Feminism in Top Girls

Feminism in Top Girls The play is one of the most famous works of Churchill in all of hers. Some consider the play as a very radical feministic one, some consider it as anti-feminist. But the matter is that she, by the use of different techniques and strategies has made her play like a globe in which all women are there supporting, discarding each other. The play has a very important historical evidence behind itself and it was the matter of Thatcher that had become prime minister, as Churchill, her self comments that when she wrote top girls: Thatcher had just become prime minister; there was talk about whether it was an advance to have a woman prime minister if it was someone with policies like hers. She may be a woman but she isnt a sister, she may be a sister but she isnt a comrade. And, in fact, things have got much worse for women under Thatcher. (Churchill in Betsko and Koenig 1987, 77) In fact Margaret Thatcher and Edith Cresson, as prime ministers of their own time were really top girls. In top girls, Churchill has had two main idea in her mind: those of dead women coming back and women working. these are in fact two main topics of the play, which are very closely intertwined. the dead women from the past appear in act one, taking place in a restaurant, a celebration that Marlene organizes, because of her recent promotion, we see other characters such as Lady Nijo, Dull Griet, Pope, Joan who celebrate their femininity with each other. during the course of the night they gather together and supposed to speak about their victories, and of course there occurs an epiphany for them because they in fact had lost their own womanly manner in order to achieve mens world. The presence of this empty women is so well epitomized in the character of Marlene, as a kind of gap between past and present, this working class girl pregnant who left her home village to make a new one in London., so the old Marlene has died and no one is born and replaced by a cruel one, so we see here some assembly of dead women, who so naively consider themselves as the most alive ones. The structure of the play so excellently shows the sense of death of its main characters, in other words we can see a kind of parallelism, between their life and the structure of play. the plays denouement is somehow truncated, as the lives of women truncated and crooked. Of course we can consider this kind of techniques used by her as a feminist stances of denying the masculine pattern of plays inherited by Aristotle, I think before the full analyses of the play, thats better to mention some characteristic of it that is so prominent: her adaptation of Brechtian drama by the use of alienation effects,a kind of aesthetic distance, the matter and technique is so excellently showed by successive interruption of waiter and of course their laughter. From the perspective of dramatic shape it consists of three acts. one consists of three scenes and act two of tow scenes. I think the matter and division is because of creation of some chronological disruption, and it is done as a way of fulfilling a very good function in order not to create a kind of identification between the reader/audience and the actor/actress on the stage. Another important thing mentioned here is that, between different layers of this play, we have the working of the ideology. In this way we have a criticism of capitalism and capitalist regimes that the play puts forward.   In another sense, it can be used to exemplify more feminist reading of the play in fact by occurrence of a complete climax and by in fact having a diametrically opposed position to  the structure inherent to tragedy postulated by Aristotle. as Christopher Innes has stated: Combining surreal fantasy with Shavian discussion, documentary case-histories, and naturalistic domestic drama (complete with kitchen sink and ironing-board), Top Girls breaks out of conventional methods of portraying life on the stage, and suggests new ways of seeing reality .. creating a dynamic that is liberated from cause-and effect logic. (Innes 1992, 466),and this matter some how leads us to the next point: looking for a feminist form(or at least a kind of form different from the patriarchal one).the fact that we have in the drama only women and not men, is really vital in comprehension of it. the fact that the actresses in Top Girls have to double or treble roles prevents us from identifying with them and, consequently, focuses the attention of the reader/audience on the political message of the play, that is feminism . Thus, the woman-only cast illustrates the subject matter of Top Girls and reinforces the theme of feminism or thats better to say anti feminism. Although, the play deals with oppression of women by men in a capitalist regime, but we see the oppression of women by women as a result of being part of that regime .It can also means that how women have internalized the rules and privileges of patriarchal societies, however, we dont see a manifest attack of Churchill on men, in other words we dont see the struggle of women but in fact the play turns on the analyses of class strife and economics. An example can be found in the case of Marlene, who sacrifices her own daughter and family in order to escape from her working-class origins, besides, here in this drama we see that all the women somehow