herody Free Essays on Homers Odyssey - Heroic or Disloyal Men? :: Odyssey essays

The Men of The Odyssey: Heroic or Disloyal? In Homer’s The Iliad, Achilles’ shield is described in great depth. On one portion of the shield, there is fashioned a scene with a golden herd of straight-horn cattle. They are being led along a fruitful riverside by a group of four golden shepherds and nine hounds. Two lions approach the herd, and mutilate a mighty bull. The shepherds can do nothing but watch, as they dare not approach the predators. This scene is crucial in understanding the behavior of Odysseus’ men in the sequel to this epic, (The Iliad, p. 227). In Homer’s The Odyssey, Odysseus narrates a portion of the epic concerning his journeys and trials during his long quest home for Ithaca. Throughout these adventures, his men play an important role in determining the fate of the entire crew of his ship. At some points, he portrays them as being heroic, while at others, they seem barbaric in nature and disloyal to their captain. These qualities of his men, and certainly others, are best exemplified through the episodes involving the Cyclopes and the Cattle of the Sun God. Before comparing and contrasting the actions of the men during these two mini-stories, a good understanding of the inhabitants of the two lands is necessary. The Island of the Sun God, Helios, is referred to as "the world’s delight," as it provides habitation for this god’s limitless flocks of cattle. Conversely, the Island of the Cyclopes inhabits primitive one-eyed, half-man, and half-bestial beings, (p. 218). While Helios’ island is described as "noble," almost as golden as the sun itself, the land of the Cyclopes is illustrated as a land filled with wild vegetation, and neglected by its undemocratic and uncivilized people. This depiction of these people being poor gardeners coincides with previous evidence from this epic, and others, that this type of lifestyle being lived by the Cyclopes was looked down upon by the author, and by the gods, in particularly. The other land, therefore, is obviously blessed and considered to be holy to the gods. Soon after landing on the Cyclopes’ Island, Odysseus takes a team of his best men with him to explore the new wilderness. They then discover the cave of Polyphemos, your everyday, average, sheep-herding Cyclopes. Odysseus’ men suggest taking the vision-impaired beast’s cheese and flocks and making a run for it, but the "raider of cities" insists on awaiting his homecoming in an attempt to see the caveman and what he has to offer.

Media Profiting from the Seduction and Rape of Women Essay -- Feminism

   "Rape is the current advertising metaphor" (Wolf, 79)   Ã‚   When did sexual assault become a legitimate advertising tool or form of entertainment? At some point in time, it did because it's prevalent in society today through films, television, and magazines. One of every eight Hollywood movies depicts a rape. Magazines are full of ads that depict either explicit or implied sexual assault of women by men. I was more than a little surprised by magazine ads that depict rape. One for Chaleur d'animale perfume showed a naked women chained to a naked man. Why? What on earth does this have to do with perfume? How is rape supposed to sell any product? Why are advertisers using such images?   Images of women and "beauty" become more extreme. As advertising executives told The Boston Globe, "You have to push a little harder...to jolt, shock, break through. Now that the competition is fiercer, a whole lot rougher trade takes place [Rough trade is gay male slang for a sadisitic heterosexual partner.] Today, business wants even more desperately to seduce...It wants to demolish resistance.(Wolf, 79)   There are also some images which aren't overtly rape, but serve to degrade women sexually and objectify them, which tends to have horrifying consequences. "...In a raft of Rock and Hip Hop videos, women get turned into pieces of booty served up for the pleasure of pwerful men..." (Mtv) A recent cover of Esquire magazine showed a naked woman covered in caviar. Pictures in the feature article showed the woman's face covered in honey, her eyes closed, her mouth opened with her tongue provocatively exposed.   "Turning a human being into a thing, an object, is almost always the first step toward justifying violence against that person.... ...lifetimetv.com/shows/specials/changingface/illusions2.html Life Time Entertainment Services. 2000 Changing Face of Beauty: Models http://www.lifetimetv.com/shows/specials/changingface/models.html Life Time Entertainment Services. 2000 Changing Face of Beauty: Views. "Sela Ward" http://www.lifetimetv.com/shows/specials/changingface/views5b.html Life Time Entertainment Services. 2000 Changing Face of Beauty: Views. "Maricia Gillespie" http://www.lifetimetv.com/shows/specials/changingface/views.html Life Time Entertainment Services. 2000 Douglas, Susan J. Where the Girls Are: Growing Up Female with the Mass Media. New York: Random House Publishing, 1994, 278. Starr, Bernard. IT AIN'T JUST PAINT:AGING AND THE MEDIA  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   http://www.longevityworld.com/justpaint.html. 1997 Wolff, Naomi. The Beauty Myth. New York: Doubleday Publishing, 1991   

