Blood wedding (after seeing the play) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Blood wedding (after seeing the play) - Essay Example desires, the moon’s movements, in contrast is rather limited and passive, and it makes the bride seem to represent the woman who finally refuses to be oppressed by a traditional marriage, while the moon seems to represent a woman who is stuck in the usual suppressed life dictated by the traditional norms of a typical wife.This essay will attempt to elaborate upon this contrast in these two characters and how these were exemplified through the spatial dynamics. First, from the contrast in the extent of movement around the stage, the bride seems to represent a free woman who pursues what she wants, while the moon is still a suppressed woman. The bride’s movement around the stage seems to be free, fast and strong. Specifically, her distance from the bridegroom and Leonardo are contrasted intentionally. In the beginning of the play, the bride tries to accept her fate marrying the bridegroom and tries to be away from Leonardo. However, as the play proceeds, the bride desires to follow her heart start dominating and she chooses Leonardo. The state of the bride’s mind was strongly reflected in the differet distances she maintains from the two men in her life. Whenever she tries to keep away from either of the men, she quickly runs away as the man approaches and even aggressively shakes off their physical contact and keeps distance at times. For instance, in the beginning of the wedding the bride tries to control her true desire and thus maintains a significant distance from Leonardo but although her true feelins are revealed in the glances she throws at him as well as often spaced out thinking of him throughout wedding. Eventually, by the end of her wedding reception, she chooses to follow her heart and runs away with Leonardo. In contrast to the Brides dynamism, the moon, which appears in the woods scene has very static and limited body movement and further, uses only so much of the stage-space. The fact that the role of the Moon is played by the same actor who

Disney and Pixar: Partnership Agreement

Disney and Pixar: Partnership Agreement Introduction In January 2006, the US based media and entertainment company Walt Disney announced that it would acquire its animation partner Pixar for US$ 7.4 billion in stock. The deal was expected to be finalized by mid-2006. Disney had already been in partnership for producing and distributing animation films with Pixar since 1991. However, in January 2004, owing to differences with Disneys then CEO Michael Eisner, Pixar had announced that it would partner with another distribution company in 2006. But Robert Iger, who took over from Eisner on September 30, 2005, revived talks with Pixar and finally succeeded in acquiring it. Our project will examine the partnership agreement between Disney and Pixar and the incidents that led to the break-up of ties. We will discuss how the new CEO Robert Iger, who succeeded Michael Eisner, went on to re-establish ties with Pixar and Steve Jobs, who held 50.6% equity stake in Pixar. The questions we seek to answer through this case are: 1. Is there a synergy between Disney and Pixar? 2. Did Disney pay too much to acquire Pixar? 3. Is the Pixar acquisition in the best interest of Disneys shareholders? 4. Will the difference in corporate culture allow Disney and Pixar to work effectively together? 5. Will this acquisition be successful? History The Disney Story Walt Disney Animation Studios is the subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company. It was founded in 1934 when Walt Disney initiated the production of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, which was Walt Disneys first feature length animation film. The move however started in 1937, when selected animators from the ‘shorts division were moved into the features division. Snow White was an unprecedented success when it was released in February 1938. It moved critics and audiences alike and is considered one of the true animation classics of all times. After, the viability of feature length animation was firmly established with the success of Snow White, WDAS would go on to make a series of critically acclaimed and successful animated features like Dumbo, Cinderella. They would also expand into new segments like live action features, television and theme parks. Since its founders death in 1966, The Walt Disney Company had narrowly survived takeover attempts by corporate raiders. Its shareholders Sid Bass and Roy E. Disney brought on Michael Eisner and former Warner Brothers chief Frank Wells to replace Ron W. Miller in 1984 and turn the company around. During the second half of the 1980s and early 1990s, Disney revitalized. Beginning with The Little Mermaid (1989), its flagship animation studio enjoyed a series of commercial and critical successes that helped reinvigorate the American animation industry. Disney also broadened its adult offerings in film when then Disney Studio Chairman Jeffrey Katzenberg acquired Miramax Films in 1993. Disney acquired many other media sources, including ABC and ESPN. However, by this time, the competitive scenario changed again. Many new studios had risen up