have some masculine way of behavior, although they think that they have cut with them, as we see that they have just an illusion that they are successful women or we as a kind of reader find tat its just an illusion to consider the play just as representation of a feminist drama. I think even the naming of character in the play, they exemplify the whole discussion about class struggle and economic strife that underlies it. so we have here a four group classification. First group women of past as we have Isabella Bird, as her name reminds us the matter of travelling. It can also be considered as a reference to the several characters in the play(Marlene, Lady Nijo, Win, Angie, Jeanine and Shona), who long for escape from their reality and fly to other, sunnier lands. here we see on the surface feministic tendency. Another important thing that really needs concentration is the language used by Churchill, she really has done her best to create a kind of distinctive use of the language in the play as Aston and Savona argue that: In Top Girls, the use of overlap is a sign of the female voice. Brechts splintering of the ego is further problematised in Churchills text by the female entry into the symbolic order of language. As a logocentric or phallocentric sign-system (as identified in Derridean or Lacanian terms), language places the female subject in a marginalized relation to its patriarchal order. (Aston and Savona 1991, 70) By destabilizing the linguistic exchange and therefore unfixing identity, but at the same time giving predominance to a female voice, Churchill seems to be stressing in a radical way the destabilization and displacement of the female subject in relation to language (Aston and Savona 1991, 70), and consequently in relation to occupying a position in a  patriarchaliy-defined society. All the women of top girls have conformed themselves to the male standards of behavior and that shows the theatricality of their works and glories. They are never satisfied with this new brand of gender, at least before they were just women now not men and not women belonging to one of them. From Lacanian point of view and as a confirmation of what I mentioned in the previous paragraph that all their actions are nothing but facade, we see that all of the characters are confined in the symbolic stage with the role of father. Since language is given in and by a system dominated by men, womens access to it is going to be clearly mediated. According to this, womens voice, their identity, will be totally artificial, a construct defined by patriarchy. This is  precisely what Gret purports to destroy in her powerful speech, in which she equals the Symbolic Order to hell. A hell where all the devils are male. As I mentioned in the previous paragraphs, Caryl Churchill in her marvelous play Top Girls has inserted a lot of messages some say that it is basically a play about capitalism and sexism: About capitalism in the sense that it analyses labor and social relations constituted by a capitalist economy, about sexism in that these relations are seen from a female point of view, which explores how female identity is put down by the politics of patriarchy. Top Girls is also a socialist-feminist play. It can be defined as socialist in that it takes a clear position against any sort of capitalist ideology, and it can be defined as feminist because it presents us with a parallel between socio-economic, by the use oppression and gender oppression. In fact, as we have seen, Churchill herself is a firm believer in the inseparability of feminism and socialism(Kritzer 1991, 149).besides, her uses of characters are true to life, she really generalize the theme of her feministic play, by use of characters of different classes to connote that it is a play about all women. Different strategies of her to create a feminine setting is really of paramount importance, although in this play she showed women who have achieved the highest level of social life but they are not really satisfied. I think the main message of her is that women should know the limits, as she is a social feminist and she is criticizing the bourgeois feminists. References: Jstore: Titol de la testi: Gender, Politics, Subjectivity: Reading Caryl Churchill

Essay --

When chemicals come together, they form a reaction. A chemical reaction is when one or more substances change into one or more new substances. The properties of the new substances are different from those of the original substances. You can tell a reaction has happened when you see these signs: a precipitate has formed, gas has formed, color has changed, or energy has been given off (blue book). If substances with new properties have formed, you know a chemical reaction has occurred. The substances that you start off with are called the reactants. The substances you get after a reaction has occurred are called the products. There are different types of chemical reactions. Exothermic reactions are a type of chemical reaction where energy is released and absorbed by nearby matter. Endothermic reactions are a type of reaction where energy is absorbed from from its surroundings (blue book). Chemical reactions happen at different rates. There are many factors that affect the speed of ch emical reactions. To make a reaction go faster you can increase the temperature, increase the concentr...

