Involved In Knowing A Word

Involved In Knowing A Word Word knowledge plays an important role in language teaching, it provides the basis for learners to grasp four language skills listening, speaking, reading and writing. Without a certain amount of words, learners cannot expect to understand fully the content of listening and reading and express their meaning clearly in the process of speaking and writing. Lexical competence is one of components of communicative competence (Meara 1996).however, knowing a word is complicated and it involves knowing its form, meaning and use (Nation,2001) .e.g. spelling, pronunciation, grammar, denotative and connotative meaning, word associations, frequency, collocation and register. For English Learners in China, due to limited exposure to the target language, they have got difficulties with collocations and collocation errors are often found in their writing and speaking. In order to achieve a high level of competence in English, it is better for students to know more collocations. Nowadays in China, collocation has become one of the most important issues in English language teaching and learning. In this paper, firstly, the author attempts to explain and exemplify the question of what is involved in knowing a word, and some aspects of word knowledge are discussed. Secondly, collocation as one aspect of word knowledge is chosen to discuss in more detail, then some issues with respect to collocation are discussed, including the definition of collocation, the classification of collocations and the significant of collocation,. Finally, it deals with the classroom practice, as an English language teacher, some suggestions are given on the teaching of collocation in the classroom. What is involved in knowing a word? In the L1 acquisition, it is very common that learners may know how to speak one word in mother tongue but they do not know how to spell this word, while in L2 acquisition, learners may know the written form of word, but they do not know how to pronounce it clearly, or learners may know one meaning of a word, however, they do not know other meanings of this word in different contexts. Even learners may know both form and meaning of a word, but they do not know how to use this word appropriately in different contexts. Therefore, knowing a word is quite a complex cognitive process, and knowing a word involves understanding many aspects of word knowledge. Nation (2001:23) points out that words are not isolated units of language. Therefore, the question of what is involved in knowing a word has attracted considerable attention in the field of vocabulary acquisition. Researchers have identified different types of word knowledge. Richards (1976) and Nation (1990, 2001) list different aspec ts of word knowledge which learners needs to know about a word. I will use Nations classification of word knowledge as the basis for my discussion. More information, see the appendix 2. In recent decades, Nation is one of the worlds leading authorities on vocabulary acquisition. Based on the earlier word framework (Nation, 1990), Nation (2001:27) points out that knowing a word involves knowing its form, meaning and use, and each category is broken down into receptive and productive knowledge. Each of these three categories can be found in the discussion brief below. More details please see appendix two. Word form Knowing one word form includes spoken form, written form and word parts (Nation, 2001). Spoke and written form are essential word knowledge which helps learners to move forward to literacy. The knowledge of phonics, word reorganization and spelling provides a basis for learners to decode word meaning and use the word appropriately in different context. Knowing the spoken form means being able to understand the spoken form in hearing this word, this is receptive knowledge, as well as being able to pronounce the word clearly and make other people understood in the conversation, this is productive knowledge. Knowing the written form means being able to recognize the written form when reading, this is receptive knowledge; in the meantime, knowing the written form means being able to spell correctly the written form in writing, this is productive knowledge (Schmitt, 2000).Schmitt points out that the more similar between the second language and first language in spelling and pronunciation, the easier learners to attain these knowledge in second language. For example, it is easier for Spanish to learn the spoken and written form of English than to learn Chinese and Japanese, due to different orthographic and pronunciation systems (ibid). In terms of word parts, it involves knowing the prefix, suffix and stem that make up a word as well as knowing the word family (Nation 2001). It is possible to decode the meaning of unknown word when knowing the prefix, suffix or stem of this word. Take the word unbelievable, for an example. Prefix un means not, opposite, believe means trust something, -able means can be, worthy of, therefore the meaning of unbelievable is Not to be believed. In addition, Nation (2001) point out that knowing a word involves knowing the members of word family that will increase as proficiency develops. For example, knowing the word able, learners may know unable, disable, in the beginning, then they will know enable, ability, abilities, disabled disability. Normally, the knowledge of phonics, word reorganization and spelling are learnt by explicit instruction, such as repeat exercises, drills and rote memorization. Although this explicit instruction helps learners to acquire this knowledge to some extent, however, too much depending on exercises and rote memorization leads to boredom and decrease motivation. The best way to develop the phonics, word reorganization and spelling skill is to provide more opportunities to engage in meaningful reading and writing in the particular context. In addition, Learners can be trained and encouraged to use learning strategies. Such as finding analogies, cover and recall, focusing on difficult parts and setting regular learning goals (Nation: 2001:46). 