and were producing high quality animated features. Also there was significant tiredness and indifference from the audience who had had enough of Disneys storytelling and animation styles. The rise of new studios also increased demand for artists and stencillers, driving salaries up, causing the budgets of hand drawn animation features to inflate. The rise of Computer Generated Imagery (CGI) was also eating into Disneys market share. Starting from 2000 onwards, massive layoffs had reduced staff to 600. Also the Studio decided to focus on CGI animation for future releases instead of the traditional animation methods to compete with Pixar, Dreamworks and Blue Sky Studios. This led to the shutdown of the Paris Studio in 2003 and the conversion of the Orlando Studio into a theme park attraction in 2004. Michael Eisner Story In 1976, the Chairman of Paramount Pictures, recruited Michael Eisner from ABC and made him president and CEO of the movie studio. During his tenure at Paramount, the studio turned out such hit films as Saturday Night Fever, Grease, the Star Trek film franchise, and Beverly Hills Cop, and hit TV shows such as Happy Days, Laverne Shirley, Cheers and Family Ties. Diller, the Chairman of Paramount, left in 1984, and Eisner expected to assume Dillers position as studio chief. But he was passed over. Eisner then lobbied for the position of CEO of The Walt Disney Company. Michael Eisner took over as CEO of the Walt Disney Company in 1984 and turned it into a media giant whose interests included movies, sports franchises, theme parks and television networks. During the early part of the 1990s, Eisner and his partners set out to plan The Disney Decade which was to feature new parks around the world, existing park expansions, new films, and new media investments. While some of the proposals did follow through, most did not. These included the Euro Disney Resort (now Disneyland Paris), Disney-MGM Studios (now Disneys Hollywood Studios), Disneys California Adventure Park, Disney-MGM Studios Paris (eventually opened in 2002 as Walt Disney Studios Park), and various film projects Frank Wells, COO of Walt Disney. died in a helicopter crash in 1994. When Jeffery Katzenberg was passed over for Wells post, he resigned and formed Dreamworks SKG with partners Steven Spielberg and David Geffen. Dreamworks would go on to become one of the biggest and most successful movie studios of all time and a big competitor to Disneys animation features. Instead, Eisner appointed Michael Ovitz, one of the founders of the Creative Artists Agency, to be President, with minimal involvement from Disneys board of directors, which included many influential and respected members. Ovitz lasted only 14 months and left Disney in December 1996 via a no fault termination with a severance package of $38 million in cash and 3 million stock options worth roughly $100 million at the time of Ovitzs departure. The Ovitz episode left a bad taste in the mouth and people were very disappointed with Eisners high handedness and autocratic style of working. By 2003, Disneys fortunes had flagged and Roy E. Disney, the son of Disney co-founder Roy O. Disney and nephew of Walt Disney, resigned from his positions as Disney vice chairman and chairman of Walt Disney Feature Animation, accusing Eisner of micromanagement, flops with the ABC television network, timidity in the theme park business, turning the Walt Disney Company into a rapacious, soul-less company, and refusing to establish a clear succession plan, as well as a string of box-office movie flops starting in the year 2000. On March 3, 2004, at Disneys annual shareholders meeting, a surprising and unprecedented 43% of Disneys shareholders, predominantly rallied by former board members Roy Disney and Stanley Gold, withheld their proxies to re-elect Eisner to the board. This effectively ended Eisners stint at Disney. On March 13, 2005, Eisner announced that he would step down as CEO one year before his contract expired. Eisners replacement was his longtime assistant, Robert Iger. The Pixar Story Pixar started in 1979 as the Graphics Group, a part of the Computer Division of Lucasfilm.It is based in Emeryville, California. It was launched with the hiring of Dr. Ed Catmull from the New York Institute of Technology (NYIT), where he was in charge of the Computer Graphics Lab (CGL).. The team at Pixar under Dr. Catmull worked on creating Motion Doctor, which allowed traditional cel animators to use computer animation with minimal training. Initially, Pixar started off as a computer hardware company whose core product was the Pixar Image Computer, a system primarily sold to government agencies and the medical community. One of Pixar Image Computers biggest customers was Disney Studios. However, The Image Computer never sold well. In a bid to drive sales of the system, Pixar employee John Lasseter—who had long been creating short demonstration animations, such as Luxo Jr., to show off the devices capabilities—premiered his creations at SIGGRAPH, the computer graphics industrys largest convention, to great fanfare. This would begin Pixars journey into the world of animated feature films. Poor sales of Pixars computers threatened to bankrupt the company, And Lasseters animation department