vol. 43 Hersey, Paul. Blanchard, Kenneth H. 1972. Management of Organization Behavior. New Jersey: Prentic- Hall Inc. Kenna, Peggy.Sondra, Lacy. 1994. Business Japan: A Practical Guide to Understanding Japanese Business Culture. McGraw-Hill Khan, Asim. 2005. Business Management Inc. Retrieved February 14, 2007 from www. themanager. org/strategy/Deciding_to_Go_International. pdf ‘United States Combating Use of Standards as Trade Barriers’. 2005. US INFO. STATE. GOV. Retrieved February 14, 2007 from http://usinfo. state. gov/xarchives/display. html? p=washfile-english&y=2005&m=May&x=20050513162339ajesroM0. 5901605&t=livefeeds/wf-latest. html Zacharakis, Andrew. 1996. Academy of Management Executive. 10(4): 109-110.

An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge

An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge Introduction ‘An Occurrence at Owl Creek’ is set in the American Civil War and tells of the execution of Peyton Farquhar, a civilian confederate sympathizer (Sparknotes.com, 2007). The story throws us to different times: the ‘present’ moment of the execution, the past that led to the execution and most notably, to an ‘imagined present’ (Sparknotes.com, 2007).Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More But there’s is no clear distinction between the reality and the imagination if each is to be judged on its own right. Just as the real world has people who can be hungry and tired and in need, so is the world that Farquhar imagines. It is this playing around with time, this irregular time sequence that makes this story famous. From a psychoanalytic point of view, it is quite evident how Bierce’s own life is an in fluence to this story. Besides having himself been a soldier, Bierce was an outspoken opponent of realism, which insisted on reflecting life as it is, ‘without any subjection whatsoever to creativity of the mind (Sparknotes.com, 2007). Analysis The story is a reflection of some of the issues that Bierce seemed to have been interest in. These include: Reality versus Illusion: Bierce seemed to be of the thought that the line between reality and illusion is not a very obvious one; that these two work side by side (Sparknotes.com, 2007). Bierce, to an extent, manages to bring the audience with him into this thought. The final section, Peyton’s escape to his family, is quite believable in its own right. Of course, there’s a possibility of the reader being confused. Here’s why. The final sentence in section I is â€Å"The sergeant stepped aside† (Sparknotes.com, 2007), at this point, we expect that Farquhar is plunging to his death. Now in section III he is ‘really’ escaping to his family; the reader is caught between a fact, as told by the storyteller, and the reality of Farquhar’s escape as created by words.Advertising Looking for essay on american literature? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More The confusion created by a conscious/subconscious awareness that Farquhar is plunging to his death visvis his escape, or the acceptance that he is actually escaping, are a reflection of Bierce’ success at making us see that, in spite of the gap between them, the difference between reality and illusion, what it takes to move from one to another, is not so obvious. Bierce also explores the aspect of liquidity of time (Sparknotes.com, 2007). The story moves from the present to the past and finally to the imagined. This structure reflects how fluid time is, as well as the conflict between its competing variants. Section II interrupts the continuing proces s of Farquhar at the edge, starting to plunge down to his death (Sparknotes.com, 2007). In section III, Peyton has gone into a completely timeless realm, free from the hands of time as counted down by the actual second-hand of a clock. Farquhar manages to do in his mind/imagination what can’t be done in the actual world within the seconds it takes him to go over the edge and the rope breaking his neck. In the end, Bierce’s seems to say that time is subjective, that it can be manipulated to suit need, as does Farquhar. Bierce’s story was seen as a breach of the traditional rules of narration, especially the ending of the story. Bierce’s conclusion is not really of the expected form as it questions the nature of resolving a story (Sparknotes.com, 2007). The conclusion here becomes a distortion of the reality as it is known; Farquhar, in a sense, manages to ‘outlive’ his execution because though his life ends in the first section, his story stil l extends. Bierce’s unique plotting sees conflicting versions of truth live side by side inside the same story (Sparknotes.com, 2007). In spite of this, Bierce still does his story within the conventions of literature: the story starts, develops and ends; he employs tropes such as motifs and symbols, as well as features of drama such as realism, foreshadowing and tone (Sparknotes.com, 2007). Realism involves making an imaginary world as believable as possible. For authenticity, Bierce gives a vivid and believable description of the setting at the bridge where Farquhar is to be executed: from the time to the position of planks and rope; from the positioning of the soldiers and their guns to their conduct at the ritual of execution (Sparknotes.com, 2007).Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Again, although the revelation at the end of Farquharâ€⠄¢s imagination is unexpected and shocking, Bierce, by talking of how things ‘seem’ to Farquhar as opposed to what is actually happening is a foreshadowing (helped by the change of tone) of the actual death of Farquhar. Conclusion Finally, it is quite notable the way that Bierce uses imagination to get into Farquhar’s head. Here is a dying man who does not speak his mind, he only imagines it. Yet Bierce takes the â€Å"seat of God†; that he’s able to get into Farquhar’s head (Sparknotes.com, 2007). In the end it is this fruit of imagination that brings all that makes this story different and remarkable, both in the arena of literary works, as well as for the reader. Reference Sparknotes.com. (2007). An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge. Web.