Building High Performance Team In A Minute Essay

When working with a group or a company, the most expected mantra recited is â€Å"be a team player† in order contribute for the organization’s accomplishment of all its goals and objectives. To quote, â€Å"Someone may be great at his or her job, maybe even the best there ever was. But what counts at work is the organization’s success, not personal success. After all, if your organization fails, it does not matter how great you were; you are just as unemployed as everyone else† (Johnson, Kantner & Kikora, 1990). This is why Kenneth Blanchard decided to jack up his One Minute Manager book series by coming up with something that will focus on teamwork, which is The One Minute Manager Builds High Performing Teams (1990, revised 2000). With Eunice Parisi-Carew, Blanchard tackles in this book the in-depth dynamics of team structure and the most rewarding interactions of each team members. Blanchard hopes that, by reading the book, participants of these work groups will gain a clearer understanding of how their teams may function at optimal levels. As a prominent author, speaker and business consultant, Kenneth Blanchard is often described as one of the most insightful, powerful and compassionate gurus in the business world. Blanchard is chairman of Blanchard Training and Development Inc., a management consulting and training company which he founded in 1979. He co-authored four books in the One Minute Manager series that collectively sold more than nine million copies and have been translated into more than 20 languages. Also, he has regularly appeared on popular television news and business programs in the US and has been featured in leading magazines such as Time and US News. This is why if somebody has enough expertise on how teams can be made effective, Blanchard has definitely the authority to discuss how teams work to become high performing and achieve excellence for the organization. Noted for his leadership approach that promotes self-esteem and self worth through a clear and structured approach to making people accountable for their behavior, Blanchard emphasized that â€Å"people who feel good about themselves produce good results — and appeal is based on applying techniques that take only one minute to apply†. What’s most relevant in e One Minute Manager Builds High Performing Teams (2000) is that the authors presented seven characteristics of the perform model that identified the desired behaviors of an effective team:  · Purpose. Team members are clear about what the team’s work is and why it is important.  · Empowerment. Members are confident about the team’s ability to overcome obstacles and to realize its vision.  · Relationship and communication. The team is committed to open communication, and members feel that they can state their opinions, thoughts and feelings without fear.  · Flexibility. Members are flexible and perform different tasks and maintenance functions as needed.  · Optimal productivity. High-performing teams produce significant results, due to a commitment to high standards and quality results.  · Recognition and appreciation. Individual and team accomplishments are frequently recognized by the team leader — as well as team members — by celebrating milestones, accomplishments and events.  · Morale. Members are enthusiastic about the team’s work, and each person feels pride in being a team member (p. 9-16). At 106 pages, this book is not a heavy read and filled with fictionalized dialogue to establish concrete examples. Also, this book interestingly explains the developmental stages a team goes through on their quest in becoming â€Å"high-performing† and â€Å"self-directed.† Emphasizing on the group dynamics, the authors easily described how an effective leader or â€Å"educator† can help steer the team that will empower individual members to contribute their creative ideas and talents to attain the common goal: accomplishing the team’s mission. In the work environment, teams materialize to focus on tasks or solve problems that are beyond the capacity of one individual. With this type of set-up that allow creative and innovative juices to flow through the constant sharing of information,   people could appropriate division of labor among the members of the team can lead to more effective, more efficient and less stressful workplace. Their high levels of performance with regards to quantity, quality, and timeliness of work results can contribute to their sense of satisfaction, addressing a psychological and motivational need. With incessant exposure to each other, team members and their superiors could ascertain whether they have a team that can continue working together with synergy or their togetherness poses a detrimental effect on their output and interrelationships. Thus, with the help of this book, managers, leaders and even parents can make most of their teams to have a wider perspective of the processes and a detailed coverage of the activities that occur and address what needs to be improved in their respective organizations.

