Monday, December 23, 2019
The Expansion of America to the West - 1314 Words
As the 19th century continued, America expanded away from the east coast, across the Mississippi westward. After many western states joined the Union, hundreds of thousands of pioneers migrated to the new territories, which shifted the majority of the countryââ¬â¢s population to the West. With so much uninhabited and unorganized land available, the desire for more land brought aspiring pioneers to the frontier. As enticing as the idea was, something else was persuading many people to migrate westward. Manifest Destiny became a widely used concept amongst future pioneers. This concept stated that God wants you to migrate westward over the entire country to expand and enhance its political, social, and economic influences. Many middle-class citizens held this belief and was the driving force in Americas expansion. In 1862, Congress passed the Homestead Act and the Pacific Railway Act that would help aid settlers in their plight across the Plains. These acts used public lands to achieve significant national ambitions of western migration and the construction of the transcontinental railroad. In 1862, the Homestead Act was passed into law. The act stated that any American citizen could file an application and for a small amount purchase 160 acres of government land. The only stipulation was that you must inhabit the land for the next five years. The Plains provided ample amount of land for farming and livestock, but settlers found the different climate would require newShow MoreRelatedManifest Destiny And Westward Expansion Essay1447 Words à |à 6 Pages1) OUTLINE: I. Topic sentence. Manifest destiny and westward expansion was a tremendous key component to the growth of the nation economically because of the impact it had on native americans, women empowerment, and expanding the population of the country. II. Significance of topic. Americans looked towards the western lands as an opportunity for large amounts of free land, for growth of industry, and pursue the manifest destiny. III. List of evidence related to topic. The railwaysRead MoreManifest Destiny Essay788 Words à |à 4 Pagesas a belief, in the 19th century, that North-America was destined to stretch from coast to coast and that the expansion of the U.S. throughout the American continents was both justified and inevitable. It is responsible for changing the face of America and creating a new nation (Lubragge, 1809-1900). North-Americaââ¬â¢s westward expansion was due the American belief ââ¬Å"that the strength of American values and institutions justified moral claimsâ⬠¦Ã¢â¬ , land west of the Mississippi River ââ¬Å"were destined forRead MoreThe Expansion of America and The Homestead Act of 18621180 Words à |à 5 Pagesthe 1840ââ¬â¢s America was becoming a world power to be reckoned with. In order for the country to keep up with the increasing amount of people and become more powerful, the US expanded westward. After the War of 1812 a lot of Americas attention went into exploration and settlement of all of the territo ry to the West, which had been expanded by the Louisiana Purchase. Families of pioneers traveled westward and found new communities through what is now called the Midwest. Westward expansion occurred forRead MoreEssay On Manifest Destiny1551 Words à |à 7 PagesManifest Destiny was a widely spread belief that settlers in the United States should expand across North America. It was the belief that fueled the westward expansion. The westward expansion led to many other events in and around the United States. Before Manifest Destiny and the westward expansion the French and Indian War and Revolutionary War took place which allowed America to declare independence. Manifest Destiny was a big influence on the evolution of transport and technology. Before weRead MoreManifest Destiny1555 Words à |à 7 PagesTransportation Manifest Destiny was a widely spread belief that settlers in the United States should expand across North America. It was the belief that fueled the westward expansion. The westward expansion led to many other events in and around the United States. Before Manifest Destiny and the westward expansion the French and Indian War and Revolutionary War took place which allowed America to declare independence. Manifest Destiny was a big influence on the evolution of transport and technology. BeforeRead MoreThe Westward Expansion Of The United States960 Words à |à 4 PagesThe Westward expansion began for the United States with the Louisiana Purchase in 1803. For $15 million dollars, President Thomas Jefferson purchased from France 828,000 square miles, including most of 14 current states, thus doubling the size of America. Jefferson now had the land, but how to populate it was another story. On a three year expedition, Lewis and Clark were sent by Jefferson to explore the lands to get a better understanding of the geography and resources of the West. During the 1830sRead MoreThe Lewis And Clark Expedition1424 Words à |à 6 Pages On May 14, 1804 in the eastern city of Saint Louis, William Clark and Merry-weather Lewis set of on the westward adventure that would change America as we know it today. Their journey began on the Mississippi River, those rapids would propel Lewis and Clark into the Corps of Discovery. Across the vast land that these men would soon travel l ived the many native-american tribes. The Native people hunted freely across their western lands, lived their life as one with the ground they so carefullyRead MoreManifest Destiny Essays694 Words à |à 3 Pagesdefense for U.S. territorial expansion. It is the presumption that God had destined the American people to at divine mission of American movement and conquest in the name of Christianity and democracy. In order to understand manifest destiny we must first find itsââ¬â¢ origin. John Oââ¬â¢Sullivan first initiated manifest destiny into America in 1845. This New York editor wrote the phrase that captured this mood when he attempted to explain Americanââ¬â¢s thirst for westward expansion he wrote: the fulfillmentRead MoreAP Us History DBQ977 Words à |à 4 Pagesperiod of time between the late 19th century and early 20th century, America was going through significant changes. After a revolution in Cuba against the Spanish, as well as the Americans starting the Spanish-American War, the Americans received several territorial concessions from their defeated opponent. Thus, America started on the path to imperialism, gaining several more territories in a short amount of time. Such an expansion in the late 19th century and early 20th century was mostly a continuationRead MoreThe War of 18121132 Words à |à 4 PagesWar of 1812 The War of 1812 was started by America due to British encroachment on three fronts, trade restrictions imposed by the British, the increasing alliances of the British with Indian tribes blocking American expansion West, and due to British interference with merchant class ships in the Atlantic. The war was fought in the Great Lakes region between America and Canada, near New Orleans in the Gulf of Mexico, in the Atlantic trade routes, and around Washington DC. The British had always
Sunday, December 15, 2019
How public and private sectors have impact on each other in tourism industry Free Essays
In the field of psychology, there is a new symptom investigated for tourism called ââ¬Å"euphoriaâ⬠indicating a kind of emotion, that is, the enthusiasm of the destination residents towards the tourists (Xie: 2001). As a matter of fact, nowadays tourism itself has become a kind of popular ââ¬Å"diseaseâ⬠which spreads throughout the whole world just like the Europe Black Death in the Middle Ages. No one can escape from it, neither the poor nor the rich (Ryan: 1991). We will write a custom essay sample on How public and private sectors have impact on each other in tourism industry? or any similar topic only for you Order Now A cured disease will do good to new disease in the future, nevertheless, the ignorance of it will destroy the entire world. Similarly, tourism, viewed as fastest growing industry, would bring lots of significant economic and social values to the development of every country. Thus, this ââ¬Å"modern diseaseâ⬠should be cautiously treated for sustainability and managed by every country so that maximum benefit can be derived and negative impacts can be minimized towards the ââ¬Å"euphoriaâ⬠local people, culture and environment from the tourism. It indicates that tourism related organizations including international, national, regional with both inter-governmental and non-governmental interests should pay attention to the development of sustainable tourism which trying to ââ¬Å"coordinate the complex interactions between the tourism industry, visitors, the environment and the host communities.â⬠(Testoni: 2001). Therefore, this essay is designed to firstly discuss the roles all these kinds of organizations played into the sustainable tourism development and their impacts on each other. Moreover, with the roles and impacts of both public- and private-sectors clearly clarified, how these roles and impacts would have power in enhancing the growth of tourism, that is, the well-ordered plan strongly needed for achieving tourism goals has become the key problem of sustainable tourism development. Agreed by Testoni (2001), planning began to be more important in facilitating the development of tourism while minimizing negative impacts and realizing sustainability. Thus, the second aim of this essay tries to set up the argument of the specific content of government intervention into tourism marketing, policy-making and planning. However, these inter-governmental level organizations are criticized as inefficient and bureaucratic in tourism development project. Accordingly, a set of count arguments wou ld be arisen to debate if these responsibilities were better handled by private sector. Roles and Impacts of tourism organizations Todayââ¬â¢s tourism has expanded to international level that residents begin to travel to and stay in places outside the host country with various kinds of purposes (as cited in WTO: 1991). Therefore, visitor, the key resource in tourism, is categorized as international visitor and domestic visitor. Those who ââ¬Å"travels to a country other than that in which he/she usual residence and that is outside his/her usual environment, for a period not exceeding one year, and whose main purpose of visit is other than the exercise of an activity remunerated from within the country visitedâ⬠are defined as international visitor by WTO (1991). Comparatively, domestic visitor is explained as ââ¬Å"any person residing within a country, irrespective of nationality, traveling to a place within this country other than his usual residence for a period of not less than 24 hours or one night for a purpose other than the exercise of a remunerated activity in the place visitedâ⬠by Mill (1990). On the basis of these kind of classifications, tourism related organizations also should be divided into diverse types according to different bases. They are viewed as international, national, regional, inter- and non-governmental organizations. International Organisations As the international and national dichotomy, international organizations concerned for more than one country as their members according to Collier (2003). World Tourism Organisation, sub-classified as an inter-governmental body on the basis of its membership, is the representative role of international organizations based in Madrid with 138 members states including New Zealand and 350 affiliate members such as Airlines and Tourism Associations known as the Business Council (Brackenbury: 2003). The aim of WTO is the promotion and development of tourism in relationship with other aspects such as economic development, environment and peace as Brackenbury (2003) noted. WTO intends to spread the awareness and knowledge of the best practices in sustainable development in tourism. Therefore, various roles are taken by WTO to influence its members as following: 1. Representor-WTO supports tourism event to present the significance of the activities should be taken by tourism organsations and participated as exhibitor. For example, in February 2002 WTO supported the International Adventure Travel and Outdoor Sports Exhibition held in Chicago. (www.world-tourism.org/sustainable/IYE-Main-Menu.htm). 2. Advocator-WTO advocates lots of concepts and task forces to contribute to the development of tourism. For example, for the year 2002, WTO designated this year as the International Year of Ecotourism, and its Commission on Sustainable Development requested international agencies, governments and the private sector to undertake supportive activities. WTO and the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) have joined forces in the preparation and co-ordination of some activities to be undertaken at the international level during the Year. The impact of it is that the members of WTO then would take this direction into their tourism activities and set their tourism goals based on this main objective (Yunis: 2003). 3. Policy Guider-WTO sets different policy for diverse purposes to regularly operate the activities in tourism industry. It then will influence the regulations set by the regional level organizations and activities would be followed by these policies. 4. Disseminator-WTO will send tourism related information to its membership. 5. Supporter-WTO services rendered to national tourism administrations, local authorities and the private sector in the development and promotion of tourism. These services and activities range from ââ¬Å"technical assistance in the form of short and long term projects, organization of seminars and conferences, education and training courses as well as strategy issues at national and regional levels.â⬠(www.world-tourism.org). New Zealand, not only as one of the WTO members but the country in the Asia and Pacific Rim which is one of the six areas divided by WTO, certainly will be influenced by the role acted by the both WTO and The Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) which is ââ¬Å"a mixture of both governmental and non-governmental bodies that work together to further tourism industry professionalism in the Asia and Pacific region.â⬠(Collier: 2003). That is because when a task or policy is declared by these international organizations, all tourism related activities and policies set by the governments in the range of national level would correspond with these tasks and policies. Obviously, National Tourism Organisations (NTO) and Regional Tourism Organisations (RTO) would process the tasks so as to cater to the goals and policies established by those international tourism organizations. Regional Tourism Organisations For the geographical scope of their interest in tourism, organizations could be subdivided into National, Regional and Local organizations. Regional Tourism Organisations on the national level are those with a general interest in tourism but only within a certain region of the country (Collier: 2003). As Collier (2003) explained that the role the RTO undertook was the mirror of the extent of government intervention in tourism, because RTOs always plays their roles in terms of government departments and government agencies. These roles are performed to be planning which involves ââ¬Å"planning for the development and promotion of the countryââ¬â¢s tourism industryâ⬠(Collier: 2003), organizing to ensure the development process is in progress, development which involves some investment, financial, information items, promotion for the tourism events and control of ensuring the plans are ââ¬Å"implemented s intended and achieve stated objectivesâ⬠(Collier: 2003). For instance, the role of New Zealand Regional Tourism Organisations are taken as 1. The New Zealand Tourism Board. It makes plans to set out its aims, activities, ways to achieve these aims, the resources and materials used and tools to measure the effectiveness and efficiency. 2. The Ministry of Tourism. It tries to give some suggestions and strategies to the local government of New Zealand so as to ensure the government would deal with tourism matters properly. 3. Other government departments and agencies such as Ministry for the Environment and New Zealand Customs Service. (Collier: 2003). As the clear relationship and impacts between government activities and the roles of RTO, it seems that how the role acted by RTO is intensively linked with how the local governments produce and implement the plans including marketing, planning process and policy-making for tourism development respecting to the policy and events claimed by International Tourism Orgnisations (WTO and PATA) and National Tourism Organisations so that the benefit of tourism would be achieved and the negative results would be minimized. Plans for Sustainable Tourism In order to keep the pace with the direction of international tourism organization, all sectors must pay attention to the plan for sustainable tourism because what World Tourism Organisation said was that during and after implementation, tourism development must be planned and monitored to ensure that it was accomplishing the objectives and achieving the recommended policies according to Pearce (2000). Additionally, ââ¬Å"Planning can articulate future visions and assess individual projects with approval given to those proposals consistent with policies and plansâ⬠Testoni (2001) said. Without plans or planning systems, the development of tourism is promiscuous and without sufficient consideration given to its interaction with other sectors and its possible impacts (Testoni: 2001). The impacts of unplanned tourism development will potentially result in three main consequences according to Mill (1990): 1. Physical Impacts. It will damage the physical environment and cultural landmarks and resources. Besides, it will cause overcrowding, traffic problems, congestion and pollution. 