began producing computer-animated commercials for outside companies to bring in much needed revenue. Early successes included campaigns for Tropicana, Listerine, and LifeSavers. The team began working on film sequences produced by their parent, Lucasfilm or worked collectively with Industrial Light and Magic, ILM is another Lucasfilm company, on special effects. In 1986, Steve Jobs purchased Pixar from Lucas Films shortly after he left Apple Computer. Jobs paid $10 million as capital into the company. The newly independent company had 45 employees and was headed by Dr. Edwin Catmull, President, and Dr. Alvy Ray Smith, Executive Vice President and Director. Jobs served as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Pixar. Pixar has made 10 feature films beginning with Toy Story in 1995 and each one has achieved critical and commercial success. Pixar followed Toy Story with A Bugs Life in 1998, Toy Story 2 in 1999, Monsters, Inc. in 2001, Finding Nemo in 2003 (which is, to date, the most commercially successful Pixar film, grossing over $800 million worldwide), The Incredibles in 2004, Cars in 2006, Ratatouille in 2007, WALL-E in 2008, and Up in 2009 (the first Pixar film presented in Disney Digital 3-D). John Lasseter Story Lasseter was born in Hollywood, California. When he was in college., he heard of a new program at California Institute of the Arts and decided to leave his current college to follow his dream of becoming an animator.. Lasseter was taught by three members of Disneys Nine Old Men Eric Larson, Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston. On graduation in 1978 , Lasseter joined The Walt Disney Company, as a Jungle Cruise skipper at Disneyland in Anaheim. He later obtained a job as an animator at Walt Disney Feature Animation, Since the release of 101 Dalmatians in 1961, Lasseter felt WDFA had hit its creative peak and there was no innovation coming through in either the animation or the storytelling. In 1980 or 1981 he came across some video tapes from one of the then new computer-graphics conferences, and he experienced as a revelation.He saw the huge potential of this new technology in revitalizing the creative juices at WDFA. Lasseter realized that computers could be used to make movies with three dimensional backgrounds where traditionally animated characters could interact to add a new, visually stunning depth that had not been conceived before. During this time, Lasseter tried to sell his ideas to Disneys top bosses and he got the approval to do a short test film on the famous story Where the Wild things are. However,he unknowingly stepped on some of their direct superiors toes by circumventing them in their enthusiasm to get the project into motion. One of them, the animation administrator Ed Hansen disliked it so much that when Lasseter and Wilhite tried to sell the idea to him and Ron Miller, which they at that time were already aware of, they turned it down. A few minutes after the meeting, Lasseter was summoned by Hansen to his office, where John was told that his employment in the Walt Disney Studios had been terminated. While putting together a crew for the planned feature for Disney, he had made some contacts in the computer industry, among them Alvy Ray Smith and Ed Catmull at Lucasfilm Computer Graphics Group. After being fired, Lasseter visited a computer graphics conference at the Queen Mary in Long Beach, where he met and talked to Catmull again. Before the day was over, Lasseter had made a deal to work as an interface designer with Catmull and his colleagues on a project that resulted in their first computer animated short: The Adventures of Andrà © and Wally B. Lasseter oversaw all of Pixars films and associated projects as executive producer. He also personally directed Toy Story, A Bugs Life, Toy Story 2, and Cars. Lasseter has won two Academy Awards, for Animated Short Film (Tin Toy), as well as a Special Achievement Award (Toy Story). He was also nominated on four other occasions in the category of Animated Feature, for both Cars (2006) and Monsters, Inc. (2001), in the Original Screenplay category for Toy Story (1995) and in the Animated Short category for Luxo, Jr. (1986), while the short Knick Knack (1989) was selected by Director Terry Gilliam as one of the ten best animated films of all time. Corporate Culture at Pixar At most studios, a specialized development department generated new movie ideas. Pixar assembles cross-company teams for this purpose. Teams comprise directors, writers, artists and storyboard people who originate and refine ideas until they have the potential to become great films. Pixar believes in finding people who will work effectively together and ensures a healthy social dynamics in the team and this, they believe helps the team solve problems. Another important tenet in Pixar is the creation of a peer culture, where employees encourage people throughout the company to help each other produce their best work. At Pixar, daily animation work is shown in an incomplete state to the whole crew. This process helps people get over any embarrassment about sharing unfinished work, so they become even more creative. It enables creative leads to communicate important points to the entire crew at once. And