Amazing Grace poem

The poem I chose was â€Å"Amazing Grace† by John Newton. John Newton was born in London, July 24, 1725 and died December 21, 1807. He was an Anglican priest and hymn writer, advocating the Christianity view of redemptive forgiveness. He wrote â€Å"Amazing Grace† as an element of that prospect (Clugston, 2010). â€Å"Amazing Grace† is one of the most famous poems ever written and composed. This poem is also a hymn that speaks too many who is looking for salvation, forgiveness, grace and faith. This form of poetry is narrative poetry because it tells us a story in a song about salvation. Amazing Grace† also uses figurative speech to express imaginative and distinctive effect. I grew up in a Baptist church where I still attend today. We would sing â€Å"Amazing Grace† every Sunday as one of our devotional hymns. Devotion is what we have before our church service starts. About three deacons would stand in front of the church and pray, read scriptures, and sing hymn with the congregation. Every Sunday it never failed â€Å"Amazing Grace† was a hymn that was going to be song. This hymn is one of the most popular hymns of all time.The literary element that I thought contributed to this poem was tone, content, and form. Using these literary elements is what makes this poem a significant piece of poetry in history. â€Å"A hymn is a lyric poem or scared song, which is written in praise to a deity or spirit† (Wheeler, 2012). The poem â€Å"Amazing Grace† is different from any poem that has been ever written. This poem is unique because it is written in the form of a song. When you see â€Å"Amazing Grace† no one ever stops to read it as a poem, that poem is automatically song without any hesitation.This type of literary element is to be specifically heard, not to be read. â€Å"Amazing Grace! How sweet the sound. That saved a wretch like me! I once was lost but now I’m found. Was blind, but now I see † (Clugston, 2010). By listening to the words of that song pretty much tells us what kind of person John Newton was, and how he changed his life. Throughout this poem Newton is talking about different events, or thing that has happened to him during his lifetime.These elements affected my response to this poem because I never knew that this hymn originated from a poem. I always thought that this was a song and I knew we would sing it church on Sundays. Some people use this song at funerals and many different church functions such as a theme or some sort. Now by actually looking at the poem and getting a chance to read it in poem form I have a different point of view on this particular poem. I always though Amazing Grace was a hymn. I had no idea that it originated from a poem.This song is universal and is known throughout the world by its lyrics. This poem comes to life after you have read or sung it. It really makes you think with all the different elements that he uses in th e poem. He used words to describe himself such as wretch. He used words to let you know the difference between right and wrong. He used these words to captivate his audience and to let them know where his faith stood. Amazing Grace demonstrates purity as it relates to the excellence and awe of divine love.

How Divorce Affects the Romantic Relationships - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 4 Words: 1110 Downloads: 7 Date added: 2019/06/24 Category Psychology Essay Level High school Tags: Divorce Essay Did you like this example? The purpose of this study is to provide insight into how divorce affects the romantic relationships of the children within the household when they are older. Divorce rate is high and relationships come a dime a dozen nowadays and this study is going to find out if that is because of observation of past relationships with in the home. Because of these factors, the researcher hypothesized that children that come from divorce homes would actually be better spouses, especially if they have children because they wouldnt want their offspring to enduring the same pain. The methodology for this study will differ in the fact that it will be conducted as a single factor experiment between subject design allowing for more control of variables and the comparison of a control group to the experimental group. This design will allow for more insight on the effects divorce has on relationships from children within the household. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "How Divorce Affects the Romantic Relationships" essay for you Create order The participants were 300 high school and college students from two separate communities. The participants were strictly comprised of 150 participants in each group, and each group of 150 volunteers were studied for 30 days. At the conclusion of the research, 300 different volunteers were selected from a different high school or college. In order to accurately represent both genders in the research, the total number of male and female participants were equal at all times. Then the 150 volunteers were selected by probability sampling where each person had a chance of being selected (Passer, 2014, p. 205). Out of the three methods of probability sampling, stratified random sampling was used to divide the sampling frame into groups and then members for each group (male or female) were selected by random sampling (Passer, 2014, p. 205). Simple random sampling was used to choose the male and female participants for the research. Because the participants are randomly chosen to varying conditions of the experiment, the type of between-subjects design that was used was Independent-Group Design (Passer, 2014, p. 241). There are several factors to take into account, age, gender, and whether the participants come from a two parent household or one. There was not a quota for the number of females or males that participate allowing the study to be more conclusive. The research had minimal risk to the participants in that there would be a bit of emotional distress. Once the sampling population were selected, each participant was required to sign an Informed Consent, after the form was thoroughly explained to each of them in a face to face interview with the