2. Human Impacts. The accessibility of tourism industry will be poor, for example, the parking places are limited. It will lead to the lack of education of tourism employees in skills. That is, no professional teacher and courses are planned to help these employees to gain knowledge of tourism. 3. Organisational Impacts. The strategy of the marketing goals is unclear so that the target market and market segment are processed ineffectively. Failure to act upon important issues, problems, and opportunities of common interest to the community. Therefore, the plan for tourism tasks should be implemented carefully and well organised by both public and private sectors. Firstly, letââ¬â¢s take a look at the details and depth of the content of government functions and activities into tourism plan. Government Intervention in tourism developmental plans Collier (2003) elucidated that local government was the major player within the tourism industry and took the responsibilities to provide different kinds of services and facilities required by tourists. Moreover, Testoni (2001) set his viewpoint similarly that the main way of the government influences on tourism plan is ââ¬Å"determining development applications consistent with zoned uses, which could also include environmental impact assessment and performance-based assessment, which considers the suitability of particular proposed developments in the area.â⬠In detail, these activities of plans including: 1. Formulating policy. What Testoni (2001) said was that local government implement measures and decisions as well as providing national policy guidance. The specific event taken by the governments is they provide a baseline of data as a means by which they can test ââ¬Å"whether local implementation of their policies and initiatives is possible and permit a basis for allowing new activities in an areaâ⬠(Testoni: 2001). 2. Investment in tourism facilities. Local governments would state their plans of constructing major amenities thanks to the importance of high quality of amenities. As Collier explained that the relative quality and availability of amenities including infrastructure and superstructure might be the cause of the choice of destination of tourists. Government usually investing in the establishment of infrastructure, comprised of roads, electricity and water supplies, sewerage and waste disposal, communication facilities, airports and harbours, transportation networks, healthy care facilities and security systems (Mill: 1990), because the ââ¬Å"development of infrastructure should precede the development of superstructureâ⬠(Collier: 2003). Besides, they try to strength the quality of tourism facilities so as to meet the needs of tourists. 3. Environmental management. Governments adopt a lots of measures to protect the local environment and prevent the pollution. 4. Promotion of the country or a certain region as a tourist destination and research. Advertisements, marketing methods such as marketing segment that is divide tourist into different areas of target markets, pricing tools, holding activities and events as attractions are various promotional tools used by government to develop a certain destination to attract consumers. For example, government would support an event of attraction as entertainment such as American Cup in New Zealand. 5. Training and educating the tourism employees. With the understanding of the significance of plans for tourism development and the degree of government intervention into the plans, the case of how New Zealand government reacts to the guidance of International Tourism Organisation would be specifically lucubrated. First of all, a main strategy that could maximize the benefit of tourism and minimize the negative impact would be decided. Tourism has been viewed as the main economic source of the GDP of a country. As Simpson (2002) noted, New Zealand has recently produced its 10-year tourism strategy to accentuate a positivist attitude towards further tourism development, which particularly takes the ââ¬Å"economicâ⬠approach to treat tourism as an economically based and industry-oriented concept. More important, this approach is the reflection of the reaction to the Ecotourism concept suggested by WTO, because the Ecotourism is trying to ââ¬Å"support the protection of natural areas by generating economic benefits for host communities, organisations and authorities managing natural areas with conservation purposes.â⬠Secondly, specific steps and approaches would be considered and taken into action due to the requirement of the dominant service provision responsibilities of governments to combine planning and regulatory roles (Simpson: 2002). New Zealand governments are clearly conscious of the significant economic force of international tourism in external trade and view it as the export industry. Consequently, the governments begin to put emphasis on the financial and job creation benefits within this level of tourism development according to Simpson (2002). Besides, a special political power called ââ¬Å"three-tier system of national, regional, and local governmentâ⬠is arranged to ensure that ââ¬Å"New Zealand is developed and marketed as a competitive tourism destination to maximize the long-term benefits to New Zealand.â⬠In addition, the appropriate responsibility allocations are made by the governments in order to make proper agencies in charge of their allocated tasks efficiently and effectively (Simpson: 2002). Thirdly, some tools are used to promote and carry out the activities by governments. In addition to the directly investment in infrastructure constructions such as road rehabilitation and control the pollution, New Zealand governments permit a regional council to promote the welfare of the host community according to Simpson (2002). Fourthly, specific policies are made to protect the local environment and culture. Because the development would increase the negative impacts on the local communities, for example, the increasing pollution and crime. However, the weaknesses of the government involvement in tourism development are also exposed. On one hand, government intervention may only particularly suit to only large projects, and is often reactive which means governments lack the experience and professional knowledge of dealing with some small but important aspects of the plans. This can be explained by the case of Canada tourism development. As Thibault Frisby (1999) noted, in Canada tourism industries, more problem are arisen such as economic restraints, increasing demands for accountability and pressure for public involvement in the decision making process. Therefore, in order to meet these requirements, government officials have to develop new skills to contribute themselves effectively into tourism development plans. However, employees in government always contain different educational backgrounds, professional languages and values, which covered a wide range of subjects. That is, they cannot deal with specific tourism areas efficiently and effectively thanks to their lack of specific knowledge even low level of education of a certain area such as airline or accommodation sectors. Whatââ¬â¢s more, a survey of Italy and Spain tourism industry pointed out the key problem that the lack of educational qualifications among the staff in public sector according to Marino (2001). Education level of Italian and Spanish public sector managers in Tourism Italian public managers Spanish public managers University 12% University 16% Secondary high school 28% Secondary high school 33% Junior high school 26% Junior high school 21% No education level 34% No education level 30% Total 100% (77% male) Total 100% (80% male) Clearly, the data in this table displays that the public managers in Italian and Spanish government involved in tourism contain a low level of education background. Both Italian and Spanish public managers gain the least proportion of those who have the university education level. Meanwhile, there are a lot of public managers has low even no education level in Italian and Spanish public sectors. With the agreement of what Guest Taylor (1999) said, leisure managers in local governments only took account of what is going on inside the organization, not outside. These entire viewpoints show the weakness of the operation in government planning process with the lack in human resource. On another hand, governments have no clear directions when they do the marketing for the tourism development plan. There exists a lot of problems. Local governments provide tourism related products and services might not actually meet the needs of consumers because they may not think what the tourists really want. It seems that the market planning of governments is not consumer-driven. Just as Guest Taylor (1999) noted, local authorities appeared to know less about their customers, outside voting habits. Additionally, ââ¬Å"poor marketing and understanding, no systematic attempts to identification of local needs turns to be the key problem of governmentsââ¬â¢ plansâ⬠(Guest Taylor: 1999). In short, governments can not make their efforts into every industries of tourism development because according to the definition of one-industry concept that tourism industry is ââ¬Å"made up of various sectors or sub-industries such as accommodation, transportation, sales and leisure and the tourism products in nature and the experience perceived by tourists.â⬠(Collier: 2003). It means that tourists will treat all these sectors and sub-industries as a whole industry although various tourism products and services are only portions of the total product. Upon that, every sector should make their roles in the tourism development properly and effectively. Since the shortcomings of government involvement in some aspects of tourism development and plans, those responsibilities may better be handled by private sectors. Secondly, letââ¬â¢s see the roles of private sector organizations and their activities into tourism development. Private Sector Intervention in tourism developmental plans According to Collier (2003), private sector involvement in tourism development is mainly in the form of business organizations ââ¬Å"aligned with a particular sector of the tourism industryâ⬠. As the Linking Concept pointed out organizations can be categorized as direct providers (i.e. transport operators, accommodation providers, attraction and activity operators, sales agents and ancillary service), support services (i.e. petroleum distribution companies, construction firms and etc.) or developmental organizations (i.e. finance institution and industry training organizations). (Collier: 2003). For the example of New Zealand private sector organizations, the support services organization is like Travel Agents Association of New Zealand and developmental organization is for instance, Hospitality Standards Institute which involves in chef training, housekeeping, portering skills and etc. (Collier: 2003). With these kinds of roles played by private sectors, it is obviously some responsibility would be taken by private sectors superiorly and strongly. Because, Firstly, compared with the lack of professional knowledge and skills of governmental level employees, private sectors would train and educate tourism employees more effectively and efficiently because every specific area of sub-industry will manipulate the training and education system to access to the employees and has expertise in a certain field of subject. For instance, as Roehl Swerdlow (2001) elucidated, in western united states, accommodation industry in tourism carry out the vertical and horizontal job segregation approach to train employees for the gender problem. Analogously, as a private sector in tourism industry, New Zealand Industry Training Organisations specifically provide training and developing the skills and knowledge of tourism employees to ensure their qualifications. Secondly, private sectors have more experience in managing the marketing problems. They tend to know what consumers expected and need due to their well-arranged marketing tools and approaches. For example, individual sector, accommodation organizations could do the surveys to get the exact information about the requirements of their target market. In addition, private sectors would provide the personal products and services and do promotion events to cater the different kinds of tourists by market segmentation. They would construct the superstructures on the basis of the taste of the target consumers. Thirdly, in allusion to the neglect to details in tourism plans of governments, private sectors could concentrate themselves in doing the small projects obey the direction of international tourism organizations so that the objectives can be accomplished effectively and efficiently. According to Font (2002), the case of ââ¬Å"Green Globalâ⬠, the event of environmental certification of tourism and hospitality operations, is developed by the idea of ââ¬Å"Ecotourismâ⬠of WTO. On the level of private sector, Tourism Industry Association of New Zealand singles out environmental management systems to protect the environment of the host country led by the Asia-Pacific tourism organizations. Above all, at realising the increasing need to focus on tourism, Jagmohan (2003) union minister for tourism, mentioned, it is imperative that not only the states but also the industry plays an active role to boost tourism. ââ¬Å"Therefore, it is necessary as I have stated earlier, that the private sector has a key role to play in the growth of tourism both domestic and international,â⬠asserted Jagmohan (2003). For the Canada case, Thibault Frisby (1999) said that Canada local government need to rationalize government services under the consideration of privatization and decentralization so as to meet the increasing problems and challenges. It is because many research results revealed that local governments are becoming more and more relying on partnerships to acquire important resources, information and knowledge into tourism development Thibault Frisby (1999). Similarly, the policy of Italy and Spain tourism development is trying to reduce government involvement in the public tourist sector (Marino: 2001). Conclusion As a matter of fact, in spite of the advantages existing in private sectors processing the tourism development plans, private sector also has problems in doing tourism plans. Thus, it seems that it may be better for the combination of contributions of both public and private sector in the sustainable tourism development. It is evident that the task to make more profit from the tourism and prevent the rot of the aspects created by the tourism development should be paid attention to not only by international and national level organizations but many private ownership organizations. How to cite How public and private sectors have impact on each other in tourism industry?, Papers
Saturday, December 7, 2019
Strengths and Weaknesses System of Employment