sometimes a innovative piece of animation sparks others to raise their game. At Pixar, the belief is that, the most efficient way to resolve the numerous problems that arise in any complex project is to trust people to address difficulties directly, without having to get permission. So, everyone is given permission to communicate to anyone. Within Pixar, members of any department can approach anyone in another department to solve problems without having to go through proper channels. Managers understand they dont always have to be the first to know about something going on in their realm, and that its okay to walk into a meeting and be surprised. Special attention is given to craft a learning environment, this reinforces the mindset that everyone is learning and that its fun to learn together. â€Å"Pixar University† trains people in multiple skills as they advance in their careers. It also offers optional courses (screenplay writing, drawing, sculpting) so people from different disciplines can interact and appreciate what each other does. While many people dislike Post-Mortems of projects as they would rather discuss what went right than what went wrong and after investing extensive time on a project, theyd like to move on. So post-mortems at Pixar are structured to stimulate discussion. Pixar asks post mortem participants to list the top five things theyd do again and the top five things they wouldnt do. The positive-negative balance makes it a safer environment to explore every aspect of the project. Participants also bring in lots of performance data including metrics such as how often something had to be reworked. Data further stimulates discussions and challenges assumptions based on subjective impressions. Corporate Culture at Disney Under autocratic former CEO Michael Eisner, control rather than collaboration was the norm and unit heads became afraid or unable to make decisions. With Disney vying for a share of digital market, the timing of the upheaval could hardly have been worse. Fortunately, new chief executive Bob Iger is a completely different animal to Eisner and immediately set out to restore harmony. Achieving this involved transforming the culture rules almost beyond recognition. Unlike his predecessor, Iger: * Rules by consensus * Shows faith in his subordinates * And is willing to keep a low profile and let others take the plaudits. No longer shackled by central control, key players in the organization now enjoy greater freedom to call the shots. And while Eisner overtly pooh-poohed any ideas he did not like, Iger values and encourages the contributions of others. Consequently, during weekly meetings the dialogue no longer flows just one way. The CEO visits rank and file to show them that their efforts are appreciated and has made his office a more welcoming place. This might seems as trivial gestures to some but the effect on morale can be priceless. But perhaps Igers most significant attribute is the trust he places in his people to get the job done. In contrast, Eisner cramped the style of others by insisting on being involved in anything and everything. In time, Disney gained a reputation of being slow to react. But Iger tells his people to go for it and will only get involved when it is absolutely necessary. Igers back seat style of leadership has allowed scriptwriters more freedom and the studio chief greater decision making power. Disney and Pixar: The Partnership During the 90s there was an explosive growth in the use of CGI in animation and live action feature films. Soon CGI animation came to dominate special effects in both kinds of features. The barrier between animation and special effects were shattered and the enhancement of Hollywood films using CGI became second nature and often went unnoticed. In 1991, due to losses suffered from their computer hardware business, there was serious financial strife at Pixar. This resulted in substantial layoffs in their computer department. Pixar made a $26 million deal with Disney to produce three computer-animated feature films, the first of which was Toy Story. Despite this, the company was losing money and Steve Jobs was thinking about divesting his shares in Pixar. Only after confirming that Disney would distribute Toy Story for the 1995 holiday season did he decide to give it another chance. The film went on to gross more than $350 million worldwide. Disagreements started to crop up between Disney and Pixar from their next project together, Toy Story 2. Originally intended as a straight-to-video release (and thus not part of Pixars three-picture deal), the film was eventually upgraded to a theatrical release during production. Disney refused to consider this feature film as part of the three picture deal as demanded by Pixar. Pixars first five feature films have collectively grossed more than $2.5 billion, equivalent to the highest per-film average gross in the industry. Though profitable for both, Pixar later complained that the arrangement was not equitable. While Pixar was created and produced, and Disney only handled marketing and distribution, Profits and production costs were being split 50-50, and not only that, Disney exclusively owned all story and sequel rights and also collected a distribution fee. The lack