2.2 Word meaning: Nation (2001) points out that knowing the meaning of a word includes connecting form and meaning, concept and referents, and word associations. Normally the word form and meaning are learned together. it means that when learners hear and see the word form, the meaning of this word will retrieved, in the meantime, when they want to express the meaning of word, the form of this word will retrieved as well. Daulton (1998) points out that the same form in the target language and first language makes learning the word meanings burden light. For example, English has some loan words from Japan; this helps Japanese learn some English words easier. In terms of concepts and referents, each word has got a core concept, while other meanings vary. It means a word has got a lot of meanings depending on the different contexts. Aitcheson (1987) also points out that there is a fuzzy boundary in the meanings of a word. One of the main reasons is that schema is different in the different contexts (Schm itt, 2000). In addition, Richards (1976:81) claims that words do not exist in isolation .Knowing a word involves knowing word association. Word associations are the links that words are related to each other in peoples mind. One word is given to a learner; some other that are similar or opposite, and related words easily come to mind. e.g. Accident-car, blood, hospital. School- chair, table, classroom, students, teachers; Home- kitchen, dish, food. 2.3 Word use Nation (2001) points out that knowing how to use a word involves knowing the word grammatical functions, collocations and being aware of constraints on use due to many factors, such as register, frequency and different cultures. Grammatical function is one of the most important linguistic constraints in choosing a word to use, and grammatical function refers to word classes and what grammatical patterns one word can fit into (ibid).e.g. we can say I know a lot, I eat a lot, I read a lot, however we cannot say I knowledge a lot, I eaten a lot, I reading a lot. Register and frequency are other particular types of word constrains on use. Register is considered as the stylistic constraints that make each word more or less appropriate for certain language situations or language purposes (Schmitt, 2000:31). In terms of word frequency, High frequency words (laugh) are heard and seen and used more frequently than low frequency words (guffaw, giggle, and chuckle). Generally speaking, low frequency words are used in the particular discipline, e.g. medicine, law, engineering, literature and so on). Therefore, High frequency words are more easily recognized and recalled than low frequency words. Therefore, knowing the use of a word should be aware of constrains on use of a word. In this section, word form, word meaning and word use are discussed. Next I will select collocation as one type of word knowledge (collocation) to discuss in more detail.Firstly, I will explore the definition of collocation, the types of collocation, and then I suggest that the knowledge of collocations is essential for learners, lastly, some advice on teaching and learning collocations in the classroom are given. The definition and clarification of collocation Collocation is defined in different way by researchers. collocation refers to items whose meaning is not obvious from their parts (Palm 1933 in Firth 1957, summarised in Nation, 2001:317).e.g., blonde hair, shrug his shoulders, fizzy drink, bite the dust. According to Schmittà ¯Ã‚ ¼Ã‹â€ 2000:76à ¯Ã‚ ¼Ã¢â‚¬ °,collocation is described as the tendency of two or more words to co-occur in discourse. Here co-occurrence is the main characteristic of collocation. Similar to Schmitt, Lewis (2000:132) describes it in another way as collocation is the way in which words co-occur in natural text in statistically significant ways, in this definition, the way words naturally co-occur is emphasized. It implies that people cannot put two or more words together arbitrarily, because words co-occur naturally. In fact, it is very common that some learners in foreign and second language context tend to put two or more words together arbitrarily because of the first language interference. For example, d o a decision instead of make a decision, big rain instead of heavy rain. Nation (2001:371) defines collocation asany generally accepted grouping of words into phrases or clauses. This definition reflects the two criteria of collocation which are frequency occur together and have some degree of semantic unpredictability (ibid). The above definitions indicate that words co-occur naturally, it is not easy for learners to get the meaning of collocation form its components, and as a result, it may cause problems for learners to acquire the knowledge of collocations. The definition of collocation leads to the shift to explore the types of collocation. Collocations are divided into two basic types: grammatical/syntactic collocations and Semantic/lexical collocations (Schmitt.2000). The former refers to one word combines with other words with the grammatical rule. E.g. get used to, be good at .the latter means multi words co-occur to contribute the meaning. E.g. make a mistake, catch a bus. Lewis (2000) lists different types of collocation, such as verb+noun, noun+noun, adjective + noun, verb+adjective, fixed phrase, part of proverb, binomial, trinomial and so on. The significance of learning collocations 4.1 The underlying rule of organization of lexicon Sinclair (1991) advances two principles (the open-choice principle and the idiom principle) to explain the organization of the texts. The open-choice principle suggests that you can put any word in the slot to make texts as long as you follow the grammar rule. It is known as slot-and-filler model. However, this principle cannot explain the collocation constrains. The idiom principle highlights that there are some regularities when two or more words combine together, and Sinclair claims that there are some constrains on the choices words in discourse(ibid), in other words, the way words co-occur are not random. Hill (2000) also agrees with the idea that the lexicon is not arbitrary. E.g. commit. A relatively fixed set of words can co-occur with it. E.g. suicide, crime, murder, sin. But not promise, advice, plan. 4.2 The size of collocation Groups of words or phrases are used very frequently to express meaning in the oral and written texts. Hill (2000) claims that two or more than two words collocations make up a huge percentage in the text. It is estimated that up to 70% of everything we use in oral and written texts are fixed expression. This widely used collocation implies that if non-native learners have got a huge amount of collocation, it will be helpful for them to achieve native-like fluency in the target language. Nation (2001) also points out that knowing the collocation knowledge of a word is one of the most important aspects of knowing a word. 4.3 Native-like fluency Learning collocation helps learners to speak and write English in a more natural and accurate way (Dell and McCarthy, 2008).if learners store a huge number of collocations, this allows them to retrieve ready-made language, think more quickly and produce language efficiently (Hill 2000).in addition, they do not need to make sentences word by word to express themselves, and this assists them in using English not only