Question: Discuss about the Strengths and Weaknesses for System of Employment. Answer: Introduction: The state or government of China plays a very important role in the system of employment. The Chinese government takes the employment as its first and foremost priority. Employment in China is the main way of earning a livelihood and a strategy to maintain stability in the society. The government of China has analyzed and framed the system of employment on international experiences in its process, steadily improved its relevant legal system, and developed, and executed a set of zealous employment policies (Aizenman, 2015). The Chinese government complies to improve employment by developing national economy, furthering the reform on its economic political system, improving social security system, economic development of rural and urban areas, and harmonizing economic development. The Chinese government has taken various efficient measures and done possibly everything to increase job opportunities, keeping a rate of unemployment under control, and expanding the employment scale (Dian, 2014). With all the effective methods and processes taken up by the Chinese Government, still, there is a huge need of restructuring of the employment system of the China. According to the movement of the market reform that is moving towards liberty and choice-oriented economy, the ancient model of the system of employment has become old fashioned, and also it is incapable of managing issues raised through the proceedings of market liberalization. System of employment is an important part of the Chinese government as this is not just an economic issue but also a delicate political issue. Later in the essay, the role of the Chinese government in the system of employment is discussed with the help of the strengths and weaknesses of the state in the process of the system of employment (Gordon, 2010). The Chinese Government has taken various steps to create employment in the country. To achieve the success in the steps of creating employment in the country and also good working condition, many policies and strategies are being promoted by the government which acts as the strength of the government. China has believed in the policy of reform and opening-up, by keeping its focus on economic construction, and then it slowly entered into the road of building a socialist market economy system. The results have given strength to the employment system of China (Hu, 2014). This had resulted in a rapid development of social security and labor undertakings. The stable situation in employment is one of the main goals of most of the government. China has also been able to get a stable situation in employment. This stability has been reached by the Chinese Government by maintaining stable and harmonious labor relations and revising the income, and wage distribution system. Chinese Government a lso ensures that minimum standard of living is being followed in the cities. Along with this, social security system is also being earnestly promoted in the rural areas. This helps in maintaining labor relations. Strong labor relations in rural and urban areas help in increasing the labor strength which makes the Chinese labor worldwide famous for its working and charges (Jia, 2014). Many companies prefer to invest in the Chinese economy because of its labor. This is one of the solid points of the Chinese Government in the system of employment. Another point that strengthens the Chinese governments role, that it is an important part of international labor affairs. By the principles of mutual equality, benefit, and respect, the government initiates in all the international labor affairs. China has managed fruitful exchanges in the field of social security and labor. It has also participated with many international organizations like United Nation Organization, International Labor Org anization, Asian Development Bank, and World Bank. It has delivered a positive image in the international community in eliminating poverty, protecting interest and legal rights of the workers, and promoting employment (Kanamori, 2007). By promoting employment through economic growth, the Chinese Government is gaining two benefits in a one go. The Chinese Government focuses on the economic construction; by promoting employment. Employment is promoted by carrying out an effective employment policy, and by adopting various active measures to increase the employment rate. The Government is rationally altering the employment structure with the help of readjustment of industrial structure. The Government is providing guidance for the development of such enterprises and industries that are capable of creating more job opportunities (Li, 2007). When government is helping in the development of capital construction investment, powerfully expanding domestic demands, and in maintaining the vigorous development of the national economy, it also stresses on the development of enterprises that are labor-intensive with market potential, and comparative advantages. For example, service enterprises and medium and small-sized enterpri ses, as these are capable of creating and offering job opportunities to a large number of people. This also helps in increasing employment and expanding employment channels, by effectively developing the economy with varied forms of ownership, like private, individual, and collective ownerships, and by developing and encouraging different forms of employment. The Chinese Government has a vital-role in the establishment of the market-oriented mechanism of employment (Ma, 2009). A government employment policy that includes initiative of laborers finding job on their own, the government promoting employment, and the market adjusting the employment demand encourages fair competition and secure employment, employers to take decision on the number and quality of their own employees, and adopting measures for the promotion of shaping employment mechanism that is market-oriented (Meng, 2012). The other strength of the Chinese Government is the labor market information network that is displaying its worth by promoting exchanges of information concerning demand and supply of labor, and helping unemployed in finding a job or reemploying them through labor market. Labor market is set up with a sound mechanism, good service, and standardized operation, which is under effective supervision. The Chinese Government has organized trials to setup labor market that are scientific, modernized and standardized in hundred cities. The Chinese Government has recently started to trial-implement the mechanism of pricing for the labor market, to enable the mechanism of market to play its basic role of regulatory in the wage formation, labor flow, and allocation of labor resources. Workers are the greatest strength of the Chinese Government and it is working hard to enhance the workers quality (Qi Prime, 2009). The Chinese Government has aimed to promote different forms of education through various channels to raise the professional skills and cultural level of the workers. It has laid equal stress on vocational qualification credentials, and academic qualifications. At present the system followed by the Chinese Government of nine-year compulsory education covers about 80 percent of the total population. It has helped in dropping the illiteracy rate to 5 percent among the young and middle-aged. At present there are 1220 regular institutions that offer higher studies, with 7.15 million students. With 1.50 million students 680 adult institutions of higher learning and 80000 regular middle schools, with 80 million students are currently in process in China. The aim of China is to establish multi-level and an all-round technical and vocational education and training system (Song, 2014). This is done with the development of higher technical and vocational schools, secondary technical and vocational schools, technical schools, community-run vocational training institutions, employment training centers, and secondary polytechnic schools with the purpose of strengthening the training of new workers, laid-off workers, and on-the-job employees. Training courses offered to secondary-graduates like pre-job training especially to those who have failed to gain higher education. Employment training centre and training schools are being restructured and readjusted into comprehensive bases of training. The introduction of vocational qualification credential system and a vocational qualification system of the Chinese Government has been set that covers all level workers, from basic to senior. At present, more than 80 percent of the freshly employed people in urban areas, are either graduated from senior high schools, have some kind of job skill training. This educated and trained labor is not only helping the country internally, but also promoting it in the whole world (Srivastava Thomson, 2007). The above-given points are the strengths of the government while it is managing the system of employment of China. The Chinese Government with the 21st century has entered on a new development stage; this is the stage of starting the construction on a full-scale of a comparatively accelerating modernization and a well-off society. The major aims of China's labor and social security efforts are to promote employment, protect employees' rights and interests, coordinate labor relations, raise people's incomes and improve social security (Stebleton, 2010). It is true that the Chinese Government is working very hard to provide the best and most effective employment system to the country but there many place in the current system of employment of China where some restructuring and improvements are required which the Chinese government is not able to improve. It has been regularly argued that Chinas market reform will not succeed until and unless thoughtful consideration is taken on institu tional reform in the system of employment. It is being said again and again that the Chinese employment system is old and obsolete. And it is unable to handle the issues that may occur in this new era. Though this is also true that the government has tried to restructure the traditional system of employment, but the process is still not convincible. China has a long primitive history (Swider, 2014). Therefore the government of this primitive state has a general centralized structure from long time back. This common historical memory affects the mindset of the Chinese society and people living in the society. This also affected the model of government. The democratic country of China still follows the centralized system in employment system of China. Hence, the state governance, even under a democratic structure of government, has combined the idea of state intervention so that optimal welfare can be provided to the citizens, regardless of whether individuals capable of dealing with social issues by themselves or not. This shows the weakness of the government of China in case of taking decisions regarding the restructuring of the system of employment as per the current system of government that is democratic (Wang Yang, 2013). Market reform and economic globalization has emerged as a severe challenge to the Chinas system of employment. Although the development of a new framework of system of employment has been triggered by the market reform, which is centered on the contractual and legal regulation of labor relations, still the collective consultation and workplace between employers and trade union is divided and employer and workers interest conflicts presently the industrial confrontation and conflicts has raised as the most important issue for the Chinese Government. These disputes are not limited to individuals, but a large ratio of the industrial disputes has been noticed. This is a huge weakness of the Chinese Government when it comes to employment relations or employment system (Zhang, Song, Wang, 2015). In last few years the labor disputes has increased to a serious consideration level. These disputes are based on issues like economic, remedies, labor insurance, compensation, and welfare schemes. This situation has raised a legitimate question that whether the universal contractual and legal regulations adopted by the Chinese Government is working or not. Also, is this a fruitful regulation for the labor? Particularly, the Chinese governments functional capability of administering these regulations is also questioned. The position of various parties in such labor disputes has also been intensified. The evidence shows that these disputes were settled more with the help of arbitration rather than using mediation (Zhang Wang, 2009). The increasing disputes and their settlement type shows that employers and enterprises are increasingly breach the contractual and legal rights of the employees, as given in labor law. The government shows lacking in taking correct steps to avoid such disputes and managing the enterprises and employers in providing the legal rights of the labor. The labor disputes shows that market reform and economic transition has sparked more problems and issue s between management and labor. In a precision most of the disputes are of collective nature. This indicates that if China doesnt change its current model of employment system than more complex and difficult issues will arise that will be more difficult to settle. So the current model of employment system is a weakness of the Chinese governments employment system (Zhu Nyland, 2016). The other weakness of Chinese government is that it is not able to control the increasing workers mass protests and campaigns. The usual channels and processes are not followed when labor uses mass protest and campaign to solve their problems. They took another method of protest and that to take a street and rally to the government agencies or even to the central government. In China this kind of protest and rally is known as labors collective incident. According to scholars, if the legal channel is not able give the workers economic interests then they take these collective actions. This lack of workers interest is highly related to the adjustment of industrial and economic structure and to the stages of market reform (Zuo, 2013). Institutional changes like ownership change, social security, and employment restructure are three most important changes that occur in an institution. These institutional reforms damage the workers interests. The rapid increase of private and foreign ente rprises also damages the workers interests. The new labor law has helped in triggering the sense of workers regarding their legal rights. This has led in the increase of these collective incidents. The government has ordered the increase of efficiency and reduction of workforce after the 15th CCP National Convention. This has resulted in mass layoff by the state-owned enterprises. That led to mass protest, rally and petition. The Chinese government still lack in this case as it has not yet establish a public statistical system that clears the reasons and result of workers collective incidents (Aizenman, 2015). These incidents threatened the social and political stability. Seemingly these collective incidents have intensified in China in recent years. The rate of strikes and other collective actions has been increasing rapidly in employment system of China. This also true that the Chinese workers have no legal right to strike, but again the reality says that various methods of demons trations has been attempted by the Chinese workers. The Chinese Government needs to work on the strategies to satisfy the demand of the workers by restructuring the current model of the employment system (Dian, 2014). China is famous throughout the world for it labor and workforce. The scholars says that the model of Chinese employment system that follows a centralized method even when the country is a democratic help the government in increasing the employment rate and creating job opportunities by developing industrial sector, and this ultimately help in economic growth and political stability. Its employment policies are drafted in the favor of labors and workers (Gordon, 2010). The labor market also helps the Chinese Government in attaining the goals setup for the benefit of the country. It has also brought the foreign investors to invest in various sectors of the country. This has given China economic globalization. These all factors strengthen the position of Chinese Government and the working of employment system is justified. In all these good factors, this also true that in all the processes of market reformation and economic globalization, the employment system of China is in transition (Bowles, 2007). The control of state corporatist is getting loosened while the new policies and institutions have not started functioning as expected. However there are choices between the labor, the state, and the management regarding the adoption. The final decision will help the country in improving the system of employment which will directly improve the working conditions for the workers. With the largest population in the world China has a vast resources and land that give the potential to become any kind of production market. The Chinese Government has to analyze its weaknesses and use its strengths to overcome the weaknesses and become the best employment system of the world by coordinating the new and old methods (Li, 2007). References Aizenman, J. (2015). Internationalization of the RMB, Capital Market Openness and Financial Reforms in China.Pacific Economic Review, 20(3), pp.444-460. Bowles, P. (2007). Economic Growth, Transition and Globalization in China Yanrui Wu.The China Journal, 58, pp.185-187. Dian, L. (2014). Graduate Employment in China: Current Trends and Issues.Chinese Education Society, 47(6), pp.3-11. Gordon, R. (2010). Public Finance and Economic Development: Reflections based on Experience in China.Journal of Globalization and Development, 1(1). Hu, F. (2014). Risk Attitudes and Self-employment in China.China World Economy, 22(3), pp.101-120. Jia, P. (2014). Employment and Working Hour Effects of Minimum Wage Increase: Evidence from China.China World Economy, 22(2), pp.61-80. Kanamori, T. (2007). Managing Globalization: Lessons from China and India.Asean Economic Bulletin, 24(3), pp.374-376. Li, S. (2007). China and the Challenge of Economic Globalization: The Impact of WTO Membership (review).China Review International, 13(2), pp.415-417. Ma, Y. (2009). Comparison of Advantages and Weaknesses Among Three Major Urban Agglomerations in China.Asian Social Science, 4(10). Mah, J. (2013). Globalization, decentralization and income inequality: The case of China.Economic Modelling, 31, pp.653-658. Meng, X. (2012). Labor Market Outcomes and Reforms in China.Journal of Economic Perspectives, 26(4), pp.75-102. Song, Y. (2014). What should economists know about the current Chinese hukou system?.China Economic Review, 29, pp.200-212. Srivastava, A. and Thomson, S. (2007). E-Business Law in China: Strengths and Weaknesses.Electronic Markets, 17(2), pp.126-131. Stebleton, M. (2010). narrative-based career counseling perspectives in times of change: an analysis of strengths and limitations.Journal of Employment Counseling, 47(2), pp.64-78. Swider, S. (2014). Building China: precarious employment among migrant construction workers.Work, Employment Society, 29(1), pp.41-59. Wang, Z. and Yang, W. (2013). Selfà ¢Ã¢â ¬Ã employment or wageà ¢Ã¢â ¬Ã employment?.China Ag Economic Review, 5(2), pp.231-247. Zhang, C., Song, K. and Wang, F. (2015). Economic Globalization and Inflation in China: A Multivariate Approach.China World Economy, 23(3), pp.79-96. Zhang, S. and Wang, S. (2009). Impacts of Law of Peoples Republic of China on Employment Contracts on Colleges and Universities Personnel Employment System and Countermeasures.IJBM, 4(12). Zhu, J. and Nyland, C. (2016). Chinese employer associations, institutional complementarity and countervailing power.Work, Employment Society. Zuo, H. (2013). Formal and Informal Employment in China: Probability of Employment and Determinants of Monthly Wages.Australian Economic Review, 46(4), pp.405-423. Qi, L. and Prime, P. (2009). Market reforms and consumption puzzles in China.China Economic Review, 20(3), pp.388-401. Whyte, M. and Sun, Z. (2010). The Impact of China's Market Reforms on the Health of Chinese Citizens: Examining Two Puzzles.China: An International Journal, 08(01), pp.1-32.