Me Talk Pretty One Day By David Sedaris From

Me Talk Pretty One Day – By David Sedaris From his book Me Talk Pretty One Day At the age of forty-one, I am returning to school and have to think of myself as what my French textbook calls â€Å"a true debutant. † After paying my tuition, I was issued a student ID, which allows me a discounted entry fee at movie theaters, puppet shows, and Festyland, a far-flung amusement park that advertises with billboards picturing a cartoon stegosaurus sitting in a canoe and eating what appears to be a ham sandwich.I’ve moved to Paris with hopes of learning the language. My school is an easy ten-minute walk from my apartment, and on the first day of class I arrived early, watching as the returning students greeted one another in the school lobby. Vacations were recounted, and questions were raised concerning mutual friends with names like Kang and Vlatnya. Regardless of their nationalities, everyone spoke what sounded to me like excellent French. Some accents were better tha n others, but the students exhibited an ease and confidence that I found intimidating.As an added discomfort, they were all young, attractive, and well-dressed, causing me to feel not unlike Pa Kettle trapped backstage after a fashion show. The first day of class was nerve-racking because I knew I’d be expected to perform. That’s the way they do it here – it’s everybody into the language pool, sink or swim. The teacher marched in, deeply tanned from a recent vacation, and proceeded to rattle off a series of administrative announcements. I’ve spent quite a few summers in Normandy, and I took a monthlong French class before leaving New York.I’m not completely in the dark, yet I understood only half of what this woman was saying. â€Å"If you have not meimslsxp or lgpdmurct by this time, then you should not be in this room. Has everyone apzkiubjxow? Everyone? Good, we shall begin. † She spread out her lesson plan and sighed, saying, â₠¬Å"All right, then, who knows the alphabet? † It was startling because (a) I hadn’t been asked that question in a while and (b) I realized, while laughing, that I myself did not know the alphabet. They’re the same letters, but in France they’re pronounced differently.I know the shape of the alphabet but had no idea what it actually sounded like. â€Å"Ahh. † The teacher went to the board and sketched the letter a. â€Å"Do we have anyone in the room whose first name commences with an ahh? †12 Two Polish Annas raised their hands, and the teachers instructed them to present themselves by stating their names, nationalities, occupations, and a brief list of things they liked and disliked in this world. The first Anna hailed from an industrial town outside of Warsaw and had front teeth the size of tombstones. She worked as a seamstress, enjoyed quiet times with friends, and hated the mosquito.Oh, really,† the teacher said. â€Å"How very in teresting. I thought that everyone loved the mosquito, but here, in front of all the world, you claim to detest him. How is it that we’ve been blessed with someone as unique and original as you? Tell us, please. † The seamstress did not understand what was being said but knew that this was an occasion for shame. Her rabbity mouth huffed for breath, and she stared down at her lap as though the appropriate comeback were stitched somewhere alongside the zipper of her slacks. The second Anna learned from the first and claimed to love sunshine and detest lies.It sounded like a translation of one of those Playmate of the Month data sheets, the answers always written in the same loopy handwriting: â€Å"Turn-ons: Mom’s famous fivealarm chili! Turn offs: insecurity and guys who come on too strong!!!! † The two Polish Annas surely had clear notions of what they loved and hated, but like the rest of us, they were limited in terms of vocabulary, and this made them ap pear less than sophisticated. The teacher forged on, and we learned that Carlos, the Argentine bandonion player, loved wine, music, and, in his words, â€Å"making sex with the womans of the world. Next came a beautiful young Yugoslav who identified herself as an optimist, saying that she loved everything that life had to offer. The teacher licked her lips, revealing a hint of the saucebox we would later come to know. She crouched low for her attack, placed her hands on the young woman’s desk, and leaned close, saying, â€Å"Oh yeah? And do you love your little war? † While the optimist struggled to defend herself, I scrambled to think of an answer to what had obviously become a trick question. How often is one asked what he loves in this world? More to the point, how often is one asked and then publicly ridiculed for his answer?I recalled my mother, flushed with wine, pounding the table top one night, saying, â€Å"Love? I love a good steak cooked rare. I love my ca t, and I love †¦Ã¢â‚¬  My sisters and I leaned forward, waiting to hear out names. â€Å"Tums,† our mother said. â€Å"I love Tums. †13 The teacher killed some time accusing the Yugoslavian girl of masterminding a program of genocide, and I jotted frantic notes in the margins of my pad. While I can honestly say that I love leafing through medical textbooks devoted to severe dermatological conditions, the hobby is beyond the reach of my French vocabulary, and