The Markowitz Mean Variance Optimization Model Finance Essay - Free Essay Example

Abstract This project examined the optimal allocation of stocks based on the Markowitz Mean Variance Optimization Model. It is mainly based on the comparison between two samples of stock returns. The first sample is referred to as the full data set, and contains the returns of the stocks GE, Baxter, Dow, Caterpillar, Apple, and Procter and Gamble calculated over the period of five years. The second sample takes the 250 most recent daily returns as the base data set. The objective is to find the optimal allocation in a portfolio of risky assets only and the Complete Portfolio that an investor could choose in order to maximize his utility. Before analyzing the results from the optimization process, we started by analyzing the data, and verifying that the assumption of normality the model is valid in both data sets. Then we describe the results given by the different optimizations that we calculated and we compared both samples showing the optimal allocation for risky assets only and the optimal allocation that includes the risk free asset. Then, we graph the efficient frontier along with the capital allocation line, and we make some comments about the results obtained. Finally, we formulate the recommendation to the investor based on the results obtained, and we point out some of the limitations of the model that could explain some of the unrealistic results that we fo und. The methodology of the calculations, the tables and the charts used are all referenced in the appendix of this paper in order to illustrate the results obtained. Introduction This project is based on the Markowitz Mean Variance Optimization Model for defining the optimal weights of assets in a given portfolio based on various investment constraints. The model generally seeks to maximize return for a given level of risk, or minimize risk for a given level of return. Markowitz formulated the portfolio construction problem as a utility maximization problem and used this to develop a framework for selecting a range of optimal portfolios. In his model, Markowitz made several assumptions on which this project is based. These assumptions designed the portfolio selection problem to a mean-variance portfolio optimization problem and are as follows: All investors have a single holding period during which they will maximize their utility function. Investors dont incur any transaction costs or taxes while trading the securities. Investors have a quadratic utility function that they should maximize based on the expected return, variance, and risk aversion. The returns used should be normally distributed. Investors are assumed to be risk averse where they prefer to maximize the returns given a minimum level of risk All the investors share the same economic view of the world, and they analyze the securities in the same way. I/ Analyzing Stock Returns and Standard Deviations According to Table 1 and 2 in Appendix 2, the results show that the expected returns in the full data set obtained were generally lower than the expected returns in the sample of the 250 most recent returns. (Please refer to Appendix 1 for the methodology of calculations.) The major explanation is that the full data set covers the 2007/08 financial crisis in which the U.S stock market has dropped down by more than 50%, which had an implication on the mean expected returns calculated over the period from 2006 until 2011, and shows relatively lower returns. In comparison, the 250 most recent returns sample covers a period of one year starting from the 2nd of March, 2010 until the 31st of January, 2011. During this period, the stock market has recovered from the historic lows of March 2009, and is still facing a market rally that has been consistent until now, which affects the performance of individual stocks at the exception of Baxter, and Procter Gamble, which underperformed due t o some fundamental issues that are related to their business sectors. Regarding standard deviation, we can see that the stocks in the full data set present a higher standard deviation than in the second data set. This shows that during the period from 2006 to 2011, there has been a high volatility in the market, which is illustrated by the stocks demonstrating some extreme returns. This is mainly due the shape of the recovery after the financial crisis, which displayed some significant drops in the share prices and recovering back at a rapid rate of growth, after March 2009. However, the volatility has stabilized during the last year which means that stocks are becoming less risky in comparison with the last three years. II/ Analyzing the Data Sets 1) Testing for normality Before going through the process of selecting the optimal portfolios, we first examine the returns computed and see if they match the assumptions of normality that have been stated earlier for the model to be valid. In order to do so, the Jarque-Bera test for normality is chosen, and provides a formal method in which Skewness and Kurtosis are used to analyze the distribution of the returns. (Please refer to the appendix for the description of the Jarque and Bera test for normality) Analysis of the results: The data in tables 3 and 4 from Appendix 2 show different results for the two sample sizes. In the Full data set, the JB test statistics computed are all higher than the 9.21 critical value with 99% confidence level, which means that the distribution of the returns is not normal as we reject the null hypothesis. This is mainly explained by the fact that the kurtosis observed in all the stocks returns is positive and is higher than 3, which shows that the distributions exhibit fat tails. Moreover, Skewness is different from zero for all the distributions showing that they are not perfectly symmetrical, which rejects another condition for the normality of returns. If the returns display positive Skewness, this means that there is a high probability that the stocks involved will show positive returns in the future. By comparison in the second data set, we notice that the distributions of returns of the Stocks GE, Baxter, Procter Gamble, and Apple can all be assumed normal, as the JB statistic is lower than 9.21. One similarity between the stocks that dont have a normal distribution of returns in both data sets is that they display a leptokurtic distribution which means that the distribution is more focused around the center and in the tails than the normal distribution, and this is due to the excess kurtosis. 2) Testing for evidence of Volatility Clustering Volatility clustering is mainly characterized by the historical data of stock returns showing periods of high volatilities giving some extreme returns, which are then followed by periods of relatively low volatilities. Analysis of the results: According to the volatility charts in Appendix 2, we notice that all the stocks in the complete data set showed evidence of volatility clustering with a certain similarity in the clusters observed. In fact, most of the volatility clusters observed can be located between the periods of late 2007 to the mid 2009. This is explained by the high volatility of returns during the period of the financial crisis, where most stocks showed some extreme variations in the returns due to the investors trying to digest the panic that was going on in the market, and then they reacted accordingly by liquidating their positions. This pattern lasted until the mid of 2009 until some of the confidence was restored and investors came back into the market again. In comparison with the sample of the 250 most recent returns and according to the graphs, we cannot detect any significant evidence of volatility clustering for the stocks of Caterpillar and DOW, but we can clearly observe some evidence regarding Apple, PG, GE, and Baxter as the cluster can be clearly identifiable. This is mainly interpreted by the fact that since the information arrives in cluster, investors tend to take more or less time to react relative to the kinds of information that they receive with respect to the stocks. III/ The Portfolio Selection Process The Main objective of the portfolio optimization process is to find the optimal allocation of assets in the two data sets given two kinds of portfolios: one containing risky assets only, and another one that would include a risk free asset. For this, we used the Excel Solver to run three types of optimizations that result in three types of portfolios: the Minimum Variance Portfolio, the Optimal Risky Portfolio, and the Optimal Complete Portfolio. 1) Analyzing the results given by the Minimum Variance Portfolios In the Markowitz model, we have assumed that investors seek to maximize the return at a given level of risk, or minimize the risk at a given level of return. The minimum variance portfolio is the one that gives the optimal allocation of risky assets by minimizing the general risk of the portfolio. In order to do so, we used the Excel Solver and we set the portfolio variance as the target to minimize given both the constrained and unconstrained optimization criteria. The formula for the portfolio variance is given in the Appendix and is derived from the correlation matrixes that were computed for both data sets. The general parameters used in the Excel Solver are also explained for both the constrained and the unconstrained portfolios. Analysis of the results: According to table 5 and 6 in Appendix 2, the minimum variance portfolio for the full data gives two results based on the constrained optimization and the unconstrained optimization. In the Long Only Portfolio, the results suggest that the investor should invest in three stocks which are Baxter, Procter Gamble and, Apple with the respective weights of 32.87%, 62.14% and 4.99%. This gives a portfolio expected return of 6.60% with a standard deviation of 18.63%. In the Unconstrained Portfolio, the results suggest that the investor should invest in all the stocks by going long on Baxter (33.66%,) Caterpillar (3.90%,) Procter Gamble (65.22%,) and Apple (6.06%,) and shorting GE (-1.08%) and DOW (-7.75%.) The portfolio expected return in this scenario is 7.48% and the standard deviation is 18.43%. In the second data set, for the constrained portfolio, the results suggest that the investor should invest only in stocks Baxter, Procter Gamble, and Apple with the respective proportions of 11.90%, 84%, and 4.10%. The expected return obtained is 2.06%, for a standard deviation of 13.15%. In the unconstrained portfolio, the results suggest that the investor should go long GE (2.30%,) Baxter (12.51%,) Caterpillar (2.96%,) Procter Gamble (88.77%,) and Apple (9.44%,) and short Dow (-15.97%.) The expected return obtained is 2.42% for a standard deviation of 12.51%. Comparing the results obtained in the full data set and the 250 most recent return sample, we can notice that there are differences in the results we get. This difference is mainly explained by the change in the expected returns and standard deviations of the stocks in both data sets, and we can notice that this change has an impact on the performance of the portfolios expected return as well as the allocation of the assets in the portfolio. The best portfolio is chosen by using comparing the Sharpe ratios, which gives a risk adjustment measure that compares the performance of individual portfolios. From table X and Y in the appendix, we can say that best portfolio from the two samples is the Unrestricted Portfolio in the full data set since it gives a higher Sharpe ratio of 0.2432 relative to the other portfolios. 