Saturday, November 30, 2019
Sample Marketing Plan on V Energy Drink free essay sample
The company will be facing intense competition. The V energy drink will be competing against strong energy drinks competitors such as Red bull, Mother, Demon, Lift plus and Monster as well as other cold energy markets like coca cola and Pepsi-co and other self-branded cold drinks products. V energy drink will be competing through differentiation in the main ingredients and in the contents of caffeine and sugar. It also comes with different flavours or variants like V energy sugar-free, V energy blue and V energy black. The marketing strategies of the V energy drink will be centred on four objectives: : Firstly, to have 40 percent market share in Auckland, New Zealand, Secondly, to be the brand icon of extreme sports and music not only in Australia but also in New Zealand, to gain 50 percent brand awareness and to have a strong community relations among consumers. The company will be using some strategies to reach these objectives such as launching online game, being a sponsor to some extreme sports activities and promoting the product through billboard, TV and radio advertisements. We will write a custom essay sample on Sample Marketing Plan on V Energy Drink or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page A. SITUATION ANALYSIS V is an energy drink brand produced by Frucor Beverages Ltd since August 1997. In 2003, in supermarkets and service station, V had a market share over 53% in Australia, making it the most popular energy drink in both countries. V is made in Australia by Frucor. It has taken Australian energy drink market by storm, capturing over 53% of the market and driving the acceptance of energy drinks in a day time environment. V is exported to the United Kingdom in cans and bottles. In 2007, Frucor also started to export its energy drinks to the Netherlands. V was introduced to Maldives market in 2008 and is also sold in Argentina, Papua New Guinea and in Spain as of 2011. The original and V blue flavours has been released to the South Korean market in 2012. Starting next year, the company is planning to introduce the V energy drink in New Zealand market. It is something particularly different in the cold drink market, with a distinct bottle and can it will serve as a contrast against other caffeinated cold drinks that are on the market. Its main ingredient is the guarana which has garnered a worldwide reputation for having a stimulating effect on mind and body. V is about giving consumerââ¬â¢s the energy to achieve the extraordinary. It will available in different variants depending on customerââ¬â¢s choice. Firstly, the V green which is the original product with an energizing mix of B vitamins, caffeine and guarana. Secondly is when you need to pack a punch without the calories, it all about the V sugarfree. Thirdly, is the V black if you want to experience the double hit of taurine with strong coffee flavour. Next is the V blue which is also called as the mysterious flavour and lastly, the V pocket rocket which is recommended to take for only once a day. With each type sold in containers ranging from 250mL cans and 350 ml glass bottles. The V drink 100 fluid ml of energy drink contains 31mg of caffeine which is significantly less than the average for all energy drinks and 10. 6grams of carbohydrates which is the least of all energy drinks. The percent daily values are based on a 2,000 calories diet, so the values may change depending on each calorie needs. It also contains 26. 5g of sugar which is also the least of all the competitor energy drinks. COMPETITOR ANALYSIS| ATTRIBUTES| REDBULL| MOTHER| LIFT-PLUS| MONSTER| DEMON ENERGY| Product Slogan| ââ¬Å"Vitalizes body and mindâ⬠| ââ¬Å"Mother of an energy drinkâ⬠| Wake up your buds and choose your level| ââ¬Å"Unleash the Beastâ⬠| ââ¬Å"No limits-No laws| Price| 2. 59$ 250mL| 3. 35$500mL| 2. 29250mL| 2. 99500mL| 2. 99568mL| Market Share| 40%| 25%| 10%| 15%| 10| Brand awareness| 35%| 30%| 10%| 10%| 15%| Energy drink is a tough market. V will be having a lot of strong competitors such as Red bull, Mother, Lift-plus, and Demon Energy drinks. One of the stongest is the Redbull which already exists for a long time and itââ¬â¢s the most popular energy drink in the whole world. Competition is becoming more intense in energy drink industry. Self-branded or home-branded drinks can push the v energy drinks out of the shelf in supermarkets especially that they have the ability to pass savings to their customers. SWOT ANALYSIS| STRENGTHS| The products comes with different variety and different packagingGuarana as the familiar main ingredientPromotion effortsContents are transparent on the productââ¬â¢s labellingFashionable and trendy packagingContains lesser amount of sugarContains lesser amount of caffeine| WEAKNESSES| PricingLack of product distribution in the marketBrand exposure in other countriesWeak presence of product in the market areaLimit of 2 cans per 250mL intake daily| OPPORTUNITIES| Expanding target marketsIncrease market share| Inflation may increase the price of the drinks and at the same time, consumerââ¬â¢s income may decrease. For that reason, buying an energy drink will not be in their list of priority since it is not a necessity for smart buyers. If V energy drinks will introduce or export their product in a new country, a possibility of an increase in price since they have to change the labelling of the products. If the government will imposed health and safety restrictions on the amount of energy drinks that should be consumed, health is also a major barrier; some people say they donââ¬â¢t drink energy drinks ecause theyââ¬â¢re unhealthy and because of its caffeine content. V energy drink target segment will be men and women ages 16-40, who are situated in the city as they are likely to be really busy and tired. Hardworking young professionals with active lifestyles who want to be awake during their working hours, athletes who want to accelerate their performance or to regain their strength after a competition, and university students who donââ¬â¢t want to be lagging in their lessons. Target markets are dairies near universities, convenience stores along the street, gasoline stations and supermarkets. Those who are tired, stressed and with exhausted need something to keep going in their daily activities. V energy drink will marketed through association with extreme sports and music to students, young professionals, and athletes. Students are mostly active on night parties and some are also doing night shift in their part time jobs so they need energy for the school activities. Young professional doing morning shifts needed to boost their energy as well as Athletes who are active in extreme sports need to be energized before and after their events. B. Marketing Objectives and Strategies: The strategic role of V energy drink will be centred on four objectives: Firstly, to have 40% market share in Auckland, New Zealand, Secondly, to be the brand icon of extreme sports and music not only in Australia but also in New Zealand, to gain 50 percent brand awareness and to have a strong community relations among consumers. V energy will use some strategies to reach these objectives through communications, promotions, and distribution strategies. V energy Drink Company will inform the channel partners and all their stakeholders in New Zealand about the launching of the product through an exclusive meeting for the stakeholders and all the managers from every department, to be followed by a seminar to be attended by all of the channel partners like supermarkets including small businesses to have an idea about the product. Then, they have to establish a channel relationship with their istributors like supermarkets and service stations through giving discounts and a free ticket to Australia to supermarkets or stores who will get the highest sale of the V energy drink Small businesses or retail will also be given free vouchers with a minimum of 1000$ purchase to any variants of the V energy drinks. Considering the very tight competition of the energy drink market, the company will also be using the power of media to be able to accomplish the target brand awareness. They will design a billboard which features a well-known rugby player who is drinking v energy drink. They will also make a radio and TV advertisement featuring the testimonies of students and some workers who successfully finishing their works with the help of the product. The company will be building community relations by being one of the sponsors and organizers to every extreme sports event like bike racing and car racing. The first sports event to be launch will be the V Human Powered Burnout. It is a car racing activity where drivers who want to participate should give evidence or a minimum of 100$ proof of purchase of the v energy drink. Limited Free tickets will also be given to interested viewers who will send or put in a drop box a v energy drink proof of purchase to be drawn on a month before the event. Aside from being a sponsor, the company will be launching their own extreme events. The company created a new campaign for the v energy drinks. By hacking Kinect motion tracking software and combining it with audio production software; they created The V Motion Project, a tool that could transform the bodyââ¬â¢s movements into music. The project has resulted in a series webisodes, a song in iTunes, a music video and TVCââ¬â¢s that all demonstrate that V brand core value that ââ¬Ëwith enough energy, you can do extraordinary things. This is one way of new and interesting ways to engage with costumers. This project became successful in Australia so, they are also planning to bring into New Zealand. Another strategy targeting the students in a university will be through the V Robberââ¬â¢s Training Academy where students will be trained with their robbery skills. Participants will be given free green shirt bearing the Vââ¬â¢s logo and lucky winners will also be given exciting prices together with a bunch of v energy drinks. The V Robberââ¬â¢s Training Academy team will visit all University who are willing to learn skills in robbery focusing on the productââ¬â¢s benefit which is giving energy needed after and before an event. It is also important to keep the people updated with new products, exciting promos as well as other events regarding the product. So, the company will be keeping an eye in updating every single detail in their website and facebook page and twitter accounts. They are also planning to create a blog, a space where customers will be writing their comments, reviews and suggestions. One way of promoting the product with the help of technology will be through the online game V robbers most wanted. It is an online Flash game pitting hopeful New Zealand burglars against each other for the chance of winning a $50,000 in prize money. The game itself is a memory test, where the player memorises the sequence of coloured wires he or she needs to cut in order to disable an alarm guarding another playerââ¬â¢s stash. The money proposition for Vââ¬â¢s manufacturer, Frucor, will be userââ¬â¢s need to redeem codes on specially mark cans of the energy drink in order to play the game. C. IMPLEMENTATION AND CONTROL TASK/ACTIVITIES| RESPONSIBILITY(Person/Department)| TO BE UNDERTAKEN BY(Date)| BUDGET (NZ$)| 1. Online survey to collect customerââ¬â¢s ideas about the product| Research Department| January 2014| 3,500| 2. Evaluate survey results to decide on what and where to focus| Research Department| February 2014| 1,500| 3. Educate Channel Partners (Supermarkets, Wholesalers, Retailers)| Promotion Department and Sales Department| March 2014| 3,500| 4. Keep facebook, website twitter and other online accounts updated for the upcoming events| Technical support department| April 2014| 5,000| 5. Roll out the billboard,tv and radio commercials| Promotion Department| May 2014| 5,000| 6. Announce the contest of sales among distributors or channel members| Production Department| June 2014| 2,500| 7. Sponsoring stage-extreme sport events| | July 2014| 10,000| 8. Launching of V human powered burnout| Promotion Department and Technical Support Department| August 2014| 15,000| 9. Start the V Motion Project| Promotion and Technical Support Department| September 2014| 25,000| 10. Start the V Robberââ¬â¢s Training Academy| Promotion Department and Technical Support Department| October 2014| 30,000| 11. Launching of the Online game V robbers most wanted| Technical Support Department| November 2014| 100,000| 12. Check the Sales and Distribution of the Product| Sales Department| December 2014| 5,000| Total Cost| 206,000| IMPLEMENTATION BARRIERS: In every plan thereââ¬â¢s always a barrier during the implementation period, just like the marketing plan. So, it is a need to anticipate these barriers to be given appropriate actions. Some barriers in the V energy drink marketing plan implementation are: The flow of the activities may not be followed because of lack of budget, also lack of resources and lack of staff or human resources. REFERENCES * http://www. writework. com * http://www. scribd. com * http://www. istart. co. nz * http://www. sharechat. co. nz * http://www. frucor. co. nz * http://en. wikipedia. org * http://www. stuff. co. nz * http://v-energy. com. au * http://gives-u-wings. blogspot. co. nz * http://www. energyfiend. com * http://www. internationalist-awards. com * http://www. stoppress. co. nz * http://www. campaignbrief. co. nz * http://www. tv3. co. nz * http://www. time-management-guide. com * http://s3images. coroflot. com
Monday, November 25, 2019
How to Conjugate Réveiller (to Wake up) in French
How to Conjugate Rà ©veiller (to Wake up) in French In French, the verbà rà ©veillerà means to wake up or to awaken. You can remember it by thinking of the reveille of a bugle waking soldiers up in the morning. When you want to say things like I woke up or he is waking, youll need to know how to conjugate the verb. A quick lesson will show you how thats done. The Basic Conjugations ofà Rà ©veiller Some French verbs are simpler to conjugate than others and rà ©veiller falls into the easier category. Thats because it is a regular -er verb, meaning it follows the most common conjugation rules found in the language. If youve studied similar words, you should be a little more comfortable memorizing this one. As with all conjugations, we must first identify the verb stem:à reveill-. To this, a variety of infinitive endings are added to create the various conjugations. All you have to do to learn these endings is look for the subject pronoun and the proper tense in the chart. For instance, I am waking up isà je rà ©veilleà and we woke up isà nous rà ©veillions. You can make these easier to remember by practicing them every morning when you wake up. Present Future Imperfect je rveille rveillerai rveillais tu rveilles rveilleras rveillais il rveille rveillera rveillait nous rveillons rveillerons rveillions vous rveillez rveillerez rveilliez ils rveillent rveilleront rveillaient The Present Participle ofà Rà ©veiller As with most French verbs, an -ant ending is added to the verb stem to create the present participle. For rà ©veiller, that forms the word rà ©veillant. Rà ©veillerà in the Compound Past Tense Aà common way to express the past tense in French is the compound known as theà passà © composà ©. To form this, youll need theà auxiliary verbà avoirà as well as theà past participleà rà ©veillà ©. It comes together quickly: I woke up isà jai rà ©veillà ©Ã and we woke up isà nous avons rà ©veillà ©. Notice howà avoirà was conjugated into the present tense according to the subject. Also, the past participle doesnt change, but it does take over the job of indicating that the act has already happened. More Simple Conjugations ofà Rà ©veiller At times, you may need a few more simple forms ofà rà ©veiller. The subjunctive, for example, implies some uncertainty to the action while the conditional says someone will wake up only if something else happens (the alarm goes off, perhaps). The passà © simpleà andà the imperfect subjunctive are used less frequently but are good to know nonetheless. Subjunctive Conditional Pass Simple Imperfect Subjunctive je rveille rveillerais rveillai rveillasse tu rveilles rveillerais rveillas rveillasses il rveille rveillerait rveilla rveillt nous rveillions rveillerions rveillmes rveillassions vous rveilliez rveilleriez rveilltes rveillassiez ils rveillent rveilleraient rveillrent rveillassent The imperative verb mood is very useful with a verb likeà rà ©veiller. It allows you to quickly command someone to Wake up! When using it, skip the subject pronoun and simply say, Rà ©veilleà ! Imperative (tu) rveille (nous) rveillons (vous) rveillez
Friday, November 22, 2019
An Interview With A Caucasian Family
Family History Interview The person I choose to interview was my mother Elizabeth . The reason I chose to interview her was that I wanted to gain a closer bond with her. She is the closet relative living from which I could gain the most knowledge. (Q11) She was raised by both of her parents. (Q1) Her father Marlyn , was the Mayor or Morgantown, WV, as well taught law at WVU. Her Mother was Jerry , a graduate of WVU with a bachelorââ¬â¢s degree in zoology. Jerry was a woman of many talents. She soldâ⬠¦ Interview One Questions The first interview is between two sisters. I questioned the oldest sister, which is 30 years old. I believe that this sibling relationship is between Intimate and congenial. The reason I think this, is because the sisters seem very close and seem to accept that their relationship is valued by both of them. I also believe that the relationship is congenial because the siblings seem to be friends as well. These sisters seemâ⬠¦ think that something similar could happen but I think police would investigate it much more than they did back in Duluth, when the crime was committed. I think that this might happen today if the police officer who is conducting the interview with a young Caucasian woman, if the police officer has any form of prejudice or bias toward any specific race of people or if they believes everything the person is saying is true without investigating further. Many things have changed for the better sinceâ⬠¦ Family Interview Throughout the semester, I have been very excited about this paper and jumped at the opportunity to interview my older sister, Michelle. Our family is a little unconventional, but I would not change it for the world. My sister and I both have the same father, but different mothers due to divorce and remarriage. Interestingly enough, my sister is thirteen years older than me, causing us to spend most of our lives at different points and milestones. Within recent years, we have becomeâ⬠¦ Marriage and Family Interview Assumptions Fundamentally, I believe marriage is diverse, since individuals originate from different backgrounds and cultures. Individuals, including married couples, have different values, beliefs, and attitudes towards life, such as parenting styles, rituals, traditions, and religious and spirituality affiliations, to name a few. Additionally, many couples decide not to have children. As counselors, we learn that each client is different, and the same goes forâ⬠¦ For the family interview, I decided to meet with one of my friends to interview her about her family. We started by focusing on her whole family tree, including all of her aunts, uncles, and cousins. After we went over the entire family, I asked her questions about the members she has a significant relationship with and asked about their education, occupation, interests, health problems, and friendships. The person that I interviewed is in a serious relationship, so we went over her partnerââ¬â¢s familyâ⬠¦ Interview of a family member I have selected to interview my grandfather. The main reason for that is because I have learned many things from the stories and experiences that he has shared with me about his life. I will be comparing my grandpaââ¬â¢s life as a teen in the 1960ââ¬â¢s to the life of a teenager now days using the knowledge that we both have to offer ,even though he was not living in Canada during his teen years. In general being a teenager in the 1960ââ¬â¢s was different compared to being a teenagerâ⬠¦ Being born into a caucasian middle-class family was not something that I chose or had any power over. My life could be much different than it is now had my parents, or may I say birth parents, kept me. I do not like to use the phrase ââ¬Å"given upâ⬠as my parent did not just give me away to some strange family, but I was put into a middle-class family so that I could live a ââ¬Å"happyâ⬠life. My biological parents, more my mother, were not in the position to raise a baby. At the age of eighteen and livingâ⬠¦ Family Interview and Genogram I chose to interview Inmaculada ââ¬Å"Alexâ⬠DeFeo (2015). She is the source of much of the information. I based assessments on my analysis of her explained life. Detailed is given to her age and familial relations. The strength perspective used in order to highlight strengths in how overcoming or living with situations, statuses, and results of events. Individual and family patterns, concern, and influences regarding them aimed are touched upon. Family Members Namesâ⬠¦ Family Interview A student nurse interviewed a twenty-six year old mother and twenty-seven year old father; first time parents of a healthy, full term baby boy. The mother has no significant health history with the exception of Herpes Simplex Virus, which she was adequately treated for with antiviral medication. The maternal grandmother has a history of breast cancer and cervical cancer, while the maternal grandfather has a history of type I diabetes. The father has no significant health historyâ⬠¦
Wednesday, November 20, 2019
Family Values Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words
Family Values - Essay Example She was caught off guard and humiliated over something small. Although the teacher has rules, to humiliate a child in front of the entire class was not the best idea that was available. Because of the way that Emily handled this situation, she is clearly in Kohlberg's Preconventional Morality stage and within stage one (Gould, 2009, p. 2). In this stage, she is more afraid of punishment than she is about going back to the class. In this situation, she was following the rules and the teacher created a situation that made her leave the class rather than face the embarrassment of going back. She avoids punishment by not going back to class and not telling her parents what happened. The teacher could have called Emily to his desk or asked her to speak to him after class. If he had done so, this would have given Emily a chance to explain t him what had happened instead of being humiliated in front of the class. Emily could have talked to her parents about the situation immediately so that it did not move into more fear. Unfortunately, from the case study, it did not seem that she was able to talk to her parents about it perhaps because of fear of punishment. Her parents do not seem to be involved very much with Emily because they were not suspicious of her wanting to stay out of school, although this was out of the ordinary for her. In the classroom situation, Emily has been classically conditioned to do what she is told and follow the rules. She may also have to follow rules at home without question. Because of this, she seems to have a high level of anxiety when she has to confront a situation as she did in Mr. Robinson's class. According to Richards and Blanchette (2004), classical conditioning can be used to understand how to work with people who have challenges with emotions. In this situation, it would have been beneficial for Emily to talk to her friend or to her parents about the situation.