researchers. In order to reduce risk, the study was completed. The dependent variable in this study would be affected relationships. Affected relationships were defined by the groups answer to tasks and questionnaire. Complete tasks and the behavior exhibited while completing those tasks whether the group was part of the control or experimental. To ensure anonymity, all participants names where replaced with corresponding numbers. As one of the limitation found within researching all points of the study would be issues with those that are in relationships having anonymity because of the personal questions regarding relationships, ensuring this particular limitation would be kept to a minimum The data compiled in this study was collected by different means. One of the means of collecting measurable data were surveys. A climate survey was conducted at the beginning and at the end of the each groups 30 day experiment. The climate survey at the beginning established a baseline of data for the study, such as gender and age. Two surveys was conducted, one at the beginning and one at the end of the study. The responses for the surveys will be measured using a 5-point Likert Scale ranging from 5 = most effected to 1 = least effected (Chein, 2013, p. 85). Observational Design research was also used to compile data. The researcher documented observed reactions during experiments were conducted on how the participants behaved when asked to either role play or demonstrate how they would react during certain real life situations within a relationship. The behavior was recorded in order to establish quantitative data. For this reason, the scale of measurement utilized was Nominal scal e. The behavior recorded was the percent of individuals from the experimental group that where singled out, the percent the express cohesiveness is an issue, and the percent that feels that the divorce was contributing factor to any relationship issues. The qualitative data that was collected was analyzed and compiled into quantitative data to show whether the hypothesis was confirmed or disconfirmed. Based on the data that was compiled, the hypothesis divorce affects the manner in which you behave within a relationship is supported. The research results were analyzed after the entire study was completed. Therefore, the results reflect the totality of the study not individual analysis. The Likert Scale utilized to measure the initial survey results showed out of 300 participants 20 percent were female and 80 percent were male. Five percent of the females and ten percent of the males did not have issues within their relationships in the past or current. The initial climate survey showed that 78 percent of those individuals were happy with their relationship and 15 percent were already experiencing issues within 90 days of their initial relationship. The results clearly indicate that divorce can affect how one behaves within their relationship. The experimental group had issues completing tasks based on societal norms on how to react within a relationship. This study proposed limitation in the regards to the number of subjects. The number of subjects does not accurately represent the number divorced and or non divorced children in the states. External validity was also a limitation. The research could not control what happened when the study was concluded for the day because participants were permitted to leave. Controlling conversations with each other was difficult because there was no way to know that this did not occur. These limitations were noted and a future study would greatly reduce these limitations. One way to combat the external validity is to improve the internal validity. A future study could implement that the control group and the experimental group be conducted by an observational study using a structural design. Professionals will benefit from this study because it provides insight to how divorce can affect you in the moment and for the future within a relationship. Knowing what baggage you bring to a relationship is important and an understanding of the effects this could have within an intimate setting is important. Creating emotional stability for our society and being better men and women will help build a stronger family setting for the future. This study has qualitative and quantitative data that was collected. The study implemented the 5 basic Ethical Principals guaranteeing all involved are treated fairly and respectfully.

Fully Explain How Advertising Can Affect Profits in...

This essay is going to examine how advertising strategies used in different market structures affects profits of the firms. This essay is being written based on Advertising, an article by Geoff Stewart, in which he examines â€Å"how do firms determine their advertising strategy†. In this article he uses Monopolies as an example of a non-competitive market and Oligopolies as an example of competitive markets, so in this essay Monopolies and Oligopolies will also be used as examples. However other competitive markets include perfect competition and monopolistic competition. A Monopoly is a market structure characterised by one firm and many buyers, a lack of substitute products and barriers to entry (Pass et al. 2000). An oligopoly is a†¦show more content†¦To help explain how profits are made through advertising in a competitive market Stewart uses game theory. Game theory is a technique that uses logical deduction to explore the consequences of various strategies that might be adopted by competing game players (Collins, 2000). Table 1 (Stewart, 2005) is a simple view of two firms that have to choice of advertising or not advertising, if both firms were to advertise there profit would be 1, if one to was to advertise and the other didn’t then the firm who is advertising will get a profit of 3 and the one not advertising will get 0, if they both don’t advertise then they will both make a profit of 2. It is in the interest of the firms to advertise however because there is the possibility of them making more profits than not adv ertising. The choice to advertise is the firms dominant strategy and firms will always go for their dominant