naturally but accurately. According to my experience of teaching English in China, due to the first language interference, the direct translate are used to produce language, the inaccurate use of collocation is very common in the essay writing, and this is one of the main causes which lead to the emergence of Chinglish, e.g. eat medicine, make exercise, receive the telephone e, open/close the radio, look TV instead of take medicine, do exercise, answer the telephone, turn on/turn off radio, watch TV. 4.4 language acquisition Learning collocation enhances language acquisition (Hill, 2000). Nation (2001) points out that collocation helps learners to store knowledge quickly. If learners have got a huge number of collocations in mind, it is easier for them to retrieve ready-made language from their mental lexicon and think more quickly because they can recognize big chunks of language when reading and listening, and this is very helpful for them to understand the meaning in the speed of speech and the long reading texts. In contrast, if learners decode the meaning of speech and texts word by word, maybe they know the meaning of each word, however, they do not know the meaning of collocation or chunks in the long discourse. It may be difficult for them to get the accurate meaning of the speech and texts. Based on my teaching experiences as a high school English teacher, I found that most of the students in my class have got difficulty understanding the meaning of the entire paragraph due to lack of collocatio n competence. Hill (2000) also agree with this explanation that one of the main reason for having difficulty in reading or listening is due to lack of collocation competence, rather than the load of new words. E.g. as far as I know, the old sheep comes up with the idea that he will give up on his dream to look after little sheep, however, he cannot make this decision due to other people. This makes him keep crying all the time. Even though students know the meaning of each word in the above paragraph, it is still very hard for them to understand the entire paragraph because they are not familiar with some collocations inside. In the above two sections, the definition, types of collocation and the significance of collocation were discussed. In the next section, I would like to give some suggestions on teaching and learning collocations in the classroom. 5. Teaching collocations in the classroom Here are some suggestions and activities for English language teachers that will help students to acquire the knowledge of collocations in the classroom. 5.1 Raising awareness of collocation in classroom Woolard (2000) points out that raising learners awareness of the importance of collocations is a good way to help them notice them. Teachers should explain the rationale for collocation, the significance of learning collocation in language acquisition, and then make learners know that words are not used in isolation, knowing one word also means knowing which word is likely to co-occur with it, Teachers can emphasize in the classroom instruction that knowing collocations not only helps them to receive (reading and listening) and store language quickly but also produce language naturally and accurately. E.g. When teaching reading, it is an effective way to ask learners to identify collocations in the texts and let them make a list of collocations. When teaching speaking, teachers can ask learners to predict the collocations of the word. If teachers encourage learners to notice collocations in input and output teaching activities, this practice will help learners develop an ability to n otice and use collocations. It also helps learners to develop learner autonomy, when they read newspaper, listen to radio, watch TV and talk to other people in English. They will notice the existence of collocations in spoken and written texts. 5.2 Increasing language input and providing output opportunities Using the authentic reading texts is an effective way to teach collocations. In the classroom, Lewis (2000) also suggests that teachers should choose the right kind of texts which includes different types of collocations. These texts can be used in the intensive reading practice. However, this is not enough to acquire the knowledge of collocations. Krashen(1985 )points out that enough comprehensible input is a source of language acquisition. Collocations are used in different types of texts, such as newspaper, magazine, and story books. It is good for learners to do extensive reading to encounter collocations in these authentic texts and remember them in the notebooks. In addition, extensive reading provides learners with context to make the understanding of the meaning of collocation easier and deeper, therefore. Extensive reading not only helps them to know how native speakers use the collocations in the natural way, but also moves learning collocations from short to long-term memo ry. However, Swain (1995) claims that despite the fact that learners are given a rich source of comprehensible input in the French immersion programmes in Canada. It is still hard for learners to produce the native-like language proficiency. Teaching collocations also needs to provide opportunities to learners to practice how to use collocations. These activities can be some communicative activities in terms of writing and speaking. Hill, Lewis and Lewis (2000) suggest that teachers can ask learners to find the collocations in the reading texts, and then use these collocations to reconstruct the content. Some collocation errors can be found. Teachers need to write down these errors in the blackboard and make learners to analyse them. The same activities can be done by listening to tapes or stories and then ask learners to speak out the collocations. Some exercises are used to help learners acquire collocations (Dell and McCarthy, 2008). Such as Fill in blanks, Match games True/False. 5.3 Using resources: Collocation Dictionaries and corpora and concordances It is a good way to get learners use collocation dictionaries to know more about collocations. e.g. Oxford Collocations Dictionary for students of English. In addition, with the development of internet, the innovative corpora and concordances are becoming the effective way for learners to check collocations online. They provide great texts to check collocations and grow dramatically with the update texts. Corpus has brought great insights into linguistics, especially into the study of collocations. A corpus collects the written or spoken texts and stores them in the computer. It is very helpful and efficient way to use the corpus to check how the people use collocations in written or spoken texts .Sinclair (1991:32) defines a concordance is a collection of the occurrences of a word-form, each in its own textual environment. Compared to collocation dictionary, concordance allows us view more collocation lists in the corpus. However, I think it is necessary for teachers to provide learners with some training to help them use it well, this also encourage learner autonomy. 