acting it out would only have invited controversy.When called upon, I delivered an effortless list of things that I detest: blood sausage, intestinal pates, brain pudding. I’d learned these words the hard way. Having given it some thought, I then declared my love for IBM typewriters, the French word for bruise, and my electric floor waxer. It was a short list, but still I managed to mispronounce IBM and assign the wrong gender to both the floor waxer and the typewriter. The teacher’s reaction le d me to believe that these mistakes were capital crimes in the country of France. â€Å"Were you always this palicmkrexis? she asked. â€Å"Even a fiuscrzsa ticiwelmun knows that a typewriter is feminine. † I absorbed as much of her abuse as I could understand, thinking – but not saying – that I find it ridiculous to assign a gender to an inanimate object which is incapable of disrobing and making an occasional fool of itself. Why refer to Lady Crack Pipe or Good Sir Dishrag when these things could never live up to all that their sex implied? The teacher proceeded to belittle everyone from German Eva, who hated laziness, to Japanese Yukari, who loved paintbrushes and soap.Italian, Thai, Dutch, Korean, and Chinese – we all left class foolishly believing that the worst over. She’d shaken us up a little, but surely that was just an act designed to weed out the deadweight. We didn’t know it then, but the coming months would teach us what it was like to spend time in the presence of a wild animal, something completely unpredictable. Her temperament was not based on a series of good and bad days but, rather, good and bad moments. We soon learned to dodge chalk and protect our heads and stomachs whenever she approached us with a question.She hadn’t yet punched anyone, but it seemed wise to protect ourselves against the inevitable. Though we were forbidden to speak anything but French, the teacher would occasionally use us to practice any of her five fluent languages. â€Å"I hate you,† she said to me one afternoon. Her English was flawless. â€Å"I really, really hate you. † Call me sensitive, but I couldn’t help but take it personally. 14 After being singled out as a lazy kfdtinvfm, I took to spending four hours a night on my homework, putting in even more time whenever we were assigned an essay.I suppose I could have gotten by with less, but I was determined to create some sort of identity for m yself: David, the hardworker, David the cut-up. We’d have one of those â€Å"complete this sentence† exercises, and I’d fool with the thing for hours, invariably settling on something like, â€Å"A quick run around the lake? I’d love to! Just give me a moment while I strap on my wooden leg. † The teacher, through word and action, conveyed the message that if this was my idea of an identity, she wanted nothing to do with it. My fear and discomfort crept beyond the borders of the classroom and accompanied me out onto the wide boulevards.Stopping for a coffee, asking directions, depositing money in my bank account: these things were out of the question, as they involved having to speak. Before beginning school, there’d been no shutting me up, but now I was convinced that everything I said was wrong. When the phone rang, I ignored it. If someone asked me a question, I pretended to be deaf. I knew my fear was getting the best of me when I started wondering why they don’t sell cuts of meat in vending machines. My only comfort was the knowledge that I was not alone.Huddled in the hallways and making the most of our pathetic French, my fellow students and I engaged in the sort of conversation commonly overhead in refugee camps. â€Å"Sometimes me cry alone at night. † â€Å"That be common for I, also, but be more strong, you. Much work and someday you talk pretty. People start love you soon. Maybe tomorrow, okay. † Unlike the French class I had taken in New York, here there was no sense of competition. When the teacher poked a shy Korean in the eyelid with a freshly sharpened pencil, we took no comfort in the fact that, unlike Hyeyoon Cho, we all know the irregular past tense of the verb to defeat.In all fairness, the teacher hadn’t meant to stab the girl, but neither did she spend much time apologizing, saying only, â€Å"Well, you should have been vkkdyo more kdeynfulh. † Over time it becam e impossible to believe that any of us would ever improve. Fall arrived and it rained every day, meaning we would now be scolded for the water dripping from our coats and umbrellas. It was mid-October when the teacher singled me15 out, saying, â€Å"Every day spent with you is like having a cesarean section. † And it struck me that, for the first time since arriving in France, I could understand every word that someone was saying.Understanding doesn’t mean that you can suddenly speak the language. Far from it. It’s a small step, nothing more, yet its rewards are intoxicating and deceptive. The teacher continued her diatribe and I settled back, bathing in the subtle beauty of each new curse and insult. â€Å"You exhaust me with your foolishness and reward my efforts with nothing but pain, do you understand me? † The world opened up, and it was with great joy that I responded, â€Å"I know the thing that you speak exact now. Talk me more, you, plus, please , plus. †