strategy. Table 2 (Stewart, 2005) is used to describe how advertising in a market may increase demand in the market rather than market share. It is still in the firms’ interest to carry out their dominant strategy in this case however it also maximises joint profit in this case. This shows that in a strategic setting, firms profit maximising actions may, but will not necessarily generate profit maximising outcomes (Stewart, 2005). In conclusion it can be seen that advertising in a monopoly is an effective way to increase profits. ThisShow MoreRelatedMarketing in Hospitality by Quynh Anh3216 Words   |  13 PagesService Industry Context 1.1define and Explain the Concept of Marketing A concept is the general scheme or formation of something and marketing is the way in which a produce is moved by means of a channel to reach its target audience. Marketing idea is the attitude which encourages firms to center on their consumers’ desires. This is by examining their wants and making efficient choices that suit those requirements in an enhanced way than the competition. An advertising concept holds the belief that high-qualityRead MoreWhich of the Cournot and Bertrand Models of Oligopoly More Realistically Reflect Firm Behaviour?2626 Words   |  11 Pagesoligopolies have several models to try to explain how they react, examples of these are the kinked demand curve, Bertrand and Cournot models. A non competitive oligopoly is ‘a market where a small number of firms act independently but are aware of each others actions’ (Oligopoly, Online). In perfect competition no single firm can affect price or quantity this is due to intense competition and the relative small size of the firms, on the other hand there is a monopoly market where there is little or no rivalryRead MoreAdvertising and Promotion - Hnd Essay5099 Words   |  21 PagesTask 1a. Explain the structure, roll and relationship between parties in the communication industry. Communication industry is a collection of firms that attempt to inform, persuade and remind consumers about the products and services of various organisations. It is the voice of the company brands to make relationships with customers by having a feedback from them. In a communication process feedback is as much as important as the message. In this process of communication there are differentRead MoreMarketing and Product Essay12745 Words   |  51 PagesDirected Study in Marketing Chapter 1 Marketing’s Value to Consumers, Firms, and Society Questions and Problems 1. List your activities for the first two hours after you woke up this morning. Briefly indicate how marketing affected your activities. a. Awakened by alarm clock. Clock bought because of brand name loyalty: Seiko b. Had coffee. Brand name loyalty and preferred taste: Folgers c. Walked and fed dog. Purchased Purina Dog chow due to advertisements. d. Made breakfastRead MoreKitkat Case Study2808 Words   |  12 Pagesit has consistently been one of the best selling chocolate bars on the market and has acquired an instantly recognisable brand name and identity. In 1997, British sales of Kit Kat amounted to some  £227 million, which made it easily the most popular confectionery product on the market. Forty four Kit Kats are consumed every second in the UK! The UK confectionery market is worth over  £5 billion per annum and is highly competitive. It continues to be dominated by large, wellestablished names - highlightingRead MoreN07/3/Busmt/Hp2/Eng/Tz0/Xx/M+ Markscheme November 20077340 Words   |  30 PagesIBCA. –3– N07/3/BUSMT/HP2/ENG/TZ0/XX/M+ 1. (a) Construct a fully labelled decision tree. (Show all working) The economy Improved 20 % 1. Buy new players ($ 2 m) Unchanged 50 % Worsened 30 % Improved 20 % 2. Build a stadium 0.4 0.9 ($ 3 m) Unchanged 50 % Worsened 30 % Improved 20 % 3. Renovate the stadium ($ 1 m) Key A decision node A probability node Discounted option [5 to 6 marks] The decision tree is accurately constructed and fully labelled. All calculations are correct with one minor errorRead MoreOrganizational Culture and Environment5941 Words   |  24 Pages(which was launched on 4th December 2007) which attracted more customers. o It is affordable by the common man (not only the elite class). o Ufone was the first cellular Company in Pakistan that introduced the service of GPRS and hence took the competitive advantage. o Ufone has some exciting and energetic SMS packages that made SMS almost free. They are offering Rs. 25, Rs.50, Rs.100, Rs. 150 SMS packages which its subscribers are in love with. o Ufone has some very exciting and low call packagesRead MorePepsico17225 Words   |  69 PagesPolices ,Values amp;Statements | 10 | VII. Social Responsibility | 13 | VIII. Financial Analysis | 15 | i. Liquidity Ratios | 15 | ii. Activity Ratios | 16 | iii. Debt Ratios | 19 | iv. Profitability Ratios | 20 | v. Market Ratios | 23 | Phase Two | | I. General Environment (PEST Analysis) | 24 | II. Porters model (PM) | 28 | III. Strategic groups (SG) | 30 | IV. Competitors profile matrix (CPM) | 32 | V. External factor evaluation (EFE) |Read MoreSupply and Demand and Study Guide20292 Words   |  82 PagesAustralia was not involved in its production. CONTENTS Contents 3 Introduction 5 An introduction to the economic perspective 13 Demand and supply 17 Elasticity 21 Market applications 25 The behaviour of firms and costs 31 Perfect competition 37 Monopoly 43 Monopolistic competition 47 Oligopoly 51 Economic performance, market failure and government intervention 55 Appendix: Guide to working successfully through the unit 63 INTRODUCTION Welcome to Microeconomics 1. In this unit of studyRead MoreManagerial Economics Essay8301 Words   |  34 Pages12th July 2013 PROBLEM SET #1 1. Complete the following table and answer the accompanying questions. a. At what level of the control variable are net benefits maximized? Net Benefit is also profit. The formula for this is MB = MC. As seen in the table completed above, after applying the formula then net benefit is maximized where Q = 106. b. What is the relation between marginal benefit and marginal cost at this level of the control variable

Public Opinion On Youth Violence And The Increment Of...