Tuesday, November 19, 2019
Living with PTSD Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 6250 words
Living with PTSD - Assignment Example The paper has to conclude with the recognition of the current treatment trends and see the implications of the above mentioned points to the future researches in fighting against Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Traumatic events seem to surround people everywhere: accidents on the streets, violence in the neighborhood and even at home, sexual, mental or emotional abuses, natural disasters every now and then, and wars and terrorism ââ¬â name it, the world seems to be its natural source. One of the most intriguing movements that have shaped and influenced the treatment of PTSD today was the war in Vietnam. Many of the soldiers who were able to come back from the war have been identified to have developed the disorder. This essay makes a conclusion that the particular population in the United States who has developed Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is indeed comparatively small as it only accounts almost only 4% of the total adult population. On the other hand, it is still considered significant for the people ââ¬â especially those who have influences in the treatment or dealing with PTSD sufferers ââ¬â to have dependable knowledge of the causes, effects and treatment of PTSD. Moreover, more researches on evidence-based practice and how to be in charge of the controllable sources of trauma can lead to the lessening of the prevalence of PTSD if total eradication is impossible since this disorder most often than not can hinder one from living oneââ¬â¢s life normally and without fear and anxiety.
Saturday, November 16, 2019
Building Blocks of Life Essay Example for Free
Building Blocks of Life Essay Part 1: Mitosis and Meiosis Short-Answer Response Use Ch. 5 of BioInquiry and the ââ¬Å"Comparing Mitosis and Meiosisâ⬠video as resources for Part 1 of this assignment. Write 75- to 100-word answers to the following questions. Why are the process of mitosis and meiosis both important to a living organism? Both mitosis and meiosis processes are extremely important because they are the division of chromosomes and without this division reproduction would not occur. Cell division plays an important role in the life cycle of a cell allowing the cell to grow, develop and then reproduce. If these processes did not occur then the cells would eventually die out and without the ability to be replaced by new cells then the host would die as well. When would an organism need to undergo the process of mitosis? Meiosis? An organism would need to undergo the process of mitosis in order to repair damaged cells or to start a new cell life cycle through cellular division. All cells need to be replaced on the regular basic within a living organism the cells divide and create new cells. An organism would need to undergo the process of meiosis when it needs to produce cells that are designated for sexual reproduction, such as egg or sperm cells within humans What would happen if meiosis did not occur? If meiosis did not occur then haploid cells would not be made resulting in the cell being unable to reproduce. Meiosis I reduces the number of chromosomes by half so that when fertilization occurs the number ofà chromosomes would be reestablished. During meiosis II the daughter cell is a unique variation of its parent cell while still only having one pair of chromosomes. Part 2: Photosynthesis and Cellular Respiration Matrix Complete the matrix. Use the following questions to aid in completion: What is the purpose of this pathway? Reactants: What does this reaction need to proceed? Products: What is produced because of the reaction? The role of ATP: Does it supply energy or store energy? Cellular respiration Photosynthesis Pathway Glycolysis Krebs cycle Electron transport Light-dependent reaction Light-independent reaction Purpose Energy Harvesting or Sugar-Splitting breakdown of glucose to single carbon molecules Converts oxygen to water Provide energy for the light-independent reaction Produces food for cellular respiration Where it takes place Cell cytoplasm Mitochondria Mitochondria Chloroplasts Chloroplasts Reactants ATP, NADH, Pyruvates,CO2,Coenzyme A,PGAL Acetyl Co-A, oxaloacetate, Citrate, Alpha ketoglutarate NADH, FADH2 Sunlight, chlorophyll, and water ATP, carbon dioxide, and NADPH Products H20, NADH, ATP Carbon dioxide and ATP 36 ATP Oxygen and ATP Carbohydrates (sugar and starch) The role of ATP Energy used to breakdown Pyruvic acid into Acetyl Co-enzyme A for the Krebs Cycle Energy to drive the electron transport High production of ATP produces energy for overall cell growth and repair Transports solar energy in the form of ATP to power other chemical reactions Fuels the formation of carbohydrates
Thursday, November 14, 2019
Abortion: A Complex Issue Essay -- Informative Essays
Abortion is defined as: "the termination of pregnancy and expulsion of an embryo or of a fetus that is incapable of survival." However, if only the debate over the abortion issue was as simple as the definition provided above. Much like every aspect of human life, a statement is neither right nor wrong, but simply left open for interpretation. There is no black and white in life, only gray areas. Some issues tend to provide us more gray areas than others. Abortion is a prime example of that. Those who refute abortion claim that it is the murder of a helpless baby who has not yet had the chance to live and function as a human being. However, the debate opposite it is just as fervent: it is a woman's right to choose what happens to her body, and if she decides that she is not capable of bringing a child into this world, than she shouldn't be forced to out of nature. Where do we draw the line between humane and inhumane, necessitated death and murder? When does a woman's right over her internal reproductive organs become that of the government's? Is abortion wrong or is it right? Are rape, incest,and potential fatality to the mother exceptions when abortion is "okay"? Are there truly any at all? So many questions are raised by such a fervent debate, that we must look at both sides of the issue to better understand it in a general, but yet thorough approach. As expected, there are many people that are opposed to abortion. These people are better referred to as "pro-life advocates", or essentially, they advocate the life of the baby over the woman's right to choose. Groups such as Human Life International (HLI), The Christian Coalition, ... ...d Parenthood (Online) Facts on File (Online) World News Digest "Key Issue: Abortion" United States Conservative Party (Online) Works Cited Human Life International (Online) Encarta Encyclopedia (Online) "Social and Ethical Issues" Planned Parenthood (Online) Facts on File (Online) World News Digest "Key Issue: Abortion" United States Conservative Party (Online)
Monday, November 11, 2019
Assignment for Resort Management Essay
The key areas requiring coverage will be the following: What factors influenced Disney to internationalize and why, please discuss thoroughly What were Disneyââ¬â¢s ownership specific advantages (what did they have to trade/what areas were they expert in?) What were Disneyââ¬â¢s location specific factors (the Where) ââ¬â why did they select France? ââ¬â Discuss and thoroughly evaluate and discuss using factors in the text What were Disneyââ¬â¢s internationalization advantages (the how), how were they going to achieve such a complex move to a European culture and why? Assess the relationship between two parties (Disney & the French Government), who holds the most powerful position, discuss and evaluate What are the multiplierââ¬â¢s effects for France and Disney? Evaluate, analyze and compare Conclusion No additional research is necessary for this assignment. All details are included in the text given to you. Reproduced by permission of John Wiley & Sons, LTD from Progress in Tourism and Hospitality Research Vol. 3 No 1, 1997 Disneyland Resort Paris: a permanent economic growth poll in the Francilian landscape Anne- Marie dââ¬â¢Hauteserre Department of Geography, Southern Connecticut State University, 501 Crescent Street, New Haven CT06515 USA Disneyland Resort Paris was located in the Francilian landscape to increase the capital accumulation of the Walt Disney Company. It has settled there permanently, thanks in part to the convention signed by the company with the French government who needed an economic growth pole in the eastern part of the Paris Basin. Disney accepted the partnership and itââ¬â¢s constraints because it had ambitious real estate development plans. The French government, with itââ¬â¢s New Town policy, was the only European country that could provide such a large acreage which it used to lever Disneyââ¬â¢s presence. Keywords: capital circuits; new towns; economic growth pole; landscape formation; public/private partnership Introduction The arrival of the Magic Kingdom in the Francilian1 landscape ignited a vituperative press campaign by French intellectuals who stood adamantly opposed to American cultural imperialism. It is the latest (although only) international theme park venture by Disney Company. Why did this highly successful company, selling an American specific cultural product that would not benefit from production cost reduction, decide to internationalize? It certainly would not reduce labor costs as illustrated by the migration of European car factories to the United States, while it would require major construction costs. Was the prospect of a widened European market by theà time of the opening of Disneyland Resort Paris in April 1992 the main incentive for foreign foray, and why? Was it established to act as an economic growth pole, complementing the French stateââ¬â¢s policy of urban development of the Eastern suburbs of Paris? Large theme parks, like megaevents, promise potential economic development of the areas they localize in. This new geographic landscape was produce not just by private capital, to be dismantled at capitalââ¬â¢s whim (Harvey, 1989), but by the synergic action of several different agents. This paper will demonstrate how the continued economic success of Disneyland Resort Paris is not simply just the result of itââ¬â¢s capacity to create profits through itââ¬â¢s consumption in a new locale, however semiotically explained, and/or the result of the judicious choice of the localization of this cultural capital circuit at the apex of European accessibility. Its success is circumscribed by and dependent on the French governmentââ¬â¢s development strategies and judicial structures. Capital has had to negotiate with government the design of itââ¬â¢s commodified landscape, the continued organization of which has also been subject to pressure by its potential customers. The convergence of these agentsââ¬â¢ guarantees that Disneyland Resort Paris will remain embedded in Marne-la-Vallee in spite of all the difficulties it has faced until now such as financial restructuring in March 1994. The paper will first discuss how different approaches to economic globalization explain the Disney Companyââ¬â¢s move to internationalize and how the choice of the site was based more on traditionally geographic reasons such as accessibility and availability of land. It will then demonstrate how the Companyââ¬â¢s designs to ensure continued growth in the far future could only be accommodated by France with itââ¬â¢s New Town development strategy. This allowed the state to impose constraints on this private venture to ensure that it would remain a permanent part of the Francilian landscape whose new design the company had to negotiate. The paper will then show how Disneyland Resort Paris is not the white elephant that the French government was accused of subsidizing but will continue to act as a major economic growth pole. Causes of Disney Companyââ¬â¢s move to internationalize The circuits of capital approach emphasize the totally interconnected nature of finance, production, commodity trade and consumption. ââ¬ËCapitalism is a process of reproduction of social life through commodity production. The laws of capital circulation are consistentââ¬â¢ (Harvey, 1989:343). The primary requisite of a capitalist economy is a continuous circulation of capital. Jean-Paul Sartre had noticed already in 1945 that ââ¬Ëover and above greed, a genuine economic principle motivates Americans: ââ¬Å"Money is supposed to circulateâ⬠(Combat)ââ¬â¢. As capital circulates it is transferred from one investment to another. It follows only one cardinal rule: value be increased. Competition has become increasingly global. Disney Company, like all TNCs, is essentially a capitalist enterprise driven by profit. ââ¬ËThe odd thing about post-modern cultural production is how much sheer profit seeking is determinant in the first instanceââ¬â¢ (Harvey, 1989:336). The domestication of fantasy in visual consumption is inseparable from centralized structures of economic power. Disneyland Resort Paris is a private instrumental space designed for the efficient circulation of commodities, which is itself a commodity produced for profit. Cultural capital may represent an infinitely more expendable resource for capital accumulation than traditional investment capital, both for private companies and for governments. Cultural capital is considered here as a form of economic capital invested in the production of culture, rather than a symbolic capital, a personââ¬â¢s or groupââ¬â¢s knowledge. These circuits of capital are not abstract notions; they are anchored in space where they create geographical landscapes. The company and its imagineers have been pushed by investors to create more and more circuits. The Bass brothers controlled nearly 25% of equity and so named Michael Eisner as the new company chairman in 1984, following other hostile takeover attempts, because the company was not exploiting itââ¬â¢s full potential to create more circuits of capital (Wallace, 1985; Taylor, 1987). The company, in 1984, was already a powerful brand name with annual revenues of $1B. Disneyââ¬â¢s profits had soared to $783M in 1989 and its revenues had reachedà $8.5B in 1991 thanks to a very successful theme park in Japan, through enlarging the Orlando area and through other ventures. Itââ¬â¢s new directors wanted to capture more of the surplus value the name generated by entering the real estate business. They wanted to collect more than just royalties, as in Japan, to control more hotel development (they own only a small portion in Orlando), and to draw in more potential customers. ââ¬ËThey are banking on Eurodisney as the principal engine of Disneyââ¬â¢s growth in the 90ââ¬â¢sââ¬â¢(Business Week, 1990). Disneyland Resort Paris was considered a major investment potential by 1984 because of the worldwide shift in capitalism from an emphasis on production to consumption. The organization of consumption has just as important an effect on economic and social structure as the organization of production (Lash, 1993; Zukin, 1991). Shopping, consuming is the most important contemporary social activity on North America (Levine, 1990; Williamson, 1986). The consumption landscape can be viewed as a by-product of the changes in the distribution of income in the constant struggle of labor and capital over economic surplus. Consumption is also emphasized inside the parks. The Magic Kingdoms represents a fantasy landscape constructed around an entirely fictive nexus based on highly selective memory and mediated by mass consumption. In the United States ââ¬Å"â⬠¦Ã¢â¬ ¦.the Disney landscape has become