6. Conclusion In this paper, I have explained and exemplified the question what is involved knowing a word. Word form, word meaning and word use were discussed briefly. Such as spelling, pronunciation, word parts, word meanings, word associations, grammatical functions, register, collocations, frequency and so on. In these many aspects of word knowledge, collocation as one type of word knowledge was chosen to explore. First, the definition and classification of collocation were discussed, and then the reason for choosing collocations was explained. Next, this author proceeded to explore how to teach collocations in the classroom. Lastly, this paper offers some suggestions on how to help learners acquire the knowledge of collocations in the classroom. Appendix 1: The meaning of knowing a word(Richards,1976), 1 The native speaker of a language continues to expand his vocabulary in adulthood, whereas there is comparatively little development of syntax in adult life. 2 Knowing a word means knowing the degree of probability of encountering that word in speech or print. For many words we also know the sort of words most likely to be found associated with the word 3 Knowing a word implies knowing the limitations imposed on the use of the word according to variations of function and situation. 4 Knowing a word means knowing the syntactic behavior associated with that word. 5 Knowing a word entails knowledge of the underlying form of a word and the derivations that can be made from it. 6 Knowing a word entails knowledge of the network of associations between that word and other words in language. 7 Knowing a word means knowing the semantic value of a word. 8 Knowing a word means knowing many of the different meanings associated with the word. Appendix 2: What is involved in knowing a word? (Nation, 2001) Form spoken R P What does the word sound like? How is the word pronounced? written R P What does the word look like? How is the word written and spelled? word parts R P What parts are recognizable in this word? What word parts are needed to express the meaning? Meaning Form and meaning R P What meaning does this word form signal? What word form can be used to express this meaning? Concept and referents R P What is included in the concept? What items can the concept refer to? associations R P What other words does this make us think of? What other words could we use instead of this one? Use grammatical functions R P In what patterns does the word occur? In what patterns must we use this word? collocations R P What words or types of words occur with this one? What words or types of words must we use with this one? constraints on use (register, frequency ) R P Where, when, and how often would we expect to meet this word? Where, when, and how often can we use this word?

Case Study Analysis Essay -- Business Hospital Management Essays

Case Study Analysis Chris Smith received a promotion to executive assistant to the chief executive officer at Faith Community Hospital. On Chris’s first day as executive assistant his boss, Pat, the CEO of Faith Community Hospital, meets with Chris to discuss, what the hospital does and some of the problems that the hospital is having. At the end of the meeting, Pat asks Chris to prepare a report that covers three areas: what is going on right now, what they can do about it, and what they should do about it. In the beginning of the meeting, Pat gives Chris some background information on the hospital, Pat’s position, and the company’s mission statement. Pat is the CEO of the hospital and reports directly to the Board of Directors of the Faith Foundation, whose diversity provides many different ways of thinking and decision-making. Although the hospital has a mission statement it seems like very few people are following it now a days, everybody has interpreted the mission statement to suit his or her needs. This is where the problems begin to occur. Faith Community is a non-profit organization designed to provide care to people from all lifestyles, but because of a growing number of problems, they have to re-evaluate how the actual running of the hospital and how the patients are being treated. With the diversity in thinking and decision-making, this is no easy task. Pat’s job is to figure out what is going wrong and how they can fix it and report these solutions to the Board of Directors. The first problem that Faith Community Hospital faces is the treatment the patients are receiving or the lack of treatment they are receiving. Because Faith Community is a religious based hospital sometimes individual’s personal beliefs can get in the way. Some medical personnel are refusing to administer certain procedures due to their beliefs, while some patients refuse certain procedures because of their beliefs. Currently the hospital faces the chance of charges being pressed from Child Protective Services, who allege that the hospital failed to provide services to the child. Some of the orders are not being followed or are being ignored because of how certain staff members feel, as well as the family members. The second problem that Faith Community Hospital faces is staff members providing free health care to people who cannot afford it without autho... ...nce their balance and make monthly payments. By financing the balance the hospital can add on interest to the overall balance, which will help pay for the employees needed to create this kind of department. The final issue that needs to be discussed at this meeting is employing people from social services. By having these people onsite they can immediately help uninsured patients apply for Medicaid or Medicare. If the patients qualify than they are covered by the state, and the hospital will be reimbursed for the services that they provide which will help with the hospitals increasing premiums, by taking patients away from using the hospitals insurance. Overall Faith Community Hospital is not in bad shape, a few minor problems need to be solved to get the hospital back on its feet and to help the hospital break even with their costs. By employing these special programs and revising the policies and procedures handbook, Faith Community Hospital can be providing quality health care to more people everyday and still afford to stay in business. These programs have worked well in other hospitals to offset the costs they incur and they can do the same for Faith Community Hospital.