Despite negative public opinion regarding youth violence and the increment of youth offences, the Canadian judiciary has unequivocally supported the rehabilitative and re-integrative approach of the YCJA in plethora of cases discussed below. The situation is fostered because this rehabilitative approach seems to be uniformly shared amongst most of the provinces, notably, in less violent cases or violent cases involving first time offenders. However, sentencing has mostly differed in cases involving serious violent offences like murder etc. especially because of the existence of youth prior records relating to violent offences along with psychological assessment on the probabilities of recidivism. These factors support incarceration as†¦show more content†¦Section 39(1) (a) of the YCJA, which represents one of the four gateways to a custodian sentence, provides that â€Å"[a] youth court shall not commit a young person to custody unless†¦ (a) the young person has commit ted a violent offence.† The Court of Appeal, in a separate decisions, upheld both the sentences, holding that the sentencing judges did not err when they determined that C.D.’s arson to property offence and C.D.K’s dangerous driving offence were â€Å"violent offences† within the meaning of s. 39(1) (a). While allowing the appeal, and appreciating the fact that the term â€Å"violent offence† has a spectrum of meanings and that it can be applied to property as well as to persons, held, that in the context of YCJA the term â€Å"violent offence† should be narrowly construed. The Court based its decision on the object and scheme of the YCJA, and the intention of the Parliament in enacting the same. The Court observed â€Å"that the YCJA was designed, in part, to reduce over-reliance on custodial sentences for young offenders. Moreover, where two interpretations affect the liberty of an accused, the one more favourable to the accused should be adopted. A narrow interpretation of â€Å"violent offence† means that the definition must exclude pure property crimes. The Court further noted that a harm-based definition of â€Å"violent offence† is preferable to a force based definition because it avoids the flaws associated with a

Life Cycle Assessment in Built Environment - Myassignmenthelp.Com

Questions: 1. As an accountant of the company, you would like to have a better understanding of how the sustainability of the company will impact on the stakeholders. You believe the most efficient way is to identify important stakeholders. Refer to the case and identify five relevant stakeholder groups and discuss how different accounts could be used to satisfy each groups information requirements.2. In order to enhance companys performance, the CEO thinks it might be insufficient to use profit as the only performance indicator, and is considering using a range of key performance indicators to manage the business. You believe the Balanced Scorecard is a useful performance measure framework that can be used, as it gives management an overall picture of companys performance. You have been asked to develop a Balanced Scorecard to assist RTXM in managing its overall companys performance and demonstrate how it works to the management and staff in next company meeting. You need consider ONE of the m ost important metrics that could be used for each of the four perspectives of performance and explain the reason why it has been selected and how it can be used to improve companys performance.3. The CEO believes the company was attractive because of its previous low price strategy but has also noticed unprecedented awareness from customers on the companys social responsibilities. The CEO approaches you to discuss the selection of supplier, which supplier is better for companys strategic development. Provide an explanation to the CEO with reference to the potential costs and benefits of working with both Super Cheap and Green Fashion.4. After your analysis above, the CEO starts realizing the importance of working with social and environmental friendly suppliers, however, still does not have a comprehensive understanding to the positive and negative impact his companys products might have both socially and environmentally. You decide to use the Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) for a product that the company offers to enhance their understanding. Draw the LCA, and select one or two stages of the LCA, identifying a total of four possible social and environment impacts. If the impact is detrimental either socially or environmentally, give suggestions to minimize the impact. If the impact is positive, give suggestions as to maximize the benefit. You are required to undertake some research to answer this question.5. Subsequently the company decides to contract with the Green Fashion. Some important shareholders attempted to block this proposal. Their belief, as the owners of this company, is that the company should aim to maximize the value of their shares, however, the new business plan could significantly increase the costs and therefore reduce the profit. You are required to identify an organisation, business or industry and explain whether and how it could potentially increase the value of its shares in the long term by