a model for establishing both the economic value of cultural goods and the cultural value of consumer productsâ⬠(Zukin, 1991: 231) and has legitimized investment in them. In the over crowded market place (even or especially that of theme parks ââ¬â see Figure 2) imagery has become increasingly critical as a way of attracting particular publics and facilitating acts of consumption. The decision to internationalize is a major strategic decision. Disney was looking for economies of scope and co-ordination (Dicken, 1992: 143). Although the process of knowledge accumulation obtained from locating in new markets generates endogenously productivity gains that can sustain long run growth, the company had to ââ¬Ëcompare anticipated streams of monopoly profits with expected costs of product relocationââ¬â¢ (Grossman and Helpman, 1992:335). The innovation phase of its entertainment product (ââ¬ËMagic Kingdomââ¬â¢)à required itââ¬â¢s location in California, close to the movie and television studios itââ¬â¢s inception and survival depended on (W.Disney in Schikel, 1968). As the product matured, the company reacted to the actions of major competitors. To prevent further entry by competitors it developed the resort in Florida and licensed the ââ¬ËMagic Kingdomââ¬â¢ to a Japanese company (Lanquar, 1992). The dynamic nature of economic and social processes finally led to the direct penetration of foreign markets, penetration of foreign markets, penetration limited in Europe exclusively for the next ten years to itââ¬â¢s French site (Convention, 1987.) Disney Company developed a globally integrated competitive strategy to focus on itââ¬â¢s know-how in resort development which had taken it thirty years to develop and refine and which would differentiate it from itââ¬â¢s competitors. In North America, Disney World had remained the most frequented tourist site, as of 1995. Las Vegas is disputing this ranking today. Dunning (1980, 1991)2 indicates that, at the micro (firm specific) level, to internationalize, companies need to fulfill three conditions: ownership specific advantages, internationalization of the use of these advantages, and location specific factors, all of which characterize the Disney Company if not always in the traditional manner. Disneyââ¬â¢s ownership specific advantages reside in intangible assets, itââ¬â¢s perfected knowledge in resort development, itââ¬â¢s ability to create new imaginative visual consumption products, itââ¬â¢s sophisticated imagineering skills, inscribed in itââ¬â¢s brand image. Disneyââ¬â¢s pursuit of an intentional accumulation of knowledge to respond to anticipated market conditions (for example, by engineering new themes for consumption, since the company has vowed to forever renew itââ¬â¢s parks, cf. Flower, 1991: 186-8, 205-6, 279, 285) requires an allocation of resources and investment of the same magnitude as for creating new technology. ââ¬ËInternationalization of this knowledge will require [Disney] to operate a network of [parks] on a world-wide basisââ¬â¢ (Grossman & Helpman, 1991:82). The application of these skills is limited to theme park creation although the idea has been replicated in other arenas of consumption: mega-malls, forà example, seek to attract and retain customers for the longest time by presenting Disney-like attractions. Steve Wynn salutes Disneyââ¬â¢s imagineering with his pirate shows performed against the backdrop of a ââ¬ËTreasure Islandââ¬â¢ sidewalk dà ©cor in Las Vegas. Copycat theme parks have burgeoned too, like Busch Gardens. This socio-spatial complex of production cannot be geographically separated from its consumers. It has needed to locate (i.e. to move outside of the US to where the consumers are) this new form of consumption as well as to localize itââ¬â¢s specific features (creating itââ¬â¢s own landscape within another cultural landscape, both at a geographic site and in the business and consumption world). The very localized consumption space offered by its theme parks limited itââ¬â¢s possibility for expansion. Disney needed to serve new markets in different locations directly even though the product is virtually identical. Marginal increases in numbers of visitors would have been minimal even if the parks in the United States were enlarged (this was one of the main reasons for Disneyââ¬â¢s original move to Florida). This potential number of tourists from Europe would not increase either much above the 2 million now visiting the theme parks in the United States, considering the slow growth of European population and of itââ¬â¢s wealth. Time and cost space convergence have not been significant enough at the international level for pleasure travelling and it has not dissolved the psychic distance (language barrier for travelling to the United States, if not inside the Disney theme parks). Geographic reasons for choosing a location in Europe and a Francilian site. The Disney Company has mentioned two major reasons, or more traditional location specific factors (Euro Disney SCA, 1992). It can draw on 350 million customers (almost one and half times the size of the population of the United States) over an area half itââ¬â¢s size (Figure 1). Such a geographic move was to enable it to take advantage of the growth of short break holidays in Europe, together with the growth in numbers and sophistication of tourists while finding itââ¬â¢s niche in the increasingà tourist market segmentation. Four groups of tourists have been identified in Europe: 52% still travel attractive coastlines in warmer climes, 13% buy tourist packages, 25% prefer rural tourism and the rest practice urban tourism (Straw & Williams, 1990: 241). It founded its strategy on the notion that new consumption practices can take place anywhere and are eminently transportable. The company wanted to insure that it would remain the industry leader while it captured more of the worldââ¬â¢s market share and augmented the size of the firm (Grover, 1991). Their target, for some sectors, is up to a 20% yearly increase (Lanquar, 1992:73). Long holidays occur over the summer months whereas shortest trips (their targeted travel niche) are taken year round. In 1985, more than %19 had taken a second holiday in the European Community, 27% in France. Unfortunately, that kind of travelling could not maintain itââ¬â¢s early fast growth: it had increased 10% yearly in Great Britain between 1976 and 1985. France was also then the European leader in international conferences (Straw & Williams, 1990: 242). The recession, combined with the staging of several mega-events in Europe in 1992, absorbed much of the disposable income for that year and beyond (Winter Olympic Games in Albertville, France; World Fair in Sevilla, Spain; Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain). Disney Company also relied on the fact that its products-division received 50% of its worldwide revenues from Europe. Fifty-five million copies of The Journal Mickey are published yearly in Europe, including now a Russian version, but only 13 million in the United States. At least 250 European societies have signed licensing contracts with the Disney Company (Rencontres, 1992: 89). Walt Disney Animation, one of the largest European studios for the production of cartoons had been implanted in France earlier (Saffarian, 1992). European consumption habits already included Mickey Mouse paraphernalia. Disney Companyââ¬â¢s organizational apparatus leads, now across the world, to an increasing consumption synergy as its merchandise acts as both commodity and advertisement. In 1990, one third of its revenues were generated from foreign sales (Grover, 1991: 200). Name recognition is crucial even if often taken for granted in the consumer world (Flower, 1991: 21, Grover,à 1991: 187). ââ¬ËDisneyââ¬â¢ has become a shared term in world culture. Disney Companyââ¬â¢s megadesigns (ââ¬ËDream, diversifyâ⬠¦Ã¢â¬ ¦and never miss an angleââ¬â¢, W.Disney, 1988: 7), part of the dynamism and growth of transnationals, boosted competition for the park between European countries where it was considered a potential economic growth pole by itself and because it co-operates with other large multi-nationals. Cultural consumption contributes to capital accumulation by enhancing profits on entrepreneurial investment in production and distribution. European governments were anxious to anchor this new circuit of capital on their soil where it wold spawn more circuits. In the first ten years of Disneylandââ¬â¢s existence in California, the Disney company took in $273M, the peripherals $555M (Sorkin, 1992: 224). What distressed Walt Disney even more than the loss of surplus value was the disorderly and sullying form of this growth. In Orlando it has led to the construction of 76,800 hotel rooms, 5000 of which are under direct Disney management, 12,000 under licensing agreement (Rencontres, 1992). All the others are the result of spillover effects which include the implantation of 23 attraction parks around Disney World (Figure 2) The two other main contending countries besides France were Spain, for itââ¬â¢s sunshine (access, however was very constricted) and Great Britain because of the successful entertainment complex of Blackpool. The creation of Disneyland Resort Paris opened new spaces for the service economy where it should have a positive effect on capital accumulation in real estate development. Cultural goods and services gain economic significance through their role in interacting circuits of economic and cultural capital (Zukin, 1991: 260). In the contemporary (European, French) market economy investment in cultural capital would offset cyclical devaluation in other parts of the same circuit or in other circuits. European governments regard tourism as having an important economic role through its impact on foreign earnings, employment creation and regional development, because the activity is labor-intensive and employment can be generated relatively cheaply by those governments. In the United Kingdomà tourism supports 1.4 million jobs (Urry, 1990). Urban tourism is being used as a spur to regeneration in many de-industrialized(zing) areas in spite of the strong dependence of tourist activities on part-time and seasonal as well as low-skilled, and this low-waged, labor (Straw and Williams, 1990, Urry, 1990). Man governments were desperate to stem unemployment. In the mid 1980ââ¬â¢s, 16 million workers were unemployed in the European Union. The unemployment rate hovered around 10% between 1983 and 1992 with highs of 12% in France and 21.2% in Spain. The rate for young people was 18% across the Union but reached %30 in Spain and Italy(Commission des Communautes Europeenes, 1992). Many of the recruits of Disneyland Resort Paris are young and unskilled (Lanquar, 1992:117). Cultural and environmental problems can also be exaggerated by the introduction of mass tourism (e.g. Disney Worldââ¬â¢s problem with sewage effluents in the Orlando area, Flower, 1991: 252). Such economic development can occur only if it does not put undue pressure on vulnerable natural resources. European governments are involved in tourism development because of its multiple impacts. Tourism, in turn, has commercialized ââ¬Ëcivilizationââ¬â¢: in France, the transformation of ââ¬Ëthe places of memoryââ¬â¢ into ââ¬Ëplaces to visitââ¬â¢ has returned handsome benefits. The French government takes a broad perspective on tourism: it is more socially and culturally informed and less biased toward economic issues (OCDE, 1992, Rencontres, 1992:157). Why did Disney Company choose a rainy site close to Paris? It is one of three major population concentration poles in Western Europe, the other two being London and the Rhine Valley, and it is the most accessible to these other two (see Figure 1). Spain or the London area would have given access to the European Union market but from a peripheral location. Accessibility underpins the pull of centrality. The Paris Basin is at the juncture of northern and southern Europe: it is an unavoidable thoroughfare. Paris is also one of the most attractive cities with 25 million foreign visitors throughout the year. It is fewer than the 60 million visitors of London, but the majority of these are domestic (Straw & Williams, 1990). Those who will come to Disneyland Resort Paris, the company reasoned, will remain in the Eurodisney hotels 2 or 3 nights to visit Paris too. Studies conducted in 1985 determined there was great demand potential for theme parks in Europe (only one in ten people had even been to a theme park) that was largely unfulfilled (Rencontres EPA, 1992). ââ¬ËThe large Paris metropolitan area is missing a theme park that could restore itââ¬â¢s tradition as a center for recreationââ¬â¢ (Ousset, 1986). He felt that Disneyland Paris would fulfill that role. There existed only two large recreational complexes in Europe: Blackpool Pleasure Beach in England (7 million visitors a year) and more than one hundred-year-old Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagan (3.8 millions) (Urry, 1990). Its site (in Marne-la-Vallee) illustrates the importance of geographical location (Figure 3) in itââ¬â¢s traditional materialist interpretation, which is even more critical at the microlevel. The company had definitely opted for the French site in 1985, in spite of itââ¬â¢s unfavorable weather conditions, following studies conducted since the 1970ââ¬â¢s in several European countries on the feasibility of a number of sites (Grover, 1991: 187-8). Disney Company was looking for a site that was easily accessible to a large number of potential customers year round. When the company returned to court French authorities in the early 1980ââ¬â¢s it had also realized that itââ¬â¢s projects needed a minimum critical mass to allow them to function as resorts. They were thus looking for a site that would guarantee the land area needed not only for itââ¬â¢s theme parks (a total of three are planned into 2017) but also for the hotels, restaurants, residences, office that would be built because of the demands generated by the parks (Figure 4). At the same time, social practices are structured in time as well as in space as they structure that space. Spain has offered the Walt Disney Company a better deal than France, but it was not able to put together a large enough parcel of land (Grover, 1991: 188). The Paris area was the best equipped to handle such a large real estate project thanks to the stateââ¬â¢s ââ¬ËNew Towns Policyâ⬠initiated 30 years ago: large virgin plots of land were ready forà rapid urbanization, minimizing the cost of infrastructure provision and of the environmental disruption caused by such construction (Roullier, 1993). Four million cubic meters of land were moved, 68,000 cubic meters of rocks were molded and 85,000 trees planted, while work on sanitation and drainage was equivalent to that required by a town of fifty to sixty thousand inhabitants during the construction of the Disney park (Nouveau Courrie, 1992). This readiness includes not just the transport and other physical infrastructure, but also the judicial and administrative mechanisms for integrated project developments conducted by both the state and private companies. New town development strategy and the constraints of the ââ¬Ëconventionââ¬â¢ New Towns were created by the French Government in 1964 to guarantee a more harmonious economic development of the Ile de France by emphasizing the eastern side until then neglected (Bastie, 1991: 88). Major industries had located on the western and southern side of Paris, while their pollutants blew east. The French governmentââ¬â¢s planned office center, La Defense, was built on the western fringes of Paris. These new towns were to offer a dynamic urban life within an architecturally stimulating environment and to remedy the earlier uniformity of suburban high rising apartment projects constructed to house the lower French classes, and little else (Roullier, 1993) The government chose suburban locations for the new towns (Figure 5) to counteract the main characteristics of all suburbs: their distance from town renters which turns suburban dwellers in Europe into second-class citizens (Merlin, 1989). More than a million people now live and work in these new towns, 225,300 in Marne-la-Vallee alone in 1993 (Figure 6, EpaMarne/EpaFrance, 1994). Their exact location as well as their layout was to respect the physical characteristics of the area and to take advantage of its environment amenities. Disney Company came on board when the third section (Bussy-St-Georges: 7000 housing units, 600,000 square meters of offices and 90-hectare technological industrial park) was just started (Etablissments Publics, 1991). The parkââ¬â¢s size made it an ideal addition to the new town.