Native Americans in the United States and African American Cowboys

Tenzin Dolkar APUSH, DAY-2-2 TO WHOM AND TO WHAT EXTENT WAS THE AMERICAN WEST A LAND OF OPPORTUNITY 1865 – 1890 During the year of 1865 to 1890, the American’s west land was a land of economic development for Native American, white settlers from the east across the Mississippi farmers, miners, ranchers and as well as African American cowboys and immigrants for Irish and Chines, moving west for goal of economic achievement and their position for profit.First, the Native Americans people opened the way of exploitation of the west land naturel environment. The Dawes Act, which turned Indians into landowners and farmers and distributed 160 acres for farming, designed Indians as individual rather than a group of tribes. The railroad made their trip easier, which Pacific Railroad Act was passed in 186, law allowed construction of new transportation systems.The Act also provided grants of land and limited jobs for immigrants’ worker on railroad, especially Chines immigr ants worked for a lower wage and discovered millions of gold and silvers. The immigrants worked for a wealthy white settler in the west. Moreover, the railroad opened faster access for transportation for castles, miners and all the peoples, who were making money. Including the Homestead Act was passed; its offered 160 acres of land for any settlers live on the land for five or more years with little registration fees.It helped poor people to achieve economic business and farmers who needed more land, were permitted to purchase of up to 160 acres of land for $2. 50. The farmers took advantage of Westland by doing international market, which mostly depended on railroads for shipment. Even farmers had difficulties of weather conditions, the produced the agricultural business by the Bonanza farm. The farmers were hopes to getting rich soon.Together with the African American cowboys and cattle industry turned into a new marker as well. Because of Indians on to new reservation and the rai lroad opportunities bring them easier transportation anywhere in urban markets; without the railroads the new business were take a time to make money . In brief, west land was a place of a new beginning for people who were moving for seeking life and opportunities and hoping to get rich. The wealthy white settlers made the most profit in Westland.

Easy A - 1164 Words

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President Nixon A Speech By President Of The President

A Speech by the President for the President Danica Adoc California State University, Bakersfield A Speech by the President for the President A speech is often used to deliver information to an audience. However, whether a speech is effective or not depends on the use rhetoric, or the ability to use language in a persuasive way. A desirable use of rhetoric tends to increase the credibility of the speaker while poor rhetoric sets the speaker in a questionable position by the audience. The latter can be demonstrated in the resignation speech of Richard Nixon, which, rather than shock the American people, actually fulfilled their expectations of his departure from the presidency. Richard Nixon was elected as the 37th President of the United States, serving two terms between 1969 and 1974 (â€Å"Biography†, 2016). At the time of the speech, Nixon was facing loss of public support and impeachment over his attempts to conceal any illegal activities involving him and his administration in the Watergate Scandal (â€Å"Biography†, 2016). Rather than face impeachment, Nixon d ecided to resign and issued a public announcement of his resignation to the American people. Ultimately, he intended to leave the presidency by preserving his reputation as much as he could and focusing on his achievements and legacy. In his speech, Nixon (1974) stated, â€Å"I shall resign from the presidency† (para. 8) and that Vice President Ford will replace him as the new President. He thanked thoseShow MoreRelatedPresident Richard Nixon s Speech850 Words   |  4 PagesPersuasion I strongly believe that Nixon s speech should be included in the argument chapter of the next edition of 40 model essay. On November 3, 1969, President Richard Nixon gave a televised address to the nation on his Vietnam War policy called â€Å"Vietnamization†. The speech, which Richard Nixon wrote himself, was given in response to a protest against the Vietnam War in cities across the nation. During his successful campaign for the presidency in 1968, Richard Nixon promised he had a secret planRead MoreEssay on The Watergate Scandal1270 Words   |  6 PagesStates president Richard Nixon re election campaign, and they were caught trying to wiretap the phones. The robbers who tried to wiretap the phones were not successful. more robbers broke into the Watergate building with a new microphone, but a guard noticed that they broke the locks on the doors. 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Analysis of the historical events surrounding Nixon’s declarationRead MorePresident Richard M. Nixon1524 Words   |  7 Pageshas been the nation’s leader for two terms, spanning five and a half years; unfortunately one decision causes him to lose the most important seat in the world. He is referred to as ‘The President of the United States’ but to the people of the free world, he was known as President Richard M. Nixon, the only president to ever step down from presidency. His resignation occurred August 9, 1974 about a year after his re-election. Resources say that he resigned so he would not face definite impeachmentRead MorePersuasive Argument For Run Nixon Out Of Office1245 Words   |  5 Pagesto run Nixon out of office On June 17, 1972, G. Gordon Liddy and E. Howard Hunt, members of the Nixon administration, were arrested for the much-publicized scandal of the Watergate burglary. 