of story and sequel rights was perhaps the most onerous aspect to Pixar and set the stage for a contentious relat ionship. The two companies attempted to reach a new agreement in early 2004. The new deal would be only for distribution, as Pixar intended to control production and own the resulting film properties themselves. The company also wanted to finance their films on their own and collect 100 percent of the profits, paying Disney only the 10 to 15 percent distribution fee. More importantly, as part of any distribution agreement with Disney, Pixar demanded control over films already in production under their old agreement, including The Incredibles and Cars. Disney considered these conditions unacceptable, but Pixar would not concede. Disagreements between Steve Jobs and then Disney Chairman and CEO Michael Eisner made the negotiations more difficult than they otherwise might have been. They broke down completely in mid-2004, with Jobs declaring that Pixar was actively seeking partners other than Disney. Pixar did not enter negotiations with other distributors. After a lengthy hiatus, negotiations between the two companies resumed following the departure of Eisner from Disney in September 2005. In preparation for potential fallout between Pixar and Disney, Jobs announced in late 2004 that Pixar would no longer release movies at the Disney-dictated November time frame, but during the more lucrative early summer months. This would also allow Pixar to release DVDs for their major releases during the Christmas shopping season. An added benefit of delaying Cars was to extend the time frame remaining on the Pixar-Disney contract to see how things would play out between the two companies. Acquisition by Disney Disney announced on January 24, 2006 that it had agreed to buy Pixar for approximately $7.4 billion in an all-stock deal. Following Pixar shareholder approval, the acquisition was completed May 5, 2006. The transaction catapulted Steve Jobs, who was the majority shareholder of Pixar with 50.1%, to Disneys largest individual shareholder with 7% and a new seat on its board of directors. Jobs new Disney holdings exceed holdings belonging to ex-CEO Michael Eisner, the previous top shareholder, who still held 1.7%; and Disney Director Emeritus Roy E. Disney, who held almost 1% of the corporations shares. As part of the deal, Pixar co-founder John Lasseter, by then Executive Vice President, became Chief Creative Officer (reporting to President and CEO Robert Iger and consulting with Disney Director Roy Disney) of both Pixar and the Walt Disney Animation Studios, as well as the Principal Creative Adviser at Walt Disney Imagineering, which designs and builds the companys theme parks. Catmull retained his position as President of Pixar, while also becoming President of Walt Disney Animation Studios, reporting to Bob Iger and Dick Cook, chairman of Walt Disney Studio Entertainment. Steve Jobs position as Pixars Chairman and Chief Executive Officer was also removed, and instead he took a place on the Disney board of directors. Lasseter and Catmulls oversight of both the Disney and Pixar studios did not mean that the two studios were merging, however. In fact, additional conditions were laid out as part of the deal to ensure that Pixar remained a separate entity, a concern that analysts had had about the Disney deal.Some of those conditions were that Pixar HR policies would remain intact, including the lack of employment contracts. Also, the Pixar name was guaranteed to continue, and the studio would remain in its current Emeryville, California location with the Pixar sign. Finally, branding of films made post-merger would be Disney†¢Pixar (beginning with Cars). EXHIBITS Name of Feature Film Studio Total Gross 1 The Lion King(1994) Disney $783,841,776 2 Finding Nemo(2004) Disney/Pixar $864,625,978 3 Shrek(2001) Dreamworks $484,409,218 4 Monsters Inc(2001) Disney/Pixar $525,366,597 5 Toy Story 2(1999) Disney/Pixar $485,752,179 6 Aladdin(1992) Disney $504,050,219 7 Snow White(1937) Disney $184,925,486 8 Ice Age(2002) 20th Century Fox $383,257,136 9 Incredibles(2004) Pixar $631,442,092 10 The Little Mermaid(1989) Disney $183,355,863 Exhibit 1 : Top Grossing Animated Feature Films DIS 1-yr chart Exhibit 2 Disney Stock Price from Aug 06 to Jun 07 We start off our analysis using Porters Five Forces of Competition to understand Disneys situation in the industry and the rationale behind its actions. * Threat of New Entrants * Bargaining Power of Suppliers * Bargaining Power of Buyers * Threat of Substitutes * Rivalry among competing firms Threat of new entrants: CGI animation movie industry is a robust industry which is urdergoing a period of phenomenal growth. This is an attractive segment for movie studios to venture into as revenues from live action movies are falling while their budget rises ever higher. CGI animation movies are an interesting option for many movie studio to increase their toplines without hurting their bottomlines. In this regard, we have seen many established movie studios partner with independent animation studios from within and outside the United States in creating CGI animation movies. While, these movies have not been able to garner the critical or commercial acclaim of that