à Disneyland Resort Paris was not just an amusement, but a large urban development, supported by major improvements in the transport network finance by the French government. (Boyer, 1994). In the French Governmentââ¬â¢s view, for the French new towns to really develop ââ¬â i.e. grow beyond the need for constant state subsidies and to successfully change into old towns ââ¬â attracting private investment was as important as constructing subsidized housing. The implantation of Disneyland Resort Paris crowned a development strategy conceived many years before (Roullier, 1993). The long-term objective was to make this area on of the main economic pivots of Europe, as revealed by itââ¬â¢s name ââ¬ËVal dââ¬â¢Europeââ¬â¢. This objective was based on the improvements in transport systems that would restore freedom of choice to town dwellers, provide access to the labor force and offer distribution networks for businesses. Transportation has been a key to new town development from its inception. The existing transport network is capable of draining towards Disneyland Resort Paris all those millions of anticipated visitors (Figure 3). All main communication routes in Europe or within France converge towards this area. Even if the Magic Kingdom were to fail (close itââ¬â¢s doors), these transport improvements would remain as the basis for attracting other private investors to an area that has always been designated for urban growth. Continuous urbanization from the other three sectors had been planned for this area, for some indefinite time in the future. The park only accelerated the process. There are two main themes to the development of Marne-la-Vallee as a new town. One is an office complex ten kilometers from Paris, with direct links to the capital. The other is the complex of Val dââ¬â¢Europe centered around Disneyland, one of itââ¬â¢s featured attractions, with a large number of offices serving as headquarters for Disney in Europe (100,000m2) that should attract other offices functions to occupy another 200.000m2. (EPA, Marne/EPA France, 1994; Boyer, 1994). By attracting large numbers of tourists, Disneyland Resort Paris will act as an investment magnet on other circuits of capital, based on the provision of hotels, tourist and leisure facilities and office buildings, that the French government will channel precisely through itââ¬â¢s new town of Marne-la-Vallee and as per the 173-page accord signed by two on 24 March 1987 after 27 months of arduous negotiations. The complete document with itââ¬â¢s appendices totals more than 400 pages (Convention, 1987). Results in real estate values remain way below predictions because Europe has been mired in an economic recession since the opening of the park. Although the French government seems to have given in to Disney Companyââ¬â¢s demands (Grover, 1991), for example by agreeing to an international rather than a French court to settle disagreements, the detailed contract attributes obligations to both sides. The French government spent 2.7 billion FF to provide first rate transportation links, but it has meant added jobs for the area (4,500 for the rail line, 1,300 for the RER). Disney Company must, in turn, guarantee a minimum number of rides for the Regie Autonome des Transports Parisiens (RATP) on the extended regional metro (RER) ââ¬ËAââ¬â¢ line, or pay for the difference (Convention, 1987, Article 11). A detailed program of development of the land offered to Disney schedules each step. It was not given all 1,945 hectares to speculate with at will, contrary to some press accounts (Business Week, 1990; Smadja, 1988). Disney Company spent only 500M FF to acquire the land necessary for the itââ¬â¢s first theme park (covering the costs of the infrastructure provided with the land) but it led to private investments of 10B FF (Lanquarm, 1992:109). Other major projects, such as international soccer stadium and centers of higher learning, are being erected in the area, encouraged in part by the presence of Disneyland in Paris (Boyer, 1994). Disney Company also appreciated dealing with one main negotiating team, the EPA (Etablissement Public dââ¬â¢Amenagement), whose existence was permitted by the new town judicial structure (Rencontres, 1992: 99-122). This is a public development corporation that fulfills both commercial and financial functions. It is established by government decree and has powers of pre-emptive and compulsory purchase, as well as legal and financial autonomy. It can thus function as developer in the new town, while it alsoà represents the government. Communication remains remarkably static-free between this private company and French authorities, thanks to the single government voice and thanks to the detailed blueprint that indicates who does what, when, and how (Convention, 1987). The company also underlines the importance of continuity on the French side, adhered to through the years, since the first negotiations in 1985, by the French government in spite of political changes at the helm (Rencontres, 1992:100). The French state did require that this development occur within guidelines set up in a ââ¬ËProjet dââ¬â¢Interet Generalââ¬â¢ (EPAMarne, 1987, Limery, 1996) that seeks to insure a coherent approach that will, for example, enable the villages in the area to maintain their present specific characteristics. The requirement was not made in a spirit of simulated heritage but to maintain architectural variety while enabling new construction to be fully integrated in the new townââ¬â¢s landscape. This evolution will transform the living conditions of the residents of the old villages of the area who thought they could maintain a rural lifestyle only thirty minutes away from Paris and who are going to be invaded by millions of tourists. Agriculturists and ecologists have joined forces to fight for the preservation of agricultural areas within the new town to counterbalance this mounting urbanization. (See Roullier, 1993; Bastie, 1991). The departement of Seine-et-Marne has seen an increase of 18,000 hotel rooms between 1985 and 1992. This includes the 5,200 rooms constructed by Disney Company (Rencontres, 1992: 165). It wants to develop the potential attraction of the southern part of the departement, i.e. the region farthest from the park that includes Fontainebleau, from Melua to Chateau-Landon and from Barbizon to Montereau. Itââ¬â¢s cultural and natural landscapes are rather exceptional since they include a number of famous castles (Fontainebleau and itââ¬â¢s museum. Vaux-le-Vicomte, Moret-sur-Loing) and beautiful natural forests. It is also an area frequented by locals (9 million per year) and by many foreign visitors (Maison Departementale, 1994). Disneyland Resort Paris is a wonderful opportunity to increase the level of visits by outsiders to the area which has suffered until now from itââ¬â¢s location in the shadow of Paris (25 million foreigners visit the capital, less than aà million come to this area). The convention that Disney Company signed includes the obligation for it to advertise other tourist sites in the area besides itââ¬â¢s own, as per Article 10 of the 1987 Convention (see, for example, the Michelin Guide to the Magical Kingdom). Tourist operators who do not have exclusive contracts with Disneyland Paris are also solicited to include these other stops in their packages. The departement is also trying to increase partnership agreements with a variety of service providers. Europcar, the official car rental agency of Disneyland Resort Paris, will put inside each vehicle a tourist map of the whole departement, as well as discount coupons for castles and restaurants in the area (Convention, 1987, Conseil General, 1991). Negotiating the design of the Francilian landscape The French government must have recognized that behind the vitriolic cultural debate about Disneyland Resort Paris stood a high level of capitalist investment in performance, in the machinery of reproduction, investment designed to create a ââ¬Ëproductââ¬â¢. The French government did not bow to capitalism which, like technology ââ¬Ëdoes not invite a close examination of itââ¬â¢s consequences. It asks for trust and obedienceâ⬠¦.because itââ¬â¢s gifts are truly bountifulââ¬â¢ (Postman, 1993: xiii). Contrary to popular opinion which accused it of caving in to the bullish tactics of Disney and the lure of many jobs, the French government had already resisted approaches by the company in 1976. French negotiators needed proof that this product could be exported. Tokyo Disneyland could not serve as a model in European negotiations and development, because the Disney Company was not a direct participant. It sold the exploitation rights to a Japanese company (Oriental Land Company) who financed, owns and runs the park. It did, however, serve the purpose of proving that the Magic Kingdom could be successfully transplanted onto foreign soil. ââ¬ËWeââ¬â¢re finally able to convince the French negotiators that we really meant business.ââ¬â¢ (Recontres, 1992:113). Because of the cultural capital are formed in real spaces, they suggest how space in an advanced service economy is really formed. ââ¬ËCapital creates andà destroys itââ¬â¢s own landscapesââ¬â¢ (Harvey, 1989). Space is structured by circuits of capital as they leave messages embedded in their surroundings. ââ¬ËSince the nineteenth century, shifting from one landscape to another has depended less on individual mobility than on a broad scale varied remaking of landscape itself.ââ¬â¢ (Zukin, 1991: 18). Landscapes sometimes grow by accretion; they do not seem as historically and culturally bound as in the past as they are constantly reinvented by ââ¬Ëfootlooseââ¬â¢ capital. The French government could not have forced Disney Company to choose a location in France. Some incentives to influence it might have over come any benefit government intervention could command. Tax concessions may eliminate any gains or lead to a transitory gains trap. The wages obtained from the supplementary jobs might be very low, leading to minimal tax and spillover gains, while increasing the need for services. The landscape is broader, has deeper roots and relies on more interconnections than government alone can control, especially on the international scene, since government intervention is restricted to itââ¬â¢s territory. Strategies of cultural consumption may only complement, rather than contradict, strategies of capital accumulation. The competitive edge of the French government to capture the Disney investors was by means of product differentiation, offering a space they enhanced through design and designation. The linkage between cultural capital and real estate development enables new economic structures to be localized and to acquire specific geographic locations: Marne-la-Valle for Disneyland Resort Paris. Disneyland Resort Paris demanded specific efforts to insert this large international project into a suburban new town within which it is to evolve rapidly. These are efforts of co-ordination in planning strategies, in capturing spillovers and in image development (Rencontres, 1992). Disneyland Resort Paris could not, by itself have acted as a growth pole that would economically resuscitate the eastern suburbs of Paris. The circuit of cultural capital it represented fizzled out within two years: Disneyland Resort Paris was ready to close itââ¬â¢s doors in March 1994 because it was bankrupt due to blunders before and at the time of the opening cultural, financial and economic matters. A capital asset that cannot earn income hasà no value; it becomes a liability. It did subject Disney Company to some ridicule by the press (Solomon, 1994). The tension between globalization forces that led to itââ¬â¢s expansion in Europe and localization forces, the result of local differences in production and marketing techniques has forced Disney Company to change and adapt itââ¬â¢s much prized know-how: for example, it has had to accept the sale of alcohol in the park. Losses were mounting too dangerously to ignore subtly different cultural practices. It was assumed that traditional status systems and parochial loyalties would wither away in the course of economic growth. Globalization has not done away with culture-specific modes of consumption. One of Disney Companyââ¬â¢s continued problems is the minimal amount spent by these millions of Europeans within the park: an average, in 1992, of 310FF instead of the expected 333 (Commission du Tourisme, 1993), down to 224FF in 1995 (Revenu, 1996). These spectators (Disney Companyââ¬â¢s terms for the visitors of itââ¬â¢s parks) have chosen other non-pecuniary forms of participation in Disneyââ¬â¢s spectacle. The resort was, however, integrated in a long-term project of the French government, dedicated to the balanced economic growth of the Parisian Basin. The short-term effect of Disney Companyââ¬â¢s capital venture was counteracted by the long term (30 year) ââ¬Ëconvention; signed by both parties. Disney Company could not withdraw, especially if the circuit was no longer profitable. This convergence, in Marne-la-Vallee, of capitalist action and social action created the synergy for Disneyland Resort Paris to be financially restructured in March 1994 so that it could again generate profits. Mutual effects of economics (circuits of capital pushing Disney Company to find new investment opportunities), politics (the French government looking for economic growth poles), and culture (the acceptance of a not-so-foreign popular cultural trait) are restructuring the Francilian landscape. Landscape includes the geographical meaning of ââ¬Ëphysical surroundingsââ¬â¢ and the ensemble of material and social practices: it is the entire panorama. It connotes a contentious, compromised product of society, but on which powerful institutions have a pre-eminent capacity to impose their view: bothà the French government and Disney Company in this case, not just the private company Disney (i.e. capital). In the United States, potential investments that are not targeted on short-term gain are often criticized as ââ¬Ësocialââ¬â¢ investments, but all investment takes place in a social context. Although it is believed that the role of sovereign states is being eroded in favor of international organizations, agencies and/or associations, private or political, that of France used itââ¬â¢s ââ¬Ëstrategicââ¬â¢ position to direct the development and prosperity of the Parisian Basin. The French government tried to avoid that public value be held captive to private value. It wanted to avoid that improvement explicitly reject the social variety of habitation of explicitly seek security by exclusion. Capitalismââ¬â¢s most lasting product is landscape (new geographies) which in many places it had rendered impermanent, forever exhibiting a new repertoire. Such shifting landscapes illustrate the structural charges of the global economy (Harvey, 1989; Zukin, 1991; Dicken, 1992). The spatial mediation of cultural consumption affects the redistribution of benefits among social classes and explains the direct interest of the French government in a Disney theme park, and itââ¬â¢s offer of the Marne-la-Vallee location. Space does make material form for the differentiation of a market economy but places can be selectively configured to promote community goals. The French governmentââ¬â¢s intervention of land in Marne-la-Vallee from matter to property so that development (localized economic growth) would not lead to obsolescence and dereliction here or in other parts of the Paris basin. It demonstrates that capitalism is not a monolithic force operating alone at the universalizing level to carve up the world according to itââ¬â¢s sole designs. Spillover effects of partnership Both parties emphasize positive results in spite of the vituperative press campaign which accompanied the arrival of Disneyland in the Francilian landscape (a ââ¬Ëcultural Chernobyl!