2) The Optimal Risky Portfolio The optimal risky portfolio is the one that maximizes the Sharpe Ratio and allows identifying the optimal weights of the risky assets in the portfolio. The formula for the Sharpe ratio is given in the appendix in the Methodology section. The ratio seeks to know how much additional return an investor would receive for the additional risk of holding the risky assets over a risk-free asset. The higher is this ratio the better is the performance of the portfolio with respect to risk and return. Analysis of the results: According to the table 7 and 8 in Appendix 2, for the full data set, the Long only portfolio suggests that the investor should be fully invested in Apple stock, which gives an expected return that is equivalent to the stocks expected return of 37.97% and a standard deviation also equivalent of 40.28%. By comparison, the unconstrained portfolio suggests that the investors should go long the stocks Baxter (48.77 %,) Caterpillar (91.02%,) and Apple (211.44%,) and short the stocks GE (-161.16%,) Dow (32.51,) and Procter and Gamble (-57.55%.) This gives a portfolio expected return of 102.24% and a standard deviation of 86.71%. In the second data set, the results suggest that the investor should invest in stocks Caterpillar (43.63%,) and Apple (56.37%.) this gives a portfolio expected return of 60.33% and a standard deviation of 24.65%. In the unconstrained scenario, the results suggest that the investor should go long the stocks Caterpillar (100.00%,) Procter Gamble (3.88%,) and App le (100.00%,) and short the stocks GE (-18.38%,) Dow (-41.73%,) and Baxter (-43.77%.) the expected return in this scenario is 110.34% and the standard deviation is 36.57%. By comparing the results of the two data sets, we notice that both optimizations give some unrealistic results in terms of the expected returns and variances of the portfolios, but also in terms of the proportions to be invested in the stocks. In fact, in the full data set, the Long-Only portfolio suggests that the investor should be invested in only one stock which eliminates any benefits from diversification and is a very risky strategy to pursue for long term asset allocation in general. The unconstrained portfolio is also unrealistic in terms of the weights that are attributed to the portfolios as some of them reach 100% proportion to be invested in, which is not possible because it doesnt allow for proper asset diversification. The only portfolio that seems to be realistic is given in the second data set w here the expected return is of 60.33%, which seems quite attractive given the level of risk that is suggested of 24.65%, and that is what one could consider as a realistic result since the proportions to be invested are shared between two stocks as it is the minimum diversification of risky assets that one could consider given the constraint of maximizing the Sharpe ratio. 3) The Optimal Complete Portfolio The optimal complete portfolio is the portfolio that consists of the optimal risky assets and the risk free asset. The optimal complete portfolio is determined by maximizing the investors utility function which is defined in Appendix 1. The result of the optimization gives the proportions to be invested in the risky assets and the risk free assets, which allows the investors to be properly diversified based on three main components that are, expected return, volatility, and risk aversion. Analysis of the results: According to table 9 and 10 Appendix 2, for the full data set, the Long-Only portfolio suggests that the optimal complete portfolio is the one that provides an expected return of 33.13% and a standard deviation of 34.72%. The proportion to be invested in the risky assets is 86.16%, and the proportion to be invested in the risk free asset is 13.84%. In this scenario, the maximization of the investors utility function suggests that the investor should be diversified between Apple stock and the risk free asset. In the unconstrained scenario, the optimization results in a portfolio expected return of 55.39%, and a standard deviation of 45.78%. The investors portfolio in this case consists of 52.77% in risky assets and 47.23% in the risk free asset. For the positions in the risky assets, the investor should go long the stocks Baxter (48.76 %,) Caterpillar (91.06 %,) and Apple (211.53 %,) and short the stocks GE (-161.24 %,) Dow (-32.53 %,) and Procter and Gamble (-57.58 %.) The Lo ng-Only portfolio in the second data set suggests that the investor should invest 90% of the portfolio in risky asset, and 10% in the risk free asset. The proportions of the risky assets are as follows: 98.84% in Dow, and 1.16% in Caterpillar. In the unconstrained portfolio, the results suggest that the investor should invest 90% in risky assets, and 10% in the risk free asset. The distribution of the asset weights is as follows: the investor should go long the stocks DOW (100%), Caterpillar (100 %,) GE (100 %,) and short Procter Gamble (-64.13 %,) and Baxter (-100 %,) and Apple (-35.87%.) When comparing the two samples, we notice that the unconstrained portfolios in both data sets provide some unrealistic results in terms of the portfolio weights as some of them equal or exceed 100% of the portfolios total weight. In the second data sets when we eliminate some of the constraints that allow us to have more accurate data, the result obtained show very large values that are comple tely unrealistic and prevent us from drawing any meaningful conclusions. In the full data set, the Long-Only portfolio although it suggests that the investor should be mixed between risky assets and the risk free asset does not provide proper diversification as the portfolio of risky assets is concentrated on one stock which is Apple stock, however, it seems that it is the one that provides the most realistic result. 4) The Efficient Frontier and the Capital Allocation Line Drawing the efficient frontier is the last step that allows the investors to visualize the optimal portfolios computed previously and choose the best alternatives that are offered given the results that are produced, and whether they are realistic or not. The Appendix 2 provides 4 graphs for both data sets that show the efficient frontier given the constrained and the unconstrained optimized portfolios. The capital allocation line which is determined by maximizing the Sharpe ratio is represented on each of the graphs and shows the optimal risky portfolios as well as the optimal complete portfolios. The indifference curve drawn display the curve of equally preferred portfolios that will generate the same utility to the investor. In the second data set, it was not possible to draw the Capital Allocation Line as the values obtained were inaccurate and extremely large. Moreover, the points showing the Optimal Risky Portfolio and the Optimal Complete Portfolio are those that were comput ed given the constraints that we have set in Appendix 1, for the purpose of obtaining more accurate results. This shows one of the limitations of the Mean Variance optimization model as it fails to provide meaningful results when using a small number of observations in the sample that we used. 5) Recommendation to the Investor The results obtained from each type of portfolio are summarized in tables 11 and 12. For a matter of convenience, we labeled the portfolios from Portfolio 1 to 12. In the recommendation to the investor we suggest to look first at the portfolios that give some realistic results, and then we can compare which ones provide the best results by using the Sharpe ratio as a measure of performance. Based on the results obtained, the portfolios that have been chosen are Portfolio 1, 2, 4, 7 and 10. Portfolios 1 and 7 do not provide a satisfying performance to the investor as the returns are lower than the risk free asset, and the risks observed are too high. In this case the investor is better off investing all his money into the risk free asset at 3%. Portfolio 2 is based on the Optimal Risky Portfolio in the second data set, and gives the highest Sharpe ratio of 156.62% with the following proportions: Caterpillar (43.63 %,) and Apple (56.37 %.) In comparison, portfolios 4, and 10 offer lo wer returns, hence, lower Sharpe ratios, but they also allow for more diversification among the stocks, and they give a relatively lower risk compared to portfolio 2. From a fundamental perspective, we recommend that the investors should always stay diversified between risky and the risk free asset in order to protect themselves against any unexpected downturn in the markets. For this, we suggest that the investors should choose to invest 70 percent in Portfolio 2, and 30% in the risk free asset. This will lower, the standard deviation to 17.262% for an Expected return of 42.24%. This gives a pretty high expected performance in comparison with the SP500 performance of 2010 which was of 15.65%, and it allows the investors to be less exposed to risk compared with portfolios 4 and 10. Conclusion The projects main objective was to identify the optimal allocation of assets from a portfolio containing risky assets and one that includes a risk free asset. The allocations obtained were based on the Markowitz Mean Variance Optimizations, and resulted in three kinds of portfolio along with the efficient frontiers for both samples of data that we have used. In the analysis of the results, we have found some unrealistic values that we judge are due to the assumptions that we made earlier, which reflect some of the limitations of the Model. In fact the first limitation that we can state is the assumption of normality on the returns in both data sets which seems to be unrealistic given the distributions that we have obtained. There is strong evidence that most stock returns display asymmetrical returns as well as showing excess Kurtosis which makes the model used hardly applicable and is responsible for the large values obtained. Second, the model assumes that investors will hold their investment on a fixed time horizon, and will never change the asset allocation, which is false given that some times, investors need to rebalance their portfolios shifting from the risky assets to treasury bills and other risk free assets depending on the market. Finally, the model focuses mainly on minimizing the volatility given a specific return or the opposite, and this is not compatible with todays environment in the sense that investors views and objectives are more sophisticated, and therefore require to use enhanced models such as the Black and Litterman Model. Appendix 1: Methodology Section 1. Computing Returns and Standard Deviations: The first step is to process the historical prices into returns and determine the individual stock returns as well as the standard deviations. The daily stock returns from the stocks closing prices are calculated using the oldest historical prices as the base dates. The computation of the daily stock returns is done using the following formula: Daily stock return= (Closing price of the current trading day Previous days closing Price) / Previous days closing Price We then compute the expected returns of the stocks in the portfolio using the simple arithmetic mean of returns formula, which is as follows: AR = (R1 + R2 + R3 + ÃÆ' ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ¦ + RN) / N The returns obtained are then annualized by multiplying the expected returns by 250 trading days on average in a given year. In order to calculate the risk of individual stocks, we used the STDEV function in Excel by selecting the daily returns calculated in the two data sets, and annualizing the values obtained by multiplying by the square root of 250 trading days on average per year. 2. The Jarque and Bera Test for Normality The Jarque-Bera test statistic for normality follows a chi-square distribution with 2 degrees of freedom. Concerning the analysis of the stock returns in the two data sets, I used the 99% confidence interval for which the critical value is 9.21 at 2 degrees of freedom. If the test statistic is higher than the critical value, we reject the null hypothesis that the monthly returns are normal, otherwise we accept it, and we can assume the returns are normal. Skewness gives the measure of asymmetry of the distribution, and is defined by the following formula: Where T is the time period or the length of the data used, and . Kurtosis is the measure of the flatness of the distribution, and is defined as follows: This leads to the computation of the Jarque-Bera test statistic which is as follows: 3. Volatility Clustering Volatility clustering is another important factor that can help to understand the patterns of the variations among stock returns. To show evidence of volatility clustering in the two data sets, we plotted the stock returns in a time series graph, and analyzed the different patterns of the individual stocks using the complete data set first, and then analyzing the most recent 250 stock returns to see if the patterns display some periods of high volatilities show some extreme returns, which are followed by periods of relatively low volatilities. 