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The burglars,Read MoreRichard Milhous Nixon, 37Th President Of The United States,1505 Words   |  7 Pages  Ã‚  Richard Milhous Nixon, 37th president of the United States, was born January 9, 1913 in Yorba Linda, California. Nixon was one of the most controversial politicians. He used the communist scare of the late forties and early fifties to catapult his career, but as president he eased tension with the Soviet Union and opened relations with Red China. He was president during the civil rights movement and the Vietnam War. Nixon gained valuable experience in international affairs as a new member ofRead MoreTaking a Look at the Watergate Scandal839 Words   |  3 Pageswith the arrest of five men for breaking and entering in the DNC in the Watergate building in Washington D.C. Around this time, President Richard Nixon was running for a re-election, Nixon had a dynamic presidential campaign and advisers, and they were a part of a big political scandal. In May 1972, member of the Nixon’s movement CREEP (Committee to Re-Elect the President) had gone into the DNC Watergate head office and stole disclosed records and tapped the telephones. The monitors did not puzzle

Gap Inc Financial Statement Analysis LR - 1493 Words

Financial Statement Analysis for Gap Inc. Company Background Gap Inc. is a leading global apparel retail company offering apparel, accessories, and personal care products for men, women, and children under the Gap, Banana Republic, Old Navy, Piperlime, Athleta, and Intermix brands. Having distinct brands across multiple channels and countries allows Gap Inc. a strong competitive advantage. The company currently has 375 stores in 41 countries. Products are also online through Company-owned websites. Merchandise is purchased from more than 1,000 vendors having factories in approximately 40 countries. No vendor accounted for more than 5 percent of total purchases in 2013 and approximately 98 percent of purchases are from outside the United†¦show more content†¦The next set of ratios evaluate solvency, which is the company’s ability to meet its long-term obligations. The first ratio, times interest earned, represents a margin of protections for creditors. Gap Inc. generated $35.23 in income for each $1 of interest expense, which increased quite substantially from 2011 and 2012. The next ratio to evaluate for Gap Inc. is the debt-to-equity ratio, which decreased from 1.69 in 2011 to 1.56 in 2013. This tells us that Gap Inc. has $1.69 in liabilities for every $1 in stockholders’ equity. Gap Inc. v. J. Crew Group One of Gap Inc.’s biggest competitors is J. Crew Group because they have similar branding strategies and product offerings. J. Crew Group is an internationally recognized brand that offers apparel and accessories and differentiates itself through high standards of quality, style, design, and fabrics. The company operates stores and websites both domestically and internationally, and designs, sells, and markets products under the J. Crew, Crewcuts, and Madewell brands. Their customer base includes people who are affluent, college-educated, professional, and fashion conscious. They operate a total of 451 stores located in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. By comparing the profitability of the two major international retailers, we see that J. Crew Group has a lower return on assets at an average of 5% for 2011-2013 compared to Gap Inc., which has an average ROA of 16% forShow MoreRelated7-Eleven8138 Words   |  33 Pagesresearch projects. Case Study: an in-depth description of a firm’s approach to an IT management issue (intended for MBA and executive education). Technical Research Report: a traditional academically rigorous research paper with detailed methodology, analysis, findings and references. About the Center for Information Systems Research CISR MISSION CISR was founded in 1974 and has a strong track record of practice based research on the management of information technology. 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Case of E-Commerce Movement ebay-Free-Samples-Myassignementhelp

Question: Conduct a literature search on the reasons why incumbents are often beaten by challengers in business. Your team can take some examples of incumbents and challengers while writing the report. Answer: Introduction Incumbent is an individual who is answerable to all the activities at the workplace. They are basically the leaders in the market place and have huge market shares. It focuses on changing the environment by bringing better services. For example the producer of eBay that is an incumbent and Amazon is considered as challenger. It is an intermediate between the association of business and materials. If the supplier is currently in use than it is considered as incumbent as it is holding some place in the association. If some new supplier overtakes the duties of old supplier, then new supplier is termed as challenger and the old supplier is termed as incumbency (Antonelli, 2014). Apart from that there are many situations in which challenger beats incumbents. Challengers in the market are those who are providing same as mine. Incumbents are left overlooked but it is necessary to defend an incumbency by showcasing the performance. They set an aggressive target price and re-compute the price whenever new opportunity arises in the market. This report helps in knowing how altered version replaces the old methods (Vargo, Wieland Akaka, 2015). Other than that Disruptive technology is used to change the way in which entire business operates, it helps a small company to establish a larger organisations. Incumbents are beaten by challengers as the challengers tries to focus the market by maintain a good position in a short period of time. Incumbents dig the large sags to come next in the market but it is difficult for the incumbents to stand out in the market (Green-Pedersen, Mortensen Thesen, 2017). Incumbents have a lot of advantage as there name in the market, increased funds but it can be done by defining what an opponents is serving, what are the drawbacks and then defining an agenda to beat the challenger (Karthikeyan Jonsson, 2016). Literature