New York Yankees Essay

Ever since they became an official organization in 1903, the New York Yankees have established themselves as one of the world’s top sport organizations. As a Major League Baseball team, they have historically achieved the ultimate goal of winning the World Series and have gained fans and profit in the process. With thirty-one different managers, the Yankees have won a total of twenty-six World Series and have built a fan base across the globe (â€Å"New†, 2008). Nowadays, the organization even makes yearly revenue close to 300 million dollars (Cohen, 2007). I chose this organization because I believe that their structure and management style is the definition of success. I will apply most of the methods and concepts from the book and from class to the Yankees, and I will discuss why I consider them to be one of the world’s greatest sport organizations today. First, when analyzing the New York Yankees from a managerial perspective, it is important to consider the structure and management style of the organization. For example, the New York Yankees have three levels of managers: the owner or executive manager who monitors the business environment (George Steinbrenner), the general manager or middle manager who negotiates and controls player transactions (Brian Cashman), and the field manager or first-line supervisor who supervises individuals within the organization (Joe Girardi). For them to be successful, all of these parts need to work together and form a systems-based organization. In this open system, where everything is â€Å"relatively open to the influences of the environment in which it lives† (Chelladurai, 2005), Steinbrenner is able to react to the goals, structures, and processes of the organization, as well as employers, customers, and so forth. Even though the Yankees did not make the playoffs this year, it is easy to see how the system is successful. All of the managers perform certain tasks, some of which include planning, organizing, leading, and evaluating. Each of these levels do these things for different time frames. When discussing the roles of the Yankee managers, it is important to note that all of them have been successful. Brian Cashman has a large decisional role because he has to make the correct decisions for the fans to be content and the team to win. Back when the Yankees won several consecutive championships in the ‘90s, Joe Torre (field manager) was a leader of the team with excellent human skills. He was able to interact with his players in a way that allowed them to perform at or above their potential, and he also had an incredible amount of knowledge for the types of players he needed to succeed. The owner and general manager had good technical and conceptual skills because it was important that they plan, evaluate, and organize the formation of a successful organization. They had to evaluate the existing organization, plan what players to trade for, and organize the business matters. I know that the organization’s main goal is to win national championships, but they also want to be effective and efficient in doing so. When the owner George Steinbrenner goes out and gets all-star caliber players to win the American League East division and the World Series, he has to pay a lot of money in order to attract them to his team. In terms of being a successful leader, it is obvious that George Steinbrenner â€Å"exerts influence in a way that achieves the organization’s goals by enhancing the productivity and satisfaction of the work force† (Chelladurai, 2005) because he is trying to achieve his goals by getting the best players in the league and making his team more productive. It has been known that George Steinbrenner spends the most money on his players in the league, so the efficiency of the team is minimized even though they have the largest fan base out of any organization. The effectiveness, however, in drawing the support of fans, emotionally and economically, is maximized, since the people want to see the best teams with the best athletes play. In 2004, â€Å"by the completion of the season, which saw Joe Torre at its helm for his ninth season, the New York Yankees had set a new team record for largest team attendance thanks to 3,775,292 loyal fans who attended home games at Yankee Stadium† (â€Å"New†, 2008). You can see here how popular the organization has become, and I can only imagine how much more money it can make in the future. In conclusion, I have analyzed an organization that I felt would help me understand the concepts and methods that are associated with sport management. Based on the structure and personnel of the New York Yankees baseball club now and in the past, I classify it as being one of the world’s most successful organizations. This statement can only be judged by the results that have accompanied the Yankees ever since its inception, twenty-six championships and a world-wide fan base.