4. Measurement of Portfolio Risk and Return After computing the expected returns and risks of individual stocks, we define some of the formulas for computing the portfolio risk and return that will be used in the optimization process. Modeling the Portfolio Risk The portfolio risk is generally referred to as the portfolio variance. In our case of many assets, the variance of the portfolio takes the form of a matrix and has the following general formula: Where w1 to wn is a matrix that refers to the weights of the assets 1 to N in the portfolio, and ÃÆ' Ãƒâ€ Ã¢â‚¬â„¢xy is the covariance between assets x and y. In practice it is more useful to use the correlation matrix to derive the covariance matrix as it is generally unknown, and we have already computed the standard deviations of the individual stocks. In fact, we can derive the covariance matrix using the following formula: ÃÆ' Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ (x,y) = covariance(x,y)/ÃÆ' Ãƒâ€ Ã¢â‚¬â„¢x ÃÆ' Ãƒâ€ Ã¢â‚¬â„¢y Where ÃÆ' Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ xy is the correlation between assets x and y, and  ÃƒÆ' Ãƒâ€ Ã¢â‚¬â„¢n is the standard deviation of the nth asset. Hence we obtained the following: In excel, we used the following formula given that we have already computed the correlation matrix (appendix), the standard deviations and the expected returns of the stocks: {MMULT(MMULT(TRANSPOSE(wnÃÆ' Ãƒâ€ Ã¢â‚¬â„¢n); ÃÆ' Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ (x,y)); wnÃÆ' Ãƒâ€ Ã¢â‚¬â„¢n)} Where wnÃÆ' Ãƒâ€ Ã¢â‚¬â„¢n is the matrix that results from the multiplication of the portfolio weights with the standard deviations of individual stocks, and ÃÆ' Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ (x,y) is the correlation matrix. Determining the Portfolios Expected Return The portfolio expected return is the sum of the product of the holding of the assets by the expected returns of the individual assets, and is represented as follows: Where the sum of the weights = 1, n is the number of securities held in the portfolio which is 6 stocks in our case, wi is the proportion invested in a given stock i, E(ri) is the expected return on the stock i. The Optimization Process The optimizations were run based on some investment constraints and without any investment constraints. In the constrained optimization scenario, we restricted having short positions in the market meaning that all the optimal weights should be positive or equal to 0. Also, we set the sum of the proportions invested in each stock to equate 1, and finally, we select the range of cells that should be changed in order to obtain the optimal weights for each type of portfolio that we want to have. In the unconstrained optimization scenario, we allowed for both short and long positions to occur, but we still keep the restriction on the sum of the optimal weights, setting it equal to 1. In the second data set, in the Optimal Risky Portfolio and Optimal Complete Portfolios, we add more constraints such as limit the individual weights from exceeding 100% or -100% of the portfolio, and setting the proportion invested in the risky assets not to exceed 90% in order to obtain a minimum level of diversification between the risky asset and the risk free asset in both the constrained and unconstrained portfolios. Sharpe Ratio The sharpe ratio is a risk adjusted measure to evaluate portfolio performance and is based on the following formula: Source: Investopedia.com The investors utility function The investors utility function used in this project is a quadratic function that is represented as follows: Where is the utility value, and A is the investors level of risk aversion. The number 0.005 is a scaling factor used by convention to express the expected return and standard deviation as percentages. The optimal complete portfolio would be the one that provides the highest utility by maximizing the formula using the Excel Solver. The result gives the optimal proportion to be invested in the risky asset which is represented by the following formula: The proportion invested in the risk free asset is given by: 1 Y Appendix 2: Tables and Charts Asset Data (Full Data Set) Expected Return Standard Deviation GE -3.62% 38.77% DOW 5.45% 43.86% Baxter 7.68% 24.63% Caterpillar 17.78% 38.93% Procter and Gamble 3.51% 20.51% Apple 37.97% 40.29% Table 1: Stock Return and Standard Deviations Using the Full Data Set Asset Data (250 Most recent returns) Expected Return Standard Deviation GE 22.75% 27.43% DOW 31.99% 36.29% Baxter -14.10% 24.40% Caterpillar 64.69% 29.83% Procter and Gamble 1.68% 13.49% Apple 56.95% 25.49% Table 2: Stock Return and Standard Deviations Using the 250 Most recent returns Full Data Set GE DOW BAX CAT PG AAPL Kurtosis 9.283169 7.042409 7.47999063 5.080399 7.659262 4.260446 Skewness 0.417837 -0.08243 -0.622318643 0.160727 -0.03425 -0.02987 JB Test Statistic 2121.731 871.6094 1151.235074 235.9717 1156.239 84.78961 Table 3: The Jarque-Bera Test for Normality Using the Full Data Set 250 Most Recent Returns GE DOW BAX CAT PG AAPL Kurtosis 2.414595 2.058731 21.2954 1.601479884 2.562847 2.396152 Skewness 0.170671 -0.32919 -2.61641 0.112397247 -0.20665 0.316714 JB Test Statistic 4.783472 13.74422 4.783472 20.89990707 3.769913 7.977748 Table 4: The Jarque-Bera Test for Normality Using 250 Most recent returns Full Data Set Long Constraint Unconstrained Portfolio Expected return= 6.60% 7.48% Portfolio Variance = 3.47% 3.40% Portfolio SD = 18.63% 18.43% Risk Free Asset = 3.00% 3.00% Sharpe Ratio = 0.1933 0.2432 Portfolio Weights GE 0.00% -1.08% DOW 0.00% -7.75% BAXTER 32.87% 33.66% CAT 0.00% 3.90% PG 62.14% 65.22% AAPL 4.99% 6.06% Table 5: Minimum Variance Portfolio using the Full Data Set 250 Most Recent Returns Long Constraint Unconstrained Portfolio Expected Return= 9.84% 1.45% Portfolio Variance = 2.28% 1.57% Portfolio SD = 15.11% 12.52% Risk Free Asset = 3.00% 3.00% Sharpe Ratio = 45.31% -12.37% Portfolio Weights GE 7.27% 3.05% DOW 0.00% -15.57% BAXTER 32.14% 12.52% CAT 0.00% 2.38% PG 39.40% 89.78% AAPL 21.18% 7.82% Table 6: Minimum Variance Portfolio using the 250 Most Recent Returns Full Data Set Long Constraint Unconstrained Sharpe Ratio = 86.79% 114.44% Portfolio Expected Return= 37.97% 102.24% Portfolio Variance = 16.23% 75.20% Portfolio SD = 40.29% 86.72% Risk Free Asset = 3.00% 3.00% Portfolio Weights GE 0.00% -161.16% DOW 0.00% -32.51% BAXTER 0.00% 48.77% CAT 0.00% 91.02% PG 0.00% -57.55% AAPL 100.00% 211.44% Table 7: Optimal Risky Portfolio using the Full Data Sets 250 Most Recent Returns Long Constraint Unconstrained Sharpe Ratio = 232.49% 293.41% Portfolio Expected Return= 60.33% 110.34% Portfolio Variance = 6.08% 13.38% Portfolio SD = 24.66% 36.58% Risk Free Asset = 3.00% 3.00% Portfolio Weights GE 0.00% -18.38% DOW 0.00% -41.73% BAXTER 0.00% -43.77% CAT 43.63% 100.00% PG 0.00% 3.88% AAPL 56.37% 100.00% Table 8: Optimal Risky Portfolio using the 250 Most Recent Returns   Full Data Set Long Constraint Unconstrained Investor Utility Function to Maximize 0.329779696 0.551279771 Expected Return on the Complete Portfolio 33.13% 55.39% Variance of the Complete Portfolio 0.120514451 0.209559707 Standard Deviation of the Complete Portfolio 34.72% 45.78% Coefficient of Risk Aversion (A) 2.50 2.50 Y (% investment in risky assets) 86.16% 52.77% Portfolio Expected Return= 37.97% 102.29% Portfolio Variance = 16.23% 75.26% Portfolio SD = 40.29% 86.75% Risk Free Rate = 3.00% 3.00% Sharpe Ratio = 86.79% 114.44% Portfolio Weights   GE 0.00% -161.24% DOW 0.00% -32.53% BAXTER 0.00% 48.76% CAT 0.00% 91.06% PG 0.00% -57.58% AAPL 100.00% 211.53% Table 9: Optimal Complete Portfolio Using the Full Data Set  Long Constraint Unconstrained Investor Utility Function to Maximize 0.293024078 1.006325758 Expected Return on the Complete Portfolio 29.43% 101.12% Variance of the Complete Portfolio 10.57% 39.25% Standard Deviation of the Complete Portfolio 32.52% 62.65% Coefficient of Risk Aversion (A) 2.50 2.50 Y (% investment in risky assets) 90.00% 90.00% Portfolio Expected Return= 32.37% 112.03% Portfolio Variance = 13.05% 48.46% Portfolio SD = 36.13% 69.61% Risk Free Rate = 3.00% 3.00% Sharpe Ratio = 81.29% 156.62% Portfolio Weights GE 0.00% 100.00% DOW 98.84% 100.00% BAXTER 0.00% -100.00% CAT 1.16% 100.00% PG 0.00% -64.13% AAPL 0.00% -35.87% Table 10: Optimal Complete Portfolio Using the 250 Most Recent Returns Full Data Set Long Only Portfolio (Constrained)  Protfolio Expected Return Portfolio Standard Deviation Portfolio 1: Minimum Variance Portfolio 2.06% 13.15% Portfolio 2: Optimal Risky Portfolio 60.33% 24.66% Portfolio 3: Optimal Complete Portfolio 29.43% 32.52%  Long Only Portfolio (Constrained) 250 Most Recent Returns Protfolio Expected Return Portfolio Standard Deviation Portfolio 4: Minimum Variance Portfolio 6.60% 18.63% Portfolio 5: Optimal Risky Portfolio 37.97% 40.29% Portfolio 6: Optimal Complete Portfolio 33.13% 34.72% Table 11: Summary Table of the Results Obtained From the Optimizations Full Data Set Long-Short Portfolio (Unconstrained)  Portfolio Expected Return Portfolio Standard Deviation Portfolio 7: Minimum Variance Portfolio 2.42% 12.51% Portfolio 8: Optimal Risky Portfolio 110.34% 36.58% Portfolio 9: Optimal Complete Portfolio 101.12% 62.65%  Long-Short Portfolio (Unconstrained) 250 Most Recent Returns Portfolio Expected Return Portfolio Standard Deviation Portfolio 10: Minimum Variance Portfolio 7.48% 18.43% Portfolio 11: Optimal Risky Portfolio 102.24% 86.72% Portfolio 12: Optimal Complete Portfolio 55.39% 45.78% Table 11: Summary Table of the Results Obtained From the Optimizations Efficient Frontiers: Full Data Set Efficient Frontiers: 250 Most Recent Returns Volatility of Returns: Full Data Set Volatility of Returns: 250 Most Recent Returns

New York A Cultural Melting Pot, And The American Dream

Arthur Miller New York is a cultural melting pot, and the American Dream is intertwined with the identity of the city. Born on October 17,1915, Arthur Miller grew up in the vivacious immigrant neighborhoods of Harlem and Brooklyn (Rollyson and Sterling 1). Miller’s father withdrew from family life after his business failed in the Great Depression, and the image of a failed father figure scarred Miller’s psyche forever (Rosefeldt and Sherman 1). To Miller, the Great Depression was a watershed event, as he thought that: â€Å"the Depression signifies [signified] the failure of a system and the tragedy of a generation of people who would blame this failure on themselves† (Rosefeldt 1). Miller worked odd jobs to save money, and he was accepted to the University of Michigan. Miller rejected the romanticism that pervaded around him, and he fought to bring a realistic and existentialist point of view in the theatre. Though many of his early works failed, All My Sons (1947) was an unp recedented hit. It related the individual’s responsibility to society to advocate the greater good (Rollyson and Sterling 1). Miller’s magnum opus came in the form of Death of a Salesman (1949). The play ran for 742 performances and it still continues to be performed today. Willy Loman, the main character, chases the American Dream, but fails as a father and businessman, leading to his suicide. It netted Miller the Pulitzer Prize as well (Rosefeldt 2). Then, in 1953, Miller analyzed the repressive nature ofShow MoreRelatedHumans Of New York : Redefining The American Dream, One Photograph At A Time1569 Words   |  7 PagesHumans of New York Redefining the American Dream, one photograph at a time. E PLURIBUS UNUM (one that is made up of many) was a slogan initially designed to promote the birth of a ‘federation’, but plurality and heterogeneity have always been integral to the American society. 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Dolphin Logistics Company

Question: Case study on "Dolphin Logistics Company". Answer: Introduction The paper focuses on the case of Dolphin Logistics Company that is aiming to enter into two new foreign markets like Singapore and Hong Kong. The logistics company is observed to focus in entering the new markets by 2018. The paper reflects the perspective undertaken by a HR consultant appointed by the management of Dolphin Logistics Company to introduce a performance management system in the business institution. The HR consultant is required to formulate the performance management system in a manner as to help in enhancing the productivity and efficiency of the subordinates and managers in the business institution. The paper in this regard would effectively focus on highlighting the concept of performance management process while also in reflecting on the benefits and significance of the same before formulating an ideal performance management system needed for Dolphin Logistics Company. Performance Management Process Performance management is identified as a critical process undertaken by the human resources department of a business institution that focuses on evaluating the performance generated by the employees along the different departments in contributing the organisational, business and customer servicing objectives. The performance management process is identified as a holistic process that as a whole encompasses different activities like learning and development, performance evaluation and measurement and also focusing on organisational development. Further, performance management also highlights to an important activity that contributes in effective management of employees, staffs and teams such that the same helps in enhancing the performance and productivity elements of the business institution. Performance management activities are attributed to be strategic and integrated in nature(CIPD, 2016). Performance management activities from the strategic viewpoint aptly contribute in addressing the long-term objectives and also the broader organisational issues. From the viewpoint of integration, performance management activities are conducted through integrating the functions of the different organisational departments, different levels