of Pixar, the quality and quantity of such ‘outsourced CGI animation movies are increasing YoY and represent a significant threat to the market pull of existing players in the segment. So we would rate the threat of new entrants as high. Bargaining Power of Suppliers: Resources needed for making CGI animation are the technology behind the animation, the story and the animators. Pixar has been a pioneer in creating the technology for animation and with its acquisition, Disney has backward integrated with its supplier, hence reducing the uncertainty in its environment. Both Disney and Pixar have a large team of dedicated scriptwriters and animators, all of whom work under short or long term employment contracts, the loss of a few of the talent will not reduce the quality of the output of either Studios. However, scriptwriters in US are unionized and have in the past gone on strike against major studios to renegotiate revenue sharing agreements from movie revenue. The strike cost studios hundreds of millions of dollars in lost opportunities, movie shooting delays and cost overruns. So the employees cannot be taken for granted and Disney will have to strike a fine balancing act to please both it employees and shareholder s if it wants to get the best work of the employees. We would rate the bargaining power of suppliers as medium. Bargaining Power of Buyers: While in the past, almost the entire revenue receipts from movies came from the theatergoing public within the US, due to the effects of globalization and technology diffusion, the receipts can now be classified on basis of geography and the mode of delivery of content. Worldwide movie market outside United States have become big movie spinners for Hollywood movies, sometimes receipts from offshore markets exceed that of the US market. The important markets outside of US for Hollywood movies are: * Japan * United Kingdom * China * Europe Studios sells distribution rights of their movie to other studios, who are often better placed to reach out to these markets. Since Disney and Pixar have a large brand following and pull, they are better placed that most other studios to negotiate for more favourable distribution contracts. Since all movies made by Pixar till now have been movie spinners for everyone associated with it, Disney has considerable clout in negotiating for contracts. The mode of delivery of movie content can be classified into: * Theatrical Release * DVD Release * Internet Release * Satellite TV Release Other than a theatrical release, the release of DVDs and the Satellite TV rights of the movie are a significant revenue stream. The reasons stated earlier regarding Disney and Pixars unique brand placement help them negotiate the best contracts in both types of releases. Internet release is a new phenomenon and is not a significant enough part of the revenue to affect the dynamics. Overall, we would rate the bargaining power of buyers to be low. Threat of Substitute Products: A big threat facing movie studios in general is movie piracy. Piracy is causing a meltdown in both movie and the music industry causing many studios to fail and others to change their business model. Piracy initially started off with CDs and DVDs, but with the advent and diffusion of broadband internet, online piracy is on the rise. Piracy since the 80s has been the biggest threat to the survival of movie studios as they lose billions of dollars worth of revenue receipts because of it. Since CGI movies appeal to all demographics, live action as well as traditional animated movies can be thought of as substitute products. However, historical data suggests that there is considerable cross selling between these genres and it is unlikely that somebodys interest in a different genre is going to prevent him from watching CGI movies. Overall, We would rate the threat of substitute products as medium. Intensity of Competition among existing players: The existing players in the segment are very aggressive and spend a lot on advertising and media to promote their movies. Further consolidation within the industry looks unlikely in the short term future as most studios in the segment have backers with deep pockets. Looking into the future as the frequency of CGI movie releases by major studios increases, the intensity of competition and one upmanship between studios will rise inflating budgets and reducing margins. So, we would rate the intensity of competition between existing players as high. We will summarize the competitive scenario in this grid. Threat of New Entrants High Bargaining Power of Suppliers Medium Bargaining Power of Buyers Low Threat of Substitutes Medium Rivalry among competing firms High As you can see, Disney is functioning within a dynamic environment with a fairly high degree of uncertainty. We have tried to analyze the reasons behind Disneys acquisition by breaking down the reasons of why companies go for MA. Given below is a pictorial representation of the same, Reason 1: To Increase Market Power When a firms size, resources and capabilities increase, it increases its ability to compete. With the acquisition of Pixar, Disney gains access to Pixars pool of talented artists and creative and technical teams. These artists and content developers are