Review Considering the case of Amazon and eBay, Amazon is an American company and is owner of the largest Internet retailer till date. It was started by selling the books online which was expanded to selling of video, audio, softwares, toys and jewelry etc. Amazon use the strategy of recording customers behavior so that offers or bonus could be provided to an individual accordingly (Haucap Heimeshoff, 2014). This also increases the value in the market. Whereas eBay sells the product to website only, its sales depend on the online auction of products only. This has various limitations as it charge fees from sellers to showcase their products on the website. Thus eBay has been beaten by Amazon in the market. It is true that incumbents beat challengers as they start planning at early stage, even though they have not beaten the challenger. They focus on what an opponent is doing in the market so that they plan accordingly to increase the budget and has a big spender. Thus research is a major s tage for challengers to beat incumbents. Similarly, Amazon has offered better job policies in the markets thus allowing the seller to showcase their products via amazon rather than eBay (Le-Nguyen Guo, 2016). In the views of (Syed Sudhakar, 2017), Amazon has built trust in the market while eBay had some trust issues like they were caught while selling fake goods, because of this reason there traffic have decreased. Plus Amazon has provided a good user experience as they reach out to customers rather than waiting that customers reach out to them. Amazon has created a user friendly platform that is providing easy access to products and serving trustworthy products to the customer. In the literature search, opinions (Bakshi, 2015) stated the reasons why incumbents i.e. eBay is beaten by the challengers i.e. Amazon. Thus Amazon has beaten eBay in the market and is one of the leading online retail in the world, has gained attention in the customer sector. The secret for Amazon success is they it focused on the ways to provide services to customers in low price and also focused on increasing the service by reducing the delivery time and serving best quality products, which was a drawback of eBay as they had a large delivery time. Amazon has crashed the market of eBay in terms of customer satisfaction, as Amazon is the first platform for buying products online. Researched on the eBay services, Amazon redesigned the plan to come ahead of eBay, in terms of rating 62% of clients choose Amazon wherein for eBay its just 12%. The best selection options are available on Amazon whereas eBay has lesser number of products that it why 79% choose Amazon, while eBay is the pref erred choice for 9% of respondents. eBay does not offer any terms of convenience to customers such as extra benefits but Amazon leads the survey in terms of convenience as it allows customers to choose the online retail juggernaut. The goal for challenger is defining the agenda by looking at the incumbent; the goal of beating incumbent is easy if challengers are well prepared. According to the opinion of (AlSheikh, Shaalan Meziane, 2017), eBay had the chances to survive and grow in the market but it took the wrong direction and was beaten by Amazon. EBay did not adapt to the changes in demands of customers and lacked in trust issues. Amazon used this drawback of EBay and planned the strategy to focus on selling products in low price but making sure that better services are offered to the customers. As for the case of eBay, the problem was not that it had lack of ideas; rather it made the wrong choices and failed to adapt itself with the changing market conditions (MitSloan, 2017) eBay was not able to cope up with the competition since it only excelled in selling the products to the retailers who promises to resell the good to customers having the features was somewhere a limitation in the market. Amazon worked on this and allowed to sell the products to a wide range of customers. Amazon made the work easier for seller as it writes all the description of the product to be sold, in case of eBay the customers need to manually describe the product. eBay failed to grasp more customers and continued to manufacture the same products which it was manufacturing earlier without any new innovations for offers for the user. EBay lacked in its features as no new innovative products where coming in the market (Pattie, Hartman Johnston, 2017). The reason behind its failure was Amazon who offered fast services to customers, as the services of Amazon where highly automated. Since, it requires less amount of time to perform basis tasks. On the other hand, most of the features of eBay are not automated because of which seller found it difficult to even track the item. According to (Erikson, 2016), eBay was slow in reacting to market changes. Earlier, people were comfortable using eBay which were easier to handle but eventually due to the emergence of Amazon who offered services in a better way market of eBay had fallen. Also eBay charges for selling their products on monthly basis where Amazon presented a better way to seller by charging the seller only when they actually make the sell. The possible customer base for Amazon is much higher than that of eBay. As amazon keeps on innovating new ideas and offers for clients like Amazon has rapidlyprolonged its services like discovering itsrolloutofAmazon Prime. Thus innovating new ideas is the major concern of getting more customers to the business and helps in growing rather than being sable. eBay is strictly a marketplace platform for users to conduct business but not for retailer, thus retailer need to search some other platforms. Amazon was in the phase to challenge the incumbents thus it offered a platform for both a marketplace and retailer. Amazon also offered new creative services like it has options for huge fulfilment of business, handling the fulfilment for every merchant on the site. Thus eBay lacked somewhere in the innovation thus Amazon launched AWS, it is a digital