Orientalism. Franois Bernier and Kaempfers Manuscripts Essay

Orientalism. Franois Bernier and Kaempfers Manuscripts - Essay Example This was extensively practiced by the imperialistic European scholars and it paved the way for an entirely new discipline of study called "Orientalism". Orientalism is the study of near and Far Eastern societies and cultures, languages, and peoples by Western scholars. It also refers to the imitation or depiction of aspects of Eastern cultures in the West. When used in a neutrally descriptive sense, "Orientalism" describes a development in the history of ideas that was shaped by the attitudes of the era of European imperialism in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. But, the term when it is interpreted antagonistically, it implies trivializing, dismissive and prejudiced interpretations by Westerners of Eastern cultures and peoples. Thehistoryandcultural influence of these "Oriental books" can be felt consistently. Writers who explored various facets of the countries cultures revealed only those in consistency with their culture and despised the other facets of the target countries culture. The traveler's manuscripts were beneficial in a number of ways, for example the traveler's records have paved the way to improve the trade relations between the east and the west. Also we learn ancient secrets from their books. From their rich experience the travelers provide a huge amount of information which is useful at many times and confusing at times. Sometimes works by some intellectuals are merely baseless, thanks to their very little knowledge about other intimates and ethos of the country they describe and so they end up with some records which are just entirely misleading. Let us evaluate the various pros and cons of these travelers's account. Kaempfer's manuscripts: At Kaempfer's death his mostly unpublished manuscripts were purchased by Sir Hans Sloane, and conveyed to England. Among them was a History of Japan, translated from the manuscript into English by J.G. Scheuchzer and published at London, in 2 Vols. in 1727. In this manuscript he gives a good account about Japanese and their culture. In first hand, he describes the highways of Japan. Kaempfer has provided a map about ancient Japan paving way for various explorers in the later years. Kaempfer says "An incredible number of people daily use the highways of Japan's provinces, indeed, at certain times of the year they are as crowded as the streets of a populous European city." He also gives a good account of Japanese Shrines and 33 important temples. Further, he gives a good account about the Japanese warlords richness and their might. Besides Japanese history, this book contains a description of the political, social and physical state of the country in the 17th century. For upwards of a hundred years it remained the chief source of information for the general reader, and is still not wholly obsolete. But his description about the pilgrims as 'Beggars', clearly portrays author's ignorance about the Japanese tradition. Pilgrimages to Ise have been popular for centuries and seven visits was said to ensure salvation. Even in the secular Japan of today, Ise holds a place equivalent to Mecca or Jerusalem for many Japanese. It is their holy duty to walk to the shrine barefooted. They renounce their earthly wealth before starting on the pilgrim and depend on the alms for their living in their travel. Further, his categorizing of 'Beggars' as 'Kannons', silent, common and his description about the prostitutes clearly depicts his imperialistic goals. He tries his best to establish the superiority of the West over the East. In this contest he even criticizes the work of moderate Oriental writer like Francois Caron. Further, his ridiculous description

Intro To Business Management Exam Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Intro To Business Management Exam - Assignment Example Also, a lot of opportunities emerge in the recession or in the times of economic depression. The opportunities revolve around sale of existing businesses at considerably lower rates which makes them easy to be acquired. Also, various physical asset, which are considered highly important for a startup venture are available at relatively cheap prices and high rate of discounts (Gordon, p. xiii). Also, during various recessionary times as well as in the times of economic boom, government funding agencies, venture capitalists and private lenders share a bias to promote various entrepreneurship ventures which have the ability to promote radical or incremental innovation in its product or service offerings, thereby generating and adding value to the clients and customers. Hence while proposing an entrepreneurship venture for the purpose of funding; the focus will be on the innovativeness of the product offering as well as the amount of value that can be generated for the target audience. T he main focus of the presentation will be the unique selling proposition of the offering. The conversation will rotate around the factors of minimum initial investment, the demand forecasting, estimated sales forecast, the breakeven period, and the intended targeted market share. The cash flow cycle for the new venture will also be brought into highlight in this case. 2. Ethics in the workplace is a very important factor in the case of a new startup manufacturing firm. The following ethical practices should be practiced in the firm (Trevino & Nelson, p. 219): Worker Safety High priority will be given at all times to ensure safety of the consumers at the work place. Product Quality The employees of the company should comply and cooperate with the stringent processes and measures regarding quality check that have to be followed at all times in order to produce high quality products. Labor Relations The workers have to follow the various rules and regulations that are laid down by the company management in order to address the issues related to labor relations. The workers are to be informed that the management follows an open door policy for the purpose of addressing the problems of the employees. Intolerance to Harassment The company does not tolerate any harassment or discrimination on the basis of age, gender, beliefs, and religions. The company also has stringent policies to address issues related to harassment on the basis of racism. Corruption The company has strict policies including the ultimate termination of the service contract in order to deal with corrupt practices at the workplace, that are practiced by the employees on a individual or a collective manner either within or with people outside the physical boundaries of the organization. 3. The process of business planning is a very important factor in the part of designing a strategy as it helps in smooth running of the business operations in the long term. It ensures the fact that the company is mo ving ahead with proper goals while having proper synchronization of the business processes with regards to the current market conditions (Reading, p.7). The business planning helps in determining the future goals of the company. This helps in identifying the amount of resources that is required in the production processes in order to produce the desired amount of inventory that is necessary to meet the forecasted demanded.