of management and people and teams associated with the various departments and units in a firm(Chew, 2012 ). Further, the performance management activities carried out in a business organisation are carried out along three main aspects like improvement of the performances and potentials of individuals and teams, focusing on manpower development and also management of behaviour between different individuals in teams and along different organisational levels(CIPD, 2016). Performance management is also identified as a process of carrying out communication activities between two different organisational levels consisting of the supervisory or the management level and the subordinate or staff levels operating in a business institution. The communication activities between the two organisational levels are carried out throughout the annual period for helping in the meeting of business and strategic objectives of the firm(Pulakos, 2009). Communication objectives between the supervisory and subordinate levels are carried out for clarification of the business and organisational expectations, setting of business, strategic and customer servicing objectives, identification of business and organisational goals, generation of needed feedback from the higher managerial level to the subordinates and finally the reviewing of the results generated by the employees and managers across different levels and departments(UC Berkeley, 2016). The Performance Management Process divided along the different steps is reflected in the following illustration. (Cardy Leonard, 2014) The above model is elucidated as follows. The performance management process is ideally carried out in a seamless fashion along the different sub-parts identified above. Breaking down the performance management process along the different sub-parts contributes in effective diagnosis of the problems or issues pertaining to the different aspects. The same helps in effective management of the problems relating to the different aspects in that it contributes in making the performance management process productive and efficient in nature(Momba, 2014). The performance management process is initiated based on the performances or outcomes generated by the staffs and managers along different levels and departments. It also indicates on the behavioural aspects that encourage the individual employees and managers to generate needed performances. The understanding of the behavioural aspects that encourage the individual workers to generate needed performances contribute in determining the different types of financial and non-financial incentives that are needed to enhance the productivity and performance levels of the staffs and workers(Rolstadas, 2012). The performance part of the performance management process is followed by diagnosis. Diagnosis related activities are conducted based on the use of observation and also the analysis of the cause-effect relationship. Observations are conducted by the organisational managers to effectively diagnose the problems or issues concerning the workers and staffs in the firm. The analysis of the different causes contributes in identification of the different factors or symptoms that contribute in generation of the stated effects(Marr Gray, 2012). The third stage of the performance management process is identified as evaluation. Effective evaluation focuses on identification of the different attributes that contribute in the development of diverse causes for generating the needed performances. Evaluation of the performances generated by individuals and teams are required to be conducted in an effective and unbiased fashion in that the same contributes in enhancing the level of trust of the internal people on the company management. The evaluation of the behaviours and outcomes for individual employees and teams need to be rightly conducted so that needed feedback can be generated to the significant stakeholders(Osman, 2013). The evaluation stage is followed by the feedback stage where the evaluations made by the managers, customers and peers of the different employees and employee groups are transmitted over to the internal people. The feedback needs to be effectively transmitted to the staffs such that they can work on such for generating greater performances and productivity in the future(Ashdown, 2014). The next essential stage in the performance management process model is identified as dealing with feedback where the feedback gained from the different parties like managers, customers and peers is used by the persons evaluated for bringing about needed changes. This stage is coupled with needed reactions that are generated based on studying the feedbacks rendered by the different parties(Osman, 2013). The stage following the feedback model reflects on the manner the employees and subordinates focus on improvement of performances through setting of new goals and expectations. The identification of new goals and expectations is also coupled with the reduction of existing barriers and obstacles that in turn impede the performances of the people in the business institution. The final stage of the performance management process triggers the generation of new performances in the course of time(Mone London, 2014). Significance of the Performance Management Process The significance or importance of the performance management process is potentially underlined in the following points. -The performance management process contributes in helping subordinates and managers whether performing in an individual or team setting understand the different types of role expectations. The understanding of their roles and expectations from them helps individuals in judging their place in the organisation and also the performances required of them to ideally contribute in meeting of business and organisational objectives. Thus goal setting identified with performance management is considered as an important activity on the part of the internal people of a firm(Marr Gray, 2012). -Performance management process as a whole potentially helps in reflecting on the shortfalls both from an individual or group point of view for the members involved along the different departments and levels. The gaining of effective feedbacks based on the use of the performance management system ideally contributes in the production of training and developmental programs for different levels of individuals operating in the business institution(Mone London, 2014). The generation of such programs are focused on enhancing the skill and expertise of the internal people to work in a more productive and efficient fashion in the firm and thereby help in meeting of business and organisational objectives in an efficient fashion. The performance management programs help in the identification of gaps in individual and group skill sets. The identification of skill sets and gaps rightly help in development of coaching and mentoring programs for enhancement of future performances and productivit y(Momba, 2014). -The performance management process conducted in an organisation also earns needed importance in that the same helps in the development and positive and negative reinforcements. Generation of positive reinforcements encourage the individuals in generation of greater performances in the future while use of negative reinforcements and coercion help in deterring the individuals from conducting of erroneous activities that affect the productivity and performance of the department and the organisation as a whole(Cardy Leonard, 2014). Further, the performance management process conducted in an ongoing fashion is also taken to generate other added benefits that are enumerated as follows. -The performance management functions contribute in aligning of individual or group goals with that of the business goals. The alignment of individual and company goals thus contributes in reducing the strife and thus ideally supports in meeting the vision and mission objectives of the firm. The same thus continually helps in generation of needed productivity and profitability of the firm in a consistent fashion(Rolstadas, 2012). -Again, the performance management functions in an organisation also contribute in developing a culture of shared accountability in the firm. The same contributes in development of a team culture where people would work in groups and focus on sharing needed information and knowledge for helping in future growth(Hessle, 2016). -The performance management functions conducted in an effective fashion also help the company management to identify the high, moderate and low performers in an organisation. Generation of effective feedback thereby contributes in aligning of internal people with same type of potentials and skills for meeting of business and organisational objectives(Rolstadas, 2012). -The understanding of individual job roles and expectations in turn help in reducing the chances of role conflicts in the organisation. It would rather help to motivate the people in fulfilling the roles and responsibilities entrusted on him or her to meet the organisational objectives(Ashdown, 2014). -Clarity of expectations makes the employees more concerned and aware of the roles and functions required of them to be conducted for the accomplishment of departmental and institutional goals. The same contributes in enhancement of ownership of individual employees regarding the fulfilling of duties and obligations of the organisation(Hessle, 2016). -Again, the clarity of departmental and group goals further help the team leaders in assigning individual roles for the different members in each of the different groups. The same also helps in evaluating the efficiency and potency of the individual team members in fulfilling of group and departmental objectives. The same in total augments the effectiveness of the different teams and the organisation as a whole(Osman, 2013). -The performance management practices are also evaluated to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of the team members. The team members are thereby pursued to stretch their own capabilities and thereby would gain needed confidence for challenging their existing positions and going for something new(Rao, 2016). -The incorporation of performance management practices would also help the individual team members gauge and evaluate their own potentials and expertise. The same would contribute in making the internal people aware of their shortcomings and thereby help in improving their performances in an easy and steadfast fashion(Marr Gray, 2012). Development of a Performance Management Process The performance management process is required to be effectively developed for Dolphin Logistics Company relating to its Singapore or Hong Kong operation. The performance management process can be effectively established in the logistics company based on the incorporation of the following factors underlined as follows. Work Planning and Expectations Setting Organisational managers are required to focus on effectively planning the work based on setting and defining work expectations for internal people whether operating in an individual fashion or operating in a group. Similarly, work expectations are also required to be generated for the different departments constituting a firm. After having identified the task goals for the different groups and departments the individual members are required to be effectively trained and channelized for addressing the departmental and organisational objectives in an efficient and productive fashion(Newman, 2014). The work or task planning process in the organisation is required to focus on the involvement of the different employees pertaining to different levels and departments. The involvement of the people for task and work planning requires the people in understanding the goals and objectives of the departments and the business institutions and also what is required to be conducted to meet the obje ctives. It also requires the understanding of the fashion based on which the tasks need to be conducted for meeting the goals identified(Rao, 2016). Monitoring of the Performances The performances of the internal people pertaining to different departments and levels need to be effectively monitored based on the work or task targets. The monitoring of the performances of the employees is required to be carried out within effective periods such that potential feedbacks can be generated to them for taking of needful actions. Implementation of the feedbacks by the employees are also required to be rightly monitored and evaluated to understand whether improvements brought about by employees rightly contribute in meeting of the organisational objectives(Mone London, 2014). The monitoring activities are required to be conducted by the supervisors and managers for the different departments. They are also required to make needed adjustments to change the