publishing division for selling their movie-streaming division, audio, books etc. to the user. In the views of (Willandia, et. al, 2017), Amazon is responsible for all the items sold to the customers so that issue of trust is resolved where in case of eBay dont own any products as it is auction site. Thus the quality of good are degraded which leads to customer dissatisfaction. It is true that there are chances of being scammed on eBay but Amazon worked on this a resolved the problem, gathering more customers. Amazon offered many reasons to customers to choose amazon over eBay as it makes shopping easier and offer a very easy interface to user. Also eBay is a time consuming process because seller need to wait until the auction is over thus it could not be used on regular basis for this amazon offered fast and easy services to customers. And it is considered as more appropriate for customers who repeat buying of products on regular basis According to the (Pepper Alves, 2017), incumbents are crushed by the new innovators and they eventually fail in the market. EBay failed in th e market due to various roadblocks which were solved by Amazon. EBay lost the customers interest as it has a very poor feedback facility and users could not offer a good experience. For this Amazon adopted a method to serve customers with good services and offer a great buying experiencing so that they can rely over amazon for a longer run. When Amazon came in the marketplace, eBay somewhere dismissed from the competition and didnt provide any new products to the users. On the other hand Amazon kept on inventing new products in huge quantity and selling the products in a lower cut of prices gathered new customers. Thus the way to beat incumbents is cut the price of product and offer more options to the customers. Also as eBay is an auction website it failed in the market due to poor auction description and using old products. Amazon worked on this and asked user to sit free and completed the product description by itself. In the perception of (Clarke, Chelliah Pattinson, 2018), eBay is beaten by Amazon, as eBay operates as a third party who needs to connect to the sellers for purchasers. Henceforth there is no inventory section of their own so there were various issues in the quality of goods as it just connected to buyers from sell. Amazon solved the issue of quality as it sells the products of every kind but ensuring that quality is met. Conclusion It can be concluded that incumbents are often beaten by challengers in the market. In case of e-commerce movement eBay was beaten by Amazon as it gained momentum in the market by embracing more customers by offering them more benefits. Both eBay and amazon stand out in the market, but amazon majorly provided the goods directly to the customers rather than using third party. Also challengers look for drawbacks of incumbents so that services could be offered to the customers to grow in the market. Better trust means better sale thus eBay lacked in the trust issues and lost friction of purchase from the buyers. Amazon offered a better buying experience got boomed in the market. Thus these shortcomings are the major reason why incumbents are beaten by the challengers. References AlSheikh, S. S., Shaalan, K., Meziane, F. (2017, October). Consumers' trust and popularity of negative posts in social media: A case study on the integration between B2C and C2C business models. InBehavioral, Economic, Socio-cultural Computing (BESC), 2017 International Conference on(pp. 1-6). IEEE. Antonelli, C. (2014).The economics of innovation, new technologies and structural change. Routledge. Bakshi, R. (2015). A Comparison Between User Interface Design for Different Kinds of Mobile Applications.IJEECSE. Special Issue-TeLMISR, 91-96. Clarke, T., Chelliah, J., Pattinson, E. (2018). National Innovation Systems in the Asia Pacific: A Comparative Analysis. InInnovation in the Asia Pacific(pp. 119-143). Springer, Singapore. Erikson, R. S. (2016). The Congressional Incumbency Advantage over Sixty Years.Governing in a Polarized Age: Elections, Parties, and Political Representation in America, 65. Green-Pedersen, C., Mortensen, P. B., Thesen, G. (2017). The incumbency bonus revisited: Causes and consequences of media dominance.British Journal of Political Science,47(1), 131-148. Haucap, J., Heimeshoff, U. (2014). Google, Facebook, Amazon, eBay: Is the Internet driving competition or market monopolization?.International Economics and Economic Policy,11(1-2), 49-61. Karthikeyan, S., Jonsson, S. (2016, January). Competitive Dynamics of Incumbents and Challengers in British Electoral Competition, 1955-2005. InAcademy of Management Proceedings(Vol. 2016, No. 1, p. 17051). Academy of Management. Le-Nguyen, K., Guo, Y. (2016). Choosing e-commerce strategies: a case study of eBay. vn partnership.Journal of Information Technology Teaching Cases,6(1), 1-14. MitSloan, (2017), How Amazon beat eBay [online], Available at https://sloanreview.mit.edu/article/how-amazon-beat-ebay/, Accessed on 20 March. Pattie, C., Hartman, T., Johnston, R. (2017). Incumbent parties, incumbent MPs and the effectiveness of constituency campaigns: evidence from the 2015 UK general election.The British Journal of Politics and International Relations,19(4), 824-841. Pepper, L. G., Alves, L. D. F. N. (2017). Small-scale Aa in the global market: adding value to ensure sustained income for forest farmers in the Amazon Estuary. InIntegrating Landscapes: Agroforestry for Biodiversity Conservation and Food Sovereignty(pp. 211-234). Springer, Cham. Syed, H., Sudhakar, K. F. (2017). Exploring How Gender and Age Influences Online Shopping behavior making a Comparison Between two Online Sellers in India. Vargo, S. L., Wieland, H., Akaka, M. A. (2015). Innovation through institutionalization: A service ecosystems perspective.Industrial Marketing Management,44, 63-72. Willandia, A., David, S., Martha, C., Kathryn, E. (2017). Market access and wild meat consumption in the central Amazon, Brazil.Biological conservation.