being accountable to its major stakeholders. You are required to undertake some research to answer this question. Answers: Answer 1 The five key stakeholders along with the relevant accounts for satisfying the informational needs are highlighted below (Deegan, 2014). Shareholders The decision regarding supplier can impact the profitability of the company and hence the net worth. As a result, the existing 20 shareholders of the company are stakeholders. The key accounts of importance for the shareholders would be the net profit to begin with but would include metrics related to injuries to workforce (including those of suppliers). Customers Sustainability has become increasingly important for customers who desire to buy goods from manufacturers having ethical practices. As a result, the sourcing decision could impact the preferences of customers making them stakeholders. The sourcing policy along with the metrics related to environment sustainability and consumer complaints refunds are essential. Also, the sales account in terms of price charges would be critical. Government/Professional Bodies Ethical sourcing has become significant ever since the abysmal labour practices followed in the sweat shops have come to light. As a result, there have been agreements in the clothing industry whereby the big brands have taken measures to focus on ethical sourcing. Key account closely watched would relate to the sustainability report, the sourcing policy, employee related injuries along with performance metrics. Suppliers The sourcing policy adhered by the company has a impact on the present as well as potential suppliers in the future. The informational needs can be fulfilled from the sustainability report besides the balance sheet which would indicate the financial strength of the company. Lenders The sustainability practices adopted by the company could impact the lenders owing to potential financial impact of any lapse. In case of sourcing from Bangladesh, there is considerable risk to the business which could increase credit risk. Key accounts would be the sourcing policy, sales, profits along with liquidity indicators (both short term and long term). Answer 2 Balanced scorecard is a tool to ensure that the performance metric of the business are broad based and hence not too much biased towards economic performance. Considering that the balanced scorecard enables the business to focus on other critical aspects such as learning and customer satisfaction, hence this leads to higher sustainability for the business. There are essentially four perspectives namely financial, customer, internal business processes along with learning and growth. The most critical metric for each of these performance dimensions has been outlined below (Adams, Neely and Kennerley, 2007). Financial The two key important metrics would be sales growth along with profit margin. However, the more significant of the two metrics would be profit margins especially considering that the company would go with expensive but green supplier. As a result, the margins in short term could be under pressure and as a result series of cost cutting measures may be initiated by the company whose effectiveness would be captured by this metric. Customer The number of customers complaints received as a percentage of transactions should be the appropriate metric. This becomes significant in the wake of increasing complaints from the customer that the business faces in wake of expansion. Keeping customer complaints under check would enhance the customer satisfaction. Internal business processes The product quality is a critical metric in this regard. The company should aim to bring the damaged or defective goods to less than 0.5% of the total goods manufactured. This would lower the costs related to repair, replacement and quality check and would enhance the overall customer satisfaction along with profitability. Learning and growth The company should aim to improve the online shopping experience as it an area of weakness and has tremendous scope for growth. Also, this would help the business lower down costs and improve operational profitability. A suitable metric could be clicks generated along with conversion rate of clicks. Answer 3 In order to choose between the two suppliers, a cost benefit analysis needs to be performed as indicated below. Supplier 1: Super Cheap Benefits: It would provide a vast array of products desired by the business at very cheap prices in limited time which would help the company enhance the market share and the profitability of business. Higher profitability in turn would lead to creation of wealth for shareholders Costs: Owing to poor past record with regards to sustainability and labour practices, negative publicity can be generated for the company especially in case of any unfortunate incident. This is especially likely in an environment where customers are quite sensitive about social responsibilities of business. The company could potentially invite lawsuits for unethical sourcing involving practices such as child labour which besides financial costs could adversely impact the expanding business. Green Fashions Benefits: The company boasts of ethical practices which the company can promote