unrealistic sales and revenue targets and make them realistic in nature based on aligning the targets with the potentials and skills of the people(Cardy Leonard, 2014). Development of Employee Knowledge and Skills The development of the knowledge and skills of the employees in the organisation is carried out through the designing of training and knowledge development modules associated with the functional elements relating to the different departments. The performance and potential of the internal people is continually enhanced through the development of training and educational modules and also in training the people both on and off-the-job training venues(Marr Gray, 2012). The development of training functions in a holistic fashion rightly helps in augmenting the potential of the people to gain needed confidence in addressing the changing and strategic needs of the business institution. Moreover, the training and employee development functions in the organisation needs to be further enhanced to help employees rise up to new levels and shoulder greater responsibilities. The generation of effective training and development modules also would help the people in adapting to the changes introduc ed in the logistics organisation(Newman, 2014). Appraising and Rating of Performances The organisational managers are required to effectively appraise the performances of the employees pertaining to various levels and departments. The performances of the employees are required to be evaluated by the managers based on comparing the same with set standards. The gaps identified based on the same are highlighted and informed to the employees. The importance of the performance appraisal programs is enhanced based on the incorporation of the 360 Degree Performance Appraisal program that contributes in rating the performances generated by the employees based on the feedback generated by the different stakeholders like managers, customers and peers of the different employee groups(Hessle, 2016). The incorporation of the performance appraisal programs in the business institutions contributes in promoting the employees to higher organisational roles and also in generation of financial and non-financial incentives. Incorporation of such measures rightly helps in enhancing the le vels of employee satisfaction and accountability in the organisation. The pay increments and promotions are rendered to the employees based on the ratings generated in the performance appraisal process(Mone London, 2014). Generation of Reward Programs Effective reward programs and practices are developed by the organisational managers through incorporation of financial and non-financial constituents. Financial rewards are generated to the employees through the generation of salary increments and also through the provision of financial incentives to the employees based on the performance outputs of the employees(WorldatWork, 2015). Similarly, non-financial rewards are generated by managers based on recognising the performances rendered by the employees based on their job roles and departments. Both positive and negative reinforcements are required to be put in place that help in encouraging and governing the actions and performances of the employees for generating needed productivity(Osman, 2013). Conclusions The management body of Dolphin Logistics Company is required to design the performance management plan and process based on the above analysis. The human resources department along with the organisational managers are required firstly to identify the goals and responsibilities of the people pertaining to the various departments like operations, finance, marketing, human resources and customer services. Further, the organisational managers are also required to focus on the setting of needed work or task expectations such that the same helps in effective monitoring of the performances generated by the people based on the standards set. The middle level managers and the supervisors pertaining to the different departments are required to effectively monitor the performance of the employees and staffs based on the set standards. Similarly, effective performance appraisal systems like the 360 Degree Performance Appraisal system needs to be put into place that focuses on appraising the performances of the employees based on the feedbacks generated by the employees, customers and the managers or supervisors. The above system helps in the generation of effective feedbacks for helping in the enhancement of the performance and productivity of the people in the organisation. The feedback of the performance appraisal programs can be effectively used by the managers of Dolphin Logistics Company in promoting employees and also in generation of salary increments. Further, effective financial and non-financial reward programs can be effectively introduced in the organisation based on generation of financial incentives and also through recognising the efforts generated by the employees along the different departments. The above activities would potentially help in increasing the productivity and efficiency of the people in Dolphin Logistics Company while also enhances the responsibility and loyalty towards the organisation. References Ashdown, L., 2014. Performance Management. United States : Kogan Page Publishers. Cardy, R. Leonard, B., 2014. Performance Management: Concepts, Skills and Exercises. New York : Routledge. Chew, E.K., 2012. Knowledge Driven Service Innovation and Management: IT Strategies for Business Alignment and Value Creation: IT Strategies for Business Alignment and Value Creation. United Kingdom : IGI Global. CIPD, 2016. Performance management: an overview. Hessle, S., 2016. Human Rights and Social Equality: Challenges for Social Work: Social Work-Social Development, Volume 1. New York : Routledge. Marr, B. Gray, D., 2012. Strategic Performance Management. New York : Routledge. Momba, J., 2014. Zambia Social Science Journal Vol. 3, No. 1 (April 2012). United Kingdom : Cambridge Scholars Publishing. Mone, E.M. London, M., 2014. Employee Engagement Through Effective Performance Management: A Practical Guide for Managers. New York : Routledge. Newman, A., 2014. Business Communication: In Person, In Print, Online. United States : Cengage Learning. Osman, I.H., 2013. Handbook of Research on Strategic Performance Management and Measurement Using Data Envelopment Analysis. United Kingdom : IGI Global. Pulakos, E.D., 2009. Performance Management: A New Approach for Driving Business Results. United Kingdom : John Wiley and Sons. Rao, T.V., 2016. Performance Management: Toward Organizational Excellence. New Delhi: SAGE Publications India. Rolstadas, A., 2012. Performance Management: A business process benchmarking approach. United Kingdom : Springer Science Business Media.

Wilfred Owen

Wilfred Owen -The old Lie Essay The old lie is a term that was developed by Wilfred Owen. The phrase refers to the story that was told to soldiers and civilians of the day. This story was indeed an idealistic view of war and fooled the general population into believing that war was glamorous and glorious and that dying for ones country was noble and dignified. The old lie was developed over many years and originally started in the days of the Romans that in roman times fighting for your country was honourable as every warrior needed to be extremely fit and skilled in battle, hence, it was an occupation for the physically elite. In modern day war, an unfit unskilled man can easily kill a skilled and fit man with a gun with little or no effort, and this death is one of an undignified nature and certainly not glorious. We will write a custom essay on Wilfred Owen -The old Lie specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now The views from Roman times have been carried through to the modern ages though and even though it was a reality that war was no longer fought by skilled men and death on a battlefield was anything but dignified, civilians had no idea of this and still believed the old lie as old attitudes had been carried through to the modern days. The attitudes of people towards war changed during World War One for many reasons. Originally the attitude to war in the 18th and 19th centuries was that war was glorious and that dying for your country was a noble and graceful act. These views were conveyed to the general public through literature such as the poem The Charge of the Light Brigade by Lord Alfred Tennyson. This poem was written about a particular battle during the Crimean war and is based around the fact that the soldiers in that war dies a noble death on the battlefield and even though they died due to an inexplicable mistake by one of the commanders not one of them questioned that decision. The general public were not fully aware of the horrors that war held and poets of the time did not seem prepared to shed war in a negative light, perhaps war raised morale and patriotism in the country. When Brooke started writing at the beginning of the First World War attitudes were that war was seen as romantic and glorious and death on the battlefield was considered noble and dignified. As the war developed, these views changed in correspondence with the publications of Wilfred Owens poetry. Owens poetry shed a new light on war and it discussed how death on the battlefield was actually undignified and death was not honourable and that war was pointless and horrific. Owen expresses these views through his poetry. A factor that heavily contributed to peoples perception of war was the literature that was published both through poetry and the media as plenty of people in that time read poetry and the media had a huge influence over peoples opinions. If the general trend in literature being published was that war was glorious and dignified the publics opinions were more than likely to follow in that general direction and vice versa, hence poetry had a huge grasp over the thoughts of the entire country as if one respected poet demonstrated those views, this could sway the perception the whole country had to war On the other hand the views of poets and the media could be propaganda that was employed in order to help raise the morale of the country and for numerous other causes. An example would be Charge of the Light Brigade, where Tennysons views are so concentrated on the positive aspects of the battle through the use of euphemisms one can only suspect that there was a propaganda campaign behind this in order to perhaps shelter the armed forces from criticism and to raise the morale of the country. The Charge of the Light Brigade was a poem written during the Crimean war after Britain had just lost a battle in devastating fashion, due to a mistake by one of the commanding officers, soldiers were sent into an ambush and close to six hundred died pointlessly and their deaths were avoidable or postponable at the very least. Tennyson actually wrote this poem as a third person as he was in no way involved in the war and drew all his information from the famously biased British media, i.e. a newspaper. Perhaps this played a role in his idealistic and euphemistic portrayal of the battle. Tennysons attitude to war was one of extreme jingoism and was extremely idealistic. His view of war was that it was glorious, dignified and honourable to die for your country. His poetry conveys to the reader that he possibly knew of the true horrors of that battle but he played down the negative points through euphemisms, for example, while horse and hero fell, this line is essentially saying that the soldiers died on the battlefield but though the use of the word fell and hero, Tennyson allows a sentence about death to become majestic, serene even, which is a testament to his skills as a writer. Through Tennysons poetry it becomes apparent to the reader that Tennyson has never fought in a war himself and that he was most probably raised to accept the old lie as gospel truth. This is due to his idealistic views and his use of euphemisms, and his jingoistic attitude to war allows him to actually glorify a battle that could not have gone worse for the British. Tennyson demonstrates through this poem that he very much respects soldiers that have fought in battle. In The Charge of the Light Brigade he immortalises all the soldiers who died but made sure not to name any specific soldier as this would raise his profile above that of the rest and in his eyes they were all equally respectable. He demonstrates his respect for the soldiers through the line, When can their glory fade? Honour the light brigade. This shows us that Tennyson felt strongly that the light brigade deserved to be honoured for what they had done. The issue of their honour was quite an emotional issue for Tennyson, hence, the rhetorical question, When can their glory fade?, which of course is rhetorical as in his eyes, their honour can never fade. The rhythm and rhyme