big assets in this industry as good talent is hard to find and harder to replace. With the increase in resources, Disney Pixar combine can create more movies per year potentially resulting in a significant value addition to Disney. Reason 2: Horizontal Acquisition Companies go in for acquisitions of firms competing in the same marketspace for obtaining: * Cost Based Synergies * Revenue Based Synergies This is an obvious case of the latter. Pixars last six movies have reportedly earned more than $ 2.5/3.2 billion in total whereas Disneys last movie Chicken Little was only a moderate success. Disney plans to exploit Pixars creative and technical teams in combination with its well established and huge distribution system to increase its revenue. Disney in recent years have been unable to connect with its audience and hence create movies that ha

A LAiterary Review Of The Dead Poets Society :: essays research papers

Literary Review of Dead Poet’s Society   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  One of the 20th centuries most compelling and best films goes by the title Dead Poets Society. This movie is set at the Helton Academy for Boys in 1959. The movie focuses in on a small group of boys. They have been sent to this preparatory school, most against their will, and have been forced to conform. However, they come across an English professor, Mr. Keating, whose lesson plan contradicts the entire schools mentality. He taught that to conform was to die. Carpe Diem – seize the day. He taught the boys to march to the beat of their own drummer, to suck the marrow out of life, but above all never conform. They didn’t. The students reformed the Dead Poet’s Society. For this they were punished. None of the boys suffered from their nonconformity more than their leader Neil. He joined a play without his father’s consent. His father told him that he would be going to a military school and would never be in the theatre again. Thus, Neil fe lt he would rather die. Hence, he committed suicide. As Mr. Keating left the boys all stood and addressed him one last time as â€Å"O’ captain. My captain.† This movie is perhaps one of the greatest movies of all time.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  I view this as one of the few truly great movies of all time. I say this because it carries all of the basic cinematic elements that compose a great film. These elements begin with the characters. You can hardly expect to enjoy a movie if the characters are not believable. In this particular movie the characters were not only believable but you could identify yourself a little in one or all of the characters. One thing that can have an unfortunate detraction from even a good movie is anachronisms. The only one I found was a halogen bulb in a light fixture. However, I doubt anyone would notice were they not looking for one. This movie can be enjoyed by even the most mentally devoid of audiences. The reason for this is that most people do not like being bossed around or forced to do anything. It did make me think about how little freedom we actually have in life and how we all need to live just a little bit more.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  After considering the aforementioned traits of Dead Poet’s Society, one can only wonder why someone would argue that this was not one of the greatest movies of all time.

Unique Challenges of International Staffing

HR managers are responsible for staffing operations globally. There are three main ways of staffing internationally. First, the company can send people from its home country. These employees are often referred to as expatriates, or home-country nationals. Second, it can hire host-country nationals, natives of the host country, to do the managing. Third, it can hire third-country nationals, natives of a country other than the home country or the host country. Expatriates cost companies, on average, $1 million over a three year period. This can be three to five times what a domestic assignment cost.This is very costly for the company and a disadvantage for a company. There has been a trend with companies in the recent years to send expatriates for only two – twelve months. There are three main advantages to this: 1. Hiring local citizens is generally less costly than relocating expatriates. 2. Since local governments usually want good jobs for their citizens, foreign employers m ay be required to hire locally. 3. Most customers want to do business with companies (and people) they perceive to be local versus foreign. HR departments must also be aware of cultural, political, and legal environments when recruiting internationally.Also, HR manager’s need to make sure that work permits and visas are applied for early in the relocation process. There are so many aspects of hiring abroad that it is nearly impossible to be perfect at making all the arrangements, especially the language barrier to overcome. Also, finding ones with core skills for the assignments is very hard. Training ones to have these skills can take a longer time than it should at times. Hiring local citizens with certain qualifications could be very difficult especially if it is in a poor country that is not used to working with certain qualifications.