Disadvantages of science Essay

How Science and Technology Affects Human’s Life Science and technology are two things related to each other. Science is a systematic knowledge base, where a series of steps is followed in order to reliably predict the type of outcome. It is all about theories and focused on analysis. Science is the key by which man go anywhere at any time in the space. It has brought about several outstanding advantages to mankind. Technology, on the other hand, is more of an applied science. It is where tools and knowledge are used for the study of a particular science. It is all about process. What is life without science and technology? Nowadays, people can’t imagine their lives without technology. Anywhere they go and whatever they do, there are many things related to science. These are human’s inventions and innovations or various technologies surround them that provide their needs. Even in their daily activities or simple tasks, they are already using those technologies. Refrigerators, microwaves, televisions, cellular phones, laptops, digital cameras, cars, computers and lights are some technologies that human uses in their daily lives. These technologies really provide them many advantages. It is easy to think about the advantages however, for your information technology has also disadvantages. Science and Technology helps human beings make their lives easier in such a way that it helps them in every sector. Like in transportation, through cars, airplanes or trains, they can travel faster to their desired places. From inventions and innovations of great minds, robots and machines are made to help people make lesser mistakes. Because of technology, man can save his time, efforts and give him a quality to his works. Moreover, technology increases production. People can create multiple materials in a short period of time because of modern machines. Most of all, one of the most important advantages of technology is through the field of medical science or human health. Because of the inventions of technology for surgical operations and discoveries of many medicines, human’s life span will be lengthened and will save innocent lives. Science and Technology also changed human’s way of communicating. From telephones to cellular phones, then came the computers and Internets which gave them information. Through these, now they can do video conferences to their love ones at abroad or chatting their friends. Satellite communication is another important dimension of technology. Satellite TV s and satellite radios have eased the broadcasting of events across the globe. Computers can store, organize and manage huge amounts of data. They can process large amounts of information. Computers have given rise to the software industry, one of the most progressive industries of the world. Gadgets can give entertainment not only to teenagers but to everyone. In addition technology also gives assurance or for emergency use. On the other hand, with the advancement in the field of latest technology, people face many disadvantages out of the benefit of modern technology. It can harm our environment. New transportation technology causes pollution by the smoke or gas from factories and cars. Most people lost their job because companies took up automatic machines to improve their production with accuracy. Yet, the answers or discoveries that technology gave may not be always correct. These machines look inexpensive and its good to use but once there are technical problems occur in machines, it took much time to fix it and also it can be more expensive. There are also side effects of technology in our health. This can cause growth of eye disease, increase of body weight and can cause cancer because of radiation of specific technology. Science and Technology can cause people’s communication poor. According to Lauren Nelson, when communicating face to face, nonverbal behaviors provide context clues for the words we use. Unfortunately, the Wall Street Journal found that technologies like email, texting and instant messaging remove these important context clues, and can lead to misunderstandings. Sarcasm and jokes without nonverbal context cues can cause frustration. Though smiley faces with different expressions called â€Å"emoticons† are sometimes used to substitute traditional nonverbal cues, they fall far short of what face-to-face communication can provide. He also states that as more students buy cell phones, iPods, and gaming systems, technology’s impact on effective communication is becoming more pronounced. As the District Chronicles reports, teachers attempting to convey messages about lessons and textbooks find students are texting, playing, or listening to music. Not only does this mitigate the teacher’s ability to communicate lessons, but it hurts future communicative interaction between the teacher and student because of the lack of respect it conveys. The youth has also been very much addicted to gadgets that they get to spend too much time with it and creates their own world. Technology can make people lazy. Many people are already dependent and embrace this technology. Like students playing computer games instead of going to school or study. Technology also brings us privacy issues. From cell phone signal interceptions to email hacking, people are now worried about their once private information becoming public knowledge and making profit out of video scandals. Advanced technology has also created thousands of cases of cyber crimes, cheating and fraud. And most of all because of the new technology, the world may be facing terrorists threat and all of us are afraid of nuclear war. If people of the world use these inventions and innovations in a right way, we are all going to be benefited out of these but if the motive of a human being is not positive, surely they will face the technology’s disadvantages.