in this poem are meticulously assembled to convey several subconscious messages to the reader. The rhythm of the poem is reminiscent to the sound of a horse galloping which bears significance in the context of this text as the men who dies in the battle the poem is based on, died whilst riding horses. Tennyson uses the line Cannon to the right of them, Cannon to the left of them, Cannon in front of them to great effect. The repetition of the word cannon and the increase in tempo when reading these lines helps to convey to the reader how much danger the soldiers were in and how the odds were stacked completely against them. The repetition and change in tempo integrates well with the rhythm which is reminiscent of a horse galloping and all of this helps to paint a vivid image in the readers mind of the battle scene. The rhyme in this poem is varied. There are several examples of half rhymes and the effect they have is that they give some tune to the poem to help it be rousing. Alliteration is used in this poem in order to emphasise the tragedy of what happened, for example, horse and hero and all the world wondered. These uses of alliteration help to give a more sombre feel to the poem and help the reader to fully experience the tragedy of the battle and to help keep the solemn and respectful feel of the poem. Another poetic technique used by Tennyson in this poem is that when he addresses the reader he talks in the present tense, for example, When can their glory fade?. Tennyson may address readers in this manner to possibly feel more personally linked and involved and this may help to evoke emotions from the reader. Metaphors are used in this poem in order to stress the unavoidable danger than the soldiers are in, for example, into the jaws of death, this line gives the reader the effect that the soldiers are doomed before they begun and could help the reader to comprehend how much danger the soldiers were in during battle. The Soldier is a poem written by Rupert Brooke at the beginning of World War One. This poem was written at a time when peoples attitudes towards war were still very much linked with the old lie and the jingoism of Tennyson although attitudes were now changing. Attitudes were changing as more men had experienced war and knew the true horrors of war. This poem was written during a transition period from when they old lie was widely believed, to the point when it was obsolete. This poem is extremely nationalistic due to the repetition of the word England. For example, A dust whom England bore and A body of Englands, breathing English air are but to name a few references of England in this poem. Brooke was quite prepared to die for his country, we know this from the line, In that rich earth a richer dust concealed, in that line he is talking about his own ashes being the dust with not an ounce of regret, this shows he is perfectly happy to die for his country and he also feels that because his ashes are from England this is a richer material than foreign Earth as he has successfully personified his ashes into England, Brooke is once again showing his nationalistic attitude here. Brooke writes this poem in the form of a sonnet (14 lines with 10 syllables per line) which is traditionally a love poem. Brooke uses this form of poem to convey to the reader how devoted and in love he is with England. Throughout the course of this poem Brooke puts across to the reader that it is an Englishmans duty to fight for England, to repay the country that has nurtured you as you would your mother. Brooke never directly quotes this but implies this through lines such as, A dust whom England bore, shaped, made aware. This implies that a soldier should be grateful to his country for turning him into the man he is and if the honour of his country is at stake, he must defend his country as he would his mother who also bore him. This poem has an extremely serene tone and includes a lot of euphemism in order to play down disgusting and violent scenes like death on the battlefield, and turn them into peaceful and serene scenes. For example, A body of Englands, breathing English air, literally translated this sentence is describing a corpse which is quite a disgusting entity to imagine but through the use of euphemisms such as body of England, the sentence sounds less disgusting and almost serene. Another example of euphemisms in this poem is the line If I should die, Brooke is keeping an optimistic attitude about whether he will even die and is not condemning himself, which lessens the effect of the line and brightens the tone of the poem. Brooke also uses the euphemism of the word dust instead of ashes in order to further play down how gruesome death on the battlefield was, A dust whom England bore, shaped, made aware. .u5b060d622a04eab06aec4fc84f0fbbbc , .u5b060d622a04eab06aec4fc84f0fbbbc .postImageUrl , .u5b060d622a04eab06aec4fc84f0fbbbc .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .u5b060d622a04eab06aec4fc84f0fbbbc , .u5b060d622a04eab06aec4fc84f0fbbbc:hover , .u5b060d622a04eab06aec4fc84f0fbbbc:visited , .u5b060d622a04eab06aec4fc84f0fbbbc:active { border:0!important; } .u5b060d622a04eab06aec4fc84f0fbbbc .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .u5b060d622a04eab06aec4fc84f0fbbbc { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .u5b060d622a04eab06aec4fc84f0fbbbc:active , .u5b060d622a04eab06aec4fc84f0fbbbc:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .u5b060d622a04eab06aec4fc84f0fbbbc .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .u5b060d622a04eab06aec4fc84f0fbbbc .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .u5b060d622a04eab06aec4fc84f0fbbbc .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .u5b060d622a04eab06aec4fc84f0fbbbc .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .u5b060d622a04eab06aec4fc84f0fbbbc:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .u5b060d622a04eab06aec4fc84f0fbbbc .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .u5b060d622a04eab06aec4fc84f0fbbbc .u5b060d622a04eab06aec4fc84f0fbbbc-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .u5b060d622a04eab06aec4fc84f0fbbbc:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: The Voice by Thomas Hardy EssayAnother euphemism used to play down death on the battlefield is that Brooke uses the word sleep instead of the word death. The effect this has on the reader is that it greatly reduces the shock to the reader and once again maintains a peaceful tone and helps to portray death on the battlefield in a serene fashion. The sound and rhythm of this poem contributes to the serene feel of the poem as the poem is written the form of a sonnet which is traditionally used to write love poems, therefore Brooke is expressing his love for England. Love poems are always tranquil and never violent; hence, that is the tone of this poem. This poem uses a lot of personification. For example, this poem heavily personifies England into many different forms. For example, her (England) flowers to love and Her (England) sights and sounds. These two lines show Brooke Personifying England. Brooke talks about colonisation of a foreign field even if the English lose the battle as their ashes will be absorbed by the ground and turn that, metaphorically, into English territory. He expresses this through the line, In that rich earth, a richer dust concealed. This once again reinforces his reputation as a nationalist. The poem Peace which was also written by Rupert Brooke is essentially a poem that has been designed in order to encourage men to enrol in the army. The line, we, who have known shame, we have found release there. This line translates into, if you carry shame then joining the army will rid you of all your shame, which if nothing else is a clear message to encourage men to enrol in the armed forces. Brooke may have written this as his views are clear from The Soldier and those are that it is an honour to fight for your country so it comes as no surprise that Brooke is writing a poem about the advantages of enrolling in the army. Brooke also talks about spiritual rewards in the afterlife through death on a battlefield for England, for example, Nothing to shake the laughing hearts long peace there. This line is talking about that fact that dying on a battlefield for England is an extremely small price to pay for an eternity of peace and enjoyment in the afterlife. This once again reinforces his reputation as an extreme nationalistic. Some time after Rupert Brookes views on war were commonplace, an entirely new and different attitude to war was developed during World War One and this is reflected in the works of Wilfred Owen. This different attitude to war that developed was an attitude that was completely against war. Through greater use and reach of the media and possibly less propaganda and through the literature of poets such as Wilfred Owen, the general public were no longer fooled by the old lie. People generally started to realise that war was actually quite a horrific experience and no longer considered it glorious once realities such as conditions inside the trenches were exposed. Anthem for Doomed Youth, was a poem written by Wilfred Owen during the First World War. This poem is very similar to The Soldier by Rupert Brooke, in that they two poems essentially deal with the same issues: that of remembering the dead of the war and death on the battlefield, but the views and tones of the poems are a world apart. The two poems, The Soldier and Anthem for Doomed Youth are both dealing with the issue of the death of a soldier on a battlefield. Owens viewpoint is that when a soldier dies on a battlefield it is an extremely undignified death, he expresses this in the line, What passing bells for those who die as cattle? Only the monstrous anger of the guns. This conveys to the reader that the lives of soldiers were treated merely as numbers and that most soldiers were cannon fodder whose only purpose was to die a meaningless death on the front line, only marked by the continuous shooting of the guns. Owen portrays death on the battlefield as the least dignified way to die. Tennyson also concurs with the views of Brooke, as from the poem, The Charge of the Light Brigade, the line When can their glory fade?. The poem The Soldier was written in the form of a sonnet because Brooke is trying to emphasise his love for his country as sonnets are generally love poems. The poem, Anthem for Doomed Youth was written in the form in the form of a sonnet because Owen is trying to put across to the reader the idea of ironic love, that is, the fact that one id prepared to die for ones country but the state can not take the time to offer the corpse a simple funeral. The fact that dying for ones country means so much for that person but that love from the country is unrequited; as far as the country is concerned the soldier is only another figure that can be added to the death toll. The title of the poem, Anthem for Doomed Youth has had the word anthem been put into the title as the word anthem is there to inform the reader that this is what is most likely to happen to a soldier that joins the army, that is, an anthem for their life at the army that always ends in a gruesome undignified death. The significance of the word doomed in the poem, Anthem for Doomed Youth, is that Owen is trying to convey to the reader that the soldiers are doomed for a horrible undignified death before they have even set off for battle; there is no solace or escape for those that enter the path of war. In Owens first draft of this poem the title was, Anthem for Dead Youth. This title is less striking than the title that it was later changed to which was, Anthem for Doomed Youth. The original title was less striking because it refers to the past tense, that is, the word dead. This word is not as striking as doomed because if the soldiers are already dead the reader will not feel personally connected, hence, will not evoke as strong emotions. They way that Wilfred Owen uses the word doomed in order to suppress the number of people joining the army, Rupert Brooke and Alfred Tennyson use language for the opposite effect, to promote going to war. For example, in the poem, The Soldier by Rupert Brooke, the line if I should die comes to mind. The word if is used in this poem for contrasting effect to the word doomed in Anthem for Doomed Youth. The word if is used to play down the idea that he will even die on the battlefield, hence, it is being used for an optimistic effect, in complete contrast with what Owen is aiming to achieve with his use of language. Owen is aiming to achieve a pessimistic attitude to war amongst people and Brooke is trying to increase optimism amongst the population. Lord Alfred Tennyson, also, uses his language for an optimistic attitude of war to be achieved. For example, into the jaws of death is used instead of describing their death. This metaphor takes