amongst the customers and hence look to charge premium from the customers. No risk to the reputation in the long run Matching value system and sustainability goals make the relationship sustainable Costs: The associated costs of the products would be higher forcing the company to alter business model and look at other ways to bring down operational costs. Conclusion The preferred choice would be Green Fashions even though in the short run, the company may have to alter the business model to accommodate the higher costs. However, in the long run, the company does not face high risk of reputation and customer loss on account of unethical sourcing. Besides, the common values make the business relationship more sustainable. Answer 4 The various stages of the LCA are highlighted below (Finnveden et. al., 2009). The two stages which have been chosen for this analysis are inventory analysis and impact assessment. In inventory analysis, the focus is on the inputs and the outputs generated. The impact assessment focuses on the effect related to the use of resource and related emissions and classifying the same in different categories of impact (Crawford, 2011). The product can be chosen as a T-shirt. The various social and environment impacts are outlined below (Finnveden et. al., 2009). In case of unethical sourcing (i.e. by choosing suppliers such as Super Cheap), the environment would be damages severely owing to the discharge of the untreated waste directly into rivers. In order to mitigate the same, the company should choose a supplier which minimises waste generation or disposes the same in a responsible manner. Further, pollution of the river could have severe environmental consequences to the marine life which is apparent from Super Cheap practices. In order to mitigate this, it becomes necessary that supplier should comply with environmental norms and ensure that the marine life is not adversely impacted. There are adverse social consequences with regards to various settlements near the polluted water bodies owing to the manufacturing of T-shirts. As a result, they might be required to migrate to another place where drinking water is available. In order to reduce this undesirable effect, the dumping of waste and pollutants in rivers should not be practiced and only such suppliers should be entertained. Further, it is quite possible that these t shirts are produced using child labourers who are employed in sweat shops. This leads to their exploitation and hampers their education growth. For mitigation, it is imperative that a supplier should be chosen that does not use child labour so that this social menace can be discouraged. Answer 5 The clothing industry in the west (whether be it US or UK) is an example of industry which can improve and act in the interest of the majority shareholders so as to create wealth for them in the long run. A key practice which is followed by major players in this industry is outsourcing their cloth manufacturing to South East Asian countries which happen to be major textile manufacturers. One of the key reasons for this outsourcing is the lure of lower costs owing to availability of cheap labour. However, the sub-contractors and contractors in these countries in a bid to further lower costs tend to deploy a sizable amount of child labour. It is estimated by the ILO (International Labour Organisation) that about 170 million children across Asia work as child labour with a predominant share being concentrated in the garment industry (Moulds, 2016). Considering the complexity of the global supply chains, at times the big brands are not aware of such practices at the site of contractor. However, there have been instances in the past when despite being aware of such practices, no concrete action has been taken in order to safeguard their own interest of maximising profitability. However, this goal is not achieved as has been seen from the experience of Nike and Adidas which have faced tremendous implications for running sweat shops for manufacturing of shoes. It is essential that the clothing industry takes a clue from their experience and understand that in the long run, wealth can be generated for the majority shareholders only through sustainable and ethical business practices (Hymann, 2017). Going forward, it is expected that this practice would tend to diminish which would auger well for the cloth industry in the west despite some hiccups on the cost side. References Adams, C.; Neely A. and Kennerley M. (2007)Performance measurement frameworks: a review, 3rd ed., Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Crawford, R.H. (2011) Life Cycle Assessment in the Built Environment, 2nd ed., London: Taylor and Francis. Finnveden, G., Hauschild, M.Z., Ekvall, T., Guine, J., Heijungs, R., Hellweq, S., Koehler, A., Pennington, D. and Suh, S. (2009) Recent developments in Life Cycle Assessment, Journal of Environmental Management, 91(1),pp. 1-21 Hymann, Y. (2017) Child Labour in the fashion industry, [Online] Available from: https://goodonyou.eco/child-labour/ [Assessed March 9, 2018] Moulds, J. (2016) Child Labour in the fashion supply chain, [Online] Available from: https://labs.theguardian.com/unicef-child-labour/ [Assessed March 9, 2018]