The Natives of New World

Before the New World was discovered by Christopher Columbus, it was a land inhabited by tribes who have sun-kissed red skin. Even before America was recognized as the home of free white men, it was the American Indians who cultivated and tilled its land. The Native Americans – as most people refer them – have been essential in tracing the origins of the United States of America. Europe had been conquering colonies to increase empiric power and accumulate rich resources. The only discovered areas at that time were called the â€Å"Old World† which included Europe, Africa, and Asia (Robertson, Stewart 51).A notable Italian sea-farer had been working on a new route to travel to Asia in a shorter time. Christopher Columbus thought of sailing west to be able to reach the east, an idea no one ever dared to consider. After many difficulties that he encountered in pursuing the voyage, Columbus landed on a fertile soil greeted by inhabitants which he recognized neither as Asians nor Africans. The natives were illustrated to have a complexion resembling the color of copper. Their physical attributes were further described as such:Their black hair, long and uncurled, floated upon their shoulders, or was bound in tresses around their heads. They had no beards, and every part of their bodies was perfectly smooth†¦Their features singular, rather than disagreeable†¦though not tall, they were well-shaped and active. Their faces, and several parts of their body, were fantastically painted with glaring colors. (71) They were gathered in tribes and were not clothed at that time. The natives were practically astonished by the arrival of the white-skinned settlers.The American Indians were believed to have migrated to the western hemisphere using the Bering land bridge. The land bridge connected a path from Siberia all the way to Alaska. Apparently, this bridge was used by the natives to follow the trend of the journey of animals during the ice age (U tter 7). By the time they reached the land, tribes settled and established their homes. Native American tribes were grouped according to blood-relations living in the same territory and spoke a common dialect (57). Each tribe has its own system of governing members for the purpose of survival and warfare.Tribes have existed even before the Europeans set foot on their land. By the time Christopher Columbus reached the Americas, Native American tribes greeted him and his people, with anxiety and curiosity. After the discovery of the New World, colonizers started flocking to the new land. Migrants from Europe traveled to America to start a new life and to conquer the rich untouched soil. Due to this massive influx of migrants, it started inflicting effects that endangered the natives. Epidemic diseases brought by the foreigners caused deaths among the American Indians.These diseases such as chickenpox and pneumonia did not prepare the natives to be immune from it (Thornton 28). This gr eatly reduced the number of Native American population during the time of colonization because of massive number of deaths. The era of conquest took the natives’ land and grabbed what wealth they have. Aside from this, they never escaped the commerce of slavery, sexual exploits and discrimination. In later years, the natives were forced to study and learned how to live like the white people.They were taught not to speak of their native language and to learn English and institutions were built for acculturation of the Caucasian culture (Nagel 115). These kinds of exploits and abuse prompted the natives to fight off the colonizers. They maybe outnumbered by the whites and their weapons were not a match against the pistols but they made sure they have defended themselves. These uprisings were known as the ‘Indian Wars’. It became the label for the fight against the natives, to completely eradicate their culture and identity from the New World (Utter 169).Before the acculturation happened, the lifestyle of the American Indians was as unique as their physical characteristics. Their spiritual life was governed by what they call ‘The Great Spirit. ’ The American Indians saw this spirit as the bearer of their good fortune. They give thanks to this supreme deity when they win battles, good harvest, and good health. On the contrary, they also have a spirit which was a counterpart of the Great one where bad luck was mostly associated (McIntosh 104). The natives hunted animals to be able to live and hunting not just became a necessity but also part of recreation.Hunting became a sport among the natives. By the time the settlers came, horses were re-introduced to them. They domesticated this animal and became part of their everyday lives. From carrying belongings, to hunting games as well as waging wars, horses became a huge part of the Native American society (Fuss & Mellis 9). American Indians were described as lively people who enjoyed c elebrations such as feasts. They prepared feasts for almost every major activity in their tribes. Feasts were accompanied with lively music, dancing, and prayers.These are celebrated after a hunting trip, in marriage, after curing the sick, after birth, and in funerals (McIntosh 164). The natives always incorporated their spirituality in these celebrations and this made the mark of their identity and culture. They have long been discriminated in their land and colonizers have tried to erase their culture in the New World. However, as time went by, American Indians still fought for the right to have their very own place in the land they once called their own. They fought to have freedom when it comes to religion and practicing their culture.The natives also strived to gain tribal sovereignty (Josephy, Nagel, Johnson 7). This fight for freedom took centuries for it to become part of a recognized set of laws. In 1975, the Self-Determination Act became one of the first laws that focused on giving the American Indians sovereignty within their own tribes (7). It can be said that this fight that the natives did, opened the doors for anti-discrimination movements. This inspired other minorities like the African Americans and other colored race to be treated equally as citizens.Theses minorities wanted to be citizens that have the same rights and privileges with the Whites. The struggle of the American Indians can be seen as a starting point for America to be known as the land of the free. Through the course of history, they have suffered and were persecuted in their own land. Their struggle for freedom became the bearer for other minorities to gain confidence in fighting for their right as well. If not for this struggle, America won’t recognize the essence of freedom with the absence of discrimination. America won’t be able to take pride in the land that they claimed to be free.