ââ¬â¢). Such a large attraction was recognized as both a chance and a challenge: ââ¬ËThe chance we grabbed, and together with our American partners we have worked to make the park a success so the 12 million visitors will bring wealth to this whole eastern region. The challenge we are facing is to become a strong pole of attraction culturally and economicallyââ¬â¢ (Rencontres, 1992: 196) Daniel Robert (of Bison Fute fame) added: ââ¬ËMarne-la-Vallee is blessed with an extra-ordinary opportunity to sell itââ¬â¢s millions of square meters of office space, itââ¬â¢s ideal of an urban area, itââ¬â¢s strategic positionââ¬â¢ (Rencontres, 1992: 55). The presence of such a large investment has emboldened Marne-la-Vallee to combat the skepticism that smaller potential private investors show when solicited by New Towns. Visitors poured into Eurodisney: 6.8 millions by October 1992, 19.5 millions by February 1994 (Eurodisney SCA, 1992, 1994). Itââ¬â¢s basic allurement is itââ¬â¢s Americanness. It has been the best received park ever in Europe and it is the number one paid admission attraction there: Beaubourg Centre received only 8.2 million visitors in 1993, 3.8 million of which were free entries to the library; La Villette saw 5.8 million entries, the Effiel Tower 5.4; the Louvre welcomes 5 million visitors per year (Eurodisney Resort, 1993: 5). These numbers are insufficient, however, for the park to break even, since it needs 11 million per year to do so and reached just that number only itââ¬â¢s first year of operation. Number of visitors followed a downtrend until 1994: 6,708,551 averaged 1.45 visits in 1993. In 1994, only 5,574,059 (-16.9%) pushed the turnstiles 1.61 times. Visits by residents of the Parisian Basin had dropped by 31.3&. In 1995, however, the park registered a 21.5% increase in attendance. The percentage of foreign visitors had dropped by 15% between 1992 and 1993 down to 56% of the visits but it was back up to 61% in 1994. The majority of the customers (93.3% of the 5,777 hotel rooms and bungalows ââ¬â more than are available in the city of Cannes) are tourists, versus less than a two-thirds average for the Ile de France, but here too the number of foreigners has dropped (72% in 1994, 75% in 1993, vs. 82% in 1992). The occupancy rate of hotels has remained way below Orlandoââ¬â¢s rate of 79% even if it did not increase from 55% in 1992 and 1993 to 61% in 1994 and 68.5% in 1995. Every hotel night sold by Disneyland Resort Paris engenders the sale of at least one other hotel night in the area. In 1994, Eurodisney hotels stared welcoming guests who were not necessarily attracted by the theme park (EPAMarne, 1994, EPA-France, 1995). Marne-la-Vallee is a creation in progress and it needs to become credible in the eyes of private investors. Although a negative image of Disneyland Resort Paris was diffused by the press during the construction phase, based on itââ¬â¢s American cultural attributes, itââ¬â¢s business of selling false reality for pleasure and itââ¬â¢s bullish negotiating tactics with the French government and later with private companies and labor, the more positive one of leisure and festivities and of successful business know-how has since been emphasized. Disneyland Resort Paris is more than the Magic Kingdom because of the hotels, leisure resources, offices and residences it plans to construct (Figure 4). It has developed an image as a solid capitalist enterprise, the kind Marne-la-Vallee wants to attract. Know-how can be applied to both Disneyland Resort Paris and Marne-la-Vallee, so that Mickeyââ¬â¢s notoriety in Europe can increase that of Marne-la-Vallee, itââ¬â¢s present location. There does exist the danger that it becomes ââ¬ËDisney Valleeââ¬â¢. The social construction of the regional identity of Marne-la-Vallee will be dominated by Disneyââ¬â¢s cultural capital and the various other capital circuits it will engender. Two strategies have been suggested to counteract such a danger. At the national level, the state should put in place structures that define the identity of Marne-la-Vallee separate from the companyââ¬â¢s trademark. At the local level, endogenous and original solution need to be found to allow each and every inhabitant to identify culturally with the specific part of the Brie plateau s/he lives in. Disneyland Resort Paris has fulfilled itââ¬â¢s role as an economic growth pole both directly and indirectly, distributing spillover effects in the eastern suburbs of the Paris Basin while bringing economic benefits to the country. Within the perimeter of Disneyland Resort Paris, the ratio between public and private investment is 1 to 8, similar to the one found in most new towns. The French government invested 2.7B FF in public infrastructure while private companies and individuals disbursed 23B FF (Eurodisney Resort, 1993: 2). Construction employed 5,100 local workers and 180 companies for a cost of 13B FF 47% of which went to Ile de France companies, 76% in the caseà of residential developments. The company also had to construct 1,800 housing units occupied by 3,500 of its employees. In 1992, Disneyland Resort Paris paid 81M FF in local taxes and 250M FF in sales taxes. On opening day it employed 11,500 people, two thirds of whom were French (70% by 1995), one fifth of other European origin. There are now 9,700 employee representing a saving of 7% in operating costs. The downsizing came as part of the financial restructuring of March 1994. They were paid 2B FF in salaries and benefits, a substantial addition to the revenue stream of the new town. They generated with Disneyland, another 25,000 jobs in the area. The fifty tons of laundry produced daily by the resort, for example, led to the construction of two plants in the area. A little over 40% of these employees live in the Seine-et-Marne departement and thus consume within the area. There are another 5,000 seasonal jobs, 10% of which are filled by local residents. The economic activities of Disneyland Resort Paris in 1993 generated 9.2% less revenue than in 1992, although visitor spending outside of Disneyland Resort Paris increased by 3.8%. Another decrease of 6/9% was registered in 1994. In the fiscal year 1991-2, the company spent 2.7B FF, but only 2.2 in 1993, a decrease of 20% in goods and services (insurance, laundry, electricityâ⬠¦). Purchases registered a gain of 14% in 1994, and investments for improvements and maintenance, of 22%. Much of the income from these purchases remains in the area. 93% of food products are bought in France, 65% in Ile de France. Statistics were culled from Eurodisney Resort, 1993, EPAMarne, 1994, EPAFrance, 1995, Eurodisney SCA 1992, 1993, 1994. The French government received 4BFF in foreign currency (3.4% of foreign currency earnings through tourism in France in 1993), 812MFF in taxes and 9 to 15,000 jobs, depending on the season. Although totals fluctuate from year to year, they remain a plus for the economy. Disneyland Resort Paris led to a more than 3% increase in the total number of foreign tourists in France, 60.1M in 1993, 61.3M in 1994. The combined activities and purchases of all 61.3 million tourists provide 5.1% of the French GNP and 7.1% of itââ¬â¢s foreign currency earnings. The park is placed seventh as a major tourist operator in France, with 4.9BFF in revenues, behind Air France, SNCF, Accor, Club Med, Aeroports de Paris and Nouvelles Frontieres (EPAMarne, 1994, EPAFrance, 1995). Other theme parks come way behind: Futuroscope earned only 300MFF, Asterix 194MFF. The financial restructuring of itââ¬â¢s annual debt, which amounted to $370M in Marhc 1994, allowed the park to announce a profit of $35 million in the second quarter of 1995 and increased attendance helped consolidate profits for the remaining of the fiscal yearâ⬠¦. at least prior to debt payments (New York Times, 1995: D7). There was wide-spread optimism that Disneyââ¬â¢s presence in Europe would enhance the attraction sectorââ¬â¢s image, help improve standards of presentation and raise consumer expectations and especially willingness to pay. It has increased investment in smaller-scale attractions in France Asterix park (25 miles north of Paris) which had required an investment of $208 million receives 1.5 million visitors per year. The comic books it represents three-dimensionally have been translated in 40 languages. It conquered 7% of the potential market in the Paris Basin in three years. Disneyland Resort Paris aims for 17%. Under the influence of Disneyland Resort Paris it has begun a five-year refurbishment program. It has also been forced to define itââ¬â¢s product more clearly (Saffarian, 1992). Futuroscope, ââ¬Ëan intelligently entertainingââ¬â¢ park, has revitalized the region that surrounds it. It opened in June 1987 and boasted profits of 15M FF from revenues of 300M FF paid by 2 million visitors in 1994. Itââ¬â¢s theme is moving images. When innovators must compete in integrated product markets, they have reason to pursue distinctive ideas, and thereby contribute to the global accumulation of knowledge. ââ¬ËDynamic Cinemaââ¬â¢, one of the most sought-after attractions at Futuroscope, thrills, awes and panics spectators through the use of a 60/second flow of images and hydraulically controlled seats with computerized links to the pictures (Tresch, 1994). It has also had repercussions in other European countries. Port Aventura opened in May 1995 near Barcelona. Four hundred million dollars were invested, 20% of which by Annheuaer Busch, over 20 hectares, i.e. 50 acres (Tagliabue, 1995). Conclusion Both sides have benefited from this partnership between a private multinational corporation and public authorities. Disneyland Paris has maintained the momentum of development in Marne-la-Vallee that the French government wanted to stimulate. ââ¬ËThe success of the office centers of Marne-la-Vallee, of the Cite Descartes (and area of higher learning) and the presence of Disneyland Resort Paris demonstrate that betting on Marne-la-Vallee to assure the economic development of the eastern part of Paris Basin was the way to go, even if success was long in comingââ¬â¢ (Merlin, 1989: 77). New large projects are being constructed and jobs and their multiplier effect, taxes, new transport lines are increasing. In 1995 attendance numbers were on the rebound and hotel revenue and occupancy rates augmented. Even Orlando had rocky beginnings before returning itââ¬â¢s investment many times over and the two American parks suffered from lulls (Grover, 1991, Flower, 1991). Both the company and the French government had remained optimistic since talks for the next stage of development are right on schedule. Disneyland Resort Paris obtained a site it can grow in, with the necessary communication links to one of the most densely (in numbers and in purchasing power) settled areas in the world while it provides the French government with a major economic growth pole. The contract binding the two parties distributes obligations to limit the ability of private companies to speculate on investments made by public bodies financed by the general public, while it guarantees the timely completion of these investments. Optimism was justified when Disneyland Resort Paris opened as scheduled on 12 April 1992. It is still justified today as attendance numbers and spillover effects are on the increase. (Revenu, 1996: 9). Proving that public/private partnerships can enhance social benefits and capital accumulation. Endnotes 1 ââ¬ËFrancilianââ¬â¢ refers to Ile de France, also called the Paris Basin 2 A National Public Radio report in June 1996 indicated that Las Vegas had become the number one tourist destination among travelers who booked through travel agents. In a private communication, J. Brett of the Nevada Commission on Tourism mentioned that 30 million visitors were welcomed in the past twelve months in Las Vegas. Although slightly more than the 30 million who visit Disney World, the numbers quoted are of turnstile pushes rather than of head counts. I was not told how the total number of visitors to Las Vegas was arrived at. 3 All forms of knowledge (all products based on knowledge) have peculiar properties as economic commodities. Know-how is a ââ¬Ënon-rivalââ¬â¢ good: using it does not preclude others from doing it, of, other theme parks. It also ââ¬Ënon-excludableââ¬â¢: the very use of information in any productive way is bound to reveal it in part (Grossman & Helpman, 1991: 15). Preventing unauthorized use of it depends on property laws and their enforcement. One can understand Disney Companyââ¬â¢s sensitivity to any copyright infringements. 4 The first theme park in the Western world was built at the end of 1200ââ¬â¢s by Robert II of Artois at Vieil Hesdin. It included a revolving castle, a grotto within which rain or snow could be willed, animated marionettes, collapsing bridges, as well as exotic plants and animals that symbolized paradise. Charles V destroyed the park 300 years later. References Bastie, Jenn (1991), La Seine-et-Marne dans le schema directeur de Iââ¬â¢Ile de France, Cahier du CREPIF, 36 Boyer, Jean-Marie (1994). Marne-La-Vallee, Paris, Ile de France, EPAMarne. Business Week (1990). 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EPAFrance (1994), Le Partnerariat Public/Prive dans le Projet Euro Disneyland March 29. ____________(1995), Bilan 1994, ââ¬ËAnalyse des Retombees Economique et Sociales de Disneyland Resort Parisââ¬â¢, September, Paris. EPAMarne (1987), Projet dââ¬â¢Interet General Relatif au Secteur IV de Marne-la-Vallee. ____________ (1994), Analyse des Retombees Economique et Sociales dââ¬â¢Eurodisney. Bilan 1993, Paris, Societe de Tourisme International EPAMarne/EPAFrance (1994), Marne-la-Vallee en Chiffres, Observatoire Economique Etablissements Publics dââ¬â¢Amenagement de la Ville Nouvelle de Marne-la-Vallee, 1991-4: Maps and other pubilicity material on Marne-la-Vallee. Eurodisney Resort (1993), Euro Disney, les Elements Cles a Connaitre, March, Paris. Eurodisney SCA, 1992, 1993, 1994, Annual Reports. Flower, Joe (1991), Prince of the Magic Kingdom, New York, John Wiley & Sons. Grossman, Gene, M., and Elhanan Helpman (1991), Innovation and Growth in the Global Economy, Cambridge MA, MIT Press. 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