Business Analysis of John Lewis Partnership Outline

Business Analysis of John Lewis Partnership - Outline Example This paper will examine the methods that have been used by the partnership as well as how these have led to initiatives that have moved ahead of competitors in the UK. The several areas of analysis performed in relation to the John Lewis Partnership will provide insight into strategies which businesses can apply to begin to move forward in the retail sector. SWOT Analysis The relevance of the SWOT analysis is to work into new strategies that will help to monitor and change the aspects within the corporation. The main ideal is to work toward a sense of knowledge management which can be applied within the organization while moving forward with different strategies and approaches that are associated with the corporation (Zhiping, Yonghong, 2002). When looking at the strategies of the John Lewis Partnership, it can be seen that the strengths of the corporation should be a continuous feature. This is based on the diversity of products that are offered with the retail store, ranging from w ine shops to business solutions and insurance (Felicitta, 2009). This diversity is followed by finding partners and small business owners that can tap into the retail store as a part owner. This allows the internal environment to have a spirit of entrepreneurship, while creating more opportunities for growth and support within the community. As this is done, it helps to stimulate loyal customers and responses among those that are in the community (Shi, 2007). The weaknesses that are from this main attribute come from the dimensions of positioning. This is a main problem with those who are in the retail industry, specifically because it changes the outcome of which customers will decide to shop in a specific area and will also alter the relationships and partnership that are provided within the company (Messinger, 2007). The positioning of the John Lewis Partnership is one that is limited by the partnerships which are incorporated as well as the sectors which have already been develo ped. This allows other competitors to begin to move into the sector and change the outlooks with other retail management options. Since most of the stores are built on partnerships, this may mean that the partners don’t have the necessary opportunities to continue and to make the desired profit (Tustin, 2006). The opportunities and threats that are associated with this can lead to further strategies to change the level of popularity against competition. The main opportunity comes from the multiple stores offered. Most competitors create a vertical relationship, meaning the association is based only on the one set of stores opened (Liu, Davies, 2007). This particular opportunity led to a 79.3% increase in 2008 and another 3.6% increase in 2009, with 11,365.4 million as the revenue (Aark, 2010). However, the partnerships established allow the John Lewis change into a multiple layer orientation of expansion, allowing them to move beyond competitors because of the diversity offer ed. While this works effectively, the mass amount of partnerships also limits other attributes. There are not as many price cuts and quality differences in most of the retail stores because of the partnerships established. Competitors with independent stores and national chains often move ahead of John Lewis Partnership because of the differences in price and the diversity of products which can be offered (Hall, 2007). TOWS Analysis The