attention away from the death and does not even include details of deaths; all this positive language is used to give the reader an optimistic attitude towards war. This is the opposite to what Owen is trying to achieve using negative language. The poetry of Wilfred Owen is very rich in imagery. For example, in Anthem for Doomed Youth, very vivid images of a Victorian funeral and death on a battlefield (which are the two scenes compared in the poem) are portrayed using many different poetic techniques. The comparison of death on the battlefield and a Victorian funeral are composed through metaphors In the first stanza of this poem, imagery as well as sound are used to great effect in painting a picture of death on the battlefield An example of this would be, The shrill, demented choirs of wailing shells, the metaphor of a shell being a choir, this helps to paint a vivid picture in ones mind of what it is like on a battlefield and what a soldier must feel like to die on one compared to an ordinary funeral, two different types of wailing are meant by the word in this quotation, one would be the wailing of the shells and another the wailing of relatives grieving. Sound is used to great effect in that very same quote as the words shrill and choirs work very well together to help the reader to get a greater sensory feel for the situation. Brooke also makes a jibe at Victorian funerals, No mockeries for them, essentially he is trying to call the ceremony of a funeral a complete mockery as well as comparing the two different types of death. The use of onomatopoeia is also employed in the first stanza, for example, stuttering rifles rapid rattle and wailing shells, these two uses of onomatopoeia help to further build up imagery of the situation in the mind of the reader and alliteration is also used when describing the rifles, this increases the tempo of the line to further add onomatopoetic effect to the rifle. That imagery puts across to the reader an image of the most undignified death, and shows the reader that once a soldier has dies, nothing will stop for it, not even to pay respects; their death is undignified, painful and gruesome. Through imagery Owen is trying to convey to the reader that war is not noble, that it is never glorious for either party and that death on the battlefield is meaningless. The second stanza talks about the inability of those left behind to mourn and metaphors now deal with visual comparisons between a conventional funeral and death on the battlefield. The way Owen does this is that he uses metaphors to provide images of those left behind unable to grieve. For example, Not in the hands of boys, but in their eyes shall shine the holy glimmers of goodbyes. This is strong emotional imagery through which Owen helps the reader to understand what it was like to grieve somebody but not be able to have any contact with that person, even a best friend could be killed and nobody would be able to pay their last respects. No sound is used in the second stanza to accompany the imagery that is put across to the reader. The imagery, on the other hand, is still powerful enough to give the reader a vivid idea of what is happening in the poem. Much of Owens poetry is based upon evoking the senses of the reader and allowing the reader to experience, in some way, the horrors that the soldiers faced. For example, Owen begins the poem with hard striking words that the reader may be shocked at, for example, Only the monstrous anger of the guns. As the poem progresses though and we enter the second stanza a sense of serenity creeps into the poem, for example, Their flowers the tenderness of patient minds. This is a serene line and the difference between these two stanzas is that one uses hard, violent language whilst the other uses serene language. This is the difference in terms of death on a battlefield and a traditional funeral that Owen was referring to. The differences between the two deaths is that death on a battlefield is violent and brutal and nobody has time for last respects but with a traditional funeral it is serene and everybody gets time to grieve, these two styles of death are mirrored in the style of writing in both stanzas. .ufcc3862d229623a69d5dc2fef9b5378e , .ufcc3862d229623a69d5dc2fef9b5378e .postImageUrl , .ufcc3862d229623a69d5dc2fef9b5378e .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .ufcc3862d229623a69d5dc2fef9b5378e , .ufcc3862d229623a69d5dc2fef9b5378e:hover , .ufcc3862d229623a69d5dc2fef9b5378e:visited , .ufcc3862d229623a69d5dc2fef9b5378e:active { border:0!important; } .ufcc3862d229623a69d5dc2fef9b5378e .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .ufcc3862d229623a69d5dc2fef9b5378e { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .ufcc3862d229623a69d5dc2fef9b5378e:active , .ufcc3862d229623a69d5dc2fef9b5378e:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .ufcc3862d229623a69d5dc2fef9b5378e .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .ufcc3862d229623a69d5dc2fef9b5378e .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .ufcc3862d229623a69d5dc2fef9b5378e .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .ufcc3862d229623a69d5dc2fef9b5378e .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .ufcc3862d229623a69d5dc2fef9b5378e:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .ufcc3862d229623a69d5dc2fef9b5378e .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .ufcc3862d229623a69d5dc2fef9b5378e .ufcc3862d229623a69d5dc2fef9b5378e-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .ufcc3862d229623a69d5dc2fef9b5378e:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: Philip Larkin EssayWilfred Owen uses vivid imagery and carefully worded poems in order to help the reader experience the true realities of war. Through these images Owen puts across to his readers that war is not glorious and that war is not what everybody thought it to be, Owen portrays this well through the use of wordplay, sound and imagery. The pessimistic language that Owen uses has a very strong effect on the attitude he paints towards war, as does the optimistic language used by Tennyson and Brooke have strong effects on the attitude they paint towards war. Owenss overall attitude to war was that war is horrific, inhumane but that there was also tremendous love and loyalty between the soldiers, this is shown in the line, But in their eyes shall shine the holy glimmer of goodbye. This line shows that the soldiers who fought side by side had feelings for each other and could not bear to watch their friends die in this fashion. Even though Owen portrays war as horrific and undignified and inhumane, the fact that soldiers were so loyal to one another may have been the one beautiful thing Owen saw in war. This view of gratitude towards loyal soldiers is shared by Lord Alfred Tennyson. In the poem, The Charge of the Light Brigade, Tennyson writes, Theirs not to reason why, theirs but to do and die. This line showed that the soldiers obeyed commands even though they were wrong and threatened the lives of the soldiers. This shows incredible loyalty to their officers and the army. One of the only parallels between the views of Tennyson and those of Owen is that they both agree that the soldiers who go to war are brave, obedient, loyal and fearless and those are qualities both Tennyson and Owen believe soldiers have no matter what their views on war they are united in respecting soldiers. Wilfred Owen also wrote another poem concerning the matter of war and this poem is called Dulce et Decorum Est. This is an extremely important poem in the context of this essay at least. It is extremely important as it incorporates the concept of the old lie as its focal point. The old lie of course being what I discussed at the beginning of this essay, that being that it is noble, glorious and dignified to die for your country on a battlefield, which the poetry of Wilfred Owen firmly dispels . The poem is divided into three sections, with each section containing eight lines. The rhyme scheme of this poem is ABABCDCD in every one of the three stanzas. There are four extra lines at the end of the poem which summarise and contain the morale of the poem which of course is to do with dismissing the old lie as fiction, My friend, you would not tell with such high zest to children ardent for some desperate glory, the old Lie: Dulce et Decorum Est Pro Patria Mori. Like Anthem for Doomed Youth, this poem is based on imagery that evoke the senses. There are many uses of similes and metaphors in this poem which leads to a vivid visual painting. For example, in stanza one, Coughing like hags, we cursed through the sludge. This line uses a metaphor and a simile to great effect to convey the conditions the soldiers were in during battle. Another example of the excellent imagery formed through the use of similes and metaphors, this time from the second stanza, and floundering like a man in fire under a green sea, I saw him drowning. This shows great use of a pointed effect using a simile and the metaphor of the soldier drowning contributes to the vivid imagery Owen uses to paint images in your mind. The imagery in this poem is of a very different tone and nature compared to the imagery in the poetry of Rupert Brooke and Alfred Tennyson. For example, in The Soldier, serene peaceful language is always being used even though the poem is set in a battle situation, for example, A body of Englands, breathing English air. This sentence turns the scene of a dead corpse, through the use of euphemisms and serene language, turns the sentence into a serene and even patriotic scene. Tennysons imagery produced through The Charge of the Light Brigade also contrasts to the imagery produced by Owen. For example, Dulce et Decorum Est uses heavy and gruesome imagery to paint a vivid and realistic image of death whilst, The Charge of the Light Brigade, uses language to the opposite effect, in order to euphemistically describe death, for example, While horse and hero fell. This line euphemistically describes death on the battlefield and also imposes the impression of the old lie upon the reader. In the first stanza a lot of violent and blunt language is used, for example, But limped on, blood-shod. This line uses blunt and violent language. It would also appear that this language is the only entity that is driving the first stanza and without violent and blunt language the first stanza would be soulless and empty. Another example of blunt language being used in the first stanza is, Drunk with fatigue. Drunk people generally are not fatigued so that line is an oxymoron. Aside from that being an oxymoron, this is again a line that appears to be pumping energy into the energy depleted first stanza. This blunt and violent language carries the whole of the first stanza. In the second stanza the tempo is suddenly increased by a huge amount and the reader feels like they have been woken up from the slumber that was the first stanza. Owen may have used this technique in order to allow the reader to see how quickly the soldiers could have been put under attack into a life threatening situation. To give an example of the change in tempo, the last line of the first stanza was carrying on in a hypnotic rhythm, Of gas-shells dropping slowly behind. This line is very slow and calm, but the first line of the second stanza is, Gas! GAS! Quick boys! -An ecstasy of fumbling. This change in tempo shows the reader of the poem how alert to attack these soldiers had to be at any moment and how reacting a second too late could cost them their lives. In this poem, Owen always addresses the reader as you. This is important because it helps the reader to appreciate this as a piece of writing that is set in the present tense and as Owen directly talks to the reader, this may coax the reader to concur with Owens views and help to eradicate the old lie from their mind. This may also help the reader to empathise with Owen, as if Owen were making some kind of plea. Referring to the reader directly may also have the effect of making the reader think more about the morale of his poem as Owen had referred directly to the reader, essentially the reader get more involved in the poem and is more likely to act on the words of the poem than to dismiss it. In the third stanza of Dulce et Decorum Est, the metaphors and similes change dimension and become extremely sinister, corrupt and evil. This is done in order to create menacing images that would take the reader back in shock when he read the poem and would add further caused (based upon strong metaphors and similes used by Owen) for the reader to dismiss the old lie. Examples of horrific and sinister language would be, His hanging face, like a devils sick of sin. That sentence would have traumatized some readers and invoked shock in all other readers as the topic of the devil is sinister and taboo and any comparison to the devil would cause controversy. Further examples of corrupt diction, similes and metaphors would be, the blood come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs. This particular image is of an exceptionally gruesome nature, outlining the undignified manner in which this soldier died. This vivid imagery further adds to the evidence that Owen has shown us that would cause us to oust the old lie from our minds. One more example of extreme sickening and vivid imagery in this poem is, Bitter as the cud of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues. This sentence is especially gruesome as cud would also evoke the sense of smell which may actually make some readers want to be sick; such is the imagery and provocation of all the senses being given out by Owen in this third stanza. The diction of gruesome similes and metaphors in this poem put across such a morbid image of death on the battlefield that the reader now knows that it is no way dignified and glorious and these imageries from the text go a long way in dispelling the old lie from the minds of readers, which of course was Owens goal. Through the poetry examined it can be seen that the attitudes to war have moved from an attitude where war was seen as glorious and death on the battlefield was seen as dignified and noble. This attitude has slowly shifted towards one where war is seen as sickening and death on the battlefield was seen a undignified and that a cowardly fighter could no easily kill a much more skilled warrior from miles away and that no honour or dignity can be seen in that. Tennyson represented the view that war was absolutely glorious and that any soldier who died in battle would die a dignified and valorous death. He represented he view that war was a great event where anyone who died in battle would be rewarded and that their name would live on forever. And Brooke represented the view that war was still glorious but people were beginning to realise it was not as serene as they thought it would be. The general view of war was that it was heroic, brave, noble, glorious and dignified for a soldier to go into battle though less and less people still believed that. Owen represented the view that war was horrific and that death on the battlefield was both inhumane and undignified and that any man could kill any man without having to put up a brave fight, hence, battle has lost any honourable meaning and is sickening and there is a pointless waste of innocent lives. In conclusion, through critical analysis of poems by Rupert Brooke, Lord Alfred Tennyson and Wilfred Owen I have discovered that the general view on war has progressed from the times of Tennyson when war was considered noble, glorious and dignified. These views have progressed to the other end of the spectrum when at the time when Wilfred Owen was writing his poetry; Tennysons views were dispelled by Owen as the old lie. The modern view on war bought about through the poetry of Wilfred Owen was that war and death on the battlefield was undignified, pointless and gruesome. All these views from every poet was conveyed to the reader through literature, that is, poetry, and poetry provides a good example of how views of war have changed over time and how the old lie is now obsolete.

Understanding and Using Record Data Types in Delphi

Understanding and Using Record Data Types in Delphi Sets are ok, arrays are great. Suppose we want to create three one-dimensional arrays for 50 members in our programming community. The first array is for names, the second for e-mails, and the third for number of uploads (components or applications) to our community. Each array (list) would have matching indexes and plenty of code to maintain all three lists in parallel. Of course, we could try with one three-dimensional array, but what about its type? We need string for names and e-mails, but an integer for the number of uploads. The way to work with such a data structure is to use Delphis record structure. TMember Record ... For example, the following declaration creates a record type called TMember, the one we could use in our case. Essentially, a record data structure can mix any of Delphis built-in types including any types you have created. Record types define fixed collections of items of different types. Each item, or field, is like a variable, consisting of a name and a type. TMember type contains three fields: a string value called Name (to hold the name of a member), a value of a string type called eMail (for one e-mail), and an integer (Cardinal) called Posts (to hold the number of submissions to our community). Once we have set up the record type, we can declare a variable to be of type TMember. TMember is now just as good variable type for variables as any of Delphis built-in types like String or Integer. Note: the TMember type declaration, does not allocate any memory for the Name, eMail, and Posts fields; To actually create an instance of TMember record we have to declare a variable of TMember type, as in the following code: Now, when we have a record, we use a dot to isolate the fields of DelphiGuide. Note: the above piece of code could be rewritten with the use of with keyword. We can now copy the values of DelphiGuide’s fields to AMember. Record Scope and Visibility Record type declared within the declaration of a form (implementation section), function, or procedure has a scope limited to the block in which it is declared. If the record is declared in the interface section of a unit it has a scope that includes any other units or programs that use the unit where the declaration occurs. An Array of Records Since TMember acts like any other Object Pascal type, we can declare an array of record variables: Note: Heres how to declare and initialize a constant array of records in Delphi. Records as Record Fields Since a record type is legitimate as any other Delphi type, we can have a field of a record be a record itself. For example, we could create ExpandedMember to keep track of what the member is submitting along with the member information. Filling out all the information needed for a single record is now somehow harder. More periods (dots) are required to access the fields of TExpandedMember. Record With Unknown Fields A record type can have a variant part (not to be confused with Variant type variable). Variant records are used, for example, when we want to create a record type that has fields for different kinds of data, but we know that we will never need to use all of the fields in a single record instance. To learn more about Variant parts in Records take a look at Delphis help files. The use of a variant record type is not type-safe and is not a recommended programming practice, particularly for beginners. However, variant records can be quite useful, if you ever find yourself in a situation to use them.

Case study on Google.com Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Case study on Google.com - Essay Example The company also serves corporate clients, including advertisers, content publishers and site managers with cost-effective advertising and a wide range of revenue generating search services. Google's breakthrough technology and continued innovation serve the company's mission of "organizing the world's information and making it universally accessible and useful.""( http://www.google.com.au/profile.html) As a company Google holds the reputation of the pioneer company in website maintenance, and maintains a website which is one of the most popular in demand. It serves the need of a five year old as well as fifty year old. The search engine has attracted interest of great number of internet users because of its simple design and user-friendly interface. Google has been able to achieve this by maintaining an index of more than 8 million web pages on the web. The versatility of the search engine has appeal to wide range of customers and any one with an Internet connection can use this website to search for information. Google has achieved the status of brand name search engine because of its popularity, ease of use and the wide indexing of categories. The user interface is user-friendly and has versatility and appeal to hundreds of languages worldwide. It is also a very popular advertising medium for other sources, and this is the main source of revenue. "The company generates revenue t hrough the advertising programs. The advertising program consists of advertisers advertising with Google and then Google uses its search technology selecting which web page should host the ad. Every time someone clicks the ad revenue is shared between Google and the publisher of page where the ad is being hosted." (http://www.19.5degs.com/element/19344.php) Revenue is also accumulated through Google Search Appliance, which is hardware and software solution that companies can use to implement Google search technology to their internal and external information. Google maintains a very efficient network of support in 14 countries with 25 sales offices spread out in major locations.. Apart from providing support to existing users there exists direct sales teams. These teams target advertisers with large advertising budgets and are more in a role of relationship building than one off sales. (http://www.19.5degs.com/element/19344.php) Google has been primarily recognized as company with primary interest and focus in the area of web content. Google had made attempts to diversify its umbrella with experimenting interest in other markets like radio and print publications. This is confirmed by the fact that in 2006, Google announced its first purchase of a radio advertising company "dMarc", which provides an automated system that allows companies to advertise on radio. (Levingston, 2006) Google is making strides to combine tow niche advertising media-the internet and radio. This strategic union of the two synergistic media streams combined with Google's ability to penetrate and focus on the tastes of the consumers, is an invincible attribute of the company. In the process of diversification Google has also focused on selling advertisements from his advertisers in offline newspapers and magazines. They have been filling unsold space in the newspaper that would normally have been used in for

Logistics and Supply Chain Management Coursework

Logistics and Supply Chain Management - Coursework Example A critical analysis and comparison of the supply chain networks of both the companies is done using the case studies provided to us. The analysis of the two cases has been done in line with the literature review. The final part of the document deals with two more companies in the fast fashion industry and compares their supply chain strategies with the strategies of H&M and Benetton whose case has been provided to us. The analysis of the two case studies provides us with an insight in to the importance of supply chain for the success of a firm. Supply chain is no longer considered just another element but is considered by many firms to be as important as marketing. It can drastically reduce the cost of the firm and give a strong competitive advantage to the firm which is hard and difficult to duplicate. Benetton was established in Italy in 1965.It has it presence in 120 countires.12 of its 18 factories are located in Italy. It sells its good through a network of 6500 retailers. It's positioning in the international market is that the company sells good quality garments which are moderately priced. With the analysis of the case we will critically analyse how Benetton has increased its supply chain by utilizing the "Dual Supply Chain" system. We will see how this system takes advantages of both the push and pull factors of the supply chain and increases the performance objectives for the company. H & M H &M case H & M is a well known Swedish company and has been a leader both in terms of market share and financial performance of the company. The company's strategy has been continuous expansion to search for the most promising markets available, to produce goods in a cost effective and fast manner and to reduce lead times drastically in order to reach the retailers quickly and capture changes in customer moods and preferences and provide longer shelf life for its products. H&M is also an example of how e-business solutions can be used to obtain competitive advantage in the supply chain of a company. Procurement and logistics can easily track the sales as they share a common IT platform with the retailers. This allows the company to react quickly to any changes in the trends prevalent in the market. H&M also has an efficient inventory management system which reduces the lead times for the firm and ensures efficient stock management. Literature Review Operation Strategy of a firm may be defined as set of principals adopted by the organization for decision making to achieve at a reconciliation of the market demand and the operational resources available to the